36
The Desire of Ages
humiliation. Therefore they would not receive their Redeemer. He
was a sign that was spoken against.
“That the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.” In the light
of the Saviour’s life, the hearts of all, even from the Creator to the
prince of darkness, are revealed. Satan has represented God as selfish
and oppressive, as claiming all, and giving nothing, as requiring the
service of His creatures for His own glory, and making no sacrifice for
their good. But the gift of Christ reveals the Father’s heart. It testifies
that the thoughts of God toward us are “thoughts of peace, and not
of evil.”
Jeremiah 29:11
. It declares that while God’s hatred of sin
is as strong as death, His love for the sinner is stronger than death.
Having undertaken our redemption, He will spare nothing, however
dear, which is necessary to the completion of His work. No truth
essential to our salvation is withheld, no miracle of mercy is neglected,
no divine agency is left unemployed. Favor is heaped upon favor, gift
upon gift. The whole treasury of heaven is open to those He seeks to
save. Having collected the riches of the universe, and laid open the
resources of infinite power, He gives them all into the hands of Christ,
and says, All these are for man. Use these gifts to convince him that
there is no love greater than Mine in earth or heaven. His greatest
happiness will be found in loving Me.
At the cross of Calvary, love and selfishness stood face to face.
Here was their crowning manifestation. Christ had lived only to com-
fort and bless, and in putting Him to death, Satan manifested the
malignity of his hatred against God. He made it evident that the real
purpose of his rebellion was to dethrone God, and to destroy Him
through whom the love of God was shown.
By the life and the death of Christ, the thoughts of men also are
brought to view. From the manger to the cross, the life of Jesus was
a call to self-surrender, and to fellowship in suffering. It unveiled
the purposes of men. Jesus came with the truth of heaven, and all
who were listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit were drawn to Him.
The worshipers of self belonged to Satan’s kingdom. In their attitude
toward Christ, all would show on which side they stood. And thus
everyone passes judgment on himself.
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In the day of final judgment, every lost soul will understand the
nature of his own rejection of truth. The cross will be presented,
and its real bearing will be seen by every mind that has been blinded