I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. John 13:15.

The symbols of the Lord’s house are simple and plainly understood, and the truths represented by them are of the deepest significance to us. In instituting the sacramental service to take the place of the Passover, Christ left for His church a memorial of His great sacrifice for sinners. “This do,” He said, “in remembrance of me.” This was the point of transition between two economies and their two great festivals. The one was to close forever; the other, which He had just established, was to take its place, and to continue through all time as the memorial of His death….

With the rest of the disciples, Judas partook of the bread and wine symbolizing the body and blood of Christ. This was the last time that Judas would be present with the twelve; but that the scripture might be fulfilled, he left the sacramental table, Christ’s last gift to His disciples, to complete his work of betrayal….

The children of God are to bear in mind that God is brought sacredly near on every such occasion as the service of feet washing….

The object of this service is to call to mind the humility of our Lord and the lessons He has given in washing the feet of His disciples. There is in us a disposition to esteem ourselves more highly than our brothers and sisters, to work for ourselves, to serve ourselves, to seek the highest places; and often evil surmisings and bitterness of spirit spring up over mere trifles. This ordinance, preceding the Lord’s Supper, is to clear away these misunderstandings, to bring us out of our selfishness, down from our stilts of self-exaltation to the humility of spirit that will lead us to wash one another’s feet….

The ordinance of feet washing has been especially enjoined by Christ, and on these occasions the Holy Spirit is present to witness and put a seal to His ordinance. He is there to convict and soften the heart. He draws the believers together and makes them one in heart. They are made to feel that Christ indeed is present to clear away the rubbish that has accumulated to separate the hearts of the children of God from Him.—The Review and Herald, June 22, 1897.

From From the Heart

As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:14, 15.

In humility Christ began His mighty work for the uplifting of the fallen race. Passing by the cities and the renowned seats of learning, He made His home in the humble and obscure village of Nazareth. In this place, from which it was commonly supposed that no good could come, the world’s Redeemer passed the greater part of His life working at His trade as a carpenter. His home was among the poor; His family was not distinguished by learning, riches, or position. In the path which the poor, the neglected, the sorrowing, must tread, He walked while on earth, taking upon Him all the woes which the afflicted must bear.

It was the proud boast of the Jews that the Messiah was to come as a king, conquering His enemies and treading down the heathen in His wrath. But it was not the mission of Christ to exalt men and women by ministering to their pride. He, the humble Nazarene, might have poured contempt upon the world’s pride, for He was commander in the heavenly courts; but He came in humility, showing that it is not riches or position or authority that the God of heaven respects, but that He honors a humble, contrite heart made noble by the power of the grace of Christ.

Christ closed His life of toil and denial in our behalf by a crowning sacrifice for us…. Christ is a living Savior. Today He sits at the right hand of God as our Advocate, making intercession for us; and He calls upon us to look unto Him and be saved. But it has ever been the tempter’s determined purpose to eclipse Jesus from the view, that we may be led to lean upon the arm of humanity for help and strength; and he has so well accomplished his purpose that we, turning our eyes from Jesus, in whom all hope of eternal life is centered, look to our fellow men for aid and guidance….

As the serpent was lifted up in the wilderness by Moses, that all who had been bitten by the fiery serpents might look and live, so must the Son of Man be lifted up before the world by His servants. Christ and Him crucified is the message God would have His servants sound through the length and breadth of the world.—The Review and Herald, September 29, 1896.

From From the Heart

For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. John 5:46.

[Jesus] spoke with assurance and revealed a depth of knowledge far exceeding that of the most learned of the scribes and rabbis. It was evident that He had a thorough knowledge of the Old Testament Scriptures and that He presented truth that was unmingled with human sayings and maxims. The old truths fell upon their ears like a new revelation….

Jesus presented His lessons to the people, but He did not make a practice of asserting His high and authoritative claim. He had come to save the lost world, and His words and works, His whole life in humanity, was to speak of His divinity. He left it to His own dignity, to His life, to His course of action, to witness to the people that He worked the works of God. He left it to them to draw their own conclusion concerning His claims while He expounded to them the prophecies concerning Himself. He directed them to search the Scriptures, for it was essential that they should interpret correctly the mission and work of the Son of God. He pointed out the fact to them that He was fulfilling the prophecies that had hitherto been given by holy men who were moved upon by the Holy Spirit. He declared plainly that they wrote of Him, and brought the clear rays of the light of prophecy to illuminate His words and works…. He stood forth in His ministry as one distinguished from every other teacher. He Himself had inspired the prophets to write of Him. His life work had been planned in the eternal counsels of heaven before the foundation of the world…. His life was the light of the world, and He presented His life before the people, that their faith might lay hold upon it, and that they might become one with Him.

