November 3, 1898

“The Jews Require a Sign”

EGW

“The Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.”ST November 3, 1898, par. 1

The Jews and the Greeks represent the two great classes who receive or reject the Gospel. Those who treat indifferently the light which the Lord has given them for their souls’ salvation, who resist the convictions of the truth because it is unpopular and involves self-denial, will justify themselves, as did the disciples when Christ declared Himself to be the Bread of life. “As the living Father hath sent Me,” He said, “and I live by the Father, so he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me. This is that bread which came down from heaven.”ST November 3, 1898, par. 2

Christ stated plainly that it was not because these disciples were convinced of His divinity, not because they saw in Him the great Teacher sent from God, that they sought Him. He knew that they did not seek evidence as a means of establishing their faith in Him as the Sent of God. He said, “Verily I say unto you, Ye seek Me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.” If Christ could furnish bread to satisfy their temporal wants, they thought it would be profitable for them to unite with Him. But Christ said, “Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you; for Him hath God the Father sealed. Then said they unto Him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.” In accepting Christ as their personal Saviour, they would have everything. In this gift of God, all heaven, with its inexhaustible treasure, was at their command.ST November 3, 1898, par. 3

But there came the unbelieving question, “What sign showest Thou then, that we may see, and believe Thee? what dost Thou work?” Had not the Jews just had fresh evidence in the feeding of the five thousand? What work, what sign, could Christ present before them to increase their faith? If evidence should be piled upon evidence, it would not, could not, do more for them than had the evidence which had already been given. It was not evidence that they wanted; it was an excuse to avoid the cross involved in the acceptance of the Gospel.ST November 3, 1898, par. 4

The cross is erected where two ways diverge. One of these is the path of obedience, leading to heaven. The other is the broad road, where man can easily go with his burden of sin and corruption; but it leads to perdition. In His Sermon on the Mount, Christ exhorted His hearers, “Enter ye in at the strait gate; for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat; because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” On another occasion one came to Christ and said, “Lord, are there few that be saved?” And He said, “Strive to enter in at the strait gate; for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.”ST November 3, 1898, par. 5

“If any man will come after Me,” said Christ, “let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” Will the convicted man take the path of obedience to God's commandments? Will he, with the whole heart, with undivided purpose, seek after that life which is eternal? If so, he will obtain the riches that are imperishable, a life that measures with the life of God. All the heavenly universe is looking on to see which path he will take. Is it the way that is narrow? is it the strait gate that he is aiming to enter? Then he has taken the way of the cross, the path that leads to heaven. This decision will cut directly across his human inclination, his selfish, worldly considerations, his natural bias of character; but it will place him among the company whom Daniel saw in vision, those who are purified, made white, and tried.ST November 3, 1898, par. 6

This is the experience which all should gain. Our work is to accept the truth, to “believe on Him whom God hath sent.” In this age fables and errors are preached as truth, and the tendencies of the natural heart are misdirected. But those who believe the truth, the Word of the living God, will be determined to secure those mansions which Christ has gone to prepare, and that life which runs parallel with the life of Jehovah. If the man who is convinced of the truth draws back from the cross that points to the narrow way, and chooses instead the broad road, because he can there indulge his natural and cultivated tendencies to evil, he will never reach heaven. He will never be numbered among those who are purified, made white, and tried. Those who reject the truth because they fear that it will exact too much from them, that it will cut across their selfish propensities, and will hedge up their way to worldly advancement, are accounting themselves unworthy of eternal life.ST November 3, 1898, par. 7

Through His servant Isaiah, the Lord declares: “Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry; they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink. For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes; the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath He covered. And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee; and he saith, I can not; for it is sealed; and the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee; and he saith, I am not learned. Wherefore the Lord saith, Forasmuch as this people draw near Me with their mouth, and their lips do honor Me, but have removed their heart far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the precept of men; therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder; for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.”ST November 3, 1898, par. 8

How verily have these words been fulfilled by the Jewish nation, and by every nation that has followed the same course, turning away from the truth unto fables! The Lord Jesus was the foundation of the whole Jewish economy. Its imposing rites were of divine appointment. They were designed to make the worship of God impressive, and to teach the people that at the time appointed One would come to whom these ceremonies pointed. But the Jews exalted the forms and ceremonies, and lost sight of their object. The traditions and maxims and enactments of men hid from them the spiritual lessons that God intended to convey. These maxims and traditions became an obstacle to their understanding and practise of true religion. And when the reality came, in the person of Christ, they did not recognize in Him the fulfilment of all their types, the substance of all their shadows. They rejected the Antitype, and clung to their types and useless ceremonies. The sum was proved, the Son of God had come, but they continued to ask for the proof. The message brought to them from heaven, “Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” they answered by demands for a miracle. Their demand for a sign from Christ and the apostles was not for the purpose of obtaining a clearer understanding of the truth of the Gospel. All the evidence that Christ would give them would not satisfy them. And to this day the Jewish nation require a sign, and look for the Messiah to come,—one adapted to all their inventive imaginations,—to place them again in possession of the Holy Land.ST November 3, 1898, par. 9

The Gospel of Christ was a stumbling-block to the Jews, because they required signs instead of a Saviour; but the Lord would not have His people rest in signs and outward forms. He would not have them wait until every seeming objection is removed before they believe. God will never remove all seeming difficulties from our path. Those who wish to doubt may find opportunity; those who wish to believe will find plenty of evidence on which to base their faith.ST November 3, 1898, par. 10

The plan of salvation is such that those who are wise in their own estimation, who are puffed up by the teachings of vain philosophy, can not see the beauty and power and mystery of the Gospel. But to those who are of a humble heart the Word is revealed as the power of God to their salvation. The operation of the Spirit of God is foolishness to the unrenewed man. The apostle Paul says, “If our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost; in whom the god of this world hath blinded the eyes of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”ST November 3, 1898, par. 11

Mrs. E. G. White