"And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched,and not have suffered his house to be broken through. Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not." (Luke 12:39,40)
But how can Seventh-day Adventists experience the thief in the night at Christ's second advent? Would they not expectHis return after the Sunday law, death decree, and plagues? Surely they will not be surprised. But what if the thief inthe night experience takes place before the second advent? What if it takes place at the coming of the latter rain?
There are two comings of the God in the end time: the coming of the latter rain, and the coming of Christ. Just as Christcomes a second time, the coming Pentecost is the second coming of the Holy Spirit. Preparation for the coming of theHoly Spirit is the most important need for us today. We must be ready to be sealed by the Holy Spirit in order to be ready for Christ's second advent. For us, the most importantconcern is being sealed in our minds and characters, not the coming of Christ.
Purpose of the Remnant
So how can we avoid the "thief in the night" crisis? Christ spoke of ten virgins, representing those who believed in thesecond coming. The foolish virgins were unprepared. For some time they were satisfied with their state. After all, theywere virgins waiting for the bridegroom. But they were satisfied with only a little of God's oil when they really neededmuch. They were not candidates for the sealing. Christ speaks of the end-time church as Laodicea, which thinks itneeds nothing, but really needs everything that counts for salvation. They are defeated by the crisis of self-satisfaction.
Here are two sobering quotations. "Had the church of Christ done her appointed work...the Lord Jesus would havecome to our earth in power and great glory." (DA 634) "It is the unbelief, the worldliness, unconsecration and strifeamong the Lord's professed people that have kept us in this world of sin and sorrow so many years." (Ev 696) Wehave been failing in the purpose God has set for His people.
Ellen White defines the sealing as "a settling into the truth, both intellectually and spiritually, so they cannot be moved." (FLB 287) Without the seal, or without the latter rain of the Holy Spirit, no one can survive the times of trouble that arecoming. The reason for the existence of the Seventh-day Adventist Church is to prepare a people to receive the seal ofGod.
Revelation 7 tells of four angels who are holding back the winds of destruction for one reason. "And I saw anotherangel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, towhom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we havesealed the servants of our God in their foreheads." (vs. 2,3) Only when God's people are sealed will it be possible forJesus to return. Yet this simple truth is currently one of the most opposed truths within Adventism.
Sample of Opposition
Following is a typical example of this kind of opposition. "We drift to believing we influence the determined time of thereturn of Christ, believing we have delayed His return or can hasten His return. We believe that we may become, by ourown efforts, the last generation. We determine within ourselves to be a people of a special quality, a distinct people likethe world has never before known, fit for the return of Christ. Ellen White does not call for a supposed higher spiritualnature of God's people, and there is no reference to the human moral condition being determinative. Believing webecome the last generation by our own spiritual performance produces a focus on ourselves. Inevitably, such a focus leads us to moralism and perfectionism as ends in themselves and as substitutes for faith and humble proclamation ofthe grace of God."
I would suggest nine points of response to these ideas:
- It refers to a determined time of the return of Christ, as if nothing can change that.
- It says that it is wrong to believe that we have delayed His return. But did not DA 634 and Ev 696 say exactlythat?
- It says that it is wrong to believe that we may become by our own efforts the last generation. Who has ever said that we can do this by our own efforts?
- It refers to a special quality, a distinct people. But isn't that exactly what it will take to live after the close of probationwithout a Mediator?
- It refers to a supposed higher spiritual nature. We could fill the rest of this paper with inspired statements whichrefer to a higher spiritual condition of the last generation.
- It refers to our own spiritual performance. This makes it sound like some kind of spiritual show instead of adeeper dependence on the power of God.
- It refers to a focus on ourselves. This makes it all sound like self-righteousness and Phariseeism.
- It refers to moralism and perfectionism. It is so easy to label character perfection as perfectionism, to make it appearas negative as possible.
- It says these are substitutes for faith, as if believing in victory over sin through God's grace is the opposite of faith.
For years there has been a determined attack on the primary mission of the remnant church, which is a) to prepare apeople who are ready to receive the seal of God and the latter rain, and b) to give the final warning message to theworld, and c) to overcome all sin by God's grace and Christ's power, and d) to live without any sin during the seven lastplagues, and e) to vindicate God's promise that there will be a people who will actually keep His commandments 100%of the time.
How Can This Be Done?
If we are willing to reject, as we definitely should, this Satan-inspired attempt to discredit the divinely- given mission andmessage of the remnant; if we will choose to believe that God did not make a mistake when He made promises to Hischosen people that are higher than the highest human thought can reach, then the only question left to ask is How. Howcan we be part of such an impossible dream? The answer is found in the midst of a storm on Galilee. "And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Master, master,we perish. Then he arose, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water: and they ceased, and there was a calm. And he said unto them, Where is your faith?" (Luke 8:24,25) Today the question for us is, Where is our faith? Will wespend the rest of our lives in pious apology for failing to do what He says we can do? Will we continue to refuse tobelieve that all His biddings are enablings?
The answer to "how" always has been and always will be Faith. Faith kept Jesus from sinning. The faith of Jesusproduced the character of Jesus. "As the Son of God lived by faith in the Father, so are we to live by faith in Christ. Sofully was Jesus surrendered to the will of God that the Father alone appeared in His life." (DA 389)
God is not asking us to have the faith of Abraham or the faith of Moses, but the faith of Jesus. It will take the faith ofJesus to withstand the assaults of Satan in the last days. "Where is your faith?" is the question Jesus asks of the lastgeneration. Out of the large group who talk and sing about being ready for the return of Jesus, there will come asmaller group who will understand Jesus' question.
So what is the faith of Jesus. It is heart certainty that what God says is true and real, no matter how impossible itseems. Biblical faith knows that God's Word can be trusted. Faith is the whole person saying "Yes" to God andobeying whatever rules He sees fit to give us without complaining or quibbling. Faith in the opposite of sin. Faith ispower and vigor and living as Jesus did.
"For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even ourfaith. (1 John 5:4) Faith, not knowledge or trying harder, overcomes Satan. Christ demonstrated that when faithconnects with divine power, men and women can live without sinning. Either sin is destroyed completely, or it willtriumph completely.
Only when His people reveal faith in His power will they be able to take the gospel to the world. They will show that faithis the difference-maker between nominal church members and genuine Christians. "He who has not sufficient faith inChrist to believe that He can keep Him from sinning, has not the faith that will give him an entrance into the kingdom ofGod." (RH March 10, 1904)
God is waiting for men and women of faith. Enoch and Elijah were men of faith, and their lives teach us that heaven willtranslate no one unless he or she has become an overcomer. "The godly character of [Enoch] represents the state ofholiness which must be attained by those who shall be 'redeemed from the earth' at the time of Christ's second advent." (PP 88,89) "For his faithful obedience to God he was translated. So, also, the faithful, who are alive and remain, willbe translated." (2T 122)
Some generation of church members will become God's faithful last generation. They will not only say "Yes" to everything He says, but they will demonstrate the quality of what happens to people who say "Yes" to God. Not a rebelexists among them--they are men and women of faith.
The Surrender of Self
Following are some excerpts from a Joe Crews Classic:
Every day with Jesus should be sweeter than the day before. Each moment should find us moving up in ourexperience with a deeper faith. This very moment He wants to lead us deeper into the waters of surrender andconsecration. There are still victories to be won, sins to be put away, and a drawing together that needs to beaccomplished by the Holy Spirit. Many are afraid of that word "perfect." They are fearful that God will ask them to do something they are not willing to do.
But now we come face to face with the basic weakness that has led millions into discouragement and defeat. They simply have not been reconciled to giving up the enjoyment of their sins. Until that choice is made andacted upon, there can be no real victory over sin. I am convinced that there are only two possible reasons for aperson holding back. Either he or she is not willing to give up the enjoyment of the sin or else does not believethat God can give deliverance from it.
Self is our greatest enemy. Once we have settled the score with that old man of the flesh who seeks to ruleover us, all the other victories will come in their course. God has given every one a powerful and personalweapon to use in combating the self. The will is our only natural reserve weapon; everything depends on theright action of this resource.
Many are not willing to admit the true cause behind the raging conflict. The truth is that God wants somethingthat self is not willing to give up. They love something more than they love God.
We also need to admit that we fight a spiritual enemy who is stronger than we are. In the weakness of our fleshthe harder we try the deeper we sink into the mire. We have no natural ability to keep our thoughts andimagination under control. Without the transforming grace of the new birth, "the carnal mind...is not subject tothe law of God, neither indeed can be." (Romans 8:7) The mind renewed by Jesus Christ holds the onlyanswer to true victory. (Inside Report, July-Sept., 2015)
Ellen White adds this remarkable statement: "Every faculty that we possess has been provided for us in Christ....A sparkof God's own life has been breathed into the human body, making man a living soul, the possessor of moralendowments, and a will to direct his own course of action." (ST Aug. 26,, 1897) This spark of God's own life is a conscience and a will to choose against self, and every man and woman has been given this spark.
When we choose God's way instead of our own selfish way, we will truly care about others. This means that carmechanics hasten the coming of Jesus by offering the best possible service at reasonable pricing to those whosevehicles are not performing well, thus blessing the owners. It means plumbers fix the leaky pipes of elderly widowscheerfully, and maybe at a reduced cost. It means that schoolteachers recognize that the troublesome student in theirclass is a child coping with severe family dysfunction and in urgent need of love and support. It means that the cityemployee, paid to collect rubbish, willingly picks up the scattered mess of a trashcan overturned by a carelessly backedcar.
Character Perfection
So many are scared to death of the teaching that we will develop perfect characters in Christ's power. John Wesleybrought to the forefront the gospel's power to provide victory over temptation. John Wesley met much opposition. Oneof his greatest opponents was Count von Zinzendorf. In commenting upon von Zinzendorf's views Wesley wrote: "Thereis scarcely an expression in Holy Writ which has given more offense than this. The word perfect is what many cannotbear. The very sound of it is an abomination to them, and whosoever preaches perfection...that it is obtainable in thislife, runs great hazard of being counted by them, worse than a heathen man or a publican." Still speaking of Count von Zinzendorf,Wesley continued, "'No,' says the great man. 'This is an error of errors. I hate it from my heart. I pursue it through allthe world with fire and sword this idea that you can overcome sin.'" In response, Wesley said, "I say, why so vehement? Why are those who oppose salvation from sin...so eager? In God's name, why are you so fond of sin? What has it everdone for you? What good is it ever likely to do for you in this world, or in the world to come? And why are you so violentagainst those who hope for a deliverance from it?" (The Works of Wesley, vol. 6, p. 1)
The final generation of saints will reflect the character of Christ, not for human glorification, but for the glorification oftheir Lord. Any claims which deny that Christ has the power to give victory in the life of the wholly surrendered soul isan attack upon His character, His sacrifice, and His high priestly ministry.
But when our personal salvation is made central to the gospel, self-centeredness seems to dominate the thinking, andChrist and His glory tend to become secondary. When the most important question is, Am I assured of my salvation?, there is too much of I and me involved. Our focus needs to move away from me to Christ. Is my life glorifying Christ? Am I telling and living the truth about His character? Are His requests andHis commands a joy and a delight to follow?
Romans 7
Romans 7 is the chapter most often used to deny character perfection. The man of Romans 7 is not a hypocrite. He issincere and earnest, but he is not a genuinely converted man. Romans 7 describes the classic legalist. This mansincerely desires victory. He strives with all his human effort for victory, but meets with frequent failure. "For that whichI do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I....For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh)dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good thatI would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do." (Romans 7:15,18,19)
Let us compare Romans 7 with Galatians 2. "Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me." (Romans7:17) "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in theflesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2:20) These are twoentirely different experiences.
Only total dependence upon Jesus can bring perfection of character. The legalist suffers with conflict and frustration. Some give up altogether and choose the pleasures of this world. Others continue with the false hope that someday inthe far future they will reach perfection. But the man of Romans 7 asked the correct question when he cried out for help,"Who shall deliver me?" The answer comes quickly in verse 25, "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord."
The man of Romans 7 declares himself to be "carnal, sold under sin." (Romans 7:14) Paul notes that "to be carnallyminded is death." (Romans 8:6) But in Romans 8 there is transformation because Christ has become the center of thisman's life. "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." (Romans8:2)
Either we are under the law of sin and death, or we are under the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. The former arecarnally minded, the latter are spiritually minded. Nowhere in Scripture is the contrast between human effort alone onthe one hand, and human submission to the power of Christ on the other, more strongly contrasted. That is whyRomans 8 ends in such a triumphant proclamation. "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril,or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay,in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, norlife, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any othercreature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus or Lord." (Romans 8:35-39)
Conclusion
One of the greatest fears about the doctrine of perfection is that it concentrates on behavior and does not provideassurance for God's people. It is true that those who have not surrendered their lives to Jesus have no basis forassurance; whereas those whose lives are hid in Him have no reason to doubt His saving grace. "Let us draw near witha true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed withpure water." (Hebrews 10:22)
God's loyal people, who have known sin and abomination in their lives, but have received of the power of the gospel andhave washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, all in His strength and His courage, face everycrisis, every difficulty, every test, every trial, and every barrier, with full assurance of the strength of Christ.
In recent times, with the doctrinal and lifestyle dissonance within our church, there have been strong cries for unity. Jesus showed the way to real unity. "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth....And for their sakes I sanctifymyself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth." (John 17:17,19) Until God's people are sanctified, there will not be unity. Every other call is a call for a counterfeit unity. Frequently, these are calls to compromise, consensus, or the silencing of truth.
Ellen White wrote: "Unity is the sure result of Christian perfection." (SL 85) Unity is not a goal, as it is often presentedto be. It is the natural result of Christian perfection. "There is no sanctification aside from truth." (FCE 432) If we are toachieve that perfect unity necessary for the pouring out of the latter rain, God's people must hold the truth inviolate. Butmore than this, they must allow the truth to be translated into the very fabric of their lives, bringing the sanctifyingprinciple of God's love.
"Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measureof the stature of the fulness of Christ: that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about withevery wind of doctrine, be the sleight of man, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speakingthe truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ." (Ephesians 4:13-15) There is noother way to hasten the coming of Jesus Christ. The sanctuary message is designed to lead to the justification andsanctification of God's people, the blotting out of their sins, and the uniting of the lives of men and women in God's truth, providing their title and fitness for heaven. There is no other way. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
“We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn , and the day star arise in your hearts: Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” (2 Peter 1:19-21) We are certainly in a dark place and in need of light, and we have a problem of many private interpretations. Verse 21 is the great divide in modern Bible study. Did the prophets come up with good ideas and then the Holy Spirit would add further impressions, or did they speak and write only as moved (carried along) by the Holy Spirit? Is the prophet’s teaching limited to his own culture, or does the prophet speak across cultures to our time?
