This is a portion of a larger book. In this version, the Bible texts have been modified into modern English, the punctuation improved, headings and emphasis may have been added, and some sentences realigned. The Ministry of Healing Chap. 35 – A True Knowledge of God Like our Saviour, we are in this world to do service for God. We are here to become like God in character, and by a life of service to reveal Him to the world. In order to be co-workers with God, in order to become like Him and to reveal His character, we must know Him aright. We must know Him as He reveals Himself. A knowledge of God is the foundation of all true education and of all true service. It is the only real safeguard against temptation. It is this alone that can make us like God in character. This is the knowledge needed by all who are working for the uplifting of their fellow men. Transformation of character, purity of life, efficiency in service, adherence to correct principles, all depend upon a right knowledge of God. This knowledge is the essential preparation both for this life and for the life to come. “The knowledge of the Holy is understanding”. Proverbs 9:10. Through a knowledge of Him are given to us “all things that pertain to life and godliness”. 2 Peter 1:3. “This is life eternal,” said Jesus, “that they might know You the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent”. John 17:3. “Thus says the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Neither let the mighty man glory in his might, Let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth glory in this, That he understandeth and knows Me, That I am the LORD which exercise loving-kindness, Judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: For in these things I delight, says the LORD”. Jeremiah 9:23, 24. We need to study the revelations of Himself that God has given. “Acquaint now yourself with Him, And be at peace: Thereby good shall come to you. Receive, I pray you, the law from His mouth, And lay up His words in your heart. . . . And the Almighty will be your treasure. . . . “Then shall you delight yourself in the Almighty, And shall lift up your face to God. You shall make your prayer to Him, And He will hear you; And you shall pay your vows. You shall also decree a thing, And it shall be established to you; And light shall shine upon your ways. When they cast you down, you shall say, There is lifting up; And the humble person He will save”. Job 22:21-29, A.R.V. “The invisible things of Him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even His everlasting power and divinity”. Romans 1:20, A.R.V. The things of nature that we now behold give us but a faint conception of Eden's glory. Sin has marred earth's beauty; on all things may be seen traces of the work of evil. Yet much that is beautiful remains. Nature testifies that One infinite in power, great in goodness, mercy, and love, created the earth, and filled it with life and gladness. Even in their blighted state, all things reveal the handiwork of the great Master Artist. Wherever we turn, we may hear the voice of God, and see evidences of His goodness. From the solemn roll of the deep-toned thunder and old ocean's ceaseless roar, to the glad songs that make the forests vocal with melody, nature's ten thousand voices speak His praise. In earth and sea and sky, with their marvelous tint and color, varying in gorgeous contrast or blended in harmony, we behold His glory. The everlasting hills tell us of His power. The trees that wave their green banners in the sunlight, and the flowers in their delicate beauty, point to their Creator. The living green that carpets the brown earth tells of God's care for the humblest of His creatures. The caves of the sea and the depths of the earth reveal His treasures. He who placed the pearls in the ocean and the amethyst and chrysolite among the rocks, is a lover of the beautiful. The sun rising in the heavens is a representative of Him who is the life and light of all that He has made. All the brightness and beauty that adorn the earth and light up the heavens, speak of God. “His glory covered the heavens”. “The earth is full of Your riches”. “Day unto day utters speech, And night to night shows knowledge. There is no speech nor language, Without these their voice is heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, And their words to the end of the world”. Habakkuk 3:3; Psalm 104:24; 19:2-4, margin. All things tell of His tender, fatherly care and of His desire to make His children happy. The mighty power that works through all nature and sustains all things is not, as some men of science represent, merely an all-pervading principle, an actuating energy. God is a Spirit; yet He is a personal Being; for so He has revealed Himself: “The LORD is the true God, He is the living God, and an everlasting King: . . . The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, Even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens”. “The portion of Jacob is not like them: For He is the former of all things”. “He has made the earth by His power, He has established the world by His wisdom, And has stretched out the heavens by His discretion”. Jeremiah 10:10, 11, 16, 12. Nature Is Not God God's handiwork in nature is not God Himself in nature. The things of nature are an expression of God's character and power; but we are not to regard nature as God. The artistic skill of human beings produces very beautiful workmanship, things that delight the eye, and these things reveal to us something of the thought of the designer; but the thing made is not the maker. It is not the work, but the workman, that is counted worthy of honour. So while nature is an expression of God's thought, it is