The Rage of the Spies

The disciples noticed the spies’ rage and heard their half-muttered words of dissatisfaction and revenge. They told Christ, hoping that He would make peace with the enraged officials: “Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?”HH 181.3

He answered, “Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted.” The customs and traditions that the rabbis valued so highly could not endure God’s testing.HH 181.4

Every human invention that people have substituted for the commandments of God will be found worthless in that day when “God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether it is good or whether it is evil.” Ecclesiastes 12:14. Even among Christians, we can find institutions and practices that have no better foundation than the traditions of the fathers. People cling to their traditions and hate those who show them their error. In this day, when Heaven directs us to call attention to the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, we see the same hatred as people expressed in the days of Christ. The Bible says about the remnant people of God, “The dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Revelation 12:17.HH 181.5

But “every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted.” In place of the authority of the so-called fathers of the church, God asks us to accept the word of the eternal Father, the Lord of heaven and earth. Here alone we can find truth unmixed with error. “In vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.”HH 181.6