“O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches. . . . These wait all upon thee; that thou mayest give them their meat in due season.” (Psalm 104:24, 27).

“The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing” (Psalm 145:15, 16).

No person can explain the existence of matter or the origin of energy. No one knows the secrets of motion, the order of vegetable or animal life, the processes of human thought, the intelligence, attention or memory, the origin of speech or the mysteries of will power. The psalmist declared, “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well” (Psalm 139:14).

Although we are impressed by the perfection of everything created by God, by the wonderful laws governing the vegetable and animal kingdom, or those which keep the worlds in space, we see God in Christ. Although He was the Creator Himself, He “made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:7). This humiliation will be the object of the study of angels and the study of the saved throughout all eternity. We are amazed when we think that He was born in a manger. God, the Creator of all worlds, came to earth to be born like any other child. He spent His childhood in Nazareth, a place known for the wickedness of its inhabitants. He chose to be born in a poor family, working hard from early childhood to make a living.

“Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Hebrews 2:14).

The divine Son became flesh. The Almighty manifested Himself on earth as a helpless child of humans. Just think of this: He had to be fed! He couldn’t feed Himself, He had to have His clothes changed, because He couldn’t do that by Himself; He had to be helped to walk, because He couldn’t walk alone. It’s stunning! Through contrast we can understand why God condescended so much, in order that He might lift us up in an indescribable measure. “For [God] hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Through the incarnation of Christ, God condemned sin (Romans 8:3) in the very bulwark it was using: He condemned it in human nature, in order that by this means something wonderful and unachievable otherwise would be possible for us now: The commandment of the Law trespassed by us in human nature would be now fulfilled by us. How? Still present in human nature, but being led by other life principles, other “instincts”! Those of the Holy Spirit! In body Christ was made sin for us, in order that we might be made (almost incredible!!!) the righteousness of God in Him. And that while we are still in the body!

“God saw that a clearer revelation than nature was needed to portray both His personality and His character. He sent His Son into the world to manifest, so far as could be endured by human sight, the nature and the attributes of the invisible God.”2

[“Taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men”] “was a voluntary sacrifice. Jesus might have remained at the Father’s side. He might have retained the glory of heaven, and the homage of the angels. But He chose to give back the scepter into the Father’s hands, and to step down from the throne of the universe, that He might bring light to the benighted, and life to the perishing.”3 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

“[Jesus] endured every trial to which we are subject. And He exercised in His own behalf no power that is not freely offered to us. As man, He met temptation, and overcame in the strength given Him from God.”4

“[The Son of God] was a stranger and sojourner on the earth - in the world, but not of the world; tempted and tried as men and women today are tempted and tried, yet living a life free from sin. Tender, compassionate, sympathetic, ever considerate of others, He represented the character of God, and was constantly engaged in service for God and man.”5

“[Jesus] life was one of constant self-sacrifice. He had no home in this world except as the kindness of friends provided for Him as a wayfarer. He came to live in our behalf the life of the poorest and to walk and work among the needy and the suffering. Unrecognized and unhonored, He walked in and out among the people for whom He had done so much. He was always patient and cheerful, and the afflicted hailed Him as a messenger of life and peace. He saw the needs of men and women, children and youth, and to all He gave the invitation, ‘Come unto Me.’”6

Jesus had often told the disciples about His sufferings and death, but their minds were blinded and could not understand. They were too familiarized with hopes long cherished about a temporal kingdom. Therefore the temptation was too great for them - the suffering of seeing the “king” crucified was too painful for them. They were unprepared for the hour of their supreme trial. As some of them were invited to abide with Him during the last visit in the garden of Gethsemane, they fell asleep. He was now praying for Himself.

“Behold [Christ] contemplating the price to be paid for the human soul. In His agony He clings to the cold ground, as if to prevent Himself from being drawn farther from God. The chilling dew of night falls upon His prostrate form, but He heeds it not. From His pale lips comes the bitter cry, ‘O My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me.’ Yet even now He adds, ‘Nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt.’”7

“[The world’s Redeemer] accepts His baptism of blood, that through Him perishing millions may gain everlasting life. He has left the courts of heaven, where all is purity, happiness, and glory, to save the one lost sheep, the one world that has fallen by transgression. And He will not turn from His mission. He will become the propitiation of a race that has willed to sin.”8

His face was changed by anguish. The bloodstains had distorted Him. “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not” (Isaiah 53:3).

