Series

What is Sin?

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Seventh-day Adventists take great pride in knowing what sin is. Our friend Evan Sadler tells a story of a person who was trying to find out what sin really is. He asked a clergyman, but the clergyman could only say that it was something bad. Then he met a Seventh-day Adventist and was told that sin is the transgression of the law (1 John 3:4). Yes, Adventists know what sin is. Or do they?

It is a dangerous thing for a Seventh-day Adventist to be mixed up about what sin really is. We cannot rest upon the assurance that our sins will be blotted out in the judgment, leaving our eternal life in jeopardy, if we don’t fully understand what sin is.

“Those [Seventh-day Adventists] who have permitted their minds to become beclouded in regard to what constitutes sin are fearfully deceived. Unless they make a decided change they will be found wanting when God pronounces judgment upon the children of men. They have transgressed the law and broken the everlasting covenant, and they will receive according to their works.” Testimonies, Vol. 9, 267. Mrs. White wrote this specifically to the Seventh-day Adventist leadership.

We must understand that we have sinned and are sinners, and as such, the Bible tells us what we must do: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive to us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9. It is a prerequisite that, before we are forgiven and cleansed from unrighteousness, we must first repent of and confess our sins. But how can I confess a sin if I don’t even know that I have committed one?

It is very important for us to understand what sin is. And because we can quote 1 John 3:4, it’s very easy for us to say that we know what sin is. But does the Bible give us more information about what sin is than what we find in this text alone?

Jesus warned His followers that in the last days it would be possible that they could be deceived. “False christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even the elect.” Matthew 24:24. Peter told us the same thing in 2 Peter 2:1. Notice that these destructive heresies are done in secret because Inspiration tells us that Satan must deceive in order to lead astray. This deception is so imperceptibly accomplished that those who will be caught up in it will unwittingly deny the Lord and speak evil of His glory.

“And Peter, describing the dangers to which the church was to be exposed in the last days, says that as there were false prophets who led Israel into sin, so there will be false teachers, ‘who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them. … And many shall follow their pernicious ways.’ … Here the apostle has pointed out one of the marked characteristics of spiritualist teachers. They refuse to acknowledge Christ as the Son of God.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 686

1 John 3:4 tells us that sin is the transgression of the law. Paul says, “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, ‘You shall not covet.’ ” Romans 7:7. Paul is clear, the law makes known the knowledge of sin and without the law, we would not know what sin is, nor would we know that we were breaking the law.

“All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death.” 1 John 5:17. Sin is the transgression of the law and all unrighteousness is sin, therefore all unrighteousness is the transgression of God’s law. But the sin described in this text is one that “is not leading to death,” rather it is a sin confessed and forsaken.

“The law requires righteousness—a righteous life, a perfect character.” The Desire of Ages, 762. If the law requires a perfect character, then what exactly is character? “If the thoughts are wrong, the feelings will be wrong; and the thoughts and feelings combined make up the moral character.” The Review and Herald, April 21, 1885. God’s law requires a perfect character made up of pure and perfect thoughts and feelings.

“The law requires us to present to God a holy character. It demands of men and women today just what it demanded of Adam in Eden—perfect obedience, perfect harmony with all its precepts in all relations of life, under all circumstances and conditions.” The Signs of the Times, May 30, 1895

If the thoughts and feelings in all relations of life, under all circumstances and all conditions must be holy and in harmonious agreement with the precepts of God’s law, then anything other than this is sin, transgression of God’s law.

“In the precepts of His holy law, God has given a perfect rule of life; and He has declared that until the close of time this law, unchanged in a single jot or tittle, is to maintain its claim upon human beings. Christ came to magnify the law and make it honorable. He showed that it is based upon the broad foundation of love to God and love to man, and that obedience to its precepts comprises the whole duty of man. In His own life He gave an example of obedience to the law of God. In the Sermon on the Mount He showed how its requirements extend beyond the outward acts and take cognizance of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” The Acts of the Apostles, 505

“Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest … .” Hebrews 4:11, first part. If you look at the context of this verse, it is clear that Paul is writing about the Sabbath rest, a symbol of a rest from sin. Jesus spoke of the same rest in Matthew 11:28, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Paul continues in Hebrews 4, “Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.  For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.  And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” Verses 11–13

“The law of God is presented in the Scriptures as broad in its requirements. Every principle is holy, just and good. … They reach to the thoughts and the feelings of the soul; and they will produce conviction of sin in everyone who is sensible of having transgressed them. If the law extended only to the external conduct, men would not feel guilty over their wrong thoughts, desires, and designs. But the law requires that the soul itself, the spiritual agent, be pure, the mind holy, that all thoughts and feelings shall be in accordance with the law of love and righteousness. By its light men see themselves guilty before God.” Manuscript Releases, Vol. 10, 287, 288

We must understand that the law does not cover actions only, but extends to our thoughts and feelings as well. Sadly, many Seventh-day Adventists don’t understand this. They have been taught that you do not sin until you actually do something. They don’t understand that our actions are simply an outward expression of our thoughts and feelings. What we say and do come from the thoughts and feelings that are constantly in our minds. These are thoughts, desires, intentions, and feelings that can, and do, constitute sin, and our actions are a result of the things we harbor in our minds.

The great controversy is a war being waged over the soul. Mrs. White explains, “Two powers are at work. On the one side Satan is working with all his forces to counterwork the influence of the work of God; on the other hand God is working through His servants to call men to repentance. Which will prevail?” The Youth’s Instructor, May 17, 1900

“In every soul, two powers are struggling earnestly for the victory. Unbelief marshals its forces, led by Satan, to cut us off from the source of our strength. Faith marshals its forces, led by Christ, the author and finisher of our faith.” Ibid., January, 10, 1901

“Every mind is controlled either by the power of Satan or the power of God.” The General Conference Bulletin, March 30, 1903

What happens if God isn’t the One who has control of our minds? The Bible tells us in John 8:43, 44, first part: “Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do.” Notice, when Satan has control over your life, you want to do as he does.

Probably the most recognized example of this in the Bible is when the Jews, who had been longing and looking for the Messiah for millennia, demanded that Christ be crucified. They believed they were doing all the right things—tithing, sacrificing, keeping the Sabbath—but they didn’t realize who was really in control of their minds and hearts.

Some people believe that it is possible to allow God to be in control of your mind and feelings sometimes, but also allow the devil to be in control at other times. However, the truth is, if you allow the devil to control you even some of the time, it will become so easy to let him be in control all the time, and then you will continue to sin, all the while believing that you are obeying and following God. If we expect to spend eternity in the kingdom of heaven, our minds must be under the control of God all the time.

A rich, young man came to Jesus and asked what he should do to gain eternal life. Jesus’ response is recorded in Matthew 22:37–40 and Luke 10:25–28. “He [Jesus] said to him, ‘What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?’ So he answered and said, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’ And He said to him, ‘You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.’ ” Jesus presented the ten commandments to this young man as two basic principles: loving God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and loving your neighbor as yourself.

But, the carnal, fleshly, mind is unable to do this.

“ ‘The carnal [natural] mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.’ Human nature could not keep the law, even if it would.” The Signs of the Times, May 30, 1895.

“By nature man has no love for God. It is not natural for him to think of heavenly things.” The Review and Herald, March 12, 1901

Human nature, the carnal mind, cannot keep the law even if it wanted to.

Before the Fall, Adam and Eve by nature loved God. So why does man now have a nature that does not love God?

“When man sinned all heaven was filled with sorrow; for through yielding to temptation, man became the enemy of God, a partaker of the satanic nature.” The Signs of the Times, February 13, 1893

Notice, once man sinned, he no longer had the pure, perfect nature God had given him at creation.

“But when man fell, the law of self was set up.” Ibid., January 25, 1899. Paul explains that in Romans 7:23. “But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.” The law of self harmonizes with the will of sinful humanity. There is no strife between them. The charm of obedience was broken by Adam’s disobedience. To the carnal nature, the importance of obedience as an absolute necessity ceased to exist in the mind. Man now thinks that he can choose when to obey God and when he can disobey Him. But this is a lie fostered by the father of lies because even if you choose to obey God, you are not capable of doing it unless you receive divine aid from the Holy Spirit.

“You must remember that your will is the spring of all your actions. This will, that forms so important a factor in the character of man, was at the Fall given into the control of Satan; and he has ever since been working in man to will and to do of his own pleasure, but to the utter ruin and misery of man.” Testimonies, Vol. 5, 515

“Until the requirements of the holy law were applied as the rule of life, fallen man could not understand his own guilt, nor realize his condemned, lost condition. Jesus made application of the law directly to the soul, and laid under its jurisdiction the will and desires and works of man. Wrongdoing and all thoughts and feelings condemned by the law are to be overcome.” Manuscript Releases, Vol. 9, 235, 236

Thoughts and feelings combined make up the moral character, and God’s holy law requires that love be the ruling principle of life. But at the Fall, selfishness took the place of love in man’s heart. Inherited from Adam, we are now born into this world with selfishness as the ruling principle of life.

“As related to the first Adam, men receive from him nothing but guilt and the sentence of death.” Ibid., 236. We have been taught that we are not guilty of sin until we have committed a sinful act on our own, but this statement says that man is inherently sinfully guilty.

“Adam was required to render perfect obedience to God, not only in his own behalf, but in behalf of his posterity. God promised him that if he would stand the test of temptation, preserving his allegiance to the Creator during the great trial to which he would be subjected, his obedience would ensure his acceptance and favor with God. He would then be forever established in holiness and happiness, and these blessings would extend to all his posterity.” Ibid., 229

Adam was required to obey God not only for himself, but also for the benefit of future generations. He was the father of the human race. Had he remained obedient, his holiness and his happiness would be guaranteed forever, and this same blessing would extend to all his posterity. “But Adam failed to bear the test. And because he revolted against God’s law, all his descendants have been sinners.” Ibid. Even a baby who is born and never comes to conscientiousness and dies, is, by nature, still a sinner who cannot be saved except through the blood of Christ.

