What We Must Do to Be Ready When Christ Returns
Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. Galatians 4:7. SD 344.1
The Galatians were given up to the worship of idols, but as the apostles preached to them, they rejoiced in the message that promised freedom from the thraldom of sin. Paul and his fellow-workers proclaimed the doctrine of righteousness by faith in the atoning sacrifice of Christ. They presented Christ as the One who, seeing the helpless condition of the fallen race, came to redeem men and women by living a life of obedience to God's law, and by paying the penalty of disobedience. And in the light of the cross, many who had never before known of the true God, began to comprehend the greatness of the Father's love. Thus the Galatians were taught the fundamental truths concerning “God the Father,” and “our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father.” “By the hearing of faith,” they received the Spirit of God, and became “the children of God by faith in Christ.” SD 344.2
Paul's manner of life while among the Galatians was such that he could afterward say, “I beseech you, be as I am.” His lips had been touched with a live coal from off the altar, and he was enabled to rise above bodily infirmities, and to present Jesus as the sinner's only hope. Those who heard him knew that he had been with Jesus. Endued with power from on high, he was able to compare spiritual things with spiritual, and to tear down the strongholds of Satan. Hearts were broken by this presentation of the love of God, as revealed in the sacrifice of His only begotten Son, and many were led to inquire, What must I do to be saved? ... The cross brings us near to God, reconciling us to Him. With the relenting compassion of a father's love, Jehovah looks upon the suffering that His Son endured in order to save the race from eternal death, and accepts us in the Beloved.5The Acts of the Apostles, 207-209. SD 344.3