Chapter 1 The Spirit and the Word We are thrilled with the biblical topic of study for this new year on the Holy Spirit. Our quarterly has adequately covered the Spirit's role in revelation, inspiration, and illumination with respect to the Bible. A vital function of the Spirit is as a Teacher. Our question is: What is the role of the Holy Spirit in revealing the present truth of the gospel in the 1888 message? Has the church received the gospel; or, has righteousness by faith in light of our unique cleansing of the sanctuary truth been placed on hold? What we need to clearly understand is that the church is teaching righteousness by faith, but it's the evangelical understanding of justification. Does Jesus straighten out crooked people with merely a legal pardon? Does believing in Jesus correct an auditing problem regarding the sinner's heavenly accounts? Evangelicals teach that by believing one is legally justified and sins are forgiven. Then, distinct from this launching of the Christian life is sanctification, which is never completed until the second coming. Thus justification and sanctification are separated. Should Seventhday Adventists teach what non-Adventists teach about righteousness by faith? Is this what is being taught? What was resisted in 1888 and beyond to this day is the "latter rain." It is significant that in these twelve lessons on the Holy Spirit there is not one devoted to the "latter rain." What the church needs most is little understood if not entirely neglected. The latter rain from the 1888 perspective is the clearest gospel finally understood in the end-times. "Great truths that have lain unheeded and unseen since the day of Pentecost, are to shine from God's word in their native purity. To those who truly love God the Holy Spirit will reveal truths that have faded from the mind, and will also reveal truths that are entirely new." [1] "The truth of the gospel" is an understanding of justification by faith which is consistent with and parallel to the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary truth. What Jones and Waggoner presented joined justification and sanctification as one. In other words, an appreciation of Christ's love in justifying all the world on His cross, becomes the great motivator for faith to cooperate with the Holy Spirit in Christian character perfection. Justification accomplished at the cross produces justification by faith, which in turn prepares one for the second coming. Ellen White confirms that this "latter rain" perception of the gospel was opposed in the 1888 era. There was "opposition manifested at Minneapolis against the Lord's message through Brethren [E. J.] Waggoner and [A. T.] Jones. By exciting that opposition Satan succeeded in shutting away from our people, in a great measure, the special power of the Holy Spirit [latter rain] that God longed to impart to them. The enemy prevented them from obtaining that efficiency which might have been theirs in carrying the truth to the world, as the apostles proclaimed it after the day of Pentecost [early rain]. The light that is to lighten the whole earth with its glory [Rev. 18:1] was resisted, and by the action of our own brethren has been in a great degree kept away from the world." [2] We are in search of what the Holy Spirit is teaching us regarding the good news in light of the "latter rain." The word "justification" or "righteousness" means to straighten out that which is crooked. What is the heart-changing good news that can change the alienation and resistance that God's people have toward Him? What is our at-one-ment with the message? What is "the latter rain" of the Holy Spirit? There are some simple, clear facts that will at least begin to clear up our perplexity: The story of the "former rain" (see Joel 2:23) will help explain what is the "latter rain." It was at Pentecost that God's true people (those who believed in Christ) received the outpouring of God's true Holy Spirit. Now, after two millennia, we expect the gift of the Holy Spirit to be given again as the complement of the "former" blessing. The "former rain" was the light of truth that was given as a gift--it was the perception of the truth that God's professed people had rejected, murdered, and crucified the Lord of glory. That blessing was not a loud noise so much as it was bright light: Peter proclaimed that those people present there had crucified the Messiah, the Son of God. "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart" (Acts 2:36, 37). The latter rain will therefore be a gift of the Holy Spirit that will bring the true and ultimate conviction of sin that only He can bring to human hearts: the guilt of the crucifixion of Christ is our sin. But that is a truth that we don't comprehend clearly, as yet. When God's people do grasp that reality, there will come the greatest repentance of the ages (Zech. 12:10-13:1). [3] It will become the "final" experience of reconciliation with Christ, something known as "the final atonement." This will make possible a movement, a second "Pentecost," a message to be proclaimed worldwide that will "lighten the earth with glory," and prepare a people for Christ's return. You ask if the latter rain is falling now. According to what we read in Scripture, when the latter rain comes and when it is accepted, the work will be finished in that same generation. Our leaders for over a century have been saying that the latter rain is falling, present tense; yet the work has not been finished and most of those leaders are already dead. Large baptisms are not a sign of the latter rain. The latter rain prepares the grain for the harvest. While it is true that the Lord may be working in ways we do not recognize, it is also true that "in a great degree" the latter rain and the loud cry was resisted and rejected in the years following 1888. [4] The important question is, Will the Lord renew the outpouring of the latter rain when there is no repentance for rejecting it when He sent it? Will He send the Jews a new Messiah when they do not repent of His sending them One 2000 years ago? The promise is "He hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month" (Joel 2:23). "The former rain" at Pentecost is identified with a "teacher of righteousness" (see margin, KJV). Thus the early rain was clearly specified as a message of righteousness by faith. "The latter rain" promised is parallel to "the former rain"--a message of righteousness. "While Christ is in the sanctuary. ... the 'latter rain,' or refreshing from the presence of the Lord, will come, to give power to the loud voice of the third angel. ..." [5] The Holy Spirit is our Teacher of righteousness. --Paul E. Penno Notes: [1] Fundamentals of Christian Education, p. 473. [2] Selected Messages, book 1, pp. 234, 235. [3] "And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for [his] only [son], and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for [his] firstborn. ... In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness" (Zech. 12:10; 13:1). [4] Selected Messages, book 1, pp. 234, 235. [5] Ellen G. White, Early Writings, pp. 85, 86. Chapter 2 The Holy Spirit: Working Behind the Scenes When a theologian writes that the Holy Spirit is "elusive" and "mysterious," it leaves a layman in confusion. The Spirit is anything but a mythic force. The 1888 message clears away the shadowy misunderstanding of the Spirit. Since Christ is our true High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary, 100 percent Divine and 100 percent human, He is unable to physically be present everywhere. Hence, Christ's representative, His equal as God, is "another Comforter" sent to come alongside everyone. He is the true Vicar of Christ. Since the 1888 message is the clearest gospel revealed as present truth for our time, it is about the cleansing of the sanctuary truth in its post-1844 phase. So the Holy Spirit works with Christ revealing the truth of the gospel for our end-time. The lesson for Tuesday entitled, "The Holy Spirit and the Sanctuary," makes the connection with the Spirit's work when the tabernacle was built in the wilderness. But the connection of the Holy with the sanctuary is more than cold dry facts. It is heartwarming truth. The focus of the 1888 message associates the work of the Holy Spirit in finishing the work of the sanctuary, preparing a people for translation without seeing death at Christ's second coming. In the past, the investigative judgment, a phrase used to describe the sanctuary truth, has been used to describe this last phase of Christ's work. This investigation has been called the last warning message to the world. In some respects it has been more terrifying than comforting to conclude that Christ, the Father, and the angels are reviewing the record books of our lives in an effort to find dirty secrets that will keep us out of heaven. The 1888 message brings comfort, teaching us that it is not our job to cleanse our lives of sin. In the Old Testament annual Day of Atonement it was the high priest who made atonement for the people. We may rightly conclude, then, that it is Christ's job to cleanse us from sin. Our job is to let Him do it. If you have never connected the work of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, with the idea of the investigative judgment, then this 1888 concept may bring joy to your heart. There are three things that the Spirit does which line up with the pre-Advent judgment truth. Jesus said of the Spirit, "I will send Him unto you. And when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment." Then Jesus explains what He means: "of sin, because they believe not on me; of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged" (John 16:7-11). He will give the final gift of repentance. In every human heart the Holy Spirit has brought a conviction of sin, a sense of right and wrong. And blessed are those who respond to that conviction. We would do well to make sure of our present heart attitude toward the ministry of the Holy Spirit, in the greater light of intelligence which now shines unmercifully upon the hidden motives and evil machinations of our ego, self. Many of us would be quite uneasy if a thoroughgoing psychoanalyst began work on us. Even though we have stood in numberless "reconsecration services," how would we react to a genuine psychoanalysis by the true Holy Spirit of God, whose "great office work" is "thus distinctly specified by our Saviour: 'And when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin.'" [1] He convicts us of sin, so that He may heal us of it. But He has a second work also: "He will convict the world ... of righteousness." Why? "Because I go to My Father, and ye see Me no more" (John 16:10). That means that we can "see" Jesus just as clearly now through the work of the Holy Spirit as the disciples could who saw Him face to face among them. In the presence of God there is guilt. It is almost impossible to conceal even from yourself. Romans 8:7 says: "The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." We have within our minds now this resistance to being in His presence and there is a reservoir of sin and sinful inclinations within us that we do not understand. Peter is an example of that. He said he would follow His Lord to prison and death. And he meant every word of it. But Ellen White says he did not know himself. Hidden within his heart were elements of evil that circumstances would fan to life. Unless he was made conscious of his danger these would prove his eternal ruin. The message says there is a remedy for this reservoir of corruption. It is the probing of the Holy Spirit. His function is, among other things, to bring us into circumstances where we will be forced to confront traits we didn't know we had, to bring up to our conscious level an awareness of sins still lurking in our lives. Every time that happens, we are confronted with the decision of the ages. We have to decide, would I rather have Jesus or that? So over and over the Holy Spirit brings us into circumstances that tend to make us aware. And sometimes we say, I didn't know I had that in me. That is the work of the Holy Spirit. Thank Him for doing it. A. T. Jones put it this way at one of the ministerial meetings: "[Some of the brethren] came here free; but the Spirit of God brought up something they never saw before. The Spirit of God went deeper than it ever went before, and revealed things they never saw before; and then, instead of thanking the Lord that that was so, and letting the whole wicked business go, and thanking the Lord that they had ever so much more of him than they ever had before, they began to get discouraged. They said, 'Oh, what am I going to do? My sins are so great.' There they let Satan cast a cloud over them, and throw them into discouragement. ... "If the Lord has brought up sins to us that we never thought of before, that only shows that He is going down to the depths, and He will reach the bottom at last; and when He finds the last thing that is unclean or impure, ... we say, 'I would rather have the Lord than that'--then the work is complete, and the seal of the living God can be fixed upon that character." [2] Ellen White wrote: "It is because your circumstances have served to bring new defects in your character to your notice; but nothing is revealed but that which was in you." [3] Remember, repentance is not something that we work up ourselves; it is a gift from the Lord, for Acts 5:31 tells us that "Him hath God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins." He convicts us of righteousness--that is, He convicts us of the "right" thing to do at all times. Accept the "gift." Receive it! It's not a sad experience; it is intensely joyous, for to be heart-reconciled to the Lord Jesus and the Father is joy unspeakable! Joseph in Egypt immediately knew what Jesus would do--run. You "run," not because of egocentric fear, but from a heart-appreciation of the price the Son of God paid for your soul: how can you not give Him your all, forever? He gave Himself, His all, forever! Then third, He convicts "of judgment, because the prince of this world [Satan] is judged" (John 16:11), which means Satan is condemned in your life. He convicts us of "judgment," that is, that Satan, the prince of this world, is cast out, defeated. He "convicts" us of triumph over sin; we see His power in our lives. In other words, in plain language, it's impossible for us to "backslide" unless we do what Stephen said the scribes and Pharisees did: "you always resist the Holy Spirit" (Acts 7:51, NKJV). The Holy Spirit says He will take you by the hand as a father leads a little child, or maybe the Hebrew means, take you in His "arms," but He says we squirm away from Him (see Hosea 11:3, 4, TEV). There's no need for backsliding. Today, Jesus will "say" something to you, convict you of some duty. Tell your "Father which art in heaven" a deep thanks! Wait before Him. --Paul E. Penno Notes: 1. Ellen G. White, Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, p. 392. 2. A. T. Jones, 1893 General Conference Bulletin, p. 404. 3. Ellen G. White, "A Lively Hope," Review and Herald, August 6, 1889. Chapter 3 The Divinity of the Holy Spirit How do we know that the Holy Spirit is God? Because the 1888 message helps us to see the Divine love of the Holy Spirit. Follow the agape and you'll soon conclude that the Holy Spirit is God. Agape derives from the highest Intelligent Being in the universe, which can only be God. The Holy Spirit is the One who sheds the love of God abroad in our hearts (Rom. 5:5). Therefore, He administers God's love. He gives us righteousness by faith, which is agape by faith. The much-anticipated latter rain of the Holy Spirit is an unprecedented outpouring of agape. The Spirit is a Person who loves. Paul implores the church members at Rome "for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit," to pray for him (Rom. 15:30). Only a person can love. The Father is a Person, and He loves us (see John 3:16); the Son is a Person, and He loves us (see John 13:1). As a person, the Holy Spirit also loves us. If you love, you love forever, for as Abraham Lincoln said, "Love is eternal." Love has its source in God, for the Bible says that "God is love" (1 John 4:8), and He is eternal. The new covenant God promised to Abraham was the blessing of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 3:14). Abraham believed God's promise and "it was accounted to him for righteousness" (vs. 6). The Holy Spirit was the active agent in making Abraham righteous. Righteousness is moral power. It is right living. Righteousness is agape, and the Holy Spirit "puts" this Divine love into receptive hearts like Abraham's. In the Book of Hebrews the Apostle writes that the Spirit is the Lord [Jehovah] who spoke the new covenant in Jeremiah 31:33. "The Holy Spirit also is a witness to us: for after that He had said before, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them" (Heb. 10:15, 16). The Holy Spirit, Jehovah, promised that He would inscribe "my laws" into the hearts of Israel. The point to be noticed is that the laws derive from the Spirit. An atheist astronomer who studies the universe is able to discover certain laws governing it. But he would never claim for the cosmos a moral operative. The atheist would never say the universe is benevolent and loving. He would be more inclined to say that the discoverable laws of the universe are just there and one had better work with them and not against them or suffer the consequences. The Holy Spirit cannot be just a force, influence, or operational law of the universe proceeding from God. The Spirit is law. The Apostle Paul wrote of "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 8:2). Only Divine Intelligence can make moral law and particularly law with a foundation of agape. Jesus recognized agape as the basis of moral law. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" (Matt. 22:37-39). It's beyond logic to think that cold, hard, facts of the law of physics could "put" the Holy Spirit's love of justification by faith into human hearts. Therefore by following the agape we conclude that the Holy Spirit is God. The plan of salvation to redeem sinners is agape through and through devised by three persons. It is agape that makes the Godhead one. It is agape that motivates the Father to reconcile the world unto Himself through Jesus Christ. It is agape which actuated Christ to serve humanity and then suffer and die on His cruel cross in order to save the world. And it is agape which moves the Holy Spirit to convict the world of sin, righteousness [justification], and judgment (John 16:8-10). The Holy Spirit loves us so much that He initiates conviction of our need for Jesus' righteousness. Jesus is the source of righteousness because immediately following the word "righteousness" Jesus said, "because I go to my Father" (John 16:10). The Holy Spirit is so intimately united with Christ that Jesus said, "He shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you" (John 16:14). When Jesus was received of the Father, following His resurrection, His sinless life and perfect sacrifice were such a demonstration of agape for sinners that Heaven's approval was signified by the release of the Spirit in an heretofore, unprecedented way at Pentecost. Pentecost was a fulfillment of the new covenant promise which was "the blessing of Abraham" (Gal. 3:14). The Spirit bestowed Jesus' righteousness upon the world. God's pardon for the whole world of sinners was bestowed. And, for those who appreciate this gift of Divine love, given at such great cost, they are "accounted" righteous just as their father Abraham as made righteous (Gal. 3:6). The Holy Spirit's Divine love accomplished the atonement of the sinful heart with God. Faith was activated. The hearts of the Apostles and thousands of other believers were so reconciled to God that they could no longer live for self, but for Him who died for them. It was the Holy Spirit's love that did it. And the believers' oneness with God was manifested by obedience to all of God's love-based commandments. The Ten Commandments became for them as so many new covenant promises of the Holy Spirit. Their human hearts were spontaneously moved to obey. Thus, it is the Holy Spirit whose love for the church and the world accomplishes the bestowal of justification--God's great pardon of the world literally from hell, which is the second death. The Spirit reveals that "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them" (2 Cor. 5:19). It is the Spirit who "put[s] my laws into their hearts, and in their minds" (Heb. 10:16) in fulfillment of the new covenant. As such, this is the cleansing of the sanctuary truth. The Holy Spirit in the 1888 message points the way to a clearer understanding of the consistency between justification by faith and the sanctuary truth. The 1888 message is the only understanding of justification by faith which is parallel to and consistent with the cleansing of the sanctuary, and is in harmony with the law of God. The 1888 message is the only gospel that doesn't nullify or diminish the law of God. By opening our hearts to appreciate this truth of the sanctuary we have an entirely different experience. Let the Holy Spirit guide your mind and heart into this clearer understanding of the gospel sanctuary truth. Following the agape of the Holy Spirit leads us to the conclusion that He is one of the three persons of the Godhead along with the Father and the Son Jesus Christ. --Paul E. Penno Chapter 4 The Personality of the Holy Spirit On a recent American television quiz show, the contestants were required to identify the term pneuma hagios. Two had no idea what it meant, but the third got it right. Pneuma hagios is the Greek term for Holy Ghost (see Matt 1:18 and many others). It was a difficult question, and probably many Christians might not have known the answer. It points up how little the population of a country which calls itself Christian knows about the Bible. Unless we understand Who the Holy Spirit is and His role in the plan of salvation, we will never understand the gospel. One of the joys of the 1888 message is the understanding that it is easy to be saved and hard to be lost ... but there is an "if." Both A. T. Jones and E. J. Waggoner understood the "if" in a unique way. They reasoned that since all of God's biddings are enablings, the above statement is true if one understands and believes the full truth of the gospel. Righteousness is by faith, totally, and not by works. Then is "faith" the new "works" that we must perform? "The truth of the gospel" is a phrase found twice in the book of Galatians. It is related to "the faith of Jesus" which was motivated by His love. Therefore, it's easy to be saved and hard to be lost if we understand what it cost the Son of God to die for you on the cruel cross. He died your second death. Any understanding of "faith" less than this becomes "works." The result is we no longer have to look at God's law as a set of impossible standards, which sooner or later we will break, causing us to be lost. Many young (and older) people worry that they have committed the unpardonable sin, so why try to be good. They believe they are already lost. Knowing more about the personality of the Holy Spirit may help us understand that God does not give up on us unless that is our persistent, deliberate, and ultimate decision. Most know the text that tells us: "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God," but don't understand the significance of the remainder of the same text which says, "by [literally "in"] whom you were sealed for the day of redemption" (Eph. 4:30). This gives a tremendous insight into the work of the Holy Spirit, and how He feels when His efforts are rejected. For those who are worried that God has given up on them, we need only look at the history of Israel to be assured that God, through His Spirit, is very patient and gracious with us throughout our lifetimes. With the Holy Spirit personally interested in our salvation, we can always know that God never gives up as long as we allow Him to work with us. In Deuteronomy, Moses warns Israel that she will wander away from God (see Deut. 32:15 et seq.), but He provides the solution: "For the Lord will vindicate His people, and will have compassion on His servants; when He sees that their strength is gone ... (Deut. 32:36). In other words, once they have realized that all their efforts to better themselves by their own strength fail, He can send His Spirit. Throughout her troubled history, Israel kept wandering off, following pagan gods because she thought they would fulfill all her needs and wishes. As individuals today, we can do the same thing. We suppose that God leaves us each time we turn our backs on Him. We think that we have been so bad, that even God has given up on us. Sometimes we don't recognize God in the quiet thoughts that come into our minds. We remember a person or situation from long ago that encourages us. This is how the Spirit works. Sometimes God brings adversity to teach us the error of our ways. What is important is that God has not left us, but is gently leading us closer to Him. Our God does not give up on us easily, which makes it "hard to be lost". When the tabernacle was dedicated in the desert, God manifested His approval and presence by the light of the Shekinah. That Presence was there continuously until the temple Solomon built was destroyed when Israel was taken captive by the Babylonian army. This happened after God warned Israel repeatedly to repent of their sin. Finally, He had to send them into captivity to get them to stop following pagan gods. Even then, Ezekiel was given a vision of the Shekinah's slow, reluctant departure from the temple, and called it the "glory of God" (see Ezek. 10:4, 18,19, 11:22-23). Following the destruction of the temple, the Shekinah was never again displayed to Israel in the form of light. Even with the captivity and the apostasy cycles after the return and rebuilding of Jerusalem, God was still guiding Israel, trying to get them to listen to Him. Even though Israel chose not to believe it, God was sending His Holy Spirit to make it difficult for her to choose to be lost. Finally, He sent His Son, hoping, like the landowner in the parable (see Mark 12:1-12), that they would listen to Him. Instead of listening, they murdered His Son. Even after pronouncing the seven woes on Israel's leadership in Matthew 23:13-27, Jesus was grieved over having to give them up. In verses 37-38 He cries, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. Behold, your house is left to you desolate!" Even after Israel rejected Him, Jesus was reluctant to give up on them. Only after Israel stubbornly persisted in asking that God give up on them, did He honor their choice. When they said, "we have no other king but Caesar," during the trial of Jesus, they corporately made a serious choice. Even then, the destruction of Jerusalem was delayed many years. It was after Stephen was stoned that the decision was final. We can all agree that throughout Israel's history, the Holy Spirit was working on hearts, trying to make it hard for them to choose against God. What had happened to Israel? After the return from captivity, they became zealous to protect and observe God's law until it turned into an idol worse than any carved image. What started out as a desire to please God out of love and delight in His law, turned into lifeless legalism. They came to believe the act of bringing a sacrifice earned them God's favor, missing the symbolism pointing to the ultimate sacrifice of Christ. Like the church in Ephesus, Israel had persevered in their protection of the law and they didn't tolerate those who failed to reverence it, but they had lost their first love of it. Our love of God's law is derived from seeing how sinful we are compared to His law of love. We want to keep the law because we realize that is a reflection of God's character, and we want to be like Him. But we often confuse the sequence. We cannot change our hearts by what we think is "keeping" the law. True law keeping comes from a heart changed by the working of the Holy Spirit. Both the Ephesian church and ancient Israel were zealous for keeping and protecting the law of God, but they had elevated law keeping instead of Jesus as their savior. Unless they returned to their first love of the law as the illustration of the God of love, the Ephesians' candlestick would be removed. What a sad thing to happen to people who genuinely loved God's way to righteousness which leads to genuine law keeping, but it had disintegrated into formal ritual. The Jews became so blinded they refused to see that their candlestick had been taken away. We can also be in danger of becoming so enthusiastic about law keeping, that we believe we are entitled to be mean, dogmatic, and legalistic in treating those who, in our estimation, don't measure up. Jesus includes all of us in His exclamation, "'If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, "From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water."' But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive ..." (John 7:3738). People have no hesitation in telling others they are thirsty, but would never think of admitting that they are longing for the life of God. That is why so few become filled with righteousness. It is easier to believe that we can provide our own water rather than to admit dependence on Jesus, the source of living water. "Jesus said of the water that he gave, which was the Holy Spirit, that it should be in us a well of water springing up unto eternal life. John 4:14; compare John 7:37-39. That is, the spiritual life which we now live in the flesh by the Spirit is the surety of the spiritual body to be bestowed at the resurrection when we will have the life of Christ made manifested in immortal bodies" (Ellet J. Waggoner, Waggoner on Romans, p. 8.131). Our flesh will always be at war with the Spirit, but when we die daily to the flesh through the strength of the Spirit, we and the Spirit will not be grieved, but will experience the greatest joy possible, being with our Lord Jesus. --Arlene Hill Chapter 5 The Baptism and Filling of the Holy Spirit Paul inspired and trained other fellow-laborers. None were jealous of him and he never shows the slightest envy of their success. For once, in the story of his labors in Ephesus, we see a clear demonstration of what the special love of Christ known as agape did for a group of workers. There was Apollos, himself "mighty in the Scriptures" and "an eloquent man," but Paul worked with him smoothly and in love (Acts 18:24). There were Priscilla and Aquila who were also imbued with the same spirit that motivated Paul (Acts 18:26). Apollos was from Alexandria, the second most important city in the Roman Empire. Highly educated, a Jew converted to the baptism of John the Baptist, he was an eloquent preacher. But he knew nothing of the baptism of the Holy Spirit and he needed to be instructed in the way of Jesus. Then dear Aquila and Priscilla, in a kind and courteous way, told him what he needed to know, and thank God, Apollos listened! Sometimes ministers may not be deficient in the same way that Apollos was, but there are also empty places in their knowledge. The Lord then sends someone to correct us and instruct us and fill in the gaps. But we are painfully aware that sometimes our dear ministering brethren in the past 1888-era were not like Apollos: they may have been "mighty in the scriptures" and could argue, and like him had gaps in their understanding that the Lord in His great mercy sent His messengers, A. T. Jones and E. J. Waggoner, to fill in, but they were not like Apollos; they were not ready to listen and learn. In a great degree, history has told us, they resisted and even rejected the light that God would have them accept. Now we "Laodiceans" have come collectively to the very end of time, and where "we" have corporately failed in past times we must now overcome. Time is getting short. Jesus counsels us to "anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see" (Rev. 3:18). Now may we let the baptism of Holy Spirit get through to us! All the wonderful promises that Jesus made before His death must and will be fulfilled. But there is one great promise that has not yet been fulfilled, and many Christians think it never will be. They are wrong! He will not fail. That great promise is in John 16:13: "When He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth." We usually think of the Holy Spirit as giving us happy feelings, or great power in witnessing and producing baptisms; we think that understanding "all truth" is of lesser importance. But over 200 times the Bible speaks of the importance of truth. In ordinary life, law courts, juries, judges, seek constantly to know the truth. Jesus says that it is so important that "the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32). In His same promise that the Holy Spirit will guide us "into all truth" Jesus promised, "He will show you things to come." The wording is very similar to the opening of the Book of Revelation, "the revelation ... of things which must shortly come to pass" (Rev. 1:1). The Book of Revelation was the fulfillment of Jesus' promise! And yet Christian people go in different directions in understanding what Revelation is saying! Likewise, there is confusion in understanding Daniel's prophecies; yet God commanded the angel, "Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision," and later the angel said to him, "I will show thee the truth" (Dan. 8:16; 11:2). Paul spoke of his message as "the truth of the gospel" (Gal. 2:5). There is as much division in understanding that as there is in understanding Daniel and the Revelation! What can bring about a unity and clarity of understanding these important truths? Surely when that great fourth angel of Revelation 18:1-4 begins to "lighten the earth with glory," the message that calls every sincere person "out of Babylon" will be a message of pure, unadulterated truth. We pray daily for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. An excellent place to begin finding the answer to that prayer is in honest, sincere, and humble listening to the Bible to permit it to tell us what the truth is in all these contested areas. Jesus did not promise, "The Holy Spirit will try to lead you into all truth," or "He wishes He could lead you into all truth." No, He said He will do so. The Holy Spirit right now is "leading" us into the truth that will bind us together in loving harmony of belief. Let's listen to Him! Ellen White agrees with Jesus and the Scriptures. "God is the mighty, allpowerful agency in the work of transformation. By His Spirit He writes His law in the heart. Thus divine relationship is renewed between God and man. ... The religion of Christ means more than the forgiveness of sin; it means that sin is taken away and that the vacuum is filled with the Spirit. It means that the mind is divinely illumined, that the heart is emptied of self and filled with the presence of Christ." [1] Is it not dangerous to be so determined to receive the power of the Holy Spirit apart from truly analyzing our denominational sin of unbelief and Iukewarmness? Merely repenting of some individual sins amongst us as individuals is good work, but it clearly doesn't go far enough toward preparing the way for the outpouring of the Spirit in the true latter rain. Ellen White wrote: "Christ has promised the gift of the Holy Spirit to His church, and the promise belongs to us as much as to the first disciples. But like every other promise, it is given on conditions. There are many who believe and profess to claim the Lord's promise; they talk about Christ and about the Holy Spirit, yet receive no benefit. They do not surrender the soul to be guided and controlled by the divine agencies. We cannot use the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is to use us. Through the Spirit God works in His people 'to will and to do of His good pleasure' (Phil. 2:13). But many will not submit to this. They want to manage themselves. This is why they do not receive the heavenly gift. Only to those who wait humbly upon God, who watch for His guidance and grace, is the Spirit given. The power of God awaits their demand and reception. This promised blessing, claimed by faith, brings all other blessings in its train. It is given according to the riches of the grace of Christ, and He is ready to supply every soul according to the capacity to receive." [2] Is the "demand and reception" of which she speaks merely our determined assumption that we have it? Again, to illustrate, would our lukewarmness be overcome simply by assuming through "faith" that we had overcome it? What is the faith which works--by love? In the 1893 General Conference Bulletin, A. T. Jones quoted from a Spiritualist magazine as follows: "Let Thursday be your day for declaring your faith. Say, 'I do believe that God is now working with me and through me and by me and for me;' say it with a sure certainty, for it is true." What would be the difference between that doctrine and the doctrine that we have the power of the Holy Spirit simply because we believe with certainty that we do? At the 1893 General Conference session, Elder W. W. Prescott preached a series of sermons on the Holy Spirit. He closed by appealing to the brethren to believe that they had the power of the loud cry (since Sister White had said that it had begun at Minneapolis), and together go out determined to give it. If they only would believe it, that they had it, it would be so. They all agreed, said, "We are ready." But--it didn't come, Why? Further, he went so far as to predict unqualifiedly that from that day forth there would never be another hypocrite enter the Adventist church, for they were now determined to go from that session with the power of the Holy Spirit in the loud cry. History proves that that was a false prophecy. Was not his doctrine of believing that they had the Holy Spirit when they didn't, equally false? If the reception of the Holy Spirit depends upon an act of our minds in assuming that we have it, call it "faith" if we wish, would that not actually in the final analysis, be receiving the Spirit by works? An act of believing that we have the Spirit is a work. Paul made it plain (Gal. 3:2) that the true Holy Spirit is not received that way. Paul, in great weakness, proclaimed to the Galatians this new covenant good news, and all they did was listen with faith: "O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, ... before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? ... Received ye the Spirit by the ... hearing of faith?" (Gal. 3:1, 2). That was one time in history when the "formula" was proven completely true: "the gospel preached ... profit[ed] them, ... being mixed with faith in them that heard it" (Heb. 4:2). Another time in history when the same "gospel preached" was "mixed with faith," was Abraham's experience. All that God did was simply proclaim to him His marvelous promises known as the new covenant, no threatened "curses" mixed in on pain of disobedience. Abraham simply "listened with faith" to this almost incredible good news (just what Paul told the Galatians was "the hearing of faith"). He too, like the Galatians, "received the Spirit." His faith was counted to him for righteousness (Gen. 15:6). --Paul E. Penno Notes: 1. Ellen G. White, "The Promise of the Spirit," The Review and Herald, June 10, 1902. 2. Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 672. Chapter 6 The Holy Spirit and Living a Holy Life "Holiness is wholeness. That which is perfect is holy. But man is imperfect. He was perfect at its creation, but he sinned and lost his uprightness. Body and soul and spirit became tainted with sin and therefore subject to death; for sin is a cancer that, left to itself, eats its way steadily into the soul, until death is a result. Bringing man again to a state of holiness, is bringing him back to the condition that was his before the fall. And this is done not by any visible outward change, but by the gift of Christ,--the substitution of His perfection for all that is imperfect in man. Christ gives Himself to us, so that His perfection is our perfection, whether of body or soul or spirit. ... "Holiness, therefore--or wholeness--comes only from the presence of Christ, bringing His perfection. Nothing that man can do can bring holiness, ... God only can make that which is holy, and that which is not so can be made so only by His presence." [1] Ellen White saw how the message of the two 1888 "messengers," A. T. Jones and E. J. Waggoner, riveted attention on the practical aspects of Christ's high priestly ministry. The message didn't cause frustration by calling for holy living, it provided the means for it. This is where those two great "rivers," the sanctuary truth and justification by faith, flowed together. The Jones-Waggoner message clearly recognized that the forgiveness of sins is a judicial declaration that rests solely on the atonement made at the cross. But they also saw that the Bible word for forgive means an actual "taking away" of the sin, Thus, from the time of the 1888 General Conference they recognized the distinction between the daily or continual ministry in the sanctuary, and the yearly ministry. There is a difference between the forgiveness of sins and the blotting out of sins. The cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary is a work that includes the people and extends to them. It provides for the perfection of their character in Christ on the one hand; and on the other hand in the final destruction of sin and sinners and the cleansing of the universe from all taint of sin. This is the "finishing of the mystery of God." It is Christ fully formed in each believer. The sanctuary itself cannot be cleansed so long as God's people continue to pour into it a constant stream of sinning. The stream will be stopped at its source--in the hearts and lives of God's people. The ministry of Christ in the Most Holy Apartment does make "the comers thereunto perfect" and does perfect "forever them that are sanctified" (Heb. 10:1, 14). So, how does sanctification fit in? Anybody who is justified by New Testament faith is automatically in the process of sanctification. He never has to change gears from salvation by faith to salvation by works. "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: ... established in the faith" (Col. 2:6, 7). By his expression "the faith," the Apostle Paul does not mean a creed or set of doctrines, but the phenomenon of a heart-appreciation of Christ's cross. The method remains the same: by faith. In sanctification, it is the Lord who brings us along our way, as He did in justification. Faith keeps on working by love, always in the present tense. In no way does the Lord leave us to fly on our own, to keep up our speed or crash. Sanctification is never by works; neither is it a mixture of faith and works in the sense of self-motivated efforts to chalk up merit so we can earn a reward. Clearly, Christ told Paul that He was sending him to open people's eyes and "turn them from darkness to light, ... that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in Me" (Acts 26:18). We do not read anywhere in the New Testament that it is our job to sanctify ourselves. Instead, we are "sanctified ... by the Spirit of our God" (1 Cor. 6:11). Jesus prays the Father to sanctify us (see John 17:17); and Christ also sanctifies and cleanses His church (see Eph. 5:26). It is all summed up in Paul's comprehensive statement: "[May] the very God of peace, sanctify you wholly, ... blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it" (1 Thess. 5:23, 24). The Lord doesn't give up easily. "He which hath begun a good work in you will [carry it on to completion] until the day of Jesus Christ" (Phil. 1:6). This work that He does is sanctification. Regarding the question in the "quarterly," "If someone were to ask you, 'How do I get the victory over sin that is promised to me in the Bible'?"(Tuesday's lesson), the 1888 message provides a clear answer. The "victory" isn't "won" by our own good works, but by allowing the Lord to carry His good work in us until completion. "The work of the Holy Spirit on the heart is to break down and expel self- love, ... The soul temple must be emptied and cleansed from its moral defilement, that Jesus may find room to abide in the soul as an honored Guest, that [He] the pure, true Witness may be the power exercised in a holy life. Then Christ is revealed in the heart by faith and precious victories are gained." [2] In all past ages "the Lamb's wife" has never yet made herself ready, but how can the heavenly Bridegroom get His church's attention? By burning down the Review offices and the grand Battle Creek Sanitarium? (This all happened after the 1901 General Conference Session.) Can He bring His people to attention by an unprecedented fear-motivated demand for holy living? The answer has to be in the text: "To her [His bride-to-be] was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints" (Rev. 19:8). The means the Lord will employ will not be a thunderclap from heaven or an earthquake, but a tender, quiet, heart-warming message of "the righteousness of saints." A message that woos the heart--"righteousness by faith," the Bridegroom coming close in an appeal, a gentle touch of truth. --From the writings of Ellen G. White, Ellet J. Waggoner, and Robert J. Wieland Notes: 1. Ellet J. Waggoner, "Mistaken Conceptions of Holiness," The Present Truth, Oct. 12, 1893. 2. The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, diary entry Oct. 30, 1889, p. 467. Chapter 7 The Holy Spirit and the Fruit of the Spirit When God finished His work of creation, He pronounced it "good." God doesn't create "bad," so we can therefore conclude that fruit that comes from Him is good. When Eve decided to ignore God's instructions against eating of the forbidden tree, she rebelled against Him, and substituted her own plan to improve on what God had called "good." Ever since Eden, humans have been trying to create substitutes for God's genuine creation. Our lesson this week uses the example of how disappointing it is to discover that what looks like a genuine lemon, is in fact a fake. It would be silly to think that if one worked harder, longer, and with great skill to make the fake lemon look more real than it is, it eventually would turn into a real lemon. Yet, Eve was doing a version of that kind of thinking. God had pronounced His creation "good" which included her. She thought that God had withheld something good from her so she tried to improve on His good creation. When sin entered the world, the "good" that God had created was ruined. Out of great agape-love for His creatures, the Godhead already had a plan to heal and recreate, but ever since they told Adam and Eve about the plan, humans have been trying to improve it. One of the more common misconceptions about the 1888message is that it teaches that since righteousness is by faith, our efforts to obey contribute nothing to our salvation, so we don't need to obey. Ironically, some believe the message teaches the exact opposite, that perfect obedience is required before Christ can return to earth. This confusion becomes so frustrating that the message is deemed wrong and useless, and further study is abandoned. The good news of the 1888 message rests on a proper understanding of the role of the Holy Spirit. Like the sacrifices in the ancient Jewish temple services, human actions in performing these rites cannot make us perfect. They were only types, pointing forward to the Great High Priest who provided the sacrifice and the blood with which to administer the forgiveness and restoration the human race so desperately needs. A. T. Jones, one of the 1888 "messengers" wrote: "This sanctuary, priesthood, sacrifice, and ministry of Christ's does make perfect in eternal redemption every one who by faith enters into the service, and so receives that which that service is established to give." [1] Notice that it is important that we "enter into the service," rather than just go through the motions. Jones is using Hebrews 6:1-4 to describe that the ancient typical services were an "elementary teaching about the Christ" (vs. 1), but the writer of Hebrews urges us to "press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God. ... For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit" (Heb. 6:1-4). Jones continues: "What are dead works? Death itself is the consequence of sin. Dead works therefore are works that have sin in them. Then the purging of the conscience from dead works is the so entirely cleansing of the soul from sin, by the blood of Christ, through the eternal Spirit, that in the life and works of the believer in Jesus sin shall have no place; the works shall be only works of faith, and the life shall be only the life of faith ..." [2] The point he is making is that since it was not possible that the literal blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins, something else is being considered. If there is to be "no more conscience of sins" the sacrificial services were mere types of the real power that takes away sin. Perfection was the aim in the entire ministry that was performed under the Levitical laws, yet perfection was not attained by any of those actions. All the good works in the world cannot recreate a sin-damaged heart into a perfect one. The sacrifices performed by the earthly high priest could no more have recreated a human heart than I could transform a plastic lemon into a real one, no matter how exquisite my workmanship. Why? Because I have no creative power. But, Someone who does have that creative power was willing to give up His rightful position in heaven, assume the likeness of sinful flesh in order to qualify to be our High Priest, and with His own blood worked out our salvation in the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched. The Holy Spirit bears witness to us (Heb. 10:15) that we have accepted this new and living covenant which Christ consecrated for us. "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws upon their heart, and upon their mind I will write them ... and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more" (Heb. 10:16, 17). Why do we need a witness? "For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness" (Gal. 5:5). E. J. Waggoner, the other 1888"messenger," explains the verse this way: "Don't imagine that this verse teaches that having the Spirit we must wait for righteousness. Not by any means. The Spirit bringsrighteousness. ... Notice that it does not say that we through the Spirit hope for righteousness. Rather, we wait for the hope of righteousness by faith, that is, the hope which the possession of righteousness brings." [3] Waggoner then develops a detailed explanation of this point: "(1) The Spirit of God is 'the Holy Spirit of promise.' The possession of the Spirit ensures to us the promise of God. "(2) That which God has promised to us as children of Abraham is an inheritance. The Holy Spirit is the pledge of this inheritance until the purchased possession is redeemed and bestowed upon us. Ephesians 1:13, 14. "(3) This inheritance that is promised is the new heavens and the new earth, in which righteousness dwells. 