“Never should we lower the standard of righteousness in order to accommodate inherited or cultivated tendencies to wrongdoing. We need to understand that imperfection of character is sin.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 330. If imperfection of character is sin, then who can be saved?

God does not deal with actions so much as with the heart that prompts them. “Christ desires nothing so much as to redeem His heritage from the dominion of Satan. But before we are delivered from Satan’s power without, we must be delivered from his power within.” Ibid., 174, 175

Until our sins are blotted out at the end of the final day of atonement, all human beings will have sin within. It is our nature. Paul is crystal clear. “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells.” Romans 7:18, first part

“The danger has been presented to me again and again of entertaining, as a people, false ideas of justification by faith.” Faith and Works, 18

Those who do not have a clear understanding of what sin is, how permeated with sin we are, and how desperately we need to be cleansed, will have an incorrect understanding of justification by faith. The doctrine of justification by faith makes it clear that we cannot earn our way to heaven. There is nothing we can do to make ourselves fit to spend eternity with God. “It is a work of God … doing for man that which it is not in his power to do for himself.” Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 457

Man cannot stop sinning by himself. It is only by the surrender of his will and by an act of the Holy Spirit in creating in him a new heart, mind, and spirit, that man has the ability to resist temptation and develop a perfect character.

Even more so, man is incapable to remove from his nature the principle of selfishness which makes him inherently sinful, and replace it with the principle of love and righteousness which creates within him pure devotion to God. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9. This is a finished work only God can perform.

It is not enough to understand the law of God as it was written on tables of stone. To understand what the law of God really is, you have to understand what it is when you see it in a person. Jesus Christ came to this world to reveal the law of God. Christ kept the law of God so that we would know how to keep it, too.

“What speech is to thought, so Christ is to the invisible Father, He is the manifestation of the Father, and is called the Word of God. God sent His Son into the world, His divinity clothed with humanity, that man might bear the image of the invisible God. He made known in His words, His character, His power and majesty, the nature and attributes of God. Divinity flashed through humanity in softening, subduing light. He was the embodiment of the law of God, which is the transcript of His character.” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, Vol. 5, 1131

Unless we understand what the law is in relation to who Jesus Christ is and what His life means to us, we do not really know what the law is nor what sin is. Studying the life of Christ is how we are able to understand what sin is. Jesus Christ is the law lived out in the life. Anything in our lives that is not Christlike is sinful, because if we are to live in harmony with God’s law, our lives must be a reflection of the life of Christ.

“The Lord Jesus is the embodiment of the glory of the Godhead. The light of the knowledge of the glory of God is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. God has revealed Himself to men; He stooped to take upon Him our nature, and in His Son we see the glory of the divine attributes. Those who see not in Christ the divine character are in the shadow of Satan’s misrepresentation of divinity. ‘The god of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.’ ” The Signs of the Times, December 12, 1895

For six thousand years, the devil has misrepresented the divine character, painting God as having his attributes and describing himself to the human race as having the attributes of God so that people would be deceived. This is why the devil hated Jesus so much, and caused Him to be tortured and killed. Through Jesus, Satan’s deception was unraveled and revealed to the whole universe. Through Jesus, it was revealed that God is not at all like Satan had described Him to be to the universe or to human beings. Christ is a living representation of God’s law, and by His life on earth, He shows man that he can become Christlike by the power of the Holy Spirit.

“Since ‘the law of the Lord is perfect,’ every variation from it must be evil. … The Saviour’s life of obedience maintained the claims of the law; it proved that the law could be kept in humanity, and showed the excellence of character that obedience would develop.” The Desire of Ages, 308, 309. Man can only keep the law by receiving the Holy Spirit.

“Sin could be resisted and overcome only through the mighty agency of the Third Person of the Godhead … .” Ibid., 671

“To human eyes, Christ was only a man, yet He was a perfect man. In His humanity He was the impersonation of the divine character. God embodied His own attributes in His Son—His power, His wisdom, His goodness, His purity, His truthfulness, His spirituality, and His benevolence. In Him, though human, all perfection of character, all divine excellence, dwelt.” The Youth’s Instructor, September 16, 1897

“All righteous attributes of character dwell in God as a perfect, harmonious whole, and everyone who receives Christ as a personal Saviour is privileged to possess these attributes.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 330. God says, My thoughts will be your thoughts, and My law will be written in your heart by the Holy Spirit, not just on tables of stone, but on the fleshly tables of the heart.

Perfection. The world freely admits that no one in it is perfect, and they seem perfectly happy not to be. If I say I can be perfect, then I’m claiming to be like God because only God is perfect. Yet, Jesus was perfect and He said that He and His Father are one. He also said that we are to be perfect, even as God is perfect (Matthew 5:48). And finally, as the Father was in Him, He asked that we all might be one in Them (John 17:21). Jesus’ life guarantees that we, too, through His power, can be perfect as He is. And although we may achieve perfection of character, at heart, we remain sinners, by nature, until the final day of atonement.

To be perfect means two things: to love God with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love my neighbor as myself. If I take a thorough inventory of my thoughts and feelings, words and actions, and if I am truly honest with myself, I have to admit that every single sin I commit is breaking one of these two principles. And I cannot escape it, not alone.

Jesus is the express image, an exact personification of the Father. Perfection personified. No matter if you are the weakest person and the greatest sinner, that only means that you need Jesus as your personal Saviour all the more. He has enough power, enough wisdom, and enough love for all the righteous attributes of His character to become part of your character.

This requires, however, a complete surrender of your will to God. Only then can the Holy Spirit perform a complete transformation of your character. No more will you be trapped under the sway of the devil, helpless to resist his temptations and deceptions.

The Great Controversy, in its closing chapter, tells us that there will finally be a group of people who have been made spotless by the blood of the Lamb, who possess not one defect of character. “The great controversy is ended. Sin and sinners are no more. The entire universe is clean.” Don’t you want to be part of that group? [All emphasis supplied.]

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

The Divine Nature of Christ

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If you were to casually read through the New Testament, you might notice that it speaks over and over about certain mysteries. I have studied all of the texts that speak about these mysteries and have determined that there are seven mysteries found there.

I would like to study one of these mysteries with you, one I have studied for many years. This mystery has six parts and is one of the most fascinating studies in all of the Bible. In fact, we know that if we are saved in the kingdom of heaven, we will be studying this mystery throughout eternity.

All six parts of the mystery are listed in 1 Timothy 3:16, but we will just look at the first part of the verse. “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh.” I make no claim to fully understand this mystery, but we need to study and try to understand it as far as God has revealed.

I can remember that as a small child, we were told that the world had become so wicked that it could not last much longer and that Jesus would come before we could grow to adulthood. Most Adventist teachers and preachers believed that the world would end within five to ten years.

In the 1940s, the Adventist church had a clear, distinct vision in mind. The largest number of Adventists could be found in the United States and consequently, the Second Advent movement emerged more profoundly here than in any other country. The Adventist missionary program began sending missionaries from the United States to countries all around the world. The Adventist vision combined the preaching of the gospel and medical missionary work. Mrs. White had written that the three angels’ messages would be more effectively and quickly spread to every single person in the world in this way, and once this was accomplished, the Lord would come, and we could then go home with Him.

My father had this same vision, and along with my mother, had a deep desire to help finish the work. So when I was four years old, our family went as missionaries to Burma. My father became the business manager of the Rangoon Mission Hospital.

Back then it was an iron-clad rule that children were to be seen, but not heard. And while you can stop a child from talking, you cannot stop him or her from listening and thinking. So I would listen to these missionaries talk. They would say things like: When Jesus came to this world, He was just like us. He came in flesh just like ours, but He didn’t sin. He is the only Person in the world who has not sinned.

Even as a four-year-old, I knew that I was a sinner, and I knew that I needed a Saviour, but I wasn’t afraid because I had been taught all my life that Jesus Christ came to this world to save sinners, and that He was going to save me if I gave my life to Him, but I was perplexed. I thought, if Jesus Christ was just like me, a sinner, if He came in the flesh just like I have, well, if He was just like me, then He would need a Saviour, too.

Later, when I became a Seventh-day Adventist minister, prominent ministers of the church would say that Christ came in sinful flesh. Every time I heard this, I felt that it must be wrong, but I was just a young minister, recently graduated, and these were well-known Adventist ministers who were college educated, some with master’s and doctor’s degrees in theology and other academic areas. For 150 years, Adventists have written books about and have been preaching and teaching that Jesus came in the sinful flesh of man. I decided that if what sounded wrong to me was actually the truth, then I should be able to confirm it in the Spirit of Prophecy.

Back then we didn’t have the Spirit of Prophecy available electronically like we have today. If you wanted to know something, you read a book; and I had been reading books for many years. I had stacks of books written by Ellen White, including The Review and Herald articles, The Signs of the Times articles, the Testimonies, and the Conflict of the Ages books. I started searching all of these books, searching for even one statement made by Ellen White that would tell me that Christ came to this world in sinful flesh. For over 50 years I have been reading, and I have yet to find such a statement in the Spirit of Prophecy that confirmed it.

Regardless of what I personally believe, I have not preached on this subject at Steps to Life until now, and have avoided talking about it to all, except a few close friends, because it is such a controversial issue. But there are some things, if we want to be ready for Jesus to come, that we need to understand. We need to search for truth and light.

