Series

To Be Like Him

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To ensure a full understanding of this article, I want to start with several dictionary definitions. It is important that an understanding of the following terms be agreed upon so that the reader can achieve a full comprehension of the themes I am attempting to present.

Sinful: “Tainted with sin, wicked, iniquitous, criminal, unholy.” “Containing sin or consisting in sin; contrary to the law of God.”

Tainted: “Impregnated with something noxious, disagreeable to the senses or poisonous, infected, corrupted, stained.”

Propensity: “A bent of mind, a natural or acquired inclination in a moral sense, a disposition to anything good or evil, particularly to evil as a propensity to sin.” “A natural tendency.”

Tendency: “An inclination toward a particular characteristic or type of behavior.”

Our sinful nature involves the affections of the mind, the natural bent or tendency of our desires, inclinations, and propensities. This bent or tendency to sin proceeds from a selfish heart. However, many believe that—in spite of our sinful nature—a tendency, propensity, or bent toward sin is only an inclination toward doing or a desire to do something and, therefore, is not sin, and I am not a sinner because no actual act was committed.

A simple example: A man is born in the United States of two native-born German parents. Their ancestors were German. He does not have to like the Germans, speak German, or live in Germany to be German. He is German.

Mrs. White states that selfishness is sin (The Signs of the Times, April 13, 1891) and that man possesses a selfish nature. Selfishness is embedded within our central nervous system. It is in our DNA. For us, sin is not just action; it is an actual state of being. My thoughts, desires, and actions are the outworking of my selfish nature, and are, therefore, sinful. I am born selfish, a sinner long before I commit a sinful act, because of my inherent sinful condition. Sin originates from a selfish heart, so my sinful acts originate from my selfish heart (James 1:13–15).

Any propensity toward sin results in an imperfect character which is sin (The Signs of the Times, September 3, 1902). A person who possesses, inside, even one propensity toward sin will fall short of a perfected character.

Christ had a human mother. His “father” was the Holy Spirit. Inspiration, as well as Scripture (Luke 1:35), tells us that He was fully human and fully divine. Two natures, one Man. Inspiration also tells us that we must be careful not to make Christ too human (the Baker Letter, Manuscript Releases, Vol. 13, 18). Many too often fall into the trap of making Christ too much like us. They believe He possesses all the tendencies and propensities that are part of our nature. If Jesus’ nature had any tendency or propensity toward sin, then it would follow that He was born with a selfish heart from which sin originates, resulting in an imperfect character—rendering Christ unfit to offer Himself as an unblemished lamb, and the Saviour of mankind.

The seriousness of attributing a sinful nature to Christ, the importance of having a correct understanding of “sinful nature,” “evil propensity,” and what constitutes an imperfect character, can clearly be seen.

The emphasis on the combination of the divine and human in Christ’s nature is not meant to show how like us Jesus is, but rather, how like Him we can become. Yes, He had to be human in body and mind so that He could be tempted and able to die to pay the ransom for mankind, but Christ did not give up His divinity. He cloaked it with our humanity so that He could carry our sins and guilt to the cross. In His humanity, Jesus came to draw us up to become partakers of the divine nature. He presented before us the perfect example of what we can become, how we can live here until the day He appears in the clouds to take us home—a former sinner, a redeemed saint.

“Human nature will continue to be human nature, but it can be elevated and ennobled by union with the divine nature. It is by partaking of the divine nature that men and women escape the corruption that is in the world through lust.” This Day With God, 70

Just as Jesus bore our sins, “We must put on Christ; we must be Christlike in every word and action. Thus we shall be partakers of the divine nature. Only by partaking of the divine nature can we live the Christ-life.” Peter’s Counsel to Parents, 27. He offers us His spotless white robe of righteousness. Will we take it?

So, What About Me?

Because there is plenty in man that responds to the devil’s prodding, how can we ever hope to be like Jesus?

When I was young, the devil tried me with temptations that today are no longer temptations to me. I once liked a particular type of worldly music. But as I matured physically and mentally, I also matured spiritually. And today, I no longer have the desire to listen to that kind of music, therefore, the devil doesn’t tempt me to listen to it. This is the process of sanctification. I started out as my wicked, sinful self, but as I responded to the leading of the Holy Spirit, as I committed my life to Jesus Christ, and turned my back on the things of the world, I am changed—set apart, made holy for God’s purpose.

But there is something more involved in this change. I have inherited propensities in my body. I carry in my central nervous system an exact record of every sin that I have ever committed. Those sins must be removed, and if I fully surrender to the in-working of the Holy Spirit, they will be removed. Then my will is united with God’s holy will. Only then will I be pure and holy as Jesus is and able to stand in the presence of a holy God without a mediator.

“It is in this life that we are to separate sin from us, through faith in the atoning blood of Christ. Our precious Saviour invites us to join ourselves to Him, to unite our weakness to His strength, our ignorance to His wisdom, our unworthiness to His merits. God’s providence is the school in which we are to learn the meekness and lowliness of Jesus. The Lord is ever setting before us, not the way we would choose, which seems easier and pleasanter to us, but the true aims of life. It rests with us to cooperate with the agencies which heaven employs in the work of conforming our characters to the divine model. None can neglect or defer this work but at the most fearful peril to their souls.” The Great Controversy, 623

“We need not retain one sinful propensity. … As we partake of the divine nature, hereditary and cultivated tendencies to wrong are cut away from the character, and we are made a living power for good. Ever learning of the divine Teacher, daily partaking of His nature, we cooperate with God in overcoming Satan’s temptations.

“How this is accomplished, Christ has shown us. By what means did He overcome in the conflict with Satan? By the word of God. Only by the word could He resist temptation. ‘It is written,’ He said. And unto us are given “exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature. …” Every promise in God’s word is ours. … When assailed by temptation, look not to circumstances or to the weakness of self, but to the power of the Word. All its strength is yours.

“Grasp His promises as leaves from the tree of life: ‘Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.’ John 6:37. As you come to Him, believe that He accepts you, because He has promised. You can never perish while you do this—never.” The Faith I Live By, 23

“The example of Christ is authoritative for every son and daughter of Adam. His life was the law of God lived and exemplified, a perfect pattern for all humanity, showing what man may become by partaking of the divine nature. Representing as he did the character of God, he was a perfect standard of moral excellence in humanity.” The Signs of the Times, November 12, 1896

“When the truth is received into the heart, the habits and customs are conformed to Christ. The learner feels bound to uplift the Saviour. The truth works by love and purifies his soul, and he regards God’s commands, not as being abrogated, but as unchangeable truth, given to the world from the beginning. He presents the treasures of God’s word in a fresh and agreeable way, because the truth has taken possession of his mind, his heart, his entire being.” Ibid., March 1, 1899

Friends, time is passing quickly to the close of Earth’s history, when all decisions will be made—obedience or rebellion. Jesus didn’t come to show the universe what a God could do, but what we can do when united with Him through faith in the promise of His power and grace to overcome every temptation. He has bridged the gulf that sin made, connecting earth and heaven—finite man with the infinite God. Jesus kept God’s law in the same way that we can keep it. And once we have turned away from this world, committing our hearts and lives to Him, when we have escaped the corrupting power of the world, then we are changed. By continually focusing on Jesus and His character, we are changed, becoming a new man or woman, with a renewed heart (Lift Him Up, 251; Sons and Daughters of God, 337)—selfishness gone, sins forgiven and cast into the depths of the sea. Man is once more righteous and holy in character (Manuscript Releases, Vol. 6, 342).

“The transforming power of Christ’s grace molds the one who gives himself to God’s service. Imbued with the Spirit of the Redeemer, he is ready to deny self, ready to take up the cross, ready to make any sacrifice for the Master. … He has been created anew in Christ, and self-serving has no place in his life. He realizes that every part of his being belongs to Christ, who has redeemed him from the slavery of sin; that every moment of his future has been bought with the precious lifeblood of God’s only-begotten Son.

“Christ is our pattern, and those who follow Christ will not walk in darkness, for they will not seek their own pleasure. To glorify God will be the continual aim of their life. Christ represented the character of God to the world. The Lord Jesus so conducted His life that men were compelled to acknowledge that He had done all things well. The world’s Redeemer was the light of the world, for His character was without fault.” God’s Amazing Grace, 236

“A character formed according to the divine likeness is the only treasure that we can take from this world to the next. Those who are under the instruction of Christ in this world will take every divine attainment with them to the heavenly mansions. And in heaven we are continually to improve. How important, then, is the development of character in this life.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 333

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.

I Shall Know Him

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Fanny Crosby was one of, if not the most prolific hymn writer in the history of Christianity. We have all had the privilege of singing and listening to many of her more than 8,000 hymns. What a legacy for a woman blind from the age of eight.

Near the end of the 19th century, Fanny was visiting the Lake Chautauqua Institute in Western New York State. A place for Christian fellowship, great preaching and singing, it was here that she met John R. Sweney.

Having a rest on the front porch of the hotel after a busy day at the camp meeting, John asked Fanny an interesting question.

“Fanny,” he asked, “do you think we’ll recognize our friends in heaven?”

Initially, she answered yes. But then she added, “John, that’s not what you really want to know. You wonder how an old lady who has been blind all her life could even recognize one person, let alone her Lord and Saviour.

“I’ve given it a lot of thought and I don’t think I’ll have a problem. But if I do, when I get to heaven, I’m going to look around and when I see the one who I think is my Saviour, I’m going to walk up to Him and say, ‘May I see Your hands?’ When I see the nail prints in the hands of my Saviour, then I’ll know I’ve found my Jesus.”

“Oh Fanny,” John said, “that would make a great song.”

The next morning, bright and early, Fanny met John for breakfast and before they went their separate ways, she dictated the words of this great hymn; a hymn about heaven and the hope of every Christian—at last to see Jesus face to face. What a wonderful day that will be!

I Shall Know Him

When my life work is ended, and I cross the swelling tide,

When the bright and glorious morning I shall see

I shall know my Redeemer when I reach the other side,

And His smile will be the first to welcome me.

 

Oh, the soul-thrilling rapture when I view His blessed face

And the luster of His kindly beaming eye;

How my full heart will praise Him for the mercy, love, and grace

That prepared for me a mansion in the sky.

 

Oh, the dear ones in glory, how they beckon me to come,

And our parting at the river I recall;

To the sweet vales of Eden they will sing my welcome home,

But I long to meet my Saviour first of all.

 

Thro’ the gates of the city in a robe of spotless white,

He will lead me where no tears will ever fall;

In the glad song of ages, I shall mingle with delight,

But I long to meet my Saviour first of all.

I shall know Him, I shall know Him

And redeemed by His side, I shall stand.

I shall know Him, I shall know Him,

By the print of the nails in His hand.

Source: Barryshymns.blogspot.com/2010/01/i-shall-know-him

Lord, I’m Coming Home

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Born in Ireland in 1838, William J. Kirkpatrick came into this world with a song in his heart. A choir director, organist, lyricist, and composer for all of his adult life, William is credited for writing many of the beloved hymns we still sing today. Many poems from the pens of others were set to music composed by William. One in particular was a poem by Priscilla Owens, and Christians all around the world can be heard singing,

“We have heard a joyful sound;

Jesus saves! Jesus saves!”

He wrote the music for a poem composed by Louisa Stead, and today our hearts swell as we sing,

“Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus.

Just to take Him at His word.”

In 1902, William was serving as song leader for a camp meeting in rural Pennsylvania. A young man had been assigned to help him. This young man possessed a magnificent voice that brought tears to the eyes of many of his listeners. But William had a burden for the young soloist’s soul. Uncertain about the singer’s sincerity, he watched as the evangelist’s sermons appeared to have little or no effect on the young man.

Night after night, William prayed for this young man. He was so gifted; imagine how much more glorious it would be if he could sing of God from a converted heart.

