Manuscript Releases, vol. 8 [Nos. 526-663]

MR No. 567—Christ Expounded Old Truths

The Bible presents beautiful truths that all may understand, and at the same time it deals in deep mysteries and doctrines, which will require deep thought to understand. But nothing is to be misinterpreted, misapplied, or weakened as lightly inspired, if inspired at all. God does nothing by halves. His Word is inspired. And God designs that men shall take the Scriptures as His inspired Word, and any man that shall venture to distinguish between the portions of God's Word, exalting one and belittling another, and taking away from another, places himself in a dangerous position. 8MR 131.1

There are most precious truths which the lapse of time and [Israel's] separation from God, the source of light, had displaced and disconnected from their true position. Their principles had become extinct. Christ came to remove the rubbish which had covered these truths from sight. He presented them as gems in a new framework of truth. He brought them before the people. He showed them that far from disdaining the repetition of old, familiar truths, He came to make them appear in their true force and beauty, the glory of which the people had never yet discerned. These truths He put in new settings and made them available by recalling them, clothing them with their original simplicity, and establishing them anew. 8MR 131.2

The principles and bearings of the truth had disappeared from the minds of men as they separated in heart and practice from God and the truth. These principles had become covered up with superstition, forms, and customs. Men in their depravity had misinterpreted revealed truths and explained them to suit their own unconsecrated condition, their own destitution of spirituality and the love of God. Himself the Author of these truths, Christ could reopen and revive them. This work was to restore the significance of truth and to make plain the divine will. 8MR 131.3

Christ had the power of recasting important truths, releasing them from the forms and customs in which they had been encased, which robbed them of life and vital power, and giving them back to the world in all their original freshness and force, and in their sacred, elevated character. Himself the originator of truth, He could explain its true, far-reaching principles. He borrowed nothing from earthly intellect of the highest order. He Himself had created all the thought, all the talent, but the minds of men of the highest intelligence had been able to comprehend only a small part of the infinite whole.—Manuscript 16, 1889, 4, 5. (“The Discernment of Truth,” January, 1889.) 8MR 132.1

Released August 10, 1977.