All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him. Luke 10:22.

No man can explain the mysteries of God. His glory is hidden from the world. Of what value are the surmisings and speculations of men concerning His personality…. Christ is the representative of the Father, “the express image of his person.”

Creation speaks to us of the skill and power of God. In His goodness God has placed on the earth beautiful flowers and trees, wonderfully adapted to the countries and the climate in which they grow. And, though sin has marred the form and beauty of the things of nature, though on them there may be seen traces of the work of the prince of the power of the air, yet they still speak of God, and still reveal some of the beauty of Eden.

In the heavens above, in the earth, in the broad waters of the ocean, we see the handiwork of God. All creation testifies of His power, His wisdom, His love. Yet not from the stars, or the ocean, or the cataract can we learn of the personality of God. This Christ came to reveal….

Christ came to reveal to a fallen race the love of God. He, the Light of the world, veiled the dazzling splendor of the brightness of His divinity, and came to live on this earth as a man among men, that they might, without being consumed, become acquainted with their Creator. No man has seen God at any time, except as He is revealed through Christ.

Because of frequent triumphs, Satan is becoming more bold and defiant in his rebellion against God. The rapid development of evil, the confusion among the laboring classes, reveal that men are rapidly taking sides. They are being bound up in bundles to be burned. The labor unions are quickly stirred to violence if their demands are not complied with. Plainer and plainer is it becoming that the inhabitants of the world are not in harmony with God.

No scientific theory can explain the steady march of evil workers under the generalship of Satan. In every mob wicked angels are at work, rousing men to commit deeds of violence…. The perversity and cruelty of men will reach such a height that God will reveal Himself in His majesty. Very soon the wickedness of the world will have reached its limit, and as in the days of Noah, God will pour out His judgments.

But even when wickedness is at its height, we may know that our Helper is close by our side.—Letter 250, November 16, 1903, to J. E. White, her son, who was working among the blacks of the Southern States.

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Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Hebrews 10:22.

We need an abiding, heartfelt dependence upon the Son of God for salvation and for all wisdom and spiritual influences. Unless there is much more love to God and to man, and a continual dependence upon the renewing, sanctifying grace of Christ to work a transformation of character by a divine change in the heart, which will be manifestly seen in word, spirit, and action, we shall fail in our work….

We need increased faith, far less confidence and assurance in what we can do, and far greater confidence in what the Lord is longing to do for us individually, if we will prepare the way for Him. We need, O so much more than we now have, the longing of soul for communion with God. We need to plead most earnestly with Him. If thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find Him, when thou shalt seek Him with all thy heart and with all thy soul….

A great desire after large blessings and deep fullness should be cherished. But these we shall never have while we feel so self-sufficient, while we have so tame a love for God and so little Christlike love for our brethren. When self is emptied from the heart, the vacuum will be supplied with the fullness of Christ. Let the soul be less engaged in business matters. Let it put far less trust in the wisdom that bears the marks of being more human than divine. The praise given by word or action to any human being is an offense to God. Yet God will praise every individual that keeps His commandments in truth and righteousness. It is very human to place confidence and trust in man, but not so readily do these same persons walk as seeing Him who is invisible….

God recognizes the wants of the soul. But our people, who have the great treasure of the Word of God opened before them, do not realize this. Self-esteem, self-sufficiency, so corrodes the soul with the slime and selfishness of earthliness, that the excellence of the things of eternal interest makes scarce a ripple upon the human heart….

There needs to be a reaching out after God, not … now and then, but a continual earnest, heartbreaking confessing and humbling of the soul before God. God’s people must come into the audience chamber of the Most High…. God understands that you need Him, and if you ask, you will receive help when tempted and tried. Your petitions, made known only to God who searcheth the heart, He will hear and answer.—Letter 45, November 15, 1897, to A. G. Daniells and “my ministering brethren, and the church in Melbourne.”

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Hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps. 1 Peter 2:21.

There is danger of our losing so much in our spiritual experience because we let slip the words that God gives. He speaks to one heart, and He speaks to another heart, and they hear these words and then go away and treat the words as a common thing, and they do not impress the mind. God wants us to take the words home to every heart.

“For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him?” (Hebrews 2:2, 3). Here is presented to us the importance of our speaking. God wants us to communicate. Have the treasure house of the heart full, full of the precious words of the Scriptures. Hand it right out; it is the precious message of God to them….