William came upon a unique idea and he asked the Lord to give him a song that would touch this young heart. And God answered. William sat down and wrote both words and music to one of the most well-known and touching altar call hymns ever written.

Later, at the beginning of an evening service, he gave the song to the young man and asked him to sing it during the meeting. He did and at the end of the service, during the closing altar call, this young man gave his heart to Jesus Christ.

I’ve wandered far away from God,

Now I’m coming home;

The paths of sin too long I’ve trod,

Lord, I’m coming home.

 

I’ve wasted many precious years,

Now I’m coming home;

I now repent with bitter tears;

Lord, I’m coming home.

 

I’m tired of sin and straying, Lord,

Now I’m coming home;

I’ll trust Thy love, believe Thy word;

Lord, I’m coming home.

 

My only hope, my only plea,

Now I’m coming home;

That Jesus died, and died for me;

Lord, I’m coming home.

 

I need His cleansing blood I know,

Now I’m coming home;

O wash me whiter than the snow;

Lord, I’m coming home.

 

Coming home, coming home

Nevermore to roam;

Open wide Thine arms of love;

Lord, I’m coming home.

In 1921, William J. Kirkpatrick was 83 years old. One night, he sat down at his desk and began to write what would be his last song. Mrs. Kirkpatrick found her husband, there at his desk, verses unfinished, pencil still in his hand, having left this world as he had entered it: with a song in his heart.

Friends, can you imagine it. Millions upon millions, standing on the sea of glass, and how many of them will say that they gave their hearts to Jesus while responding to a song written to save the soul of one man.

Sources: iblp.org/hymn-history-lord-im-coming-home; A Hymn is Born, Clint Bonner, Broadman Press 1959

He Wore Our Nature

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The time of trouble is coming when we will stand in the presence of God without a mediator (The Review and Herald, January 17, 1907). However, right now, we all need a mediator 24 hours a day, seven days a week. So a clear understanding of this subject reveals what must happen among God’s people.

Differences in the understanding of a word have unfortunately resulted in much theological confusion. Some Adventists hold that the word sinful simply means having a tendency to sin and therefore, have concluded that having a sinful nature does not involve guilt, since a tendency to sin falls short of committing an actual act. Misunderstanding the true definition of sinful has resulted in a great deal of erroneous thinking, resulting in completely untrue conclusions.

The definition of sinful, according to Webster’s American Dictionary of the English Language (1828) is:

  1. “Tainted with sin, wicked, iniquitous, criminal, unholy.”
  2. “Containing sin or consisting in sin; contrary to the law of God.”

Again, from the 1828 Webster’s American Dictionary we find this definition for the word tainted.

“Impregnated with something noxious, disagreeable to the senses or poisonous, infected, corrupted, stained.”

It is easy to show from the writings of Ellen White that she did not believe Jesus’ nature was sinful by any of the above definitions. However, when Jesus went to Gethsemane, our sins—our sinful spiritual nature—were laid upon Him. He voluntarily accepted them. But, had His Father not intervened, our sins and nature would have killed Him (The Desire of Ages, 693).

Mrs. White calls this experience in Gethsemane “Christ’s humiliation.” Some Adventists have tried to prove that Christ had a sinful spiritual nature by the following Spirit of Prophecy quotation:

“He [Christ] took upon Himself fallen, suffering human nature, degraded and defiled by sin.” The Youth’s Instructor, December 20, 1900. They overlook the fact that this statement was written about “Christ’s humiliation.”

Christ’s entire human life can truthfully be described as a humiliation, but the term “Christ’s humiliation” refers in a special sense to His experience in Gethsemane and the cross.

“The awful moment had come—that moment which was to decide the destiny of the world. The fate of humanity trembled in the balance. … Will the Son of God drink the bitter cup of humiliation and agony? Will the innocent suffer the consequences of the curse of sin, to save the guilty?” The Desire of Ages, 690

Mrs. White’s statement that “not for one moment was there in Him an evil propensity” (Manuscript Releases, Vol. 13, 18), creates a problem for those who believe that Christ had a sinful nature, including the propensities to sin just like the rest of humanity. They feel compelled to try to explain it by saying that Christ’s human nature had the same “natural propensities” as we do, but not the “evil propensities” that our nature (flesh) has.

Let’s return to Webster’s American Dictionary for the definition of propensity:

  • “Bent of mind, natural or acquired; inclination, in a moral sense; disposition to any thing good or evil, particularly to evil; as a propensity to sin.”
  • “A natural tendency.”

So, what is the natural bent or propensity of man’s sinful mind?

“ ‘The carnal [or natural] mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.’ ” The Signs of the Times, May 30, 1895. (Bracketed words are in the original Signs of the Times article.)

It is easy to see that natural and evil propensities are one in the same.

If we incorrectly assign a definition to the word sinful, concluding that a person can have a sinful nature without having guilt because it is only a tendency to sin, then the next false conclusion follows that Christ had this sinful nature in Him. Note this carefully: having or possessing a sinful nature in Him is very different from having our sinful nature “laid upon Him.” To correct the erroneous conclusion—built on several false assumptions—that Christ had a sinful nature in Him, just like we do, Mrs. White wrote the Baker letter (found in Manuscript Releases, Vol. 13).

An Important Question

If Christ had a sinful nature, erroneously defined as only a tendency to sin, where does that tendency to sin originate?

  1. (a) If we say that sinful involves a tendency or propensity to sin and then suggest that Christ had a sinful nature, we are calling Christ a sinner. (b) To say that a tendency or propensity to sin does not involve guilt is not true because an evil propensity can only proceed from a heart that is selfish (Matthew 15:19, 20, first part; Luke 6:45), and selfishness is sin (The Signs of the Times, April 13, 1891). If Christ had a sinful nature, and consequently a propensity to sin, He would have been a sinner. (c) If Christ had a bent toward sin, then He would have an imperfect character and imperfection of character is sin (Christ’s Object Lessons, 330).
  2. The Bible says that “sin is transgression of the law.” (1John 3:4 KJV). The law commands that I love God supremely and my neighbor as myself. If I have a sinful nature (the essence of which is a selfish nature), then all of my thoughts, words, and actions will be sinful because selfishness is sin and I would be in constant violation of the two great principles of the law. So a person with a selfish (sinful) nature cannot keep the law and certainly cannot be a saviour (Romans 8:7, 8).
  3. People who think that a sinful nature is only the tendency to sin, and that Jesus possessed this sinful nature or evil propensity without guilt, imply that an action is not a sin unless it is a premeditated, conscious act of the will.
  4. This wrong definition of sinful, accuses Jesus of having a sinful nature, and lowers the standard of righteousness to accommodate our inherited tendencies to wrong (Christ Triumphant, 157). Mrs. White expressly states that we are not to do this (The Review and Herald, March 10, 1910).
  5. People who use this type of thinking use flesh and nature synonymously and teach that Mrs. White made the same mistake.
  6. This also gives to the humanity of Christ a tendency toward sin, again accusing Him of being a sinner. The tendency toward sin proceeds from a selfish heart and is also a trait of an imperfect character, and both are sin.
  7. This also suggests that Mrs. White had the false belief that the human nature of Christ possessed traits which belong to the power of evil—the same natural, sinful tendencies that we inherit.

Mrs. White considers carnal and natural to be equivalent terms, indicating that the carnal [sinful] mind is the natural mind of man. The Bible and Inspiration use carnal and flesh as equivalent terms. Desire, or carnal lust, is a power of the carnal mind. Mrs. White distinguishes between flesh as in the body and flesh as in the carnal mind.

“The lower passions have their seat in the body and work through it. The words ‘flesh’ or ‘fleshly’ or ‘carnal lusts’ embrace the lower, corrupt nature; the flesh of itself cannot act contrary to the will of God. We are commanded to crucify the flesh, with the affections and lusts. How shall we do it? Shall we inflict pain on the body? No; but put to death the temptation to sin. The corrupt thought is to be expelled. Every thought is to be brought into captivity to Jesus Christ.” The Adventist Home, 127, 128

A bent toward sin is a natural propensity for evil. Our natural propensities are evil because they come from the flesh, that is, our lower, corrupt nature. “By nature man has no love for God. It is not natural for him to think of heavenly things. Satan has worked against God and His government, leading men to attribute to God the traits which belong to the power of evil.” The Review and Herald, March 12, 1901. It is, and ever has been, Satan’s work to lead men to attribute his character traits to God.

Mrs. White is in harmony with both the Bible and the dictionary definitions of sin and sinful because she clearly understood that the word flesh can be used when speaking either of the body or the carnal mind and that the word nature can be used when referring to the body or the character. She never suggests that Christ’s human nature possessed the same tendency toward sin—the natural propensities—that we, as sinful man naturally possess.

If you believe, as many Adventist preachers have taught and are still teaching, that Christ had sinful tendencies or propensities toward sin, Mrs. White describes a long-term effect on your individual character development.

“It is a law of the human mind that by beholding we become changed. Man will rise no higher than his conceptions of truth, purity, and holiness. If the mind is never exalted above the level of humanity, if it is not uplifted by faith to contemplate infinite wisdom and love, the man will be constantly sinking lower and lower. The worshipers of false gods clothed their deities with human attributes and passions, and thus their standard of character was degraded to the likeness of sinful humanity.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 91

If I believe that Jesus had the same naturally-sinful nature that I inherited from Adam, then I will never rise higher than my own conception of truth, purity, and holiness.

The affections of the mind—this natural bent of our desires, inclinations, and propensities—are accurately described as having tempestuous thoughts within our mind. Paul calls this the “carnal mind” or to be carnally minded (Romans 8:6, 7).

Jeremiah describes it as “desperately wicked.” In the Hebrew language, desperately wicked is translated as “incurably wicked; cannot be cured.”

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” Jeremiah 17:9

“The secret of Satan’s power over God’s professed people lies in the deceitfulness of the human heart.” The Signs of the Times, December 13, 1899. Satan has power over us because he has something in us that he uses in his temptations against us. The carnal mind is not subject to the law of God, and cannot be because it doesn’t want to be. Our nature is selfish and enjoys being selfish. But Jesus showed how our nature can be subjected to the power of the Holy Spirit, and how our natural, sinful nature can be changed by it.

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

Man does not possess the independence he thinks he does. He is under the control of one of two great powers. Because of his fall from heaven, it is impossible for Satan to ever again be subject to the law of God. The carnal mind that man inherited from Adam after the Fall is controlled by Satan, and as a consequence, it is impossible for it to be subject to the law of God.

Think Prayerfully, Because It Bears Repeating

Man, as he came from the hand of his Creator, possessed a pure, holy, and righteous nature controlled by love—all characteristics of the Creator, His government, and His kingdom. Man’s heart responded to God’s love, becoming a conduit of that love. But when he yielded to the temptations of Satan, his nature no longer possessed that purity, holiness, righteousness, and love of and for the Lord. Instead, he chose to follow the government with no holiness and no ability to engender it, for it is controlled by selfishness and sin. Man’s heart now responds only to the selfish desires of his own sinful nature (James 1:14, 15) and the control of Satan.

The government of God is perfect and pure. The government of Satan is selfish, deceitful, and desperately wicked. These are the only two powers in this world and they are in conflict with one another over the very soul of man. From the day we are born, sin reigns in our nature. You might say that sin is in our DNA. It is not something that we just do; it is what we are. Man, naturally selfish and wicked, must choose to be remade in purity and holiness. How, then, can I truly believe that Jesus possessed my fallen, selfish, sinful nature; a nature described as more deceitful than anything else and hopelessly wicked?

Was Jesus tempted from within like we are? Jesus said of Himself, “The ruler of this world [the devil] is coming, and he has nothing in Me.” John 14:30. Satan found nothing in Christ that would respond to temptation because He did not possess our inherently wicked and selfish nature. Jesus possessed nothing, not a single propensity or desire toward sin that would answer to Satan’s temptations.

