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The Desire of Ages
When Jesus presented the testing truth that caused so many of His
disciples to turn back, He knew what would be the result of His words;
but He had a purpose of mercy to fulfill. He foresaw that in the hour of
temptation every one of His beloved disciples would be severely tested.
His agony in Gethsemane, His betrayal and crucifixion, would be to
them a most trying ordeal. Had no previous test been given, many who
were actuated by merely selfish motives would have been connected
with them. When their Lord was condemned in the judgment hall;
when the multitude who had hailed Him as their king hissed at Him and
reviled Him; when the jeering crowd cried, “Crucify Him!”—when
their worldly ambitions were disappointed, these self-seeking ones
would, by renouncing their allegiance to Jesus, have brought upon
the disciples a bitter, heart-burdening sorrow, in addition to their grief
and disappointment in the ruin of their fondest hopes. In that hour
of darkness, the example of those who turned from Him might have
carried others with them. But Jesus brought about this crisis while by
His personal presence He could still strengthen the faith of His true
followers.
Compassionate Redeemer, who in the full knowledge of the doom
that awaited Him, tenderly smoothed the way for the disciples, pre-
pared them for their crowning trial, and strengthened them for the final
test!
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