Doctrine

The Final Generation, part 4

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The religious journal, Christianity Today, states in the March 3, 1958 issue that “the Adventists today are contending vigorously that they are truly evangelical. They want to appear to be so regarded.” Mentioning this book Questions on Doctrines, it says that this “is the Adventist answer to the question whether it ought to be thought of as a sect or a fellow evangelical denomination.” It states further that “the book” is published in an effort to convince the religious world that we are evangelical and one of them.

This is a most interesting and dangerous situation. As one official who was not in favor of what was being done stated to me: “We are being sold down the river.” What a sight for heaven and earth! The church of the living God, which has been given the commission to preach the gospel to every creature under heaven and call men to come out of Babylon, is now standing at the door of these churches asking permission to enter and become one of them. How are the mighty fallen! Had their plans succeeded, we might now be a member of some evangelical association and no longer a distinctive Seventh-day Adventist Church, in secrecy “sold down the river.” This is more than apostasy. This is giving up Adventism. It is the rape of a whole people. It is denying God’s leading in the past. It is the fulfillment of what the Spirit of Prophecy said years ago: “The enemy of souls has sought to bring in the supposition that a great reformation was to take place among Seventh-day Adventists, and that this reformation would consist in giving up the doctrines which stand as the pillars of our faith, and engaging in a process of reorganization. Were this reformation to take place, what would result? The principles of truth that God in His wisdom has given to the remnant church, would be discarded. Our religion would be changed. The fundamental principles that have sustained the work for the last fifty years would be accounted as error. A new organization would be established. Books of a new order would be written. A system of intellectual philosophy would be introduced. . . . Nothing would be allowed to stand in the way of the new movement.” Selected Messages, book 1, 204.

“’Be not deceived; many shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils.’ We have now before us the alpha of this danger. The omega will be of a most startling nature.” Ibid., 197.

“When men standing in the position of leaders and teachers work under the power of spiritualistic ideas and sophistries, shall we keep silent, for fear of injuring their influence, while souls are being beguiled? . . . Those who feel so very peaceable in regard to the works of the men, who are spoiling the faith of the people of God, are guided by a delusive sentiment.” Series B, no. 2, 9, 11.

“Renewed energy is now needed. Vigilant action is called for. Indifference and sloth will result in the loss of personal religion and of heaven. . . . My message to you is: No longer consent to listen without protest to the perversion of truth. . . . We must firmly refuse to be drawn away from the platform of eternal truth, which since 1844 has stood the test.” Selected Messages, book 1, 195, 196, 199, 200.

“I hesitated and delayed about the sending out of that which the Spirit of the Lord impelled me to write. I did not want to be compelled to present the misleading influence of these sophistries. But in the providence of God, the errors that have been coming in must be met.” Ibid., 205.

“What influence is it that would lead men at this stage of our history to work in an underhanded, powerful way to tear down the foundation of our faith—the foundation that was laid at the beginning of our work by prayerful study of the Word and by revelation? Upon this foundation we have been building for the past fifty years. Do you wonder that when I see the beginning of a work that would remove some of the pillars of our faith, I have something to say? I must obey the command, ‘Meet it!’” Ibid., 207, 208.

All this was written to meet the apostasy in the alpha period. We are now in the omega period which Sister White said would come and would be of a “startling nature.” Her words are even more applicable now than then. It is time to stand up and be counted.

Christ’s death on the cross corresponded to the moment when on the Day of Atonement the high priest had just killed the Lord’s goat in the court. The death of the goat was necessary; for without its blood, there could be no atonement. But the death itself was not the atonement, though it was the first and necessary step. Sister White states that the “atonement commenced on earth.” Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 3, 261. Says the Scripture: “It is the blood that maketh atonement.” Leviticus 17:11. And, of course, there could be no blood until after the death had taken place. Without a blood ministration, the people would be in the same position as those who on the Passover slew the lamb but failed to place the blood on the doorposts. “When I see the blood,” said God, “I will pass over you.” Exodus 12:13. The death was useless without the ministration of the blood. It was the blood that counted.

It is the blood that is to be applied, not “an act,” “a great act,” “a sacrificial act,” “an atoning act,” “the act of the cross,” “the benefits of the act of the cross,” “the benefits of the atonement,” all of which expressions are used in Questions on Doctrine, while any reference to the blood is carefully avoided. It is not an act of any kind that is to be applied. It is the blood. Yet in all of the one-hundred pages dealing with the atonement, in the book, not once is the blood spoken of as being applied or ministered.

Blood Atonement

Here are some expressions from the Spirit of Prophecy in regard to the blood atonement:

“Jesus was clothed with priestly garments. He gazed in pity on the remnant, then raised His hands, and with a voice of deep pity cried, ‘My blood, Father, My blood, My blood, My blood.’” Early Writings, 38.

“He appears in the presence of God as our great High Priest, ready to accept the repentance, and to answer the prayers of His people, and through the merits of His own righteousness, to present them to the Father. He raises His wounded hands to God, and claims their blood-bought pardon. I have graven them on the palms of My hands, He pleads. Those memorial wounds of My humiliation and anguish secure to My church the best gifts of Omnipotence.” Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 3, 261, 262.

“The ark that enshrines the tables of the Law is covered with the mercy seat, before which Christ pleads His blood in the sinner’s behalf.” The Great Controversy, 415.

“When in the typical service the high priest left the holy on the Day of Atonement, he went in before God to present the blood of the sin offering in behalf of all Israel who truly repented of their sins. So Christ had only completed one part of His work as our intercessor, to enter upon another portion of the work, and He still pleaded His blood before the Father in behalf of sinners.” Ibid., 429.

Christ is “now officiating before the ark of God, pleading His blood in behalf of sinners.” Ibid., 433.

“Christ, the great High Priest, pleading His blood before the Father in the sinner’s behalf, bears upon His heart the name of every repentant, believing soul.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 351.

“As Christ at His ascension appeared in the presence of God to plead His blood in behalf of penitent believers, so the priest in the daily ministration sprinkled the blood of the sacrifice in the holy place in the sinner’s behalf. The blood of Christ, while it was to release the repentant sinner from the condemnation of the Law, was not to cancel the sin; it would stand on record in the sanctuary until the final atonement.” Ibid., 357.

The Final Atonement

“The Father ratified the covenant made with Christ, that He would receive repentant and obedient men, and would love them even as He loves His Son. Christ was to complete His work, and fulfill His pledge to ‘make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.’” The Desire of Ages, 790.

When Christ says in His High Priestly prayer, “I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do” (John 17:4), Sister White comments: “He had wrought out a righteous character on earth as an example for man to follow.” Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 3, 260.

In working out this righteous character, Christ demonstrated that it could be done. But could others do the same? That needed to be demonstrated also.

Character is not created, it is developed through manifold tests, temptations, and trials. God at first gives a light test, then a little stronger one until, little by little, resistance to temptations grows stronger. After a time, certain temptations cease to be temptations.

Holiness is not attained in a day. “Redemption is that process by which the soul is trained for heaven.” The Desire of Ages, 330. A man may gain victories every day but still may not have attained. Even Paul had to admit, “Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect.” Undaunted he exclaims, “But I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:12.

Christ had pledged to make men overcomers. It was no easy task, but the work of atonement was not finished until and unless He did it. Out of the last generation, out of the weakest of the weak, Christ selects a group with which to make the demonstration that man can overcome as He overcame. In the 144,000, Christ will stand justified and glorified. They prove that it is possible for man to live a life pleasing to God until all conditions and that man can at last stand “in the sight of a holy God without an intercessor.” The Great Controversy, 614. As a husband and wife are one, so now are Christ and the church. The at-one-ment, the true atonement, the final atonement, the complete atonement has been made. “The family of heaven and the family of earth are one.” The Desire of Ages, 835.

The 144,000

Practically all Adventists have read the last few chapters in The Great Controversy which describe the fearful struggle through which God’s people will pass before the end. As Christ was tried to the utmost in the temptations in the wilderness and in the garden of Gethsemane, so the 144,000 will likewise be tried. They will apparently be left to perish, as their prayers remain unanswered as were Christ’s in Gethsemane when His petitions were denied. But their faith will not fail. With Job they exclaim, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in Him.” Job 13:15.

The final demonstration of what God can do in humanity is made in the last generation who bear all of the infirmities and weaknesses which the race has acquired through six thousand years of sin and transgression. In the words of Sister White, they bore “the results of the working of the great law of heredity.” The Desire of Ages, 49. The weakest of mankind are to be subjected to the strongest of Satan’s temptations, that the power of God might be abundantly shown. “It was an hour of fearful, terrible agony to the saints. Day and night they cried unto God for deliverance. To outward appearance, there was no possibility of their escape.” Early Writings, 283.

According to the new theology which our leaders have accepted and are now teaching, the 144,000 will be subjected to a temptation immeasurably stronger than any that Christ ever experienced. For while the last generation will bear the weaknesses and passions of their forefathers, they claim that Christ was exempt from all of these. Christ, we are told, did not inherit any of the passions “that corrupt the natural descendants of Adam.” Questions on Doctrine, 383. He was, therefore, functioning on a higher and altogether different level from men who have to battle with inherited passions; hence, He does not know and has not experienced the real power of sin. But this is not the kind of Saviour that I need. I need One who was “in all points tempted like as we are.” Hebrews 4:15. The “substitute Christ” which our leaders present to us, I must reject and do reject. Thank God that “we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” Ibid.

Indictment Against God

But more than even this is involved in the new theology; it places an indictment against God as the Author of a scheme to deceive both men and Satan. Here is the situation:

Satan has consistently maintained that God is unjust in requiring men to obey His Law, which he claims is impossible to do. God has maintained that it can be done; and to substantiate His claim, offered to send His Son to this world to prove His contention. The Son did come, kept the Law, and challenged men to convince Him of sin. He was found to be sinless, holy, and without blame. He proved that the Law could be kept and God stood vindicated; His requirement that men keep His commandments was found to be just. God had won, and Satan was defeated.

But there was a hitch in this; for Satan claimed that God had not played fair, He had favored His Son and had exempted Christ “from the inherited passions and pollutions that corrupt the natural descendants of Adam.” Questions on Doctrine, 383. He had not only exempted mankind in general, but Christ only. That, of course, invalidated Christ’s work on earth. He was no longer one of us who had demonstrated the power of God to keep men from sinning. He was a deceiver of whom God had given preferred treatment and was not afflicted with inherited passions as men are.

Satan had little difficulty in having men accept this view; the Catholic Church accepted it; in due time, the Evangelicals gave their consent; and in 1956, the leaders of the Adventist Church also adopted this view. It was the matter of “exemption” that caused Peter to take Christ aside and say, “Be it far from Thee, Lord; this shall not be unto Thee,” which so raised the wrath of Christ that He told Peter, “Get thee behind Me, Satan.” Matthew 16:22, 23. Christ did not want to be exempt. He told Peter, “Thou savourest not the things that be of God.” Ibid. So some today savor not the things of God. They think it merely a matter of semantics. God pity such and open their eyes to the things that be of God. With the surrender of the Adventist leaders to the monstrous doctrine of an “exempt” Christ, Satan’s last opposition has surrendered. We pray again, may God save His people.

The Bible is mostly a record of the protest of God’s witnesses against the prevailing sins of the church and also of their apparent failure. Practically all protesters sealed their testimony with their blood, and the church went on until God intervened. All Paul hoped was that he might “save some.” I Corinthians 9:22. Practically all of the apostles died martyrs, and Christ they hanged on a tree. It took forty years before the destruction came; but when God intervened, He did thorough work.

This denomination needs to go back to the instruction given in 1888, which was scorned. We need a reform in organization that will not permit a few men to direct every move made everywhere in the world. We need a reform that will not permit a few men to handle finances as is not being done. We need a reform that will not permit men to spend millions on institutions not authorized by the vote of the constituency, while mission fields are suffering for want of the barest necessities. We need a change in the emphasis that is given to promotion, finances, and statistics. We need to restore the Sabbath School to it rightful place in the work of God. We need to put a stop to the entertainments and suppers that are creeping in under the guise of raising money for good purposes. We need to put a stop to the weekly announcements in church that are merely disguised advertisements. This list could be greatly enlarged.

But all of these, while important, are, after all, only minor things. We need a reformation and revival most of all. If our leaders will not lead in this, “then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place.” Esther 4:14. I am of good cheer, praying for the peace of Israel.

The Two Laws

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“There is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things.” I Corinthians 8:6. From Him all beings derive their existence. He who creates and uphold has certainly the right to govern and control. Hence it is that He is represented in the Scriptures as the one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. (See James 4:23.) Existence being derived from the benevolence of the Creator, all intelligent creatures are amenable to His just government. Of all the creatures made by God to inhabit the earth, man alone is capable of learning the distinction of right and wrong; and he alone is placed under the control of moral law. Deriving his existence from a Being of infinite purity, he was himself once innocent, pure, and upright. He was the creature and the loyal subject of God, and God was the Author of his existence and his rightful Sovereign. But God did not present Himself to man in the position of a Saviour and redeemer; for man needed not pardon.

As a creature owing all to God, the author of his existence, it is self-evident that he was under the highest obligation to love Him with all of his heart. The existence of other human beings originates a second great obligation; viz., to love our neighbors as ourselves. This precept is also one of self-evident obligation; for others are equally the creatures of God with ourselves and have the same right that we also have. These two precepts are the sum of all moral law. They grow out of the fact that we owe all to God and that others are the creatures of God as well as ourselves.

In rendering obedience to the first of these two precepts, man could have no other god before the Lord; nor could he worship idols; neither could he speak the name of God in an irreverent manner; nor could he neglect the hallowed rest day of the Lord, which was set apart at Creation in memory of the Creator’s rest.