“Not even by a thought could our Saviour be brought to yield to the power of temptation. Satan finds in human hearts some point where he can gain a foothold; some sinful desire is cherished, by means of which his temptations assert their power. But … Satan could find nothing in the Son of God that would enable him to gain the victory. He had kept His Father’s commandments, and there was no sin in Him that Satan could use to his advantage. This is the condition in which those must be found who shall stand in the time of trouble.” The Great Controversy, 623

Jesus kept His Father’s commandments. He was the living, breathing embodiment of them. He could state with complete assurance, as did David, “Your word have I hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.” Psalm 119:11. “Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord! Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with the whole heart! They also do no iniquity; they walk in His ways. … I will keep Your statutes … .” Psalm 119:1–3, 8, first part

Two in One

“God cannot be tempted with evil, and He Himself tempteth no man.” James 1:13, R.V. The Bible tells us that Jesus was tempted like we are, that He was a brother to us in the trials of this world. But in order for that to be true, He had to be like us. If He did not have our sinful nature, then how was He able to be like us, and at the same time, be a perfect sacrifice for our salvation?

“The divine nature combined with the human, made Him capable of yielding to Satan’s temptations. Here the test to Christ was far greater than that of Adam and Eve, for Christ took our nature, fallen but not corrupted, and would not be corrupted unless He received the words of Satan in the place of the words of God.” Manuscript Releases, Vol. 16, 182, 183

“He [Jesus] veiled His divinity with the garb of humanity, but He did not part with His divinity. A divine-human Saviour, He came to stand at the head of the fallen race, to share in their experience from childhood to manhood.

“Christ had not exchanged His divinity for humanity; but He had clothed His divinity in humanity.

“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 [Jesus voluntarily] 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. …

“Avoid every question in relation to the humanity of Christ which is liable to be misunderstood. … [G]uard 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. …

“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.” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, Vol. 5, 1128

Concerning the fact that Christ was tempted in all points and yet without sin—a text used innumerable times as a proof text for advocates of Christ having a sinful nature—Mrs. White wrote:

“He was tempted in all points like as man is tempted, yet He is called ‘that holy thing.’ It is a mystery that is left unexplained to mortals that Christ could be tempted … and yet be without sin.” Ibid., 1128, 1129

If Christ had a sinful nature, there would be no mystery in saying He was tempted in all points as we are (See 1 Timothy 3:16; The Review and Herald, November 8, 1887; The Signs of the Times, July 30, 1896).

The physical mind and body are both fallen, ruined, as a result of sin, but the naturally-carnal mind is ruined with corruption. The body is ruined with mortality, physical degeneration that ends in death. The ruined physical nature of man is not sin but rather the result of sin. However, the carnal mind is sin, and it is this sin that causes mortality. Christ took our ruined physical nature and our mortality, but He did not take our corrupted mental nature, the carnal mind.

“He humbled Himself, and took mortality upon Him. As a member of the human family He was mortal, but as a God He was the fountain of life to the world.” The Review and Herald, July 5, 1887

“Christ who knew not the least moral taint or defilement of sin, took our nature in its deteriorated condition.” Manuscript Releases, Vol. 16, 115

Inspiration compares the fallen, ruined nature and the character of the first Adam with the pure and holy nature and character of Jesus (The Youth’s Instructor, June 2, 1898). All of mankind was ruined by Adam’s failure, but it was redeemed by the second Adam.

“Jesus Christ is our example in all things. He began life, passed through its experiences, and ended its record, with a sanctified human will.” The Signs of the Times, October 29, 1894

“Christ came to the earth, taking humanity and standing as man’s representative, to show in the controversy with Satan that man, as God created him, connected with the Father and the Son, could obey every divine requirement. [This was Satan’s original, and persistent accusation, against God, that man could not deny self and keep the law, therefore, God is a dictator, unjust, lacking mercy and love for those He created.] Speaking through His servant He declares, ‘His commandments are not grievous’ (1 John 5:3). It was sin that separated man from his God, and it is sin that maintains this separation.” Selected Messages, Book 1, 253, 254

“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” Hebrews 8:10

Concerning the Messiah, the Bible says, “I delight to do Your will, O my God, and Your law is within My heart.” Psalm 40:8

The law, and God’s pure, divine love filled the heart of His only begotten Son. Thus, Jesus had an unblemished divine spirit, so that He could be our unblemished sacrifice. But in order that He might be sacrificed, Jesus took on our ruined, human body. Only in this way could He be tempted (Christ Triumphant, 208) and die (God’s Amazing Grace, 153).

“Christ’s perfect humanity is the same that we may have through connection with Christ. As God, Christ could not be tempted any more than He was not tempted from His allegiance in heaven. But as Christ humbled Himself to our nature, He could be tempted. He had not taken on Him even the nature of the angels, but humanity, perfectly identical with our own nature, except without the taint of sin.” Christ Triumphant, 208

Christ is the promise of what we are to become. As a man, He possessed a holy and pure nature, for He was God, but He also possessed a ruined body and other physical attributes that could respond to Satan’s temptations, for He was also man. God promises that we—who are wicked by nature and naturally seek to do evil—can be given a new pure and holy heart when we surrender ourselves body, soul, mind, and spirit to God, are transformed, and, by commitment, remain close to the side of Jesus.

Jesus was the greatest teacher who ever lived. He was what He desires us to become. He possessed the peace that He desires to give to us. His peace will be the result when His law of pure, divine love is written in our heart.

“For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed, but My kindness shall not depart from you, neither shall the covenant of My peace be removed, saith the Lord, who has mercy on us.” Isaiah 54:10

“Let us therefore fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.” Hebrews 4:1, 2 KJV

The night Jesus was betrayed, a terrible time of trouble waited just before Him. But as He stood before the infuriated Jewish judges and Pilate, He was not afraid, for He had peace in His heart—a peace that comes from doing the will of the Father, of keeping His law in His heart; a peace that the world could not give, nor take away.

“He stood unmoved by the fury of the waves that beat about Him. It was as if the heavy surges of wrath, rising higher and higher, like the waves of the boisterous ocean, broke about Him, but did not touch Him. He stood silent, but His silence was eloquence. It was as a light shining from the inner to the outer man.” The Desire of Ages, 726

“In taking upon Himself man’s nature in its fallen condition, Christ did not in the least participate in its sin. He was subject to the infirmities and weaknesses by which man is encompassed. … He was touched with the feeling of our infirmities, and was in all points tempted like as we are. And yet He ‘knew no sin.’ He was the lamb ‘without blemish and without spot.’ …

“Not even by a thought could Christ be brought to yield to the power of temptation. … Christ declared of Himself, ‘The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in Me.’

“Jesus did not allow the enemy to pull Him into the mire of unbelief, or crowd Him into the mire of despondency and despair.

“Christ’s humanity was united with divinity, and in this strength He would bear all the temptations that Satan could bring against Him, and yet keep His soul untainted by sin. And this power to overcome He would give to every son and daughter of Adam who would accept by faith the righteous attributes of His character.” The Faith I Live By, 49

“This is the condition in which those must be found who shall stand in the time of trouble.” That I May Know Him, 354

Friends, the Lord wants us to have that same peace in our hearts, but unless His law is written in our hearts, we will never have it. The work of the Holy Spirit is to sanctify each individual heart, but the sins of God’s people must be blotted out, and a complete transformation, a recreation, must be accomplished in man—physically, mentally, spiritually. Any propensity toward sin results in an imperfect character which is sin (The Signs of the Times, September 3, 1902). A person who possesses, inside, even one propensity toward sin will fall short of a perfected character.

“In our own strength it is impossible for us to deny the clamors of our fallen nature. Through this channel Satan will bring temptation upon us. Christ knew that the enemy would come to every human being, … and by passing over the ground which man must travel, our Lord has prepared the way for us to overcome. …

“So long as we are united to Him by faith, sin has no more dominion over us. God reaches for the hand of faith in us to direct it to lay fast hold upon the divinity of Christ, that we may attain to perfection of character.

“And how this is accomplished, Christ has shown us. … Only by the word could He resist temptation. … All its strength is yours.” The Desire of Ages, 122, 123

(Emphasis supplied throughout.)

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.

In Relation to the Law

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In previous issues, we have explored how Satan uses deceptive reasoning, blending truth with error, to lead people astray. This deceptive reasoning can cloud our understanding of Christ’s human nature in relation to the law, and it is critical that we understand this relationship.

“The danger has been presented to me again and again of entertaining, as a people [the whole Seventh-day Adventist church], false ideas of justification by faith. I have been shown for years that Satan would work in a special manner to confuse the mind on this point. The law of God has been largely dwelt upon, and has been presented to congregations, almost as destitute of the knowledge of Jesus Christ and His relation to the law as was the offering of Cain.” The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, 810

As we continue to examine this relationship, we find a number of texts that help make it clearer to the human mind. Here are just a few.

“… Your law is the truth.” Psalm 119:142, last part

“Jesus said … , ‘I am … the truth … .’ ” John 14:6, first part

Jesus says of Himself that He, as well as the law, represents the truth. In other words, He identifies Himself as a living, breathing example of the law in action. How?

“I delight to do Your will, O my God, and Your law is within My heart.” Psalm 40:8

“He [Jesus] was the embodiment of the law of God, which is the transcript of His character.” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, Vol. 5, 1131

“The law of God is an expression of His very nature; it is an embodiment of the great principle of love, and hence is the foundation of His government in heaven and earth.” Steps to Christ, 60

“My tongue shall speak of Your word, for all Your commandments are righteousness.” Psalm 119:172

“Jesus is righteousness. What fullness is expressed in these words!” The Review and Herald, September 2, 1890

When Adam and Eve sinned, they lost the righteous and loving nature of God. No longer governed by the law of righteousness, their nature was transformed into one governed by selfishness and pride. Man’s nature, once a beautiful reflection of the image of God, was marred and distorted, out of harmony with the character of God. Many believe that if Christ did not have a nature exactly like our own, then He would not be a sufficient example. Had Christ possessed our selfish nature and tendency to sin, then He would have had an imperfect character, would have been a sinner by nature, and could not be our Saviour. This mistaken belief that Christ possessed our selfish nature comes from a superficial knowledge and understanding of the law of God and leaves the mind beclouded regarding the true nature of Christ’s character.

Jesus’ human heart embodied His Father’s nature because the law of God, which also embodies God’s nature and righteousness, is inscribed in Jesus’ heart. Understanding the righteousness of Jesus is crucial for comprehending victory over sin, and this victory is impossible if we lack an understanding of Christ’s relationship to the law.

Flaws

The common belief that Jesus inherited mankind’s sinful, selfish nature, including its tendency to sin, is flawed. Remember, our human nature is governed by the law of selfishness, producing an imperfect character which is, therefore, sinful. If Christ had possessed even the smallest speck of selfishness in His nature and heart, then He could not have been the Lamb without blemish, the perfect sacrifice for man. The Bible says that Jesus was both fully human (Hebrews 2:17) and fully divine (Colossians 2:9). His perfect character, the embodiment of the law, pleased God. But Romans 8:8 says, “Those who are in the flesh [that is, have a carnal mind] cannot please God.” Jesus could not have our sinful nature else He could not have pleased God.

As God, Jesus could not be tempted nor could He die. In order for His life to be the perfect example of the life God has promised to man, it was necessary for Jesus, in His humanity, to take on man’s nature so that He could be tempted. As a human being, He received from His Father the same power promised to man by God that enables us to understand the temptations brought against us by Satan and ultimately to successfully resist them.

“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.” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, Vol. 5, 1128, 1129

“… in Christ divinity was enthroned in humanity. The humanity of Christ could not be separated from His divinity.” Manuscript Releases, Vol. 18, 71

“In this conflict, the humanity of Christ was taxed as none of us will ever know.

