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friends Jesus works to sustain life in the present world, even as the sign points toward the ultimate life he alone can offer. We are covenant friends with Jesus and as such our obedience is of faith knowing the tables were   the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables and that the work of God is that we believe on him whom He hath sent. The costs were unavoidable if Jesus was to do the work God set before him. The world could not come into being without the work of Christ in the beginning. The world could not be restored to God’s intention without the work of Christ on the cross. Our work may also call for costs that are not fair to us, but which cannot be avoided if we are to complete our work. Jesus worked to bring true life to others. As faithful friends of Jesus we do not depart from the pattern set for us by the Lord Jesus. The attitude of humble service should accompany all we do. We work for God, but in a spirit of friendship and collegiality. It is in the fullest sense of the term a family business. We are family business active participants in the world creation/restoration that fuels the loving relationship between the Father and the Son. We do the work of the Son and Father, and we join the intimacy of the Son and the Father and the Holy Spirit. The Father shows His love for the Son by allowing him to share in the glory of world formation and re-creation. The Son shows his love for the Father by ever and only doing His will, making and remaking the world for the Father’s glory according to the Father’s biddings in the power of the Spirit. The discipled friends enter into this ever-flowing love of the Father, Son, and Spirit, not only by faithful reflection but also by embracing the Son’s mission and working as he did. The call to share in the love is inextricable from the call to share in the labor. The prayer, I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me, is matched by, as thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world, and it issues forth in lovest thou me,…feed my sheep. The creation memory is to become the means of our spiritual connection as being who work alongside one another, and in so doing enter into God’s labor to bring creation to its fulfillment. The promise of effectiveness echoes Jesus’ words; verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. Greater works than these would then mean more converts than he himself made. Jesus is speaking to his friends so this must refer to the whole range of work to which believers are called. Service is the active service to others form of love. Through God’s grace, our work should be the arena where we live out our relationship with God and others through loving service. However humble or exalted it may be in others’ estimation, becomes the place where God’s glory is displayed. By God’s grace, as we work, we become living parables of the love and glory of God. Remember the two immutable things –God’s covenant and God’s oath. In Christ this brought the new covenant, a new commandment that is the same yet with now the human divineness is displayed not in a servile obedience, but a friendship obedience. Those who are Jesus’ friends obey His commands; it is what characterizes them. The whole of this is filled with salvation-historical meaning. Jesus is telling us that we are recipients of the blessings of Abraham, the forever friend of God, through the new covenant. The relationship is not one where God is dependent upon the spiritual Israelites, but the relationship functions the other way around. To be considered a “friend of God” is different than something like the relationship between David and Jonathan. The intimate aspect is there, but being a friend of God means that He has dedicated Himself to securing our redemption. Though there is definitely an element of companionship within friendship with Jesus, that is not the primary emphasis here. This is connected with everything Jesus said about our need to “abide in the vine”. What makes the new covenant so essential…by blood Jesus is dedicating Himself to our redemption. No longer just servants…friends! So what of the salvation- historical meaning. We are the seed form, making large what Jesus was talking about. He is speaking about the change of relationship. This is a reference to what new covenant obedience looks like. abide in the vine Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods. But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain. Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am; for I am as ye are: ye have not injured me at all. Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first. And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me. Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth? They zealously affect you, but not well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect them. But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you. My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you. Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem Mt. Sinai which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free. When we reason with this truth, we see that what Jesus is saying is that the disciples and all new covenant true believers relate to God not just in a servile relationship, but in friendship. He has dedicated Himself to our redemption. This is what he means when he says for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth. In times past God’s covenant people were not informed of God’s saving plan in the full measure now accorded Jesus’ chosen election. Although there is much we still have not grasped, within that constraint Jesus is telling us everything he has learned from his Father. Jesus is the source of our life and the source of our love. He is God. The fruit that we reap comes from Him. And that fruit will be shown as his friends love one another as he loves us. New covenant love lays down life for the sake of friends. And we are Jesus’ friends, so we are willing to lay down our lives for him. Don’t look for something we have to “do” in this truth, it’s not there. There are no imperatives for us where God’s love is. We are the recipients of the friendship of Christ and all the blessing which He bestows. We are the ones who have been brought into Jesus’ “all that I have heard from my Father”. All that I have heard from my Father But this is what we “do”…abide and love. We remain in Christ and as we do this, we find that we are motivated to love one another. We are friends. Jesus is absolutely dedicated to those who are His friends. He is dedicated to those whom He has called and those whom He has chosen. We rest in this! By his knowledge and by his own life, Jesus loves without limit, and he makes it possible for us to be like him, transformed by everything he shares with us. For Jesus, friendship is the ultimate relationship with God and one another. Only those who love can willingly suffer for, die for another. The aspect of ancient friendship is important for understanding friendship in ancient the context of the word. To lay down one’s life for one’s friend is completely unprecedented today. Frankness of speech, by common report and belief, is the language of friendship. The bible writings were not created in a social vacuum. These two dimensions of friendship in the world - the gift of one’s life for one’s friends and the use of truthful and open speech - provide the words to describe and name who and what Jesus is, for he did both of these and as a friend he gives us every word that he has heard from his Father. How much of the Holy Spirit’s revealing to our mind do we open up to others. In sharing we enable our friends to participate in the intimacy and trust that reasoning with God reveals to us. Jesus did not merely talk about laying down his life for his friends. Jesus enacted the ancient ideal of friendship - he laid down his life for his friends. What Jesus teaches, he lives as an embodied promise and gift. The love that led him to do this can be replicated and embodied over and over again by his followers. To keep Jesus’ commandment is to enact his love in our own lives. Jesus affirms the significance of this commandment by stating that his followers become his friends to the extent that they keep his commandment. Our life of faith must be reassessed. If we take Jesus’ commandment to love seriously, and if we long to be called “friend” by Jesus, then the believer is to give love freely and generously without counting the cost and without wondering and worrying about who is on the receiving end of our limitless love. Because this, too, is how Jesus loved. What counts most is the embodiment of God’s love in the count the cost world, not the character of those who receive this love. What will be asked of us and what may we be able to give in Jesus’ name. Jesus loves his own “to the end”. “To the end” means simultaneously “to the end of time” and “to the full extent of love.” To love to the full extent of love means that Jesus loves perfectly, and that in Jesus’ act of love we see love perfected. The faithfulness of a friend is transformative love, when in conversation, nothing is held back as the speaker risks herself in the speaking; the listener risks himself in the hearing. The next time you hear the word "friend", think of Jesus. He calls you His own; he knows everything about you - and still chooses to love you; who desperately longs to spend time with you and listen to you; he is always there for you; he never stops thinking about you; he is someone who cares deeply for you, and prays for you. God has designed us and chosen us for intimate participation in love. We are not the best of ourselves alone. This is why friendship is not extra but essential. Friendship expresses principles of Christ’s own affection for us. Friendship is a form of communion, where we meet Christ's own love for us. This is why friendship is not extra. Friendship reminds us that we are not alone, but that love is at the core of who we are. Friendship is a mirror to remind us of who we are. Friendship reminds us that we are acceptable, that we are able to love and to be loved. Acceptance liberates us to face the truth about ourself, the full truth about who God has made us to be. We gain a deeper level of context about who we are purposed to be for God. Friendship reminds us that love is gratuitous and surprising. God gives us to one another, and He knows what blessing we will be to each other. These new bonds require intentionality and effort to blossom into love that is familial in nature. Family is built on trust, love, and friendship. Some friends we wouldn’t have picked for ourselves are given to us as gifts from God. They cross denominational, socioeconomic, racial, and national lines. They will be our family. We will look like what heaven will be. Move forward in faith in friendship. The blood of Christ commits us to God and to one another, not only now but for eternity. Jesus calling us family is an honor we should strive to live up to. Dare to believe that we can help someone be perfect in Christ. FRIENDS & FAMILY

When Love Hurt God Let’s consider initially if it’s possible for our God to hurt. God made us in His image and likeness. We were made to have a body, soul, and spirit. We have a soul which inhabits our will, mind, and emotions. And our God is so all powerful until He is not fearful of our reflecting His traits. The truth that God hurts when we hurt, found full expression when it was revealed in the person of Jesus Christ. In Christ the immense love that hurt God is shown. Christ is God in the flesh – even the Son of God. This is a mystery, not a contradiction. God was, in Christ, connecting Himself to us. Christ is the same nature of God’s Being. Divinity and humanity belong to Him. And the full resource of the Spirit is made available to man in His justice and compassion, begetting and being begotten, giving and receiving. Because of Christ, we are sons and daughters reserved unto salvation who by regeneration and new life receive the life of God. Because of sin, moral purity alone is not enough to connect us to the nature and life of God. He had to be like us. In this one unique body, we can be like Christ and one with the Father. In perfect love condescension, the Holy Ghost came upon the chosen vessel and the power of the Highest overshadowed her. This is when love hurt God…when man rejects this union to be reborn by hearing the Word of God and receiving the Spirit of God, we reject the Creator. I almost shudder to write this. Praying that the reader reasons with God’s word to come to the truth of knowing that as Jesus was, so are we in this world. We are a new kind of people. Born from God’s spiritual DNA, united to human flesh. Why should we tolerate sinful thoughts and actions. In our lives we are to reveal God’s heart. It was determined that God had always hurt when His people hurt. But He did so in a real, tangible manner through the Incarnation - through the event that began in Bethlehem. II Corinthians 4:6 Every aspect of God will eternally prove to be the most holiest fascination, that could ever be known or realized. And two of these aspects are His love and His hurt. Love caused God to do the only thing that could both vindicate His character and make a way for our salvation. He delivered up His Son to suffer and die. Redemptive suffering is the most beautiful and perfect love. Answering our cries for mercy, and saving our souls after we’ve been enlightened, cause God more suffering in that each sin places His Son on the cross again. Love hurt God to hear His Son cry “my God, my God, why have you forsaken me”. Love hurt God in that He foreknew by watching a daughter or a son, self-sabotage through disobedience every caring opportunity, every pursuit of the Holy Spirit, every warning offered in the word of God. Love hurts God as He watches us go through a painful situation, that’s for our ultimate good. God loves us to the height of heaven and the depth of the sea. We might ought to reason with what’s happening to us, in light of how deeply God cares. He desires our conformity more than our comfort. Truth reveals to us the certainty from which we can draw great strength in the knowledge that God is suffering with us. He hurts when we hurt. God with us is the name of His Son. Love hurt God as He showed us His heart through all of the humiliation and abuse endured by His Son. Love hurt God in that His is an unrelenting concern for our well-being, knowing the cause of the untold grief and pain in this broken world. God does not love us because He hurts, He hurts because He loves us. He hurts because He is love. It's His character, His nature, and God suffers in His love for us. God’s unrelenting, self-sacrificing, unrequited, hurting love for us… To know we are loved like this, despite our failings, our weaknesses, should change us. To know we are loved like this, by the God of the universe, should give us confidence and strength and purpose in this world like nothing else. When we sin against Him. When we resist Him, reject Him, rebel against Him, when we don’t believe in Him, when we turn our backs on Him, when we choose godlessness instead of godliness, when we break His commandments, and when we love, worship, and serve ourselves instead of loving, worshiping, and serving the Lord – His heart grieves. But God counts the joy of our salvation worth the hurt. We will know both the joy and the hurt of this love in the soon coming days, when we are asked to lay down our lives for our friends. We are to reason with truth to where we see God the Creator having such great hurt in His heart, because of how the whole of mankind has gotten perverted. And as God, even