We will be studying the nature of Christ in this series of articles, beginning with the nature of His divinity. With all the Godhead controversies going on all over the world today, there are a lot of people who do not understand the nature of Christ’s divinity, and we need to see and understand what the Bible says on the subject.

The Express Image of His Person

“Who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” Hebrews 1:3

Reading this text in the Greek New Testament, we find the word charaktēr is translated express image, and is very similar to the English word character. It could also be translated as an exact replica; something that is exactly like the other. The word hupostasis is translated of His person. It also could be translated of His essence or of His essential nature. Jesus Christ is an exact personification of the essential nature of God the Father. He is not a junior God, He is not a secondary God. He is an exact personification or express image of the attributes of the Father. Paul uses these specific words nowhere else in the New Testament.

What are the attributes of our heavenly Father?

Let’s consider a few statements from the Spirit of Prophecy. “As speech is to thought, so is Christ to the invisible God. He is the manifestation of the Father, and is called the word of God. God sent His Son into the world, His divinity clothed with humanity, to make known in His life and character the attributes of the Father.” The Signs of the Times, November 15, 1899. What did Jesus come into this world to make known? The life and attributes of His Father, the first Person of the Godhead. Only One who is equal with the Father could fully make manifest what the Father is like. That is why Jesus came.

“God sent His Son into the world, His divinity clothed with humanity, to make known in His life and character the attributes of the Father that men might bear the image of the invisible God. He [Christ] was the embodiment of the law of God, which is the transcript of His character.” Ibid.

A transcript is an exact copy of something. The law of God is a transcript of the character of God and Jesus Christ was the very embodiment, an exact copy, of the law of God. In the old covenant, the law was visible, written in stone. In the new covenant, the law of God is seen in the person of Jesus Christ. By studying Jesus’ life, we are able to better understand the law of God.

“The world saw God imaged in the purity and benevolence of Christ; but because of its depravity and darkness, it did not recognize Him as the Son of God. ‘The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth.’ He was ‘the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not.’ In spite of overwhelming evidence, men manifested unbelief which only Satan could inspire.” Ibid.

“To human eyes, Christ was only a man, yet He was a perfect man. In His humanity He was the impersonation of the divine character.” In His humanity, not His divinity, “He was the impersonation of the divine character. God embodied His own attributes in His Son—His power, His wisdom, His goodness, His purity, His truthfulness, His spirituality, and His benevolence. In Him, though human, all perfection of character, all divine excellence, dwelt. And to the request of His disciple, ‘Show us the Father, and it sufficeth us,’ He could reply, ‘Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip? he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?’ ’’ The Youth’s Instructor, September 16, 1897

God is pure and holy, the law is a transcript of His character, and He embodied all of His own attributes in His Son. Do you understand that there are people who call themselves Christian ministers, but who hate the law of God? What is our attitude toward God’s law? It was prophesied of the Messiah, “I delight to do Your will, O my God, and Your law is written in my heart.” Psalm 40:8. What does it mean to have the law written in your heart? You can see that clearly when you read the context. Paul says that under the new covenant, the law is not written on tables of stone—that was in the old covenant. Under the new covenant, as explained in 2 Corinthians 3, the law is to be written in the heart. If the law is written in our hearts, then we will want to obey it; in fact, we would rather die than break it.

Now we have laid the foundation for a more in-depth study of the nature of Christ. Sometimes there are questions that don’t appear to have answers and yet, those very answers are the most important for us to know. So let’s return to the scripture we began with, the first part of 1 Timothy 3:16.

“Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh.” Paul says this is a great mystery, and if he says it is, then we should plan to be studying it for years and still not fully understand it.

1 John 4:1–3 tells us just how serious it is that God was manifest in the flesh. “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.” Friends, John is telling us that if we do not believe that Christ came in the flesh, then we have the spirit of antichrist.

Now let’s look at Romans 8:7, 8. “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God … .” Verse 7, first part. Anywhere in the Bible where we find the word carnal, from the Greek word Sarks, it can be translated as flesh or fleshly. “So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” Verse 8

Let’s stop right here. The Bible says in 1 John 4:3 that Jesus came in the flesh, and if we do not believe that Jesus came in the flesh, we have the spirit of antichrist. But Romans 8 says that the carnal, or fleshly, mind is enmity against God. The fleshly mind is not subject to the law of God. Was Jesus, in the flesh, then not subject to the law of God? Did He have enmity against God? Paul says that the carnal mind does not keep the law of God, nor indeed can it. It is impossible for the person with a carnal or fleshly mind to keep God’s law.

Those who are in the flesh—carnal—cannot please God. But Jesus came in the flesh, so was He subject to the law and did He keep it?

Jesus said “I have kept My Father’s commandments” (John 15:10). Twice God said, concerning Jesus, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17; 17:5.) If those with a carnal mind do not keep the law of God, in fact, cannot keep it, and consequently cannot please God, then how can Jesus, in the flesh, say He had kept the law; and how could God say that He was pleased with Jesus, in the flesh?

“The Bible is not given to us in grand superhuman language. Jesus, in order to reach man where he is, took humanity. The Bible must be given in the language of men. Everything that is human is imperfect. Different meanings are expressed by the same word; there is not one word for each distinct idea.” Selected Messages, Vol. 1, 20

Many Adventist preachers and teachers have preached and taught that Christ came in sinful flesh. But too many of these individuals are confused about Christ’s nature, having taken a certain word that is found many times in the Bible, believing that it means the same thing every time, when, in fact, it may not.

As I have studied the word flesh in its different Biblical contexts, I have found that the word has more than one, or even two meanings. It has close to six different meanings. In some contexts, for example in Hebrews 2, the word flesh in the Bible simply refers to the fact that we are not only spiritual beings, but that we have a body of flesh and blood, and in that sense, Christ came in the flesh because He had a body of flesh and blood.

But in other places in the Bible, such as in Romans 8, the word flesh refers to the fact that we, as sinners, have sinful propensities, a natural bent to sin which, unaided, we cannot resist, and are, therefore, unable to keep the law of God. We are promised the ability to overcome with divine help, if we ask for it, but without it, Romans doesn’t say we try and fail, it says it is impossible for us to do.

So, if it is impossible for man in sinful flesh to keep God’s law, and if Christ had come in the same sinful flesh as we possess, with a natural bent to sin that cannot be resisted without divine aid, then how could He have kept God’s law? How could He have pleased God?

Ellen White has written a great deal of counsel to Adventist ministers who were mixed up on this point. One such statement was given to Elder ___ Baker, an Adventist minister in 1895 (commonly referred to as the “Baker Letter”).

“Be careful, exceedingly careful as to how you dwell upon the human nature of Christ. Do not set Him before the people as a man with the propensities of sin. He is the second Adam. The first Adam was created a pure, sinless being, without a taint of sin upon Him; He was in the image of God. He could fall, and he did fall through transgressing. Because of [Adam’s] sin, his posterity was born with inherent propensities of disobedience. But Jesus Christ was the only begotten Son of God. He took upon Himself human nature, and was tempted in all points as human nature is tempted. He could have sinned; He could have fallen, but not for one moment was there in Him an evil propensity. He was assailed with temptations in the wilderness, as Adam was assailed with temptations in Eden.” Manuscript Releases, Vol. 13, 18

For close to two hundred years, Adventist ministers have incorrectly presented the nature of Christ. Adam was “assailed with temptations in Eden” as a perfect man. He had not yet sinned, nor had his nature yet changed to the sinful, selfish nature possessed by man today. If Christ was beset with temptations as Adam was in Eden, then His nature would not have had the evil natural propensities inherent in man after Adam’s sin.

“Brother Baker, avoid every question in relation to the humanity of Christ which is liable to be misunderstood. Truth lies close to the track of presumption. In treating upon the humanity of Christ, you need to guard strenuously every assertion, lest your words be taken to mean more than they imply, and thus you lose or dim the clear perceptions of His humanity as combined with divinity. His birth was a miracle of God; for, said the angel, ‘Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a Son, and shalt call His name Jesus. He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His Father David: And He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing that I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.’ That holy thing that shall be born of you shall be called the Son of God.” Ibid., 18, 19

Then she says, “These words are not addressed to any human being, except to the Son of the infinite God. Never, in any way, leave the slightest impression upon human minds that a taint of, or inclination to, corruption rested upon Christ, or that He in any way yielded to corruption. He was tempted in all points as man is tempted, yet He is called holy. It is a mystery that is left unexplained to mortals that Christ could be tempted in all points like as we are and yet be without sin. The incarnation of Christ has ever been, and will ever remain a mystery. That which is revealed, is for us and for our children, but let every human being be warned from the ground of making Christ altogether human, such an one as ourselves; for it cannot be.” Ibid., 19

The incarnation of Christ has ever been, and will ever remain a mystery. Not even in heaven will we fully understand or be able to explain the incarnation of Christ.

I have been challenged by some, that if I suggest that Christ’s nature was different in any way from our nature, then I must not believe what the Bible says in Hebrews 4:15. “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” After all, every human being is born with the inherent propensities of disobedience, and if Christ was not born with these inherent propensities toward sin, though without sin or sinning, then how could He possibly be tempted in all points like us?

Let’s look closely again at what Mrs. White wrote in the letter to Elder Baker. Jesus could be tempted in all points like us and yet be without sin, and this is a mystery that human beings cannot explain. “It is a mystery that is left unexplained to mortals that Christ could be tempted in all points like as we are and yet be without sin.” Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, Vol. 5, 1128, 1129.

Remember that in the Bible, the word flesh has multiple meanings. Hundreds of millions of Christians are confused about the meaning of the word flesh in John 6, having been incorrectly taught and led astray. Many people, including some ministers, have tried to make the word flesh as found in John 6 to be literal, something that it is not.