2 Peter 3:13. [This inheritance is, we have the hope of righteousness.] "(4) The Spirit brings righteousness. He is Christ's representative, the means by which Christ Himself, who is our righteousness, comes to dwell in our hearts. John 14:16-18. "(5) Therefore the hope which the Spirit brings is the hope of an inheritance in the kingdom of God, the earth made new. "(6) The righteousness which the Spirit brings to us is the righteousness of the law of God. Romans 8:4; 7:14. By the Spirit it is written in our hearts instead of on tables of stone. 2 Corinthians 3:3. "(7) The sum of the whole matter is this: If, instead of thinking ourselves so powerful that we can do the law, we will allow the Holy Spirit to come in that we may be filled with the righteousness of the law, we will have living hope dwelling in us. The hope of the Spirit--the hope of righteousness by faith--has no element of uncertainty in it. It is positive assurance. In nothing else is there any hope. He who does not have 'the righteousness which is of God by faith' has no hope whatever. Only Christ in us is 'the hope of glory.'" [4] No matter how we try to fix the exterior of our characters, we will never transform them into living the law of God in Spirit and truth. The good news is that we don't have to. God through the Gift worked out by His Son, and gifted to us through the working of the Holy Spirit has made that a "positive assurance" for us. May God give us belief in that blessed assurance. --Arlene Hill Notes: 1. A. T. Jones, The Consecrated Way to Christian Perfection, p. 83 (Glad Tidings ed.). 2. Ibid. 3. E. J. Waggoner, The Glad Tidings, p. 111 (Glad Tidings ed.). 4. Ibid., p 112. Chapter 8 The Holy Spirit and the Gifts of the Spirit The Holy Spirit has been hindered from manifesting the fullness of His gifts because to a large degree the sanctuary/justification by faith message brought to the church during the 1888 era has been displaced by an evangelical version of righteousness by faith. The Holy Spirit cannot operate at “full capacity” if His church is unwilling to cooperate with its Teacher of Righteousness. The Latter Rain proportions of the Spirit’s outpouring will bring reformation and revival to the Laodicean Church. Thus far in the church’s history this has not occurred despite a plethora of programs and baptisms in certain quarters. The ultimate objective of the Seventh-day Adventist Church is to prepare a people for translation at Jesus’ second coming. It is the Spirit-indited “third angel’s message in verity” that does just this. What will the gifts of the Spirit look like when unleased in Latter Rain efficiency? Rather than speculate on what we will do with the church, or how the world may re-shape it into another image, let us ask what the Lord says He will do. He is the Head of the church. Not all the demons in hell can stop what He purposes to do. He will send revival and reformation. As surely as His character is love, He will visit His people: “The times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19). “In visions of the night, representations passed before me of a great reformatory movement among God’s people. ... A spirit of intercession was seen, even as was manifested before the great Day of Pentecost. ... Hearts were convicted by the power of the Holy Spirit, and a spirit of genuine conversion was manifest. ... The world seemed to be lightened with the heavenly influence. ... there seemed to be a reformation such as we witnessed in 1844.” [1] He will accomplish this objective through a special message. “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all the nations; and then shall the end come” (Matt. 24:14; the gospel is “truth,” Gal. 2:5, 14). “Amid the confusing cries, ‘Lo, here is Christ! Lo, there is Christ!’ will be borne a special testimony, a special message of truth appropriate for this time, which message is to be received, believed, and acted upon.” [2] As surely as day follows night, such a message will come. Repentance for the 1888-era rejection of such a message will bring a wholehearted acceptance of its renewal. This message will be the outpouring of the latter rain. It will bring spiritual refreshment and prepare the church for the final issue of the mark of the beast: “Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God: for He hath given you the former rain [faithfully], and He will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain. ... I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten” (Joel 2:23-25). “I heard those clothed with the armor speak forth the truth with great power. ... All fear of their relatives was gone, and the truth alone was exalted to them. ... I asked what had made this great change. An angel answered, ‘It is the latter rain, the refreshing from the presence of the Lord, the loud cry of the third angel.’” [3] The latter rain will be a clearer revelation of the gospel of righteousness by faith than we have yet discerned. The meaning of the Hebrew phrase in Joel 2:23 is “a teacher of righteousness,” linking the latter rain to the message of righteousness by faith. Here is the key truth that is almost totally overlooked today—the initial showers of the latter rain were manifested in the “most precious message” of righteousness by faith which the Lord sent to this people in 1888. [4] Further showers of the latter rain must include a recovery of that message, because Heaven’s intent can never be defeated. This true gospel revelation will be so powerful that it will polarize the church into those accepting it and those rejecting it. Thus the final shaking will result from the “straight testimony” of pure gospel truth, as opposed to every semblance of legalism. “‘Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three [olives] in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof,’ saith the Lord God of Israel” (Isa. 17:6). The brilliant light of the gospel that is to lighten the earth with glory will cause the “covetous ones [to become] separated from the company of believers.” [5] With this recovery of the pure gospel of Christ, the shaken and purified Seventh-day Adventist Church will be ready to bear a final witness to the world. Through God’s providence this will become the loud cry of the angel of Revelation 18: “I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory” (vs. 1). This final message will be of grace, grace which much more abounds than all the abounding sin that hell can devise in the last days. The great “angel” of Revelation 18:1-4 will proclaim the message that will “lighten the earth with glory” (vss. 1-4). The message will at last be demonstrated as “the power of God unto salvation” (Rom. 1:16). Servants of God, endowed with power from on high with their faces lighted up, and shining with holy consecration, will go forth to proclaim the message from heaven. A compelling power will move the honest in heart. God will be in the work, and every saint will be fearless of consequences and follow the convictions of his own conscience and unite with those who keep all the commandments of God. Fear of relatives or of economic distress will be powerless. A large number will take their stand in preparation for the coming of Christ. When the earth is lightened with the glory of the message that “began” in 1888, the honest will surmount every obstacle to press in and find fellowship with those who hold the “third angel’s message in verity.” This of course will be a change from our “evangelism” of so long; why the difference? Ellen White explains: “I heard those clothed with the armor [of Christ’s righteousness] speak forth the truth with great power. It had effect. Many had been bound; some wives by their husbands, and some children by their parents. The honest who had been prevented from hearing the truth now eagerly laid hold upon it. All fear of their relatives was gone, and the truth alone was exalted to them. They had been hungering and thirsting for truth; it was dearer and more precious than life. I asked what had made this great change. An angel answered, ‘It is the latter rain, the refreshing from the presence of the Lord, the loud cry of the third angel.’” [6] The re-sent “Elijah the prophet” will arrive “before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he shall turn ... hearts” (Mal. 4:5, 6). The work of the Lord will be finely tuned, precisely balanced, powerful, so that what God’s people have wanted to see for two millennia will come. The climax of world history will be “the marriage of the Lamb” (Rev. 19:7). This glorious climax of the gospel will prepare the church to grow up to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, prepared to be His Bride. Christ’s agenda for this church includes that spiritual growth and maturity— the fruition of His final ministry in the Most Holy Apartment. “I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying ‘Alleluia: For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready’” (vss. 6, 7). The factor that makes her ready, which has never been fully effective previously, is a true understanding of righteousness by faith. The next verse reads: “And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints,” made possible only by a clearer, brighter, more mature faith. This is Christ’s agenda for His church. She is to accomplish the task appointed for her by the One who died for her. His vindication requires that she overcome even as He overcame. This scenario is the much better good news that must emerge. —Paul E. Penno Notes (Ellen G. White): 1. Testimonies for the Church, vol. 9, p. 126. 2. Review and Herald, Oct. 13, 1904. 3. Early Writings, p. 271. 4. Special Testimonies, Series A, No. 6, p. 19. 5. Testimonies for the Church, vol. 9, p. 126. 6. Early Writings, p. 271. Chapter 9 The Holy Spirit and the Church Paul proclaimed Jesus with the blessing of the Holy Spirit. His plea for the church members in Corinth to "speak [teach] the same thing, [have] no divisions among you," and "be perfectly joined together in the same mind" (1 Cor. 1:10) is not idle talk. This is God's ideal for His church, and a little known prediction in an out-of-date book states categorically that such blessed heart-and mind-unity will be realized in the church before Jesus returns: "They will see eye to eye in all matters of religious belief. They will speak [teach] the same things; ... they will be one in Christ Jesus." [1] How people in a church can truly believe the same thing (unity) is important, because Jesus said that the only way the world can be brought to believe in Him is when His followers "all may be one, ... that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me" (John 17:21). Something He calls "Thy truth" is the only thing that will unite them (vs. 17). Paul calls it "the truth of the gospel" (Gal. 2:5, 14). The success or failure of Christ's mission for the world therefore depends on that "truth" bringing His people who profess to "keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus" into one (Rev. 14:12). If you are perplexed today as to what you can believe out of all the conflicting confusion, take heart. Jesus made another promise that is 100% true (sincere Jews were perplexed as to whether this upstart young Rabbi from Galilee was right, or whether the venerable elders from the headquarters offices were right): "If anyone will do His will [the Father's], he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be from God, or whether I speak of Myself" (John 7:17). If the common people would follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, saying a willing "amen" to each new ray of light flashed upon their pathway, their thinking would become clear. And there you have the Light flashing on your pathway today! All the wonderful promises that Jesus made before His death must and will be fulfilled. But there is one great promise that has not yet been fulfilled, and many Christians think it never will be. They are wrong! He will not fail. That great promise is in John 16:13: "When He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth." We usually think of the Holy Spirit as giving us happy feelings or of giving great power in witnessing and producing baptisms; we think that understanding "all truth" is of lesser importance. But over 200 times the Bible speaks of the importance of truth. In ordinary life, law courts, juries, judges, seek constantly to know the truth. Jesus says that it is so important that "the truth shall make you free" (8:32). What can bring about a unity and clarity to understanding these important truths? Surely when that great fourth angel of Revelation 18:1-4 begins to "lighten the earth with glory," the message that calls every sincere person "out of Babylon" will be a message of pure, unadulterated truth. We pray daily for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. An excellent place to begin finding the answer to that prayer is in honest, sincere, and humble listening to the Bible to permit it to tell us what the truth is in all these controverted areas. Jesus did not promise, "The Holy Spirit will try to lead you into all truth," or "He wishes He could lead you into all truth." No, He said He will do so. The Holy Spirit right now "leading" us into the truth that will bind us together in loving harmony of belief. Let's listen to Him! All the "concepts" of the 1888 message point to unity among God's people. Ellet J. Waggoner, one of the 1888 "messengers," has written: "The Bible is full of the idea of unity in the church of Christ, but we do not read so much about uniformity. This unity is to be the unity of life and growth, and not a mere outward connection. In Christ's prayer to the Father for His disciples, He said, 'And the glory that Thou gavest Me, I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one; I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one' (John 17:22, 23). Here we see that the glory of the Lord is to effect the union of believers, and the union is to be that of the Father and the Son. "The union of the Father and the Son is union of spirit. We can not comprehend this union, but we may know that it is not a forced union, but that it results from their very nature. They have one life. Their thoughts and purposes are the same, not because they come together and compare notes and agree to be alike, but because one life is in them both. So the union of believers is to be a vital union, or it is not any union at all. It is not accomplished by strife and debate and decisions of majorities, but by yielding the mind to Christ and hearing His voice. They are to be united by the mind and Spirit of Christ. The life of the Father and the Son in each member of the church will produce the most perfect union in the whole body. ... "'There is one body, and one Spirit, even as we are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all'(Eph. 4:4-6). The apostle's exhortation is, 'that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment" (1 Cor. 1:10). But let it be borne in mind that this union is not artificial, but natural; not the human nature, however, but the divine nature. "The unity of belief in the church is not forced by the church coming together and the majority defining the creed to be beloved. The church can not define doctrine, nor make laws for itself or anybody else. The church of Christ is made up of all who obey the Lord's commands not a body to issue commands. The Head directs, the body obeys. God speaks; each one must listen to His voice, for faith comes by hearing the Word of God, and no one can give faith to another. 'It is the gift of God.'" [2] The Holy Spirit right now is "leading" us into the truth that will bind us together in loving harmony of belief. Come, today; and be a part of Christ's solution, not a part of His problem. Get in full unity with His truth, and you'll be one with Him. --From the writings of E. G. White, E. J. Waggoner, and Robert J. Wieland Notes: 1. Ellen G. White, Historical Sketches of the Foreign Missions of the Seventh-day Adventists, p. 124. 2. Ellet J. Waggoner, "The Unity of the Church," The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, Oct. 21, 1902; see also "Unity and Uniformity," The Present Truth, April 20, 1893. Chapter 10 The Holy Spirit, the Word, and Prayer It is good to read the Bible, pray, and witness, but doing these things as works is not the way to retain salvation. If it is true that God takes the initiative in our salvation, it is equally true that He maintains that initiative. Once you begin the Christian life, the Lord does not back off like a car salesman when you have bought your car, leaving you to struggle thereafter on your own. The Good Shepherd still takes the initiative in looking for His lost sheep. He still keeps knocking at the door of the heart. And “He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6). Never are we to think that our divine Friend becomes indifferent toward us. How did Jesus in His humanity maintain his closeness to His Father? He was human; He had only 24 hours a day as we have; He was busy as we are, and He needed sleep as we do. He gives us a surprising insight into His devotional life: the Father maintained the initiative. Speaking of His prayer and Bible-study life, Jesus says in the prophecy: The Lord God hath given me The tongue of the learned, That I should know how to speak A word in season to him that is weary: He wakeneth morning by morning, He wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. (Isaiah 50:4). The Lord promises nourishing food to all who “hunger and thirst after righteousness” (Matt. 5:6). You are never satisfied with what you learned yesterday, any more than you are satisfied with the food you ate yesterday. We don’t eat our daily food because the Bible tells us to, or even because Ellen White tells us to; we eat because we are hungry. A starving but hungry refugee in Syria is better off than a millionaire who is so sick that he has no appetite. The Bible reveals a loving heavenly Father and Saviour and Holy Spirit eager to maintain connection with us. He continually invites us to come to “breakfast,” but of course if we are not hungry, we won’t go. How can I get this hunger and thirst? This is what the Lord gives to those who hear and believe the good news. They want more, just as when you taste something delicious, you want more. They don’t have to set their alarm clocks to wake up in time, or force themselves to read and pray as a “work.” We can make a devotional life into a works-program. Charles Wesley was right when he wrote his hymn, “Jesus, Lover of My Soul,” even though the Church of England’s theologians of the day were outraged at the idea, the Lord is the divine Lover of your soul; He is seeking you, actually wooing you. Oh, how often we have been “rebellious,” and turned away from His knocking at our door in the mornings! Sometimes it is because we have deprived ourselves of proper rest and made ourselves deaf to His appeals. To awaken in our souls that hunger and thirst is the purpose of the 1888 message of Christ’s righteousness. The gospel is the bread of life; and once you taste it, you will ever after want to “eat” without being forced to do so. What joy to always to be hungry and thirsty for more. The world’s amusements, sports, vain pursuits, addictive shopping, all lose their appeal when you “taste” the gospel for what it is. Many are now testifying that that hunger has been aroused in their souls by hearing or reading the 1888 message truths. If you get sick with the flu, don’t you take a day off from school or work in order to stay in bed and recuperate? Why not take a day off for fasting and prayer? Not seeking the Lord as though He were trying to hide from you, but taking the time to listen to Himas He seeks you. That’s what Isaiah means when he says, “Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near” (Isa. 55:6). He is not hiding from you--He is “near.” It helps because it takes away your personal guilt, your fear, your own alienation and anger. It gives you “peace with God” (Rom. 5:1), not necessarily peace with your children (right now), but that first step is most important you have peace with God. When you have that peace with God, a heavy weight is lifted from your heart. It is impossible for us as parents to be impatient with our children if our fear and guilt are gone. The message takes away that fear and guilt in a way that Adventists have not understood very well for several reasons: It presents God in a different light--He is not watching to find something wrong with you that could keep Him from answering your prayers; He is trying to find a way to answer them. “The goodness of God” is already leading us to repentance, including your children (Rom. 2:4). Our job is to believe that His goodness is active and to get out of His way, so He can lead us (and our children) to repentance without our hindering Him. He is a Good Shepherd who has taken the initiative and still takes it, seeking His lost sheep. He is not waiting for us to find our way to Him. It’s not our job to initiate a “relationship” with Him, for He has already initiated that relationship with us. Our job is to believe it. Then the weight of alienation on your heart is lifted! Christ has already died your second death (Heb. 2:9), already borne the punishment for your rebellion and selfishness. Your sins have already been laid on Him (Isa. 53:6), He has already elected you to eternal life “in Christ.” It’s your guilt that weighs you down and forces you to be angry, impatient, negative. When your heart-burden is lifted, E. J. Waggoner says, “We often use the figure, ‘as free as a bird,’ and that exactly expresses the liberty wherewith Christ makes us free. Is it not a glorious thing? What a sense of freedom thrills the soul at the very thought of it!” [1] The “condemnation in Adam” has already been lifted, for Christ has legally justified you by His sacrifice (Rom. 5:12-18). The result is that your joy is that of someone sentenced to death who has been acquitted, someone facing death who is raised to new life again--”alive from the dead” (Rom. 6:13). Your children will see and feel and touch for themselves this miracle of grace. Your hunger and thirst after righteousness are aroused and you find yourself in love with the Word of God, joyously obeying Him. And it’s not only what happened 2000 years ago--the Holy Spirit is your constant Companion, to “abide with you forever” (John 14:16). Better than a husband. You do not earn His presence by being good, for He is also a gift of grace. He speaks to you, but you may have been too deaf to hear Him, but He speaks “a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk ye in it’” (Isa. 30:21). Listen, and you can obey! --Paul E. Penno Note: 1. Ellet J. Waggoner, “As Free as a Bird,” The Present Truth, Jan. 10, 1894. Chapter 11 Grieving and Resisting the Spirit The Oxford English Dictionary defines grief as a sense of being pressed heavily upon, as with a weight; to burden; or to vex through hostile action. To grieve someone is to offend them, cause mental pain or distress, to cause deep sorrow. Can God experience these emotions? Since the Fall in Eden, when humanity's mind became distorted through Satan's influence, we have been vexing God through our enmity and hostility. "For the mind-set of the flesh is hostile to God because it does not submit itself to God's law, for it is unable to do so" (Rom. 8:7, HCSB*). Our God is a living Being who is love (1 John 4:8). As our Creator and Redeemer, the Godhead has poured out upon us a self-sacrificing love that lays itself bare, vulnerable, open to wounding. We grieve Him when we neglect Him, or show ingratitude and resist His plea to repent. Throughout the Old Testament we read of God's grief caused by ancient Israel's resistance to His will. From the beginning of the their experience at Sinai God would say, "Forty years long was I grieved with this generation!" (Psalm 95:10). Paul tells us that God was grieved "because of their unbelief" (Heb. 3:10, 17–19). Could it happen again? Can this terrible sin of rejecting God's call to righteousness be repeated? In 1901, Ellen White said, "We may have to remain here in this world because of insubordination many more years, as did the children of Israel." [1] In the message to the Laodicean church, Christ reveals His misery. Heartsick with love for His reluctant bride, He complains, You think you have everything, but without Me you have nothing! Your childish self- righteousness makes Me so sick I want to vomit! (Rev. 3:14–19). At the Minneapolis General Conference in 1888, we behaved "just like the Jews" in rejecting the light and power the Holy Spirit desired to pour out upon us. "In Minneapolis God gave precious gems of truth to His people in new settings. This light from heaven by some was rejected with all the stubbornness the Jews manifested in rejecting Christ." [2] "I know that at that time the Spirit of God was insulted." [3] "I stated that the course that had been pursued at Minneapolis was cruelty to the Spirit of God." [4] "The Holy Spirit has been insulted, and light has been rejected. ... If men would only give up their spirit of resistance to the Holy Spirit." [5] As a result of our resistance to yield up our preconceived opinions for the last 129 years, the "disappointment of Christ is beyond description ... Christ is humiliated in His people." [6] The humiliation continues because the plea of the True Witness for us to repent has not been heeded. "If we place ourselves in a position that we will not recognize the light that God sends or His messages to us, then we are in danger of sinning against the Holy Ghost." [7] By saying, "His messages to us" Ellen White was referring to "the most precious message" that "the Lord in His great mercy sent" through "Elders Waggoner and Jones." The message of Christ and His righteousness "is the message that God commanded to be given to the world. It is the third angel's message, which is to be proclaimed with a loud voice, and attended with the outpouring of His Spirit in a large measure." [8] "Many say, 'If I had only lived in the days of Christ [or, 'if I had been at Minneapolis in 1888'], I would not have wrested His word, or falsely interpreted His instruction. I would not have rejected and crucified Him as did the Jews'; but that will be proved by the way in which you deal with His message and His messengers today." [9] During that 1888 conference and since that time it has been individual persons who rejected the message, but "there is also a corporate dimension involved ... While everyone is responsible for his or her own decisions, we also have a corporate responsibility" (Quarterly, regular ed., p. 89). The Quarterly teaches us to "encourage one another" to follow truth, but the opposite can also happen. Through our continued unbelief, we encourage one another to continue to resist the work of the Holy Spirit, and thus we continue to delay the latter rain. "The reason is that the sins of the fathers get ingrained into us, except for specific knowledge and repentance. Even though we were very few in number in 1888, the character of that unbelieving impertinence has been propagated throughout the worldwide body like a spreading virus. The disease must run its course until repentance can eradicate it. Until then, each new generation absorbs the same lukewarmness. ... Sin has been propagated ever since Eden 'through the medium of influence, taking advantage of the action of mind on mind, ... reaching from mind to mind' (Review and Herald, April 16, 1901)." [10] "Pentecost has inspired God's people for nearly 2000 years. What made those grand results possible? The people believed the portrayal of their corporate guilt [see Acts 2:22, 23; 3:14, 15; 5:30; 10:39; 13:27–29, 45, 46] and frankly confessed their part in the greatest sin of all ages [see Acts 2:37, 41], which their leaders had refused to repent of [see Acts 7:54, 57, 58]. Pentecost was an example of laity rising above the spiritual standard of their leaders. The final outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the latter rain will be an extension of the Pentecost experience." [11] We look forward to the second coming of Christ, proclaim its nearness to the world, but until God's people have received the seal of righteousness in our foreheads, He cannot finish His work of cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary. "When Laodicea comes to understand her alienation, her subtle pride and unconscious sin, then she will 'know' her wretchedness, her enmity against her Saviour, and she will repent and be healed." [12] --Ann Walper *HCSB: Holman Christian Standard Bible. Notes [1–9 Ellen G. White]: 1. Spalding and Magan Collection, p. 202. 2. The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, pp. 517-518. 3. Ibid., pp. 1043-1044. 4. Ibid. p. 360. 5. Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers; p. 393. 6. Review and Herald, Dec. 15, 1904. 7. 1888 Materials, p. 608. 8. Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, pp. 91, 92. 9. Review and Herald, April 11, 1893. 10. Robert J. Wieland, Corporate Repentance, pp. 129, 130; http://www.gospelherald.com/wieland/corporate_repentance/corporate_repentance_chapter12.html 11. Ibid. p. 96; http://www.gospelherald.com/wieland/corporate_repentance/corporate_repentance_chapter9.html 12. Donald K. Short, Then Shall the Sanctuary Be Cleansed, p. 45; http://www.gospel-herald.com/short/sanctuary/sanctuary-ch5.html Chapter 12 The Work of the Holy Spirit Implicit in the 1888 message is this: When we are first converted, we confess all known sin to God, and in mercy He is faithful and just to forgive us. But there still remain sins of ignorance; and unknown, unconscious sins. In this time of the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary, the High Priest through the Holy Spirit brings these unknown sins to our knowledge, and we become conscious of them. If we are in heart-sympathy with Christ in his closing work of atonement (that is what New Testament faith is), we shall welcome the ever-deepening conviction of sin, and progressively confess and repent of these sins. At length, after His people have cooperated with Him, the work will become complete, and then the seal of God can be affixed to the character in contradistinction to the mark of the beast, which all who reject the seal of God, will accept. However, there is a sense in which all true believers in Christ have been "sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise" since the world began (Eph. 1:13); but this is not the same as that final sealing work of Revelation 7:1-4. The final seal of God is contemporary with the final mark of the beast, and the opposite of it. Ellen White was overjoyed when she heard the message of justification by faith from the lips of A. T. Jones and E. J. Waggoner. To her this clear teaching was consonant with the message of the three angels: "The hour of His judgment is come" and our Priest is cleansing the heavenly sanctuary. What connection was there between justification by faith and the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary by Jesus our High Priest? The answer is that since 1844 Jesus has been performing the Day of Atonement ministry--the final blotting out of sins. But before the sanctuary could be cleansed in heaven the temple of His people on earth must be cleansed. The source of sin pollution must be ended in His people. The honor of God and the integrity of His covenant were at stake. God has the solution to the problem of sin. The gospel of Jesus Christ can forgive sins and His righteousness has the power by virtue of the Holy Spirit to cleanse the soul temple. This God has promised in His everlasting covenant (Jer. 31:33). So when she heard this message she recognized in it the power and force of the gospel which would prepare God's people to stand with a pure character in the day of Christ's second coming. They would be a living testimony for God through the crisis hour. They would be part of the 144,000 who would be translated without seeing death at His return. They would be a living testament to the power of God unto salvation from sin. Living in sinful flesh, tempted, tried and afflicted, the mystery of godliness would be revealed in them--"Christ in you the hope of glory." Like a drumbeat over the course of several weeks Ellen White wrote in the columns of the Review during 1890 of her enthusiasm. The Sunday-keeping churches had not followed Jesus by faith into His most holy place work in 1844. Hence they were worshiping a god of their own creation--Satan if you please. [1] To this day, for the most part, they view the sanctuary message of Seventh-day Adventists as a colossal error. It has been termed the greatest face-saving device to explain away a mistaken interpretation of Scripture--Daniel 8:14. But God's people have been given a unique understanding of justification by faith in connection with the cleansing of the sanctuary that is to prepare a people for the coming of the Lord. This is why the Lord gave it to His people to be proclaimed to the nominal Christian churches of the world. They had initially rejected it in 1844. Martin Luther didn't understand justification by faith in the light of the sanctuary message. Protestants and evangelicals did not understand it rightly. Of all people who should understand it, Seventh-day Adventists should because they know about 1844 and the change of Jesus' ministry from the holy place to the most holy place. They are not to proclaim justification by faith by compromising with the other churches and incorporating their message in order to be ecumenical in spirit. This would be a rejection of Jesus leading His people into the truth of His most holy place ministry. They would be following Satan as did the nominal churches in 1844. But in the historical context of 1890 Ellen White made an astounding statement: "There has been a departure from God, and there has not as yet been zealous work in repenting and coming back to the first love. Infidelity has had a large place among us. It is the fashion to depart from Christ, to forsake the Lord and accept skepticism. 'We will not have this man to reign over us.' Luke 19:14. Baal will be the purpose, the faith, the religion of a sorrowful number among us, because they choose their own way instead of God's way. The true religion, the only religion of the Bible--believing in the forgiveness of sins, the righteousness of Christ, and the blood of the Lamb-has been not only slighted and spoken against, ridiculed, and criticized, but suspicions and jealousies have been created, leading into fanaticism and atheism." [2] When once the truth of justification by faith in connection with the sanctuary is lost, Satan has won a great victory. He can lead his followers into fanaticism and right out of the body of Christ into atheism. Because self becomes one's idol--Baal worship--he follows his own self-pleasing interpretations of Scripture and it results in another god than the true God. Imperceptibly self becomes one's god. The knowledge of the true God is rejected. Hence the result is atheism. The conclusion of thirteen articles written by Ellen White in the Review was entitled, "Repentance the Gift of God." She said: "Some of our brethren have expressed fears that we shall dwell too much upon the subject of justification by faith, but I hope and pray that none will be needlessly alarmed; for there is no danger in presenting this doctrine as it is set forth in the Scriptures. If there had not been a remissness in the past to properly instruct the people of God, there would not now be a necessity of calling especial attention to it. Some of our brethren are not receiving the message of God upon this subject. They appear to be anxious that none of our ministers shall depart from their former manner of teaching the good old doctrines. We inquire, Is it not time that fresh light should come to the people of God, to awaken them to greater earnestness and zeal?" [3] She portrayed the church as being in a lukewarm state. Jesus bid His people repent--to buy of Him gold tried in the fire--faith and love; to receive His white raiment which is the righteousness of Christ; and the eye-salve of spiritual discernment, the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And then she made the defining statement: "Several have written to me, inquiring if the message of justification by faith is the third angel's message, and I have answered, 'It is the third angel's message in verity.'" [4] Justification by faith in connection with the sanctuary cleansing is the third angel's message in verity. This string of thirteen articles clearly identifies what she meant by "in verity." It is the judgment hour message, which prepares the way for the great and dreadful day of the Lord. It prepares a people to stand in the hour of crisis and to be translated without seeing death at the second coming of Jesus. It was and still is the shaking message to the Laodicean church. It bears with it all the prospect of the loud cry and latter rain of the Holy Spirit. --Paul E. Penno Notes: 1. Ellen G. White, Early Writings (1882), p. 261. 2. "To the General Conference" (1889) and "The Vision at Salamanca" (Nov. 3, 1890), The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, pp. 444, 948. 3. "Repentance the Gift of God," The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald (April 1, 1890), p. 193. 4. Ibid. Chapter 13 The Person of Peter Although Peter did not write as much as the three greatest contributors to the New Testament--Paul, Luke, and John--he is nevertheless one of the most outstanding Bible characters. Aggressive, ambitious, self-assured, bold yet somewhat vacillating, Peter had yet an underlying loyalty and devotion. Jesus read these qualities when He first met Peter, and saw also his potential under the discipline of grace.[1] Simon, surnamed Peter, was the son of Jonah, or John (Matt. 16:17), and came from the fishing community of Bethsaida (John 1:44), where he seems to have lived with his wife, his mother-in-law, and Andrew, his brother (Mark 1:29-31). The brothers were in partnership with James and John, the sons of Zebedee (Luke 5:7-10). The tremendous revival under John the Baptist began with the confession of sins, and ended with a declaration of the presence of the divine Son, in whom alone forgiveness and atonement could be found. Peter listened to him at Bethabara, and his soul was set aflame. "The demand for confession of sin seemed new and startling."[2] The declaration "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29) was both startling and reassuring. Yet John and Andrew and Simon were ready, "moved by an irresistible impulse," to accept the Messiah's presence.[3] Peter demonstrated a faltering faith and striking confession (Matt. 14:22-33). "Bid me come unto thee on the water." Peter knew it was Jesus approaching. The fury of the storm had reduced the disciples to helplessness, "and they longed for the presence of their Master." When Peter stepped overboard he was not presumptuous, for he went at Christ's command. "Looking unto Jesus, Peter walks securely; but as in self-satisfaction he glances back toward his companions in the boat, his eyes are turned from the Saviour." A sea of troubles may assail us today, but we can be safe by keeping our eyes on Jesus.[4] Peter was the first to find words to express the bold faith that had gripped their souls when Christ asked His disciples, saying, "'Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?'" (Matt. 16:13). Not only was this Man a greater than all the prophets; not only was He the long-expected Messiah; "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," Peter boldly confessed (Matt. 16:16). Jesus commended Peter's faith, but quickly cautioned him against the sin of supposing he deserved credit for it: "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father which is in heaven" (Matt. 16:17). Now that the disciples were thoroughly convinced of His divinity, Jesus was prepared to enlighten them about His death. He plainly, even bluntly, told them that He must be rejected and slain: "From that time forth began Jesus to show unto His disciples how He must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day" (Matt. 16:21). Simon, who had been first to confess the Son of God, was first to deny His cross. "Then Peter took Him aside, and began to rebuke Him, saying, "'Be it far from Thee, Lord; this shall not happen unto Thee" (Matt. 16:22). Crosses are for felons, not for One who is the Son of God! The idea of the cross was something so original, unworldly, that it could arise only in the mind of God. The cross is both the "wisdom" and the "power" of God (1 Cor. 1:18, 24). It is a divine strategy of spiritual warfare of sublime skill. But Peter's response to the Savior's stunning announcement was the same as that which people of every place and age would experience. He was expressing the thoughts of our own hearts, even today, in treating as repugnant foolishness the very idea of being crucified. Jesus revealed this insight in His rebuke to Peter: "Thou art an offense to Me: for Thou [are not mindful] of the things that be of God, but those that be of man" (Matt. 16:23). Peter was simply a man, he was just being himself. He couldn't fathom "the things that be of God" enough to discern the meaning of the cross. Jesus put His finger of recognition on the plague spot of mankind's opposition to the cross: "He turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind Me, Satan! Thou art an offense unto Me" (Matt. 16:23). He had unwittingly let himself be a tool in the hands of Satan by seeking to turn Jesus away from His sacrificial purpose. That temptation was real to Jesus! Peter's attitude toward the cross perfectly reflected the attitude of Satan himself. The old covenant, as clearly brought to our attention by E. J. Waggoner, one of the 1888 messengers, is making promises to God.[5] At the last supper Peter promised his Lord, "Although all shall be offended, yet will not I" (Mark 14:29). Verse 31 indicates continuous assertion--"the more vehemently." Vehemence has its place, but it is not always proof of enduring loyalty. Peter's tragic denial three times was equally vehement (Luke 22:5461). Time often lends poignancy to our vehemence, as when poor "Peter remembered the word of the Lord, ... Before the cock crow, thou shall deny Me thrice." It was like a sword thrust into his heart, and "Peter went out, and wept bitterly" (vs. 62). If you or I make promises to God, immediately it's old covenant. It's Peter promising that he will never deny Christ, and then doing it before the rooster crowed next morning. It's "all the people" promising at Mt. Sinai, "All that the Lord hath spoken we will do!" (Ex. 19:8); and then bowing down to a golden calf in a few days. The problem is simple: we humans don't keep our promises; in fact, we can't, because we have no righteousness of our own. This is why so many New Year's resolutions go down the drain after only a few days. Someone may say, "What's wrong with making good promises to God even if you do break them?" Several things: God Himself has never asked you to do so; and further, Paul says that making and breaking promises to God brings you into spiritual "bondage" (Gal. 4:24). "The knowledge of your broken promises and forfeited pledges weakens your confidence in your own sincerity, and causes you to feel that God cannot accept you. ..."[6] It was the beginning of centuries of sad Israelite history that finally led them into the "bondage" of foreign captivity and then at the end, to crucify their Messiah. Those who think that the old and new covenants are the same thing are confusing liberty with slavery. When God makes the promise, there you have the new covenant. And believing the promise is liberty, not slavery. He always keeps His promise. "Delight thyself also in the LORD; and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart" (Psalm 37:4). You may say, "That's such good news--I can hardly believe He will ever do that for me!" Peter couldn't believe it either, until he repented of his unbelief. You can repent, too. That's the good news! --Paul E. Penno Endnotes: 1. Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 139. 2. Ibid., p. 133. 3. Ibid., p. 138. 4. Ibid., pp. 381, 382. 5. For example, see Ellet J. Waggoner, The Glad Tidings, p. 71 (CFI ed., 2016). 6. Ellen G. White, Steps to Christ, p. 47. Chapter 14 An Inheritance Incorruptible Our lesson gives us a general outline of what we need to know regarding the objectives of a book in the Bible--who comprises the audience, who is the author, what is the historical context, and "what message ... can we take from it"? In the case of this essay we will focus on a "message," the message of Christ's righteousness given to us in the 1888 era. Ellet J. Waggoner, one of the 1888 "messengers," provides us with an in- depth meaning of our lesson title: "An Inheritance Incorruptible." He writes, "The word of the Lord is the seed by which the sinner is born again. We read that 'every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, ... In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we might be, as it were, the first fruits among His creatures' (James 1:17, 18). "And the apostle Peter says: 'Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart. For you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and abiding word of God' (1 Peter 1:22, 23). So we learn that, while those who are Christ's are born of the Spirit, the word of God is the seed from which they are developed into new creatures in Christ. The word, then, has power to give life. "With the knowledge that the word of God is the seed by which men are begotten unto a new life, and that the hiding of the word in the heart keeps one from sin, we may easily understand 1 John 3:9: 'No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.' How simple!"[1] Our Monday's lesson topic is, "Elected." This perhaps is one of the most misunderstood and misinterpreted themes of the 1888 message. Although we as Seventh-day Adventists have made little if any effort to tell the 1888 view to the Catholic and Protestant world, it resolves the centuries- old conflict between Calvinism and Arminianism. It agrees with Calvinism in that Christ's work of justification accomplished on His cross was effective, He accomplished what He set out to do. It disagrees with Calvinism's "limited atonement" confined only to the "elect." This "limited atonement" is a subtle denial of a "most precious" truth. It means that Christ did not die for every one of us, but only for those few who are "elect." In contrast, "1888" sees that Christ has purchased the gift of salvation for "all men" and has giventhe gift to them "in Himself." He wants all to be saved, and before the foundation of the world He predestined all to be saved. But some of us will allow only that the Savior has "offered" the gift to "all men," but has not given it, until they do something first to believe and accept it. In other words, our salvation is ultimately due to our own initiative. But "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them"--all this done at the cross before you and I came along (2 Cor. 5:19). Christ has "tasted death [the second] for every man" (Heb. 2:9), which can only mean that He has paid the full price to save "every man." This went beyond popular Adventism of its day and of ours, declaring that Christ has not only offered salvation to all, but has actually given the gift, placing it in every man's hand, as it were. He became "the Savior of the world" (John 4:42), "the Savior of all men, especially of those that believe" (1 Tim. 4:10). It's a breath-taking idea, and shocking, but it's Bible. Those who are lost at last have made their true name to be "Esau." He hadthe "birthright," he didn't need to do anything to obtain it, but he "despised" and "sold" what God had placed in his hands (Gen. 25:34; Heb. 12:16). This is a free, full atonement given in a legal sense to "all men." The only alternative is a "limited atonement." If Christ didn't truly save you when He "saved the world," then you have been short-changed by a limited atonement! Waggoner said it clearly: "'By the righteousness of One the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life' [Rom. 5:18].There is no exception here. As the condemnation came upon all, so the justification comes upon all. Christ has tasted death for every man. He has given Himself for all. Nay, He has given Himself to every man. The free gift has come upon all. The fact that it is a free gift is evidence that there is no exception. If it came only upon those who have some special qualification, then it would not be a free gift."[2] Waggoner also made it plain that the 1888 view of justification is not the heresy of Universalism: "'Do you mean to teach universal salvation?' someone may ask. We mean to teach just what the Word of God teaches--that 'the grace of God hath appeared, bringing salvation to all men.' Titus 2:11, Revised Version [the Greek sustains this rendering]. God has wrought out salvation for every man, and has given it to him; but the majority spurn it and throw it away. The judgment will reveal the fact that full salvation was given to every man and that the lost have deliberately thrown away their birthright possession."