A Testimony From the Prayer Day Conference, 1928

Elias Aslaksen:

Isaiah 48:18-19. There is a covering over God’s word. We don’t comprehend everything all at once. The revelation of the Spirit is given to everyone for the common good. God needs to give revelation. Even though somethings have been revealed there is much left that we do not understand. The rest is hidden. Then one day we receive light about it. Then it is clear. It is amazing that we have not understood this before! We understand more and more in its time. “Oh, that you had heeded My commandments!” What did we get out of what we have read? We have read “Peace,” nothing else. We read more another time: “Then your peace would have been like a river . . . .” We have read about “Peace,” nothing else. Another time we read more: “And your righteousness like the waves of the sea.” He is righteous, of course, but you must also be righteous. Here it says, “your righteousness.” Haven’t you seen this before? No! I have never seen it before! This is what has happened to me, and this is what has happened to all of us. At first I received only “Peace” out of this scripture, and since then it has become “Righteousness.” To begin with, no one understands anything else but “Peace.” Your righteousness! No one understands it except the person to whom it has been revealed. The rest is incomprehensible. You cannot understand something any further than it has been revealed to you. Let us take another scripture: Revelation 1:6. What is it? “Kings.” It is incomprehensible. We have read that we shall stand on the sea of glass, harp in hand, but that we shall be kings. Incomprehensible! Your righteousness—that is the same as the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. This is written in all kinds of places in God’s Word, but there is a covering over it in the beginning. It is written in Matthew 7:21-23 that they had accomplished different deeds, but they did not enter the kingdom of heaven. What hindered them? They did unrighteousness. God uses them alright. They preach and perform many powerful works. Does it say that they spoke in their own name? No! They did it in His name! Speaking prophetically, driving out evil spirits, performing many powerful works—isn’t that good? These things cannot replace righteousness. And what does unrighteousness consist of? First of all in love of money and in being partial, etc. Your personal righteousness shall appear as the waves of the sea. Waves of the sea are not partial; money will not set you free. Everything perishes when the waves wash over it.

Now we come to the third promise: “Your descendants also would have been like the sand, and the offspring of your body like the grains of sand . . . .” We didn’t understand this at first. It was incomprehensible. But isn’t the third promise just as true as the first? What shall we do in order to receive descendants like the sand? Shall we run after people in the street? Jump all over the place? Preach everywhere? On the contrary! Go into your secret chamber. Be quiet there and hear God’s voice. Act like Abraham who took heed to God’s commandment. When we kill, put to death, and crucify the flesh, we take heed to His commandment. We must have our eyes opened to the fact that we are impossible when it concerns keeping God’s commandments. The commandment puts me to death and kills me. How many preachers have we not heard preaching, but without results? We have never paid heed to it. There was one condition for receiving peace and righteousness. You had to pay heed to His commandments! It is written so splendidly in Isaiah 49:18-21: “Who has begotten these for me? I was childless and unfruitful . . . .” There will be so many that their number will be like grains of sand; there will be so many that one doesn’t know them all! Think about Abraham who was to have descendants as the sand of the sea! These were not his immediate children, but his grandchildren were reckoned as his children. However, this in no way applies to everyone! They are totally outside this promise! Can we have descendants from our children? Yes, we can. A man can beget spiritual children, and they in their turn beget children. If we believe that we will have descendants as the sand of the sea, then we believe we will receive them in this way. Yet it is incomprehensible. Think if we could believe it utterly and completely.

You think: I am so incompetent, I cannot do anything, I cannot speak! That is not how it is going to happen. If you can manage to pay heed to His commandments, then you will also beget children. After this, when you read the Scriptures, you will read that now you will beget children—in the Lord. You will see your children’s children if you pay heed to His commandments. Stop living aimlessly! Use the time to pay heed to His commandments. Present your body and serve. His commandments compel you to leave your room. Then you can work. My personal opinion and experience is that it pays to work. When I speak to people, I believe that it pays to do so. Someone once said, “I realize I have many friends in this congregation.” That was faith. All the hairs on our head are numbered. You must have love first, and then discernment, before you can win souls. Always believe that it pays to work. Think what a promise this is. One day in the resurrection those with descendants as the sand of the sea will stand up. This promise is only for those who pay heed to His commandments.