Heavenly Visions

THE LORD INSTRUCTS HIS PEOPLE

J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH.

AND when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead? To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” Isaiah 8:19, 20. HEVI 58.2

There is in the heart of all men a desire to receive instruction from the “unseen world.” The language of the text just quoted implies this, and it also implies the Lord’s willingness to impart information to those who seek him for light and divine guidance. The inquiry is, Why not seek him instead of going to sources from which no knowledge can be derived-sources to which the Lord has positively forbidden his people to go? HEVI 58.3

The Lord has his ways of imparting special instruction to those who seek him. He says, “For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed; then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction, that he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man.” Job 33:14-17. HEVI 58.4

Although the Lord has said, “The way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps” (Jeremiah 10:23), he has also said, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” Proverbs 3:5, 6. Again, “The Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off forever.” 1 Chronicles 28:9. HEVI 58.5

Not only was this true in the time which has been denominated the “prophetic age,” but it is just as true in the “gospel age.” Our Saviour in his promise of the “Comforter” made provision for divine guidance to those who should fully commit their way to him. He said: “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” John 14:26. “When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come.” John 16:13. HEVI 58.6

When, on the day of Pentecost, the Spirit was poured out, Peter said to the inquirers, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.” Acts 2:38, 39. From this we see that as long as the Lord calls people to his service, so long it is the privilege of that people to receive his Spirit to guide them in ways of truth and righteousness. Sad it is that so many are content to go on in a formal service without entire consecration, and the reception and guidance of his Holy Spirit. HEVI 58.7

While every true believer is entitled to the guidance of that Spirit, all of its gifts may not be manifest in each individual. The apostle said of their manifestation, “To one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; to another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues; but all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he [the Spirit] will.” 1 Corinthians 12:8-11. HEVI 58.8

In this same chapter, verse 28, we learn that God set these gifts “in the church.” As they are the ways of the working of his Spirit, and that Spirit was to abide in the church “forever” (John 14:16), we might expect their manifestation according to the needs of the church when fully consecrated to the Lord. HEVI 59.1

When Paul wrote the Ephesian letter, he stated the work to be accomplished by such gifts: “He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying [building up] of the body of Christ: till we all come in [into] the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” Ephesians 4:11-13. There is surely a necessity for such work to be accomplished now for the Lord’s people, and therefore a demand for the manifestation of such gifts. HEVI 59.2

The apostle said of the gift of prophecy, “For we know in part, and we prophecy in part, but when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.” 1 Corinthians 13:9, 10. Thus there is shown a need of the manifestation of that gift until the perfect state shall come. HEVI 59.3

It may be said, “We have the whole Bible now, and do not need special manifestations to instruct us.” The Jews could have said, in the days of the ancient prophets, We do not need your instructions. Have we not the law of God just as spoken by God himself, and we have statutes and judgments telling us just how to deal with one another, and instructions for the care of our health, and our bodies, and our homes, so what need have we of prophets? HEVI 59.4

In ancient times there were peculiar circumstances surrounding the people of God, and the instruction imparted through the prophets warned them of their danger, and of the liability of their being drawn away from God and his law by the forms of evil with which they were surrounded; and at the same time these prophets told them of the coming Messiah. They also testified of “the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.” HEVI 59.5

Of the position of the gift of prophecy as manifest in this time, we read from the “Testimony” itself: “You are not familiar with the Scriptures. If you had made God’s Word your study, with a desire to reach the Bible standard and attain to Christian perfection, you would not have needed the Testimonies. HEVI 59.6

“The Lord designs to warn you, to reprove, to counsel, through the Testimonies given, and to impress your minds with the importance of the truth of his Word. The written Testimonies are not to give new light, but to impress vividly upon the heart the truths of inspiration already revealed....Additional truth is not brought out, but God has through the Testimonies simplified the great truths already given, and in his own chosen way brought them before the people, to awaken and impress the mind with them, that all may be left without excuse. HEVI 59.7

“The Testimonies are not to belittle the Word of God, but to exalt it, to attract minds to it, that the beautiful simplicity of truth may impress all.... If the people who now profess to be God’s peculiar treasure would obey his requirements, as specified in his Word, special Testimonies would not be given to awaken them to their duty, and impress upon them their sinfulness and their fearful danger in neglecting to obey the Word of God.”-“Testimony for the Church,” No.33, pages 193-195. HEVI 59.8

When the Lord ascended up on high, he placed the gifts of his Spirit in the church. It was the departure of men from the simplicity of the gospel that put the gifts out of the church. The Lord placed those gifts in the church for its perfection. When he comes again, he is to present “to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing.” Ephesians 5:27. The gifts of the Spirit, his appointed means for perfecting the church, will be manifest to prepare that people for presentation, in perfection, to himself. HEVI 59.9

It has been said, “It was needful to have the gifts in the early church to enable the true followers of Christ to stand amid the conflicting theories of scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees.” It it was then needful among three or four discordant sects, what about such a time as the present, when scores of conflicting and discordant theories are extant, and when Satan himself has come down with great wrath “because he knoweth that he hath but a short time”? In this period when he is to work with “all power and signs and lying wonders” (2 Thessalonians 2:9), and men resist the truth “as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses,” it is good to know that “their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as their also was” (2 Timothy 3:8, 9), by the Lord’s greater working. He has said, “When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the lord shall lift up a standard against him. And the Redeemer shall come to Zion.” Isaiah 59:19, 20. The Review and Herald, May 19, 1903. HEVI 60.1