the Holy Ghost is grieved by our sinful attitudes. In that love is so powerful, and love is mandatory, it will collide with much hurt because we are called to be in the world, but not of the world, and the world today is filled with sin. God so loved the world and we are to love the people, but Jesus tells us that the world hated him first, and the world will hate us because we have been chosen out of the world. There are two things in this world that effect every relationship – love in a relationship and hurt of a relationship. That relationship could be one of marriage, common siblings, friendship, or spiritual community. Even God is not immune from hurt. And we know that it is true that God is love. It hurt God when He told Samuel that we rejected Him. When we fail to come to God to reason as He asks, we break the relationship, and we lose out on the truth that love wanted us to know. The truer the love, the more excruciating the hurt. The same mouth that prayed with you may one day rebel against you. Yet, God’s people learn through reasoning that as love hurt God, the only thing that is more powerful than hurt is love. When we are hurt, the best weapon or remedy to use is, love. If we use any other weapon we will lose. Any other remedy, we will not heal. What advantage are we given in reasoning with God? We come to understand the difference between weakness and wickedness. Our loved ones may suffer the weakness of wisdom because they reason not with truth. Wickedness only results from rejection of truth. Christ was a victim of both weakness and wickedness and still his love bade forgive them. It was this love for His people that hurt God. It was this love meant for our good, not our hurt. Let us love as does God. In every hurt endured for Christ there is a blessing to bring us to a deeper reconciliation with God. Love is a heavenly act done in an earthly creation. And sin entered that love and hurt God, because God did not create us for this kind of world. Thank God that blood memory endures, that we might reason the shedding of Christ’s blood in the Garden, that wrought remission of sin. But praise God for the breath of His spirit, that we have always with us that which remains of the image that formed us, that the spiritual memory that comes from above is the higher attainment of the great lovingkindness that draws us. Love hurt God Love hurt God and love will hurt us, because neither God nor we will abandon our love for people. God designed love to be eternal. And love will last beyond those who choose to abandon God. Love hurt because it cares about what God cares about. God hates sin. Therefore, love hates sin. It’s hard to see those we care about affected by evil. Jesus cried when his friend Lazarus died. He knew he would soon resurrect Lazarus in a short while. So why cry? Jesus cried because of the effects of sin on his friend. Who among us have not cried for similar reasons? God uses all things for our good. God uses sin to give greater power to love. Any of us who claim to hold real love for another has no choice but to see them the way God sees them. In this sense, love serves as the great connector between God and man. Hurt, like love, unites us. Thank God that love can bear hurt. Christ loved on the cross by experiencing deep hurt for us. His love endured to the point of death, and three days later he loved through death itself. God does not offer a hurt-free life. But He does offer a love-filled life in Christ. God kept love on this earth because He knew He was not finished with us. Love is the speech of Heaven. And there, that language will have no words in its vocabulary to describe hurt. There will no longer be a need. Love existed without sin. Love existed without hurt. Love still exists, but there is sickness, infidelity, abuse, scorn, anguish, as we lower loved ones into a grave…the world is cruel. The sufferings God sends come not from hate, but from love. They do not express God's condemnation, but His consecration. Love hurting God is not altogether a bad thing. Hurt brings trouble, trials that create a catalyst for discussion, for reasoning, that leads to revealed truth that expresses greater faith in God’s plan. Love hurt God does not mean there is something wrong with His love. The wrong is with us — our sin. God must root out our sin, and that is hurtful for us to take. That hurts God as He is perfecting His love in us. Think about the messages to the churches, especially Laodicea. Jesus expresses disgust towards those in Laodicea, declaring that he is on the verge of vomiting them out of his mouth. Yet, he affirms his love for them! May I boldly suggest that it is precisely because he loves his people, that he refuses to tolerate their lukewarm indifference toward spiritual matters? In other words, the harsh words, the firm discipline evoked by their backslidden behavior, together with his strong counsel, are all motivated by our Lord’s love for his own. This is the nature of divine discipline. Living for Jesus holds forth the potential for much hurt. Love hurt God when we fail to love Him for all He is doing to save us. If you have a child, have you ever had to put correction upon him or her? Do you love ‘em? Did it hurt? Love can hurt, can’t it? But you are saving a soul. The measure of true love is the pursuit of righteousness. God is passionately committed to making us holy. There is no love in providing comfort to someone in sin…love hurt God. Jesus is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. When our Father has to perform spiritual surgery to excise the tumor of sin and rebellion and unbelief, it hurts, it’s confusing, it’s inconvenient, but above all else, it’s loving. Love hurt God as His Son hung on that cross. Laodiceans have a hard lesson to learn. Will they grasp truth and repent? The natural mind does not understand God’s doing whatever is necessary to draw us to Himself. Amos chapter 4 - God withheld food to make His people hungry. He stopped the rain to make them thirsty. He corrupted the fields to ruin their harvest. Most devastating of all, He even killed their loved ones. He withheld food, “yet you did not return to me.” He withheld water, “yet you did not return to me.” He ruined the fields, “yet you did not return to me.” He even killed their loved ones, “yet you did not return to me.” God’s purpose was not destruction, but reconciliation. His motivation was not revenge, but compassion. He wasn’t wielding His power and justice mainly as punishment, but as invitation. In every ounce of suffering, He calls to His people, come back to Me. God is willing to withhold anything to bring His people home to Himself. Again and again, the hurt He allows is designed to lead us to comfort and hope and healing, not despair. Love hurt God to hurt us. The hurt may feel like God’s fierce anger in the moment, but it actually serves to reveal His warm compassion toward us. Isaiah 55:7 Joel 2:12, 13 Hosea 6:1 Love hurt God, but in His love we will come to a deeper, more durable joy in our sorrow and suffering. When we begin to see all that God does for us through adversity whereby which He loves us, we not only learn to tolerate our weaknesses and afflictions, we boast all the more gladly in them. In the end, the sweetest gift God gives us when He wounds us, is that He gives us more of Himself. When we return to God, we get God. It is this love that hurt God to do unto us what He must do because He loves us. This love hurt God because He knows that we will either choose to meet Him one day as a precious son or daughter. But if we refuse, we will meet Him as an enemy, and our suffering will be far worse. Love hurt God when we wound His love through rejection. heartache Love hurt God in that it made Him vulnerable to our circumstance. Love hurt God because His heart had to be wrung and deeply broken when His Son had to die for our sin. Love hurt God because every soul lost to Him is lost at such great cost. It hurt Christ, but he kept on loving, even at the cost of His life. Love hurt God when we take not the opportunity to be for Him in every way as He is for us. Jeremiah 8:18-22 As believers, we must realize that having offered our hearts to God and made the decision to follow Him, doesn’t exempt the love He has for us from hurting God. Yes, we have pleased Him by surrendering our lives to Him, but there are times we go against what He wants us to do. There are times we neglect to reason with Him and allow the word to lift us to the higher understanding. There are times we forget how He teaches knowledge and go seeking solutions elsewhere. Love hurt God when we fail to hear the word of God. The things that hurt God, hurt those who desire to know Him as well. When love hurt God, it reveals to us the challenge and call for God's wisdom to be understood in the things which bring grief to God's heart. We are to be preparing for passionate engagement in the great commission as followers of Christ, so that we can intercede for the very things that are causing hurt deep within Jesus’ grace-filled heart. The life of Jesus describes to us what it is like when God is close to God’s people, and how much God desires to be close to us. And God loves us even when we turn from Him. That is God. God loves so deeply that it hurts. God remembers His promises and His covenants. The servants of God hurt because of disobedience. They are chastened for their sin; as it is written, “You only have I known of all the people of the earth; therefore I will punish you for your iniquities.” Sin in a child of God cannot go unchastened. The rod of chastisement is included in the covenant; and if we are in the covenant, the Lord will keep His promise. “If His children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments, then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.” Oh, the abundant compassion of our God, that as soon as ever these people, smarting under the result of their sin, began to cry to Him, “He regarded their affliction when He heard their cry". Love hurt God, yet he is tender and full of compassion. There is something very powerful about the cry of a child to its own parent; and God, the tenderest of all fathers, cannot bear to hear His children cry.

Mazzaroth Genesis 1 [14] And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: [15] And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. [16] And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. [17] And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, [18] And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. [19] And the evening and the morning were the fourth day. “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night ; and let them be for signs , and for seasons , and for days , and years ”. Here, we see that the Lord separated the day from the night, creating two different lights in the sky. The one was called a “greater light” while the other, “lesser light”. Today, we call them the sun and the moon. He also divided light from darkness. Why? God sees the end to the beginning. He cannot be caught by surprise. He is God and there is no one else like Him. SOP – The Desire of Ages - The plan for our redemption was not an afterthought, a plan formulated after the fall of Adam. It was a revelation of "the mystery which hath been kept in silence through times eternal." Romans 16:25, R. V. It was an unfolding of the principles that from eternal ages have been the foundation of God's throne. From the beginning, God and Christ knew of the apostasy of Satan, and of the fall of man through the deceptive power of the apostate. God did not ordain that sin should exist, but He foresaw its existence, and made provision to meet the terrible emergency. So great was His love for the world, that He covenanted to give His only- begotten Son, "that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16. {The Desire of Ages, Page 23} At the creation of this earth, satan was already cast down, darkness was already here, representing satan's refusal to continue in the light in which he was created. Man was created on the sixth day, after all things were created, after the sun, moon, stars, fowls of the air, water beasts, and land beasts. Man was the final crowning act and to him was given an assignment to name all the living creatures of land and air (Genesis 2:19), but Man was to recognize the signs, the seasons, the days, the years, but especially the signs in the sky. Psalms 147 [4] He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names. In this study, we will find that, century after century, epoch after epoch, the names and the meaning of the stars have evolved based upon the nation which ruled and the philosophies that governed their education system. The stars were arranged by the Lord. When Christ Jesus created the heavens, the stars were set forth in a certain order that would provide us of not only a glimpse of His glory, but the story of man’s redemption. Job 38 [6] Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof; [7] When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? That cornerstone was laid at the very dawn of this earth. The stars were called morning stars because they signaled the coming of daylight and were situated in such a way for a man to look higher, directing them to seek, to enquire, and to consider. The Antediluvians read the constellations which, during that time, was bright and vivid. Science describes the sky in the evening before the flood as of a golden magenta hue. It was composed of golden sheets called the “rikiah”. Each star in the universe is of a different color and every color of every star emits a different sound. Stars are prophetic melodies that accentuate the majesty of God. When we could hear them, they sounded like an heavenly orchestra. They were created on the fourth day of creation and witnessed God’s glory in their rejoicing. The Wise Men sought meaning for the stars and they diligently searched the sky, mapping them out to determine if there were any changes. This is how the Wise Men understood the Star as a sign. Matthew 2 [9] When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. [10] When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. The brightest light in the deepest darkness is what led the Wise Men to Christ. As they followed the light, so are we to follow Christ in the time of deepest darkness. Daniel says that in the last days “the wise shall understand”. So, in these last days, we are to be wise as a serpent, harmless as doves. "Those who would not fall a prey to satan's devices, must guard well the avenues of the soul, they must avoid reading, seeing, or hearing that which will suggest impure thoughts", Acts of the Apostles, Page 519. You see, God spoke satan into being. Satan was created with the fullest of wisdom, not for growth. Adam was formed, not created, by the Hand of God. As long as Adam lived, he would continually grow spiritually, morally, mentally, and physically. God named the stars, but the holy pair were to be educated by Christ Himself and the angels, to learn about the meaning and import of them. SOP – Patriarchs and Prophets - The holy pair were not only children under the fatherly care of God but students receiving instruction from the all-wise Creator. They were visited by angels, and were granted communion with their Maker, with no obscuring veil between. They were full of the vigor imparted by the tree of life, and their intellectual power was but little less than that of the angels. The mysteries of the visible universe-- "the wondrous works of Him which is perfect in knowledge" (Job 37:16)-- afforded them an exhaustless source of instruction and delight. The laws and operations of nature, which have engaged men's study for six thousand years, were opened to their