The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, but the LORD tests the hearts.—Proverbs 17:3

We believe without a doubt that Christ is soon coming. This is not a fable to us; it is a reality…. When He comes He is not to cleanse us of our sins, to remove from us the defects in our characters, or to cure us of the infirmities of our tempers and dispositions. If wrought for us at all, this work will all be accomplished before that time.

When the Lord comes, those who are holy will be holy still. Those who have preserved their bodies and spirits in holiness, in sanctification and honor, will then receive the finishing touch of immortality. But those who are unjust, unsanctified, and filthy will remain so forever. No work will then be done for them to remove their defects and give them holy characters. The Refiner does not then sit to pursue His refining process and remove their sins and their corruption. This is all to be done in these hours of probation. It is now that this work is to be accomplished for us….

We are in a world that is opposed to righteousness and purity of character, and to a growth in grace. Wherever we look we see corruption and defilement, deformity and sin. And what is the work that we are to undertake here just previous to receiving immortality? It is to preserve our bodies holy, our spirits pure, that we may stand forth unstained amid the corruptions teeming around us in these last days.—Testimonies for the Church 2:355, 356.

“Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Corinthians 6:19, 20).

We are not our own. We have been purchased with a dear price, even the sufferings and death of the Son of God. If we could understand this, and fully realize it, we would feel a great responsibility resting upon us to keep ourselves in the very best condition of health, that we might render to God perfect service. But when we take any course which expends our vitality, decreases our strength, or beclouds the intellect we sin against God.—Testimonies for the Church 2:354.

Further Reflection: How does the purity of my life affect the power of my witness?

From Jesus, Name Above All Names

For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.—Hebrews 4:15

It was incomprehensible to the selfish soul of Satan that there could exist benevolence and love for the deceived race so great as to induce the Prince of Heaven to leave His home and come to a world marred with sin and seared with the curse. He had knowledge of the inestimable value of eternal riches that humans had not. He had experienced the pure contentment, the peace, exalted holiness, and unalloyed joys of the heavenly abode. He had realized, before his rebellion, the satisfaction of the full approval of God. He … knew that there was no limit to His power.

Satan knew what he had lost. He now feared that his empire over the world was to be contested, his right disputed, and his power broken. He knew, through prophecy, that a Saviour was predicted and that His kingdom would not be established in earthly triumph and with worldly honor and display. He knew that ancient prophecies foretold a kingdom to be established by the Prince of Heaven upon the earth, which he claimed as his dominion. This kingdom would embrace all the kingdoms of the world, and then his power and his glory would cease and he would receive his retribution for the sins he had introduced into the world, and for the misery he had brought upon man. He knew that everything which concerned his prosperity was pending upon his success or failure in overcoming Christ with his temptations in the wilderness. He brought to bear upon Christ every artifice and force of his powerful temptations to allure Him from His allegiance.

It is impossible for human beings to know the strength of Satan’s temptations to the Son of God. Every temptation that seems so afflicting to man in his daily life, so difficult to resist and overcome, was brought to bear upon the Son of God in as much greater degree as His excellence of character was superior to that of fallen man.

Christ was tempted in all points…. As man’s representative He stood the closest test and proving of God. He met the strongest force of Satan. His most wily temptations Christ has tested and conquered in behalf of humanity. It is impossible for humans to be tempted above what they are able to bear while relying upon Jesus, the infinite Conqueror.—Confrontation, 30, 31.

Further Reflection: What cherished sin makes me most vulnerable temptation?

From Jesus, Name Above All Names

“The case that is too hard for you, bring to me, and I will hear it.”—Deuteronomy 1:17

Let us believe the Lord will hear our united petitions. With Him nothing is impossible. The words spoken by Moses, the Mighty Counselor speaks to us, “And the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto Me, and I will hear it” (Deuteronomy 1:17). What a cheering, hopeful message is this. Shall not we comply with this gracious invitation? One greater than Moses speaks these words, and it comes down along the line of ages to the Israel of God in these days. The case that is baffling to human wisdom, too difficult for the acutest skill of human beings, take it then to Jesus, and He who has spoken so encouragingly “bring it unto Me” will not disappoint our expectations.

That which He requires of us is simply to exercise faith in His word that He will remove all our difficulties and perplexities and make all that is complex clear, and all that is dark light. With Him nothing is impossible. One thing I know, we must rest upon the promise of God without one doubt. Look and live. “Looking unto Jesus, who is the Author and Finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2). Here, as on a stable foundation, we rest. Faith can there act its way—often sunless and starless, while everything in appearance is an intricate wilderness. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).

