I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. John 17:4.

When Christ expired on the cross, crying with a loud voice, “It is finished,” His work was completed. The way was laid open, the veil was rent in twain. Humanity could approach God without sacrificial offerings, without the service of earthly priests. Christ Himself was a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Heaven was His home. He came to this world to reveal the Father. His work on the field of His humiliation and conflict was now done. He ascended up into the heavens and is forever set down on the right hand of God.

Christ’s life on this earth had been a life of toil, a busy, earnest life. He rose from the dead and for forty days remained with His disciples, instructing them preparatory to His departure from them. He was ready for the leave-taking. He had demonstrated the fact that He was a living Savior; His disciples need no longer associate Him with the tomb of Joseph. They could think of Him as glorified amid the heavenly host….

All heaven waited with eager earnestness for the end of the tarrying of the Son of God in a world all seared and marred with the curse. In proportion to Christ’s humiliation and suffering was to be His exaltation. He became the Savior, the Redeemer, only by first becoming the Sacrifice….

Christ came to earth as God in the guise of humanity. He ascended to heaven as the King of saints. His ascension was worthy of His exalted character. He ascended from the Mount of Olives in a cloud of angels, who triumphantly escorted Him to the city of God. Not in His own interest did He go, but as the covenant-making Redeemer of His believing sons and daughters, who are made thus through faith in His name. He went as one mighty in battle, a conqueror, leading captivity captive, amid acclamations of praise and celestial song….

What a contrast between Christ’s reception on His return to heaven and His reception on this earth! In heaven all was loyalty. There was no sorrow, no suffering, to meet Him at every turn….

The time had come for the universe of heaven to accept their King.—Signs of the Times, August 16, 1899.

From From the Heart

At last two false witnesses came forward and said, “This fellow said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days.’” Matthew 26:60, 61.

This was the only charge that could be brought against Christ. But these words had been misstated and misapplied. Christ had said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up…. But he spake of the temple of his body.”

Priests and rulers, with many others, taunted Him with this false statement. While He hung upon the cross, it was repeated in mockery by the scribes and Pharisees and echoed by the multitude. “They that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, and saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself.” But though misstated, Christ’s words were being fulfilled. Publicity was given to them, and they were made more impressive by the proclamations of His enemies….

Those who in derision uttered the words, “He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God,” little thought that their testimony would sound down the ages. But although spoken in mockery, never were words more true. They led people to search the Scriptures for themselves. Wise men heard, searched, pondered, and prayed. There were those who never rested until, by searching the Scriptures and comparing passage with passage, they saw the meaning of Christ’s mission. They saw that free forgiveness was provided by Him whose tender mercy embraces the whole world….

Never before was there such a general knowledge of Jesus as when He hung upon the cross. He was lifted up from the earth to draw all unto Him. Into the hearts of many who beheld the crucifixion scene and who heard Christ’s words was the light of truth to shine. With John they would proclaim, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” …

This scene was transacted in the sight of heaven and earth. Angels beheld the pitiless scorn and contempt shown to Jesus by those who should have acknowledged Him as the Messiah….

Again came the cry, as of one in mortal agony, “It is finished.” “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.” Christ, the Majesty of heaven, the King of glory, was dead.—The Review and Herald, December 28, 1897.

From From the Heart

Then they came to a place which was named Gethsemane; and He said to His disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” Mark 14:32.

As Christ left the disciples, bidding them pray for themselves and for Him, He selected three, Peter, James, and John, and went still farther into the seclusion of the garden. These three disciples had been with Him at His transfiguration; they had seen the heavenly visitors, Moses and Elias, talking with Jesus, and Christ desired their presence on this occasion also….

Christ expressed His desire for human sympathy and then withdrew Himself from them about a stone’s cast. Falling upon His face He prayed, saying, “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.”

At the end of an hour, Jesus, feeling the need of human sympathy, rose from the ground and staggered to the place where He had left His three disciples…. He longed to hear from them words that would bring Him some relief in His suffering. But He was disappointed. They did not bring to Him the help He craved. Instead, He “findeth them sleeping.”

