Bible

Mortal or Immortal

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What testimony does the Bible bear concerning the condition of man after death? It is vain to search for an answer to this important question outside the word of inspiration. So let us consider the teaching of the good, old Book.

God said to Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.’ ” Genesis 2:16, 17

Regarding those living since the fall, God’s ultimatum has been sent through the prophet: “The soul who sins shall die.” Ezekiel 18:4, last part. Paul tells us, “For the wages of sin is death.” Romans 6:23, first part. And, “For as in Adam all die.” 1 Corinthians 15:22, first part

Still, we find that an opposite opinion is held regarding this question. Its origin was in the garden of Eden. Satan was its author as he appeared to Eve and invited her to eat of the forbidden fruit. He told her that God’s statement that death would be the result of eating the fruit of that tree, was not true. Satan said, “Ye shall not surely die.” Genesis 3:4

Hence, from the pulpit, and by the religious press of the day, we are told that at death man does not really die. We are told that the soul, which is claimed to be the real thinking, intelligent part of man, is immortal, and hence can never die.

To those sorrowing because of the loss of loved ones, the all-prevailing source of comfort and consolation is that their beloved dead are not really dead, but that the intelligent part, the soul, has, instead, actually entered upon a higher state of existence and enjoyment. It is explained that “There is no death; what seems so is transition.” And the poet sings,

“Dust thou art, to dust returnest,

Was not spoken of the soul.”

Psalm of Life, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

This all seems good, so far as sentiment goes, but is it true? It is not always safe to trust sentiment and popular theology too implicitly. God knows all about it, for the nature of man and his destiny were planned by Him, and human theories, be they never so popular and worldwide, and theology, be it never so positive, will not change God’s plans and purposes.

God’s word, the Bible, was given to reveal to man God’s plans and purposes regarding the human race. It tells of man’s origin, explains his present condition, and foretells what his future will be. It is, therefore, safe to rely implicitly upon the statements of Scripture for a definite settlement of a question of such vital importance.

“To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” Isaiah 8:20

A mortal, as defined by Webster, is, “a being subject to death.” The following texts show the scriptural use of the word:

“Can a mortal be more righteous than God? Can a man be more pure than his Maker?” Job 4:17
“Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body.” Romans 6:12
“But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” Romans 8:11
“For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.” 1 Corinthians 15:53

The foregoing texts teach plainly that man is mortal, subject to death. Our “mortal bodies” shall be quickened at the resurrection of the just, and at that time “this mortal must put on immortality.”

“Then [at the resurrection] shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’ ” Verse 54, last part

Webster defined immortal as “not mortal; exempt from liability to die; undying; imperishable; lasting forever; having unlimited or eternal existence.”

If God gave man such qualities as are expressed in this definition, with power to transmit them to His offspring, as must be the case if the theory of natural immortality be true, it is reasonable to suppose He would reveal the fact in His word. Has He ever made such a revelation? No, not in a single instance is it to be found in the Bible.

In the Old Testament, the words immortal and immortality are not to be found. In the English version of the New Testament, the word immortal occurs once:

“Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.” 1 Timothy 1:17. The word immortal is never applied to human beings in the Bible.

The word immortality occurs five times in the English version of the New Testament as follows:

“Eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality.” Romans 2:7. This shows that we do not now possess immortality, for if we do, why should we be instructed to seek for it?

In 1 Corinthians 15:53, 54, as quoted above, this question refers to the resurrection to take place when Christ comes to receive His own. And the statement is distinctly made that man is now mortal, but at that time immortality is to be “put on,” before he can inherit the kingdom prepared for the righteous.

“Who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen.” 1 Timothy 6:16. This verse shows that reference is here made to “the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords.” Here Paul plainly states that God alone possesses the attribute of immortality.

“Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” 2 Timothy 1:8–10. Here we are told that the truth regarding immortality is brought to light “through the gospel.” Reason and science cannot demonstrate it. Neither can the oracles of heathenism, the decretals [papal letter giving authoritative decision on a point of canon law] of the pope, nor the creeds of churches reveal it to us. God’s word alone can give us the desired light.

A Cornerstone

The critical clergyman and Bible commentator, J. N. Andrews, writes:

“The doctrine of the immortality of the soul is something indispensable to almost every prominent religious system.

“It is the cornerstone of heathenism. All, or nearly all, the gods of heathenism are dead men who were turned into gods by dying. They are simply the immortal souls of the dead.

“Romanism is indebted to this doctrine for all its saints are now acting as mediators with God. It is a fundamental idea in the system of purgatory. In fact, Romanism is as much dependent on this doctrine as is heathenism and is incapable of existing without it.

“Spiritualism is simply the embodiment of this doctrine of natural immortality. It is incapable of existing without it. The very mission of Spiritualism, as proclaimed by itself, is to establish the doctrine of the immortality of the soul.

“Is it not strange that this cornerstone of heathenism, Romanism, and spiritualism, should also be the cornerstone of modern orthodoxy? Yet, such is the case. It is in these days esteemed the marrow and fatness of the gospel. And so prevalent is this doctrine, that the advent of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, and the judgment, are rendered almost obsolete by it.”

How Applied

In the book Pauline Theology, by H. L. Hastings, are found the following statements:

  1. The apostle Paul is the only writer in the whole Bible who makes use of the word immortal or immortality.
  2. He never applies it to sinners.
  3. He never applies it to either righteous or wicked in this world.
  4. He never applies it to men’s souls at all, either before or after death.
  5. He speaks of it as an attribute of the King eternal. 1Timothy 1:17
  6. He declares that He [God] is the only possessor of it. 1Timothy 6:16
  7. He presents it as an object which men are to seek after by patient continuance in well-doing. Romans 2:7
  8. He speaks of it as revealed or brought to light in the gospel of the Son of God. 2Timothy 1:10
  9. He defines the period when it shall be “put on” by the saints of God, and fixes it at the resurrection, when Christ, who is our life, shall appear. 1Corinthians 15:52, 54
  10. Therefore, he never taught the immortality of the soul, as it is now taught, and hence, when he declared that sinners should be destroyed, or perish, or die, or be burned, or devoured by fire, he did so without any “mental reservations,” or “theological definitions;” in other words, he said what he meant, and meant what he said.

Use of Terms

In his tract entitled, “The Intermediate State,” Evangelist G. W. Anglebarger says:

“If the saints are dead they are not alive. If they are in the grave, they are not in heaven. If they have no thoughts, then they are not thinking. If they know nothing, then they are not intelligent. If they are asleep, then they are not awake. If they are to be rewarded at the judgment, they are not being rewarded now. Is this not the doctrine of the Bible?”

A New Dictionary

“It is a notorious fact that in our theological works a nondescript dictionary is made with definitions as follows: ‘To be dead,’ means to be more conscious. ‘To die,’ is to live on in woe. ‘To lose life,’ is to preserve a miserable existence. ‘Life’ means happiness. ‘To burn up,’ is to make a living salamander. ‘To destroy,’ is to preserve whole. ‘To devour,’ ‘perish,’ ‘consume,’ etc., mean to make indestructible and immortal. ‘Not to be,’ to be without end!”—Reverend Jacob Blain, Baptist minister of Buffalo.

Origin of the Doctrine

Mr. Panton Ham, of Bristol, England, in writing of the immortality of the soul, says:

“Let it be registered as the genuine genealogy, that pagan Plato was its father, and the profligate Pope Leo its foster father. Born and bred by the pagan philosophy, the protégé of popery, this notion of the soul’s immortality has become a pet dogma of popular Protestantism, which, with a strange forgetfulness of its low lineage, openly declares it to be the honorable offspring of a true orthodoxy!”

Unknown in the Bible

Olshausen, in his comments on 1 Corinthians 15:19, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ,” etc., says: “The doctrine of the immortality of the soul, and the name, are alike unknown to the entire Bible.”

And in explaining Luke 16:24–26, he also states: “The Bible knows not either the expression, ‘immortality of the soul’ (God is He ‘who alone hath immortality.’ 1 Timothy 6:16), or the modern doctrine of immortality.”

God’s Design

Professor Hudson, author of a valuable Greek Concordance of the New Testament, says:

“We regard man as created not absolutely immortal, but in a certain sense for immortality; i.e., immortality was his natural and proper destination. He was designed to be immortal in the same sense in which he was designed for eternal life; or, as the chief end of man is to glorify God, to enjoy Him forever. In this view, we maintain that the guilty failure of eternal life brings the penal forfeiture of immortality.”

From the Original

For the benefit of those who desire to study the original text on this subject, the following is given from the pen of the author and clergyman, Uriah Smith:

“The word, ‘immortal’ occurs but once in the English version of the Scriptures; 1 Timothy 1:17; and there it is applied, not to man nor any part of man, but to God. The original word, however, from which it comes, aphtharlos, occurs seven times in the New Testament; and in the six other instances of its use it is rendered incorruptible, but is never applied to man. Its entire use is as follows, the rendering of the word being in italics:

“Romans 1:23, the glory of the uncorruptible God.

“1 Corinthians 9:25, they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.

“Chapter 15:52, the dead shall be raised incorruptible.

“1 Timothy 1:17, unto the King eternal, immortal.

“1 Peter 1:4, to an inheritance incorruptible.

“Verse 23, born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God.

“Chapter 3:4, the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible.

“It will thus be seen that in Romans 1:23, it is applied to God; in 1 Corinthians 9:25, to the crown of immortality which we seek; in 1 Corinthians 15:52, to the incorruptible bodies we receive in the resurrection; in 1 Peter 1:4, to the future inheritance of the saints; in verse 23, to the principle by which conversion is wrought in us; and in 1 Peter 3:4, to the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit which we put on through Christ.

“But although man is nowhere called immortal, is not the equivalent declaration somewhere made that he had immortality? The word immortality occurs in the English Scriptures but five times; but it comes from two words in the Greek, and these occur in the aggregate eleven times. The first of these, athanasia, occurs but three times, and is every time rendered “immortality” as follows:

“1 Corinthians 15:53, this mortal must put on immortality.

“Verse 54, when this mortal shall have put on immortality.

“1 Timothy 6:16, who only hath immortality.

“In these instances the word is applied to what we are to put on in the resurrection, and to God, who, it is declared, is the only One who by nature hath it. The other word, aphtharsia, occurs eight times as follows:

“Romans 2:7, to them who … seek for glory and honor and immortality.

“1 Corinthians 15:42, it is raised in incorruption.

“Verse 50, neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

“Verse 53, this corruptible must put on incorruption.

“Verse 54, when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption.

“Ephesians 6:24, love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.

“2 Timothy 1:10, brought life and immortality to light.

“Titus 2:7, showing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity.

“In all these instances it will be seen that the word is not once applied to man, but to that for which we obtain by the resurrection, to our love to Christ, to what Christ has brought to light, and to the doctrine we are to cherish. The way in which these words are used is very significant, and should have great weight in deciding this question.”

Death has been the lot of man ever since the fall of our first parents, but Christ will destroy it. Immortality is not now possessed by the sons of Adam, but will be given to the saints “When Christ who is our Life appears.” Colossians 3:4, first part

“How has Christ brought life and immortality to light? Answer: By abolishing death. There could have been no life nor immortality without this; for the human race was hopelessly doomed to death through sin. Then by what means and for whom has He abolished death? Answer: He has abolished it by dying for man and rising again, a victor over death; and He has wrought this work only for those who will accept of it through Him; for all who reject His proffered aid, will meet at last the same fate that would have been the lot of all had Christ never undertaken the work of redemption in our behalf. Thus through the gospel—the good news of salvation by His sufferings and death—He has brought to light the fact, not that all men are by nature in possession of immortality, but that a way is opened whereby we may at last gain possession of this inestimable boon.”—Smith

According to the popular dogma of the natural immortality of man, the righteous go to their reward, and the wicked to their punishment, at death. But the Bible doctrines of the judgment, the resurrection of the dead, and the second coming of Christ, make such a theory untenable.

The Bible plainly teaches a judgment still in the future.

Paul, before Felix, “reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come.” Acts 24:25

The scene of the judgment is described in Revelation 20:12, 13; and that it takes place at the end of the world is evident from the statements found in the nineteenth and twentieth chapters of Revelation.

The apostle Peter says, “The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment.” 2 Peter 2:9

In this text it is stated that the wicked are reserved “under punishment for the day of judgment.” Hence they are not immortal, and are not now receiving their chastisement.

Paul says also, that God “has appointed a day on which He will judge the world.” Acts 17:31

As an evidence that the righteous do not yet possess immortality, and are not now receiving their reward, the Bible plainly teaches that they do not receive it until the coming of Christ, and the resurrection, and the judgment.

Rewarded at the second coming of Christ:

“For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.” Matthew 16:27

John prophesies of Christ, “And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give every one according to his work.” Revelation 22:12

Crowned at the appearing of the Chief Shepherd:

“And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.” 1 Peter 5:4

Recompensed at the resurrection:

“For you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just.” Luke 14:14, last part. Not at death.

Paul looked forward to the resurrection as the only hope of those who die. He said, “For if the dead do not rise, … your faith is futile; … then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.” 1 Corinthians 15:16–18

In John 6:39, Christ said that He would lose nothing of all the Father had given, but would “raise it up again at the last day.” This shows that to be saved we must be resurrected.

In “Theology of the Scriptures,” Vol. ii, p. 315, Andrew Carmichael says: “It cannot be too often repeated: If there be an immortal soul, there is no resurrection; and if there be any resurrection, there is no immortal soul.”

Rewarded at the judgment:

“The nations were angry, and Your wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints, and those who fear Your name, small and great.” Revelation 11:18

No comment is needed upon such plain statements from the word of God. It is folly to argue that at death the wicked receive their punishment and afterward are recalled for judgment, for this is yet in the future.

It is equally unscriptural to claim that the righteous, at death, obtain their great reward in heaven, and later are to be called back to the judgment to ascertain if the reward has been rightly bestowed. And further, the foregoing quotations of scriptures prove clearly that the reward is not to be given until the judgment, the coming of Christ, and the resurrection of the just.