We are entreated by the inspired word to meditate daily at least for one hour on the life of Christ, especially the closing scenes. This very life - the life of Christ - is the only way through which we can be saved from sin. “He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). Christ was punished as we should have been punished, in order that through His wounds we might be able to regain the Paradise lost.

“In yielding up His precious life, Christ was not upheld by triumphant joy. All was oppressive gloom. It was not the dread of death that weighed upon Him. It was not the pain and ignominy of the cross that caused His inexpressible agony. Christ was the prince of sufferers; but His suffering was from a sense of the malignity of sin, a knowledge that through familiarity with evil, man had become blinded to its enormity. Christ saw how deep is the hold of sin upon the human heart, how few would be willing to break from its power. He knew that without help from God, humanity must perish, and He saw multitudes perishing within reach of abundant help.”9

“Christ has shown that His love was stronger than death. He was accomplishing man’s salvation; and although He had the most fearful conflict with the powers of darkness, yet, amid it all, His love grew stronger and stronger. He endured the hiding of His Father’s countenance, until He was led to exclaim in the bitterness of His soul: ‘My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?’ His arm brought salvation. The price was paid to purchase the redemption of man, when, in the last soul struggle, the blessed words were uttered which seemed to resound through creation: ‘It is finished.’”10

After the saddest Sabbath in the life of the disciples, they were troubled again by the news circulating regarding His disappearing from Joseph’s tomb. Mary Magdalene had gone to anoint the dead body. As she came to the tomb, she saw that the stone had been moved away from the entrance and the guard was no longer there. The disciples entered the tomb too, and they also noticed it was empty. They were amazed, but they went fearfully home. Nonetheless, in the midst of her tears, this woman talked to the angels. Her desire to find out the fate of the disappeared body was generously rewarded. She was the first being unto whom the Lord revealed Himself after the resurrection. When she discovered in the coming Stranger her Saviour, she wanted to grasp His feet and to worship Him, yet “Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God” (John 20:17).

“Jesus refused to receive the homage of His people until He had the assurance that His sacrifice was accepted by the Father. He ascended to the heavenly courts, and from God Himself heard the assurance that His atonement for the sins of men had been ample, that through His blood all might gain eternal life. The Father ratified the covenant made with Christ, that He would receive repentant and obedient men, and would love them even as He loves His Son.”11

Christ revealed Himself to the disciples several times over the course of 40 days, in order to prepare them to receive the Holy Spirit and for their important mission as His ambassadors for a spiritually thirsty world. After the resurrection, at their first meeting, He explained to them that what happened had to happen - that He had to die and be resurrected according to what the prophecies declared about Him. They touched Him and saw that He was alive. Now, He said, “Ye are witnesses of these things” (Luke 24:48). After 40 days He climbed slowly, walking together with the disciples, the Mount of Olives and was lifted up from among them.

From then on, another part of His service in our behalf had begun. While He was beginning the work of High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary, the Holy Spirit accompanied the apostles with great power in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria and unto the ends of the world. He communicated with them, revealing unto them the sufferings which His Church would have to go through until His coming.

“Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man” (Hebrews 8:1, 2).

“For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us” (Hebrews 9:24).

“For eighteen centuries this work of ministration continued in the first apartment of the sanctuary. The blood of Christ, pleaded in behalf of penitent believers, secured their pardon and acceptance with the Father, yet their sins still remained upon the books of record. As in the typical service there was a work of atonement at the close of the year, so before Christ’s work for the redemption of men is completed there is a work of atonement for the removal of sin from the sanctuary. This is the service which began when the 2300 days ended. At that time, as foretold by Daniel the prophet, our High Priest entered the most holy, to perform the last division of His solemn work - to cleanse the sanctuary.”12

The message addressed to the final church represents the last scenes of the time of trial. It reveals a time of judgment. We are now in the last period of the church. The message applies to the believers living in the time of the third angel’s message, the last message of grace before the coming of the Lord Jesus.

This is not a message of peace and safety. God’s people are represented as being in a position of safety. They are comfortable, imagining that they are in a state of high spiritual knowledge. The message of the true witness finds God’s people in a sad deception, but honest in this deception.

