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Jesus is Our Example, January 26
In a word, as God’s dear children, try to be like him.
Ephesians 5:1
, N.E.B.
God’s watchmen must not study how they shall please the people, nor listen to
their words and utter them; for they must listen to hear what saith the Lord, what
is His word for the people. If they rely upon discourses prepared years before,
they may fail to meet the necessities of the occasion. Their hearts should be laid
open so that the Lord may impress their minds, and then they will be able to give
the people the precious truth warm from heaven....
There is altogether too little of the Spirit and power of God in the labor of the
watchmen. The Spirit which characterized that wonderful meeting on the Day of
Pentecost is waiting to manifest its power upon the men who are now standing
between the living and the dead as ambassadors for God. The power which stirred
the people so mightily in the 1844 movement will again be revealed. The third
angel’s message will go forth, not in whispered tones, but with a loud voice.
Many who profess to have great light are walking in sparks of their own
kindling. They need to have their lips touched with a live coal from off the altar,
that they may pour forth the truth like men who are inspired....
Had Christ come in the majesty of a king, with the pomp which attends the
great men of earth, many would have accepted Him. But Jesus of Nazareth did not
dazzle the senses with a display of outward glory and make this the foundation of
their reverence. He came as a humble man to be the Teacher and Exemplar as well
as the Redeemer of the race. Had he encouraged pomp, had He come followed
by a retinue of the great men of earth, how could He have taught humility? how
could He have presented such burning truths as in His Sermon upon the Mount?
His example was such as He wished all His followers to imitate. Where would
have been the hope of the lowly in life had He come in exaltation and dwelt as a
king upon the earth?
Jesus knew the needs of the world better than they themselves knew. He did
not come as an angel, clothed with the panoply of heaven, but as a man. Yet
combined with His humility was an inherent power and grandeur that awed men
while they loved Him. Although possessing such loveliness, such an unassuming
appearance, He moved among them with the dignity and power of a heaven-born
king. The people were amazed, confounded. They tried to reason the matter out;
but, unwilling to renounce their own ideas, they yielded to doubts, clinging to the
old expectation of a Saviour to come in earthly grandeur.—
Testimonies for the
Church 5:252, 253
.
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