“The Prince of life and the prince of darkness met in terrible conflict, but Satan was unable to gain the least advantage in word or in action. These were real temptations, no pretense. Christ ‘suffered being tempted.’ ” Christ Triumphant, 196

“The humanity of Christ received the fallen foe and engaged in battle with him. He was sustained in the conflict by divine power just as man will be sustained by his being a partaker of the divine nature.” Manuscript Releases, Vol. 16, 183

“Moral perfection is required of all. 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. 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

Accepting erroneous definitions of the word sinful strengthens the misunderstanding that many hold regarding sin. There are those who define sinful as acting on a person’s propensity or tendency toward sin, but this definition is lacking. Correctly understood, the term sinful encompasses more than actions; it also includes the intentions of the heart.

“God does not deal with actions so much as with the heart that prompts them.” Manuscript Releases, Vol. 4, 440

Sin and Righteousness

The law of God requires righteousness—a perfect life and character—which humanity does not possess (The Desire of Ages, 762). An inherited tendency [a predisposition] towards wrongdoing is sin because such because such inherited tendencies proceed from a selfish heart and selfishness is sin. Therefore, the belief that Jesus was born with our sinful nature results in misinterpreting the Bible’s definition of sin to mean that the sinful tendency of the heart is only sin when the person acts on it, but selfishness itself is transgression of the law of God, which commands love in the place of selfishness.

Jesus taught that the essence of the law is loving God with all of one’s heart, soul, and mind, leaving no room for divided affections (Selected Messages, Book 3, 330). This principle applies universally; therefore, by nature, humans—devoid of divine love—harbor no love at all for God. Inherently sinful, humans violate God’s law by having a sinful nature, even before any act is committed (The Review and Herald, March 12, 1901; Matthew 5:21, 22).

Webster’s 1828 Dictionary defines sinful as something “tainted with sin” or “containing sin.” This definition aligns with the Bible, suggesting that being sinful refers to both a state of being and its resultant actions. If being tainted means to be filled with something, then the tainted state of being of man’s nature is a nature filled with sin. Other dictionaries also offer a meaning of the suffix ful as having a tendency toward, which falls short of describing an actual act. Describing the human condition as having a tendency toward sin rather than being filled with sin is misleading. In other words, I am not sinful only because I do bad things; I do bad things because I am sinful—filled with sin.

So, why is humanity predisposed to sin? Disobedience perverted humanity’s noble powers and pure thoughts, replacing love with selfishness, making man’s nature carnal and antagonistic to God’s law.

  1. At the Fall, Satan gained control of man’s will.
  2. Selfishness took the place of love in man’s heart and became the ruling principle in his life.
  3. Man became carnal, a partaker of the satanic nature.
  4. Man’s appetites and passions were perverted and became warring lusts within the heart.

“Man was originally endowed with noble powers and a well-balanced mind. He was perfect in his being, and in harmony with God. His thoughts were pure, his aims holy. But through disobedience, his powers were perverted, and selfishness took the place of love.” Steps to Christ, 17

This terrible transaction took place in the heart. The words heart and mind are used interchangeably to mean the place where a man’s affections are found. When man sinned, his affections became carnal, and his entire nature was changed from divine to satanic, from the image of God into the image of Satan. “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. This is why man, left to his natural inclinations, tends toward sin.

The Will

But when the will—the governing power of the mind (The Ministry of Healing, 176)—is surrendered to God, one gains control over his thoughts, impulses, and affections.

“The tempted one needs to understand the true force of the will. This is the governing power in the nature of man—the power of decision, of choice. Everything depends on the right action of the will. Desires for goodness and purity are right, so far as they go; but if we stop here, they avail nothing. Many will go down to ruin while hoping and desiring to overcome their evil propensities. They do not yield the will to God. They do not choose to serve Him.

“God has given us the power of choice; it is ours to exercise. We cannot change our hearts, we cannot control our thoughts, our impulses, our affections. We cannot make ourselves pure, fit for God’s service. But we can choose to serve God.” The Ministry of Healing, 176

This choice to serve God brings the rest of our nature under Christ’s direction. Inspiration stresses that our daily choices determine whether our will aligns with Satan or Christ (Sermons and Talks, Vol. 1, 210). Choosing to be fully surrendered to God results in a transformation and renewal of our human nature, restoring His image within us.

In contrast, the natural human heart, filled with warring lusts due to the Fall (Pacific Health Journal, February 1, 1902), tends toward sin, which originates from within. This tendency arises because man’s mind and nature are dominated by sin and Satan’s influence. And sadly, many will lose eternal life, all the while hoping to be saved because they did not overcome their propensities to evil. They did not choose to serve God.

Mrs. White indicates that while flesh can describe the physical body, distinguished from the spirit or the soul, it is also used to describe the naturally carnal mental condition of the heart of an unconverted person. These are two very different things. And too often, many mistakenly equate man’s physical flesh with his sinful nature, leading to the erroneous conclusion that Christ shared our inherent tendency toward sin. However, Inspiration consistently portrays Christ’s human nature, though capable of yielding to temptation, as being without any taint of sin, showing that He did not possess our carnal mind.

“Here we must not become in our ideas common and earthly, and in our perverted ideas we must not think that the liability of Christ to yield to Satan’s temptations degraded His humanity and He possessed the same sinful, corrupt propensities as man.

“The divine nature, combined with the human, made Him capable of yielding to Satan’s temptations. Here the test to Christ was far greater than that of Adam and Eve, for Christ took our nature, fallen but not corrupted, and would not be corrupted unless He received the words of Satan in the place of the words of God. To suppose He was not capable of yielding to temptation places Him where He cannot be a perfect example for man, and the force and the power of this part of Christ’s humiliation, which is the most eventful, is no instruction or help to human beings.

“But the facts of this history are not fable, but a living, acting, experience. [To deny this] would rob Jesus of His greatest glory—allegiance to God—which enshrouded Him as a garment in this world on the field of battle with the relentless foe, and He is not reckoned with the transgressor. He descended in His humiliation to be tempted as man would be tempted, and His nature was that of man, capable of yielding to temptation. His very purity and holiness were assailed by a fallen foe, the very one that became corrupted and then was ejected from heaven. How deeply and keenly must Christ have felt this humiliation.” Manuscript Releases, Vol. 16, 182, 183

Preparation

A correct understanding of Christ’s true nature is pivotal for preparation for His second coming. As believers, recognizing the right relationship between Christ’s human nature and the righteousness of the law is fundamental to achieving a victorious Christian life.

“He who becomes a partaker of the divine nature will be in harmony with God’s great standard of righteousness, His holy law. This is the rule by which God measures the actions of men. This will be the test of character in the judgment.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 314

“The law requires righteousness—a righteous life, a perfect character; and this man has not to give. He cannot meet the claims of God’s holy law. But Christ, coming to the earth as man, lived a holy life, and developed a perfect character. These He offers as a free gift to all who will receive them. His life stands for the life of men. Thus they have remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God. More than this, Christ imbues men with the attributes of God. He builds up the human character after the similitude of the divine character, a goodly fabric of spiritual strength and beauty. Thus the very righteousness of the law is fulfilled in the believer in Christ. God can ‘be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.’ Romans 3:26. …

“By His life and His death, Christ proved that God’s justice did not destroy His mercy, but that sin could be forgiven, and that the law is righteous, and can be perfectly obeyed. Satan’s charges were refuted. God had given man unmistakable evidence of His love.” The Desire of Ages, 762

“The Son of God endured the wrath of God against sin. All the accumulated sin of the world was laid upon the Sin-Bearer, the One who was innocent, the One who alone could be the propitiation for sin, because He Himself was obedient. He was one with God. Not a taint of corruption was upon Him. … For verily He took not on Him the nature of angels; but He took on Him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succor them that are tempted.” The Signs of the Times, December 9, 1897

Christ was the perfect combination of the divine and the human. He did not come to this world to show the universe what God could do, but what man could do by the power and grace given to him by God Almighty (Selected Messages, Book 3, 140). By faith, and constant surrender of his will to God, man becomes a partaker of the divine nature, and is able to overcome every temptation.

“The Lord Jesus has bridged the gulf that sin has made. He has connected earth with heaven, and finite man with the infinite God. Jesus, the world’s Redeemer, could only keep the commandments of God in the same way that humanity can keep them. ‘Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust’ (2 Peter 1:4). …

“Christ took upon Himself humanity, and laid down His life a sacrifice, that man, by becoming a partaker of the divine nature, might have eternal life. … He was innocent of all guilt. He gave Himself in exchange for the people who had sold themselves to Satan by transgression of God’s law—His life for the life of the human family, who thereby became His purchased possession.” Selected Messages, Book 3, 140, 141

Because of His love, life, and sacrifice, Christ enables us to be like Him. We need not fear Satan nor his devious ways. As long as our will remains surrendered to God, as we seek to do His will only and always, and with our hand firmly clasped in His, the devil can do nothing to harm us.

“Unless Christ should consent to temptation, He could not be overcome. Not all the power of earth or hell could force Him in the slightest degree to depart from the will of His Father.” The Desire of Ages, 125

And it is this same power that is offered to us. As our will “cooperates with the will of God, it becomes omnipotent [all powerful].” Christ’s Object Lessons, 333

“The tempter can never compel us to do evil. He cannot control minds unless they are yielded to his control. The will must consent, faith must let go its hold upon Christ, before Satan can exercise his power upon us. But every sinful desire we cherish affords him a foothold. Every point in which we fail of meeting the divine standard is an open door by which he can enter to tempt and destroy us. And every failure or defeat on our part gives occasion for him to reproach Christ.” The Desire of Ages, 125

It is our life’s work to choose, repent, surrender, and trust. Only then can we be assured that the law of God will be written in our hearts, that our nature will once again be governed by God’s love and righteousness, and then we will soon be with Him forever.

“The world’s Redeemer was treated as we deserve to be treated, in order that we might be treated as He deserved to be treated. He came to our world and took our sins upon His own divine soul, that we might receive His imputed righteousness. He was condemned for our sins, in which He had no share, that we might be justified by His righteousness, in which we had no share. The world’s Redeemer gave Himself for us.” The Review and Herald, March 21, 1893

 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.

Shall We Gather at the River

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In March of 1863, running short of soldiers, Congress, for the first time, passed a law that initiated proscribed service. In Lower Manhattan, violent disturbances—a war within a war—were carried out mainly by the Irish working-class community in opposition to the law. They confronted police, soldiers, and pro-war politicians. During these Draft Riots (just one of the titles this period of unrest is known by), homes of various abolitionists and free African-Americans were looted and destroyed, as were many public buildings, two Protestant churches, and an orphanage for African-American children which was burned to the ground. However, by the summer of 1864, the city had allied itself with the Union cause, and things settled down, though anxiety still ran high.

The Civil War was tearing the country apart. Lush fields were littered with the bodies of dead boys from both sides of the conflict their blood watering the grass with sorrow and loss. Families waited anxiously for news about their loved ones.

That summer was oppressively hot and humid. The fabrics used to make clothing during the Victorian Era were heavy. Air conditioning was still a thing of the future. Crowded city apartments were stifling. And just when the people thought it couldn’t get any worse—it did. Fever swept through the city, confining hundreds to their stifling hot apartments. Anxiety was high, and misery was relentless.

Robert Lowry was the pastor of the Hanson Place Baptist Church. His parishioners were not immune to this anxiety and suffering, and he wanted to find a way to raise their spirits despite the hardships that surrounded them.

After a long and exhausting day of visiting the sick and dying, Pastor Lowry meditated upon Revelation 22:1:

“And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb.”

Pastor Lowry found the promise in the verse: a reunion with loved ones, at last laying down our earthly burdens and joining in a melody of peace. He sat down at his organ, wrote the lyrics, and composed the tune with the reassuring chorus, “Yes, we’ll gather at the river … .”

