Defender, October 7

The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer.—Psalm 18:2JNN 296.1

I am thankful that the Lord has not left us in ignorance of how to gain His blessing. Read the eighth and ninth chapters of Second Corinthians, and you will find the whole matter outlined in a few words. Read how the believers came to the apostles and laid their offerings at their feet, praying with much entreaty that they would receive the gift. When God by His Spirit stirs the hearts of His people, leading them to see the necessities of this work, there will be a denying of self, and gifts will flow into the treasury for the proclamation of the message for this time.JNN 296.2

If there are those who think they are making large sacrifices for the work, let them consider the sacrifice that Christ made in their behalf. The human race was under sentence of death, but the Son of God clothed His divinity with humanity and came to this world to live and die in our behalf. He came to stand against the host of fallen angels. We must have a Defender, and when our Defender came, He was clothed with humanity; for He must be subject to the temptations wherewith humanity is beset, that He might understand how to deliver the godly out of temptation. He took His stand at the head of the fallen race, that men and women might be enabled to stand on vantage ground.JNN 296.3

Christ did not come to this world with a legion of angels. Laying aside His royal robes and kingly crown, He stepped down from His high command, and for our sake became poor, that we through His poverty might be made rich. This was the plan laid in the heavenly courts. The Redeemer of humanity was to be born in poverty, and He was to be a worker with His hands. He labored with His father at the carpenter’s trade, and into all that He did He brought perfection. His companions sometimes found fault with Him because He was so thorough. What is the use of being so particular? they said. But He would work till He had brought what He was doing as near perfection as He could, and then He would look up with the light of heaven shining from His face, and those who had criticized Him would turn away ashamed of themselves. Instead of retaliating when found fault with, He would begin to sing one of the psalms, and before those who had found fault with Him realized it, they, too, were singing.—Manuscript 58, 1905.JNN 296.4

Further Reflection: Jesus willingly became humanity’s Defender, choosing even to share our weaknesses. For what other reasons did He volunteer to come to our sin-cursed planet?JNN 296.5