D28 Discovering the “Enabling Miracle”* of Victory over Sins
Contents - (pg 1-34) posted March 27, 2021 ( Passover Sabbath)
1 Introduction; 2 “Enabling Miracle”* of Victory over Sins; 3 What is sin? (Confusion in Two Definitions of Sin); 3.1 Definition A- The Original Sin; 3.2 Definition B- Sin as Choice; 3.3 Evil and Guilt; 4 Adam and Eve Reprieved from Death – Second Chance in Life; 4.1 Prefiguring of the Cross of Jesus Christ;4.1.2 Jesus is Light for Blindness (Physical & Spiritual); 4.2 Temptation Leading to Sin; 4.3 The Two Gospel; 4.3.1 “The Original Sin” Gospel; 4.3.2 The Gospel of Christ- Sin as Choice; 4.4 Justification & Sanctification; 4.4.1 What is Justification?; 4.4.1.1 Born- Again Prerequisite- The Underlying Status; 4.4.1.1.1 Testimony of Born-Again Experience; 4.4.1.1.2 The New Creation by Holy Spirit; 4.4.2 Sanctification; 4.4.2.1 Two Factors of Sanctification; 4.4.2.2 Sanctification is Not Optional; 4.4.3 Justification with Sanctification in Gospel of Christ; 5 Roundup; 5.1 The Great Controversy; 5.1.1 Judgment & Final Eradication of Sin; 5.1.2 Salvation is a Free Gift; 5.2 Righteousness by Faith; 5.2.1 Tree of Original Sin Gospel; 5.2.2 Tree of Free Choice Gospel; 5.3 God on Trial; 5.3.1 Vindication of God’s Love- Law and Government; 5.3.2 Desire Of Nations; 5.3.2.1The Effects Of Sin; 5.3.2.1.1 Who Is Forgiven? 5.3.2.2 Universal Appeal; 5.3.2.2.1 “The Year of the Lord’s Favor”; 5.3.2.3 “The Day of Vengeance of Our God”; 5.3.2.4 The Day of Final Settlement; 5.3.3 Rebirth of Planet Earth; 5.3.3.1 New Heavens and a New Earth; 5.3.3.2 Divine “Magnet”; 5.3.3.2.1 Missionaries and Worship Service; 5.3.3.2.2 Community of Faith; 5.3.3.3 The Glorious Future; 5.3.3.3.1 The Leader and Savior; 5.3.3.3.2 The Redeemed of the Lord; 5.3.3.3 God as Re-Creator; 5.3.3.3.4 “The Controversy Ended,”
D28 Discovering the “Enabling Miracle”* of Victory over Sins
1 Introduction
Eve in her perfect stature was naturally drawn irresistibly by the enchanting talking serpent on the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that resulted in humanity’s (our) fallen nature. It is by the same power of attraction that impresses those of you that took the time to discover about the signs and wonders in Isaiah’s prophecy, as the sure remedy for our fallen nature.. The prophetic fulfillment was in the first coming of Jesus Christ from heaven. He came in the human form just as we are, as a baby but conceived by the Holy Spirit in Mary’s womb, a mystery that we can only ascribed as a miracle, an impossible supernatural act. His birth was in fact a miracle of God revealed in the study of the Bible.
Nowadays, many secular people do not have the “fear of the Lord.”* That is why not all will believe and still question the reality of God, The biggest challenge in the acceptance of the reality of God lies in the true fact that no one has seen God other than Jesus who came from heaven to reveal God to humanity. D27 endeavours to share the reality of God in the prophecy God gave to Isaiah more than 2700 years ago on the greatest biblical sign or wonders that was ever given to mankind in His plan of salvation for us. For our eternal destiny, we must believe in the truth of God’s word based on the historical evidence in the fulfillment of this prophecy in the first advent of Jesus Christ as Immanuel, God with us. This truth is vital for us to know, to have a purpose and hope in our life. We need to know that we must be born again in order to overcome sin, the consequence of which is eternal death. D28 hopes to share the enabling miracle, the enabling grace of God to genuine believers for character transformation and claiming victory over sin.
(Note: For the “fear of the Lord”* see par 2 Enabling Miracle..).
Christians are believers in Christ as their Creator, Redeemer, Restorer and Saviour, with Christ as head of the church in a recognizable religion that worships the living true God. Christ is central and the church provides education in the knowledge of the righteousness of Christ based on the revelation and teaching He has provided on the truth about God. There is the character transformation of our fallen human nature by the “enabling miracle”* that attends the genuine believer who have Christ manifested in their lives. They are God’s people for signs and wonders to draw the watching unbelievers to the glory of God. They are the 144,000, the last generation of earth, who will vindicate that God’s law could be obeyed in refuting the charges of Satan that God’s law could not be obeyed. Then Satan and Sin will be eradicated from the universe forever.
2 “Enabling Miracle”* of Victory over Sins
“The life in which the” fear of the Lord”* is cherished will not be a life of sadness and gloom. It is the absence of Christ that makes the countenance sad, and the life a pilgrimage of sighs. Those who are filled with self-esteem and self-love do not feel the need of a living, personal union with Christ. The heart that has not fallen on the Rock is proud of its wholeness. Men want a dignified religion. They desire to walk in a path wide enough to take in their own attributes. Their self-love, their love of popularity and love of praise, exclude the Saviour from their hearts, and without Him there is gloom and sadness. But Christ dwelling in the soul is a wellspring of joy. For all who receive Him, the very keynote of the word of God is rejoicing.” {COL 162.1}
“We ourselves owe everything to God's free grace. Grace in the covenant ordained our adoption. Grace in the Saviour effected our redemption, our regeneration, and our exaltation to heirship with Christ. Let this grace be revealed to others. {COL 250.1}
“When one turns away from human imperfections to behold Jesus, a divine transformation takes place in the character. The Spirit of Christ working upon the heart conforms it to His image. Then let it be your effort to lift up Jesus. Let the mind's eye be directed to "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." John 1:29. And as you engage in this work, remember that "he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way, shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins." James 5:20”… {COL 162.3}
“God does not deal with us as finite men deal with one another. His thoughts are thoughts of mercy, love, and tenderest compassion. "He will abundantly pardon." He says, "I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions." . . The mighty Helper is nigh to bless, lift up, and encourage the most erring, the most sinful, if they will look to Him by faith. But the sinner must look up. “ {. {OHC 27.4}
3 What is sin? (Confusion in Two Definitions of Sin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIHYrS0KFDI (1:02:50) Present Truth Conference 2020 (Day 1) LIVE || What Is Sin (by Pastor Dennis Priebe) Streamed live on Dec 27, 2020 430SHARESAVE MelVee Broadcasting Network)
(The right understanding of the gospel of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ depends on what you believe sin is as there is two definitions of sin depending on the church you attend. This may be one of the most important subjects you will ever study in your study on salvation. The entire comprehension of how God saves us is changed by your belief in what is sin in order to know how to be right with God and to prepare for the tragic end to this world with the second coming of Jesus Christ ( to see HIM face to face).
Sin is the root cause of death in a soul losing eternal life. (for death is the wages of sin –Rom 6:23). Understanding the truth about what is sin is most important in your life (in your seeking for the truth (Bible study) because there are two different gospels based on two different definitions of sin, A and B, one true and the other a counterfeit of Satan. “There is a way is a way that seemth right unto a man but the end thereof are the ways of death ( but not the way to heaven)” –Pro16:25. Deliberate and check out which is the truth after this discussion from Pr Dennis Priebe.
Sin caused the fallen nature in humanity when six thousand years ago Adam and Eve made the tragic decision to disbelieve God’s word and turned the world upside down and completely changed. God gave us a perfect nature, a beautiful nature which founded a delight to serve God, to be loving, kind, gracious and having compassion. This original nature found it easy and natural to obey God’s law which is the law of life. However our fallen nature after Adam and Eve sinned became selfish instead of loving, anger replaced compassion, and it became natural for us to disobey God and ignoring God’s law is the normal way of doing things. Disobedience and unbelief in God is thus humanity natural leaning.
3.1 Definition A- The Original Sin.
This is the theological term subtitled sin as nature. It says we are sinners not because we say or do or think wrong things. We are sinners because of what Adam and Eve said and did and thought 6000 years ago. They turned the world and including our nature inside out and our nature don’t work as God had originally placed in Adam and Eve, kind, loving and generous. Now we have the nature to pull us the wrong way almost all the time and we have to fight against our fallen nature every day so as not to succumb to Satan’s temptations and sin against God’s law. This is the orthodox definition of sin throughout the Christian world and that is what most Christians believe sin to be, We are condemned and we are lost because we inherited that nature from Adam and Eve and we began life as a baby with that nature, Therefore, from the first breath we took we are under condemnation by God. We are sinners because we have inherited bad equipment. We have within us a fallen nature and stand condemned before God because we have that fallen nature. Even if we choose to say no to that fallen nature we are still sinners because we have that nature. We are born sinners is the mantra that accompanies that sin is the way we are born by our very nature. Sinful man is not lost because he has committed sins but because he is born of Adam and therefore already stands condemned even before he commits sins of his own. (We are lost not because we sin but because Adam sinned)
Definition A believes that a baby is born on a slippery slope into hell, sliding into hell from the moment of birth and why many churches ( Catholics and Protestants) practice infant baptism because that baby is guilty and going to hell. Pr Priebe believes that a baby born into this world is born in some important way facing the cross of Jesus Christ that that baby is born alive because of what Jesus did on the cross of Calvary and in the Garden of Eden. The only way that baby will end up in hell is by trampling over the cross to get to hell. The God of love is making it hard to go to .hellj and hIs puttinh every barrier in the way so that we don’t make that tragic choice. He is putting the cross right in front of our eyes and we have to trample it into the mud before we become condemned lost sinners in the side of God.
3.2 Definition B- Sin as Choice
We definitely did receive a bad nature from Adam and Eve (Just like in Definition A) that we do live with that nature and have to fight it constantly during our lives. It is bad news but it has one different aspect that we are not automatically sinners because we happen to be born on the wrong planet, on the wrong side of heavens railroad tracks. We are sinners when knowing the difference between right and wrong we deliberately choose to do the wrong because we want to. Sin is a choice, the same kind of choice that Adam and Eve made. It is not an accident, It is not a state, it is a decision of the mind (will). This is the minority position and not a lot of Christians believe in definition B. This is the position which Pr Priebe is going to share for you to make up your own mind. (Consider the fact that Noah was the minority but when he stepped off the Ark he was the vast majority.)
3.3 Evil and Guilt
There is a difference between evil and guilt that he illustrated concerning the two sided behavior of a pet animal. Inside the home it is loving and lovable, but when a cat is let outdoor, its instinct takes over and it begins to chase after any animals that is smaller and plays with it to finally kill it and even eat it. We are witnessing a created creature of God killing another created creature. Killing is sin and is evil but it was done with no knowledge that it is sin because the cat does not have a human brain to reason and think and have a conscience (a knowledge of right and wrong). It also has a fallen nature since Adam fall. It does not feel guilt which will not go away. The cat’s cruel act is frowned on but its owner ascribes no guilt and is still welcomed in the house. This is the same way justice view the act of a 2 year old playing with a gun accidentally killing someone when compared with a 17 year old causing the shooting act. The difference between these two acts is conscience, a knowledge of right and wrong choice that humans have to make those decision every day.
To help us understand and believe, God has given humanity the Bible The Bible provides many case studies for our guidance and as evidence of the infinite knowledge of God to equip us in overcoming sin and to be restored in the likeness of Him, the original will of God in His creation of “the heaven and the earth” Gen 1:1.
Gen 2:17 “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die”.
4 Adam and Eve Reprieved from Death – Second Chance in Life
This is the first commandment that God gives to His first created beings, Adam and Eve. They did eat but they didn’t die that day. Adam lived for 930 years. So did God’s word failed? No. The explanation is given in the Book of Revelation - Rev 13:8 “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” The amplification is given in the inspired writing of Ellen White:
“Why was not the death penalty at once enforced in his case? -- Because a ransom was found. God's only begotten Son volunteered to take the sin of man upon himself, and to make an atonement for the fallen race. There could have been no pardon for sin had this atonement not been made. Had God pardoned Adam's sin without an atonement, sin would have been immortalized, and would have been perpetuated with a boldness that would have been without restraint.( Remember how soon after the transgression of Adam the apostasy of his posterity became so marked that God repented that He had made man. They followed the imaginations of their evil hearts, and the strivings of the Spirit were not heeded. They refused to be admonished. They had an abundance of blessings for their own enjoyment, and they soon forgot that they had forfeited immortality.) {RH, April 23, 1901 par. 9 )
4.1 Prefiguring of the Cross of Jesus Christ
The instant Eve and Adam believed the serpent and ate the forbidden fruit that God had specifically told them to eat for they shall surely die, Christ accepted the temptation of Satan and did the very things God had said they should not do. Christ, the Son of God, stood between the living and the dead saying let the punishment fall on me. I will stand in man’s place. He shall have another chance. (So, God’s promises never fail. Adam and Eve are as good as dead {not temporary but eternal death) by disobeying God. Jesus steps in between the rest of the living universe and Adam and Eve and said Wait a moment, I will take this punishment. I will stand in the place of mankind. The human race will have another chance. God steps in before they even know how serious the problem is.)
“As soon as there was sin, there was a Saviour. Christ knew that 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” (RH., March 12, 1901). {1BC 1084.8} (Here we have God’s great statement of a chance for eternal life. This does not mean that everyone was saved but it would depend on their choices, their own personal choices) (Even before they knew how to repent of their sin. It must be emphatically understood this is not normal, Christ doesn’t step in without asking for our permission. He knocks on the door and if we open the door He comes in give us all the benefits of God’s loving grace. He doesn’t force Himself upon us. But in this case the human race was in crisis. It was about to go out of existence meaning us as the children of Adam and Eve. Thus God is a seeking God, He is not waiting but looking for us long before we look for Him. Jesus steps in without asking Adam and Eve for permission because the human race is in crisis. The whole purpose of creating a world and people on it would be gone. We should be grateful and thankful to God that Jesus stepped into the Garden that day He became “the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”-Rev 13:8. The moment He took that burden of sin on Himself Calvary was a certainty and no possibility of avoiding the future for Jesus Christ which had happened and yet many would not believe history and thus reject the Bible. He has given the whole human race who has ever drawn breath or who will ever draw breath on this earth will do so because Jesus stepped into the Garden as day as written by Moses in the Book of Genesis. He gave everyone a chance for eternal life and they (given the free will) would decide what they would want to do with their lives.