Equally evident is it that our duty toward our fellowmen comprehends our duty to our parents and the strictest regard to the life, chastity, property, character, and interests of others.

The moral Law, thus divided into two parts and drawn out and expressed in ten precepts, is of necessity unchangeable in its character. Its existence grows out of immutable relations which man sustains toward God and toward his fellowman. It is God’s great standard of right and, after man’s rebellion, the great test by which sin is shown.

Where shall we look for the record of such a moral code as we have noticed? In the earliest possible place in the Bible, certainly. And yet the book of Genesis contains no moral code whatever. How can this mystery be explained? A few facts will remove the difficulty. The book of Genesis was not written until about 2,500 years after the Creation. As it was written long after the patriarchs were dead, it could not have been a rule of life for them. It is a brief record of events that occurred during that period and contains several allusions to an existing moral code. But the book of Exodus, which brings the narrative down to the author’s own time, introduces this code under circumstances of the greatest solemnity. In this book is found the Law of God as given by Himself in person and written with His own finger on stone. Indeed, the evidence indicates that no part of the Bible was written until after the Ten Commandments had been spoken and written by God; consequently, that code is the earliest writing in existence.

Such was the origin of the moral Law, and such the character of its precepts. Its proclamation by god Himself, prior to His causing any part of the Bible to be written, sufficiently attests the estimate which he placed upon it. From its very nature, it exists as early as the principles of morality; indeed it is nothing but those principles expressed or written out. These principles do not owe their existence to the fall of man but to relations which existed prior to the fall.

But there is a system of laws that does owe its origin to sin, a system that could have had no existence had not man become a transgressor. The violation of moral law was that which gave existence to the law of rites and ceremonies, the shadow of good things to come. There could be no sacrifices for sin until man became a sinner. In Eden, there could be no types and shadows pointing forward to future redemption through the death of Christ; for man in his uprightness needed no such redemption. Nor did God place upon man before his fall the obligation of carnal ordinances, which look forward to the time of reformation; for man was innocent and free from guile. That it was the violation of moral Law that caused the fall of man, may be seen at a glance.

The motive set before Eve by Satan was that they should become as gods if they ate of that tree (see Genesis 3); and as Adam was not deceived (see I Timothy 2:13), it is evident that he chose to follow his wife rather than to obey the Lord; an open violation of the first commandment in each case.

A Second Law Introduced

When man had thus become a sinner and God had promised the means of his redemption, a second relation toward God was brought into existence. Man was a sinner, needing forgiveness; and God was a Saviour, offering pardon. It is plain, therefore, that the typical law, pointing forward to redemption through Christ, owes its origin to man’s rebellion and to God’s infinite benevolence. If man had not sinned, he would have needed no types of future redemption; and if God had not determined to give His Son to die, He would have instituted no typical system pointing forward to that great event. The existence of such a code, therefore, is in consequence of sin; its precepts are of a ceremonial nature, and its duration is necessarily limited by the great offering that could take away sin. From the fall of Adam till the tie of Moses, the typical system was gradually developed and matured; and from Moses’ time until the death of our Lord, it existed as the shadow of good things to come.

At Mount Sinai, as we have seen, God proclaimed the moral Law, speaking it with His own voice and writing it with His own finger. By His direction, the two tables on which the Law was written were placed in the Ark of the Covenant, which was made for the purpose of receiving it. (See Exodus 25:10–22; Deuteronomy 10:1–5.) This ark, containing the Law of God, was placed in the second apartment of the earthly sanctuary—the most holy place. (See Exodus 40; Hebrews 9.) The top of the ark was called the mercy seat, because man, who had broken the Law contained in the ark beneath the mercy seat, could find pardon by the sprinkling of the blood of atonement upon this place. The whole system of ceremonial law was ordained to enable man to approach again to this broken Law and to typify the restitution of the pardoned to their inheritance, and the destruction of the impenitent.

The Law within the ark was that which demanded an atonement; the ceremonial law, which ordained the Levitical priesthood and the sacrifices for sin, was that which taught men how the atonement could be made. The broken Law was beneath the mercy seat, the blood of sin offering was sprinkled upon its top, and pardon was extended to the penitent sinner. There was actual sin, hence a real Law which man had broken; but there was not a real atonement, hence the need of the great antitype of the Levitical sacrifices. The real atonement, when it is made, must relate to the Law respecting which an atonement had been shadowed forth. In other words, the shadowy atonement related to that Law which was shut up in the ark, indicating that a real atonement was demanded by the Law. It is necessary that the Law which demands atonement in order that its transgressor may be spared should itself be perfect, else the fault would in part, at least, rest on the Lawgiver and not wholly with the sinner. Hence the atonement, when made, does not take away the broken Law—for that is perfect—but is expressly designed to take away the guilt of the transgressor.

In the New Testament, we find the great antitype of all the offerings and sacrifices—the real atonement—as contrasted with the Levitical one. The death of our Lord Jesus Christ, as the great sacrifice for sin, was the antitype of all the Levitical sacrifices. The priesthood of our Lord Jesus Christ in the heavenly sanctuary is the great antitype of the Levitical priesthood. (See Hebrews 8.) The heavenly sanctuary itself is the great original after which the earthly one was patterned. (See Hebrews 9:23; Exodus 25:6, 9.) And the ark of God’s testament in the temple in Heaven (see Revelation 11:19) contains the great original of this Law. Thus we see under the new dispensation a real atonement instead of a shadowy one, a High Priest who needs not to offer for Himself a sacrifice which can avail before God, and that Law, which was broken by man, magnified and made honorable at the same time that God pardons the penitent sinner.

We shall find the New Testament to abound with references to the essential difference between these two codes and that the distinction in the New Testament is made as clear and obvious as it is made by the facts already noticed in the Old Testament.

Thus the one code is termed “the law of a carnal commandment” (Hebrews 7:16); and of the other, it is affirmed, “We know that the law is spiritual.” Romans 7:14. The one code is termed “the handwriting of ordinances” “which was contrary to us,” which was nailed to the cross and taken out of the way. (See Colossians 2:14.) The other code is “the Royal Law” which James affirms is a sin to transgress. (See Colossians 2:8–12.)

The first is a code of which “there was made of necessity a change.” Hebrews 7:12. The second is that Law of which Christ says, “Till heaven and earth pass; one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the Law till all be fulfilled.” Matthew 5:18. The one law was a “shadow of good things to come” (Hebrews 10:1), and was only imposed “until the time of reformation.” Hebrews 9:10. But the other was a moral code, of which it is said by John, “Whosoever committeth sin, transgresseth also the Law; for sin is the transgression of the Law.” I John 3:4. The one is a yoke not able to be borne (see Acts 15:10); the other is that “Law of liberty” by which we shall be judged. (See James 2:8–12.) The one is that law which Christ abolished in His flesh (see Ephesians 2:15); the other is that Law which he did not come to destroy. (See Matthew 5:17.) The one is that law which He took out of the way at His death (See Colossians 2:14); the other is that Law which he came to magnify and make honorable. (See Isaiah 42:21.) The one was a law which was disannulled “for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof” (See Hebrews 7:18); the other is a Law respecting which He inquires; “Do we then make void the Law through faith? God forbid; yea, we establish the Law.” Romans 8:31. The one is that law which was the middle wall of partition between Jews and Gentiles (see Ephesians 2:14); the other is that Law, the work of which even the Gentiles are said to have written in their hearts. (See Romans 2:12–15), and to which all mankind are amenable. (See Romans 8:19.)

The one is the law of commandments contained in ordinances (see Ephesians 2:15); the other Law is the commandments of God, which it is the whole duty of man to keep (see Ecclesiastes 12:13), which are brought to view by the Third Angel (see Revelation 14:12), which the remnant of the seed of the woman were keeping when the dragon made war upon them (see Revelation 12:17), and which will ensure, to those who observe them, access to the tree of life. (See Revelation 22:14.)

No Cause for Confusion

Surely, these two codes should not be confounded. The one was magnified, made honorable, established, and is holy, just, spiritual, good, and royal; the other was carnal, shadowy, burdensome, and was abolished, broken down, taken out of the way, nailed to the cross, changed, and disannulled on account of the weakness and unprofitableness thereof.

Those who rightly divide the word of truth will never confound these essentially different codes, nor will they apply to God’s royal Law the language employed respecting the handwriting of ordinances.

That the Ten Commandments are a perfect code of themselves, appears from several facts:

  • God spake them with His own voice; and it is said, “He added no more” (see Deuteronomy 5:22), as evincing that He had given a complete code.
  • He wrote them alone on two tables with His own finger, another incidental proof that this was a complete moral code.
  • He caused these alone to be placed under the mercy seat, an evident proof that this was the code that made an atonement necessary.
  • He expressly calls what He thus wrote on the tables of stone, a law and commandments. (See Exodus 24:12.)

The precepts of this Law are variously interspersed through the books of Moses and mingled with the precepts of the ceremonial law. The sum of the first table is given in Deuteronomy 6:5 and that of the second in Leviticus 19:18, but there is only one place in which the moral Law is drawn out in particulars and given by itself with no ceremonial law mixed with it; that is in the Ten Commandments.

An examination of the royal Law in James 2 and of the handwriting of ordinances in Colossians 2 will further illustrate this subject; the one is in force in every respect, while the other is abolished.

“If ye fulfill the royal Law according to the Scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well; but if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the Law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole Law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the Law. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the Law of liberty.” James 2:8–12.

Both Laws had Sabbaths

  • The Law here brought to view is an unabolished Law; for it convinces men of sin who transgress it.
  • It is an Old Testament Law—it is taken from the Scriptures.
  • The second division of the Law is quoted because he was reproving sin committed toward our fellowmen; hence he takes the second of the two great commandments, the sum of the second table (see Matthew 23:36, 40; Romans 13:9), and cites his illustration from the second table of stone.
  • His language shows that the Ten Commandments are the precepts of the Royal Law, for he cites them in illustrating the statement that he who violates one precept becomes guilty of all. This is a most solemn warning against the violation of any one of the Ten Commandments.
  • He testifies that whoever violates one of the precepts of this code becomes guilty of breaking the whole code.
  • Last of all, he testifies that this Law of liberty shall be the rule in the Judgment. The unabolished Law of James is therefore that code which God gave in person and wrote with His own finger.

“Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross.” “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.” Colossians 2:14, 16, 17. If this handwriting of ordinances is the same as the Royal Law of James, then Paul and James directly contradict each other. But they wrote by inspiration, and each wrote the truth of God. We have seen that James’ unabolished Law refers directly to the Ten Commandments. Hence it is certain that the law which Paul shows to be abolished does not refer to that which was written with the finger of God. It is to be noticed that the code which is done away with was a shadow extending only to the death of Christ. But we have already seen that the Law shut up in the ark was not a shadow but the very code that made it necessary that the Saviour should die. Not one of the things abolished in this chapter can be claimed as referring to the Ten Commandments, except the term Sabbaths; for the term holyday is, literally, feast day, and there were three feasts appointed by God in each year. (See Exodus 23:14.) The term Sabbath is plural in the original. To refer this to the Sabbath of the fourth commandment is to make Paul contradict James. What are the facts in this case?

  • The ceremonial law did ordain at least four annual Sabbaths; viz., the 1st, 10th, 16th, and 23rd days of the seventh month. These were besides the Sabbath of the Lord and were associated with the new moons and feast days. (See Leviticus 23:23–39.) These exactly assure Paul’s language. Hence it is not necessary to make Paul contradict James.
  • But the Sabbath of the Lord was “set apart to a holy use” (this being the literal meaning of sanctify) in Eden. It was “made for man” before he had fallen. Hence it is not one of the things against him and contrary to him, taken out of the way at Christ’s death.
  • The Sabbath of the Lord was not a shadow pointing forward to the death of Christ; for it was ordained before the Fall. On the contrary, it stands as a memorial pointing backward to Creation, not as a shadow pointing forward to redemption.

It is plain, therefore, that the abrogation of the handwriting of ordinances leaves in full force every precept of the Royal Law, and also that the law of shadows pointing forward to the death of Christ must expire when that event should occur. The moral Law was that which caused the Saviour to lay down His life for us. Its sacredness may be judged by the fact that God gave His only Son to take its curse upon Himself and to die for our transgressions.

Judgment, Weighed In the Balance, part 3

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Do you remember from our earlier studies that we saw that when you come to the end, you are going to come to judgment? You are going to be placed on a scale; and unless your sins are forgiven and you are clothed with the righteousness of Christ, unless the Holy Spirit has worked a miraculous change in your heart and your life, you will never have eternal life.

I want to consider the subject of the Judgment. It is a serious subject, much more serious than death. The devil does not want you to study this subject. He wants to give it a bad name. He knows that if you think about it, it might change your whole life and you might get serious about your relationship with the Lord. It is absolutely astounding that in Adventism today people are trying to discredit the whole concept of the Judgment. Theologians begin by saying; “I cannot find the concept of the Investigative Judgment in the Bible.” What in the world are people thinking?

It is Time to Awake

“What shall I say to arouse the remnant people of God? I was shown that dreadful scenes are before us; Satan and his angels are bringing all their powers to bear upon God’s people. He knows if they sleep a little longer, he is sure of them, for their destruction is certain.” Testimonies, vol. 1, 263.

Many of you, at some time in your life, have stood beside a loved one who is dying; and it is a very, very solemn experience. The judgment, however, is a much more serious matter than that. When a person dies, if that person is a Christian, that separation is going to be temporary. But if you come up to the Day of Judgment and you are weighed in the balance and found wanting, it will be an eternal separation.