minds by the infinite Framer and Upholder of all. They held converse with leaf and flower and tree, gathering from each the secrets of its life. With every living creature, from the mighty leviathan that playeth among the waters to the insect mote that floats in the sunbeam, Adam was familiar. He had given to each its name, and he was acquainted with the nature and habits of all. God's glory in the heavens, the innumerable worlds in their orderly revolutions, "the balancings of the clouds," the mysteries of light and sound, of day and night--all were open to the study of our first parents. On every leaf of the forest or stone of the mountains, in every shining star, in earth and air and sky, God's name was written. The order and harmony of creation spoke to them of infinite wisdom and power. They were ever discovering some attraction that filled their hearts with deeper love and called forth fresh expressions of gratitude. {Patriarchs and Prophets, Page 50.3} Yes, Man was perfect in physical form. Yes, he had the image of Christ. Yes, he was increasing in learning, in understanding, and wisdom, but all of this was elemental at its core. There was heart work to attain. His character must be developed. He had to encounter test and trial which would mature him. We must remember that, at creation, everything was beautiful and perfect in their eyes. At this time, they were called "the holy pair", Man and Woman. They had not known the experience of pain or distress, sadness or heartache. They had no concept of what evil was and its consequences. That was a foreign, strange thing that would never have entered into their minds had they not disobeyed. It is not in surface reading that secret things are revealed. We must educate our minds; we must dig deeper within knowledge to discover hidden truths. But, above all, we must believe God. We must believe His truth. The Man and the Woman did not embrace as life what God had said. They did not believe the consequences of disobedience. So, when the serpent said, "yea shall not surely die", she believed the serpent's words over the Lord's words, and the Woman was deceived. Then, when Man, knowingly, willingly, acquiesced, that brought sin to both. They both lost faith in God at that moment. And now, with a lack of faith, sin enters, and their eyes were opened to know good and evil, and the light of the stars dimmed. Now, the meaning of the stars dissipated. The sun and the moon mark the passage of time, just as do days and months. The stars reside in their relative celestial family consisting of the sun and the moon. These three manifestations are for our appreciation and understanding, just as Adam and Eve were to learn. We must spiritually recognize their object and purpose. The moon, the sun, the stars offer a most wonderful message to God’s people. At night, we see the sky illuminated by the moon and the stars. But the moon and stars become invisible at the coming of the sun. The darkness of sin may overcome the world, even as God’s people are in the world, but when the Son comes, darkness will be blotted out. Did you notice how that we faded as the splendor of the Son shown? He must increase, we decrease. Yet, we remain gloriously reflective of His light. Matthew 24 [29] Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: This verse tells us prophetically, the condition of the world and its inhabitants, when we will see the Word of God obliterated from the minds of all those who reject Christ. He tells us that, even those who faithfully serve him, will no longer be able to offer the invitation to come to Christ. The words of the Son are obscured. The moon, which reasoned with the tide of the waters, the flow of the people, will no longer provide encouragement. The stars, whose voices spoke from God’s mind, no longer receive His response to the faithless prayer of the wicked. The former sources of light: the sun, the moon, the stars, no longer represent the principal sources of guidance. Job 38 [31] Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? [32] Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons? [33] Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth? The word “Mazzaroth” is a Hebrew word meaning “zodiac” and each month, on an elliptical traverse, the seasons, star pictures, repeat and echo; each month, they uphold and undergird prophecy, from the birth of the church to the final harvest. Pleiades, Orion, Arcturus, these are all constellations, stars in the heavens. Focus on that part where it asks “canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season?”. The Lord here, is connecting the stars with seasons, the passage of changing times. Now, don't think of the word "zodiac" and imagine the horoscope in the daily newspaper; the one where people turn to find out if they are going to have a good day tomorrow, or check to see if they are going to have bad luck the next day. No, no! The constellations were made for our good, but what God made for our good, satan tries to use for evil purposes. The horoscopes are a device of satan, and man, being used of satan, has perverted the meaning of the constellations. The constellations tell the Story of Christ and His people. “I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven”, “the eleven stars made obeisance to me”, “turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever”. The stars are literal AND physical AND symbolic AND spiritual. Returning to Job 38:31, we see the constellations Pleiades and Orion. And the Lord asks us if we can bind them together as he has knit them together, for they cannot stray from there proscribed position. It is similar in human families; there is a binding together that “binds the sweet influences” and unites the family members. Note the familial terms of Arcturus and his seven sons? In the sight of God, this constellation is one, living family that is fixed, never to be separated until the voice of God shakes them. SOP - The time is not far distant when the test will come to every soul. The observance of the false sabbath will be urged upon us. The contest will be between the commandments of God and the commandments of men. Those who have yielded step by step to worldly demands and conformed to worldly customs will then yield to the powers that be, rather than subject themselves to derision, insult, threatened imprisonment, and death. At that time the gold will be separated from the dross. True godliness will be clearly distinguished from the appearance and tinsel of it. Many a star that we have admired for its brilliance will then go out in darkness. Those who have assumed the ornaments of the sanctuary, but are not clothed with Christ's righteousness, will then appear in the shame of their own nakedness. {Patriarchs and Kings, Page 188.1} Job 9 [6] Which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble. [7] Which commandeth the sun, and it riseth not; and sealeth up the stars. [8] Which alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea. [9] Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south. Stars are the pillars of heaven; they support the universe as God’s people are the pillars of truth that support the gospel. Here, we find the same three constellations mentioned together and there is a reference to the chambers of the south. When the Lord repeats, it is for emphasis, he wants us to pay attention. He wants us to study it out. Sanctuarially speaking, it points us to the south side where the candlestick of witness stands, pouring forth golden oil. Exodus 27 20 And thou shalt command the children of Israel, that they bring thee pure olive oil beaten for the light, to cause the lamp to burn always . In the earthly sanctuary, the only light within the tent was from the candlestick, and the candlestick was without measure, fed by the oil olive beaten, indicative of persecutions, tribulations, or chastisement, and in close proximity: light upon the shewbread, the Word of God. Arcturus is the Harvester, Orion “coming forth as light” also called the “Coming Prince”, and Pleiades alternatively called Ursa Major, the Big Dipper, the Great Bear, and the Greater flock, all of which points to the grand finale, the true harvest of the world. How is the zodiac connected with seasons? Well, in rotation, the months pass through each season, from spring to summer to autumn to winter. And God asks us, can we change the seasons? Do we, in our finite mind, have the power to modify one iota of the Lord’s plans? No! the resounding response bellows throughout the earth, we cannot change one iota, we cannot retard one tuber from growing in the autumn, nor can we force one flower from blooming in the springtime. Praise the Lord! God designated the constellations to indicate the beginning of the seasons and the years. We know that if we see a certain constellation in a certain position, that this is the beginning of the year. God set the beginning of the year in April, Abib, the Hebrew meaning "to be green, tender", in the springtime, when the flowers are just beginning to sprout, peeking out after a cold winter. To signal the coming end, God permissioned satan to have a minor effect upon the climate, which prompts man to disregard God’s beckoning signs for salvation. Exodus 13 [4] This day came ye out in the month Abib. Abib is a month of beginnings. God’s church was born in the month of Abib, Jesus was born in the month of Abib. Remember it was a star that heralded the advent of Jesus. It is a time of birth. The antediluvians timed the months based on the cycle of the moon, from full moon to full moon, a thirty-day cycle, and they knew the particular order of the months by the position and appearing of particular stars until the flood ruptured earth and its axis tilted, thus disrupting the harmony of the relationship between earth and the stars, rendering the months shorter or longer than thirty days. That is why we plant according to the moon, when there is a gravitational push and pull, planting based on root vegetables or fruits, called waxing or waning. "For the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon," Deuteronomy 33:14. January, February, March etc., are man-made pagan names. Julius Caesar modified the calendar after a civil war victory in 46 BC, setting the beginning of the year in January, in the dead of winter when all things are lifeless and barren. After his assassination, he was given a month, named "July" for Julius. The number twelve: twelve tribes of Israel, twelve gemstones on the breastplate, twelve disciples, twelve foundations of the New Jerusalem city, twelve months in the year, and twelve zodiac signs, or Mazzaroth – the number twelve pertains to God’s perfect government, God’s ultimate authority, the cyclical path of the earth for twelve months positions the stars in certain locations. In the night sky are star pictures, the zodiac, the bible calls it Mazzaroth, and these star pictures reveal prophecy, the coming season, the coming month, the coming events. The opening up of the Constellation Orion signals the soon return of Jesus from the East. This earth has been enveloped in spiritual darkness for 6000 years, "But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings" "And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever". That is the Three Angels Message. That is our proclamation to “Cry Aloud”. There is no reason, no excuse to despair, just look up to the night sky and read what it reveals. Jude [14] And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, [15] To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. Enoch looked back to Adam, then looked forward to the last days. It would be only four generations later when Noah and his sons entered the ark and in the three sons, there was blood memory, a knowledge of the gospel, a preservation of everything that their father had taught them and from what he was taught and learned. SOP - If Adam had not transgressed the law of God, the ceremonial law would never have been instituted. The gospel of good news was first given to Adam in the declaration made to him that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head; and it was handed down through successive generations to Noah, Abraham, and Moses. The knowledge of God's law, and the plan of salvation were imparted to Adam and Eve by Christ Himself. They carefully treasured the important lesson, and transmitted it by word of mouth, to their children, and children's children. Thus the knowledge of God's law was preserved. {1 Selected Messages, Page 230} The antediluvians had minds that were so brilliant, so intellectually astute, so gifted that they did not need to recall or record anything. They had before their eyes, an image of the constellations which, if rightly understood, would give them hope of a Redeemer to come and an Enemy to vanquish. For roughly two thousand years the world was without a written revelation from God. Their revelation was in the stars. Good and Evil were portrayed in the stars in the sky. It was through the sons that the knowledge of Genesis 3:15 was transmitted and their first attempt to preserve that knowledge was in pictorial form. When Noah’s sons evacuated the ark, they endeavored to remain in close connection, which became sin as the population increased. They built a city and a tower in the land of Egypt, which became one of the repositories of knowledge. Temple of Esneh In the Temple of Esneh in Egypt, there is a great sky painting in the portico on the ceiling which shows the whole picture of the zodiac beginning with the Virgo, the virgin birth, and ending with Leo, or the Lion of the tribe of Judah. Note the circle on her head? That is the zodiac. The problem with hieroglyphics is that most geologists do not see through a spiritual lens and view things through their carnal eyes. The pictorial shows a woman's head and ends with a lion's behind. This does not mean that the antediluvians were cutting and pasting, splicing and unraveling DNA sequences (though they likely did, according to Genesis 6:5), but this image shows a passage of time, from a woman to a lion. These were not merged biologically, but indicates the beginning of Genesis 3:15 and ending with the triumph of Revelation 5:5, as in the zodiac. The woman begins with Virgo in Genesis, the virgin and ends with Leo, or the Lion of the Tribe of Judah in the book of Revelation. As God told Abraham “I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven”, he was directing Abraham to look up to when the world is completely dark and record that there will be individual lights in that darkness who will stand up and out, here and there. Those stars are children of the light, not of darkness. 1 Thessalonians 5 [5] Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Matthew 5 [14] Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. [15] Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. [16] Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. We are light bearers. We are to BE light and emanate light and share light with others, while walking on the earth, but living in a higher sphere, in an heavenly atmosphere, we are already there, in heaven, by faith. We are the stars that shine in the midnight darkness. And our Lord, in His infinite wisdom, and manifold mercy, left for us a message in the constellations, surprisingly, in the zodiac. Romans 1 [17] For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. [18] For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; [19] Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. [20] For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: [21] Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. [22] Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, [23] And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.