[3] "The gift is ours to keep. If anyone has not this blessing, it is because he has not recognized the gift, or has deliberately thrown it away."[4] But why is this truth so important? By recovering the truths of both Calvinism and Arminianism while rejecting their errors, "1888" rediscovers the original truth of the cross of Christ in a way that none of the Reformers were able in their day to grasp, honest as they were. The conclusion: God has entrusted to Seventh-day Adventists a unique understanding of the cross that with His blessing is yet to lighten the earth with glory. This cannot be grasped except in the light of the cleansing of the sanctuary. When an honest heart recognizes this ultimate truth of what happened on the cross, "the love [agape] of Christ constrains" (motivates) the soul to live "henceforth" only for the One who died our second death for us. The results, in God's plan, are phenomenal: all old covenant, egocentric motivation is transcended. The joy that Jesus will know will be unbounded. The long delayed wedding of two who have dearly loved each other is an occasion of great joy here on earth; think of a cosmic wedding! Four grand Hallelujah choruses with heaven's symphony orchestras accompanying the massed choirs. "The angel said to me, 'Write, Blessed [happy] are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.' And he said to me, 'These are true words of God'" (Rev. 19:9, NASB). You are invited; now "make your calling and election sure" (2 Peter 1:10). --From the writings of Ellet J. Waggoner and Robert J. Wieland Notes: 1. Ellet J. Waggoner, "The Indwelling Word," The Signs of the Times, July 4, 1890. Bible texts from the New American Standard Bible. 2. Waggoner on Romans, p. 5.101 (italics supplied). 3. Ellet J. Waggoner, The Glad Tidings, pp. 13, 14 (CFI ed., 2016). 4. Ibid., p. 66. Chapter 15 A Royal Priesthood If you believe, like many evolutionists, that you are only an animal and not a "son of God," then you have no self-respect. Neither do you have any real hope. You will live in squalor and filth (as do millions of people) and instead of doing something about it to improve your life, you will "forget" about your "misery" by drinking. This is exactly what is happening to millions of people. They are content to drink themselves deeper into "poverty and unhappiness." True Bible teaching shows that in Christ all men and women are "kings." Before his fall, Adam was the king of the earth and was called "the son of God" (Luke 3:38). But by his sin he lost his exalted honor and passed into a condition of servitude. All we, his descendants, have fallen "in Adam," through sin. The important point is that God has not left us in that low position. Christ has redeemed what was lost and has recaptured that "first dominion; the kingdom" (Micah 4:8). He conquered Satan and wrested the lordship from him. In so doing, Christ had to become one of us, a man. He is thus our Brother and He shares the kingship with us. "In Christ," therefore, we are all kings. This immediately gives a tremendous sense of self-worth to anyone who will believe this truth. This is why Peter says that we are "a royal priesthood" (1 Peter 2:9). The Lord promised every individual Israelite that each should share in this gift of royalty: "Ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests" (Ex. 19:6). John says that Christ "hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father" (Rev. 1:6). Those who believe the good news will live and reign with Him (Rev. 20:4). Especially helpful is His promise that if we who are so heavily tempted will overcome: we shall sit with Him on His throne, "even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father on His throne" (Rev. 3:21). It is not that we shall be "kings" someday; we are now kings and "joint-heirs with Christ" (Rom. 8:17). "If ye be Christ's, then are ye ... heirs according to the promise," that is, "heirs of the kingdom which He hath promised to them that love Him" (Gal. 3:29; James 2:5). It doesn't matter how unworthy we feel, or how many mistakes we have made, God's glory is that He loves and honors worthless sinners. "Whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16) and the "everlasting life" is not that of everlasting slavery or servitude, but that of kings sharing the lost "first dominion." "They shall inherit the earth" (Matt. 5:5). As one of God's "royal priesthood," a "joint-heir" with Christ, you are important. Already, your exalted position gives you responsibility and influence. Someone is looking to you for guidance and example. Already, as a child of God, your word is "law" to Satan and his evil angels, for "in Christ" you have authority over the evil one. "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you" (James 4:7), because you are a "king" "in Christ." "Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet" (Psalm 91:13). You can already exercise your kingship and royal priesthood by saving someone else through the word of Christ. Our lesson raises the question of the covenant--a key theme of the 1888 message. Did God's people in Old Testament times have to live under the old covenant? Was all that horrible apostasy in ancient Israel something necessary because the people were living at the wrong time? Did God withhold something from them that He later on relented about, and then gave them the new covenant? Poor people! Was He being fair to them? These are questions stirring the Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Adventist churches. Never can the Christian Church lighten the earth with the glory of a final message of good news (like Rev. 18:1-4 speaks of) unless this problem of the old covenant with respect to the new covenant gets cleared up. Confusion paralyzes the finest church on earth. Lukewarmness, apostasy, backsliding, are impossible to a church that is living in the knowledge and experience of the new covenant. Too strong to say? Unless this is true, the gospel is forced logically to become a contradiction in terms--confusion, a failure. The reason is that the new covenant gospel is "the power of God unto salvation" (Rom. 1:16), not a program to failure or backsliding. Backsliding is due to the old covenant imported into the heart--9/10ths new covenant and 1/10th old covenant = failure. No, ancient Israel were not programmed to failure. Their beginning was "the father of us all," Abraham (Rom. 4:16). God gave him the new covenant in those seven promises in Gen. 12:1-3. All his descendants should be "children of faith" as Isaac was. They would become the greatest nation on earth, always the head, never the tail (Deut. 28:13), always "a kingdom of priests," meaning, a nation of spiritual geniuses (Ex. 19:6). They were to be God's missionary nation through whom "all families of the earth shall be blessed" (Gen. 12:3). They would evangelize the world! But they fastened themselves under the old covenant in Exodus 19:3-8. That thinking kept popping up in their up and down history. True theology is the simple teaching of Jesus as found in the Bible. Take any sinful, selfish, worldly, lustful human being and add to him or her that pure, true teaching of Jesus, and the result is a pure, unselfish, kind, honest, loving person (provided of course that he believes that teaching; salvation is by grace through faith). The church is many such believers forming a corporate body, which Jesus is pleased to acknowledge as His "body" on earth. It's His intention that His church "escape the corruption that is in the world through lust" (2 Peter 1:4), "kept by the power of God through faith" (1 Peter 1:5). Its members are to be "holy in all manner of conversation" [lifestyle] (vs. 15). The entire church, not just its clergy, are "a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar [different] people. ... honest among the Gentiles" who will have no evil media "report" of any kind against them (2:9, 12). The clergy are to be "ensamples to the flock," totally loyal to "the chief Shepherd" (5:3, 4). True theology in a church produces that result. --Paul E. Penno Chapter 16 Social Relationships The lesson this week concerns social relationships. Peter is generally considered the most gregarious and impulsive of all the twelve disciples. That impulsiveness is something most of us can relate to, and like Peter, most of us have suffered the consequences of speaking or acting in haste. Our lesson looks at several different kinds of relationships and uses Peter's instruction to guide us in relating to others. Rather than thinking of Peter's letters as manuals of conduct, let's examine the underlying principles that Peter is trying to illustrate. It is impossible to appreciate the value heaven places on another human being without an understanding of what Jesus accomplished for everyone on His cross, and what it cost Him to do that: 1. He "poured out His soul unto death" (Isa. 53:12). 2. He could not have emptied Himself more. Like when one turns a glass upside down to drain it to its last drop, He made a commitment to drain Himself of everything dear to Him, even life (Phil. 2:5-8). 3. He endured the curse of God, which is Heaven's total condemnation (Gal. 3:13). 4. He tasted (the second or final) death for everyone (Heb. 2:9). 5. He gave Himself for our sins, holding nothing back (Gal. 1:4). 6. He went to hell in our behalf in order to save us (Psalm 16:10; Acts 2:2527). 7. He showed us genuine love, the self-emptying agape, so that it could be manifested in us, so we could demonstrate God's love to the world (1 John 4:9-14). The question remains, was this sacrifice sufficient to redeem the human race? Simply showing how unselfish God is does nothing for the human race, because without the shedding of blood there is no remission for sin. In a sense, a demonstration of God'sagape love is a collateral effect of the cross. The real purpose of the cross was to redeem the human race from the consequences of our choice to rebel against God's love. All of the self sacrifice described above was required in order to qualify Jesus to become our Savior and Redeemer. There are those who seek to limit the atonement that Christ accomplished. They teach that Christ did not intend to die for all people. They go so far as to say God didn't mean what Jesus told Nicodemus, "for God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son ... (John 3:16), but what was really meant was God loved a certain portion of people. Those people have to be lucky enough to be born into an "elect" class, or have done something special to gain God's attention. But, does the Bible support these ideas? Is the gospel good news to those who are not born into the "elect," or can't manage to do something notable enough to get God's attention in order to gain His favor? Let's look at what the Bible says. The very last page of the Bible contradicts this distorted view: "The Spirit and the Bride say, 'Come!' And let him who hears say, 'Come!' And let him who thirsts come. And whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely" (Rev. 22:17). That "whoever" includes you and me! The only condition is that we must "hear" the Spirit and the Bride. The saddest choice on earth is when someone deliberately chooses not to simply hear. Jesus promised: "The one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out" (John 6:37). God has actually chosen every human being to be saved, but some are unwilling to receive His incredible gift. Isaiah 45:22 tells us, "Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth!" That means everyone on earth who is willing to look to Jesus will be saved. Does this sound too good to be true? It sounds like everybody will be saved. We know the Bible doesn't teach that, so who will be lost? "He who does not believe is condemned ... And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light" (John 3:1719). Paul tells us some of the best news in Ephesians chapter 1: "The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, ... chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, ... having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, ... in [whom] we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence" (vss. 3-8). What does all this fabulous good news have to do with social relationships? Everything. Only when we understand that the gospel, full and complete, is freely given to all, can we understand the value of all human beings. Our relationships with everyone from strangers to our most intimate family members must be guided by that knowledge. If heaven values all of us that much, that is the only standard by which we should relate to others. When Paul used the word "love" in the famous "love chapter" in 1 Corinthians 13, he was using the Greek word agape. When we understand the great demonstration of this word that Christ gave to us at His Cross, we understand it is a very specific concept, not to be confused with the general all-purpose English word "love." We must also realize that agape is far too unselfish a concept for us to muster up on our own, because we are born with a self-centered nature that can be overcome only by the power of the Holy Spirit. That applies to the nicest, most unselfish person you have ever known. All good gifts come from above, and greatest of those gifts is genuine agape. No matter how hopeless you might think your case is, the beautiful message given to the church in the 1888 period was that God through His Spirit is able to change a stony heart into softness, tenderness, and love. Once that happens, it will pour out freely as Christ has given to you into all your social relationships, be they government, social, church, or family. God can heal everything. If we remember that, we can be patient and humble in working with those who haven't yet discovered this wonderful truth. --Arlene Hill Chapter 17 Living for God Why do some people have an easy time through life, and others have sorrow and pain? Or, to ask the question in a more pointed way, Why do good people have to suffer? There is a phenomenon that it seems every sincere believer in Christ must experience. You must learn what to do when it seems that God is against you. Many in the Bible had to wrestle with that problem. Take Peter, for example, he writes: "Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin" (1 Peter 4:1). As Jesus hung on His cross, everything was against Him: His friends had all forsaken Him, one had betrayed Him, another had denied Him, and His own people were crucifying Him, and it appeared as though the Father in heaven had turned a deaf ear against Him. And there have been others, all through history: Abel served God faithfully, yet had to endure murder for it by his own brother; Noah had to endure 120 years of unrelenting sunshine without a cloud in the sky because he believed what God had said--a rain flood was coming. Finally in that last week as he and his family were inside the ark, his faith was severely tried as the people outside were laughing and ridiculing him--"where's the rain, you fool?" Abraham waits 25 long years for the fulfillment of God's promise to give him a son through whom "all families of the earth [shall] be blessed" (Gen. 12:3), and then when the lad grows up a bit, Abraham is told to offer him as a sacrifice. David, anointed by the prophet Samuel to be king of Israel, for ten years is driven into the wilderness by an insane king Saul, David apparently forsaken by God; on one occasion his own loyal followers threatened to stone him. Jeremiah has to endure 40 plus years of continual rejection, only at the end to see his beloved Jerusalem and the Temple destroyed; more than once he was tempted to give up in despair. Paul has a "thorn in the flesh" that troubles him; three times he begs the Lord to deliver him from it, and He says, No, Paul, don't pray about it any more; "My strength is made perfect in weakness" (2 Cor. 12:8, 9). And let's not forget Stephen: he realized the blessing of the Holy Spirit as he preached his last sermon only to have to kneel down and feel those stones pelting him. And there are the Waldenses and other faithful Christians in the Dark Ages who served God and had to die as martyrs. What do you do when it seems God has forsaken you? You still believe Him. We conservative Christians are steeped in the idea that we must be punished for our sins, we must pay the price. But the Bible teaches an idea known as the gospel, a concept of good news that says that Christ has already endured the punishment for our sins. He has paid the price, "exhausted the penalty" Ellen White has said [1], because "The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all" (Isa. 53:6). "His own self bare our sins in His own body ... by whose stripes ye were healed" (1 Peter 2:24). "Christ ... hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God" (3:18). The suffering that Jesus endured was for our sins, the just for the unjust. His suffering included not only verbal and physical abuse, but death. The New Testament includes the concept that those who accept Jesus as their Saviour enter into His suffering and death. This concept can be described as solidarity on the part of the repentant sinner and his Lord--a shared identity, a corporate experience--a beautiful idea embedded in the 1888 message. Peter says, "Arm yourselves likewise with the same mind" (1 Peter 4:1). The apostle Paul gives a similar admonition: "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" (Phil. 2:5-8). That death is our death. Having described the believer as having entered into the experience of suffering and death to sin in solidarity with Jesus, Peter then says, "He that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin" (1 Peter 4:1). Peter is not saying that physical suffering for the cause of Christ automatically absolves us from all sin. Rather, he suggests that we suffer corporately in Christ's suffering and that we die corporately in Christ's death. Because Jesus died once for all for sins (3:18), when we accept Him, we die to sin in solidarity with Him. What does that mean for the suffering Christian? Christ has already borne our fate. The punishment is over. There is now no fearful looking for judgment; if only you can hear and believe this good news. According to John 3:16-19, the only thing you have to be afraid of, is your own unbelief. We may think that our sorrows are not a fellowship with Christ in His sufferings; but they are. We can claim His participation. "God never leads His children otherwise than they would choose to be led, if they could see the end from the beginning, and discern the glory of the purpose which they are fulfilling as coworkers with Him. Not Enoch, who was translated to heaven, not Elijah, who ascended in a chariot of fire, was greater or more honored than John the Baptist, who perished alone in the dungeon. ... Of all the gifts that Heaven can bestow upon men, fellowship with Christ in His sufferings is the most weighty trust and the highest honor." [2] The secret is to discern wherein our sufferings are like His for us to share His sufferings, to sense how His heart is touched with the tremendous weight of grief around the world. Oh that we could long for Christ's coming for His sake, not ours. --Paul E. Penno Notes: 1. Ellen G. White, Selected Messages, book 1, p. 340; God's Amazing Grace, p. 139. 2. Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, pp. 224, 225. Chapter 18 Suffering for Christ Have you ever been persecuted for Christ? If honesty forces you to say No, then you have never been fully "blessed." You are deprived! The word "persecution" has come to mean primarily suffering unjust opposition or affliction from religious authorities. When people who are openly godless attack you, it is easier to bear than when those who profess to be servants of God do it. Jesus says, "Blessed are ye, when [people] shall revile you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake. Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad ... for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you" (Matt. 5:11, 12). Why is such persecution so painful for sincere people to endure? Church fellowship is like family fellowship, often more intimately so. It's like yanking a plant out of the ground by its roots; it soon withers. Where is Jesus when that happens to you? We can find the answer in John 9: Jesus had healed the man born blind; the Jewish clergy harassed him, persecuted him, finally "cast him out" of his "church fellowship," the synagogue. "Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and ... He ... found him" (vs. 35). For Jesus to find him and be with him was part of the "blessing" that He promised to those who are persecuted for His sake. Often in sacred history, God's faithful servants have labored unselfishly and yet have either been rejected outright or have suffered at the hands of God's true people being unappreciated. An example is the story of the message brought by two young men (A. T. Jones and E. J. Waggoner) at a great General Conference Session in 1888 when Ellen White was almost the only person present who expressed appreciation for their work and their message. Solomon said, "The poor man's wisdom is despised" (Eccl. 9:16), the very word Ellen White used repeatedly to describe the reception this heaven-sent message received among "us" well over a century ago. But there's another way to look at "suffering for Christ." There's a reverse to this "coin"--instead of our downtrodden suffering it can be a cause for rejoicing. When Jesus said that those who mourn are happy people (Matt. 5:4), He shocked everybody. As Luke reports the statement, he has Jesus saying, "Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh" (Luke 6:21). It may not appear on the surface to be true, but like many things that Jesus says, there is a profound reality involved. When you shed tears in morning, if you believe the gospel, you are in fact realizing a point of intimate contact with Christ, the Son of God. The secret is revealed in 1 Peter 4:13 which says, "Rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy." Have you ever felt that your life has been a failure? Some who have lost a love or suffered divorce feel pained to their roots; some have suffered the loss of good health and pray and nothing happens. In sober moments they think of the final Judgment and wonder how they will fare. Burdens can be heavy. And it's not just those far along in life who wrestle thus; teenagers can know what depression is. You are overwhelmed that there is nobody anywhere who really understands you. You are alone. And then the Holy Spirit reminds you of Jesus. Did He sail through life laughing, always on top? Did He ever wake up at night unable to sleep, feeling a failure? Yes! There is a passage in Isaiah that can be authored by no one else than Jesus: "Then I said, I have labored in vain, I have spent My strength for nought, and in vain" (49:4). Isaiah actually wrote the words but he did so as a prophecy of Jesus (see verses 1-3). You'd think such a person would never be tempted to feel His life is a failure! But He was "in all points tempted like as we are" (Heb. 4:15). He took all that is ours upon Himself, carrying the burden of feeling a failure further than we could: He felt that even His Father had "forsaken" Him in the darkest moment any human has ever known. The very thing your whole soul longs for--to live for a purpose--requires that you get acquainted with Jesus, to "taste" His experience, to know at least a little something of what it means to be "despised and rejected of men" (53:3). True, you'll be different forever after. You can't join in the laughter of the social scene; you'll feel driven to "pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly" (Matt. 6:6). It will be a rich experience. You'll find you can't live without praying to Him "in secret." You'll forget about setting your alarm clock to wake up and "have your devotions"; the Father will wake you up because He is hungry for fellowship with you! You'll know the Savior as Someone you never dreamed of--who loves you differently than how you pity your dog: He actually honors you as one of the princes or princesses in His realm, He even invites you to "sit down with [Him] in His throne" (Rev. 3:21). Don't despise being "a partaker of Christ's sufferings" (1 Peter 4:12, 13). Life is not ending; it's just begun. What does it mean to be "a partaker of Christ's sufferings," and how is it cause for rejoicing? Paul's (and Christ's) oft-repeated theme is "identity." As the "second" or "last Adam" Christ entered the stream of our fallen humanity, became one with us so truly that as we are all "in Adam" by birth, so we "all" are "in Christ" by virtue of His redemption of the entire human race (1 Cor. 15:22). So truly does He identify with us that Isaiah says, "In all their affliction He was afflicted" (Isa. 63:9). This is why He tells everybody at last, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren [good or ill], ye have done it unto Me" (Matt. 25:40). He trulyfeels the woe of the world! This identity is reciprocated when we appreciate how He has identified with us--we believe, "abide, remain in Him." Our appreciation of His suffering now ennobles and sanctifies our suffering so that, as Peter says, we become "partakers of His sufferings." The principle is all-inclusive: "If we be dead with Him, we shall also live with Him: if we suffer, we shall also reign with Him" (2 Tim. 2:11, 12). The resulting comfort is enormous. The believer sees how important he or she is in the infrastructure of God's universe: "For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ [we do something for Him!], not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake" (Phil. 1:29), and (amazing thought!) we make a contribution to the great controversy between Christ and Satan in that we "fill up that which is behind [something is lacking which must be supplied!] of the afflictions of Christ in [our] flesh for His body's sake, which is the church" (Col. 1:24). This "partaking" in no way contributes to our salvation, but it enables us to be happy when we meet Him at last, knowing that we have something intimate in common with Him! He actually invites those who suffer in these last days to "sup with Him," inasmuch as they have "overcome even as [He] overcame." Therefore don't be surprised if He permits a little suffering to come your way! These thoughts only scratch the surface of glorious Good News. --From the writings of Robert J. Wieland Chapter 19 Servant Leadership Jesus Christ is our premier example of what servant leadership in the church looks like. His self-denying love brought Him to this wicked world where He gave Himself unstintingly, holding back nothing, to the service of mankind. Jesus "humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" (Phil. 2:8). If we possess that same attitude of humility and submission to God, Christian leaders from our local churches and all the way up to the General Conference, will exhibit the crucial characteristics vitally needed to carry the three angels' messages forward to completion. No matter how extensive or advanced, knowledge without appropriate self-denial builds pride and does not advance the work of God. The apostle Paul's history provides much insight for this week's lesson. Paul was a talented theologian with plenty of advanced knowledge and abundant zeal for what he believed was truth, but these could not progress the work of God as he exercised them prior to his conversion. Paul accepted the prevailing opinion that Jesus was crucified as a common criminal and therefore, according to the views of the leaders of the Jews, could not be the promised Messiah. Christianity was looked upon as a pernicious superstition. That someone could rise from the grave was considered to be utter foolishness. Faith in the risen Christ was viewed as obstinacy and a religious perversity. These pestilential ideas were deemed worthy of repression and persecution because they overturned the "tradition of the elders" and threatened the established religious order of things. By the time of Christ, the truth of the everlasting covenant given to Adam, Noah, Abraham, and David had long been eclipsed by tradition and legalism that supplanted pure faith in God's power to deliver His people from sin. The Pharisees were preaching "the law until [they] were as dry as the hills of Gilboa that had neither dew nor rain"[1], while the Sadducees undermined God's word with their doubts concerning righteousness and life after death, leaving the laypeople famished for spiritual nourishment and hope of eternal life. The leadership--priests, Pharisees, and Sadducees--of the Jewish church had become elevated to such an exalted position that they felt that no one could question their theological proclamations. Their word was law and ought to be obeyed simply because of the high position they held in the church and community. They remained unchallenged until Christ came to town. Jesus was the premier example of a religious teacher and humble servant to those in need. For three and a half years, He met the Jewish theologians on their own ground, bringing glad tidings to those persons who were spiritually weary and heavily burdened by the many additions to God's Commandments that these "pious" church men had formulated and stipulated as being necessary for salvation. These Jewish leaders hounded Jesus throughout Judea and in Jerusalem, continually challenging Him to debates in hopes of finding fault in His teachings that they might openly condemn Him before the people. As Jesus' earthly ministry was nearing its end, the high priest and Sanhedrin (comparable to a "general conference" of the Jewish faith) increased their plotting to kill Him. Jesus was a threat to their cherished doctrines and power over the people. Their political and religious positions, and reputations were in serious danger if the common people continued to follow this Man from Nazareth in ever increasing numbers. Even after Christ was killed, the danger continued through the Spirit-led disciples who had been eyewitnesses to the power of Jesus' resurrection. An emissary of those legalistic theologians who were struggling to maintain their control of the people's thinking, was Saul [hereafter referred to as Paul]. By any standard, he was a terrorist who persecuted innocent Christians simply because they chose to believe a different message than the one taught in the Temple and synagogues by the Jewish leadership. On his way to Damascus with orders from the high priest to arrest Christians living there, Paul was in reality headed for a divine appointment. It seemed impossible that someone like Paul--young, impetuous, and so full of theological fire and self-assurance--could be humbled in the dust and turned into a servant of the One he hated. But the Lord intended to turn Paul's theological knowledge and spiritual talents for good instead of evil. Approaching the city, "suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven" and Paul had his pride adjusted when he was knocked from his horse to the ground (Acts 9:3, 4). Before and during that journey Paul was absolutely convinced of the correctness of his theological position. However, that confrontation with Jesus shook Paul to the foundation of his beliefs. He was confronted by his sin, and his need of Jesus as his Saviour was made clear to him. Paul had been "kicking against the pricks"--resisting the work of the Holy Spirit who was trying to convert Saul the fire-breathing legalist, into Paul the New Testament's humble servant leader, and foremost preacher of righteousness by faith in Christ. Eighteen hundred and fifty years later, on a dismal rainy afternoon in 1882, young Ellet J. Waggoner sat in a gospel tent in Healdsburg, California, listening to a boring sermon. Suddenly he felt that a light illuminated the area around him, and he caught a vision of the reality of the cross of Christ, not as a dry historical event of eighteen hundred years before, but as present truth. Waggoner suddenly realized that Christ loved him and died for him personally. That singular event stirred Waggoner's heart and mind, sending him on a lifelong study of the Bible's foundational principle of the everlasting covenant. Four years later, Waggoner began to publish his views on the two covenants in the Signs of the Timesmagazine. In these articles, he introduced ideas that were contrary to the established opinions of a large portion of the church leaders. At the 1886 General Conference session, Waggoner presented his view that the law in Galatians was the moral law. G. I. Butler and Uriah Smith (then General Conference president, andReview and Herald editor, respectively) took umbrage to Waggoner's position. It directly challenged their cherished view that the law in Galatians was the ceremonial law. They felt that Waggoner's view threatened the foundational teachings of the church and would seriously hinder evangelism work on the Sabbath truth. The resulting conflict has not been much different than what occurred at the time Christ was crucified. Under the power of the early rain Peter, God's humbled servant leader, stood up and preached the risen Saviour to a doubting crowd, declaring Him to be the only means of salvation from sin. The established, prideful theologians in A.D. 34 and in 1888 attempted to stonewall the work God was completing in His remnant people. The early rain proceeded under the work of the faithful apostles, but in 1888 the beginning of the latter rain was stymied by persistent unbelief. In 1888 two young men preached more fully the meaning of Christ's sacrifice and work of redemption. "Great truths that had lain unheeded and unseen since the day of Pentecost" were presented "in their native purity."[2] Had the church leadership in 1888 humbly and prayerfully listened to the Holy Spirit's message sent to them through A. T. Jones and E. J. Waggoner (and endorsed by Ellen White), then as God's servant leaders, they would have been prepared to proclaim the three angels' messages to the world under the power of the latter rain. But "an unwillingness to yield up preconceived opinions," and "because of insubordination" we have had to remain in this dark world "many more years" than God intended.[3] It remains for us to receive this latter rain power and finish the work entrusted to us as God's remnant people. We have been cautioned to "be careful, every one of you, what position you take, whether you enshroud yourselves in the clouds of unbelief because you see imperfections [in Waggoner and Jones's characters]; you see a word or a little item, perhaps, that may take place, and judge them from that. You are to see what God is doing with them, ... and then you are to acknowledge the Spirit of God that is revealed in them. And if you choose to resist it you will be acting just as the Jews acted."[4] --Ann Walper Notes: 1. Ellen G. White, "Christ Prayed for Unity Among His Disciples," Review and Herald, March 11, 1890. 2. Ellen G. White, Fundamentals of Christian Education, p. 473. 3. Ellen G. White, Selected Messages, book 1, pp. 234, 235; Evangelism, pp. 695, 696. 4. The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, vol. 2, pp. 608, 609. Chapter 20 Jesus in the Writings of Peter The letters of Peter express the gospel in rich and powerful ways. They draw interesting implications and challenges for everyday Christian living, including how God reaches out to the brokenness of this sin-sick world, the fallen humanity. God is seeking and constantly knocking in each and every heart, including the lost soul, to save "that which was lost" (Luke 19:10). Take a look at who Peter is: "an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia" (1 Peter 1:1) These strangers could be believers in Christ. Of all the places that Paul traveled and preached to the churches in Asia Minor, the Roman provinces, and Turkey, it appears that Peter is speaking directly to these same Pauline churches. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, is also a reference to Simon Peter, the son of Jonah, and a leader of the first generation church. He is also known as a fisherman. Peter spent three years in the school of Jesus, and some of the lessons that Peter had to deal with were the great doctrines of election, foreknowledge, sanctification, obedience, the blood of Christ, the Trinity, the grace of God, salvation, revelation, glory, faith, and hope. We see a changed life in Peter, being impetuous, but now patient. Here we learn that Peter's name means "rock." Our Lord told him in effect, "You are a pretty weak man now, but I am going to make you a Petros, a 'rock-man.' And you will build upon the foundation of Jesus Christ who is the Rock on which the church is built." He is emphasizing that all believers in Christ are small rocks also: "Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house" (1 Peter 2:5). Actually, this means every believer is a Peter. Please note that Simon Peter never exalts himself in any position, other than referring himself as an apostle, chosen by the Lord to preach the first sermon on the Day of Pentecost. He did not feel that he was exalted above the others. Peter faces and suffers martyrdom through his experience in being a representative for Christ. Peter explains Christ as our sacrifice through His death on the cross as the Redeemer and Savior for us in 1 Peter 1:18, 19: "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, ... but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." What amazing love poured out through God in sending His Son to reveal the plan of salvation. Peter addresses Jesus as the Messiah when reading Matthew 16:16: "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." (In Greek the word Christ is Christos, meaning "anointed, the "Messiah.") Then we get to the divinity of Jesus in the relationship with God, as one. Let's take a look at some of the gospel writings by Ellet J. Waggoner, one of the 1888 "messengers," and Ellen White: "The new birth completely supersedes the old. 'If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new; and all things are of God' (2 Cor. 5:17, 18). He who takes God for the portion of his inheritance, has a power working in him for righteousness, as much stronger than the power of inherited tendencies to evil, as our heavenly Father is greater than our earthly parents" (Waggoner, The Everlasting Covenant, p. 66; 1900 ed.). "We need not try to improve on the Scriptures, and say that the goodness of God tends to lead men to repentance. The Bible says that it does lead them to repentance, and we may be sure that it is so. Every man is being led toward repentance as surely as God is good. But not all repent. Why? Because they despise the riches of the goodness and forbearance and long- suffering of God, and break away from the merciful leading of the Lord. But whoever does not resist the Lord, will surely be brought to repentance and salvation" (Waggoner on Romans, p. 42). "Abiding in the Spirit, walking in the Sprit, the flesh with its lusts has no more power over us than if we were actually dead and in our graves. ...The flesh is still corruptible, still full of lusts, still ready to rebel against the Spirit; but as long as we yield our wills to God, the Spirit holds the flesh in check. ... This Spirit of life in Christ--the life of Christ--is given freely to all. 'Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely' (Rev. 22:17)." (Waggoner, The Glad Tidings, p. 123; CFI ed., 2016). "Thank God for the blessed hope! The blessing has come upon all men. For 'as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of One the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life' (Rom. 5:18). God, who is no respecter of persons, 'has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places' (Eph. 1: 3). The gift is ours to keep. If anyone has not this blessing, it is because he has not recognized the gift, or has deliberately thrown it away" (ibid., p. 66). "As Christ draws them to look upon His cross, to behold Him whom their sins have pierced, ... they begin to comprehend something of the righteousness of Christ. ... The sinner may resist this love, may refuse to be drawn to Christ; but if he does not resist he will be drawn to Jesus; a knowledge of the plan of salvation will lead him to the foot of the cross in repentance for his sins, which have caused the sufferings of God's dear Son" (Ellen G. White, Steps to Christ, p. 27). There is an old hymn, "Wonderful Grace of Jesus," where the message of Scripture comes through clearly that no matter how great your guilt, God's forgiveness is greater. The words say it all. Wonderful Grace of Jesus Wonderful grace of Jesus, Greater than all my sin; How shall my tongue describe it, Where shall its praise begin? Taking away my burden, Setting my spirit free; For the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me. Refrain: Wonderful the matchless grace of Jesus, Deeper than the mighty rolling sea; Higher than the mountain, sparkling like a fountain, All sufficient grace for even me! Broader than the scope of my transgressions, Greater far than all my sin and shame; O magnify the precious Name of Jesus, Praise His name! Wonderful grace of Jesus, Reaching the most defiled, By its transforming power, Making him God's dear child, Purchasing peace and heaven For all eternity-- And the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me. [By Haldor Lillenas, 1885-1959; for the complete hymn see Hymnary.org] There was a very dear adopted Mother-like figure to me who has been a caring friend during my nursing career. Just several days before Mother's day, she passed away in her sleep. She was 99. She loved to pray for each encounter she came across. She reached me through a telephone ministry, and the relationship grew where I became part of her life and family. That is how it is when you are in the Family of God. You are never alone in the walk in the newness of a converted life in Him. And just think, on the "graduation day" of leaving this world of strife, to have your diploma read, "Receive Eternal Life!" May the apostle Peter's experience speak to us out of his tremendous experience in bringing the gospel of hope and grace. --Mary Chun Chapter 21 Be Who You Are "For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love" (2 Peter 1:5-7, New International Version, emphasis added). Our memory verse this week can easily be misunderstood if we don't understand the special work of preparing a group of people who will stand through the end of time. People who are inclined to legalism see this text as instruction to try ever harder to do all the things in Peter's list "right," not realizing that it's impossible for sinful humans to do this. Those who realize that scoff at the impossibility and comfort themselves by thinking that a rational God would never expect perfection from sinful human beings. A. T. Jones and E. J. Waggoner, the 1888 "messengers," saw that genuine righteousness by faith since 1844 is a special experience ministered by Jesus, our High Priest, from the Most Holy Apartment. This special ministry is not concerned primarily with preparing people to die, but preparing a corporate body of God's people for translation at the coming of Christ. The great controversy between Christ and Satan cannot be concluded until such a demonstration develops. Thus it is evident that the views of popular churches that do not follow Christ by faith in His Most Holy Apartment ministry cannot be "present truth" righteousness by faith. The message given to the Seventh-day Adventist Church in 1888 has a special, unique understanding of the everlasting gospel entrusted to us. The world must know about the cleansing of the sanctuary and how it relates to practical godliness. It's not our job to cleanse and make ourselves righteous in the Day of Atonement. It is the responsibility of our High Priest. We choose, believe, or "let" Him do it. After discussing the impossibility of achieving character through the earthly sacrificial system or the law, A. T. Jones explains, "This again shows that though perfection was the aim in all the ministry that was performed under the law, yet perfection was not attained by any of those performances. ... Therefore, since the will of God is the sanctification and the perfection of the worshipers; since the will of God is that His worshipers shall be so cleansed that they shall have no more conscience of sin; and since the service and the offerings in that earthly sanctuary could not do this; He took it all away that He may establish the will of God. "By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."[1] Perfection is attained only through Christ. "In His coming in the flesh-having been made in all things like unto us, and having been tempted in all points like as we are--He has identified Himself with every human soul just where that soul is. ... He, as one of us, in our human nature, weak as we, laden with the sins of the world, in our sinful flesh, in this world, a whole lifetime, lived a life 'holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners,' and 'was made' and ascended 'higher than the heavens.' ... Perfection, perfection of character, is the Christian goal--perfection attained in human flesh in this world. Christ attained it in human flesh in this world, and thus made and consecrated a way by which, in Him, every believer can attain it. He, having attained it, has become our great High Priest, by His priestly ministry in the true sanctuary to enable us to attain it. ... 'Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary.' (Psalm 77:13)"[2] What does that mean? If the sanctuary holds the key to Christian perfection, then it is important to understand. When God opened the sea, making a way for a disorderly group of slaves to leave the wickedness of Egypt, their only requirement was to believe and act on that belief. Clearly, they had misgivings, doubts, and complaints, but they left their slave quarters and followed Moses. Other than that, they had done nothing to earn God's attention or favor. God had not yet given them His law, so other than participate in a Passover meal and walk away from Egypt, they had no idea what God expected of them. When God gave them His law, they believed God was making a bargain with them. They were to keep His law, and in return He would be their God and protect them. They overlooked the fact that just before speaking the law to them He reminded them "I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery" (Ex. 20:2, New American Standard Bible). He was already their God. He had already worked miracles to rescue them out of their situation. He knew it was impossible for them to keep the law, but He used the law as a mirror to show how sinful they were. Since they could never keep the law in spirit and truth, He gave them the sanctuary service to show them His way of salvation. In the sacrificial system of the sanctuary, the role of the sinner was to understand they had sinned. Because there is no remission for sin without shedding of blood, they were to bring a sacrifice to the tabernacle. There, they would confess their sins only to God, transferring them to the innocent victim. The sinner was required to take a knife and cut the throat of the animal. This violent act was to impress the sinner of God's abhorrence of sin, as well as to direct their minds to the ultimate Victim which was only typified by the animal sacrifices. After the cut, the priest caught the blood in a bowl, and took it into the Holy Place and sprinkled it on the veil separating the two compartments, symbolically transferring the sin into the Most Holy Place. Note that the priest is the one who administers the blood. The sinner did not follow the priest into the tabernacle to see what the priest did with the blood. The sinner had to believe this process provided reconciling forgiveness so he was set right with God. It was by faith in the ancient tabernacle, just as it is entirely by faith now. So is that it? Is that all there is to do, just believe? What about Peter telling us to "make every effort" to add good things to our character? Doesn't that mean our works count for something? The 11th chapter of Hebrews reminds us of people of faith, Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and many others who began a long journey of choices and steps as God disciplined and refined them, settling them into their faith so they could not be moved. For most of them, a great deal of their journey was spent simply waiting, which is rarely easy. The problem happens when we resist God's voice, we give up faith because we don't understand why He is asking us to do this or that difficult thing, or why He waits. Jesus told Nicodemus if He was "lifted up" He would draw all to Him. That includes us as we go through the discipline of trials that our heavenly Father brings to refine our characters. Just as the sinner who brought his lamb to the ancient tabernacle needed faith to believe the priest was carrying out his responsibilities, so we need to lift Jesus up in our lives when we go through trials. The timing of when Jesus is able to add the things in Peter's list to our characters is up to Him. Our job is not to resist. --Arlene Hill Notes: 1. A. T. Jones, The Consecrated Way, pp. 84-86; Glad Tidings ed. (emphasis in original). 2. Ibid, pp. 87-89 Chapter 22 Prophecy and Scripture For many faint-hearted Christians the second coming of Jesus is receding more and more into the background. For them the return of Jesus is being eclipsed by the darkness of the world. The Apostle Peter sets forth two profound reasons why "the power and coming of our Lord" are not "cunningly devised fables" (2 Peter 1:16). The confirmation to Peter concerning the coming of Christ came when God spoke at the Mount of Transfiguration, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matt. 17:5). This was a foreshadowing of Christ's coming in the glory of His Father. At the transfiguration the apostles saw with their eyes and heard with their ears in miniature, a prescient forecast of Christ's coming. "The transfiguration stands for us, as it did for the apostles, a sure pledge of Christ's second coming in power and great glory. ..."