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Christ’s Object Lessons
looked for them to honor Him by yielding fruit. They were to reveal
the principles of His kingdom. In the midst of a fallen, wicked world
they were to represent the character of God.
As the Lord’s vineyard they were to produce fruit altogether dif-
ferent from that of the heathen nations. These idolatrous peoples had
given themselves up to work wickedness. Violence and crime, greed,
oppression, and the most corrupt practices, were indulged without re-
straint. Iniquity, degradation, and misery were the fruits of the corrupt
tree. In marked contrast was to be the fruit borne on the vine of God’s
planting.
It was the privilege of the Jewish nation to represent the character
of God as it had been revealed to Moses. In answer to the prayer of
Moses, “Show me Thy glory,” the Lord promised, “I will make all My
goodness pass before thee.”
Exodus 33:18, 19
. “And the Lord passed
by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and
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gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping
mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.”
Exodus 34:6, 7
. This was the fruit that God desired from His people.
In the purity of their characters, in the holiness of their lives, in their
mercy and loving-kindness and compassion, they were to show that
“the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.”
Psalm 19:7
.
Through the Jewish nation it was God’s purpose to impart rich
blessings to all peoples. Through Israel the way was to be prepared
for the diffusion of His light to the whole world. The nations of the
world, through following corrupt practices, had lost the knowledge of
God. Yet in His mercy God did not blot them out of existence. He
purposed to give them opportunity for becoming acquainted with Him
through His church. He designed that the principles revealed through
His people should be the means of restoring the moral image of God
in man.
It was for the accomplishment of this purpose that God called
Abraham out from his idolatrous kindred and bade him dwell in the
land of Canaan. “I will make of thee a great nation,” He said, “and I
will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing.”
Genesis 12:2
.
The descendants of Abraham, Jacob and his posterity, were brought
down to Egypt that in the midst of that great and wicked nation they
might reveal the principles of God’s kingdom. The integrity of Joseph