Imagine that beautiful river flowing from God’s throne, the saints gathered on its shores, bowing in gratitude and praise to the Lamb, singing together of redemption and everlasting love, a love that would not let us go.

Sources: askherabouthymn.com/what-comforting-old-hymn-was-written-during-a-summer-of-misery-in-brooklyn; Wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_draft_riots

 

Shall we gather at the river

Where bright angel feet have trod,

With its crystal tide forever

Flowing by the throne of God?

 

On the margin of the river,

Washing up its silver spray,

We will walk and worship ever,

All the happy golden day.

 

Ere we reach the shining river,

Lay we every burden down;

Grace our spirits will deliver,

And provide a robe and crown.

 

Soon we’ll reach the shining river,

Soon our pilgrimage will cease,

Soon our happy hearts will quiver

With the melody of peace.

 

Yes, we’ll gather at the river,

The beautiful, the beautiful river;

Gather with the saints at the river

That flows by the throne of God.

Covenant-Promised Power or The Value of Salvation

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In order to fully realize the value of salvation, it is necessary to understand what it cost. In consequence of limited ideas of the sufferings of Christ, many place a low estimate upon the great work of the atonement. The glorious plan of man’s salvation was brought about through the infinite love of God the Father. In this divine plan is seen the most marvelous manifestation of the love of God to the fallen race. Such love as is manifested in the gift of God’s beloved Son amazed the holy angels. ‘God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’ ” Testimonies, Vol. 2, 200

The glory of God is His character, and His character can be summed up in one word—love. “Christ points us to the key of all His suffering and humiliation—the love of God.” The Review and Herald, July 17, 1900

God is love, and the fullness of His love was embodied and demonstrated in the human nature of His only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ. “The obedience of Christ to His Father was the same obedience that is required of man. Man cannot overcome Satan’s temptations except as divine power works through humanity. The Lord Jesus came to our world, not to reveal what God in His own divine person could do, but what He could do through humanity.” The Signs of the Times, April 10, 1893

When people say they cannot overcome sin, they speak the truth. Humanity cannot conquer temptation without divine assistance.

“To attribute to His nature a power that it is not possible for man to have in his conflicts with Satan, is to destroy the completeness of His humanity.” Ibid.

“God has called His people to glory and virtue, and these will be manifest in the lives of all who are truly connected with Him. Having become partakers of the heavenly gift, they are to go on unto perfection, being ‘kept by the power of God through faith.’ 1 Peter 1:5. It is the glory of God to give His virtue to His children. He desires to see men and women reaching the highest standard; and when by faith they lay hold of the power of Christ, when they plead His unfailing promises, and claim them as their own, when with an importunity that will not be denied they seek for the power of the Holy Spirit, they will be made complete in Him.” The Acts of the Apostles, 530

The incorruptible, undefiled inheritance that Jesus has provided for us is the moral power of His pure divine love, imparted to us by the Holy Spirit through faith that works by love. “The faith that works by love is an active agent, and purifies the soul, separating from the character everything that is out of harmony with the standard of righteousness.” The Signs of the Times, April 2, 1896

“Today it is still His purpose to sanctify and cleanse His church ‘with the washing of water by the word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.’ No greater gift than the character that He revealed, can Christ ask His Father to bestow upon those who believe on Him.” Ibid., September 3, 1902

Christ asked His Father to bestow on us the character that He Himself revealed when He was here—the greatest gift He could give to humanity. “What largeness there is in His request! What fullness of grace every follower of Christ has the privilege of receiving!” Ibid. “God is love, and love is life” (Christ’s Object Lessons, 258) but “genuine faith is life” (The Desire of Ages, 347). Genuine faith manifests the power of pure divine love.

To further understand how Jesus was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin, we must revisit the temptations He faced. As the Son of God, it was impossible to tempt Him, so He took on humanity so that He could be tempted. However, His temptations were far stronger than anything we will face, and were pressed upon Him when He was at His weakest. “It was in the time of greatest weakness that Christ was assailed by the fiercest temptations.” The Review and Herald, May 14, 1908

“The Son of God placed Himself in the sinner’s stead, and passed over the ground where Adam fell, and endured the temptation in the wilderness which was a hundred-fold stronger than was or ever will be brought to bear upon the human race.” Manuscript Releases, Vol. 6, 334

Christ’s temptations were far stronger than anything we will ever experience, but could He be tempted with every species of crime, violence, and corruption that sinful man is tempted with?

In previous studies, we have shown that humanity’s weakness is inseparably united with its wants and desires, and that the power of the temptation is determined by the strength of the desire—the stronger the desire, the stronger the temptation. Therefore, to be tempted with every species of crime, violence, and corruption that is common to man, Jesus would have had to desire evil.

“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.” Ibid., Vol. 9, 235, 236

A desire for evil is a desire for sin, and an evil desire is not in harmony with the law of God. Jesus was full of God’s love and therefore, evil or sinful desire was not part of His character. “Full of goodness, compassion, and love, He hated only one thing—sin, ‘the transgression of the law.’ ” The Signs of the Times, April 14, 1898

God cannot be tempted with evil because He hates sin, and it was this hatred that made it absolutely impossible for Jesus—God manifest in the flesh—to be tempted with every species of crime, violence, and corruption, all the wickedness that grows out of the three great leading temptations—appetite, presumption, and pride.

“He [Jesus] is a brother in our infirmities, but not in possessing like passions. As the sinless One, His nature recoiled from evil. He endured struggles and torture of soul in a world of sin.” Testimonies, Vol. 2, 202

To be tempted in all points like as we are does not mean that Jesus possessed the same evil passions that fallen humanity possesses, nor the selfishness that is the very foundation of our human nature. His human nature recoiled from evil. Even we do not desire something we hate, and as our Brother, neither did Jesus.

“Our Lord was tempted as man is tempted. He was capable of yielding to temptations, as are human beings. His finite nature was pure and spotless, but the divine nature that led Him to say to Philip, ‘He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father’ also, was not humanized; neither was humanity deified by the blending or union of the two natures; each retained its essential character and properties.” Manuscript Releases, Vol. 16, 182

What was it that made Jesus capable of being tempted?

In Christ, the finite nature of man and the divine nature of God were united, blended in one Person. In this union, they both retained their essential character and properties. The finite nature of Christ, His human nature, was pure and spotless because it was united to His divine nature. It is essential that our character be pure and spotless if it is to be united with the divine nature; for it cannot unite with divine nature if it is defiled with sin.

“But here [the fact that Christ was capable of yielding to temptation] we must not become in our ideas common and earthly, and in our perverted ideas we must not think that the liability of Christ to yield to Satan’s temptations degraded His humanity and He possessed the same sinful, corrupt propensities as man.” Ibid.

Ellen White calls the idea that Christ’s human nature possessed our sinful, corrupt propensities to sin a perverted idea.

How was Satan able to tempt Christ?

“The divine nature, combined with the human, made Him capable of yielding to Satan’s temptations. Here the test to Christ was far greater than that of Adam and Eve, for Christ took our nature, fallen but not corrupted, and would not be corrupted unless He received the words of Satan in the place of the words of God. To suppose He was not capable of yielding to temptation places Him where He cannot be a perfect example for man, and the force and the power of this part of Christ’s humiliation, which is the most eventful, is no instruction or help to human beings.” Ibid., 182, 183

After 4,000 years of sin had devastated man, Jesus took our ruined physical nature, but He did not take our corrupted flesh—our carnal heart or nature. We learned in previous studies that heart, nature, and flesh are all used synonymously when speaking of man’s spiritual nature. Our sinful nature makes it impossible for us to obey the law of God and is contrary to, and out of harmony with, His character (Romans 8). However, the Bible tells us that Jesus’ character reflected the express image of God, that He was the physical embodiment of God’s law, and that He pleased God. It is this same miraculous union of divinity and humanity that God desires to accomplish in us.

To deny that Jesus could yield to temptation would rob Him of His greatest glory. Satan sought to strip Christ of His purity, holiness, and most importantly, His allegiance to God. Allegiance is a matter of the mind. We worship God in our heart and mind, or we worship Satan (See Fundamentals of Christian Education, 426). The battle, my friend, is for the mind.

“We are all under one or the other of two great captains. One, the Creator of man and of the world, is the greatest of all. All owe Him the allegiance of their whole being, the devotion of their entire affection. If the mind is given to His control, and if God has the molding and developing of the powers of the mind, new moral power will be received daily from the Source of all wisdom and all strength. Moral blessings and divine beauties will reward the efforts of everyone whose mind is heaven-bent.” Our High Calling, 80

Paul says that Jesus was tempted like we are. This doesn’t mean that Jesus possessed the same evil passions that fallen humanity possesses. So what did Paul mean?

Paromoios is the Greek word for “like,” which means “after the manner of, in the same manner as, in the same way.” So how did Satan tempt Christ? “The [same] way in which Satan tempted Christ, he is today tempting every soul.” The Review and Herald, May 3, 1906

Deception

To clearly see Satan’s purpose when he brought temptation to Christ and now brings it to us, we need to go back to the beginning. How did Satan tempt Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden? First, he tempted Eve
to distrust God’s love,

  • to doubt His wisdom, and
  • to transgress His law.

And then, through her, he was able to overthrow Adam (Patriarchs and Prophets, 57).

“When Satan and his rebel host were defeated and cast out of heaven, they did not give up the struggle against right. Satan’s work has been the same since the days of Adam to the present, and he has pursued it with great success, tempting men to distrust God’s love and to doubt his wisdom. And in the great closing work of the rebellion the powers of evil will unite in a desperate struggle to work out their deceptive plans to lead souls to ruin.” The Review and Herald, September 30, 1909. “Satan must deceive in order to lead away.” Ibid., September 14, 1897

“I say to all: Be on your guard; for as an angel of light Satan is walking in every assembly of Christian workers, and in every church, trying to win the members to his side.” Testimonies, Vol. 8, 294

“Satan has ever been ambitious to counterfeit the work of Christ and establish his own power and claims. He does not generally do this openly and boldly. He is artful and knows that the most effectual way for him to accomplish his work is to come to poor, fallen man in the form of an angel of light.” Ibid., Vol. 1, 293

I do not believe that Satan is dressed all in red, with horns, cloven hooves, and a pointy beard carrying a pitchfork; a common depiction of him for millennia. But if he were to come to you as Mrs. White describes him (The Story of Redemption, 46), I don’t think he would fool anyone. Sinful as we may be, without deception Satan would not be able to entrap us if we were to see his true countenance and hear his vile lies against the love and wisdom of God. Sadly, however, Satan seeks to hold man under his deceptive reasoning (The Review and Herald, May 3, 1906), and the unwary soul is led to doubt and distrust God. The result then is that man can be—will be—led into sin. Yes, friends, distrust of God’s love and doubting His wisdom always precedes transgression of His law.

Satan used this same method when he tempted Christ in the wilderness after He had fasted for 40 days. “There came to the Saviour, as if in answer to His prayers, one [Satan] in the guise of an angel from heaven. He claimed to have a commission from God to declare that Christ’s fast was at an end. As God had sent an angel to stay the hand of Abraham from offering Isaac, so, satisfied with Christ’s willingness to enter the bloodstained path, the Father had sent an angel to deliver Him; this was the message brought to Jesus. … Would God treat His own Son thus? Would He leave Him in the desert with wild beasts, without food, without companions, without comfort? He insinuates that God never meant His Son to be in such a state as this.” The Desire of Ages, 118

Satan was trying to tempt Jesus to doubt God’s leading. Forty days of fasting had left Jesus weak, exhausted, and hungry on the verge of death. Jesus had a natural appetite for food that was begging to be gratified. He had been praying for help from heaven, and this angel of light, this supposed messenger from heaven, points to nearby stones and says to Jesus, “If Thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.” Ibid., 118

This angel’s first words betray his character, “If Thou be the Son of God.” No heavenly being would insinuate distrust in God’s wisdom. Had Jesus done as Satan suggested, it would have been an expression of doubt. The tempter planned to overthrow Christ using the same means that he had been using so successfully with the human race from the beginning. While Satan tempted in the same manner that he used on Adam and Eve, the circumstances surrounding Christ were far less favorable. Adam didn’t eat the forbidden fruit of the tree because he was hungry.