[1] But there is another evidence of Christ's coming, and that is the "more sure word of prophecy" because it is spoken by the Spirit of God. "It is possible that a person's eyes or ears might deceive him, but there is no possibility of doubt in regard to the prophecy. And why not? Because it did not come 'by the will of man; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.' The prophecy, therefore, is as reliable as God Himself. There are very few things in this life upon which we can depend implicitly; how gladly, then, we ought to receive this sure word, and how eagerly we ought to search it."[2] Peter uses the analogy of a light which shines in a dark place; we are in darkness until the day dawns. But we cannot understand the "sure word of prophecy" until it breaks through into our hearts like the dawning of the day when the morning star must arise in our hearts and illuminate God's character of glory to us. The present age is called night. Paul says, "The night is far spent, the day is at hand; let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light" (Rom. 13:12). And this he says in view of the fact that it is high time to wake out of sleep, because our salvation is near. "The dawning of the day, and the rising of the Day-star, refer to the coming of Christ, who is 'the bright and Morning Star' (Rev. 22:16)."[3] Just before the coming of the Lord, His Word is to be proclaimed, and His life is to be manifested, to an extent and with a power never before known. This will be the shining of the Day-star, which will usher in the perfect day, when "the Sun of Righteousness" will shine over all the land, and "the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea" (Isa. 11:9). Christ cannot come until the power and love of God have been demonstrated in the lives of His followers to the same degree as in His own life. God will show by means of the church,--that is, all true believers in Jesus,--His power to work perfect righteousness in sinful mortals, thus accomplishing a work even greater than that which Satan set himself to overthrow. In his chapter 60, Isaiah is overjoyed to write about the time when the earth will be drenched with a special "light" of "the truth of the gospel." He says to God's people, "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee" (vs. 1). We have usually thought of this as the time when we will have more radio and television stations, greater technology for increased volume, so everybody in the world will at last hear what has been our traditional understanding of the message. There is an identical "loud voice" in Revelation 14:9 and 18:1-4 that characterizes the last soul-winning ministry of all time. Will it be a greater noise level that will command the world's attention? We have talked, and prayed, and sung about it for generations. Have we assumed it will be a glorious and triumphant success for the church, to validate all our past labors? Millions who have gone to "sleep in Jesus" have dreamed of living in those awe-inspiring days when the earth will be "lighted." But wait a moment: The Bible is not talking about an increased noise level, but of increased "light." It's to be a clearer grasp of what Paul repeatedly calls "the truth of the gospel" (Gal. 2:5, 14). Jesus said, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32). Greater light in understanding the gospel of righteousness by faith brings that freedom. But if someone feels "rich and increased with goods" in his understanding of the message, it could mean he has no "hunger and thirst after righteousness" (see Matt. 5:6). Emotionalism can easily be mistaken for truth. The "glory" spoken of in Isaiah 60:2 and Revelation 18:1-4 will be a clearer grasp of justification by faith. We don't want to be blind to the light when the Lord sends it as the Jews were blind to their Messiah when He came. You can "follow" Jesus only if you "take up [your] cross daily" to be "crucified with Him" (Luke 9:23, Gal. 2:20). Scripture prophesies a worldwide proclamation of pure gospel truth. We know it as the 1888 message. "The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea" (Hab. 2:14). "Living waters shall go out from Jerusalem" (Zech. 14:8). "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and ... Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising" (Isa. 60:1-3). "In the last days, saith God, ... on My servants and on My handmaidens I will pour out in those days of My Spirit" (Acts 2:17, 18). "I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory" (Rev. 18:1). It is great Good News! --Paul E. Penno Notes: 1. E. J. Waggoner, Prophetic Lights (1888), p. 30. 2. E. J. Waggoner, "The Sure Word," The Signs of the Times (Feb. 15, 1883), p. 77. 3. E. J. Waggoner, "Testimony of the Centuries. The Sure Word," The Present Truth (Dec. 20, 1894), p. 803. Chapter 23 False Teachers In the Christian faith, there is a true principle: If false doctrine is proclaimed, people will believe it if no one refutes it with truth. When teachers came from the church headquarters in Jerusalem to the churches in Galatia teaching false doctrine, Paul the apostle vigorously refuted their error in his Letter to the Galatians. He was obeying the command of Jude who said: "I gave all diligence to write unto you ... and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints" (vs. 3). The reason Jude gives is that false teachers had corrupted the truth of the gospel, and he was saying, Speak up for the truth! Today some Christians shy away from "contention" for the gospel, saying, "we want peace and quiet." The common saying is true: All that is needed for evil to triumph is for good men to say nothing. When the Son of God became incarnate on this earth, He had only a brief lifetime, but He spoke up so vigorously for the truth that He changed the world. We are rapidly approaching the final struggle of the "great controversy" between Christ and Satan. It's too late in the day for anyone who loves Jesus to be content to be a spiritual coward. But can anyone follow Christ truly and not be involved in warfare? Christ, who is heavily engaged in "the great controversy" says to us, "The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. ... Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. ... He that taketh not his cross, and followeth after Me is not worthy of Me" (Matt. 10:24, 34, 38). No room here for "couch potatoes"! A current example of conflict that has raged in the minds and hearts for hundreds of years is "justification (or righteousness) by faith." The battle has been going on for most of the 2000 years since Christ. One entire book in the New Testament is devoted to the conflict--the Book of Galatians. There was no way one could be a Christian then and not take a side either for what Paul declared is "the truth of the gospel" or for the false teachers who came from "Jerusalem" to oppose him. And the battle has not subsided! Bring up the subject in almost any church or Bible class, and you will see the sparks fly. Must the conflict go on and on forever? Or can those who choose to believe in Christ resolve the conflict and come into genuine and lasting heart unity? Is the Bible clear? Or is the very source of our faith itself muddled and confused? The rejection of the 1888 light opened the way for false ideas to enter under the guise of righteousness by faith. Indeed, if we turn from the genuine, nothing can prevent our grasping the counterfeit. A. T. Jones, at the 1893 General Conference Session showed how the mind devoted to self becomes the mind of Satan. He traced its development though paganism to the subtleties of Romanism. He said there are two kinds of justification by faith- -a true and a counterfeit. The counterfeit says that justification by faith is purely a legal pronouncement made millions of light years away that has no relation to our human heart; we verbally "accept Christ" and we start the heavenly machinery rolling. One's name is then entered in God's computer and our eternal social security benefits are then credited to our account. Our decision has initiated this process of legal acquittal. We were clever enough to put the coins in the washing machine. An element of pride can enter here; we initiated the process of our salvation. A perfect example of what Peter has told us: "While they promise [us] liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage" (2 Peter 2:19, NKJV). Peter says that these false teachers smuggle in "destructive heresies" (2 Peter 2:1). One of the most distressing things about them was their denying the sovereign Lord who bought them. Christians are the property of Jesus because He bought them, as Peter says. The price He paid was His blood, His life (1 Peter 1:18, 19). The false teachers denied their Master by repudiating His ownership. This they did by their licentious conduct, returning to the slavery of sin. The false teachers claimed to be liberated and enlightened. For them, Jesus was the messenger from the realm of light who came to awaken them to their true natures, to help them discover their true selves. He did not come to die but to inform, to reveal the great knowledge. He was not their Master, and they were not His slaves. Rather, they had the spark of divinity in themselves, just as Jesus did. They were not bound by any commands. Such was their gospel, and it was attractive. Peter says that they denied the Master who had bought them for the highest price imaginable and therefore owned them. The result of their impudence would be "swift destruction"--the judgment, even though they also denied that a judgment would take place (2 Peter 2:1). The false teachers were popular--"Many will follow their destructive ways" (2 Peter 2:2)--and their immorality and that of their followers brought "the way of truth," meaning Christianity, "into disrepute." Peter charges that an important motivation of the false teachers is greed--a covetousness for money, sex, and power (vs. 3). These teachers were especially adept at attracting women (2 Tim. 3:6), achieving control over their minds, their purses, their hearts, and their bodies. How did they do it? With stories they made up (2 Peter 2:3), i.e., fabricated doctrines. Women and sensitive men were distressed and depressed by a harsh and oppressive world. The false teachers claimed to give the explanation of why things were as they were and how to be liberated from them. They claimed they had the real gospel, really good news that could restore the self-image and self-worth of people who felt devalued by the system. People were more than willing to pay to become one of the worthy. But the 1888 messengers (E. J. Waggoner and A. T. Jones) counteracted these teachings with a new, liberating understanding of justification by faith: (1) It makes the believer to become obedient to the law of God, not by eradicating his sinful nature but by enabling him to triumph over it:"God justifies the ungodly. ... It does not mean that He glosses over a man's faults, so that he is counted righteous, although he is really wicked; but it means that He makes that man a doer of the law. The moment God declares an ungodly man righteous, that instant that man is a doer of the law. ... It will be seen, therefore, that there can be no higher state than that of justification. It does everything that God can do for a man short of making him immortal, which is done only at the resurrection. ... Faith and submission to God must be exercised continually, in order to retain the righteousness--in order to remain a doer of the law."[1] (2) Saving faith is a heart appreciation of the sacrifice of Christ: "In this blessed fact of the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus, which was accomplished for every soul, there is not only laid the foundation of faith for every soul, but in it there is given the gift of faith to every soul. And thus the cross of Christ is ... the very power of God manifested to deliver us from all sin, and bring us to God."[2] (3) Genuine justification by faith is meaningless apart from appreciating how close Christ has come to us: "There is no element of weakness in the law; the weakness is in the flesh. It is not the fault of a good tool that it cannot make a sound pillar out of a rotten stick. ... Poor, fallen man had no strength resting in his flesh to enable him to keep the law. And so God imputes to believers the righteousness of Christ, who was made in the likeness of sinful flesh, so that 'the righteousness of the law' might be fulfilled in their lives. ... Christ took upon Himself man's nature, and will impart of His own righteousness to those who accept His sacrifice."[3] (4) This special, unique message was intended by the Lord to prepare His people for translation: What means, then, this special message of justification that God has been sending these [seven] years to the church and to the world? ... This special message of justification which God has been sending us is to prepare us for glorification at the coming of the Lord. In this, God is giving to us the strongest sign that it is possible for Him to give, that the next thing is the coming of the Lord.[4] The 1888 message broke through centuries of fog into a clearer view of the sunlit New Testament truth. God invites you to come to Him and get the issue settled once for all, so that your mind and heart are clear and your feet are set on the solid rock. David said, "I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings" (Psalm 40:1, 2). Give God a day of your life (on your knees if possible), and prayerfully read in an authentic translation of the Bible itself (no paraphrases or commentaries), and let the fog be blown out of your mind and heart. Make your choice to believe how good the Good News is. Don't be proud and jump to conclusions; test and re-test your convictions. We can trust the Bible! Just read it with simple common sense. --Mainly from the writings of Robert J. Wieland Notes: 1. E. J. Waggoner, Signs of the Times, May 1, 1893. 2. A. T. Jones, Review and Herald, Oct. 24, 1899. 3. E. J. Waggoner, Bible Echo, Feb. 15, 1892. 4. A. T. Jones, 1895 General Conference Bulletin, p. 367. Chapter 24 The Day of the Lord Peter warns that "in the last days scoffers will come" (2 Peter 3:3), motivated by sinful desires and teaching: the world always continues in a steady state, without God's intervention, without catastrophes, without end. They ridicule, "Where is the promise of His coming?" (vs. 4). The scoffers prefer "walking after their own lusts" and are uncomfortable with moral and spiritual prodding in view of the day of the Lord. They teach that everything stays the same, but Peter teaches catastrophe: The world is "kept" for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly people (vs. 7). Just as the fallen angels were kept for judgment (2 Peter 2:4), the unrighteous are also kept for judgment (vs. 9), and darkness is kept for the false teachers (vs.17). How do you prepare for the day of the Lord and the seeming delay of the end? We puny people are impatient because our life span is so short. But God operates on a vastly different timetable, a day with Him is like a thousand years (2 Peter 3:8). So the Lord is not late as some understand slowness. Another reason for the delay is that God is "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (vs. 9). You are one of those who have been "called." It depends on how you respond to the call as to whether you are "chosen." Christ has chosen all who will choose Him. Our "election" is not something mysterious that depends upon the whim or fancy of God. God is voting for us, and Satan is voting against us; and it thus depends on our own vote which way the election goes! Those who simply choose Christ will be enabled by His grace to be faithful to the end. God waited patiently in the days of Noah. But His patience is not forever, for the flood did come. One more point: "The day of the Lord will come like a thief" (2 Peter 3:10). A thief comes unexpected. The day of the Lord is the second coming of Christ and all the catastrophic events associated with it. The practical consequences of belief in the day of the Lord is, What kind of people ought you to be? The question is answered by Peter: "What manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness" (vs. 11). So Peter urges us, "Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God" (vs. 12). Can believers really hasten that day, in spite of how God experiences time? Has Jesus' coming been delayed? (1) Has the Father inexorably fixed the time of His coming so that His people can neither hasten nor delay it? Or, (2) can His people hasten His return as 2 Peter 3:12 suggests, "Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God ..."? The original can be understood as either (a) longing for its coming or (b) as hastening its coming. Those who believe the Father has fixed the date inexorably hold to (a). Those who believe we can delay His coming hold to (b). Jesus makes clear that the Father alone knows the time of His second coming (Mark 13:32), but that does not mean that He has fixed the time as Calvinist predestination. He has "appointed" the time in the sense that it is contingent on the completion of the gospel commission: "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come" (Matt. 24:14). The when is up to us. The character of God is implicated in this question. If He has fixed the time, then He has deceived His people by repeated messages telling them that it is "near." Some argue that when He says "know ye that it is near, even at the doors," He means something different than all human language means by "near," but again that implies deception. If I tell a hungry person that lunch is "near" when I mean next week, I have deceived him. What does Christ's Object Lessons, p. 69, mean which says: "When the character of Christ shall be perfectly reproduced in His people, then He will come to claim them as His own"? It must mean what it says. What it speaks of is not an impossibility. It's what Christ died to make possible and what He lives and ministers in the Most Holy Apartment of the heavenly sanctuary to accomplish. Objections logically deny the possibility for human beings to "overcome even as [Christ] overcame" (Rev. 3:21). In this last hour of the great controversy, we must not deny the plan of salvation and rob the Son of God of His power and glory to save people from sin. Has Christ's return been "delayed"? Ellen White seems to recognize that there has been a delay: "God's unwillingness to have His people perish has been the reason for so long delay."[1] "The coming of the Lord is delayed."[2] "He [Jesus] delays His coming."[3] "For forty years did unbelief, murmuring, and rebellion shut out ancient Israel from the land of Canaan. The same sins have delayed the entrance of modern Israel into the heavenly Canaan. ... It is the unbelief, the worldliness, unconsecration, and strife among the Lord's professed people that have kept us in this world of sin and sorrow so many years."[4] But five years later, the Lord sent the initial showers from heaven of the latter rain and the "beginning" of the loud cry message that must lighten the earth with glory. Speaking of the unbelief manifested at and after 1888, she said: "If every soldier of Christ had done his duty, if every watchman on the walls of Zion had given the trumpet a certain sound, the world might ere this have heard the message of warning. But the work is years behind. What account will be rendered to God for thus retarding the work?"[5] "Retarding" sounds like "delay." What is clear is that the second coming of Christ cannot take place until the "marriage of the Lamb is come." And Revelation 19:1-9 makes clear that the only reason that "marriage" has not taken place is that His Bride "hath [not] made herself ready," for when she does make herself "ready," the heavenly Bridegroom will not tarry. Thus this question involves the character of Christ Himself. Does He love that Bride-to-be? Does He want to come? --Paul E. Penno Notes: 1. Testimonies for the Church, vol. 2, pp. 192, 194. 2. Manuscript Releases, vol. 10, p. 268; Letter 84, 1886. 3. Manuscript Releases, vol. 10, p. 265; MS 5, 1876. 4. Evangelism, p. 696; MS 4, 1883. 5. General Conference Daily Bulletin, Feb. 28, 1893, p. 419. Chapter 25 Major Themes in 1 and 2 Peter Consider the case of the church member who lives in a hedonistic culture. The gospel has been preached unto him; he is intelligent, he understands it; he believes it (or says he does); but he doesn't live it, doesn't render obedience to the Lord in ways he knows are God's will for him. He nods his head to every sermon or Bible study. Yes, and comes to church. But just doesn't do the things that the Bible says to do. What's wrong? Some have tried to help him with portrayals of the "time of the end," and the coming "seven last plagues," and the horror of the "mark of the beast." It just doesn't faze him. Ellet J. Waggoner, one of the 1888 messengers of the gospel whose mind was guided by the Holy Spirit, says of this kind of case: "I still insist that you don't believe." What does he mean? There is something defective in his idea of justification by faith. Waggoner goes on: "The price that was paid for us was [Christ's] own blood--His life. ... 'redeemed ... with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot' (1 Peter 1:18, 19). ... He 'gave Himself for us' (Titus 2:14), ... 'for our sins' (Gal. 1:4). ... 'While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us' (Rom. 5:6, 8). ... The price paid was infinite."[1] In other words, it's impossible to believe this and go on transgressing the will of God in your life--"you don't believe," says Waggoner. When Peter writes that we are "redeemed ... with the precious blood of Christ" it was God's Messiah, of the Old Testament prophecies, who died. An unfortunate view of some regarding the Messiah is that we have a divine Savior who ministered on earth for 33 years, and then, when it came time for Him to die as God's sacrificial Lamb, He withdrew His divine self so that only a human corporeality paid the price. But the corrective to this is found in Peter's response to Jesus' question, Who do men say the Son of Man is? Peter replies, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matt. 16:16). It is the Son of God who died and paid our ransom from slavery to death. Divinity did not die. The Christ is the "lamb without blemish and without spot" who died. Why did Peter and John call Him the "Lamb of God"? Is He only the human son of Mary, or is He indeed the divine Son of God? John says further that He is "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world" (Rev. 13:8). Is the Lamb the Son of God? Peter says the blood of the Lamb is "precious" and that could hardly be said if the Lamb is merely human. "Ye were redeemed ... with the precious blood [life] of Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish ..." (1 Peter 1:18-20). Due to their belief in the natural immortality of the soul, Evangelicals and Catholics believe that only the human Christ died. Some even deny this, boldly stating, "Christ did not die on the cross!" Their belief requires the understanding that Christ went to "Paradise" "today" with the pardoned thief, so that He did not really die on the cross at all. Then what difference does the death of the Son of God make with regard to God's forgiveness of sinner's obtained at the cross? The 1888 concept of justification by faith provides us with a greater appreciation for what it cost God's Son. Herein lies the motive power for our faith which works by His love. Ellen White saw something in it that Luther and Calvin never saw: It "is made manifest in obedience to all the commandments of God."[2] That was no superficial statement on her part, for "agape is the fulfilling of the law" (Rom. 13:10). "Precious blood" is that which "having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls" (1 Peter 1:8, 9). In other words, genuine justification by faith is "rooted and grounded in agape," because faith is a heart appreciation of it. Catholics and Protestants cannot clearly see this beautiful truth. Why? No one who believes the natural immortality of the soul can possibly have an adequate appreciation of agape--"adequate," in the sense of preparing the grain for the harvest. We are not talking about those millions or billions who have prepared for death--Adventism is concerned about a preparation for translation at the second coming of Jesus, or it is nothing. Martin Luther believed the truth about the nature of man and thus could begin to break down the synthesis of agape and self-centered love that Augustine had developed. But his followers reverted to the pagan-papal doctrine, as did Calvin, and even the Wesleys. Parallel with the Day of Atonement comes a restoration of agape[3]; but the popular churches do not see it, though they use words for love. The theologians such as Anders Nygren, Michael Harper, or Leon Morris in their books on agape are not able to sense the real significance of what happened on the cross. But agape is a revelation of truth that comes only from Christ's ministry in the second apartment of the heavenly sanctuary.[4] The popular churches do not by faith follow Him there; and thus, they cannot comprehend agape, because they believe in the natural immortality of the soul. The Evangelical doctrines of justification by faith therefore cannot comprehend the full truth of the cross of Christ. They cannot understand how He died the second death for the human race. It is not possible to understand the length, breadth, depth, and height of agape while one believes in the natural immortality of the soul. If Christ knew that He needed only to endure a few hours of agony before being reunited with His Father in a disembodied spirit, that would destroy the meaning of the cross. In reality, He saw the cavern of an eternal grave stretching before Him, with no hope of a resurrection. Who is that One Person of all history who has been in hell? Actually, He came out of it again, which no one else will ever do once they get there! At Pentecost, Peter said that David spoke of Jesus, "Thou wilt not leave My soul in hell, neither wilt Thou suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption" (Psalm 16:8-11; Acts 2:25, 27). So Christ went all the way to "hell," the second death in order to pay our ransom. Conservative Christians are steeped in the idea that we must be punished for our sins, we must pay the price. But Peter teaches the idea known as the gospel, a concept of good news that says that Christ has already endured the punishment for our sins. He has paid the price, "exhausted the penalty"[5], because "The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all" (Isa. 53:6). "His own self [He] bare our sins in His own body ... by whose stripes ye were healed" (1 Peter 2:24). "Christ ... hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God" (1 Peter 3:18). What does that mean for the world of sinners? Christ has already borne his or her punishment. It is over! There is now no fearful looking for judgment. According to Peter, if only the sinner can hear and believe this good news he will be transformed by Christ's forgiveness. --Paul E. Penno Notes: 1. E. J. Waggoner, Christ and His Righteousness, Glad Tidings ed., pp. 83; 79, 80 (1999). 2. Ellen G. White, Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, pp. 91, 92. 3. See Ellen G. White, Early Writings, pp. 55, 56. 4. Ibid. 5. Ellen G. White, Selected Messages, book 1, p. 340. Chapter 26 Paul: Apostle to the Gentiles Have you learned to love the Book of Galatians? Or is it dull, boring, confusing, to you? It has been the spark that has ignited glorious reformations in people’s lives since the time of Martin Luther. So you should learn to make friends with it, to love it, to let your heart revel in its powerful good news. How does a lukewarm, sensual, half-worldly, half-cold, half-hot person get to be “on fire” like Paul? The answer is Galatians. People wonder why Galatians could have such gospel dynamite in it that it one time turned Europe upside down. It is quite evident that the Third Angel’s Message hasn’t turned the world upside down. Yet, our quarterly maintains that we have accepted the 1888 message. The statement of the “acceptance theory” of the 1888 message of righteousness by faith is made in the quarterly with these words: “Through the study of Galatians, E. J. Waggoner and A. T. Jones helped the Adventist Church rediscover the truth of righteousness by faith in the 1880s and 1890s” (The Gospel in Galatians, p. 2 [2017]). The word “rediscover” is the operative word. This cannot be maintained in view of what Ellen White wrote: “An unwillingness to yield up preconceived opinions, ... [occurred] at Minneapolis against the Lord’s message through Brethren [E. J.] Waggoner and [A. T.] Jones. By exciting that opposition Satan succeeded in shutting away from our people, in a great measure, the special power of the Holy Spirit that God longed to impart to them. ... The light that is to lighten the whole earth with its glory was resisted, and by the action of our own brethren has been in a great degree kept away from the world.”[1] The church has yet to identify justification by faith with the at-one-ment with God sanctuary truth. To date justification is viewed, as do other denominations, with a mere legal transaction that doesn’t affect the heart alienation with God. The church would be turned upside down if it captured the “big ideas” in Galatians that explode in people’s hearts like sticks of spiritual dynamite. We must study and learn the message of Galatians--what Christ accomplished for us by His sacrifice on the cross, the good news of the atonement, which is the new covenant. The one who wrote Galatians was the former Saul, a murderous “thug,” the end product of Israel’s old covenant unbelief. How ironic, that Saul should participate in the stoning of Stephen, the prophet. This event signaled the end of the 490 years of grace extended by God to His people (Dan. 9:24). God’s patient forgiving mercy terminated for the “Jewish church.” Its national apostasy in the worship of “self”--manifested in its ceremonialism (Acts 7:48-50)--drove away the Spirit of God (vs. 51). This resulted in national ruin and the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. by the Romans. But Christ plucked a brand from the fire,--the Pharisee Saul,--before its collapse. Saul was a microcosm of the centuries-long old covenant unbelief of the ancient Israelite church in which they promised God to do everything just right (Ex. 19:8; cf. Heb. 8:7, 8). Christ Himself had instituted all the rites and ceremonies after they made their old covenant with God at Mount Sinai. God’s intent with these “shadows” of the gospel was to lead them back to “the faith” in His promise of the everlasting covenant. But the leadership and scholarship of that day did not know the meaning of these types and shadows and failed to identify their Messiah--the suffering Crucified One-when He came into their midst. The significance of Stephen’s defense speech before the “council” and “high priest” was God’s last warning and appeal to the leadership of His church to repent for their idolatrous history culminating in the murder of “the Just One” (Acts 7:52). The “council” had accused Stephen of teaching lawlessness (Acts 6:13); but they were the idolaters cherishing murder in their hearts (Acts 7:53). Stephen proclaimed the law and the gospel of the cross of Christ, which pricked their hearts. They chose to reject the Spirit’s gift of repentance that Stephen announced. They took up stones to kill him. The leadership’s decision sealed their fate as a nation. They would no more listen to the still small voice of the Spirit. They committed the unpardonable sin by attributing the work of the Spirit through Stephen to the work of the devil (cf. Matt. 12:22-32). The young Saul was part of the council that participated in the stoning of Stephen. The shining face of Stephen and his forgiving spirit toward his executioners made a profound impression upon Saul (Acts 7:60).[2] Jesus had prayed for them all, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34; Acts 6:15-7:60). And that was Stephen’s last sermon. We have the sermon recorded. There was no self in it. No “prophet of Baal” could preach such a sermon. Saul, too, resisted the Holy Spirit, and gave in to the “group think” of his superiors of the Sanhedrin. He concluded with them that Stephen was a blasphemer and that Christians were followers of an imposter messiah. Saul believed Stephen was a libertine and a destroyer of the law of God. Saul now sought to gain the favor of his colleagues by following their example in the murder of Stephen. By obtaining letters of recommendation from the high court in Jerusalem he designed to go out to the synagogues and, with their support, persecute the followers of Jesus. This was Saul’s purpose when journeying to Damascus. But the Lord Jesus arrested him on the road with the blinding vision of His exalted position in heaven as a result of His crucifixion (Acts 26:13). The Lord Jesus asked him, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” (Acts 9:4; 26:14). Writes Ellen White, “Christ here identifies Himself with His people.”[3] Saul was sincerely deceived by Satan. In doing the work of Satan he thought he was doing the work of God. He was actually re-crucifying the Son of God afresh in the person of His saints. Christ said to Saul: “It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks” (Acts 26:14). The Lord put obstacles in his path to make the wrong way seem like kicking against the ox goads. Yes, the Lord made it “hard” for Saul to be lost by speaking to his conscience. One of the “good news” ideas of the 1888 message is: easy to be saved, hard to be lost when God reveals His love (agape) to you. You live because One died in your place; agape now motivates you. “All along the road that leads to [eternal] death there are pains and penalties, there are sorrows and disappointments, there are warnings not to go on. God’s love has made it hard for the heedless and headstrong to destroy themselves.”[4] When the enthroned Christ stopped Saul on the road the antagonist asked: “Who art thou, Lord? And He said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest” (Acts 26:15). This was Jesus’ self-revelation of the ever-present cross to Saul. Regarding this event Ellen White makes an insightful comment: “In the glorious Being who stood before him he saw the Crucified One.”[5] The Holy Spirit convicted Saul’s heart by means of the cross of Christ. Saul experienced a heart-melting appreciation that the Messiah is “the Crucified One.” Now all the prophecies, types and shadows of the ceremonial system came alive for him as pointing to “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Later, Saul received the laying on of hands by Ananias. Thus Saul/Paul was ordained as Christ’s “chosen vessel ... to bear [His] name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel” (Acts 9:15). Above all, Paul was called to be the Apostle to the Gentiles. In his speech before Agrippa, the call to a Gentile mission constitutes the center of Paul’s conversion account. Paul is sent forth as the servant and witness of Christ (Acts 26:16). --Paul E. Penno Notes: 1. Ellen G. White, Selected Messages, book 1, pp. 234, 235 [Letter 96, 1896]. 2. See also Ellen G. White, Acts of the Apostles, pp. 115, 116. 3. Ibid., p. 117. 4. Ellen G. White, Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, p. 139. 5. Acts of the Apostles, p. 115. Chapter 27 Paul's Authority and Gospel The first five verses of Galatians contain the whole gospel. Paul never wastes a chance to remind people of the basics of the gospel. Wrapped into his greeting he mentions that the Lord Jesus Christ gave Himself for our sins to deliver us from the evil in the world, and the Father raised Him from the dead. There it is, the gospel in a nutshell. Paul is emphatic that people understand the true gospel because there had been attacks against his preaching. From a human standpoint, Paul had much going against him. To the Pharisees, he was a traitor. He had been one of their most promising students, having an intellect and zeal that made him stand out. He had helped in the stoning of Stephen, the first Christian martyr. Now he renounced all that and was preaching the gospel they hated, and exposing their treachery and complicity in the crucifixion of Christ. He had definitely earned the hatred of the Pharisees, so it was no surprise they were willing to use every trick to undermine him. The leadership in Jerusalem must have been behind the people that followed him trying to undermine his preaching. The attacks came on various fronts. It was easy to attack his authority as an apostle, since that title was reserved for those who had actually walked with Jesus when He was physically on earth. Paul countered this by saying he was personally tutored by Jesus while in Arabia (Gal. 1:17). It is likely this story was scoffed at by those who didn't want to believe. Were there any witnesses to this or was it just something Paul concocted to gain people's confidence? Even today, people are skeptical when evangelists claim to have direct revelations from God. In addition, it was easy to raise doubt in the minds of Jewish people by accusing Paul of preaching against the law when he taught that righteousness did not come from law keeping, but by faith alone in the saving grace of Jesus Christ. People who rely on their good works for assurance of salvation react with satanic hatred and anger when anyone teaches grace. This is where the Galatians were deceived. People that Paul called "false brethren" (Gal. 2:4) accused Paul of preaching an incomplete gospel. Yes, the grace Christ accomplished was good but it wasn't enough, circumcision was also necessary. Although the issues we face today are different from circumcision, any human effort done to attempt to please God is not genuine faith, but rather a fear of punishment or hope of reward. Many who teach the concepts of faith alone, especially as embodied by the message given to our church in 1888 face the same hatred and anger because it places human glory where it belongs, in the dust. The same things that had made Paul such a favorite to the Pharisees, caused consternation and suspicion among the newly established churches he was trying to plant and nourish. Even with a direct order from God to take Paul in, Ananias questioned this telling God, "Lord, I have heard from many about his man, how much harm he did to Thy saints at Jerusalem; and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call upon Thy name" (Acts 9:13, 14). This concern and suspicion must have been a factor for Paul to overcome at every town that knew of his reputation. He was apparently also criticized for his intellect. Even today, there are many who object to having to make even the smallest effort to understand some of the deeper aspects of the gospel. They claim, "if it isn't simple, it isn't the gospel." There must have been those people who complained that Paul was too hard to understand, but Peter called them "untaught and unstable" (2 Peter 3:16). We are told that the plan of salvation is so deep we will study it for eternity. If the gospel is simple it couldn't hold our interest and concentration to study it indefinitely. From a human standpoint, it does seem reasonable to wonder if God knew what He was doing when He chose someone with so much "baggage" that predictably would compromise his ministry. It's no different today. There are many who are afraid to study the message of righteousness by faith, citing their belief that A. T. Jones and E. J. Waggoner later "lost their way." Two contemporary authors have written, "We are faced here with a unique problem": "The especially difficult question is why should God choose as special messengers those who would later become unsound in the faith? Why should He permit the bearers of His sharply contested message to go astray when their apostasy would only confirm the opposition to that message? ... God's footsteps may be mysterious, but that is no reason why we should carelessly misunderstand this strange providence. "To suppose that the Lord made a strategic mistake in choosing Jones and Waggoner is unthinkable, for He never errs in counsel. ... "Inspired evidence suggests an answer to our questions, and indicates that: "(1) Jones and Waggoner were not 'carried away' by any 'extreme views' regarding the righteousness of Christ, but they were driven away by persistent and unreasoning opposition of the brethren whom God sent them to enlighten. "(2) Ellen White recognized the seriousness of the opposition to them personally and to their message, and fixed the ultimate blame for their later failure 'to a great degree' upon the opposing brethren. "(3) The Lord permitted the sad event to take place as a test to the opposing brethren; and the failures of the 1888 messengers have had the effect of confirming 'us' in a state of virtual unbelief. ... It seems that the Lord is such a Gentleman that He apparently goes out of His way to provide hooks for us to hang our doubts on if we want them. He does not want any of us to receive the latter rain unless we are fully heart-committed to Him and to His truth. ... "(4) The practical results of the investigative judgment will require that the remnant church, before the time of final victory, come to see the truth of the message and its history and recognize Jones' and Waggoner's work from 1888-96 for its true value, the 'beginning' of the latter rain and the loud cry."[1] Ellen White admonished "Let no soul complain of the servants of God who have come to them with a heaven-sent message. ... He sees the temperament of the men He has chosen. He knows that none but earnest, firm, determined, strong-feeling men will view this work in its vital importance, and will put such firmness and decision into their testimonies that they will make a break against the barriers of Satan."[2] "It must be said to their credit that Jones and Waggoner did not renounce faith in the God of Israel. They never became infidels or agnostics or atheists. They never gave up the Sabbath or their lifelong devotion to Christ. In today's climate of church fellowship they would still be members in good and regular standing. Their sin was that they lost faith in the corporate body of the church and its leadership. They were not confident of denominational repentance. They came to doubt human nature; hence Jones' bitterness and the failings of their own human nature. The enemy will press us sorely to repeat their failure. But we need not give in!"[3] --Arlene Hill Notes: 1. Robert J. Wieland and Donald K. Short, 1888 Re-examined: 1888-1988--The Story of a Century of Confrontation Between God and His People, pp. 116-117 (1987). 2. Ellen G. White, Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, pp. 410, 413. 3. 1888 Re-examined, p. 119. Chapter 28 The Unity of the Gospel Unity--how people in a church can truly believe the same thing--is important, because Jesus said that the only way the world can be brought to believe in Him is when His followers "all may be one; ... that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me" (John 17:21). Something He calls "Thy truth" is the only thing that will unite them (vs. 17). Paul calls it "the truth of the gospel" (Gal. 2:5, 14). The success or failure of Christ's mission for the world therefore depends on that "truth" bringing His people who profess to "keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus" into one (Rev. 14:12). Is that "truth of the gospel" so simple and clear that it appeals to honest hearts with a similarly powerful logic? Take the problem of Genesis 1: Christ and His apostles accepted that "the truth of the gospel" required sincere, honest hearts to believe that God created the earth in six literal days. People who insist they are equally sincere understand the idea of six literal days to be ancient mythology; science makes such belief naive, they say. Take the problem of Jesus Himself: when He became incarnate, did He "take" the sinless nature of the unfallen Adam, thus breaking the genetic line of His descent from the real Adam? Or did He accept the working of the great law of heredity and enter the stream of humanity by taking our fallen, sinful nature yet living a sinless life? Here again is disunity; the assumption is that unity is an impossibility. Or is it? Paul's plea for the church members in Corinth to "speak [teach] the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you," that they "be perfectly joined together in the same mind" is not idle talk (see 1 Cor. 1:10). This is God's ideal for His church, and a little known prediction in an out-of-date book entitled Historical Sketches states categorically that such blessed heartand mind-unity will be realized in the church before Jesus returns: "They will see eye to eye in all matters of religious belief. They will speak [teach] the same things."[1] Why does disunion seem to flourish? And how can the church lighten the earth with glory if it is in a divided state? And what can bring the true unity that Christ prayed for? There is a solution! If God is real and if His Bible is true, it follows that God will bring His people into unity. What today seems impossible, the Holy Spirit will accomplish. He brought the disunited eleven apostles into unity before the Day of Pentecost. They were "all with one accord in one place" (Acts 2:1). That was "the former rain," and the "latter rain" is promised to be even greater. But God cannot use force to accomplish it. Ephesians gives us the solution, the key to finding true harmony: for those "tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine" is the message of agape (Eph. 4:14, 15). Such a message tells what Christ accomplished, the pure biblical truth of justification by faith.Agape is a different kind of love that listens to each other carefully so as not to misrepresent each other, "endeavoring to keep the unity of the [Holy] Spirit in the bond of peace" (vs. 3). No more misquoting each other so as to win an argument. The subject of 1888 holds for Seventh-day Adventists (and even some non- Adventists!) the charm of an unsolved mystery. Until the full truth is known as to the history and content of the message, the world church can never be diverted from an earnest desire to know the facts. The truth is so simple that even a child can grasp it: The Lord sent the "beginning" of the latter rain in the 1888 message; it would have led to the finishing of the work in that generation had it been accepted; and the same enmity against God that led the Jews to reject their Messiah led our brethren of a past generation to reject the gracious light that God sent. This simple AB- C truth will evoke a response from Seventh-day Adventists the world around, and pave the way for unity to prevail as the church prepares for her final conflict. Dissension and strife melt away in the light of the 1888 gospel message. Implicit in the 1888 message itself is the concept of loyalty to the principles of church organization. This is because the message calls for repentance and expresses firm confidence that the call will eventually be heeded. Never does the message call for rebellion, or for establishing a new organization or offshoot. If we do not resist the Holy Spirit, He will bring us into a blessed unity of heart and mind. As E. J. Waggoner wrote: "Remember that there was no difference of opinion among the apostles nor in the church as to what the gospel is. There were 'false brethren,' it is true; but inasmuch as they were false, they were no part of the church, the body of Christ, which is the truth. Many professed Christians, sincere persons, suppose that it is almost a matter of necessity that there be differences in the church. 'All cannot see alike,' is the common statement. So they misread Ephesians 4:13 (KJV), making it seem that God has given us gifts 'till we all come into the unity of the faith.' What the Word teaches is that 'in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God,' we all come 'unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.' There is only 'one-faith' (vs. 5), the faith of Jesus, as there is only one Lord."[2] Christ has promised solemnly that if He is lifted up on His cross, that is, if His agape is clearly proclaimed, He "will draw all peoples to [Himself]," and that of course is perfect unity (John 12:32). If the leadership of a church that is being fragmented receives the precious message of Christ's righteousness, the miracle of unity is as certain as day follows night. Some day, somewhere, someone will understand the "everlasting gospel" of Jesus Christ so clearly that "another angel" will come down from heaven "having great power" and will "lighten the earth" with the glory of that full- orbed truth. Multitudes who now sit in darkness will see a great light and will come to it (Rev. 18:1-4; Matt. 4:16). And it won't be only "some one" who understands; there will be many who are in heartfelt union, around the world, of "every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people" (Rev. 14:6). No more theological squabbles! Those who will understand the gospel and be in union will receive "the seal ... of our God in their foreheads" (Rev. 7:1-4). They will graduate out of old covenant living into the bright sunlight of the new. The old covenant will no longer produce "bondage" in them, but they will "stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free" (Gal. 5:1). They will overcome where ancient Israel stumbled and fell. Instead of "crucifying Christ afresh and bringing Him to an open shame" (Heb. 6:6), they will surrender self to be "crucified with Him" (Gal. 2:20). But must this glorious triumph of the gospel await a future generation? Are there some out there who long to see the victory come now? --From the writings of Robert J. Wieland Notes: 1. Historical Sketches of the Foreign Missions of the Seventh-day Adventists: Practical addresses delivered by Mrs. E. G. White to the Swiss Conference and the European Missionary Council held at Basle in September 1885; "Unity Among Laborers," p. 124. 