Self Examination

“I warn all who profess the name of Christ to closely examine themselves and make full and thorough confession of all their wrongs, that they may go beforehand to judgment, and that the recording angel may write pardon opposite their names. My brother, my sister, if these precious moments of mercy are not improved, you are left without excuse. If you will make no special effort to arouse, if you will not manifest zeal in repenting, these golden moments will soon pass, and you will be weighed in the balance and found wanting. Then your agonizing cries will be of no avail. Then will apply the words of the Lord: ‘Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out My hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at nought all My counsel, and would none of My reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon Me, but I will not answer; they shall seek Me early, but they shall not find Me: for that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord: they would none of My counsel: they despised all My reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. But whoso hearkeneth unto Me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.” Ibid., 263, 264.

I am a husband and a father; and someday, when I am called to account, God is going to ask me, “What has happened in your family? What has been the affect of your rulership and your influence in your home?” If I am the pastor of a church, God is going to come to me and ask, “Where is your flock?”

Found Wanting

“The church cannot measure herself by the world nor by the opinion of men nor by what she once was. Her faith and her position in the world as they now are must be compared with what they would have been if her course had been continually onward and upward.” Ibid., vol. 5, 83. That is an awesome thought. When each of us is put into the scale, God looks at what we might have been. Friends, there is no way that you can be saved unless the blood of Jesus covers all the sin of omission and poor choices. It is because we do not know when our last day will be that the apostle Paul speaks of the need to be praying always.

Do you believe that Seventh-day Adventists have had greater spiritual privileges than any other group of people in the world? If you believe that, then you believe that Seventh-day Adventists are the most privileged people in the world, as far as spiritual light goes. We are not saying that we are better than anybody else is, but we have received spiritual treasures that many other people do not have. It is according to these privileges and these advantages that we will be judged. Jesus said, “To whom much is given, from him much will be required.” Luke 12:48.

“If her spiritual experience does not correspond to the advantages that Christ, at infinite cost, has bestowed on her, if the blessings conferred have not qualified her to do the work entrusted to her, on her will be pronounced the sentence: ‘Found wanting.’ By the light bestowed, the opportunities given, will she be judged.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 247. Salvation is not something that you just drift into. Jesus said to struggle to enter in through the narrow gate. The Old King James says, “strive” to enter through the straight gate. “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Matthew 7:13, 14.

“We are exhorted to ‘fight the good fight of faith.’ We are to wrestle with unseen foes, to labor, to watch, to strive to enter in at the strait gate; for many will be content with simple seeking, and will fail of an entrance.” Signs of the Times, July 20, 1888. Heaven and eternal life are something that result from a definite aim and a definite commitment to the Lord of heaven to follow and obey and to take advantage of the light and privileges that He has placed in your pathway.

Unconditional Guarantee

I want to tell you, friends, there is no unconditional, celestial guarantee that what we call the Seventh-day Adventist Church is just going to go through like we think. As a matter of fact, there is a conditional prophecy that if we do not turn around, we are going to be spewed out of God’s mouth. There must actually be a turning around and a following of what God says to do or we are going to reap the consequences, regardless of what we call ourselves. It has happened once to the Jews; how do we think that it cannot happen again? It is not being critical to face spiritual reality.

“Our health institutions are of value in the Lord’s estimation only when He is allowed to preside in their management. If His plans and devisings are regarded as inferior to plans of men, He looks upon these institutions as of no more value than the institutions established and conducted by worldlings. God cannot endorse any institution, unless it teaches the living principles of His Law and brings its own actions into strict conformity to these precepts. Upon these institutions that are not maintained according to His Law, He pronounces the sentence, ‘Unaccepted. Weighed in the balances of the sanctuary, and found wanting.’” Manuscript Releases, vol. 7, 212.

Oh, I can put the name Seventh-day Adventist on the outside of the building. But God says, “If My plans are considered inferior to your plans, then your institution has no more value to Me than an institution that is run by the world, no matter what you call it.”

Position and Judgment

I would rather be a part of the smallest church or smallest ministry in this world and have the Lord say in the Day of Judgment, “You have allowed Me to preside, and I will endorse what you have done,” than to be the biggest and apparently the most successful Christian institution in this world and be found wanting. Have you ever thought about that? When you start thinking through the Day of Judgment, it changes the way everything looks around you.

I remember some years ago when my brother, Marshall, was going through a very difficult experience. In fact, he was fired for conscientious reasons. He had been the pastor of the largest church in the state of Kansas, which is right in the area where Steps to Life is located. There were all kinds of appeals and pressures to try and get him to change his mind. One of the appeals that were made was the consideration of what kind of a position he would have in another ten years. That was of no concern to him. Why? Because he had a view of the Judgment. He was more concerned about what would happen when God put him in the scale than what men would think of him right now. You see, once your mind really grasps this idea; it changes your whole outlook on life.

One of the most amazing things to me is that some people cannot seem to tell the difference between God’s church and the devil’s church. First, let us read something about the devil’s church. At a devotional meeting where Ellen White spoke, she said, “None are too high to fall. Sin originated with Satan who was next to Christ. Lucifer became the destroyer of those whom heaven had committed to his guardianship.” Australasia Union Conference Record, October 1, 1906. Satan was the highest angel, and he became the destroyer of those whom God had committed to his guardianship. She continues, “Satan has a church today. In his church are all the disaffected ones and the disloyal.” Disloyal to what? Disloyal to God and His Commandments. Many people think that all churches belong to the Lord, but she says that the devil has a church.

“Each one in the day of Investigative Judgment will stand in character as he really is; he will render an individual account to God. Every word uttered; every departure from integrity, every action that sullies the soul, will be weighed in the balances of the sanctuary. Memory will be true and vivid in condemnation of the guilty one, who in that day is found wanting. The mind will recall all the thoughts and acts of the past; the whole life will come in review like the scenes in a panorama. Thus everyone will be condemned or acquitted out of his own mouth, and the righteousness of God will be vindicated.” Review and Herald, November 4, 1884.

Confession and the Judgment

I have had people come to me worried about whether or not they should confess something because of the trouble that it might get them into. I have had to say to them, “Well, you are either going to confess it now or you are going to confess it later.” It is just that simple.

“From the light which God has given me, I know that the Lord would do far more for us as a people if we would walk in humility before Him. Every one of God’s people will be tested and proved, and we want you to be in a position where you will bear the proving of God, and not be found wanting when your moral worth is weighed in the balances of the sanctuary.” Review and Herald, June 18, 1889. You see, you are going to be put in the balances whether you are saved or lost. The only question is what the result is going to be.

We must come to the point where we say, “Lord, I am choosing to humble myself before You. Please show me what needs to be changed.” As long as we are not going to acknowledge anything, we are in a position where God cannot get us straightened out. Ellen White said, “If there was ever a place where self needed to die, it is here. Let us see the death struggle. Let us hear the dying groans. Self-exaltation never separates the soul from God; no matter in whom it is found, whether in those in responsible positions or in those who are in some less important place. Whatever has been done to attract the attention to self, has detracted from the glory that should have been rendered to God, and has brought leanness to your souls. It is through this avenue of self-esteem and self-sufficiency that Satan will seek to ensnare the people of God.” Review and Herald, June 18, 1889.

How is it that Satan is going to try to trap Seventh-day Adventists so that they will not be ready for the judgment? It is through self-esteem. By the way, is that a popular subject today? Very popular. The Spirit of God impressed Ellen White to write that self-esteem and self-sufficiency would be the very avenue that Satan would seek to trap the people of God.

The End of Mercy

“Mercy’s sweet call is now sounding; but it will soon die away. Probation’s hour will soon be ended. The seven last plagues will fall, and then those who have chosen the pleasures of the world and rebelled against God, will cry for mercy when there will be none to answer their prayers. But a voice will be heard, — “Thou art weighed in the balance and found wanting.’” Youth’s Instructor, January 1, 1854.

When probation’s hour is ended, it will then be too late to pray for mercy. Was there a time, before Noah entered the ark, when mercy could still be obtained which was no longer available at a later time? Yes, that was the experience in Noah’s day, and is an example, Jesus said, of the way that it will be at the end. Peter says the same thing.

“And as they [the lost] realize that they have no shelter from the dreadful storm of God’s wrath, they will plead for one little hour of probation that they may again hear the sweet voice, inviting ‘every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.’ It will then fall upon the ear, in that dreadful hour. ‘Too late! Too Late!’ ‘Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out My hand, and no man regarded. But ye have set at nought all My counsel, and would none of My reproof. I will also laugh at your calamity, I will mock when your fear cometh.’” Ibid.

Friends, now is the day of salvation. Soon the day of salvation will be over. There is coming a time when you will not be able to offer the gospel invitation to anybody because the plan of salvation will be over. The handwriting is not yet on the wall. Now is the time to make a decision and say, “Lord, I am willing to surrender anything; I am willing to do anything; I am surrendering all. I am willing to humble myself. Show me anything that You want me to do. Please impart to me Your Holy Spirit so that my life can be changed.”

The Cross of Jesus Applied

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We cannot draw nigh to the same cross without coming into unity of spirit. . . . Can God love us as He loves His Son when we quibble and find fault with the truth because it does not agree with our opinions, and for fear we shall understand something as our brother understands it, and so come into harmony with him? God designs that His children shall be one. If this unity did but exist, it would speak to the world of the power of God manifested in His children.” Review and Herald, March 4, 1890.

Friends, the devil is trying to destroy God’s remnant people by division and doctrinal controversy, and all manner of variance and strife. The fact that this type of thing is going on is proof that we are a great distance from the cross. In coming closer to the cross, we are coming close to Jesus, who is the way and the truth. Therefore, the closer we get to the cross, the closer we are to the truth.

The Devil’s Trick

It is amazing how the devil tricks us. He leads us to believe that the only way to have unity is through a compromise with truth. The reality of the matter is that compromise always has just the opposite effect. I say this kindly, but people are attempting to find unity without a determination to do so on the basis of truth. If you are believing all different kinds of doctrines, you are not going to have unity but variance and strife. In order to overcome this lack of unity, a hierarchy is created and there is an attempt to impose an artificial unity.

There is a cross that must be lifted up by everyone who, by faith, accepts a crucified and risen Saviour. If we yield our convictions of truth to please our father, our mother, our sister, our brother, our husband, our wife, or our children, according to Matthew 10:32–38, we are unworthy of Christ and are shunning the cross.

The cross is the great center of attraction for the universe. The heavenly intelligence’s know this, and we need to recognize it. And, if in humility of mind we study the cross, the Holy Spirit is going to come and be our teacher.

How many times have you studied the story of the cross and asked yourself, “Why did Jesus have to die such a shameful death in my place?” There are many other ways of dying. It is all right to ask that question because it is dealt with in the Bible, and Jesus Himself has answered it. It says in John 3:14, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For [that is, because] God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Jesus revealed to Nicodemus that the reason that He came and went to the cross is because of the love that God has for the world. This is a revolutionary idea because the devil has sought to convince the world that God is a tyrant. This is what the doctrine of eternal torment is all about. It is describing God to people in such a way as to make them so angry when they think about it that they will not want to have anything to do with Him. There are many infidels and atheists in the world today because of this very doctrine. In contrast, Jesus said that it is because God loves the world that He gave His Son to die.

Two Sides of the Cross

You can approach the cross from two different sides. You can approach it from the dark side, or from the light side. On the dark side, the cross is the greatest tragedy of all time. Some of us have spent too much of our lives on the dark side of the cross.

What is the light side? The light side is the revelation to us of a love that is so broad, so great, and so comprehensive that we cannot take it all in. And although force is contrary to the principles of God’s government, once you arrive at the cross and begin to allow your mind to try and take it all in, you will find that its power of attraction is the most compelling force in the universe. And, as you seek to comprehend God’s love for you, love is awakened. “We love Him because He first loved us.” I John 4:19. Love is not something that we can create or generate in ourselves, because the natural condition of the human heart is one of cold, hard-heartedness. The love awakened by God’s love for you will create a healing to all of the divisions that we see everywhere among God’s professed people. In the midst of divisions and the apostasy that will continue to worsen until Jesus comes, there are going to be groups of people all over the world who are going to have love and unity and will experience harmony among themselves. We can be a part of that.

“My brethren are well aware that the Word of God presents the matter of church unity as a principle; those who are united to Christ by the truth of heavenly origin should have strong friendship for one another. And this is not all. “These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is My commandment, that ye love one another.’ The love of Christ must come into the church, and be cherished by every member as a precious plant. If the branches of the vine are united to the parent stock, the same life dwells in them all. In Christ Jesus, there is love. And those who are united to Christ will not have merely a tame, common regard as acquaintances, but true, sincere love for one another, because they are endued with the spirit of Christ. This drawing off from one another is not Christ-like, but it is after Satan’s order. (Love is not a mere simple regard, but a living principle—not a temporary emotion, but a permanent power. We drink it fresh from the fountain of love that flows from the cross of Calvary.) We are quickened by this love.” 1888 Materials, 1141, 1142.

Notice that if you have love in your heart, you are spiritually alive; and if you do not, you are spiritually dead, regardless of how much you may know about theology.

Quickened by Love

I like the word quicken, but I do not often use it because most people do not understand its meaning. It means to make something alive. When Jesus went into the home where the little 12-year old girl was dead, He said to her, “Little girl, arise” [see Luke 8:54]; and He touched her. Ellen White says that a tremor went throughout her body. Right then she was quickened.

When you knowingly break the Law of God and are out of harmony with it, in the place of harmony and love, you experience discord and strife. But when the love of Jesus comes into your heart, you are quickened and made alive again. “This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.” I John 5:3. “I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me.” John 17:23. Quickened by this love, the power of the Holy Spirit brings even our thoughts into conformity to the Law of God.

Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” [see John 14:6]; and when you come close to the cross, you are coming close to Jesus who is the truth. Love rejoices not in unrighteousness, but in the truth. (See I Corinthians 13:6.) When we come close to the cross, we will have a burning desire in our hearts to follow, to obey the truth, because when you follow the truth, you are following the Lord.