John 6:53–58 says, “Jesus said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink of His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.’ ” When Jesus said this, the Jews, taking His words to have a literal meaning, accused Him of teaching cannibalism.

It is a serious thing to twist the words of Scripture, to give them a totally different meaning that fits a particular way of thinking, but is not what is truly presented in the Scriptures. And this is too often done when people attempt to make the symbolic meaning of a scripture into a literal meaning. There are just over a billion people in the world who believe that a few words spoken over a wafer of bread can turn it into the literal body of Christ. And similar words spoken over a chalice of wine make it the actual blood of Christ. They believe that you literally can eat and drink God.

There is no excuse for this misunderstanding of Scripture because Jesus told them exactly what the flesh and blood represented. And then He said in verse 63, first part, “The flesh profits nothing.” It is not about literal flesh and blood, but what the flesh and blood represent. Then, what does it mean to eat His flesh and drink His blood?

Friend, what we consume at the breakfast or dinner table becomes a part of us. What we eat helps our bodies to function properly. As the body takes into itself the food we eat, so does our spiritual body when we consume the bread of His word (His flesh) and His life (His blood) into our hearts and minds. Our entire life is changed—thoughts, feelings, words, and actions—all are brought into perfect conformity with the law of God. “It is the Spirit who gives [quickens] life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” Verse 63. When you study the word of God and you assimilate it into your mind, it changes you.

Jesus Christ was the embodiment of the law of God. Eating His flesh and drinking His blood will change your life completely. Would you like to have that happen in your life? When it does, the recording angel will be able to mark in the book of life, on your page, that you love God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. He will be able to mark on your page that your life is in complete conformity with the law of God. This will mean that you are ready to be sealed.

Friend, when you try to explain a mystery that a prophet says human beings cannot explain, rest assured the probability is 100% that your explanation will be wrong. We are not sinful only because we sin. The act of sinning is the fruit of the sin that dwells within (Romans 7:17). We are sinful because we are born in sin just as Seth was (The Spirit of Prophecy, Vol. 1, 60). As creatures who are sinful and fleshly-minded by nature, we are not able to please God (Romans 8:8). And we cannot change our sinful nature. “Our hearts are evil and we cannot change them.” Steps to Christ, 18. We might be able to modify our behavior somewhat, but outward correctness of behavior does not change the heart and cannot purify the springs of life.

Many well-meaning preachers have preached and taught that Jesus had sinful flesh like us. But if Christ had been born with our sinful flesh, He would have had a heart that was deceitful above all things and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9). That sounds blasphemous, but that would be the logical conclusion of their teaching. The fleshly mind is not subject to the law of God and cannot be, and therefore, those in the flesh cannot please God (Romans 8:7, 8). But Jesus kept His Father’s commandments (John 15:10) and was well pleasing to the Father (Matthew 3:17; 17:5).

Jesus came as a man, not to live my life, but to live the life that He has promised to give me the power to live. This is about faith and transformation. How can God take a sinner like me and change me so fully and completely that I no longer desire to sin, and consequently, am able then to please Him? Christ, His human nature, and the life He lived is the vision of what we can and will become if we surrender to the working of the Holy Spirit (The Desire of Ages, 310). He endured the cross because of this vision, described in Hebrews 12:2 as the “joy that was set before Him.” This is not a mystery. But how Christ was made to be like us without sinning, how He was able to be the Lamb without spot or blemish sacrificed to pay the price that sin demands, how He was able to please God, and all the while fully be the Son of Man, that is a door that God has not opened to us.

God can change our very nature. He can give us the power to live without sin. And as we live in this constant connection with Him, seeking always to keep His commandments and do His will, then we will be and live as Christ.

God is preparing a people for Christ’s soon return. Do you want to be one of them?

[Emphasis supplied.]

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

Be Still, My Soul

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One of my very favorite songs is Be Still, My Soul set to the tune of Finlandia. The words to Be Still, My Soul were written by Katharina von Schlegel in 1752.

Not a lot is known about Katharina. She was born October 22, 1697. She was a Lutheran woman living in Germany a century after Martin Luther began the Reformation there. But movements begun with great passion often wane over time and this was true of the Lutheran church in Germany.

It is believed that Katharina was a “Stiftfräulein” in the Evangelical Lutheran Stift (similar to a convent) at Cöthen, but this cannot be confirmed.

While she wrote a number of hymns, Be Still, My Soul is the only one which has passed into English. She was inspired by God’s promise found in Psalm 46:10, first part, 11, “Be still, and know that I am God; The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.”

This hymn survived only because of the work of a British woman, Jane Borthwick, who translated Katharina’s words into English a century after it was written. Eventually, the words were paired with the tune The Finlandia Hymn by composer Jean Sibelius, which he composed from 1899-1900. Finlandia was written in protest of Russian oppression and to celebrate Finnish history. The piece is rousing and tempestuous until the final movement, where it calms and becomes The Finlandia Hymn.

During times of great suffering and distress, people look up to see the face of God. This remains true today just as it was in the 18th century.

Be still, my soul; the Lord is on your side;

Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;

Leave to your God to order and provide;

In ev’ry change He faithful will remain.

Be still, my soul; your best, your heav’nly friend

Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

Be still, my soul; your God will undertake

To guide the future as He has the past;

Your hope, your confidence, let nothing shake;

All now mysterious shall be bright at last.

Be still, my soul; the waves and winds still know

His voice who ruled them while He lived below.

 

Be still, my soul; when dearest friends depart

And all is darkened in the vale of tears,

Then you will better know His love, His heart,

Who comes to soothe your sorrows and your fears.

Be still, my soul; your Jesus can repay

From His own fullness all He takes away.

Be still, my soul; the hour is hast’ning on

When we shall be forever with the Lord,

When disappointment, grief and fear are gone,

Sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored.

Be still, my soul; when change and tears are past,

All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

Sources: https://sermonwriter.com/hymn-stories/be-still-my-soul; Kathrina von Schlegel | Hymnary.org

 

Joy to the World

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A few years ago, a friend emailed me a story told about a mother who encouraged her young son to practice playing the piano, and specifically, to practice his scales. She told him to practice them not only forward, from middle C up the scale to C an octave higher, but to also practice them starting at the octave C and going back down to middle C. I’m not sure that I have everything exactly right about this story, but this part I know is right, she told him, as he played the descending scale, to put pauses at certain points in the scale. When the son did so, he recognized, not just a scale of notes, but the carol Joy to the World. As of right now, I’ve been playing the piano just shy of 60 years, and that was news to me. But let’s look at the real story behind this beautiful song.

The lyrics were written by Isaac Watts in 1719, though not with the intention of becoming a Christmas carol. It was written as a response to or reinterpretation of Psalm 98 and has more to do with Jesus’ second coming than His first.

“Oh, sing to the Lord a new song! For He has done marvelous things; His right hand and His holy arm have gained Him the victory.

“The Lord has made known His salvation, His righteousness He has revealed in the sight of the nations. He has remembered His mercy and His faithfulness to the house of Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

“Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth; break forth in song, rejoice, and sing praises. Sing to the Lord with the harp, with the harp and the sound of a psalm, with trumpets and the sound of a horn; shout joyfully before the Lord, the King.

“Let the sea roar, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell in it; let the rivers clap their hands; let the hills be joyful together before the Lord, for He is coming to judge the earth. With righteousness He shall judge the world, and the peoples with equity.” Psalm 98

An accomplished and well-known composer and arranger, Lowell Mason arranged the tune used today in 1848. This tune is somewhat reminiscent of a couple of musical phrases found in Handel’s Messiah; although Handel scholars dismiss as mere coincidence the idea that Mason might have “borrowed” these phrases for his arrangement of Joy to the World.

Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Joy_to_the_World

A joyful and glorious hymn of praise to God for sending His Son, and a looking forward to His soon return, Joy to the World is a wonderful song to sing all throughout the year.

“Joy to the world! The Lord is come;

Let Earth receive her King;

Let every heart prepare Him room,

And heaven and nature sing,

And heaven and nature sing,

And heaven, and heaven, and nature sing.”

Introduction to the Mystery of Godliness Series

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In the late summer of 2021, Pastor John Grosboll began a series of sermons entitled The Mystery of Godliness. These sermons are available on DVD and YouTube. However, the LandMarks staff is excited to bring them to you reduced to article format.

LandMarks magazine has for some time included a regular series article (e.g., the Sermon on the Mount series; the Facts about the Future series) and we will present The Mystery of Godliness as the regular series article beginning with the January, 2023, issue.

Using both Bible and Spirit of Prophecy support, these sermons discuss the dual nature of Christ—divine and human—but they delve more deeply into His human nature. The topic of Christ’s human nature has often been, and continues to be, very controversial. However, we hope that we all can remain open to the weight of evidence in inspired writings (The Desire of Ages, 458).

Considering the state of the world today, Pastor Grosboll felt that the Holy Spirit had impressed him that now was the time to present these messages. It was not His intention to convince or change anyone’s mind, but only to present what he has studied for more than 50 years, and to encourage those who hear his messages to study for themselves and allow the Holy Spirit to guide them.

God is preparing a people for eternity. If we seek to be a part of that people, then we must understand Jesus’ human nature to the fullest degree that the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy reveal so that we might more faithfully reflect His character in our own lives.

For all of my adult life, I have asked the questions: “Was Jesus really like me? How could He be of any help to me as an example of how to live, if He wasn’t just like me?” And I strongly defended my belief. After all, if He wasn’t like me, then He had some advantage living this life that I don’t have. Right?