Past, Present, and Future, James Edson White, ©1909, 147–157

Peace that Surpasses All Understanding

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The Lord will give strength to His people;

The Lord will bless His people with peace.

Psalm 29:11

It is indisputable that the Lord bestows enumerable blessings on the inhabitants of this world. The greatest blessing is a given, but establishing which of those blessings is the second greatest would be a matter of opinion. The second greatest blessing that the Lord bestows upon His people, in my opinion, is an abiding, inner peace. It is that peace that enables us to cope with life’s daily challenges and with the increasing turmoil that is so prevalent in the world today.

In John 14, Christ states clearly His desire for His disciples to be at peace.

“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” Verse 27

It is notable that He declared this gift just a few hours before He was taken captive in the garden of Gethsemane.

A couple of chapters later, even closer to the time of His arrest, we have record of an interesting exchange between Christ and the apostles.

“ ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to the Father.’ Then some of His disciples said among themselves, ‘What is this that He says to us, “A little while, and you will not see Me; and again, a little while, and you will see Me”; and, “because I go to the Father”?’ They said therefore, ‘What is this that He says, “little while”? We do not know what He is saying.’ ” John 16:16–18

Then Christ explains in verses 19–28 what He meant—although still a bit cryptically.

The disciples responded to His explanation: “His disciples said to Him, ‘See, now You are speaking plainly, and using no figure of speech! Now we are sure that You know all things, and have no need that anyone should question You. By this we believe that You came forth from God.’ ” Verses 29, 30

Then Christ challenges them: “Jesus answered them, ‘Do you now believe? Indeed, the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. …’ ” Verses 31, 32

Then in His continuing determination to provide them with comfort—even though He knew that they still did not understand or realize what was going to happen beginning in just a few hours, He added, “ ‘These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.’ ” Verse 33

The events that followed over the following days were the fulfillment of many ancient prophecies. Then at least three times after His resurrection, Christ entreated peace upon His disciples once again. We have a record of those blessings in John 20.

“Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. So Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.’ ” Verses 19–21

Remember that when this scene occurred, Thomas was not present, and because he did not see the resurrected Christ, he refused to believe. His unbelief led to the third recorded time that Christ promised peace to the apostles.

“And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, ‘Peace to you!’ ” Verse 26

The promise of peace that Christ would reveal, or give, or make possible had been promised hundreds of years before in a prophecy that is very well known and much cherished by the Christian world:

“For unto us a Child is born,

Unto us a Son is given;

And the government will be upon His shoulder.

And His name will be called

Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

Isaiah 9:6

That promise was repeated when the angels made the grand announcement to the shepherds attending their flocks. They concluded their announcement with the wonderful statement recorded in Luke 2:14 that meant more than we even understand today: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

Even in the midst of the chaos of end times, the Lord makes this wonderful promise in a prophecy yet to be fulfilled:

 “For the mountains shall depart

And the hills be removed,

But My kindness shall not depart from you,

Nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,

Says the Lord, who has mercy on you.”

Isaiah 54:10

There are equally wonderful promises of peace through Christ in the writings of Paul.

Even though his relationship with Christ began in a way that might be seen as somewhat unsettling, if not even a bit brutal, he nevertheless understood the basis and very foundation of that relationship when he wrote to the Romans, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” Romans 5:1, 2

As evidence of Paul’s conviction of the peace that Christ provides, we need look no further than the salutation of all 13 of his epistles:

Romans 1:7

1 Corinthians 1:3

2 Corinthians 1:2

Galatians 1:3

Ephesians 1:2

Philippians 1:2

Colossians 1:2

1 Thessalonians 1:1

2 Thessalonians 1:2

1 Timothy 1:2

2 Timothy 1:2

Titus 1:4

Philemon 1:3.

All begin with some version of the same salutation: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

It should be indisputably clear that there is nothing more in this world that Christ and those inspired by Christ want for His followers than peace—an inner, abiding peace that can only be obtained through faith in the promises in the inspired word.

It is likely that as you read this article, you have at least one, if not many, favorite promises that instill within you a comforting sense of peace. A favorite for many people is found in Philippians 4:6, 7: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

Earlier in this article, it was noted that Christ and those inspired by Him consistently wish peace for His followers. In the devotional Our High Calling, there are several passages that refer to the peace that Christ wants His followers to experience.

“Shortly before His crucifixion Christ bequeathed to His disciples a legacy of peace. … This peace is not the peace that comes through conformity with the world. It is an internal rather than an external peace. Without will be wars and fightings, through the opposition of avowed enemies, and the coldness and suspicion of those who claim to be friends. The peace of Christ is not to banish division, but it is to remain amid strife and division. …

“The peace that Christ gave to His disciples, and for which we pray, is the peace that is born of truth, a peace that is not to be quenched because of division. Without may be wars and fightings, jealousies, envies, hatred, strife; but the peace of Christ is not that which the world giveth or taketh away.” Op. Cit., 328

“Sanctification, unity, peace—all are to be ours through the truth. The belief of the truth does not make men gloomy and uncomfortable. If you have peace in Christ, His precious blood is speaking pardon and hope to your soul. Yes, more, you have joy in the Holy Spirit, through accepting the precious promises. Jesus says, ‘In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.’ John 16:33. Therefore the world shall not overcome you if you believe in Me. It is a world that I have conquered. Because I have overcome, if you believe in Me, you shall overcome. …

“All that Jesus has promised, He will fulfill; and it is greatly dishonoring to Him for us to doubt Him. All His words are spirit and life. Accepted and obeyed, they will give peace and happiness and assurance forever. … Christ declares that He has given us peace; it belongs to us. And He has spoken these things, that in Him we may have that which through infinite sacrifice He had purchased for us—what He holds as ours. This peace we need not seek in the world, for the world has it not to bestow. It is in Christ. He will give it, in spite of the world, notwithstanding its threats and decrees, its alluring, deceiving promises.” Op. Cit., 329

“Mercy and truth have met together;

Righteousness and peace have kissed.”

Psalm 85:10

John R. Pearson is the office manager and a board member of Steps to Life. He may be contacted by email at: johnpearson@stepstolife.org

Abraham’s Test of Faith

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“Faith claims God’s promises and brings forth fruit in obedience. … Genuine faith has its foundation in the promises and provisions of the Scriptures. …

“It is not enough to believe about Christ; we must believe in Him. The only faith that will benefit us is that which embraces Him as a personal Saviour; which appropriates His merits to ourselves. Many hold faith as an opinion. But saving faith is a transaction, by which those who receive Christ join themselves in covenant relation with God. Genuine faith is life. A living faith means an increase of vigor, a confiding trust, by which the soul becomes a conquering power.” Gospel Workers, 260, 261

The subject of faith is one of great importance. Let’s begin our study by looking at 14 points about faith:

  1. “But without faith it is impossible to please Him [God].” Hebrews 11:6, first part
  2. Only those who have faith in God are actually part of the true church, but church membership does not give you faith (Luke 16:19–31). “The closing scenes of this earth’s history are portrayed in the closing of the rich man’s history. The rich man claimed to be a son of Abraham, but he was separated from Abraham by an impassable gulf—a character wrongly developed. Abraham served God, following His word in faith and obedience. But, the rich man was unmindful of God and of the needs of suffering humanity. The great gulf fixed between him and Abraham was the gulf of disobedience. There are many today who are following the same course. Though church members, they are unconverted. They may take part in the church service, they may chant the psalm, ‘As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God’ (Psalm 42:1); but they testify to a falsehood. They are no more righteous in God’s sight than is the veriest sinner.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 269, 270

Mrs. White is describing church members who are not converted; they are members of the professed church, but not of the true church. The Bible and Spirit of Prophecy make a very sharp distinction between the true church and the professed church. “Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: ‘The Lord knows those who are His.’ ” 2 Timothy 2:19, first part. Members of the true church and the professed church all make a profession, but not everyone making a profession is a part of His true church. Mrs. White uses the terminology “the professed church” hundreds of times in her writings, making a distinction between it and the true church.

So how can you know whether you are a professed or true member of God’s church? “Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.” Galatians 3:7. “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” Verse 26. “If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Verse 29

  1. Everyone who has faith in God will be saved. Period. No exceptions. Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.” John 6:47
  2. Jesus predicted that in the last days of earth’s history there would be a great lack of faith, a time of prevailing unbelief. “When the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” Luke 18:8, last part
  3. Lack of faith is one of the main problems of the Laodicean church (Revelation 3:14–22).
  4. Some have more than others, but every person has a measure of faith. “God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.” Romans 12:3, last part

Researchers have given polygraph tests to some who say they do not believe in God. The results? They failed the test. There are many stories of an atheist or agnostic who, when confronted with a terrible situation, cried out, “Lord, help me!” And the Lord did. God has given every man some faith on which to build greater faith.

  1. The time of Noah was a time of little faith and big unbelief. They did not believe what Noah said, until the rain came. In the last days, just before Jesus comes again, He said it would be just as it was then (Matthew 24:37–39).
  2. If you desire your faith to grow, you must exercise it. Everyone has some faith, but would you like to have more? “How to exercise faith should be made very plain. To every promise of God there are conditions. If we are willing to do His will, all His strength is ours. …

“It [faith] grows as exercised in appropriating the word of God. In order to strengthen faith, we must often bring it in contact with the word.” Education, 253, 254. That statement is worth a lot of study. God says to us, “If you will do this, I will do that.” We do our part, He does His; that is when miracles begin happening in our lives.

  1. For faith to become strong, it must be tested. This is true with any endeavor be it spiritual, mental, or physical. If you want to become physically strong, you must exercise and use your muscles. In school, students are tested to determine what they have learned. To become spiritually strong, you must be tested, and, as children of God, we should expect to be tested.

“Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, ‘Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?’ But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do.” John 6:5, 6. If Jesus already knew what He was going to do, why did He ask the question? To test Philip. Sadly, he failed the test. It is important to be tested so that we can grow spiritually in Christ.

  1. If you desire to have strong faith, you must regularly study your Bible. “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:17. Mrs. White says we should study our Bible every morning and evening. Some people say they don’t have time to study their Bible more than once a day. Do you have time to eat more than once a day? Yes, because it is necessary if you’re going to be healthy. For your spiritual health, it is necessary to make the time to immerse your mind in the word of God at least twice a day; and that is the minimum. Think of Daniel. Temptations, trials, and struggles in Babylon led him to study the word three times a day. It was so important to him that he did not stop even when he knew it would mean being thrown into the lions’ den.
  2. Faith always obeys the word of God. No obedience, no faith.
  3. “Every failure on the part of the children of God is due to their lack of faith.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 657. Why do we fail? Lack of faith. Do you realize that if you have enough faith, you never have to fail in your Christian experience?
  4. “Through faith in Christ, every deficiency of character may be supplied, every defilement cleansed, every fault corrected, every excellence developed.” Education, 257. If you have faith in Christ, everything you need for the perfecting of your character will be supplied, and every defilement will be removed.
  5. “Faith is trusting God—believing that He loves us and knows best what is for our good. …

“… Faith receives from God the life that alone can produce true growth and efficiency.” Ibid., 253

“By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.” Hebrews 11:8. Faith is best understood when looked at from the standpoint of human experience. Abraham, one of the great men of faith in the Bible, had faith so great that he is called the father of the faithful and the friend of God. There were three big tests of faith in Abraham’s life. Each bigger than the one before it, each requiring greater faith.

When Abraham was around 70 years of age, still a relatively young man in those days, God gave him his first test of faith by directing him to leave his home in Ur of the Chaldees—today the southern part of Iraq—and go to a place that He would reveal to Him. Ur of the Chaldees was a highly civilized city with many “modern” things—running water, street lights at night, paved roads, and masonry buildings. Abraham had lived there all his life with his father and mother and other relatives. Now, God says to him, “Leave your family and all you know, and I will show you where to go.”

Abraham stepped out in faith, gathered his family and herds of cattle and sheep, and headed out to follow God’s instructions. Everyone wanted to know where he was going, but he couldn’t tell them because he didn’t know. The only explanation he could give was that the Lord wanted him to go. They thought he was crazy; it’s possible that Abraham felt a little crazy. Abraham loved his family, but he left them, knowing he would likely never see them again, and he did it because he had faith in God’s direction.

“It was no light test that was thus brought upon Abraham, no small sacrifice that was required of him. There were strong ties to bind him to his country, his kindred, and his home. But he did not hesitate to obey the call. He had no question to ask concerning the land of promise—whether the soil was fertile and the climate healthful; whether the country offered agreeable surroundings and would afford opportunities for amassing wealth. God had spoken, and His servant must obey; the happiest place on earth for him was the place where God would have him to be.

“Many are still tested as was Abraham. They do not hear the voice of God speaking directly from the heavens, but He calls them by the teachings of His word and the events of His providence. … Who is ready at the call of Providence to renounce cherished plans and familiar associations? Who will accept new duties and enter untried fields, doing God’s work with firm and willing heart?” Patriarchs and Prophets, 126, 127

Hard as Abraham’s first test was, the next was still harder. The first recorded promise that God had given Abraham is found in Genesis 12:2, first part, 3, last part. Leave your home, family, all you know, and “I will make you a great nation. … And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

“Then Abram said, ‘Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!’ And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ‘This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.’ Then He brought him outside and said, ‘Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.’ And He said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’ And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.” Genesis 15:3–6

A child. The Lord told Abraham that he and Sarah would have a child and from this child his descendants would be as innumerable as the stars and the sand on the seashore. Abraham was about 85, past the age for begetting children, but the Bible says he believed God. We can always believe that what God says He will do, will be done. But one of the biggest problems for us in developing faith is that when God promises something, we expect to see it happen right now, and God doesn’t always tell us when what He says will happen. Often faith and patience go hand in hand, and that was the case for this particular test.