There is a growing number of people who profess Christ as Savior but who relegate selected portions of the Scriptures as nothing more than opinion pieces. This plays out most noticeably when they encounter Biblical instructions that contradict their desires. Instead of openly receiving the Word and permitting it to do its corrective work on their hearts, they chalk it up as the bias of the Biblical writer. A growing phenomenon of Western culture is religious pluralism, which means that opposing views are equally valid. Unfortunately, the effects of religious pluralism are having some impact relative to certain issues within the Seventh-day Adventist Church. When we filter Scripture through the lens of culture, accommodation to unbiblical traits of culture can prevail. Most of our problems today are due to looking to society and culture, exactly as Israel did in Canaan.
Issues in Creation
Recently a young Adventist bemoaned “the Biblical literalism and fundamentalism rampant in our church.” Perhaps it may help to review a few simple texts.
“For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.” (Ex. 20:11) This sounds like a pretty literalistic, fundamentalist spin on Genesis 1 and 2.
“For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.” (1 Tim. 2:13, 14) That’s about as literalist an interpretation of Genesis as there could be.
“By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.” (Heb. 11:4,5) This sounds as if Paul believed that these people were real, and the Biblical accounts of their stories were true.
“And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly.” (2 Peter 2:5) Could Peter, a prophet and apostle, have actually taken the Noah story as it reads?
But what about Jesus? Was He a Biblical literalist? “But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” (Matt. 24:37-39) Jesus not only believed the Noah story; He gave it added theological significance by linking it with the second coming, a crucial doctrine that we take in the most literal sense possible.
“And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.” (Matt. 19:4-6) Is this not a literalistic spin of the Creation story coming from Jesus Himself?
“For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” (Matt. 12:40) Jesus not only believed the Jonah story but tied it directly to His resurrection, another crucial doctrine that Adventists take literally.
We say that the Bible interprets itself, and that through the study of the Bible we can learn to interpret it correctly. The above examples show that these Bible writers, and even Jesus Himself, interpreted the Scriptures literally. If that’s how they did it, is it not reasonable for us to do the same?
Following are some excerpts from a new book (not Adventist) trying to harmonize a loving God with all the evil occurring in the world.
Natural evil and suffering were “built into the universe from its origin.” Suffering and natural evil are allowed because “God’s intention is to create life through the processes of evolution.” Predation, death, and extinction are “intrinsic to the processes that give rise to life on Earth in all its wonderful diversity.” “Toil and death are the consequences of the finely tuned laws of physics that allow us to be here.” Evil, pain, and suffering are the “unavoidable by-product of conditions” that the natural world has to obtain “in order that there be intelligent life at all.” In other words, suffering and death , instead of being the result of free beings who abused that freedom, were wired into the creation by God Himself.
The whole purpose of the great controversy scenario is to vindicate God from the responsibility for the evil that theistic evolution attributes to Him by virtue of how He created. But however wrong these scholars are, at least they have the intellectual honesty not to play word games and make broad statements about believing in the Genesis creation when they don’t. They have taken their premise, theistic evolution, to its inescapable conclusion—God is responsible for the evil that He, Himself, built into the universe.
I came across a rather strange statement made by an Adventist professor. “What I’m skeptical is the absolute necessity of believing that the only way a Creator God could do things is by speaking them into existence a few thousand years ago.” An individual writing to the Adventist Review said, “God could have used multiple ways to effect creation. But He chose to speak our world into existence. Since He chose to do this by speaking, and it is recorded in Genesis, why would we have any reason to question that this was the way it was done? If we question Genesis...how can we be sure any of the rest of it is true?...We either take all the Bible at face value, or we discard all of it....There’s no half- way about this. I choose to believe all my Bible, including the account of creation, in which God spoke our world into existence, one day at a time. Yes, God could have used other methods to create our world; but the fact that He did not is enough for me.” Another person wrote, “If this is not a serious issue, there are no serious issues. When someone holds a knife to the church’s jugular vein, people need to know.” (Adventist Review, May 27, 2010)
Let us look at our universe for just a moment. Imagine being on a starship traveling at the speed of light, which is 11 million miles per minute. At this fantastic speed we’d zip past our sun in less than nine minutes, and fly by the distant Pluto in only five and a half hours. Continuing on into deep space, we’d have to travel four and a half years before we’d pass Alpha Centauri, the nearest fixed star. One hundred thousand years would slip by, however, before we’d cross our Milky Way galaxy, and another two million years would become history before we’d even approach the great galaxy of Andromeda, know to contain 100 billion suns. And then we’d have only begun. For beyond Andromeda lie at least 2 billion other galaxies, each containing billions of suns. And according to Scripture, the One we know as Jesus of Nazareth created all these vast systems!
“When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? (Ps. 8:3,4) Why would the Creator of all those magnificent star systems care to notice a race of micron human rebels living on a speck of dust called Earth in a far corner of His universe?
“Myriads of gigantic suns,
Racing through the trackless void
On courses known but to an omniscient mind.
Splendor beyond description!
Each flaming mass screams with a silent voice,
‘God is my maker.’
Men on one tiny orb declare:
‘There is no God!’
Yet the God whom they say does not exist,
Went to that dejected world,
And DIED—for me!”
(Thurman Petty, “The Silent Voice”)
There is really only one basis for the existence of Adventism—we believe that the Bible is the voice of God, speaking to us directly, literally, and plainly.
Mission of Adventism
If we believe the Bible to be literally true, we must take the next step. What is the reason that this infallible God decided to bring another movement into existence? Many members within the Seventh- day Adventist Church are searching for a truly Adventist identity. Are we just another church denomination? Is another denomination really necessary? If we are not simply another denomination, then what makes us unique?
It is not our lifestyle that makes us unique. Orthodox Jews and Muslims abstain from eating pork; being a vegetarian is becoming popular among many health-conscious people; and there are various groups that promote an alcohol-free lifestyle. There are other Christian who pay tithe, and some Christian groups dress more conservatively than we do.
But what about our doctrines? We have not contributed much in the way of new Biblical truth or knowledge. We have rather rediscovered forgotten truths and brought together fragmented Biblical knowledge within the framework of the great controversy between Christ and Satan.
Since we are not really unique in lifestyle or doctrine, why did God see fit to call us into existence? We are being told constantly that our mission (our reason for existence) is to witness and to serve, to call people to the gospel for the purpose of their salvation. But isn’t that exactly what Billy Graham has been doing and what countless televangelists are doing? Doesn’t the Catholic Church have a worldwide network of hospitals and charities to serve suffering humanity? Yes, it is true that our doctrines and our lifestyle and our witness and our service are very important, and that they help to define us. But are we missing something?
I found a perfect example of this blind spot in the 2009 issue of the Week of Prayer readings in the Adventist Review. In the introduction by Jan Paulsen are these words: “Our church is a movement of hope with a mission of hope to the human race....It is our mission to move across the surface of the planet, planting the seed of true hope in the human hearts....The readings for this week are not doctrinal expositions; they are sermons that seek to describe our mission.” (Sept. 24, 2009)
Thus the theme for the week was our mission, our purpose, our reason for existence. In the first articles were these statements: “The mission of the Son consisted in giving His life for others.” “Our primary mission [is] to proclaim the message of the three angels to the world.” The remaining articles continued the theme of proclaiming the three angels’ messages.
Only when we arrived at the last article, taken from Ellen White’s writing, did we begin to see a different emphasis. “We are placed under the discipline and government of God, to form characters and acquire habits for the higher life....We are forming characters for everlasting life....We should bring solid timbers into our character-building, for we are working both for this life and eternal life. And as we near the close of this earth’s history, we advance more rapidly in Christian growth, or we retrograde just as decidedly....It is when you are looking to His throne, offering up your penitence and praise and thanksgiving to God, that you perfect Christian character, and represent Christ to the world....My brother, my sister, I urge you to prepare for the coming of Christ in the clouds of heaven. Day by day cast the love of the world out of your hearts. Understand by experience what it means to have fellowship with Christ. Prepare for the judgment, that when Christ shall come,...you will be among those who will meet Him in peace....God will bring those who reflect His image to behold and share with Him His glory.”
There was much good material in all the other articles, including the three angels’ messages, but there was nothing about perfecting character and reflecting God’s image until Ellen White was allowed to speak. Our mission is more than doctrine or lifestyle or witnessing—it is perfecting our characters under the final atonement for the purpose of vindicating God’s law and character and finishing the great controversy.
We are so close to the final battle between good and evil. Do we really sense it? Bill Knott wrote an outstanding editorial in the Adventist Review. “It is the night before the battle, or put more precisely, those odd, unwieldy hours when we have given up on sleep before the crisis that arrives at dawn....It is Elizabeth I pacing the bluffs of Tilbury as Spain’s great Armada lumbers up the English Channel....We see Henry V, hidden in his cloak, wandering through the campfires of his men....Across the span of Adventism just now one hears the tread of all that predawn pacing, the restlessness of millions of believers who correctly sense that all this waiting will soon yield in battles both intimate and titanic. The alignments of the principalities have mostly taken place. The hosts arrayed against the followers of the Lamb have been massing strength and weaponry in almost every theater of war: media, theology, science, education, culture, even government. The skirmish lines have long been drawn: we hear the cries of midnight pickets as those who quarrel with the Word push hard on the ground of origins; on the trustworthiness of Scripture; on the sanctity of marriage; on obedience to a seventh-day Sabbath; on the necessity of Adventist mission; on the rights of believers to freely speak and preach their faith; on this people’s historic insistence that belonging to Jesus results in a lifestyle and behaviors different from the world. Emissaries, some with smiles, recommend that we surrender things distinctive about which Adventists have rallied for a century and a half. The flag proposed to us is not some scarlet banner decked with mystic symbols: no, it is simple, white, and deadly. So here’s a call to find our nerve in all this predawn jostling—a call to understand that these hours are, in fact, our most vulnerable moment as a people raised by God to be His remnant in these last days. This is a time for visiting each other’s tents; for borrowing each other’s courage; for deep, intense, and honest prayer as we beseech the Sovereign Lord to assure of His presence—and His power—in the struggle just ahead.” (March 11, 2010) What a call to arms. We are on the edge of eternity, and there is only one more battle to fight.
Following is an example of a smiling emissary recommending the surrender of a distinctive and vital (though politically incorrect) Adventist truth. “For over a century,...we Adventists have regarded the Roman Catholic Church leadership, typified in the first beast of Revelation 13, as our arch- nemesis,...the enemy that takes the evil part in the apocalyptic scenario against God’s remnant. Here are...reasons why it may be time to question them in that role. More than a hundred years have passed since our prophet approved these prophetic applications...Isn’t it possible that some details of the apocalyptic scenario set out in the 1890’s may have changed by the 2010’s?...Ellen White fingered Catholicism in a very different world. Historians have shown that 19th-century American anti- Catholicism grew out of a general anti-immigrant nativism....The Roman Catholic Church of today is a much different institution than it was during Ellen White’s time. The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican (1962-1965) radically altered that denomination’s theology and practices....Today’s Catholic Church is not the same Catholic Church referenced in our 19th –century eschatological studies....Far more Christians have been killed, persecuted, or denied their religious liberty by Communism, military Fascism, and Islamist extremism in the past century than by Roman Catholics....God has given us time to become a world church, and that changes the cast of characters in our eschatology. The ‘antichrists’—opposers of Christ—to many of today’s world Christians are radical imams or cruel dictators....Religious liberty has arguably improved in countries where Catholicism has influence. During my lifetime, the papacy has frequently been a force for peace and freedom....Some of us still think that calling the Pope the Antichrist is necessary to win souls to Christ....But perhaps we needn’t single out Roman Catholicism any longer.” (Adventist Today, Winter, 2010) Do I hear a denial of prophecy here? Do I see a white flag of surrender being held by an Adventist pastor? This is indeed a very vulnerable time in the existence of the Adventist movement.
A President’s Appeal
Something very unique just happened at the 2010 General Conference. At this meeting we elected a new president. That in itself is nothing special; we elect a new president rather regularly. But did you listen closely to his inaugural address? Elder Wilson identified by name and specifically eleven points of apostasy which must be corrected if we are going to fulfill our mission. He spoke again at the 2011 ASI convention. I am going to quote parts of those presentations in case we have forgotten. “I have felt convicted in the past weeks to speak out in a stronger way about certain subjects that, in my opinion, are removing us from God’s mission for His remnant church.” Please notice that the points he mentions must be corrected if we are going to fulfill our “mission,” in other words, finishing the work.
1. “I humbly ask for your prayers that the message I share today is heard clearly and that the messenger not be lifted up. To that end, if there is a particular point with which you agree, please respond with a heartfelt ‘Amen’ instead of applause. Thank you for your help in keeping the message,not the messenger, the center of our time together.” This is not the minor matter that some think it is. Our worship services have become entertainer-centered, encouraging pride and irreverence.
2. “Grace is the promise of God’s pardon and the provision of God’s power—justification and sanctification. You cannot separate which Christ does for you...from what He does in you....This is the everlasting gospel spoken about in the first angel’s message. It is righteousness by faith....The great controversy theme is all about God’s grace to save sinners and through His power to transform them into His sons and daughters.” What a needed corrective this was to the popular half-gospel— cheap grace—theology we have been subjected to for the past 25 years.
3. “God used Ellen G. White as a humble servant to provide inspired insight about Scripture, prophecy, health, education, relationships, mission, families, and so many more topics. Let us read the Spirit of Prophecy, follow the Spirit of Prophecy, and share the Spirit of Prophecy....The Spirit of Prophecy is one of the identifying marks of God’s last-day people and is just as applicable today as ever before because it was given to us by heaven itself....May we never make of none effect the precious light given us in the writings of Ellen G. White....Accept the Spirit of Prophecy as one of the greatest gifts given to the Seventh-day Adventist Church not just for the past but even more importantly for the future....It is a heaven-sent guide to instruct the church in how to carry out its mission. It is a reliable theological expositor of the Scriptures. The Spirit of Prophecy is to be read, believed, applied, and promoted....Let me repeat a conviction of mine, there is nothing antiquated or archaic about the Spirit of Prophecy; it is for today and until Christ returns.” This is the single biggest issue facing the Adventist Church today. Will we listen to and obey the prophetic voice or make her writings of none effect by selective use?
4. “This church is not just another denomination; it is a unique, heaven-initiated movement with a mission of salvation to the world that must continually go forward in the humility of Jesus.”
5. “Our success in finishing this work...depends on humbling ourselves before our Creator and denying self so that Jesus can control us and overcome our sin. It depends on whether or not we are ready to humbly ask for revival and reformation in our lives personally and corporately as a church which will lead to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the latter rain....In the book Christ’ s Object Lessons we read of Christ’s wish for His people. ‘Christ is waiting with longing desire for the manifestation of Himself in His church. When the character of Christ shall be perfectly reproduced in His people, then He will come to claim them as His own. It is the privilege of every Christian not only to look for but to hasten the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Were all who profess His name bearing fruit to His glory, how quickly the whole world would be sown with the seed of the gospel. Quickly the last great harvest would be ripened, and Christ would come to gather the precious grain.’” How much ridicule has been heaped on this teaching in recent years. It is called harvest theology or last generation theology. This is our mission, which is more important than doctrine or lifestyle or witnessing. If we accomplish this we succeed. If we do not, we fail. This, by the way, is the only way the gospel will go to the whole world. We will never accomplish our task through Global Mission, or the 10-40 Window, or years of evangelism.
