God chooses as his workmen men of different gifts and varied abilities. It is his purpose that these workers shall unite with one another in their labor. All selfishness is to be cast out of their hearts. If it is allowed to developed, it will spring up in a root of bitterness, whereby many shall be defiled.
(RH November 5, 1903, Art. A, 1)
When a crisis comes, there is need of men of deep experience in the things of God, men who can carry the work forward with tact and forethought and skill. Those who allow themselves to be leavened by influences that endanger their spirituality are unfitting themselves to be used by God as men of opportunity. God calls for men who are prepared to meet emergencies, men who in a crisis will not be found standing on the wrong side, warring against God, full of wrath and bitterness. Great weakness is brought to his cause by men who, at the very time when they should be quick to discern the specious devising of Satan, are helping him to carry on his work by giving up to the power of his delusions, closing their eyes to light and truth.
(RH November 5, 1903, Art. A, 2)
We are not to conceal the truth for this time. It is to stand forth in its power and purity. The trumpet is to give a certain sound; for there are those who, though they have long known the truth, need to be awakened. They have closed their eyes to the result of walking contrary to the light that God has given.
(RH November 5, 1903, Art. A, 3)
We are living in the last days of this earth's history, and God calls upon those who have an understanding of the truth for this time to pray, to believe, to stand fast in the faith, proclaiming the message of mercy to be given to the world. My brethren, I pray most earnestly “that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness.”
(RH November 5, 1903, Art. A, 4)
There are those who today are standing in perilous places, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. From this time on, Satan will bring in deceptive influences of every kind. True, stanch, whole-hearted believers are needed; men who are not fashioned after a worldly mold, but who see and realize that it is at this time that Satan's power will be exercised through believers who have not kept the beginning of their confidence firm unto the end.
(RH November 5, 1903, Art. A, 5)
Workers are needed who understand that the warnings given in the Word of God are appropriate for this time. Shall we not pray and watch unto prayer, and see that we need to be re-converted? God's purpose for us is that we shall be constantly “increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness.”
(RH November 5, 1903, Art. A, 6)
At this time we need men who are as true as steel to principle. We need the help of every one who has had an experience in the giving of the first and second angels’ messages.
(RH November 5, 1903, Art. A, 7)
There are those who have so linked themselves with the world that they have lost the knowledge of God, and are departing from the faith. How glad we should be to say to all such ones, “And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: if ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard.”
(RH November 5, 1903, Art. A, 8)
Paul wrote these words to the Colossians, and he continues:
(RH November 5, 1903, Art. A, 9)
“Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church: whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: whereunto I also labor, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.”
(RH November 5, 1903, Art. A, 10)
There is now need of unity; and there will be unity. Those who have greatly hindered the cause of God, and have caused heavy burdens to rest upon their fellow laborers, because they have lost their bearings, will either humble their proud hearts, and be converted, or they will be moved out of the way! The warning comes:
(RH November 5, 1903, Art. A, 11)
“As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power.”
(RH November 5, 1903, Art. A, 12)
Amid the temptations that abound in these last days, some will depart from the faith. Those who have been trying to quench their thirst at broken cisterns, which can hold no water, will have a misleading message to proclaim. They will speak smooth things. It is now, just now, that genuine gospel medical missionary work is to be done by men who acknowledge Christ as their Master; who realize, as did Elijah and Jeremiah, that they hold their commission from God, and that they are accountable to God for the use made of the talents entrusted to them. God's workers are to acknowledge no earthly master. One higher than men, even he who is the way, the truth, and the life, is their Master.
(RH November 5, 1903, Art. A, 13)
Men are needed who can speak intelligently of the sacredness and the importance of the truth; men who can point their fellow men to the needs of the present hour; men who have an inspiring message to bear against perverted principle; who watch for souls as they that must give an account, pointing souls to God's standard of righteousness.