The time came when Sarah, about 75 years old, passed her childbearing years, and still the promised child had not been born. So she did what was customary in those days. She encouraged Abraham to take a secondary wife, her servant girl Hagar, to bear the child for her. This practice was so common in those days that archeologists have found that a provision was often included in marriage covenants allowing a husband to take a secondary wife in order to preserve the family name—an acceptable practice to them, but not to God.

Abraham followed Sarah’s counsel and Hagar had a son they named Ishmael, which means God will hear. The Bible says that God came down and Abraham told Him about Ishmael and that now he had an heir. But the Lord told Abraham that Ishmael was not the child of promise. He reminded him that the child would be born of Abraham’s wife, not a surrogate, and certainly not a child conceived by fornication.

Both Abraham and Sarah were beyond the age of conceiving children. In fact, it seemed so ridiculous that they would have a child at their ages that Sarah laughed in her heart. The Lord asked her why she laughed. Was there anything too hard for the Lord to do? They soon realized the answer to that question when they did have a son. They named him Isaac, which means laughter.

Abraham had failed his second test of faith. He did not believe that God could fulfill His promise of a child in His time and His way. So, he attempted himself to solve what appeared to be an insurmountable problem for God. Because of this failure, Abraham was given a third and unimaginable test of faith.

“Abraham was directed of God to go up to Mount Moriah, and there offer up his son as a burnt offering. There the Lord tested Abraham by a most fearful trial. In taking Hagar for his wife, he showed distrust in the promises of God. If he had patiently waited for the promise to be fulfilled in God’s own time and manner, and had not sought to make a providence himself, he would not have been subjected to this the closest test that was ever required of man.” The Signs of the Times, April 1, 1875

Isaac was about 20 years of age when God sent Abraham to Mount Moriah to sacrifice him as a burnt offering. Can you imagine the confusion in Abraham’s mind? Though, as any man, Abraham had made mistakes, and at times lacked faith in God, he believed God to be merciful and loving. How could He ask this of him?

“Then He [the Lord] said, ‘Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.’ ” Genesis 22:2

Abraham went to Isaac and explained that the Lord wanted them to go to a distant mountain to offer a sacrifice. Before dawn, they and their servants, set out for the land of Moriah. Mrs. White says that the first day was the longest day of Abraham’s life.

Usually when they traveled together, Abraham and Isaac would talk, but it seemed to Isaac on this journey that his father didn’t feel like talking. They walked all day, and when night came, Isaac and the servants went to bed and slept. But Abraham couldn’t sleep; instead he prayed all night. Tormented by the devil, he suggested to Abraham that God couldn’t actually mean for him to kill Isaac; He’d be breaking His own law. But Abraham knew what God had told him to do, and he knew that God could decide anything that He chose. And as a man of faith, he would obey. Remember, faith always obeys the word of God. Abraham asked the Lord to help him to be obedient, if possible, without having to sacrifice Isaac, but there was no answer.

The next morning they got up, ate breakfast, and went on their way again. The second longest day of Abraham’s life began.

By evening, he had not slept for 36 hours. Exhausted, as the others slept, again he pleaded with the Lord to send an angel to explain why He was asking Abraham to sacrifice his son. God had spoken to him many times in answer to his prayer, but again there was no answer.

On the third day, God gave Abraham a sign. He saw a bright, glorious cloud over Mount Moriah. The time had come. He had to obey God. When he saw the sign, he told the servants to remain behind, that he and Isaac would go on alone. Abraham could not bear for anyone but God to witness what was about to happen. He continued to plead with the Lord to take his own life rather than the life of Isaac, but the Lord said that Isaac must be the one.

As they made their way up the mountain, Isaac pointed out that they had wood and fire, but that there was no animal for a sacrifice. Abraham could only answer that Jehovah would provide the lamb. The Hebrew word Jehovah-jireh means, God will provide. At the top of the mountain, they built an altar together. Unable to put it off any longer, Abraham with quivering lip and shaking voice, told Isaac that God had instructed that he was to be the burnt offering. Imagine the fear Isaac must have felt! He was a strong young man and he could have escaped, but Isaac was also a man of faith. He would not violate a command of God.

After helping Abraham place the wood on the altar, Isaac allowed himself to be bound upon the altar. Abraham expressed to him how much he loved him; that his obedience to God in no way indicated a lessening of that love. Father embraced son and they shed what they believed would be the last tears they would shed together in this world.

Mrs. White tells us that Abraham believed that God could restore Isaac’s life. This took genuine faith because God had not yet resurrected a human being and would not do so until He raised Moses, hundreds of years later.

Abraham took the knife, lifted it up, and as he brought the knife down, his hand was suddenly stopped. A voice was heard from heaven. “But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, ‘Abraham, Abraham!’ So he said, ‘Here I am.’ And He said, ‘Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.’ ” Genesis 22:11, 12

“Then Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son.” Verse 13

“ ‘By Myself I have sworn,’ says the Lord, ‘because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son—blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.  In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.’ ” Verses 16–18. Faith always obeys.

“God estimated Abraham’s obedience and unswerving faith, and gave him the name of ‘Father of the faithful.’ The example of Abraham is recorded in sacred history for the benefit of his believing children.” The Signs of the Times, April 1, 1875. Why was this done?

“This great act of faith teaches the lesson of implicit confidence in God, perfect obedience to His requirements, and a complete surrender to the divine will.” Ibid.

Everything that you and I have belongs to the Lord—time, money, talents, ourselves. He has lent these things to us to prove us. God recorded this story in the Bible to give us an example of perfect faith and obedience, so that we might understand and better comprehend how real was the great self-denial and infinite sacrifice made by our Father in heaven when He gave His Son to this world. Unlike Isaac, there was no one to stay the hand when Jesus went to His trial. No one to say, “Enough!” The angels were not permitted to interfere. Jesus Christ was insulted, mocked, and derided. He was given up to die a shameful, violent, torturous death—our death.

Abraham knew that God’s promises were infallible and that it was better to obey God, no matter what, than to disobey. If God had come to Abraham and told him to give up all he owned—gold, flocks, herds, silver, land—that would have been easy for him. If God had asked him to surrender his own life for His sake, Abraham would have given it. Mrs. White says that if God had asked him for any of those things, he would have gladly turned it over, including his own life. But God’s test was harder than surrendering his own life.

I hear people say, “I wish I could obey the Lord and pay my tithe and keep the Sabbath, but I don’t have the money and I don’t have the time” and they think they are going to live with Abraham someday? “The deepest poverty, with God’s blessing, is better than houses and lands, and any amount of earthly treasure, without it.” Ibid. It is God’s blessing that places a value on everything that we possess. Without it, we can have the whole world, but we will be poor. Jesus said, “For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” Mark 8:36

Friend, you are better off obeying God, no matter what your problems might be, than being disobedient and enjoying the blessings of this world for a time. The Psalmist said, “Though a sinner does evil a hundred times, and his days are prolonged, yet I surely know that it will be well with those who fear God, who fear before Him.” Ecclesiastes 8:12

“Those who profess to be looking for the soon coming of our Saviour, should have Abrahamic faith, a faith that is valued because it has cost them something, a faith that works by love, and purifies the soul. The example of Abraham is left on record for us upon whom the ends of the world have come. We must believe that God is in earnest with us, and that He is not to be trifled with. He means what He says, and He requires of us implicit faith and willing obedience.” The Signs of the Times, April 1, 1875

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Following Counsel

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There is no better example of a people as a whole ignoring divine counsel than that of ancient Israel. The Lord predicted Israel’s rebellion, which was the direct result of their failure to heed divine counsel.

“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Behold, the days approach when you must die; call Joshua, and present yourselves in the tabernacle of meeting, that I may inaugurate him.’ So Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves in the tabernacle of meeting. Now the Lord appeared at the tabernacle in a pillar of cloud, and the pillar of cloud stood above the door of the tabernacle. And the Lord said to Moses: ‘Behold, you will rest with your fathers; and this people will rise and play the harlot with the gods of the foreigners of the land, where they go to be among them, and they will forsake Me and break My covenant which I have made with them. Then My anger shall be aroused against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide My face from them, and they shall be devoured. And many evils and troubles shall befall them, so that they will say in that day, “Have not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us?” ’ ” Deuteronomy 31:14–17

Why was God not among them? Because they refused to heed His counsel.

Just before ascending Mt. Nebo where he was destined to die, Moses recounted the history of God’s people and made his final attempt to make them realize their true condition.

“Moses closed his last instructions to the people by a most powerful, prophetic address. It was pathetic and eloquent. By inspiration of God he blessed separately the tribes of Israel. In his closing words, he dwelt largely upon the majesty of God, and the excellency of Israel, which would ever continue if they would obey God, and take hold of His strength.” The Story of Redemption, 172

But as he was recounting the history of God’s people, he also noted, “For they are a nation void of counsel, nor is there any understanding in them.” Deuteronomy 32:28

We can presume from that description that those who have counsel from the Lord do indeed have understanding—when they obey that counsel. We can further assume that those who fail to heed counsel lack understanding.

It is evident from an analysis of Moses’ recounting that ancient Israel had lost its way. Considering that the “past is prologue,” we need to look at today’s situation within the church to see if history is repeating itself, and inquire: Is the Seventh-day Adventist church veering from the plainest counsel that the Lord has so lovingly supplied, just as ancient Israel did?

It can indeed be asserted that as a people, Seventh-day Adventists have disregarded explicit instructions provided by our Creator, just as the Israelites did more than 3,000 years ago.

Consider this: The Catholics are operating many Adventist medical institutions. Broad-road preachers are invited to speak in Adventist churches. For many years representatives of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists have not only attended ecumenical counsels, but actively participated in the ecumenical movement. There is little, if any, difference between the Adventist educational system and that of the world. The General Conference more than once has filed lawsuits against fellow believers.

In Deuteronomy 5:32, 33, after having reviewed the ten commandments with the Israelites, Moses concluded, “Therefore you shall be careful to do as the Lord your God has commanded you; you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. You shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess.”

In other words, “If you heed My counsel, it will be well with you.”

Then in Deuteronomy 6:5, Moses gives what has come to be known as the greatest commandment: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.”

Christ emphasized the significance of this commandment when a Pharisee questioned Him. “Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, ‘Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?’ Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22:35–40

We can assume that since the questioner was a lawyer, he was undoubtedly familiar with the law and knew the answer to his question before he asked. Clearly, he was “testing Jesus” to see if He was really who He claimed to be. Note, too, that the lawyer refused to acknowledge His divinity, addressing Him merely as “Teacher.”

Turning back to Deuteronomy 6, Moses repeats the counsel he had just given in chapter five: “You shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, His testimonies, and His statutes which He has commanded you.” Verse 17

This is advice that it would be well for Seventh-day Adventists to heed today, especially with regard to “His testimonies.”

This is a repeated fulfillment of the Lord’s prediction against ancient Israel found in Deuteronomy 31. How can God’s people expect to receive divine blessings if we refuse to heed divine counsel?

The book of Job provides some excellent examples of counsel heeded and counsel ignored. After a bit of badgering by his “miserable counselors,” Job expresses his faith in God: “With Him are wisdom and strength, He has counsel and understanding.” Job 12:13

After much back and forth between Job and those counselors, Elihu, who had remained silent while Zophar, Eliphaz, and Bildad had condemned Job, spoke extensively and somewhat eloquently on God’s justice, goodness, and omnipotence.

Then beginning in chapter 38, it seems that God had had enough of all the debate and self-justifications and turned directly to Job. “Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said: ‘Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?’ ” Job 38:1, 2

After a thorough grilling by God in a series of questions and statements that provide amazing insight into God’s character, “Then Job answered the Lord and said: ‘I know that You can do everything, And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You. You asked, “Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?” Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. Listen, please, and let me speak; You said, “I will question you, and you shall answer Me.” I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself, And repent in dust and ashes.’ ” Job 42:1–6

Thus ends one of the many lessons we can learn from Job’s experience.

We also learn from the book of Job that there is both good and bad counsel. This is made plain in the opening verse of the book of Psalms.

“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful.” Psalm 1:1

A more contemporary way to state this verse might be “Blessed are those who don’t listen to bad or unrighteous advice, who disregard the efforts of the enemy of souls to lead them astray, and who do not engage in ridicule and mockery.”

It can be stated that all who expect to reside on the far side of the Jordan must reject bad advice, ignore Satan’s efforts to lead them astray, and must not engage in ridicule.

“I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel; my heart also instructs me in the night seasons.” Psalm 16:7

We bless the Lord by heeding His counsel, by doing exactly what Moses instructed the children of Israel to do in Deuteronomy 5 and 6.

“The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations.” Psalm 33:10, 11

The truth of this passage is very evident when we see all that is happening in the world today. In spite of the fact that there are regular, high-level meetings among the leading nations of the world to try to resolve one problem after another—poverty, homelessness, climate change, regional and global conflicts—time and events continue to careen onward toward the fulfillment of prophecy.

Look at David’s recap of the history of God’s people found in Psalm 106.

“Our fathers in Egypt did not understand Your wonders; they did not remember the multitude of Your mercies, but rebelled by the sea—the Red Sea. Nevertheless He saved them for His name’s sake, that He might make His mighty power known.

“He rebuked the Red Sea also, and it dried up; so He led them through the depths, as through the wilderness. He saved them from the hand of him who hated them, and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. The waters covered their enemies; there was not one of them left. Then they believed His words; they sang His praise.

“They soon forgot His works; they did not wait for His counsel [adhere to His advice], but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tested God in the desert. And He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul.” Verses 7–15

The remainder of the chapter tells us what occurred because of that failure.

So, we should ask ourselves if we are doing as ancient Israel did. Are we ignoring the counsel we are given in God’s word—whether it is in the Bible or in the testimonies so lovingly provided through God’s prophet to the remnant?

For example, we are told, “The effect of cheese is deleterious.” Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene, 47

“Cheese should never be introduced into the stomach.” Testimonies, Vol. 2, 68

Cheese “is wholly unfit for food.” The Ministry of Healing, 302

Even with this decisive counsel regarding the perils of eating cheese, many Adventists persist. Note that cheese is one of the very few foods that counsel definitely and unequivocally says not to eat.

