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Faithful, Earnest Warnings
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mistakes if they allow their minds to be molded by another power,
and pursue a course in resistance to the Holy Spirit. The Lord
Jesus, represented by the Holy Spirit, was in the presence of that
assembly, but they did not discern Him. For a moment they had felt
the conviction of the Spirit, that Jesus was the Son of God; but they
stifled conviction, and became more blind and hardened than before.
Even after they had crucified the Saviour, God in His mercy had sent
them additional evidence in the works wrought through the apostles.
He was giving them another call to repentance, even in the terrible
charge brought against them by the apostles, that they had killed the
Prince of life.
It was not alone the sin of putting to death the Son of God
that cut them off from salvation, but their persistence in rejecting
light and the conviction of the Holy Spirit. The spirit that works
in the children of disobedience worked in them, leading them to
abuse the men through whom God was giving a testimony to them.
The malignity of rebellion reappeared, and was intensified in every
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successive act of resistance against God’s servants and the message
He had given them to declare.
Resistance of Truth
Every act of resistance makes it harder to yield. Being the leaders
of the people, the priests and rulers felt it incumbent on them to
defend the course they had taken. They must prove that they had
been in the right. Having committed themselves in opposition to
Christ, every act of resistance became an additional incentive to
persist in the same path. The events of their past career of opposition
are as precious treasures to be jealously guarded. And the hatred
and malignity that inspired those acts are concentrated against the
apostles.
The spirit of God revealed its presence unto those who, irrespec-
tive of the fear or favor of men, declared the truth which had been
committed to them. Under the demonstration of the Holy Spirit’s
power, the Jews saw their guilt in refusing the evidence that God
had sent; but they would not yield their wicked resistance. Their
obstinacy became more and more determined, and worked the ruin
of their souls. It was not that they could not yield, for they could, yet