not nature, but the God of nature, that is to be exalted. “Let us worship and bow down: Let us kneel before the LORD”. “In His hand are the deep places of the earth; The heights of the mountains are His also. The sea is His, and He made it; And His hands formed the dry land”. Psalm 95:6; 95:4, 5, A.R.V. “Seek Him that makes the Pleiades and Orion, And turns the shadow of death into the morning, And makes the day dark with night;” “He that forms the mountains, and creates the wind, And declares to man what is His thought;” “He that builds His spheres in the heaven, And has founded His arch [Noyes's translation] in the earth;” “He that calls for the waters of the sea, And pours them out upon the face of the earth; Jehovah is His name”. Amos 5:8, A.R.V.; 4:13, A.R.V.; 9:6, margin; 9:6, A.R.V. The Creation of the Earth The work of creation cannot be explained by science. What science can explain the mystery of life? “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear”. Hebrews 11:3. “I form the light, and create darkness: . . . I the LORD do all these things. . . . I have made the earth, And created man upon it: I, even My hands, have stretched out the heavens, And all their host have I commanded”. “When I call to them, they stand up together”. Isaiah 45:7-12; 48:13. For the creation of the earth, God was not indebted to pre-existing matter. “He spoke, and it was; . . . He commanded, and it stood fast”. Psalm 33:9. All things, material or spiritual, stood up before the LORD Jehovah at His voice and were created for His own purpose. The heavens and all the host of them, the earth and all things therein, came into existence by the breath of His mouth. In the creation of man was manifest the agency of a personal God. When God had made man in His image, the human form was perfect in all its arrangements, but it was without life. Then a personal, self-existing God breathed into that form the breath of life, and man became a living, intelligent being. All parts of the human organism were set in action. The heart, the arteries, the veins, the tongue, the hands, the feet, the senses, the faculties of the mind, all began their work, and all were placed under law. Man became a living soul. Through Christ the Word, a personal God created man and endowed him with intelligence and power. Our substance was not hid from Him when we were made in secret; His eyes saw our substance, yet being imperfect, and in His book all our members were written when as yet there were none of them. Above all lower orders of being, God designed that man, the crowning work of His creation, should express His thought and reveal His glory. But man is not to exalt himself as God. “Make a joyful noise to the LORD. . . . Serve the LORD with gladness: Come before His presence with singing. Know you that the LORD He is God: It is He that has made us, and His we are; We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise: Be thankful to Him, and bless His name”. “Exalt the LORD our God, And worship at His holy hill; For the LORD our God is holy”. Psalm 100:1-4, margin; 99:9. God is constantly employed in upholding and using as His servants the things that He has made. He works through the laws of nature, using them as His instruments. They are not self-acting. Nature in her work testifies of the intelligent presence and active agency of a Being who moves in all things according to His will. “Forever, O LORD, Your word is settled in heaven. Your faithfulness is to all generations: You have established the earth, and it abides. They continue this day according to Your ordinances: For all are Your servants”. “Whatsoever the LORD pleased, that did He In heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places”. “He commanded, and they were created. He has also established them for ever and ever: He has made a decree which shall not pass”. Psalm 119:89-91; 135:6; 148:5, 6. It is not by inherent power that year by year the earth yields its bounties and continues its march around the sun. The hand of the Infinite One is perpetually at work guiding this planet. It is God's power continually exercised that keeps the earth in position in its rotation. It is God who causes the sun to rise in the heavens. He opens the windows of heaven and gives rain. “He gives snow like wool: He scatters the hoarfrost like ashes”. “When He utters His voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, And He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; He makes lightnings with rain, And brings forth the wind out of His treasures”. Psalm 147:16; Jeremiah 10:13. It is by His power that vegetation is caused to flourish, that every leaf appears, every flower blooms, every fruit develops. The mechanism of the human body cannot be fully understood; it presents mysteries that baffle the most intelligent. It is not as the result of a mechanism, which, once set in motion, continues its work, that the pulse beats and breath follows breath. In God we live and move and have our being. The beating heart, the throbbing pulse, every nerve and muscle in the living organism, is kept in order and activity by the power of an ever-present God. The Bible shows us God in His high and holy place, not in a state of inactivity, not in silence and solitude, but surrounded by ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands of holy beings, all waiting to do His will. Through these messengers He is in active communication with every part of His dominion. By His Spirit He is everywhere present. Through the agency of His Spirit and His angels He ministers to the children of men. Above the distractions of the earth He sits enthroned; all things are open to His divine survey; and from His great and calm