Change Bible School

To read and meditate

Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 1 John 3:1.

How many today see Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world, as He is! How few know Him! How few know the Father! Everyone that knows Christ has a knowledge of the Father. To see Christ as He is is one of the greatest blessings that can ever come to fallen humanity; the precious Saviour, to see Him as He is! How many have partial views of Jesus Christ. How many acknowledge Him as the world's Redeemer, but they know Him not as a personal Saviour; and this is essential—the knowledge of God in Jesus Christ....

“And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself.” What hope? Why, of seeing Jesus as He is, the living faith that lays hold of the arm of the infinite God, the living faith that takes Christ as our personal Saviour. Who knows Him as thus? All your casual views of Christ will not save a single soul. Do you know Him by the living connection of faith? ...

There was a wondrous work for Him to perform here when He came to our earth. Satan was having things about as he pleased. He claimed this earth's territory as his, the prince of the world. Christ came to dispute his power and his claim. Christ came to rescue the human race from his oppressive power....

The battlefield was right here in this little world; the conflict went on between the Prince of life and the powers of darkness. Which shall triumph? All the heavenly universe, the heavenly intelligences, were looking upon Christ and taking cognizance of the battle. Here was Christ disputing the authority of Satan, and Satan was following Him at every step, determined to overthrow Him with his temptations, determined that he would weary and exhaust the patience and forbearance of God for the human family so that he should be able to ruin every one of them....

Whatever may be your weakness, [however] compassed with infirmities, there is hope for you in God. Our precious Saviour came to save to the utmost every soul that will come unto Him....

To those who have their minds engrossed with earthly pleasures He comes and lifts the voice of warning, and He presents eternity to your view; He there opens before you heaven, the threshold lightened and brightened with His glory, and the glory streams through the open door. The door is ajar, thank God.—Manuscript 86, 1894. . CTr 258.1-CTr 258.5

To read and meditate

And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away. Matthew 21:19.

It was not a common thing for a fig tree to present full foliage at that early period of the season. The fruit of the fig tree makes its appearance before the leaves; therefore a fig tree in full leaf might be expected to have fruit upon it. Christ approached the tree, expecting to find fruit there, but searching from the lowest bough to the topmost branch, He found nothing but leaves, and His curse fell upon it.
This instance in the ministry of Christ is a singular one. It was unlike the ways and works of Christ....

Wherever He went He scattered mercy in words of counsel and deeds of goodness. He was the Restorer, the Healer. He came not to condemn the world but that the world through Him might be saved. The disciples could not understand the action of Christ in punishing a tree for its barrenness, and they said unto Him, “How soon is the fig tree withered away!”

Just before this Christ had made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem. For the second time He had cleansed the temple and had driven out from its courts the traffickers.... Dishonest dealing was practiced by the people who brought cattle to sell in the temple courts, but the word of command was given; divinity flashed through humanity, and no priest in his gorgeous dress, or trafficker looking on that countenance, dared to remain....

This was a parable of the dispersion of the Jews. Now Christ, under the symbol of the blighted tree, presents before His disciples the righteous anger of God as He sees the temple courts desecrated to obtain unlawful gain, and the destruction of the Jewish nation. That tree, flaunting its pretentious foliage in the very face of Christ, was a symbol of the Jewish nation, which had been separating from God until, in their pride and apostasy, they had lost their power of discernment and knew not their Redeemer....

This blighted fig tree with its pretentious branches is to repeat its lesson in every age to the close of this earth's history.... If the spirit of Satan entered unto unsanctified hearts in the days of Christ to counterwork the requirements of God in that generation, it will surely enter into the professed Christian churches in [our day]. History will repeat itself.... But the people who obey the commandments of God have no controversy. They take the Word of God for their guide.—Manuscript 32, 1898. . CTr 256.1-CTr 256.6

To read and meditate

And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves. Matthew 21:12.

The temple courts were filled with cattle, sheep, oxen, and doves. Above the noise of the lowing of cattle, the bleating of the sheep, and the cooing of the doves could be heard the voice of the traffickers as they offered for sale the animals and birds, at the highest rates, to those who had come to the Passover to offer sacrifice. Jesus said, “It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.”