(RH November 5, 1903, Art. A, 14)
Many who have known the truth, but who have not cherished its principles in their hearts, will become leavened with evil. This evil they do not discern. In word and act they say, “Speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits.” We are now to call things by their right names. No longer are we to look upon unrighteousness as righteousness. Let every one now be prepared to lift up the standard of truth. We are to have no fellowship with the worldly practises that have perverted the faith of some who have enjoyed great privileges, and who should now be standing on vantage-ground.
(RH November 5, 1903, Art. A, 15)
We are to respond to God's call to take a decided stand for truth and righteousness. No longer are we to bind up with worldly elements. The leaders in God's work are not to be men who do not know God, who have no experimental knowledge of God. They are to be men who love and fear God and Christ; otherwise, they must be relieved of their responsibilities.
(RH November 5, 1903, Art. A, 16)
The Twelve Spies
(Concluded.) EGW
In their rebellion the people had exclaimed, “Would God we had died in this wilderness!” Now this prayer was to be granted. The Lord declared: “As ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you: your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward.... But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised.” And of Caleb he said, “My servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.” As the spies had spent forty days in their journey, so the hosts of Israel were to wander in the wilderness forty years.
(RH November 5, 1903, 1)
When Moses made known to the people the divine decision, their rage was changed to mourning. They knew that their punishment was just. The ten unfaithful spies, divinely smitten by the plague, perished before the eyes of all Israel; and in their fate the people read their own doom.
(RH November 5, 1903, 2)
Now they seemed sincerely to repent of their sinful conduct; but they sorrowed because of the result of their evil course, rather than from a sense of their ingratitude and disobedience. When they found that the Lord did not relent in his decree, their self-will again arose, and they declared that they would not return into the wilderness. In commanding them to retire from the land of their enemies, God tested their apparent submission, and proved that it was not real. They knew that they had deeply sinned in allowing their rash feelings to control them, and in seeking to slay the spies who had urged them to obey God; but they were only terrified to find that they had made a fearful mistake, the consequences of which would prove disastrous to themselves. Their hearts were unchanged, and they only needed an excuse to occasion a similar outbreak. This presented itself when Moses, by the authority of God, commanded them to go back into the wilderness.
(RH November 5, 1903, 3)
The decree that Israel was not to enter Canaan for forty years was a bitter disappointment to Moses and Aaron, Caleb and Joshua; yet without a murmur they accepted the divine decision. But those who had been complaining of God's dealings with them, and declaring that they would return to Egypt, wept and mourned greatly when the blessings which they had despised were taken from them. They had complained at nothing, and now God gave them cause to weep. Had they mourned for their sin when it was faithfully laid before them, this sentence would not have been pronounced; but they mourned for the judgment; their sorrow was not repentance, and could not secure a reversing of their sentence.
(RH November 5, 1903, 4)
The night was spent in lamentation; but with the morning came a hope. They resolved to redeem their cowardice. When God had bidden them go up and take the land, they had refused; and now when he directed them to retreat, they were equally rebellious. They determined to seize upon the land and possess it; it might be that God would accept their work and change his purpose toward them.
(RH November 5, 1903, 5)
God had made it their privilege and their duty to enter the land at the time of his appointment; but through their willful neglect that permission had been withdrawn. Satan had gained his object in preventing them from entering Canaan; and now he urged them on to do the very thing, in the face of the divine prohibition, which they had refused to do when God required it. Thus the great deceiver gained the victory by leading them to rebellion the second time. They had distrusted the power of God to work with their efforts in gaining possession of Canaan: yet now they presumed upon their own strength to accomplish the work independent of divine aid. “We have sinned against the Lord,” they cried; “we will go up and fight, according to all that the Lord our God commanded us.” So terribly blinded had they become by transgression. The Lord had never commanded them to “go up and fight.” It was not his purpose that they should gain the land by warfare, but by strict obedience to his commands.