But perhaps the real questions we should be asking are, “Can we trust in Christ to be our Saviour; were His death and life sufficient, in every way, to save me from my life of sin, by the power of the Holy Spirit? What kind of person did Christ have to be to be a spotless, unblemished sacrifice to save me from the guilt of my sins?”

Christ came to this earth in a body and nature created especially for Him (Hebrews 10:5), but the life He lived was especially designed for us (This Day With God, 32).

Both the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy tell us that we will never have, not now nor throughout eternity, a full understanding of the mystery of Christ’s nature. So, regardless of the exact specifications of Christ’s nature, we must believe that He is able to save us to the uttermost if we are willing to surrender ourselves to His grace and mercy, and the transforming power of the Holy Spirit.

It is our greatest hope that these messages will enable you to first understand what it really means to be Christlike and, ultimately, an overcomer. And secondly, that in understanding the standard that you and I are to reach to be overcomers, we will be encouraged to forget the past and press toward the mark of our calling which is much higher than most Adventists have realized.

By Judy Rebarchek
Managing Editor

To Him Who Overcomes

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It is recorded in several places in Scripture that one day there will be an almost complete reversal of the ranking of mankind so that those who are now last will become first, and those who are now first will become last. What is it that will determine a person’s ranking in society at that time?

Matthew 19 records that Jesus said that those who are first will be last, and the last will be first. He had stated this principle earlier in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5) where He said, “Do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”

There are two groups of people involved in this rearrangement of society. Revelation 21:5–7 describes one group: “ ‘Behold, I make all things new.’ And He said to me, ‘Write, for these words are true and faithful.’ And He said to me, ‘It is done!’ I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.’ ”

Verse 8 describes the other group: “ ‘But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.’ ”

These two groups are again described in Revelation 22:14, 15, “Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.”

Revelation 21:5–7 tells us that the one who is promised salvation and an inheritance is the one who overcomes. In the messages to the seven churches (Revelation 2 and 3), every church is given a promise, if they overcome.

Ephesus – “To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.” Revelation 2:7

Smyrna – “He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.” Verse 11

Pergamos – “To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it.” Verse 17

Thyatira – “And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations—‘He shall rule them with a rod of iron; they shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels’—as I also have received from My Father.” Verses 26, 27

Sardis – “He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the book of life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.” Revelation 3:5

Philadelphia – “He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name.” Verse 12

Laodicea – “To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.” Verse 21

The church at Pergamos is known as the compromising church. There are many people today who worship in compromising churches, and to them the Lord is saying that if they overcome, they will be given hidden manna to eat.

What is this hidden manna? We find the story of the children of Israel wandering in the wilderness in Exodus 16. They had no water to drink and no food to eat, but the Lord promised them that He would provide water and send them food from heaven. And the Lord promised each morning for six days a small, round substance, like white coriander seed, like wafers made with honey, that the people were to gather for food. Not knowing what it was, they called it manna which means “What is it?”

What was this manna and what is the difference between it and the hidden manna spoken of in Revelation 2:17? Jesus answered that question for us in John 6:47–51. “Most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.”

Of course, the Jews got a little miffed when He said that, and they said, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?” Jesus responded, “My flesh truly is food, My blood truly is drink. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” They were accusing Jesus of teaching cannibalism, but Jesus was using symbolic language. Verse 63 makes it very clear what He was talking about. “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.” Jesus wasn’t talking about literally eating His flesh and drinking His blood. The Bible attributes many names to Jesus and one of those names, found in John 1, is “The Word of God.”

The manna sent to the children of Israel in the wilderness was physical food meant to sustain the body during their wandering. But the hidden manna is Jesus, the true Bread that will give you eternal life if you eat it, and you do this by consuming His word. The word of God is powerful. It is powerful to recreate in a person new life, new desires, a new spirit, a new mind. To consume the Bread of God means receiving Jesus into your life and then living by His word.

When Jesus went into the wilderness to be tempted, the devil tempted Him to turn stones into bread (Matthew 4:3, 4). But Jesus’ response was, “… ‘It is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” ’ ”

To be in the kingdom of heaven, to have salvation, to live forever, you must eat the word of God, receiving it into your mind and heart, and then living according to that word. If you live according to the word, then you have received the hidden manna, and your life will be changed; you will be given a new name.

These days, there’s not much in a name. Most people name their children after someone famous or an ancestor or a character in a book or movie, because it sounds nice. But from the beginning of earth’s history, a person was given a name because it expressed something about the person. The Bible records some of these names. For instance, Jesu or Jesus means a Saviour or Deliverer. Elijah, that mighty Old Testament prophet, means Jehovah is my God. Daniel, who wrote so extensively about judgment, means God is my judge.

When you receive the word of God into your life, when your life is changed, then your new name will be in harmony with the character that you have developed; and as promised to the overcomer of the church of Ephesus, you will eat again of the tree of life.

Looking at the promise to the church of Thyatira, the Lord said that the overcomer would “rule over the nations with a rod of iron.” We see this in both the Old and New Testaments. Psalm 2:7–9 says, “ ‘I will declare the decree: The Lord has said to Me, You are My Son. Today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron: You shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.’ ”

Speaking of what would happen at the end of the world, Isaiah 11:4 says, “But with righteousness He shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.”

In Revelation 19:13–16, John writes in symbolic language about the Second Coming of Christ, “He [Jesus] was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called the Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: king of kings and lord of lords.”

There is coming a time when everything in this world is going to be completely reversed. Today, there are people who believe in Christ—the overcomers—all over the world being persecuted, oppressed, and in great difficulty. However, when all things are overturned, they will be delivered, because their names are found written in His book, whereas those who may seem now to have all the power and money and fame, but who are not overcomers, will, when Christ comes, be destroyed.

Those imprisoned, persecuted and in all manner of trouble, but who love the Lord and obey His law, because of the promise given to the people in the church at Thyatira, will fulfill what Jesus said, “So the last will be first, and the first will be last. For many are called, but few are chosen.”

One other thing was promised to the overcomer of the church of Thyatira: “And I will give him the morning star.” Revelation 2:28

This is one of the most wonderful promises in the Bible. Friends, who and what is the Morning Star? Peter tells us in 2 Peter 1:19, “And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the Morning Star rises in your hearts.”

“ ‘I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.’ ” Revelation 22:16.

Jesus is the Morning Star. If you are an overcomer, you will have the Morning Star in your heart, the character of Christ will become your character.

What are we to overcome, and how do we do it? The Bible makes this very clear. First, John says in 1 John 5:4, that he that “is born of God overcomes the world.” Then he says, speaking of the world, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.” 1 John 2:15–17

The lust of the flesh (desire for unlawful sexual pleasure), the lust of the eyes (desire for possessions), the pride of life, and the desire for the praise and approbation of men, all are pleasing to the worldly man. However, these are the very things that must be overcome and eliminated from the life of the born-again child of God.

To be an overcomer, one must overcome the world, for everyone who is born of God overcomes the world. But how? “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” James 4:7, 8

Paul expressed the same principle in Ephesians 4:27–29: “Nor give place to the devil. Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.”

Both Paul and James say to resist the devil and make no room in our lives for him. Paul tells us in Ephesians 6:11, 12, just how to do that. “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

And Peter is just as direct, “Be sober, be vigilant because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” 1 Peter 5:8

We do not have to chase after the things of the world nor yield to the temptations put before us. The Holy Spirit can and will give us the power to overcome all of them. Paul dwells upon this repeatedly in his epistles. “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

“For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.” Romans 8:1–9, first part

Friends, we must seek the new birth experience, to fill ourselves with the Holy Spirit, so that the devil can find no place in us for him to dwell anymore. The Holy Spirit is waiting to create in us a new heart and a new spirit so that we may overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil and that we may have eternal life.

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

Who Will be Saved and Who Will be Lost

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In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said that in the last days not everyone who wants to go to heaven would be allowed entrance. Many of those who consider themselves His followers would be denied entrance to the kingdom. But what is the deciding factor that determines who will be saved and who will be lost?

The book of Revelation teaches us that heaven is for the overcomer. “Then He who sat on the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new.’ And He said to me, ‘Write, for these words are true and faithful.’ And He said to me, ‘It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.’ ” Revelation 21:5–7

Those who do not overcome are described in verse 8: “But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

We see something very similar to this in Revelation 22:14, 15. “Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.”

Verse 16 tells us, “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.” So we see that Jesus Himself is describing these two very different classes of people.

John’s letters to the seven churches, found in Revelation 2 and 3, lay out the Lord’s message to all of His professed followers in the Christian dispensation.

Speaking to the church of Ephesus, he says, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.” Revelation 2:7. The person who overcomes is promised the ability to eat of the fruit of the tree of life.

The tree of life is alluded to in the very first chapters of the Bible. “The Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.’ ” Genesis 2:16, 17

The Lord planted all manner of plants and trees to be food for Adam and Eve to eat, and they could eat of everything, as they pleased, except for the one tree. The Bible tells us in Genesis 3 that the woman, Eve, entered into conversation with a creature that looked like a serpent, but was the devil, called in Revelation a dragon and that serpent of old, in disguise. “Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, ‘Has God indeed said, “You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” ’ And the woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which in the midst of the garden, God has said, “You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.” ’ And the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ ” Genesis 3:1–5

The devil is a liar and always has been (John 8:44). However in this one thing he told the truth—once Adam and Eve had eaten the fruit of the tree, they did know good from evil. But when he told Eve that they would not die, this was a lie, for the Bible does not say that the soul of man is immortal. In fact, it says, “The soul who sins shall die.” Ezekiel 18:20, first part

“[W]hen the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.” Genesis 3:6. As a result of their disobedience, Adam and Eve were driven from the garden, no longer allowed access to the tree of life, and they along with all of their descendants became subject to death.

