GOD S LOVE IN FIERY TRIAL Introduction Search and share ministry

Transcription

1 GOD S LOVE IN FIERY TRIAL Introduction Search and share ministry THE FAMOUS VERSE OF FIDELITY Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him. Job 13:15 MAN S TRIAL A FORETASTE OF GOD S EXPERIENCE In Job s trial of fidelity to God, Satan was allowed to draw an evil picture about God s character in Job s experience through the severest inflictions he could muster. Satan wanted to prove that God is wrong in putting hedges around Job to gain loyalty to Him. God allowed the trial of Job to prove that the accusation is not true. Though Job couldn t understand the reason of his sufferings yet he stood firm in his loyalty and love to God. From the depths of discouragement and despondency Job rose to the heights of implicit trust in the mercy and the saving power of God. Triumphantly he declared: "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him." {ML 328.5} Before God created the intelligent beings there were questions in mind needed to be answered; Am I going to create these beings with the capacity to do evil against me? Am I going to create Lucifer and other angels with the capacity to love me or to hate me and to rebel and challenge my authority and bring others to ruin with them? Am I going to create man and entrust him my own image and with all the things I can give though he may crucify me someday? God had chosen to create them anyway. He chose to be the God of love and this love has to be tested and proven. He decidedly chose to create and love them through His Son though they might reject and slay Him. There is one more question in His mind to be addressed, How about the eternal security of the whole creation? The answer is My decision to love them and their decision to love me even under adversity is the key to eternal security. The union of my experience with their experience through trials and temptation will determine love and loyalty By creating us, God had passed the first trial of His character. He decided that the creation may share the same experience, the test of love and loyalty. THE TEST OF LOYALTY AND LOVE WITH THE SON S AUTHORITY The test of loyalty and love is about the authority of God s Son. The angels were tested by showing to them the glory of the Father shared with the Son on the throne. Lucifer had been given the opportunity to be acquainted with the power invested to the Son. The preeminence of Christ became the object of His attention. It seems unfair the exalting the Son and not given him the same authority as equal with the Father. The question was Are you going to rebel against me though it appears to you as if I am unfair because of your desire of exaltation? Lucifer failed the

2 test bydecidedly pursuing his desire to become equal with God and have the prerogative of the Son. He decidedly cast away his loyalty and love to his Maker. The Bible says; How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! [how] art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Isaiah 14:12-14 Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thine heart [is] lifted up, and thou hast said, I [am] a God, I sit [in] the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou [art] a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God: Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty Thou [wast] perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. Ezekiel 28: 2, 12, 15 The power of God represented in Christ was desired in heaven by the rebellious angels, but His character was rejected as eplained Lucifer desired God's power, but not His character. He sought for himself the highest place, and every being who is actuated by his spirit will do the same. Thus alienation, discord, and strife will be inevitable. Dominion becomes the prize of the strongest. The kingdom of Satan is a kingdom of force; every individual regards every other as an obstacle in the way of his own advancement, or a steppingstone on which he himself may climb to a higher place. {DA 435.2} GOD S TRIAL IN MAN S FAILURE When man rebelled against the Creator it was the greatest test of His love to them. He decided to give His Son with a motto though they choose evil, I will love them anyway! Though they slay me I will save them anyway! At the garden of Eden God had promised the salvation. The wickedness on earth grew even after the decided rebellion of Cain and God suffered much in this trying times. In Genesis 6:6,7 says And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. God destroyed the unrepentant sinners but saved Noah s family and promised that He will no longer send a flood to destroy the whole earth (Gen 9:11,12). IN TRIALS WITH GOD; THE UNION OF EXPERIENCES Daniel 3:16-18, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we [are] not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be [so], our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver [us] out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied, and rose up in haste, [and] spake, and said unto his

