To Be Like Jesus

God's People Are Polished Stones in His Spiritual Temple, December 14

Therefore the Lord will wait, that He may be gracious to you; and therefore He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for Him. Isaiah 30:18, NKJV. BLJ 366.1

The gospel is designed for all, and it will bring together in church capacity men and women who are different in training, in character, and in disposition. Among these will be some who are naturally slack, who feel that order is pride, and that it is not necessary to be so particular. God will not come down to their low standard; He has given them probation, and the necessary directions in His Word, and He requires them to be transformed, to perfect holy characters. Everyone who is converted from sin to righteousness, from error to truth, will exemplify in words and acts the sanctifying power of the truth. BLJ 366.2

The people of God have a high and holy calling. They are Christ's representatives. Paul addresses the church in Corinth as those who are “sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints.” ... Says Peter, “Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.” BLJ 366.3

These passages are calculated to impress the mind with the sacred, exalted character of God's work, and with the high and holy position His people are to occupy. Could these things be said of those who do not seek to be refined by the truth? BLJ 366.4

The Jewish Temple was built of hewn stones quarried out of the mountains; and every stone was fitted for its place in the Temple, hewed, polished, and tested, before it was brought to Jerusalem. And when all were brought to the ground, the building went together without the sound of an ax or hammer. BLJ 366.5

This building represents God's spiritual temple, which is composed of material gathered out of every nation and tongue and people, of all grades, high and low, rich and poor, learned and ignorant. These are not dead substances, to be fitted by hammer and chisel. They are living stones quarried out from the world by the truth; and the great Master Builder, the Lord of the Temple, is now hewing and polishing them, and fitting them for their respective places in the spiritual temple. When completed, this temple will be perfect in all its parts, the admiration of angels and of men and women; for its builder and maker is God. Truly, those who are to compose this glorious building are “called to be saints.”—The Review and Herald, May 6, 1884. BLJ 366.6