After pronouncing a curse upon the serpent, we see God speak to Adam, “He said, ‘Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, “You shall not eat of it”: ‘Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. … In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return.’ ” Genesis 3:17, 19

Adam was terrified when he heard the pronouncement that he would return to dust. “Then the Lord God said, ‘Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever’—therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.” Genesis 3:22–24

So Adam and Eve were driven out of the garden of Eden that day and not a single member of the human race has been allowed back to eat of the tree of life.

The early generations of mankind would live for a very long time—several hundred years—and unless a person was murdered, such as Abel was by his brother Cain, people lived so long the Bible tells us that there were nine generations alive on the earth at the same time before the Flood (see Genesis 5).

But after the Flood, man’s lifespan rapidly decreased so that by the twentieth generation, instead of living several hundred years, people only lived between one and two hundred years. Within a relatively short time after that, most people lived less than a hundred years until finally, as we find in the Psalms, the term of a man’s life had degenerated to around seventy years of age.

As many people have said, we scarcely start to live until we begin to die. And the truth is, that after sin entered the world, we began a downward slide from birth to death in just a few, short years. However, we have the divine promise that, if we are overcomers, we will once again be allowed access to the tree of life, whose fruit perpetuates life, and we need no longer fear death.

The second church John wrote to, the church of Smyrna, the Lord gave special promises regarding the problem of death. Smyrna was a persecuted church and many of its believers were martyred for the cause of Christ.

The Lord told them, “ ‘Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.’ ” Revelation 2:10, 11

In this world, regardless of whether we are good or bad, whatever our situation is, we all—except those alive at the second coming—will die the first death, because the Bible says, “[I]t is appointed for men to die once, … after this the judgment … .” Hebrews 9:27. But when Jesus comes, all those who are His children—all those who are overcomers—will be raised and given eternal life.

We find a description of this resurrection in 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17. “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then they who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.”

All who have died in Christ will be raised from the dead and all who have lived in Christ and are alive at His coming will be gathered to Him. 1 Corinthians 15:53–55 tells us what happens to this group of people: “For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory. O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?’ ”

But what happens to those who do not die in Christ, those who do not overcome, those who have not chosen to follow Him? “And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?’ ” Revelation 6:15–17

Once God’s children have been gathered into the clouds to be with Him and the wicked who are alive are destroyed by the brightness of His coming, Revelation 20 tells us, “Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished.” Verses 1–3

In verse 5, the Bible tells us what happens to the wicked who have died before Christ’s coming. It says, “But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished.” So, those who died before His coming, but did not die in Christ, will not be saved. They will not be raised when He returns, and the Bible says they will not live again until the millennium is finished.

If you are part of the first resurrection, verse 6 says, “Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.” Sin and death have no power over you anymore.

At the end of the thousand years, all of the unsaved will be raised.

“Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades [the grave] delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” Verses 11–15

Friend, if your name is not written in the book of life, you will not have eternal life; but if you are an overcomer, you will not be hurt by the second death. You will be taken to heaven to live with the Lord.

“Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.” John 5:28, 29

Speaking about those who would be raised to the resurrection of life, Jesus said, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are counted worthy to attain that age … and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.” Luke 20:34–36

In the day of his great trial and distress, Job looked forward to that time, and said, “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth.” Job 19:25

Enoch, the seventh generation from Adam, predicted this same event. “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” Jude 14, last part, 15

Paul wrote that when the Lord would come, some would be saved while others would be lost. And writing to Timothy, he said, “Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me at that day, and not to me only but also to all who love His appearing.” 2 Timothy 4:8

Revelation teaches that eternal life, heaven, and salvation are the reward of the one who overcomes. So what exactly must we overcome so that we can be in the kingdom of heaven?

The Bible is very specific about this. “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them [false spirits], because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the Spirit of error.” 1 John 4:4–6

Then John comes more directly to the point, “Whoever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.” 1 John 5:4

What is John talking about when he says, “He that is born of God overcomes the world?” He explains himself in 1 John 2:15, 16: “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.”

So what is in the world?

“The lust of the flesh” – the desire for unlawful sensual pleasure.

“The lust of the eyes” – the desire for possessions.

“The pride of life” – the desire for the praise and approbation of men.

Paul summarizes what the flesh causes men to do in Galatians 5:19–21, “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

Paul spells out exactly what the works of the flesh are, and over and over again he makes it clear that we must overcome them if we are to be in the kingdom of God. But if we have received the Holy Spirit, something completely different will happen in our lives. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” Verses 22–25

“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.” 1 Corinthians 6:9–11

The gospel is the most wonderful thing in the world. It can take people who have been involved in any kind of sin, and transform their lives so that they are no longer a slave to their evil habits and they will receive power to overcome.

“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us that were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? … [K]nowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. … Likewise, you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

“Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present yourselves as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law but under grace.” Romans 6:1–3, 6, 11–14

Friend, there will be only two categories of people when Jesus comes: those who are part of the resurrection to eternal life, and those who are part of the resurrection to condemnation. Which category will you be in?

[Emphasis supplied.]

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

Grace or Works?

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The Bible says that a person is saved by grace, but that they will be judged by their works. Can both of those statements be true?

The Bible states that there will be a judgment of the entire world and that God will judge both the righteous and the wicked. Moses wrote about the judgment in Deuteronomy 32, and it is found throughout the New Testament. Prophets and apostles spoke or wrote of the judgment over and over again. It is one of the most prominent teachings in the Bible.

The apostle Paul wrote a lot about the judgment. He had the opportunity to preach about it to the philosophers in Athens. There is an appointed day when God will judge the world. “Because He [God] has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” Acts 17:31

On another occasion, he presented the subject of the judgment to the Roman governor Felix. This was a once-and-only-once opportunity to speak to Felix. “After some days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, he sent for Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ. Now as he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and answered, ‘Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you.’ ” Acts 24:24, 25. Unfortunately for Felix, like for so many people who procrastinate, that convenient time never came. Felix was given an opportunity that day to forsake his evil ways and to be made ready for the judgment, but he let it go by disregarded.

In this world, it is a judge’s responsibility to pass judgment based upon a set standard by which that judgment is determined. This standard is composed of the laws passed by the local, state and federal governments.

God also has a standard, a law made up of ten commandments (Exodus 20:3–17), and it is according to this law that He will judge the world on the appointed day.

This is described in James 2:10–12: “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. For He who said, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ also said, ‘Do not murder.’ Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty.”

James makes this very clear: while there are ten commandments, the Bible speaks of them as one law. So, if a person breaks just one of the ten commandments, that person is a transgressor of God’s law and will be judged according to that law.

God spoke the law with His own voice to the children of Israel, and He wrote it with His own finger on tables of stone. Those tables of stone were given to Moses and placed in the ark of the covenant, in the most holy place of the earthly sanctuary.

When God spoke His law to the children of Israel, it was not the beginning or the origin of the law. Man knew from the time sin entered the world that it was not right to kill someone. It was wrong to lie, even all the way back to Lucifer’s campaign of deception in heaven. The Sabbath was established and sanctified at the end of the Creation week and had been observed by God’s people for thousands of years before the law was written down at Mt. Sinai. The children of Israel had spent many years in captivity in Egypt, and during their captivity, they neglected to teach their children about God’s law. This made it necessary for God to remind them of the law they had once faithfully followed.

God wrote the law, the ten commandments, on tables of stone, and it is significant that He did so. Writing with His own finger in solid rock, it showed that the character of His law was permanent, enduring—it could not be done away with. To express the everlasting nature of God’s law, Jesus said, “it is easier for heaven and earth to pass” than for a single part of a letter to pass from the law (Luke 16:17).

This presents to us a problem. We have all broken that law. “Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness [transgression KJV].” 1 John 3:4. “[For] all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23

So if all have sinned, if all have broken the law, and if all are to be judged by that law, then we all deserve to be judged guilty. Is it possible for us to escape the penalty of our sins?

First, let’s see what the penalty for breaking God’s law is. We find that in Romans 6:23 Paul wrote, “The wages of sin is death.” If the wages of sin were a ten-year prison sentence, then you could pay that penalty yourself. But the wages of sin is eternal, permanent death. Is there any way that we can escape this penalty?

If the penalty for sin is eternal death, then the only way of escape is if someone else pays the price. And that is exactly what Jesus Christ did. “For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures … .” 1 Corinthians 15:3. Christ died and paid the penalty for our sins.

However, if we continue in sin, there is no chance that we will receive salvation. Notice what the Bible says: “Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. Though a sinner does evil a hundred times, and his days are prolonged, yet I surely know that it will be well for those who fear God, who fear before Him. But it will not be well with the wicked … . ” Ecclesiastes 8:11–13, first part

We cannot continue to live in sin and expect to be saved. Isaiah speaks to this principle, “Say to the righteous that it shall be well with them, for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him, for the reward of his hands shall be given him.” Isaiah 3:10, 11

We cannot be saved in our sin. There is only one way that we can be saved and that is to be saved from our sins. This was proclaimed before Jesus’ birth. The angel said to Joseph, “You can marry your wife, because, that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she is going to bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus because He will save His people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21

How exactly does God save a sinner from their sin? One of the most comprehensive explanations of how God does this is found in the book of Romans. “But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Christ Jesus, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” Romans 3:21–26

A scripture like that might cause some people to say, “That just sounds like theological talk. I don’t understand how it works. I don’t understand how or what to do. I can’t explain or understand all that theological language. Can’t you just tell it to me in simple language?”

Yes, the gospel can be stated in very simple language.

The first step is to repent—to be sorry enough for the sins we’ve committed that we turn away from them. “Godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a Godly manner. What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter.” 2 Corinthians 7:10, 11

Repentance is the first step in salvation, but what is it that makes a person sorry for what they have done? The Bible says that it is the goodness of God that leads a person to repentance (Romans 2).

