You shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. 2 Corinthians 6:18.

I have been bidden to call the attention of our people to the instruction given by the Lord to Israel regarding the importance of separation from the world….

Under David’s rule, the people of Israel gained strength and uprightness through obedience to God’s law. But the kings that followed strove for self-exaltation….

God bore long with them, calling them often to repentance. But they refused to hear, and at last God spoke in judgment, showing them how weak they were without Him. He saw that they were determined to have their own way, and He gave them into the hands of their enemies….

The alliances made by the Israelites with their heathen neighbors resulted in the loss of their identity as God’s peculiar people. They became leavened by the evil practices of those with whom they formed forbidden alliances. Affiliation with worldlings caused them to lose their first love and their zeal for God’s service. The advantages they sold themselves to gain brought only disappointment and caused the loss of many souls.

The experience of Israel will be the experience of all who go to the world for strength, turning away from the living God. Those who forsake the mighty One, the source of all strength, and affiliate with worldlings, placing on them their dependence, become weak in moral power, as are those in whom they trust.

God comes with entreaties and assurances to those who are making mistakes. He seeks to show them their error and lead them to repentance. But if they refuse to humble their hearts before Him, if they strive to exalt themselves above Him, He must speak to them in judgment. No semblance of nearness to God, no assertion of connection with Him, will be accepted from those who persist in dishonoring Him by leaning upon the arm of worldly power.

Today God’s word to His people is: “Come out from among them, and be ye separate, … and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters.” …

God’s people are to be distinguished as a people who serve Him fully, wholeheartedly, taking no honor to themselves, and remembering that by a most solemn covenant they have bound themselves to serve the Lord, and Him only.—The Review and Herald, August 4, 1904.

From From the Heart

Who gave Himself for us, that He might … purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works. Titus 2:14.

The Lord hath set apart them that are godly for Himself, and this consecration to God and separation from the world are plainly declared and positively enjoined in both the Old and New Testaments. There is a wall of separation which the Lord Himself has established between the things of the world and the things He has chosen out of the world and sanctified unto Himself. The calling and the character of God’s people are peculiar. Their prospects are peculiar, and these peculiarities distinguish them from all people. All of God’s people upon the earth are one body, from the beginning to the end of time. They have one Head that directs and governs the body. The same injunctions rest upon God’s people now, to be separate from the world, as rested upon ancient Israel. The great Head of the church has not changed. The experience of Christians in these days is much like the travels of ancient Israel….

As we read the Word of God, how plain that God’s people are peculiar and distinct from the unbelieving world around them. Our position is interesting and fearful; living in the last days, how important that we imitate the example of Christ and walk even as He walked….

The servants of Christ have not their home or their treasure here. Would that all of them could understand that it is only because the Lord reigns that we are even permitted to dwell in peace and safety among our enemies. It is not our privilege to claim special favors of the world. We must consent to be poor and despised in this world until the warfare is finished and the victory won. The members of Christ are called to come out and be separate from the friendship and spirit of the world, and their strength and power consist in their being chosen and accepted of God….

Even so the members of Christ are as He was in this world. They are the sons and daughters of God and joint heirs with Christ, and the kingdom and dominion belong to them. The world understand not their character and holy calling. They perceive not their adoption into the family of God. Their union and fellowship with the Father and the Son are not manifest to the world, and while they behold their humiliation and reproach, it does not appear what they shall be. They are strangers. The world knows them not and appreciates not the motives which actuate them.—The Review and Herald, July 5, 1875.

From From the Heart

For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. Deuteronomy 7:6.

These words were spoken by Christ when enshrouded in the pillar of cloud and were given to Moses for the chosen people of God. The Lord has not left the world without witness. He has His loyal, chosen people. They do not make this world their home, but they are here to witness for God, and as long as probation lasts, a living witness will be borne by these faithful messengers….

By the mighty cleaver of truth, God has separated a people from the quarry of the world and brought them into His workshop. Here the Master Worker can successfully hew them with ax and chisel, and polish them for a place in His kingdom. No longer are they like the mass from which they were taken. They stand like noble pillars, to be used for God’s glory.

