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The Cross is the Center, August 4
And I, if I be lifted up ..., will draw all men unto me.
John 12:32
.
The cross of Calvary challenges, and will finally vanquish every earthly and
hellish power. In the cross all influence centers, and from it all influence goes forth.
It is the great center of attraction; for on it Christ gave up His life for the human race.
This sacrifice was offered for the purpose of restoring man to his original perfection.
Yea, more, it was offered to give him an entire transformation of character, making
him more than a conqueror. Those who in the strength of Christ overcome the great
enemy of God and man will occupy a position in the heavenly courts above angels
who have never fallen.
Christ declares, “I, if I be lifted up ..., will draw all men unto me.” If the cross
does not find an influence in its favor, it creates an influence. Through generation
succeeding generation, the truth for this time is revealed as present truth. Christ on
the cross was the medium whereby mercy and truth met together, and righteousness
and peace kissed each other. This is the means that is to move the world.
In the plan of God, all the riches of heaven are to be drawn upon by men. Nothing
in the treasury of divine resources is deemed too costly to accompany the great gift
of the only begotten Son of God.... Christ was empowered to breathe into fallen
humanity the breath of life. Those who receive Him will never hunger, never thirst;
for greater joy than that found in Christ there cannot be. Study the words spoken by
the Saviour from the Mount of Blessing. How the divine nature shone through His
humanity as His lips uttered the benedictions upon those who were the objects of His
mercy and love. He blessed them with a fullness that showed that He was drawing
from the inexhaustible store of the richest treasures. The treasures of eternity were
at His command. The Father committed the riches of heaven to Him, and in the
disposal of them He knew no bound. Those who accept Him as their Saviour, their
Redeemer, the Prince of life, he acknowledges before the heavenly host, before the
worlds unfallen, and before the fallen world, as His peculiar treasure....
What is Christianity? God’s instrumentality for the conversion of the sinner.
Jesus will call to account everyone who is not brought under His control, who does
not demonstrate in his life the influence of the cross of Calvary. Christ should be
uplifted by those whom He has redeemed by dying on the cross a death of shame.
He who has felt the power of the grace of Christ has a story to tell. He seeks to put
in operation methods of work which will diffuse the gospel of Christ. Humanity,
drawing its efficiency from the great source of wisdom, is made the instrumentality,
the working agency, through which the gospel exercises its transforming power on
mind and heart (
Manuscript56, 1899
).
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