Gods Sabbath

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E NTERING INTO G OD ’ S S ABBATH R EST

would then have understood that the resulting surge forward in the church’s fortunes was not a mere coincidence, but the sure outworking of divine law. Their own experience would have con firmed the witness given by God in His dealings with their fore bears, showing them that His ways are utterly reliable. The Scriptures do not specifically state whether they saw this larger picture or not. The evidence revealed in their subsequent histo ry indicates that either they did not, or if they did, they soon for got the lesson. Just as Joshua and others had done before them, the leaders of the Apostolic church reverted from God’s procedures to their own, when they had no excuse for doing so. Had the work suf fered serious setbacks and been beset by apparently insoluble problems, there might have been reason to question the proce dures which had been followed, but this was not the case. The very opposite had happened, providing no justification for re verting to ways which would inhibit God’s work exactly as histo ry had repeatedly shown before. An analysis of the deeper reasons for the existing prejudice and dictatorial spirit which had developed in Paul’s absence is given in the following paragraph: “In the earlier years of the gospel work among the Gentiles, some of the leading brethren at Jerusalem, clinging to former prejudices and habits of thought, had not co-operated heartily with Paul and his associates. In their anxiety to preserve a few meaningless forms and ceremonies, they had lost sight of the blessing that would come to them and to the cause they loved, through an effort to unite in one all parts of the Lord’s work. Al though desirous of safeguarding the best interests of the Chris tian church, they had failed to keep step with the advancing providences of God, and in their human wisdom attempted to throw about workers many unnecessary restrictions. Thus there arose a group of men who were unacquainted personally with the changing circumstances and peculiar needs met by laborers in distant fields, yet who insisted that they had the authority to direct their brethren in these fields to follow certain specified methods of labor. They felt as if the work of preaching the gos pel should be carried forward in harmony with their opinions.” The Acts of the Apostles , 400.1.