In 2003 and 2004, I attended a conference Adventist church for the first time. At one of the first fellowship meals, one of the members had brought a cheese pizza from a national pizza chain. Being familiar with the inspired counsel regarding cheese, I was surprised and mentioned to one of the members of the church what Sister White said about cheese. He was shocked and said he had never heard that before. This from a life-long Adventist!

A few months later, the church was assigned a new pastor. To introduce himself to the church board, he hosted an informal dinner for them. The main course was cheese pizza, again from a national chain. When the church leaders are ignoring the plainest counsel we are given, how can the church members be blamed if they do likewise? This is why we are to know and heed the counsel in God’s word, looking to it for guidance and not to our fellow man—even if that fellow man is the pastor!

Another example of counsel that is frequently ignored is contained in Sister White’s response to a letter she had received from someone who was struggling to overcome.

“I have just read your letter. You seem to have an earnest desire to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. I encourage you to do this. I counsel you to discard everything that would cause you to do halfway work in seeking the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Put away every indulgence that would hinder you in the work of overcoming. Ask for the prayers of those who can comprehend your need of help.

“There was a time when I was in a situation similar in some respects to yours. I had indulged the desire for vinegar. But I resolved with the help of God to overcome this appetite. I fought the temptation, determined not to be mastered by this habit.

“For weeks I was very sick; but I kept saying over and over, The Lord knows all about it. If I die, I die; but I will not yield to this desire. The struggle continued, and I was sorely afflicted for many weeks. All thought that it was impossible for me to live. You may be sure we sought the Lord very earnestly. The most fervent prayers were offered for my recovery. I continued to resist the desire for vinegar, and at last I conquered. Now I have no inclination to taste anything of the kind. This experience has been of great value to me in many ways. I obtained a complete victory.” Counsels on Diet and Foods, 484, 485

During Sister White’s third visit to England in 1887, she made the following diary entry:

“I had presented much more upon general principles, but that did not set things right. The idea was so riveted in their minds that their own way was perfect, that the very ones who need to reform did not take hold of the matter at all. I was obliged to say decidedly, as did Nathan to David, ‘Thou art the man.’ It made a decided stir in the camp, I assure you. I told them that the preparation of their food was wrong, and that living principally on soups and coffee and bread was not health reform; that so much liquid taken into the stomach was not healthful, and that all who subsisted on such a diet placed a great tax upon the kidneys, and so much watery substance debilitated the stomach.

“I was thoroughly convinced that many in the establishment were suffering with indigestion because of eating this kind of food. The digestive organs were enfeebled, and the blood impoverished. Their breakfast consisted of coffee and bread with the addition of prune sauce. This was not healthful. The stomach, after rest and sleep, was better able to take care of a substantial meal than when wearied with work. Then the noon meal was generally soup, sometimes meat. The stomach is small, but the appetite, unsatisfied, partakes largely of this liquid food, so it is burdened.

“The salads are prepared with oil and vinegar, fermentation takes place in the stomach, and the food does not digest, but decays or putrefies. As a consequence the blood is not nourished, but becomes filled with impurities, and liver and kidney difficulty appear. Heart disturbances, inflammation, and many evils are the result of such kind of treatment, and not only are the bodies affected, but the morals, the religious life, are affected.

“I told them that unless they should change their diet, physical, mental, and moral degeneracy would surely be the result. Plain, good, substantial food must be given to our bodies, else there will be a poverty of the blood.” Manuscript Releases, Vol. 2, 143, 144

It can readily be acknowledged that these are hard sayings. Giving up cheese and anything and everything with vinegar in it—mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup, salad dressing—indeed makes us peculiar people, but that is what God wants us to be, isn’t it?

There is a passage that speaks directly to the attitude of a person facing this decision. Speaking of new Christian converts, Inspiration says, “… But they faint beneath the fiery test of temptation. They cannot bear reproach for Christ’s sake. When the word of God points out some cherished sin, or requires self-denial or sacrifice, they are offended. It would cost them too much effort to make a radical change in their life. They look at the present inconvenience and trial, and forget the eternal realities. Like the disciples who left Jesus, they are ready to say, ‘This is an hard saying; who can hear it?’ John 6:60.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 47, 48

There is another hard saying that can be considered a clear example of the circumcision of the heart that Paul writes about in Romans 2:29: “But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.” This “heart circumcision” refers to the giving up of those things that you cherish in your heart that impede your Christian growth.

Matthew 10 begins with a census of the twelve apostles. Then beginning in verse 5, we have a record of Christ’s instructions to them as He sends them out to begin their work in the vineyard. He tells them to begin with the “lost sheep of the house of Israel.” He tells them to have faith that their needs will be supplied while engaging in this work. He warns them that they will experience persecution and to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. He encourages them that though they may experience threats, “do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.” Verse 28, first part

Then He states what may be considered one of the hardest sayings in all Scripture:

“ ‘Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to “set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law”; and “a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.” ’ ” Verses 34–36

If that isn’t hard enough to accept, He adds, “ ‘He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.’ ” Verse 37

This is indeed a hard saying. Making the decision that this counsel requires is a decision that is faced by anyone who is the lone Adventist in their family. Placing the love and requirements of God before the claims of family members is extremely trying and difficult. In fact, many find it impossible and make no concerted effort to do so, thereby perhaps losing eternity.

I’m sure that the apostle Paul loved his family as any husband and father would. Inspiration tells us that he was a member of the Sanhedrin. One of the qualifications for membership in that group was that any member had to be a family man—married with children. Yet, in all of his writings, Paul makes not a single mention of, nor the faintest allusion to, his family. He even went so far as to say to the Philippians, “Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ.” Philippians 3:8

How can that be? How can we have the joy that the Christian experience is to provide when we have given up those who are nearest and dearest?

The fact of the matter is that we cannot experience the joy of the Christian walk unless we fully claim the promises in God’s word, having faith that what He promises, He will deliver.

There are a couple of inspired passages that provide insight into how a Christian can successfully face life’s challenges and the demands of the Christian walk.

“Shortly before His crucifixion Christ bequeathed to His disciples a legacy of peace. … This peace is not the peace that comes through conformity with the world. It is an internal rather than an external peace. Without will be wars and fightings, through the opposition of avowed enemies, and the coldness and suspicion of those who claim to be friends. The peace of Christ is not to banish division, but it is to remain amid strife and division. …

“The peace that Christ gave to His disciples, and for which we pray, is the peace that is born of truth, a peace that is not to be quenched because of division. Without may be wars and fightings, jealousies, envies, hatred, strife; but the peace of Christ is not that which the world giveth or taketh away.” Our High Calling, 328

“Sanctification, unity, peace—all are to be ours through the truth. The belief of the truth does not make men gloomy and uncomfortable. If you have peace in Christ, His precious blood is speaking pardon and hope to your soul. Yes, more, you have joy in the Holy Spirit, through accepting the precious promises. Jesus says, ‘In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.’ John 16:33. Therefore the world shall not overcome you if you believe in Me. It is a world that I have conquered. Because I have overcome, if you believe in Me, you shall overcome. …

“All that Jesus has promised, He will fulfill; and it is greatly dishonoring to Him for us to doubt Him. All His words are spirit and life. Accepted and obeyed, they will give peace and happiness and assurance forever. … Christ declares that He has given us peace; it belongs to us. And He has spoken these things, that in Him we may have that which through infinite sacrifice He had purchased for us—what He holds as ours. This peace we need not seek in the world, for the world has it not to bestow. It is in Christ. He will give it, in spite of the world, notwithstanding its threats and decrees, its alluring, deceiving promises.” Ibid., 329

“All that Jesus has promised, He will fulfill.” He will wipe away all tears, including those we shed when we “suffer the loss of all things and count them as rubbish,” even when “all things” include our loved ones.

“The compassionate Saviour, who treated with tenderness the very chief of sinners, who never spurned true meekness and penitence, however great the guilt, uttered the most scathing denunciations against those who did not appreciate the light from heaven; who neither walked in the light themselves, nor extended its cheering influence to those in darkness. Will He be better pleased with us if we neglect our heaven-sent blessings and responsibilities?” The Youth’s Instructor, September 24, 1896

“And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life.” Matthew 19:29

John R. Pearson is the office manager and a board member of Steps to Life. He may be contacted by email at: johnpearson@stepstolife.org

Remember Lot’s Wife

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There are a few verses in the Bible that consist of fewer than five words:

Jesus wept.John 11:35
Quench not the Spirit.1 Thessalonians 5:19
Pray without ceasing.1 Thessalonians 5:17
Remember Lot’s wife.Luke 17:32

I want to study with you Luke 17:32: “Remember Lot’s wife.”

We find the story of Lot in the book of Genesis, but it is spoken of a number of times throughout the Bible. In the account found in Luke, Jesus was telling His disciples what to expect at the end of time, and He said, “Remember Lot’s wife.”

It is an astonishing thing that the few things in the Bible that God calls upon us to “Remember” are the very things that mankind tends to forget. For instance, the fourth commandment begins with the word “Remember,” yet most of the world today believe this commandment was done away with at the cross, or that the seventh-day Sabbath was just for the Jews, or that it doesn’t really matter what day is kept as the Sabbath, just so long as I worship God on one day.

But God said to remember Lot’s wife, so we should go back to the Old Testament and look at the Biblical account of Lot and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah to learn why He said it.

Haran, Lot’s father, died, leaving Lot fatherless. Abraham, his uncle, assumed the role of father to him, and when Abraham left Ur of the Chaldees and ultimately went to the promised land, Lot was with him.

Early in Lot’s life, he made a choice that proved to be a very serious mistake. Many people make some of the most serious mistakes of their lives when they are young, and the consequences can follow them throughout their life. However, Lot’s mistake didn’t just affect his own life, it also changed the course of world history.

“The wife of Lot was a selfish, irreligious woman, and her influence was exerted to separate her husband from Abraham. But for her, Lot would not have remained in Sodom, deprived of the counsel of the wise, God-fearing patriarch. The influence of his wife and the associations of that wicked city would have led him to apostatize from God had it not been for the faithful instruction he had early received from Abraham. The marriage of Lot and his choice of Sodom for a home were the first links in a chain of events fraught with evil to the world for many generations.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 174

Lot made a poor choice of a marriage partner, but if he had asked the following three questions, he might never have married her.

  1. Is the man or woman I’m planning to marry a proud person?

Marriage to a proud person is a guarantee that you will have trouble in your marriage. Study the book of Proverbs.

  1. Is the man or woman I’m planning to marry a selfish person?

Mrs. White says that Lot’s wife was a selfish woman. No man or woman should ever consider marriage to a person who gives clear evidence of a selfish character. Such an act guarantees sadness in your life, for only an unselfish person can bring happiness to a marriage partner.

  1. Is the man or woman I’m planning to marry an irreligious person?

Mrs. White says that Lot’s wife was not only selfish but also irreligious. This is how the Bible describes an irreligious person:

“If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle their tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless.” James 1:26

Mrs. White has this to say about the quarrelsome faultfinder: “I feel an intense interest regarding every faultfinder; for I know that a quarrelsome disposition will never find entrance into the city of God. Quarrel with yourself, but with no one else; and then be converted.” Manuscript Releases, Vol. 7, 271

Just imagine being married to someone who cannot control their tongue!

“No one who fears God can without danger connect himself with one who fears Him not. ‘Can two walk together, except they be agreed?’ Amos 3:3.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 174

The marriage of Christians with the ungodly is forbidden in the Bible. The Lord’s direction is, “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?” 2 Corinthians 6:14

Lot made a poor choice and married a proud, selfish, and irreligious woman, but he could not leave her, so he remained faithful to her. (See 1 Corinthians 7.)

Abraham and Lot had large herds of cattle between them, and soon, the Bible tells us, strife rose up. This strife was between Lot’s herdsmen and Abraham’s herdsmen over the pasture land and watering places for the cattle.

“Contention among God’s people is offensive in His sight.” The Signs of the Times, August 19, 1880

“Charity does not rejoice in evil, revenge does. … Avoid every bitter word, every unkind action. Love as brethren; be kind; be courteous. Do not scandalize the truth by bitter envying and contention for such is the spirit of the world.” Ibid., February 14, 1895

It became apparent that a solution must be found. Having a great deal of land, Abraham pointed out that there was no need for fighting, and offered to Lot the ability to choose where he would like to set up his home. Lot chose the good pasture land with plenty of water that lay closest to Sodom. But was this the only choice Lot could have made, the one the Lord would have wanted for him? I’m sure it wasn’t.

Sadly, pride held sway in Lot’s side of the camp, and he was pleased with the obvious benefits of the land. Sodom was a prosperous city, and living near it helped Lot to continue to prosper. It also pleased Lot’s wife.

Abraham, as Lot’s senior, and, acting as his father, could have disallowed Lot from taking that part of the land. Abraham had every right to make the first choice, and whatever was left would have been Lot’s. Mrs. White distinctly says that Abraham was responsible for Lot’s financial success and prosperity. But Abraham was a gracious person, and even though by right he could have made the first choice, he told Lot, “Please let there be no strife between you and me, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen; for we are brethren.” Genesis 13:8. Instead, he gave Lot the first choice, and because he and his wife were proud and selfish, Lot looked around, saw how fine the plain of Jordan was and chose Sodom.

“Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent toward Sodom.” Verse 12

It appears that Lot didn’t at first live in Sodom, but he was very close by and it wasn’t long before he moved his family right into the city. The Bible doesn’t tell us how many children Lot had, though we know he had at least four daughters, but there is no record that he had any sons.

Sodom was filled with wealthy, corrupt, and sexually-perverse people. Homosexuality was an accepted practice with the inhabitants of the city, but as far as we know, none of Lot’s family was involved in those practices.

Homosexuality is not our subject here. However, we need to understand that we can be as guilty as those of Sodom—become like the Sodomite—if we involve ourselves in sexual activities that are contrary to the guidance of the Bible and Inspiration.

