7 Facts About the Seventh Day

Adapted from Why God Said Remember by Joe Crews.

Part of Satan’s strategy to destroy humanity’s trust in God has been to attack His claim as the Creator. Obviously, the theory of evolution is part of this deceptive and soul-destroying effort. With its amoral humanistic emphasis, Darwin’s doctrine has turned millions into religious skeptics and enshrouded in darkness their need for the Savior.

Yet while many Christians rightly denounce this unscientific belief, ironically, many are still falling into the devil’s trap of denying God’s sovereignty over the earth. That trap is the ages-long effort to twist and destroy the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath.

Through Satan’s false information and man’s trust in traditions over the sure word of Scripture, millions of Christians have been led to discount or even reject the importance of observing the Sabbath. “The seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord: … in it thou shalt not do any work” (Exodus 20:10).  No one disagrees with the clear meaning of this text, yet millions are finding ways not to follow it.

Why? The general Bible ignorance of the church and the clever arguments of Satan have created a climate of prejudice against the holiness of the seventh day in favor of the observance of Sunday. So in the interest of promoting God’s law over the theories of men, let’s take a moment to rediscover some amazing facts about the seventh-day Sabbath.

Fact #1: The Seventh-day Sabbath Establishes God’s Sovereignty
Why does Satan hate the Sabbath so much? Because the Sabbath identifies the true God and His claim of ultimate sovereignty.

God certainly anticipated the controversy over the Genesis account of Creation. He knew that after the fall of man, there would be doubts about His claims of manufacturing all the staggering mass of matter by merely commanding it to exist.

To safeguard His sovereignty, He established a mark that denoted His absolute right to rule as Lord. He chose to memorialize His display of creative power by setting aside the seventh day of the Creation week as a holy day of rest and remembering.

God wrote these words: “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work. … For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is: … wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it” (Exodus 20:8–11).

Once a week, as the earth rotates on its axis, the Sabbath reminder travels around the earth reaching every man, woman, and child with the message of an instant creation and the one who did the creating.

Why did God say remember? Because to forget the true Sabbath is to forget the true Creator.

Does it really matter that much? See “The One Unimportant Commandment?” below.

Fact #2: The Seventh-day Sabbath Was Made for Everyone
A multitude of Christians call God’s fourth commandment the “Jewish Sabbath.” But nowhere is this expression found in the Bible. The seventh day is called “the sabbath of the Lord,” and it is never called “the sabbath of the Jew” (Exodus 20:10).

Luke, a Gentile writer of the New Testament, often refers to things that were particularly Jewish. He writes of the “nation of the Jews,” “the people of the Jews,” “the land of the Jews,” and the “synagogue of the Jews” (Acts 10:22; 12:11; 10:39; 14:1). But he never refers to the “sabbath of the Jews,” although he mentions the Sabbath repeatedly.

Christ also taught that “the sabbath was made for man” (Mark 2:27). Adam and Eve were the only two people who existed when God actually established the Sabbath. There were no Jews in the world until 2,000 years later, so it was never meant just for the Jews. Jesus uses the term “man” in the generic sense, referring to all mankind. The same word is used in connection with the institution of marriage that was also introduced at creation. Certainly no Christian can believe that marriage was made only for the Jews.

Fact #3: It’s Not About Just Keeping Any Day
Every word of God’s Ten Commandments was written by His own hand in stone. Every word is serious and meaningful. No line in them is ambiguous or mysterious. Sinners and Christians, educated and uneducated, are not confused about the words “seventh day.” So why do they discount those words if every other word in the commandments is considered to be ironclad?

Satan wants the world to accept Sunday as the day he has chosen for worship, but any day will do for him so long as it means we’re breaking God’s command.

Genesis describes the origin of the Sabbath like this: “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made. … And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made” (Genesis 2:1–3).

Which day did God bless and sanctify? The seventh day. How was it to be kept holy? By resting. Could any of the other six be kept holy? No. Why? Because God commanded not to rest those days but to work. Does God’s blessing make a difference? Of course. Parents pray for God to bless their children because they believe it makes a difference. The seventh day is different from all the other days because it has God’s blessing.