eternity He orders that which His providence sees best. “The way of man is not in himself: It is not in man that walks to direct his steps”. “Trust in the LORD with all your heart. . . . In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths”. “The eye of the LORD is upon them that fear Him, Upon them that hope in His mercy; To deliver their soul from death, And to keep them alive in famine”. “How precious is Your loving-kindness, O God! . . . The children of men take refuge under the shadow of Your wings”. “Happy is he that has the God of Jacob for his help, Whose hope is in the LORD his God”. “The earth, O Jehovah, is full of Your loving-kindness”. You love “righteousness and justice”. You “are the confidence of all the ends of the earth, And of them that are afar off upon the sea: Who by His strength sets fast the mountains, Being girded about with might; Who stills the roaring of the seas, . . . And the tumult of the peoples”. “You make the outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice”. “You crown the year with Your goodness; And Your paths drop fatness”. “The LORD upholds all that fall, And raises up all those that be bowed down. The eyes of all wait upon You; And You give them their meat in due season. You open Your hand, And satisfy the desire of every living thing”. Jeremiah 10:23; Proverbs 3:5, 6; Psalm 33:18, 19; 36:7, A.R.V.; 146:5; 119:64, A.R.V.; 33:5, A.R.V.; 65:5-7, A.R.V.; 65:8, 11; 145:14-16. Personality of God Revealed in Christ As a personal being, God has revealed Himself in His Son. The outshining of the Father's glory, “and the express image of His person,” Jesus, as a personal Saviour, came to the world. As a personal Saviour He ascended on high. As a personal Saviour He intercedes in the heavenly courts. Before the throne of God in our behalf ministers “One like to the Son of man”. Hebrews 1:3; Revelation 1:13. Christ, the Light of the world, veiled the dazzling splendor of His divinity and came to live as a man among men, that they might, without being consumed, become acquainted with their Creator. Since sin brought separation between man and his Maker, no man has seen God at any time, except as He is manifested through Christ. “I and My Father are one,” Christ declared. “No man knows the Son, but the Father; neither knows any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him”. John 10:30; Matthew 11:27. Christ came to teach human beings what God desires them to know. In the heavens above, in the earth, in the broad waters of the ocean, we see the handiwork of God. All created things testify to His power, His wisdom, His love. Yet not from the stars or the ocean or the cataract can we learn of the personality of God as it was revealed in Christ. 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. Revealed to the Disciples Let us study the words that Christ spoke in the upper chamber on the night before His crucifixion. He was nearing His hour of trial, and He sought to comfort His disciples, who were to be so severely tempted and tried. “Let not your heart be troubled,” He said. “You believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. . . . “Thomas says to Him, LORD, we know not where You go; and how can we know the way? Jesus says to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, but by Me. If you had known Me, you should have known My Father also: and from henceforth you know Him, and have seen Him. . . . “LORD, show us the Father,” said Philip, “and it suffices us. Jesus says to him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet have you not known Me, Philip? he that has seen Me has seen the Father; and how say you then, Show us the Father? Believe you not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? the words that I speak to you I speak not of Myself: but the Father that dwells in Me, He does the works”. John 14:1-10. The disciples did not yet understand Christ's words concerning His relation to God. Much of His teaching was still dark to them. Christ desired them to have a clearer, more distinct knowledge of God. “These things have I spoken to you in parables,” He said; “but the time comes, when I shall no more speak to you in parables, but I shall show you plainly of the Father”. John 16:25, margin. When, on the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured out on the disciples, they understood more fully the truths that Christ had spoken in parables. Much of the teaching that had been a mystery to them was made clear. But not even then did the disciples receive the complete fulfillment of Christ's promise. They received all the knowledge of God that they could bear, but the complete fulfillment of the promise that Christ would show them plainly of the Father was yet to come. Thus it is today. Our knowledge of God is partial and imperfect. When the conflict is ended, and the Man Christ Jesus acknowledges before the Father His faithful workers, who in a world of sin have borne true witness for Him, they will understand clearly what now are mysteries to them. Christ took with Him to the heavenly courts His glorified humanity. To those who receive Him He gives power to become the sons of God, that at last God may receive them as His, to dwell with Him throughout eternity. If during this life they are loyal to God, they will at last “see His face; and His name shall be in their foreheads”. Revelation 22:4. And what is the happiness of heaven but to see God? What greater joy could come to the sinner saved by the grace of Christ than to look upon the face of God and know Him as Father? The Scriptures clearly indicate the relation between God and Christ, and they bring to view as clearly the personality and individuality of