12 Minutes Other Worlds Hebrews 11:3 It was in order that the heavenly universe might see the conditions of the covenant of redemption that Christ bore the penalty on behalf of the human race...By the sacrifice Christ was about to make, all doubts would be forever settled, and the human race would be saved if they would return to their allegiance. Christ alone could restore honor to God’s government. The cross of Calvary would be looked upon by unfallen worlds, by the heavenly universe, by Satanic agencies, by the fallen race, and every mouth would be stopped...Who witnessed these scenes? Of Christ’s crucifixion—The heavenly universe, God the Father, Satan and his angels...Satan’s charge in regard to the conflicting attributes of justice and mercy was forever settled beyond question. Every voice in heaven and out of heaven will one day testify to the justice, mercy, and love of God. The angels ascribe honor and glory to Christ, for even they are not secure except by looking to the sufferings of the Son of God. It is through the efficacy of the cross that the angels of heaven are guarded from apostasy. Without the cross they would be no more secure against evil than were the angels before the fall of Satan. Angelic perfection failed in heaven. Human perfection failed in Eden, the paradise of bliss. All who wish for security in earth or heaven must look to the Lamb of God. The plan of salvation, making manifest the justice and love of God, provides an eternal safeguard against defection in unfallen worlds, as well as among those who shall be redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. All heaven triumphed in the Saviour’s victory. Satan was defeated and knew that his kingdom was lost. To the angels and the unfallen worlds the cry, “It is finished,” had a deep significance. It was for them as well as for us that the great work of redemption had been accomplished. They with us share the fruits of Christ’s victory. Not until the death of Christ was the character of Satan clearly revealed to the angels or the unfallen worlds... They had not clearly seen the nature of his rebellion... All heaven and the unfallen worlds had been witnesses to the controversy. With what intense interest did they follow the closing scenes of the conflict...Heaven viewed with grief and amazement Christ hanging upon the cross... 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. Through the plan of salvation, a larger purpose is to be wrought out even than the salvation of man and the redemption of the earth. Through the revelation of the character of God in Christ, the beneficence of the divine government would be manifested before the universe, the charge of Satan refuted, the nature and result of sin made plain, and the perpetuity of the law fully demonstrated. The angelic host who watched the scenes in the betrayal and crucifixion of Christ, knew that it was Satan who entered into Judas and led him to betray Christ into the hands of the murderous mob; they knew, too, that it was he who impelled the throng to cry out, “ Crucify him; crucify him ;” and “ release unto us Barabbas .” Satan has now revealed his true character as a liar and a murderer. It is seen that the very same spirit with which he ruled the children of men who were under his power, he would manifest if permitted to control the intelligencies of heaven. The question is settled in all the worlds that there is no place for him in their dominions.... Now that the issue is determined, all are free to express their indignation at Satan’s rebellion; and with one voice unite in extolling the divine administration. But the plan of redemption had a yet broader and deeper purpose than the salvation of man. It was not for this alone that Christ came to the earth; it was not merely that the inhabitants of this world might regard the law of God as it should be regarded; but it was to vindicate the character of God before the universe. To this result of His great sacrifice--its influence upon the intelligencies of other worlds, as well as upon man--the Saviour looked forward when just before His crucifixion He said: “Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all unto Me.” John 12:31, 32. The act of Christ in dying for the salvation of man would not only make heaven accessible to men, but before all the universe it would justify God and His Son in their dealing with the rebellion of Satan. It would establish the perpetuity of the law of God and would reveal the nature and the results of sin. The science of redemption is the science of all sciences; the science that is the study of the angels and of all the intelligencies of the unfallen worlds; the science that engages the attention of our Lord and Saviour; the science that enters into the purpose brooding in the mind of the Infinite—‘kept in silence through times eternal’ (Romans 16:25); the science that will be the study of God’s redeemed throughout endless ages. This is the highest study in which it is possible for man to engage. As no other study can, it will quicken the mind and uplift the soul. That which alone can effectually restrain from sin in this world of darkness, will prevent sin in heaven. The significance of the death of Christ will be seen by saints and angels...The heavenly intelligencies were prepared for a fearful manifestation of Almighty power. Every move was watched with intense anxiety. The exercise of justice was expected. The angels looked for God to punish inhabitants of the earth... The heavenly universe was amazed at God’s patience and love... To save fallen humanity, the Son of God took humanity upon Himself...All who comprehend the spirituality of the law, all who realize its power as a detector of sin, are in just as helpless a condition as is Satan himself, unless they accept the atonement provided for them in the remedial sacrifice of Jesus Christ, who is our atonement—at-one-ment - with God. It was not alone His betrayal in the garden or His agony upon the cross that constituted the atonement. The humiliation of which His poverty formed a part, was included in His great sacrifice. The whole series of sorrows which compassed humanity, Christ bore upon His divine soul. Many seem to have the idea that this world and the heavenly mansions constitute the entire universe of God. Not so. God has worlds upon worlds that are obedient to His law. These worlds are conducted with reference to the glory of the Creator. As the inhabitants of these worlds see the great price that has been paid to ransom man, they are filled with amazement. These endured the test of obedience. They are noble, majestic, and lovely. They bear the express image of Jesus, and their countenances beam with holy joy, expressive of the freedom and happiness of the place. The work of God's dear Son in undertaking to link the created with the Uncreated, the finite with the Infinite, in His own divine person, is a subject that may well employ our thoughts for a lifetime. This work of Christ was to confirm the beings of other worlds in their innocency and loyalty, as well as to save the lost and perishing of this world. He opened a way for the disobedient to return to their allegiance to God, while by the same act He placed a safeguard around those who were already pure, that they might not become polluted. I Corinthians 4:9 “Spectacle”, Greek meaning, “theatron”, “a show”; the English word theatre is derived from theatron. The word refers to the thing exhibited. God’s servants who witness faithfully for Him become centers of interest for the inhabitants of the unfallen worlds and the heavenly beings. This whole world of ours is a stage on which the conflict between sin and righteousness, truth and error, is being carried on before an intensely interested audience composed of inhabitants of the universe. Now the roles, not referencing the writer, producer, or director: the audience is the unfallen beings, the eyes focused upon us; the stagehands, those who help or hinder through the manipulation of light, sound, positioning, veiling, queing; and the actors, the inhabitants of earth. For those who stand with Christ, our language must be mild and circumspect, for our holy faith requires us to represent Christ to the world. As we abide in Christ, we will manifest the kind, forgiving courtesy that characterized his life. Our works will be works of piety, equity, and purity. We will have the meekness of wisdom and will exercise the gift of the grace of Jesus. We will be willing and ready to forgive, earnestly seeking to be at peace with our brethren. We will represent that spirit which we desire to be exercised toward ourselves by our Heavenly Father. The enemy has been at work seeking to control the thoughts and affections of many who claim to be led by the Spirit of truth. Many cherish unkind thoughts, envyings, evil surmisings, and pride - and manifest a fierce spirit that leads them to do works like those of the evil one. They have a love of authority, a desire for pre-eminence, a longing for a high reputation, a disposition to censure and revile others, and they wrap about themselves the garment of hypocrisy, calling their unsanctified ambition zeal for the truth. It is no time to be ashamed of our faith. We are a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. The whole universe is looking with inexpressible interest to see the closing work of the great controversy between Christ and Satan. At such a time as this, just as the great work of judging the living is to begin, shall we allow unsanctified ambition to take possession of the heart? What can be of any worth to us now except to be found loyal and true to the God of heaven? What is there of any real value in this world when we are on the very borders of the eternal world? What education can we give that is so necessary as a knowledge of "What saith the Scripture"? Christ's identity with man will ever be the power of His influence. He became bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh…He clothed His divine nature with the garb of humanity, and demonstrated before the heavenly universe, before the unfallen worlds, and before the fallen world how much God loves the human race. Hebrews 1:2

10 Minutes This new earth and new heavens... This new earth and new heavens will engage the very manifestation of God Himself. Every idea, thought, feeling, and belief will become a reality. For everagelessness the awareness that every 'I', is also part of a 'we' and that there can be no harness to the power of love or the power of the mind. The unfallen worlds having never “known” sin will be newly situated in a dimension of the pure presence of God. That will be their portion. And there is nothing more powerful, more efficacious, or more impenetrable, than the presence of God. And as in us, the Spirit in them will be greater than anything in the creation. Because our God makes all things new, our minds will know that we all are greater than any appearance around us - not due to our physical form or mental personality or spiritual bearing, but the pure presence of God radiating in, as and through us. We will all live and move and have our being in Spirit. Oh, how the pure presence of Jesus will be heaven’s beauty. The “all things new” will be “all in Christ”. He is the greatest godly gift in the heavenly realms. He is that spiritual blessing that influences our every cause. All of our sufficiencies proceed from him. He is ever accessible to us who are ever mindful of our availability to him. Discovery and declaration of the abundance of the wealth of our inheritance will be measured in the receiving and enjoying the unlimited riches of God’s grace and blessings. We will ever be that “these are they” of God. We will ever be His remnant. SOP - "These are they which follow the Lamb withersoever He goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb." Revelation 14:4. The vision of the prophet pictures them as standing on Mount Zion, girt for holy service, clothed in white linen, which is the righteousness of the saints. But all who follow the Lamb in heaven must first have followed Him on earth, not fretfully or capriciously, but in trustful, loving, willing obedience, as the flock follows the shepherd. {AA 591.1} SOP - Mount Zion was just before us, and on the mount was a glorious temple, and about it were seven other mountains, on which grew roses and lilies. And I saw the little ones climb, or, if they chose, use their little wings and fly to the top of the mountains, and pluck the never-fading flowers. There were all kinds of trees around the temple to beautify the place; the box, the pine, the fir, the oil, the myrtle, the pomegranate, and the fig-tree bowed down with the weight of its timely figs,--these made the place all over glorious. And as we were about to enter the holy temple, Jesus raised His lovely voice and said, "Only the 144,000 enter this place," and we shouted, "Alleluia." {CET 63.2} This temple was supported by seven pillars, all of transparent gold, set with pearls most glorious. The wonderful things I there saw, I cannot describe. Oh, that I could talk in the language of Canaan, then could I tell a little of the glory of the better world. I saw there tables of stone in which the names of the 144,000 were engraved in letters of gold. {CET 63.3} Proverbs 9:1 Heaven is the house which wisdom has built. On earth, we are wisdom’s house, supported by the power and promise of God, as by seven pillars .

