Gods Sabbath

496

E NTERING INTO G OD ’ S S ABBATH R EST

appreciated only when assessed in the light of what might have been. If we ponder the glory of the Jews as a nation fully committed to righteousness, overspreading the entire world and continuing as the channel through which all light and blessing was to be imparted to the needy world, we will see them not as the tail, but as the head, a holy nation, a royal priesthood, the apple of God’s eye. How differently history would have unfolded without the horror of the Dark Ages, the rivers of blood flowing from the martyred, or the ignorance and superstition which has plagued every generation since Calva ry. What wasted potential! The Jews threw all that away by fighting for the right to man age God’s, their own, and other people’s affairs. The natural stubbornness of the human heart prevailed against God’s re peated efforts to channel them into safe paths and they paid the full price for the choice made. No one could pay more for less— eternal life for the right to do what they did not have the capac ity to do anyway. In reality, Israel paid everything for nothing. The Jewish experience would have been a total waste, but for one redeeming feature. The present generation can profit from the lessons contained in the mistakes they made. The principles have not changed. The same choices today will lead to the same results. Nothing can change that fact. The people through whom God will finally finish His work are those who have thoroughly studied the Jewish disaster. As a re sult, they will understand exactly what procedures to follow and which to avoid in order to see the work speedily and successful ly completed. Since the collapse of the Jewish opportunity, God has extended the invitation to fill their place to generation after generation of “gentiles”, but none has yet learned the way and gained the victory. It remains to be seen whether the Lord can find among those who count themselves His people today, a goodly company who will “follow the Lamb whithersoever He go eth” ( Revelation 14:4), instead of insisting that He follow them wherever they would have Him go. Our Opportunity