Love: The Foundation of God's Government
“God is love.” 1 John 4:16. His nature, His law, is love. It ever has been; it ever will be... Every manifestation of creative power is an expression of infinite love. Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 33
The law of self-renouncing love is the law of life for earth and heaven... the love which “seeketh not her own” has its source in the heart of God. DA 19
Christ, The Word, made the angels
Christ, the Word, the only begotten of God, was one with the eternal Father—one in nature, in character, in purpose—the only being that could enter into all the counsels and purposes of God... The Father wrought by His Son in the creation of all heavenly beings... Angels are God's ministers, radiant with the light ever flowing from His presence and speeding on rapid wing to execute His will. But the Son, the anointed of God... holds supremacy over them all. Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 34
The Circuit of Beneficence
All things Christ received from God, but He took to give. So in the heavenly courts, in His ministry for all created beings: through the beloved Son, the Father's life flows out to all; through the Son it returns, in praise and joyous service, a tide of love, to the great Source of all. And thus through Christ the circuit of beneficence is complete, representing the character of the great Giver, the law of life. Desire of Ages p. 21
God's governs over all the other worlds
[God is] surrounded by ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands of holy, happy beings, everyone of them waiting to do His bidding. They are not inactive, but in communication with other worlds in all God’s vast dominion. 6LtMs, Lt 36a, 1890
As Creator of heaven and earth and thousands of worlds that have never fallen, God is governor over all, and bound to exercise a moral government throughout the universe. 11LtMs, Ms 79. 1896, par. 6
Angels love to know and do God's will
The angels of heaven attain unto no higher knowledge than to know the will of God, and to do His will is the highest service that can engage their powers. But in heaven, service is not rendered in the spirit of legality... The thought that there was a law came to the angels almost as an awakening to something unthought of. In their ministry the angels are not as servants, but as sons. There is perfect unity between them and their Creator. Obedience is to them no drudgery. Love for God makes their service a joy. So in every soul wherein Christ, the hope of glory, dwells, His words are re-echoed, “I delight to do Thy will, O My God: yea, Thy law is within My heart.” Psalm 40:8. Thoughts from The Mount of Blessing, p. 109
The law of God.. is a revelation of the will and the character of its Author. God is love, and His law is love...“Love is the fulfilling of the law.” [Romans 13:10]. GC 467.
God values freedom of choice
God desires from all His creatures the service of love—service that springs from an appreciation of His character. He takes no pleasure in a forced obedience; and to all He grants freedom of will, that they may render Him voluntary service. Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 34
It is not God's purpose to coerce the will. Man was created a free moral agent. Like the inhabitants of all other worlds, he must be subjected to the test of obedience; but he is never brought into such a position that yielding to evil becomes a matter of necessity. No temptation or trial is permitted to come to him which he is unable to resist. God made such ample provision that man need never have been defeated in the conflict with Satan. PP 331.4
Unity in Diversity
Unity in diversity is a principle that pervades the whole creation. While there is an individuality and variety in nature, there is a oneness in their diversity; for all things receive their usefulness and beauty from the same source. The great Master Artist writes his name on all his created works, from the loftiest cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop upon the wall. They all declare his handiwork, from the lofty mountain and the grand ocean to the tiniest shell upon the seashore. SW December 17, 1907, par. 7
God permits every human being to exercise his individuality. He desires no one to submerge his mind in the mind of a fellow mortal. Those who desire to be transformed in mind and character are not to look to men, but to the divine Example. God gives the invitation, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” By conversion and transformation, men are to receive the mind of Christ. Every one is to stand before God with an individual faith, an individual experience, knowing for himself that Christ is formed within, the hope of glory. Signs of The Times, September 3, 1902
Nature is not God
God's handiwork in nature is not God Himself in nature. The things of nature are an expression of God's character and power; but we are not to regard nature as God. The artistic skill of human beings produces very beautiful workmanship, things that delight the eye, and these things reveal to us something of the thought of the designer; but the thing made is not the maker. It is not the work, but the workman, that is counted worthy of honor. So while nature is an expression of God's thought, it is not nature, but the God of nature, that is to be exalted. MH 413
God working in nature
Upon all created things is seen the impress of the Deity. Nature testifies of God. Not by its own inherent energy does the earth produce its bounties, and year by year continue its motion around the sun. An unseen hand guides the planets in their circuit of the heavens. A mysterious life pervades all nature—a life that sustains the unnumbered worlds throughout immensity... The same power that upholds nature, is working also in man. The same great laws that guide alike the star and the atom control human life. The laws that govern the heart's action, regulating the flow of the current of life to the body, are the laws of the mighty Intelligence that has the jurisdiction of the soul... For all the objects of His creation the condition is the same—a life sustained by receiving the life of God.... To transgress His law, physical, mental, or moral, is to place one's self out of harmony with the universe, to introduce discord, anarchy, ruin. Education p. 99
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