It is not about justification and sanctification and glorification issues. This is about the preserving the human race. This is about giving every person a second chance. He paid for all the sins of the world by His self sacrificial death on the cross. But definition A says in spite of what Jesus did on the cross, in spite of what He did in the Garden, I am still paying for Adam’s sin. Since the day we are born we are on the lslippery slope to hell as I am still under condemnation because Adam sinned, which was paid by Jesus as “the Lamb slained from the foundation of the world” according to definition B. God has made it difficult to end up outside the city of God and be destroyed forever. He is trying to put in every road block in the way so that we don’t end up there. The biggest road block is the cross of Jesus Christ. The only way a baby born into the world ever end up outside the city and lost forever is to trample over that cross into the mud and walk over it. That is the only way to end up lost, condemned and guilty. Every baby born is alive because of the cross of Jesus Christ even though the baby may not have heard the name of Jesus Christ. Even in growing up may not know about Jesus that person is alive because of the cross and has an opportunity for eternal life. Jesus Christ is God’s greatest gift to humanity.
4.1.2 Jesus is Light for Blindness (Physical & Spiritual)
Let us next consider Jesus has to say on sin: In the anecdote, John 9:1-49, concerning the blind man where the disciples asked Jesus who did sin, this man or his parents that he was born blind, Jesus says don’t confuse blindness with sin. Blindness is evil but blindness carries no guilt, not because of his parents, not because he had sinned before he was born. Then He says that the works of God should be made manifest in him. Now the works of Satan were being made manifest in the blind man is the result of Satan’s rule of this planet and if he had his way everyone of us would be born blind. Jesus took care of this man’s problem by healing the evil Satan has done. He doesn’t need to forgive what the results of sin were. He only needs healing to his eyes, the restoration of his sight. It is the evil that needs help that Jesus offered.
Then there is this seemingly contradictory verse Joh 5:24 “ Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” So when is it that we have everlasting life, sometime in the future or right now, today, if you believe in Jesus Christ as your Saviour? He followed with “Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.” – Jn 5:25. So the question is how can you have everlasting life and be dead at the same time - a contradiction of having eternal life when you are dead. Not at all for Jesus in the Garden of Eden separated death into two parts. He said that everyone good or evil will have to die a first death which He later call sleep as a result of Adams sin having nothing to do with their guilt but having to do with the evil that was brought into the world by Adam. Jesus then counselled them to be very careful that you don’t die the second death, Fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Thus Jesus is not contradicting in saying you can have everlasting life right now if you believe. You might die for a while because God is holding your life in His hands for you have everlasting life.
The sin that Adam and Eve brought into the world has two parts, evil and guilt. They have two different results leading to two different places. The evil that Adam and Eve brought into the world leads to death which is the result of Adam’s sin. Whereas guilt leads to hell, the second death which is the penalty for that rebellion, for that sin, and final destruction. They are completely different and important for us to know what that means for usl By Definition B, because we have committed sins of our own and are guilty because of our sinful choices, therefore, God will plainly say You have a choice. You can continue being a guilty sinner and end up outside the City of God and be destroyed for all eternity. Or you can accept my salvation and you can be saved and have everlasting life. So the guilt taken to the cross of Christ and receiving forgiveness means that we have everlasting life. When guilt is removed, it means for the future we do not have the second death, if guilt is removed by the blood of Jesus Christ. However, God does not do away evil because our fallen world remains, our fallen nature remains, everything about the results of Adam’s sin remains until Jesus comes again. Then He will take care of evil not by forgiving any more than the blind man’s eyes. He will do it by recreating and when He recreates this world and our natures and our bodies then there will be no more deaths of the human kind. So, there are two aspects of Adam’s sin. One leads to eternal death and one leads to the first death, where death is just a deep sleep, that Jesus referred to. The crucial difference is death (the first death) ais the result of evil and hell is the result of guilt which needs forgiveness. .
Most Christians do not understand there is a difference between those two concepts and they squash them together saying the baby is born of a evil nature that means going to hell unless we baptise that baby. But it is the baby’s evil nature that needs healing, in recreation for restoration not requiring any forgiveness. When God forgives for any guilt acquired by our sinful choices there is no hell in your future for you have everlasting life. Does evil disappear at the same time that guilt disappears? God is going to take care of that at the second coming and then there is no more death, no more pain, no more suffering. Guilt needs forgiveness. Evil needs recreation. If we confuse that we completely misunderstand the gospel and the way of salvation
In John 9:41 ”Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.” Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees saying if ye were blind (meaning ignorant and did not know what was right and wrong) then you have no sin. Light was not available to the blind, meaning knowledge and choices based on that light. That is what turns evil into guilt. That is the crucial difference that Jesus is pointing to.
4.2 Temptation Leading to Sin
The clearest understanding to the whole problem of defining sin is given in James 4:17 “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” So the baby because he does not know what is right and wrong yet is not condemned as most Christian by definition A say otherwise that every baby born is a sinner and believe sin is an accident of birth. The Bible says it is a choice. James gives the clearest definition of temptation to sin , Since most Christians don’t know the difference between temptation and sin, make sure you know the difference. Jas 1:14 “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.” A lust is for something that is out of harmony with the word of God. It can be power, money, fame, success and many things but always something opposite to God’s word being “drawn away of his own lust” This is one of the result of our evil nature. This nature pulls us to things that God does not want us to be pulled toward and by choice we are enticed. Jas 1:15 “Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” There are four steps between temptation and sin.: 1. We are drawn, 2. We are enticed by our response to its attractiveness But we don’t have to yield to it, surrender to the temptation The very fact that you were pulled to is is evil and evil is not the same as guilt But by saying no to that temptation to sin then it is not sin until the next step.is taken. 3. When it is conceived, and 4. it brings forth sin,
In the Old Testament, Eze 18:1-4 states that we don’t inherit the sins of the father and only “the soul that sinneth, it shall die”- (V.4.) We can only blame our choice for being lost in sin.
“It is inevitable that children should suffer from the consequences of parental wrongdoing, but they are not punished for the parents' guilt, except as they participate in their sins (We receive evil results from our parents but we are not to suffer or punished for our parent’s guilt unless we participate in those sins.) “It is usually the case, however, that children walk in the steps of their parents. By inheritance and example the sons become partakers of the father's sin. Wrong tendencies, perverted appetites, and debased morals, as well as physical disease and degeneracy, are transmitted as a legacy from father to son, to the third and fourth generation. This fearful truth should have a solemn power to restrain men from following a course of sin.” {PP 306.3}
The following statements are from the Spirit of Prophecy in amplifying the meaning of sin.
“Light makes manifest and reproves the errors that were concealed in darkness; and as light comes, the life and character of men must change correspondingly, to be in harmony with it. Sins that were once sins of ignorance, because of the blindness of the mind, can no more be indulged in without incurring guilt. As increased light is given, men must be reformed, elevated, and refined by it, or they will be more perverse and stubborn than before the light came” {GW 162.2} (Light is always the difference between what is bad around us, what is bad in us and what we are guilty for or responsible for. Light provides the understanding of what God says that turns the sins of ignorance (when we have absolutely no possibility of knowing God’s will in a specific case ). For example there are many people that have not kept a seventh day Sabbath on this earth because the light never reach their conscience. They didn’t have a chance to know about the fourth commandment and guilt. It is evil in breaking the commandment but they did it in ignorance. (Sin of ignorance does not honour God and it is sin. People living 150 years ago was told that smoking with pipe was the cure for lung ailments is bad advice now and it did cause them their lives but they did not commit sin. It was a sin of ignorance to which no guilt was attached.) ( It is clear cut that the baby has no sin before the light comes as he grows. That is why the baby and the cat are not guilty. That is why many people will be keeping their first Sabbath on the way to heaven. They broke God’s commandment ignorantly all during their lives, never repented of it, never confessed it because they did not receive the light.)
“An impure thought tolerated, an unholy desire cherished, and the soul is contaminated, its integrity compromised. "Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." If we would not commit sin, we must shun its very beginnings. Every emotion and desire must be held in subjection to reason and conscience. Every unholy thought must be instantly repelled. ..{5T 177.1} (We never go by our feeling but by the word of God and find out what God says are the things that contaminates the soul)
Here is the crucial distinction between the two variations of this teaching of sin. The toleration is the choice. The cherishing is the choice and is the conceiving which is holding to the unholy thought and make it our thought. And then the soul is contaminated and we sin.
“If we would not commit sin, we must shun its very beginnings. Every emotion and desire must be held in subjection to reason and conscience. Every unholy thought must be instantly repelled.” -- 5T 177 (1882).( Every unholy thought is temptation and by God’s grace we can we can say no to that temptation)
“No man can be forced to transgress. His own consent must be first gained, the soul must purpose the sinful act before passion can dominate over reason or iniquity triumph over conscience Temptation however strong is never an excuse for sin.” (Tragically most Christian world believes that temptation is the same as sin. The moment the thought comes to our mind we have sinned and we are guilty before God. There are two things to consider here, nature and character. Our nature is a fallen nature, a product of Adam’s sin ane we will not get rid of that nature until Jesus comes and recreates our bodies and our natures and the whole world. Our old nature will be burned together with the world. What goes to heave is our character based on the choices that we have made, the way we have lived our lives, the results of accepting Jesus as our Saviour and by the enabling grace (miracle) becoming more and more like Christ in the way we act, that goes directly to heaven. We take our character to heaven and everything in the Bible is about character change, not about nature change. God changes our nature by simply recreating us with a beautiful nature. But character change is done only by surrender to Jesus Christ having our guilt removed and allowing His power to change us from glory to glory.
4.3 The Two Gospels
This is the Bible teaching on the subject of salvation and the acceptance of Jesus Christ. Pr Priebe says that this is probably one of the most important subjects we will ever study on the truth in God’s word because of the implications that the Christian world has two gospels.
But there can only be one true gospel, the gospel as preached by Jesus on the kingdom of God, the gospel of Christ ( Matt 4:23). Apostle Paul in Gal 1:6-9 pointed out: “If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.” (V.9).
4.3.1 “The Original Sin” Gospel
If you believe in definition A that that we are born sinners automatically by having a fallen nature then the implication is when Jesus comes into this world (the first advent as a baby) He can’t be born into our nature or He would be a sinner too. Therefore He can’t have the makeup and the pull to sin that we have in us, our fallen nature. He cannot possibly be tempted in all points like as we are. Then the gospel has to be just only, justification, forgiveness only because we are going to have this nature within us until Jesus comes which means we are sinning by nature every second of our lives. Therefore the gospel has to be for forgiveness, constant forgiveness for constant sin. Sanctification helps a little but we will never be fully sanctified as long as we are sinning every moment of our lives. This means that we cannot have victory over sin before Jesus comes and there will never be a people on earth that will be free from sin on eath, just as what Satan charges against God that God’s law cannot be obeyed. But the Bible say there is the 144,000 who have come to the point where they rejected sins in their Jesus Christ has removed the power that is gripping our nature and has given us victory over all sin by believing the evidence that Jesus is the greatest sign and wonder given to humanity and by His enabling grace has given us victory over sin and we are the next signs and wonders to the whole world.
4.3.2 The Gospel of Christ- Sin as Choice
If you believe in definition B that sin is his choice, then Jesus can come to this world and actually inherit our fallen nature to our level . Then He actually can be tempted in all points as we are and resist that sin by the power of the Holy Spirit showing us that we can be forgiven and can resist the power of sin by the same Holy Spirit that He used during His entire life on Earth . If we allow Him to, He will make us like Him in character before He comes back. The next implication is that both justification and sanctification are crucial to salvation. We must be forgiven of our guilt, which is justification. In addition God is going to move into our lives in power to gradually transform our character. This is the process called sanctification, It is about God moving into our live when we are totally surrendered to Him, by His miracle working Holy Spirit power so that we will begin to hate sin in the same way Christ hated sin. Therefore we are becoming more and more into the image of Jesus Christ because we have rejected Satan’s way and our own fallen nature, way. The gospel is about both justification and sanctification. This guarantees the promise in Revelation that there will be a generation that will vindicate God’s character and His law, righteousness, mercy and justice. By God’s grace there will be a generation living in a fallen world having all the dangers of evil all around us that there will be a generation that will say no to sin.This final generation will be perfectly loyal to God and totally obedient before Jesus comes again.
These two different definitions of sin give two different gospels, the gospel of Jesus Christ and the counterfeit gospel. But there is only one way to heaven. Incrediliby, the counterfeit gospel is overtaking the entire Christian world and we need to know the difference. We need to know the true gospel of Jesus Christ. We need to know how salvation really works and it is one of the most important study in our walk to heaven. This is the major decision in your life.You will have to check it out yourself by checking the texts in the Bible and then decide.This is the decision that will determine your eternal destiny and the influence you will have to save others in your witnessing as a co-labourer with Christ. They cannot be at all combined. They are totally opposite, yet many Christians and many Adventists are trying to put them together. You cannot believe in parts of both (It is drinking a glass of water having a drop of arsenic in it, is just as deadly.)
The next section covers Justification and Sanctification, the twin doctrinal concepts involved in our conversion from a non believer in the transformation from first hearing and accepting the gospel to become a complete over-comer of sin and no second death,
4.4 Justification & Sanctification
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vu3UfYXk97s Last Generation Theology - Justification and Sanctification by Pastor Fred Dana Jan 21, 2021 210SHARESAVE
Pr Fred Dana connects the all important purpose in the religion of Christ- Christianity, in the reality of the gospel. The Bible, the revelation of God, the Father, through Jesus Christ, when rightly understood by an open and humble heart is the light to dispel the darkness of unbelief in this sin infested world controlled by Satan, the father of lies.
No Christians in any denomination can deny the right understanding of the true gospel as the story of Jesus coming and dying on the cross paying the penalty for our sins so that we can be forgiven and be saved- Joh 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
This discussion is building on the right gospel based on the truth that sin is a choice as presented by Pr. Priebe. The belief in the nature of Christ is tied in the presentation, another big topic requiring a separate article. Then follow the need to know about Justification and Sanctification. They are all connected. There is an undeniable logical flow that comes to a conclusion what we believe about the final generation.
4.4.1 What is Justification?
All lines of Christian thought agree that Justification means that a lost sinner is counted righteous before God by accepting Jesus death on the cross for forgiveness of sin. This is a free gift from God that we can only receive by faith in Jesus.
