The Signs of the Times, vol. 23

July 8, 1897

“Editorial. The Power and the Glory” The Signs of the Times, 23, 26.

E. J. Waggoner

The Power and the Glory. —“Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.” SITI July 8, 1897, page 401.1

The Kingdom is the Lord’s, and it includes the whole universe. Nothing is outside his jurisdiction. Every creature in the heavens and the earth rightfully belongs to his dominion. SITI July 8, 1897, page 401.2

A King Must Have Power; for a king without power is a king only; in name. God is really King, and therefore to Him belongs power. “God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God.” Psalm 62:11. SITI July 8, 1897, page 401.3

No Division of Power. —We must not fall into the error of limiting God, by thinking that power is divided, and that he has merely a share of it, even tho it be the largest share. “Thine is the kingdom and the power.” “His kingdom ruleth over all;” and wherever his kingdom is, his power is supreme. God alone has power. SITI July 8, 1897, page 401.4

God the Almighty One. —That is to say, he has all might. Therefore no one being possesses any might in himself. Because God possess all the power in the universe. Christ, the only-begotten Son, could say, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” SITI July 8, 1897, page 401.5

All of God. —“In him we live, and move, and have our being.” Acts 17:28. Every motion that is made, every thought, every word, requires the exercise of power; but the power is not inherent in the man who moves, but in God. “There is no power but of God.” Romans 13:1. The power which men have to fight and blaspheme God, and to commit all sorts of wickedness, is but God’s power perverted, just as the performance of righteous acts, and the utterance of praise, is God’s power given free course. SITI July 8, 1897, page 401.6

Evidence of His Love. —Light-minded persons may see in this occasion for charging God foolishly; but others will see in it his supreme abounding grace and his everlasting love. While some think that God’s seeming abundant grace is an evidence of weakness, or of complicity with crime, the well-instructed will “account that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation.” 2 Peter 3:14. SITI July 8, 1897, page 401.7

The Patience of Power. —If God were not sure of his “everlasting strength,” he could not thus sit still and see men defy him to his face, and even use his own power in opposition to him. But he has the patience of conscious omnipotence. Knowing that he really has power, he can not, like many men, be tempted to make an exhibition of it simply to demonstrate to scoffers that he possesses it. SITI July 8, 1897, page 401.8

His Power to Save. —God desires that men should be saved, and in the Gospel he manifests his power to save them. All God’s power, and every revelation of it, is for the purpose of leading men to trust him for their soul’s salvation. The fact that men misunderstand God, even willfully, and pervert the power which he reveals in them for their salvation, does not discourage him or throw him into a passion. Still he graciously manifests his power in them, in hope that at last they will allow him to use it to his own glory in their salvation. God’s power is the power of love, and love does not use force, therefore he patiently waits, until he is positively and definitely rejected. SITI July 8, 1897, page 401.9

Joy in His Power. —What wonderful joy comes with the recognition that all power is God’s. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.” Ephesians 2:8. Our salvation depends on him, and he has the power. His kingdom is in our hearts, but his enemy has been allowed to come in and raise the standard of rebellion. Nevertheless, as soon as we definitely choose the Lord for our King and our Lawgiver, he will save us by his mighty power. Isaiah 33:22. He has power to drive out every enemy. What a comfort to rest confidingly in the almighty power of our God! SITI July 8, 1897, page 401.10

His Is the Glory. —Not only ought it to be, but it is. The last message before the coming of the Lord, calls loudly upon men to “fear God, and give glory to him,” as the One who “made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” Revelation 14:6, 7. We are to give glory to him, because it belongs to him. His is the glory, because his is the power. Whoever takes glory to himself for anything that he possesses or has done, thereby robs God. SITI July 8, 1897, page 402.1

Glory in His Word. —“Thus saith 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 knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth.” Jeremiah 9:23, 24. Wisdom, power, and riches, all come from the Lord; therefore “he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 1:31. SITI July 8, 1897, page 402.2

An Instance. —Take a single example, in the line of wisdom. On the day of Pentecost, and many times thereafter, God gave his servants power on the instant to talk foreign languages. Unlettered Galilean fishermen suddenly began to speak intelligently in languages that before were but meaningless jargon to them. It was manifestly a gift of God, and one instinctively shudders at the thought of one with such a gift boasting of his possession, as tho the glory of it were due to him. Very well; but “the Lord giveth wisdom; out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.” Proverbs 2:6. If a man by study has acquired several languages, he has done it only by the power which God gave him, and therefore his knowledge is the gift of God just as truly as was the knowledge of the apostles. SITI July 8, 1897, page 402.3

His Keeping Power. —Whoever not simply openly, but in his inmost thoughts, continually gives God the glory, will be kept “to the praise of the glory of his grace.” “In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” Proverbs 3:6. Men foolishly think that it is beneath their dignity, and a limitation of their freedom, to acknowledge that God alone has power, and that all glory belongs to him; but how much better it is to acknowledge the truth and thus be “strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power” (Colossians 1:11), than to deny him, and thus be left to our own disgraceful impotence. “Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory, and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.” Jude 24, 25. E. J. W. SITI July 8, 1897, page 402.4