Gods Sabbath

O PPOSING P RINCIPLES OF O PERATION

327

who labored directly with Him. What a loss this was for the dis ciples and what a set-back for God’s cause. When they could have been enjoying rich, intelligent communion with Him, they were groping in the miserable darkness of doubt and unrest. Their character development, training for their future work, and preparation for an eventual place in God’s kingdom, were all se riously retarded. And Jesus was deprived of the human support and comfort He would have appreciated and which would have advanced His cause. To the extent that the disciples had not come out of Babylon, they still expected Christ’s work to be organized in a manner similar to the Jewish hierarchy they had left. A variant of the commonly accepted way of church organization today would have been held by the disciples in Christ’s day. If it had been fol lowed by their Master too, the disciples would have been the members of the executive committee—the administrative, deci sion-making body guiding the movement. From a worldly point of view, the disciples could have claimed eligibility for this role, second to none, because their dedication to Christ’s cause was so total that they had left all personal interests and family ties to devote their entire lives to His cause. Had they not stood by Him when all others had forsaken Him? Had they not, for His sake, endured opposition, ridicule, misunderstanding, and persecu tion? Had He not declared they were closer to Him than even His brothers or mother? And were not their interests so bound up in His that they could be trusted to make right decisions? To the disciples these would have been weighty claims, but God did not view them in the same light, for He knew that nei ther these nor any of their abilities, would qualify them to admin istrate His work. Working through human committees was not His method of leadership when He delivered Israel from Egypt, led them through the wilderness, and brought them to Kadesh Barnea. It was not His way in the erection of the sanctuary, nor at Jericho, or Ai. Neither was it His system during Christ’s min istry on earth or in the organization of the apostolic church. The Disciples’Plans