“How artfully had Satan approached Eve in Eden! ‘Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?’ Genesis 3:1. Thus far the tempter’s words were truth; but in his manner of speaking them there was a disguised contempt for the word of God. There was a covert negative, a doubt of the divine truthfulness. Satan sought to instill into the mind of Eve the thought that God would not do as He had said; that the withholding of such beautiful fruit was a contradiction of His love and compassion for man.” Ibid. This deceptive reasoning may include words of truth, but the manner in which the truth is spoken reveals a disguised contempt for God’s word.

“In an insulting, taunting manner, Satan referred to the present weakness and the unfavorable appearance of Christ in contrast with his own strength and glory. He taunted Christ that He was a poor representative of the angels, much more of their exalted Commander, the acknowledged King in the royal courts. His present appearance indicated that He was forsaken of God and man. He said if Christ was indeed the Son of God, the monarch of heaven, He had power equal with God, and He could give him evidence by working a miracle, and changing the stone just at His feet into bread, and relieve His hunger. Satan promised that, if Christ would do this, he would at once yield his claims of superiority, and that the contest between himself and Christ should there be forever ended.” The Review and Herald, August 18, 1874

Jesus could have exercised His divine power and made the stones into bread as Satan suggested. That wouldn’t be a temptation for us because we do not possess the power to command a stone to become a loaf of bread. However, Jesus had the power. But had He used His divinity to in any way help Himself, the plan of salvation would have been broken. That was Jesus’ temptation. For each temptation Satan brought to Him, Jesus had to resist divinely helping Himself in any way that would not be available to man. Imagine the power of a temptation to prove that you were the Son of God!

Imagine being so hungry and the devil coming to you and telling you to simply turn this stone into bread and relieve your hunger. We would probably respond with a guffaw. Why? Because we have no power to change anything into anything. It would be no temptation for us at all. Yes, the power of the temptations that we face are beyond imagination sometimes, but God has promised us everything we need to resist the temptations of Satan and to turn away from him. The point is, when we are tempted, we need help from above to overcome. Jesus, as the Son of God, didn’t need help. But as the Son of Man, our Example, He could do nothing to resist temptation and live a pure and holy life here that would not be available to us.

This is My Son

“When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’ ” Matthew 3:16, 17

What was Christ’s assurance that He was indeed the beloved Son of God? God’s word was Christ’s assurance of His divine mission. “He had come to live as a man among men, and it was the word that declared His connection with heaven. It was Satan’s purpose to cause Him to doubt that word. If Christ’s confidence in God could be shaken, Satan knew that the victory in the whole controversy would be his. He could overcome Jesus.” The Desire of Ages, 119

The devil was determined to make Christ disbelieve the words from heaven. If he could shake Christ’s confidence in His Father, he could win. “He hoped that under the force of despondency [hopelessness] and extreme hunger, Christ would lose faith in His Father, and work a miracle in His own behalf. Had He done this, the plan of salvation would have been broken.” Ibid.

Satan’s hope was that while Jesus was suffering extreme hunger in His body and bearing the weight of the sins of the whole world, he could cause Him to lose courage and faith in His Father and work a miracle for Himself. Jesus could have performed this miracle, but instead, He relied upon the power given to Him by the Father to resist the devil’s suggestion. Inspiration says that this same moral power to resist the devil is available to you and me, just as it was to Him. We must study it, believe it, pray for it, and receive it.

“The enticements which Christ resisted were those that we find it so difficult to withstand. They were urged upon Him in as much greater degree as His character is superior to ours. With the terrible weight of the sins of the world upon Him, Christ withstood the test upon appetite, upon the love of the world, and upon that love of display which leads to presumption. These were the temptations that overcame Adam and Eve, and that so readily overcome us.” Ibid., 116, 117

“As one of us He was to give an example of obedience. For this He took upon Himself our nature, and passed through our experiences. ‘In all things it behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren.’ Hebrews 2:17. If we had to bear anything which Jesus did not endure, then upon this point Satan would represent the power of God as insufficient for us. Therefore Jesus was ‘in all points tempted like as we are.’ Hebrews 4:15. He endured every trial to which we are subject. And He exercised in His own behalf no power that is not freely offered to us. As man, He met temptation, and overcame in the strength given Him from God.” Ibid., 24

What was this strength that the Father gave Him? “He says, ‘I delight to do Thy will, O My God: yea, Thy law is within My heart.’ Psalm 40:8.” Ibid. The law, written in the heart, is the power of God in the human life. “The law of God is an expression of His very nature; it is an embodiment of the great principle of love, and hence is the foundation of His government in heaven and earth. If our hearts are renewed in the likeness of God, if the divine love is implanted in the soul, will not the law of God be carried out in the life? When the principle of love is implanted in the heart, when man is renewed after the image of Him that created him, the new-covenant promise is fulfilled, ‘I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them.’ Hebrews 10:16. And if the law is written in the heart, will it not shape the life? Obedience—the service and allegiance of love—is the true sign of discipleship.” Steps to Christ, 60

Christ’s spiritual brothers and sisters are those whom He makes holy. He sanctifies them through His love and the word, and the kingdom of righteousness is established in the heart.

“Love is power. Intellectual and moral strength are involved in this principle, and cannot be separated from it. The power of wealth has a tendency to corrupt and destroy; the power of force is strong to do hurt; but the excellence and value of pure love consist in its efficiency to do good, and to do nothing else than good.” Gospel Workers (1892), 311, 112

“Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.” 1 John 3:9

The strength given to Jesus from His Father was the covenant promise made in Eden that God would put enmity between the seed of the serpent and the Seed of the woman. That enmity is found in the law of righteousness, which is the expression of His very nature. God put enmity between Christ and Satan, but He will put that same enmity between His people and Satan. All who will take up their cross [the cross is all our natural propensities] and allow the law of self-sacrifice in love to be written in their hearts as it was in the heart of Jesus, will receive the promised power to resist the temptations of Satan. As Jesus was and is connected with and beloved by God, so may we be through the covenant-promised power.

In purity and holiness, connected with God and beloved by God, Jesus came to this world as a man to begin where the first Adam began, but not for one moment was there in Him an evil propensity. Satan was not able to accomplish his diabolical scheme of instilling in the mind of Christ his own sentiments, thoughts, passions, and feelings.

“By nature man has no love for God. It is not natural for him to think of heavenly things. Satan has worked against God and His government, leading men to attribute to God the traits which belong to the power of evil.” The Review and Herald, March 12, 1901

Satan leads men to attribute to God the traits which belong to the power of evil. This temptation, prepared for the very elect, has deceived many in the Adventist church today. Those who teach that Christ possessed the same tendencies to sin that we inherit from Adam, and that He was tempted with every species of crime, violence, and corruption that sinful flesh is tempted with, are unwittingly denying His divinity by attributing to God in the humanity of His Son, the sentiments and character traits of Satan.

We need to pray that the Father will reveal to us the truth as it in Jesus which is the robe of Christ’s righteousness. God embodied His own attributes in His Son, His power, His wisdom, His goodness, His purity, His truthfulness, His spirituality, His benevolence, and He wants to embody in our minds the same attributes that He embodied in His Son.

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.

Divinity United with Humanity

by

A couple hundred years ago, people believed that things were getting better in this world because of medical advancements, the discovery of drugs and antibiotics that would result in the eradication of disease, and many other medical and scientific advancements. The world looked with optimism at the theory of evolution to prove that as time passed, this world and the people in it would progress to higher and higher levels of development.

But the idea of this world becoming a utopia was shattered by World War I and even more so by World War II. The entire psychology of the world in the last hundred years, the optimistic view of a steadily progressing improvement, was completely turned on its head. Before, we thought we would be able to solve every problem as advancement upon advancement was achieved, new technology was discovered and developed. But the truth is, we now know that we are not able to solve all the world’s problems, not with technology, not even with all our advancements. And as a result, the world today has become pessimistic, with many voices in the public press talking about the end of the world.

But the problem for us, we who call ourselves Christians, is not that the world is ending, but that we are not prepared to be made ready for the end to come.

Over many months, we have studied so that we might have a correct knowledge and understanding of the mystery of godliness and how it will prepare a people to be ready for the end of the world. We must understand what Jesus intends to do for us. We require an inside change to be ready for the end of the world and only Jesus can make this change in us. Otherwise, we will be destroyed. God has big plans for us, bigger and higher than we can possibly imagine. And understanding His plans will lead each of us to say, “Lord, I want Your plan to be worked out in my life.”

When Jesus came to this world, His own people did not understand who He was nor what He had come to do for them. When Jesus asked them who they thought He was, some thought he was Elijah, Jeremiah, or one of the other prophets, and others said He was John the Baptist risen from the dead. But Peter hit upon the truth exactly in his response to Jesus’ question. “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Matthew 16:16

Jesus blessed Peter for his understanding, pointing out that Peter could not have known this by himself, that only by the Holy Spirit could it have been revealed to him. Then He described Peter as being a rolling stone. But God’s church would be built upon the solid foundation of Jesus Christ, and this church would prevail against everything, even death (verses 17, 18).

The focus and basis of our study has been 1 Timothy 3:16. “Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit.”

Let’s list some of the basic points that we have discussed during this series:

  • Jesus is touched with the feeling of our infirmities because He experienced the weaknesses of humanity, identified in Inspiration as the wants or desires of man.
  • The drawing of desire, or the terrible power of temptation, endured by Jesus was a hundred-fold stronger than any member of the human race would ever be asked to bear. Why was it so much stronger? Because “His spiritual nature was free from every taint of sin.” The Signs of the Times, December 9, 1897. This is the same as saying His spiritual nature was free from every taint of selfishness.
  • Hebrews 4:14–16 tells us that we have a great High Priest who is able to sympathize with our weaknesses and to whom we can boldly come in every time of need and He will extend grace and help.
  • Jesus was tempted on three specific points—appetite, presumption, and love of the world. These three temptations are the strongest temptations for us and encompass many other temptations, perhaps not as strong, but equally troublesome for man. “Christ endured these three great leading temptations and overcame in behalf of man, working out for him a righteous character, because He knew man could not do this of himself.” Testimonies, Vol. 3, 372

“Appetite and passion, the love of the world and presumptuous sins, were the great branches of evil out of which every species of crime, violence, and corruption grew.” The Review and Herald, August 18, 1874

Many people are seeking the answer to this question: “Was Jesus tempted with the same evils that sinful man is tempted with?” Some say yes, while others say no. But the truth is, Jesus was tempted like we are. Every evil, every sin comes under one of these three great branches and our High Priest was tempted in all of these points. Okay, but was Jesus tempted with every species of crime, violence, and corruption—adultery, lying, stealing, murder, idolatry, addiction, depression, discouragement—all the bad things that you can imagine?

“Christ was God manifest in the flesh.” The Signs of the Times, April 26, 1905

“Let no man say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted of God’; for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempts He any man.” James 1:13

From a surface reading of this Spirit of Prophecy quotation and Bible scripture it seems that they contradict each other, but the problem, as it always is when dealing with inspired writings, is our understanding. “We are led to make wrong conclusions because of erroneous views of the nature of our Lord.” The Signs of the Times, April 10, 1893. Notice the date this quotation was written—April 10, 1893. We will see its significance shortly.

The apparent dilemma that needs to be resolved is how could Jesus be tempted in all the three great branches of evil if Christ, who was God in the flesh, cannot be tempted with evil? Inspiration clearly reveals the answer to this apparent contradiction.

