Tuhan telah melalui Musa menghadapkan umat-Nya akibat ketidaksetiaan. Dengan menolak untuk menaati perjanjian-Nya, mereka akan memutuskan diri mereka sendiri dari kehidupan Allah, dan berkat-Nya tidak dapat turun atas mereka.
“Hati-hati,” kata Musa, “supaya janganlah kamu melupakan Tuhan, Allahmu, karena tidak menuruti perintah-perintah-Nya, dan peraturan-peraturan-Nya, dan ketetapan-ketetapan-Nya, yang kusampaikan kepadamu pada hari ini, supaya jangan setelah kamu makan dan kenyang, dan membangun rumah-rumah yang baik,
dan diam di dalamnya; dan ketika ternakmu berlipat ganda, dan perak dan emasmu berlipat ganda, dan semua milikmu berlipat ganda; maka terangkatlah hatimu, dan engkau melupakan Tuhan, Allahmu.... {KOL 291.1}
Peringatan itu tidak diindahkan oleh orang-orang Yahudi. Mereka melupakan Tuhan, dan kehilangan hak istimewa mereka yang tinggi sebagai wakil-wakil-Nya. Berkat yang mereka terima tidak membawa berkat bagi dunia. Semua keuntungan mereka disesuaikan untuk pemuliaan mereka sendiri.
Mereka merampok Tuhan dari pelayanan yang Dia tuntut dari mereka, dan mereka merampas bimbingan agama dan teladan suci sesama mereka. Seperti penduduk dunia kuno, mereka mengikuti setiap imajinasi dari hati jahat mereka.
Jadi mereka membuat hal-hal suci tampak sebagai lelucon, dengan mengatakan, "Inilah Bait Tuhan, bait Tuhan" (Yeremia 7:4), sementara pada saat yang sama mereka salah menggambarkan karakter Allah, menghina nama-Nya, dan mencemari tempat kudus-Nya. {KOL 291.2}
The Lord had through Moses set before His people the result of unfaithfulness. By refusing to keep His covenant, they would cut themselves off from the life of God, and His blessing could not come upon them. “Beware,” said Moses, “that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping His commandments, and His judgments, and His statutes, which I command thee this day: lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein; and when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied; then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God.... {COL 291.1}
The warning was not heeded by the Jewish people. They forgot God, and lost sight of their high privilege as His representatives. The blessings they had received brought no blessing to the world. All their advantages were appropriated for their own glorification. They robbed God of the service He required of them, and they robbed their fellow men of religious guidance and a holy example. Like the inhabitants of the antediluvian world, they followed out every imagination of their evil hearts. Thus they made sacred things appear a farce, saying, “The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, are these” (Jeremiah 7:4), while at the same time they were misrepresenting God’s character, dishonoring His name, and polluting His sanctuary. {COL 291.2}
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