6. “Do not succumb to the mistaken idea, gaining support even in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, of accepting worship or evangelistic outreach methods merely because they are new and ‘trendy.’ We must be vigilant to test all things according the supreme authority of God’s Word and the counsel with which we have been blessed in the writings of Ellen G. White. Don’t reach out to movements or megachurch centers outside the Seventh-day Adventist Church which promise you spiritual success based on faulty theology.” The church growth movement and the megachurch centers have become our modern groves on the hilltops where we are worshipping Baal and Ashtoreth.
7. “Stay away from non-Biblical spiritual disciplines or methods of spiritual formation that are rooted in mysticism such as contemplative prayer, centering prayer, and the emerging church movement in which they are promoted. Look within the Seventh-day Adventist Church to humble pastors, evangelists, Biblical scholars, leaders, and departmental directors who can provide evangelistic methods and programs that are based on solid Biblical principles and ‘The Great Controversy Theme.’ ...Guard against mystical beliefs and practices that are finding their way into the church through formats like spiritual formation and the emerging church....Stay away from mystical forms of prayer such a contemplative prayer, prayer labyrinths, repetitive prayer using one word or a certain phrase, or centering prayer that seem to have become popular but lead to the occult since in many cases all thoughts are eliminated....Avoid the practice of inviting major spiritual speakers who are not Seventh- day Adventists to speak to church meetings, men’s meetings, women’s meetings, retreats, pastoral meetings, youth meetings, and large convocations....They probably have no concept of the great controversy theme....We need to be very proactive in requesting humble, Bible-centered Seventh-day Adventist speakers to instruct our church members in fully understanding God’s great Biblical messages for this time.” Very few realize how spiritualism is entering our church through emerging church practices and supposedly helpful methods of spiritual formation coming straight out of Catholicism.
8. “Use Christ-centered, Bible-based worship and music practices in church services.... Don’t go backwards into confusing pagan settings where music and worship become so focused on emotion and experience that you lose the central focus on the Word of God. All worship, however simple or complex, should do one thing and one thing only: lift up Christ and put down self. Worship methods that lift up performance and self should be replaced with a simple and sweet reflection of a Christ-centered, Biblical approach....Resist worship styles and music that have more to do with self- centered entertainment than a humble worship of God....We need to focus on worshipping God and not elevating self. Music should lift us to the throne room of heaven....If music sounds like it belongs to a hard rock concert or a nightclub, it should stay there.” The real danger of contemporary worship styles is the focus on performance and self and surface emotions, which is the opposite of true worship of God’s holiness.
9. “Don’t succumb to fanatical or loose theology that wrests God’s Word from the pillars of Biblical truth and the landmark beliefs of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Don’t be swayed with every little whim of ‘new’ theology or complicated time chart purporting to carefully explain unusual or obscure concepts that have little to do with our overall theology or mission. The historic Biblical beliefs of the Seventh-day Adventist Church will not be moved.” Faithful Adventists are being deceived and beguiled by “new light” unknown to Ellen White. God apparently forgot to tell her in 70 years of prophetic ministry crucial truths needed to prepare us to receive the seal of God. Satan doesn’t care whether we are caught in the ice of indifference or the fire of fanaticism.
10. “Stand firm for God’s Word as it is literally read and understood....That which the Lord in His mercy has given to us in clear language to be taken as fact simply because He said so must not be shrouded in skepticism. Don’t go backwards to misinterpret the first eleven chapters of Genesis or other areas of Scripture as allegorical or merely symbolic...If God did not create this world in six literal days and then blessed the Sabbath day, why are we worshipping Him today on this seventh-day Sabbath as Seventh-day Adventists? To misunderstand or to misinterpret this doctrine is to deny God’s Word and to deny the very purpose of the Seventh-day Adventist movement as the remnant church of God called to proclaim the three angels’ messages with Holy Spirit power. Don’t go backwards to atheistic or theistic evolution....Seventh-day Adventist church members, hold your leaders, pastors, local churches, educators, institutions, and administrative organizations accountable to the highest standards of belief based on a literal understanding of Scripture.”
11. “Let Scripture be its own interpreter. Our church has long held to the Historical-Biblical method of understanding Scripture, allowing the Bible to interpret itself;...However, one of the most sinister attacks against the Bible is from those who believe in the Historical-Critical method of explaining the Bible. This unbiblical approach of ‘higher criticism’ is a deadly enemy of our theology and mission. This approach puts a scholar or individual above the plain approach of the Scriptures and given inappropriate license to decide what he or she perceives as truth based on the resources and education of the critic. Stay away from this type of approach because it leads people to distrust God and His Word. Selected Messages, Book 1, pp. 17-18 speaks directly to this issue. ‘When men, in their finite judgment, find it necessary to go into an examination of Scriptures to define that which is inspired and that which is not, they have stepped before Jesus to show Him a better way than He has led us....Let not a mind or hand be engaged in criticizing the Bible....Cling to your Bible, as it reads, and stop your criticisms in regard to its validity, and obey the Word, and not one of you will be lost.’” This problem has been affecting our higher education for the past 30 years and is the basis for most of our disagreements and controversies.
Have you ever heard anything close to this from a General Conference President in the past 35 years? How much we need a Moses to lead us out of our wilderness wanderings. Now is the time for earnest prayers from the 7,000 in Israel for God to manifest His mighty hand.
After this presentation, an individual wrote to the Adventist Review. “It was really satisfying when I heard that our new General Conference President made a call for revival and reformation....But that raises some questions: What are the specifics of revival and reformation? What are the ‘nuts and bolts’?...Does that mean we will be reading articles in our church papers and hearing sermons from the pulpit on how to keep the Sabbath properly, or the need for modesty in dress, or that we need to abstain from wine, tea, and coffee? Will someone be speaking out against expensive houses and trips and big people’s toys? Will there be evinced a concern about how many of the habits, customs, and practices of the world have crept into the church? Will our members be urged not only to be students of the Scripture but to read Ellen White’s writings?” (Nov. 17, 2011)
The major problem with the Jews of Christ’s time was not faulty doctrine or lifestyle, but a faulty understanding of their mission. They simply did not know their reason for existence. They were saturated with their dreams about national preeminence and their restoration to the days of David and Solomon, instead of preparing the way for God’s Son to lead them to eternal realities. Do we understand our mission any better? Is our focus on church growth and respectability blinding us to our mission to participate in the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary by cleansing our hearts of all rebellion, and thus allowing God to be vindicated in His final battle against Satan’s false charges? Do we believe without question in the pillars of Adventist truth? Do we accept the politically incorrect truths of Adventism, such as the nature of sin, the nature of Christ, perfection, and last generation theology? Will we stand firmly with Christ, our High Priest?
Jesus is talking to the seventy disciples who had just come back from their missionary tour. "And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven." (Luke 10:18) When did this happen? Of course we answer quickly, When he sinned and got kicked out of heaven.
Here's the passage we usually think of. "And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him." (Revelation 12:7-9) But notice that when we make this connection, we are actually equating two different phrases. Jesus said that Satan "fell," but in Revelation 12 it says he was "cast out." So perhaps these verses are referring to different events.
Notice what Jesus said in this verse. "Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out." (John 12:31) This was just before the crucifixion, when Satan would again be "cast out." Does that mean that Revelation 12 is really talking about the crucifixion as well as Satan being cast out of heaven in the beginning?
Here is how Ellen White uses Revelation 12. "Christ bowed His head and died....'And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.'" (DA 761) Why is Ellen White quoting that verse when she's talking about the crucifixion? Is it because the second casting down is more important than the first casting out? The first casting out was just an exile from heaven. The second casting out was a loss of Satan's credibility, which is what the great controversy is all about.
We need some more clarification. "After the crucifixion, [Satan] saw that he had overreached himself....Satan saw that his disguise was torn away, that the character he had tried to fasten on Christ was fastened on himself. It was as if he had the second time fallen from heaven." (12 MR 411) This is definitely at the cross. It's like there is something about these two events—the fall of Satan from heaven and the death of Christ on the cross—that is so similar that inspired writers seem to put them all together.
Actually, Ellen White sometimes make the linkage even stronger. "God...looked upon the victim expiring on the cross, and said, 'It is finished. The human race shall have another trial.' The redemption price was paid, and Satan fell like lightning from heaven." (YI June 21, 1900) So there we have stages one and two in Satan's fall.
Let's move on to stage three. "The accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time." (Revelation 12:10-12) This does look familiar, doesn't it? And it really is stage three.
Let's focus on a few details. The accuser of the brethren was "cast down" at the death of Christ. Now a new group is introduced. There is a group of people who have beaten the devil, placing their lives at risk in the process. Because they overcame, the heavens and everyone who lives there can rejoice. But these events appear to be bad news for all those who live in the wrong place—the earth—because the devil is running out of time and he's really angry.
When does all this come together? Of course, at the end of time. "'Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.' Fearful are the scenes which call forth this exclamation from the heavenly voice. The wrath of Satan increases as his time grows short, and his work of deceit and destruction will reach its culmination in the time of trouble." (GC 623)
So this passage in Revelation 12 is really talking about three different episodes. We've got the fall of Satan, about 6,000 years ago; the crucifixion, about 2,000 years ago; and the time of trouble, in our near future. What do these three events have in common?
"Satan...is an accuser of the brethren, and his accusing power is employed against those who work righteousness. The Lord desires through His people to answer Satan's charges by showing the results of obedience to right principles." (COL 296) These three events are all based on Satan's accusations against Christ.
So how will Satan's accusations be answered? "The completeness of Christian character is attained when the impulse to help and bless others springs constantly from within. It is the atmosphere of this love surrounding the soul of the believer that makes him a savor of life unto life." (AA 551) Answering Satan's charges involves more than pure doctrine. Far more important are the lives God's people live.
In Desire of Ages, page 490, four stages are put together in one passage. "Like the apostles, the seventy had received supernatural endowments as a seal of their mission. When their work was completed, they returned with joy, saying, 'Lord, even the devils are subject to us through thy name.' Jesus answered, 'I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.' (Obviously, we are reviewing stage two) The scenes of the past and the future were presented to the mind of Jesus. He beheld Lucifer as he was first cast out from the heavenly places. (This is stage one) He looked forward to the scenes of His own agony, when before all the worlds the character of the deceiver should be unveiled. He heard the cry, 'It is finished,' announcing that the redemption of the lost race was forever made certain, that heaven was made eternally secure against the accusations, the deceptions, the pretensions, that Satan would instigate. (This is the near future for Jesus, which is stage two) Beyond the cross of Calvary, with its agony and shame, Jesus looked forward to the great final day, when the prince of the power of the air will meet his destruction in the earth so long marred by his rebellion. Jesus beheld the work of evil forever ended, and the peace of God filling heaven and earth. (This is stage four, the final destruction of sin and Satan, his last fall from heaven) Henceforward Christ's followers were to look upon Satan as a conquered foe. Upon the cross, Jesus was to gain the victory for them; that victory He desired them to accept as their own." (This is stage three, not as detailed as the others, but still there)
Stage one (6,000 years ago) – The members of the Godhead understood Satan's plans and arguments, and rejected them.
Stage two (2,000 years ago) – Angels and unfallen worlds understood Satan's plans and arguments, and rejected them.
Stage three (near future) – The 144,000 will understand Satan's plans and arguments, and will reject them.
Stage four (1,000 years later) – The wicked will understand Satan's plans and arguments, and will reject them.
So there's the fall of Satan. Naturally it's easier to understand the first two stages, since they've already happened. But it's stage three that should most interest us, since we actually have a chance to do something about that one. At the very least we should be working on it. ( In passing, notice that the righteous dead are missing from the list above. We'll come back to them shortly.)
Stage Three
We will start with a familiar verse. "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." (Matthew 24:14) Everyone is familiar with this sequence. But is there a reason for this order of events? It is a common assumption that the gospel must go to all the world before the end can come. This assumption is correct, but why? It isn't so everyone will have a chance to be saved. Billions of people have already died without hearing the gospel. A number of inspired passages tell us that even the "unenlightened heathen" can be saved. (Zechariah 13:6; Romans 2:13-15; DA 638; SD 364; COL 385) It looks like God has a way of dealing with that problem.
So why does "this gospel" need to go to all the world? More importantly, which gospel is "this gospel"? If the pope could preach an evangelistic series that was broadcast to every person on earth, would the end come? How about Benny Hinn, or Pat Robertson, or James Dobson, or Joel Osteen? What about Ted Wilson, or Dwight Nelson, or Doug Batchelor, or Mark Finley? The point is, "this gospel" must be the true gospel. It has to be complete, mature, and powerful enough to bring on the end. That is the "gospel of the kingdom." To whatever extent my gospel falls short of that, I will fall short of ever finishing God's work, no matter how much I do. In the Lord's service, quality is always more significant than quantity. Our failure to master the science of salvation is the greatest cause for the delay of the end of time.
Scripture talks about that delay in the Lord's plans. "And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel." (Revelation 7:1-4) So what is holding things up? It is the sealing that is holding up God's plans. By the way, it is also holding Satan up. He started falling a long time ago, and he should have hit the rocks by now. It's only because we aren't ready for the sealing, that he's still sort of floating around in mid-air.
But why can't God's plans go forward without the sealing? What makes it necessary? What does it accomplish? Let us look at another verse. "To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God." (Ephesians 3:10) Notice that it says "by the church." Somehow the church will provide a demonstration of "the manifold wisdom of God" that is so different from anything else that has ever been seen, that "the principalities and powers in heavenly places" will learn something new. And that demonstration is to be made through the sealing. So now we can say that it is the need for the demonstration of the wisdom of God that comes through the sealing of the 144,000 that is holding things up.
So what is this wisdom of God? We will ask four questions about this specific part of God's wisdom that is to be demonstrated to the principalities and powers in heavenly places by the church. 1. What plans are being held up? 2. What wisdom of God could possibly require demonstration? 3. What specifics need to be demonstrated? 4. Can the sealing demonstrate what is needed?
What plans are being held up? Obviously it is God's plans for the end of time that is to come after the gospel goes to all the world. In other words, everything from the sealing on. This includes the close of probation, the time of Jacob's trouble, the second coming, the reward of the righteous, and the destruction of the wicked.
What wisdom of God could possibly require demonstration? Remember, this is for the benefit of the principalities and powers in heavenly places. That's a loyal audience. Don't they trust Him? It is the last two items that need clarification—the reward of the righteous and the destruction of the wicked. Satan has been complaining about God's plans on these two issues for several thousand years. And the unfallen inhabitants of the heavenly places have a stake here as well. Angels have good reasons to make sure that God's plans don't endanger heaven and don't execute the wicked unfairly.