Since the Bible is clear that all have sinned, then everyone in the world needs to repent. Paul further supports this in Acts 17:30. Speaking to the philosophers in Athens he says, “Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent.” Remember, repentance is simply being sorry enough to quit doing the sinful things they do. Genuine sorrow for sin gives no excuse for it. Unlike Adam and Eve who both tried to justify what they had done, the sin will be faced and confessed.

Once we have repented from our sins, the next step is to confess our sins. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9. Confession involves not only God, but the individual we have wronged. We must go to that person to confess and make it right. Ezekiel talks about the necessity of making things right in Ezekiel 33:15. “If the wicked restores the pledge, gives back what he has stolen, and walks in the statutes of life without committing iniquity, he shall surely live; he shall not die.” So confession also involves making restitution. If I have wronged someone, and if it is possible to do so, then I must make it right.

Having repented, confessed, and made restoration, one must make a commitment. Remember the story of the Philippian jailor found in Acts 16: “ ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ So they said, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.’ ” Verses 30, 31

The word “believe” is usually translated and used to mean faith, to believe something enough to make a commitment to it. In this case, you believe in the Lord enough to make a commitment to Him; to believe in Jesus, not only as your Saviour from sin, but as the Lord of your life.

Jesus explained this belief to the Jews in so simple a manner, that none could misunderstand. “Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and you do not do what I say?” Luke 6:46. If you make a commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ, trusting in Him as your Saviour from sin, choosing to follow Him, then your faith will be accounted for righteousness and you will receive the gift of salvation. Faith is simply trusting in God enough to make a commitment to Him as your Lord, Master, and Saviour; then you just follow Him. What does it mean to follow Jesus? Luke 9:23 tells us, “ ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.’ ” Making a commitment to accept Jesus as your Saviour and the Lord of your life, means denying self.

By denying self, we surrender to the working of the Holy Spirit in our hearts to transform our sinful nature so that we can, by the power and grace of God, become like Christ—to ultimately have a Christlike character. “He who says he abides in Him, ought himself also to walk just as He walked.” 1 John 2:6. This means that we will live the way Jesus did.

We are not to simply make a profession of faith or belief. Rather we are to repent, confess, make restitution, and then commit to actually following Jesus. A wonderful promise is given to us when we follow these steps to salvation. “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission [forgiveness] of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Acts 2:38

The Bible says that by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body. Baptism by water is a symbol of being baptized by [receiving] the Holy Spirit. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:16, 17 that when we receive the Holy Spirit, we become a new creation. “Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” The Holy Spirit creates in us a new mind, a new Spirit, making everything new. Then He will enable us to follow Christ in righteous, holy living; something we could never do ourselves.

The apostle Paul explains this all in greater detail in Romans 8:1–14. “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” With a new heart, a new mind, and a new Spirit, we are enabled to live a new life, one patterned after Christ’s own life.

This is why the final judgment is based on works. We are saved by grace, but we must then exhibit the corresponding works of a transformed life. Our works are an outward expression of an inward change. Without the transformation of the Holy Spirit, we will continue to live a life according to the flesh and our works will, in the judgment, condemn us, because it will be clear that we have not received the Holy Spirit.

Jesus has said that no one can be in the kingdom of heaven unless they have received the Holy Spirit. “ ‘… Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’ … ‘… Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.’ ” John 3:3, 5. “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. … But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” Galatians 5:16, 22–25

We can only receive the Holy Spirit if we choose to follow and obey Jesus. But when we receive the Holy Spirit, when He enables us to live a new life of faith, then in the judgment, when our works are examined, they will not be found to be the works of the old unconverted man, but the works of a life transformed by the saving power of the Holy Spirit. [Emphasis supplied.]

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

Is My Name Written There?

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Revelation 22:11 and 12 imply that when Jesus Christ returns the second time, there will have been a judgment court at which all mankind from all ages of earth’s history will have stood before God where their characters have been fixed and their eternal destinies set.

Daniel talks about this same judgment in Daniel 7:9 and 10. “I watched till thrones were put in place, and the Ancient of Days was seated; His garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head was like pure wool. His throne was a fiery flame, its wheels a burning fire; a fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him. A thousand thousands ministered to Him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. The court was seated, and the books were opened.”

Today, we keep most of our records in a computer system. However, God uses a far more accurate system of recordkeeping than anything we could devise.

The Bible is very clear that God has record books and that the information contained in these books will determine every individual’s future destiny. Revelation 20:12 says that the “… books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which are written in the books.”

But notice what Revelation 20:15 says: “Anyone not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” My friend, the Bible is saying that if we are going to have eternal life, our names must be written in the book of life.

So we must ask ourselves this most important question: “Is my name in the book of life?”

Solomon, the wisest man to ever live, said in Ecclesiastes 12:13, 14, “Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether it is good or whether it is evil.”

All of our works, everything we’ve ever thought, said, or done is recorded in God’s book. Jesus said, “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 12:36, 37

Concerning our thoughts, 1 Corinthians 4:5 says, “Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts.”

What does it mean to “reveal the counsels of the hearts”? Isaiah explains this in Isaiah 66:18, “I know their works and their thoughts. It shall be that I will gather all nations and tongues: and they shall come and see My glory.”

David also understood this and wrote in Psalm 139 explaining God’s knowledge of the human beings that He made. “O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up. You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O Lord, You know it altogether. You have hedged me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it. Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me. If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall fall on me’ [or cover me], even the night shall be light about me; indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, but the night shines as the day. The darkness and the light are both alike to You.” Verses 1–12

It is clear that no matter where we go, what we do or say or think, God knows it all. As we have read, the record of each person’s life is recorded and one day soon God will ask each of us to give an account of the life that we have lived. Jesus tells us that there is nothing that will not be revealed. “Therefore do not fear them. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.” Matthew 10:26

There really are no secrets. We may be able to hide from man, but not God. Every deed known or unknown will be examined in the judgment, and we will be called to account for whether we obeyed God or not.

Luke 10 records the Lord’s appointment of the 70 elders who were sent out two by two to prepare the way for His eventual visit to a number of different places. It was their purpose to spread the good news of salvation offered by Jesus Christ, to heal the sick, and to point them to Him who heals both the body and the soul.

When the 70 returned to Jesus, they came to Him rejoicing because even the demons were constrained by them. When they spoke to the demons in Jesus’ name, the demons were forced to depart. But Jesus said to them in verse 20, “Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” It isn’t the power to work miracles, or even to cast out demons, that saves us. Jesus said our names must be written in the book of life.

When the judgment has come, Daniel 12:1 says, “At that time Michael shall stand up, the Great Prince who stands watch over the sons of your people; and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time. And at that time Your people shall be delivered, everyone who is found written in the book.”

So, is your name written in heaven’s book of life?

But here is another critical question each of us must consider: “Can I be sure that my name will not be blotted out of the book of life?” The Bible is very clear that during the period of time when probation is open and available, right now, names are being added to the book of life, but names can also be taken out of the book of life. What happens that determines if a name is blotted out of the book of life? How can you have assurance that your name is written in the book of life?

Acts 16:30, 31 say, “He brought them out and said, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ So they said, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.’ ”

Believing something with your whole heart means making a commitment. In this scripture it is saying that if you believe in Jesus with all your heart, then you are making a commitment to Him. Jesus is our Saviour and Deliverer, and if we believe this, then we are accepting Him as such and making Him the Lord of our lives. Making Him the Lord of your life means that you are committing to obey Him. Obeying Him in all that He says and asks will result in your name being written in the book of life.

But how is a person’s name erased or blotted out of the book of life? If obedience is necessary in order to have one’s name written in the book of life, then disobedience can result in a name being removed from it.

“Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.” Acts 3:19–21. So, the New Testament teaches that when you come to Christ, you start to live a new life and your life of sin is in the past. You have been converted, a new creation—created to live a new Christlike life.

This text tells us that before Jesus comes again, our sins will be blotted out and our names will be retained in God’s book. The Old Testament prophets support this. “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins.” Isaiah 43:25. And Isaiah 44:22, “I have blotted out, like a thick cloud, your transgressions, and like a cloud, your sins. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.”

But, what happens if a person claims to follow Jesus, but continues to live a life of sin? What if he is not converted? He professes to follow Jesus, but his life is not one of obedience and does not reflect Jesus’ character. The result is that when Jesus comes again, instead of his sins being blotted out, his name will be blotted out of God’s book.

“Do not cover their iniquity, and do not let their sin be blotted out from before You; for they have provoked You to anger before the builders.” Nehemiah 4:5

“Let them [Christ’s enemies] be blotted out of the book of the living.” Psalm 69:28

Moses pleaded with the Lord on behalf of the children of Israel who had rebelled and sinned against Him. He said, “ ‘Oh, these people have committed a great sin, and have made for themselves a god of gold! Yet now, if You will forgive their sin—but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written.’ And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book.’ ” Exodus 32:31–33

Notice, the name of the person who continues in sin will be blotted out of God’s book. But if a person chooses to follow Jesus, their life of sin becomes part of their past. He or she is a new creation, created to live a new, Christlike life.

We all have a case pending in God’s court. If we have made a commitment to believe in and follow Jesus and accept Him as our Saviour, then our sins are blotted out, our name is written in the book of life, and our eternal life begins. On the other hand, if we have made no commitment to Jesus, nor do we accept Him as our Saviour, and continue living a life of sin, then our sins will not be blotted out, but our names will be, and we will miss out on eternal life. We must be saved from our sins if we are to spend all of eternity with Jesus when He comes again.