  1. God cannot be tempted with evil.
  2. Christ was God manifest in the flesh.
  3. Jesus was tempted in all of the three great branches of evil.

How does Inspiration tie these truths together in a harmonizing way?

Many Protestant theologians believe and teach that because He was God, it was impossible for Christ to yield to temptation. Mrs. White was once asked if Christ was capable of yielding to temptation and this was her response:

“The point you inquire of me is, in our Lord’s great scene of conflict in the wilderness, apparently under the power of Satan and his angels, was He capable, in His human nature, of yielding to these temptations?

“I will try to answer this important question: As God He could not be tempted: but as a man He could be tempted, and that strongly, and could yield to the temptations. …

“His human nature was created; it did not even possess the angelic powers. It was human, identical with our own. … He was now where, if He endured the test and trial in behalf of the fallen race, He would redeem Adam’s disgraceful failure and fall, in our own humanity.

“A human body and a human mind were His. … He came into our world to maintain a pure, sinless character, and to refute Satan’s lie that it was not possible for human beings to keep the law of God. Christ came to live the law in His human character in just that way in which all may live the law in human nature if they will do as Christ was doing.” Manuscript Releases, Vol. 6, 110, 111

In order to be tempted, I must be capable of yielding to that temptation. Being capable and actually yielding are two different things, and this difference needs to be understood. Jesus became a man, and, as a man, was capable of being tempted. However, His divine nature played a major role not only in what He was tempted to do, but also in the strength of His temptations.

Theologians have argued for 1,500 years over the relationship between Christ’s humanity and His divinity. “Christ was God manifest in the flesh. In Him divinity and humanity were united.” The Signs of the Times, April 26, 1905. What does it mean for His divinity and humanity to be united? Unity means that separate things become one. In marriage, as an example, the Bible says that the man will leave his parents and home and unite with his wife, and the two become one in spirit (Matthew 19:5). Jesus came to this world—read this carefully—and became one flesh with us so that, being united with Him, we could become one Spirit with Him. This process of humanity uniting with divinity must occur if we want to spend eternity with Christ, and it must occur here. Not one person from this world will be in the kingdom of heaven whose humanity has not been united with divinity.

The apostle Peter writes in a clear and detailed way how this must happen in each life. “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” 2 Peter 1:2–4

Christ was God manifest in the flesh. In Him divinity and humanity were united [become one, cannot be separated]. “In Him dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” Colossians 2:9

Nobody in the world can fully explain or understand this unity between Christ’s humanity and divinity, or how our humanity can be united with divinity to become a changed person fit for heaven. But we find in inspired writing that it is possible and when God inspires a prophet or an apostle to say or write something to His people, then it is truth, even if it can’t be understood. There are mysteries about the incarnation of Christ that you and I cannot understand here, and will not be able to understand even throughout eternity.

“Was the human nature of the Son of Mary changed into the divine nature of the Son of God? No; the two natures were mysteriously blended in one Person—the man Christ Jesus. In Him dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” Manuscript Releases, Vol. 21, 418

“He united humanity with divinity, a divine spirit dwelt in a temple of flesh.” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, Vol. 4, 1147. This is the mystery of godliness—a divine spirit dwelling in a temple of flesh.

The night Jesus was betrayed, Philip asked, “ ‘Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.’ Jesus said, ‘Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father … .’ ” John 14:8, 9

“Jesus encircled the race with His humanity, and united divinity with humanity; thus moral power is brought to man through the merits of Jesus.” The Review and Herald, March 1, 1892. Moral power is made available to man through our relationship with Jesus.

Many have said, “Lord, how can you save someone like me?” Jesus died on the cross to forgive your sins but forgiveness alone does not save you. The Holy Spirit must bring moral power into your life so that you can be changed on the inside. Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Unless a person is born of water and the Spirit there is no chance that he can enter the kingdom of God.” John 3:5. The gospel is not only about forgiveness of sins. Rebirth by the power of the Holy Spirit creates inside of you something that was not there before. This change, this new creation, is accomplished only by a member of the Godhead because it requires creative power. The Bible says that God had only to speak and the world was made (Psalm 33). We serve a God who speaks and things happen.

This change doesn’t have to happen months or years from now. If God speaks in your behalf, you will have a new heart and a new mind. Paul writes, “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts … .” Hebrews 3:15. “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” 2 Corinthians 6:2, last part.  Friends, when you hear the Holy Spirit speak to your heart, don’t wait. There are multitudes of people in this world right now who intend to be saved, but because they still desire the pleasures of sin, they will likely be lost because they put off until tomorrow what must be done today, now.

When the world ends and burns up there will be millions of people who will be destroyed in hellfire who never intended to be there. We cannot let this happen to us.

“For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,  from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man,  that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,  may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end.” Ephesians 3:14–21

“The glory of God is His character.” The Signs of the Times, September 3, 1902

“This Saviour was the brightness of His Father’s glory and the express image of His person. He possessed divine majesty, perfection, and excellence. He was equal with God. ‘It pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell.’ ” Testimonies, Vol, 2, 200

God’s fullness is His glory, His character, and His love, and it was manifested in His only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ.

“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

This reference lists the attributes of God’s character and tells us that Jesus possessed all of them in His human nature. “Love is power. Intellectual and moral strength are involved in this principle, and cannot be separated from it. The power of wealth has a tendency to corrupt and destroy; the power of force is strong to do hurt; but the excellence and value of pure love consist in its efficiency to do good, and to do nothing else than good. Whatsoever is done out of pure love, be it ever so little or contemptible in the sight of men, is wholly fruitful; for God regards more with how much love one worketh, than the amount he doeth. Love is of God. The unconverted heart cannot originate nor produce this plant of heavenly origin, which lives and flourishes only where Christ reigns.” Gospel Workers (1892), 311, 312

Intellectual and moral strength cannot be separated from love. The power of God is His pure divine love, something we just do not understand unless we study the life of Christ. Only then can we understand, even just a little, the love of God. We do know that if we have God’s love in our hearts, then we will obey His commandments. True love always leads to obedience. The world has muddied up what love is, confused it with sexual passion, which is not love at all.

The obedience that springs from true love is the moral strength that God imparted to His only begotten Son so that we would have an example of what He wants to do in those who are willing to be adopted into His family and to prove that He has the power to unite His divinity with our humanity. We are born into this world as a child of the devil and therefore must be adopted into the family of God. But in order to be adopted into God’s family, we must allow the miraculous recreation of what we were meant to be when God created Adam and Eve. He will give each of us a new heart and a new spirit. He will change our minds. We will talk differently, think differently, act differently. Why? Because He has made us a different person. He has made us His child, a member of His holy family.

“And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.” 1 John 4:16

There is Always a Cost

Salvation has a cost. Yes, Jesus paid that cost when He died on the cross, but we tend to emphasize the physical aspects of the ransom that Christ paid for our salvation, and while we should not minimize the reality of that, it was the mental anguish that He endured to save us that we do not understand.

“In order to fully realize the value of salvation, it is necessary to understand what it cost. In consequence of the limited ideas of the sufferings of Christ, many place a low estimate upon the great work of the atonement.” Testimonies, Vol. 2, 200

Why do we place such a low estimate on the great work of the atonement? Because our limited ideas regarding His suffering tend to focus on His physical sufferings, and far less on the mental anguish He endured. The following quotes are referring to His suffering in Gethsemane and on Calvary.

“He ‘resisted unto blood’ in that hour when the fear of moral failure was as the fear of death. As He bowed in Gethsemane, in His soul agony, drops of blood fell from his pores, and moistened the sods of the earth. He prayed with strong crying and tears, and He was heard in that He feared. …

“Christ’s heart was pierced by a far sharper pain than that caused by the nails driven into His hands and feet. He was bearing the sins of the whole world, enduring our punishment—the wrath of God against transgression. His trial involved the fierce temptation of thinking that He was forsaken by God. His soul was tortured by the pressure of great darkness, lest He should swerve from His uprightness during the terrible ordeal.” Selected Messages, Book 3, 131, 132

“The wrath of God against sin, the terrible manifestation of His displeasure because of iniquity, filled the soul of His Son with consternation. … The withdrawal of the divine countenance from the Saviour in this hour of supreme anguish pierced His heart with a sorrow that can never be fully understood by man. So great was this agony that His physical pain was hardly felt.” The Desire of Ages, 753

Friends, in hell people are not going to live and burn forever; they will be destroyed. Not just their bodies, but their souls will be destroyed. To die in hellfire means that you will die alone, without God. It will be as if you had never existed. If you accept Christ as your Saviour, choosing to follow Him all the way, you will never have to pay the price of your sins because He’s paid it for you.

If you reject the sacrifice made by Christ on your behalf and refuse to welcome Him into your life, opting instead to pursue your own path rather than walking in His footsteps—a life He shared to demonstrate the potential of uniting your humanity with His divinity—then when He returns and the end of all things is at hand, you will bear the weight of your sins alone. You will die alone, without God, and with no hope of a resurrection.

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.

Nearer, My God, to Thee

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Sarah Flower Adams was born in Harlow, Essex, England, on February 22, 1805. She wrote several poems and hymns during her short life (she passed away August 14, 1848), but her most well-known and beautiful hymn is Nearer, My God, to Thee, which retells the biblical account of Jacob’s dream found in Genesis 28:11–19.

“So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep. Then he dreamed, and behold a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.” Verses 11, 12

The hymn gained more notoriety when it was sung by the crew and passengers of the SS Valencia as she sank off the Canadian coast in 1906, and was alleged to have been the last song played by the RMS Titanic’s septet orchestra as the she sank beneath the icy waters of the Atlantic in 1912.

Sarah’s sister, Eliza Flower, first set it to music as one of 13 hymns written by Sarah for publication in William Johnson Fox’s Hymns and Anthems published in 1841. In the United Kingdom, it is sung to the 1861 hymn tune Horbury by John Bacchus Dykes, named after a village where he found peace and comfort. However, today, the rest of the world usually sings the hymn to the 1856 tune Bethany by Lowell Mason.

There are many tales surrounding this hymn, aside from the Titanic. It is said that U.S. President William McKinley’s dying words were the first few lines of the hymn and that it was played by multiple bands across the country at 3:30 p.m., September 14, 1901, in his honor. It was played as U.S. President James Garfield was interred at Lakeview Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio, as well as at the funerals of Presidents Warren G. Harding and Gerald Ford. The Confederate army band played the hymn as survivors returned from the failed Pickett’s Charge during the Battle of Gettysburg.

Sarah intended to become an actress in the theater. For a short time, she was able to follow that dream and was quite successful until ill health prevented her from continuing. Instead, she gave the world one of its most beautiful and endearing hymns. A legacy that has far exceeded anything she might have done on stage. Nearer, My God, to Thee is about the joy and comfort found in a loving relationship with God. What a wonder it will be when God’s children step into the holy city and see the sure results of this hymn.

Sources: wikipedia.org/wiki/Nearer,_My_God,_to_Thee; thetabernaclechoir.org/articles/nearer-my-god-to-thee-history-and-lyrics

 

Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!

E’en though it be a cross that raiseth me,

Still all my song shall be,

Nearer, my God, to Thee;

Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!

Though like the wanderer, the sun gone down,

Darkness be over me, my rest a stone;

Yet in my dreams I’d be

Nearer, my God, to Thee;

Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!

There let the way appear, steps unto heaven;

All that Thou sendest me, in mercy given;

Angels to beckon me

Nearer, my God, to Thee;

Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!

Then, with my waking thoughts bright with Thy praise,

Out of my stony griefs Bethel I’ll raise;

So by my woes to be

Nearer, my God, to Thee;

Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!

Or if, on joyful wing cleaving the sky,

Sun, moon, and stars forgot, upward I fly,

Still all my song shall be,

Nearer, my God, to Thee;

Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!