Truth and the Cross

Many people who have a shallow understanding of the cross, come to us and ask, “Well then, why is it that we cannot all get together? Whey do we not have this unity that you talk about?” They fail to realize that for true unity to exist, there must be a willingness to follow and to obey truth. That is why there are certain groups, or churches, with whom we cannot be in harmony. It is not because we do not love them or because we do not want them to be saved; but if you are close to the cross, you have to be faithful to the truth. Whatever truth the Holy Spirit reveals to you through the Word, you have to follow and obey, because you know that if you do not, you will be crucifying the Son of God afresh. You will be at variance with the One who is the truth.

“The time has come when things must be called by their right names. The truth is to triumph gloriously, and those who have long been halting between two opinions must take their stand decidedly for or against the Law of God. Some will take up with theories that misinterpret the Word of God, and undermine the foundation of the truth that has been firmly established, point by point, and sealed by the power of the Holy Spirit.”” Upward Look, 88.

Old Truth and New Light

Once a truth has been firmly established by the whole body of believers, by studying the Word of God and by prayer, and the Holy Spirit has confirmed it by giving visions and dreams that establish it, we do not have a right to entertain any suppositions that would be contrary to that truth. That would be to walk right away from the cross.

The Godhead does not disagree. Jesus said that when the Holy Spirit comes, He will glorify Me. If I entertain something that is contrary to what the Holy Spirit has sealed, I am walking right away from the cross. To come close to the cross means that you come close to Him who is the way, the truth and the life.

“The old truths are to be revived, in order that the false theories that have been brought in by the enemy may be intelligently met. There can be no unity between truth and error. We can unite with those who have been led into deception only when they are converted.” Ibid.

Today, God’s people are getting confused by doctrines and theories that are coming in which contradict points that have been established firmly and sealed by the Holy Spirit.

Have you established in your mind that the gift of prophecy was manifested in the life and ministry of Ellen White? Have you compared her life and ministry with the Bible to see if it checks out? There were many supernatural manifestations in her life and ministry; and that, by itself, immediately proves that her work was either of God or of the devil—it has to be one or the other. Do not let anyone tell you, “Well she was just a good woman.” Absolutely not! She was not just a good woman. She was either of God or of the devil. To claim to be something that you are not is to break the ninth commandment and proves you to be under the control of evil spirits. She was either a prophet or she was a most wicked person.

If you believe that she did have the true gift of prophecy, then you should be fearful to accept any explanation of the Scriptures that would contradict her messages. Though it was not the only way, her messages were one of the ways that the Holy Spirit sealed these truths that were established point by point.

There is a story that is told of an infidel who made a challenge to a minister. He challenged the minister to a debate regarding the truthfulness and reliability of the Bible and the value of the gospel. The minister consented but on these terms. He said, “If we debate, I want you to bring just one person to the debate whose life has been transformed and changed by your theories of atheism. I can bring a hundred whose lives have been transformed and changed by what I teach.”

Another way that these truths were sealed is that when men of God stood up and spoke them, the Holy Spirit attested to their truthfulness by completely changing the lives of people all over the world.

These truths have been firmly established, point by point, and sealed by the power of the Holy Spirit. If we turn our back on that, friend, we are walking right away from the cross; and we are not going to have unity. We are going to have division and strife and all kinds of confusion.

One of the truths which has come under attack is the principle of a day for a year in prophecy. The second, which goes right along with it, is the doctrine of a two-apartment sanctuary in heaven, of which the one on earth was simply a type, as the apostle Paul clearly teaches in Hebrews 8 and 9. But friends, that is one of the teachings that was firmly established, point by point, and sealed by the power of the Holy Spirit. You are walking straight away from the cross when you reject the truth that has been firmly established and sealed by the Holy Spirit.

I have been amazed, as I have studied the Three Angels’ Messages, to see that right within the Seventh-day Adventist Church, every single point of the Three Angels’ Messages has been under attack. But the Three Angels’ Messages are messages that have been firmly established, point by point, and sealed by the power of the Holy Spirit. If you reject any point, you are walking right away from the cross. You are never going to have unity; you are going to have confusion, strife, trouble, and division.

The sanctuary doctrine has been under attack; and that includes, of course, the doctrine of the Investigative Judgment. In this doctrine, the necessity of sanctification is clearly revealed. As a result, people do not like the doctrine of the Investigative Judgment. To meet their interests, they have to invent a new kind of theology that changes the historic Adventist understanding of the human nature of Christ, changes the doctrine of the Atonement, and erases the meaning of all of the feasts and the ceremonial system. This setting aside of the sanctuary truth, of course, destroys the First Angel’s Message.

Do not be confused by what others may say when it contradicts historic Adventist truths. With an interlinear Bible or a Strong’s Concordance, you can show that the book of Hebrews teaches exactly what Adventists have taught for over 100 years; and there is no problem in the book of Hebrews. The problem is with the shallowness of human comprehension.

We also find utter confusion today in regard to who and what is Babylon. This is absolutely astounding. If you do not understand who Babylon is, of course you cannot preach the Second Angel’s Message.

This Apostasy has been Prophesied

The very things that we see happening around us today were prophesied over 100 years ago. “The days are fast approaching when there will be great perplexity and confusion. Satan, clothed in angel robes, will deceive, if possible, the very elect. There will be gods many and lords many.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 80.

If the Holy Spirit is in control of our hearts and minds, we are going to have unity and harmony that is not a veneer, but a unity that comes from the heart. It will be a unity of spirit.

The gospel always goes right to the heart of the matter and solves the real problem, and we have to go to the heart of the problem to get a real solution that will last.

Oh, friend, are you willing to stay close to the cross so that you can receive God’s love into your heart, be obedient to all of His commandments, and be filled with the Holy Spirit, so that you can be “quickened” and the Holy Spirit be in charge of your life? When this happens in a family, there is going to be unity and harmony in the family. And when this happens in a church, there is going to be unity and harmony in the church; but first it has to happen in each of our hearts.

The Atonement, What Is It and Why Is It Important?

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The serious student of the atonement is likely to be perplexed when he consults the Spirit of Prophecy to find two sets of apparently contradictory statements in regard to the atonement. He will find that when Christ “offered Himself on the cross, a perfect atonement was made for the sins of the people.” Signs of the Times, June 28, 1899. He will find that the Father bowed before the cross “in recognition of its perfection. ‘It is enough,’ He said, ‘the atonement is complete.’” Review and Herald, September 24, 1901.

But he will find this: “At the conclusion of the 2300 days, in 1844, Christ entered the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary, to perform the closing work of the atonement.” The Great Controversy, 422. We also read that tins will “stand on record in the sanctuary until the final atonement [in 1844.]” Patriarchs and Prophets, 357. [All emphasis supplied.] It is also stated that in “the final atonement the sins of the truly penitent are to be blotted from the records of heaven.” Ibid., 358. “Jesus entered the most holy of the heavenly, at the end of the 2300 days of Daniel 8, in 1844, to make a final atonement.” Early Writings, 253.

The first set of statements says that the atonement was made on the cross; the other says that the final atonement was made 1800 years later. I have found seven statements that the atonement was made on the cross; I have twenty-two statements that the final atonement was made in heaven. Though both of these figures are doubtless incomplete, it is evident that one cannot accept one set of statements and reject the other if they wish to arrive at truth. The question, therefore is, How can these statements be harmonized?

In the February issue of the Ministry, 1957, the statement appeared that “the sacrificial act of the cross (was) a complete, perfect, and final atonement.” This was a distinct contradiction to Mrs. White’s pronouncement that the final atonement began in 1844. I found that this was not a misprint but an official and approved statement. If we still hold the Spirit of Prophecy as having authority, we have two contradictory beliefs: the final atonement was made at the cross; the final atonement began in 1844.

Definition of Atonement

I have listened to several discussion of the meaning of the Hebrew word kaphar, which is the word used in the original for atonement, but have received little help. The best definition I have found is a short explanatory phrase in Patriarchs and Prophets, 358, which simply states that the atonement, “this great work of atonement, or blotting out of sins, was represented by the services of the Day of Atonement.”

This definition is in harmony with Leviticus 16:30 which says, “For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the Lord.” Atonement is here equated with being “clean from all your sins.” As sin was the cause of separation between God and man, the removing of sin would remove the separation between God and man.

The definition of atonement is consisting of three words—at-one-ment—is by some considered obsolete, but it nevertheless represents vital truth. Mrs. White thus uses it. Says she: “Unless they accept the atonement provided for them in the remedial sacrifice of Jesus Christ who is our Atonement, at-one-ment, with God.” In Heavenly Places, 146.

God’s plan is that in the “fullness of time He might gather together in one all things in Christ.” Ephesians 1:10. When this is done, “the family of heaven and the family of earth are one.” The Desire of Ages, 835. Then, “One pulse of harmony and gladness beats through the vast creation.” The Great Controversy, 678. At least the atonement is complete.

Two Phases of the Atonement

Much confusion in regard to the atonement arises from a neglect to recognize the two divisions of the atonement. Note what is said of John the Baptist. “He did not distinguish clearly the two phases of Christ’s work, —as a suffering sacrifice and a conquering king.” The Desire of Ages, 136, 137. The book Questions on Doctrine makes the same mistake. It does not distinguish clearly; in fact, it does not distinguish at all; it does not seem to know of the two phases; hence the confusion.

The First Phase

The first phase of Christ’s atonement was of a suffering sacrifice. This began before the world was and included the incarnation, Christ’s life on earth, the temptation in the wilderness, Gethsemane, and Golgotha, and ended when God’s voice called Christ from the “stony prison house of death.” Isaiah 53 is a vivid picture of this.

Satan had overcome Adam in the Garden of Eden; and in a short time; nearly the whole world had come under his sway. At the time of Noah, there were only eight souls who entered the ark. Satan claimed to be prince of this world, and no one had challenged him.

But God did not recognize Satan’s claim to dominion; and when Christ came to earth, the Father “gave the world into the hands of the Son, that through His mediatorial work He may completely vindicate the holiness and the binding claims of every precept of the dine law.” Bible Echo, January, 1887. This was a challenge to Satan’s claim, and thus began in earnest the great controversy between Christ and Satan.

“The great work of redemption could be carried out only by the Redeemer taking the place of fallen Adam. With the sins of the world laid upon Him, He would go over the ground where Adam stumbled.” Review and Herald, February 24, 1874. “Jesus volunteered to meet the highest claims of the law.” Ibid., September 2, 1890. “By pledging His own life, Christ has made Himself responsible for every man and woman on the earth.” Ibid., February 27, 1900.

As Satan claimed ownership of the earth, it was necessary for Christ to overcome Satan before He could take possession of His kingdom. Satan knew this, and hence made an attempt to kill Christ as soon as He was born.

The first real encounter between Christ and Satan took place in the wilderness. After forty days of fasting, Christ was weak and emaciated, at death’s door. At this time, Satan made his attack. But Christ resisted, and Satan was compelled to retire defeated. But he did not give up. Throughout Christ’s ministry, Satan dogged His footsteps and made every moment a hard battle.

Gethsemane

The climax of Christ’s struggle with Satan came in the garden of Gethsemane. Hitherto Christ had been upheld by the knowledge of the approval of the Father. But now He “was overpowered by the terrible fear that God was removing His presence from Him.” Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 3, 95. If God should forsake Him, could He still resist Satan and die rather than yield? “Three times His humanity shrank from the last, crowing sacrifice. . . . The fate of humanity trembled in the balance.” Ibid., 99. “As the Father’s presence was withdrawn, they saw Him sorrowful with a bitterness of sorrow exceeding that of the last great struggle with death.” The Desire of Ages, 759. “Having made the decision, He fell dying to the ground;” but with His last ounce of strength He murmured, “If this cup may not pass from Me, except I drink it, Thy will be done.” “A heavenly peace rested upon His bloodstained face. He had borne that which no human being could ever bear; He had tasted the sufferings of death for every man.” Ibid., 693, 694. In His death, He was victor.

When Christ said, “It is finished,” God responded, “’It is finished. The human race shall have another trial. The redemption price was paid,’ and Satan fell like lightning from heaven.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 12. 409.

“As the Father beheld the cross, he was satisfied. He said, ‘It is enough; the offering is complete.’” Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 5, 1137. It was necessary, however, that there should be given the world a stern manifestation of the wrath of God; so, “in the grave Christ was the captive of divine justice.” Signs of the Times, November 15, 1899. It must be abundantly attested that Christ’s death was real, so He must “remain in the grave the allotted period of time.” Review and Herald, April 26, 1898. When the time was expired, a messenger was sent to “relieve the Son of God from the debt for which He had become responsible, and for which he had made full atonement.” The youth’s Instructor, May 2, 1901.

“In the intercessory prayer of Jesus with His Father, He claimed that He had fulfilled the conditions which made it obligatory upon the Father to fulfill His part of the contract made in heaven, with regard to fallen man. He prayed: ‘I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do.’ That is, He had wrought out a righteous character on earth as an example for men to follow.” Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 3, 260.a

The contract between the Father and the Son made in heaven included the following:

  • The Son was to work our a “righteous character on earth as an example for man to follow.”

 

  • Not only was Christ to work out such a character, but He was to demonstrate that man also could do this; and thus man would become “more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.”

 

  • If Christ thus could present man as a new creature in Christ Jesus, then God was to “receive repentant and obedient men, and would love them even as He loves His Son.” Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 3, 260; Isaiah 13:12; The Desire of Ages, 790.

