The Signs of the Times
October 24, 1895
Spiritual Worship Essential
The Lord Jesus in his lessons of divine truth sought to lead the minds of his hearers to look beneath the typical sacrificial offerings to the essential things which were symbolized by the Jewish ordinances. He exalted the law of God, showing that it is more comprehensive in its character than any civil law for the government of earthly kingdoms. He had inspired the prophets to discern the pure and holy principles which they had communicated to the world. He had presented before them his work of divine instruction; but notwithstanding the fact that Christ had laid down line upon line and precept upon precept, yet the Jewish nation had sunk into painful idolatry. They made everything of form and ceremony and neglected spiritual worship. They clothed themselves with zeal in making rigid external observances, and concluded that their nation had fallen into decay because they had been too lax in their outward forms. The teachers made a study of formulating new exactions in their religious ceremonies. The people were called upon to go through a weary round of offerings for purification. The rabbis were not content to follow the specifications that had been given through Moses to the people; but they made minute specifications that must be fulfilled. They must engage in long, tedious prayer, take part in various fasts, in the washing and cleansing of vessels, and in many meaningless ceremonies. ST October 24, 1895, par. 1
When the Lord chose John the Baptist as the forerunner of Christ to prepare his way before him by announcing to the world the coming of the divine Teacher, he was specially directed not to receive his education in the schools of the rabbis; for they had mutilated the law, burdening it down with such requirements that men could not obtain a correct idea of truth. He must go far back of their teachings, and on no account be moulded by their imposing display. Their religion was barren of spirituality, was a mere mechanical piety. John must obtain his education in the wilderness, breathing the pure air, and studying the unadulterated word of God through his prophets. Christ had taught them righteousness,—love to God and their neighbor, which were the requirements of the law. When the great Teacher himself came from heaven, he stripped the law of the rubbish of men's opinions, and repudiated their human traditions. He lifted up the royal law, which had been degraded by priest and rabbi, and presented it as the expressed character of the only true God. He showed that in its least as well as in its greatest enactments it would be forever binding upon the inhabitants of both heaven and earth. ST October 24, 1895, par. 2
The rabbis saw that the teaching of Christ was counteracting the traditions of the elders, and making of no effect the religious ceremonies that they had been taught as all-essential. Christ's explanation as to what constitutes true virtue and true principles condemned them in their mere external observances. He openly rebuked their hypocrisy, saying to his disciples, “Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.” ST October 24, 1895, par. 3
The Pharisees were charged with breaking the commandments of God. Christ himself was the divine Word, and had instructed Israel; but they had interpreted the word of God in their own way. In their blindness, in their separation from God, they sought to make the holy teachings of the prophets, seem to sustain them in their unrighteous course of action. Thus they were misleading the nation and causing them to drink from corrupted fountains. They were confused in their conceptions of truth. The rabbis magnified trifles into mountains of importance, while matters of eternal moment were depreciated in their eyes. The true principles of morality were boldly undermined. ST October 24, 1895, par. 4
But Jesus presented the law in its original significance. In clear, distinct language he opened before the multitudes the misleading principles of these hypocritical teachers, who were twisting the plainest precepts of the royal law, through the means of their traditions, so that an entirely opposite conclusion would be reached than the plain precept of God required. The man who was punctilious in the matter of observances was looked up to with the greatest reverence, although his inner life was selfish, immoral, and depraved. The teachings of the prophets were not regarded, and the principles not obeyed which wrought holiness of life. All these were set aside as unessential; but the exactions of the rabbis, in which was not a particle of divinity, in which was only darkness, were regarded with superstitious reverence. ST October 24, 1895, par. 5
With what pity and sympathy the Lord looked upon these misled people; but in the sermon on the mount he announced the royal law in clear and decided utterances. Those who served under his banner must possess a piety, a righteousness beyond anything presented in the precept or example of the scribes and Pharisees. He would not permit men to think that he had come to do away with the law of the prophets. This was not his errand. He said: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in nowise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” ST October 24, 1895, par. 6
The principles of Christ's kingdom are to be carried out in practical life, in the practice of self-denial and self-sacrifice for the good of others. Christ revealed the Father as one who loved humanity from the very beginning of the world. The love of God was made evident by the flowers growing in beauty around them. He had given them these beautiful things. He cares for the flowers and the birds, and would he not have a greater love for one formed in his own image? The whole world, the evil and the good, lay in the sunshine of his eternal love. In view of the Father's love, we are exhorted by the Saviour to love others. In the sermon on the mount he said: “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven; for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” ST October 24, 1895, par. 7