Our Duty to the World
“God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son.”
He “sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that
the world through Him might be saved.”
John 3:16, 17
. The love of
God embraces all mankind. Christ, in giving the commission to the
disciples, said: “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to
every creature.”
Mark 16:15
.
Christ intended that a greater work should be done in behalf of
men than we have yet seen. He did not intend that such large numbers
should choose to stand under the banner of Satan and be enrolled as
rebels against the government of God. The world’s Redeemer did not
design that His purchased inheritance should live and die in their sins.
Why, then, are so few reached and saved? It is because so many of
those who profess to be Christians are working in the same lines as the
great apostate. Thousands who know not God might today be rejoicing
in His love if those who claim to serve Him would work as Christ
worked.
The blessings of salvation, temporal as well as spiritual, are for all
mankind. There are many who complain of God because the world
is so full of want and suffering; but God never meant that this misery
should exist. He never meant that one man should have an abundance
of the luxuries of life, while the children of others cry for bread. The
Lord is a God of benevolence. He has made ample provision for
the wants of all, and through His representatives, to whom He has
entrusted His goods, He designs that the needs of all His creatures
shall be supplied.
Let those who believe the word of the Lord read the instruction
contained in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. There they will learn what
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kind of education was given to the families of Israel. While God’s
chosen people were to stand forth distinct and holy, separate from the
nations that knew Him not, they were to treat the stranger kindly. He
was not to be looked down upon because he was not of Israel. The
Israelites were to love the stranger because Christ died as verily to
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