This act on the part of Christ was deeply significant, more significant than any of the beholders realized. When the priests and Pharisees had recovered from the terror that had taken possession of their guilty souls at the words of Christ, they returned to the temple. They were not converted or even humbled. They determined to challenge Christ as to His authority for expelling them from the temple courts. When they reached the temple they found that a wonderful work had been done during their absence. The sick and dying had been restored to health. They were astonished, but they would not yield their stubborn unbelief. They had already determined to put Christ to death, and Lazarus also, who had been raised from the dead. They knew that the people would still believe in Christ as long as there lived among them one who had been raised from the dead by His power.

The evidence Christ had given was calculated to convince every sincere mind, but it was not evidence that these people wanted. It was the rejection and condemnation of Christ by the people for which they were seeking. Every additional evidence given only increased their aversion to Christ. To have Christ in the world performing His wonderful works, to have Him live before the people His life of goodness and self-denial and self-sacrifice, to have Him exercise for others the tender compassion that had long since departed from their lives, was the very thing they did not want.

Christ was fulfilling the commission given Him of His Father. “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison for them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”—Manuscript 128, 1899. . CTr 255.1-CTr 255.5

To read and meditar

Ye shall find an ass tied, and a c**t with her: loose them, and bring them unto me. And if any man say aught unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them. Matthew 21:2, 3.

The time of Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem was the most beautiful season of the year. The Mount of Olives was carpeted with green, and the groves were beautiful with varied foliage. Very many had come to the feast from the regions round about Jerusalem with an earnest desire to see Jesus. The crowning miracle of the Saviour in raising Lazarus from the dead had a wonderful effect upon minds, and a large and enthusiastic multitude was drawn to the place where Jesus was tarrying.
The afternoon was half spent when Jesus sent His disciples to the village of Bethphage....

This was the first time during His life of ministry that Christ had consented to ride, and the disciples interpreted this move to be an indication that He was about to assert His kingly power and authority, and take His position on David's throne. Joyfully they executed the commission. They found the c**t as Jesus had said....

As Jesus takes His seat on the animal, the air becomes vocal with acclamations of praise and triumph.... He bears no outward sign of royalty. He wears no dress of state, nor is He followed by a train of men of arms. Instead He is surrounded by a company wrought up to the highest pitch of excitement. They cannot restrain the joyous feeling of expectancy that animate their hearts....

The shout echoes from mountain and valley, “Hosanna to the son of David: ... Hosanna in the highest.” “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” ... Those who have once been blind ... are the first to lead the way in that wonderful procession....

One whom He has raised from the dead leads the animal on which He is seated. The once deaf and dumb, with ears opened and tongues unloosed, help swell the glad hosannas. Cripples, with buoyant steps and grateful hearts, are now most active in breaking down the palm branches and strewing them in His path as their tribute of homage to the mighty Healer. The l***r, who has listened to the dread words of the priest, “Unclean,” ... is there. The widow and the orphan are there to tell of His wonderful works. The restored dead are there. Their tongues, once palsied by the power of Satan, take up the song of rejoicing.... The demoniac is there, not now to have the words wrenched from his lips by Satan's power.... On the crest of Olivet the procession pauses.—Manuscript 128, 1899. . CTr 253.1-CTr 253.5

Yo read and meditate

Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the l***r, there came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat. Matthew 26:6, 7.

This incident is full of instruction. Jesus, the world's Redeemer, is drawing close to the time when He will give His life for a sinful world. Yet how little did even His disciples realize what they were about to lose. Mary could not reason upon this subject. Her heart was filled with pure, holy love. The sentiment of her heart was “What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits toward me?” This ointment, costly as it was estimated by the disciples, was but a poor expression of her love for her Master. But Christ could appreciate the gift as an expression of her love, and Mary's heart was filled with perfect peace and happiness.

Christ delights in the earnest desire of Mary to do the will of her Lord. He accepts the wealth of pure affection which His disciples did not, could not, understand....

Mary's ointment was the gift of love, and this gave it its value in the eyes of Christ....

Jesus saw Mary shrink away abashed, expecting to hear reproof from the One she loved and worshiped. But instead of this she hears words of commendation. “Why trouble ye the woman?” He said, “for she hath wrought a good work upon me. For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always. For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial. Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her.” No other anointing would Jesus receive, for the Sabbath was nigh at hand, and they kept the Sabbath according to the commandment....