Many speak and act as if they were ashamed of Jesus. They do not think of Him, and introduce Him to their friends. They do not live to glorify Him—ashamed of Jesus, who took humanity that they might have life! …

You cannot do another’s work. Each one has his own peculiar temperament…. We are not to expect that everyone is to travel in our own footprints, but in the footprints of our self-denying Redeemer. Take up the cross and follow Him. He is our Guide. There are perfect footprints; He has made them. We are safe in following Christ. But when we seek [to make] everyone follow some other one, there is where we make a mistake, there is where our differences come in; but we should never have differences. We must believe that others are just as honest before God as we are.

“For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings” (Hebrews 2:10). He had to understand all about the weakness of man, the strength of Satan’s temptations. He took humanity right upon Himself, and bore all the temptations of the devil, and He knows what every man has to endure. Consider Christ’s pity for man. He knows just how they were born. He knows just how they were surrounded in childhood. You don’t know what temptations came with their birth. You don’t know the conditions of their parents. Put away all judgment. Judgment belongs to the Son of God. He is the One who is to judge the world.—Manuscript 174, November 14, 1901, “Morning Lesson From Hebrews Two.”

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And when the sons of the prophets which were to view at Jericho saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha. 2 Kings 2:15.

God’s servants are to work for the higher classes, but this does not mean that they are to bind themselves up with the honored of the earth, depending on them for strength, influence, and success. The Lord will often incline the hearts of those in positions of responsibility to grant favors to His commandment-keeping people. But when God’s servants leave Him to solicit recognition from men of the world, they exchange power for weakness.

We have a most solemn work before us, the importance of which we can only understand by the light which is shining from God’s Word on the past and the present. Who is holding fast the faith once delivered to the saints? Who, amid the cries of “Lo here” and “Lo there,” is showing unshaken confidence in the Word of God? The faith of the present connects us with the past and points us to the future.

We may learn valuable lessons from the experience of the prophet Elisha. Elisha was chosen by the Lord as Elijah’s helper, and through test and trial he proved himself true to his trust. He was willing to be and do anything the Lord directed. He did not seek to shun the humblest service, but was as faithful in the performance of smaller duties as of larger responsibilities. He was always willing to serve in any position to which the Lord pointed him, however disagreeable it might be to his natural inclinations. And at every step he learned lessons of humility and service….

“And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me” (2 Kings 2:9). He did not ask for worldly honor, for a high place among the great men of the earth. That for which He craved was a double portion of the Spirit given to the one God was about to honor with translation. He knew that nothing but a double portion of the Spirit that had rested on Elijah could fit him to fill the place Elijah had filled, because Elijah had the experience and wisdom of age, which cannot by any method be imparted to the young….

Had you been asked this question, what would you have answered? What is the greatest desire of your heart as you engage in the service of God?—Manuscript 114, November 13, 1901, “Lessons From the Experience of Elisha.”

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And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them. Matthew 4:24.

Christ’s life was one of constant self-sacrifice. His work was not confined to any time or place. It was bounded only by His love and sympathy for the souls for whom He was soon to give His life. His compassion knew no limit. On so large a scale did He conduct His work of healing and teaching, that there was no building in Palestine large enough to hold the multitudes that thronged to Him. In every town and village through which He passed was to be found His hospital. On the hillsides of Galilee, in the great thoroughfares of travel, on the seashore, in the synagogues, in every place where there were hearts ready to hear His message, Jesus healed the people and pointed them to their heavenly Father. In the evening, after the hours of toil were over, He talked with those who through the day must work to earn a pittance for the support of their families.

If we only realized how earnestly Jesus worked to sow the world with the gospel seed, we would … labor untiringly to give the bread of life to perishing souls….

Catch the spirit of the great Master-Worker. Learn from the Friend of sinners how to minister to sin-sick souls. His heart was ever touched with human woe. Why are we so cold and indifferent? Why are our hearts so unimpressible? Christ placed Himself on the altar of service, a living sacrifice. Why are we so unwilling to give ourselves to the work to which He consecrated His life? Something must be done to cure the terrible indifference that has taken hold upon us. Let us bow our heads in humiliation as we see how much less we have done than we might have done to sow the seeds of truth.

When we are converted, our desire for ease and elegance will be changed. Christ brought His desires and wishes into strict abeyance to His mission—the mission that bore the insignia of heaven. He made everything subordinate to the great work that He came to this world to accomplish in behalf of the fallen race. When in His youth His mother found Him in the school of the rabbis, and said to Him, “Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing,” He answered, “How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” (Luke 2:48, 49).—Manuscript 147, November 12, 1902, “An Appeal for More Effort.”

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