Has God ever given man the privilege of choosing his own day of rest? No. In fact, God confirms in the Bible that the Sabbath is a matter settled and sealed by His own divine power. Read Exodus 16. For 40 years, God worked three miracles every week to show Israel which day was holy: (1) No manna fell on the seventh day; (2) they could not keep manna overnight without spoilage; (3) but when they kept manna over the Sabbath, it remained sweet and fresh!

But some Israelites had the same idea as many Christians have today. They felt that any day in seven would be okay to keep holy: “It came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none.” What happened? “And the Lord said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?” (Exodus 16:27, 28).

God met them and accused them of breaking His law by going forth to work on the seventh day. Would God say the same thing to those who break the Sabbath today? Yes. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).

But why the seventh day, exactly? See “Why the Seventh Day?” below.

Fact #4: We Know the True Seventh Day
Some reject the seventh-day Sabbath over the belief that we cannot know which day it falls on today, so picking any day should be okay. But this is fallacy. Here are four proofs that identify the true Sabbath.

1: According to Scripture, Christ died on Friday and rose on Sunday, the first day of the week. Practically all churches acknowledge this by observing Easter Sunday and Good Friday. “This man went unto Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid. And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on. The women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid. And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment” (Luke 23:52–56).

This is clear evidence that Jesus died the day before the Sabbath! The day of His death was a “preparation day” because it was the time to get ready for the Sabbath. Notice, then, that the women rested over the Sabbath “according to the commandment.” The commandment says, “The seventh day is the Sabbath,” so we know they were resting on Saturday. The very next verse says, “Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared. … And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre” (Luke 24:1, 2).

2: The calendar has not been changed so as to confuse the days of the week. Just as we know that Jesus and His followers observed the same day as Moses, we can be positive that our seventh day is the same day Jesus observed. Pope Gregory XIII did make a calendar change in 1582, but it did not interfere with the weekly cycle. What did Gregory do to the calendar? He changed Friday, October 5, 1582, to be Friday, October 15, 1582. He did not affect the weekly cycle of days.

3: The Jews have observed the seventh day from the time of Abraham, and they still keep it today. An entire nation of people, all around the world, continue to observe a Sabbath they have known for more than 4,000 years.

4: Over 100 languages on earth use the word “Sabbath” for Saturday. For example, the Spanish word for Saturday is “Sabado,” meaning Sabbath. What does this prove? It proves that when those languages originated long ago, Saturday was recognized as the Sabbath day and was incorporated into the very name of the day.

Fact #5: The Sabbath Is Not a Memorial of Deliverance Out of Egypt
This is a belief taken and twisted out of the Old Testament: “The seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou. And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day” (Deuteronomy 5:14, 15).

Some people suggest this means that God gave the Sabbath as a memorial of the Exodus from Egypt. But the Genesis story of the making of the Sabbath (Genesis 2:1–3) and the wording of the fourth commandment by God (Exodus 20:11) reveals the seventh-day Sabbath as a memorial of creation.

The key to understanding these two verses rests in the word “servant.” God said, “Remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt.” And in the sentence before, He reminds them “that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou.” In other words, their experience in Egypt as servants would remind them to deal justly with their servants by giving them Sabbath rest.

It was not unusual for God to harken back to the Egyptian deliverance as an incentive to obey other commandments. In Deuteronomy 24:17, 18, the Bible says, “Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stranger, nor of the fatherless; nor take a widow’s raiment to pledge. … Thou wast a bondman in Egypt, and the Lord thy God redeemed thee thence: therefore I command thee to do this thing.”

Neither the command to be just nor to keep the Sabbath was given to memorialize the Exodus, but God told them that His goodness in bringing them out of captivity constituted a strong reason for them to deal kindly with their servants on the Sabbath and treating justly the strangers and widows.

In the same way, God spoke to them in Leviticus 11:45, “I am the Lord that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt … ye shall therefore be holy.” No one would insist that holiness did not exist before the Exodus or that it would be ever afterwards limited only to the Jews!

