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03 - The Desire of Ages - Ellen Gould · Philosophy and Faith

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  The fullness of time. When the fullness of time was come, God sent
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  forth his son to redeem them that were under the law, that we might
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  receive the adoption of sons Galatians four four and five. The Saviour's coming was
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  foretold in Eden. When Adam and e first heard the promise, they looked
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  for its speedy fulfillment. They joyfully welcomed their first born son, hoping that
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  he might be the deliverer. But the fulfillment of the promise tarried. Those
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  who first received it died without the sight. From the days of Enoch,
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  the promise was repeated through patriarchs and prophets, keeping alive the hope of his
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  appearing, And yet he came. Not The prophecy of Daniel revealed the time
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  of his advent, but not all rightly interpreted the message. Century after century
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  passed away, the voices of the prophet ceased. The hand of the oppressor
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  was heavy upon Israel, and many were ready to exclaim the days are prolonged,
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  and every vision faileth Ezekiel twelve twenty two. But like the stars in
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  the vast circuit of their appointed path, God's purposes know no haste and no
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  delay. Through the symbols of the great darkness and the smoking furnace, God
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  had revealed to Abraham the bondage of Israel in Egypt, and had declared that
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  the time of their sojourney would be four hundred years. Afterwards, he said,
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  shall they come out with great substance Genesis fifteen fourteen. Against that word,
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  all the power of Pharaoh's proud empire battled in vain on the self same
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  day, appointed in the divine promise, it came to pass that all the
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  hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt Exodus twelve forty one.
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  So in Heaven's counsel the hour for the coming of Christ had been determined.
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  When the great clock of time pointed to that hour, Jesus was born
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  in Bethlehem. When the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his
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  son Providence, had directed the movements of nations and the tide of human impulse
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  and influence, until the world was ripe for the coming of the deliver The
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  nations were union under one government. One language was widely spoken and was everywhere
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  recognized as the language of literature. From all the lands. The Jews of
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  the dispersion gathered to Jerusalem to the annual feasts. As these returned to the
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  places of their sojourn, they could spread throughout the world the tidings of the
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  Messiah's coming. At this time, the systems of Heathenism were losing their hold
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  upon the people. Men were weary of pageant and fable. They longed for
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  a religion that could satisfy the heart. While the light of truth seemed to
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  have departed from among men, there were souls who were looking for light,
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  and who were filled with perplexity and sorrow. They were thirsting for a knowledge
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  of the living God, for some assurance of a life beyond the grave.
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  As the Jews had departed from God, faith had grown dim, and hope
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  had well nigh ceased to illuminate the future. The words of the prophets were
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  uncomprehended to the masses of the people. Death was a dread, mystery,
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  beyond was uncertainty and gloom. It was not alone the wailing of the mothers
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  of Bethlehem, but the cry from the great heart of humanity that was born
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  to the prophet. Across the sentries, the voice heard in rama, lamentation
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  and weeping, and great mourning Rachel weeping for her children, and would not
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  be comforted because they are not Matthew two eighteen. In the region and shadow
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  of Death, men set unsolaced with longing eyes. They looked for the coming
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  of the Deliverer, when the darkness should be dispelled and the mystery of the
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  future should be made plain. Outside of the Jewish nation, there were men
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  who foretold the appearance of a divine instructor. These men were seeking for the
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  truth, and to them the spirit of inspiration was imparted, one after another,
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  like stars in the darkened heavens. Such teachers had arisen. Their words
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  of prophecy had kindled hope in the hearts of thousands of the Gentile world.
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  For hundreds of years, the scriptures had been translated into the Greek language,
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  then widely spoken throughout the Roman Empire. The Jews were scattered everywhere, and
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  their expectation of the Messiah's coming was to some extent shared by the gentiles.
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  Among those whom the Jews styled heathen were men who had a better understanding of
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  the scripture prophecies concerning the Messiah than had the teachers of Israel. There were
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  some who hoped for his coming as a deliverer from sin. Philosophers endeavored to
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  steady into the mystery of the Hebrew economy, but the bigotry of the Jews
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  hindered the spread of the light. Intent on maintaining the separation between themselves and
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  other nations, they were unwilling to impart the knowledge they still possessed. Concerning
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  the symbolic service, the true interpreter must come, the one whom all these
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  types prefigured, must explain their significance through nature, through types and symbols,
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  through patriarchs and prophets, God has spoken to the world. Lessons must be
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  given to humanity in the language of humanity. The messenger of the Covenant must
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  speak. His voice must be heard in his own ties. Christ must come
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  to utter words which should be clearly and definitely understood. He, the author
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  of truth, must separate truth from the chaff of man's utterance, which had
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  made it of no effect. The principle of God's government and the plan of
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  redemption must be clearly defined. The lessons of the Old Testament must be fully
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  set before men. Among the Jews, there were yet steadfast souls, descendants
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  of that Holy line, through whom a knowledge of God had been preserved,
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  these still looked for the hope of the promise made unto the fathers. They
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  strengthened their faith by dwelling upon the assurance given through Moses a prophet. Shall
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  the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brothre, and like unto
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  me him, shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you
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  Acts three twenty two. Again they read how the Lord would anoint one to
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  preach good tidings unto the meek, to bind up the broken hearted, to
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  proclaim liberty to the captives, and to declare the acceptable year of the Lord
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  Isaiah sixty one one and two. They read how he would set judgment in
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  the earth, how the isles should wait for his law, how the gentiles
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  should come to his light and kings to the brightness of his rising Isaiah forty
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  two, four sixty three. The dying words of Jacob filled them with hope.
