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Testimonies for the Church Volume 4
Me. I have sent also unto you all My servants the prophets, rising up
early and sending them, saying, Return ye now every man from his
evil way, and amend your doings, and go not after other gods to serve
them, and ye shall dwell in the land which I have given to you and to
your fathers: but ye have not inclined your ear, nor hearkened unto
Me. Because the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have performed
the commandment of their father, which he commanded them; but this
people hath not hearkened unto Me; therefore thus saith the Lord God
of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon Judah and upon
all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the evil that I have pronounced
against them: because I have spoken unto them, but they have not
heard; and I have called unto them, but they have not answered.
“And Jeremiah said unto the house of the Rechabites, Thus saith
the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Because ye have obeyed the
commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept all his precepts, and
done according unto all that he hath commanded you: therefore thus
saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Jonadab the son of Rechab
shall not want a man to stand before Me forever.”
The Rechabites were commended for their ready and willing obe-
dience, while God’s people refused to be reproved by their prophets.
Because He had spoken unto them but they had not heard, because
He had called unto them but they had not answered, therefore God
pronounced judgment against them. Jeremiah repeated the words
of commendation from the Lord to the faithful Rechabites and pro-
nounced blessings upon them in His name. Thus God taught His
people that faithfulness, and obedience to His requirements, would be
reflected back upon them in blessings, as the Rechabites were blessed
for their obedience to their father’s command.
If the directions of a good and wise father, who took the best
and most effectual means to secure his posterity against the evil of
intemperance, were to be so strictly obeyed, God’s authority should be
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held in as much greater reverence as He is holier than man. He is our
Creator and commander, infinite in power and terrible in judgment. In
mercy He employs a variety of means to bring men to see and repent
of their sins. If they will continue to disregard the reproofs He sends
them, and act contrary to His declared will, ruin must follow; for God’s
people are kept in prosperity only by His mercy, through the care of