As a people, we have the precious light of God’s revelation, the proofs of fulfilled prophecies, the experiences of past generations with all their light. There has never been a people more blessed with the riches of the divine truth. But these are not enough. The Lord wants His people, His beloved children, to be sanctified by the truth, in order that the fruit of Christ’s righteousness can be revealed in our life. The Lord, in His great mercy, sends us the most serious warnings in order to prepare us to enter the last and the greatest crisis. Do we need these warnings? Are they addressed to us? Are there among us hidden sins, worldly pleasures and practices which are being cherished? We are in need of Bible humility, of patience, love, and a sacrificing spirit. Sin gains victories in our midst and then we believe that others need to be reproved. Among us “many cling to their doubts and their darling sins while they are in so great a deception as to talk and feel that they are in need of nothing”13

“The deadly lethargy of the world is paralyzing your senses. Sin no longer appears repulsive because you are blinded by Satan. The judgments of God are soon to be poured out upon the earth. ‘Escape for thy life’ is the warning from the angels of God. Other voices are heard saying: ‘Do not become excited; there is no cause for special alarm.’ Those who are at ease in Zion cry ‘Peace and safety,’ while heaven declares that swift destruction is about to come upon the transgressor. The young, the frivolous, the pleasure loving, consider these warnings as idle tales and turn from them with a jest. Parents are inclined to think their children about right in the matter, and all sleep on at ease.”14

Reproof and punishment are very unpleasant means in a relationship based upon subordination. They show that all other less aggressive methods have failed. Keeping in mind the character and wisdom of the One who speaks in this verse, as well as the state of the ones unto whom these words are addressed, we must acknowledge that there is a critical, even desperate situation. When not even love - and here we speak of a godly, infinite love - can find another way than reproof and punishment, we should ponder over it in the most serious manner.

Even more: What point is there in the best intention, even in desperate cases, if these measures taken for correction are not received with love? What can you achieve with the reproved one if he or she does not love you, if he or she rebels against the punishment, if he or she considers that he or she is suffering without reason, if he or she believes that any other person in the world would have deserved the punishment, except him or her?

I remember here the experience of a brother who was persecuted to the utmost by the former regime in Romania. Those posing the restrictions used to have diabolical methods to destroy not only the body, but the psyche as well. Being thus tortured by the secret police, this brother felt that he would “lose his mind,” that he would become mad. During this time of extreme despair, he remembered a poem he himself had written many years before. In this poem he was talking to the Saviour with the words: “Even if You wouldn’t save me, I would still worship You because You have been the only One to try to save me at all!” The remembrance of this thought - inspired by the Lord Himself - resulted in his deliverance from that desperate circumstance. With a dignity which commended both respect and fear at the same time, he declared to his torturers that he no longer feared anything: “I am sorry I lost for a moment my trust in the One I love and adore. I am here, you can do with my body whatever you please, but my soul is resting in Him.” From that very moment his trial came to an end. He was raised above the actual state, unto the throne of the one he loved. By God’s mercy he was sentenced to prison, he served his term there, and was finally released, remaining strong in the faith.

“Our sorrows do not spring out of the ground. God ‘doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men’ (Lamentations 3:33). When He permits trials and afflictions, it is ‘for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness’ (Hebrews 12:10). If received in faith, the trial that seems so bitter and hard to bear will prove a blessing. The cruel blow that blights the joys of earth will be the means of turning our eyes to heaven. How many there are who would never have known Jesus had not sorrow led them to seek comfort in Him!”15

It is an indisputable fact that love is the decisive factor in any relationship, but this is especially true in extreme situations when reproof and punishment become necessary. When everything is crushing down, when you come to despair, a single remedy is left: Love! Kiss the hand that is beating you!

“We also need to learn that trials mean benefit, and not to despise the chastening of the Lord nor faint when we are rebuked of Him.”16

God sees farther than we poor mortals can see. He knows what can be achieved by “suffering.” Even for His mostly beloved Son, who took our place, God did not find means to bring Him unto perfection, except by suffering. He will apply no other methods in our case. “For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.” (Hebrews 2:10). How did He manage to overcome, when “it pleased the Lord to bruise him” (Isaiah 53:10)?

“By faith [Christ] rested in [His father] whom it had ever been His joy to obey. And as in submission He committed Himself to God, the sense of the loss of His Father’s favor was withdrawn. By faith, Christ was victor.”17 Shall we not strive to be victors as well?