Do not Submit Your Body

“Any youth who would submit her body to be handled by a man is in no way fit for the kingdom of heaven. All this vile practice and commonness is what is ruining our youth. …

“These are the very sins which corrupted Sodom. Their evil practices did not come all at once. First one man and woman stupefied themselves by unholy polluted habits. Then as the inhabitants settled in Sodom … [and] continued to multiply, these ministers of sin continued in educating them in their own defiling practices … until Sodom became renowned for its pollutions. ” Testimonies on Sexual Behavior, Adultery, and Divorce, 125, 126

We must be vigilant that we do not allow ourselves, particularly the young, to participate in this sodomitish practice of petting and handling one another outside the bonds of marriage, else we cannot enter heaven.

Forsake Uncleanness

Reading again from the Spirit of Prophecy: “Not one particle of sodomitish impurity will escape the wrath of God at the execution of the judgment. Those who do not repent of and forsake all uncleanness will fall with the wicked. …

“Handbills on which indecent pictures are printed are posted up along our streets to allure our eyes and deprave the morals. These presentations are of such a character as to stir up the basest passions of the human heart through corrupt imaginings. These corrupt imaginings are followed by defiling practices like those in which the Sodomites indulged. … Our youth will be defiled, their thoughts degraded, and their souls polluted unless they are barricaded with the truth.” Ibid., 119, 120

Sodom was filled with portrayals of indecent and corrupting activities; and it continues today on billboards, lighted displays, in posters, magazines, movies, and TV shows.

A Stylish Appearance

“Far greater pains should be taken to instruct them so that they shall have beautiful characters and keep the way of the Lord than to have them make a stylish appearance, taking the way of the Sodomites.” Pamphlet 096 – Testimonies on the Case of Elder E. P. Daniels (1890), 16

So what is wrong with a stylish appearance? Too much of what makes up a stylish appearance is designed—intentionally—to awaken sensuality and sexual passions, and if we wear any kind of garment or adornment that arouses sexual passions, we are following the way of the Sodomites.

By Withholding, You are Holier

In the first centuries following Christ’s ascension, the devil introduced the practice of celibacy among the clergy. This practice put forth that if you were celibate, then you were more holy than married people. The practice of celibacy continues within the Catholic church even today. (See History of Sacerdotal Celibacy in the Christian Church by Henry Charles Lea.)

We can never fully imagine how much homosexuality, fornication, adultery, and all other kinds of lewd practices have resulted in the world as a result of this teaching.

Growing up in Sodom

“I have had a sharp pointed testimony for the youth, and I am pained to the heart to see the little modesty and real, good, decent behavior in the young. [There are] young girls so forward as to make advances to young men; so destitute of Christlike humility and elevation of character. The young girls [are] flirting with young men, sitting in meeting and exchanging notes with them at the very time I am presenting a message from God to the people.

“The young women make advances to the young men and get up a flirtation with them. Their forwardness, their common, cheap talk and ways, are offensive to God, and I told them last Sabbath that they were fast becoming like the Sodomites.” Manuscript Releases, Vol. 19, 218, 219

Sodom was a place where the young people were flirtatious with each other and spoke common, cheap words.

“Their young men and women think only of how they can get into each other’s society and break down all the barriers of reserve and true decorum. It is a pitiful condition of things. …

“Boys flirting with the girls, and the girls flirting with the boys, seems to be a passion which destroys common sense … and leaves the souls of youth, who might use their talents to the glory of God, as destitute of the Spirit of God as the hills of Gilboa … .

“Unless the moral taste is refined, unless Christ becomes an abiding principle in the soul, but few of the youth will ever see heaven.” Ibid., 219, 220

It is a dangerous thing to grow up in Sodom. Only three people escaped the destruction of Sodom alive; only a few people from the large cities of the world today will escape their Sodom-like influence. We must get out of Sodom. It would be best to physically remove ourselves from Sodom’s influence. It may not be possible at this time, but definitely we must turn our backs from its lifestyle and wicked influences.

“Lot could have preserved his family from many evils had he not made his home in the wicked, polluted city. All that Lot and his family did in Sodom could have been done by them even if they had lived in a place some distance from the city.” Last Day Events, 96

“Enoch walked with God, and yet he did not live in the midst of any city polluted with any kind of violence and wickedness, as did Lot in Sodom.

“He [Enoch] did not make his abode with the wicked.” Maranatha, 184

“Cities and even country towns are becoming like Sodom and Gomorrah, and like the world as it was in the days of Noah. The training of the youth in those days was after the same order as the children are being educated and trained in this age, to love excitement, to glorify themselves, to follow the imagination of their own evil hearts.” Manuscript Releases, Vol. 12, 89

“Those who will take their families into the country place them where they have fewer temptations.” The Adventist Home, 143

Leaving Sodom and moving to the country, if you can, is a good idea. But physically leaving a place doesn’t remove it or its attractions from the mind and heart. It isn’t enough to take your body out of Sodom, you have to remove Sodom from your mind and heart as well; and there’s the rub.

With so much electronic media that can reach even isolated places out in the country, you don’t have to be in Sodom to continue enjoying all its pleasures via radio, television, or the Internet. But if it is your desire to truly be free of Sodom, in every way, then you have some work to do, because if you want to get out of Sodom, you must first get Sodom out of your mind.

There is a principle found in God’s law regarding how we relate to our parents. In the fifth commandment, the Lord said, and of course this would apply to children of any age, that we should honor our father and mother.

One of the greatest problems for Sodom was that they had lost all concept of the principle of honor. They had no respect for themselves nor anyone else. If they wanted something, they took it, even if they had no right to it. But the principle of honor is part of the ten commandments. We dishonor God and our fellow man when we fail to obey these commandments. And if we want to be truly rid of Sodom in our minds and hearts, then we must sacrifice everything to honor and obey God’s law, seeking always to do His will, and to honor the lives of all around us. If not, we will never be a part of the kingdom of heaven.

Out of Time

Looking at the last night for Sodom, we see that angels came to town, and Lot being very hospitable, invited them to his home. There he prepared a meal, but before they could retire for the night, the men of the city gathered around the house demanding that Lot should, “Bring them [the angels] out to us that we may know them carnally (have sexual relations with them).” Genesis 19:5

What was Lot’s response? He offered his two virgin daughters to these men in an attempt to keep them from committing homosexual acts with his guests. He obviously was under a lot of pressure, afraid no doubt, that he and everyone in the house might be killed.

Lot thought he was just entertaining two men who had journeyed to Sodom, but he soon discovered that his guests were far from ordinary men. The angels, in response to the demands of the men of Sodom, struck them with blindness. The Bible tells us that the men then wandered around outside unable to find the door until they became weary from the effort.

The angels then told Lot their purpose for visiting Sodom. “For we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before the face of the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.” Verse 13

Lot went to warn his daughters and their husbands telling them of the mission of the angels and the soon-coming destruction of Sodom. They laughed and called him insane. “Lot returned sorrowfully to his home … .” The Truth About Angels, 76. The angels instructed Lot, his wife, and remaining two daughters to leave Sodom. But Lot hesitated. “Stupified with sorrow, he lingered, loath to depart. But for the angels of God, they would all have perished in the ruin of Sodom. The heavenly messengers took him and his wife and daughters by the hand, and led them out of the city.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 160

Why did Lot delay? We could say because he didn’t want to leave his children who did not want to leave Sodom, and that would be true. But a whole lot of what made Lot who he was at that moment was there in Sodom. He was influential and wealthy. His wife and children were happy there. Lot didn’t just live in Sodom, Sodom lived in him, and a decision to leave meant having to leave Sodom behind in every way. He would have to give up everything, and he would be asking his wife and children to do the same.

The angels had to take Lot and his family from the city by force and, once outside the city, they left them to return to their work of destruction, instructing Lot and his family to flee to the mountains and not to look back. But Lot pleaded that they could go instead to one of the small towns nearby. He had lived in the city for so long he was afraid to be in the mountains, afraid of wild beasts and snakes, and likely, the inhospitable aspect of living in the wild.

Because Lot hesitated and was reluctant to follow the angels’ instructions quickly and to the letter, it cost his wife her life. Because he lingered and was afraid, his wife manifested unbelief and she disobeyed a direct, divine command from the Lord Himself. She looked back toward Sodom; and immediately she became a pillar of salt.

Friend, we are living in a world that has become a second Sodom. Will you get out alive? Will your spouse and children get out alive? The decisions that you make now, each and every day, will determine if you will. It is not enough to get your body out of Sodom; you have to get Sodom out of your mind and heart.

The Great Controversy tells us that when God delivers His people, they will have given up all for Christ. How much? Everything. From a worldly point of view, all the saints are going to be very poor.

You see, when Jesus comes, this will all be burned up—houses, cars, bank accounts, stocks, bonds, businesses—everything. The only thing that the saints will take from this world to the next is their character; a character free of Sodom, “a character formed according to the divine likeness.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 332

“Lot had too much of a lingering spirit. Let us not be like him. The same voice that warned Lot to leave Sodom bids us, ‘Come out from among them, and be ye separate … and touch not the unclean.’ Those who obey this warning will find a refuge. Let every man be wide awake for himself, and try to save his family. Let him gird himself for the work. God will reveal from point to point what to do next.

“Hear the voice of God through the apostle Paul, ‘Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.’ Lot trod the plain with unwilling and tardy steps. He had so long associated with evil workers that he could not see his peril until his wife stood on the plain a pillar of salt forever.” Country Living, 6, 7

Remember Lot’s wife.

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Catholic & Protestant Confessions about the Sabbath

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“The Sabbath was binding in Eden, and it has been in force ever since. This fourth commandment begins with the word ‘remember’, showing that the Sabbath already existed when God wrote the law on the tables of stone at Sinai. How can men claim that this one commandment has been done away with when they will admit that the other nine are still binding?”

D.L. Moody, Weighed and Wanting (Fleming H. Revell Co.: New York), 47, 48

 

“There was and is a commandment to keep holy the Sabbath day, but that Sabbath day was not Sunday. It will be said, however, and with some show of triumph, that the Sabbath was transferred from the seventh to the first day of the week. … Where can the record of such a transaction be found? Not in the New Testament—absolutely not.

To me it seems unaccountable that Jesus, during three years’ intercourse with His disciples, often conversing with them upon the Sabbath question … never alluded to any transference of the day; also, that during forty days of His resurrection life, no such thing was intimated.

Of course, I quite well know that Sunday did come into use in early Christian history … . But what a pity it comes branded with the mark of paganism, and christened with the name of the sun god, adopted and sanctioned by the papal apostasy, and bequeathed as a sacred legacy to Protestantism!

Dr. Edward T. Hiscox, a paper read before a New York ministers’ conference, November 13, 1893, reported in the New York Examiner, November 16, 1893

 

“But,’ say some, ‘it was changed from the seventh to the first day.’ Where? When? And by whom? No man can tell. No; it never was changed, nor could it be, unless creation was to be gone through again: for the reason assigned must be changed before the observance, or respect to the reason, can it be changed! It is all old wives’ fables to talk of the change of the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day. If it be changed, it was that august personage changed it who changes times and laws ex officio—I think his name is Doctor Antichrist.

Alexander Campbell, The Christian Baptist, February 2, 1824, Vol. 1, No. 7, 164

 

“But, the moral law contained in the ten commandments, and enforced by the prophets, He (Christ) did not take away. It was not the design of His coming to revoke any part of this. This is a law which never can be broken. … Every part of this law must remain in force upon all mankind, and in all ages; as not depending either on time or place, or any other circumstances liable to change, but on the nature of God and the nature of man, and their unchangeable relation to each other.

John Wesley, The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, AM., ed. (New York: Eaton & Mains), Sermon 25, Vol. 1, 221

 

“The Sabbath is a part of the Decalogue—the ten commandments. This alone forever settles the question as to the perpetuity of the institution. … Until, therefore, it can be shown that the whole moral law has been repealed, the Sabbath will stand. … The teaching of Christ confirms the perpetuity of the Sabbath.

T.C. Blake. D.D., Theology Condensed, 474, 475

 

“For example, nowhere in the Bible do we find that Christ or the Apostles ordered that the Sabbath be changed from Saturday to Sunday. We have the commandment of God given to Moses to keep holy the Sabbath day, that is the 7th day of the week, Saturday. Today most Christians keep Sunday because it has been revealed to us by the [Roman Catholic] church outside the Bible.”

Catholic Virginian, October 3, 1947, 9, article “To Tell You the Truth.”

 

“Q: Which is the Sabbath day?

A: Saturday is the Sabbath day?

Q: Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?

A: We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday.”

The Converts Catechism of Catholic Doctrine (1957), 50

 

“The Christian Sabbath [Sunday] is not in the Scriptures, and was not by the primitive Church called the Sabbath.”

Timothy Dwight, Theology: Explained and Defended (1823), Sermon 107, Vol. 3, 258

 

“Reason and sense demand the acceptance of one or the other of these alternatives: either Protestantism and the keeping holy of Saturday, or Catholicity and the keeping holy of Sunday. Compromise is impossible.”

John Cardinal Gibbons, The Catholic Mirror, December 23, 1893

 

“Sunday is a Catholic institution, and… can be defended only on Catholic principles… From beginning to end of Scripture there is not a single passage that warrants the transfer of weekly public worship from the last day of the week to the first.

Catholic Press, August 25, 1900

 

These quotations come from the pamphlet entitled Roman Catholic and Protestant Confessions about Sunday. This pamphlet and other materials regarding the Sabbath can be purchased from:

The Bible Sabbath Association
HC 60 Box 8
Fairview, OK 73737

Also available from the Steps to Life bookstore is the booklet Remember the Sabbath Day, written by Marshall Grosboll, which provides a thorough history of the Sabbath.

Story – Remember the Sabbath Day

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The church bell was ringing. Nine o’clock, it tolled. Johnny liked to dress up in his best suit. He was ready to go to church, for today was the Sabbath.

Soon Mother and Daddy, Don, Alice, and Ted were ready to go. So they left home and walked toward the church several blocks away. On the corner Johnny met a friend, Joan.