The big question is what about sin that continues or may continue in the life of the person that has just been forgiven and justified is continuing sin and relying on continuing forgiveness. Is a person who has experienced justification, the forgiveness of sin, expected to overcome sin or to continue in sin? This is answered by most churches that a justified person will continue to sin although maybe not willfully until Jesus comes and this mortal puts on immortality. It is the consequence of the sinful nature and we need to rely on God’s grace for forgiveness of sin. But there is the other aspect that justification changes the believer to live a sanctified live overcoming sin. Justification by itself does not effect this change. So there is more to it that we have to be born-again
4.4.1.1 Born- Again Prerequisite- The Underlying Status
Jesus emphatically told Nicodemus, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”- Joh 3:3. Now if one must be born again in order to be saved can this status be separated from forgiveness. The theory of justification that doesn’t save a person is not complete, not finished. There is no salvation without being born again according to Jesus. Only with a powerful change in the heart , a new heart that comes with a new birth is it possible to have sanctification in a person’s life.
Paul says the gospel is power not merely a theory (Rom 1:16). It is not an intellectual construct for theologians to debate. Jesus brings the power through the Holy Spirit, the third divine divinity of the Godhead.
4.4.1.1.1 Testimony of Born-Again Experience
Pr Dana relates his born-again experience in overcoming his temper (influence of parental behaviors at home) and lustful desire in fornication (acquired at a young age). He was baptized (born-again) at 14 but did not have the change and assumed to have a saving relation with God when graduating as a senior in the academy. In college he majored in religion and liked the intellectual challenge and historical context especially of the Old Testament history. He felt that he was okay because he was occasionally moved by some sermons and assumed that he was a Christian since sanctification was the work of a lifetime. But his temper made occasional attacks to the extent that he threatened to kill his father. He also had a flare up at a public hockey game and was expelled. Embarrassed while sitting on a campus bench in the dark, he for the first time in his life wondered if he really was a saved person after all. The challenge with lust was becoming more difficult and he wondered why he wasn’t successful in his Christian life with his good grades in theology and his knowledge of the Bible.
Later on in his working life, his temper and lust became more oppressive that it drove him to Jesus. Something changed inside of him and it took him two days to realize that he was a new creation with a new heart, and that he was born again (full conversion). He had a new power to control my temper and complete victory over lustful desires. His devotional study on Desire of Ages now brought him to tears in really seeing and loving Jesus. God was speaking to his heart as he read the New Testament every day. This was his illustration between a powerless understanding of the gospel while in college in contrast to his new changed life through being born-again. However he also related that some year later he did lose some of this power. He testifies that he had a degree in religion before his born- again experience and is convinced that nobody really understands the born-again experience until they have it. It is the power of God that spoke and created the world that wrought this change of the new heart in me. This is the enabling miracle that God performs to make us the signs and wonders to the world.
4.4.1.1.2 The New Creation by Holy Spirit
Joh 3:5 “Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”
In this verse, Jesus clearly reiterated that for salvation being born-again is not optional . For a complete justification, the new heart has to be part of it. We need forgiveness of sin of course to be free of guilt, free from the penalty of sin. Being born again in the Holy Spirit is to have “the spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of God , he is none of his”- Rom 8:9. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new”- 2Co 5:17. The way to be in Christ is to be a new creature or a new creation which is done by the Holy Spirit.
When King David repented and prayed for forgiveness, he asked for a clean heart and he asked for the Holy Spirit to renew his heart. He saw forgiveness in a new heart as two parts of one package- “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me” - Psa 51:10.
Ellen White notes that it is the correct way to understand forgiveness of sin. She agreed with David that forgiveness includes transformation of the heart :
“God's forgiveness is not merely a judicial act by which He sets us free from condemnation. It is not only forgiveness for sin, but reclaiming from sin. It is the outflow of redeeming love that transforms the heart. David had the true conception of forgiveness when he prayed, "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me." Psalm 51:10.” {MB 114.1}
“Christ gave His life to secure for us this inestimable treasure; but without regeneration through faith in His blood, there is no remission of sins, no treasure for any perishing soul. “ {COL 112.5}
“As the sinner, drawn by the power of Christ, approaches the uplifted cross, and prostrates himself before it, there is a new creation. A new heart is given him. He becomes a new creature in Christ Jesus. Holiness finds that it has nothing more to require. God Himself is "the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." Romans 3:26 “ {COL 162.4} ( This is perhaps her most powerful statement about justification requiring the born-again prerequisite for Rom 3:26 is about justification. When you are born again, you are made holy have a holiness that can never ever be improved upon. Justification extends into Sanctification which is actually learning to keeping it as the next statement indicates.)
“It is through the Spirit that Christ dwells in us; and the Spirit of God, received into the heart by faith, is the beginning of the life eternal.” {DA 388.1} ( A person can ask for forgiveness of sin with having repentance, without real godly sorrow. That person is not truly ready to receive the born again experience through the Holy Spirit. He will not have the peace of full surrender and forgiveness of sin meaning he has not been justified. When a person has a shallow asking for forgiveness without deep repentance there will be no sense of assurance at all. This is because “ Sins not repented of are sins not forgiven”-{ OHC} People assume that asking for forgiveness is repentance. We need to study on repentance as it is more than just the intellectual asking for forgiveness. It has something to do with the heart, the heart being broken before God.)
“Christ is able to save to the uttermost all who come to Him in faith. He will cleanse them from all defilement if they will let Him. But if they cling to their sins, they cannot possibly be saved; for Christ's righteousness covers no sin unrepented of. (MS 142, 1899). {7BC 931.1} ( A person could ask for forgiveness of sin without really at heart willing to stop that sin and they will find no peace with God because Christ righteousness will not cover any sin in which there isn’t deep repentance. )
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”- 1Jn 1:9. (Now, true confession can only come from genuine repentance. But on the other hand when one has true repentance and comes seeking forgiveness of sin that one becomes a new creation in Christ Jesus through the Holy Spirit. God has justified that person and he/she is forgiven, cleansed and renewed. They are now made right with God. “If you are right with God today, you are ready if Christ should come today “ So if I am right with Him today I am ready for Him to come anytime.)
Salvation is simple. The hard part is to surrender all. It is the battle with self that makes it hard for our nature doesn’t want to do it.
"As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name." John 1:12. This power is not in the human agent. It is the power of God. When a soul receives Christ, he receives power to live the life of Christ. {COL 314.5} ( When a soul receives Christ he receives the power to live the life of Christ . This is great news. )
In summary, Justification is being made right with God. The three parts are: 1. Pardon of sin; 2. Cleansing of Sin; and 3. Being born again of the Holy Spirit (the fruition in conversion, that varies from person to person. And will be further discussed later.)
4.4.2 Sanctification
Sanctification is staying right with God. Sanctification represents a lot of things- Sanctification, is holiness. Sanctifcation is growth , etc. When God makes you right and implants His Spirit in you, your job of living a sanctified life is to keep it. We need to stay right with God every day and we do so based on the different ways in which the Bible says sanctification is: 1. Abide in Christ- John 15:4; 2. Walk in the Spirit- Gal 5:16,25; 3. Be Led of the Holy Spirit- Eph 5:18; 4. Christ Living in Me- Gal. 2:20; 5. Christ in You, the hope of glory- Col 1:27; 6. Christ may dwell in your Heart- Eph 3:17. (Apart from 1, all these verses are from Paul.)
In 2Th 2:13 “… God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:.” Paul clearly says that sanctification is part of salvation and sanctification is staying right with God. So it is knowingly choosing sin that breaks s since sins separates us from God as stated in Isa 59:2 –“But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.” “So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.” - Rom 8:8 “ For if ye live after the flesh ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.“-Rom 8:13 (Paul says we are not staying right with God by living in the flesh (fallen nature with propensity to sin), living in sin. In being separated from God death is going to come “For the wages of sin is death “-Rom 6:23. Sin is always the enemy. We should never defend it, excuse it, allow for it, because any known sin separates us from God.
“The helpless sinner must cling to Christ as his only hope. If he lets go his hold for a moment, he imperils his own soul and the souls of others. Only in the exercise of living faith are we safe. But the commission of any known sin, the neglect of known duties, at home or abroad, will destroy faith, and disconnect the soul from God.” {FLB 138.2} (This is specifically dealing with known sin. When the devil tempts you to something that you know you shouldn’t and then the Holy Spirit through your conscience speaks to you don’t do this, flee to Christ. If you listened and obey the devil how can you claim that you are staying right with God. You chose to follow a different master. Now if you don’t know something when you do it then it is not a choice of another master. That would not be viewed by God as a sinful choice but rather as ignorance. God is fair and He knows that when people are born-again it is going to take them to learn something and that is spells out in James 4:7.
“We shall not be held accountable for the light that has not reached our perception, but for that which we have resisted and refused. A man could not apprehend the truth which had never been presented to him, and therefore could not be condemned for light he had never had.… None will be condemned for not heeding light and knowledge that they never had.”--5BC 1145 (1893).
“"If light come, and that light is set aside or rejected, then comes condemnation and the frown of God; but before the light comes, there is no sin, for there is no light for them to reject." “ - {1T 116.1}
4.4.2.1 Two Factors of Sanctification
There are two separate and true factors in sanctification. The first factor is staying right with God, abiding with Christ, walking in the Spirit and not willfully or knowingly choosing sin.
We see this in 1Jn 3:6 “Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. “ ( By abiding in Christ, you don’t wilfully choose sin because that is choosing another master. Christ gives us the power of the HolySpirit to refuse sin. But a person could have a born-again experience and be abiding in Christ but be completely clueless on the true Sabbath, not having heard it before. We would see it as a violation of the fourth commandment but God would not condemn them for it. We know what is the truth so if we break the Sabbath it is clearly a willful sin and not staying write with God in sanctification.
The second factor in sanctification is growth. People need to grow when they have the opportunity to learn something they will then be accountable. Only God fully understands each person’s accountability because only He knows they have seen and what they’ve been convicted of. “Through faith in Christ, every deficiency of character may be supplied, every defilement cleansed, every fault corrected, every excellence developed.” {Edu, 257}
Eph 3:16
“That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; (the born-again experience is to be strengthened and sanctification is to keep being strengthened.) 17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; 19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. 20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,”- Eph 3:16-20. (This passage tells us of the potential of our growth in spiritual things.)
1Th 5:23 “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1Th 5:24 “ Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it. “ (This tells us all that is done to us is by the power of God. We see in this verse the connection between sanctification and being blameless for the coming of Christ. This is certainly a last generation text. It includes the final generation for sure. )
4.4.2.2 Sanctification is Not Optional
Is Sanctification optional or is it an essential part of the gospel? To believe that sanctification is not essential in the plan of salvation is to think one can break the relationship with God, to no longer be right with God, to choose a different master, and somehow be justified and saved anyway. It is important to underscore the truth that all the accomplishments, all the victories over temptations, all the obedience to God’s law- Sabbath- keeping, all the health laws, all the self-control with temper, patience and lust, every good thing, is enabled in the believer by the power of God’s grace. This power makes it possible to love those who don’t treat us well, to love those who try to make us look like a fool . The Holy Spirit gives us the power over indulgence of appetite. It’s the Holy Spirit giving light, the life of Christ to the believer. The power never has its source in the believer and they know it. They know it is absolutely true what Jesus said ”Without me you can do nothing.” – Jn 15:5. They know they can do nothing of which they can boast in themselves. In fact those truly living the sanctified life are of all people on the earth the most dependent upon the power of God for they know they are nothing without Him and they are nothing.so that God can be everything in their lives
4.4.3 Justification with Sanctification in Gospel of Christ
Our believe in the nature of our sin definitely affects what we believe about justication and sanctification, If one believes that we are born sinful and guilty it is hard to believe that anything much good cold be lived out in our lives. Jesus life would not be an example to us, He would only be our substitute. Therefore, justification could not be more than forgiveness of sin. If that is true, our nature will cause us to sin until Jesus comes. With this view there could never be a final generation overcoming sin. If that view is true all the Bible verses, all the Spirit of Prophecy quotations discussed are just a mockery to us. Holding out a hope then is impossible.
On the other hand, while it is true we are born with a fallen nature that our physical body won’t be changed until Jesus comes, we are not condemned until we make our own choices for sin and we keep sinning. Jesus in this view could take a fallen nature as we do and not make sinful choices because of His total dependence on the Father and on the Holy Spirit, because He came as a helpless human being, born a helpless baby that depended on His mother. As He grew, He totally depended on His Father and on the Holy Spirit and He showed us what to do and is our example that we need to depend on God in the same way. He is our example as well as our substitute. He never sinned but He took upon Himself our sins so that we can be forgiven and then the same Holy Spirit that aided Jesus as a human being will come into our lives and transform us. We can continue in that transformation our whole lives being first justified when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour and jgoing on to sanctification, a whole lifetime process.. There will be lessons to learn, there will be growing to do and justification and sanctification will work for us every day that we are willing to remain surrendered to God. He will give us the abundant lives. We will be overcomers by His enabling grace (an enabling miracle wrought in us) and ready for Jesus to come at last.
5 Roundup
D28 is a quick short course for anyone who has not heard of the good news about the 100 % efficacious remedy against the fear of death from any causes, Fear of death from Covid 19 vanishes when you are able to understand the root cause of death which is sin, the result of our inherited propensity to sin in our fallen nature and why we die the first death.
There are many equally important truths other than sin that is provided in the Bible and briefly outlined for you in this roundup for you to study and grow in your sanctification in the righteous faith of Jesus Christ. At the very outset when reading the word of God we must know who our invisible, supernatural enemy is and what he has done and capable of doing, Satan has counterfeited every truth in God’s word such as the gospel based on the original sin. The nature of Christ in His first advent is another, questioning that Christ could not possibly veil His divinity in the form of a man. The God-Man nature of Christ will be evident by vindications at the cosmic level of the great controversy. The genuine and open minded seeker of the truth in the word of God will be guided by the Holy Spirit to find Bible verses and passages describing the fallen human nature that never sin in spite of all the temptations from Satan. The Scriptures tell us all we want to know as God has seen fit to reveal about our Savior in His life as Emmanuel, God with us. (See Par 3.3.1)
5.1 The Great Controversy
If the veil which separates the visible from the invisible world could be lifted, and the people of God could behold the great controversy that is going on between Christ and holy angels and Satan and his evil hosts concerning the redemption of man; if they could understand the wonderful work of God for the rescue of souls from the bondage of sin, and the constant exercise of His power for their protection from the malice of the evil one, they would be better prepared to withstand the devices of Satan. Their minds would be solemnized in view of the vast extent and importance of the plan of redemption and the greatness of the work before them as colaborers with Christ. They would be humbled, yet encouraged, knowing that all heaven is interested in their salvation. {5T 467.2}
(At the cross of Calvary) In the controversy between Christ and Satan, the character of God was now fully vindicated in his act of banishing from Heaven the fallen angel, who had once been exalted next to Christ. All Heaven, and the worlds that had not fallen through sin, had been witnesses to the controversy between Christ and Satan …3SP 185.1} ( But, humanity, even now are not aware of this great controversy that we are engaged in and not knowing why death is inescapable and is the wages or sin completely unaware of God’s plan of salvation. We in this world where Jesus bore our sins that we can become overcomers of sins in our lives are still to be convinced of the reality of God in our lives and His offer of eternal life.)
