November 12
"When the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, . . . to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." Gal. 4:4, 5.
The Saviour's coming was foretold in Eden. When Adam and Eve first heard the promise, they looked for its speedy fulfillment. They joyfully welcomed their first-born son, hoping that he might be the Deliverer. But the fulfillment of the promise tarried. Those who first received it died without the sight. From the days of Enoch the promise was repeated through patriarchs and prophets, keeping alive the hope of His appearing, and yet He came not. The prophecy of Daniel revealed the time of His advent, but not all rightly interpreted the message. Century after century passed away; the voices of the prophets ceased. The hand of the oppressor was heavy upon Israel, and many were ready to exclaim, "The days are prolonged, and every vision faileth." Ezek. 12:22.
Desire of Ages, page 31 from the chapter, 'The fulness of the time'
As we move into a new chapter of Desire of Ages, "The Fullness of the Time", we begin to look in a little more detail about God’s plan for the people He loves.
The plan had been made and, apparently been rightly understood as a promise. We are human beings who share the same body clock. Adam and Eve may well have been giants in stature and great in intellect – but they ticked just as we do. That clock is an impatient clock. They wanted the promise to be fulfilled in their own lifetime.
We want the same, and maybe express the need with greater urgency. The typhoon has devastated parts of the Philippines, my wife’s family are safe – but we know of some of our friends who can’t contact friends. While we will be giving money to assist the relief efforts we want Jesus to come and fulfil the promise.
Our closing reading from last week’s Week of Prayer showed why we should neither set dates for the Second Coming nor look for dates for the Second Coming. We were told to continue to wait, and to work and to hope and to pray.
What our next paragraph says will be a surprise for tomorrow – all I can say today is we should repeat and depend on the promise,
“Do not let your hearts be troubled.You believe in God, believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come backand take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
John 14:1-3
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Housekeeping details for you
The point of this short blog will become clear if you decide to use this reading in the way we intend it. Netherfield Seventh-day Adventist Church believes in healthy churches. You can see what that means if you head to the relevant Healthy Churches page of the website. We also want other churches to be healthy. That means you can join in our campaign to create healthy churches, with healthy people serving the people in those churches.
A healthy church is one where Jesus comes first. A healthy church is one where the people work together to put Jesus first. One thing we are doing is to join people together to spread that news. I would like you to look at our prayer partners page. This will explain how we want you to use this short devotional. Very basically we want you to find a like-minded Christian friend who you will join with to : choose to pray together every day, decide together on a way to serve other people together, to help them grow as Christians - and to invite the Holy Spirit into your life every day. This blog that you will receive every day simply gives a common spiritual purpose. If you are a newcomer and want to join the blog with this object in mind click here
From October 21st this site will continue going through 'Desire of Ages' - but begin to advance rather faster than one paragraph at a time.
Our sister site, at the Upper Room, will progress at a rather slower pace - one paragraph at a time. If you want to head to our sister site for the slower trip through an excellent book you will eventually follow a link to the Upper Room. This will start on October 21st.