“We are going to church,” Johnny chirped happily.

“We don’t go to church today; we go tomorrow!” Joan answered saucily.

“Tomorrow is Sunday!” Johnny promptly informed her.

“I know. That’s the day to go to church,” she replied, and skipped down the street.

Johnny was puzzled. “Daddy, why do we go to church today instead of Sunday?” asked Johnny, as they walked along the sidewalk.

“Well, son, the Bible says: ‘Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.’ We go to church today because it is the seventh day, the Sabbath. It is one of God’s commandments.”

Johnny found his class at Sabbath School, and sat down quietly. He was happy.

First the leader had the children sing several songs, and then everyone knelt down, and the teacher prayed to God. She asked the heavenly Father to care for the boys and girls and help them to do what is right.

After Sabbath School, the family sat together in their usual place and listened to the sermon. When the service was over, they went home and had their lunch. Then Johnny and his dog Spotty went out in the back garden. The day was warm and lovely and Johnny lay down on the soft grass to watch the fleecy clouds in the blue sky.

While he was lying on the grass, he saw two bluebirds flying back and forth to the apple tree. Each bird carried a straw or string in its beak as it flew to the tree.

Johnny kept quiet and watched, and soon spied the branch where the bluebirds were working. His feathered friends were building a nest. It was such fun to watch!

After a while he saw Mother and Daddy walking in the yard among the flowers. He called softly to them, for he didn’t want to disturb the birds. They came over, and Mother exclaimed, “Isn’t this a lovely Sabbath day!”

“Oh, yes, Mother. I’ve been watching the bluebirds building their nest. Do you want to see them?” He showed them the nest in the apple tree. They watched until the birds flew away.

“Let’s go for a walk, Johnny, and see how many kinds of birds we can find,” suggested Daddy.

In a little while, Mother, Daddy, and Johnny were walking through the field on their way to the creek. They sat down on the rocks near the rippling water and watched for birds. They saw sparrows, blue jays, hawks, blackbirds, robins, and a red-throated hummingbird, its wings whirring as it sipped nectar from the wild flowers.

Daddy suggested that Johnny learn the fourth commandment while they sat there by the creek.

Johnny kept repeating the words after his father until he knew God’s fourth rule. It is a long commandment, so he had to work hard to learn it all.

“How can we remember the Sabbath?”

“First, we can remember the Sabbath by going to church and worshiping God there,” suggested Mother. “Our heavenly Father is pleased when He sees us come into His house, just as we are happy to see a friend come to our house to visit.”

“We remember the holy Sabbath when we go outdoors and look at the beautiful things God created,” Daddy added.

“I know another way,” spoke up Johnny. “We can read the Bible, and learn the commandments, as we’re doing now.”

Johnny sat quietly looking at the rippling water. Then he said thoughtfully: “Is that why you clean the house and cook so many good things on Friday, so you won’t have to work on Sabbath?”

“That’s right,” Mother nodded.

“Daddy never goes to his office on the Sabbath, either.”

“Yes,” Daddy added, “and you know the men who work for me never work on the Sabbath. Some of the men do not believe in God, but everyone who works for me has the Sabbath day for rest anyway. The commandment says: ‘In it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates.’

“One time,” continued Daddy, “when we lived on the farm, my neighbor wanted to borrow one of my teams of horses and the driver on Sabbath morning. He knew I did not have the men or the horses work on that day, so he thought he would not be bothering me in my work to ask for them on a day when I did not use them. I had to explain to him that God’s rule said the cattle and the workmen were not to work on the Sabbath either. I told him I would let him use them on another day of the week.

“The man could not understand, but he said to me: ‘If that’s what your God says, you’d better obey. I’ll not ask you to disobey Him.’

“Months later this neighbor came to us for help when he and his family were in trouble. He told me he knew he could trust us, for we were so careful to keep God’s commandments. Finally, the man and his family decided to study the Bible with us, and they are now keeping the Sabbath, too.”

“That’s a wonderful story, Daddy!” exclaimed Johnny.

“Well, it’s time for us to start home,” Daddy reminded Mother and Johnny.

The sun had almost set when they reached the front porch of their home. Alice and Ted were back from the afternoon meeting of the young folk, and the family sat down and read from the Bible. Then they knelt in prayer as the sun sank behind the hills.

“It’s been a good Sabbath,” Mother said.

Taken from God’s Ten Rules, Ethyl M. Neff, ©1948, 35–43

Sabbath – Story of Liberty

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To understand why the Sabbath as an institution of God’s legal order has survived even in times of complete apostasy of Christianity, we need to understand its essence—the idea of ​​the Sabbath, which is universal, inspiring, and determines the identity of the follower of Jesus.

Why Is the Sabbath So Special?

The Sabbath is the seventh day on which God completed the work of creating the world. “And on the seventh day God finished His work that He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work that He had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all His work that He had done in creation.” Genesis 2:2, 3 (ESV)

Therefore, if we understand that the Sabbath comes directly from God, it means that by its very nature it must be unique, different in every respect from what comes from a man with a sinful nature. The Sabbath is the crowning achievement of creation, not an ordinary weekday. By the Sabbath we mean the difference between the Creator and the created. The Sabbath is a memorial of God’s creation and at the same time a memorial of God’s deliverance: “You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.” Deuteronomy 5:15 (ESV)

Rest in Christ

The eternal God in the person of Jesus Christ, through His saving mission completed on Friday, rested on Saturday to become, for us who believe in His merits, the One who freed us from the slavery of sin. So, if we celebrate the Sabbath in accordance with the fourth commandment, that celebration is a joyful weekly update of our experience of salvation in Jesus. Salvation is God’s gift, grace offered to us, therefore on the Sabbath we rest in the merits of Jesus. God blesses and sanctifies those who rest in Jesus.

Work-Life Balance

The modern world emphasizes and appreciates, above all, activity, creativity in action and work. The dizzying pace of life, an avalanche of information, and high expectations as to professional effectiveness can easily lead to a situation in which private life is overshadowed by work. This, in turn, often results in the destruction of relationships with loved ones, chronic fatigue, reduced involvement in the relationship with Jesus, and even neurotic disorders. More and more people realize that it is necessary to maintain a balance between their work and personal life, the so-called work-life balance. In the description of the creation of the world, we see God who is active, creative, and involved. At the same time, we can see God resting, blessing, and sanctifying. It is a God who celebrates and rejoices in His creation. The Lord of the Sabbath invites us to celebrate together, to enjoy existence, and to marvel at the beauty of God and His creation.

However, the Sabbath is not, nor can be, servile to the other days of the week, as if by resting we are later to increase our efficiency at work! It is not the Sabbath for the weekdays; the weekdays are for Sabbath. It is not a break, but a culmination of life!i Thus, all other days of the week are to be a gradual preparation for the celebration of that day.

The Peace of the Sabbath

As humans, we live in time and are subject to death, and as with all creation, from the time of Adam’s sin until now, are troubled and in pain, and long to be freed from this handicapped state (Romans 8:22). The Sabbath, on the other hand, is eternity in time. The presence of the eternal God is revealed to us in the Sabbath. Peace and solace, happiness and freedom from the fear of non-existence are found on the Sabbath in God’s presence. The peace of the Sabbath applies to all of creation, not just humans. For along with man, the animals (Exodus 20:10) and the earth (Leviticus 25:11) are also to rest. The joy and holiness of the Sabbath cannot be lived apart from another human being. Have you ever tried to celebrate your own birthday alone? It would be the saddest birthday ever. For the more we share love and joy with others, the more joy and love there is.

Freedom Celebration

The Sabbath is a holiday of freedom. It frees us from economic and material tyranny, from the pursuit of success, from the fear of losing, from anxiety about our existence. It frees us from the gray, monotonous everyday life, from all the roar and chaos of the world. It frees us from the compulsion to prove anything to ourselves and others. It is freedom from civilization, from the novelty of technology, from the dirt of politics. In this sense, the Sabbath is a profound experience of freedom, an experience of a better world to come. At the same time, the Sabbath is freedom to joyfully celebrate, to be blessed through words of praise, recognition and love—for God and neighbors. It is freedom to relax, to rest, freedom to enjoy the physical and mental closeness of our loved ones, a delicious meal, the beauty of music, the smell of the forest, or the sound of sea waves.

The Jewish people in the time of Jesus and later did not enjoy the freedom of the Sabbath because they did not understand its principle. The Jews kept the Sabbath legalistically, making a caricature of it. Apart from the command to refrain from work and a few guidelines, we will not find in the Bible a list of prohibitions and commandments regarding the Sabbath.

Ecological Sabbath

The seventh-day Sabbath has no analogy with the other days of the week. However, the one-week Sabbath corresponds to the Sabbath year, when every seventh year the land had to be left unsown. At the same time, man and animals rested because no agricultural work was done. The Sabbath year coincided with the year of cancellation of debts. God promised a special harvest blessing in every sixth year, if only the Israelites would obey the command not to sow the land during the Sabbath year. Just imagine the level of faith and trust in God’s promises if all U.S. farmers decided not to farm during the Sabbath year.

The Year of Jubilee–The Year of Liberty

The Sabbath year corresponds to the Jubilee year, celebrated every 50 years after the seventh-Sabbath year. The Jubilee year was a special time of the Lord’s grace. With the sound of the ram’s horn beginning the Jubilee year, freedom was proclaimed for all. All slaves had to be freed and allowed to return to their homes. All debts were to be cancelled. The land was to be returned to the previous owners. All wealth was to be redistributed and returned to the original owners. Just imagine a society that lives according to the principles of the Jubilee year! Imagine that every 50 years our bank loans are cancelled, rich countries cancel the debts of countries that can never repay them. These principles are so perfect that, when confronted with our nature, they have remained only an ideal in history. In principle, the Jubilee year equalizes social inequalities. Everyone gets a chance to start all over again. We see how God cares for His people in a special way. Reading the principles written in Leviticus 25, one might think that God gives man “the best and at the same time the most humane social system that has ever appeared in the world.”i

The Year of the Lord’s Favor

We find in Luke 4:16–21 that Jesus begins His public ministry by observing the seventh-day Sabbath in the synagogue in Nazareth where He reads aloud Isaiah’s prophecy regarding the coming Messiah, and clearly states that He is the Messiah. In His Messianic program, Jesus declares the liberation of all the poor, captives, and prisoners, and through His death and resurrection gives the opportunity to all those who lived in bondage to sin and the devil to start a new life. If Today we heard what Jesus says to us and accept these words with faith, Today the words of Jesus are fulfilled for you. The year of the Lord’s favor includes the blessing of the Sabbath, but does not invalidate the weekly Sabbath as an institution or idea. Since Jesus proclaimed the year of the Lord’s favor, we live in the eschatological Sabbath, in the Messianic era, and at the same time, we are still waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Man, Ecology, Society

The comprehensive idea of ​​the Sabbath has a strong influence on our thinking about God, man, ecology, and society. When there was no just social system, no human rights, including the right to happiness, dignity, and rest, when there was no thinking about the land as a gift of the Creator to His human family, not only for their sustenance and common good, but also as a treasure given by God to be cared for and not abused (Leviticus 25:1–7), God made a covenant with Israel creating a constitution for man, as an individual, but also as part of the community of saints, in the center of which is His seal—the Sabbath.

Sabbath–An Idea from another World

The Sabbath is a powerful idea that comes from another dimension, from a better world, because its Creator is the eternal God Himself. God’s ideas are eternal. The idea of ​​the Sabbath could not be eradicated from Christianity, because Jesus Christ Himself is the Lord of the Sabbath, therefore, there have always been people in the history of Christianity who wanted to imitate their Lord in everything, guarding the Sabbath as a memorial of creation and salvation.

The Sabbath in History

Over the centuries, the Sabbath has been an inspiration for people who want to follow Jesus with all their hearts. Even when it meant opposition to most of the Christian world, even when it meant to be anti-establishment. In every epoch since the apostolic times, there have been Christians keeping the Sabbath, which is confirmed by historical sources. In every age, there has been the church of Jesus Christ—the church that the book of Revelation 12 describes as the woman in the wilderness. According to the Bible, almost from the beginning of Christianity there are two global churches. One church is a powerful political-religious power. The other church is the one that has never formed a majority, that recognizes the Bible as the only authority on matters of faith and practice, that keeps the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. This does not mean, of course, that there are only two denominations on earth, but rather that there are two types of religion represented by these two global churches.

The Sabbath in Language

The word Sabbath remains to this day in the name of the seventh day of the week in many languages ​​of the world. In Polish and Czech, it is Sobota and in Russian, subbota. In Italian it is Sabato and in Portuguese and Spanish, sábado. In Armenian, Shabat, and in Arabic Sabt.iii It is also interesting that despite the fact that the Hebrew text of the fourth commandment can be translated into English, there is one word for which we do not find an English equivalent, and that is the word Sabbath.iv However, the name of Sunday in different languages ​​indicates the roots of this day in pagan sun worship. This can be seen in English—Sunday (day of sun) and in German—Sonntag (day of sun).

