But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe. John 5:38.

As at different times during Christ’s work divinity flashed through humanity and He stood transfigured before the people, the Jewish leaders were deeply impressed. But as they talked it over with one another, their unbelief strengthened, and the evidence that should have convinced them was rejected. The strongest evidence was no evidence to them, while the weakest, most superficial arguments, if against the truth which the Savior brought, were sound in their estimation. They had started upon a path leading to eternal ruin….

Christ saw that the Jewish teachers misinterpreted the Word of God, and He urged upon them a more diligent study of its precepts. In Him were fast being fulfilled the types and shadows of the Jewish economy. If they searched the Scriptures as they should, they would find that He claimed nothing which was not rightfully His.

Had the Jews searched God’s Word as they should, they would have seen that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah. But they searched with proud, selfish ambition as a guide, and they found a Messiah of their own imagination. Therefore when the Savior came, a humble man, bringing to naught by His teaching long-established theories and traditions, presenting truth entirely opposite to their practices, they said, Who is this invader that dares to set aside our authority? Christ did not come as they had expected; therefore they refused to receive Him and called Him a deceiver and an impostor. Instead of listening to Him that they might learn the truth, they listened with evil intent, that they might find something over which to cavil. And when once they had set their feet in the path of the great leader in rebellion, it was an easy matter for Satan to strengthen them in opposition. Christ’s wonderful works, which God meant to be heaven-sent evidence to them, Satan caused them to interpret against Him. The more marked the way in which God spoke to them by His works of mercy and love, the more confirmed did they become in their resistance. Blinded by prejudice, they refused to acknowledge that Jesus is divine….

He was God in human flesh, and He could not but work the works of God.—The Review and Herald, March 26, 1901.

From From the Heart

He who has seen Me has seen the Father. John 14:9.

The fact that the people were more interested in Christ’s teaching than they were in the dry, tedious arguments of the Jewish teachers maddened the scribes and Pharisees. These teachers spoke with uncertainty, interpreting the Scriptures to mean one thing and then another. This left the people in great confusion. But as they listened to Jesus, their hearts were warmed and comforted. He presented God as a loving Father, not as an avenging judge. He drew all, high and low, rich and poor, to see God in His true character, leading them to call Him by the endearing name, “Our Father.”

By loving words and by works of mercy, Christ bore down old traditions and man-made commandments and presented the love of the Father in its exhaustless fullness. His calm, earnest, musical voice fell like balm on the wounded spirit. He was revealing the image of God mirrored in Himself. He presented to His hearers the truths of the prophecies, separating them from the obscure interpretations which the scribes and Pharisees had attached to them. He scattered the heavenly grains of truth wherever He went.

Determined to hear what Christ said to His disciples, the scribes and Pharisees kept spies on His track. These spies noted His words and reported them to the Jewish authorities, who, when they heard them, were almost beside themselves with ill-concealed rage, which they interpreted to be zeal for God.

As the members of the Sanhedrin counseled together, there were not wanting men with strong, determined prejudices who advised that this man who claimed so much be at once put down….

They saw that Christ’s influence over the people was fast becoming greater than theirs. They longed to crush Him for daring to make their traditions of none effect, but they feared to move openly because of the people. They thought that if they worked secretly, watching His words and actions, they would soon find such accusations against Him that He could be put on trial for His life….

Christ was giving the rulers of Israel light which would make them inexcusable. Nothing was left undone that could be done to convince them of their error.—The Review and Herald, March 5, 1901.

From From the Heart

He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. John 1:11.

At the first advent of Christ, which was in apparent obscurity, the angels of heaven could scarcely be restrained from pouring forth their glories to grace the birth of the Son of God. The glorious manifestations of heaven were not entirely restrained. The wonderful event was not without some attestations of a divine character. That birth, so little prepared for on earth, was celebrated in the heavenly courts with praise and thanksgiving in behalf of sinners….