each. “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son; . . . who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; being made so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For to which of the angels said He at any time. “You are My Son, This day have I begotten You? And again, I will be to Him a Father, And He shall be to Me a Son?” Hebrews 1:1-5. The personality of the Father and the Son, also the unity that exists between Them, are presented in the seventeenth chapter of John, in the prayer of Christ for His disciples: “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word; that they all may be one; as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us: that the world may believe that You have sent Me”. John 17:20, 21. The unity that exists between Christ and His disciples does not destroy the personality of either. They are one in purpose, in mind, in character, but not in person. It is thus that God and Christ are one. Character of God Revealed in Christ Taking humanity upon Him, Christ came to be one with humanity, and at the same time to reveal our heavenly Father to sinful human beings. He who had been in the presence of the Father from the beginning, He who was the express image of the invisible God, was alone able to reveal the character of the Deity to mankind. He was in all things made like to His brothers [and sisters]. He became flesh even as we are. He was hungry and thirsty and weary. He was sustained by food and refreshed by sleep. He shared the lot of men; yet He was the blameless Son of God. He 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. “Jehovah has anointed Me,” He said, “To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives,” “And recovering of sight to the blind;” “To proclaim the year of Jehovah's favor; . . . To comfort all that mourn”. Isaiah 61:1, A.R.V., margin; Luke 4:18; Isaiah 61:2, A.R.V. “Love your enemies,” He bids us; “bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that you may be the children of your Father which is in heaven;” “for He is kind to the unthankful and to the evil”. “He makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust”. “Be you therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful”. Matthew 5:44, 45; Luke 6:35; Matthew 5:45; Luke 6:36. “Through the tender mercy of our God; . . . The Dayspring from on high has visited us, To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, To guide our feet into the way of peace”. Luke 1:78, 79. The Glory of the Cross The revelation of God's love to man centers in the cross. Its full significance tongue cannot utter, pen cannot portray, the mind of man cannot comprehend. Looking upon the cross of Calvary, we can only say, “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. Christ crucified for our sins, Christ risen from the dead, Christ ascended on high, is the science of salvation that we are to learn and to teach. It Was Christ “Who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient even to death, yea, the death of the cross”. Philippians 2:6-8, A.R.V. “It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God”. “Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come to God by Him, seeing He ever lives to make intercession for them”. Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25. “We have not a high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but One that has been in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin”. Hebrews 4:15, A.R.V. It is through the gift of Christ that we receive every blessing. Through that gift there comes to us day by day the unfailing flow of Jehovah's goodness. Every flower, with its delicate tints and its fragrance, is given for our enjoyment through that one Gift. The sun and the moon were made by Him. There is not a star which beautifies the heavens that He did not make. Every drop of rain that falls, every ray of light shed upon our unthankful world, testifies to the love of God in Christ. Everything is supplied to us through the one unspeakable Gift, God's only-begotten Son. He was nailed to the cross that all these bounties might flow to God's workmanship. “Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God”. 1 John 3:1. “Men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, Neither has the eye seen a God besides You, Who works for him that waits for Him”. Isaiah 64:4, A.R.V. The Knowledge That Works Transformation The knowledge of God as revealed in Christ is the knowledge that all who are saved must have. It is the knowledge that works transformation of character. This knowledge, received, will re-create the soul in the image of God. It will impart to the whole being a spiritual power that is divine. “We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the LORD, are changed into the same image from glory to glory”. 2 Corinthians 3:18. Of His own life the Saviour said, “I have kept My Father's commandments”. John 15:10. “The Father has not left Me alone; for I do always those things that please Him”. John 8:29. As Jesus was in human nature, so God means His followers to be. In His strength we are to live the life of purity and nobility which the Saviour lived. “For this cause,” Paul says, “I bow my knees to the Father of our LORD Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God”. Ephesians 3:14-19. We “do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that you might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you might walk worthy of the LORD to all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, to all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness”. Colossians 1:9-11. This is the knowledge which God is inviting us to receive, and beside which all else is vanity and nothingness. oooOooo 14