Christ had “fulfilled one phase of His priesthood by dying on the cross for the fallen race. He is now fulfilling another phase by pleading before the Father the case of the repenting, believing sinner, presenting to God the offerings of His people.” Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 7, 929. “In His incarnation He had reached the prescribed limit as a sacrifice, but not as a Redeemer.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 12, 409. On Golgotha He was the victim, the sacrifice. That was as far as He could go as a sacrifice. But now His work as Redeemer began. “When Christ cried, ‘It is finished,’ God’s unseen hand rent the strong fabric composing the veil of the temple from top to bottom. The way into the Holiest of all was made manifest.” Ibid.

With the cross, the first phase of Christ’s work as the “suffering sacrifice” ended. He had gone the “prescribed limit” as a sacrifice. He had finished His work “thus far.” And now, with the Father’s approval of the sacrifice, He was empowered to be the Saviour of mankind. At the ensuing coronation forty days later, He was given all power in heaven and earth and officially installed as High Priest.

The Second Phase

“After His ascension, our Saviour began His work as our High Priest. . . . In harmony with the typical service, He began His ministration in the holy place; and at the termination of the prophetic days in 1844, . . . He entered the most holy to perform the last division of His solemn work, —to cleanse the sanctuary.” Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 4, 265, 266. On the same page, Sister White repeats, apparently for emphasis, “at the termination of the 2300 days in 1844, Christ then entered the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary, into the presence of God, to perform the closing work of atonement, preparatory to His coming.” The reader cannot fail to note how clearly and emphatically this is stated. John the Baptist “did not distinguish clearly the two phases of Christ’s work, —as a suffering sacrifice and a conquering king.” The Desire of Ages, 136. Our theologians are making the same mistake today—and are not inexcusable. They have light which John did not have.

In studying this part of the atonement, we are entering a field that is distinctly Adventist and in which we differ from all other denominations. This is our unique contribution to religion and theology, that which “has made us a separate people, and has given character and power to our work.” Counsels to Editors and Writers, 54. In the same place, she warns us against making “void the truths of the atonement, and destroying our confidence in the doctrines which we have held sacred since the Third Angel’s Message was first given.”

This is vital counsel and written for this very time when efforts are being made by some among us to have others believe that we are like the churches about us, an evangelical body and not a sect. Paul, in his day, had the same heresy to meet. He was accused of being a “pestilent fellow,” a “ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.” Acts 24:5. In his answer before Felix, Paul confessed that after the “way which they call a sect, so serve I the God of our fathers, believing all things are according to the law and which are written in the prophets.” Acts 24:14, R.V. In those days, men spoke sneeringly of the true church as a sect, as men do now. Paul was not disturbed by this. We have no record that he attempted to have the church of the living God recognized as an evangelical body by men who trampled the law of God in the dust. On the contrary, whatever they might call him and his “sect,” he confessed that he believed “all things which are written in the law and the prophets.” Verse. 14.

Source Material – Letters to the Churches, Letter No. 6, The Atonement, pages 71-85.

An Examination of Seven Reasons for Sunday Keeping

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“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” II Timothy 3:16, 17. The design of its Author in providing such a book was that the man of God might thereby be made perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. This is the treasure which God has given to His church. Nor is this all that He has done. To those who are willing to obey the teachings of His Word, He has promised the Spirit to guide them into all truth.

To men thus situated, Jehovah thus speaks: “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.” I Thessalonians 5:21. That is, bring every part of your faith and practice to the test of God’s sure Word; ask the Holy Spirit’s aid, that your understanding may be enlightened in the word of truth. Then, what you find revealed in that Word, hold fast; it is of priceless value; but relinquish at once every precept or doctrine not therein recorded, lest you make the doctrines of men of equal weight with the Commandments of God. “What is the chaff to the wheat? Saith the Lord.” Jeremiah 23:28.

As the first day of the week is now almost universally observed in the place of the Sabbath of the fourth Commandment, we design to examine grounds on which this observance rests. For what reason do men prefer the first day of the week to the ancient Sabbath of the Lord? On what authority do men continually violate the day which God sanctified and commanded mankind to keep holy? Come, now, and let us reason together. Here is the commandment which it is said has been changed:

“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; 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; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.” Exodus 20:8–11.

That this Commandment requires men to remember and to keep holy the rest day of the Creator, which he hallowed at the close of the first week of time, none can deny. We now ask for the authority for the change of this Commandment.

Papists believe that their church had power to change the fourth Commandment; and, on that authority alone, they are perfectly satisfied in observing the first day of the week.

Protestants deny the authority of the Church of Rome and attempt to vindicate the change of the Sabbath by an appeal to the Bible. We ask them, therefore, to present a single text in which it is said that God has changed His Sabbath to the first day of the week. The advocates of the change acknowledge that they have none. How, then, do they dare to exalt the first day of the week above the Sabbath of the Lord, which the Commandment requires us to remember and keep holy?

The Bible thoroughly furnishes the man of God unto all good works. Can Sunday-keeping be a very good work when the Bible has never said anything in its favor? Or, if it is a good work, can men be very thoroughly furnished in its defense when God has said nothing in its favor? Instead of being a good work, must it not be a fearful sin against God to thus pervert the fourth Commandment, when once the mind has been enlightened on the subject?

But there are several reasons urged for the observance of the first day of the week, which we will here notice:

First Reason

Redemption is greater than creation; therefore we ought to keep the day of God’s resurrection instead of the ancient Sabbath of the Lord.

Where has God said this? Sunday-keepers are compelled to admit that He never did say it. What right, then, has any man to make such an assertion and then to base the change of the Sabbath upon it? But suppose that redemption is greater than creation; who knows that we ought to keep the first day of the week on that account? God never required men to keep any day as a memorial of redemption. But if it were a duty to observe one day of the week for this reason, most certainly the crucifixion day presents the strongest claims. It is not said that we have redemption through Christ’s resurrection, but it is said that we have redemption through the shedding of His blood. “And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof; for Thou wast slain, and has redeemed us to God by Thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.” Revelation 5:9. “In Whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:14; Hebrews 9:12, 15.

Then redemption is through the death of the Lord Jesus; consequently the day on which He shed His precious blood to redeem us, and said, “It is finished” (John 19:30), is the day that should be kept as a memorial of redemption, if any should be observed for that purpose.

Nor can it be urged that the resurrection day is the most remarkable day in the history of redemption. It needs but a word to prove that, in this respect, it is far exceeded by the day of the crucifixion. Which is the more remarkable event, the act of Jehovah in giving His beloved and only Son to die for a race of rebels, or the act of the Father in raising that beloved Son from the dead? There is only one answer that can be given: It was not remarkable that God should raise His Son from the dead, but the act of the Father in giving His Son to die for sinners was a spectacle of redeeming love on which the universe might gaze and adore the wondrous love of God to all eternity. Who can wonder that the sun was veiled in darkness and that all nature trembled at the sight! The crucifixion day, therefore, has far greater claims than the day of the resurrection. God has not enjoined the observance of either, and is it not a fearful act to make void the Commandments of God by that wisdom which is folly in His sight? I Corinthians 1:19, 20.

But if we would commemorate redemption, there is no necessity of robbing the Lord’s rest day of its holiness in order to do it. God has provided us with memorials, bearing His own signature; and these we may observe with the blessing of heaven. The Bible tells you how to do it. “For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He brake it, and said, Take, eat; this is My body, which is broken for you; this do in remembrance of Me. After the same manner also He took the cup, when He had supped, saying, This cup is the New Testament in My blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of Me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s death till He come.” I Corinthians 11:23–26.

Would you commemorate the burial and resurrection of the Saviour? The Lord obtained a very different and far more appropriate memorial. “Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death; that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father; even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection.” Romans 6:3–5. (See also, Colossians 2:12.)

It is true that the professed church have changed this ordinance to sprinkling so that this divine memorial of the Lord’s resurrection is destroyed. That they may add sin to sin, they lay hold of the Lord’s Sabbath and change it to the first day of the week, thus destroying the sacred memorial of the Creator’s rest that they may have a memorial of Christ’s resurrection!

Second Reason

The disciples met on the day of our Lord’s resurrection to commemorate that event, and the Saviour sanctioned this meeting by uniting with them. (See John 20:19.)

If every word of this were truth, it would not prove that the Sabbath of the Lord has been changed. But to show the utter absurdity of this inference, listen to a few facts. The disciples did not then believe that their Lord had been raised from the dead, but were assembled for the purpose of eating a common meal and to seclude themselves from the Jews. The words of Mark and of John make this clear: “He appeared in another form unto two of them, as they walked, and went into the country. And they went and told it unto the residue; neither believed they them. Afterward He appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen Him after He was risen.” Mark 16:12–14. John says: “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, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.” John 20:19.

It is a fact, therefore, that the disciples were not commemorating the resurrection of the Saviour; it is equally evident that they had not the slightest idea of a change of the Sabbath. At the burial of the Saviour, the women who had followed Him to the tomb returned and prepared spices and ointments to embalm Him; the Sabbath drew on; they rested the Sabbath day according to the Commandment; and when the Sabbath was past, they came to the sepulcher upon the first day of the week to embalm their Lord. (See Luke 23:55, 56; 24:1.) They kept the Sabbath, according to the Commandment, and resumed their labor on the first day of the week.

Third Reason

After eight days, Jesus met with His disciples again. (See John 20:26.) This must have been the first day of the week, which is thereby proved to be the Christian Sabbath.

Were it certain that this occurred on the first day of the week, it would not furnish a single particle of proof that that day had become the Sabbath of the Lord. But who can be certain that “after eight days” means just a week? It would be nearer a literal construction of the language to conclude that this was upon the ninth day, As an illustration, read Matthew 17:1: “And after six days, Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John . . . “Now turn to Luke 9:28: “And it came to pass about an eight days after these sayings; He took Peter, and John and James . . .” Then, “after six days” is about eight days in this instance. But if “after eight days” means just a week, how does this prove that Sunday has become the Christian Sabbath, when there is not a particle of evidence that either Christ or His apostles ever rested on that day? There is no such term as Christian Sabbath found in the Bible. The only weekly Sabbath named in the Bible is called the Sabbath of the Lord.

Was the act of Christ, in appearing to His disciples, sufficient to constitute the day on which it occurred the Sabbath? If so, why did He next select a fishing day as the time to manifest Himself to them? (See John 21.) If this is not sufficient, then the Sunday on which He was first seen of them, the fishing day on which they next saw Him and the Thursday on which He was last seen of them, may not be Sabbaths. It was not very remarkable that Christ should find His disciples together, inasmuch as they had one common abode. (See Acts 1:13.)

Fourth Reason

The Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples on the day of Pentecost, which was the first day of the week. Therefore, the first day of the week should be observed instead of the Sabbath of the Lord. (See Acts 2:1, 2.)

Admitting that the day of Pentecost occurred upon the first day of the week, it remains to be proven that that day thereby became the Sabbath. But that it was the feast of Pentecost, and not the first day of the week, that God designed to honor, the following facts demonstrate:

While the day of Pentecost is distinctly named, the day of the week on which it occurred is passed in silence.

The disciples had been engaged in earnest prayer for the space of ten days; for the day of Pentecost was fifty days from the resurrection of Christ, and forty of those days He spent with His disciples. (See Acts 1.) Forty days from His resurrection would expire on Thursday, the day of His ascension. A period of ten days after His ascension on Thursday would include two first-days, the last of which would be the day of Pentecost. If the design of God had been to honor the first day of the week, why did not the Holy Ghost descend on the first of those first-days? Why must the day of Pentecost come before the Holy Ghost could descend? This answer is obvious: It was not the design of Heaven to honor the first day of the week but to mark the antitype of the feast of Pentecost. Hence the first day of the week is passed in silence.

The slaying of the paschal lamb on the fourteenth day of the first month had met its antitype in the death of the Lamb of God on that day. (See Exodus 12; John 19; I Corinthians 5:7.) The offering of the firstfruits on the sixteenth day of the first month had met its antitype in the resurrection of our Lord on that day, the firstfruits of them that slept. (See Leviticus 23: I Corinthians 15:20–23.) It remained that the day of Pentecost, fifty days later, should also meet its antitype. (See Leviticus 23:15–21.) The fulfillment of that type is what the pen of inspiration has recorded in Acts 2:1, 2. God has spoken nothing in this place respecting a change of His Sabbath. “Add thou not unto His words, lest He reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.” Proverbs 30:6.

Fifth Reason

Paul once broke bread upon the first day of the week at Troas. Hence this day was observed as the Christian Sabbath. (See Acts 20:7.)

We answer that at one period the apostolic church at Jerusalem broke bread every day. (See Acts 2:42–46.) If a single instance of breaking bread at Troas upon the first day of the week was quite sufficient to constitute it the Sabbath, would not the continued practice of the apostolic church at Jerusalem in breaking bread every day be amply sufficient to make every day a Sabbath? Moreover, as the act of the great Head of the church in breaking bread must be quite as important as that of His servant Paul, must not the day of the crucifixion be preeminently the Christian Sabbath, as Christ instituted and performed this ordinance on the evening with which that day commenced? (See I Corinthians 11:23–26.)

But on what day of the week did this act of Paul’s occur? For, if it is of sufficient importance to make the day of its occurrence the future Sabbath of the church, the day is worth determining. The act of breaking bread was after midnight; for Paul preached to the disciples until midnight, then healed Eutychus, and after this attended to breaking bread. (See Acts 20:7–11.) If, as time is reckoned at the present day, the first day of the week terminated at midnight, then Paul’s act of breaking bread was performed upon the second day of the week, or Monday, which should henceforth be regarded as the Christian Sabbath, if breaking bread on a day makes it a Sabbath.