What specifics need to be demonstrated? Suppose a teacher gave a math test and everyone flunked. But suppose the teacher announced later that seven students would get passing grades anyway. You would want to know what made those seven different, wouldn't you? And if the teacher said, "It's because they have blue eyes," you wouldn't think it was fair, especially if you didn't have blue eyes! The problem is that blue eyes have nothing to do with math tests. That's just not a good reason. Well, what would be a good reason? Maybe if the class studied the lesson again, and then took another test. If the seven students showed that they had learned how to do the math, it would make more sense. But does that second test guarantee that they will never again mess up another math question? Is that reason really any better than blue eyes? So, does it sound like a good idea to take people to heaven. Even people who have passed a second test? What a risk! And what about those who failed twice? What if the teacher gave them another chance? How many chances should someone get before the teacher says, "I give up. This student is hopeless."? The situation is much more serious when the consequence isn't just a failing grade—it's eternal death.
So we must look at our question more carefully. What specifics need to be demonstrated? To justify His government's rulings on the reward of the righteous and the destruction of the wicked, God needs to do three things. 1. He must show that there is a good reason some are lost and some are saved. This is necessary to counter Satan's claim that because God's people have sinned, they are no more entitled to salvation than he is. Or better yet, he deserves salvation just as much as they do. 2. He must show that the people He wants to take to heaven are safe to have there. This allays the concern of the unfallen inhabitants of the universe about taking people like you and me to heaven. The righteous need to be completely safe to save. 3. He must show that there is nothing more that even God could do to help the wicked. This establishes God's love and justice as being entirely compatible. The wicked need to be completely irredeemable.
Can the sealing demonstrate what is needed? This is our fourth and most important question. We all know some basic information about the sealing. The seal of God is contrasted with the mark of the beast. A seal—an official sign of authority—gives the essential information (usually the name, title, and jurisdiction) of the individual, organization, or government which it represents. This information is found in the Sabbath commandment: Name—Lord; Title—Creator; Jurisdiction—Heaven and earth. The mark of the beast is readily identified as the claim to have changed the Sabbath to Sunday. The sealing is "a settling into the truth...so they cannot be moved." (The Faith I Live By, p. 287)
So we know that the Sabbath is the seal of God's government, and that determined opposition to God's authority by the exaltation of Sunday is the mark of the beast. When God's people settle into the truth intellectually and spiritually so that nothing can move them, they will receive the seal of God. We also know that the seal of God is placed in the foreheads of the 144,000 before the close of probation, and the close of probation marks the end of Christ's work in the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary. Sometimes we think of the seal of God as some sort of heavenly diploma after we pass the final test. But the reality is that the seal is given before the final test. Teachers don't do that. You don't hand out diplomas before you know whether or not the student has passed the final test. So what's going on here?
We also know that the conflict between the observance of the Sabbath and the mark of the beast reaches its peak during the time of Jacob's trouble, when those resisting the combined religious/political authority of the world are condemned to death. This is clearly after the close of probation. Perhaps we need to look more closely at Jacob and this "trouble." "For thus saith the Lord; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness? Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it." (Jeremiah 30:5-7) Jeremiah is clearly referring to the story of Jacob's night of wrestling by the Jabbok.
We know the story. Jacob is returning home after his twenty year absence when he gets word that his brother Esau is coming with 400 armed men. Realizing that his only hope is God, he spends the night praying. At midnight someone attacks him. "And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. And he said,...as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed." (Genesis 32:24-28)
Please note that the One Jacob has been praying to is the same One he has been fighting. What does Jacob believe? That God loves him and wishes him well, or that God hates him and wants him dead? It's faith versus sight (and feeling and hearing and smelling and the taste of blood). Which is stronger? This is the basic test of the time of Jacob's trouble.
Jacob is not the only illustration of this test? Under extraordinarily difficult circumstances, when to Job it seemed that God was out to kill him, still he maintained his trust and loyalty, when he said, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him." (Job 13:15) It is important to note that this whole test was Satan's idea, and God went along with it. Lest anyone think that this was an insignificant event, remember that it cost the lives of about 100 people to set up this test for Job.
But the ultimate example is Jesus. "And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying,...My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Mark 15:34) Jesus was willing to complete the plan of redemption even when it seemed that His Father had deserted him completely.
What makes the test of the 144,000 after the close of probation special? Millions have faced death for their faith. What is the difference here? This is not the normal test of martyrdom, because at this time—with no High Priest to intercede in the heavenly sanctuary—the 144,000 feel no sense of God's abiding presence. Every sensory input tells them that God is their enemy. "Those who live in the last days must pass through an experience similar to that of Jacob. Foes will be all around them, ready to condemn and destroy. Alarm and despair will seize them, for it appears to them as to Jacob in his distress, that God Himself has become an avenging enemy." (Signs of the Times, Nov. 27, 1879)
After making every sacrifice imaginable to remain true to God's government, facing imminent death because they refuse to disobey His commandment, with no possible hope in anything but God, that's when God seems more like an enemy than a helper. DO THEY STILL TRUST HIM? Why such a test? Because it has to be the absolute most difficult test of faith possible ever, under any circumstances. Nothing less can show that they trust God so much that they will do His will even when it doesn't make sense to them. Nothing less can show that they are "saved enough" to be safe in heaven.
Before we continue, we must digress to look at the end of this test. "Dangers thicken on every side, and it is difficult to fix the eye of faith upon the promises amidst the certain evidences of immediate destruction. But in the midst of revelry and violence, there falls upon the ear peal upon peal of the loudest thunder....God utters His voice from His holy habitation. The captivity of His people is turned. With sweet and subdued voices they say to one another, 'God is our friend.'" (Signs of the Times, Nov. 27, 1879) The hardest test of all time can be passed by anyone who has learned that "Jesus loves me, this I know."
So, what does this test show? By placing His seal on the 144,000 before this most difficult of all tests, God provides convincing evidence that He can correctly identify those who are safe to let into heaven. The seal is not a diploma! It is a demonstration of God's wisdom that helps His loyal subjects feel more comfortable with people like you and me. But it does more.
Because everyone on earth at this time is familiar with "this gospel," and only those who have faith pass the test, and all those who have faith pass the test, this test shows that faith is necessary for salvation, and faith plus a knowledge of "this gospel" is sufficient for complete obedience. This is why the gospel has to go to all the world. This test can't be carried out properly without simplifying the situation down to a single variable. Only when the question of knowledge is standardized can the role of faith be clearly seen. It's a little like working on a car. You don't do a major engine overhaul and switch gasoline brands at the same time. You wouldn't know which change solved the problem. You must stick with one variable.
And why is all this important? Aside from proving that the 144,000 are safe to let into heaven, this demonstration just happens to be exactly what is needed to take care of the one group of people who got left out of the four stages of Satan's fall—the righteous dead. Let's use a great hero to illustrate this. Martin Luther didn't keep the Sabbath. He was all confused on infant baptism. He lived on roast beast, sauerkraut, and beer. He was not the most patient of individuals. But he had faith. Now Jesus says, "I can teach Martin Luther the details of 'this gospel' when I get him to heaven. But the investigative judgment has already found that he had true faith. Is it alright with everyone if I take him home with Me?" And there won't be a single voice raised in objection, because righteousness really is by faith. Martin Luther's faith allows him to be saved with an incomplete knowledge of God and His plan of redemption, but something more is necessary before Satan's arguments can be cast down.
What is the final test really for? "All heaven is waiting to hear us vindicate God's law." (Review and Herald, April 16, 1901) "If there was ever a people in need of constantly increasing light from heaven, it is the people that, in this time of peril, God has called...to vindicate His character before the world." (Testimonies, vol. 5, p. 746) "The honor of the law of God is to be vindicated before the unfallen worlds, before the heavenly universe, and before the fallen world." (Ye Shall Receive Power, p. 338)
The final test is not about my salvation, but about the vindication of God's law and His character (which are exactly the same). It is God Who is really being examined here. Is God's way really a foolproof way to preserve the universe? Notice the future direction of these statements. This is not about Stage 2 and what happened at the cross. This is about "us" and "the people" that live at the end of time. Notice also that this vindication demands "increasing light from heaven" because God can only be vindicated by pure truth, never by honest untruths about His law and character. Martin Luther lived in a time of limited light and thus could not vindicate God. Martin Luther's faith was sufficient to save him, but insufficient for the final vindication of God and the defeat of Satan.
This last test is not really about our salvation, although that is involved. It is to answer all remaining questions on all levels, fallen and unfallen. The remnant of Revelation 12 was not called into existence to repeat the mission of Martin Luther or John Wesley or Billy Graham. It was called to vindicate God's way of accepting and rejecting sinful men and women. Is God's way fair to all and will it protect the universe from repeating the whole sorry mess?
The test shows that God is fair in saving people with limited "light" on the basis of their faith. The sealed final generation shows that true faith will lead to obedience to complete "light" when it is available. Therefore, those who died with limited "light" will not jeopardize the safety of the universe, because their genuine faith will always respond in obedience to "new light."
The ultimate mission of the last prophetic church is not to be saved or even to lead others to salvation, although both of these goals will be accomplished by them, but to annihilate Satan's last remaining arguments against God, His character, His law, and His method of saving sinners. We are here as God's final piece of evidence necessary to end the experiment of sin and preserve the universe from any similar experiments in the future.
Stage Four
After a thorough examination of the books of record to answer every question about why this one or that one is not among the redeemed, the time has come to finish sin and sinners forever. We know the story. After 1000 years Jesus descends on the Mount of Olives. The earth splits to create a great plain, and the New Jerusalem comes to rest. Soon the wicked are raised to life. After a period of unknown duration during which they
prepare their weapons and organize their forces, they are ready to attack the city.
"At last the order to advance is given, and the countless host moves on—an army such as was never summoned by earthly conquerors, such as the combined forces of all ages since war began on earth could never equal. Satan, the mightiest of warriors, leads the van, and his angels unite the forces for this final struggle. Kings and warriors are in his train, and the multitudes follow in vast companies, each under its appointed leader. With military precision the serried ranks advance over the earth's broken and uneven surface to the City of God. By command of Jesus, the gates of the New Jerusalem are closed, and the armies of Satan surround the city and make ready for the onset." (GC 664)
Up to this point, I don't know of any means by which God has shown the universe that it is absolutely impossible to reclaim those who have rejected faith. What about the little old lady down the street who grew pretty roses, and gave cookies to the neighborhood children, but never accepted Christ? Isn't there some way to reach her? Just on more chance? Wouldn't you ask? Wouldn't Jesus—the One who is "the same yesterday, today, and forever" (Heb. 13:8); the One who said, "[whoever] comes to Me I will by no means cast out" (John 6:37); the One who has "no pleasure in the death of the wicked" (Ezek. 33:11) — wouldn't Jesus let a repentant and trusting sinner in?
So one more thing needs to be revealed. "As soon as the books of record are opened, and the eye of Jesus looks upon the wicked, they are conscious of every sin which they have ever committed. They see just where their feet diverged from the path of purity and holiness, just how far pride and rebellion have carried them in the violation of the law of God. The seductive temptations which they encouraged by indulgence in sin, the blessings perverted, the messengers of God despised, the warnings rejected, the waves of mercy beaten back by the stubborn, unrepentant heart—all appear as if written in letters of fire. Above the throne is revealed the cross; and like a panoramic view appear the scenes of Adam's temptation and fall, and the successive steps in the great plan of redemption." (GC 666)
In this great panorama in the sky, every individual will see what God did to save them and what they did to reject His love. "It is now evident to all that the wages of sin is not noble independence and eternal life, but slavery, ruin, and death....All see that their exclusion from heaven is just....Those who have united with [Satan] see the total failure of his cause....Satan sees that his voluntary rebellion has unfitted him for heaven....His accusations against the mercy and justice of God are now silenced....And now Satan bows down and confesses the justice of his sentence....Every question of truth and error in the long-standing controversy has now been made plain....God's wisdom, His justice, and His goodness stand fully vindicated." (GC 668-670)
In all that multitude outside the city, not one can be found who has faith in God's love. As the faithful 144,000 pass the hardest of all tests and show the power of faith, so the faithless wicked fail the test and show their total depravity. Now the entire unfallen universe knows that there is nothing more that even God Himself can do to save them. More time will not help. Miracles will not help. Additional demonstrations of love and patience will not help.
"Notwithstanding that Satan has been constrained to acknowledge God's justice and to bow to the supremacy of Christ, his character remains unchanged. The spirit of rebellion, like a mighty torrent, again bursts forth....He rushes into the midst of his subjects and endeavors to inspire them with his own fury and arouse them to instant battle. But of all the countless millions whom he has allured into rebellion, there are none now to acknowledge his supremacy. His power is at an end." (GC 671)
With this evidence before them, every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess the justice and righteousness of God. Now, finally, all that must be demonstrated has been shown. It is time to end the conflict forever. With the storyline clearly laid out before us, the only thing left is for us to make a choice. "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. Surely, shall one say, in the Lord have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come; and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed." (Isaiah 45:22-24)
God has told us what to expect. It shouldn't be a mystery for anyone who reads the Bible. The only real question is, Do we have faith enough to obey? Do we trust God without questioning? Will we be on the inside of that city?
[Much thanks is due to Dave Fiedler, who put this presentation together, and graciously allowed others to use and adapt it. It is his hope and mine that this story will motivate and unite those who are waiting for Christ's return to take a proactive role in causing that return to be sooner rather than later.]
There are some subjects that people just don't like to talk about. Even when they are appropriate for discussion, they are carefully avoided. Often we are told that these subjects are not important to understand, that they really don't make any difference. During the last twenty-five years the human nature of Christ has been one of these subjects. How many speakers are willing to speak publicly about it? Yet, strangely, this subject seems to keep on appearing in our publications. A recent example of this comes from Ministry magazine.
Old Issues Ongoing
"While there is a profound fatigue within the Adventist soul when it comes to such discussions and the tensions and divisions they tend to bring, there is also a compelling significance to aspects of the dialogue. [The reason for the compelling significance is because the subject is so tightly intertwined with issues in the great controversy and the plan of salvation.] The publication of two articles in this journal have and will inevitably raise questions about these things among some of our readers.
"First, there is Roy Naden's doctrinal study, 'The Nature of Christ: Four Measures of a Mystery.' Then there is Woodrow Whidden's important article in this issue, reporting and commenting on the republication of the book Questions on Doctrine.
"Given these articles, we felt it would be both helpful and interesting to republish an insert...that Ministry first presented 33 years ago in its October 1970 issue.
"While volumes of water have passed under the theological bridge of our Church since 1970, we at Ministry find ourselves in basic agreement with the positions that were taken on the issues discussed by the three essayists in this insert....
"It is clear that Jesus was born and came to this earth under entirely unique circumstances, different from ours, and therefore received a one-of-a-kind nature....His nature is and was completely sinless." Ministry, August, 2003, p. 4, brackets supplied by present author
Evidently the editors felt that the issue of Christ's human nature was sufficiently important to dedicate several articles to prove that Christ's nature was substantially different from ours.
Four Basic Issues
The following statements are taken from Roy Naden's article. ( Ministry , June, 2003, pp. 8-11)
"Unlike us in our sinful state, Jesus had not the slightest inclination or desire to sin." The first point is that Christ had not the slightest inclination to selfishness, pride, impatience, doubt, discouragement, or avoiding of trials.