3 counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king. He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. The three Hebrews in the land of captivity decided to continue their loyalty to God even it meant risking of their life in the fiery furnace if they will not worship the idol set by the king of Babylon. They believed that God can save them, but if God will allow them to suffer and die they will still obey and be loyal Him. In the fiery furnace God rescued them by sending His Son,. These represents multidimensional lessons, but we will focus on sharing with God s experience of trial. The persecution of the three Hebrews represents persecution of God; their trial is God s trial. As king Nebuchadnezzar demanded the Hebrews to worship the image represents Satan s demand in heaven to be worshiped and become the channel to God instead of the Son. Satan s fiery attack is directed to Christ. When Christ, the Son stood with the three Hebrews in the fiery furnace, He illustrated that this experience is His own in infinite level. God purposely allowed them to experience the trials that Christ bears since the beginning of the great controversy. Through harrowing event, their experience was united with God s experience; their loyalty was united with Christ s loyalty, their will with God s will. God s experience in having infinite trial of His own character is being shared with His creation in a finite way. The purpose is to weld together His experience with the experience of His creation in choosing to love in spite of adversity. The question is Are we going to love God though he may appear evil to us? Are we going to obey God though it seems He abandoned us? These questions are infinitely entwined with God s experience. Let the hard-pressed, sorely tried one say, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him." "Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation." Job 13:15; Habakkuk 3:17, 18. {CT 317.4} FOLLOWING CHRIST WHEREEVER HE GOES We need not wait till we are translated to follow Christ. God's people may do this here below. We shall follow the Lamb of God in the courts above only if we follow Him here.... We are not to follow Christ fitfully or capriciously, only when it is for our advantage. We must choose to follow Him. In daily life we must follow His example, as a flock trustfully follows its shepherd. We are to follow Him by suffering for His sake, saying at every step, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him" (Job 13:15). His life practice must be our life practice. And as we thus seek to be like Him and to bring our wills into conformity to His will we shall reveal Him. {HP 298.3} GOD S CHOSEN CHARACTER UNCHANGEABLE BY TIME God had chosen to be the God of love since eternity. His choice has been going though trials and these trials just reveal the nature of His unchangeable decision of what character He had

4 chosen for eternity. God shares this choice, He want us to decide our own character after His which couldn t be changed by the length of time. Trials are design to determine and strengthen our choice. When Joseph, the son of Israel was sold to Egypt decided to become loyal to God in spite of the adversity that had come to him. He was sold, became a slave, tempted, and imprisoned but remained unchanged in his fidelity to God. All the experiences of God s people are pointing to one direction; the experience of God and His Son. They are pointing to the cross, to the final trial of their character. The Son though separated from the Father by the sins of the world put upon Him, though it slays Him, yet He entrusted His life God; he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost. Luke 23: 46. The suffering of the Son was the suffering of the Father as the Scriptures declared, To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. 2Cor 5: 9. CHRIST EXPERIENCE MUST BE YOURS TOO A. IN TIME OF DEPRESSION When depression settles upon the soul, it is no evidence that God has changed. He is "the same yesterday, and today, and forever." You are sure of the favor of God when you are sensible of the beams of the Sun of righteousness; but if the clouds sweep over your soul, you must not feel that you are forsaken. Your faith must pierce the gloom. Your eye must be single, and your whole body shall be full of light. The riches of the grace of Christ must be kept before the mind. Treasure up the lessons that His love provides. Let your faith be like Job's, that you may declare, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him." Lay hold on the promises of your heavenly Father, and remember His former dealing with you and with His servants; for "all things work together for good to them that love God." --RH, Jan 24, {2MCP 496.1} B. IN TIME OF SUFFERINGS AND TROUBLE The Lord permits circumstances to come that call for the exercise of the passive graces, which increase in purity and efficiency as we endeavor to give back to the Lord His own in tithes and offerings. You know something of what it means to pass through trials. These have given you the opportunity of trusting in God, of seeking Him in earnest prayer, that you may believe in Him, and rely upon Him with simple faith. It is by suffering that our virtues are tested, and our faith tried. It is in the day of trouble that we feel the preciousness of Jesus. You will be given opportunity to say, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him" (Job 13:15). Oh, it is so precious to think that opportunities are afforded us to confess our faith in the face of danger, and amid sorrow, sickness, pain, and death.... {1SM 117.4} FOLLOWING THE MASTERS PATH We must choose to follow Him. In daily life we must follow His example, as a flock trustfully follows its shepherd. We are to follow Him by suffering for His sake, saying, at every step,

5 "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him." His life practice must be our life practice. And as we thus seek to be like Him, and to bring our wills into conformity to His will, we shall reveal Him (RH April 12, 1898). {7BC 978.8} UNITING WITH GOD S EXPERIENCE This great controversy Bible study series is focus on God s perspective in relation to our experience with the hope of bringing us in the sphere of His experience that His will be united with our will, His choice be welded with our choices, His experience be wed with our experience, and His life be together with our life for eternity. May the presentations of the topics be useful in your life and to your ministries. God be with you in peace or in trouble, Search and Share Ministry Calvin Mariano Administrator