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The Spirit of Prophecy Volume 3
Life-giver, would call the dead that were united with him by faith from
the graves, and there would be a glorious harvest of ripe grain for the
heavenly garner. In the gospel of the death and resurrection of Christ,
and the resurrection of the dead, life and immortality are brought to
light, and the kingdom of Heaven is thrown open to all believers.
After Jesus had spoken of his own sufferings and death, he said,
“He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in
this world shall keep it unto life eternal. If any man serve me, let
him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be. If
any man serve me, him will my Father honor.” The Saviour does not
require his followers to travel in a path which he has not himself
passed over. Jesus endured shame, insult, and privation from the
manger to Calvary. Yet he looked beyond his agony in the garden, his
betrayal, the buffeting and scourging, the ignominy of being ranked
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with malefactors, and dying in anguish upon the cross, to the glorious
object of his mission, and the honor he should receive at his Father’s
right hand, where his true followers would finally be elevated with
him. All who had cherished the cross of Christ, and been sharers of
his sufferings, denying self and obeying God, should be partakers with
him of his glory. They who had for Christ’s sake lost their lives in this
world would preserve them unto life eternal. It was the joy of Christ in
his humiliation and pain that all his true disciples should be glorified
with him in Heaven.
Among the chief rulers were many who were convinced that Christ
was indeed the Messiah; but, in face of the angry priests and Pharisees,
they dared not confess their faith, lest they should be turned out of the
synagogue. They loved the praise of men more than the approval of
God; and to save themselves from reproach and shame, denied Christ,
and lost their only chance of eternal life. To this class the words of
Christ were specially applicable: “He that loveth his life shall lose it.”
The message of the Greeks, indicating as it did the breaking down
of the partition wall between Jew and Gentile, brought before Jesus his
entire mission, from the time when it was first decided in Heaven that
he should come to earth as man’s Redeemer, to the death that he knew
awaited him in the immediate future. A mysterious cloud seemed to
enshroud the Son of God. It was a gloom that was felt by those who
were in close contact with him. He sat wrapped in thought. At last the
silence was broken by his mournful voice: “Now is my soul troubled;