Heaven had viewed with grief and amazement Christ hanging upon the cross, blood flowing from his wounded temples, and sweat tinged with blood standing upon his brow. From his hands and feet the blood had fallen, drop by drop, upon the rock drilled for the foot of the cross. The wounds made by the nails had gaped as the weight of his body dragged upon his hands. His labored breath had grown quick and deep, as his soul panted under the burden of the sins of the world. All Heaven had been filled with admiration when the prayer of Christ was offered in the midst of his terrible suffering--"Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." Yet there stood men, formed in the image of God, joining with Satan to crush out the last spark of life from the heart of the Son of God. {3SP 185.2}
In Christ was the embodiment of God himself. The plan and execution of man's salvation is a demonstration of divine wisdom and power mysterious to finite minds. The unfathomable love of God for the human race, in giving his Son to die for them, was made manifest. Christ was revealed in all his self-sacrificing love and purity; man could now obtain immortal life through his merits. When the justice of God was expressed in judicial sentence, declaring the final disposition of Satan, that he should be utterly consumed with all those who ranked under his banner, all Heaven rang with hallelujahs, and "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to have all authority and power, and dominion, and glory." {3SP 186.1}
5.1.1 Judgment & Final Eradication of Sin
When we dwell upon the justice of God, we look upon only one side of his character; for in His greatness and might He has condescended to our feebleness in sending His Son to the world that man may not perish. In the cross we may read His tender mercy and forgiveness, harmoniously combined with His stern, unwavering justice. The severity of God is felt when we are separated from him; but when we repent of our sins, and make our peace with him through the virtue of the cross, we find Him a merciful Father, reconciled to men through His Son. {3SP 186.2}
5.1.2 Salvation is a Free Gift
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ie6NoOOCMA 11. Worship Service - 03/13/2021 - Pastor Stephen Bohr and Pastor James Rafferty Premiered 10 hours ago 510SHARESAVE
Our Salvation is free in that there is nothing we can do to earn it. This is why we need to know about the gospel of Christ, about the love of God the Father, and what has been accomplished at the cross for us. Ever since God’s promise of a Deliverer to Adam and Eve (Gen 3:15) there has been only one way to salvation: by grace through faith ( Eph 2:8); the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord ( Rom 6:23).
In this world it is impossible to buy something that is free. But Isaiah was inspired to say “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.”- Isa 55:1. The waters is defined as “the river of the water of life, "clear as crystal," proceeds from the throne of God and the Lamb; and the gracious call is ringing down through the ages, "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Revelation 22:17. {PP 413.2}
So God is trying to tell His children then who was under persecution from their hostile, idol worshipping neighbours, that so long as they are seeking and thirsting after truth and righteousness in the fear of the Lord they can have it for free (Matt 5:6). Salvation is a free gift from God by His grace. Jesus provides it for anyone who accepts Him as Lord and savior. However, it was purchased not with the corruptible things of this world but with His precious blood, in His selfless sacrifice on the cross in fulfillment as “the lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world,” slain from the foundation of the world. It is free to us but it was extracted at a very heavy cost to Him who provided it for us. The spiritual perception is that of an exchange as in a bartering system. It is in the exchange of our full surrender to Christ; of dying to self daily in being born-again by the Holy Spirit and have Christ dwelling in us” to restore us into His likeness and have the mind of Christ.
Jesus invites us in Rev 3:18to “I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see”. (This invitation is in the form of a counsel* to the Laodicean church, last church living in the last days, “Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:” -Rev 3:17. )
(Note: Jesus explains why He gives counsel* in Rev 3:19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Rev 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. Rev 3:21 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. )
5.2 Righteousness by Faith
This is a brief outline of some of the key issues Pr Dennis Priebe pointed out in his 4 part series on Righteousness by Faith
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgTTGI8_Z08 Righteousness by Faith 1 - Will the Real Gospel Please Stand Up Aug 11, 2017 824SHARESAVE
The primary and central subject in the Bible is the gospel-how one is saved by the life death and priestly ministry of Jesus Christ. But in the great controversy because of counterfeit from the archenemy of God many have be deceived into believing in the wrong gospel. The two methods of understanding salvation by faith in Jesus Christ are discussed for you to evaluate for yourself which is God’s way and which may not be God’s way. You are to check the details out yourself and decide.
There is only one real gospel, the path to eternal life revealed as God’s way, the narrow way which few have sought because of the many versions of the gospel since God instituted his plan in the Garden of Eden. Satan has counterfeited the true gospel on how we are saved by the life and death of Jesus Christ is salvation by faith in Jesus Christ. Satan has a counterfeit for just about everything there is in the Bible such as Sunday as Day of rest; the way He comes again; what happens when you die, what is hell all about, etc.,
5.2.1 Tree of Original Sin Gospel
The gospel of original sin, the counterfeit gospel, is illustrated as a tree starting with 1. the root which is sin as nature; 2. Christ unfallen nature; Justification alone 100% God’s work; Sanctification is optional; 4. No perfection- until Jesus comes ( Orthodox church Doctrine) since 17 Century); Next the questionable fruits: 5. Judgment in 1844? 6. Spirit of Prophecy? 7. Law? 8. Sabbath? 9. Health Reform? 10. Standard?
The orthodox Church does not believe the fruits as specified in the Gospel of Christ are important. To them these fruits may be right but they are not a matter of salvation as sanctification is not necessary so long as one has accepted Christ and is justified. It may be usefull as living healthfully might get you a few extra years of life but don’t confuse it with salvation. This gospel is primarily about forgiveness.
When the Gospel of original sin was first developed in the 3rd-4th Century AD everyone believed in predestination- God chooses your salvation or damnation before you were ever born. This gospel fits with predestination as sin is automatic as breathing and everyone sin all the time. I am forgiven for my sins and then at the second coming of Jesus Christ He will take care of my sinning problem and I won’t sin anymore. While most Christians have rejected predestination they have kept the original sin gospel which was built upon predestination.
5.2.2 Tree of Free Choice Gospel.
However, the Gospel of Christ is built on the premise that every person will choose for ourselves (God’s gift of Free will) whether we are to be saved or lost.- Sin by Choice . This tree has: 1. Sin as choice (based on the decis ions you make); 2 Christ taking human nature ( to be tempted as we are) ; 3. Justification & Sanctification are essential, both 100% God’s work in us; 4. Perfection in sanctification in the truth and God’s healing to be like Jesus and overcomers of sin to vindicate God’s law can be obeyed. This gospel is about Restoration by God’s grace and power to the image He has planned for us from the very first; The fruits of this tree are: 5. Judgment in 1844 is a reality and necessary to ensure the right people are qualified for heaven, It is a process beginning on Oct. 22 , 1844 with the investigative judgment; 6. Spirit of Prophecy- God’s speaking in our time through His messenger like E.G. Whit e to help us understand His will; 7. Law- Ten Commandments can be kept with Jesus Christ relying on the power of Holy Spirit as proof. Similarly we can also with the Holy Spirit dwelling in you. 8. Sabbeth is right in the heart of the Law ( 4th Commandments) and keeping it is a visible sign of our identity and allegiance And becomes important at the end of time. It is a symbol of righteousness by faith in the way we live as God has provide the way; 9. Health Reform in the eight laws of health with better diet, sleep, exercise – since the body will automatically affect the heart and mind the proper care and nourishment of the body, the mind will be more alert communion from God. So health reform gives God a better chance to save your soul. It prepare the way for God’s grace to work; 10. Standards as in the Bible and in the Church - our decisions as to whose voice we trust between God’s word and satan’s worldly devices in pornography, music, and entertainment . By shutting out worldly activities, we shut down Satan’s interferences God will have a better chance to save our souls. Standard are there to shut down Satan’s voice or temptations to sin. God voice will then be able to make you a different person to change you from inside out. We need to understand their real purpose and their value and what God designed them for. They don’t save you, but it opens the door for God to work in you.
This gospel will make you restored to the image of Jesus Christ. He will make you new and you will be different from before. One thing that we have to be careful of that we don’t invert this treeby turning it upside down.
This version of the gospel outlined is for you to personally check out whether all the aspects are in harmony with God’s word as the standard of salvation. It is crucial to decide while Jesus is still interceding for us before the close of probation in the investigative judgment as this decision on the truth determines your life destiny for eternity or the second death. Sometimes it is easy to say that if I get the law right and if I keep the Sabbath and if I believe that there is a judgment and I am very careful in health and my standards, then all the other things will take care of themselves. But this inversion of the tree is not the gospel at all, not the gospel that Jesus has to fight for most of His time on earth, and Paul for most of his life. No, we have to start with Jesus Christ and His grace., justification and sanctification.; God’s saving work done in powerful ways.
5.3 God on Trial
( Watch Righteousness by Faith 4 - What is Possible For Us? Aug 11, 2017 161SHARESAVE at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDRoV5P8jcA (57:37)
Bible prophecy tells us about the 144,000 in the end times of this world history who will be Christ-like ( Rev 14:1-5) to vindicate that God’s law and government is true and can be obeyed in refuting Satan’s lying charges. We must strive to be in this generation and do our part that God has assigned for us to do as Jesus co-labourer to hasten Christ’s soon return to take us to heaven for a thousand years. There is the very likely probability (based on the signs of the times we are witnessing presently) we in this generation will go through the very last events of earth history, living at a time when human probation will close, when the wrath of Satan as the Dragon wlll turn upon those people who have lived the gospel of Jesus Christ and how we will be able to stand and go through this experience. This is more that just being saved and living in heaven and the new earth. It is about who wins in the great controversy between Christ and Satan and arriving at the time for a peaceful happy place. Will God prove Satan wrong in all of Satan of arguments and attacks against His character? This is part of what being part of the last generation is all about. We need to be saying I believe your way is right and I will do and be and live whatever way it takes to show that Satan is a liar. He has no credibility. His way is what we are seeing on the news all around us, the increasing natural calamities disasters and babies dying from diseases and starvation in Africa. We reject Satan and his ways. We desire to be part of the gospel that vindicates God’s name; shows that God’s way works and Satan’s way doesn’t..
5.3.1 Vindication of God’s Love- Law and Government
Php 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
( We are to think and act like Christ as witness in vindicating that God is love.)
Php 2:6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
(Jesus is fully God who put aside His divine attributes to be wholly man during his 33 years mission on earth)
Php 2:7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
( He emptied Himself of God’s attributes, Omnipotence (see Jn 5.30;14:10;12; 2:19,), Omniscience (Luk 2:52,40,49; Mk 13:32), and Omnipresence (Rom 8:3;Heb4:15; 5:7-9; ) By faith Jesus learn about His mission on this earth by trusting in His Father (in nightly prayer and communion), and the reading of Scriptures ( no omniscience –no recall of divine memory).
(To really understand righteousness by faith in Jesus correctly; how we can have righteousness, what God will do for us, we must know that Jesus Christ took our fallen nature as stated in Rom 8:3 “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:.” (“flesh” means everything about fallen human nature, mental and physical, as a result of the fall of Adam, -i.e. flesh= fallen nature) Jesus was made in our likeness ( Phi 2:7) meaning He came in our flesh and blood and is totally human. But in the form of a slave ( Adam as a slave to sin in his fallen nature)
“It would have been an almost infinite humiliation for the Son of God to take man's nature, even when Adam stood in his innocence in Eden. But Jesus accepted humanity when the race had been weakened by four thousand years of sin. Like every child of Adam He accepted the results of the working of the great law of heredity. What these results were is shown in the history of His earthly ancestors. He came with such a heredity to share our sorrows and temptations, and to give us the example of a sinless life.” {DA 48.5}
Many Christians believe Jesus couldn’t take that fallen nature because if He would He would be a sinner and immediately be under condemnation by God and He could save no one. But the Bible says, the propensity (tendency) to sin in having a fallen nature, does not equate to sin if He did succumb to all of Satan’s temptations- “was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin”Heb 4:15. Jesus shows us how we too could ‘overcome sin’* and invites us to :come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. (to fight against our temper, doubts and discouragements)”- Heb 4:16. He learned “obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; “ –Heb 5:8,9.
(Note: ‘overcome sin’* by being Born-again”- Jesus Christ as the Son of man was able to overcome sin because He is conceived by the Holy Spirit .to counteract the inclination to sin in the fallen nature of humanity. So it is imperative for God to empower the human being born-again by the Holy Spirit so you are not a slave to the inherited fallen nature and begin the road upward as God begins to pull those sinful things out of your life, one by one as you are tried in your temptations. God does not take the old nature from you but sends the Holy Spirit to live in you. (see )
Jesus has the Holy Spirit as His father while on earth and as the one who gave Him life and that Holy Spirit did for Jesus what He does for us in the new born-again birth. He sent the divine nature upon Jesus and from that moment of His birth until He died and was resurrected, He had the power of the Holy Spirit working in Him. He did not develop those sinful tendencies, those sinful habits even as a baby. He still had to struggle with resisting temptations as recorded about Satan’s attempts ater the 40 days fasting in the wilderness ( Matt 4:1-11, Mk 1:12-13; Lk 4:1-13). Should Jesus just commit one sin and Satan takes control of the universe. He did not have an intercessor in heaven as we do now when we are born-again with Jesus as that intercessor. The trust and study and prayer bring down the Holy Spirit which is the divine nature by which Jesus lived day by day was was the Holy Spirit’s divine nature and not His divine nature. That was the divine nature exhibited while Jesus was living on this earth in the likeness of man. The same trust, study and prayer will bring exactly the same Holy Spirit, the same exact divine nature producing the same God likeness in our experience. It is based on our Lord Jesus Christ and how He lived His life; for over 33 years on earth. All the things that He lived by, we can have not at birth but at the new birth. This is the promise expressed by Apostle Peter and Apostle John :
“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.”- 2Pe 1:4.