How can I know that my name will be retained in the book of life and not be taken out? This question is addressed very directly in Revelation 3:5, “He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the book of life, but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.”

Jesus said the same thing to His disciples. We find it in Matthew 10:32, 33. “Whoever confesses Me before men, him will I also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.”

If we expect to have our name written in the book of life and for it to remain there until Jesus comes, then we must overcome the world and the flesh. The book of Revelation repeatedly states that the one who will be saved is the one who overcomes.

Who is an overcomer? And what must he or she overcome?

“Whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.” 1 John 5:4. If you have been converted and born again as a child of God, if your love and life are given to God, and you are obedient to His instruction and faithfully follow His direction, then you are an overcomer. You will not love the world, nor will you be controlled by your sinful nature (the flesh).

“Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.” Romans 6:6

There are three things that the overcomer must overcome. We’ve already seen the first—the world. “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.” 1 John 2:15, 16

Second, the overcomer must overcome the flesh. “And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” Galatians 5:24. What is the flesh? It is our sinful, carnal, selfish nature. There is only one way to overcome the flesh and that is through the power of the Holy Spirit working a transformative miracle in each life. When this occurs, a person is set free from his or her life of sin.

But there is still a third thing that the overcomer must overcome and that is the devil himself. James 4:7, 8 tell us exactly how that can be done. “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts you double-minded.”

So, if you want your name in the book of life, and if you want it to be retained there, then you must be an overcomer. You must overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil. And all of this can be accomplished because the Lord will give you the power to do it if you choose to fully and completely give your heart to Him and follow Him.

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

The Unanswerable Question Answered

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Have you ever experienced something so unexplainable that you have wanted to ask, “Why?” Many people today do not believe that there is a God because if there were a God, how could He allow such terrible and unexplainable things to happen? A time is coming when we will all have the opportunity to ask, “Why?” and we will find an answer.

In the not-so-distant future, every human being will stand before God and give an account of himself or herself. God has a record of everything that has ever been said and done in this world. He even has a record of the thoughts of all of mankind. All of these things will one day, very soon, be revealed.

Jesus said, “[T]here is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.” Matthew 10:26. Everything that is unknown or hidden today will, in that last day, be revealed.

The Bible tells us that God’s judgment will take place in three phases. This should be familiar to us because in the earthly court system, judgment is also dispensed in three phases:

Investigative – When a person is initially brought before a judge and a jury for a trial. All the evidence that has been gathered against the accused is presented in this first phase. The evidence will either be sufficient to find a person guilty or it will fail to convince the jury and the person will be acquitted, found innocent. If acquitted, then judgment is over. But if a person is convicted, then there are two more judgment phases to face.

Sentencing – A sentence, based upon the severity of the crime, is determined and set.

Executive – The execution of the sentence a person has been given is the final phase. It might be probation, a fine and/or community service, time in prison, or if it is a capital case, a death sentence.

God’s judgment is the same. Our focus in this article will be on the executive phase of God’s judgment. “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades [the grave] delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” Revelation 20:11–15

Here we see that this judgment is based on evidence, the things written in the records which God has been keeping since sin entered the world, and by which mankind will be judged “according to their works.” Somehow, Christians have gotten the idea that because they call themselves Christians, they won’t be judged according to what they do or don’t do. This is a terrible error because both the Old and New Testaments are clear that God will judge His people according to their works. Therefore, it is very important that we understand that our names must be found in the book of life and our works must be according to God’s law if we hope to meet God in the judgment and be found innocent of sin.

Looking again at Revelation 20, we see that this is how God will judge the people of the world, too, and that even though they may die in this life, they will be raised up again to face judgment. This judgment will be the second death. All who through sin became the enemies of God will die this second death judgment, when Satan and sin will be completely destroyed (Malachi 4:1). “Root and branch will be destroyed by the fires of the last days. Satan, the great general of apostasy, is the root, and all his workers, who teach his lies in regard to the law of God, are the branches.” Manuscript 58, 1897

“It will be seen that Satan’s rebellion against God has resulted in ruin to himself, and to all that chose to become his subjects. He has represented that great good would result from transgression; but it will be seen that ‘the wages of sin is death.’ Romans 6:23. … An end will be made of sin, with all the woe and ruin that have resulted from it.” The Faith I Live By, 357

This is the execution of the judgment.

Malachi says that God will once and for all destroy sin and Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15:26 that Christ will then destroy our final enemy—death. At the judgment, the book of life will be opened and anyone whose name is not found there will be cast into the lake of fire and experience the second death.

Jesus’ second coming brings about this final judgment. The second coming, mentioned hundreds of times in the New Testament, is its keynote. It is also spoken of many times in the Old Testament. The end of all things occurs at Jesus’ second coming. Revelation 19:11–16 describes the second coming of Jesus in symbolic language, “I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.”

Notice that Jesus is coming back prepared to wage war. As we draw nearer to the end of time, the world will become increasingly wicked. We read this in Matthew 24, in both 1 and 2 Timothy, in 2 Peter chapters 2 and 3, and in Revelation. The Bible repeatedly warns that because of this wickedness, the Lord returns to wage one final battle with sin. “Behold, the day of the Lord comes, cruel, with both wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate; and He will destroy its sinners from it.” Isaiah 13:9

The Old and New Testaments also state that sinners will be destroyed when the Lord returns once again to this earth. And why does this battle end this way? “[T]o give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power.” 2 Thessalonians 1:7–9

Revelation describes this destruction. “Then I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, ‘Come and gather together for the supper of the great God, that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, both small and great.’ And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse. And all the birds were filled with their flesh.” Revelation 19:17–21

Isaiah also describes the end of all things contrary to righteousness. “The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like that of many people! A tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of the nations gathered together! The Lord of hosts musters the army for battle. They come from a far country, from the end of heaven—the Lord and His weapons of indignation, to destroy the whole land. Wail, for the day of the Lord is at hand! It will come as destruction from the Almighty.” Isaiah 13:4–6

The Lord will return to destroy sin and sinners from off the earth. All those who worshiped the beast and his image and received his mark will be killed when the Lord returns. It doesn’t matter if someone is a king or a pauper, if sin is found in their life, if their name is not written in the book of life, they will die. None will be left.

We can see clearly what will happen to the wicked at Jesus’ return. But more importantly, let’s see what will happen to those who have dedicated their lives to doing the will of God; those who have received the Holy Spirit and been transformed into the likeness of Christ—Christians in the truest sense of the word.

“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.” 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17

“Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep [die], but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’ ” 1 Corinthians 15:51–54

Paul quotes this prophecy found in Isaiah 25:6–9: “In this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all people a feast. He will destroy on this mountain the surface of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces; the rebuke of His people He will take away from all the earth; for the Lord has spoken. And it will be said in that day: ‘Behold, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for Him; we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.’ ”

Being mortal means that we are subject to death. Immortal means we will no longer be subject to death.

The righteous children of God who have died will all be raised to immortality. Those who are living will be made immortal and caught up with those who are raised from the dead to meet the Lord together in the air. Jesus told His disciples just before His arrest and crucifixion, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” John 14:1–3

When Jesus comes, the wicked who are alive on the earth, will all be killed by the brightness of His coming. But God’s children, whether they be dead or alive, will be given immortality and be taken up together into the clouds to meet Him.

“And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

“But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection.” Revelation 20:4–6, first part

The wicked will be dead, to be raised again to face final judgement after the millennium. Only Satan will remain alive.

“Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while.” Revelation 20:1–3

Revelation tells us that the devil will be bound to this earth in solitary confinement for 1,000 years. There will be no one to deceive; no one to suffer from his cruelty. And during this 1,000-year period, the saints will review the books, the record that God has been keeping throughout the history of the world. The trial is commenced, the evidence is given. The saints will see that the evidence is overwhelmingly compelling and they must agree with God’s verdict of guilty.

The New Testament is very clear that judgment will be committed to Christ’s saints. “Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life?” 1 Corinthians 6:1–3

The saints will judge fallen angels and sinners alike, and will then fully understand why sinners must be destroyed.

It is during this time of judgement that the many unanswered questions that we have asked, will be answered. It isn’t that God cannot or refuses to answer our questions. God has a purpose for all the things that occur in this world and in our individual lives. We do not now see as God sees and therefore, we are unable to understand why things happen as they do. “Why did this happen? Why did God allow that?” They may be unanswered now, but there is no question regarding our lives on this earth that will be unanswerable. We just simply must wait for God’s time to receive the answer. And here, during the millennium, as we look over the books, we will see why things happened the way they did and be satisfied that God, in His love and mercy, did everything just right.

At the close of the millennium, Satan will be set free, the wicked will be raised from the dead, and all will be sentenced. The penalty for their sins: eternal death. No burning forever and ever … just death.

Satan, sin, and sinners—all gone. Having been sentenced for their sins, God executes judgment and all that is sinful is destroyed forever. “God is jealous, and the Lord avenges; the Lord avenges and is furious. The Lord will take vengeance on His adversaries, and He reserves wrath for His enemies; the Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked. …

“Who can stand before His indignation? And who can endure the fierceness of His anger? His fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by Him. … He will make an utter end of it. Affliction will not rise up a second time.” Nahum 1:2, 3, 6, and 9, last part

We will soon find out that God always does what is right and best for His children.

“Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice: ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing!’

“And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: ‘Blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!’ ” Revelation 5:11–13

Jesus said He would be back to take us home with Him. For eternity, we will hear again and again the story of our redemption. Questions will be asked and answered. We will sing praises to God and Jesus, His Son.

Are we waiting and longing for His return? Soon God’s children will be changed, the mortal will be given immortality and they will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. From then on, they will forever be with Him. Will you be ready to meet Him on that day?

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