Just before He bent His footsteps to the garden, Jesus had said to His disciples, “All ye shall be offended because of me this night”; and they had given Christ the strongest assurances that they would never forsake their Lord, that they would go to prison with Him, and if need be would suffer and die with Him. And poor, self-sufficient Peter had added, “Although all shall be offended, yet will not I.” But the disciples trusted in their own strength; they did not look to the mighty Helper, as Christ had counseled them to do…. Even the ardent Peter, who only a few hours before had declared that he would die with his Lord, was sleeping….

Again the Son of God was seized with superhuman agony, and, fainting and exhausted, He staggered back to the place of His former struggle…. Only a short time before, Christ had poured out His soul in songs of praise in unfaltering accents, as one who was conscious of His Sonship to God…. Now His voice came to them on the still evening air, not in tones of triumph but full of human anguish. So lately He had been serene in His majesty; He had been like a mighty cedar. Now He was as a broken reed….

Although sin was the awful thing that had opened the floodgates of woe upon the world, He would become the propitiation of a race that had willed to sin.—Signs of the Times, December 2, 1897.

From From the Heart

Greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. John 14:12.

Christ’s work was largely confined to Judea. But though His personal ministry did not extend to other lands, people from all nations listened to His teaching and carried the message to all parts of the world. Many heard of Jesus by hearing of the wonderful miracles that He performed. And the knowledge of His suffering and death, which were to be witnessed by the large number in attendance at the Passover, would be spread from Jerusalem to all parts of the world.

Used as Christ’s representatives, the apostles would make a decided impression on all minds. The fact that they were humble men would not diminish their influence but increase it. The minds of their hearers would be carried from them to the Majesty of heaven…. Their words of trust would assure all that it was not by their own power they worked, but that they were only continuing the same work carried forward by the Lord Jesus when He was with them. Humbling themselves, they would declare that He whom the Jews had crucified was the Prince of life, the Son of the living God, and that in His name they did the works that He had done….

The whole universe is under the control of the Prince of life…. He paid the ransom money for the whole world. All may be saved through Him. He calls upon us to obey, believe, receive, and live. He would gather together a church embracing the whole human family, if all would leave the black banner of rebellion and place themselves under His banner. Those who believe on Him, He will present to God as loyal subjects. He is our Mediator as well as our Redeemer. He will defend His chosen followers against Satan’s power and subdue all their enemies….

Christ desired His disciples to understand that He would not leave them orphans…. He was about to die, but He desired them to realize that He would live again. And although after His ascension He would be absent from them, yet by faith they might see and know Him, and He would have the same loving interest in them that He had while with them.

Christ assured His disciples that after His resurrection He would show Himself alive to them…. They would then understand that which they had not in the past understood—that there is a complete union between Christ and His Father, a union that will always exist.—The Review and Herald, October 26, 1897.

From From the Heart

There is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing. 2 Timothy 4:8.

While sitting round the Communion table, Christ spoke words of intense interest to His disciples. He was soon to pass through scenes that would be to them the severest test. Not only did He see distinctly His own humiliation and suffering, but He saw also the effect that this would have upon the disciples. He would not leave them in darkness regarding His future work…. He knew that in their sorrow they would be assailed by the enemy, for Satan’s craft is most successful when carried on against those who are depressed by difficulties….

During these last sorrowful hours, Christ told His disciples that on the night of His trial, they would all be offended because of Him, and that He would be left alone. He told them that for a little while after His death they would be sorrowful, but that their sorrow would be turned into joy. He told them that the time was coming when they would be put out of the synagogues, and that those who killed them would think that they were doing God service. He stated plainly why He told them these things while He was yet with them—that when His words were fulfilled, they would remember that He had told them of them before they came to pass, and thus be strengthened to believe in Him as their Redeemer….

Christ’s statements saddened and amazed the disciples. But they were followed by the comforting assurance, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” …

Not only to the disciples, but to us, are these words of comfort spoken. In the last scenes of this earth’s history, war will rage. There will be pestilence, plague, and famine. The waters of the deep will overflow their boundaries. Property and life will be destroyed by fire and flood. We should be preparing for the mansions that Christ has gone to prepare for them that love Him. There is a rest from earth’s conflict. Where is it? “That where I am, there ye may be also.” Heaven is where Christ is. Heaven would not be heaven to those who love Christ if He were not there.—The Review and Herald, October 19, 1897.

From From the Heart