"He had accepted our humanity with the physical limitations which thousands of years of sinful disintegration had imposed, but He took human nature without in any way inheriting the sinfulness of being human. Mystery!" The second point is that Christ had a partial human inheritance, because He inherited no sinful inclinations. "He inherited our human nature, but not the sinfulness of this exceedingly sinful human heritage. Mystery!"
Eric Webster supported this viewpoint in a letter to the editor. ( Ministry , October, 2004, p. 30)
"In speaking of the birth of Seth, Ellen White writes: 'Seth...inherited from the nature of Adam no more natural goodness than did Cain. He was born in sin' ( Signs of the Times , Feb. 20, 1879)....If Christ possessed a sinful nature as Seth did He would have needed a Saviour." The third point is that a sinful nature is sin, and in need of forgiving grace.
"Was Christ like Adam before the Fall or after the Fall? I would say both. He was like Adam before the Fall in His sinlessness, purity, and holiness of mind and character. He was like Adam after the Fall in the frailties, infirmities, and weaknesses of the flesh. As Naden says, ' Jesus was affected by sin but not infected.'" Once again we are being told that Jesus accepted a partial heredity of the human race.
The following statements are taken from a "Supplement to THE MINISTRY," (October, 1970, reprinted August, 2003).
"Adam's posterity has ever come into the world inheriting fallen, sinful natures, evil propensities, and apart from the Saviour, condemnation to eternal death." (p. 7) It is of some interest that there is no mention of automatic condemnation in our official statement of belief #7. "Their descendants share this fallen nature and its consequences. They are born with weaknesses and tendencies to evil." ( Ministry , June, 2003, p. 8)
In the Ministry Supplement we are told that "Christ did not inherit at birth the fallen nature inherited by Adam's posterity....If Christ had inherited the evil nature earned by Adam's fall He too would have been born in sin, under condemnation, and, therefore, Himself in need of a Saviour....He did not have that within His nature that predisposed Him toward sinning. He did not possess the passions and inner promptings which we are daily obliged to subject by the grace of God."
God's people are limited by "their inability to equal in a positive way the infinite character perfection of Christ because their natures, faculties, mental and moral powers or capacities are still imperfect and remain so until the second coming of Jesus....As long as we retain these imperfect faculties, as long as our powers are inferior, as long as our basic human natures show such evident results of the Fall, we cannot claim to be sinless."
"He did not inherit the type of nature that we inherit at birth. If this were so He inherited the type of human nature which...is to be the possession of God's people at the Second Advent." Again we are told that Christ did not inherit normal human nature, but received a special, created nature.
"It is not possible for them in this life to achieve perfect equality with the human nature of Christ because of their possession, until the Second Advent, of faculties, powers, and capacities which result from man's fall into sin." (pp. 7-16)
"To teach from the Bible uses of this word (perfect) that ultimate sinless perfection is possible to inherently sinful man here on earth is not supported by the Word of God, and is denied by the very nature of man himself." The fourth point is that as long as we possess fallen nature we can never be sinless.
"Salvation by grace and the merits of Christ's atonement still avails for the saints after probation closes." Saving grace is "available at any time in the Christian life until the day of our Lord's coming....Sinners are the only persons with whom saving grace is concerned....There is no evidence anywhere in Scripture or in the Spirit of Prophecy that indicates the slightest change in salvation by grace ministered daily to the saints." We need to grasp "the Biblical doctrine of salvation by grace beyond the close of probation....If he is under grace, then it is because he is not yet sinless." (pp. 18-22) If we will always be sinners and never sinless, then we will always need saving or forgiving grace until Jesus comes.
"Note the results of Adam's sin insofar as it pertains to us: we were made sinners,...we are born in a state of guilt inherited from Adam....We inherit guilt from Adam so that even a baby that dies a day after birth needs a Saviour though the child never committed a sin of its own." (p. 27)
Those who believe that Christ did not take our fallen nature hold these four points as central to their position. It is precisely these four points that are at issue in any discussion of Christ's human nature, and it is for these reasons that the issue of Christ's nature is not likely to go away any time soon.
Some Recent History
In the early 1980's there were rather lengthy debates in our church papers over these very issues. Norman Gulley wrote about the pre-Fall and post-Fall views that "both views are found within Scripture and in the writings of Ellen White....Jesus came from the hands of the Creator Holy Spirit--'that Holy thing'--just as much the result of the creative work of God as was the first Adam." This means that Christ's human nature was created, not inherited. "He was like the first Adam, or like that which the redeemed will be when changed at the Second Advent....He took that weakened, deteriorated sin-affected nature--but, without taking its propensities or taint of sin, predisposing to a leaning to sin....He had a pre-Fall and a post-Fall human nature combined in a unique way....Sin is not so much a breaking of the law as it is a broken relationship that leads to lawbreaking. Did Christ have a broken relationship with either God or man in coming into history?" ( Adventist Review , June 30, 1983, pp. 4-8)
"The Bible opposes a sinless birth for all humans. It indicates that all men are 'constituted sinners by Adam's transgression.'...Only the two Adams entered Planet Earth sinless. All others are born sinners....The entire human race is born in that land of estrangement from God." ( Ministry , August, 1985, p. 11)
Now these strongly expressed positions on the nature of Christ, both recent and two decades ago, did not go unnoticed by the readers of our papers. Following are some excerpts from letters to the editors responding to these issues.
"The author has Jesus speaking to Satan: 'I stand here like the first Adam before you tempted him. I, too, have never sinned. And I have a sinless nature like the first Adam at his creation.'...Christ was born a descendent of Abraham. What nature did Abraham and Isaac and Jacob have? A sinful nature, a fallen nature. Jesus took on the nature of man as it was after the Fall....The only nature we have is a sinful nature. It was the only nature available to Jesus when He clad Himself in humanity....It is not the sinful nature that condemns us, but sin. We are all born with a sinful nature. But we are not sinners at birth."
" I was disappointed and bewildered over the confusion that exists because of this and other articles that have come during the last 50 years. When God is leading us out onto a platform of eternal truth, how come we have to step off the one He gave us during the first 100 years? Why do we as a church support teachings which come from those who have not been blessed with the light from the throne of God? Our aim, since the books Questions on Doctrine and Movement of Destiny came out, seems to be to try to satisfy the fears of those who want to follow the papacy's teachings. At the 1901 General Conference, Dr. Waggoner said, 'Do you not see that the idea that the flesh of Jesus was not like ours (because we know ours is sinful) necessarily involves the idea of the immaculate conception of the virgin Mary?' George Knight says, 'Christ's nature created no controversy in the Adventism of the 1890's. It was a generally accepted theological nonissue.'...Why did it in the 1950's? We sought the fame of not being called a 'sect' at the expense of compromising the truth." ( Ministry , June, 2004, p. 3)
"If sin is a state of being inherent within our natures,...then Christ could not have been born with our nature or He would have been a sinner, and He could not be our example except idealistically (unless He is going to give us unfallen natures too), and therefore we cannot overcome as He did and must continue sinning, and therefore Jesus' primary ministry in the heavenly sanctuary is to administer justification."
"SDA theology does not present two alternative views concerning the human nature of Jesus our Lord....It's as if we as a people have decided to believe that Sundaykeeping and Sabbathkeeping are justified in the eyes of God. Obviously, there has been a change in our historic position."
"Is every baby born with the sentence of the second death hanging over it? Does God ascribe guilt to the newborn baby, making it worthy of the second death even before it has a chance to commit any personal sins?...No one will be cast into the lake of fire because of Adam's sin, but only because of his or her own personal sins....He not only confuses sin with the effects of sin, but moves into the area of making a sinful nature equivalent to sin itself....Since the fallen nature is the same as guilt and sin, every baby born is in need of redemption before it can think or speak or act. This means that Jesus would be guilty by just being born, unless His nature was different from all other babies....How did he establish this inherited 'broken relationship' for infants? By recounting Eve's visit to the tree and speculating that she sinned in her mind by doubting God even before she took the fruit. So the relationship was broken before any act of sin was committed. On this basis, he claims that every baby is born with a broken relationship and in a lost condition, without committing any act of sin. We can only assume that he believes Eve would have been lost whether she ate the fruit or not....
"Please take note that there is a big difference between 'separation from God' and 'the result of separation from God.' Adam's children did not inherit 'separation from God.'...They inherited only the 'result' of Adam's separation from God, which involved a weakened, fallen nature, and the inevitability of the first death....In the same way that he confuses sin with the sinful nature, the results of sin with sin itself, and separation from God with the fallen nature, the author confuses evil propensities with natural propensities....I don't know a single person who believes that Jesus sinned or was born a sinner. Neither do I know anyone who believes that Jesus had 'sinful propensities.' But I do know many who believe that He had 'natural propensities,' just as all of us do, as a result of being born like us, with a fallen nature. Evil propensities are those leanings toward sin that have been cultivated and strengthened by indulgence in sin. Natural propensities are those leanings that have been inherited. Guilt is involved in one, but not the other. It is not sinful unless one yields to the propensity."
"The question of the nature of Christ is not a debate over certain theological fine points....Either the cleansing of the sanctuary that began in 1844 is to purify and perfect a people to stand without sin or our denomination is the result of the inability of a group of disoriented fanatics to admit that their prophetic understandings of Daniel were wrong. The real issue is upon the point of overcoming sin. If Jesus could not enter the conflict and overcome in our flesh, then we cannot."
The author "claims that the Bible gives two definitions of sin--behavior and relationship. Contrary to his assertion, there is only one Biblical definition. First John 3:4 is that one....And further, it has not been proved that a broken relationship with God comes before the act of sinful choice. Isaiah 59:2 states unequivocally that active sin separates man from God. Any discussion to the contrary takes us out of the arena of Biblical exegesis into the quagmire of interpretive philosophy." ( Ministry , December, 1985, pp. 26-27)
It is readily apparent that the reactions to the pre-Fall view of Christ's human nature were very strong, both recently and two decades ago. This issue is not going away or dying down, because the surrounding conclusions are so vital to the mission of the Adventist Church. I will close this section on our recent history with some thoughts from Herbert Douglass, a prominent participant in the debates of the 1980's.
"The view that Jesus assumed Adam's pre-Fall nature appeared only recently within our church. This position emerged in the 1950's during a series of events that saw basic Adventist concepts reformulated. The consequences of these changes have had much to do with the trauma and theological divisions the church has experienced....The study of our Lord's humanity is not 'merely academic hairsplitting.'...Why Jesus became man...can be understood only from the standpoint of the great controversy--a perspective largely missing in 'orthodox' Protestantism as well as in Catholicism....There were several issues, but none more important than Satan's charge that sons and daughters of Adam could not keep God's laws, that such laws were unrealistic and not in the best interest of created beings. Such primary issues determined the kind of humanity our Lord would assume in order to satisfy justice and silence Satan." ( Ministry , August, 1985, pp. 10-11)
No Inclination to Sin
The first of the four major issues surrounding the human nature of Christ is whether Christ had any normal human inclinations toward sinning. In the Ministry editorial of August, 2003, it is stated that Jesus faced "all the temptations common to humans." Right here we need to consider two New Testament texts together. Hebrews 4:15 tells us that Christ "was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." James 1:14 tells us that "every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed." Was Jesus really tempted like "every man is tempted," or not? The word "lust" certainly includes every man's desire for pleasure, profit, and honor. Were not the wilderness temptations of Christ designed by Satan to fulfill these basic human desires or lusts?
But we are being told today that Jesus had not the slightest desire or inclination to pride, impatience, doubt, or discouragement. If we are tempted when our inclinations or desires draw us to these things, and Jesus did not have these inclinations, then Jesus was not tempted in any of these areas as "every man is tempted."
It is often said that Christ's temptations were to use His divine powers or to abandon His mission of saving man. This is very true, but is this a sufficient reason for ignoring Hebrews 4:15? Was Jesus really tempted like we are tempted?
Let us check some inspired evidence here. In John 5:30 Jesus said, "I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me." Why did Jesus say that He did not seek His own will? "The human will of Christ would not have led him to the wilderness of temptation....It would not have led him to endure humiliation, scorn, reproach, suffering, and death. His human nature shrank from all these things as decidedly as ours shrinks from them." ( Signs of the Times , October 29, 1894) If Christ would have followed the natural desires of His human will He would have abandoned His mission and God's plan for Him. In other words, His human will would have disobeyed God, and He had to deny His own will to do the will of His Father. Isn't this exactly like our situation? Our will and desires are naturally in opposition to the will of God, and we must surrender the exercise of our own will in order to obey God.
One inspired sentence has a wealth of meaning in it. "By experiencing in Himself the strength of Satan's temptation." ( Review and Herald , March 18, 1875) Now just where does the strength of Satan's temptations reside? "His (our) strongest temptations will come from within, for he must battle against the inclinations of the natural heart." ( Christ Tempted As We Are , p. 11) If our strongest temptations come from our battle against the inclinations of the natural heart, and if Christ experienced within Himself the strength of Satan's temptations, then obviously those inclinations were within Christ also. "If we had to bear anything which Jesus did not endure, then upon this point Satan would represent the power of God as insufficient for us....He endured every trial to which we are subject." ( Desire of Ages , p. 24) Is the power of God really sufficient to overcome the inclinations of the natural heart? If Jesus did not have these inclinations, then Satan's accusations have never been answered, and our salvation is very uncertain.
"Even doubts assailed the dying Son of God." ( Testimonies , vol. 2, 209) Christ was tempted by His own thoughts not to believe His Father's promises.
"He blessed children that were possessed of passions like His own." ( Signs of the Times , April 9, 1896) Do all children have inherited desires toward selfishness? Christ had the same "passions."
"The Son of God in His humanity wrestled with the very same fierce, apparently overwhelming temptations that assail man--temptations to indulgence of appetite, to presumptuous venturing where God has not led them, and to the worship of the god of this world, to sacrifice an eternity of bliss for the fascinating pleasures of this life." ( Selected Messages , vol. 1, p. 95) Are we not drawn to these things by our own desires? What makes them fierce and overwhelming is our desire for them, and here we are clearly told that Christ had the same temptations.
"He knows how strong are the inclinations of the natural heart." ( Testimonies, vol. 5, p. 177) Just how does He know this? "He knows by experience...where lies the strength of our temptations." ( Ministry of Healing , p. 71) Without question, Jesus has experienced the strength of the inclinations of the natural heart.
In Gethsemane "His depression and discouragement left Him." ( Desire of Ages , p. 694) Was not Jesus drawn to discouragement by His own thoughts and natural inclinations?
"He had the same nature as the sinner." ( Manuscript Releases , vol. 10, p. 176) The question must be addressed --Was Adam in Eden a sinner? Is a nature partly like Adam and partly like us the same nature as sinners? The reality is that all sinners have fallen natures and are drawn strongly by them.
The difference between Christ and us is not in His being exempt from natural fallen inclinations to sin. The difference is that He did not cherish these inclinations and incorporate them into His character as we do. The temptations of the natural heart were as strong for Christ as they are for us.
No matter what words are used by pre-Fall advocates, if Christ had no natural inclinations to sin, He could not be tempted like us , and one of the major links of Christ with the fallen human race has been destroyed.