Fact #6: The Sabbath Is Not Meant to Memorialize the Resurrection
It is true that Jesus rose on a Sunday. It is one of the pivotal moments in the history of the world.

But nowhere does the Bible hint that we should keep Sunday holy. Many other wonderful events occurred on certain days of the week, but we have no command to keep them holy either.

There is, of course, a memorial of the resurrection commanded in the Bible, but it is not to determine a new day of worship. Paul wrote: “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4). Baptism is the memorial of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. However, the Sabbath is a memorial of creation.

Still have a question about this? See “The Upper Room” below.

Fact #7: The Sabbath Will Be Celebrated for Eternity
The Sabbath is an arbitrary arrangement of God that serves a powerful purpose. It is His claim — His seal — over the world and all human life. It is also a sign of the redemption He offers to every single one of us.

Surely this is why God will preserve Sabbathkeeping throughout eternity. That’s right! “For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord” (Isaiah 66:22, 23).

The Sabbath is so precious to God that He will have His people observe it throughout all time in the beautiful new earth to come. If it is so precious to Him, should it not be precious to us? If we are going to keep it through all eternity, why not keep it now as our pledge of obedience to Him?

Trust and Obey: There Is No Other Way
It is easy to understand why the devil has waged a continuing, desperate battle against the seventh-day Sabbath. He has worked through the pride of tradition, misinformation, and religious bigotry to destroy the sanctity of God’s special sign of authority — the Sabbath.

But with these Sabbath facts in hand, may God grant every Christian the courage to honor the Sabbath commandment as His special test of our love and loyalty.

It might be a duty to keep the seventh-day holy. But it should not be a burden. In an age of false gods and spirituality, of atheistic evolution, and the stubborn traditions of men, the world needs the Sabbath more than ever. It is more than just a test of our loyalty to the Creator. It is more than just a sign of our sanctification through His power. It is His promise of a lasting, eternal gift of restoration.

The Road to Emmaus: 15 Tips for Effective Witnessing

Don Mackintosh, Director of AFCOE In Luke 24, we find a wonderful example of Christ’s witnessing manner and method in a powerful post-resurrection story. In this article, we’ll uncover 15 witnessing tips that can be gleaned from this one Bible passage, which can help you become a more effective and confident witness!
Let’s pick up the story in verses 13–15:
Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them (NKJV).

Witnessing Tip #1: Draw Near

Christ was not aloof. He went to where people gathered. He “drew near and went with them.” The root meaning of the phrase “drew near” is to come near in time and place. Christ sought out the hurting.
While much of the gospel work can be accomplished from afar, ultimately, most people need a personal, real-time connection. They need someone who will reach them where they are and become acquainted with them. They need someone who will sympathetically apply Scripture to their specific situations.
But before we go too far, notice the next verse …

Their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him
(v. 16 NKJV).

What an interesting concept! Here Scripture indicates that the eyes of these two men were restrained and they did not know that it was Jesus. The Lord wanted them to be able to focus on what He was saying rather than who He was.
Drawing near to people and witnessing to them does not necessarily require that the first thing we do is adopt an in-your-face, full-disclosure approach; sometimes much more can be accomplished if we remain “undercover” and reveal things as souls are able to digest them. “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now” (John 16:12 NKJV).

Witnessing Tip #2: Measure Your Approach

So don’t always make your purpose known unless the situation warrants it.
Of course, there are times when you must let people know who you are to avoid being counterproductive. For instance, if you knock on someone’s door, they have the right to know right away who you are and why you are there.
However, in other venues, for instance, when you are traveling, you have the luxury of letting things play out, which can provide big advantages for effective witness.
But for this to occur, we need to be aware of the “conversation” and “reasoning” that we hear people using.
The word “conversation” in verse 15 comes from the Greek root for logos or “word.” The word “reason” comes from the Greek root logismos, where we get the word “logic.”
We could take this to mean that instead of making Himself known right away, Christ chose to listen to and learn about those He was trying to reach.

