Gods Sabbath

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E NTERING INTO G OD ’ S S ABBATH R EST

did not know it—for they truly thought they were doing great things for God—their plans were in direct opposition to His purposes. The natural outcome of this could only be death to their faith. Sending them away did not immediately solve the problem within the disciples, although it did defuse the general situation. They had in no sense been delivered from their disposition to take Christ by force and make Him king against His and the Fa ther’s will. Their course was building unbelief in them, and sep arating them from their Master who could rejoin them only when, with truly repentant hearts, they realized their need and returned to God’s ways. The lesson contained in Christ’s separation from His disci ples at this time must not be overlooked. The substitution of human ways for God’s will always separate individuals and movements from their Maker. Satan knows this better than we do and is therefore always working to institute human proce dures in place of the divine. Whenever we feel a sense of sepa ration from God, we would do well to check our procedures to see if they are according to God’s ways. If they are not, they will build an ever-widening gulf between us and our Maker. Similarly, as the disciples pulled away from the shore with un belief building in their hearts, they became separated further and further from Christ. They naturally viewed themselves as the ones who loved God and Israel and who were zealous for the establishment of the kingdom, while Christ seemed totally indifferent to these interests. They began to ask whose side He was on and wheth er He was an impostor. While full recognition must be given to the disciples’ zeal for God’s cause, it is evident that they did not understand the nature of His kingdom or the procedures by which it was to be built. This ignorance did not save them from the evil consequences of their course, even though the Lord was watching over them and doing His best to protect them from themselves. We must learn this lesson well, for hu mans are prone to the feeling that, if their motives are sound and they have only the best intentions, this will compensate for, and even sanctify, wrong procedures. But that will never happen.