“For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith”- 1Jn 5:4. “Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?”- .”- 1Jn 5:5. (This is the most powerful message that could be given to the human race.)
Here is the one important passage by Ellen White on how we could be saved:
“As one with us, a sharer in our needs and weaknesses, He was wholly dependent upon God, and in the secret place of prayer He sought divine strength, that He might go forth braced for duty and trial. In a world of sin … {DA 362.4} ..As a man He supplicated the throne of God till His humanity was charged with a heavenly current that should connect humanity with divinity. Through continual communion He received life from God, that He might impart life to the world. His experience is to be ours. {DA 363.1}
(Jesus pleaded in prayer to His Father daily to keep His connection with divinity. This connection is righteousness by faith and salvation for humanity through this continual communion He received life from God. So, in order to prevent us from talking to God at any time then if there is anything we are doing in our lives that would prevent us from talking to God at that moment that we should stop doing immediately. This is the attitude of prayer constantly, not in a private place and on our knees. If you can live this experience this eternal life is guaranteed for you. The one thing that should scare us to death is when the divine hand of our heavenly Father begins to slip as signs that I am separated from God and I can’t talk to Him now. We must be conscious of this warning and to immediately get us to our knees at that moment or else we are deadening our conscience.
If we could settle the question of what is sin we would have no problem settling all of the other issues about Jesus Christ, about justification, sanctification and perfection. Jesus is the remedy to sin and death. The remedy is only precious to those who has the disease, Tragically, humanity are captive to Satan, the father of sin and are not aware of the fact that all have sinned whose consequence is death. )
Php 2:8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.:
(In Gethsemane Jesus experienced the weight of sins he bore and suffered mentally more that the physical agony at the cross. It was bearing the entire world’s sins and guilt that separated Him from God and He couldn’t see His father’s face or hear His voice and was all alone with His three disciples who slept instead of watching in prayer for Him. He went through what the sinners will feel at the second death, going into non-existence, eternal death. He was walking into that experience, what the sinner will feel cut off forever from the Father, and from life and from happiness. Jesus was willing to do whatever was necessary including His own destruction forever if that would redeem the human race and make the universe a safe place to live in) (cf. Song of Moses and the Lamb-Rev 15: 3; Exo 32: 9,31- this should be the motivation for the last generation of human history. It is not about us going to heaven, it is about God’s name being vindicated so that this universe can survive. At that matter is that this earth is taken out of Satan’s hand forever. Thee will be no more deaths and destruction from Satan. The real issue is will God win the great controversy and how soon will that take place.. Jesus took a great risk in coming down to this earth living for 33 years as just one sin would disqualify Him and what the Father’s plan of redemption was all about. One loss of temper or one time in which He rebelled against what His Father was telling Him and this universe would be Satan’s and left for him to destroy the universe at his pleasure. That was the risk that God took when He sent Jesus down without omnipotence, without omniscience and without omnipresence. For you and me God took the greatest risk that could ever be imagined in all eternity. The good news we have to share is not about the second coming of Jesus Christ, or that God’s law is good and that Sabbath is important .The really good news we have to share is the question Do you know my friend Jesus that I have learned to know by faith He can help us to do what is impossible to do.) .
Php 2:9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
Php 2:10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
Php 2:11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
These verses summaries the God-Man nature of Christ and clearly teaches that Satan is going to call Jesus Lord. This happens after the millennium in the execution of the judgment ( the process of judgment consists of investigative, sentence and execution). God is going to project the great panorama in the sky of what has happened all through the great controversy. By the end of that demonstration, everyone on earth will admit even though they won’t like it that Jesus way is best. And God is right in the great controversy.
5.3.2 Desire Of Nations
(E. G. White Notes for the Adult Bible Study Guide-2021 Q1 Lesson 12); https://absg.adventist.org/pdf.php?file=2021:1Q:TE:PDFs:ETQ121_12.pdf
The completion to this roundup is to show the comprehensiveness of Isaiah’s prophecies that begins with the signs and wonders in the Messiah and finishing with the victorious consummation of the great controversy when as the desire of nations drawing all people to seek Jesus reigning as the King of Kings. With the Day of Vengeance, the ultimate outcome of sin is executed and God recreates a new heaven and a new earth. The generations who have only the Old testament as their standard, such as the Judeo Jews and Pharisees, have no excuse of not receiving the light sufficient for their salvation . We who are now living are more inexcusableas we have far more light in possessing the New Testament as well as the Spirit of Prophesy as additional reinforcement and assurance of the sure certainty of prophetic prophecies. .
The great condescension on the part of God is a mystery beyond our fathoming. The greatness of the plan cannot be fully comprehended, nor could infinite wisdom devise a plan that would surpass it. It could be successful only by . . . Christ becoming man, and suffering the wrath which sin has made because of the transgression of God's law. Through this plan the great, the dreadful God can be just, and yet be the justifier of all who believe in Jesus, and who receive Him as their personal Saviour. This is the heavenly science of redemption, of saving men from eternal ruin. . . . {AG 161.4}
God so loved the world that He gave Himself in Christ to the world to bear the penalty of man's transgression. God suffered with His Son, as the divine Being alone could suffer, in order that the world might become reconciled to Him. {AG 161.5}
“The Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising” (Isaiah 60:3, NKJV).
We must learn in the school of Christ. Nothing but His righteousness can entitle us to one of the blessings of the covenant of grace. We have long desired and tried to obtain these blessings but have not received them because we have cherished the idea that we could do something to make ourselves worthy of them. We have not looked away from ourselves, believing that Jesus is a living Saviour. We must not think that our own grace and merits will save us; the grace of Christ is our only hope of salvation. Through His prophet the Lord promises, ‘Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon’ (Isaiah 55:7). We must believe the naked promise, and not accept feeling for faith. When we trust God fully, when we rely upon the merits of Jesus as a sin-pardoning Saviour, we shall receive all the help that we can desire.”—Ellen G. White, Faith and Works, p. 36..
The word of the Lord to you is: "I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in My people." Can we not here see the paternal love of God expressed to those who hold fast to the faith in righteousness?
The closest relationship exists between God and His people. Not only are we objects of His sparing mercy, His pardoning love; we are more than this. The Lord rejoices over His people. He delights in them. He is their surety. He will beautify all who are serving Him with a whole heart with the spirit of holiness. He clothes them with righteousness. He loves those who do His will, who express His image. All who are true and faithful are conformed to the image of His Son. In their mouth is found no guile, for they are without fault before the throne of God. (This is the 144,000, the final generation that vindicates that God’s law can be obeyed to refute the lies of Satan.The great ccontrovery was extended after the cross because most of humanity was unable to discern the victory of Christ over Satan at the cross. {TM 414.3}
"Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon." Isaiah 55:7. "… {COL 204.3}
What assurance here, of God's willingness to receive the repenting sinner! Have you, reader, chosen your own way? Have you wandered far from God? Have you sought to feast upon the fruits of transgression, only to find them turn to ashes upon your lips, And now, your substance spent, your life-plans thwarted, and your hopes dead, do you sit alone and desolate? …{COL 205.1}
Do not listen to the enemy's suggestion to stay away from Christ until you have made yourself better; until you are good enough to come to God. … {COL 206.1} you will never come. ..When Satan points to your filthy garments, repeat the promise of Jesus, "Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out." John 6:37. Tell the enemy that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin. ..{COL 205.2}
We know not what is before us; but we know that we have the privilege of committing our souls to God, as unto a faithful Creator. Let us thank God that we have a refuge in trial. Let us remember that Christ is a present help in every time of need. The promises of God's Word are rich and full and free. God is with us; He cares for us. {UL 142.3}
It is our privilege to open our hearts and let the Saviour in. Let us praise Him for the brightness of His presence. Let us carry the sunshine of His love on our countenances and bring it into our words. Then His joy will be in us, and our joy will be full. . . . {UL 142.7}
5.3.2.1The Effects Of Sin
God chooses to “ignore” His people, not because that is His desire but because “your iniquities have been barriers between you and your God” (Isa. 59:2, NRSV). Here is one of the clearest statements in the Bible regarding the effect of sin on the divine-human relationship. Isaiah spends the rest of chapter 59 elaborating on this point, which is seen all through human history: sin can destroy our relationship with the Lord and thus lead to our eternal ruin—not because sin drives God away from us but because it drives us away from God.
Sin is primarily a rejection of God, a turning away from Him. The sin act actually feeds upon itself in that not only is the act a turning away from God but also the result of the act causes the sinner to turn away even more from the Lord. Sin separates us from God, not because God wouldn’t reach out to the sinner (indeed, the whole Bible is almost nothing but the account of God’s reaching out to save sinners) but because sin causes us to reject His divine overtures to us. That is why it is so important that we tolerate no sin in our lives.
Many complain that Jesus seems a long way off. Who has placed Him a long way off? Has it not been your own course of action that has separated you from Jesus? He has not forsaken you, but you have forsaken Him for other lovers. . . . It is when you wander from His side, and are charmed with the voice of the seducer, and fasten your affections upon some trifling thing, that you are in danger of losing your peace and trust and confidence in God.... Then it is that Satan presents to you the thought that Jesus has forsaken you; but is it not that you have forsaken Jesus? . . . We dare not let His name languish on our lips, and His love and memory die out of our hearts. {OHC 30.3}
t is not because He is unwilling to forgive that He turns from the transgressor; it is because the sinner refuses to make use of the abundant provisions of grace, that God is unable to deliver from sin. "The Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither His ear heavy, that it cannot hear: but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear." Isaiah 59:1, 2. {PK 323.1}
… Isaiah called the attention of the people to the weakness of their position among the nations of earth, and he showed that this was the result of wickedness in high places…"For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen: because their tongue and their doings are against the Lord." Isaiah 3:1-4, 8. {PK 323.2}
The eyes of Adam and Eve were indeed opened, but to what? To see their own shame and ruin, to realize that the garments of heavenly light which had been their protection were no longer around them as their safeguard. Their eyes were opened to see that nakedness was the fruit of transgression. As they heard God in the garden, they hid themselves from Him; for they anticipated that which till their fall they had not known,--the condemnation of God. . . . {CC 20.3} …
After the fall Christ became Adam's instructor. He acted in God's stead toward humanity, saving the race from immediate death. He took upon him the office of mediator. Adam and Eve were given a probation in which to return to their allegiance, and in this plan all their posterity were embraced. {CC 20.6}
Without the atonement of the Son of God there could have been no communication of blessing or salvation from God to man. God was jealous for the honor of His law. The transgression of that law had caused a fearful separation between God and man. To Adam in his innocence was granted communion, direct, free, and happy, with his Maker. After his transgression, God would communicate to man only through Christ and angels. {CC 20.7}
5.3.2.1.1 Who Is Forgiven?
Isaiah 59 presents a startling picture of the problem of sin. Fortunately, the Bible also presents the hope of Redemption. To begin, the first question is, How many of us have sinned? The Bible is unequivocal: all of us have. Redemption, therefore, cannot be based on lack of sin; it must be based on forgiveness (Jer. 31:34). Paul agrees. All have sinned (Rom. 3:9–20, 23); so, there can be no distinction on that basis (Rom. 3:22). Those who are justified can be judged as just, only because they receive by faith the gift of God’s righteousness through the sacrifice of Christ.
Most people think the question in the judgment is: Who has sinned? But that is not a question that needs to be asked, because everyone has sinned. Instead, the question is: Who is forgiven? God is just when He justifies “the one who has faith in Jesus” (Rom. 3:26, NRSV). The deciding factor in the judgment is, Who has received and continues to receive forgiveness by having faith in Jesus? Now, it is true we are judged by works—but not in the sense that works save us. If so, then faith is made void (Rom. 4:14). Instead, our works reveal whether we truly have been saved (James 2:18).
It is too late for good works, or obedience to the law, to redeem anyone. The purpose of the law in a sinful world isn’t to save but to point out sin. Instead, “faith working through love” (Gal. 5:6, NRSV), love that is poured into the heart by God’s Spirit (Rom. 5:5), demonstrates that a person has living faith in Jesus (see also James 2:26). Works are an outward expression, the human manifestation of a saving faith. Hence, a true Christian experience is one in which faith is expressed in a daily commitment to the Lord that is revealed by obedience to the law. In the judgment, God uses works as evidence for His creatures, who cannot read thoughts of faith as He can. But for the converted person, only works following conversion, when the life is empowered by Christ and the Holy Spirit, are relevant in the judgment. The pre-conversion life of sin has already been washed away by the blood of the Lamb (see Romans 6)
The thought that the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us, not because of any merit on our part, but as a free gift from God, is a precious thought. The enemy of God and man is not willing that this truth should be clearly presented; for he knows that if the people receive it fully, his power will be broken. {FLB 111.6}…
The perishing sinner may say: "I am a lost sinner; but Christ came to seek and to save that which was lost. He says, `I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.' I am a sinner, and He died upon Calvary's cross to save me. I need not remain a moment longer unsaved. He died and rose again for my justification, and He will save me now. I accept the forgiveness He has promised." . . . {FLB 112.3}
"All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). But Christ gave His life to save the sinner from the death sentence. He died that we might live. . . . By His death He brought salvation within the reach of all. . . . {HP 361.2} …
Today angels are sent to minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation, to help them to escape from the thralldom of Satan's power. . . . Each human being is given the freedom of choice. It is his to decide whether he will stand under the black banner of rebellion or under the blood-stained banner of Prince Emmanuel. With deep solicitude Heaven watches the conflict between good and evil. None but the obedient can enter the gates of the city of God. Upon those who choose to continue in transgression the death sentence must at last be pronounced. The earth will be purified from their misdoings, their defiance of God. . . . {HP 361.4}
Grace is unmerited favor, and the believer is justified without any merit of his own, without any claim to offer to God. He is justified through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, who stands in the courts of heaven as the sinner's substitute and surety. But while he is justified because of the merit of Christ, he is not free to work unrighteousness. Faith works by love and purifies the soul. Faith buds and blossoms and bears a harvest of precious fruit. Where faith is, good works appear. The sick are visited, the poor are cared for, the fatherless and the widows are not neglected, the naked are clothed, the destitute are fed. Christ went about doing good, and when men are united with Him, they love the children of God, and meekness and truth guide their footsteps. The expression of the countenance reveals their experience, and men take knowledge of them that they have been with Jesus and learned of Him. Christ and the believer become one, and His beauty of character is revealed in those who are vitally connected with the Source of power and love. Christ is the great depositary of justifying righteousness and sanctifying grace. {1SM 398.1}
5.3.2.2 Universal Appeal
The religion of Christ means more than the forgiveness of sin; it means taking away our sins, and filling the vacuum with the graces of the Holy Spirit. It means divine illumination, rejoicing in God. It means a heart emptied of self, and blessed with the abiding presence of Christ. When Christ reigns in the soul, there is purity, freedom from sin. The glory, the fullness, the completeness of the gospel plan is fulfilled in the life. The acceptance of the Saviour brings a glow of perfect peace, perfect love, perfect assurance. The beauty and fragrance of the character of Christ revealed in the life testifies that God has indeed sent His Son into the world to be its Saviour. {COL 419.6}
Christ does not bid His followers strive to shine. He says, Let your light shine. If you have received the grace of God, the light is in you. Remove the obstructions, and the Lord's glory will be revealed. The light will shine forth to penetrate and dispel the darkness. You cannot help shining within the range of your influence. {COL 420.1}
The Lord in compassion is seeking to enlighten the understanding of those who are now groping in the darkness of error. He is delaying His judgments upon an impenitent world, in order that His light bearers may seek and save that which is lost. He is now calling upon His church on the earth to awake from the lethargy that Satan has sought to bring upon them, and fulfill their heaven-appointed work of enlightening the world. His message to His church at this time is, "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee." To meet the conditions existing at the time when darkness covers the earth, and gross darkness the people, the church of God has been commissioned to cooperate with God in shedding abroad the light of Bible truth. To those who seek to do their part faithfully as bearers of precious light, is given the assurance: "The Lord shall rise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising." {TM 458.1}
The world today is in crying need of a revelation of Christ Jesus in the person of His saints. God desires that His people shall stand before the world a holy people. Why?--because there is a world to be saved by the light of gospel truth; and as the message of truth that is to call men out of darkness into God's marvelous light is given by the church, the lives of its members, sanctified by the Spirit of truth, are to bear witness to the verity of the messages proclaimed. {TM 458.2}.