Witnessing Tip #3: Listen to Them

Listen to the words people are using, listen to their logic, when you are witnessing to them. You can learn much about who they are and what their needs are. This can provide a foundation and direction for what you later share when it is time to make yourself and your purpose better known. It is easier to tailor your teaching to their specific needs if you listen to their concerns and take them to heart.
What did Jesus do to gather more needed information?

He said to them, “What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?” (v. 17 NKJV).

We can find at least two more fruitful witnessing tips in this short verse.

Witnessing Tip #4: Explore Their Hearts

Ask open-ended questions to better know your new friends and get additional background. It is simply amazing the amount of information people will volunteer once they begin talking. When you ask open-ended questions, people often don’t feel pressured and will share what’s in their hearts. They also feel valued because they are being listened to, rather than “witnessed to” or “preached at.”
But did you notice the other element in Christ’s question? He not only asked about their conversation, He also noted and asked about what their facial expressions and body language were communicating.

Witnessing Tip #5: Be Aware of Everything

Ask the Spirit to give you Christ-like awareness and discernment. Jesus saw that these two men were sad (literally gloomy or of mournful appearance), and He specifically asked them why they were so!
Facial expressions matter, and they can tell a lot about what’s going on in someone’s head. It’s never safe to assume anything based on just a facial expression, but it certainly does not hurt to ask.
Jesus’ question and observation drew a revealing response from one of His travel companions.

Cleopas answered and said to Him, “Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which happened there in these days?” And He said to them, “What things?” (vs. 18, 19 NKJV).

As you “listen” to Cleopas, can you sense his sadness? Perhaps he sounds a little bit angry too. Interestingly, this is in keeping with the actual meaning of the word translated as “sad,” which can include the idea that the person is also experiencing anger.
But Christ, the master communicator, recognizes that it’s still not quite time to speak. He hears within Cleopas’ question the desire to share even more information, so He beckons Cleopas to continue by asking, “What things?”
As you read Cleopas’ answer, see if you can identify and diagnose the cause for his sad anger:

The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him. But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened. Yes, and certain women of our company, who arrived at the tomb early, astonished us. When they did not find His body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said He was alive. And certain of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but Him they did not see (vs. 19–24 NKJV).

Did you see the reason for Cleopas’ anger? He offered it! So what was the problem? These two were despondent and their conversation with one another was not helping one bit; it was only further depressing them.
Bottom line, they had lost hope and were in a very vulnerable and discouraged state of mind.

Witnessing Tip #6: Be Patient

If you patiently wait long enough, people will often tell you their problems and give you a chance to offer a solution.
What Christ said next would be of vital importance to them physically, mentally, and spiritually. It could very well be the difference between life and death for them.
So what did He say?

He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” (v. 25 NKJV).

While at first it could appear that Christ’s choice of words might seem ill advised, they are actually saturated with meaning.
First, Jesus says, “Oh foolish ones.” Should a fool know better? Is a fool unintelligent or merely unwise? What exactly is a fool anyway? Well, according to one Scripture, a fool is one who says “in his heart, There is no God” (Psalm 14:1).
So what we have now is a picture of two individuals who had walked and talked with Christ for three years but were in danger of walking with God no more. They were about to give up completely, even questioning their faith and trust in God.
Let’s go to the next phrase: “slow of heart.” Slowness of heart in the Greek is bradeis cardia, and it’s where we get the word “bradycardia,” which is a term used in medicine today to describe a dangerously low heart rhythm. In other words, their spiritual foolishness had caused them to lose heart.
What was the cause of this life-threatening condition? Because they had not “believed all the prophets had spoken.” And because of this selective and faulty reasoning, what was actually a magnificent blessing was something they thought was the worst possible curse; what was depressing them was supposed to be seen as a glorious fulfillment of Bible prophecy. “Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things to enter into his glory?”
Here the entire tone of this witnessing experience changes. Christ moves from being an active listener to being an active presenter of heart-saving Bible truth!
But before we look closer at His presentation, let’s remind ourselves of several vital witnessing tips that we’ve just seen.

Witnessing Tip #7: Be Complete

Jesus continued to ask open-ended questions until He and those He was witnessing to had shared enough information to have a complete picture of the diagnosis and the solution.