2. Ellet J. Waggoner, The Glad Tidings, a verse-by-verse study of Galatians, p. 37, CFI ed. (2016). Chapter 29 Justification by Faith Alone Five hundred years ago, in 1517, an Augustinian monk named Martin Luther shook the European theological world by making the claim that righteousness was by faith alone. After intense study of the Books of Galatians and Romans, he claimed that righteousness was not dispensed through the church or administered by priests or popes but was the product of faith. This fall, Christian organizations around the world are commemorating Luther's theological upheaval, including Roman Catholicism. Luther's view on faith as the means of salvation has become the uniting theme between Protestantism and Catholicism as evidenced in a 1994 ecumenical document, known as "Evangelicals and Catholics Together," signed by leading Evangelical and Roman Catholic scholars in the United States. The Roman Catholic Church began its celebration of the Reformation a year ago when Pope Frances traveled to Sweden, where he joined leaders of the Lutheran World Federation in Lund for an ecumenical prayer service on October 31 and November 1, 2016. When Luther made his stupendous claim that salvation was by "faith alone" it sparked not only the Protestant Reformation, but also the Roman Catholic Counter-reformation and the eighteen-year-long Council of Trent. At that time, how a person received justification and became righteous was the fundamental theological dividing line. Rome condemned "sola fide" and proclaimed anathema upon all who accepted it as truth. That ban has never officially been lifted by Rome. The theological trend since 1994 in reaching hands across the gulf to unite with Rome on this one point is in reality overturning the Protestant Reformation, just as Rome planned from the beginning. The vital point that Martin Luther missed in his declaration of "sola fide" is that humans make no contribution to the salvation process. Our "faith" and our "works of faith" have no merit and produce no righteousness. If I am saved through my faith in Jesus, then all the focus is on me and my ability to maintain that "faith" long enough to get into heaven. Focusing on me and what I can to do through "obedience to the law" to help Jesus get me through the Pearly Gates is a subtle denial of the plain Biblical teaching that in me is no good thing (see Rom. 7:18). Ellet J. Waggoner saw this clearly: "The Pharisees are not extinct; there are many in these days who expect to gain righteousness by their own deeds. They trust in themselves that they are righteous." However, the "convicted sinner tries again and again to obtain righteousness from the law, but it resists all his advances. It cannot be bribed by any amount of penance or professedly good deeds." It is absolutely true that "deeds done by a sinful person have no effect whatever to make him righteous, but, on the contrary, coming from an evil heart, they are evil, and so add to the sum of his sinfulness."[1] "Since the gospel is contrary to human nature, we become doers of the law not by doing but by believing. If we worked for righteousness, we would be exercising only our own sinful human nature, and so would get no nearer to righteousness, but farther from it. But by believing the 'exceeding great and precious promises,' we become 'partakers of the divine nature' (2 Peter 1:4), and then all our works are wrought in God."[2] Neither Luther, nor Calvin, nor Arminius ever caught so much as a glimpse of the concept of true legal justification. For all these reformers, great as their work was in beginning to restore truth from the Bible and to remove the paganism that had crept into the church during the millennium prior to the Reformation, they never comprehended the full depth of Christ's sacrifice or the true meaning of faith. The Reformer and thus the Evangelical view of salvation is egocentric because it begins with man's need for eternal security. Therefore, in the Evangelical view justification is the reward of a person's faith. It teaches that faith is "trust" in the sense of grasping for an assurance of personal security from an angry God who must be appeased through repentance and penance before He will bestow grace and salvation. This explanation of justification as a judicial act of accounting in the record books of heaven, wherein the unrighteous man, still unrighteous, is declared righteous while he continues indulging in sinful motivation, denies the message of Daniel 8:14 and Revelation 14:12, and is responsible for the long delay of Christ's second coming. Such a view of God is a gross distortion of His holy character of agape--His self-sacrificing, other-centered love that motivated the Godhead to declare the everlasting covenant that would send the Son to save the world from sin. That "sending" was from the foundation of the world; Christ is "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world" (Rev. 13:8). "As soon as there was sin, there was a Saviour. Christ knew what He would have to suffer, yet He became man's substitute. As soon as Adam sinned, the Son of God presented Himself as surety for the human race, with just as much power to avert the doom pronounced upon the guilty as when He died upon the cross of Calvary."[3] This is justification as God intends it to be preached, and a true heart-appreciation of this fact will break the hard-hearted sinner's resistance to God's wooing. "Faith does not make facts. It only lays hold of them."[4] Salvation by faith alone is an absolute Biblical truth, but concessions to relativism and postmodernism's humanistic (man-centered) view are undermining what the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans, Galatians, and Ephesians about the vital truth of justification and righteousness by faith. Our memory text this week inadvertently points out this shift in thinking. Quoting the English Standard Version, it says: "And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." If you are familiar with the King James Version you might have noticed the change of a single word. It's a subtle change, and many persons feel that it is an insignificant difference. In the King James Bible the text reads: "and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me." The change of one little two-letter word makes a profound difference in meaning. The author of our Quarterly illuminated the difference in his book, Galatians, A Fiery Response to a Struggling Church. "For Paul faith is not just an abstract concept--it is inseparably connected to Jesus. In fact, the Greek phrase translated twice as 'faith in Jesus Christ' in Galatians 2:16 is far richer than any rendering can really encompass (see Rom. 3:22, 26; Gal. 3:22; Eph. 3:12; Phil 3:9). In the Greek the phrase literally means 'the faith of Jesus' or 'the faithfulness of Jesus.' It reveals the powerful contrast the apostle makes between the works of the law [i.e., legalism] and the work Christ accomplished on our behalf. For Paul, the primary emphasis is not our faith in Jesus, but Jesus' faithfulness. Thus the issue is not our works versus our faith--that would almost make our faith meritorious, which it is not. Rather, faith is only the conduit by which we take hold of Christ. We are justified, not on the basis of our faith, but on the basis of Christ's faithfulness."[5] Christ was faithful to the everlasting covenant made between the members of the Godhead before sin entered this world. From that covenant made in heaven, through His life of suffering in fallen human flesh, and finally His endurance of the anguish of Gethsemane and the shame of the cross, Christ never once faltered in His faithfulness to the everlasting covenant promise to save mankind from sin. He was faithful to His word. And it is the evidence of His faithfulness revealed in the Scriptures that we cling to when we believe that He is able to "keep [us] from falling, and present [us] faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy" (Jude 24). It is this faith that every human being has been given (Rom. 12:3). It is this faith that once allowed to work in us, will produce the necessary righteousness that will fit us for heaven. "The proud heart strives to earn salvation; but both our title to heaven and our fitness for it are found in the righteousness of Christ. The Lord can do nothing toward the recovery of man until, convinced of his own weakness, and stripped of all self- sufficiency, he yields himself to the control of God. Then he can receive the gift that God is waiting to bestow. From the soul that feels his need, nothing is withheld."[6] You might argue that this is a tiny point, a subtle difference; nothing to really worry about. It is after all, only a two-letter word! How can it have any significant importance to my salvation? It is a subtle distinction that caused the Reformation to falter and stall for 500 years. We don't need to go back to Reformation theology, we need to return to what the Lord sent us in 1888. The message brought to us through A. T. Jones and E. J. Waggoner is a distinct message that uplifted the Saviour as the sin-pardoning Redeemer who is the sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. "This is the message that God commanded to be given to world," not warmed-over Evangelicalism that focuses on human effort, where "faith" is a grasping for reward that rejects the truth that forgiveness and the blotting out of sin is the whole point of the Gospel. The message of Christ and His righteousness proclaimed by Waggoner and Jones "is the third angel's message in verity, which is to be proclaimed with a loud voice, and attended with the outpouring of His Spirit in a large measure."[7] The message of the cross "lays the glory of man in the dust" and is offensive to the proud heart. The apostle Paul gladly submitted to the "offence" saying, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I but Christ liveth in me: and the life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me" (Gal. 2:21). "The cross conveys to us the knowledge of God because it shows us His power as Creator. Through the cross we are crucified to the world and the world to us. By the cross we are sanctified. Sanctification is the work of God, not of man. Only His divine power can accomplish the great work."[8] --Ann Walper Notes: 1. Ellet J. Waggoner, Christ and His Righteousness, pp. 66, 70, 63 (Glad Tidings ed., 1999). 2. Ellet J. Waggoner, The Glad Tidings, p. 56 (CFI ed., 2016). 3. Ellen G. White, "Lessons From the Christ-Life," Review and Herald, March 12, 1901. 4. The Glad Tidings, p. 107. 5. Carl P. Cosaert, Galatians: A Fiery Response to a Struggling Church, p. 42 (emphasis in original), Review and Herald Publishing Association (2011). 6. Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 300. 7. See Ellen G. White, Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, pp. 91, 92. 8. The Glad Tidings, p. 141. Chapter 30 Old Testament Faith It is one thing for Muslims to humiliate, taunt, and murder other Muslims. It is quite another thing for you to murder the Son of God. A Muslim can die crying out, "Allah is great," and go to heaven. The Son of God died crying, "My God, why have you forsaken Me?" There are no plays or skits of the crucifixion in churches that can portray the crucifixion of Jesus. Observers of passion plays depicting the trial and death of Jesus say they are "tear jerkers." But all the visuals of physical torture do not graphically reenact the meaning of the cross. In 1888 God sent "a most precious message" to His church which honored and uplifted the cross of Jesus. Christ bore the "curse of the law" in His body for every man on the tree (Gal. 3:13). Disobedience to the law exacts its own wages which is death,--the real thing,--goodbye to life forever. Moses had written: Whoever is hung on a "tree" "is accursed of God" (Deut. 21:22, 23). If one were convicted of a capital crime and sentenced to decapitation, he could be so thankful. Then he could ask God to forgive him with the assurance of pardon. But if one were convicted of a capital crime and sentenced to be hung, he could not ask for divine pardon. He died a God-forsaken death. Jesus died the sinner's second death with no hope of a resurrection. God "made Him to be sin for us" (2 Cor. 5:21). He bore our guilt and self- condemnation in His nerve center on a tree. Jesus "taste[d] death for every man" (Heb. 2:9). He died your death. Your sin murdered the Son of God. When the Galatians heard Paul proclaim the death of Jesus they were never the same. Paul preached the cross so openly and graphically before their "eyes" (Gal. 3:1) that they forgot who they were and where they were. Their "eyes" became "ears" to "obey [hupokeo, which means to bend down low to hear every syllable] the truth." It was "by the hearing [listening] of faith" (Gal. 3:2) that the Galatians received the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit convicted the Galatians' hearts of sin with the truth that they had murdered "the Just [righteous] One" (Acts 7:52). "The Just shall live by faith" (Gal. 3:11; quotation from Habakkuk 2:4). Habakkuk's messianic prophecy predicted Jesus' life and death as the singular righteousness by faith. When the Galatians "saw" that Jesus "gave Himself for them," they listened with "the hearing of faith." They identified with the crucified One. He had first loved them. He was their substitute who fully identified with their fallen humanity. Thus the Galatians experienced justification by faith being legally straightened out with the universal Law. The forgiveness of sins also melted their hearts with divine love so that they became at-one-with God. Ellen White has said: "The theme that attracts the heart of the sinner is Christ, and Him crucified. ... Present Him thus to the hungering multitudes, and the light of His love will win people from darkness to light, from transgression to obedience and true holiness. Beholding Jesus upon the cross ... arouses the conscience ... as nothing else can do."[1] Why were the Galatians "foolish" (Gal. 3:1, 3)? Because they were "bewitched" by spiritualism (vs. 1). Spiritualism is the man-made belief that god resides in idols of wood and stone. Spiritualism is any man-centered doctrine of righteousness. There are any number of false "gospels" and false christs with the common denominator of "I," which is the religion invented by Lucifer (Isa. 14:12-14). Doctrines of righteousness by faith which are motivated by self-love as opposed to faith motivated by agape (God's love) are forms of spiritualism. The "foolish" Galatians turned from a cross-motivated faith to a faith motivated by perfection of "the flesh?" (Gal. 3:3). Believing in the Messiah is fine, but man must be circumcised in order to be saved. By "the works of the law" "flesh" obtains holiness. It was a "holy flesh" movement. Does this mean the law is bad? No. The universal law of God as written on tables of stone are a perfect description of righteousness, but sinful "flesh" sees only a form of righteousness in the Law which is pleasing to self. Therefore "the flesh" cannot attain the "righteousness of God" by "the works of the law." Neither can the Law of God impart the "righteousness of God" to "the flesh." "And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them" (Gal. 3:12). The law written on stone says "do" them and you shall live. The only condition on which the law as written can offer life is to "the doers of the law." Obey and live, disobey and die. But for sinners this is impossible; therefore the only remedy is "faith." Since the faith of Jesus gives to the believer in Jesus the perfect keeping of the law of God, the perfect righteousness of God, there is "no necessity for the ordinance of circumcision."[2] Another time in history when the same "gospel preached" was "mixed with faith" was Abraham's experience (Heb. 4:2; Gal. 3:6, 8). All that God did was simply proclaim to him His marvelous promises known as the new covenant, no threatened "curses" mixed in on pain of disobedience. Abraham simply "listened with faith" to this almost incredible good news (just what Paul told the Galatians was "the hearing of faith"). Abraham too, like the Galatians, "received the Spirit." His faith was "counted to him for righteousness" (Gen. 15:6). The Judaizers said to the Galatians, Paul is trying to cheat you out of the inheritance promised to Abraham by not teaching you circumcision for salvation. You are not the children of Abraham unless you are circumcised. Paul said Abraham was justified by faith while yet a heathen before he was circumcised (Gal. 3:8). Circumcision was never a part of God's original plan. It came in after Abraham's unbelief of God's promise in taking Hagar and siring Ishmael in order to "help" God out with the promised heir. Circumcision came in after Mount Moriah as a reminder to Abraham and his descendants of the mistaken idea that the promised inheritance comes by old covenant unbelief--faith and works. "The blessing of Abraham" is for "the Gentiles." The blessing is Jesus Christ (Gal. 3:14). He is "the righteousness of God['s]" law (Rom. 3:22). "The promise of the Spirit" is the promised inheritance of the future life in righteousness dwelling on the earth made new. "We, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness" (2 Peter 3:13). The Holy Spirit now is the down payment so the future inheritance is a present reality. "Ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession" (Eph. 1:13, 14). --Paul E. Penno Ntes: 1. Ellen G. White, Maranatha: The Lord Is Coming, p. 99. 2. Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 364. Chapter 31 The Priority of the Promise When man makes a will, once it is ratified no feature of it can be altered either by adding to it or subtracting from it (Gal. 3:15). God made out His will and promised Abraham and his special “Seed” ("Descendant") the new earth in righteousness, and then "confirmed" it by the sacrifice of Christ (vs.17).[1] When God passed through the sacrificial victim, He swore to Abraham by His very life and throne to fulfill every promise He made (Gen. 15:17, 18). God's promise and oath doubly ratified the unchangeable nature of His covenant given to Abraham (Heb. 6:15-18). According to Galatians this means there is only One person who has ever been promised eternal life and that is Christ. God didn't say the promise was to Abraham's "seeds" ("descendants"), plural; but to his "Seed" ("Descendant"), singular, who is Christ (Gal. 3:16). Christ is the Savior of the world and He put everyone into Himself when He died on the cross. God would have all men to be saved in Christ and all the legal issues have been cleared up for that to occur, but no man would be happy to walk through the Pearly Gates merely on a legal basis unless His heart was fully reconciled to God. If He hated Christ he'd look for the nearest exit (Prov. 8:36). How do we learn to love Christ? He said, "Abide in me" (John 15:4). Jesus says, Stay where I put you. The messianic Jews in Galatia contended that God revealed a new feature at Mount Sinai in addition to His promise to Abraham. "We" must believe in the Messiah and obey the Law which God spoke to our ancestors 430 years after Abraham (Gal. 3:17). What was going on in Galatia was a repetition of what happened at Mount Sinai when Israel made their old covenant promise to God to do everything just right. Ancient Israel made a "bargain" or "contract" with God. It happened like this. God said, "If ye will obey [listen to] my voice indeed, and keep [cherish] my covenant" you will be my "peculiar treasure" on the earth (Ex. 19:5).[2] Abraham listened to God's everlasting covenant and responded with a hearty "Amen" of faith and God forgave his sin and made him righteous (Gen. 15:6). The righteousness of the unwritten law was included in God's covenant. But Abraham's children responded to God's covenant with their own pledge: "All that the Lord hath spoken we will do" (Ex. 19:8). Their self-motivation for entering into a "relationship" with God was abundantly clear in their old covenant promise.[3] The Apostle Paul was the first Jew aside from Jesus to recognize the problem of the old covenant in the Israelite church and the up-and-down nature of all its historical revivals and reformations (Gal. 4:23-25). It's our problem too. "The knowledge of your broken promises and forfeited pledges weakens your confidence in your own sincerity, and causes you to feel that God cannot accept you; ... What you need to understand is the true force of the will ... the power of decision, or of choice. ... The power of choice God has given to men." [4] If the entrance of God's law coming 430 years after Abraham alters His covenant, then God's government would be overthrown. What was God's purpose for emphasizing the law at Mount Sinai? "It was added [spoken] because of transgressions" (Gal. 3:19).[5] At Sinai the people had self- righteously proclaimed their power to keep the law and did not realize their need of Christ. It was the great sin of self-sufficiency on their part. "Moreover the law entered, that the offense might abound" (Rom. 5:20). Their old covenant necessitated the "spoken" law written on tables of stone. It was never in God's original plan since He didn't have to do that for Abraham. God simply wrote His law upon Abraham's heart and mind (Heb. 10:16, 17). Mighty doors swing on small hinges and it was on the issue of the "added" law in Galatians 3:19 that proved the hindrance for "many" to receive "the most precious message" of the uplifted Savior during the era of the 1888 Minneapolis General Conference and following. Writing to Uriah Smith in 1896, Ellen White stated that in Galatians 3:19-24, "the apostle is speaking especially of the moral law." "An unwillingness to yield up preconceived opinions, and to accept this truth, lay at the foundation of a large share of the opposition manifested at Minneapolis against the Lord's message through Brethren [E. J.] Waggoner and [A. T.] Jones."[6] The leading scholars of the 1888 era were Uriah Smith, D. M. Canright, and George I. Butler. They all understood the "added law" as the ceremonial law of Moses which was done away with at the cross. They took this position because the evangelicals of their day used Galatians 3:19 as evidence that the "added law" was the Ten Commandments which were introduced at Mount Sinai and abolished when Jesus died. The leading brethren believed that Jones and Waggoner's proposal of the moral law in Galatians 3 would undermine the denomination's position on the seventh-day Sabbath and the immutability of God's law. Rather than limiting the duration of the moral law until the first advent of Christ, Paul writes that it endures "… till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made. ..." (Gal. 3:19). The law continues its function of revealing the knowledge of sin and driving the sinner to the Savior until Abraham's Descendant "shall possess the gate of His enemies" (Gen. 22:17). Christ's enemies as well as Satan are removed at the second coming (Rev. 19:11-21). The law was contained in unwritten form in the promises that God made to Abraham. Abraham received the righteousness of the law by faith in Christ. His genuine faith manifested itself in obedience to all the commandments of God (Gen. 26:5). When Abraham had Christ he had the living law, but without Christ the law is powerless and cannot convey any life whatsoever to the sinner. All the law can bring is condemnation and death. The law describes what righteousness, love and acceptable behavior is, but it cannot produce it. Thank God the law is given to us "in the hand of a Mediator" (Gal. 3:19). --Paul E. Penno Notes: 1. On Abraham's inheritance of "the world" and a "better country" see Romans 4:13 and Hebrews 11:10, 16. 2. "Obey" in the Hebrew is shamea meaning "to listen." "Keep" in the Hebrew is shamar meaning to "cherish." 3. See Ellen White's characterization of Israel's self-centered motivation in her words, "feeling that they were able to establish their own righteousness." Then she writes, "they broke their covenant with God" (Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 372). 4. Her definition of "faith" is the God-given power of choice to believe God's covenant and cease from making our old covenant promises to obey (Steps to Christ, p. 47). 5. The word "added" is the Greek word prostithemi, which means "spoken" as in Hebrews 12:19. 6. Selected Messages, vol. 1, p. 235. The law here is not exclusive of the ceremonial law. Chapter 32 The Road to Faith "Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith" (Gal. 3:24). Probably everyone has experienced a school teacher who was impossible to please and made difficult assignments. No matter how hard you worked, you could never--at least in that teacher's mind--produce anything that was worthy of top marks. It probably discouraged you from ever thinking you could attain perfection in that course; the demand was too high. Many people look at God and His law in the same way. They see Him as setting before us an impossible task when He says, "Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect" (Matt. 5:48). Many believe that the demand for character perfection (to overcome all sinful propensities and inclinations) is too high a goal for our sin-filled nature. As a result, Paul's plea in 2 Corinthians 5:20, 21--"be ye reconciled to God. For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him"--is viewed as advice to modify our relationship with God rather than it being an admonition to overcome sin. It is thought that Paul's counsel is addressing the need for a "good relationship" with God as the only thing needed, and this "good relationship" is the road of faith, leading to spiritual renewal. With this view we're told that the "relationship" must be maintained through Bible study, prayer, and good works. But think about this idea for a moment. In this situation, who has the burden to maintain the "relationship"? Who is responsible for making sure that the connection between God and the individual stays firmly plugged together? The idea of "maintaining a relationship with God" is a subtle form of old covenantism. Even if you answered that last question by saying, Well, it's me and God together that makes the relationship work, you will still be placing yourself under the old covenant. Salvation is not a partnership. "That which makes all the trouble is that even when men are willing to recognize the Lord at all they want to make bargains with Him. They want it to be an equal, 'mutual' affair--a transaction in which they can consider themselves on a par with God. But whoever deals with God must deal with Him on His own terms, that is, on a basis of fact--that we have nothing and are nothing, and He has everything and is everything and gives everything."[1] "Here is no play on words. The issue is vital. The controversy is over the way of salvation, whether by Christ alone, or by something else, or by Christ and something or somebody else. Many people imagine that they must save themselves by making themselves good. Many think that Christ is a valuable adjunct, a good Assistant to their efforts. Others are willing to give Him the first place, but not the only place. They regard themselves as good seconds. It is the Lord and they who do the work."[2] When "the glory of man is laid in the dust" then we are ready to be in-filled with Christ's perfect character through the work of the Holy Spirit. "According as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue: whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust" (2 Peter 1:3, 4). This is the only way we can become righteous "doers of the law." We humbly let the faith of Jesus that has been given to every man "work out" in our lives (Rom. 12:3; Phil. 2:12; Gal. 2:16). In this way we "become doers of the law, not by doing but by believing" the precious promise of God to us.[3] The "partnership" of our salvation lies in the Godhead and Their everlasting covenant that makes righteous all who will believe Their promise to us. "For when God made promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no greater, He sware by Himself ... Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath: that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us" (Heb. 6:13–18). "To everyone who remembered the oath of God to Abraham it was a revelation of the wondrous greatness of God's promise; for all the righteousness which the law demands He has sworn to give to everyone who trusts Him. ... God's precepts are promises; they must necessarily be such, because He knows that we have no power! All God requires is what He gives."[4] The wonderful good news of the everlasting covenant of Christ and His righteousness is that we are not under any burden to produce righteousness in our lives. The burden is not on our shoulders, but has been laid upon the shoulders of our Saviour. We are not "under the law" to keep every precept and example through our own power (which we don't possess anyway). We are not "under the law" as receiving just condemnation from the broken law, because Christ was made "to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Cor. 5:21). "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" (Rom. 8:1-4). It is the faith of Christ working in and through us that produces the required righteousness. "The Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe" (Gal. 3:22). The everlasting covenant promise comes to us by the "faith of Jesus Christ" that has been given to us (again, mark that little two letter word "of"). The "Scripture" Paul is referring to in this verse are the writings of what we now call "the Old Testament" which were the only "holy writings" at that time through which knowledge of sin could be known (Gal. 3:19; Rom. 7:7). The righteousness of Christ has been preached from the time Adam fell. The controversy over the law in Galatians that arose in 1886 concerned which law Paul was discussing in the focus verses of our lesson this week. Was the "schoolmaster" the ceremonial law, the moral law, or was it both? Which law is it that brings us under condemnation, the ceremonial or the moral law? Which law is it that must be kept to make one righteous? The Judaizing Christians to whom Paul addressed this letter had the same confusion. In 1886 and the following years, George I. Butler, Uriah Smith, and others considered that the law Paul was referring to in Galatians 3:21-25 was the ceremonial law. To support their position, Butler compared the discussion in Galatians to the history of the early church found in Acts 15, claiming that the context of Paul's discussion concerned the "ceremonial" matters of idol worship, diet (consumption of animals with their blood), and fornication (Acts 15:19, 20, 28, 29). Butler's foundational argument was that "this has been Paul's subject thus far in this letter." Butler based his argument in favor of the ceremonial law on the fact that Paul was addressing circumcision in the previous chapters of Galatians.[5] However, circumcision was never part of the ceremonial (sanctuary) law. When God gave Abraham the rite of circumcision it was intended as an object lesson that would teach Abraham and his descendants the uselessness of their efforts to fulfill God's everlasting covenant promise through their own works. Circumcision, or cutting of the flesh, showed that the "flesh profiteth nothing" (John 6:63; Gal. 5:6). Salvation requires a circumcision of the heart, which is the work of God (Deut. 30:6; Col. 2:11, 12). Therefore, "the only possible way in which anybody can be under sin is by that law by which is 'the knowledge of sin' (Rom. 3:20; 7:7); by that law which is 'the strength of sin' (1 Cor. 15:56); that law of which 'sin' itself is 'the transgression.' (1 John 3:4). That law is the law which says, 'thou shalt not covet.' (Rom. 7:7-13). And it is the law of God, the ten commandments. This is so certain that there can be no question about it."[6] The problem Paul was addressing in his letter to the Galatians was not that "the Jews were teaching [the Gentiles] to break the [ten] commandments, but because they were putting their trust in something besides Christ, and the man who does that cannot keep from sin, no matter how hard he tries."[7] Addressing the crux of Butler's argument, Waggoner asked: "Do you mean to intimate by this [claim that the law in Galatians 3:18-21 is the ceremonial law] that there was ever a time when any people could approach God except through Christ? If not, then language means nothing. Your words seem to imply that before the first advent men approached God by means of the ceremonial law, and that after that they approached Him through the Messiah; but we shall have to go outside the Bible to find any support for the idea that anybody could ever approach God except through Christ. Amos 5:22; Micah 6:6-8, and many other texts show conclusively that the ceremonial law alone could never enable people to come to God."[8] If the ceremonial law was not the means through which persons in the Old Testament approached God, what then was the purpose of the sanctuary rituals? "In order that man might realize the enormity of sin, which would take the life of the sinless Son of God, he was required to bring an innocent lamb, confess his sins over its head, then with his own hands take its life, a type of Christ's life. This sin-offering was burned, typifying that through the death of Christ all sin would finally be destroyed in the fires of the last day."[9] How are the Ten Commandments a "schoolmaster"? In itself, the Ten Commandment law has no mercy and can do nothing toward making anyone righteous, no matter how hard we try to keep them. Their purpose is to act as a mirror of God's perfect character, and when we look into them we see just how dirty our face really is. At Sinai they were "added" in written form, in "more explicit detail," because of the hardness of the people's hearts. "It was given under circumstances of the most awful majesty as a warning to the children of Israel that by their unbelief they were in danger of losing the promised inheritance."[10] "... it is clear that if the man is awakened by the law to keener consciousness of his condition, and the law continues goading him, giving him no rest, shutting up every other way of escape, the man must at last find the door of safety, for it stands open. Christ is the city of refuge ... in Christ alone will the sinner find release from the lash of the law, for in Christ the righteousness of the law is fulfilled, and by Him it is fulfilled in us."[11] --Ann Walper Notes: 1. E. J. Waggoner, The Glad Tidings, a verse-by-verse study of Galatians, p. 71, CFI ed. (2016). 2. Ibid., p. 69, emphases in original. 3. See ibid., p. 56. 4. Ibid., p. 77, emphasis in original. 5. G. I. Butler, The Law in the Book of Galatians, Is It the Moral Law or Does It Refer to That System of Laws Peculiarly Jewish?, Review and Herald, Battle Creek, Mich., p. 37 (1886). 6. A. T. Jones, Studies in Galatians, April 3, 1900. 7. E. J. Waggoner, The Gospel in the Book of Galatians, A Review, Oakland, Calif., p. 11 (1888). 8. Ibid., pp. 11, 12. 9. S. N. Haskell, The Cross and Its Shadow, pp. 20, 21 (1914). 10. The Glad Tidings, pp. 73, 74. 11. Ibid., p. 82, emphasis in original. Chapter 33 From Slaves to Heirs In Sunday's lesson the quarterly sums up Galatians 3:25-26: "In the same way that a master's son was under a pedagogue [tutor] only as long as he was a minor, Paul is saying that those who come to faith in Christ are no longer minors; their relationship with the law is changed because they are now adult 'sons' of God." In ancient times, wealthy aristocrats were able to hire people to care for their children, thereby avoiding some of the more tedious aspects of child rearing. The pedagogue might have been a slave in the household, but during his minority the child was expected to obey his father's slave without question. The pedagogue was expected to teach and mold the child into an educated, mature adult who had learned the rules of a very rigid and complicated society. If pleased with the results, the father would officially name the son as his heir. In Galatians 3:19-25 Paul explains that the inheritance comes to us in Christ because God promised it, not that we gain the inheritance by keeping the law. Paul asks the question, "Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions. … The Scripture has shut up all men under sin, that the promise by faith in (the King James Version uses the better translation, "of") Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor." Jesus alluded to this concept when He told Nicodemus that receiving faith, the faith of Jesus, requires us to accept our position in Christ as the second Adam. No amount of law-keeping could ever accomplish the rebirth the human race was given at the incarnation of Christ. The first Adam received his DNA from God and those codes provided the combinations that make up every human being born since. When he and his DNA counterpart, Eve, decided to rebel against God their very nature was changed, bent toward self-centeredness. Whether this change was accomplished at the DNA level, we aren't told, but it somehow changed humanity at a level so fundamental that the self- centered nature was the only nature Adam had to pass on to his progeny. The solution to the sin problem needed to reach that fundamental issue, otherwise humans were kept in custody under a law they had no power to keep. Then there was the issue of paying the penalty for sin which is permanent death. Obviously, divine intervention was the only thing that would solve these problems. Brilliant in its simplicity, the loving selfless agape of our God would be united with the first Adam's nature (the altered one that needed redeeming). Then, humanity could be joined with Christ as "sons," and the sinless life He lived, the second death He died, and His triumphant resurrection could be imputed and imparted to those who believe through the powerful influence of the Holy Spirit. Unfortunately, there is a conflict in the present day church about whether Christ could have been incarnated in the "likeness of sinful flesh" and still be without sin. "It is interesting to note that the official declaration of 1872 on the human nature of Christ remained unchanged until 1931. At that time it was changed to express with different words the same basic conviction. 'While retaining His divine nature, He took upon Himself the nature of the human family, and lived on the earth as a man.'"[1] It wasn't until 1950 that our church changed this fundamental belief to what it is now. "As our study will verify, the work of redemption can be explained only with the proper understanding of the divine-human person of Jesus Christ. To be mistaken about Christology is to be mistaken about the work of salvation as accomplished in human beings, by Christ, through the process of justification and sanctification."[2] The issues debated at the General Conference Session in Minneapolis in 1888 did not involve the nature of Christ. Ellen White settled in her Christology as early as 1874 when she wrote, "The great work of redemption could be carried out only by the Redeemer taking the place of fallen Adam."[3] E. J. Waggoner did not attempt to modify or challenge Ellen White's position on the nature of Christ. "Waggoner's great achievement was not only to reintroduce the principle of justification by faith in the Adventist Church but also to apply Christology to the work of salvation. For Luther, justification by faith was purely a legal transaction. The Formula of Concord confirms this point of view: 'All of our righteousness is outside of us; it dwells entirely in Jesus Christ.' For Waggoner, on the other hand, justification includes the action of Christ in man to make him righteous (Rom. 5:19, KJV) through the power which God grants to him who believes in Christ and receives Him in his heart (John 1:12, KJV).[4] It is essential to understand the process of overcoming, because Jesus has promised to all seven of the churches that overcomers will be granted the right to sit with Him on His throne. That is Christ's inheritance, and ours as well in Him. The first few chapters of A. T. Jones' book The Consecrated Way confirms that Ellen White and Jones and Waggoner, the 1888 "messengers," were in complete agreement on the issue. "Before the end comes, and at the time of the coming of Christ, there must be a people on earth, not necessarily large in proportion to the number of inhabitants of earth, but large enough to be known in all the earth, in whom 'all the fullness of God' will be manifest even as it was in Jesus of Nazareth. God will demonstrate to the world that what He did with Jesus of Nazareth He can do with anyone who will yield to Him."[5] --Arlene Hill Notes: 1. J. R. Zurcher, Touched With Our Feelings: A Historical Survey of Adventist Thought on the Human Nature of Christ, Review and Herald Publishing Assoc., p. 48 (1999). "See Fundamental Belief No. 3, Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (1931). This same declaration was adopted by the Fall Council of 1941 and included in the Church Manual (1942), where it remained unchanged through various editions up to 1980." 2. Ibid., p. 49. 3. Ellen G. White, Review and Herald, "Redemption--No. 1," Feb. 24, 1874. 4. Zurcher, p. 73. 5. E. J. Waggoner, The Everlasting Covenant, International Tract Society, London, p. 366; as quoted in Zurcher, p. 73. Chapter 34 Paul's Pastoral Appeal How does a pastor deal with conflict in his church? For that matter, how does a prophet deal with an offshoot movement? "Paul's pastoral appeal" is an effort at conflict resolution (Gal. 5:12-20). Paul reminds the Galatians that his missionary approach was to become a Galatian to the Galatians--"I am as ye are" (Gal. 4:12). He fit in with them. He spoke their language. He ate at their table. He lived among them. Insofar as possible without compromising Christian ethics, he lived as a Galatian. Now, Paul writes, "be as I am." And how is Paul? "I am crucified with Christ" (Gal. 2:20). Paul has so completely chosen to identify with the Crucified One that it is no longer Paul who lives, but Christ who lives in him. He lives, breathes, and eats the at-one-ment life by the faith of the Son of God. This is why their enemy stance toward Paul is no offense to him. Paul's ego is dead in Christ (Gal. 4:12). Physically speaking Paul was not "easy on the eyes" when he commenced preaching the gospel in their midst. But the gospel he proclaimed was "in demonstration of the Spirit and of power" (1 Cor. 2:4), so that the people saw Christ crucified among them. The Galatians received Paul as a messenger of God, even as they would have received Jesus. And accepting Christ, they were filled with the power and joy of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 4:14). But now all that has changed. "The blessedness ye spake of" is gone (Gal. 4:15), which is the blessing of Abraham. The blessing of knowing that Christ had redeemed them from the curse of the law through the promise of the Spirit, which is righteousness by faith activated by agape-love, has been lost. The Galatians have been "bewitched" by the false gospel of "the Pharisees which believed" (Gal. 3:1; Acts 15:5). The counterfeit gospel teaches that once launched into salvation by faith in the Messiah, one must do something in order to continue in salvation; namely, "the works of the law." And once the door has been opened just a crack for faith to be motivated by egocentric concerns, there is no end to the idols one must obey in order to be saved, including the worship of spirits on calendar days from which bondage the Galatians had been delivered (Gal. 4:9, 10). While the Galatians enjoyed this blessedness, its fruit appeared in the love which they showed to Paul. This love was the very self-sacrificing love of Christ--the abundant love of God shed abroad indeed in the heart, by the Spirit which they had received. Seeing the apostle in need of eyes, they would gladly have plucked out their own and given them to him, if such a thing could have been done (Gal. 4:15). But now, what a change! From that height of blessedness they are driven back into such a condition that Paul is obliged to appeal to them: "Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?" (Gal. 4:16). This is the mark of the Galatians. It is the mark of the man who professes to be a Christian justified by faith, but does not have the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ. Whoever tells him the truth he considers his enemy. The Galatian considers, "I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing" (Rev. 3:17). When the prophet warns him that he is not in "the truth of the gospel," he rejects the Spirit of Prophecy. The mark of the Galatian is the rejection of the prophetic gift. It is the mark of man and worldliness to persecute the messenger of truth and consider him the enemy. Galatianism is the mark of the carnal mind that is at enmity with God (Rom. 8:7). Pride does not like the "most precious message" which uplifts and honors the Crucified One. Self does not wish to submit in repentance at the foot of the cross. "Many" in the one true denominated church of Christ did this in the 1888 era and the attitude of the "fathers" is perpetuated to this day whenever the message is proclaimed.[1] Our history of rejection of justification by faith united with the cleansing of the sanctuary truth is justified with the argument that the church did accept righteousness by faith and corrected its legalistic course. Therefore, the church has no need to repent. However, the Spirit of Prophecy tells us otherwise. "We may have to remain here in this world because of insubordination many more years, as did the children of Israel; but for Christ's sake His people should not add sin to sin by charging God with the consequence of their own wrong course of action."[2] Who has created this disunity in the church? Is it the one who has proclaimed "the truth of the gospel," or is it the agitators who advocate righteousness by "the works of the law"? Is it the Spirit of Prophecy that creates division, or is it those who reject what the prophet writes? Paul squarely acknowledges the zeal of those who teach faith and works. They are the "offshoot movement" that teaches separationism out of selfish motives. He writes: "These teachers of a counterfeit gospel have great zeal to win you over to their side so you can be fellow fanatics with them in an offshoot program" (see Gal. 4:17). You want to be zealous? Then be zealous for a good cause. Is the gospel a self-propelled vehicle? Or does its proclamation and propagation depend on church members (and pastors!) constantly being prodded by church leaders into action? "Lay Activities" leaders in churches can testify: to get much done it takes constant "promotion." The New Testament letters of the apostles reveal a strange lack of such works "promotion." They chronicle amazing activity, but seldom if ever were believers prodded or whipped into action. Their zealous activity was simply assumed, it was natural. Their gospel was a "self-propelled vehicle." Why? Their message had the power built-in. Nobody needed to be whipped into action. The motivating force was greater than that of a steam engine, for the power was implicit in the news about the sacrifice of the Son of God. He burst upon everyone's consciousness as "the Lamb of God," a blood-sacrifice offered by God. Examples: "For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified" (1 Cor. 2:2); "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Gal. 6:14). Someone must travail before children are brought forth (Gal. 4:19). Herein lies the danger in human planning, in the work of God, lest human wisdom devise short cuts in methods of world evangelism, which to a lukewarm church seem very acceptable. It is easy to sit in a comfortable pew and give offerings that provide fuel for the continued operation of evangelistic machinery, 21st Century devised, labor-saving and man-power saving in its skillful design to "finish the work" in the shortest possible time with the least possible man-power and travail of soul. If an invention of a clever committee could be made to give life, then verily righteousness would come by evangelistic inventions. No running to and fro, and no knowledge that shall be increased in the time of the end will ever take the place of that "travail in birth" on the part of soul winners, be they ministers or laity, "until Christ be formed in" the converts. If modern methods of spiritual obstetrics are discovered which obviate the old-fashioned travail which the church of old endured when she brought forth her children, it may be doubted whether Christ is formed indeed within the "converts." No "push-button" warfare will close the great battle between Christ and Satan. The old hand-to-hand fighting, heart-to-heart wrestling in the Spirit "against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places" (Eph. 6:12) alone can bring triumphs of faith. --Paul E. Penno Notes: 1. "Many will not be convinced because they are not inclined to confess." The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, p. 895 (Diary, Feb. 27, 1891). 