Sojourners What are our expectations as sojourners here? Imprisonment, torture, persecution. We are headed for the most oppressive government ever determined to control its citizens, restricting religious freedoms, and discriminating against believers simply because of their allegiance to Jesus. How are we to endure such suffering in this world and remain faithful witnesses to our country? Faithful endurance in the face of hostility, by reminding us to rest in the salvation God has accomplished for us. Remaining faithful to fulfill the mission God has called us to. Trace Jesus’ steps marked with suffering, and stand in the grace that God has given us. God “chose” us out of this world to be a people for His own possession. We are secure in the hand of the triune God, no matter what we may face in this world. It was planned from eternity past by His foreknowledge and His forelove. Believe that God marked you out! We will ratify the covenant. And even if we die, we will yet live again. And because of this living hope, we don’t have to fear death. In Christ, we already claim our eternal inheritance. We must see that each trial we endure, strengthens and purifies our faith. As we rest in God’s salvation for us in Christ, as sojourners, we are also humbled by the reality that we live in the privileged time of the promised fulfillments of Jesus. And we think on the subsequent glories that are to be ours. Though we have hope for the better times, this is the privileged time of testimony. So, let us humble ourselves, and no matter what we face in this world, rest in the purpose that what God is accomplishing, is us. He is preparing our minds to encounter the events determined to finish His work. And we, being sober-minded, are to set our hope fully on the grace that will be brought to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Oh, that we see his face in every hardship, every trial, because we know there is no difficulty, no test, no pain, no sorrow, no affliction, no disease, no loss, that can separate us from the love God has for us in His own Son, Jesus. The Father planned it; the Son accomplished it; the Spirit applied it, as it was determined by the Triune God in counsel. To fulfill His purpose, God gave us laws that would distinguish us from our worldly neighbors in their worship, in their government, in their sexual ethic, even in their clothing and diet. It is this relationship between God and His people, where we promise to be God’s display nation on this earth. Not even the angels could be this. We are exiles throughout the world, being led by Jesus on a second exodus to our eternal, imperishable inheritance in the new heavens and new earth. We are to call all peoples everywhere to consider Christ, that they be caught up to meet the Lord in the air lest when he returns in wrath to judge the world, they be caught up in his judgment. We need each other Our sojourn here is not to be in isolation. We need each other. We are to practice loving one another, forgiving one another, encouraging one another and exhorting one another. The time is soon coming whereby each will have to stand alone. Our standing must be so firmly planted in the life of Jesus, that entrusting our souls to the faithful creator means that we also must trust Him when He saves our enemies and makes them our brothers. This too is standing firm in the grace of God. Thankfully, we will face difficult situations and decisions in this hostile world, and Christ has given us his learned shepherds made available to us. Seek their counsel in the reasoning for truth in every word of God. They are a grace from God, and we are to stand firm in such grace. As sojourners, our suffering is not unique. It’s not unique to our time in history, and it’s not unique to our geographical location. All that the enemy can do, is only briefly. After just a little while, it is over. Nothing compares to the eternal weight of glory that awaits us. As long as we have breath, brothers and sisters…we proclaim who our God is! Sojourners have a test of faith that outweighs sin. Christ sojourned here in the fulness of faith. He was burdened with the weight of the world’s sin, yet he trusted God to the cross. Abraham sojourned by faith going to that far country, while trusting God in offering his son as a sacrifice. The hebrew men thinking it not careful to speak truth for God by faith entering the fiery furnace, trusting God. And Daniel, while beholding the trial of his friends trusting to his faith, in knowing that God was with them. Sojourners have no conflict with cultural demands regardless of the consequences. We are in a country that is associated with strong nationalistic tendencies. We are to offer a word that speaks to the disordered relationship between God and country. We are called to love God. The opponents of God seek to entrap us by obligation to the word, to serve those God set as masters. We have no betrayal of faith in affirming the authority of God when man violates the basic principles of God’s truth. In such circumstances, they are no longer servants for good, and we no longer owe them our loyalty or service. God placed us in this nation as a symbol to be a sign. This nation is nothing more and nothing less than the way man organizes our common life together. Sojourners commend what we can accomplish together, but we are serious about the commitments we have to our God. Far too often, the nation of men becomes an idol that asks for our complete devotion. We have an obligation to remind people of this danger, but this can be a hard message to offer in today’s hyper-patriotic world. This is not a challenge from which we can or should run. We are now in a season of dismaying darkness that awaits a lamp of guidance and assurance. The world is at a failed end. The word of God meets us in awesome inscrutability. We must have a daily rendezvous with God. We need to understand our identity. I am one of the people of God, elect from every nation, yet one in all the earth having a mystic, sweet communion with those whom God has taken to Himself. Our clarity will be unmistakable. Either we are the servants of God, or we are servants of ourselves. Either we listen to and hear God’s Word, or we are deaf to God’s Word. Either we are gathering to God, or we will be scurrying from the falling mountains. That distinction runs throughout the whole of the bible and throughout the whole of the world. There are all kinds of divisions in this world. But the great division is the division that exists between those who by grace are members of God’s family, and those who remain outside of God’s family. But God is such a seeking God and a gracious God, that He makes overtures to people who find Him even when they’re not looking for Him! Remember the Edomites, our brothers, and the Egyptians, who hosted us. These can be added to the final generation. Deep roots? Sojourners don’t put down deep roots in the places where they reside because they know they will soon move on. True believers don’t pour their hearts and passions into things that won’t last. The wise of the elect are the ones who live every day with the word packed in mind, ready to move on when God directs, and eager to guide others to prepare to vacate this world when our Father calls. Sojourners will be those who are in continual separation from any faction that is not fully found in the truth. Not quite belonging will be their understanding to embrace with greater zeal the truth of every word of God. Sojourners for Christ will so reason with the word of God, as to attain knowledge concerning the mystery of humanity and becoming sons and daughters of God, as did Jesus as we were once flawed vessels. It is Jesus in the life that mediates the conflict between being human and becoming like him. Our faith will be extended through every encounter with conflict. Our desert will be in the ultimate purpose of suffering for Christ. We know that God is love; means that He will do everything to help us love Him. Everything to change us into His likeness. He knows well how infinitely longing is our heart to be with Him. He suffers more in love than we do, suffers all the heartache of seeing those whom He called not come. Scripture speaks to us as strangers and sojourners, by means of signs and wonders that foretell and bring the coming of Christ. Unusual phenomenon will happen in many places on a daily basis. The people of this country will become the most virulent terrorist group ever in history. America will be the scene of constant conflict. And the inserting factor that will drive the constant tension, will be from those who were once familiar with us. Is it not reasonable to think that any separation that God allows now, is a sign that our destination is nearing its end. As sojourners, our view of the kingdom does not warrant our disregard for the signs among us. We must recognize the purpose of every event as bringing Christ to gathering his chosen elect. We are to reason every event with its causative connection to the word of God. It was by reading every event that Christ was able to discern the coming consequences that he would encounter. We are to build up righteousness and justice and peace. That is the blessedness of our purpose, and that is our striving. And we are to attempt to accomplish this by impressing upon the minds of others that present truth about the coming bitterness in the world, while encouraging them in the complete victory of Christ. We as sojourners, are to be the clearest sign in the last time to make others aware of the calling of God. We will be of God’s service to call others out of the world even while the greatest apostacy will take place in the sphere of the church. God must distinguish sharply those who rejected truth, from those who are His. All will have to face this question…when truth was brought to you, where did you stand? The sojourners intensity of bible study will cause them to hear Christ’s footsteps in these signs. Hear prayerfully, be watchful, be faithful and strong in the Lord. God’s view of the sojourners’ journey closely aligns with how God’s relationship with Abraham was guarded. Our faith also must prompt us to live as strangers in this foreign country. The status of God’s people as sojourners and strangers, is built into the very fabric of our relationship with God. This is reasoned in the depth of the counsel to the final of the seven churches. Many who have professed Christ, have reached a degree of comfort and prosperity and fail to empathize with the people of God who will suffer the affliction, rather than enjoy the pleasures of the world. As people of faith, we inherit the same faith as the people listed in Hebrews. We are in a country neither by origin nor by rule, conquest or economics. Current events line us with 1st Peter, chapter 2. We are here as ambassadors, assigned for a short term, representing our Savior. We have infinite needs; we have needs that are impossible for the world to fill. As God’s chosen people our souls crave spiritual, eternal and heavenly things. We belong to Christ. And though we will be “forced” to the wilderness in the very short future, we will have the peace of solitude that comes through faith. Jesus has the sword that severs families, nations, communities, even churches. It is inevitable. We should not want it any other way. And because of this, there are some important duties laid upon us. Since salvation, by its very nature is a separation, we need to maintain a sense of that separation. Because our Savior is holy, so are we to be. God expects us to be witnesses of His grace, and that means leaving a door open for communication with the inhabitants of the land. But be not consumed by this world. We will abide in obedience as far as it is right. But our lives should conform to the laws of the country where we are not sojourners and strangers. And by this many will be converted. Esther 3:8; 8:8,17 God’s sojourners are drawing closer and closer like stones hewed for the building of His temple in heaven...fellow saints, fellow citizens, and fellow heirs.

Friends Jesus is the ONLY begotten Son and is ontologically related to God the Father unlike any other being. He is our friend. He is divine with the same divinity as the one God and Father, and the Holy Spirit, the life-creating Spirit, and he is also really human, like you and I in the flesh, but not by conception and without the inherited nature given to us. He is therefore perfectly, completely, totally divine and perfectly and totally, completely human. Thanks be to God, that Jesus really is human, that God really became a man. He who is divine has become now human, a truly masculine human being, without ceasing to be divine. He is the man Jesus. He is one Person in two natures, out of and in two natures. He is the divine Son of God who becomes human, a real human being. Do not compromise his real humanity. The reality of the Incarnation is a change. He who is infinite became finite. He who is uncreated took the form of a creature. He who is boundless has become circumscribed. He who had no flesh has become flesh. He who is invisible has become visible. He whom we could not touch, we can now touch, we can smell, we can taste, we can see. And from all eternity, we might say from God’s perspective, the Son of God somehow for God was always divine and human, because there’s no time for God. We can’t even envision what it was before he was incarnate, even as Michael. That’s hidden from our full understanding. But this we know…he who is our Lord and God and Master has become, in his humanity, our Friend and our Brother. So, we affirm again and again the real humanity of Jesus. We want to think a little bit about this word “friend,” that God is our Friend, and he is not our enemy. He is not hostile to us. He’s not our adversary. He is the one who is our Friend, and the friend is the one who’s always there. The friend is the one that we can trust. If you have a really good friend, that friend will be your friend even when you sin against that friend, even when you offend him. Somehow, that’s even how friendship is tested. If people are truly friends, wisdom speaks about what a true friend is…well, a true friend is there all the time, no matter what. A friend is one who does not betray. A friend is the one that you can tell anything to, and it won’t break the friendship. A friend is the one that can be perfectly trusted not to do harm, not to retaliate, not to be vindictive, not to do vengeance, not to be offended. a friend does not retaliate Oh, yeah, friends get angry with each other, but they follow the scripture and don’t sin. And truth between friends is that binding commitment to not put loyalty above the truth. We are servants of God and servants of Christ, and in that service we become friends. My wife, my son, my spiritual family…these are friends. I belong to them, because friendship is a form of mutual belonging. We belong to one another. We are members, one of another. That’s what constitutes our love, our friendship. Bound to one another, but in freedom. And in this freedom there is the obedience to God. Peter betrayed Christ. But Jesus tested Peter’s friendship. Study the three verses, fifteen through seventeen of chapter twenty one of John. Research each instance of the term love as exchanged between Jesus and Peter. Note the times referenced refer to “love” and the times reference is made to “friend”. So to be a friend is very important. Jesus calls us his friend because all things that he has heard of his Father he has made known unto us. What could admit and advance us to the dignity of being a friend of Jesus. As to the secret will of God, there are many things which we must be content not to know; but, as to the revealed will of God, Jesus Christ has faithfully handed to us what he received of the Father. The words that he speaks unto us are not of himself: but of the Father that dwelleth in him. Jesus says that it is God that doeth the works. The relational element to being a friend of Jesus is critical: we are Jesus’ friends who first and foremost remain in his presence. And it is precisely this connection that renders friendship and labor as the key to also being a servant of Christ. the world is a "labor of love" Understand the foundation of a godly friendship. The Father involves the Son in the founding and sustaining of the world. What is new is the revelation of why   the Father chose to include the Son, rather than simply creating by Himself. It was an act of love. The Father shows His love for the Son by placing all things in his hands, beginning with the act of creation. The world is a “labor of love” in the fullest sense of the word. Work must be something more wonderful than we usually give it credit for, if adding to someone’s work is an act of love. Let’s understand this deeper. The Word took on human flesh. And then there’s an other process, human flesh was filled with God’s spirit. Jesus did, just as we do, receive God’s Spirit through a form of birth. Birth is a process that occurs in the flesh. When we become truly spiritual, we do not slough off the flesh and enter some immaterial state. Instead, we are more perfectly born…born “from above”, into a state of union of Spirit and flesh, like Jesus himself. Jesus says that those born from above will come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God. Hear how this shows important ethical implications for work. There was the woman at the well. She has direct discussion of human labor. a well Let’s draw deeply to taste it. We are familiar with the woman’s inability to move from the everyday work of drawing water to Jesus’ pronouncements on the life-giving power of his word. And we are acquainted when the crowds repeatedly show an inability to transcend everyday concerns and address the spiritual aspects of life. They do not see how Jesus can offer them his body as bread. They think they know where he is from, Nazareth, but they fail to see where he is really from: heaven; and they are equally ignorant as to where he is going. How is this relevant for thinking about work. The story of the woman surely tells us that physical water alone cannot confer on us eternal life. Jesus did not come to free us from work. Remember the work the Father handed over to the Son…Jesus made the water in the well, and he made it good. If he then uses that water to illustrate the dynamics of the Spirit’s work in the hearts of would-be worshippers, that could be seen as an ennoblement of the water. This led to the woman going to the city to bring a gathering to Jesus. She worked. And what of the fields ripened for harvest. That this is necessary work ,  and the occasion for it very urgent and pressing. Jesus’ heart was as much upon the fruits of his gospel as the hearts of others were upon the fruits of the earth; and to this he would lead the thoughts of his disciples. Remember, this was after the woman left her waterpot and the disciples were concerned with Jesus being hungry. He wanted the disciples to see the people's forwardness to hear the word as a great excitement to work in diligence and liveliness in preaching the word of truth. This was profitable and advantageous work, which they themselves would be gainers by. Christ has undertaken to pay those well whom he employs in his work. There is a present reward in our service for Christ, and doing his work is its own wages. Those who work for Christ gain fruit. This fruit is gathered gain fruit for Christ unto life eternal and the worker shall both save himself and those that hear him. If the faithful servant save his own soul, that is fruit abounding to his account, it is fruit gathered to life eternal; and if, over and above this, he be instrumental to save the souls of others too, there is fruit gathered. Souls gathered to Christ are fruit, good fruit, the fruit that Christ seeks for. It is gathered for Christ; it is gathered to life eternal. This is the comfort of faithful workers, that their work has a tendency to the eternal salvation of precious souls. They have joy knowing that Jesus sows and they reap and rejoice together. Note, first, though God is to have all the glory of the success of the work, yet faithful workers may take the comfort of it. We share in the joy of harvest, though the profits belong to the Master. The word says we simply enter into the labor that others began. Such as that testimony of the woman at the well. God’s work means the comprehensive restoration or completion of the work God had done in the beginning. Whatever work we do as Christ’s followers is filled with the glory of God, because Christ has already worked the fields to prepare them for us. The redemptive work of Christ after the fall is of a kind with his creative productive work from the beginning of time. Likewise, the redemptive work of his friends is in the same sphere typified by their testimony, our reaping his harvest. Sabbath work God keeps the creation going even on the Sabbath, and therefore Jesus, who shares the divine identity, is permitted to do the same. Jesus is almost certainly not alone in arguing that God is at work on the Sabbath, for our good. This in no way deduces the propriety or impropriety of our doing work on the Sabbath. We may be doing God’s work, but we do not share the divine identity with God as does Christ. Work that maintains and redeems the creation and contributes to closer relationships with God and people is appropriate for the Sabbath. Whether any particular work fulfills this description must be discerned by the person(s) involved. As we work in faith to restore what has been broken, we call people to remember the goodness of the creator God. As we work in faith to develop the capacities of the creation, we call people to reflect on the goodness of humanity’s God-given dominion over the world. The work of redemption and the work of creation, done in faith, both shout out our trust in the God who is, and who was, and who is to come.

