In all the Bible pages wherein are written accounts of the children of Israel, we read how help and guidance were given them through men who knew God well enough to be channels for His Word. It is noted that even though error seemed rampant,—doubt, distrust, disease, tempting mankind,—nevertheless, there was at all times a promise or word of encouragement to all those who would give ear to and heed the voice of Truth. "He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions," was literally proved in the Father's loving care of His children.
It is frequently remarked by some of those who claim an understanding of the Bible, that many of the Biblical characters are described as having been tempted and as having fallen, so that we can scarcely expect to do otherwise! This argument may appear to be some consolation to those who are trying to justify wrongdoing, or to put off until some future time the practice of the teachings of the one who said, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." Here some one may say: But no one in this day has yet attained unto that perfect state of being. True; but how shall we ever hope to do so if we constantly refer to our forefathers as having fallen, and declare that it is necessary for us to follow them? Mrs. Eddy tells us in our textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 451), that "man walks in the direction towards which he looks;" and certainly not one healing ever occurred in Christian Science without there first having been acknowledged the absolute truth of the perfection of all things. Man, in the image and likeness of God, is not a sinner. God's likeness is like God, who, the Bible tells us, is of "purer eyes than to behold evil."
Our peace returns unto us at the end of a day's struggles, as we look to God and know that all discord is unreal, untrue. What joy to realize that God is here, and to see that the real, the eternal, the loving, the healthful spiritual child is the only child of God! There is so much good derived through thinking of the real children of Israel as being obedient. Certainly, it seems that Moses must have so discerned them, else his face could never have shone with divine light as he looked upon them there. Our Leader defines "Children of Israel," in part, as "the representatives of Soul, not corporeal sense" (Science and Health, p. 583); and Paul wrote of them to the Galatians, as "the Israel of God."