Though He presented infinite truth, He left many things unsaid that He might have said, because even His disciples were not able to comprehend them. He said, “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.” The burden of His teaching was obedience to the commandments of God, that would work transformation of character and inculcate moral excellence, shaping the soul after the divine similitude. Christ had been sent to earth to represent God in character. Jesus was the Life-giver, the Teacher sent of God to provide salvation for a lost world and to save us in spite of all Satan’s temptations and lying deceptions. He Himself was the gospel. In His teachings He clearly presented the great plan devised for the redemption of the race.—The Review and Herald, July 7, 1896.

From From the Heart

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8.

I love to speak of Jesus and His matchless love. I have not one doubt of the love of God. I know that He is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto Him. His precious love is a reality to me, and the doubts expressed by those who know not the Lord Jesus Christ have no effect upon me…. Take Jesus as your personal Savior. Come to Him just as you are, give yourself to Him, grasp His promise by living faith, and He will be to you all that you desire….

Those who give their hearts to Christ will find rest in His love. We have a token of the magnitude of His love in His sufferings and death…. Jesus endured such agony … because He became the sinner’s substitute and surety. He Himself bore the penalty of the law which sinners deserved in order that they might have … another chance to prove their loyalty to God….

There are only two classes in the whole universe—those who believe in Christ and whose faith leads them to keep God’s commandments, and those who do not believe in Him and are disobedient….

You have every reason to believe that He can and will save you. Why? Because you are guiltless? No; because you are a sinner, and Jesus says, “I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” The call is addressed to you, and when Satan says to you that there is no hope, tell him you know there is, “for God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” …

The hand that was nailed to the cross for you is stretched out to save you. Believe that Jesus will hear your confession, receive your requests, forgive your sins, and make you a member of the royal family. You need the hope which Jesus will give to cheer you under every circumstance….

Those who accept the truth will find their love for earthly things dislodged. They see the surpassing glory of heavenly things and appreciate the excellence of that which relates to everlasting life. They are charmed with the unseen and eternal. Their grasp loosens from earthly things; they fasten their eyes with admiration upon the invisible glories of the heavenly world. They realize that their trials are working out for them a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, and in comparison to the riches that are theirs to enjoy, they count them light afflictions which are for but a moment.—The Review and Herald, June 23, 1896.

From From the Heart

“My house is a house of prayer,” but you have made it a “den of thieves.” Luke 19:46.

Why was it that Christ’s indignation was stirred as He came into the temple courts? His eye swept over the scene, and He saw in it the dishonor of God and the oppression of the people. He heard the lowing of the oxen, the bleating of the sheep, and the altercation between those who were buying and selling. In the courts of God even the priests and rulers were engaged in traffic…. When once their attention was called to Him, they could not withdraw their eyes from His face, for there was something in His countenance that awed and terrified them. Who was He? A humble Galilean, the son of a carpenter who had worked at His trade with His father, but as they gazed upon Him, they felt as though they were arraigned before the judgment bar….

Christ saw the poor and the distressed and the afflicted in trouble and dismay because they had not sufficient to purchase even a dove for an offering. The blind, the lame, the deaf, the afflicted, were in suffering and distress because they longed to present an offering for their sins, but the prices were so exorbitant they could not compass it. It seemed that there was no chance for them to have their sins pardoned….

When Christ had expelled those who had sold doves, He had said, “Take these things hence.” He had not driven the doves out as He had the oxen and the sheep, and why? Because they were the only offering of the poor. He knew their necessities, and as the sellers were driven from the temple, the suffering and the afflicted were left in the courts….

But the priests and the rulers, recovering from their dismay, said, “We will return and challenge Him, and ask Him by what authority He had presumed to expel us from the temple.”

But what a scene met their eyes as they entered again the courts of the temple. Christ was ministering to the poor, the suffering, and the afflicted…. He gave the suffering tender comfort. He took the little ones in His arms and commanded freedom from disease and suffering. He gave sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, health to the diseased, and comfort to the afflicted….

He was doing the very work which had been prophesied that the Messiah would do.—The Review and Herald, August 27, 1895.

From From the Heart