The future glory of the adopted sons and daughters of God is not now discerned. By the world God’s people are scorned and despised. But they have the sympathies of a better world than this, even a heavenly….

The Word of God, just as it reads, is the ground of our faith. That Word is the sure word of prophecy, and it demands implicit faith from all who claim to believe it. It is authoritative, containing in itself the proof of its divine origin….

What are we who claim to be one with Christ? “We are labourers together with God.” Between the true believer and the unbeliever there will ever be the same conflict that there was between Christ and those who rejected Him. Those who are partakers with Christ in His sufferings will also be partakers with Him in His glory. But those who evade the cross here deny Him who has bought them at an infinite price, and in the day of judgment they will be denied. Many, many, are misrepresenting and denying Christ by their low standard of Christianity. Those who truly believe in Christ will show their faith by a well-ordered life and godly conversation. By working in Christ’s lines, they will show that they have been adopted into the family of heaven. Of all such God says, “I will dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.”—Signs of the Times, June 2, 1898.

From From the Heart

Watch therefore, and pray always. Luke 21:36.

In the solemn language of this scripture, a duty is pointed out which lies in the daily pathway of everyone, whether old or young. This is the duty of watchfulness, and upon our faithfulness here our destiny for time and for eternity depends.

We are living in an important time. When in 1844 the message was proclaimed, “Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come,” that announcement stirred every soul to its very depths. A deep solemnity rested upon all who heard it. How earnest we were to show our faith by our works and to have our words and actions make a favorable impression on the world….

Today angels are watching the development of character, and soon our lives will have to pass in review before God. Soon we shall be weighed in the balances of the sanctuary, and over against our names will be recorded the judgment rendered. And we shall receive the crowning gift of eternal life or be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord. We may be unwilling to examine ourselves closely now to see what our spiritual condition is and whether our hearts are being suitably impressed by the testing message of truth; but that will not make any difference with the work of the judgment. Its decisions will be rendered just the same….

“Watch ye therefore, and pray always.” There is great need of watchfulness, not for our own sakes only, but also for the sake of our influence upon others. Our influence is far-reaching. We may think that it is confined to our own households; that only the members of our own families know what we are and what we are doing. In some cases this may seem to be true; but in some way the influence of the home life goes out beyond the home….

If we would share in the glorious reward promised to the overcomer, we must fight the good fight of faith. This is what the apostle Paul did, and he says, “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day.” Let us be of the number of those that are “rich in good works,” “laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.”—Signs of the Times, January 7, 1886.

From From the Heart

And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. Revelation 21:4.

In the darkest days of her long conflict with evil, the church of the living God has been given revelations of the eternal purpose of Jehovah. His people have been permitted to look beyond the trials of the present to the triumphs of the future, when, the warfare having been accomplished, the redeemed will enter into possession of the Promised Land. These visions of future glory, scenes pictured by the hand of God, should be dear to His church today, when the controversy of the ages is rapidly closing and the promised blessings are soon to be realized in all their fullness….

Often the church militant is called upon to suffer trial and affliction, for not without severe conflict is the church to triumph. “The bread of adversity, and the water of affliction.” are the common lot of all; but none who put their trust in the One mighty to deliver will be utterly overwhelmed….

Clad in the armor of Christ’s righteousness, the church is to enter upon her final conflict. “Fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners,” she is to go forth into all the world, conquering and to conquer.

The darkest hour of the church’s struggle with the powers of evil is that which immediately precedes the day of her final deliverance. But none who trust in God need fear….

To us who are standing on the very verge of their fulfillment, of what deep moment, what living interest, are these delineations of the things to come—events for which, since our first parents turned their steps from Eden, God’s children have watched and waited, longed and prayed! …

The nations of the saved will know no other law than the law of heaven. All will be a happy, united family, clothed with the garments of praise and thanksgiving. Over the scene the morning stars will sing together and the sons of God will shout for joy, while God and Christ will unite in proclaiming, There shall be no more sin; neither shall there be any more death.—The Review and Herald, July 1, 1915.

From From the Heart