Witnessing Tip #8: Be Direct

Once Jesus knew the problem and its seriousness, He wasted no time in directly, but tactfully, sharing not only His diagnosis of the problem but also the solution: believing all the prophets have spoken.

Witnessing Tip #9: Offer the Solution First

To be sure that those listening to Him were not devastated by His forthright diagnosis, He shared the conclusion—the hopeful prognosis—they needed to hear before He set out to prove it.
In essence, He said, “Look, I know your pain. I understand it from your perspective, but I’ve got good news for you. You are wrong! What you think is the worst thing in the world is actually the best!”
Of course, He doesn’t just leave them with the conclusion. Notice what He does next!

Beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself (v. 27 NKJV).

Witnessing Tip #10: Be Prepared to Have an Answer

Christ doesn’t just tell them that they are thinking things wrong. He also shows them how to think right through a powerful explanation of Scripture! Jesus knew they were desperate for answers. You could say that He positively reproves them, offering them the correct view of the situation on the basis of Scripture.
Of course, a systematic topical Bible study—that is, looking at everything the Bible has to say about a subject—can have a powerful effect. This is in fact what an evangelist does in every presentation. It’s what we train our AFCOE students to do: to prove and reprove all things from the Word.

Witnessing Tip #11: Make It Personal

As Jesus explains this revelation, He does it in the context of His own personal pain experience and God-glorifying testimony—“the things concerning Himself.”
The most powerful form of witness is often just a simple personal testimony. You must learn to share your testimony whenever it is most useful to do so.
Be careful, however, to not overdo it. Christ actually gauged the continued interest of those who were listening to Him. He did this by indicating that He had to continue on His journey as the other two neared their destination.

Witnessing Tip #12: Gauge Continued Interest

Always monitor whether or not you are getting through to someone or to gauge the interest level of those listening and then tie off your time while interest is still at a peak. You don’t have to share everything at once. You can feed a person too much of even the best food and give them indigestion!
Notice the response of the two men when Christ said He was leaving them …

But they constrained Him, saying, “Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.” And He went in to stay with them (v. 29 NKJV).

Now, isn’t this the way you’d like people to act at the end of your Bible study? Constraining, begging you, imploring you to stay and show them more?
Of course, the best part of this wonderful passage is found in the next several verses. See if you can spot the results of effective witnessing.

Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight. And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?” (vs. 30–32 NKJV).

Did you see the results?
Effective Bible study helps people literally see Jesus. The Word is so filled with Spirit that it can take broken, helpless, “slow” of heart, sin-sick souls and bring them new life and energy. The slow of heart are instead filled with heavenly heartburn!

Witnessing Tip #13: Give the Glory to God

Remember, true witness will lead to the worship of the living Christ, not the preacher or teacher! Keep God as your focus, just as Christ always did.

Witnessing Tip #14: Leave Their Focus on Scripture

Effective witnessing will also lead you to leave while the focus of those you’ve been studying with is firmly focused on the life-changing truth of Scripture.
And what was the ultimate result of Christ’s witness that day?

So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” And they told about the things that had happened on the road, and how He was known to them in the breaking of bread (vs. 33−35 NKJV).

Witnessing Tip #15: Make Disciples

True witness will lead and inspire those who have learned the truth to share what they’ve learned with the same boldness and clarity.
What a wonderful and practical picture of effective Word-based witnessing! What a wonderful example of simple techniques that not only the disciples but you and I can use in reaching out to others for the King!
Remember, it was this one simple Bible study, given during a short seven-mile walk, that was used by the Spirit to turn the world upside down! They heard the study and were gripped and equipped by it. Their hearts were set on fire, and they couldn’t help but share it with others. And now you’ve heard it and can go share it with others too!

The Discipline of Trial

To live such a life, to exert such an influence, costs at every step effort, self-sacrifice, discipline. It is because they do not understand this that many are so easily discouraged in the Christian life. Many who sincerely consecrate their lives to God’s service are surprised and disappointed to find themselves, as never before, confronted by obstacles and beset by trials and perplexities. They pray for Christlikeness of character, for a fitness for the Lord’s work, and they are placed in circumstances that seem to call forth all the evil of their nature. Faults are revealed of which they did not even suspect the existence. Like Israel of old they question, “If God is leading us, why do all these things come upon us?”