But if the Bible method of commencing the day from sunset was followed, it would appear that the disciples came together at the close of the Sabbath for an evening meeting, as the apostle was to depart in the morning. If it was not an evening meeting, why did they have many lights there? Paul preached unto them until midnight, and then broke bread with the disciples early in the morning of the first day of the week. Did this act constitute that day the Sabbath? If so, they why did Paul, as soon as it was light, start on his long journey to Jerusalem? If Paul believed that Sunday was the Christian Sabbath, why did he thus openly violate it? If he did not believe that it had become the Sabbath, why should you? And why do you grasp, as evidence that the Sabbath has been changed, a single instance in which an evening meeting was held on Sunday, while you overlook the fact that it was the custom of this same apostle to preach every Sabbath, not only to the Jews, but also to the Gentiles? (See Acts 13:14, 42, 44; 16:13; 17:2; 18:4.)

Paul broke bread on the first day of the week and then immediately started on his long journey to Jerusalem. So this, the strongest argument for the first day of the week, furnished direct proof that Sunday is not the Sabbath.

Sixth Reason

Paul commanded the church at Corinth to take up a public collection on the first day of the week; therefore it follows that this must have been a day of public worship, and consequently is the Christian Sabbath. (See I Corinthians 16:2.)

We answer; It is a remarkable fact that Paul enjoins exactly the reverse of a public collection. He does not say, “Place your alms in the public treasury on the first day of the week;” but he says, “Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store.”

J. W. Morton, in his Vindication of the True Sabbath, 51, 52, says: “The apostle simply orders that each one of the Corinthian brethren should lay up at home some portion of his weekly gains on the first day of the week. The whole question turns upon the meaning of the expression, ‘by him;’ and I marvel greatly how you can imagine that it means ‘in the collection box of the congregation.’ Greenfield, in his Lexicon, translates the Greek term, ‘by one’s self, i.e., at home.’ Two Latin versions, the Vulgate and that of Castellio, render it, ‘apud se,’ with one’s self, at home. Three French translations, those of Martin, Osterwald, and DeSacy, ‘chez soi,’ at his own house, at home. The German of Luther, ‘bei sich selbst,’ by himself, at home. . . . I have not examined one translation that differs from those quoted above.

The text, therefore, does not prove that the Corinthians church was assembled for public worship on that day; but, on the contrary, it does prove that each must be at his own home where he could examine his worldly affairs and lay by himself in store as God had prospered him. If each one should thus, from week to week, collect his earnings, when the apostle should come, their bounty would be ready and each would be able to present to him what he had gathered. If the first-day Sabbath has no better foundation than the inference drawn from this text, it truly rests upon sliding sand.

Seventh Reason

John was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, which was the first day of the week. (See Revelation 1:10.)

This is the kind of reasoning which the advocates of Sunday are invariably obliged to adopt. But we ask, What right have they to assume the very point which they ought to prove? This text, it is true, furnishes direct proof that there is a day in the gospel dispensation which the Lord claims as His; but is there one text in the Bible which testifies that the first day of the week is the Lord’s day? There is not one. Has God ever claimed that day as His? Never! Has God ever claimed any day as His and reserved it to Himself? He has. “And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made.” Genesis 2:3. “Tomorrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord.” Exodus 16:23. “the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” Exodus 20:10. “If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day.” Isaiah 58:13. “Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath.” Mark 2:28.

The seventh day is the day which God reserved to Himself when He gave to man the other six, and this day He calls His holy day. This is the day which the New Testament declares the Son of man to be Lord of.

Is there one testimony in the Scriptures that the Lord of the Sabbath has put away His holy day and chosen another? Not one. Then that day which the Bible designates as the Lord’s day is none other than the Sabbath of the fourth commandment.

Our Character, Weighed in the Balance, part 2

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When we consider our age, we taken into account the period of time that began when we were born and that reaches up to the present moment. When God looks at our life, He looks at it from a completely different perspective. When God looks at a person’s life, He is looking between now and the last day that he will spend in this world, and He knows what experiences must take place in his life between now and the last day to prepare him to be ready to enter His kingdom.

The last day of our life is spoken of throughout the Scriptures as a day of judgment. In our last study, we looked at the last night of Belshazzar and the heavenly message that was written on the wall of his banquet hall, “You have been weighed in the balances, and found wanting.” Samuel 5:27. A serious thought, one that we need to carefully consider, is that every one of us is going to be weighed in those same balances.

The gospel involves not just forgiveness of sin, though that is certainly a part of it; it also involves restoration. Our character , thoughts, feelings, and even our motives are to be changed by the power of the gospel, fully restoring in us the moral image of God. There are people who would like to say that by simply being justified you have a title to heaven and are qualified to enter in. Let me put it in a very simple way so that it will be easy to understand.

Suppose that you are a blind man. You want to go places, and you have the money to afford a brand new car. Because you have the money, you may be able to obtain a title to the car; but would you be able to drive it? No, you would not, because you would not be qualified to drive, even though you owned it.

You see, you can say, “Lord, I am choosing to put my trust in Jesus,” and qualify to have a title to heaven; but in the day of judgment, if you are put in the balances and found wanting, the Lord will say to you, “Yes, the price has been paid; but you are not fit. You are not qualified.” Jesus provides the title, but you must have both a title and a fitness for heaven in order to go. “Righteousness within is testified to by righteousness without. He who is righteous within is not hard-hearted and unsympathetic, but day by day he grows into the image of Christ, going on from strength to strength. He who is being sanctified by the truth will be self-controlled, and will follow in the footsteps of Christ until grace is lost in glory. The righteousness by which we are justified is imputed; the righteousness by which we are sanctified is imparted. The first is our title to heaven; the second is our fitness for heaven.” Review and Herald, June 4, 1895.

“The robe of your character must be washed till it is spotless in the fount open for all uncleanness. Your moral worth will be weighed in the balances of the sanctuary and if you are found wanting, you will be at an eternal loss.” Selected Messages, Book 3, 155.

Some are tempted to say, “Then I will never make it.” No, you will never make it on your own. Unless the Holy Spirit comes into your heart and it is purified and you are transformed, you never will meet the standard. We are not talking about an earn-it-yourself religion. The good news is that, if you surrender to the Lord and ask Him for His Holy Spirit, He has already told you in His Word that you will receive it.

Surprisingly, there are many people who do not want to receive the Holy Spirit. They are unwilling to do so because when the Holy Spirit comes, as Jesus said, He reproves of sin. (See John 16:8.) So, when a person comes to the Lord, the first thing that the Holy Spirit does when he enters into the heart is to rebuke them. As people do not like to receive a rebuke, they begin to resist. They want to be a Christian and they want to be saved, but they do not want to totally surrender to the Lord, or open their heart to Him, because they are afraid that God will require of them something they do not want to do.

One of the things that we have to recognize and remember is that God, although He is all-powerful, does not use His power to force Himself upon anyone. If you put up a wall in response to His rebuke, though He may continue to knock at the door of your heart, He will never force His way in. Ellen White expressed it like this. “He says, ‘Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me.’ How willing is Christ to take possession of the soul temple if we will let Him! He is represented as waiting and knocking t the door of the heart. As soon as we consent to give sin up, to acknowledge our guilt, the barrier is removed between the soul and the Saviour.” Signs of the Times, September 12, 1911.

Oh, friends, I do not know your heart; but if the Holy Spirit is speaking to you saying, “I want to come in; but you know that there is sin that you do not want to give up, so I can not come in,” let me remind you that the One who loved you enough to die on the cross to save you will never, ever make a requirement of you that is actually not in your best interest. You can trust Him.

God knows exactly how many days you have until it is your last day in this world and what work must be accomplished in your life if you are to be ready for heaven. If, however, you do not open the door; if you are hanging on to something and you do not want to let go, you are slowing the process. Soon your moral worth will be weighed in the balances of the sanctuary; and if you are found wanting, you will be at an eternal loss.

Let us consider for a moment what heaven is like. To begin with, we know that it is a wonderful place and that we all want to go there. The problem that arises is that, if we went like we are, it would no longer be such a wonderful place anymore. Heaven has already experienced what it is like to have sinful beings there; and according to the Bible, it resulted in a war. That war is still going on, and God has quarantined the war so that it is restricted to this world. The issue of sin was resolved for the rest of the universe when Jesus died on the cross, through it has taken another 2,000 years to resolve it here on the earth. God is not going to take anyone from here up to heaven who would again introduce the sin element. God has given His word on this; you can read it in the Old Testament. “Affliction will not rise up a second time.” Nahum 1:9. God determined, through His infinite wisdom and knowledge, that in order for this problem to be totally solved so that sin would never take place again, it was going to take some time for the whole thing to work out; so God has allowed this problem to develop and to go on for almost 6,000 years. In order for the sin problem to be totally resolved, the element of sin must be removed from the heart and life of everyone who goes to heaven.

One of the effects that sin has had on our lives is “coarseness.” When you go to heaven and you have a conversation, do you suppose that the people you talk with will be refined?

“We are to bear the image of God, and every soul saved through the sacrifice of the Son of God must in this life be made complete in Christ. There is much to do in order to fit us for the courts of the Lord. The roughness of spirit, the coarseness of speech, the cheapness of character, must be put away, or we can never wear the garment woven in the heavenly loom, —the righteousness of Christ.” Review and Herald, July 4, 1899.

The way that God works to refine our character is to subject us to the troubles that we experience here on earth. “It is in mercy that the Lord reveals to men their hidden defects. He would have them critically examine the complicated emotions and motives of their own hearts, and detect that which is wrong and modify their dispositions, and refine their manners. God would have His servants become acquainted with their own hearts. In order to bring them to a true knowledge of their condition, He permits the fires of affliction to assail them, so that they may be purified. The trials of life are God’s workmen to remove the impurities, infirmities, and roughness from our character , and fit them for the society of pure, heavenly angels in glory.” Review and Herald, April 10, 1894.

Suppose that you were taken to heaven and someone that you know received a crown nicer than yours. What are you going to do? If you have not laid aside your envy, your jealousy, you will only carry the same disposition to heaven with you; but there will be nothing of this character in the world to come. “Nothing will exist there but love and joy and harmony. Some will have brighter crowns than others, but there will be no jealous thoughts in any heart among the redeemed. Each one will be perfectly satisfied, for all will be rewarded according to their work; for ‘they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars forever and ever.’” Signs of the Times, February 10, 1888. If we are to go to heaven, all envy and jealousy will have to come out of our lives. It is the way of this world that people look at the way that someone else is dressed and compare that with their own. Jealousy is a problem in this world, have you noticed? If, however, we are to find our place in heaven, the love of Christ must replace it. We must develop His meekness and lowliness of heart.

The Bible says a great deal about speech. When you are put into the scales, one of the big factors that will determine your moral worth is your speech. Speech is so important that when God gave the Law of the Ten Commandments to the children of Israel, two of them dealt directly with speech—the third and the ninth. Jesus said, “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the Day of Judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” Matthew 12:35–37. In reviewing your life, a large part of what you should be reviewing is your speech. Has your speech today been in harmony with the Word of God? Is it true? Does it not take God’s name in vain? Is it kind?

Closely associated with speech is evil surmising. It only takes one person to get evil surmising started in a church, and if the other people succumb to it, it can destroy a whole church. There are many examples of this in the Bible. For instance, among Jesus’ disciples, there was constant quarreling and fighting prior to the crucifixion. And, though they were all at fault because they succumbed to it, Ellen White makes it very clear that there was one person who was continually stirring things up. It was Judas. Jesus knew this, though the rest of the disciples did not realize what was going on. They believed Judas to be a very spiritual person, one of the leading disciples.

Evil surmising can take place in a family, or in a church, and wreak havoc and destruction before the majority of the people realize what is taking place. It is a very, very destructive tool of the devil. We cannot go around judging each other’s hearts and motives. We do not have that right. The devil knows that if you become involved in evil surmising, he can work through you to bring everything into disarray. If we are going to heaven, friends, we personally have to get over evil surmising and we have to help the others do so, too. “Those who are filled with envy, jealousy, and evil surmising, and who indulge in evil speaking, make it manifest that they are unfit for the kingdom of heaven, because they are not peacemakers. Through trial and test, it is proved that they are weighed in the balances and found wanting.” Signs of the Times, October 3, 1895.

Just as it was with Belshazzar, when the handwriting was on the wall, there is coming a time when it will be too late for each of us to change. We will have been weighed in the balance. What is going to be the outcome for you? We are all going to have to face the handwriting on the wall; and it is going to say, “You are weighed in the balance. . . .” How will the sentence end for you?

Do you want a transformation of character to take place in your heart, your life, and your home? If that is what you want, kneel down right now and ask the Lord to work this miracle in your heart and life.

The Sanctuary, Letters to the Churches, part 2

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In Questions on Doctrine, beginning at page 661, there is a collection from the writings of Ellen White on the subject of the Atonement, 30 pages in all. It claims to be a “comprehensive assemblage” of Ellen White’s teachings on the Atonement. From the use of the word comprehensive, I expected to find a full and extensive collection. But in consulting this material, I was disappointed in its lack and one-sidedness. I found it to be a very incomplete and meager collection, leaving out numerous quotations that rightly belong even in a small compilation, not to say a comprehensive one. Strangely enough, quotations that were omitted were such as much on no account be left out.

First of all, I wanted to know what Sister White had to say of the date 1844, which is the “crisis year.” I wanted to know if it had anything particularly to do with the Atonement, or if it could safely be left out. I found that the author had omitted it. So I looked in turn for other quotations, not one of which I found in the assemblage. I looked for the statement: “At the termination of the 2300 days in 1844 . . . our great High Priest . . . enters the holy of holies, and there appears in the presence of God, to . . . perform the work of the Investigative Judgment and to make an Atonement for all who are shown to be entitled to its benefits.” This is said to be the “great day of final Atonement.” The Great Controversy, 480. [All Emphasis supplied.] This important statement was not there. I looked for the parallel statement: “At the termination of 2300 days in 1844, Christ entered the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary to perform the closing work of Atonement preparatory to His coming.” Ibid., 422. I did not find it. I looked for this statement: “This is the service which began when the 2300 days ended. At that time, as foretold by Daniel the prophet, our High Priest entered the most holy, to perform the last division of His solemn work—to cleanse the sanctuary.” Ibid., 421. I could not find it. I looked for the statement: “The end of the 2300 days in 1844 marked an important crisis.” Ibid., 49. I did not find it. I looked for other statements, such as: “The sacred work of Christ (that) is going on at the present time in the heavenly sanctuary,” “The atoning work of Christ is now in progress in the heavenly sanctuary,” “Today He is making atonement for us before the Father.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 520; White Board Minutes, 1483; Manuscript 21, 1895, quoted in Ministry, February, 2957, 30. I found none of these.