The Weight Consider the effect of hate in an individual. It takes away a person’s satisfaction with himself. It shows frailty. It threatens them with everlasting torments for their self-exaltation. Moral weakness, selfishness and greed…just a fleeting shadow. Enmity against God is the principle from whence all acts of sin flow. Why would the chief of the disciples deny knowing Christ? There were two main reasons why Peter denied Jesus: weakness and fear. The weakness born of human frailty. The world hated Jesus, and Peter found that he was not prepared to face the ridicule and persecution that Jesus was suffering. Jesus had warned Simon Peter that a test of faith was coming. He was put in the same predicament as Job. The accuser wanted to shake Peter’s faith so forcefully that he would fall, proving that God’s faithful servant was lacking. Peter was unaware that he had been sifted. It was not just Peter who was in danger, though. The word for “you” in the verse is plural and italicized. Jesus was speaking to the whole of his election. The enemy wants to shake us apart. God’s purpose is that the violent sifting would remove all impurities that cling to the heart. Jesus’ interceding prayer and questioning are to strengthen us all. It takes faith in the wisdom and mind of Christ to see things as they are, else we see them as we are. Our true faith and perseverance are revealed not in a walk of sinless perfection but in repentance and restoration. That is why hatred is self deception about other people. Think about how propaganda is so much more successful when it stirs up hatred than when it tries to foster friendly feelings. When men deceive others they may know it, but when they deceive themselves, they know it not. People have a conspicuous tendency to rationalize their questionable actions and attitudes. For instance, when they are vengeful and envious and hate-filled, they often think it is only just resentment of the injuries they have suffered. They deny responsibility for their moral defects and transgressions. Hatred demonstrates no devotedness of heart to God; no exercise of any love to God. Those that hate do not realize that He is so holy a God as He is. They do not realize that God has such a hatred of sin as indeed He has. They seek to find such a hatred against that god which they have formed, to suit themselves. But what they fail to reason is that whatever piety and moral behavior that continues in the world is thanks to God’s restraining hand, which is holding back human iniquity from creating a hell on earth at this time. There is no innate human goodness in the world today, there are divine limitations on human evil. the world The open expression of human hostility to God in this world is the result of sin itself showing human hatred in open display. In a sense, their opposition to God prevents people from being conscious of any hatred. While at the same time, some people’s belief in future judgment has done a great deal to restrain human enmity from breaking out into public view. But surrounding influences have loosened the restraint upon the wickedness of the world. The ultimate proof of this hostility was the murder of God’s Son. As then, there are too many in this nation that are imbruing their hands in his blood through the showing of hatred. On top of that, the fury, the rage, the choler narrative shows them carrying the murder out with the utmost malice and cruelty against other human beings. Human hatred has a powerful noetic effect. Man, when opposed to reason in any aspect, is carnally a miserably darkened and blind creature and his blindness chiefly consists in two things; his ignorance of God in His divine excellency and next to that, man is most ignorant of himself. As a result, hatred grows as a fallen person or a falling person refuses to see the truth of the plainest thing in the world because sin bids him to shut his eyes. shut his eyes Willful sinners tend to believe what they want to believe, often without even any pretense of rationality. This is the ruination of human reasoning...a great tragedy in the human story. Now overborne by the power of strong preconceptions and evil inclinations, human reasoning has been seriously corrupted and perverted. This is observed in the way that people are so sudden and thoughtless in the judgments which they pass upon things. God’s purpose so counters this human perversity in His calling to election those whom He knows are of faith. These know that biblical belief is eminently and exceptionally reasonable. The power of faith today in the word of God sustains us. Sin, in the beginning appeared in the form of disobedience. Sin now assumes the very substance of hatred and it infects and perverts practically everything that people do. Many professing believers derive their thinking on hatred from trends in contemporary academia and the mass media. Despite being God’s special creation, human to human violence exceeds what can be found among animals. Hatred gives rise to much self deception about the presence or absence of real faith in God. Let’s call this spiritual numbness. Spiritual numbness is when you stop hearing God, stop hearing from God, stop being open to God, and stop being honest with God. Where there is spiritual numbness, there is spiritual blockage. Hate historical roots is toxic no matter what the motivation. And to abandon historical roots is apparently a bridge too far. Thus, hatred is taught to the children as though it is an heirloom of humanity . We are in the most dramatic moments for the people of God. There is a situation in which a difficult choice has to be made between two or more alternatives. One is how to love in the face of hate. The other is to hate the fact that we are to love even our enemy. Another is being troubled by a deep antipathy to hatred. There are times when seeing self as God’s love sees us is a difficult if not near impossible task. There are times when seeing others as love sees them is a difficult and nearly impossible task. Faith is that which sustains us in the darkness, carrying us through hate and into love. Humanity is likewise facing a darkness that is shadowed by a brokenness based on the false superiority of one group over another. We are never to become hateful ourselves towards those who espouse such behavior. We are to make lovingness a habit. Kindness, compassion, listening, learning that accepts the plurality and diversity of others and is content with complexity and difference. Hatred denies God’s creation. A loving heart and mind of Christ are to be open to the diversity that is the nature of the world and the nature of who we are. Hatred pulls us back into an imagined world that bleeds all the colors out of the rainbow and leaves only a grey sameness and conformity, a world that will collapse into itself. hatred bleeds all the colors out of the rainbow Two poisons begin their work within the person that explodes outward in a hateful behavior. These are “malice” and “envy”. It is an attitude of wickedness as an evil habit of one’s mind. Malice describes a vicious intention and expresses the desire to hurt another and rejoices in it! Envy is resenting someone who has some excellence that is wanted. Without question a vicious, virulent spirit of hatred is on the loose in this country. Because hate is not a reaction to a particular slight, but a reaction to bad character revealed in a history of bad action, this country’s state of affairs accompanies a situation where circumstances have a past and a present effect on its consequences. These particular circumstances are the consequence of a myriad of previous situations and present influences of such extreme hatred, and are so striking that discriminant power against another desires that they cease to exist. There are those who thrive on the joy of hate. But there is hope. Greater is He that is within us… If God would show us why there is so much evil and hate, then we would be able more fully to know Him and thank Him and trust Him and love Him and join Him in His purposes for the world. The bible teaches that God governs the world with all-embracing, all-pervading, meticulous providence. Nothing lies outside the rule of God. He allows all He does to establish His purposes. God’s allowance is always owing to a purpose. We ask for a biblical vision of why God allows hate. This kind of world exists because God planned a history of redemption before the world existed. And then according to that plan, God permitted that sin enter the world. This allowance was according to plan, and that plan was so that there could be a history of merciful redemption from sin. God has a people being made manifest that He called with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. Hate exists because of sin. God ordained that there be sin. It is not sin to will that sin be. That’s a heavy statement. It is not sin for God to will that sin happen. Some are coming to faith through Jesus Christ and his work on the cross because in eternity past God gave grace to us. God subjected the natural world to futility in hope. We are in a drama of the horrors of sin. This is a signpost to show how outrageous sin and hatred against God is. signpost Hate is rejecting God’s wisdom, God’s love. There is a present vanity to which the creature, by reason of the sin of man, is made subject. The immense hatred is what the creation has waited upon for the revealing of the sons of God. God designed this hope in this hate-filled world. This is our purpose for hastening the day of God. The bible tells us that the world hates us…it hates Jesus, and it hates God. The reason this world of evil and hatred exists is so that we who are the chosen of Jesus would be able to experience and display the profound, God-honoring reality that Christ is more precious than everything we can lose in this world. And we show this by our love by not murmuring or complaining or seeking vengeance, but rather resting in him and trusting in him and treasuring him. Love is better than hate. And our love for God and for our brothers and sisters is to be so powerful as to render our hate for sin just as powerful as our love to hate sin will do what the love of God did for the world…as Jesus died for our sins, that love will cause hate to cease. This is the true path of love that leads to the joy of heaven. Hate is permitted so that the greatest act of love in the history of the world could happen - that is, so that Christ could perfect a people who would love as he loves. If there was no hate we could not exemplify the character of Jesus Christ to the world. There’s no other way that godly love could be shown so fully. God has not wasted the sufferings and the hate of this world. He planned it to fall on his Son, and He purposed it to come to its full and to its end in our day. What does reason say…for of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. God had predestined this.Christ was not hated by accident. This is not just a chance of history, just a turning of the world’s affairs, a people possessed with violent hate. This had been planned since before the foundation of the world. This is central to the reason for all existence. The Son of God bore the suffering and the hate of the world in order to lift sin from all who would trust him and bring them into everlasting joy, glorifying God for His power and wisdom and grace and love. That’s the reason this kind of world exists. Be made strong in this. Thousands will not rise to life from their sleep this night. And God would have done nobody any wrong. Hatred is just the forerunner of the calamity that is coming. We sorrow in hope. As we are hated for Christ’s sake, we will rejoice. Our faith must not be periodic…it must be perpetual. We are not to sequence life. Because Jesus was the satisfying sacrifice, we can be the satisfying righteousness of God in him. When hate dies love lives. When enmity is emptied from the heart, faith fills the void. Ours is an eternal arrangement with God. God chooses His people in such a way that there is no connotation of deserving in the presence of God. All recognition is to Christ for our faith. He is the determined and purposed cause. It is faith that is going to mark us. That will be our insignia. We get to wear that likeness. And we don’t deserve any of it. A moment of pause. In the hate the world shows us they will see our love reflected. It matters not how deep their hate…our love goes deeper. We understand that it is sin that drives hate. In our love we are caused to cosmic destiny rise to our cosmic destiny. This is built on our discipline of never forgetting, never daring let ourselves forget, our shared belonging to God. Hate is as vicious and pointed as the murderous violence human beings are capable of directing at one another, or as ambient and slow-seething as the deadly disregard for the creation of God’s universe of non-human lives with which we share this fragile creation. Hate is a message of saying that we do not know where we belong. They, those, them, who hate are their own. They have not considered eternity. They do not know God. Those of today are destined to die twice. Them who stood and hated His cross, thrice. The truth is, hate is natural…but love is supernatural…for God is love. Hate’s origin is founded in fear. Satan fears us. He knows we are God’s better thing to bring perfection to every faithful one. We are to exhibit the God-kind of love that wins over hatred, that speaks blessings instead of cursing, that offers life instead of death, and hope instead of despair. And there are fellow beings who hate us because we are chosen of God. In too many people fear creates hate and that brings violence. Every time with intended or unintended consequence. Hate, anger, rage is a right…love is our responsibility.