2. Letter Ellen G. White to Percy Tilson Magan (Dec. 7, 1901); Last Day Events, p. 39. Chapter 35 The Two Covenants Have you ever taken a detour, a shortcut that took more time than if you had gone the long way around the mountain by the established route? That was the choice of the ancient church of Israel by making their old covenant promise (Ex. 19:8; 24:7). Modern Israel is repeating their history. It's time to learn the Bible and our own modern history and mature in our glorious "dayof- at-one-ment" truth of God's everlasting covenant. Aside from Jesus, the first Jew to understand the long national nightmare of the Jewish church's ups and downs of revival and reformation failures ending in the rejection and crucifixion of Christ was the Apostle Paul. Paul told the story of the two covenants in Israel's history to the Galatians. They had fallen into the old covenant "works of the law" trap (Gal. 4:21). The pressing question of the Galatians was: Who are the legitimate children of Abraham? The circumcision party from Jerusalem claimed that they were Abraham's children because of their "works of the law" (4:21). Paul says that Abraham's legitimate descendants "are the children of promise" (4:28). Galatianism is an old covenant "under the law" relationship with God. It is wholly man-made. The Galatian concept is saying over and over, "we must be more faithful, we must read our Bible more, we must pray more, we must do more missionary work, we should witness more, we should watch less TV and spend less time at sports, we should watch our diet more, etc., etc." But it is to such self-centered egotists who take the Lord's name upon their lips in the final judgment by saying, "Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name?" that Christ declares the shocking news, "I neverknew you" (Matt. 7:21-23). As the two covenants' story goes, Abraham had two sons: one by a bondwoman and the other by the freewoman. The one son "born after the flesh" (Gal. 4:23) with Hagar the bondwoman was Ishmael. The other son born of Sarah the freewoman was Isaac "by promise." The birth of Ishmael was wholly a man-made scheme. Through unbelief Sarah and Abraham repudiated God's promise of a son. They permitted a third party to enter their marriage and Abraham declared to God that Ishmael, the fruit of that union "born after the flesh [unbelief]," was the legitimate son of promise (Gen. 17:18). But God said, No! "I will establish my covenant with" Isaac (vs. 19). Finally, Sarah and Abraham repented, chose to believe the new covenant promise of God, and Isaac, "the child of promise" was born (Gal. 4:28; Heb. 11:11). Ishmael's disposition was "a wild-ass man, his hand against every one" (Gen. 16:12, Young's Literal Translation). Isaac's character was Christlike (Gen. 26:13-22). "These" two women and their two sons" are the two covenants" (Gal. 4:24). The two covenants are not two plans of salvation: old covenant "obey and live" before the cross, and new covenant believe and live after the cross. The two covenants are not matters of two dispensations, one before and one after the cross. The two covenants are two understandings of God's people through the ages, two opposite perceptions of God's plan of salvation, not two time "dispensations" that He has used as experiments to save sinners. The covenant at Sinai was the fruit of the flesh, of distrust and unbelief in God, just as was the plan that introduced Hagar and brought forth Ishmael (Gal. 4:24). And just as Hagar and Ishmael, the bondwoman and her son, had to be cast out, and the whole scheme that brought them in had to be utterly repudiated, so the covenant from Mount Sinai had to be cast out, and all that brought it in had to be utterly repudiated (4:30). The covenant at Sinai was faulty because of its promises (Heb. 8:7). The people promised "all that the Lord hath spoken we will do" (Ex. 19:8). The "fault [was] with them" and their promises (Heb. 8:8). He who promises the righteousness must produce the righteousness. For sinners motivated by egocentric concerns, righteousness is impossible. Why should we fasten upon the necks of our children the whole old covenant scheme of making promises to God which "gendereth to bondage" (Gal. 4:24)?[1] It teaches them self-dependence. It's directly responsible for the numerous backslidings that occur in the church, the loss of youth, the spiritual confusion that produces Laodicea's "wretched" lukewarmness (Rev. 3:14-21). Teach them to choose to believe God's promises. Paul says that the whole scheme of salvation by works coming out of old Jerusalem is a covenant in which people, knowing only the natural man and the birth of the flesh, seek, by their own inventions and their own efforts, to attain to the righteousness of God. It can only produce "bondage with her children" (Gal. 4:25). That is because old Jerusalem is married to her husband, the "old man" of the flesh (Rom. 7:3; 6:6). There are good sincere people who believe in old covenant principles of revival and reformation in God's church. They cite the reformations of Kings Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, and Josiah as a good ideal, not stopping to realize that they all failed ultimately. God's true "church," the church of Old Testament times, the church of those good kings, immersed as it was in the old covenant, ended up crucifying the Lord of glory. Trust motivated by egocentric concerns masquerades itself as the worship of Christ. Self-centered trust manifests its true character just as Ishmael "persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now" (Gal. 4:29). The old covenant spirit of self-sufficiency hates the agape-love of one who identifies with the Crucified One. The 1888 message teaches us to make a choice and "cast out" the old covenant (Gal. 4:30). Utterly repudiate it. By choosing to glory in the cross, the "old man" to whom we have been married "is crucified unto me" (Rom 6:6; Gal. 6:14). We become a part of the "Jerusalem which is above" "the mother of us all" (Gal. 4:26). This is the "wife [that] hath made herself ready" for her marriage with the Llamb (Rev. 19:7). The joyous news is that the ancient and modern church which has been mired down in her marriage to old covenant unbelief for so long; and apparently has borne so many like children of bondage; has finally grown up out of her infantile ways of making promises to do everything just right. She has finally learned to believe God's promises of love. Joined to her new Husband, Christ, she "hath many more children" than she ever had with her former "husband" of "the flesh" (Gal. 4:27, 23). --Paul E. Penno Note: 1. "The knowledge of your broken promises and forfeited pledges weakens your confidence in your own sincerity, and causes you to feel that God cannot accept you" (Ellen G. White, Steps to Christ, p. 47). Chapter 36 Freedom in Christ One of the more valuable aspects of the 1888 message is the honest approach it takes regarding sin. It never excuses or minimizes that sin is completely offensive to a holy God. E. J. Waggoner focuses on the essence of the sin problem when he uses the example of the crippled woman (Luke 13:10-13). Her condition is called a "spirit of infirmity" (Revised Standard Version; "sickness," New American Standard Bible). Sin deforms all of us just as the woman was crippled. When Jesus healed her He said, "you are freed from your infirmity" (vs. 12, emphasis added). Many tend to underestimate the power sin has over us, especially when we believe sin to be specific acts. It is easy to convince ourselves we can control our actions, but we laugh at the alcoholic who claims he or she can quit drinking any time. Many of us know there are things in our lives we need to clean up, but the pressure isn't great enough to compel us to change, maybe someday. There are even folks who nervously attend lectures at Seventh-day Adventist gatherings where the big question is whether the Sunday laws are getting closer. The unspoken but misguided idea is that when the laws start to be enforced we can tuck ourselves back into church so we don't have to give up anything in the interim. The parable of the ten virgins tells us this will not work. Returning to the crippled woman, Waggoner explains: "Now note how accurately this describes our condition before we meet Christ: "(1) We are bound by Satan, 'captured by him to do his will' (2 Tim. 2:26). 'Everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin' (John 8:34) ... "(2) We have a 'spirit of infirmity' and can in no wise lift ourselves up or free ourselves from the chains that bind us. It was when we were 'without strength' that Christ died for us (Rom. 5:6, King James Version). These two words 'without strength' are translated from the very same word that is rendered 'infirmity' in the story of the woman whom Jesus healed."[1] When Jesus told the woman she was freed from her infirmity, there were no conditions, but she did have to believe she was healed. "Faith does not make facts. It only lays hold of them ... the liberty wherewith He makes us free is the liberty that existed before the curse [of sin]."[2] "Now the truth is stated that if a person does anything with the hope of being saved by it, that is, of getting salvation by his own work, Christ is 'of no advantage to him' (Gal. 5:2). If Christ is not accepted as a complete Redeemer, He is not accepted at all."[3] Like the Judiazers told the Galatian Christians, "Many have an idea that they must do some part of the work alone. They have trusted in Christ for the forgiveness of sin, but now they seek by their own efforts to live aright. But every such effort must fail ... It is by communion with Him, daily, hourly,-by abiding in Him,--that we are to grow in grace. ... "Consecrate yourself to God in the morning; make this your very first work. ... Each morning consecrate yourself to God for that day. Surrender all your plans to Him, to be carried out or given up as His providence shall indicate. Thus day by day you may be giving your life into the hands of God, and thus your life will be molded more and more after the life of Christ."[4] This is frustrating to people who want the reassurance of seeing their Christian experience progressing. It's simply a day-by-day choice to let God direct everything in their lives. So is this just a passive life, no plans required, just bump along life aimlessly? Yes, in the sense that we don't plan things without God, but no in the sense that we follow the plans God has already developed for us. Waggoner caught the idea: "Think of it! God Himself has wrought the good works with which we are to appear before His throne. And how are we to get them?--Simply by trusting Him; by appropriating those good works by faith. God Himself comes to dwell with those who believe His word, and He lives out His own life in them. This thought is enough to fill every soul with love and joy and confidence. ... "The secret of the whole matter is to acknowledge that in us dwells no good thing, and that God alone is good, that we are nothing, but that He is everything; that we are weakness, but that power belongs to God, ... Christian activity comes only through passive submission to God, as the clay is passive in the hands of the potter."[5] The Galatian Christians had rejoiced in the freedom of the true Gospel that allows us to rest in Christ, but legalistic and intolerant people had tried to take that freedom away by adding a requirement other than faith in the Gospel. "God's law is the truth (Psalm 119:142), and the Galatian brethren had started out to obey it. They succeeded in the beginning but later on had been hindered in their progress. 'Why? Because they did not pursue it through faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone' (Rom. 9:32). Christ is the way, the truth, and the life, and there is no stumbling in Him. The perfection of the law is in Him, for His life is the law. "The cross is and always has been a symbol of disgrace. ...The offense of the cross is that the cross is a confession of human frailty and sin and of inability to do any good thing. To take the cross of Christ means to depend solely on Him for everything, and this is the abasement of all human pride. Men love to fancy themselves independent. But let the cross be preached, let it be made known that in man dwells no good thing and that all must be received as a gift, and straightway somebody is offended."[6] Freedom is a fragile thing because it cannot be forced. God cannot use force, so He uses His love to draw us to Him. Lay hold of that, don't resist. --Arlene Hill Notes: 1. Ellet J. Waggoner, The Glad Tidings, a verse-by-verse study of Galatians, p. 106; CFI ed. (2016). 2. Ibid, p 107. 3. Ibid, p. 110. 4. Ellen G. White, Steps to Christ, pp. 69, 70. 5. Waggoner, Christ and His Righteousness, pp. 173, 174; Glad Tidings ed. (1999). 6. The Glad Tidings, p. 113. Chapter 37 Living by the Spirit If you’re going to climb Mount Everest you need a guide. If this movement is to stand victorious on Mount Zion it needs the latter rain of the Holy Spirit (Rev. 14:1). To follow the Lamb wherever He goes without guile on their lips and stand without fault, the 144,000 will have overcome even as He overcame in tempted “sinful flesh” (Rev. 14:4, 5; 3:21; Rom. 8:3). These are individuals who reflect the agape-love of Jesus. Although they are not equal to the Pattern, yet as a body they perfectly identify with the Crucified One. Sinless living in sinful flesh is a precious “good news” morsel of truth identified by the 1888 message. It would be bad news indeed, if in the Great Controversy Satan has invented something that the gospel of Jesus Christ cannot overcome. If the power of the gospel cannot overcome sin in our flesh, then Jesus will be eternally ashamed and defeated before the universe. Therefore, Jesus needs a “last generation” who demonstrate “the power of God unto salvation” from sin and not in sin (Rom. 1:16). God’s everlasting covenant promise to Abraham is “the blessing.” This involves “the promise of the Spirit through faith” (Gal. 3:14). You are invited to go on a “walk in the Spirit” (Gal. 5:16). “What our human nature [“flesh,” KJV] wants is opposed to what the [Holy] Spirit wants, and what the [Holy] Spirit wants is opposed to what our human nature [“flesh”] wants. These two are enemies, and this means that you cannot do what you want to do” (Gal. 5:17, Good News Bible). What are the things you cannot do? Are they bad things or good things? There are many Christians who teach that you cannot do the good things you want to do because of this constant “enmity” of the flesh against the Holy Spirit. So they feel doomed to endless defeat, and sincerely believe the Bible agrees with them. “My craving is so great I can’t help giving in! The ‘flesh’ is master of my life!” They have Galatians 5:17 backwards. Who is stronger, “the flesh” or the Spirit? If “the flesh” is stronger, that’s really bad news; but if the Spirit is stronger, that’s good news. If the great power of the Holy Spirit and all of heaven is in that Spirit, and He’s striving against your sinful flesh, and still you cannot do the good things you’d like to do, can you think of any news that would be worse than that? The 1888 message idea is: you go for a walk with the Holy Spirit and let Him hold you by the hand which He has promised to do. You let Him, even though the battle is raging in your heart, and your sinful flesh is constantly tempting you to do or say evil things. You can’t do or say evil things because the Holy Spirit is stronger than the flesh. This does not mean that you have no part in the battle. Your part is to choose to say “No!” to the temptation (Titus 2:11).[1] God has given us the power of choice; the Holy Spirit is forbidden to control you without your consent! When you make the choice, then you invite the Holy Spirit to demonstrate that He is stronger than your sinful flesh. And God is free to work! When the mighty Holy Spirit guides your life, you are “under grace”motivation which is the opposite of being “under the law”-motivation (Gal. 5:18; Rom. 6:14). With either motivation you are under an obligation. The old covenant “under the law”-motivation is a constant tension and conflict with the law. It is faith motivated by the fear of punishment and the hope of reward. It is a motivation that appears to comply with the law outwardly, but on the inside there is rebellion. God did us a favor when He gave us the Apostle Paul who was both a brilliant man and an honest humble man, which is a rare combination. Paul describes what our “flesh” is like in Galatians 5:19-21. God sent “His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh” (Rom. 8:3). Jesus came right into the cesspool of our life. He was tempted in all points like we are, yet without sin (Heb. 4:15). Faith, which is “under grace”-motivation, “sees” what Paul is talking about when he uplifts and honors the sacrifice of Christ (Gal. 4:1). Having fully identified Himself with you, you are invited to fully identify with Christ (Gal. 2:20). To “walk in the Spirit” is to bear “the fruit of the Spirit [which] is love [agape]” (Gal. 5:22). Agape is totally alien to “the flesh” and is an import from our Husband High Priest in the Most Holy of the heavenly sanctuary. This means we have not one-percent of inherent righteousness. Righteousness is ours by faith through Holy Spirit. Agape, which is the “fulfilling of the law,” comes by faith directed to its source in our day of atonement (Rom. 13:10). That source is our healing Psychiatrist whose office is set up in the holiest of all. The second advent movement was rooted in a restoration of the love of God. It is the climax of a sequence of divinely led reformatory movements to restore the gospel of Jesus Christ and prepare a Bride for translation and the coming of her Groom. Christ opened to view the source of her love by following their High Priest in through the open door of the Most Holy of the heavenly sanctuary (see Rev. 3:7). “Those who rose up with Jesus would send up their faith to Him in the holiest, and pray, ‘My Father, give us Thy Spirit.’ Then Jesus would breathe upon them the Holy Ghost. In that breath was light, power, and much love, joy, and peace.”[2] The 1844 Advent people were a Spirit-led, agape motivated, charismatic movement. It was to restore the meaning of agape in the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus through its life, teaching and evangelism (see Rev. 14:12). The fruit of the Spirit is given by Jesus in His capacity as our Priest in the Most Holy. The true second Pentecostal movement of the latter rain is those who by faith follow Him there. The movement will finish with a great manifestation of signs and wonders than on the day of Pentecost.[3] Jesus reveals a unique understanding of justification by faith from the holiest. The 1888 message was indeed “special,” a further development of justification by faith parallel to and consistent with the unique Adventist idea of the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary. It was “the beginning” of the message of Revelation 18 and thus initial “showers from heaven of the latter rain.”[4] Since the true Spirit of God only comes from our High Priest in the Most Holy and thus far we have not impressed upon other Christians the importance of the sanctuary truth, it motivates us to study the 1888 message so that we can share it with them in a convincing manner. —Paul E. Penno Notes: 1. Titus 2:11, 12 in the New International Version is very clear: “The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.” 2. Ellen G. White, Early Writings, p. 55. 3. “Servants of God, with their faces lighted up and shining with holy consecration, will hasten from place to place to proclaim the message from heaven. By thousands of voices, all over the earth, the warning will be given. Miracles will be wrought, the sick will be healed, and signs and wonders will follow the believers” (Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 612). 4. The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, p. 1478. Chapter 38 The Gospel and the Church "Hasty readers are likely to think that there is a division between [Galatians] chapters 5 and 6, and that the latter part treats of practical, spiritual life, while the first part is devoted to theoretical doctrines. This is a great error. "The object of this letter is clearly seen in this closing portion. It is not to furnish ground for controversy, but to silence it by leading the readers to submit themselves to the Spirit. Its purpose is to reclaim those who are sinning against God by trying to serve Him in their own weak way, and to lead them to serve indeed in newness of Spirit. All the so-called argument of the preceding portion of the letter is simply the demonstration of the fact that 'the works of the flesh,' which are sin, can be escaped only by the 'circumcision' of the cross of Christ--by serving God in Spirit and having no confidence in the flesh." Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Look to yourself, lest you too be tempted (Gal. 6:1, Revised Standard Version). "When men set out to make themselves righteous, pride, boasting, and criticism lead to open quarrels. So it was with the Galatians, and so it will always be. It cannot be otherwise. Each individual has his own conception of the law. Having determined to be justified by the law, he reduces it to the level of his own mind so that he may be the judge. He cannot resist examining his brethren, as well as himself, to see if they are up to his measure. If his critical eye detects one who is not walking according to his rule, he at once proceeds to deal with the offender. The self-righteous ones constitute themselves their brother's keeper to the extent of keeping him out of their company lest they should be defiled by contact with him. In marked contrast with this spirit, which is all too common in the church, is the exhortation with which this chapter opens. Instead of hunting for faults that we may condemn them, we are to hunt for sinners that we may save them."[1] Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ (vs. 2). "The law of Christ" is fulfilled by bearing one another's burdens, because the law of Christ's life is to bear burdens. "Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows." Whoever would fulfill His law must still do the same work for the strayed and fallen. "In all things it behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren. ... For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succor them that are tempted" (Heb. 2:17, 18, King James Version). He knows what it is to be sorely tempted, and He knows how to overcome. Although He "knew no sin," He was made even to be sin for us “that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Cor. 5:21). He took every one of our sins and confessed them before God as His own. "Even so He comes to us. Instead of upbraiding us for our sin, He opens His heart to us and tells us how He has suffered with the same hardship, pain, sorrow and shame. Thus He wins our confidence. Knowing that He has passed through the same experience, that He has been down to the very depths, we are ready to listen to Him when He talks about the way of escape. We know that He is talking from experience. "The greatest part therefore of the work of saving sinners is to show ourselves one with them. It is in the confession of our own faults that we save others. The man who feels himself without sin is not the man to restore the sinful. If you say to one who is overtaken in any trespass, 'How in the world could you ever do such a thing? I never did a thing like that in my life! I can't see how anybody with any sense of self-respect could do so,' you might far better stay at home. God chose one Pharisee, and only one, to be an apostle. And he was not sent forth until he could acknowledge himself to be the chief of sinners."[2] In Acts 26:13-15, Saul of Tarsus was having a battle with his conscience. The Holy Spirit pressed into his soul the constant conviction of sin. For him to go on in his mad campaign against Jesus and His followers, he must repress all the convictions and promptings of the Holy Spirit. This was "hard" on him, and it could have led to severe physical and emotional disorders. The Lord loved him so much that He actually made it "hard" for Paul to destroy himself through impenitence. And when Saul became the apostle Paul, he never forgot the lesson. Ever afterward he was to teach that it is easy to be saved and hard to be lost if one understands and believes the "Good News." Thus, in the words of Jesus, His burden is "easy," and to oppose His salvation is "hard." Such is the meaning of "righteousness by faith," and the 1888 messengers caught the idea of Jesus and Paul. This was a unique feature of their message, seldom articulated today. Our youth are continually bombarded with the idea that it's hard to follow Jesus, and it's easy to follow the devil. In fact, the idea is entrenched in the minds of many Seventh-day Adventists like the Rock of Gibraltar. Adventists have been accused, and sometimes rightly so, of teaching that Christ will be full of murderous vengeance when He returns the second time. Evangelists have represented Him as coming with some kind of mysterious cosmic machine gun that emits a lethal ray to murder all His enemies. But the 1888 message presented no such distortion of God's character. The angels told the apostles that it will be "this same Jesus" who returns a second time (Acts 1:11). Sinners will have changed, not He. They will be hardened, not He. If one smokes cigarettes for years and then comes down with lung cancer or emphysema, can he say, "God has destroyed me"? Truly, "every man who is destroyed will destroy himself." Note how in one short paragraph Ellen White says seven times that the unsaved are lost solely because of their own choice, and not through any arbitrary expulsion inflicted on them by the Lord: (1) A life of rebellion against God has unfitted them for heaven. (2) Its purity, holiness, and peace would be torture to them; (3) the glory of God would be a consuming fire. (4) They would long to flee from that holy place. (5) They would welcome destruction, that they might be hidden from the face of Him who died to redeem them. (6) The destiny of the wicked is fixed by their own choice. (7) Their exclusion from heaven is voluntary with themselves, and just and merciful on the part of God.[3] If we want to, can we make salvation hard? Yes, if we eclipse the cross of Christ, then we must admit that it becomes terribly hard to be saved. Motivation to consecration and devotion dries up. Temptation to evil becomes overpowering in its appeal. The Saviour becomes "a root out of a dry ground," and His gospel contains "no beauty that we should desire him." Duty becomes a burden, obedience difficult, reading the Bible is boring, prayer is empty, Sabbath-keeping is boring. This is the pathetic "Christian experience" of many church members. A. T. Jones says: "We have constantly the opportunity to sin. Opportunities to sin are ever presented to us ... day by day. But it stands written: 'Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus.' 'I die daily.' ... the suggestion of sin is death to me ... in Him." ... As certainly as He is crucified, I am crucified; as certainly as He is dead, I am dead with Him; as certainly as He is buried, I was buried with Him; as certainly as He is risen, I am risen with Him, and henceforth I shall not serve sin"[4] Perhaps the familiar fact of power steering in our cars can help us sense this. Try to steer a car with power steering when the engine is not running. It's hard to turn the wheel. But if the engine is running, then even a child can twist the steering wheel this way or that. The power makes it easy. But still, as driver, you must do something. You must choose which way you want to go. The engine can never relieve you of that responsibility. You can never sit in your car, fold your arms, and say, "Take me to the post office." But once you choose to turn right or left and apply ever so little effort to turn the wheel, immediately the power mechanism goes to work and makes the task easy. This is a fascinating mechanism for it illustrates the gospel. To those who think they find it "hard" to be saved, Ellen White gives us some helpful counsel: "Many are inquiring, "How am I to make the surrender of myself to God?" You desire to give yourself to Him, but you are weak in moral power, in slavery to doubt, and controlled by the habits of your life of sin. Your promises and resolutions are like ropes of sand. You cannot control your thoughts, your impulses, your affections. The knowledge of your broken promises and forfeited pledges weakens your confidence in your own sincerity, and causes you to feel that God cannot accept you; but you need not despair. What you need understand is the true force of the will. This is the governing power in the nature of man, the power of decision, or of choice. ... "The power of choice has been given to men; it is theirs to exercise. You cannot change your heart, you cannot of yourself give to God its affections; but you can choose to serve Him. You can give Him your will; He will then work in you to will and to do according His good pleasure. Thus your whole nature will be brought under the control of the Spirit of Christ; your affections will be centered upon Him, your thoughts will be in harmony with Him."[5] The only difficult thing in being a true Christian is the choice to surrender self to be crucified with Christ. We are never called to be crucified alone-only with Him. But, thank God, it is a million times easier for us to be crucified with Christ than it was for Him to be crucified alone for us! Behold the Lamb of God, and it does indeed become easy. Even if this still seems hard, don't ever forget that it remains much harder to go on fighting against love like that, and beating off the persistent ministry of the Holy Spirit, in order to be lost! --From the writings of Robert J. Wieland and others as noted Notes: 1. E. J. Waggoner, The Glad Tidings, a verse-by-verse study of Galatians, pp. 124, 125; CFI ed. (2016). 2. Ibid., pp. 127, 128. 3. Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 543. 4. A. T. Jones, 1895 General Conference Bulletin, p. 353. 5. Ellen G. White, Steps to Christ, p. 47 Chapter 39 Boasting in the Cross Should the Holy Spirit impart a greater appreciation of what it means to say, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world”? Would we be less inclined to think someone a fanatic if he is “determined not to know anything among [his congregation], save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified”? (Gal. 6:14; 1 Cor. 2:2)? Our Sabbath school lessons have directed our attention to Galatians because this is the 500th anniversary of the Reformation and this book played a key role in that historic event. Martin Luther, John Calvin, James Arminius, and the Wesleys, did great for their day; God was with them. Likewise, Galatians was the center of attention in 1888 when George I. Butler published his The Law in Galatians and E. J. Waggoner his The Gospel in Galatians. The titles of their books reveal what each author saw in Galatians. Butler saw legalism; Waggoner saw The Glad Tidings. Just what is the good news of Galatians? We live in this “time of the end.” The “hour of God’s judgment is come.” Now is the world’s grand cosmic Day of Atonement. What is due now is not a proud triumphalism to “glory in the cross,” but a self-humbling appreciation for the agape love seen there. Now is the time to “comprehend” what Christ accomplished on His cross (Rev. 14:6, 7; Eph. 3:14-21). Now you will say, “Well, that kind of experience is normal for somebody who gets to be in their nineties.” We assume that the world cannot be crucified unto us until we get old. And then the advertisements for fast cars no longer appeal to us. And the lovely fashions no longer appeal to the ladies. The malls and Disneyland no longer hold an attraction. Is that what it means to boast in the cross? “The world is crucified unto me,” says Paul. “I glory in the cross” (Gal. 6:14). I have seen a scintillating radiance in the cross that nothing in the big city can outshine. My thinking day and night is about the sacrifice of Christ. I am amazed. I marvel that the Son of God should go to hell to save my soul. I can never get enough of it. It’s the overmastering passion of my life from here on out. I can’t help but share it with others. Does your heart crave the joy that filled the hearts of the early apostles? Yes! We are not satisfied with a dull, unenthusiastic, leaden kind of spiritual experience, common as it may be. What did the apostles have that we don’t seem to have? They saw the significance of the cross of Christ! Yes, they also believed the resurrection of Christ; but the resurrection meant nothing without appreciating what He had accomplished on His cross. Billions of Christians around the world all glibly profess that “Christ died for our sins.” But how and why did He die? To study for the answer to that question is not an exercise in futility or riding a hobbyhorse. Paul told the Corinthians that he knew nothing save Christ and Him crucified (1 Cor. 2:1-3). The light which will yet lighten the earth with its glory will be a revelation of the significance of that love revealed at the cross. Something about the cross will yet stir Moslems, Buddhists, Hindus, yes, even those billions of lukewarm Christians. Did Christ die only as an alien millionaire stepping in briefly to pay our legal debt? The words used to describe this view are “vicarious atonement.” Or did Christ actually become one of us, the second Adam, and die as us? How closely did He identify with us? On the one hand, the vicarious atonement is an exchanged transaction. On the other hand, Christ identifying with us is a shared experience. The vicarious atonement leaves the human heart cold, or at best, lukewarm. Christ identifying with us lightens the soul with unending joy. According to their testimony in the New Testament, the apostles clearly were fired with Christ identifying Himself with us. Look at it this way: What did Christ accomplish on His cross? Does it matter what one believes? Why did Paul “glory” in that cross? There were good reasons. Paul understood that: In becoming one of the human race, Christ joined His divinity to our humanity, “in Himself.” He became the “second Adam,” the new Head of the human race. In so doing, He reversed what the first Adam had done, who had brought “condemnation” on the human race. Thus Christ brought “justification of life” “upon all men” (Rom. 5:18). That is why He treats every human with grace and kindness as though he or she had never sinned, “not imputing their trespasses unto them” (2 Cor. 5:19). Instead, God imputed humanity’s trespasses unto Christ: “The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isa. 53:6). By His sacrifice, Christ took upon Himself the penalty for all human sin, dying for “every man” his or her second death (Heb. 2:9). The only appropriate response for any human is to appreciate what Christ has already accomplished for us and has given us as a “gift.” That was the reason why Paul “gloried” in that cross; he loved the atonement, and reveled in the truth of what Christ had already accomplished at the cross. Paul described his heart-reaction in these words: “The love [agape] of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge, that if One died for all, then were all dead: and that He died for all, that they which live [you and I] should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again” (2 Cor. 5:14, 15). Without sensing that “constraint” imposed by a heart-appreciation of Christ’s sacrifice, we humans (we’re all naturally self- centered) find it impossible to live any other kind of life than self-centered. Before our selfish hearts can become truly grateful, we have to understand what it is that Christ has given us, not merely offered us. Several times in Rom. 5:15-18 Paul “glories” in what Christ has given “all men”-“ justification unto life.” If you want that kind of joy, know nothing but Christ and Him crucified; then His resurrection will mean new life for you in Him. Let’s learn to “glory” in that cross! --Paul E. Penno Chapter 40 The Apostle Paul in Rome During the "beginning" of "the latter rain" of the 1888 era, Ellen G. White is reported to have said, "Let us have all of Romans and all of Galatians."[1] The "most precious message" is "the third angel's message in verity."[2] In other words, it is an understanding of justification by faith, which is parallel to and consistent with the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary. Of all the books of the Bible, Romans most clearly explains justification by faith. Ellen White understood that the companion books which give the greatest light on Revelation 14:6-12, the third angel's message, are Romans and Galatians. The cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary is practical truth. In other words, it involves the purification of the hearts of God's people, so that they experience the atonement with God. They have seen the heart-warming truth of the love of God revealed in Jesus' cross. They realize that if Christ had not died for all, then all would be dead. They can no longer live for themselves, but the agape motivation becomes living for Jesus and His Father. They would not willingly choose to bring disrepute upon the Heavenly family into which they have been adopted. This is the real meaning of justification by faith. Most can identify with the Apostle Peter's characterization of his brother Paul's writings, that there are "some things hard to be understood" (2 Peter 3:16). With that discouraging word can we understand the Book of Romans much less the Book of Revelation? Actually it's only the honest-hearted believer of God's promises who can understand Romans. It's the "unlearned and unstable" who misconstrue Paul's writings to their own perdition. It was to such folks that the Apostle Paul wrote his letter in the church at Rome. They were "not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble" (1 Cor. 1:26). They were honest, candid believers. There were probably retailers, skilled craftsmen, day laborers, tradesmen, landscapers, even servants with a few upper class, and maybe a civil servant or two. It was to these kinds of people that Paul wrote. He wasn't trying to shoot over their heads. He wrote simply and directly in order for them to understand. So this is an encouragement for us to "dig in" and apply our minds to some of the nourishing food of the Scriptures. It was Martin Luther who declared Romans "the clearest gospel of all" and he was right. The gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are the eyewitness accounts of the incarnation, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. For the most part the gospels do not explain the deeper meaning of the "good news" and the cross. God revealed the deeper meaning to Paul, and Romans is the "key" to understanding the atonement. John's Revelation of Jesus Christ as the "Lamb" (25 times)--the Crucified One--is the gospel for the closing age of the Christian era. However, the Revelation cannot be understood without the Book of Romans. Luther's heart was strangely warmed as he read Romans and saw the truth that "the just shall live by faith." His Catholic training had directed him to receive grace through the sacraments, which would motivate him to do good works that would make the "connect" with God. His agony of conscience was how to know when he had done enough good works. To Luther the joy of discovering that God justifies the ungodly by faith alone was a great release from self-centered bondage in sin. Luther was on the right track in restoring God's love to the Christian church. However, his successors over-analyzed justification by faith to the point where it became a stale, mysterious book transaction, light-years away from the human heart; whereby, when one had enough faith, God made the necessary adjustments in the books of heaven based on Calvary, and the sinner was justified and forgiven his sins. Thus God experienced the atonement with sin. The atonement was for sins because the sinner believed in the cross. Such professorial teaching was nothing more than against the law of God's cosmic love. God is not interested in harmony with sin. Christ did not die in order to justify ongoing sin in perpetuity. That is the pagan view of the atonement, which has been absorbed into the Christian church. The idea that the sinner can have "faith" to the degree that God sees evidence in one's prayers, Bible study, witnessing, etc. (all of these things are good when properly motivated by agape), and thus forgives the sinner, is a concept of the atonement that comes straight out of heathenism. Paul wrote to the Romans, "Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom. 1:7). The only way that Paul could write that sinners could call "God our Father," is because God's gift of the atonement in Christ Jesus reconciled the human race unto Himself. The whole human race of sinners has been legally adopted into the Heavenly family. Now it's for us to recognize this fact and receive the divine revelation of the atonement.[3] We have been "called to be saints". A saint is one set apart from the world of self-centeredness. Legally, Christ has justified "all" (Rom. 5:18, 19) so that God can "call" everyone to such a blessed, exalted state. Who among us is not tired of sin? Who is not weary of the continual degradation of sin's bondage? Do you want to know what hell on earth is? "Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame" (Rev. 16:15). Hell on earth is the embarrassment of having one's sins publicly exposed. Jesus never intends for anyone to face such agony. Paul saw that Christ came "in the likeness of sinful flesh" with a "self" that needed denial. Such temptations that He felt from within are such that we all feel. To sense the pull of sin is not sin itself (James 1:14, 15). Yet, He "condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" (Rom. 8:3, 4). The righteousness of the law fulfilled in us is the atonement. It is the practical meaning of the cleansing of the sanctuary. It is true justification by faith. It is Christ's gift to us as our High Priest in the holiest of all. Thus Romans is an invitation into the Most Holy Place with Christ. --Paul E. Penno Notes: 1. Letter E. J. Waggoner to O. A. Olsen [n.d.]; original in General Conference Archives. 2. Ellen G. White, The Review and Herald, April 1, 1890. 3. "The atonement of Christ was not made in order to induce God to love those whom He otherwise hated; it was not made to produce a love that was not in existence; but it was made as a manifestation of the love that was already in God's heart, ... We are not to entertain the idea that God loves us because Christ has died for us, ... The death of Christ was expedient in order that mercy might reach us with its full pardoning power, and at the same time that justice might be satisfied in the righteous substitute." (Ellen G. White, "Christ Our Complete Salvation," Signs of the Times; May 30, 1895.) Chapter 41 The Controversy "The Jews therefore said to one another, 'Where does this man intend to go that we shall not find Him? He is not intending to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks, is He?'" (John 7:35). The Jewish people had become so exclusive that it was beyond their comprehension that someone would preach to anyone but Jews. The reference to the "Dispersion" suggests they were even limiting the outreach only to Jews scattered among the Greeks. The implication is that they considered salvation impossible for anyone but a Jew, therefore outreach was unnecessary. Paul's evangelistic efforts among the Gentiles must have made some of the Jewish Christians uneasy. If someone was a Jew, everybody knew it by their dress, customs and diet. The Gentiles did not have these cultural customs, making it difficult to tell who belonged and who did not. Any time a group believes it important to distinguish members from non-members, rules are necessary. There was freedom in this new Christianity, and the council at Jerusalem concluded that only minimal restrictions would be placed on the new converts (see Acts 15:20). For centuries, the Jews believed that if you kept all the rules correctly, heaven was yours. For the new Christians to side step all that effort was less than well received by many former Jews with old prejudices. Paul addresses these prejudices at the beginning of his epistle to the Roman Christians by rehearsing the shortcomings of both Jews and Gentiles, concluding, "There is none righteous, not even one" (Rom. 3:10). The Galatian heresy that God saves only the circumcised had just recently consumed the time and energy of the leadership. Probably the best setting in which to understand this Jewish prejudice is to look at how they had come to understand God's covenant promises to Israel. The Jews invariably described that God's promises were made to their father Abraham. Indeed they were, but that was not the first time the promise of a Savior was made. "The covenant of grace was first made with man in Eden, when after the Fall there was given a divine promise that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head. ... This same covenant was renewed to Abraham in the promise, 'In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.' … Though this covenant was made with Adam and renewed to Abraham, it could not be ratified until the death of Christ. ... yet when ratified by Christ, it is called a new covenant."[1] If the promises to Adam and Abraham were the same, the Jews had no basis for believing it was virtually impossible for a Gentile to be saved. But another covenant, formed at Sinai might have been misleading. Why was another covenant formed at Sinai? "In their bondage the people had to a great extent lost the knowledge of God ... Living in the midst of idolatry and corruption, they had no true conception of the holiness of God, of the exceeding sinfulness of their own hearts, their utter inability, in themselves, to render obedience to God's law, and their need of a Saviour. All this they must be taught."[2] Israel demonstrated the truth of this statement when they naively responded at Sinai that they would do everything God had said (Ex. 19:8). They had to be taught they were incapable of doing what they promised. None of this, including their dismal failure with the golden calf, surprised an omniscient God. Thus began an extended journey with cycles of Israel trying to keep the law, giving up, sliding into idolatry, then starting over with a new generation. When the Messiah fulfilled God's "New" Covenant promises, they were too immersed in their Old Covenant works to recognize Him. The New Covenant truth was an essential element of the 1888 message, and even today lifts a load of doubt and despair from many heavy hearts. The 1888 message clarified the difference between the two covenants: The New Covenant is God’s one-way promise to write His law in our hearts, and to give us (not offer us) everlasting salvation as a free gift “in Christ.” The Old Covenant is the vain promise of the people to obey, and “gives birth to bondage.” E. J. Waggoner saw this difference: "But this [God's promises to Abraham] was not such a covenant as was made with the Israelites at Horeb. That one contained no reference to Christ, and no provision for the forgiveness of sins; the one with Abraham was confirmed 'in Christ' (Gal. 3:17) and was made not on condition that he should be righteous by his own unaided efforts, but was made on condition of his having the righteousness of faith. Compare Rom. 4:11 with 3:22-25."[3] And in his The Glad Tidings Waggoner wrote: “The covenant and promise of God are one and the same. … God’s covenants with men can be nothing else than promises to them. … God promises us everything that we need, and more than we can ask or think, as a gift. We give Him ourselves, that is nothing. And He gives us Himself, that is, everything.”[4] The Jews had come to view the ceremonial law and the moral law as one single entity, with all elements binding on those who would enter heaven. Many Christians see the two laws the same way, but nail the entire thing to the cross, saying nothing of the law is now binding. The leadership at the 1888 General Conference took the position that only the moral law, not the ceremonial is binding. This seems the compromise position, but it can be understood differently. Something that is binding can be used to punish for violation and rewarded for compliance. If two parties agree to enter into a contract, each has the right to enforce performance by the other. But, even courts recognize that if one of the parties to the contract does not have the capacity to perform what they have promised, there was never a sufficient meeting of the minds to say a mutually binding contract was formed. In order to save us, God had to do everything. Waggoner understood that through grace, God gives mankind the righteousness of Jesus Who alone has lived a sinless life. By faith the believer accepts this righteousness, making the believer, in Christ, a doer of the law. It is important to understand that this righteousness is not added because the justification obtained by Christ at the cross needs bolstering to entitle the human race to heaven. When Christ proclaimed, "It is finished," He did not mean it was finished except for the process of sanctification which will make us righteous. He saw it this way: "The meaning of the word 'justified' is 'made righteous.' The Latin word for righteousness is justitia. To be just is to be righteous. Then we add the termination fy, from the Latin word, meaning 'to make,' and we have the exact equivalent of the simpler term, 'make righteous.'"[5] God provided a Savior Who became our sin for us and paid the penalty for it, the second death. Then, through the accepted gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit, He changes our hearts, which are at enmity against the law to love it. Here is where Waggoner saw that the Old and New Covenants were two separate experiences that ran on two parallel tracks from the time of Cain and Abel until the mark of the beast and seal of God as spoken of in the Book of Revelation. The law cares nothing about the state of your heart, but the New Covenant of grace changes your heart of stone to that of God's agape love. --Arlene Hill Notes: 1. Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, pp. 370, 371. 2. Ibid., p. 371. 3. Ellet J. Waggoner, "Comments on Galatians 3, No. 2," Signs of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 27, July 15, 1886. 4. Ellet J. Waggoner, The Glad Tidings, a verse-by-verse study of Galatians, p. 71, CFI ed. (2016). 