At first I thought that this book Questions on Doctrine did not have room for these texts, nor did the Ministry. But I had to abandon this reasoning when I observed that it was only a particular kind of statement that was omitted. The omitted quotations all clustered about the important “crisis” date, 1844, the Investigative Judgment, Christ’s entering into the most holy for the final Atonement, His making Atonement now, His making Atonement “today before the Father.”

One thing that kept our men from going overboard, body and soul, to the Evangelicals, was doubtless, Mrs. White’s writings. She is very emphatic on the question of the sanctuary; and it would not be easy to convert our people to the new view, as long as they had the Testimonies to sustain them in the old position. The faith of our people in the Spirit of Prophecy must be weakened, or better yet, destroyed, before much headway can be made in bringing in the new view. The Ministry article serves well for this purpose.

It was the editor himself, who in his research had “become acutely aware of the E. G. White statements which indicate that the atoning work of Christ is now in progress in the heavenly sanctuary.” White Minutes, 1483. This did not at all fit in with the new view that the atonement was made on the cross, so he suggested that footnotes or appendix notes might appear to clarify what she meant. He suggested haste in the “preparation and inclusion of such notes in future printings of the E. G. White books.” When the plan became known, it was abandoned. The author of the article in the February, 1957 Ministry then took over and had the article printed which we are considering.

The author asks this question, “Why, in the early days, in the light of all this, did not Mrs. White point out and correct the limited or sometimes erroneous concept of some of the early writers concerning the atonement? And why did she employ some of their restricted phrases? How could this be explained? The answer, which the author gives, is the most astonishing and astounding answer that has ever been given to such a question.

“In answer: it is essential that we first of all remember this basic fact: No doctrinal truth or prophetic interpretation ever came to this people initially through the Spirit of Prophecy—not in a single case.” [Emphasis his.]

Read those words again, keeping in mind that this is an article which claims to give the true meaning of the atonement, the official interpretation, and that it has the approval of the administration and that the editor passed it. Also, it has not been retracted or changed. It stands.

These are bold, almost unbelievable words and are utterly untrue. To assert that Sister White never, not even in a single case, initially contributed any doctrinal truth or prophetic interpretation will not be believed by her thousands and millions of readers who all have been benefited by her works. The reader will have noted that the author does not say that Sister White never contributed any doctrinal truth or prophetic interpretation. He says that she never contributed anything initially; that is, she never made any original contribution. She got it from somebody else; she “lifted” it. Our enemies have made that assertion for years, but I never thought that such would be announced to the whole world with the consent of the leaders; but here it is. Whatever Sister White wrote, be it the counsel of Father and Son in eternity or Satan’s inmost rebellious thoughts, “somebody told her.” She never contributed a thing, initially. Never in a single case! Let me produce a single case. The following is taken from Testimonies, Series B, No. 2, 56, 57.

“Many of our people do not realize how firmly the foundation of our faith has been laid. My husband, Elder Joseph Bates, Father Pierce, Elder Edson, and others who were keen, noble, and true, were among those who after the passing of time in 1844, searched for the truth as for hidden treasure. I met with them, and we studied and prayed earnestly. Often we remained together until late at night, and sometimes through the entire night, praying for light and studying the Word. Again and again these brethren came together to study the Bible in order that we might know its meaning and be prepared to teach it with power. When they came to the point in their study where they said, ‘We can do nothing more,’ the Spirit of the Lord would come upon me. I would be taken off in vision, and a clear explanation of the passages we had been studying would be given me, with instruction as to how we were to labor and teach effectively. Thus, light was given that helped us to understand the Scriptures in regard to Christ, His mission, and His priesthood. A line of truth extending from that time to the time when we shall enter the city of God was made plain to me, and I gave others the instructions that the Lord had given me.” Review and Herald, May 25, 1905.

In this case, there was no human intermediary. Unless we are to believe that Sister White did not tell the truth, she got her instructions from above. In this case, the instruction concerned “Christ, His mission, and His priesthood,” the very subjects we have now under consideration. Whatever we may or may not be sure of, we know now that the instruction that came to Sister White on the subject of Christ, His mission, and His priesthood came direct from God. This means that the sanctuary question, as our forefathers taught and believed it, has God for its Author. It came as a result of a vision, which I do not believe can be said of any other doctrine that we hold.

We have reached a crisis in this denomination when leaders are attempting to enforce false doctrine and threaten those who object. The whole program is unbelievable. Men are now attempting to remove the foundations of many generations and think that they can succeed. To make the plain statement that “Christ is making atonement now” means that He is making application now is indefensible on grammatical, philological, theological or common sense ground. To go farther and upon such false interpretation build a new theology to be enforced by sanctions is simply out of this world. Undue assumption of authority coupled with over-confidence in the virtue of bestowed honors have borne fruit; and the fruit is not good.

The present attempt to lessen and destroy confidence in the Spirit of Prophecy and establish a new theology may deceive some, even many; but the foundations upon which we have built these many years, still stand; and God still lives. This warning should not go unheeded:

“If you lessen the confidence of God’s people in the testimonies He has sent them, you are rebelling against God as certainly as were Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 66.

From the booklet, A Word to the Little Flock, dated April 21, 1847, Sister White says: “I believe the sanctuary to be cleansed at the end of the 2300 days is the New Jerusalem temple of which Christ is a minister. The Lord showed me in vision more than a year ago that Brother Crosier had the true light on the cleansing of the sanctuary, etc., and that it was His will that Brother C. (Crosier) should write out the view which he gave us in the Day Star Extra, February 7, 1846. I feel fully authorized by the Lord to recommend that Extra to every saint. I pray that these lines may prove a blessing to you and to all the dear children who may read them. Signed, E. G. White.”

As I write this, I have before me a Photostat copy of the Day Star Extra from February 7, 1846. On pages 40 and 41 of that issue, I read Brother Crosier’s article. Brother Crosier observes, “But again, they say the atonement was made and finished on Calvary when the Lamb of God expired. So men have taught us, and so the churches and the world believe; but it is none the more true or sacred on that account, if unsupported by Divine authority. Perhaps few or none who hold that opinion have ever tested the foundation on which it rests.

  1. If the atonement was made on Calvary, by whom was it made? The making of the atonement is the work of a priest, but who officiated on Calvary? Roman soldiers and wicked Jews.
  2. The slaying was not making the atonement; the sinner slew the victim. (See Leviticus 4:1–5, 13–15, etc.) After the priest took the blood and made the atonement. (See Leviticus 4:5–12, 16–21.)
  3. Christ was the appointed High Priest to make the atonement and certainly could not have acted in that capacity until after His resurrection and we have no record of His doing anything on earth after His resurrection which could be called the atonement.
  4. The atonement was made in the sanctuary, but Calvary was not such a place.
  5. He could not, according to Hebrews 8:4, make the atonement while on earth. ‘If He were on earth, He could not be a priest.’ The Levitical was the earthly priesthood; the Divine, the heavenly.
  6. Therefore, He did not begin the work of making the atonement, whatever the nature of that work may be, until after His ascension, when by his own blood, He entered the heavenly sanctuary for us.”

This, then, is the “true light” which the Lord showed Sister White in vision, had His approval, and which she felt fully authorized to recommend to every saint. Only as we downgrade Sister White can we reject this testimony of hers. We are not ready to do this.

Letters to the Churches, The Heavenly Ministration of Christ

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“Letters have been coming in to me, affirming that Christ could not have had the same nature as man, for if He had, He would have fallen under similar temptations. If He did not have man’s nature, He could not be our example. If He was not a partaker of our nature, He could not have been tempted, as man has been. If it were not possible for Him to yield to temptation, He could not be our helper. It was a solemn reality that Christ came to fight the battles as man, in man’s behalf. His temptation and victory tell us that humanity must copy the Pattern; man must become a partaker of the divine nature.” Review and Herald, February 18, 1890.

We were appalled to learn that in some way these evangelical clergymen have had enough influence over our leaders to cause the Voice of Prophecy and Signs of the Times to trim their sails to “avoid charges that have been brought against them by evangelicals.” This is terrifying news. These organs are instruments of God, and it is unbelievable that the leaders should permit any outside influence to affect them. In this great sin against the denomination has been committed that can be blotted out only by deep repentance of the guilty parties, or in lieu of this, that the men concerned, quietly resign from holy office.

Our members are largely unaware of the conditions existing, and every effort is being made to keep them in ignorance. Orders have been issued to keep everything secret, and it will be noted that even at the late General Conference session (1958), no report was given of our leaders’ trafficking with the evangelicals and making alliances with them. Our officials are playing with fire, and the resulting conflagration will fulfill the prediction that the coming Omega “will be of a most startling nature.”

Seven times, I have asked for a hearing, and I have been promised one, but only on condition that I meet privately with certain men and that no record be given me of the proceedings. I have asked for a public hearing, or if it is to be a private one, that a tape recording be made, and that I be given a copy. This has been denied me. As I cannot have such a hearing, I am writing of these messages which contain, and will contain what I would have said at such a hearing. Can the reader surmise the reason why the officers do not want the hearing I ask?

I am a Seventh-day Adventist, and I love this message that I have preached for so long. I grieve deeply as I see the foundation pillars being destroyed, the blessed truths that have made us what we are, abandoned.

According to the minutes of the Board of Trustees at the White Estate, it was on the first day of May, 1957, when two men, members of the committee which had been appointed to write the book which came to be known as Questions on Doctrine, were invited by the board to meet with them to discuss a question that had received some consideration at a meeting the previous January. It concerned statements made by Mrs. White in regard to the atonement now in progress in the sanctuary above. This conception did not agree with the conclusions reached by the leaders of the denomination in counsel with the evangelicals.

At these conferences with the evangelicals, they objected to our teaching on the Investigative Judgment which Dr. Barnhouse characterized as “the most colossal, psychological, face-saving phenomenon in religious history.”

Dr. Barnhouse reported that he and Mr. Martin heard the Adventist leaders say flatly, that they repudiated all such extremes. This they said in no uncertain terms. Some of their earlier teachers taught that Jesus’ atoning work was not completed on Calvary, but instead that He had been carrying on a second ministerial work since 1844. The Adventist leaders also stated that they did not believe this teaching.

About the time when the two men first visited the vault, a series of articles appeared in the Ministry, which claimed to be “the Adventist understanding of atonement, confirmed and illuminated and clarified by the Spirit of Prophecy.” In the February issue, 1957, the statement occurs that the “sacrificial act on the cross (is) a complete, perfect and final atonement for man’s sin.” This pronouncement is in harmony with the belief of our leaders as Dr. Barnhouse quoted them. It is also in harmony with a statement signed by a chief officer in a personal letter: “You cannot, Brother Andreasen, take away from us this precious teaching that Jesus made a complete and all-sufficient atoning sacrifice from the cross. . . . This we shall ever hold fast, and continue to proclaim it, even as our dear venerated forefathers in the faith.

It would interesting if the writer would produce proof of his assertion. The truth is that our forefathers believed and proclaimed no such thing. They did not believe that the work on the cross was complete and all sufficient. They did believe that a ransom was there paid, and that this was all-sufficient; but the final atonement awaited Christ’s entrance into the most holy in 1844. This the Adventists have always taught and believed, and this is the old and established doctrine, which our venerated forefathers believed and proclaimed. They could not teach that the atonement on the cross was final, complete and all sufficient, and yet believe that another atonement, also final, occurred in 1844. Such would be absurd and meaningless. Paying the penalty for our sins was, indeed, a vital and necessary part of God’s plan for our salvation, but it was by no means all. It was, as it were, placing in the bank of heaven, a sum sufficient and in every way adequate for any contingency, and which could be drawn on by and for each individual as needed. This payment was “the precious blood of Christ, as of the lamb, without blemish and without spot.” I Peter 1:19. In his death on the cross, Jesus “paid it all;” but the precious treasure becomes efficacious for us only as Christ draws upon it for us, and this must await the coming into the world of each individual; hence, the atonement must continue as long as people are born. Hear this:

“There is an inexhaustible fund of perfect obedience accruing from His obedience. How is it, that such an infinite treasure is not appropriated? In heaven, the merits of Christ, His self-denial and self-sacrifice, are treasured up as incense, to be offered up with the prayers of His people.” General Conference Bulletin, vol. 3, 101, 102, Fourth Quarter, 1899.

Note the phrases: “inexhaustible fund,” “infinite treasure,” “merits of Christ.” This fund was deposited at the cross, but not “used up” there. It is “treasured up” and offered up with the prayers of God’s people. And especially since 1844 is this fund drawn on heavily as God’s people advance to holiness; but it is not exhausted, there is sufficient and to spare. Here again, “He, who through His own atonement, provided for them an infinite fund of moral power, will not fail to employ this power in their behalf. He will impute to them His own righteousness. . . . There is an inexhaustible fund of perfect obedience accruing from His obedience. . . as sincere, humble prayers are sent to the throne of God, Christ mingles with them the merits of His own life of perfect obedience. Our prayers are made fragrant by this incense. Christ has pledged Himself to intercede in our behalf and the Father always hears His Son.” Ibid.