(The three angels’ messages, in particular the third, is God’s final message of love warning people not to receive the mark of the beast. We are to be the 144,000, the last generation, transformed by keeping the commandments and the faith in Christ and empowered by Holy Spirit thus receiving the seal of God before the enforcement of the death decree for Sabbath keepers. With the outpouring of the latter rain, the 144,000 will proclaim the loud cry and the earth will be “lightened with God’s glory”-(Rev 18:1)
The prophet (John) says, "I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power: and the earth was lightened with glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils."( Rev 18:1,2). This is the same messages that was given by the second angel. Babylon is fallen, "because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication." What is that wine? --Her false doctrines. She has given to the world a false Sabbath instead of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, and has repeated the falsehood that Satan first told to Eve in Eden,--the natural immortality of the soul. Many kindred errors she has spread far and wide, "teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." {RH, December 6, 1892 par. 15}
When Jesus began his public ministry, he cleansed the temple from its sacrilegious profanation. Among the last acts of his ministry was the second cleansing of the temple. So in the last work for the warning of the world, two distinct calls are made to the churches. The second angel's message is, "Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication." And in the loud cry of the third angel's message a voice is heard from heaven saying, "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities." {RH, December 6, 1892 par. 16})
5.3.2.2.1 Appeals in Warnings with Invitations
The True Witness has given us the assurance that he has set before us an open door, which no man can shut. Those who are seeking to be faithful to God may be denied many of the privileges of the world; their way may be hedged up and their work hindered by the enemies of truth; but there is no power that can close the door of communication between God and their souls. The Christian himself may close this door by indulgence in sin, or by rejection of heaven's light. He may turn away his ears from hearing the message of truth, and in this way sever the connection between God and his soul. {RH, March 26, 1889 par. 2}
The message to the Laodicean church reveals our condition as a people. Satan is seeking with all his subtlety to corrupt mind and heart. And O how successful he is in leading men and women to depart from the simplicity of the gospel of Christ! Under his influence hereditary and cultivated tendencies to wrong are roused into activity. Ministers and church-members are in danger of allowing self to take the throne. {RH, December 15, 1904 par. 10}
Human wisdom, human ability, is nothingness in God's sight. He who supposes that he is superior to his fellow men in wisdom will sooner or later reveal traits of character that are a dishonor to God. In the church today there are many of this stamp,--men and women in whom the loveliness of Christ is hidden by traits of character that unfit the possessor for membership in the Lord's family in the heavenly courts. {RH, December 15, 1904 par. 11}
There are many who are not Bible Christians. They follow a standard of their own devising. If they would see their defective, distorted characters as they are accurately reflected in the mirror of God's Word, they would be so alarmed that they would fall upon their faces before God in contrition of soul, and tear away the rags of their self-righteousness. {RH, December 15, 1904 par. 12}
We may have the privilege of being the 144,000, to be reaching higher and still higher in Christian experience,--higher, not by self-assertion, self-assumption, and self-confidence, but by growth in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Ellen White tells us the necessity of seeking most earnestly to heed the counsel of the True Witness; for now, "in this thy day," is your opportunity. The message to the Laodicean Church is applicable to all who have had great light and many opportunities, and yet have not appreciated them. "These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire [the gold of faith and love], that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment [the righteousness of Christ], that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see." {RH, March 11, 1902 par. 2}
Unless missionaries shall constantly seek to reach a higher standard, they will become "lukewarm," "neither cold nor hot," and ready to be spewed out of the mouth of God. Unless they have a living connection with Him, they will mingle self and common, earthly practices and habits with the sacred, holy principles of truth. The truth should be placed before the people in its true, elevated position. All should constantly seek for the true faith that works, not by an earth-born, emotional element, but by love that purifies the soul. This love cleanses the soul-temple from pride, and expels every idol from the throne of the heart. {RH, March 11, 1902 par. 3}
Time is a precious gift. The probation granted us by God is to be appreciated as an opportunity to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. The Laodicean message applies to all who profess to keep the law of God, and yet are not doers of it. We are not to be selfish in anything. Every phase of the Christian life is to be a representation of the life of Christ. If it is not, we shall hear the terrible words, "I know you not."( Matt 7:21-23) We need far more disinterested benevolence. Often we shall be called upon to sacrifice in order to help those who are in need, and we should do this cheerfully, glad for the privilege to follow the Master. {RH, October 17, 1899 par. 3}
Whatever the difference in religious belief, a call for suffering humanity must be heard and answered. In cases where there is bitterness of feeling because of a difference in religion, much may be done by personal service. As we reveal the attributes of true goodness by loving ministry, we break down prejudice, and win souls to Christ. By doing good to those who are at enmity with us, we manifest the virtues of Christ. We are to regard every human being, of whatever caste or nationality, whether he is white or black, high or low, as our neighbor. The arm of compassion must reach to any depth to save perishing souls. Thus we give evidence to the world that we have the mind of Christ. Without this evidence we show that we know him not. {RH, October 17, 1899 par. 4}
Obedience to the precious word of God brings the beauty of holiness. That word, whether in the New Testament or in the Old, cannot be changed to meet man in his fallen condition. It ever maintains its high and holy standard, saying, "This do, and thou shalt live." All human beings need a standard, and this standard is plainly revealed in God's word, which is the expression of his will. This word reveals to man his defects of character, and the hopelessness of his condition unless he returns to his loyalty. Through faith in Christ all excellence may be reached. The word of God requires obedience to his law, presenting the character of Christ in contrast to the character of men. {RH, October 17, 1899 par. 5}
Christ comes to us with an invitation of mercy, holding before us the mirror of God's law, and presenting its claims. "Come unto me," he says, "all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Walk with me, and I will fill your path with light. Christ humbled himself that he might encircle the human race with his long human arm, while with his divine arm he lays hold of the throne of God. He came to show how man should treat his fellow man. He came to uplift the sufferer and comfort the oppressed. To Moses he proclaimed himself, "The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin." But God can not let sin, unrepented of, go unpunished. He could not welcome any sinner into the courts of heaven. This would introduce woe and misery there. He will by no means clear the guilty. He visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generations. {RH, October 17, 1899 par. 6}
Sin perpetuates itself. How cruel then it is for those who claim to have a knowledge of God to show that they are not doers of his word. They indulge in evil thinking, criticizing, and accusing, and in this way they misrepresent Christ's character. They are false witnesses, just as were the Jews. I pray that the vision of the soul may be sanctified, that the sin of accusing and criticizing may be put away, as a sin that crucifies afresh the Son of God, and puts him to an open shame. The Holy Spirit must work in our hearts. Let no false pride, no pharisaism, be cherished. Rather let us seek for the spirit of a little child. If we knew, if we only knew, how the Lord regards those who indulge so freely in evil surmising, we would fear to manifest such, a spirit. These surmisings are a repast from the enemy, a banquet of his own preparing. Those who give place to them have an experience in accordance with them; for the mind is built up from the food given it. {RH, October 17, 1899 par. 7}
Christ sees that which man does not see. He sees the sins which, if not repented of, will exhaust the patience of a long-suffering God. Christ cannot take up the names of those who are satisfied in their own self-sufficiency. He cannot importune in behalf of a people who feel no need of his help, who claim to know and possess everything. {RH, July 23, 1889 par. 13}
The eye is the sensitive conscience, the inner light, of the mind. Upon its correct view of things the spiritual healthfulness of the whole soul and being depends. The "eyesalve," the Word of God, makes the conscience smart under its application; for it convicts of sin. But the smarting is necessary that the healing may follow, and the eye be single to the glory of God. The sinner, beholding himself in God's great moral looking glass, sees himself as God views him, and exercises repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.... {7BC 965.5}
The Laodiceans . . . were not entirely blind, else the eyesalve would have done nothing to restore their sight, and enable them to discern the true attributes of Christ. Says Christ, By renouncing your own self-sufficiency, giving up all things, however dear to you, you may buy the gold, the raiment, and the eyesalve that you may see (RH Nov. 23, 1897). {7BC 965.6}
Lord Jesus could see the end from the beginning. He is acquainted with with the thoughts and intents of the heart as well as with every word and act. Christ is now weighing the character of those who have taken to themselves His name. He knows all about our religious experience. He knows whom we love and serve (MS 81, 1900) With God outward show weighs nothing. The outward forms of religion, without the love of God in the soul, are utterly worthless. {RH, August 10, 1905 par. 3}
"Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die." This is our work. There are many ready to die spiritually, and the Lord calls upon us to strengthen them. God's people are to be firmly united in the bonds of Christian fellowship, and are to be strengthened in the faith by speaking often to one another about the precious truths entrusted to them. Never are they to spend their time in accusing and condemning one another. {RH, August 10, 1905 par. 4}
"If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee."( Rev 3:3) There must be a waking up among our people. Those who do not abound in the love of God will go into apostasy. They will lose their faith in the truth. {RH, August 10, 1905 par. 5}
"He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels." {RH, August 10, 1905 par. 6}
There are today in the church of God those who do not discern their spiritual need, those who do not keep the pure principles of the truth uncontaminated by worldly influences. They are careless in regard to their spiritual standing. To them comes the urgent message, "Be watchful, and strengthen the things that remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God." Receive the messages of warnings brought by the Lord's ambassadors. Let not these warnings become dim in your memory. "Hold fast, and repent." {RH, August 10, 1905 par. 7}
Divine grace can be forfeited by a misapplication of the rich treasure. Every minister, every teacher, every medical worker, is in positive need of the Holy Spirit. Let God's servants work in sincerity, with purity of motive. There is spiritual power for all who will seek for it with intensity of purpose. These will become partakers of the divine nature; for they have co-operated with God. Influence will be given them, to be increased by a right use. They will be given an enlargement of power proportionate to their desire to do the will of God. The influence given them will greatly increase their usefulness, unless they forfeit the blessing by selfishness, by a misuse of the entrusted gift. {RH, August 10, 1905 par. 8} This message and the Laodicean message applies especially to the people of God today. It is a message to professing Christians who have become so much like the world that no difference can be seen in their lives.