Partial Heredity
The second issue at stake in considering Christ's humanity is the nature of His inheritance, through Mary, of human nature. The only way that Jesus could take human nature without inheriting the "sinfulness of our sinful human heritage" is by His being exempted from some aspects of human heredity. The Holy Spirit would have to block some human genes from reaching Jesus in the normal way. In other words, Mary's genetic deficiencies were altered by the Holy Spirit so that she would pass on a totally unique heredity to Christ, completely unlike the heredity we receive from our parents.
In Romans 1:3 Paul says that Jesus "was made of the seed of David according to the flesh." But we are being told that Christ was made partially but not completely of the seed of David. Ellen White is even more specific. "Like every child of Adam He accepted the results of the working of the great law of heredity. What these results were is shown in the history of His earthly ancestors. He came with such a heredity." ( Desire of Ages , p. 49)
One of Christ's ancestors was Seth. "Seth, like Cain, inherited the fallen nature of his parents." ( Patriarchs and Prophets , p. 80) Whatever Seth received through heredity, Jesus received through heredity. This is the only possible conclusion that can be reached from these passages, and it is due only to a preconceived assumption about the nature of sin that these statements are not accepted at face value.
Harry Johnson, in his book The Humanity of the Saviour , says it most simply and pointedly. "There is no evidence to suggest that the chain of heredity was broken between Mary and Jesus." (London, The Epworth Press, 1962, p. 44)
Protestants have historically rejected the doctrine of the immaculate conception on the basis that it is not found in Scripture. But today many Adventists teach that in the womb of Mary a special miracle was performed so that no sinful tendencies or drives would be passed from Mary to Jesus. We as a church profess to repudiate the doctrine of the immaculate conception, but at the most critical point we fall back on its explanation for Jesus' birth. While we reject Mary's sinlessness, and we reject the teaching that Mary passed nothing on to Jesus through heredity, we eagerly accept a partial blockage of the hereditary line when it comes to desires and tendencies. This is simply a modified and more subtle version of the immaculate conception. Are we really sure that we are out of the Church of Rome? Our current teaching is a direct descendant in the theological line of the immaculate conception.
Sinful Nature Equals Sin
The third issue is the real problem at the heart of all discussions of the human nature of Christ. Does having a sinful nature make one a sinner and in need of a Saviour? If this issue could be resolved, we would have no more disagreements over the humanity of Christ.
The editor of the Adventist Review , William Johnsson , expressed his view very clearly. "Some arguments go on and on because the antagonists never get to the real issue--the underlying concern behind the surface debate....The issue behind the issue is the concept of sin. Those who want to understand more clearly Jesus' human nature would get further if they stopped debating whether Jesus came in humanity's pre-Fall or post-Fall nature and spent time looking at what the Bible says about sin itself....Not only are our acts sinful; our very nature is at war with God. Did Jesus have such a nature? No. If He had, He would Himself need a Saviour. He had...no warping of His moral nature that predisposed Him to temptation." (August 26, 1993, p. 4)
Richard Taylor put it very well in his book, A Right Conception of Sin . "One who does not have correct views of sin is not apt to have correct views of any other fundamental question. This will especially be manifest in regard to his theory of the atonement and God's method of redeeming man." (Beacon Hill Press, 1945, pp. 9-11)
The doctrine of original sin, held by Johnsson and many others in Adventism, twists every aspect of the gospel and the atonement, so that nothing survives intact. It is gradually becoming the dominant view among Adventists, even among those faithful to the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy. It is now believed by some who are trusted by loyal, careful Adventist laypeople.
One of the reasons that this subject has seemed so confusing is because of a lack of simple definitions. There is a crucial difference between the effects of sin and sin itself. Although the effects of sin are far-reaching and ultimately lethal, no one ascribes personal guilt or condemnation to the effects of sin. On the other hand, the concept of sin is associated with guilt, condemnation, separation from God, judgment, and the second death. Our focus, as we discuss righteousness by faith or the nature of Christ, must be on sin itself rather than the effects of sin. Our basic question here is simple. Is fallen nature part of sin itself, or is it one of the effects of sin? Our conclusions regarding the nature of Christ will be determined by the answer we give to this simple question.
To say that all babies need a Saviour has become one of the most misleading clichés in current thinking on righteousness by faith. Yes, a baby needs a Saviour, a suffering planet needs a Saviour, blind men and lame men need a Saviour, but not in the sense of personal forgiveness for personal sin and guilt. Once again, we are confusing the effects of sin and sin itself.
James 4:17 tells us that "to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." The clearest texts describing sin say nothing of fallen nature being an inevitable, ongoing state of sin. To say that sin is nature is to say that we are sinning even when we are choosing not to sin. Could it be that this understanding of sin as something inevitable and ongoing has greatly dulled our sensitivity to real sin (transgression of God's law) so that now we have come to accept specific transgressions as simply expressions of the greater sin of having a fallen nature? In other words, we have come to accept sinning as a normal part of life and even Christian life. We have even started calling fallen nature SIN and acts of sin "sins."
Isaiah 59:2 tells us that "your iniquities have separated between you and your God." It is sin that separates us from God, that breaks our relationship with Him, rather than the other way around. Yes, sin is indeed a state, but it follows the decision to sin against God, and it continues as long as the heart remains unrepentant.
Those who want to prove that fallen nature is sin itself rather than an effect of sin have simply not proved their case. Being born into this world means that we are subject to hunger and thirst, weariness and pain, suffering and death. It means that the planet we live on may try to destroy us. It means being born by sinful parents, receiving a sinful nature, and living in a sinful environment. But it does not mean being born guilty of sin or condemned. Although we receive all of the effects of sin, including a fallen nature, we are not automatically guilty of sin.
The conclusion that a man is a sinner by nature does not come from the Bible or Adventism. Its roots reach back to Augustine in the Roman Catholic Church, and it has been transmitted to mainline Protestantism through the writings of Luther and Calvin. Today evangelical Protestants champion this view of sin, and they have been quite eager to see this view become part of Adventism. The evangelical view of sin is accepted within the highest levels of Adventist scholarship today. One wonders, when will we go back to infant baptism, which is the only logical solution for being born in need of a Saviour?
The evangelical position on sin makes it impossible to accept the long-standing Adventist position that Christ took our very nature of sin, triumphing over sin in that dangerous nature. Because of the evangelical position on sin, we are being told that Christ could not be our Substitute if He really took our fallen nature from birth, and we are now forced to devise rather complicated devices to allow Christ to take part of human heredity while being exempted from certain hereditary traits.
It might be well to note one point in regard to being born "in sin." In Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 1, page 60, Seth was "born in sin." When Ellen White developed this more fully in Patriarchs and Prophets , p. 80, Seth "inherited fallen nature." This parallel passage shows what Ellen White meant by being "born in sin."
No Sinless Perfection
The fourth issue may be the underlying motivation for all the emphasis in recent years on Christ's unfallen or partly fallen nature. In the Ministry editorial at the beginning of this paper are these thoughts. "The soul mate of the 'nature of Christ' issue...is the question, of course, of the role of Christ's imparted sinless perfection, worked out in the heart and behavior of the Christian believer by faith....These particular issues...are particularly potent in the Adventist mind and heart when coupled with the close of 'probation,' the final judgment, and the second coming of Christ." (August, 2003, p. 4)
We quoted statements earlier in this paper that sinless perfection is impossible because of our sinful nature, and that saving grace must be available until Jesus comes because we will never be sinless. Woodrow Whidden put it this way. "Will our nature and performance ever become so sinless this side of glorification (even after the close of probation) that we will cease to need the constant justifying merits of Jesus? Do we really take Ellen White seriously when she says the believers' 'unavoidable deficiencies' are made up for them by the 'imputed' righteousness of Christ and that 'Jesus loves His children, even if they err'?...Isn't perfection primarily an attitude rather than a performance?" ( Ministry , October, 1993)
Might it not be relevant right here to take another look at 1 Peter 2:21,22? "For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth."
Ellen White presses home the same theme. "If he did not have man's nature, he could not be our example. If he was not a partaker of our nature, he could not have been tempted as man has been. If it were not possible for him to yield to temptation, he could not be our helper....His temptation and victory tell us that humanity must copy the Pattern." ( Review and Herald , February 18, 1890)
By accepting the evangelical doctrine that the atonement was completed at the cross and that Jesus was born with the sinless human nature of Adam before the Fall, most of our church pulpits no longer tell us that Jesus is our Example in overcoming all temptation and sin. Therefore, the sanctuary message is no longer relevant, and the warning message of the three angels' messages of Revelation 14 is no longer relevant to God's plan of salvation. We can then be saved in our sins, character development is no longer necessary, the commandments of God cannot be kept perfectly by the power of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Prophecy is considered an irrelevant antique of the nineteenth century, and the seventh-day Sabbath is not kept according to Isaiah 58:13.
William Johnsson shared a powerful story in one of his editorials. "Dr. Paul Brand, who pioneered restorative surgery for lepers, tells of an epidemic of measles that struck Vellore in south India, where the Brand family was then living. The Brands had an infant daughter, Estelle, and because of her age she was exposed to high risk. The pediatrician explained that convalescent serum--serum from a person who had contracted measles and had overcome it--would protect the little girl. Word went around Vellore that the Brands needed the 'blood of an overcomer.' 'It was no use finding somebody who had conquered chicken pox or had recovered from a broken leg. Such people, albeit healthy, could not give the specific help we needed to overcome measles. We needed someone who had experienced measles and had defeated that disease,' writes Brand in his book In His image . The Brands located such a person, took out some of his blood, and injected their daughter with the convalescent serum. Armed with the 'borrowed' antibodies, their daughter fought off the invading disease. The injected serum gave her body time to manufacture her own antibodies. Estelle overcame measles--not by her own body's strength, but as the result of a battle that had taken place previously within someone else." ( Adventist Review , April 13, 1989)
I don't think that I have ever seen a better illustration of why Jesus had to come in our fallen nature. Because He has experienced fallen nature and defeated it, we can borrow His antibodies and defeat our fallen nature. And this from an editor who believes that Christ had an unfallen nature!!
Let us take a brief look at some of the inspired evidence that Christ's example proves that the final generation will actually live sinless lives, contrary to what our "experts" are telling us.
"He came with such a heredity to share our sorrows and temptations, and to give us the example of a sinless life." ( Desire of Ages , p. 49)
"He sent His Son to this world to bear the penalty of sin, and to show man how to live a sinless life." ( Reflecting Christ , p. 37)
"He came to this world and lived a sinless life, that in His power His people might also live lives of sinlessness." ( Review and Herald , April 1, 1902)
"He placed us on vantage ground, where we could live pure, sinless lives." ( Signs of the Times , June 17, 1903)
"Every one who by faith obeys God's commandments, will reach the condition of sinlessness in which Adam lived before his transgression." ( Signs of the Times , July 23, 1902)
"Christ has left us a perfect, sinless example. His followers are to walk in His footsteps." ( Sons and Daughters of God , p. 294)
"Christ's life is a revelation of what fallen human beings may become through union and fellowship with the divine nature." ( Manuscript Releases , vol. 18, p. 331)
"The Saviour took upon Himself the infirmities of humanity and lived a sinless life, that men might have no fear that because of the weakness of human nature they could not overcome....His life declares that humanity, combined with divinity, does not commit sin." ( Ministry of Healing , p. 180)
"God did for us the very best thing that He could do when He sent from heaven a sinless Being to manifest to this world of sin what those who are saved must be in character--pure, holy, and undefiled." ( Manuscript Releases , vol. 9, p. 125)
"Christ came to the earth...to show in the controversy with Satan that man, as God created him, connected with the Father and the Son, could obey every divine requirement." ( Signs of the Times , June 9, 1898)
"Having taken our fallen nature, he showed what it might become." ( Selected Messages , vol. 3, p. 134)
"Brethren and sisters, we need the reformation that all who are redeemed must have, through the cleansing of mind and heart from every taint of sin." ( Counsels on Health , p. 633)
"We are cleansed from all sin, all defects of character. We need not retain one sinful propensity." ( Review and Herald , April 24, 1900)
"Every hereditary and cultivated tendency to sin must be seen, subdued, and cleansed." ( Signs of the Times , July 18, 1895)
"They will hate sin and iniquity, even as Christ hated sin." ( Faith and Works , p. 115)
"When we know God as it is our privilege to know Him, our life will be a life of continual obedience. Through an appreciation of the character of Christ, through communion with God, sin will become hateful to us." ( Desire of Ages , p. 668)
"They would hate sin with a perfect hatred." ( Fundamentals of Christian Education , p. 291)
Conclusion
The issue of Christ's human nature is not going away any time soon, because the whole plan of salvation is at stake. Hebrews 1:14, 15 tells us that "through death" Jesus would "destroy him that had the power of death" and would "deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." Verse 17 tells us that the only way Christ could do this was "to be made like unto his brethren," not in some things but "in all things." Inspiration further tells us, "The great work of redemption could be carried out only by the Redeemer taking the place of fallen Adam." ( Review and Herald , February 24, 1874) It could not be accomplished if Christ took unfallen Adam's place, or if He took no one's place (partially like Adam and partially like us). To be our sinless Substitute, He had to overcome the liabilities of our fallen nature. What had become an irresistible force to man, Christ must make a conquered power.
Even though this statement from the SDA Bible Commentary is not inspired, it shows a deep understanding of Christ's redemptive act. "Christ met, overcame, and condemned sin in the sphere in which it had previously exercised its dominion and mastery. The flesh, the scene of sin's former triumphs, now became the scene of its defeat and expulsion." (Vol. 6, p. 562)
The issue of the Incarnation was, Could God really overcome sin in Satan's ultimate stronghold, the fallen human heart? If human weaknesses and desires could be subject to God's law, then Satan would lose his greatest battle, and the great controversy would be truly decided. But if God would exempt His Son from some human tendencies, then would the great controversy be any closer to its conclusion then when Satan was expelled from heaven?
When Jesus prevailed on the cross, a loud voice was heard in heaven proclaiming, "Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down." (Revelation 12:10) Do we really want to rob Jesus of His great victory under the guise of making Him our "sinless Substitute"? Will we continue to deny Him the full salvation that He wrought not only over acts of sin, but over fallen, weak, sinful human nature, in which Satan thought he reigned supreme since the fall of Adam? Let us allow Christ to be truly our sinless Substitute as well as our holy Example. Only the real Christ, providing a real atonement, can lead His church through to final victory.
We have experienced much discussion and debate on the subject of the humanity of Christ. Too much, in the minds of many. "Enough of the arguing," they say. It is time to concentrate on the essential thing--revealing a Christlike spirit to people around us. The editors of Ministry and Adventist Review have called for an end to debate on the nature of Christ.
In August of 1989 the Biblical Research Institute of the General Conference issued "An Appeal for Church Unity." In this document is the following opinion: "The world church has never viewed these subjects (nature of Christ, nature of sin) as essential to salvation nor to the mission of the remnant church... There can be no strong unity within the world church of God's remnant people so long as segments who hold these views vocalize and agitate them both in North America and in overseas divisions. These topics need to be laid aside and not urged upon our people as necessary issues."