The desire that Mary had to do this service for her Lord was of more value to Christ than all the spikenard and precious ointment in the world, because it expressed her appreciation of the world's Redeemer. It was the love of Christ that constrained her....

Mary, by the Holy Spirit's power, saw in Jesus One who had come to seek and to save the souls that were ready to perish. Every one of the disciples should have been inspired with a similar devotion.—Manuscript 28, 1897. . CTr 252.1-CTr 252.4

To read and meditate

Christ Identifies With Our Sorrows.

Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord ... he hath been dead four days. John 11:39.

Christ alone was able to bear the afflictions of the many. “In all their affliction he was afflicted.” He never bore disease in His own flesh, but He carried the sickness of others. With tenderest sympathy He looked upon the suffering ones who pressed about Him. He groaned in spirit as He saw the work of Satan revealed in all their woe, and He made every case of need and of sorrow His own....

The power of love was in all His healing. He identified His interests with suffering humanity.
Christ was health and strength in Himself, and when sufferers were in His immediate presence, disease was always rebuked. It was for this that He did not go at once to Lazarus. He could not witness his suffering and not bring him relief. He could not witness disease or death without combating the power of Satan. The death of Lazarus was permitted that through his resurrection the last and crowning evidence might be given to the Jews that Jesus was the Son of God.

And in all this conflict with the power of evil, there was ever before Christ the darkened shadow into which He Himself must enter. Ever before Him was the means by which He must pay the ransom for these souls. As He witnessed the suffering of humanity, He knew that He must bear a greater pain, mingled with mockery, that He would suffer the greatest humiliation. When He raised Lazarus from the dead, He knew that for that life He must pay the ransom on the cross of Calvary....

Christ was strong to save the whole world. He wept at the grave of Lazarus at the thought that He could not save everyone whom Satan's power had laid low in death.... From the light of His exalted purity, the world's Redeemer could see that the maladies from which the human family were suffering were brought upon them by transgression of the law of God. Every case of suffering He could trace back to its cause....

He knew that He alone could rescue them from the pit into which they had fallen. He alone could place their feet in the right path. His perfection alone could avail for their imperfection. He alone could cover their nakedness with His own spotless robe of righteousness....

By actual experience He knew nothing of sin; He stood before the world the spotless Lamb of God. When suffering humanity pressed about Him, He who was in the health of perfect manhood was as one afflicted with them. This was essential, that He might express His perfect love in behalf of humanity.—Manuscript 18, 1898. . CTr 251-CTr 251.6

To read and meditate

Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. Matthew 11:29.

The great controversy between the Prince of light and the prince of darkness has not abated one jot or tittle of its fierceness as time has gone on. The stern conflict between light and darkness, between error and truth, is deepening in its intensity. The synagogue of Satan is intensely active, and in this age the deceiving power of the enemy is working in the most subtle way. Every human mind that is not surrendered to God, and is not under the control of the Spirit of God, will be perverted through satanic agencies.

The enemy is working continually to supplant Jesus Christ in the human heart, and to place his attributes in the human character in the place of the attributes of God. He brings his strong delusions to bear upon the human mind in order that he may have a controlling power. He seeks to obliterate the truth and abolish the true pattern of goodness and righteousness, in order that the professed Christian world shall be swept to perdition through separation from God. He is working in order that selfishness shall become worldwide, and thus make of no effect the mission and work of Christ.

Christ came to the world to bring back the character of God to humankind, and to retrace on the human soul the divine image. Through His entire life Christ sought by continuous, laborious efforts to call the world's attention to God and to His holy requirements in order that people might be imbued with the Spirit of God, might be actuated by love, and might reveal in life and character the divine attributes....

In the character of Christ majesty and humility were blended. Temperance and self-denial were seen in every act of His life. But there was no taint of bigotry, no cold austerity manifested in His manner to lessen His influence over those with whom He came in contact. The world's Redeemer had a greater-than-angelic nature, yet united with His divine majesty were meekness and humility that attracted all to Himself....

