The Word of God.—No. 2

Notes

1. "A prophet, in the Bible, is a man, then, in whose mouth God puts the words which He wishes to be heard on earth; and it was further by allusion to the fulness of this meaning that God said to Moses that Aaron would be his prophet unto Pharaoh, according as He had told him: 'He shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God.' Mark, in Scripture, how the prophets testify of the Spirit that makes them speak, and of the wholly divine authority of their word; you will even find in their language one uniform definition of their office, and of their inspiration. They speak; it is, no doubt, their voice that makes itself heard; it is their person that is agitated; it is, no doubt, their soul also that often is moved; but their words are not only theirs; they are, at the same time, the words of Jehovah. 'The mouth of the Lord hath spoken;' 'the Lord hath spoken,' they say unceasingly."—Gaussen.

2. The record of the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness and of the use of the Scripture by Jesus and Satan in that conflict furnishes an instructive example of the right and the wrong use of the Word of God. Jesus turned to the injunction to worship and serve only the one God as means of saving Himself from going contrary to the will of His Father in acknowledging the supremacy of the usurper, but Satan quoted the Lord's promise of a watchful care over His children as a sufficient reason for acceding to his suggestion to tempt God. The one used the Word of God as a defense against sin, the other as an excuse for committing sin. The one displayed faith in the Word of God, the other showed presumption. Read Matt. 4:1-10, with these suggestions in mind.

3. The true significance of the movement in this generation which has resulted in weakening to such an alarming extent faith in the inspiration and authority of the Bible, and who the instigator of this movement really is, may be more clearly understood by reading the following extract: "The people of God are directed to the Scriptures as their safeguard against the influence of false teachers and the delusive power of spirits of darkness. Satan employs every possible device to prevent men from obtaining a knowledge of the Bible; for its plain utterances reveal his deceptions. At every revival of God's work, the prince of evil is aroused to more intense activity; he is now putting forth his utmost efforts for a final struggle against Christ and His followers. The last great delusion is soon to open before us. Antichrist is to perform his marvelous works in our sight. So closely will the counterfeit resemble the true, that it will be impossible to distinguish between them except by the Holy Scriptures. By their testimony every statement and every miracle must be tested."—Great Controversy, page 593.

General Note.—"Has the reader ever paid a visit to the astonishing organist, who so charmingly elicits the tourist's tears in the Cathedral at Freiburg, as he touches one after another his wondrous keys, and greets your ear by turns with the march of warriors on the river-side, the voice of prayer sent up from the lake during the fury of the storm, or of thanksgiving when it is hushed to rest? All your senses are electrified, for you seem to have seen all, and to have heard all. Well, then, it was thus that the Lord God, mighty in harmony, applied, as it were, the finger of His Spirit to the stops which He had chosen for the hour of His purpose, and for the unity of His celestial hymn. He had, from eternity, before Him all the human stops which He required; His Creator's eye embraces at a glance this range of keys stretching over threescore centuries; and when He would make known to our fallen world the everlasting counsel of His redemption, and the coming of the Son of God, He put His left hand on Enoch, the seventh man from Adam, and His right on John, the humble and sublime prisoner of Patmos. The celestial anthem, seven hundred years before the Flood, began with these words, 'Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment upon all;' but already, in the mind of God, and in the eternal harmony of His work, the voice of John had answered to that of Enoch, and closed the hymn three thousand years after him with these words, 'Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him!' ⟦'Even?⟧ so, come, Lord Jesus.' And during this hymn of thirty centuries the Spirit of God never ceased to breathe in all His messengers."—Gaussen.