Many of us would like to follow this counsel. We too are tired of the seemingly endless debate and would like to get on to other topics. It is discouraging to witness God's people being divided over a topic on which there was essential unity for the first hundred years of our existence. But a new situation has developed in the last forty years. New interpretations of the humanity of Christ have been pressed to the forefront of discussion. These interpretations have had their source outside Adventism, largely coming from conservative, Protestant, Evangelical scholars. We have been much impressed with their arguments and their sincerity. These new interpretations have seemingly carried the day for many Adventist scholars, and as a result, we have seen many articles and books calling for a change in our historical understanding of the nature of Christ.
It is somewhat ironic that when some protested the acceptance of these new ideas within Adventism, and began using the same methods of communication (sermons, books, articles, tapes) as the proponents of the new views, the stigma of divisiveness and agitation was placed on the protesters rather than the innovators. But I suppose that the same phenomenon occurred during the early Christian centuries when some Christians began protesting the gradual change of sacredness from Saturday to Sunday.
Irony aside, the question before us is simple. Since the subject of the humanity of Christ has become a divisive topic in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, should it be laid aside for the sake of unity? Even if those protesting the new interpretations feel that the weight of evidence is on their side, is the topic "essential" to the mission of the remnant church? I, for one, would be delighted to cease discussion instantly if this topic is one of the many interesting but nonessential subjects found in the Bible. We will receive clear answers to many of our questions only after this earth closes its history. Is this subject one of those questions?
It is my opinion, carefully considered, that the subject of Christ's humanity is indeed essential to the mission of the remnant church. In fact, the success or failure of Christianity itself may he tied directly to this subject. Despite my feelings of reticence to disregard the counsel in the previously quoted appeal for church unity, too much is at stake here to he silent. If my silence allows a new viewpoint to win the day by default, and this contributes to the defeat of God's purpose in raising up a remnant movement, then the luxury of being silent and avoiding stigma carries a price tag far too high for my conscience to pay.
The issue of Christ's humanity is significant to two vital aspects of Christ's redemptive work. The first is whether' Christ's death could function as a substitutionary sacrifice for the sins of men. In other words, could His death legally and logically take the place of my deserved death, so that I can be forgiven for my sins? The second aspect has to do with the relation of His life to my daily living. What are the implications for my living today because of Christ's life two thousand years ago? To put it simply, the nature of Christ has significance to Christ as our Substitute and to Christ as our Example.
Did Christ Meet Satan's Challenge?
When Satan first challenged God's right to rulership, he chose God's laws as the focal point of his attack. If God's laws could be shown to he faulty, then it would also he clear that God's system of government was founded on a faulty foundation, and this would be very persuasive evidence that God's character itself was flawed. (For a thoughtful and insightful delineation of these issues, I would suggest the chapter in The Desire of Ages entitled, "It Is Finished.")
When Jesus came to earth, His most important task was to reveal the character of God to fallen and unfallen beings, so that God could he completely cleared of the charges brought against Him by Satan. When the Jews challenged Jesus’ mission, He responded, "He that sent me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of Him." (John 8:26) In other words, the real issue was not Jesus, but the credibility of God Himself. On another occasion Jesus told Philip, “The words that I speak unto you I speak not of Myself: but the Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works." (John 14:10)
Now Satan had charged that God's law could not be kept by angels, unfallen beings, and newly created mankind--Charge A. Satan also claimed that fallen mankind could not keep God's law--Charge B. Since it is Charge B that is not well understood by most Christians, including Adventists, we need to review the evidence.
"Satan, the fallen angel, had declared that no man could keep the law of God after the disobedience of Adam. He claimed the whole race under his control." (3SM 136) "Satan declared that it was impossible for the sons and daughters of Adam to keep the law of God, and thus charged upon God a lack of wisdom and love. If they could not keep the law, then there was fault with the Lawgiver. Men who are under the control of Satan repeat these accusations against God, in asserting that men cannot keep the law of God. Jesus humbled Himself, clothing His divinity with humanity, in order that He might stand as the head and representative of the human family, and by both precept and example condemn sin in the flesh, and give the lie to Satan's charges." (ST. vol. 3. 264)
Satan's charge was clearly leveled against fallen man's ability to keep God's law. It should be noted that Jesus voluntarily humbled Himself to the level where He could meet Satan's charges as the representative of the human family, which, except for Adam and Eve, have all been fallen.
"He came to this world to be tempted in all points as we are, to prove to the universe that in this world of sin human beings can live lives that God will approve... Satan declared that human beings could not live without sin." (RH, vol. 5, 120) Note again that Satan's charge relates to human beings in this world of sin. Part of Christ's mission consisted in "revealing to the heavenly universe, to Satan, and to all the fallen sons and daughters of Adam that through His grace humanity can keep the law of God." (MLT 323) "Through Christ's redeeming work the government of God stands justified. The Omnipotent One is made known as the God of love. Satan's charges are refuted." (DA 26)
Clearly, it was crucial to Christ's work of redemption that He refute the charges Satan had made against the laws and character of God. Now, did Christ refute only Charge A, or did He refute both Charges A and B? Only by refuting both charges could Christ accomplish His redemptive work and fully reveal the character of God. Only by refuting both charges could Christ stand as the head and representative of the human family, legally and persuasively empowered to act as man's representative, able to die for all men in their place. Only by refuting both charges could Christ's death in our place, as our Substitute, have any validity in the court of the universe.
If Christ took Adam's unfallen nature, what would He have proved? That unfallen man could obey God's law, thus disproving Charge A. If Christ took a nature partly like Adam's and partly like mine, what would He have proved? That anyone partly like Adam and partly like me (no one who has ever lived!) could obey God's law. Only if Christ took man's fallen nature could He refute Charge B. Only by taking the place of fallen humanity could Christ fulfill His mission as the Redeemer of the fallen race. And it would be crystal clear to the watching universe that if fallen nature could obey God's law by grace, then unfallen nature could obey easily.
If Jesus had sidestepped the ugliness of man's fallen nature, and had been given a special dispensation of nature to be only partially like us, then who in this universe has refuted Satan's charges? Who has proved that "the fallen sons and daughters of Adam" who live "in this world of sin" can actually "keep the law of God" and "live without sin"? "All man have sinned, so no fallen human being has refuted Satan. And if Satan's charges have not been refuted to this day, what right does Christ have to represent the human race? The horrible truth would be that we are no closer to the final resolution of sin on this planet than Adam was at the moment of his sin. The human race would stand condemned without a Saviour.
In other words, Christ taking man's fallen nature was essential to His mission of refuting Satan's charges and standing at the head of fallen humanity. In The Desire of Ages, pp. 311-312, this point is made dramatically. "Christ is the ladder that Jacob saw, the base resting on the earth, and the topmost round reaching to the gate of heaven, to the very threshold of glory. If that ladder had failed by a single step of reaching the earth, we should have been lost. But, Christ reaches us where we are. He took our nature and overcame, that we through taking His nature might overcome." The only way Christ could be our Substitute was by “reaching the earth," and the only way He could do that was by taking "our nature," which is clearly not Adam's nature. If Christ is to be our legal Substitute, then it could only be through the dangerous path of accepting our fallen nature as His nature for the entire period of the Incarnation.
Can Man Obey God’s Law Perfectly?
The issue here is really very simple. Revelation 14:5 describes the last generation in these words, and in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God." Can God really carry out this promise? What tangible evidence do we have that this will happen, other than the words of this promise?
One individual astutely observed many years ago, “Those who teach that Christ took a superior human nature draw the logical conclusion that it is impossible for the rest of mankind to perfectly obey the law of Jehovah in this life.” This is really a very logical and simple deduction. If Christ was able to obey perfectly because of His perfect nature, then as long as we have imperfect, fallen natures, perfect obedience is impossible. In that case, the fulfillment of Revelation 14:5 is in real jeopardy.
Once again, we are back to which charge Christ refuted. If Christ refuted Charge A, He proved that the law can be kept perfectly after glorification. If Christ refuted Charge B. He proved that the 144,000 can keep the law perfectly while living in fallen natures.
If Christ did not prove perfect obedience in a fallen nature, then the perfect obedience of the final generation remains only a theoretical possibility, because no one has ever done it yet. But if Christ demonstrated that fallen nature can return perfect obedience to God's law, then the victory of the 144,000 is much more than a theoretical possibility. It becomes a promise based on real, tangible, factual evidence.
The relation of Christ's obedience to our obedience is clearly revealed in the following statements. God requires of man nothing that is impossible for him to do... Christ kept the law, proving beyond controversy that man also can keep it. (RH, vol. 4, 293) Everyone who by faith obeys God's commandments, will reach the condition of sinlessness in which Adam lived before his transgression. Christ took upon Himself the nature of man, and by a perfect life demonstrated the falsity of the claims of him who constantly accuses those that are trying to obey God's law. (ST. vol. 4, 253) God's promise of perfect obedience rests upon very solid historical evidence--the obedience of Christ in our nature--and we need not doubt its fulfillment.
Inspiration has given us a strong warning also. “In our conclusions, we make many mistakes because of our erroneous views of the human nature of our Lord. When we give to His human nature a power that it is not possible. for man to have in his conflicts with Satan, we destroy the completeness of His humanity. (7BC 929) Make no mistake here. The power of Adam's unfallen nature is a mighty power which is not possible for us to have this side of the second coming. Are we in danger of destroying the completeness of Christ's humanity, and thus nullifying His redemptive work for man?
In Conclusion
To summarize, the issue of the human nature of Christ is very essential to Christ's victory in the great controversy and thus to the vindication of God's law and character and the ultimate refutation of Satan's charges. The human nature of Christ is very essential to the success of the final demonstration of loyalty and obedience, through the grace of God, by those who live after the close of probation. We cannot be silent at this crucial time in human history when the truth and beauty of Christ's redemptive work are in real jeopardy of being blurred and even lost in a sincere but misguided attempt to become more orthodox by Evangelical standards. Let us rather search for the unique Seventh-day Adventist understanding of the gospel, the Incarnation, the great controversy, and the issues at stake in the final-atonement cleansing of the sanctuary.
A number of years ago the Seventh-day Adventist Church voted to have twenty-seven brief statements describing the beliefs held in common by members of the denomination. Anyone becoming a member of the Adventist Church must state that he or she is in agreement with these twenty-seven statements. Do these statements define the essence of Adventism? Have we gotten to the heart of Adventism by reading these statements?
I understand the twenty-seven statements to be like a picket fence that defines the property lines. It tells you where your property ends and where the adjacent property begins. It distinguishes Adventism from other Christian groups. It shows why we are Seventh-day Adventists and not Baptists or something else. But does the picket fence tell us very much about the house that lies inside? Do the twenty-seven statements get to the essence of what it means to be a Seventh-day Adventist?
Seventh-day Adventism is also a way of life. We prepare for the Sabbath on Friday, we go to church on Sabbath morning, and we close the Sabbath at sundown. Our dietary choices are somewhat different than the typical American diet. We have grown up with a cultural heritage, and we are used to the lifestyle of being Adventist. Is this what it means to be a Seventh-day Adventist? Or is there more we need to understand to get to the heart of Adventism?
The Beginning of Adventism
When Jesus died for all mankind, was personal salvation secured for all who chose to receive it? Could the disciples of Jesus have the assurance that they would be saved because of the cross? Absolutely. Were there any Seventh-day Adventists standing around the cross? No. That happened eighteen hundred years before Adventism appeared on the scene. Yet forgiveness of sins and the assurance of salvation was offered right then to all who believed. So Adventism was not called into existence to offer the people the assurance of salvation, was it? That was taken care of long before there was an Adventist.
When Jesus was inaugurated as our High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary, to intercede for mankind for the next eighteen hundred years, were there any Adventists around then? It seems that Adventism was not needed for that work either. The work of Jesus in sprinkling our prayers with the incense of His righteousness was initiated long before there was an Adventist. The ministry of the Holy Spirit in nurturing and caring for Christians in a church setting did not need the existence of Adventism at all.
Now all of these things are vital to Christianity, and we are to hold them as very important for us today, but Adventists have inherited these truths from others. These truths were established without any need for the existence of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Then why was Adventism needed?
Revelation 14:7 tells us to "Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come." Now the hour of God's judgment began in 1844, and with it began the final atonement, the cleansing of the sanctuary, and the blotting out of sin. Was this the time period when Adventism appeared on the scene? Could it be that the existence of the Seventh-day Adventist Church is directly and intimately related to the cleansing of the sanctuary? Is that the reason for its existence? But what does this all mean? What are the issues at stake?
The Great Controversy
Satan has challenged God's character and His right to rule the universe. Satan has said that God's unfitness to rule is proved by His giving a law that could not be kept. Satan has had great success in advancing his claims in the great controversy. He has even gotten God's chosen people in the Old Testament to think that God is unfair and harsh. In the great apostasy after New Testament times Satan convinced Christians that God wants certain rituals and human works to supplement Christ's work at the cross. Just by reading the Bible and church history, you might think that Satan is going to win this battle.
This fear is addressed in Daniel 8:13 by several questions. How long will this go on? How long will God's good name be trodden underfoot? How long will the sanctuary be trampled? Will Satan win, after all? The answer comes in verse 14. No, this will not go on forever. After 2300 days the sanctuary will be cleansed. There will be an end to the defaming of God's good name. God will be vindicated. Romans 3:4 says it well. "That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged." The word "justified" in this context means acquitted of charges, declared innocent, vindicated.
Now Jesus did vindicate God's law and His character in the most noble demonstration ever seen on earth. Jesus showed that God's law is good and His character is love. But one nagging question remained unanswered. Can sinful human beings who have spent half of their lives in rebellion really live without rebelling any more? Maybe Jesus could, but can they?
Some have expressed the thought that God's vindication was completed on the cross, and that nothing further is necessary to vindicate God and His government. But the evidence is clear that the vindication of God was not completed at the cross; that God is waiting for a final vindication before the end of sin on this planet. "All heaven is waiting to hear us vindicate God's law." (RH April 16, 1901) There is still a need to prove that God's law is good and right for sinners.
"Christ is waiting with longing desire for the manifestation of Himself in His church. When the character of Christ shall be perfectly reproduced in His people, then He will come to claim them as His own." (COL 69) This famous quotation clearly says that the second coming must wait until Christ's character is seen in His professed people. The only possible reason for such a hold in God's plans for this earth is that something must yet be demonstrated about Satan's charges and God's character.
Revelation 14:5 describes the last generation who will live on earth before Jesus comes. "And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God." God has made an incredible promise here. He claims that He will produce a people who will be without deceit or fault of any kind. In DA 671 is this classic statement: "The honor of God, the honor of Christ, is involved in the perfection of the character of His people." It is not our honor or salvation that is involved here, but God's name and His character. He has promised that He will perfect His people. Can He really do it? If He cannot make us perfect, then His word is a lie and Satan wins the great controversy. It's that simple.