5. Ibid., p. 40. Chapter 42 The Human Condition The Bible says that this world will become very wicked in the last days just before the second coming of Jesus. The Lord Himself asks, "When the Son of man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8), implying that it will be very rare. Paul says, "In the last days perilous times will come." Then he lists many evil things that people will do, even those who profess to worship God. "For men will be ... unthankful, unholy. ... From such people turn away!" (2 Tim. 3:1-5). The Bible is clear on two realities of human life: (1) "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, [and (2) all are] being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 3:23, 24). Ellet J. Waggoner, one of the 1888 "messengers," describes the meaning of falling (or coming) short: "People are fond of imagining that what are called 'shortcomings' are not so bad as real sins. So it is much easier for them to confess that they have 'come short' than that they have sinned and done wickedly. But since God requires perfection, it is evident that 'shortcomings' are sins. It may sound pleasanter to say that a bookkeeper is 'short' in his accounts, but people know that the reason for it is that he has been taking that which is not his, or stealing. When perfection is the standard, it makes no difference in the result, how much or how little one comes short, so long as he comes short. The primary meaning of sin is 'to miss the mark.' And in an archery contest, the man who has not strength to send his arrow to the target, even though his aim is good, is a loser just as surely as he who shoots wide of the mark."[1] Our fallen human condition is "enmity against God." The solution? To "be reconciled to God" by realizing how Christ was "made ... to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Cor. 5:20, 21, King James Version). Sin is the source of all the suffering and anguish in the world, and everyone is born with the problem in his or her nature. The classic definition is, "Sin is the transgression of the law," the "law" being understood as God's law (1 John 3:4). But the Greek is only one little word, anomia, which literally is, "a state of being against the law." In other words, sin is heart-rebellion against the government of God, not merely outwardly doing things that are unlawful. Another word for it is "alienation." "The carnal mind is enmity against God," heart-alienation (Rom. 8:7). And "enmity" always finds expression. The ultimate expression of that inner hatred is seen when the human race vented that pent-up hatred of God in their murder of His Son (see Acts 3:14, 15). Human sin blossomed into the murder of the Son of God--and all of us were implicated (Rom. 3:23, 24; Zech 12:10). It happened because of a deep-seated principle: hatred cherished in the heart always leads to the act: "Whosoever hates his brother is a murderer" (1 John 3:15). And of course, "no murderer has eternal life abiding in him," says the same verse. Can this terrible sin be eradicated? The Bible says Yes! But only through repentance for the sin of murdering the Son of God. Far from being a negative experience, such repentance is the foundation of all true joy. Repentance is not our tears and sorrow balancing the books of life; it is our appreciation of what it cost Him to bear our griefs and carry our sorrows (Isa. 53:4). Repenting only of superficial sin leaves a deep stratum of further alienation which remains unrealized, unconfessed, and therefore unhealed. It is not enough that sin be legally forgiven; it must also be blotted out. This problem of unrealized sin pervades the entire church in all lands, and its practical effects weaken the witness of every congregation. The good news is that the gracious Spirit of God will convict His people of that deep reality. Then He will be able to give the gift of ultimate repentance. His giving only awaits our willingness to receive. The issue is not the assurance of our own personal salvation, but the honor and vindication of the One who purchased our salvation. One may never have heard the name of Christ, but he senses in his heart that he has "sinned and fall[en] short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23). There is an awareness, however dim, of a perfect standard in the divine law and in Christ. The Holy Spirit penetrates human hearts with the conviction of "sin, and of righteousness" (John 16:8-10) Ellen White expressed it this way: "The nearer we come to Jesus, and the more clearly we discern the purity of His character, the more clearly shall we see the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and the less shall we feel like exalting ourselves. There will be a continual reaching out of the soul after God, a continual, earnest, heartbreaking confession of sin and humbling of the heart before Him."[2] One of the great gospel truths of the 1888 message is that a higher motivation becomes realized in the close of time than has prevailed in the church in past ages--a concern for Christ that He receive His reward and find His "rest" in the final eradication of sin. All egocentric motivation based merely on fear of hell or hope of reward is less effective. The higher motivation is symbolized in the climax of Scripture--the Bride of Christ making herself "ready." That's why we read in Revelation 12:11 that God will have a people who "overcame [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb." Repentance is a gift of the Holy Spirit, the last gift He will give before He is finally withdrawn from the earth when the seven last plagues must fall (Rev. 15, 16). Repentance is a newly gifted hatred for sin that constrains one "henceforth" (KJV) to deny self and to take up the cross to follow the Lamb of God (2 Cor. 5:14, 15; Luke 9:23). Repentance includes receiving the precious gift of the atonement, that is, of being reconciled to the God whom once we hated (Rom 5:7-11). "Those who wait for the Bridegroom's coming are to say to the people, 'Behold your God.' The last rays of merciful light, the last message of mercy to be given to the world, is a revelation of His character of love. The children of God are to manifest His glory. In their own life and character they are to reveal what the grace of God has done for them."[3] --From the writings of Robert J. Wieland Notes: 1. Ellet J. Waggoner, Waggoner on Romans, p. 70. 2. Ellen G. White, Acts of the Apostles, p. 561. 3. Ellen G. White, Christ's Object Lessons, pp. 415, 416. Chapter 43 Justification by Faith Long before the Sabbath was changed from the seventh to the first day, this apostate power sought to corrupt the true idea of agape that is essential to appreciating Day-of-Atonement righteousness by faith. Perhaps his most successful method has been to invent the doctrine of the natural immortality of the human soul. It permeates many religions. The idea came from paganism and was adopted early on by apostate Christianity. It has had a devastating effect on the true idea of the gospel, for it paralyzes it. The Seventh-day Adventist Church does not believe in that false doctrine, but the modern lukewarmness that pervades the world church comes from importing popular ideas of the gospel that are related to it. For example, if the soul is naturally immortal, Christ could not have died the equivalent of "the second death." For those who accept natural immortality, His sacrifice is automatically reduced to a few hours of physical and mental suffering while He was sustained throughout by hope. Thus the pagan-papal doctrine dwarfs "the width and length and depth and height" of Christ's love. It reduces His agape to the dimensions of a human love motivated by self- concern and hope of reward. The result is a diluting of the idea of faith. It becomes an egocentric search for security. The highest motivation possible remains ego-centered. All pagan religions are self-centered in their appeal, and since almost all Christian churches accept this pagan-papal doctrine, they get locked in to what is basically an egocentric mind-set. Despite their great sincerity, so long as human minds are blinded thus they cannot appreciate the dimensions of the love revealed at the cross, and in consequence are hindered from understanding the righteousness by faith idea that relates to the cleansing of the sanctuary truth. The result has to be a widespread lukewarmness, spiritual pride, self- satisfaction, due to subservience to ego-centeredness. Fear always lurks beneath its surface. As best he could in his day, Luther understood this dynamic of faith as a heart-appreciation of agape, yet he fell short of an adequate grasp of its full dimensions because he lived too early to grasp the idea of the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary. And after his death his followers soon reverted to the pagan-papal concept of natural immortality. Most Protestant ideas of justification by faith are therefore conditioned by this idea. A few individual exceptions prove the fact. Our 1888 message began to cut the ties that blinded us by Protestant views that beneath the surface were related to Rome. Now those ideas are bearing fruit in Protestantism, which is more and more openly leaning toward Rome. The 1888 message was "the beginning" of a rediscovery of what Paul and the apostles saw. When Jesus died on the cross, did He make a mere provision whereby something could be done for us if we first did our part? Or did He actually do something for "all men"? If so, what did He do for them? Romans assures us that He "is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world" (I John 1:2; cf. Rom. 3:25). As "all have sinned," so all are "being justified freely by His grace" (Rom. 3:23, 24). "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them" (2 Cor. 5:19). Since "the wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6:23), Jesus came that He "should taste [that] death for every man" (Heb. 2:9). Through His "righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life" (Rom. 5:18, NKJV). The common idea is that the sacrifice of Christ is only provisional, that is, it does nothing for anyone unless he first does something to activate it and "accepts Christ." As it were, Jesus stands back with His divine arms folded, doing nothing for the sinner until he decides to "accept." In other words, salvation is a heavenly process that remains inert until we take the initiative. Like a washing machine in a laundromat, it has been provided, but it does nothing for us until we first pay the price to activate it. In contrast, the 1888 message understands our texts: Christ tasted "death [the second] for every man." As "all have sinned," so "all" "are" being justified freely by His grace. This is a legal justification; He does not force anyone to become righteous against his will. By virtue of Christ's sacrifice, God is not "imputing their trespasses" unto the world (2 Cor. 5:19). He imputed them to Christ instead. This is why no lost person can suffer the second death until after the final judgment, which can come only after the second resurrection. And this is why all can live even now, believers and unbelievers alike. Our very life is purchased by Him, even though multitudes have no knowledge of that truth. "The whole world" has been redeemed, if only someone could tell them and they could believe it. Consequently, hearing and believing that truth transforms the heart. Ellen White agrees. Every person owes his or her physical life and all he has or is to the One who "died for all." "To the death of Christ we owe even this earthly life. ... Never one, saint or sinner, eats his daily food, but he is nourished by the body and the blood of Christ. The cross of Calvary is stamped on every loaf. It is reflected in every water spring."[1] When the sinner sees this truth and his heart appreciates it, he experiences justification by faith. This is therefore far more than a legal declaration of acquittal--which was made at the cross for "all men." Justification by faith includes a change of heart. It is the same as the forgiveness that actually takes the sin away from the heart. The Greek word for forgiveness means taking it away, reclaiming from it. In other words, the believer who exercises such faith becomes inwardly and outwardly obedient to all the commandments of God. Such faith, if it is not hindered and confused with Babylon's error, will grow to be so mature and powerful that it will prepare a people for the return of Christ. This is why Ellen White wrote, "[justification by faith] is the third angel's message in verity."[2] Not all will be saved. But the reason is deeper than that they were not clever or prompt enough to seize the initiative. There is something beyond it. They will have actually resisted and rejected the salvation already "freely" given them in Christ. God has taken the initiative to save "all men," but humans have the ability, the freedom of will, to thwart and veto what Christ has already accomplished for them and has actually placed in their hands. They can repeat what Esau did who "despised" his birthright and "sold" it for "one morsel of food" (Heb. 12:16). We can cherish our alienation from Christ and our hatred of His righteousness until we close the gates of heaven against ourselves. According to the 1888 concept, those who are saved at last are saved due to God's initiative; those who are lost at last are lost because of their own initiative. --Paul E. Penno Notes: 1. Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 660. 2. This was Ellen White's phrase to describe the 1888 message. Cf. Review and Herald, April 1, 1890. Chapter 44 The Faith of Abraham When God called Abram out of Ur, what was his spiritual condition? We know that shortly after the Flood, Nimrod established the kingdom of Babel in rebellion against God (Gen. 10:8-10), and Ur was an area in that kingdom. We know that in this place the inhabitants worshiped the god of the crescent moon named Sin. Sin was thought to be the creator of all things, the father of all gods, including being the father of the sun god. We also know that Abram's father, Terah, worshiped idols and was so attached to them that when they left Ur, he took his idols with him. "... Terah, [was] the father of Abraham, and the father of Nahor: and they served other gods" (Josh. 24:2). Abram and his family didn't just have statues on their shelves to remind them of the gods they worshiped, as some have crosses or pictures of Christ on their walls, but "they served other gods." False gods were a very real part of their spiritual and daily experience. Abram's family were pagan through a superstitious blending of the deified things of nature, with a faded knowledge of the true Creator. They possessed a remnant knowledge of the pre-Flood experience of Cain and Seth's descendants, but had confounded that knowledge with pagan ideas about God. Though the "father of the faithful" began his career in heathen darkness, Terah and Abram had access to a full knowledge of God through the witness of Shem, who lived for 502 years after the Flood (Gen. 11:10, 11). Shem, Noah's son, was still alive when Isaac, the son of promise, was born to Abraham. God has never been without a faithful witness who could call people out of darkness into the light of His redeeming love. Though fading, it was the remnant knowledge of the one true God as kept alive by Shem, and the evidence of the Flood as judgment against sin, that held open the heart's door allowing the Holy Spirit to act upon Abram's heart. Living among a multitude of silent, powerless deities, there was One who with increasing clarity spoke to Abram through his conscience. "Faith in Christ is not the work of nature, but the work of God on human minds, wrought on the very soul by the Holy Spirit, who reveals Christ, as Christ revealed the Father."[1] "Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee ... So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him" (Gen. 12:1, 4). "By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went" (Heb. 11:8). Unquestioning obedience, that's the characteristic of true faith. Faith "works" contrary to what human nature, or "common sense" tells us to do. Common sense would have been to stay put, right where Terah's family had always lived. Common sense would have questioned that "still small voice" that called Abram out of the fertile and prosperous land along the Euphrates River, saying go to a land where he would remain "a stranger and a pilgrim" the rest of his life (Heb. 11:8-10, 13). Abram had to be removed from his "comfort zone" so he could be prepared for what God wanted to do with him. He had to be brought to the spiritual condition of total dependence upon the word of God, or he would never have become the "father of the faithful." It took a series of trials that tested Abraham's confidence in God's creative word before he was "fully persuaded" of the power inherent in God's word. Only then it could be truly said of Abraham, "Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb: he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; and being fully persuaded that what He had promised, He was able also to perform. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness" (Rom. 4:18-22). At the outset of his spiritual journey Abraham had no evidence that the thing God promised him (having a son and becoming heir of the world) would become an actuality. But God's gift of the measure of faith (Rom. 12:3) was cherished by Abraham and as he exercised it, it grew in strength. The remnant knowledge that Seth's God was the true Creator, as opposed to all other pretender gods like Sin, was key to Abraham's spiritual development. "What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found?" (Rom. 4:1). What was it that Abraham "found"? "For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith" (Rom. 4:13). Abraham "found" righteousness through believing God's word. "And he believed in the Lord; and He counted [reckoned] it to him for righteousness" (Gen. 15:6). Abraham could not "earn" this righteousness through the keeping of the law, nor through the rite of circumcision. "He received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all them that believe" (Rom. 4:11). The rite of circumcision did not make Abraham, nor any of his descendants, righteous. "For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love" (Gal. 5:6). Abraham's righteousness was not "of debt," as though through his own "good works" God owed salvation to him. Nothing we can do will place God under obligation to us. Ellet J. Waggoner, one of the 1888 "messengers," understood this concept: "If anyone could do something for the Lord for which the Lord would be under obligation to him, then all things would not be from Him. That is to say, the idea of justification by works is opposed to the fact that God is the Creator of all things. And conversely, the recognition of God as Creator is the acknowledgment that righteousness comes from Him alone."[2] And thus, God's holy Sabbath rest is the sign and seal of righteousness in the final remnant people who recognize the Creator as the only source of power for overcoming sin and developing Christ-like characters (Rev. 14:6-12). Through the tested and proven faith of Jesus Christ--God's gift to us--our hearts are yielded, our wills submitted and our affections are firmly fixed upon the Saviour, and everything in this world loses its attractiveness. Righteousness by faith is the gift from God through Christ, the Author and Finisher of that faith. Righteousness by faith is depending upon the word of God only to accomplish what it has promised: that it can create in fallen human beings that which does not exist without His power and presence in the life. "Faith is the expecting the word of God itself to do what the word says, and depending upon that word itself to do what the word says. ... Since the word of God is in itself creative, and so is able to produce and cause to appear what otherwise would never exist nor be seen; and since faith is the expecting the word of God only to do just that thing, and depending upon 'the word only' to do it, it is plain enough that faith is 'the evidence of things not seen.'"[3] "Thus it is the word of God that must work in you. You are not to work to do the word of God: the word is to work in you to cause you to do. ... The word of God being living and full of power, when it is allowed to work in the life, there will be powerful work wrought in that individual."[4] Consider now God's promise that Abraham would be "heir of the world" (Rom. 4:13). What is Paul speaking of here? "I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession" (Gen. 17:8). In his witness before the Sanhedrin, Stephen spoke a well-known fact concerning Abraham and the possession of the land, that God "gave him no inheritance in it, not even enough to set his foot on" (Acts 7:5; NKJV). How do we reconcile this seeming contradiction? "First let us note the fact that the inheritance promised is an everlasting inheritance. Abraham himself is to have it for an everlasting possession. But the only way in which Abraham and his seed may have everlasting possession of an inheritance is by having everlasting life. Therefore we see that in this promise to Abraham we have the assurance of everlasting life in which to enjoy the possession."[5] "Do not forget that the covenant and the promise are the same thing, and that it conveys land, even the whole earth made new, to Abraham and his [spiritual] children. Remember also that since only righteousness will dwell in the new heavens and the new earth, the promise includes the making righteous of all who believe."[6] "God has not said that if we will believe certain statements and dogmas, He will in return give us an everlasting inheritance. The inheritance is one of righteousness; and since faith means the reception of the life of Christ into the heart, together with God's righteousness, it is evident that there is no other way in which the inheritance can be received."[7] "And this brings us to the conclusion of the matter, namely, that the promise to Abraham and to his seed that they should be heirs of the world, is the promise of Christ's coming. ... And so we find that we have as great an interest in the promise to Abraham as he himself had.That promise is still open for all to accept. It embraces nothing less than an eternal life of righteousness in the earth made new as it was in the beginning. The hope of the promise of God unto the fathers was the hope of the coming of the Lord to raise the dead, and thus to bestow the inheritance."[8] --Ann Walper Notes: 1. Ellen G. White, In Heavenly Places, p. 51. 2. Ellet J. Waggoner, Waggoner on Romans, p. 81. 3. Alonzo T. Jones, Review and Herald, Jan. 3, 1899; Jones and Waggoner, Lessons on Faith, p. 19. 4. Ibid., p. 108. 5. Waggoner on Romans, p. 84. 6. Ellet J. Waggoner, The Glad Tidings, a verse-by-verse study of Galatians, p. 72, CFI ed. (2016); Gal. 3:29. 7. Waggoner on Romans, p. 88. 8. Ibid., pp. 86, 87. Chapter 45 Adam and Jesus We're privileged to share with you a Bible study on Romans 5, the topic of this week's Sabbath School lesson, written by Robert J. Wieland. He titled the study: "What Jesus Christ Has Already Done For Us All." We realize it's considerably longer than our regular Sabbath School Today, but we hope that it will give you a deeper understanding of Paul's "big idea" of what Christ accomplished on His cross. Paul's Romans chapter 5 should begin with the last verse of his chapter 4: "[Christ] was given up to death for our misdeeds, and raised to life for our justification" (4:25); this leads into his chapter 5. In his inspired thinking, Paul sees that the first person plural, possessive pronoun, "our," means everybody--the entire world, not just the church. John agrees. He says that "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son ..." (John 3:16). Ellen G. White has told us that when we preach we should preach "big ideas."[1] In Romans 5 the apostle Paul has a very "big idea" that he wants to get across to us: Jesus Christ has not only died for us all; He has done more! He has judicially, legally justified us all "in Himself." Yes, the whole world! That means more than merely saving us to be justified; it means to be re-made in our hearts and minds spiritually into the image of Jesus. It is the most cataclysmal change that can come to any human, for it means total atone- ment with the Son of God. Justification means the mind and the soul of the sinner changed into Christlikeness. Paul couldn't come up with a bigger idea than this: in fact, Jesus has saved the world with all Paul's "much more" idea in full function. That doesn't mean that everybody is going to inherit eternal life, but it means that they could do so if they would cease their resistance of this much more abounding grace of Christ. And just to be saved is far less than the idea means. The Eleven weren't thinking "big" enough to grasp Paul's idea; but the Samaritans got it. When Jesus talked with the woman at Jacob's well and she went and told her townspeople to come and meet Him, they declared, "This is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world" (John 4:42, King James Version). Earlier, the apostle John expressed the same idea, "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son ..." If the Samaritans were right (and they were!), that means that the Lord Jesus Christ, by virtue of His sacrifice on His cross, has justified every man in a judicial sense when he died on His cross, which means more than just saving them to live eternally; they live eternally justified. Let us look at Romans 5. Romans 5:1: "Therefore, now that we have been justified through faith, we are at peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." The "we" is the world, in Paul's thinking. Many either don't know it or don't believe it, but nonetheless, it is true that Christ saved the world in a judicial sense. It means that He gave Himself for the world and thus He bought the world. This does not mean that everybody is going to be saved at last in God's eternal kingdom if they don't want to be; they could be if they would receive the gift that Christ has given them; but many will not humble their hearts to receive what Christ has given them. Ellet J. Waggoner, one of the 1888 "messengers," was able to grasp this truth when most of his brethren could not. He said: "There is no exception here. As the condemnation came upon all, so the justification comes upon all. Christ has tasted death for every man. He has given himself for all. Nay, he has given himself to every man. The free gift has come upon all. The fact that it is a free gift is evidence that there is no exception. If it came upon only those who have some special qualification, then it would not be a free gift. It is a fact, therefore, plainly stated in the Bible, that the gift of righteousness and life in Christ has come to every man on earth. There is not the slightest reason why every man that has ever lived should not be saved unto eternal life, except that they would not have it."[2] Romans 5:2: "[Christ] has given us access to that grace in which we now live; and we exult in the hope of the divine glory that is to be ours." Because of Christ's work of justification we are "exulting" ever since, and will exult forever. Justification is eternal joy. Unless Jesus had made that sacrifice on His cross, there would not be one laughing, happy person on earth; there would be no smiles. Those who will be lost at last will realize that every trace of joy they ever knew was purchased for them by a corresponding, equal anguish of the Son of God in His sacrifice on His cross; they went through life never realizing that truth and thus they forfeited the eternal gift. No one could know a moment of joy unless Christ had endured an equivalent, balanced, equal moment of anguish for them. But now we have "access" directly to the throne of God. Christ has given that "access" to every human soul, which means that the door to eternal life is standing open to all. There is a "coming," yes, that we must do--but that "coming" is the same as simply believing the gospel. But whether we come or not, Christ has done something for every one and He has given everyone the gift of eternal life if they will but have what He gives. That truth humbles every honest heart; it reconciles every believing soul that has been alienated. Romans 5:3: Blessings start pouring in immediately: "We even exult in our present sufferings, ... [and such] hope is no fantasy; through the Holy Spirit He has given us, God's love [agape] has flooded our hearts" (vs. 5). Whether we are "worthy" or not, this is what the Lord Jesus does (and of course "we" are not worthy!). The Holy Spirit is a Gift given free to all; the Lord gives the Gift, but everyone receives the gift who will open the heart to receive Him, "who listens to [Him], watching daily at [His] threshold with his eyes on the doorway" (cf. Prov. 8:34). Romans 5:4: The Lord has further given us the gift of "endurance," which is identical to His "approval." He is delighted when we cherish the faith and hope He has given us, like a chef is happy when we express appreciation of what he has prepared for us. We must pause a moment and look at that word agape. It's the Greek word for love, but it is an entirely different idea than we know naturally. The love we have by nature loves people who are nice; God's agape loves people who are mean and bad. Our love depends on the beauty or value of the person whom we love; God's love creates value or goodness in the one whom He loves. There's where our hope lies! Our love seeks a reward; Christ in His agape love gave up His reward and died our second death--that is, no light at the end of His tunnel. That was for Him an eternal and infinite sacrifice, which is why Revelation pictures such an end as "the second death" (20:6). It was for Jesus an infinite sacrifice when he endured the horrible guilt of the whole world. Jeremiah asks the plaintive question: "Is it nothing to you, you passers-by?" (Lam. 1:12). Romans 5:5: And the hope we have "is no fantasy; through the Holy Spirit He has given us, God's love [agape] has flooded our hearts." The agape "floods" every human heart willing to receive the blessing. But often the gift may be misunderstood initially, for with the gift of the Holy Spirit always comes the gift of repentance. Repentance is often thought of as a sad experience when in fact it is joyous for it means reconciliation with the Lord. You can't imagine a greater joy! No one can initiate repentance on his own: "God exalted [Christ] ... to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins" (Acts 5:31, KJV). When the Holy Spirit gives you even the faintest touch of that precious "gift," cherish it; and let it grow in your heart-appreciation. Romans 5:6: "At the appointed time, Christ died for the wicked." It's humiliating, but that's the word that describes those who have rejected the reconciliation that Christ has given them in Himself. "Christ died." What does that mean? It was a different death than we know. The death that we know the Bible says is a "sleep." The two thieves crucified with Christ died; that means they merely went to sleep. They that "sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake," says Daniel (12:2). Was that the "death" that Jesus died? A mere weekend of sleep? (A weekend of sleep would be wonderful after one has endured the painful horror of being crucified!) No, it was far more, for Jesus died our "second death," the death that involved the veritable, eternal "curse" of God. On Jesus' part, it was His eternal love for us. Someone may question--didn't He always know that He would be resurrected on the third day after His death on the cross? Yes, He walked in the light of that assurance all His sunlit life and throughout His ministry, until that moment on the cross when He screamed in unutterable anguish, "My God, why have You forsaken Me?" Why did He scream so? Because the Father truly did forsake Him: "it pleased the Lord to bruise Him," says Isaiah 53:10 (KJV), an inexplicable statement except as we remember that the death that Jesus actually died was our death--the second death. It is hard to say it, but the reality is that the Father loved us more than He loved His only Son! The fact that He was resurrected the third day does not lessen in the least the full commitment that He made on His cross; and the Father accepts the commitment for the deed. As He died, Ellen White reminds us, "The Saviour could not see through the portals of the tomb. Hope did not present to Him His coming forth from the grave a conqueror."[3] Because the father accepts the commitment for the deed, "God raised Him to the heights and bestowed on Him the name above all names" (Phil. 2:9). That total commitment on Christ's part means that He actually died every man's "second death." Therefore that sacrifice of His has enabled the Father to treat "every man" as though he had never sinned! That is the judicial justification that Christ has achieved for every soul on earth! All this glorious truth we are privileged to "comprehend" here and now, if we do not resist the Holy Spirit. Salvation exists in the realization of this glorious truth; if we don't resist the Holy Spirit who gives the gift, our eternal happiness begins immediately. If we do resist and reject the gift (it's more than a mere offer!), then before the universe we choose to assume the name of "Esau." We take that name because his character has now become ours; like Esau, we have resisted the Lord's much more abounding grace. (You remember, Esau sold his precious birthright in exchange for some earthly pleasure, and cried buckets of useless tears the rest of his life; cf. Heb. 12:16, 17. May the Lord save us from doing that.) Then, in the second resurrection, when the "books" are "opened," those who have likewise resisted and rejected the "birthright" gift given them will realize what they have done; in unutterable horror they will abhor themselves. They will again cry "to the mountains and the crags, 'Fall on us, hide us from the One who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb'" (cf. Rev. 6:15-17). They will at last realize who Jesus is, that He has been their infinite Saviour all their lives, and they have thrust Him from themselves. That "wrath" is what justification by faith saves us "from." It's what Paul means: "Being now justified by [Christ's] blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him" (Rom. 5:9, KJV). What is that "wrath"? Lambs do not exercise "wrath." They are known for the opposite. The phrase "wrath of the Lamb" therefore is arresting. We always picture Jesus as sweet and gentle (He would not harm a fly, would He!); but when His "wrath" is aroused--don't get in His way. The "wrath" of the Lamb of God who has been resisted and rejected--thus resulting in the loss of souls beyond our own--this arouses His intense indignation. Sweet, gentle, lowly, loving Jesus morphs into a tower of righteous divine anger--the most solemn and terrible that the universe can know. Romans 5:7: "Even for a just man one of us would hardly die, though perhaps for a good man one might actually brave death ..." We think of Abraham Lincoln on the night of his assassination: if someone had known that John Wilkes Booth would pull a gun on him, someone might have intervened and taken it instead of the nation's beloved president who was needed to bind up the wounds of the nation's Civil War. But no, ... Romans 5:8: "Christ died for us while we were yet sinners, and that is God's proof of His love towards us." The word "sinners" means people who are at enmity with God, and John says that such enmity is always murder: "Whosoever hateth his brother is [already] a murderer" (1 John 3:15, KJV). When we kneel before the Lord and confess our sins, that is the sin that has been the background of all of our sins! No one of us can claim that if we had been there that Friday morning in Pilate's courtyard and the mob were yelling about Jesus, "Crucify Him!" that we would have stood up in front of them and said that if you crucify Him you crucify me too! No, none of us would have made ourselves so famous; our "enmity with God" of Romans 8:7 was there in our natural sinful hearts. The murder of the Son of God is the world's unconscious but real sin. Romans 5:9: "And so, since we have now been justified by Christ's sacrificial death, we shall all the more certainly be saved ... by His life!" (vs. 10). Again, in his thinking Paul's pronoun "we" is the human race; his idea about Jesus is "big." Christ has already done something for the human race. The Father sent Him down here with a job description--save that lost world! And just before His death, the Son of God tells Him, "I have glorified You on earth by finishing the work which You gave Me to do" (John 17:4). Father, I have saved the world! This was no idle boast; the job had been done. And Christ did not die in vain; every soul can kneel and thank Him for doing it, for in so doing He actually saved every soul. Romans 5:10: "If, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, now that we have been reconciled, shall we be saved by His life!" Again, the "we" is us; Paul's heart is not big enough to contain the joy that he senses for us all: wicked and mean as we are by nature, we have been "reconciled" to God by Christ's blood--not a work of fear or of grasping for reward--no; but our heartappreciation for His love! That simple, that easy. But it does bring tears to our dry eyes. Romans 5:11: "But that is not all: we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus, through whom we have now been granted reconciliation." To know that there is no sin, no guilt, no dark sorry story in the closet between yourself and the Lord, is joy indescribable! David's psalm which he wrote after his sin with Bathsheba described "exulting" thus: "Happy is he whose offence is forgiven, whose sin is blotted out! Happy is he to whom the Lord imputes no fault, in whose spirit there is no deceit" (Psalm 32:1, 2). Romans 5:12: "What does this imply? It was through one man that sin entered the world, and through sin death, and thus death pervaded the whole human race, inasmuch as all have sinned." That "inasmuch" is eph ho in the Greek--a virtually untranslatable particle of speech; the idea Paul is trying to express is that although we can blame Adam for the entrance of sin, in fact we must blame ourselves. We have all sinned like Adam sinned. Romans 5:13: "Sin was already in the world before there was law [that is, Mount Sinai]; and although in the absence of law no reckoning is kept of sin, [still]. ... Romans 5:14: "Death held sway from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned [exactly] as Adam did, by disobeying a direct command--and Adam foreshadows the Man who was to come [Christ]." Romans 5:15: Now comes the point: "But God's act of grace is out of all proportion to Adam's wrongdoing [it is much more abounding!]. For if the wrongdoing of that one man brought death upon so many [that is everybody], its effect is vastly exceeded by the grace of God and the gift that came to so many [that is, everybody!] by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ." "Our beloved brother Paul" is wrestling his way through the grandest "big idea" anyone can think: the Lord Jesus Christ has done something beyond merely dying for everybody--He has justified everybody! He has not simply died for a race of rebels: He has morphed a race of rebels into a redeemed race of righteous people whose minds and hearts have been dramatically changed forever: they are now at one with Himself. He has actually changed a world of sinners into a world of righteous people, a people who have become transformed by the much more abounding grace of the Saviour. Paul is on to a "big idea" here that we must handle carefully. No, in fact, the race of human rebels on earth are not now a race of actually, personally righteous people: but God tells everybody in His vast unfallen universe that they are a race of redeemed, righteous people if they don't resist or reject what He has done and presently does for them! Christ has done His work correctly; He tells the Father, "I have ... finish[ed] the work which You gave Me to do" (John 17:4). His justification of His people is real, the job is done; but man still has his freedom of will and he can nullify and defeat all that His Saviour has accomplished--so depraved and rebellious is fallen man, the man created "in the image of God" Himself. Romans 5:16: "And again, the gift of God is not to be compared in its effect with that one man's sin; for the judicial action, following on the one offence, resulted in a verdict of condemnation, but the act of grace, following on so many misdeeds, resulted in a verdict of acquittal." Paul is obsessed with this idea of "much more" grace! Romans 5:17: "If, by the wrongdoing of one man, death established its reign through that one man, much more shall those who in far greater measure receive grace and the gift of righteousness live and reign through the one Man, Jesus Christ." Romans 5:18: "It follows, then [brilliant thinking!] that as the result of one misdeed was condemnation for all people, so the result of one righteous act is acquittal and life for all." Romans 5:19: "For as through the disobedience of one man, many were made [the Greek says, "constituted"] sinners, so through the obedience of one Man many will be made [constituted] righteous [even though they are not!]." Romans 5:20: "... where sin was multiplied, grace immeasurably exceeded it, Romans 5:21: "in order that as sin established its reign by way of death, so God's grace might establish its reign in righteousness, and result in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." The gospel that has astonished the unfallen universe and has yet to lighten the earth with its glory (see Rev. 18:1-4), shines clear and bright in Paul's Romans 5! --Robert J. Wieland Notes: 1. Ellen G. White, Manuscript 7, 1894; Evangelism, p. 169. 2. Ellet J. Waggoner, Waggoner on Romans, p. 101. 3. Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 753. Chapter 46 "Overcoming Sin" Are we in the midst of the historical crisis of the ages? Yes! The return of Christ is being delayed. Our Lesson on "Overcoming Sin" is very serious! A father may have a heavy problem trying to support his family, but the little child has no understanding of it that hinders or shadows his play. The little child can sense only his own individual suffering of hunger. As it says, his "personal metabolism allows" no more. He can never "splice into" his father's anguish, or "feel a spasm of [his] pain, [or] a prick of [his] woe." A little child cannot "feel corporately" what a parent feels corporately for him. But a woman who is grown up "unto the measure of the stature of the fullness" of a man (see Eph. 4:13) can feel corporately for him if she loves him as a bride loves a husband. Could it be that our cosmic problem is troubling to the heart of God because we are that prophetic "woman" who is still in the kindergarten state of heart and has resisted "growing up"? Can we not yet corporately share the heart-burden her Savior feels? Is our concern still fundamentally only self-centered? Do we still consider (as we have in the past) that our own individual, personal salvation is the greatest concern in the universe? Or can we begin to sense a concern for Christ Himself? His name is still "Emmanuel, ... God with us" (Matt. 1:23). He is still one of us in humanity as well as one with the Father in His divinity. Ellen White declared in 1904 that as the consequence of the dark history of 1888message- rejection "in a great degree," "the disappointment of Christ is beyond description" (Review and Herald, Dec. 15). The Loud Cry has been long delayed. Our lesson this week lifts our thoughts above our preoccupation with our own salvation to the possibility of sensing a concern for Jesus in the great controversy for His sake, beyond our little sake. "Christ felt corporately at the Cross" all the combined anguish of humanity. But is it fair that we sense no corporate involvement with Him in His anguish and His sacrifice--not that in any way we assist in our personal salvation, but our minds and hearts can begin to appreciate what it cost Him to save us. We must not be content to remain forever in our kindergarten comprehension. The "most precious message ... the Lord sent to His people" in 1888 began to emphasize that heart-concern for Jesus as transcending our selfish concerns in this "great controversy." Paul was deeply impressed that Christ expects, or at least hopes, that those for whom He died the second death will "come out" of the egocentric milieu of "Babylon" with its Old Covenant radius of self-concern, and begin to "feel a spasm of His pain, a prick of His anguish." "Know ye not," Paul says, "that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death?" That must mean some kind of personal involvement. "We are buried with Him by baptism into death. ... We have been planted together in the likeness of His death. ... Our old man is crucified with Him. ... If we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him" (Rom. 6:3-8). "I am crucified with Christ," he tells the Galatians (2:20). It's over and over "with Him." That is corporate involvement on the part of believers. It is in the sense of heart appreciation, entering "into" His experience by something the Bible calls "faith," heart-involvement with the Son of God in His divine career as Savior of both the world and of the universe. "The government" of the universe is "on His shoulders" (Isa. 9:6; we can't "lift," but we can appreciate the weight He carries!). A young pastor just out of the theological seminary, sincere and earnest, was interested in preaching the gospel as Good News to his congregation. He had a concern: is there a danger in preaching too much about the cross, and the grace of Christ, and His love, and not balance that by preaching also enough about the law, and obedience, and duty? He doesn't want to be pastor of a lazy congregation who take advantage of "cheap grace" and clothe their religion with a thin veneer of love and grace which covers hypocrisy. Should we believe what the Bible says: "where sin abounded, grace did much more abound" (Rom. 5:20); "cheap grace" is a counterfeit message, a detour around the atonement of Christ; you can't preach too much about the genuine grace that "abounds much more" than all the sin the devil can heap upon a congregation. If what Paul says is "the preaching of the cross" (1 Cor. 1:18) is clearly presented to a congregation, sin and hypocrisy cannot flourish among them because that grace conquers sin and eradicates it. The "power" is in the gospel itself, not in the law (see Rom. 1:16). And Paul says, Don't doubt, pastor! "Sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law, but under grace. ... Shall we sin because we are not under the law, but under grace?" Says Paul: That's impossible! (See Rom. 6:14, 15). Being "under grace" is different than many superficial people imagine: it means you are under a new motivation imposed upon you by a deep heartappreciation of what it cost the Son of God to save you from hell itself. There is where you see "the breadth, and length, and depth, and height" of the love of Christ at His cross (Eph. 3:18). That motivation is far stronger than all the fear-motivation you can use to assail your congregation. The pure, true gospel is not a perfect so-called "balance" between faith and works; it is a message of faith which works. How many "good works"? Infinitely more than legalism can ever produce! Don't be afraid to preach salvation by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8, 9). --Paul E. Penno Chapter 47 Who Is the Man of Romans 7? Is the man of Romans 7:7-25 a godless man, the unconverted man? Or is this chapter describing the experience of the normal born-again Christian? Some even say that Paul is here describing his own frustrating experience as a believer in Christ. Certainly, Romans 7 portrays a man in difficulty, a man in distress, a man who seems doomed to defeat and failure in his spiritual life. He appears caught up in a conflict between his own sinful tendencies and desires on the one hand, and the just requirements of God's holy law on the other. We see here an account of temptations resisted but not overcome, of goals not reached, of purposes unfulfilled, of ideals held but not attained, of a victory that is greatly longed for but not gained, of a conflict that is terrible and that regularly ends in defeat. We see pictured here the experience of one that might be described as a born loser, a frustrated, defeated man. What a predicament! Who is this man, who apparently for years is unable to achieve, who lives in frustration and defeat? Two main views have been held through the centuries: first, that the man of Romans 7 is the unregenerate, unconverted, carnal man whose heart is naturally in rebellion against God and His law. The other view is that the man of Romans 7 is Paul himself in his regenerate, converted experience, after he has come to know Christ. If this is true, then it is evidence that victory over temptation and sin is not available to Christians in this life. If Paul could not stop sinning, even through the power of Christ, it proves that no one can stop sinning. The problem we encounter with both these lines of thought is that neither one stands up well under investigation. Do unregenerate sinners confess that God's law is "holy, and just, and good" (7:12)? Do they acknowledge that God's law is spiritual, but that "I am carnal" (vs. 14)? Do unregenerate men say, "The good that I would I do not, but the evil which I would not, that I do (vs. 19)? Do unregenerate men say, "I delight in the law of God after the inward man" (vs. 22)? Most unregenerate people hate the law of God, and love sin. They will, not to do good, but to do evil. They certainly do not delight in the law of God after the inward man. On the other hand, if the born-again Paul is writing about himself, why would he say, "I am carnal" (vs. 14) and then a few lines later write, "the carnal mind is enmity against God" (8:7)? Why would Paul say "I am sold under sin" (7:14), contradicting what he just wrote about "being then made free from sin" (6:18)? Why would Paul say that he found it impossible to stop doing the evil he hated (7:15-23) and in the same discussion write "that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit (8:4)? Why would Paul describe himself as being "in captivity to the law of sin" (7:23) and in the same discussion write "but now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness" (6:22)? The idea that Paul just couldn't stop sinning, that he couldn't quit swearing, lying, committing adultery, doesn't harmonize with his other writings: 2 Corinthians 5:17, 10:5; Galatians 2:20; Ephesians 3:20, 4:23 and 24; and especially Galatians 5:16, "This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh." Are there no other alternatives? Yes, and it is a little idea derived from the 1888 message on the two covenants. Paul is describing the frustrations and defeats that inevitably follow those living under the old covenant. Paul sums up the reason for defeat in Romans 7:25: "So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin." Ego autos [I myself] would never be used to describe a joint effort or action, or a cooperative relationship between two persons [Christ and the believer]. It means emphatically, I alone. In Romans 7:25 it means I without Christ. It vividly describes a man under the old covenant, trying in his own strength to obey God's law and become righteous. This was ancient Israel's problem with their old covenant promise. "And why? Simply because Israel relied not on faith but on what they could do" (Rom. 9:32, Moffatt). "The Man of Romans 7" is neither the converted or the unconverted Paul per se, but the corporate "I" of the fallen, sinful human race apart from Christ: this is the predicament of fallen humanity. "In me ... dwelleth no good thing" (Rom. 7:18). If "no good thing" is there, as I am part of the corporate body of Adam, all evil could dwell there. Nobody else is intrinsically any worse than I am. George I. Butler, one of the leading brethren who opposed E. J. Waggoner's view of the two covenants, wrote in the Review and Herald, "That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled by us," instead of "... fulfilled in us" (Rom. 8:4).