Sabbath in Underground

Thinking about the Sabbath in the history of Christianity, one can clearly see that the truth about the Sabbath has been alive for centuries, despite the fact that the bishops of Rome tried to completely eradicate it as an institution of the divine law. The Christian world has been deceived by Rome to celebrate Sunday. Sunday as a holy day was established by imperial and papal Rome.v

We know from history that where the power of the Roman popes did not reach, the church of God developed in freedom, but even in those countries that were subject to papal Rome, there was a church that “going underground” preserved the institution of the Sabbath and nurtured its idea. The case of the Oriental churches is interesting. As K. Kościelniak, a Catholic priest, admits: “Due to centuries of isolation from Greek and Western Christianity, the Coptic Church has many separate, extremely original traditions. Some Jewish rites are practiced, such as the circumcision of boys and the observance of the Sabbath.”vi The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo church also observes the Sabbath.vii Faithfulness to the institution and idea of ​​the Sabbath among the churches of Africa was aptly summed up by Keith A. Burton: “The church in Africa [recognized] that the resurrection of Christ in no way nullified the fact that ‘in six days the Lord made heaven and earth.’ … Even though the power of the Western papal legacy has made some indelible indentations on the churches of Africa, to this day they have refused to fully succumb.”viii It is also worth mentioning the Celtic Christians who from the 2nd century, when the gospel reached the British Isles, kept the Sabbath in the times of Patrick, Columba, and Dinooth until the Norman conquest of the British Isles in the 11th century.ix Shabbat was celebrated by many Waldenses and Anabaptists, and through them many Christians in Bohemia, Moravia, Slovakia, and Silesia.x

Papal Imperialism

The system of the Roman Catholic Church is an escape from freedom to totalitarian power over every aspect of an individual’s life. The papacy, by its nature, as a political and religious power, implements its policy through imperialism—political and cultural. The papacy has always sought to subjugate individuals, communities, nations, and churches. By establishing Sunday by its own authority in place of the biblical Sabbath, it made Sunday the hallmark of its system. Therefore, anyone who accepts the papal Sunday accepts, consciously or unconsciously, the authority of Papal Rome over himself. This is confirmed by Monsignor Louis Segur: “Observance of Sunday by the Protestants is a homage they pay in spite of themselves to the authority of the Catholic Church.”xi Thus, Sunday became the opposite of the biblical Sabbath, replacing the freedom of the individual against God with the slavery of man against the power of a man—the pope.

i   A. J. Heschel, Szabat, p. 41.

ii   D. Juster, Powrót do korzeni, p. 31.

iii  J. Dunkel, Apokalipsa, p. 172.

iv  A. J. Heschel, Bóg szukający człowieka, p. 516.

v   J. Dunkel, Apokalipsa, p. 181, 182.

vi  K. Kościelniak, Piękno pluralizmu przedchalcedońskich Kościołów orientalnych, p. 67.

vii  Ibidem, p. 69.

viii https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabbatarianism#cite_note-71, accessibility: 28.11. 2022 cited work: K. Burton, Western European Imperialism and the Literary Suppression of the African Fidelity to the Biblical Sabbath.

ix  J. Dunkel, Apokalipsa, p. 182.

x   Ibiden, p. 183, cited work: G.F. Hasel, Sabbatarian Anabaptist in Andrews University Seminary Studies, 5, (1967): 106–115; 6, (1968): 19–21.

xi  L. Segur, Plain Talk about the Protestantism of Today, p. 213.

Marcin Watras lives in Katowice, Poland. He is interested in the philosophy of religion and trends in society. He works in the funds distribution of the European Union.

God Said, Remember

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How do we know that Saturday, the seventh day of the week, is really the Sabbath? I was asked this question one Sabbath by a woman who was visiting my church. She had visited almost all, if not all, of the Sunday-keeping churches in our town in search of the truth and had finally decided to see what this Saturday-keeping church was all about.

After a couple of weeks of attending church with us, she point-blank asked me, “How do we know?” I asked her a question in return, “When Jesus was here on earth, on what day does the Bible say He went to church?” She thought a minute and replied, “The seventh day.” Then I asked her, “Do we all agree that God established the seventh day as His Sabbath at creation, that He reaffirmed that day in the ten commandments on Mt. Sinai, and that Jesus Himself worshiped on the seventh day of the week?” She replied, “Yes.”

“Since God was the One who established the Sabbath in the beginning, would it not make sense that if He intended to change the day from the seventh to the first day of the week, He would have Himself done so in the person of His Son Jesus during His life here on earth? Wouldn’t Jesus have established and attended a church that worshiped on the first day of the week, and instructed His disciples and those who followed Him to do so?” She said, “Yes, that does make sense.”

That all may sound very logical, but we need to go to the Bible and fully confirm with absolute certainty that the seventh day, Saturday, was, is, and will forever be, God’s Sabbath.

A couple of ground rules before we get started. First rule, the Bible will always explain itself and does not contradict itself. So the study of any scriptural topic must be based on the preponderance of Biblical evidence. That means gathering all the texts on a given subject and comparing them together, not taking a text that might alone seem contradictory to try to prove false all the other texts, or to take one or two texts out of context and manipulate them to support a cherished belief.

The second rule is that all scriptures must be read and taken in their intended context. Context includes the time, place, and circumstances in which a scripture is found. An example is Peter’s vision found in Acts 10:11, the representation of the sheet filled with all kinds of beasts and birds descending out of heaven. This text is most often taken to mean that there are certain foods that we should not eat (Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14). Peter himself, at first, thought that was the meaning of the vision. But when read within its proper context, it is understood that God was giving Peter a mission to preach the gospel to the Gentiles, specifically, in Acts 10, Cornelius in Caesarea, but it was necessary for Peter to first understand and give up his own prejudices against the Gentiles.

The Beginning

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1. For six days, God, through His Son Jesus, created the world and everything in it. We know this to be true because John 1:1–3 also tells us, “In the beginning was the Word [Jesus], and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” So Jesus is the Creator.

After the six days of creation, Genesis 2:1–3 tells us, “Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work, which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.” In Genesis, we find, then, that God blessed and sanctified (set apart, made holy) the seventh day.

Just briefly, let’s look at sanctification. When God sanctifies something, it is set apart in holiness. It is something made pure and sacred. We see the word sanctification used in the Bible many times in reference to the process through which sinful man passes to achieve a perfected character, thus making him ready to spend eternity with God. Being made holy is a two-part process: justification and sanctification. First John 1:9 tells us how justification occurs: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Then having been justified by faith, we are made heirs with Christ (Titus 3:7). Justification then leads to sanctification, which is a life-long journey.

“Sanctification is not the work of a moment, an hour, a day, but of a lifetime. It is not gained by a happy flight of feeling, but is the result of constantly dying to sin, and constantly living for Christ. … It is only by long, persevering effort, sore discipline, and stern conflict … .

“[It is] a living, active principle, entering into the everyday life.” The Faith I Live By, 116

God says, “I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” Jeremiah 31:33

God has sanctified and made holy the seventh-day Sabbath. It is also His purpose to keep man holy. The man who chooses to allow God to write His law in his heart, and thereby transform his life, God will sanctify and make holy as long as that man keeps the law in his heart. But man was given free will and can decide to go back to sinful living. God can make a man holy, but the man must choose to be kept holy and show that choice in his daily life.

“The institution of the Sabbath was made when the foundation of the earth was laid … . Like the other nine precepts of the law, it is of imperishable obligation. It is the memorial of God’s creative power, the reminder of His exalted work. The fourth commandment occupies a sacred position in the law, and bears the same hallowed nature as do the other great moral precepts of God.” The Signs of the Times, January 8, 1894

The Flood, Egypt, Mt. Sinai, and the Wilderness

Once sin entered the world, the wickedness of man became so great that he began to worship the created rather than the Creator. Early forms of paganism were developed and only God’s faithful few obeyed His commands. The flood was the result of man’s wickedness (Genesis 6:5–8), and only eight people followed God’s commandments and were saved when the flood came.

After the flood, Genesis follows the genealogy of man through time to Abraham, Lot and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Jacob, and Joseph. Joseph’s obedience to God while in slavery in Egypt, ultimately resulted in his being given a high position in Pharaoh’s government, making it possible for him to preserve the family of Jacob in the land of Goshen when the seven years of drought fell upon the land (Exodus 1).

But after the deaths of Jacob and Joseph, the Egyptians became afraid as the children of Israel multiplied. Thus they were made slaves and cruelly treated; their lives were hard and severe. It is here we find that the children of Israel were still keeping the seventh-day Sabbath as instituted by God at creation. “At the time of the Exodus from Egypt, the Sabbath institution was brought prominently before the people of God. While they were still in bondage, their taskmasters had attempted to force them to labor on the Sabbath by increasing the amount of work required each week. Again and again the conditions of labor had been made harder and more exacting. …” Prophets and Kings, 180, 181

But God raised up Moses to deliver the Israelites (Exodus 2–4). He became God’s spokesman, delivering His message to Pharaoh to release the children of Israel from their bondage (Exodus 5–12).

We find in Exodus 16, having been freed from their Egyptian slavery and beginning their trek across the desert to the promised land, God gave the children of Israel manna for food. His instructions regarding the collection of the manna was that it would fall every day for six days, but on the seventh day, Sabbath, it would not fall. Each day for the first five days of the week, they were to gather only enough manna for that day because any more than that would spoil, but on the sixth day, they were to gather a double portion so that they would have enough for the sixth and seventh days, and God preserved the excess to be eaten on the Sabbath. Verses 22–26 tell us, “And so it was, on the sixth day, that they gathered twice as much bread [manna], two omers for each one. And all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. Then he said to them, ‘This is what the Lord has said: “Tomorrow is the Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil; and lay up for yourselves all that remains, to be kept until morning.” ’ So they laid it up till morning as Moses commanded; and it did not stink, nor were there any worms in it.’ Then Moses said, ‘Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field. Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none.’ ”

But we see in verse 27 that some of the children of Israel still went out on the seventh day looking to collect manna, only to find that there was none, just as God had said. In response, God says in verses 28 and 29, “ ‘How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws? See! For the Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore He gives you on the sixth day bread for two days. Let every man remain in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.’ ” And finally, in verse 30, we read, “So the people rested on the seventh day.”

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.” Exodus 20:8–11

Leviticus 23:3 is very similar in wording to what we read in Exodus 16: “Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it; it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings.”

God wrote this and the other nine commandments on stone with His own finger. How much more permanent could they be? “God has declared that the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord. When ‘the heavens and the earth were finished,’ He exalted this day as a memorial of His creative work.” Prophets and Kings, 180

The New Testament

We are told that “He [Christ] came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.” Luke 4:16. Notice, it was Jesus’ custom to go to the synagogue on the Sabbath day. To this point in Scripture, we find nothing that indicates that God changed His Sabbath from the day He set apart at creation to any other day than the seventh day. So Jesus, as was His custom, went each seventh day of the week to worship in the synagogue. If it was divine intention to change the seventh-day Sabbath to the first day of the week, why not sometime during the years of Jesus’ life?

Or perhaps, during the 40 days Jesus was on earth after the ascension, He could have instructed the disciples to keep the first day of the week because He rose from the grave on that day. But we are not told to keep the first day of the week as Sabbath because of His resurrection. Instead we are to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection because it gives us hope of our own “resurrection,” by the death of the old man and the birth of the new man as symbolized in baptism.

“And I saw that if God had changed the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day, He would have changed the writing of the Sabbath commandment, written on the tables of stone, which are now in the ark in the most holy place of the temple in heaven; and it would read thus: The first day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. But I saw that it read the same as when written on the tables of stone by the finger of God, and delivered to Moses on Sinai, ‘But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.’ I saw that the holy Sabbath is, and will be, the separating wall between the true Israel of God and unbelievers; and that the Sabbath is the great question to unite the hearts of God’s dear, waiting saints.” Early Writings, 33

I would like to suggest that the reason God has not changed His Sabbath is found in Malachi 3:6 where God says, “ ‘For I am the Lord, I do not change.’ ” We must also remember that “God’s law is the transcript of His character. It embodies the principles of His kingdom.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 305

To change the Sabbath from the seventh day to the first day would be changing who God is. As a consequence of sin, we were changed, and if we wish to be with God in His kingdom, then we must be changed back to be as we were meant to be before sin. But there is nothing in the Bible that says God changes. To the contrary, the following texts affirm that God does not change.

“I AM who I AM.” Exodus 3:14

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” Hebrews 13:8

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.” James 1:17

“God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” Numbers 23:19

“Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven.” Psalm 119:89

“But You are the same, and Your years will have no end.” Psalm 102:27

I don’t believe that we can in any way doubt that God says what He means and means what He says. He instituted the seventh-day Sabbath at creation, He reiterated it by inscribing it with His own finger as the fourth commandment on tables of stone at Mt. Sinai, and the life of Christ reflected obedience in keeping the law of God, including the seventh-day Sabbath.

There is a popular religious belief that the ten commandments were nailed to the cross and are no longer binding, but the cross did not do away with the ten commandments or any part of them. What it did do was make the earthly sanctuary and all the animal sacrifices, rituals, ceremonies, and feast days connected with these animal sacrifices no longer a part of the worship of God’s children (Colossians 2:14–23). Why? Because all of those things pointed forward to His coming—both His first advent and His second—as Messiah and Saviour of man. In their place, Jesus established the communion service and the ordinance of humility.

“In this ordinance, Christ discharged His disciples from the cares and burdens of the ancient Jewish obligations in rites and ceremonies. These no longer possessed any virtue; for type was meeting antitype in Himself, the authority and foundation of all Jewish ordinances that pointed to Him as the great and only efficacious offering for the sins of the world. …

“It was Christ’s desire to leave to His disciples an ordinance that would do for them the very thing they needed,—that would serve to disentangle them from the rites and ceremonies which they had hitherto engaged in as essential, and which the reception of the gospel made no longer of any force. To continue these rites would be an insult to Jehovah.” The Review and Herald, June 14, 1898

“For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: ‘Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared Me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure.’ Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come—in the volume of the book it is written of Me—to do Your will, O God.’ ” Hebrews 10:1–7

Another popular belief is that the ten commandments were replaced by the two found in Mark 12:30 and 31. Jesus said, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.’ ”

When we look at the ten commandments, it is clear that they are divided into two sections. Commandments 1–4 regard our direct, personal relationship with God, and commandments 5–10 regard our relationship with our neighbor, as well as with God. Jesus wasn’t saying to do away with the ten and then just love God and love your neighbor. These two principles found in Mark are a summary of the ten commandments, and in loving our neighbor, we are showing that we love God.

We are to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and spirit, and this love for God is displayed by our obedience to His commandments. This is clearly stated in John 14:15, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” Our love for God is also displayed in how we treat and love the people with whom we share this world. Jesus died for all of mankind regardless of the color of their skin, the culture or country they came from, or their particular religious beliefs; if we truly love Him, then we will love all those for whom He died.