It is because God is leading them that these things come upon them. Trials and obstacles are the Lord’s chosen methods of discipline and His appointed conditions of success. He who reads the hearts of men knows their characters better than they themselves know them. He sees that some have powers and susceptibilities which, rightly directed, might be used in the advancement of His work. In His providence He brings these persons into different positions and varied circumstances that they may discover in their character the defects which have been concealed from their own knowledge. He gives them opportunity to correct these defects and to fit themselves for His service. Often He permits the fires of affliction to assail them that they may be purified.

The fact that we are called upon to endure trial shows that the Lord Jesus sees in us something precious which He desires to develop. If He saw in us nothing whereby He might glorify His name, He would not spend time in refining us. He does not cast worthless stones into His furnace. It is valuable ore that He refines. The blacksmith puts the iron and steel into the fire that he may know what manner of metal they are. The Lord allows His chosen ones to be placed in the furnace of affliction to prove what temper they are of and whether they can be fashioned for His work.

The potter takes the clay and molds it according to his will. He kneads it and works it. He tears it apart and presses it together. He wets it and then dries it. He lets it lie for a while without touching it. When it is perfectly pliable, he continues the work of making of it a vessel. He forms it into shape and on the wheel trims and polishes it. He dries it in the sun and bakes it in the oven. Thus it becomes a vessel fit for use. So the great Master Worker desires to mold and fashion us. And as the clay is in the hands of the potter, so are we to be in His hands. We are not to try to do the work of the potter. Our part is to yield ourselves to be molded by the Master Worker.

“Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.” 1 Peter 4:12, 13.

In the full light of day, and in hearing of the music of other voices, the caged bird will not sing the song that his master seeks to teach him. He learns a snatch of this, a trill of that, but never a separate and entire melody. But the master covers the cage, and places it where the bird will listen to the one song he is to sing. In the dark, he tries and tries again to sing that song until it is learned, and he breaks forth in perfect melody. Then the bird is brought forth, and ever after he can sing that song in the light. Thus God deals with His children. He has a song to teach us, and when we have learned it amid the shadows of affliction we can sing it ever afterward.

Help in daily living (Ellen G. White)

Joy in Obedience

I have longed for thy salvation, O Lord; and thy law is my delight. Ps. 119:174.

The true Christian will never complain that the yoke of Christ is galling to the neck. He accounts the service of Jesus as the truest freedom. The law of God is his delight. Instead of seeking to bring down the divine commands, to accord with his deficiencies, he is constantly striving to rise to the level of their perfection.

Such an experience must be ours if we would be prepared to stand in the day of God. Now, while probation lingers, while mercy's voice is still heard, is the time for us to put away our sins....

God has made ample provision that we may stand perfect in His grace, wanting in nothing, waiting for the appearing of our Lord. Are you ready? Have you the wedding garment on? That garment will never cover deceit, impurity, corruption, or hypocrisy. The eye of God is upon you.... We may conceal our sins from the eyes of men, but we can hide nothing from our Maker.

God spared not His own Son, but delivered Him toS death for our offenses and raised Him again for our justification. Through Christ we may present our petitions at the throne of Grace. Through Him, unworthy as we are, we may obtain all spiritual blessings. Do we come to Him, that we may have life?

The will of God is expressed in the precepts of His holy law, and the principles of this law are the principles of heaven. The angels of heaven attain unto no higher knowledge than to know the will of God, and to do His will is the highest service that can engage their powers.

But in heaven, service is not rendered in the spirit of legality. When Satan rebelled against the law of Jehovah, the thought that there was a law came to the angels almost as an awakening to something unthought of. In their ministry the angels are not as servants, but as sons.... Obedience is to them no drudgery. Love for God makes their service a joy. So in every soul wherein Christ, the hope of glory, dwells, His words are re-echoed, "I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart."  

From Maranatha - Page 80