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  The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a law giver from between
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  his feet until Shiloh come Genesis forty nine ten. The waning power of Israel
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  testified that the Messiah's coming was at hand. The prophecy of Daniel pictured the
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  glory of his reign over an empire which should succeed all earthly kingdoms, and
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  said the prophet, it shall stand forever Daniel two forty four. While Kew
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  understood the nature of Christ's mission, there was a widespread expectation of a mighty
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  prince who should establish his kingdom in Israel, and who should come as a
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  deliverer to the nations. The fullness of the time had come, humanity,
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  becoming more degraded through eight of transgression, called for the coming of the Redeemer.
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  Satan had been working to make the gulf deep and impassable between Earth and
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  Heaven. By his falsehoods, he had emboldened men and sin. It was
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  his purpose to wear out the forbearance of God and to extinguish his love for
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  man, so that he would abandon the world to Satanic jurisdiction. Satan was
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  seeking to shut out from men a knowledge of God, to turn their attention
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  from the Temple of God, and to establish his own kingdom. His strife
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  for supremacy had seemed to be almost wholly successful. It is true that in
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  every generation God had his agencies. Even among the heathen, there were men
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  through whom Christ was working to uplift the people from their sin and degradation.
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  But these men were despised and hated. Many of them suffered a violent death.
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  The dark shadow that Satan had cast over the world grew deeper and deeper
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  through heathenism. Satan had for ages turned men away from God, but he
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  won his great triumph in perverting the faith of Israel. By contemplating and worshiping
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  their own conceptions. The Heathen had lost the knowledge of God and had become
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  more and more corrupt. So it was with Israel. The principle that man
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  can save himself by his own works lay at the foundation of every Heathen religion.
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  It had now become the principle of the Jewish religion. Satan had implanted
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  this principle wherever it is held, men have no barrier against sin. The
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  message of salvation is communicated to men through human agencies. But the Jews had
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  sought to make a monopoly of the truth, which is eternal life. They
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  had hoarded the living manna, and it had turned to corruption. The religion,
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  which they tried to shut up to themselves, became an offense. They
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  robbed God of his glory and defrauded the world by a counterfeit of the Gospel.
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  They had refused to surrender themselves to God for the salvation of the world,
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  and they became agents of Satan for its destruction. The people whom God
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  had called to be the pillar and ground of the truth had become representative of
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  Satan. They were doing the work that he desired them to do, taking
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  a course to misrepresent the character of God, and caused the world to look
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  upon him as a tyrant. The very priest who ministered in the temple had
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  lost sight of the significance of the service they performed. They had ceased to
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  look beyond the symbol to the things signified. In presenting the sacrificial offerings,
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  they were as actors in a play. The ordinances which God himself had appointed
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  were made the means of blinding the mind and hardening the heart. God could
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  do no more for man through these channels. The whole system must be swept
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  away. The deception of sin had reached its height. All the agencies for
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  depraving the souls of men had been put in operation. The Son of God,
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  looking upon the world, beheld suffering and misery with pity he saw how
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  men had become victims of satanic cruelty. He looked with compassion upon those who
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  were being corrupted, murdered, and lost. They had chosen a ruler who
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  chained them to his car as captives, bewildered and deceived. They were moving
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  on in gloomy procession toward eternal ruin, to death in which is no hope
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  of life, toward night, to which comes no mourning. Satanic agencies were
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  incorporated with men. The bodies of human beings made for the dwelling place of
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  God had become the habitation of demons. The senses, the nerves, the
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  passions, the organs of men were worked by supernatural agencies in the indulgence of
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  the vilest lust. The very stamp of demons was impressed upon the countenances of
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  men. Human faces reflected the expression of the legions of evil with which they
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  were possessed. Such was the prospect upon which the world redeemer looked. What
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  a spectacle for infinite purity to behold. Sin had become a science, and
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  vice was consecrated as a part of religion. Rebellion had struck its roots deep
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  into the heart, and the hostility of man was most violent against Heaven.
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  It was demonstrated before the universe that apart from God, humanity could not be
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  uplifted. A new element of life and power must be imparted by Him who
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  made the world. With intense interest, the unfallen worlds had watched to see
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  Jehovah arise and sweep away the inhabitants of the earth, And if God should
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  do this, Satan was ready to carry out his plan for securing to himself
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  the allegiance of heavenly beings. He had declared that the principles of God's government
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  make forgiveness impossible. Had the world been destroyed, he would have claimed that
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  his accusations were proved true. He was ready to cast blame upon God and
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  to spread his rebellion to the worlds above. But instead of destroying the world,
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  God sent his son to save it. Though corruption and defiance might be
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  seen in every part of the alien province, away for its recovery was provided
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  at the very crisis when Satan seemed about to triumph the son of God.
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  God came with the imbassage of divine grace through every age, through every hour.
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  The love of God had been exercised toward the fallen race. Notwithstanding the
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  perversity of men, the signals of mercy had been continually exhibited, And when
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  the fullness of time had come, the deity was glorified by pouring upon the
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  world a flood of healing grace that was never to be obstructed or withdrawn till
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  the plan of salvation should be fulfilled. Satan was exulting that he had succeeded
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  in debasing the image of God and humanity. Then Jesus came to restore in
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  man the image of his maker. None but Christ can fashion anew the character
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  that has been ruined by sin. He came to expel the demons that had
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  controlled the will. He came to lift us up from the dust, to
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  reshape the marred character after the pattern of his divine character, and to make
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  it beautiful with his own glory. Into Chapter three