Another important consideration in keeping the ten commandments is found in James 2:10, 11: “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. For He who said, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ also said, ‘Do not murder.’ Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.” This same principle would apply if one did not keep the seventh-day Sabbath of the fourth commandment, even though they might faithfully keep the other nine.

Someone might say, “But the seventh-day Sabbath is kept by the Jews. It is a Jewish Sabbath.” Let’s see, does Mark 2:27 say, “The Sabbath was made for the Jews, and not the Jews for the Sabbath?” No, it says, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” To be clear, the Greek word used here for man is anthrópos, meaning, generically, to include all human individuals. So, the seventh-day Sabbath was not created and given strictly as a Jewish Sabbath. It was meant for, and given to all of mankind.

“The Sabbath is not Jewish in its origin. It was instituted in Eden before there were such a people known as the Jews. The Sabbath was made for all mankind, and was instituted in Eden before the fall of man. The Creator called it ‘My holy day.’ Christ announced Himself as ‘the Lord of the Sabbath.’ Beginning with creation, it is as old as the human race, and having been made for man it will exist as long as man shall exist.” The Signs of the Times, November 12, 1894

The Change

There are Christian denominations that teach that the sacredness of the seventh day as given by God at creation has been transferred to Sunday because Christ rose from the grave on the first day of the week following the crucifixion. Some denominations teach that the Sabbath day was changed because of the activities recorded in Acts 20:7 and 1 Corinthians 16:1, 2. But there is not a single text in the Bible to support the supposed transfer because of the resurrection, nor are there any activities recorded in the Bible and performed on any first day of the week that included the sacredness, the act of setting apart, as described in Genesis 2. However, Daniel 7:25 tells us, “He [meaning the beast identified in Daniel 7] shall speak pompous words against the Most High, shall persecute the saints of the Most High, and shall intend to change times and law. …” There is only one commandment in all the ten that deals with time—the fourth.

The book of Daniel identifies this beast power as Rome, which ultimately became the Holy Roman Empire or the Roman Catholic Church. This is the power that has sought to change times and laws.

Cardinal James Gibbons is quoted in The Faith of Our Fathers (1917 ed.) 72, 73, “You may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we [the Catholic church] never sanctify.”

And again Cardinal Gibbons states:

“Is Saturday the seventh day according to the Bible and the ten commandments? I answer yes. Is Sunday the first day of the week and did the Church [the Catholic church] change the seventh-day Saturday for Sunday, the first day? I answer yes. Did Christ change the day? I answer no!”

Chancellor Albert Smith’s letter dated February 10, 1920, reads, “If Protestants would follow the Bible, they should worship God on the Sabbath day. In keeping Sunday, they are following a law of the Catholic Church.”

From Our Sunday Visitor, February 5, 1950: “Practically everything Protestants regard as essential or important they have received from the Catholic Church … . The Protestant mind does not seem to realize that in … observing Sunday, in keeping Christmas and Easter, they are accepting the authority of the spokesman for the church, the Pope.”

Monsignor Louis Segur, Plain Talk about the Protestantism of Today, 213, “Observance of Sunday by the Protestants is a homage they pay in spite of themselves to the authority of the Catholic Church.”

During a lecture at Hartford, Kansas, February 18, 1884, Catholic Priest T. Enright CSSR said, “I have repeatedly offered $1,000 to anyone who can prove to me from the Bible alone that I am bound to keep Sunday holy. … The Bible says, ‘Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.’ But the Catholic Church says, ‘No, by my divine power, I abolish the Sabbath day … keep the 1st day of the week.’ And lo! The entire civilized world bows down in a reverent obedience.”

“Regarding the change from the observance of the Jewish Sabbath to the Christian Sunday, I wish to draw your attention to the facts:

“1) That Protestants, who accept the Bible as the only rule of faith and religion, should by all means go back to the observance of the Sabbath. The fact that they do not, but on the contrary observe the Sunday, stultifies them in the eyes of every thinking man.

“2) We Catholics do not accept the Bible as the only rule of faith. Besides the Bible we have the living Church, the authority of the Church, as a rule to guide us. We say, this Church, instituted by Christ to teach and guide man through life, has the right to change the ceremonial laws of the Old Testament and hence, we accept her change of the Sabbath to Sunday. We frankly say, yes, the Church made this change, made this law, as she made many other laws, for instance, the Friday abstinence, the unmarried priesthood, the laws concerning mixed marriages and a thousand other laws.

“It is always somewhat laughable, to see the Protestant churches, in the pulpit and legislation, demand the observance of Sunday, of which there is nothing in their Bible.” Peter R. Kramer, Catholic Church Extension Society (1975), Chicago, Illinois.

By its own admission, the Catholic Church accepts responsibility for changing God’s appointed day of worship to their own, and Protestant churches around the world have accepted this change, although the Bible proves over and over that the seventh-day Sabbath is the only day sanctified by God.

It seems very clear that by man’s own words he knows, or should know, that Sunday worship was a change made by man, insinuated into the religions of man by the devil himself, to deceive good, honest Christ-seeking people into believing that they are doing what the Lord wants them to do, when in fact, they are breaking His law. Remember what we read above in James 2, “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.”

People of all faiths endeavor to do what is right. They go to church, they pay their tithe, they help their neighbor, they work to keep their minds and hearts pure from the wickedness of the world, but in this one point, not following the Bible’s direction to keep the seventh-day Sabbath, they choose to observe a day instituted by man, not God.

Friend, God has clearly defined that the way to the city of God is by obedience. We find this stated repeatedly in the Scriptures. But the devil has changed the signpost, pointing it in the wrong direction. He has established a false Sabbath and has deceived and confused men and women for millennia to think that by resting on his day, they are obeying the command of God our Creator. Many Protestant ministers today will preach that God requires obedience, but in teaching their congregations to worship on Sunday, they are teaching them disobedience to His law.

Soon the time will come in this earth’s history when the great controversy between God and evil will reach its climax—the point at which all alive on this earth will have to make a choice. There are only two choices: to obey God or not. Obedience to God means keeping all of His law, including the seventh-day Sabbath. The fourth commandment specifically states who God is—the Creator—and what is His. Therefore, the devil has done everything in his power for six thousand years to destroy the Sabbath.

“Those who dishonor God by transgressing His law may talk sanctification; but it is of the same value, and just as acceptable, as was the offering of Cain. Obedience to the commandments of God is the only true sign of sanctification. … Obedience is the sign of true love.” The Review and Herald, October 26, 1897

Things are so bad in the world that we cannot imagine they can be worse. But they can be worse, and they will be according to the Bible. Those who obey God will be called troublemakers. Christian will turn against Christian. Family and friend will turn against each other. One day very soon a man-made law will be passed, a Sunday law, that will dictate that we must keep Sunday as the day of worship. We can already see many not-so-subtle attempts to accomplish this today. And most of the world will follow this law believing that they are serving God.

The time is coming when the people of the world will have to choose. Those who choose to be obedient to God’s law and keep the seventh-day Sabbath will then be unable to buy or sell or work, they will lose everything they have, they will be persecuted, imprisoned, and some may even lose their lives. We cannot wait to make that choice. We must be choosing now, every moment of the day, to obey God.

Those who choose not to obey God’s law by disregarding one or all of His commandments and who follow the Sunday law, will be filled with the spirit of the one they serve. The world must be warned now so that they can choose to obey God while they still have the opportunity. One day soon Jesus will stand up and pronounce, “It is finished!” and probation will be over, destinies decided. We must decide now to do what is right, because there will be no second chance.

“So long as the heavens and the earth endure, the Sabbath will continue as a sign of the Creator’s power. And when Eden shall bloom on earth again, God’s holy rest day will be honored by all beneath the sun.” The Desire of Ages, 283

“This law [of God] will maintain its exalted character as long as the throne of Jehovah endures.” The Review and Herald, October 10, 1899

“God’s law is unchangeable; and though by human beings it has been slighted, scorned, and rejected, it will ever stand as firm as the throne of Jehovah.” Ibid., September 24, 1901

“The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of God will stand forever.” Isaiah 40:8

Judy Rebarchek is the managing editor of the LandMarks magazine. She may be contacted by email at: judyrebarchek@stepstolife.org

Missing the Glory

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As Bible-believing Christians, it is vitally important that every doctrine that we profess be firmly rooted in the word of God. Jesus declared that it is the word of His Father that is truth and makes us holy. “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.” John 17:17. God takes ownership only of the truth. God has no part of a lie, but He tells us who the author of lies is. “You are of your father the devil … for he is a liar and the father of it.” John 8:44. We need to “buy the truth, and do not sell it” (Proverbs 23:23) and have no part of any lie.

The purpose of a lie is to deceive, to blind the mind so that the truth cannot be understood. Satan told the very first lie to Eve in the garden of Eden. It was about death, a subject on which billions today are still deceived. The devil told our first mother, as she stood before the forbidden tree, “You will not surely die.” Genesis 3:4. This lie was in direct conflict with the truth of God regarding the punishment of death for sin. He had declared to Adam, “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Genesis 2:17. Adam and Eve sinned, but did not drop dead that day. They did, however, die spiritually. They were no longer in unity with God, their Creator. Guilt-ridden, they fled from His presence.

Because our first parents did not physically die on the very day that they ate the forbidden fruit, the lie of Satan is eagerly believed by many Christians. Even on tombstones, phrases are carved disputing the existence of death. “There is no Death.” “Gone to Glory.” Satan’s lie is eagerly grasped for comfort at the loss of a loved one, being repeated by ministers, family, and friends at funerals and memorial services. So often, those who state, “She’s singing in the choir with the angels,” “He is in a better place,” or “He’s gone on home to glory” do not realize they are perpetuating the devil’s lie. On obituaries it is stated that the service is a “Home Going Celebration.” By the words of false comfort, spoken over the dead, God’s word has been stripped of its power to enlighten the mind to the glories of the resurrection of the just.

Is it not strange that in Christian churches, where the resurrection of Christ is regarded so highly that the first day of the week on which He rose is the day of worship, it is taught that those who die now go straight to heaven, bypassing the resurrection at Jesus’ soon return? How is it that those who follow the Master are greater and more blessed than He? Our Lord plainly told His disciples, “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ ” John 15:20

In His earthly ministry, Jesus raised the dead to life, but never gave any indication that they had gone to heaven at death. Even Lazarus, whom He loved, did not enter heaven at death. When our Saviour raised him back to life, He did not say, “Lazarus, come down.” He called out to the grave where His dear friend lay, “ ‘Lazarus, come forth!’ And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes … .” John 11:43, 44.

The raising of Lazarus from the dead agrees fully with the truth about death in the Old Testament. “The dead do not praise the Lord, nor any who go down into silence.” Psalm 115:17. “For Sheol [the grave] cannot thank You, death cannot praise You; those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your truth. The living, the living man, he shall praise You, as I do this day.” Isaiah 38:18, 19

“Popular theology represents the righteous dead as in heaven, entered into bliss and praising God with an immortal tongue; but Hezekiah could see no such glorious prospect in death. With his words agrees the testimony of the psalmist: ‘In death there is no remembrance of Thee: in the grave who shall give Thee thanks?’ … Psalm 6:5.” The Great Controversy, 546

Jesus’ words to His disciples before He raised Lazarus shed further light on the true nature of death. He described His friend’s death as a sleep. “… ‘Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.’ Then his disciples said, ‘Lord, if he sleeps he will get well.’ However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought He was speaking about taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus said to them plainly, ‘Lazarus is dead.’ ” John 11:11–14. Jesus’ description of death as a sleep is straight out of the Old Testament that He loved and knew so well.

“Consider and hear me, O Lord my God; enlighten my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death … .” Psalm 13:3

“So David rested with his fathers, and was buried in the City of David.” 1 Kings 2:10

“Then Solomon rested with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David his father.” 1 Kings 11:43

“And the period that Jeroboam reigned was twenty-two years. So he rested with his fathers.” 1 Kings 14:20

“So Rehoboam rested with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David.” Verse 31

How much do the dead know? Nothing at all. “For the living know that they will die; but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten.” Ecclesiastes 9:5

In the sleep of death, the dead know nothing and can do nothing. It is the misunderstanding or straight out refusal to believe God’s word on the matter of death that has led to such errors as channeling, using Ouija boards, wishing the dead “Heavenly Happy Birthday,” being scared of ghosts in haunted houses, holding séances to get messages from dead loved ones, or believing that dead relatives can come and talk to us. Such pretended communication is from Satan and his lying demonic forces, as evident in the history of King Saul and the witch of En Dor. (1 Samuel 28:5–25.) This happened after Samuel the prophet died and was buried in Ramah. So the “Samuel” that communicated with Saul was not the dead prophet of the Lord, but an evil spirit pretending to be God’s spokesman.

In the records of the kings of Israel and Judah, none of them, not even the righteous ones who walked in the ways of the Lord—David, Asa, or Hezekiah—are said to have gone to heaven at death. Centuries after David, “a man after [God’s] own heart” had died, specific mention was made by Peter on the Day of Pentecost, that he had not gone to heaven. “Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.

For David did not ascend into the heavens … .” Acts 2:29, 34. Even Jesus did not go directly to heaven at death (John 20:17).

We now ask, “When will the dead live again?” “So man lies down and does not rise. Till the heavens are no more, they will not awake nor be roused from their sleep.” Job 14:12. And when will the atmospheric heavens be destroyed? In the “day of the Lord … in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise … .” 2 Peter 3:10. Jesus raised the dead while on earth, and at His glorious second advent, He will call the righteous dead to life. “Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live.” John 5:25

The truth of the first resurrection is further clarified in 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17. “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trump of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.” This truth brings true healing to the grieving, as Paul summed it up in verse 18, “Therefore comfort one another with these words.”

On earth’s final day, when “the Son of man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him,” and sits “on the throne of His glory,” (Matthew 25:31), may we not miss out on glory, but greet Jesus in peace, and be forever with our Lord!

Patricia Smith is a second generation Seventh-day Adventist writer who loves to study and share the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy.