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Depend on Our Divine Advocate, March 2
Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the
inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you,
having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.
Revelation 12:12
, NKJV.
Those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus will feel
the ire of the dragon and his hosts. Satan numbers the world as his subjects; he
has gained control of the apostate churches. But here is a little company that are
resisting his supremacy. If he could blot them from the earth, his triumph would
be complete. As he influenced the heathen nations to destroy Israel, so in the near
future he will stir up the wicked powers of earth to destroy the people of God. All
will be required to render obedience to human edicts in violation of the divine
law. Those who will be true to God and to duty will be menaced, denounced, and
proscribed. They will be betrayed “both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks,
and friends.”
Their only hope is in the mercy of God; their only defense will be prayer. As
Joshua was pleading before the Angel, so the remnant church, with brokenness of
heart and earnest faith, will plead for pardon and deliverance through Jesus their
Advocate. They are fully conscious of the sinfulness of their lives, they see their
weakness and unworthiness; and as they look upon themselves, they are ready to
despair.
The tempter stands by to accuse them, as he stood by to resist Joshua. He points
to their filthy garments, their defective characters. He presents their weakness and
folly, their sins of ingratitude, their unlikeness to Christ, which has dishonored
their Redeemer. He endeavors to affright the soul with the thought that their case is
hopeless, that the stain of their defilement will never be washed away. He hopes
so to destroy their faith that they will yield to his temptations, turn from their
allegiance to God, and receive the mark of the beast....
While the followers of Christ have sinned, they have not given themselves to the
control of evil. They have put away their sins, and have sought the Lord in humility
and contrition, and the divine Advocate pleads in their behalf. He who has been
most abused by their ingratitude, who knows their sin, and also their repentance,
declares, “The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan. I gave My life for these souls. They are
graven upon the palms of My hands.”—
The Review and Herald, January 9, 1908
.
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