[1] Ellen G. White on numerous occasions, including in Patriarchs and Prophets, pages 370-373, endorsed Waggoner's view of the covenants. The great mass of Seventh-day Adventist church members worldwide who have come out of the world, are "converted" in the sense that they have been baptized and go to church Sabbath after Sabbath, but who know no victory over sin and are burdened by sinful old covenant fear which motivates their trust in God. The problem that God has to deal with is "indwelling sin" in His people today, not Adam's condition in the Garden of Eden. The remnant church is "lukewarm." It worships every Sabbath; but Laodicea is forced to confess, "That which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good [Laodicea has long "consented" that the law is good!]. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. ... for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not" (Rom. 7:15-18). The sinless Adam had no such problem. Merely for Christ to redeem Adam's failure and stop with such a victory would mean that the church is doomed to perpetual lukewarmness, and the problem of sin that dwells within and compels us to sin can never be solved. Hence the incarnate Christ must "condemn sin in the flesh," "abolish in His flesh the enmity" (Rom. 8:3; Eph. 2:15), which the sinless Adam never had to do. While the old covenant was the promises of the people to obey God in their own strength, the new covenant is God's promises to us. God's covenant and His promises are one and the same. We need not make promises to God, but only to accept His promises to us. We accept these promises by faith, and this faith, being a heart response to Christ's love revealed on Calvary, is a saving transaction. This faith that saves is a "faith which worketh [is motivated] by love" (Gal. 5:6). Thus this faith, which reconciles us to God, also reconciles us to His law, and thus makes us obedient to His law and will. --Paul E. Penno Note: 1. George I. Butler, "The Righteousness of the Law Fulfilled by Us," Review and Herald, May 14, 1889, pp. 313, 314. Chapter 48 No Condemnation After he described his despair in Romans 7, Paul found joyful hope in the good news of a Saviour who came all the way to where we are, that He might save us from our sins. "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. ... For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death" (Rom. 8:1, 2). What does this mean? How deep and thorough is Christ's deliverance from our compulsive habits of sin? "No condemnation" means release from our inner sense of divine judgment which has hung over us all our lives. Although these feelings of psychic wrong and maladjustment are deep and penetrating, "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" is even deeper and more far-reaching. A new principle delivers us from the tentacles of fear, guilt, and moral disorder that have enslaved our souls, even from our infancy. No psychiatrist can accomplish such a profound healing of the human soul as can this "law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus." Wrongs and anxieties from childhood to adulthood, which counselors could not relieve, find inner healing from our Divine Psychiatrist. He who believes the true gospel enjoys the new birth, which is a power working in him or her for righteousness as much stronger than the power of inherited tendencies to evil. A glorious reality is disclosed in Paul's presentation of our nigh-at-hand Christ which the 1888 messengers, E. J. Waggoner and A. T. Jones, picked up on. The reason why Christ has come so close to us is revealed here: "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" (Rom. 8:3, 4). The word "likeness" in the original means identical, the same as us. It cannot mean unlike or different from us. Christ who is fully God now became fully man, not with a substitutionary exemption from the human race in some way that insulates Him from our inner temptations, but in a shared sense. He built a divine-human bridge that spanned the gulf of alienation that sin has made, with foundations that reach all the way to the deepest root within the nature of the most helplessly lost sinner on earth. In no way did He side-step reality by the deceit of an "exemption" from what we must battle with. Such a contrived exemption would negate the basic principle of righteousness by faith and contradict all of Scripture. Further, it would cast Christ in the role of a deceiver, pretending to conquer sin when He never even came close enough to fight the battle where sin is. Paul's intent is to present Christ as perfectly equipped to solve the problem of sin where it is--deep within our fallen nature. Here is the fortress where the dragon has made his last stand, and here is where Christ confronts Satan. Yet Christ remained perfectly sinless. Christ had personal experience in fighting the same "war" that we fight. He took our flesh and "condemned sin" in it. Christ in Romans 8 meets the problem of the frustrated Laodicean man of Romans 7. The Old Covenant man of Romans 7, whose trust is motivated by "I, myself" serving the law, thus creating fear and tension with the law, meets the self-centered man with the New Covenant Christ of Romans 8, who gives a new motivation for faith--"no condemnation" and "the righteousness of the law ... fulfilled in us" (Rom. 8:1, 4). Jesus explains to us how He "condemned sin in the flesh" which He took. He fought the same "war" that we must fight, with this tremendous difference: whereas we have been defeated, He won completely. Whereas we have been brought "into captivity to the law of sin," He brought the "law of sin" into captivity by condemning it. Through self-denial He "delighted" in God's will. He opens a window into His heart and invites us to look within at the nature of the battle He fought there: "I seek not Mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent Me"; "I came down from heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me" (John 5:30; 6:38). Here He uses the same phraseology as did Paul in Romans 8:3--the Father "sent" Him on a mission. It involved inner conflict with temptation, not merely outer. Something had to be "condemned" within His nature--His "own will." Here is where His "war" was fought: He could not do the "will of the Father" except as He denied "Mine own will." There are those who start with horrified astonishment at the suggestion that Jesus had an inner conflict of that nature; but do not silence Him or suppress His own words. The glory of Christ's righteousness is that it was not easy for Him. Behold the struggle in Gethsemane when He prays, "Not My will, but Thine, be done" (Luke 22:42). We cast contempt on His divine sacrifice if we insist that it was easy for Him, that it involved no inner struggle that drew from His brow that sweat of blood as He scratched the earth with His fingers and wept in agony until He made the final surrender, saying "No" to His own will and "Yes" to His Father's will for Him. The sinless Adam in the Garden had no such inner war between two wills: Jesus took upon Himself a struggle infinitely further down the road from that of the sinless Adam. It was here in "the likeness of [our] sinful flesh" in the struggle in Gethsemane and at Calvary that the Son of God trampled on the head of the serpent. It is a mystery how the Son of God could ever feel "alienated" from His Father; but it is a fact that He did feel it on the cross, for He cried out, "My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" (Matt. 27:46). Although He felt this way, the truth is that the Father was not truly alienated from Him, for He was right there with Him, suffering with Him, for "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself" (2 Cor. 5:19). "God and His holy angels were beside the cross. The Father was with His Son. Yet His presence was not revealed."[1] It was by faith that Christ bridged the awful chasm of our alienation "in the body of His flesh." And we are reconciled if we "continue in the faith" which He pioneered (Col. 1:21-23). The humanity of Christ means everything to us for it is intimately associated with the goal of the cleansing of the sanctuary truth. In Romans 8 Paul connected the post-Fall human nature of Christ, "in the likeness of sinful flesh," with its practical application to us. "That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us" (Rom. 8:4). The word "righteousness" is dikaioma in the original. The usual word for righteousness is dikaiosune, which always means the righteousness of God, of Christ, imputed to the believer. But dikaioma is different--it's the actual righteousness of the believer, imparted, not merely imputed. (The lady wears a leopard skin coat, it's imputed, it's not hers; the leopard wears the same coat, it's imparted, a part of him.) The reason why the long-awaited marriage (wedding) of the Lamb has not yet taken place is that His Bride hasn't gotten ready. He is ready, she is not. But Revelation 19:8 tells how at last the church will not only have imputed righteousness, but will havedikaioma: "To her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints." No, they won't save themselves and they won't have any merit; but their dikaioma will at last honor their Saviour, and will give Him "glory" (vs. 7). Do you want to get "ready"? --Paul E. Penno Note: 1. Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, pp. 753, 754. Chapter 49 Children of the Promise A Verse-by-Verse Study of Romans 9 From the 1888 Message Perspective The theme of Romans 9 is God's everlasting covenant. God made His promise to Christ, the guarantee of His covenant, and He elected the whole human race to be saved. Strict Calvinism teaches that God elected a special few to be saved. Islam, too, has its version of Allah's sovereignty of election. Arminian Protestantism says, God has offered salvation to everyone if they do something right first and believe. Paul taught the Truth of the Gospel: God has already given the election of salvation to everyone. Paul's God-ordained ministry of the gospel is a demonstration of its practicality. "I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh" (verses 1-3). In other words, Paul would give up his salvation for his fellow Jews who have missed their Messiah. God's love revealed in Christ's submission to the cross compels Paul to bear the curse of his brethren in the final judgment so that they may never have to suffer such self-condemnation. Those for whom Paul is willing to make the sacrifice "are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen" (verses 4, 5). And yet, for all these sacred privileges which should have led them to Christ, their blindness led them to crucify Him. The privileges of the Jews consisted of: (1) "adoption" as children into the household of God; (2) "the glory" which pertained to the priesthood and Temple; (3) "the covenants" of their election to salvation; (4) "the law" which was ordained for life; (5) "the service of God" as missionaries to the world; (6) "the promises" of God; (7) "the fathers" as a heritage of patriarchal example; and culminating with, (8) Christ who came as one of them in "the flesh." These were the unmistakable privileges of being a Jew, which to a great extent were missed. But God's Word never returns to Him void, because it is "not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel" (verse 6). If Paul's ethnic brethren won't take the good news to the world, God has other plans that are already contained in His covenant promise. Not all Abraham's children are the promised seed. "Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called" (verse 7). In other words, Ishmael was not the promised seed. He was born after the flesh, i.e., through unbelief. Likewise, "They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed" (verse 8). Fancy Paul designating the Jews as children of Ishmael because of unbelief in Christ! Who are "the children of the promise"? Paul now provides a series of Old Testament illustrations identifying who the true seed are. "For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sarah shall have a son [Isaac]. And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; (for the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) it was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger"(verses 9-12). Prior to the twins' birth, God told Rebecca that Esau would defer to Jacob. God's foreknowledge saw the end from the beginning, but it did not preclude the choices that they both made. God's call to election of salvation is a gift in Christ to both Esau and Jacob. God simply foresaw from the womb that Esau would live by the self- motivation of works in rejection of Christ and that Jacob would overcome by faith through the love of Christ. The Lamb of God was given from the foundation of the world for both men. God evangelized them with His self-sacrificing love. Both were prodigal sons of the Father's love. Only Jacob returned. Esau remained self-estranged in a far country. Thus the drawing power of God's love can even turn His own son into hatred. This is why "it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated" (verse 13). Esau perceived His Heavenly Father's love as hatred. Therefore the question is asked, "Is there unrighteousness with God?" Should God be blamed for His love driving Esau away? "God forbid" (verse 14). God doesn't stop loving anyone for fear that someone might reject Him for it. He pours on His mercy in ever greater measure to those who are resistant. "For He saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy" (verses 15, 16). God doesn't withdraw His grace from anyone who chooses to go astray. In fact, He pours it on tenfold more. A good example of this is Pharaoh. "For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show My power in thee, and that My name might be declared throughout all the earth" (verse 17). The king of Egypt at the time of Israel's enslavement was in a position of political and economic world dominance. God's purpose for Pharaoh was to give him salvation in the everlasting covenant so that his heart would be reconciled to God. He would be used of God along with Jacob's descendants to evangelize the whole earth. It is impressive that God wished to "cut short in righteousness" the great controversy between Christ and Satan in Pharaoh's day by lighting the whole earth with the true knowledge of God's character as revealed in the cross. God is not into delaying the inevitable demise of the kingdom of darkness. It is God's people who have delayed the inevitable. If it was God's purpose to reach the heart of Pharaoh with the gospel of Jesus Christ, then there is no limit to the extent of God's mercy in reaching any hardened sinner. "Therefore hath He mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He hardeneth" (verse 18). Many harden their hearts to the gospel because they resist His much more abounding grace. The same sun that melts wax hardens clay! God's mercy must certainly be relentless for Paul states it is God's will to extend mercy to the sinner whether he yields or hardens his heart. Having shown that it was God's purpose to make an end of sin in the days of Pharaoh, and the king resisted His mercy, God went on to Plan B in order to proclaim His glory throughout the earth through the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Like a good Calvinist someone might ask, Why should the sovereign God complain that His plans are foiled? "Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth He yet find fault? For who hath resisted His will?" (verse 19). After all, says the determinist, God's will is irresistible, isn't it? Where does man, the creature, get the nerve to tell his Creator to "step off"? "Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to Him that formed it, Why hast Thou made me thus?" (verse 20). The inanimate clay has no "say" whether the artisan makes a perfect pot out of it or messes it up. "Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor?" (verse 21). And now Paul applies the illustration to the case of his fellow Jews. "What if God, willing to show His wrath, and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction" (verse 22). God spent a long time believing that ancient Israel would overcome and take His name to the world. But instead they chose to thwart His purposes and ultimately acted out that hatred for God by trying to get rid of Him by murdering the Son of God. (They were but a mirror image of all humanity, including ourselves.) Their ultimate act of wrath against God was the occasion for God's wrath against sin being revealed by His Son bearing the curse which is the second death. The Jewish leadership by and large rejected God's Messiah, and thus God's Plan B was thwarted; and so He turned to Plan C in order to reach the world with the good news about who He is. "And that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had afore prepared unto glory, even us, whom He hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?" (verses 23, 24). The Gentiles were included all along in the election of God's everlasting covenant. The Jews were to have been the agency for evangelizing the Gentiles throughout the world. Now the Gentiles will be used of God to evangelize not only their own, but also the Jews. Writing regarding the Gentiles, Hosea said: "I will call them My people, which were not My people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not My people; there shall they be called the children of the living God" (verses 25, 26). An Israelite, indeed, is an "overcomer" by the grace of God. Gentiles, by definition, are like Esau, they trust in the works of the flesh. By definition they "were not My people." But this does not exclude Gentiles from the covenants of God's promise. The same gift of salvation is given to them as is given to the Jew--the same as was given to Pharaoh. Paul envisions many Gentiles "called the children of the living God." He sees them as overcoming sin in Christ, just as Jacob who was renamed Israel. Isaiah wrote of things that express hope for the future of Israel. The church of ancient Israel is in continuity with modern Israel. They rest in their graves awaiting the first resurrection. Israel today is to learn the lessons of all previous history in their "growing up" experience of becoming the Bride of Christ. "Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved" (verse 27). The remnant here are those who proclaim "the third angel's message in verity" as the unity of "the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus" (Revelation 12:14). The remnant will be the first fruits of God and the Lamb who finally reciprocate His love and are thus a mate who shall stand by His side. From the human standpoint we are tempted to think that God's plan has been frustrated all the long ages of history. But God believes in the success of His Son's work in being "the Saviour of the world". "For He will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth" (verse 28). It is God's work to finish. It is Christ's gift to cleanse His people. It has ever been and it is still His purpose to "cut it short in righteousness". It is the evil servant who says, "My Lord delayeth His coming" (Matthew 24:48). For us to give in to the temptation of thinking that it is up to us to finish the work of God on earth is to perceive it as human righteousness and not God's righteousness that will finish His work. To the degree that we fall into this failed way of thinking we perpetuate the delay of His coming. The Seventh-day Adventist Church is the nexus from which the "remnant" "seed" shall emerge which "keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." "And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha" (verse 29). This apt description of "a seed" in the scorched earth over which fire and brimstone has ravaged all life, gives hope, just as Christ was the promised "seed" in the manger of Bethlehem! It may appear that the truth of the Gospel, the true Christ, and the true Cross, have been completely eliminated from the minds of modern Israel. But one should never count God out! Nor what God can do with an honest heart like Elijah's. What is Paul's final point? "That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith" (verse 30). Justification by faith is a heart reconciliation to God which can only be effected by appreciating the cost of Christ's sacrifice on the cross. In it is no legalism for such faith is constrained by agape. "Righteousness" is dikaiosune. The only righteous One is Christ. Notice how carefully Paul states this. The Gentiles "have attained to righteousness." Yet, it is "the righteousness which is of faith." The point: Christ's righteousness is appropriated by faith. It is His gift to Gentiles who were formerly unrighteous and incapable of straightening themselves out. The Ten Commandments are a perfect description of God's righteousness which brings life in the keeping of them. "But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law" (verses 31, 32). Paul is the only one who understands the failure of his brethren. They have sought the righteousness of the law through their old covenant promises to keep the law just right. Their self-motivated desire to be good in order to attain a reward has been a failure because self- dependence leads to an ever spiral downward into more bondage of trusting to self to obey, and this the law condemns. The righteousness of the law is attained only by faith in Christ. "For they stumbled at that stumbling-stone. As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumbling-stone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed" (verses 32, 33). To have missed such a large "rock" in their pathway, the Jews had to have been completely blind to Christ their Messiah. It is not the fault of the "stumbling-stone" that the Jews fell flat on their hands, and knees, and face all bloodied and bruised with abrasions. They are still in God's promises of His everlasting covenant. They are elected to salvation in Christ. God's plan now is to provoke them through the ministry of the Gentiles. The Gentile-based evangelism is in continuity with the ministry of the church of the Old Testament and will certainly exceed it in glory to the One who deserves His reward for which He died. --Paul E. Penno Chapter 50 The Elect Paul, the God-appointed apostle to the Gentiles, has his heart set on the salvation of his fellow Jews (Rom. 10:1). It is good to be zealous in the work of God. The problem is, like so many today, a preacher wants to run off as fast as he can to the next appointment, and when he gets there, he has no good news from the Lord (vs. 2). And so the correct knowledge of God becomes a key theme throughout Romans 10 and 11. The ignorance of the Jews centers on God's way of justification (vs. 3). The Jews have tried to make themselves morally right through their self-inspired law-keeping. However, they have taken a detour around Christ. The vital knowledge necessary for being straightened out is by faith in Christ (vs. 4). The endless debates centering on the phrase "end of the law" are all futile in their efforts to abrogate the law of God. It is contrary to Christ who came to establish the law (Psalm 40:8; Matt. 5:17). The ultimate point or thing at which the law directs its view, the object intended to be reached or accomplished, is righteousness. Christ is the only righteous One having faced the incessant temptations of the flesh and defeating them. Ellet J. Waggoner, one of the 1888 messengers, writes: "'Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned' (1 Tim. 1:5). The word here rendered 'charity' is often rendered 'love,' and is so rendered in this place in the New Version [R.V]. In 1 John 5:3 we read: 'This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments;' and Paul himself says that 'love is the fulfilling of the law.' Rom. 13:10. In both these texts the same word (agape) is used that occurs in 1 Tim. 1:5. ... "God imputes to believers the righteousness of Christ, who was made in the likeness of sinful flesh, so that 'the righteousness of the law' might be fulfilled in their lives. And thus Christ is the end of the law."[1] The law will not falsify the facts. It is a perfect description of righteousness. The law was given for life-giving purposes. Man sinned and he could not keep the law (Rom. 10:5). Any theory of justifying man's sin by a book transaction, which bypasses a change of heart and reconciliation to God and His law, is a legal fiction and rightly termed an anti-law gospel. It is the understanding which Christians have given to Moslems about how forgiveness of sins is obtained, and they consider it a fraud and hypocrisy. God has not forgotten His purpose for the Jewish people (Rom. 11:1). The early Christian Church was formed with the nucleus of Jewish believers, Paul being prominent among them. Again, Paul will cover the ground of chapter 9 regarding those who were "no people" (Rom. 10:19), yet included in the everlasting covenant (Rom. 11:2). Elijah stood a lone figure on Mount Carmel at the time of Israel's well-nigh complete apostasy into Baal worship. Elijah pleaded with the Lord in despair (vs. 3). Alone in the crisis amidst the church of Israel was the cross experience for Elijah. Just because you can't see any visible means of encouragement and support doesn't mean that there isn't a true remnant (vs. 4). "I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal." Where were these seven thousand when Elijah needed them? Evidently they weren't willing to step forward at the showdown on Mount Carmel. It took one man, Elijah, to bring about revival and reformation to Israel. It must be the cross uplifted in order for the hearts of Israel to be turned to God. And unless the preacher himself experienced the cross, his message would have been fruitless. Any "self" in Elijah would have suited Satan's purposes, and muted Elijah's message of the cross. The purpose of Paul's illustration of Elijah and the seven thousand is to frame the Gentiles as the "remnant according to the election of grace" (vs. 5). Grace is God's favor to the most unfavorable. God's foreknowledge elected the Gentiles to be saved in Christ as foreshadowed in the writings of Moses and the experience of Elijah. If God's grace were given on the basis of merit, then it would not be grace. But the mere fact that it is freely given to all, including the Gentiles, establishes the fact that grace is a gift (vs. 6). The Gentiles weren't seeking after God, much less motivated to work for His favor, as were the Jews who were seeking to get their Father's attention. There is such enslaving blindness in the self-centered motivation of seeking after God for a reward that Christ is completely blocked out (vs. 7). "Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for." Paul flat-out states what Israel's problem is: Israel "seeketh." There is the self-motivation of the old covenant. The only miracle now that could prevent the complete and utter collapse of the Jews' salvation is to see something that they have never seen before (vs. 11). What God believes will happen for the Jew is that they will see He loves them in such a selfless way as demonstrated at the cross, just as He loves the Gentiles and gives them salvation through Jesus' sacrifice. Such divine love for the Gentiles will provoke the jealousy of His Israelites. Paul is beside himself with the good news of much more abounding grace. He cannot contain himself (vs. 12). God's purposes of salvation to all men is never diminished by the failure of the Jewish-based mission. Christ has broken the treasure chest of heavenly riches for the Gentile-based mission and there is going to be a tsunami-like effect upon the Jews. Paul may understand his apostolic office to be primarily for the Gentiles, but his fellow Jews are never far from his heart (vs. 13). Paul has a unique ministry to bridge the culture-gap that exists between Jew and Gentile. Mission impossible becomes mission possible only by uplifting the cross of Christ, which unites all peoples. It would be a two-for-one success if Paul's Gentile mission could "provoke" the Jews to salvation. If they could witness the grace of God working in the lives of Gentiles, it might grab their attention (vs. 14). The shame and nakedness that comes from old covenant-inspired Jewish religion might be put in stark contrast with the sunlit new covenant grace and love that is saving the Gentiles. Paul is living in tumultuous times for the church. How can he understand the church in perspective with the church of ancient Israel? His resolution is the continuity of both churches of the Old and the New Testaments, to view it as God's plan all along. Jewish unbelief in Christ frustrated that unstoppable grace. Because of their choice, of necessity, the progress of the gospel must not be hindered (vs. 15). The problem with Jewish unbelief in Christ is that it results in separation from God and ultimately death. What is the remedy for spiritual death? The answer is found in the illustration of the good olive tree. Christ is the olive tree. Everything that is connected with Him who is the Root (the olives, the knob, the branches) is holy (vs. 16). The Old Testament church was connected to Christ. However, some of its branches were broken off because of unbelief in Christ (vs. 17). Contrary to nature, a "wild olive tree" branch, the Gentiles, is grafted into the good olive tree. There it receives "of the root and fatness" of Christ. Paul writes to the Gentiles, Don't ridicule the broken Jewish branches (vs. 18). Gentiles, you are not the load-bearing Stock of the tree. Christ is the Root of you. The broken branches were removed because the Arborist saw they were dead. You Gentiles may perceive it as God's purpose of making room for you to be grafted into Christ (vs. 19). The real reason the branches died was because of unbelief (vs. 20). The reason you Gentiles were grafted in was because of faith motivated by Christ's agape. Don't revert to the default position of self-love, but continue in agape. The law of pruning says, if something is no longer growing it is dead, remove it (vs. 21). Remember history. Don't let unbelief overtake you. Don't lose your first love. God always makes something good out of a bad situation (vs. 22). Waggoner writes, "The Lord is goodness itself. He is love. He cannot at any time be any other than He is, and therefore He is just as good to one person as He is to another. He is equally good to everybody and just as good as He can be all the time. Therefore it is not because they have not been drawn by the love of God, that some are destroyed. It is because they have despised that love. Having hardened their hearts against God's love, the more He manifested His love to them, the harder they became. It is a trite saying that the same sun that melts the wax hardens the clay."[2] Paul envisions a re-grafting of the dead branches when the Jews believe in the Root (vs. 23). The unnatural process of grafting from a wild to a good olive tree is a miracle of God's grace to the Gentiles (vs. 24). Likewise, the re-grafting process of the dead branches again to the good olive tree, is a miracle of God's grace. The Gentile engraftment project is so that "all Israel shall be saved" (vs. 26). "There you have the whole story. The coming in of the fullness of the Gentiles, the filling up of the number of Israel, the conversion of both Jews and Gentiles. ... 'so all Israel shall be saved.' How shall all Israel be saved?-- By the coming in of the Gentiles. Then will Israel be full, and the blindness will have passed away. Christ, the Deliverer, turns away ungodliness from Jacob, by saving Gentile sinners as well as sinners of the Jews."[3] God's covenant is for all. The forgiveness of sins and Christ's righteousness to straighten us out contemplate the preparation to meet Him. "For this is My covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins" (vs. 27). --Paul E. Penno Notes: 1. E. J. Waggoner, "Christ the End of the Law," The Bible Echo, Feb. 15, 1892, p. 87. 2. E. J. Waggoner, "Justice and Mercy," The Present Truth, Feb. 23, 1893, p. 54. 3. E. J. Waggoner, "The Fullness of the Gentiles," The Present Truth, March 20, 1902, p. 180. Chapter 51 Overcoming Evil With Good Many people feel distressed by the idea of "overcoming" all evil in their lives, even saying that it is impossible for anyone, except Christ, to resist all the devil's temptations. The argument is that while we can resist some things easily and never be burdened by them at all, other temptations are just too much for our fallen characters. E. J. Waggoner expressed it this way: "We know that many have this idea, first, because we have heard them say so, and second, because there are such multitudes of professed Christians who show the working of no greater power than their own." "We have heard many people tell how hard they found it to do right; their Christian life was most unsatisfactory to them, being marked only by failure, and they were tempted to give up in discouragement."[1] The message God sent through A. T. Jones and E. J. Waggoner in 1888 is the answer to the predicament of wanting to live a good Christian life and seeming always to fall short. The message of Christ and His righteousness presented in Romans chapters 4 through 8 culminates in Romans 12:1-3--the apostle Paul "beseeching" everyone to submit to the grace, mercy, and power of God. The apostle Paul wrote that we are to "present [our] bodies"-and minds--as "a living sacrifice to God, which is [our] reasonable service." What God calls us to is "reasonable"; He would not say "be ye perfect" if it were impossible. In the previous eleven chapters of the Book of Romans, Paul presented the logical arguments for why we should heed God's call to righteousness in Christ Jesus: we're all sinners in need of the Saviour. In chapter 12 he begins to make the application to the individual believer. In saying that we are to present our bodies and minds as a living sacrifice to God, Paul is telling us that we are to be transformed through a "renewing"--a renovation, a complete change for the better--that is effected by the Holy Spirit in our lives on a continual, daily basis. Through the power of God we are to overcome every besetting sin that plagues us. "An overcomer is one who gains victories. The inheriting is not the overcoming; that is only the reward for overcoming. The overcoming is now; the victories to be gained are victories over the lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--victory over self and selfish indulgences. ... Now how may we gain continual victories in our spiritual warfare? Listen to the beloved disciple:--'For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world; and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.' 1 John 5:4."[2] We are to "present" our lives to God as a living sacrifice. It is "living" because our faith grows, "from faith to faith" as we learn how powerful the Holy Spirit is when we call upon Him to defeat Satan's temptations. At the beginning of his letter to the Romans, Paul said that God's people are to live by faith (Rom. 1:16, 17). Here at the beginning of chapter 12 he states that "every man" has been given, not just "a" measure, but the full measure of faith--the faith of the Son of God. When Christ came to this world He exercised His faith in the Father's power, saying, "I can of Mine own self do nothing" (John 5:30). Through faith in His Father's power, "[Christ] has met the chiefest foe of all and has vanquished him singlehanded. Those who follow Him invariably go forth conquering and to conquer."[3] The faith that is freely given to us completely defeated Satan at every point. This powerful gift of faith is ours to exercise and cultivate until we meet Jesus face to face at the second coming. The gospel of Jesus Christ "is the power of God unto salvation ... for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith" (Rom. 1:16, 17). "This expression has been the subject of much learned discussion by theologians, and very few of them are agreed as to its meaning. The fact that learned men are disagreed in regard to it, need not frighten us from it with the thought that it cannot be understood, for we read that things hidden from the wise and prudent are revealed unto babes." The Lord's specially delegated messenger goes on, "The gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, because it makes manifest the righteousness of God. ... By the gospel the fruits of righteousness are made to appear in the life of the believer."[4] This is the essence of the message God sent through E. J. Waggoner and A. T. Jones in 1888--the righteousness of Christ manifested in His faithful followers. For too long we have been praying for the outpouring of the Latter Rain, while we're still infected with a dead formalism, not having the righteousness which is of faith through a heart appreciation of the great sacrifice that the Godhead made to save us from our sins. To continue in a life of sin, not only is a denial of the power of God over Satan, it is trampling upon our crucified Redeemer and putting Him to an open shame (Heb. 6:6). "Heaven's glorious ladder [Christ] is let down in every man's path, barring his way to vice and folly. He must trample upon a crucified Redeemer ere he can pass onward to a life of sin."[5] God calls us to a "living sacrifice" not the dead works of formalism; not another forty-day plan for revving our spiritual engines, or a longer list of promises to obey and love Him, or any other systematic program intended to cure our spiritual lethargy. "This evil spirit of dead formalism has spread itself far beyond the bounds of the organized Papacy. It is the bane of the profession of Christianity everywhere today; and even the profession of the Christianity of the third angel's message has not entirely escaped it. It is to be the worldwide prevailing evil of the last days up to the very coming of the Lord in glory in the clouds of heaven."[6] In 2 Timothy 3:1-5, Paul writes an astounding list of terrible sins that are all prevalent in today's society. But the most astonishing of all is that Paul warns us that the people committing these sins are in the church! They "have a form of godliness, but [are] denying the power" of God that should be outworking in their lives as they overcome every evil with the goodness of God's righteousness. We are not to be "conformed to this world, but transformed by a renewing of our mind" (Rom. 12:2). God calls us to be transformed in mind because the mind is the source of our character. We are to let Christ's "mind" be our mind (Phil. 2:5), and then He will live out His life through us. Is this really so important? Yes--the whole point of overcoming is not so we can get to heaven, but that we can demonstrate to the watching universe that God's ways are superior to Satan's, and that Satan is a defeated foe. By faith we overcome all evil in our lives and proclaim the goodness of our Saviour. Then God can finally point to His faithful few and say, "Here are they that keep the Commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." Then we will have vindicated the character of God in the final hours of the great controversy. And then Jesus will come to defend His own in that ultimate showdown between evil and good, and Satan and sin will be destroyed in the lake of fire (Rev. 19:11-16; 20:14, 15). --Ann Walper Notes: 1. E. J. Waggoner, "Living by Faith," The Bible Students Library, Dec. 1, 1890, pp. 2, 4. 2. Ibid., pp. 4, 5. 3. Ibid., p. 6. 4. Ibid., pp. 9, 10. 5. Ellen G. White, "Among the Churches--St. Helena," Signs of the Times, Jan. 26, 1882. 6. A. T. Jones, "A Dead Formalism," Bible Echo, Feb. 4, 1895. Chapter 52 Christian Living The Books of Daniel and Revelation sparked the 1844 Second Advent Movement. The prophecies pointed to a "remnant" with the "third angel's message" preparing the way of the Lord's return. The Lord promised to send this people the "latter rain" and "loud cry," "a teacher of righteousness" (Joel 2:23; the words "former rain moderately" in Hebrew are "the teacher of righteousness"), with a message indited by the Holy Spirit that would join with the third angel (Rev. 18:1-3).[1] The books of Romans, Galatians, and Ephesians on righteousness by faith are for the maturation of God's people. God fulfilled His promise of giving the latter rain in 1888 without His people pleading for it. Though the message of the cross, justification, and sanctuary in harmony with the law of God were "spurned" then, the "good news" is that it is recoverable by the gift of repentance which Jesus promises to Laodicea (Rev. 3:19). The pure truth of the gospel changes lives. The acid test of correct doctrine is that it changes minds and hearts and behavior toward each other. Justification by faith applied to some of the most difficult "in-house" issues facing the church brings unity of belief and practice. This is Paul's theme in Romans 14-16. The church is a mix of cultures, socio-economic classes, and races. Paul's "church plants" are startups made of brand new converts from the eastern Roman Empire and ethnic Jews. Some Christians are "strong," others are "weak" concerning ethical matters (Rom. 15:1). However, they have all been united together because of Christ. They have entered the course, "101 Cross- centered Life" in the "University of the Body of Christ." They will now learn what it means to live the cross daily with Jesus. It will require them to eat lots of "humble pie." Health reform was given to God's people as righteousness by faith. It is the appropriate fast, which God has appointed for all those who believe they are living in the Day of Atonement. The self-denial that is built-in to eating a simple diet is necessary for a people who are anticipating their High Priest's exit from the Most Holy Place. Eating foods was problematic for many early Christians because most of it had been offered to idols before going to the farmer's market (Rom. 14:2-4, 20-23; Acts 15:20; 1 Cor. 8:4). So many tender consciences turned to a vegetarian diet to avoid eating meat offered to idols. Someone who believes they can eat any and all things God has created for food may have a spirit of ridicule toward those whose conscience will not allow them to consume all things. Religious liberty in the matter of eating is to be extended to all. Unfortunately for a good cause, many who embrace a vegan diet condemn those that eat a broader-based regime, and thus separate themselves from the Spirit of Christ. Any work of reform that has lost the spirit of love for others is an unprofitable parade of human vanity. Man's "esteem" of a day (Rom. 14:5) does not make it God's day of rest. God's seventh-day Sabbath clearly has the seal of God upon it (Gen. 2:3; Ex. 20:11; Eze. 20:12, 20). So Paul is not addressing the issue of the seventh-day Sabbath observance (Rom. 14:5, 6). The Roman church had a contingency of Jewish Christians who still clung to the annual sabbath days of observance which could fall on any day of the week. The Gentile Christians would not have such loyalties to observe these days. The fact that Paul connects the "esteem" or "regarding" of days with "eating" is a further linkage to the annual festival days of Jewish observance (Rom. 14:6). Eating played a vital role in the rites of keeping the ceremonial sabbaths (Lev. 23). This text does not really solve the issue of whether the Jewish holy days are viable sabbaths for Christians to observe today. Elsewhere Paul declares them "shadows" of "the body of Christ" (Col. 2:16, 17). It would be blasphemy to continue animal sacrifices when Christ's body has already been crucified for us. Why establish "shadow" observances when we already have the reality of Christ to whom they pointed? No amount of ritual observances is going to establish Christ in the heart. They certainly didn't accomplish that for the Jewish nation as a whole in Christ's day. They ended up missing their Messiah and crucifying Him. The level of intra-church judging which the apostle is addressing is equal to the life or death decisions which Christ makes in the final judgment. We have no business trespassing in His courtroom (Rom. 14:10). God the Father has transferred all judgment to the Son (John 5:22, 27). Jesus says, "I came not to judge the world" (12:47; 3:17). Jesus has proclaimed the "word" which is the law and the gospel. "The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day" (12:48). Thus "the judgment seat of Christ" is the law and the cross. In that awesome day of final accounting following the final resurrection of the wicked at the close of the millennium, the law on tables of stone and the cross will be presented to them.[2] Then the unconscious record of one's life from within will clearly be brought to view for each to see. There will be an unprecedented acclamation of unity on the lips of every one that God has done everything possible to give salvation to all, but the lost refused their gift (Rom. 14:11). The purpose of "the judgment seat of Christ" is ultimately to hold everyone accountable to God (vs. 12). Christ's purpose in the judgment is to vindicate whoever will permit Him to seal them with His agape. Many are sealing their final judgment daily (John 3:18). Through the gospel "we" proclaim, souls will make their decision for life or death (Rom. 14:13). If our gospel is "bad news" about what we must do in order to be saved, people will conclude that they weren't cut out for salvation. If our gospel is "good news" of Christ's gift of salvation to all regardless of pre-existing qualifications, then it is a savor of life to those who do not hinder it. The dynamic of the Spirit is the means by which Paul achieved all that he did in every area: his speech, his actions, and his signs and wonders. When Paul "fully preached the gospel of Christ" the cross was a present reality for those who heard. They forgot about all present distractions and were transfixed upon "the Saviour of the world." It was such preaching that the Holy Spirit confirmed with "signs and wonders" (Rom. 15:19). Miracles attested to the truth of the gospel proclaimed. Similarly, in the final glorification of God through the proclamation of the cross, "Servants of God, with their faces lighted up, ... will hasten from place to place to proclaim the message from heaven. By thousands of voices, all over the earth, ... Miracles will be wrought, the sick will be healed, and signs and wonders will follow the believers."[3] What is "the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began" (Rom. 16:25)? "The mystery" is the revelation of Jesus Christ Himself, as He was revealed in Paul's preaching, and as He is revealed in you and me as we proclaim the gospel. The gospel was made known to men from Adam down, and they had a measure of the knowledge of the gospel. But when Christ Himself came, and revealed God in Himself, to the children of men--it was never revealed and understood before as it was revealed and understood at that time. When the apostles were sent forth to preach it as it then was revealed, they preached it in a fullness and a clearness in which it was never preached before (vs. 26). Now Christ proclaims the mystery as our High Priest from the heavenly sanctuary. It is the gospel which is clearly consistent with the work of cleansing our lives from sin that He seeks to accomplish there. This involves a work of judgment which is the vindication of Laodicea. He gives her the gift of agape that she might grow up in the full stature of a Bride worthy to stand by the side of the Lamb in the wedding. The Gospel plan originated in the mind of God in eternity past; patriarchs, prophets, and apostles have worked in unison in making it manifest; and "in the ages to come" it will be both the science and the song of the redeemed (vs. 27). What a magnificent conclusion! It reaches from eternity to eternity. The Gospel of God is the wisdom of the ages! --Paul E. Penno Notes: 1. See also, Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 6, p 19. 2. See Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 666. 3. Ibid, p. 612.