He who came in human flesh and submitted to a life of humiliation was the Majesty of heaven, the Prince of life, and yet the wise men of the earth, the princes and rulers, and even His own nation, knew Him not. They did not recognize Him as the long-looked-for Messiah. Notwithstanding mighty miracles did show forth themselves in Him, notwithstanding He opened the eyes of the blind and raised the dead to life, Christ suffered the hatred and abuse of the people He came to bless. They regarded Him as a sinner and accused Him of casting out devils through the prince of devils. The circumstances of His birth were mysterious and were remarked upon by the rulers. They charged Him with being born in sin. The Prince of heaven was insulted because of the corrupt minds and the sinful, blasphemous unbelief of His people. What a baleful thing is unbelief! It originated with the first great apostate, and to what fearful lengths it will lead all who enter upon its path is seen in the Jews’ rejection of their Messiah….

The leaders in Israel professed to understand the prophecies, but they had received false ideas in regard to the manner of Christ’s coming….

The very One who died for sinners 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. They chose to stand under the black banner of rebellion to the close of mercy’s hour.—The Review and Herald, September 5, 1899.

From From the Heart

Away with you, Satan! For it is written. Matthew 4:10.

Satan had been defeated in the first temptation. He next took Christ to the pinnacle of the temple at Jerusalem and asked Him to prove His Sonship to God by throwing Himself down from the dizzy height. “If thou be the Son of God,” he said, “cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.” But to do this would be presumption on the part of Christ, and He would not yield. “It is written again,” He replied, “thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” Again the tempter was baffled. Christ was victor still.

Presumption is a common temptation, and when Satan assails us with this, he gains the victory almost every time. Those who claim to be enlisted in the warfare against evil frequently plunge without thought into temptation from which it would require a miracle to bring them forth unsullied. God’s precious promises are not given to strengthen us in a presumptuous course or to rely upon when we rush needlessly into danger. The Lord requires us to move with a humble dependence upon His guidance. “It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.” In God is our prosperity and our life…. “Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.” As children of God, we are to maintain a consistent Christian character.

While you pray … that you may not be led into temptation, remember that your work does not end with prayer. As far as possible you must answer your own prayers by resisting temptation. Ask Jesus to do for you that which you cannot do for yourself. With God’s Word for our guide and Jesus for our teacher, we need not be ignorant of God’s requirements or of Satan’s devices.

“Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; and saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.” Then divinity flashed through humanity. “Get thee hence, Satan,” Christ said, “for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” Satan did not then present another temptation. He left the presence of Christ a conquered foe.—Youth’s Instructor, December 21, 1899.

From From the Heart

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.

As Christ’s ministry was about to begin, He received baptism at the hands of John. Coming up out of the water, He bowed on the banks of the Jordan and offered to the Father such a prayer as heaven had never before listened to…. The heavens were opened, and a dove, in appearance like burnished gold, rested upon Jesus; and from the lips of the infinite God were heard the words, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

This visible answer to the prayer of God’s Son is of deep significance to us….

All may find rest and peace and assurance in sending their prayers to God in the name of His dear Son. As the heavens were open to Christ’s prayer, so they will be opened to our prayers….

From the Jordan, Jesus was led into the wilderness of temptation. “And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungered. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.” …

Adam had failed on the point of appetite, and Christ must conquer here. The power that rested upon Him came directly from the Father, and He must not exercise it in His own behalf…. He met and resisted the enemy in the strength of a “Thus saith the Lord.” “Man shall not live by bread alone,” He said, “but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” …

Christ’s experience is for our benefit. His example in overcoming appetite points out the way for those to overcome who would be His followers.

Christ was suffering as the members of the human family suffer under temptation, but it was not the will of God that He should exercise His divine power in His own behalf. Had He not stood as our representative, Christ’s innocence would have exempted Him from all this anguish; but it was because of His innocence that He felt so keenly the assaults of Satan. All the suffering that is the result of sin was poured into the bosom of the sinless Son of God. Satan was bruising the heel of Christ, but every pang endured by Christ, every grief, every disquietude, was fulfilling the great plan of our redemption. Every blow inflicted by the enemy was rebounding on himself. Christ was bruising the serpent’s head.—Youth’s Instructor, December 21, 1899.

From From the Heart