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He Is Always With Me, September 23
If I had not done among them the works which none other man did,
they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me
and my Father.
John 15:24
.
All Christ’s miracles were wrought to bless those whom these leading
Jews neglected and despised, and refused to help. And He was beloved [by
the common people] because He was the Restorer, the Great Physician. All
His graces were light from heaven. In every good work He sought to lead
them to accept Him as their personal Saviour. His life was fragrant, a savor
of life unto life. He brought sunshine into the heart and home. They came
to Him mourning, and left Him with songs of praise and glad rejoicing. He
offered Himself to them that they might give Him a home in their hearts.
And yet they [the Jewish leaders] would not receive Him. While they
claimed to keep the law, they denied it by their works. Having eyes they
saw not, because of the ignorance that was in them through the hardness
of their hearts. The impurity of their hearts, the defiling practices of their
lives, their selfishness, their envy, their jealousy, their evil surmising, their
transgression of the law of God, while they claimed to keep it, bore continual
testimony as to their character. By the fruit the tree was known. Christ laid
bare their true character. He declared that they were “teaching for doctrines
the commandments of men” (
Mark 7:7
). Again He says, “Ye know not the
scriptures, neither the power of God” (
chap. 12:24
).
“Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God” (
Matthew 5:8
).
How would they see God?—in the way that Enoch saw Him. They had
the privilege of walking and talking with God. By faith Enoch lived in the
presence of God three hundred years. By faith he saw the faith of Jesus. He
was taken into special favor with Him. The priests and rulers needed just such
an experience as Enoch had. They needed a continual sense of the presence
of God. O what riches of grace the Lord longed to bestow upon the favored
people of God. It is represented in the call to the supper prepared for them,
“All things are ready: come” (
chap. 22:4
).—
Manuscript 96, September 23,
1897
, “The Jew’s Rejection of Christ.”
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