Christ, our Redeemer, comprehended all the necessities of humanity. He formulated the mighty plans by which the fallen race is to be uplifted from the degradation of sin. In every circumstance, however trivial, He represented the Father. Though upholding the world by the word of His power, yet He would stoop to relieve a wounded bird.—Manuscript 39, 1894. . CTr 249.1-CTr 249.6

To read and Meditate

For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:26.

Jesus Christ is the Restorer. Satan, the apostate, is the destroyer. Here is the conflict between the Prince of life and the prince of this world, the power of darkness....

The world's Redeemer did not design that His purchased inheritance should live and die in their sins. What, then, is the matter? Why are so few reached and saved? It is because so many of those who profess to be Christians are working in the same lines as the great apostate. They let Satan devise and plan for them. He makes them apostates, disloyal to God, rebels against His precepts and laws. This brings severe, taxing labor upon the true Christian. He must convince the transgressor that he is a sinner, because “sin is the transgression of the law.”
How much more might be done for Christ if all who have had the light and the truth set before them, and who profess to believe the Word, would practice the Word and adorn the doctrine of Christ our Saviour....

There are many earnest, prudent, warmhearted men and women who could do much for Christ if they would first give themselves to God and draw nigh to Him, seeking Him with their whole hearts....
As a people we have to meet that which Christ met. The lukewarm, the covetous, the self-righteous, the impure, were the chief stumbling blocks He had to encounter, and those who work with Him will find the same discouraging hindrances in their experiences....

All who engage in this work as colaborers with Christ must be willing not only to preach the truth but to practice it....

There will be no change made in the divine economy in order to bring about marked changes in the religious world. Men and women must arise to the emergency; they must receive the golden oil, the divine communication, in rich blessings. This will enable them to arise and shine, because their light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon them.
Those who claim to believe the Word of God, and yet cherish their own hereditary and cultivated traits of character, are the greatest stumbling blocks we shall meet as we present the grand, holy truths for this time. Those who believe present truth are to practice the truth, live the truth. They are to study the Word and eat the Word, which means eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of God. They are to bring that Word, which is Spirit and life, into their daily, practical life. It is the bread from heaven, and it will give life to the world.—Letter 34, 1896. . CTr 247.1-CTr 247.5

Deuteronomy 28:13 (AMP)

13 The LORD will make you the head (leader) and not the tail (follower); and you will be above only, and you will not be beneath, if you listen and pay attention to the commandments of the LORD your God, which I am commanding you today, to observe them carefully.

To read and meditate

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 1 Corinthians 15:22.

Christ is called the second Adam. In purity and holiness, connected with God, and beloved by God, He began where the first Adam began. But the first Adam was in every way more favorably situated than was Christ. The wonderful provision made in Eden for the holy pair was made by a God who loved them. Everything in nature was pure and undefiled. Fruits, flowers, and beautiful, lofty trees flourished in the Garden of Eden. With everything that Adam and Eve required, they were abundantly supplied.

But Satan came, and insinuated doubts of God's wisdom. He accused Him, their heavenly Father and Sovereign, of selfishness, because to test their loyalty, He had prohibited them from eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge. Eve fell under the temptation, and Adam accepted the forbidden fruit from his wife's hand. He fell under the smallest test that the Lord could devise to prove his obedience, and the floodgates of woe were opened upon our world. He was furnished with a holy nature, sinless, pure, undefiled; but he fell because he listened to the suggestions of the enemy; and his posterity became depraved....

When Christ came, He entered a world disloyal to God, a world all seared and marred by the curse of rebellion against the Creator. The archdeceiver had carried on his work with intense vigor, until the curse of transgression had fallen upon the earth. People were corrupted by Satan's inventions....

Claiming for himself the attributes of mercy, goodness, and truth, Satan attributed his own attributes to God. These misrepresentations must be met and demonstrated as false, by Christ in human nature.

Christ was tempted by Satan in a hundredfold more severe manner than was Adam, and under circumstances in every way more trying.... He redeemed Adam's disgraceful fall and saved the world. There is hope for all who will come to Christ and receive Him as their personal Saviour....

