Unity in Christ

Copied Jan. 16, 1906.I awoke at twelve o’clock, unable to sleep because my mind was so deeply exercised. In my sleep I was talking earnestly with one to whom I had given message after message from the Lord. These messages had not been received and believed, and yet I could not throw off the burden.

The Lord still has His hand stretched out to save, and He will save, if Dr. Kellogg will be humble enough to repent and find his true position. He has been making and still continues to make large human calculations. This is because he does not know the time of his visitation.

If Elder A. T. Jones had been wise to that extent that he could reason from cause to effect, he would have followed a different course. When he sanctioned the reopening of the school in Battle Creek, the message that God had given was made of no effect by the tradition of men. Had a different course been followed, provision would have been made to obviate sufficiently the difficulties that would have to be met after years of dallying. But the work and cause of God have been hindered by the unconsecrated elements in the characters of those connected with the work.

We have a work to do of the highest order to prepare a people to stand in the last days, ready for the issues that will come to Seventh-day Adventists; but we are years behind. Why is it that those who know the truth can not discern the signs of the times?

Christ declared through His prophet, «The Lord God hath given Me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: He wakeneth morning by morning, He wakeneth Mine ear to hear as the learned.»

It is of the utmost consequence that we remember that we have a Shepherd who calls His sheep by name. The Good Shepherd condescended to pitch His tent amid human encampments, to teach His followers the way of life. «The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us,» the chosen sheep of His pasture. In the prayer recorded in the seventeenth of John, the Good Shepherd identifies His interests with those of fallen humanity. Think of Christ, the adored of the angels, in the attitude of a suppliant. He was a mighty petitioner, seeking at the hands of the Father fresh supplies of grace, and coming forth invigorated and refreshed, to impart His lessons of assurance and hope. Look at His kneeling form, as in the moonlit hours He pours forth His soul to the Father. Behold the angels watching the earnest suppliant. His prayer rises to all heaven in our behalf. He is our Elder Brother, compassed with human infirmities, and in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.

The disciples often witnessed Christ kneeling in prayer, their hearts broken and humbled. As their Lord and Saviour arose from His knees, what did they read in His countenance and bearing? — That He was braced for duty and prepared for trial. Prayer was a necessity of His humanity, and His petitions were often accompanied with strong crying and with agony of soul, as He saw the necessities of His disciples, who, not understanding their own dangers, were often, under Satan’s temptations, led away from duty into wrong-doing. . . .

Every one who becomes a child of God will reveal genuine holiness. Christ said, I sacrifice myself, that they may be sacrificed to the glory of God. Self-glory, whenever cherished, spoils the figure. For the church’s good, the members must follow Christ’s example of suffering, whether it means shame, imprisonment, or death. «God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God. . . .Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.»

What an argument of power is the prayer, «That they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us: that the world may believe that Thou hast sent me. And the glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as We are one: I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one: and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me.»

I have repeated this wonderful statement; for it contains the very evidence that we are to present to the world,—the perfection of unity in the followers of Christ. The members of the church of God must reach this perfection. I can not do more than urge upon them that this perfection is found in unity in Christ. The Saviour has presented before us how much will be gained in working out the unity that will join one believer to another in the perfection of Christian love. . . .

This message I am given to bear, as the Lord’s messenger. The unity for which Christ prayed is a sacred pledge of discipleship. Those who enter heaven must be one with Christ. Unless they should bear the same perfection of character that He bore while on this earth, they would spoil heaven. The trial and test is to come here in this world. Here we are to be stamped with the image and superscription of God. The virtue of the grace of Christ will perfect the character of every believer who truly accepts Him. All true disciples are made members of the royal family. All have the new heart, and all blend in perfect harmony. They speak the same thing, though in this world their language may differ. Their manner of expression may not be the same, but their one desire is for the highest end in this life,—the sanctification of the same Spirit. They love as brethren.

Christ’s disciples must obey the laws of heaven on this earth, else they will never obey them in the higher world. I call upon every physician, upon every gospel minister, to obey the laws of God in everything. This world is the school in which we are to prepare for graduation into the higher school. We know not who are the chosen of God only as they reveal the education they have received from the Father and the Son, through the Holy Spirit. Christ is their Mediator, their Righteousness, and their unity centers in God. Those who are so stubborn that they will not comply with the prayer of Christ will be lawless, loveless, impolite. They could not be admitted into the family of heaven. The truth cherished in the heart will work out a blessed unity among Christ’s disciples in the lower school of earth. The Lord is dishonored by the contention and strife caused by the unsanctified dispositions of professing Christians.

I have written out fully the instruction that I was commissioned to give. We are now to take our individual selves in hand, and conquer the wicked feelings that rise in our hearts. In allowing the venom of these feelings to flow forth in words, we help Satan in his work. Our church-members need a reconversion, a renewal of the Holy Spirit’s power to make them children of God, members of His family. Let every one in our churches now humble his own heart, confess his own sins, and remember that God has a controversy with those who have kept the work from advancing, by their crooked characters, which need to be made all over again.