the weight If we are made for heaven, the desire for our proper place will be already in us, but not yet attached to the true object. If a transtemporal, relating to time, transfinite, surpassing the finite, if this good is our real destiny, then any other good on which we fix must be in some degree untrue, must bear at best only a symbolical relation to what will truly satisfy. In scriptural terms, only the far- off country in the end of heaven must be our desire. We have betrayed ourselves. Self-love is a deluding, maddening influence operating to keep fallen human beings from a real apprehension of how bad we are. Human self-love at the fall is what brought us into a relationship with sin. Can anything be added to the conception of being with Christ? God hath wisely and mercifully so ordered things in this world that love in one thing is a restraint to self-love in another thing. In other words, concerns about others well-being prevent people from indulging all their self-centered, destructive desires. For it must be true, that he who has God and everything else has no more than he who has God only. What is it that so relegated humanity to disobedience to the word of God. The simple answer is hate. Hate is invoked as the essence of human evil. But there is yet still a further fallenness to humanity. It is hatred. Hatred is the exact opposite of love. Hate is more often used when referring to an ill feeling in a general way. Hatred is more to describe a very strong considered or preemptive action for the loathing against a particular kind of person. Hatred can be one sided or two sided, but there remains the opportunity for love. Why was enmity purposed. Because it exposes the sinful pride that inspires hatred toward divine truths that offend it. Too many are scarcely willing to allow anything that is true to be above their comprehension, and therefore, are very ready to question the truth of things that are so. Thus, self pridefulness accounts for the existence of strong opposition to notions such as the truth of the nature of Christ and other doctrines that exceed human ability to comprehend. This self pride makes people hard to correct or teach: they won’t hearken to instructions and counsels of others: they’re too wise to be taught. Enmity’s intenseness is mutual, between two, no opportunity for love. Genuine love for God produces hatred for those things that offend God, and this holy hatred is the necessary evidence of real god-like love. God has placed a special manner of people in a country that is filled with a myriad of tragedies and senseless and detestable moments of ever myriad of tragedies disheartening current affairs.  This country is fairly clear of its feelings with regards to diversities of people. A level of hatred most of us are repulsed by has been unleashed in America. When you see irrational anger without any logical reason or justification for it, there is usually an extraordinarily strong evil spirit behind it. This evil anti-Christ spirit is in manifestation all over the world. The question and the answer are the same…why. What can be the basis for showing such disdain and aggression toward a non-aggressive people. It’s the american psyche. And now, what is mainstream here has made the United States the leading exporter of hate. Hate is an action. Hate takes time. Hate takes energy. It even demands sacrifices. People who hate sacrifice rational thinking, lose their values, reduce self-esteem. These have a great emotional and spiritual void. And worse, they deplete the spirit of others. And here’s the unpleasant discovery – America has proven to be a racial gathering, not a nation of common ideas and beliefs. America-loathing and works to destroy the country from within, far exceed the creedal tenets of profession of faith and symbolic representation of a system of civility. America is ripe for conflict. American inequality is typical of the country’s America history and sapping of its soul. Americans hate each other. God is about to dissolve this bestial nation. Why did God purpose this place? Because He has a perfect plan. Salvation presupposes sin; restoration presupposes a fall. So, it's reasonable to infer that God's primary purpose in allowing this designated country is to showcase His glory both in the original creation and also in His powerful and merciful restoration of that creation from its rebellion and corruption as a moronically, hypocritically, and self-delusioned, self- claimed practicing christian nation. This is a country of filthy rags. It is being condemned to show that it is not a truth based country. So, if there’s any doubt in mind about God’s stance on what is happening in this nation, allow His word to remove all doubt. God is a loving and compassionate God, and He hates sin, and He hates hatred. God tested this nation with every single ethnic group on earth - every nation, every person. The existence of evil and wickedness in this world pose a serious challenge to faith. Evil is not simply the absence of good but enmity toward the good, especially as seen in God Himself. Prominent in our study is sin’s tendency to deform the power of reason to apprehend truth in relation to God. Furthermore, along with inflicting harm on fellow human beings, sin has infected humanity to such a degree that it aims ultimately at the murder of God Himself. Because God is all knowing, and the God who is love, He must have a truly holy purpose for allowing such an adverse thing to His nature to exist in the world. God’s purpose surely cannot be in conflict with His plan. The problem of evil, of hatred poses a challenge to our faith. We see the intended to be good hearted people experience the ravages of violence and hateful acts. Something is dreadfully wrong with this world. A fully grown male stabbing a six year aged child 26 times to death. Why? Hatred for the child’s nationality. It is estimated that 95 percent of the indigenous populations in the Americas were killed during the years following European colonization, amounting to Hanging an estimated 20 million people. Consider a request in 1967 to examine a law that encouraged the hanging of black people. The U.S. Congress decided to allow the law to remain in force. Why? Hatred. The establishment of American institutions of education, finance, law enforcement, judicial courts, housing authorities, employment, leveraged to advantage a specific group. Why? Hatred. Hate is the essence of depravity. What would it look like for God to have a morally sufficient reason for allowing evil? For God’s plan to finish He must allow hatred and evil to exist. He cannot at this time eliminate the evil and suffering in the world without also getting rid of morally significant free will. We might wonder why God would choose to risk populating His new creation with free creatures if He knew there was a chance that human immorality could foul the whole thing up. Because free will, though it makes evil and hatred possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having. A world of creatures that worked like machines would hardly be worth creating. The happiness which God designs for His higher creatures is the happiness of being freely, voluntarily united to Him and to each other…and for that we must be free. This is why in the kingdom there is only truth. Of course, God knew what would happen if we used our freedom the wrong way: apparently He thought it worth the risk. To create creatures capable of moral good, therefore, he must create creatures capable of moral evil; and he cannot leave these creatures free to perform evil and at the same time prevent them from doing so…the fact that these free creatures sometimes go wrong, however, counts neither against God’s omnipotence nor against His goodness; for He could have forestalled the occurrence of moral evil only by removing the possibility of moral good. In God, love and hate, good and evil could co-exist because God has a morally sufficient reason for allowing them. God’s morally sufficient reason is to do with humans being granted morally significant free will and with the greater goods this freedom makes possible. We are unfinished and in the midst of being made all that God intended us to be. The long maturing process is to make us into a distinguishable likeness capable of reasoning and responsibility, but we must now, as individuals, go through a process of “spiritualization” during which children of God we become “children of God.”  Reckoning with the hatred and the suffering and travails of this life are part of the divine plan of soul-making. A world full of suffering, trials and temptations is more conducive to the process of soul-making than a world full of constant pleasure and the complete absence of pain. The judgment that is implicitly being invoked here is that one who has attained to goodness by meeting and eventually mastering temptations, loving rather than hating, enduring suffering by rightly making responsible choices in concrete situations, is good in a richer and more valuable sense than would be one created from the beginning in a state of innocence and virtue. That is an ethically reasonable judgment…that human goodness building up by faith through personal histories of moral effort has a value in the eyes of the Creator which justifies even the long travail of the soul-making process.

The Measure We are chosen for God’s possession. We are the whosoevers who believe in Jesus. Our chosenness is the result of God’s love. And God did not say that He loved a portion of the world, He said for He so loved the world, all nations, all lands. God loves all. So, it is faith that is the determination of those chosen. With that we must understand the term “all” in the promise and the patience of God. God works in a way that brings all of His people to Himself. God’s election of His people is sovereign and unconditional. We must have the faith to know that God foreknew those who would come to faith whom He would choose to come to divine election to salvation. God has chosen His from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. Election is rooted in God’s sovereign initiative, not in human responses. The word reveals that election is by grace alone apart from anything that we might achieve. Election is effectual in achieving God’s purposes thus ensuring perseverance and ultimately climaxes in glorification. Also, the divine election demands restoration of spiritual Israel and shows the calling of God to be irrevocable. Our faith is in this election in the assurance of the calling. This divine election should provoke humility and obedience and gracious love. Faith must remind us of our utter dependence on the grace of God for deliverance from sin and give us greater confidence in our witnessing to others the truths of God in the three angels messages. It is this faith that God knows that assures Him that our relationship with Christ is inseverable. Our faith is understood to be intensely personal and seen as extremely private in that God has given the measure to every man. "Every" refers to individuals without exception. This faith is superimposed in the lives of every person who receives the breath of God. But know that faith development is by the word of God. Faith makes distinct two expresions; the inward expression of the spirit working in the life and the outward expression of the spirit working by love for others. Faith’s attitude is shown by the degree of acceptance of every word of God. This attitude is based upon a studied learning of the meaning of the Hebrew texts as purposed, designed, and intended by every word. Faith to God’s chosen is so fundamental that none of us can live in peace for very long without it. It is so universal that when we move beneath the characters and principled patterns that express it, faith is recognizably the same phenomenon that we read in Hebrews, yet it is so infinitely varied that each person's faith is unique. It is the coming together in this uniqueness of individual faith that brings us to be one in “the Them” . Our faith is so focused as to its supreme trust in an exalted magnifical God, having a singular loyalty to the principle of being and to the source and center of all value and power, Jesus Christ, that we can see and know the ultimate environment of our life in Christ. Faith organizes the power of the knower’s mind by which we find order and shape our thoughts, words, and deeds. Faith deposits in our minds and hearts the worth of all to God in regard to self and others. Faith has this quality of mystery concerning Christ; it is perplexing, because we are internal to it, compassed by God as with a shield. shield Love provides an excellent overview of faith’s journey. It’s the underlying of our composition generated from our attachments and commitments to the supraordinate personality of Jesus. Our spiritual being is a function of faith. This is that regard which has power to unify our experiences of the life of Jesus. This is where we observe the endowing of all the relationships, contexts, and patterns of life, past, present, and future, with significance. Faith is the guiding principle that serves as both the source and the target of our spirituality. Devotion to our growth in spirituality can be seen as a measure of greater ability of understanding one's faith as shown through our consummatory behavior. It is possible for one to have faith but not do faith. It is the theological adherence to every truth in the word that renders the spirituality of a person as the indicator of the depth of faith. The acts of spirituality far outpace the ability to articulate faith. Faith grounds us as individuals, and our spirituality is to be characterized by constant change. In other words, there is not a threshold that one can or should attain with either faith or spirituality. Faith pleases God because this is the way that we are of Christ, the author and finisher of our faith, that through him we come to God. Hold this as the primary truth, that God is most influential upon us; and then believe that it is our business to come to Him. But there is only one way of coming to Him, and we must have faith to use that way. He that died and lives for ever saith, “I am the way. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” He that cometh to God must believe in God as he is revealed, and must come to God as God reveals the way of approach; and this is an exertion of faith. The faith of Christ is the only way through which we can reach beyond ourselves toward Him. This coming is essential and exclusive to the chosen of God. This is our response of obedience to His invitation. This is genuine faith, accepting His His invitation personal calling, having a centrality of focus on the true and living God alone. The words of our faith declare that God is. Genuinely coming to God says with our actions that “YOU ARE”, and we believe it even though we do not see Him with our fleshly eyes. To believe that God is, or that He exists, is only the entrance into a faith relationship with Him. This faith must grow to rest upon the fact that God not only exists, but He is everything that He says He was, is, and shall forever be. Only on this level of growth can our faith rest in the truth that God is whatever He says He is to us personally and that the vast resources of who He is has been promised and made available to all who come to Him through faith in the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior. Faith not only embraces the fact that “GOD IS” in His existence, but “GOD IS” in His presence with us. Our faith must rest on the reality of His personal presence in us that He will never forsake us. Faith is so important that it is only by faith in Jesus Christ that we are saved from eternal separation from God and that we are enabled to live this life victoriously. God knows the thoughts He has toward us. He has an expected end for His chosen people. God has a beautiful plan that He wants us to fulfill, but that purpose He has for us is something that is so vital, so vast that we cannot do it without God. That's why God asks us to trust Him - so we can do all that we are to do through and in Him. He knows that without the power of the Holy Spirit guiding us and the work of Christ motivating us, we will never be able to live faith to its fullness. And to live faith is to always be overcoming. To live faith is the conviction that produces righteous works. It is being convinced of the confidence that God has in our absolute submission to His will. Living faith is the revelation of the word of God reflecting His living in us. Living faith motivates conduct in agreement with God's purpose. There is a time when the testing of faith will be by the word of God. The hearts will be exposed to see whether we truly believe every word of God or is there something that is valued more. God finds pleasure in seeing us choose Him above all. Standing in faith proves to be one of the most firm ways to express to God how much we love Him. There is no other way that we honor God best than by means of our faith. It is a calamity to be commended in error because of family or friendship for it may prevent our becoming really commendable. What reason can we offer for missing the end of our creation. We shall not escape trial, for even the highest qualities must be tested, yet we shall find great peace in being the means for good to God. Our faith will rebuke and stimulate; will convince and invite. Our faith will teach transgressors God’s way, and sinners shall be converted unto Him. God's way Without faith it is impossible to please God. The word does not say it is difficult, or so needful that without it success is barely possible; but, point- blank, the word declares it to be “impossible.” When the Holy Spirit says that a thing is impossible, it is so, in a very absolute sense. We cannot please God by any invention of our own, however clever, nor by any opinion or belief of our own, however ardent; since infallible inspiration declares that, “without faith it is impossible to please God.” Without faith how would we commune with God. Without the eye of faith we have no reasoning with God in those sacred truths concerning eternal things which only faith can perceive. Without faith, the man himself is not pleasing to God. Want of faith in one word of God will create variance on many points. The desire to come to God, the way to come to God, the power to come to God, the actual coming to God - these are all gifts of sovereign grace. Coming to God, however feebly gifts we come, and seeking Him, however much else we miss, must be well- pleasing in His sight; for it is the result of His own purpose and election which we are in Christ Jesus before the world began. But all this hangs upon faith. And faith says that what God would have me do I will do it in happily in fellowship with others, or alone by myself, as the case may be; but do it I must. Given the absolute reality of God being God and God's fullness being found in Christ, this is what faith has to be. This is the end of the argument. This is the bottom of the reasoning. We should say it like this: what pleases God is that our hearts and minds display God's being. That we display God's existence and His excellence. That we display how real He is and how rewarding He is. This is what pleases God, and this is faith. In Him we are assured of everything we hope for, convinced of all things to be seen. Though He is the great unseen God who exists absolutely and does not depend on us in the least, we have His substance as us in Jesus Christ. Faith is vulnerable. Be wary of the subtle encroachments of the world and sin and error. Vigilance and endurance are crucial for the soul. The spiritual nature of faith and the vitality of faith is rooted in what God is like, not what we are like. If we would have our faith be strong, we must have the mind of Christ. And God's existence and fullness will be wonderfully displayed in our life.