By transgression the world had been divorced from heaven. Christ bridged the gulf and connected earth with heaven. In human nature He maintained the purity of His divine character. He lived the law of God, and honored it in a world of transgression, revealing to the worlds unfallen, to the heavenly universe, to Satan, and to all the fallen sons and daughters of Adam that through His grace humanity can keep the law of God! He came to impart His own divine nature, His own image, to the repentant, believing soul.—Manuscript 20, 1898 (Manuscript Releases 8:39-41). . CTr 246.1-CTr 246.6

To read and meditate

But the Pharisees said, He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils. Matthew 9:34.

In Christ's mighty works there was sufficient evidence for faith. But these people did not want truth. They could not but acknowledge the reality of the works of Christ, but they cast condemnation upon them all. They must acknowledge that supernatural power attended His work, but this power, they declared, was derived from Satan. Did they really believe this? No; but they were so determined that the truth should not affect their hearts and they be converted that they charged the work of the Spirit of God to the devil....

All-compassionate Redeemer! What love, what matchless love, was Thine! Charged by the great men of Israel with doing His works of mercy through the prince of devils, scorned and maligned, He was yet as one who saw and heard not. The work He came from heaven to do must not be left undone. He saw that truth must be unfolded to the people. The Light of the world must flash His beams into the darkness of sin and superstition and reveal error in contrast with truth....

Christ does not use force or compulsion in drawing people to Him. But while truth was being proclaimed, the hearts of those who professed to be children of God were barricaded against it, and those who had not been so highly privileged, those who were not clothed with the garment of self-righteousness, were drawn to Christ. Their minds were convinced and quickened into activity, and light and truth vibrated through the universe....

Satan endeavored to keep hidden from the world the great atoning sacrifice, which reveals the law in all its sacred dignity and impresses hearts with the force of its binding claims. He was warring against the work of Christ and united all his evil angels with human instrumentalities in opposition to that work. But while he was carrying on this work, heavenly intelligences were combining with human instrumentalities in the work of restoration....

Here are the two great powers, the power of truth and righteousness and the working of Satan to make of none effect the law of God. The human agent, magnetized by the power of Satan, works in the lines of the enemy; the Saviour employs His human instrumentalities to be laborers together with God....

Those who expect to be children of God are not to expect an easy time in this life.... We are not left alone to engage in this conflict. Jesus Christ is the Captain of our salvation.—Manuscript 61, 1899. . CTr 245.1-CTr 245.6

To read and meditate

The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him. Psalm 28:7.

The Lord Jesus came to the world to live the life that it will be for the interest of every being on earth to live—that of humble obedience. Those to whom Christ has given a probation in which to form characters for the mansions He has gone to prepare are to enter into His life example. If they are indeed learners in the school of Christ, they will not exalt themselves because they are possessors of houses and lands, because the Lord has in His providence lent them His goods to trade upon....

Christ took upon Him human nature, that He might be able to sympathize with all hearts....

His spirit was never so full of worldly cares that He had no time or thought for the heavenly. He could give evidence of His cheerfulness by singing psalms and heavenly songs. The people of Nazareth often heard His voice raised in praise and thanksgiving to God. He often held communion with heaven in song, and all who were associated with Him, who often complained of their weariness of labor, were cheered by the sweet melody that fell from His lips. His praises seemed to drive away the evil angels and, as incense, filled the room with sweet fragrance.
This, too, had its lesson. It taught that people could commune with God in words of holy song. Christ carried the minds of His hearers away from their earthy exile to their future eternal home....

The house of God may be very humble in comparison with the temple of Solomon, but it is no less acknowledged by God. To those who worship there it is the gate of heaven, if they worship God in spirit and in truth, and in the beauty of holiness. As songs of praise are sung, as earnest fervent prayers arise to heaven, as lessons are repeated of the wondrous works of God, as the heart's gratitude is expressed in prayer and song, angels from heaven take up the strain and unite in praise and thanksgiving to God.
These exercises drive back the power of Satan. They expel murmuring and complaints, and Satan loses ground. God teaches us that we should assemble in His house to cultivate the attributes of perfect love. This will fit the dwellers of earth for the mansions Christ has gone to prepare for them that love Him. Then they will assemble in the sanctuary from Sabbath to Sabbath, from one new moon to another, to unite in loftier strains of song, in thanksgiving and praise to Him who sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb forever and ever.—Manuscript 24, 1898. . CTr 244.1-CTr 244.5