Gods Sabbath

484

E NTERING INTO G OD ’ S S ABBATH R EST

That day, Christ stood completely alone. Not even the disci ples, who had received the direct benefit of His ministry, shared His awareness of the conflict between the mystery of God and the mystery of iniquity. The least they could have done for Him was to take a neutral position, and at best they could have point ed out to the multitude the exact nature of their transgressions and advised them of the correct course to follow. But instead, the disciples took the worst position of encouraging the multitude to enforce kingship on their Master. They did this, not because they were evil at heart or desired to destroy Christ’s work, but because they did not understand the nature of the controversy in which they were involved. The fact that Christ stood completely alone did not influence Him to compromise at all. What concerned Him was His Fa ther’s will. He would carry out God’s plans even though He alone saw and understood them, and to do so He must withstand the determined efforts of the entire world, face the apparent failure of His mission, and be brought to an unjust and cruel death. But Christ, being a true servant of the Most High, did not concern Himself with consequences. He faithfully performed His duty and left all the results with God. There was no factor, pressure, or argument in heaven or on earth that would induce Him to modify His principles in any way. To the disciples, Christ’s stand, although admittedly idealist ic, seemed to border on insanity. There was nothing logical about it, for they could see the dawn of a day pregnant with opportu nity, slipping away with no advantage being taken of it, and no fruit being borne. This was an awful thought to them, as they could not see any logic in Christ’s ways. The fact that God’s ways appear illogical to us is so little appreciated, that people tend to reject divine directives which they cannot comprehend. Instead they follow their own devisings which they feel they can under stand and which to them seem logical and practical. If they but realized that they were rejecting the only successful ways for those that could not possibly succeed, they would surely have changed their position. Christ would not deny the people their freedom to do what they wished with their own lives, but He would not give them the right to direct His. He was not to receive specific orders from