When we pray, this very year of 1959, Christ intercedes for us and mingles with our prayers “the merits of His own life of perfect obedience. Our prayers are made fragrant by this incense . . . and the Father always hears His Son.”

Contrast this with the statement in Questions on Doctrine, 381: “(Jesus) appeared in the presence of God for us. . . . But it was not with the hope of attaining something for us at that time or at some future time. No! He had already obtained it for us on the cross.” [Emphasis his.] Note the picture: Christ appears in the presence of God for us. He pleads, but He gets nothing. For 1800 years He pleads, and gets nothing. Does He not know that He already has it? Will no one inform Him that it is useless to plead? He Himself has “no hope” of getting anything now or at any future time, and yet He pleads, and keeps on pleading? What a sight for the angels! And this is representative of Adventist teaching! This is the book that has the approval of Adventist leaders and is sent out to the world to show what we believe. May God forgive us.

Thank God this is not Adventist doctrine! Hear this from Sister White, as quoted above: “Christ has pledged Himself to intercede in our behalf and the Father always hears His Son.” This is Christianity and the other is not!

Shall we remain silent under such conditions? Asks Sister White.

“For the past 50 years every phase of heresy has been brought to bear upon us . . . especially concerning the ministration of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary. . . . Do you wonder that when I see the beginning of a work that would remove some of the pillars of our faith, I have something to say? I must obey the command, ‘Meet it.’” Series B, No. 2, 58.

Again: “The enemy of souls that has sought to bring in the supposition that a great reformation was to take place among Seventh-day Adventists, and that this reformation would consist in giving up doctrines which stand as the pillars of our faith, and engaging in a process of reorganization. Were this reformation to take place, what would result? The principles of truth that God in His wisdom has given to the remnant church would be discarded. The fundamental truths that have sustained the work for the last fifty years would be accounted as error. A new organization would be established. Books of a new order would be written. A system of intellectual philosophy would be introduced. . . . Nothing would be allowed to stand in the way of the new movement.” Ibid., 54, 55.

“Shall we keep silent for fear of hurting their feelings? . . . Shall we keep silent for fear of injuring their influence while souls are being beguiled?. . . My message is: No longer consent to listen without protest to the perversion of truth.” [Emphasis ours.] Ibid., 9, 15.

Ellen White makes definite pronouncements in regard to the atoning work of Christ now in progress in the heavenly sanctuary. For example, “At the termination of the 2300 days, in 1844, Christ entered the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary, to perform the closing work of atonement, preparatory to His coming.” The Great Controversy, 422. “Christ had only completed one part of His work as our Intercessor to enter upon another portion of the work, and He still pleaded His blood before the Father in behalf of sinners.” Ibid., 429. At “the opening of the most holy place in the heavenly sanctuary in 1844, (as) Christ entered there to perform the closing work of the atonement, they saw that He was now officiating before the ark of God, pleading His blood in behalf of sinners.” Ibid., 433.

“Christ is represented as continually standing at the altar, momentarily offering up the sacrifice for the sins of the world. . . . A Mediator is essential because of the continual commission of sin. . . . Jesus presents the oblation offered for every offense and every shortcoming of the sinner.” Manuscript 50, 1900.

These statements are definite. It was at the end of the 2300 days, in 1844, that Christ entered the most holy “to perform the closing work of the atonement.” He had ONLY COMPLETED ONE PART OF HIS WORK as our Intercessor” in the first apartment. Now He “enters upon another portion of the work.” He pleads “His blood before the Father.” He is “continually standing at the altar.” This is necessary “because of the continual commission of sin.” “Jesus presents the oblation for every offense and every shortcoming of the sinner.” This argues a continuing, present atonement. He offers up “momentarily.” “Jesus presents the oblation offered for every offense.” “He ever liveth to make intercession for them..” Hebrews 7:25.

It is presumed that when the two men stated that they had “become acutely aware of E. G. White statements which indicated that the atoning work of Christ is now in progress in the sanctuary,” that they had read the quotations here given and perhaps others. In view of this knowledge, what did they suggest should be done? Would they change their former erroneous opinions and harmonize with the plain words of the Spirit of Prophecy? No, on the contrary, they “suggested to the trustees that some footnotes or Appendix notes might appear in certain of the E. G. White books clarifying very largely on the words of Ellen White, our understanding of the various phases of the atoning work of Christ.” Minutes 1483.

The claim which Questions on Doctrine makes, that she means what she does not say, effectively destroys the force of all she has every written. If we have to consult an inspired interpreter from Washington before knowing what she means, we might better discard the Testimonies altogether. May God save His people. [Months later when the vote was taken by the White Estate Board, the request mentioned above was not granted.]

The men who visited the vault on May 1, stated clearly that they had discovered that Mrs. White taught plainly “that the atoning work of Christ is now in progress in the heavenly sanctuary.” On the other hand, the Ministry of February, 1957, stated the very opposite. It said that the “sacrificial act on the cross (is) a complete, perfect and final atonement for men’s sins.” Questions on Doctrine attempts to reconcile these opposing views by stating that whether one “hears an Adventist say, or reads in Adventist literature—even in the writings of Ellen G. White—that Christ is making atonement now, it should be understood that we mean simply that Christ is now making application,” etc., 354, 355. It is clear that if the atonement on the cross was final, there cannot be a later atonement also final. When we therefore, for one hundred years, have preached that the day of atonement began in 1844, we were wrong. It ended 1800 years before. The hundreds of books we have published; the more than a million copies of Bible Readings we have sold; the millions of handbills we have distributed saying that it was “court week in heaven,” were all false doctrine; the Bible instruction we have given the children and the young ministry and which they have imbibed as Bible truth, is a fable. Uriah Smith, Loughborough, Andrews, Andross, Watson, Daniells, Branson, Johnson, Lacey, Spicer, Haskell, Gilbert, and a host of others stand convicted of having taught false doctrine; and the whole denomination whose chief contribution to Christianity is the sanctuary doctrine and Christ’s ministry, must now confess that we were all wrong, and that we have no message to the world for these last days. In other words, we are a deceived and deceiving people. The fact that we may have been honest does not alter the fact that we have given a false message. Take away from us the sanctuary question, the Investigative Judgment, the message of the 2300 days, Christ’s work in the most holy, and we have no right to exist as a denominated people, as God’s messengers to a doomed world. If the Spirit of Prophecy has led us astray these many years, let us throw it away.

But no! Halt! God has not led us astray. We have not told cunningly devised fables. We have a message that will stand the test and confound the undermining theories that are finding their way in among us. In this instance, it is not the people that have gone astray except as they have followed the leaders. It is time that there be a turn-about.

It is now more than four years ago that the apostasy began to be plainly evident. Since that time there has been a deliberate attempt to weaken the faith in the Spirit of Prophecy, as it is clear that as long as the people revere the gift among us, they cannot be led far astray. The time for action has come. The time to open up the dark corners has arrived. There must no longer by any secret agreements, no compact with other denominations who hate the law and the Sabbath, who ridicule our most holy faith. We must no longer hobnob with enemies of the truth, no more promise that we will not proselytize. We must not tolerate leadership which condones tampering with the writings entrusted to us, and stigmatizes us as belonging to the lunatic fringe, those who dare disagree with them. We must no longer remain silent. To they tents, Oh Israel!

Who Shall Stand In The Judgment Of The Lord?

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“Behold, I will send My messenger and he shall prepare the way before Me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, He shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. Gut who may abide the day of His coming? And who shall stand when he appeareth? For He is like a refiner’s fire, and like fuller’s soap; and He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.” Malachi 3:1–3. The same question is asked in Psalm 15:1. “Lord, who shall abide in Thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in Thy holy hill?” The answer is then given, “He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart. He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor. In whose eyes a vile person is condemned; but he honoreth them that fear the LORD. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not. He that putteth not his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved.” Psalm 15:2–5.

Of what coming is Malachi speaking? Is it at His Second Coming that the Lord will purify His people? No. It is the coming spoken of in Daniel 7. “I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of Days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hairs of His head like the pure wool: His throne was like the fiery flame, and His wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him: thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.” “Daniel 7:9, 10.

“Cast down” is an old, English term. The New Kings James Bible correctly translates it, “The court was seated, and the books were opened.”

Do you notice that the Ancient of Days was sitting? If He was sitting down, what position was He in before He sat down? He was moving. Before something is set down, it is moving; and the throne of God moved into the judgment phase of the sanctuary in heaven.

“I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was lain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame. As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for q season and time. I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him.” Verses 11–13.

We see that, it is while the little horn is speaking great words against the Most High that the judgment is set and the books are opened, and that Christ does a work of purifying His people. Returning to Malachi 3, we read of the result of this work of purification. “Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in the former years.” Malachi 3:4.

It is with reference to this cleansing process that we read, “Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.” Daniel 8:14. This great work of cleansing, as we all know, began at the close of the 2,300 prophetic days that ended in 1844. For one-hundred and fifty years this work has been going forward; and the questions that I want each of us to consider are these: When this work is completed, who will be left standing? Who can abide in the temple of the Lord when He appears? Do you have clean hands, a pure heart? Are you free of the sin of backbiting against your neighbor? We cannot collectively be a pure people until we are purified individually.

Paul picked up the same theme in Ephesians 5:25–27. “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it; that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or say such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” As verse 25 points out, the Lord wants to change us by love. He gave Himself for us that He might cleanse us by His Word. Are you deep in His Word? This is where the cleansing comes from. If we are not deep in the Word, we will not be found without spot or wrinkle.

“Every man’s work passes in review before God and is registered for faithfulness or unfaithfulness. Opposite each name in the books of heaven is entered with terrible exactness every wrong word, every selfish act, every unfulfilled duty, every secret sin, with every artful dissembling. Heaven-sent warnings or reproofs neglected, wasted moments, unimproved opportunities, the influence exerted for good or for evil, with its far-reaching results, all are chronicled by the recording angel.” The Great Controversy, 482. Friends, we are not living at the beginning of the Investigative Judgment; we are living at the close! We need to pray that the Lord will show us things in our lives as He views them, now, before it is forever too late to change. Ask Him about the reproofs and warnings that you have neglected. Ask Him to show you if you have wasted moments that you need to confess, if you have unimproved opportunities, or if you have lent your influence in the wrong direction.

The good news is that He will reveal to us, as we can stand it, the areas of our life that need to be changed. “For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” Matthew 7:8. Jesus’ greatest desire is to be the Lord and Saviour of your life. His promise is that, “If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous.” I John 2:1. We have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous!

The Lord has not kept a record so that He can condemn us, but so that He can save us. You see, friends, if you or I have unconfessed sin in our life, it would destroy all of heaven; so the Lord has kept a list of the things in our lives that must be corrected if we are to be made safe for heaven. If we ask Him, He will not only forgive us, but also work in our lives to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. “Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession them.” Hebrews 7:25.

Regardless of how we perceive our experience, if unconfessed sins are a part of our record, all of the right things that we have done will be of no consequence. “But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die.” Ezekiel 18:24. It is not our names, however, that Jesus wants to blot out. “I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for Mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.” Isaiah 43:35. What He longs to blot out is our sins. John 3:17.

You see, we have a choice. We can either plead with the Lord to reveal our faults to us now, while we can confess and be cleansed of them, or we can choose to go on in our spiritual pride, blind to our deficiencies, until it is forever too late. Satan knows that there is grace to conquer even pride, so he “invents unnumbered schemes to occupy our minds, that they may not dwell upon the very work with which we ought to be best acquainted. The archdeceiver hates the great truths that bring to view an atoning sacrifice and an all-powerful Mediator. He knows that with him everything depends on his diverting minds from Jesus and His truth.” The Great Controversy, 488. “But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.” John 1:12.

Salvation is free, but it costs me something. “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” Psalm 51:17. This is the only thing that we own that God will not despise. Everything else, friends, has been corrupted by sin. There is no other offering that He will accept. There is a time of probation granted to all; but the time is coming very soon when the opportunity will be gone forever. It is the nature of sin that, if allowed to remain in your heart, it will harden your heart to the point that the gift of a broken and contrite heart will forever be out of your reach. “His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.” Proverbs 5:22.

Jesus is all-powerful; and the devil knows that if your mind is totally surrendered to Him, He will save you. There is nothing that can stop the work of your salvation aside from your decision to not avail yourself of the power that Jesus makes available to each one of us. But Satan is an opportunist. He knows that each day that he can divert your mind from the great work that Jesus is desiring to accomplish in your life during these closing hours of probationary time, brings you that much closer to failing to make a decision in favor of accepting the cleansing in your life, that must take place before Jesus comes. Satan realizes that which we must never forget, and that is, that to put off the time of our decision is, by default, to choose to be lost; so he has invented unnumbered schemes to divert our attention, to take our minds off of the great theme of the Investigative Judgment, the atoning blood of Christ.

“Satan has many devices whereby he holds us back from rendering prompt and unquestioning obedience to God. We have often had strong promptings and conviction of duty, but have shrunk back from fulfilling them. Yet Jesus says, ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it.’ How many have been deeply stirred at times, yet because duty demanded a sacrifice, they have tampered with their conscience, seated themselves in the enemy’s debating chair, and have not made the decision that God sought to have them make. They have not broken away from the associates whose seductive influence for evil, led them to follow their own carnal reasoning, and because there was not evidence of any immediate danger, they have rested in their false security. They have debated in their minds, saying, Shall I obey the voice of God that bids me shake off the lethargy of the world, and escape from the world as did Lot from Sodom, or shall I listen to the voice of the world that cries peace and safety to my soul? Shall I wait for a more convenient season? All the sophistry of Satan is bound up in that one word, ‘wait.’ O that those who are now moved by the Spirit of God, would make a decided stand for God and for the truth…