People of God in the last days while probation is still open must heed what Jesus says to all His churches: “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.” Rev 3:19 “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me”. Rev 3:20 “T”o him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne”. Rev 3:21 “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.” Rev 3:22
5.3.2.3 “The Year of the Lord’s Favor”
Patriarchs and prophets have predicted the coming of a distinguished Teacher, whose words were to be clothed with invincible power and authority. He was to preach the gospel to the poor, and proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. He was to set judgment in the earth; the isles were to wait for His law; the Gentiles were to come to His light, and kings to the brightness of His rising. He was "the messenger of the covenant," and "the Sun of righteousness." . . . {RC 16.6}
And "when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son." . . .The heavenly Teacher had come. Who was He? No less a being than the Son of God Himself. He appeared as God, and at the same time as the Elder Brother of the human race.--Signs of the Times, May 17, 1905. {RC 16.7}
God does not compel men to give up their unbelief. Before them are light and darkness, truth and error. It is for them to decide which they will accept. The human mind is endowed with power to discriminate between right and wrong. God designs that men shall not decide from impulse, but from weight of evidence, carefully comparing scripture with scripture. Had the Jews laid by their prejudice and compared written prophecy with the facts characterizing the life of Jesus, they would have perceived a beautiful harmony between the prophecies and their fulfillment in the life and ministry of the lowly Galilean. {DA 458.3}
Many are deceived today in the same way as were the Jews... Whoever will prayerfully study the Bible, desiring to know the truth, that he may obey it, will receive divine enlightenment. He will understand the Scriptures. "If any man willeth to do His will, he shall know of the teaching." John 7:17, R. V. {DA 459.1}
The ear of the Lord is open to the cries of those who are in His service. He has promised: "I will guide thee with Mine eye." Psalm 32:8. Walk humbly with God, and ask Him to make your course of duty plain. When He speaks to His representatives and asks them to be laborers together with Him, they will do the same kind of work that Jesus announced as His work when He stood up to read in the synagogue at Nazareth. {9T 202.3}
.... In presenting to the sinner a personal, sin-pardoning Saviour, we reach a hand of sympathy and Christlike love to grasp the hand of one fallen, and, laying hold of the hand of Christ by faith, we form a link of union between the sinner and the Saviour. {9T 203.1}
The end is near, and every soul is now to walk carefully, humbly, meekly with Christ Jesus.... He says: "Without Me ye can do nothing." John 15:5. We need to look to Jesus constantly in order that He may impress upon us His own lovely image. We are to behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Then we shall reveal Christ to our fellow men. {9T 203.2}
5.3.2.4 “The Day of Vengeance of Our God”
God has a storehouse of retributive judgments, which He permits to fall upon those who have continued in sin in the face of great light. I have seen the most costly structures in buildings erected and supposed to be fireproof. And just as Sodom perished in the flames of God's vengeance, so will these proud structures become ashes... Man's pride will be buried with the treasures he has accumulated by fraud. God will avenge the widows and orphans who in hunger and nakedness have cried to Him for help from oppression and abuse. {3SM 418.3}
The time is right upon us when there will be sorrow in the world that no human balm can heal. The flattering monuments of men's greatness will be crumbled in the dust, even before the last great destruction comes upon the world. . . . {3SM 418.4}
Only by being clothed with the robe of Christ's righteousness can we escape the judgments that are coming upon the earth.--Letter 20, 1901. {3SM 419.1}
Could those whose lives have been spent in rebellion against God be suddenly transported to heaven and witness the high, the holy state of perfection that ever exists there,-- every soul filled with love, every countenance beaming with joy, enrapturing music in melodious strains rising in honor of God and the Lamb, and ceaseless streams of light flowing upon the redeemed from the face of Him who sitteth upon the throne,--could those whose hearts are filled with hatred of God, of truth and holiness, mingle with the heavenly throng and join their songs of praise?... No, no;... A life of rebellion against God has unfitted them for heaven. Its purity, holiness, and peace would be torture to them; the glory of God would be a consuming fire. They would long to flee from that holy place. They would welcome destruction, that they might be hidden from the face of Him who died to redeem them. The destiny of the wicked is fixed by their own choice. Their exclusion from heaven is voluntary with themselves, and just and merciful on the part of God. {GC 542.2}
5.3.2.5 The Day of Final Settlement
“And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works”. Revelation 20:12. {TMK 359.1}
The Scriptures declare, "God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil" (Ecclesiastes 12:14). There is not a shadow of doubt about this matter. . . . Sin may be concealed, denied, covered up from father, mother, wife, children, and associates. No one but the guilty actors may cherish the least suspicion of the wrong, but it is laid bare before the intelligences of heaven. The darkness of the darkest night, the secrecy of all deceptive arts, is not sufficient to veil one thought from the knowledge of the Eternal. . . . {TMK 359.2}
The Lord beheld Adam and Eve as they took of the forbidden tree. In their guilt they fled from His presence and "hid themselves," but God saw them; they could not cover their shame from His eyes. When Cain slew his brother, he thought to hide his crime by denial of his deed, but the Lord said, "The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground" (Genesis 4:10). . . . {TMK 359.3}
All sin unrepented of and unconfessed will remain upon the books of record. It will not be blotted out, it will not go beforehand to judgment, to be canceled by the atoning blood of Jesus. The accumulated sins of every individual will be written with absolute accuracy, and the penetrating light of God's law will try every secret of darkness. In proportion to the light, to the opportunities, and the knowledge of God's claims upon them will be the condemnation of the rejecters of God's mercy. {TMK 359.4}
The day of final settlements is just before us. . . . {TMK 359.5}
The Bible presents the law of God as a perfect standard by which to shape the life and character. The only perfect example of obedience to its precepts is found in the Son of God, the Saviour of lost mankind. There is no stain of unrighteousness upon Him, and we are bidden to follow in His steps. {TMK 359.6}
5.3.3 Rebirth of Planet Earth
(E. G. White Notes for the Adult Bible Study Guide-2021 Q1 Lesson 13.; https://absg.adventist.org/pdf.php?file=2021:1Q:TE:PDFs:ETQ121_13.pdf )
Fellow pilgrim, we are still amid the shadows and turmoil of earthly activities; but soon our Saviour is to appear to bring deliverance and rest. Let us by faith behold the blessed hereafter as pictured by the hand of God. He who died for the sins of the world is opening wide the gates of Paradise to all who believe on Him. Soon the battle will have been fought, the victory won. Soon we shall see Him in whom our hopes of eternal life are centered. And in His presence the trials and sufferings of this life will seem as nothingness. {PK 731.4}
Look up, look up, and let your faith continually increase. Let this faith guide you along the narrow path that leads through the gates of the city into the great beyond, the wide, unbounded future of glory that is for the redeemed. "Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh." James 5:7, 8. {PK 732.1}
The resurrection and ascension of our Lord is a sure evidence of the triumph of the saints of God over death and the grave, and a pledge that heaven is open to those who wash their robes of character and make them white in the blood of the Lamb. Jesus ascended to the Father as a representative of the human race, and God will bring those who reflect His image to behold and share with Him His glory. {9T 286.1}
There are homes for the pilgrims of earth. There are robes for the righteous, with crowns of glory and palms of victory. All that has perplexed us in the providences of God will in the world to come be made plain. The things hard to be understood will then find explanation. The mysteries of grace will unfold before us. Where our finite minds discovered only confusion and broken promises, we shall see the most perfect and beautiful harmony. We shall know that infinite love ordered the experiences that seemed most trying. As we realize the tender care of Him who makes all things work together for our good, we shall rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. {9T 286.2}
And the years of eternity, as they roll, will bring richer and still more glorious revelations of God and of Christ. As knowledge is progressive, so will love, reverence, and happiness increase. The more men learn of God, the greater will be their admiration of His character. As Jesus opens before them the riches of redemption and the amazing achievements in the great controversy with Satan, the hearts of the ransomed thrill with more fervent devotion, and with more rapturous joy they sweep the harps of gold; and ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands of voices unite to swell the mighty chorus of praise. {GC 678.1}
5.3.3.1 New Heavens and a New Earth
God promises a new creation, beginning with the words spoken through Isaiah: “For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind” (Isa. 65:17, NRSV). In this remarkable prophecy, the Lord promises to “create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight” (Isa. 65:18, NRSV). In the city there will be no more weeping (Isa. 65:19). People normally will live considerably longer than a century before they die (Isa. 65:20). Their work and children will remain for them to enjoy (Isa. 65:21–23). God will answer them even before they call (Isa. 65:24)
in Isaiah 65, God presents the creation of “new heavens” and a “new earth” as a process, a series of steps, that begins with the recreation of Jerusalem. Compare Isaiah 11, where the Messiah would bring justice (Isa. 11:1–5). Then, eventually, there will be peace on God’s worldwide “holy mountain”; the imagery used in Isaiah 11 is similar to what’s found in Isaiah 65: “The wolf shall live with the lamb . . . and the lion shall eat straw like the ox” (Isa. 11:6, 7, NRSV). Although the Lord’s “holy mountain” would begin with Mount Zion at Jerusalem, it was only a precursor, a symbol, of what God promises to do, ultimately, in a new world with His redeemed people.
In the Bible the inheritance of the saved is called "a country." Hebrews 11:14-16. There the heavenly Shepherd leads His flock to fountains of living waters. The tree of life yields its fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree are for the service of the nations. There are ever-flowing streams, clear as crystal, and beside them waving trees cast their shadows upon the paths prepared for the ransomed of the Lord. There the wide-spreading plains swell into hills of beauty, and the mountains of God rear their lofty summits. On those peaceful plains, beside those living streams, God's people, so long pilgrims and wanderers, shall find a home. {GC 675.1}
In the earth made new, the redeemed will engage in the occupations and pleasures that brought happiness to Adam and Eve in the beginning. The Eden life will be lived, the life in garden and field. {Mar 360.3}
Every faculty will be developed, every capacity increased. The acquirement of knowledge will not weary the mind or exhaust the energies. There the grandest enterprises may be carried forward, the loftiest aspirations reached, the highest ambitions realized; and still there will arise new heights to surmount, new wonders to admire, new truths to comprehend, fresh objects to call forth the powers of mind and soul and body. {Mar 360.5}
There, when the veil that darkens our vision shall be removed, and our eyes shall behold that world of beauty of which we now catch glimpses through the microscope; when we look on the glories of the heavens, now scanned afar through the telescope; when, the blight of sin removed, the whole earth shall appear in "the beauty of the Lord our God," what a field will be open to our study! There the student of science may read the records of creation and discern no reminders of the law of evil. He may listen to the music of nature's voices and detect no note of wailing or undertone of sorrow. In all created things he may trace one handwriting--in the vast universe behold "God's name writ large," and not in earth or sea or sky one sign of ill remaining. {Mar 367.3}
5.3.3.2 Divine “Magnet”
Through the prophet, God reiterates the appeal and warning that permeates the book: God will save and restore the humble, who tremble at His Word (Isa. 66:2, 5). As in Isaiah 40:1, He will comfort them (Isa. 66:13). But He will destroy those who rebel against Him. These include hypocrites of ritual, whose sacrifices He rejects (Isa. 66:3, 4; compare Isa. 1:10–15), as well as those who hate and reject His faithful ones (Isa. 66:5). They also include those who practice pagan abominations (Isa. 66:17) such as those practiced at the temple in Jerusalem (Ezek. 8:7–12)
Following the destruction of His enemies (Isa. 66:14–17), God reveals His glory so that He becomes a magnet to draw people to Jerusalem (compare Isa. 2:2–4). He sets a “sign” among them, which is not specified here but apparently refers to the sign last mentioned by Isaiah: God gives His people joy and peace and restores their land (Isa. 55:12, 13). When He reveals His glory by restoring His people after destruction, this is a sign of His restored favor, just as He gave Noah the sign of the rainbow after the Flood (Gen. 9:13–17)
Heaven's plan of salvation is broad enough to embrace the whole world. God longs to breathe into prostrate humanity the breath of life. And He will not permit any soul to be disappointed who is sincere in his longing for something higher and nobler than anything the world can offer. Constantly He is sending His angels to those who, while surrounded by circumstances the most discouraging, pray in faith for some power higher than themselves to take possession of them and bring deliverance and peace. In various ways God will reveal Himself to them and will place them in touch with providences that will establish their confidence in the One who has given Himself a ransom for all, "that they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments." Psalm 78:7. {PK 377.1}
"Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God!" Psalm 146:5. "Turn you to the stronghold, ye prisoners of hope!" Zechariah 9:12. Unto all the honest in heart in heathen lands--"the upright" in the sight of Heaven--"there ariseth light in the darkness." Psalm 112:4. God hath spoken: "I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them." Isaiah 42:16. {PK 378.2}
Christ delights to take apparently hopeless material, those whom Satan has debased and through whom he has worked, and make them the subjects of His grace. He rejoices to deliver them from suffering and from the wrath that is to fall upon the disobedient. He makes His children His agents in the accomplishment of this work, and in its success, even in this life, they find a precious reward. {6T 308.3}
But what is this compared with the joy that will be theirs in the great day of final revealing? "Now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face;" now we know in part, but then we shall know even as also we are known. 1 Corinthians 13:12. {6T 309.1}
It is the reward of Christ's workers to enter into His joy. That joy, to which Christ Himself looks forward with eager desire, is presented in His request to His Father: "I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am." John 17:24. {6T 309.2}
5.3.3.2.1 Missionaries and Worship Leaders
God sends survivors of His destruction out to the ends of the earth, to people who do not know about God, “and they shall declare my glory among the nations” (Isa. 66:19, NRSV). This is one of the clearest Old Testament statements on the theme of missionary outreach. In other words, not only are people to be drawn to the Hebrew nation but also some of the Hebrew people will go to other nations and teach them about the true God—a paradigm that is explicit in the New Testament. Though there was Jewish missionary outreach between the time of return from exile and the time of Christ (Matt. 23:15), the early Christians spread the gospel rapidly and on a massive scale (Col. 1:23).
Like our Saviour, we are in this world to do service for God. We are here to become like God in character, and by a life of service to reveal Him to the world. In order to be co-workers with God, in order to become like Him and to reveal His character, we must know Him aright. We must know Him as He reveals Himself. {MH 409.1}
A knowledge of God is the foundation of all true education and of all true service. It is the only real safeguard against temptation. It is this alone that can make us like God in character. {MH 409.2}
This is the knowledge needed by all who are working for the uplifting of their fellow men. Transformation of character, purity of life, efficiency in service, adherence to correct principles, all depend upon a right knowledge of God. This knowledge is the essential preparation both for this life and for the life to come. {MH 409.3}
Christ does not acknowledge any caste, color, or grade as necessary to become a subject of His kingdom. Admittance to His kingdom does not depend upon wealth or a superior heredity. But those who are born of the Spirit are the subjects of His kingdom. Spiritual character is that which will be recognized by Christ. His kingdom is not of this world. His subjects are those who are partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And this grace is given them of God. Christ does not find His subjects fitted for His kingdom, but He qualifies them by His divine power. {AG 52.2}
Christ draws them to Himself by an unseen power. He is the light of life, and He imbues them with His own Spirit... As a servant looks to his master, and as a maid looks to her mistress, so these souls, drawn by the cords of love to Christ, constantly look unto Him who is the Author and Finisher of their faith. By beholding Jesus, by obeying His requirements, they increase in the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ whom He hath sent. Thus they become changed into His image from character to character until they are distinguished from the world, and it can be written of them: "Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy" (1 Peter 2:9, 10). {AG 52.3}
It is not the will of God that we should be gloomy or impatient, nor that we should be light and trifling. It is Satan's studied plan to push persons from one extreme to the other. As children of the light, God would have us cultivate a cheerful, happy spirit, that we may show forth the praises of Him who hath called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. {AH 432.1}
5.3.3.2.2 Community of Faith
In God’s “new world order,” Gentiles would not only join God’s people, but they also would be equal partners with Jews in a combined community of faith that would be a “royal priesthood.” Therefore, the distinction between Jews and Gentiles would become functionally irrelevant.
Paul, the missionary to the Gentiles, proclaimed: “There is no longer Jew or Greek, . . . for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise” (Gal. 3:28, 29, NRSV). Becoming heirs of the promise and therefore an exalted “royal priesthood” was not a mandate for smug elitism but a commission to join the Jews in proclaiming “the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Pet. 2:9, NRSV; compare Isa. 66:19). The elevation of Gentiles did not entitle Jews to grumble that God was unfair in giving them the same reward. Nor did it entitle Gentiles to treat their Jewish brothers and sisters with disrespect, any more than workers hired later in the day should look down on those hired earlier (see Matt. 20:1–16). The Jews had first been “entrusted with the oracles of God” (Rom. 3:2, NRSV) as God’s channel of revelation. Paul wrote to Gentiles: “But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in their place to share the rich root of the olive tree, do not boast over the branches” (Rom. 11:17, 18, NRSV).