(RH November 5, 1903, 6)
Though their hearts were unchanged, the people had been brought to confess the sinfulness and folly of their rebellion at the report of the spies. They now saw the value of the blessing which they had so rashly cast away. They confessed that it was their own unbelief which had shut them out from Canaan. “We have sinned,” they said, acknowledging that the fault was in themselves, and not in God, whom they had so wickedly charged with failing to fulfill his promises to them. Though their confession did not spring from true repentance, it served to vindicate the justice of God in his dealings with them.
(RH November 5, 1903, 7)
The Lord still works in a similar manner to glorify his name by bringing men to acknowledge his justice. When those who profess to love him complain of his providence, despise his promises, and, yielding to temptation, unite with evil angels to defeat the purposes of God, the Lord often so overrules circumstances as to bring these persons where, though they may have no real repentance, they will be convinced of their sin, and will be constrained to acknowledge the wickedness of their course, and the justice and goodness of God in his dealings with them. It is thus that God sets counter-agencies at work to make manifest the works of darkness. And though the spirit which prompted to the evil course is not radically changed, confessions are made that vindicate the honor of God, and justify his faithful reprovers, who have been opposed and misrepresented. Thus it will be when the wrath of God shall be finally poured out. When “the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints to execute judgment upon all,” he will also “convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds.” Every sinner will be brought to see and acknowledge the justice of his condemnation.
(RH November 5, 1903, 8)
Regardless of the divine sentence, the Israelites prepared to undertake the conquest of Canaan. Equipped with armor and weapons of war, they were, in their own estimation, fully prepared for conflict; but they were sadly deficient in the sight of God and his sorrowful servants. When, nearly forty years later, the Lord directed Israel to go up and take Jericho, he promised to go with them. The ark containing his law was borne before their armies. His appointed leaders were to direct their movements, under the divine supervision. With such guidance, no harm could come to them. But now, contrary to the command of God and the solemn prohibition of their leaders, without the ark, and without Moses, they went out to meet the armies of the enemy.
(RH November 5, 1903, 9)
The trumpet sounded an alarm, and Moses hastened after them with the warning, “Wherefore now do ye transgress the commandment of the Lord? But it shall not prosper. Go not up, for the Lord is not among you; that ye be not smitten before your enemies. For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and ye shall fall by the sword.”
(RH November 5, 1903, 10)
The Canaanites had heard of the mysterious power that seemed to be guarding this people, and of the wonders wrought in their behalf; and they now summoned a strong force to repel the invaders. The attacking army had no leader. No prayer was offered that God would give them the victory. They set forth with the desperate purpose to reverse their fate or to die in battle. Though untrained in war, they were a vast multitude of armed men, and they hoped by a sudden and fierce assault to bear down all opposition. They presumptuously challenged the foe that had not dared to attack them.
(RH November 5, 1903, 11)
The Canaanites had stationed themselves upon a rocky tableland reached only by difficult passes and a steep and dangerous ascent. The immense numbers of the Hebrews could only render their defeat more terrible. They slowly threaded the mountain paths, exposed to the deadly missiles of their enemies above. Massive rocks came thundering down, marking their path with the blood of the slain. Those who reached the summit, exhausted with their ascent, were fiercely repulsed, and driven back with great loss. The field of carnage was strewn with the bodies of the dead. The army of Israel was utterly defeated. Destruction and death was the result of that rebellious experiment.
(RH November 5, 1903, 12)
Forced to submission at last, the survivors “returned, and wept before the Lord;” but “the Lord would not hearken to their voice.” By their signal victory, the enemies of Israel, who had before awaited with trembling the approach of that mighty host, were inspired with confidence to resist them. All the reports they had heard concerning the marvelous things that God had wrought for his people, they now regarded as false, and they felt that there was no cause for fear. That first defeat of Israel, by inspiring the Canaanites with courage and resolution, had greatly increased the difficulties of the conquest. Nothing remained for Israel but to fall back from the face of their victorious foes, into the wilderness, knowing that here must be the grave of a whole generation.—Patriarchs and Prophets, 391-394.
(RH November 5, 1903, 13)