Faith can travel through trials, endure temptations, bear and live under disappointments. Bear up under apparent forbidding providences, saying, “Thou art my refuge, in Thee I trust implicitly believing His word because the eye of faith sees in Jesus the substitute and surety for humanity, and Jesus is the ever-living witness that God is true.” The promise is then to us, yea and amen in Christ Jesus.

The waves of trial and temptation may be rolling at our feet, and to all appearances we are sinking beneath the white-capped billows that seem to be talking with death, and our souls exclaim in anguish. Will He be favorable no more? Will the Lord cease to be gracious? Hath He in anger shut up His tender mercies? Look up upon the face of His anointed. Behold the glory of God’s verity and His truth and loving kindness and tender compassion beaming in the face of Jesus Christ, and doubt no more.—Letter 80, 1893.

Further Reflection: What case is too hard for me to bear today? Why do I not bring it to Jesus?

From Jesus, Name Above All Names

“For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son.”—John 5:22

Between the first and the second advent of Christ a wonderful contrast will be seen. No human language can portray the scenes of the second coming of the Son of Man in the clouds of heaven. He is to come with His own glory, and with the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. He will come clad in the robe of light, which He has worn from the days of eternity. Angels will accompany Him. Ten thousand times ten thousand will escort Him on His way…. The voice of Christ will penetrate the tomb, and pierce the ears of the dead, “and all that are in the graves … shall come forth.”

“And before Him shall be gathered all nations.” The very One who died for humanity is to judge them in the last day; for the Father “hath committed all judgment unto the Son: … and hath given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of man.” What a day that will be, when those who rejected Christ will look upon Him whom their sins have pierced. They will then know that He proffered them all heaven if they would but stand by His side as obedient children; that He paid an infinite price for their redemption; but that they would not accept freedom from the galling slavery of sin….

As they gaze upon His glory, there flashes before their minds the memory of the Son of Man clad in the garb of humanity. They remember how they treated Him, how they refused Him, and pressed close to the side of the great apostate. The scenes of Christ’s life appear before them in all their clearness. All He did, all He said, the humiliation to which He descended to save them from the taint of sin, rises before them in condemnation….

Again they hear the voice of Pilate, saying, “I find in Him no fault at all.” They see the shameful scene in the judgment-hall, when Barabbas stood by the side of Christ, and they had the privilege of choosing the Guiltless One. They hear again the words of Pilate, “Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus, which is called Christ?” They hear the response, “Away with this man, and release unto us Barabbas.” To the question of Pilate, “What shall I do then with Jesus?” the answer comes, “Let Him be crucified.”—The Review and Herald, September 5, 1899.

Further Reflection: What strikes me most about this judgment scene?

From Jesus, Name Above All Names

For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God.—Hebrews 3:4

The Jewish temple was built of hewn stones quarried out of the mountains; and every stone was fitted for its place in the temple, hewed, polished, and tested before it was brought to Jerusalem. And when all were brought to the ground, the building went together without the sound of ax or hammer. This building represents God’s spiritual temple, which is composed of material gathered out of every nation, and tongue, and people, of all grades, high and low, rich and poor, learned and unlearned. These are not dead substances to be fitted by hammer and chisel. They are living stones, quarried out from the world by the truth; and the great Master Builder, the Lord of the temple, is now hewing and polishing them, and fitting them for their respective places in the spiritual temple. When completed, this temple will be perfect in all its parts, the admiration of angels and of human beings; for its Builder and Maker is God….

There is no person, no nation, that is perfect in every habit and thought. One must learn of another. Therefore God wants the different nationalities to mingle together, to be one in judgment, one in purpose. Then the union that there is in Christ will be exemplified.

I was almost afraid to come to this country because I heard so many say that the different nationalities of Europe were peculiar and had to be reached in a certain way. But the wisdom of God is promised to those who feel their need and who ask for it. God can bring the people where they will receive the truth. Let the Lord take possession of the mind and mold it as the clay is molded in the hands of the potter, and these differences will not exist. Look to Jesus, brethren; copy His manners and spirit, and you will have no trouble in reaching these different classes.

We have not six patterns to follow … only one, and that is Christ Jesus. If the Italian brethren, the French brethren, and the German brethren try to be like Him, they will plant their feet upon the same foundation of truth; the same spirit that dwells in one will dwell in the other—Christ in them, the hope of glory. I warn you, brethren and sisters, not to build up a wall of partition between different nationalities. On the contrary, seek to break it down wherever it exists. We should endeavor to bring all into the harmony that there is in Jesus, laboring for the one object, the salvation of our fellow human beings.—Testimonies for the Church 9:180, 181.

Further Reflection: What ethnic or cultural differences continue to separate the church?

From Jesus, Name Above All Names