It was God's purpose that His grace should be revealed among the Gentiles as well as among the Israelites. This had been plainly outlined in Old Testament prophecies. {AA 376.1} (The Gentles, the rest of the human racing apart from Jews, are spiritual Israel)
Paul likens the remnant in Israel to a noble olive tree, some of whose branches have been broken off. He compares the Gentiles to branches from a wild olive tree, grafted into the parent stock. "If some of the branches be broken off," he writes to the Gentile believers, "and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in... Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in His goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off." {AA 377.1}
Through unbelief and the rejection of Heaven's purpose for her, Israel as a nation had lost her connection with God. But the branches that had been separated from the parent stock God was able to reunite with the true stock of Israel--the remnant who had remained true to the God of their fathers. {AA 377.2}
For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. . . . There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:26-28. {TMK 99.1}
The secret of unity is found in the equality of believers in Christ. The reason for all division, discord, and difference is found in separation from Christ. Christ is the center to which all should be attracted; for the nearer we approach the center, the closer we shall come together in feeling, in sympathy, in love, growing into the character and image of Jesus. With God there is no respect of persons. {TMK 99.2}
All men are of one family by creation, and all are one through redemption. Christ came to demolish every wall of partition, ... that every soul may have free access to God. His love is so broad, so deep, so full, that it penetrates everywhere. {TMK 99.5}
The life of Christ established a religion in which there is no caste, a religion by which Jew and Gentile, free and bond, are linked in a common brotherhood, equal before God. No question of policy influenced His movements. He made no difference between neighbors and strangers, friends and enemies. That which appealed to His heart was a soul thirsting for the waters of life. {9T 191.1}
He passed no human being by as worthless, but sought to apply the healing remedy to every soul... He sought to inspire with hope the roughest and most unpromising, setting before them the assurance that they might become blameless and harmless, attaining such a character as would make them the children of God. {9T 191.2}
5.3.3.3 The Glorious Future
From Isaiah 63 to the end of the book, we get a description of the glorious future in store for God’s people, despite the fact that they break the covenant so often. People outside the borders of Jerusalem are among those who constitute the group of God’s people at the end, as we shall see. Another important theme at the end of the book is God as Creator or re-Creator. Although the new heaven and the new earth represent a promise for people coming back from the Babylonian exile, they also have eschatological fulfillment at the end of time. Isaiah’s three main themes are as follows: (1) the Leader and Savior, (2) the redeemed of the Lord, and (3) God as re-Creator.
5.3.3.3.1 The Leader and Saviour
Isaiah 63 starts a new section in the book. It introduces a brave warrior who is “marching in the greatness of His strength” and who is “mighty to save” (Isa. 63:1, NASB). His garments are stained because blood has been sprinkled upon His garments (Isa. 63:3). “He was their Saviour” (Isa. 63:8). A similar image is presented in the book of Revelation: “He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God” (Rev. 19:13).
The chapter includes other features of the Savior: He is the leader who guides His people similar to what was done in Moses’ time (Isa. 63:12, 13); at the end of the chapter, it claims, “You, O Lord, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is Your name” (Isa. 63:16, NASB).
Isaiah in chapter 64 recalls that God has done awesome things that His people do not expect (Isa. 64:3). It also claims again, “O Lord, You are our Father” (Isa. 64:8, NASB).
Then, in Isaiah 65, the author includes another dimension of God’s character. He reveals Himself by using the first person. He asserts, “ ‘I permitted Myself to be sought. . . . I permitted Myself to be found’ ” (Isa. 65:1, NASB). In accordance with the previous statement, Isaiah presents the Lord as an accessible God. “I said, ‘Here am I, here am I’ . . . I have spread out My hands all day long” (Isa. 65:1, 2; NASB).
Another notable attribute of God is presented in this chapter. He is the One who brings judgment and recompense to the earth. “I will not keep silence, but will recompense, even recompense into their bosom, your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith the Lord” (Isa. 65:6, 7). To those who “forsake the Lord” (Isa. 65:11), He asserts, “ ‘I will destine you for the sword’ ” (Isa. 65:12, NASB), and “The Lord God will slay you” (Isa. 65:15, NASB).
Similar ideas about God are presented in Isaiah 66. First, God is presented as the Sovereign of the universe. The Lord says, “ ‘Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool’ ” (Isa. 66:1, NASB). This is also an image in the vision of Isaiah 6:1–3: “I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne.”
Then, His voice comes from the temple: “A voice of the Lord that rendereth recompence to his enemies” (Isa. 66:6; compare with Isa. 65:6). The description here implies the final annihilation of God’s enemies, those who “have chosen their own ways” and whose “soul delighteth in their abominations” (Isa. 66:3).
Isaiah 66:15, 16 offers vivid details of the final destruction: “For, behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by his sword will the Lord plead with all flesh: and the slain of the Lord shall be many.”
This seems to be a reference to an annihilation, a final destruction— the ultimate act of the Lord in righteous and just retaliation against His enemies. Isaiah finishes his book by referring to the complete defeat of the enemies of the Lord—those who rebelled against Him. The end has arrived, the victory is complete: “They shall go out and look at the dead bodies of the people who have rebelled against me; for their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh” (Isa. 66:24, NRSV).
The last three verses are as follows;
Isa 66:22 “For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain.”
This is one of the most wonderful promises of Isaiah. In the new heavens and the new earth, our seed and our name shall remain—forever. No more blotting out, cutting off, grafting in, plucking up, or uprooting. We have here a promise of eternal life in a world made new—a world without sin, without death, without suffering, a new heaven and a new earth, the final and complete fulfillment of our Christian faith, the consummation of what Christ had accomplished for us at the cross
Isa 66:23 “And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.”
Though there are a number of different ways to look at this difficult text, one approach is this: God created the Sabbath before the sacrificial system existed (Gen. 2:2, 3). So, although Sabbaths were honored by the ritual system, they are not dependent upon it. Thus, they continue uninterrupted throughout the restoration period, on into the new earth. There is no indication in the Bible that new moons were legitimate days of worship apart from the sacrificial system. But perhaps they will be worship days (but not necessarily rest days like weekly Sabbaths) in the new earth, possibly in connection with the monthly cycle of the tree of life (Rev. 22:2). Whatever the specific meaning of Isaiah 66:23 may be, the crucial point seems to be that God’s people will be worshiping Him throughout eternity
Isa 66:24 “And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh”.
As graphic warning to the people of his day, Isaiah encapsulates the contrast between faithful survivors of the Babylonian destruction and rebels, who would be destroyed. This is not everlasting torment—the rebels are dead, killed by “fire,” a destruction that was not quenched until it did its job so that the re-creation of Jerusalem could begin. Isaiah’s warning points forward to an ultimate fulfillment prophesied by the book of Revelation: destruction of sinners, Satan, and death in a lake of fire (Revelation 20), after which there will be “a new heaven and a new earth,” a holy “new Jerusalem,” and no more weeping or pain, “ ‘for the first things have passed away’ ” (Rev. 21:1–4, NRSV; compare Isa. 65:17–19), a new existence, with eternal life for all who are redeemed from the earth.
5.3.3.3.2 The Redeemed of the Lord
Isaiah 63 reveals that the great day of the Lord, the day of the execution of His judgment, has two major implications: “For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come” (Isa. 63:4). On the one hand, for His people, the day of judgment will be a day of redemption. But on the other hand, the judgment will be a day of vengeance for those who have rebelled against the Lord.
Thus, we study some features that this chapter offers in relation to the redeemed. This group includes His people throughout time. These people include those from Abraham’s time (Isa. 63:7–19). Isaiah 63:16 says, “Though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not: thou, O Lord, art our father, our redeemer.” The reference to Abraham may likely designate the spiritual, as well as the literal, descendants of Abraham.
Unfortunately, God’s people break the covenant. They continue to commit sin for a long time. Isaiah says, “Our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away” (Isa. 64:6).
A similar description of God’s people is found in the last chapters of Isaiah. They are “ ‘a rebellious people, who walk in the way which is not good, following their own thoughts’ ” (Isa. 65:2, NASB). They are “a people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face,” who “did evil before mine eyes, and did choose that wherein I delighted not” (Isa. 65:3, 12). This theme is repeated in Isaiah 66: “They have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations . . . they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not” (Isa. 66:3, 4).
However, the Lord looks upon His people with compassion: “Thus saith the Lord, As the new wine is found^ in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants’ sakes, that I may not destroy them all” (Isa. 65:8).
The niphal form of māṣāʾ (translated as “found”^) contains theological implications worthy of our consideration. The new wine (God’s servants) is about to be destroyed. But God’s mercy appears to “find” them. It is not their worthiness or faithfulness that preserves them; rather, it is God’s mercy.
The next verse emphasizes the same idea. It is the Lord who “ ‘will bring forth offspring from Jacob, and an heir of My mountains from Judah’ ” (Isa. 65:9, NASB).
The phrase “I will bring forth” (in the hiphil form) is expressed in a causative form; thus, God is still keeping the promise by preserving an offspring who emerges from the descendants of Jacob. It is not because of Jacob’s or Judah’s faithfulness, but because of God’s faithfulness, that the continuity of the promise is ensured. Under this covenant, the offspring are able to possess the mountains. Again, it is all because of God’s mercy and faithfulness and not because of the deeds of His people.
It is interesting to note that the offspring from Jacob, or the servants, is in contrast to you (Judah): “ ‘Behold, My servants will shout joyfully with a glad heart, but you will cry out with a heavy heart’ ” (Isa. 65:14, NASB).
It is the offspring from Jacob who is going to remain forever. “ ‘For just as the new heavens and the new earth, which I make will endure before Me,’ declares the Lord, ‘so your offspring and your name will endure’ ” (Isa. 66:22, NASB). Isaiah uses the same word zeraʿ (offspring) in Isaiah 65:9 and Isaiah 66:22.
However, people of all nations can join that group of servants or offspring from Jacob: “They shall declare my glory among the Gentiles” (Isa. 66:19). Joined to the children of Israel, they will “bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord” (Isa. 66:20). And the Lord “will also take of them for priests and for Levites” (Isa. 66:21). This is an announcement of a new dimension of the chosen people of God, which embraces people from around the world.
5.3.3.3.3 God as Re-Creator
God as Creator is an important theme in the book of Isaiah. The theme is emphasized particularly in Isaiah 40, “the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth” (Isa. 40:28), and in the last part of the book. It seems that Isaiah features God as Creator or re-Creator in order to reinforce the idea of God as Redeemer. God did not simply create this world and human beings and then forget them. He created this universe and humanity, but in addition, He is also the Sustainer and over all, the Redeemer of His creatures.
That is the reason the Lord says, “As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem” (Isa. 66:13).
However, the Israelites, God’s people, are uprooted from their land (because they did not heed Jeremiah’s warnings and that of his contemporaries against entangling foreign alliances an revolt would bring national ruin) and they are taken to Babylon in exile. They are separated from their beloved family, their temple is destroyed, all possessions are taken away, but God is still with them.
By living in Babylon, some of the Israelites lose hope of ever returning to Jerusalem. They think that God has forgotten them forever because of their sins (see the prayer in Daniel 9). However, God tells them through the prophet Isaiah: “For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former things shall not be remembered, nor come to mind. But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create” (Isa. 65:17, 18).
If we consider the promise for the people of the Lord in Isaiah’s time, we see that it is a promise for a people who are going into exile. And God in advance tells them: For some years you will see in the exile only the Babylonian atmosphere, its heavens and earth, but I will create something new for you. “ ‘I create new heavens and a new earth’ ” (Isa. 65:17, NASB).
This is the language of Genesis 1. Even the same verb bara’ (to create) is used here. Nonetheless, there is an interesting variant. In Genesis 1, the verb bara’ is a past tense verb, so the translation is “God created.” It is a finished action. However, in Isaiah, bara’ is a Hebrew verb in participle, which means a continued action or repeated action that is taking place. In other words, even though your heaven and earth from Jerusalem are going to be lost, I create, or I am creating, a new heaven and a new earth for you. A new Jerusalem will rise from the ruins. You will return, and a wonderful experience is going to happen so that “the former things shall not be remembered nor come to mind” (Isa. 65:17).
We cannot deny the eschatological (end-time) dimension of this prophetic announcement. A further fulfillment is implied here in connection with the “new heaven” and “new earth” of Revelation 21. Adam and Eve lost their heaven and earth, just as it happened to Israel later. But the Lord, the Creator, has promised to make a wonderful world again
5.3.3.3.1 “The Controversy Ended,” in The Great Controversy, pp. 662–678.
“And the years of eternity, as they roll, will bring richer and still more glorious revelations of God and of Christ. As knowledge is progressive, so will love, reverence, and happiness increase. The more men learn of God, the greater will be their admiration of His character. As Jesus opens before them the riches of redemption and the amazing achievements in the great controversy with Satan, the hearts of the ransomed thrill with more fervent devotion, and with more rapturous joy they sweep the harps of gold; and ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands of voices unite to swell the mighty chorus of praise. “ ‘And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.’ Revelation 5:13. “The great controversy is ended. Sin and sinners are no more. The entire universe is clean. One pulse of harmony and gladness beats through the vast creation. From Him who created all, flow life and light and gladness, throughout the realms of illimitable space. From the minutest atom to the greatest world, all things, animate and inanimate, in their unshadowed beauty and perfect joy, declare that God is love.” —Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 678.
Is’nt it truly incredible that with all these evidences that are revealed in the word of God that God is the only true God we are still not convinced to return to the Lord in contrition of heart, in the fear of the Lord!.
The opening word in Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” Is a statement of truth from God that is not verifiable because there is no human beings then to be a witness to this spectacular event. It has to be believed by faith and that is why we have to have the faith of Jesus Christ who is the Creator, who took on the form of man that He was able to bear all our sins arising from our fallen nature and died that He was able to vanquish death, the second death for all who believed in Him by faith.
Each one of us is given a second chance (on probation) to choose to live an everlasting life by freely deciding to believe the word of God as revealed to us in the Bible. While we are still alive by the grace of God (for we do not know if we will be still alive tomorrow) we must decide today to repent and return to the Lord. There are two types of probation: Probation closes for each individual when we die even when the corporate probation (second type) remains open until the end of the investigative judgment when it will be closed and everyone’s destiny is decided prior to the deliverance at Jesus second coming and the world will be devastated.
(The next article will be “Final Act Catalytic Initiation and Progression” at www.wakeupow.com by late April.)
End of D28 - 34 pages.)
Posted 27 March 2021 ( Passover Sabbath) by Tsc at singtsc@yahoo,com
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