"The honor of His throne is staked for the fulfillment of His word unto us." (COL 148) Whenever God promises something, He puts His name behind His promise. His throne was at stake when Christ came to our earth, and His throne is at stake in what He will do through the last generation. "Every character will be fully developed; and all will show whether they have chosen the side of loyalty or that of rebellion. Then the end will come. God will vindicate His law and deliver His people." (DA 763) It is important to note that God does the vindicating of His own name, but it is also vital to understand that He will do the vindicating in the characters of His people. The full development of righteous and wicked characters is necessary for the final demonstration of God's character and law. The end of sin on this planet is clearly dependent on God's vindication as He brings the plan of redemption to completion.
It is significant that Ellen White calls all of this the final atonement. At the cross the sacrifice was completed but the atonement was not completed there. Right here we have the difference between Adventism and all other Christian religions. The final atonement is all about when and how God will win the great controversy and how soon Jesus can come. This means that the purpose of Adventism's existence is to prove that Satan is a liar and that God is telling the truth in the great controversy. It's that simple. That is the message and the essence of Adventism.
The only hope for eternal security from rebellion ever arising again in the universe is when no one will ever consider Satan's accusations any more because they have been proved false in the arena of demonstration. Of course this requires the involvement of God's people in this demonstration. Our role is to allow God to come into our lives and do what He said He could do--cleanse our hearts and make us totally obedient to Him.
Do you really want to end sin on this planet, my friend? Are you tired of hearing about child abuse? Are you tired of hearing about the senseless violence of wars of aggression? Are you tired of hearing about the abuse of animals over which man has been given dominion? Are you tired of hearing about injustice in the court system, where too often the abundance of wealth determines the outcome of a case? There is only one way to end these problems, and that is the second coming of Christ. These abuses cannot be solved by picketing or boycotts or rioting. These methods might alleviate some of our pain but they are not the solution. The only way the ugliness of sin can be stopped is by allowing Jesus to come back. Please note that I did not say waiting for Jesus to come back. He is waiting for us; we are not waiting for Him.
The mission of Adventism is different from the mission of any other Christian group that has ever existed. Adventism's mission is different from the mission of the early Christian church; it is different from the mission of the Waldenses; it is different from the mission of Martin Luther. Our mission is completely unique. It has never been given to any other group of people on the face of this earth. The reason is simply that we are living in the Day of Atonement when the cleansing of the sanctuary is in process, and there are unique issues involved with this Day.
When Can Christ Return?
The second coming of Christ is not possible just at any time, because it is dependent on God's victory in the great controversy. In the 1840's God led out a people, and they had a marvelous experience. But after the great disappointment things fell apart, and God's people didn't have the courage to move forward unitedly. They fragmented and only a few survived through this difficult period. Jesus wanted very much to return very soon after 1844 but He could not because His people were not united and moving together with Him. So Jesus put things on hold, much like space launch missions in Florida are put on hold when something is wrong with the equipment.
After forty years of wandering in the wilderness, Jesus came again to His people and asked them if they were willing to move forward with Him. But once again God's people balked. Instead of asking "What does God's Word say?" they were asking "What do our leaders say?" We have spent a good part of the last century denying that we really delayed Christ's coming for one hundred years. We have claimed that our forefathers' repentance was genuine and we have been teaching righteousness by faith ever since. In reality the denial of the 1888 message is just as real and strong today as it was in 1890. As a result of our failure in the 1890's Christ had to put His plans on hold once again, this time for over a century. Now He is making yet another appeal to the Seventh-day Adventist movement He is telling us that He is ready to take us home if we are ready to move unitedly with Him. The question for us is identical to the question of 1888. What will happen this time? Will we respond in such a way that God can finally carry out His plan, or will we continue to put our selfish interests above the vindication of God in the great controversy?
Lessons From Israel
When God called Israel to be His chosen people, it was not His purpose to qualify them alone as worthy of salvation. He wanted Israel to be His witness to the nations of the excellence of His character and His government. The purpose of Israel's existence was to enlighten the world so that all would welcome Jesus when He came to earth. Did Israel succeed or fail in its mission? We know that they did not prepare the world for the first coming of Christ. Please notice the approach of Christ in light of their failure. Have you noticed that Jesus spent very little time in outreach to the Gentiles--the world? Most of Jesus' time and energy was spent on efforts to restore Israel by bringing them to repentance. They were the people through whom God wanted to enlighten the world. So Jesus spent most of His time doing the most difficult work of all--breaking down the walls of apathy and prejudice to bring them back to obedience to God.
Now the purpose of Adventism is exactly the same as the task given to Israel. God is not qualifying Adventists alone as worthy of salvation, but He wants us to be His witness to the world of the excellence of His character and His government. Our mission is to prepare the world for the second coming of Christ. Now the question must be honestly addressed: Is Adventism succeeding in its mission?
Perhaps we can find an answer in an editorial by William Johnsson in the Adventist Review of July 3, 1986. A Gallup Poll was taken to determine the attitude of the public to the Seventh-day Adventist Church. "Although 70 percent of respondents say they have heard or read about the church, when asked what they like best about us, 52 percent can give no answer. Another 21 percent say 'Nothing in particular.' That is, fully 73 percent of the public can think of no attractive feature about the church. That figure is almost exactly paralleled by responses to the question 'What do you like least about Adventists?' Again 51 percent gave no answer, and another 20 percent say they don't dislike anything in particular. The church's failure to project a sharp image concerns me… I'm troubled that we are hiding our light under a bushel."
In another public survey reported in the Adventist Review of February, 1995, only 53 percent had heard about the Seventh—day Adventist Church. In addition, there was a marked increase in the number who misidentify us with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or Jehovah's Witnesses.
Now we must ask the question again: Are we succeeding or failing in our mission to prepare the world for the second coming of Christ? The truth which is very difficult for us to face is that we are in jeopardy of failing just as the Jews failed two thousand years ago.
Inspiration spells out God's plan for this church. "Christ designs that heaven's order, heaven's plan of government, heaven's divine harmony, shall be represented in His church on earth. Thus in His people He is glorified." (DA 680) Notice that God is glorified when His church reveals heaven's plan of government to the world. Is heaven's plan of government currently being seen in the Seventh-day Adventist Church? Do human plans too often dominate over God's expressed will for this church?
"God's people have a great work to do.. ..The world must see in the church of God true order, true discipline, true organization." (Ms. 30, 1900) This is when we will fulfill our mission and allow Jesus to return to this world "Through the church eventually will be made manifest the final and full display of the love of God to the world that is to be lightened with its glory." (TM 50) Notice that God's love will be seen through the church. It will not come through angels or the rocks, but through God's people. Thus the success of God's church in representing His character is very important to the finishing of the great controversy.
Since our church is currently not succeeding in its mission to prepare the world for Jesus' return, what are we to do? One approach that many are adopting today is to ignore the problems in the Adventist Church and to go out to the world to do outreach work. This approach is attractive because Jesus told us to take the gospel to every nation, and because many are receptive to the gospel, while the church seems to be very resistant to any major reformations in its midst. Further, if we just forget about the disobedience within the church and concentrate on soulwinning, we will receive much praise from the church itself for the good work we are doing. In addition, it is personally fulfilling to give Bible studies and lead people into readiness for baptism.
But is this approach the one Christ used when He came to His failing chosen people? For three and one-half years Jesus spent His time trying to restore His precious church that was in danger of self-destruction. He spent almost no time in outreach to the Gentile world, in spite of the fact that many Gentile souls were in need of the gospel. Jesus' first priority was trying to restore His people so that they could give the message of truth to the Gentile world.
The late Henry Baasch, who served as a conference president, shares with us a vital principle and an important warning. "Music is made up of three parts: melody, rhythm and accompaniment. All three are essential, but are not equal in importance. The melody should have the most prominent part and should not be overshadowed by the rhythm or the accompaniment. The evangelization of the world by means of extensive preaching, teaching, and printed propaganda, and the expenditure of large sums of money for campaigns, buildings, equipment, travel, et cetera--vital though all these are--do not, in and of themselves, fulfill the principal commission entrusted to the remnant church. These are not the melody. At the most, they are the accompaniment.
"The melody which is to ring forth, sketchily at first, but every more clearly, is the song of victory over sin, the song of Moses and the Lamb, soaring higher and higher, closer and ever closer to the heavenly Pattern, further and further away from the world, to the climactic height of a full and final display of His grace in vessels of clay, but divested of all earthliness and testified unto by the declaration of the angel: 'Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." Revelation 14:12. For the first time this testimony will be said of a whole community of saints.
"Let Laodicea be warned! At one time David fell victim to the magic influence of numbers (cf I Chronicles 21:1)--that Satan-inspired sport which so slyly leads to pride and self-complacency, which so trickishly substitutes quantity for quality, mediocrity for true merit, and pomp for paucity. The charm exerted by numbers, size, and quantity, if allowed to prevail, will fill Laodicea's pews with 'illegitimate children' and swell her ranks with a mixed multitude which, as of old, could bring her march to a standstill at another 'Kadeshbarnea.' God forbid that such a thing should happen!
"Let Laodicea ponder her way! Let her pause and take inventory, let her consider and define where she has strayed from the Pattern in her multiple activities: ministerial, educational, medical, social, etcetera. Let her frankly confess her shortcomings, plead for forgiveness and then chart her future course in harmony with the divine counsel. Let her shun the subtle art of rationalizing, which makes evil appear good and transgression a necessity, trying to 'update' what is eternally fresh and young--ever the head and never the tail.
"Unless Laodicea will submit to a candid self-examination and to an uncompromising self-discipline, there will descend upon her a tempest that will sift and shake her ranks and sweep to one side the whole of her household, with its elaborate furnishings and costly equipment, clearing the stage for the Lord Himself to take hold of the reins (cf Testimonies to Ministers, 300; Testimonies, vol. 5, 80; Romans 9:28) with an army of 'unidentified' ones whose names and pictures may not be found in any register, or church paper, or book, nor diffused from any desk or platform." (Our Firm Foundation March, 1989)
Remember that this strong warning does not come from a critic of the church, but from a leader in the church who saw clearly what constitutes success and failure in the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
Priorities
The primary mission of the Seventh-day Adventist Church is the vindication of God. It will be accomplished though the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary. But before the sanctuary in heaven can be cleansed from all the records of sin, the sanctuary of our hearts must be cleansed from the pollution which continues to dishonor God's name. Adventism is all about God's victory in the great controversy, as He finishes His six thousand year struggle against the lies of Satan.
The secondary mission of the Seventh-day Adventist Church is world mission and outreach through Bible studies and soulwinning. When the primary mission is understood and addressed, the secondary mission will find abundant success. If we try to reverse these priorities, as we have been doing for many years, we will continue to fail. Outreach alone is not the solution to our sickness. We have been putting the cart before the horse, and it simply hasn't worked. If outreach is to be successful, it must flow from a consecrated and obedient heart.
Remember that Christ's efforts while on earth were to restore His people to obedience from the heart. Likewise our outreach must flow from total obedience and total love, with no more rationalizing so that we can do what our selfish hearts desire. We must abandon cultural values to determine what is right and wrong. Most of the problems in the Adventist Church today are the result of placing cultural values above a "thus saith the Lord." Will we decide once and for all to obey God, or will we continue to try to force Him to do it our way? The way we answer this question will determine the success or failure of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
Ezekiel's Appeal
Ezekiel lived in a time of apostasy and backsliding, and God gave a special message to him for Israel. "So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me." (33:7) "Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?" (33:11) This is not just God's appeal to His rebellious chosen people in Ezekiel's time; it is His appeal to His rebellious chosen people today. God is saying, "Please turn back before it is forever too late. why do you insist on dying, O house of Adventism?" Can we really be faithful Adventists and ignore this question? Part of our responsibility as church members is to help heal our church so that it can fulfill both its primary and secondary missions. Sometimes the surgeon's knife is painful and the healing process is difficult, but our gracious God is the Master Physician.
Right now there are some carefully laid traps by which Satan is trying to subvert this process of healing. One trap is a compromised gospel, a gospel which says that since
Jesus did everything that was necessary, all we need to do is believe and the rest is taken care of. Then we have the absolute assurance of salvation. This gospel has been coming into Adventism for the past thirty years and has been gaining great strength in the past ten years. It is a gospel which gives false assurance of salvation, because it promises that we can be saved while still sinning. It teaches that we can ignore our little sins--our besetting sins--because Jesus loves us unconditionally. As long as we continue to believe in Him as our Saviour, we continue to be in a saving relationship with Him, regardless of our continued sinning. This trap may cause the loss of more sincere Adventists than any of Satan's other traps.
Another trap laid by Satan is the trap of humanism and cultural priorities. Here we determine what is right and wrong by the best human thinking available. We take surveys and determine what should be done based on these surveys. We ask for the best scholarly research and the best logic, while we set aside inspired counsel as outdated, in need of cultural reinterpretation.
Another trap is having a critical spirit. Some see clearly the problems in the church and spend their entire time exposing and delineating the sins of the church. Satan leads these individuals to become negative about everything they see.
Then there is the most subtle of all Satan's traps--the moderate trap. We all want to be balanced; we want to avoid the extremes on both sides. We realize that there are some problems in the church, but we hear about all the souls being won, and we conclude that things must probably be headed in the right way. With all our progress and growth, things can't be too bad, can they? The problems must be someone else's problems, so we can safely ignore them. Even though our schools and hospitals are having difficulties, we'll just keep our mouths shut--it's safer that way. When strange music and worship styles come into our churches, we will make the best of it. Yes, it is very tempting to stay out of the fire so that we will not get burned.
But is this silence in harmony with Ezekiel's appeal? Are we faithful watchmen if we remain silent while the enemy climbs over the walls? Or will we do what we can to save and heal our church? We cannot have a unique Adventist witness without a unique Adventist message. The gospel of Adventism is different from the gospel of contemporary Christianity. Will we let that gospel die? Our understanding of the great controversy between Christ and Satan is totally unique. Will we let it die by our silence? Our understanding of the relationship between law and grace is unique. Even our understanding of health reform is unique, because we do not live healthfully to avoid disease or to live longer, but to allow God to fully sanctify the soul. We need to uphold the highest lifestyle standards, so that God has a chance to win the battle for our minds.
We have a unique understanding of a modern-day prophet, in which God speaks with just as much authority as He did in Paul's day.
Are we willing to be Seventh-day Adventists today? Are we willing to prepare the way for the final vindication of the character of God? Are we willing to live in the house behind the picket fence? The price is high, but the reward is beyond anything we can imagine.
"If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? And if in the land of peace, wherein thou trusted, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?" (Jeremiah 12:5) Today we are in the land of peace and we are running with the footmen. Ahead of us are the horses and the swelling Jordan. This is our preparation time, the time to strengthen our characters. If the church militant is ever going to be the church triumphant, then we must get serious about the name Seventh-day Adventist. We must know who we are and why we exist. We must get our primary mission and our secondary mission straight, so that our efforts can be blessed by God. Let us pray together that the hard ground of our hearts may be broken up, so that the refreshing early rain may lead to the powerful latter rain. And above all, let us pray that this generation of Seventh-day Adventists will be the last generation to live on a sin-cursed earth.