There is an interesting and convicting illustration of both a stronger form of mutual affection in association and accountability that passes the natural relationship. The carnal mind cannot learn this, and it is one of the hardest things for the worldly to comprehend. It is a spiritual truth spoken from inspiration that is intent upon bringing forth a more effective reasoning with God between two human relationships. Discernment can see the connections to life that this principle contains. Proverbs 27:17 Hear first the acknowledgment that the one becomes sharper with the presence of the other. The interaction of the two is worthwhile only when truth is loved and the desire to improve not self-centered. This interaction creates a spark that when blown upon by the Holy Spirit becomes a fire for God. It is God’s people questioning, encouraging, counseling, and challenging each other. We strengthen our faith and improve our characters. Even our attitude and outward expressions show a faithful countenance in God. Proverbs 27:5, 6 Hear how man’s best friend loved those he came to save presents truth in love. If we know this concept to be true, we are able to receive the counsel of one who has a godly appreciation of heart for our interest. Matthew 23:13-39 We can choose to rub off the hard edges. There are times when sharpening conversations can come across as harsh, mean, or judgmental. But if there is peace and love motivating the care between two, let others observe. Emotion must be vacant in our accountability. Iron sharpening iron requires a level of accountability or a personal inclination guided by the spirit of God to allow significant others to come close enough into our lives so as to see the vulnerability. The principle of accountability is our consent for another to come close in helpful and real conversations that grow out of growing and loving in Christlikeness for the truth is this…that both irons become better for the service of God from the presence of that which truly sharpens. Hebrews 4:12 God can and will use the “iron sharpening iron” process for His people to help us in our walk for Him. But, most certainly God will use the convicting power of His Holy Spirit and the word of God to rebuke us of the sinful and harmful practices that we hold on to in our lives. And the most needed tool for the sharpening is the Word of God. Words are singularly the most powerful force available to humanity. We can choose to use this force constructively with words of encouragement, or destructively using words of despair. Words have energy and power with the ability to help, to heal, to hinder, to hurt, to harm, to humiliate and to humble. Imagine reading the bible as a matter-of-fact document in a neutral tone. Now, imagine reading the word of God with a subjective tone that describes approaches, judgments, or beliefs. The details are likely to include experiences, senses, thoughts, and comprehension. The subjective is personal, commanding a higher level of expression. Tone reflects both the attitude and the purpose of reasoning together. The word of God is given us that we might reason with Him. The word informs us of truth and convinces us of obedience. Spiritually mature followers of Christ hear truth and the tone carries the consideration and appreciation for God’s mindfulness in our growth. Words of truth and enthusiastic tones give shape and life to solidifying peace and compassion between the irons as character is merited. God never just points out weaknesses without providing a solution. God’s word will help us to go on living “in righteousness.” It is with the strongest of earnestness that we never dull the word of God with human passion. We are to exhort one another into a closer walk with our Lord. But our walk must stay us in the Word of God where our loving and gracious heavenly Father gives us truth strategies that we may be overcomers. As the body of Christ, the people of God, we remember that part of our job is to sharpen other brothers and sisters in Christ so that the flame in their hearts, put there by the Holy Spirit, continues to burn. And hopefully it will not be able to be contained in their lives. But in this emotionally centered world this is viewed as “hard sayings”. Fear replaces caring concern to speak truth into each others’ lives. Fear of fiery deliberation keeps those who say they are of God from being as though they are. Some are not familiar with the scenario whereby the Holy Spirit produces fire in the bones. SOP - Whenever the message of truth comes home to souls with special power, Satan stirs up his agents to start a dispute over some minor question. Thus he seeks to attract attention from the real issue. Whenever a good work is begun, there are cavilers ready to enter into dispute over forms or technicalities, to draw minds away from the living realities. When it appears that God is about to work in a special manner for His people, let them not be enticed into a controversy that will work only ruin of souls. The questions that most concern us are, Do I believe with saving faith on the Son of God? Is my life in harmony with the divine law? “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life.” “And hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.” John 3:36; 1 John 2:3. {DA 396.3} Let’s examine further depths of querying points affecting God’s wisdom of iron sharpening iron. Please note how many irons are mentioned. Right and wrong can be debated. Left and right can be reversed. Yea and nay are discernible. Black and white are shades. Divine timing…is it right or wrong to take a life, is left and right the same in every direction, can yea and nay answer the same question, can black be white in monochrome? Divine timing is a determinant for righteousness. Everything good happens in divine timing. It is before human awareness. It is when human injection or non- spiritual influence is favored. When divine timing is trusted and believed it can make a huge difference. It takes spiritual practice to trust more in divine timing than in what you think or feel. Because what you think or feel is of you. There is always a lesson that can be learned from everything. And to do the right thing at the wrong time may cause a stumbling or even a complete fall. God does not let any thing happen that does not first go through Him. Not through “a you”, but Him. There are many who think when things are not going as they think they should interfere. Their perception may be 100% on, but their timing may not allow the sharpening to take place. Know the signs of divine timing. Patience allows things to come to fruition. Now understand, please do not use divine timing for spiritual bypassing. If you use any reference to you as cause for your injection then you divert the time. If you are not an iron…wait on the Lord. Any action taken must be inspired so as to be void of private interpretation. Know that in the iron sharpening the iron is needed force and heat. And certainly know that it is the refiner that wields the force and the spirit the heat. Know that the refiner uses one as the hammer to smooth out the rough texture of resistance of the other. The only way to sharpen an iron is to use an iron with a different edge or texture, and that is an important point. Although believers often emphasize the “like iron” part of this verse as meaning two similarly strong believers, this verse does not promote uniformity. The iron that sharpens iron must be wielded by the same refiner yet different in function. Desire that God encourages you to surround yourself with strong believers who can sharpen you, as well as those who are different enough to shape you by means of friction. That is to say, we need friends whose wisdom, whose willingness to say difficult things, or whose different perspectives will provide the grit with which God can remove dull edges. This may mean exposing ourselves to differing manner of voices. Everyone in the camp can’t some cannot see what motivates the affection coming from other tents. In some cases it may take a “tribe”. Be patient, allow the process to do its work. Let God choose how much friction is needed to do that in my life that I will be a “tool” that is fit for His use. If all iron is alike wherein is the sharpening made possible? Surrounding ourselves with godly people who serve in our lives both as encouragers and correctors is a good thing. They may be used to sharpen our lives by faithfully helping us see some of the rough areas that are not yet as well-honed as God wants them to be. When we have one or more of these people in our life, we ought to thank God that He has seen fit to bring them to us to help sharpen us into tools that fit for God’s purposes. May we be as strong as iron in our faith and yet different enough to be a sanctifying friend in the life. May we be of a mutual action giving advantage to one another. May our functioning be as a two-edged sword for God.

There is a most dreary subject and a mournful theme approaching. It is referred to as the last days. As great as were the woes of our Redeemer, with sacred patience he endured and as severe will be our last days, we must enter agonizingly into our expiring suffering with this hope; that God will bring us through our Gethsemane experience. Our sorrow will birth in travail and sow in tears. But, oh how the double reflection of our sorrow will know the recompense and the fellowship in its finishing. Sorrow Our sorrowing will be expressed very emphatically in our peculiarity. A bitter cup is forthcoming. And in the singularly harmony of our character there will be one quality predominated…our faith. Excessive weight will press upon our spirit. We will be warriors in black armor. Search yourself…what burdens have you to bear? The subject of our sorrows will be our Jesus and he will be the comfort in the tossing that compasses us. No greater tribute can be shown for God than to accept affliction for His glory. In all our attitudes in knowing the consolation of Jesus, we will be a people of sorrow valuing reproach more than pleasure. We will walk wearily in the fullness of our woes as our characters emit the sweetest perfume, for there is no better balm, no surer remedy than the life that bled on that tree. In Christ our griefs are light that brighten the shadow of death. For in our mourning we are in communion with him who has known affliction. We will not stray but will keep our sorrow close, knowing there is everything important in it. We are the last to keep the Sabbath holy in time. Angels will camp around us as men hide their faces in contempt. We are a mystery of godliness…some better thing. Our place of highness in the heaven is assured as we humblingly take our place as the lowliest of the least. We remember Jesus Christ, the real and substantial God. We must have a sorrow that is absent from sin differing in no respect from that of our human Savior save that he was never defiled by sin. There is no greater sorrow than when there is no admixture of sin. If our sorrowing is of God, then sin must become the source of wretchedness to us. Jesus was made in our likeness that we may regard his humanity in its perfectness and think on him in that aspect honoring him in our sorrow. This condescending participation in our nature brings our Jesus very near to us in relationship and this matchless man, suffering in sorrow, and sorrowing in suffering, found joy in God’s redemption of us. Our eyes are wet with tears of sorrow, tears of pity, tears of thankfulness as we gaze into that deep gash in his side. That wound shows us his heart for us and how he was so excited with compassion in making amends for us with his Father, our Father. I know in our sorrow we tremble, and in our mourning we abound in weakness, but in this we touch his sympathy for we are in his presence and we can ask for no greater place to be. We are always beneath his eye. And as the Father looked upon him, the Father was also looking upon us. Don’t look at self, look at the cross. Our groaning is not in vain, neither will it be long. Our sorrow is going to rack us in much pang. We will experience a sufficient hell as long as we are among the wicked. Their shameful deeds of vice seize us with dismay today. But know that you are not alone; Jesus is a fellow- feeling who in every season comforts beyond mortal endurance. In our sorrow we know his sorrow was greater. In our grieving we know his grief was surpassing. In our repining we know he fainted not. Jesus could see sin where we cannot see it and feel its heinousness as we cannot feel it. In this last day, assuredly, we can bear poverty, slander, contempt, bodily pain, sorrow or death itself, because Jesus Christ our Lord has borne it. By his humiliation it shall become pleasure to sorrow for his sake. For this cause, we surrender our life to Christ. He enables us to bear our sorrows. Our sorrow deepens even further with the painful sensitiveness of the evil of sin, for sin deserves sorrow, as we graciously offer tenderness towards the sorrows of others. In this last day the descending spirit of the people will show us as women and men most miserable. Our sorrow will not be a common thing as we are moved to sympathy in love for others in grief who are saddened by the effects of sin. Many, many will forsake us, but our sorrow will not leave us till our Lord comes. Be ready! Our sorrow grows as we actively struggle to obey. Our sorrow grows as we passively sit still and cry not. Our sorrow grows as we weep in memory the times we failed to witness for God. Our bitterest sorrow will be connected with the work. We are sent of God to announce His love and His truth and the people will reject this offered advantage. We will teach and hearts will be hardened…we sorrow. We will do God’s good and they will hate us…we sorrow. We will sacrifice for them and they will transact our demise…we sorrow. We see the midnight of trouble and prepare for the winepress; crowning sorrow in this life. Lastly we say, here are we, servants to the man of sorrows having not just hurt, but a profound sadness because the world rejoices. John 16:20 The prophecy of approaching sorrow is sure, the word about a subsequent joy is even more certain. Out of the sorrow of our souls we will be satisfied.