As I have been studying this past week’s Sabbath School lesson, I have been galvanized into action to do whatever I can to move God’s people forward. In the lessons about God’s people asking for a king, so they could be like the nations of the world and not have God rule directly over them, it was stated, “The loss of autonomy for God’s people today will persist until the close of time, when Christ is finally restored to His rightful place as our King.”

But actually, Christ must be fully restored as our King before the close of time, because the fact that He has been restored as our King is what allows the close of time to become a reality.

“When the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come.” Christ is waiting with longing desire for the manifestation of Himself in His church. When the character of Christ shall be perfectly reproduced in His people, then He will come to claim them as His own [##1|Ellen G. White, Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 69.##].

So now, just now, is the time, if we want to leave this sinful world, that God’s people must ensconce their King. Now, just now, is the time to decide that we will “do nothing in any line that will displease Him.” So that really, He is in fact our King, as opposed to others or our own selves. The apostle Paul asked: “Do I seek to please men? For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ” (Gal. 1:10). Jesus asked something very similar: “How can ye believe, which receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor that cometh from God only?” (John 5:44).

Again, from the apostle Paul: “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” (Rom. 6:16). “That through death He might destroy him that hath the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Heb. 2:14-15).

How shall the character of Christ be perfectly reproduced in His people? “The thoughts and feelings make up the moral character” [##2|——In Heavenly Places, p. 164.##]. If this is true of us, it must also be true of Christ. His thoughts and feelings make up His moral character. He has showed us His character in the ten commandments and also in the collective voice of Scripture as well as the writings of the Spirit of Prophecy. He has showed us what He thinks of so many things, and how He feels about them.

He has offered us Himself, an offering made so poignant in the invitation to the church of Laodicea: “Behold I stand at the door and knock, if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him, and sup with Him, and He with me” (Rev. 3:20). Those who accept this invitation have this promise: “As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God” (John 3:12). In the words of the modern prophet: “Those who see Christ in His true character, and receive Him into the heart, have everlasting life” [##3|——The Desire of Ages, p. 388.##].

Elsewhere she writes:

In ancient times God spoke to men by the mouth of prophets and apostles. In these days He speaks to them by the testimonies of His Spirit. There was never a time when God instructed His people more earnestly than He instructs them now concerning His will and the course that He would have them pursue” [##4|——Testimonies, vol. 4, p. 147.##].

The professed followers of Christ are no longer a separate and peculiar people. The line of demarcation is indistinct. The people are subordinating themselves to the world, to its practices, its customs, its selfishness. The church has gone over to the world in transgression of the law, when the world should have come over to the church in obedience to the law. Daily the church is being converted to the world” [##5|——Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 317.##].

Lest we think this refers solely to the churches outside Adventism, we must contemplate statements such as the following:

This is why the Lord cannot impart to His church the fullness of His blessing. To honor them in a distinguished manner before the world would be to put His seal upon their works, confirming their false representation of His character. When the church shall come out from the world, and be separate from its maxims, habits, and practices, the Lord Jesus will work with His people; He will pour a large measure of His Spirit upon them, and the world will know that the Father loves them. Will the people of God continue to be so stupefied with selfishness? His blessing hangs over them, but it cannot be bestowed in its fullness because they are so corrupted with the spirit and practices of the world…shall Christ continue to be misrepresented by our people? Shall the grace of God, the divine enlightenment, be shut away from His church, because of their lukewarmness? It will be, unless there is a most thorough seeking of God, renunciation of the world, and humbling of the soul before God. The converting power of God must pass through our churches [##6|——Ye Shall Receive Power, p. 290.##].

Conclusion

When you find men questioning the testimonies, finding fault with them, and seeking to draw people away from their influence, be assured that God is not at work through them. . . . Instead of beginning with their own hearts, and coming into harmony with pure principles of the gospel, they find fault and condemn the very means that God has chosen to fit up a people to stand in the day of the Lord [##7|——Selected Messages, vol. 1, p. 45.##].

Worldly conformity is hindered and made impossible through obedience to the plain, simple “Thus saith the Lord.” Gospel sanctification and transformation of soul, body, and spirit sends the feet of all such through the strait gate into the narrow way, the path cast up for the ransomed of the Lord to walk in. In cooperation with God, they work as Christ worked for the souls and bodies of their fellow men” [##8|——The Upward Look, p. 234.##].

This is a heartfelt plea to the people of God to read and study Scripture and the Spirit of Prophecy writings, and to conform their lives to the divine thoughts and feelings revealed there. Only then will God see His character in His people, and return to take them to Himself, thus bringing the present scene of misery to an end.

Any may contact me for brief topical studies to help prepare a people to meet their Lord.

REFERENCES

1. Ellen G. White, Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 69.

2. ----In Heavenly Places, p. 164.

3. ----The Desire of Ages, p. 388.

4. ----Testimonies, vol. 4, p. 147.

5. ----Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 317.

6. ----Ye Shall Receive Power, p. 290.

7. ----Selected Messages, vol. 1, p. 45.

8. ----The Upward Look, p. 234.