 

Unrequited Love

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Again the Son of God was seized with superhuman agony, and, fainting and exhausted, He staggered back to the place of His former struggle. His suffering was even greater than before. Only a short time before, Christ had poured out His soul in songs of praise in unfaltering accents, as one who was conscious of His Sonship to God. He had spoken to His disciples in words of tenderness and love. Now His voice came to them on the still evening air, not in tones of triumph, but full of human anguish. So lately He had been serene in His majesty, He had been like a mighty cedar; now He was as a broken reed. The words of the Saviour were borne to the ears of the drowsy disciples, ‘O My Father, if this cup may not pass away from Me, except I drink it, Thy will be done.’ ” The Signs of the Times, December 2, 1897

A dictionary definition of agony is “pain so extreme as to cause writhing or contortions of the body; extreme pain of body or mind, appropriately the pangs of death; violent contest or striving.” Jesus suffered in His human body and mind. “The temptations of Christ, and His sufferings under them, were proportionate to His exalted, sinless character. But in every time of distress, Christ turned to His Father. He ‘resisted unto blood’ in that hour when the fear of moral failure was as the fear of death.” Selected Messages, Book 3, 131. Christ was not afraid to die for us. His fear was that He would fail, thus becoming an imperfect sacrifice. This was the devil’s intended purpose as he exerted all of his evil power against the humanity of Christ—a moral failure, an imperfect sacrifice, the plan of salvation ruined.

“Hear that agonized prayer of Christ in the garden of Gethsemane! While the disciples were sleeping beneath the spreading branches of the olive trees, the Son of man—a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief—was prostrate upon the cold earth. As the agony of soul came upon Him, large blood drops were forced from His pores, and with the falling dew moistened the sods of Gethsemane … .” The Signs of the Times, December 2, 1897. Notice the adjectives that Mrs. White uses—fear, sorrow, grief, agony of soul—all feelings of the mind.

“Christ was now standing in a different attitude from that in which He had ever stood before. Hitherto He had been as an intercessor for others; now He longs for an intercessor for Himself. In His soul anguish, He lay prostrate upon the cold earth. Christ had suffered insult at the hands of the men whom He came to bless and save; He had been charged with being linked with Beelzebub, that His miracles of healing were wrought through satanic agencies; but these things did not cause Him the intense agony of soul He was now suffering. He was bearing the penalty of transgression for a sinful world. This proceeded not from Satan nor from man. It is best described in the words of the prophet, ‘Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, and against the Man that is My fellow, saith the Lord of hosts.’ Christ was realizing His Father’s frown. He was now suffering under divine justice. He saw what justice meant. He felt that as man’s substitute and surety He must be bound to the altar. He had taken the cup of suffering from the lips of guilty men, and proposed to drink it Himself, and in its place give to men the cup of blessing.” Ibid. This is what Jesus did for us. He took the cup that was ours, and said, I will drink it for you. And in its place, He offers His own to us. He took the curse, and gives us the blessing.

“Satan urged upon Christ all the force of his temptations. He presented before Him that the sin of the world, so offensive to God, was chastisement too great. He would never again be looked upon as pure and holy and undefiled, as God’s only-begotten Son. He had Himself become a sinner, and would suffer the penalty of sin. The wrath that would have fallen upon man, was now to fall upon Him.” Ibid.

We cannot comprehend this kind of temptation.

“Christ sojourned thirty-three years in this world, and how was He treated? The world disowned Him, scorned Him, and pronounced sentence against Him in the judgment hall, and, as agents of the prince of darkness, acted out his spirit in putting Christ to death. It was the worst that humanity could do. It was unrequited love that broke the heart of the Son of God.” The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, 176

The heart of Jesus was broken because those whom He loved so dearly did not love Him in return.

“The Son of God placed Himself in the sinner’s stead, and passed over the ground where Adam fell, and endured the temptation in the wilderness which was a hundredfold stronger than was or ever will be brought to bear upon the human race.” Manuscript Releases, Vol. 5, 112

What a contrast between His temptations and ours! Divine love was the foundation of Jesus’ human spiritual nature, and it was because of love that His human spiritual nature was free from every taint of sin. We find not one seed of selfishness in His human nature. When He was tempted in all points like as we are, His own desire for the removal of suffering was a hundredfold stronger than fallen man will ever be called upon to experience.

In the Wilderness – Appetite

Christ faced three specific temptations. “In the wilderness of temptation, Christ met the great leading temptations that would assail man. … The first great temptation was upon appetite; the second, presumption; the third, love of the world.” Testimonies, Vol. 4, 44

“Appetite and passion, the love of the world, and presumptuous sins, were the great branches of evil out of which every species of crime, violence, and corruption grew.” Selected Messages, Book 1, 280

Appetite is “a natural desire to satisfy a bodily need” or “a strong desire or liking for something.” Appetite typically refers to food or drink, but appetite can also refer to a strong desire and/or emotion, an eagerness or longing such as we see in love, sexual passion, anger, the desire for wealth and fame, envy and covetousness, addictions, and the desire for power and control. This type of appetite is directed toward something or someone. Passion does not exist without an object on which to focus it.

There are two kinds of appetite—natural and artificial. Jesus inherited natural appetites. Artificial appetites are cultivated. Appetite was the first temptation Jesus faced in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1–3). “When Christ bore the test of temptation upon the point of appetite, He did not stand in beautiful Eden, as did Adam, with the light and love of God seen in everything His eye rested upon. But He was in a barren, desolate wilderness, surrounded with wild beasts.” The Review and Herald, August 4, 1874

“Our Saviour fasted nearly six weeks, that He might gain for man the victory upon the point of appetite.”

“He knew that appetite would be man’s idol, and would lead him [man] to forget God, and would stand directly in the way of his salvation.” Selected Messages, Book 1, 284

“He [the devil] put forth his strongest efforts to overcome Christ on the point of appetite at a time when He was enduring the keenest pangs of hunger.” The Review and Herald, March 18, 1875

Some time ago, a health reformer wrote a book on fasting. He stated that 40 days appears to be the maximum amount of time that a human being can fast without sustaining lasting damage to the body. Jesus fasted for 40 days. More recently, the medical community says that fasting for more than three days without medical supervision is neither safe nor advisable.

When a person fasts for a few days, drinking plenty of water, the feeling of hunger dissipates. But if a person fasts for weeks, the hunger pangs return worse than before. In the first three days, the body will use up all of the glucose stored in the liver for energy. After that, the liver will begin to process body fat (ketosis). When the body fat has been depleted, the body enters the starvation stage during which it begins to “mine” the muscles and other vital organs for energy. Death from starvation typically results once 40-50% of the person’s original weight has been lost, within approximately 60-70 days. Those with a greater amount of body fat can last longer. (Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunger_strike#Medical_view)

So, we can see that at the end of Jesus’ 40-day fast in the wilderness, He had already passed the stage where His liver had used up all the glucose it had stored, processed all His body fat, and He was now in the starvation stage. His body had begun to mine His muscles and vital organs for the energy to stay alive, and He was experiencing the keenest pangs of hunger. It was at this point that the devil came to Him.

Jesus experienced a hunger—a terrible power of temptation, and the drawing of desire—that we will never be asked to experience. Did Jesus desire something to eat after fasting 40 days? The power of appetite is determined by the degree of hunger and Jesus experienced the maximum degree of hunger that it is possible for a human being to have and not have permanent damage in the body.

The degree of extreme hunger that Jesus experienced far exceeded the craving desires of a drug addict, a smoker, an alcoholic, a glutton, or a person who is or has been a slave of any other vice. No one who has been a slave to appetite no matter the form it takes, can say that Jesus cannot understand how they feel. “The victory gained was designed, not only to set an example to those who have fallen under the power of appetite, but to qualify the Redeemer for His special work of reaching to the very depths of human woe.” The Review and Herald, March 18, 1875

We have a Saviour who wants to save and who is uniquely qualified to save everyone to the uttermost, even those who dwell at the very bottom of the pit of sin. When Christ was tempted on the point of appetite, He reached to the very depths of human woe.

“By experiencing in Himself the strength of Satan’s temptation, and of human sufferings and infirmities, He would know how to succor [help] those who should put forth efforts to help themselves.” Ibid.

When the devil came to Jesus in this first temptation, he assumed the form of an angel of light to deceive Jesus. He attempted to make Jesus believe that he was a messenger from the throne of God sent to lend aid and to tell Him that His fast was over.

“If You are the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread,” Satan taunted Jesus. Jesus could have spoken a word and it would have been done. But if He had, it would have broken the agreement He had made with His Father that while on earth as a man, He would never work a divine miracle for His own benefit making void the plan of salvation. Furthermore, He would have been accepting the devil’s statement of doubt, “If … .” You and I cannot speak and stones become bread, but Jesus could and because He could, it made the temptation to use His divine power to prove that He was the Son of God more powerful than any temptation that you or I will ever face.

In the Wilderness – Presumption

“The second temptation was on the point of presumption.” Sermons and Talks, Vol. 2, 218

“Only He who has true faith is secure against presumption. For presumption is Satan’s counterfeit of faith. Faith claims God’s promises, and brings forth fruit in obedience. Presumption also claims the promises, but uses them as Satan did, to excuse transgression. Faith would have led our first parents to trust the love of God, and to obey His commands. Presumption led them to transgress His law, believing that His great love would save them from the consequence of their sin.” The Desire of Ages, 126

Still today—6,000 years of sin later—millions of people believe that they can go through their lives sinning, but never overcoming, and God will save them anyway because He loves mankind so much He couldn’t bear to let anyone die. And they would be right that God loves man and that it was never His plan that anyone should die. But for the soul that sins, death is still the penalty, and no matter how much God loves the human race, He does not change, therefore, neither can His law be changed.

“It is not faith that claims the favor of heaven without complying with the conditions on which mercy is to be granted. Genuine faith has its foundation in the promises and provisions of the Scriptures.” Ibid.

True faith is based on trusting God, claiming His promises, and allowing His grace to work in the life to keep the believer from falling. Presumption is based on doubt and unbelief. It, too, claims God’s promises, but uses them to excuse transgression. Presumption believes that His love is greater than His justice and that God did not really mean that the soul that sins will die. But God says what He means and means what He says. Inspiration tells us that this is a hard lesson for man to learn.

Again, the devil approached Jesus as an angel of light. He took Jesus into the holy city up on the pinnacle of the temple, and, throwing doubt as to who Jesus really is, he said, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over You,’ and ‘In their hands they shall bear You up, lest You dash Your foot against a stone.’ ” Matthew 4:6

Satan quoted a Bible promise. Well, he quoted part of the promise, but not all of it.

“For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways.” Psalm 91:11

“In all Your ways”—in other words, according to God’s way. “The wily foe himself presents words that proceeded from the mouth of God. … he makes it evident that he is acquainted with the Scriptures … .

“When he quoted the promise, ‘He shall give His angels charge over Thee,’ he omitted the words, ‘to keep Thee in all Thy ways’: that is, in all the ways of God’s choosing. Jesus refused to go outside the path of obedience. … He would not force Providence to come to His rescue, and thus fail of giving man an example of trust and submission.” The Truth About Angels, 174, 175

Jesus’ response—found in Deuteronomy 6:16—to Satan was, “ ‘It is written again, You shall not tempt the Lord thy God.’ ” These words were spoken by Moses to the children of Israel when they thirsted in the desert, and demanded that Moses should give them water, exclaiming, “ ‘Is the Lord among us, or not?’ ”  Exodus 17:7. God had wrought marvelously for them; yet in trouble they doubted Him, and demanded evidence that He was with them. In their unbelief, they sought to put Him to the test, and Satan was urging Christ to do the same thing.

When John the Baptist baptized Jesus, the Bible says that when He came up out of the water, the heavens opened and the Spirit like a dove descended upon Him. A voice spoke from heaven saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Matthew 3:17

After His baptism, the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness, where He was tempted for 40 days. This particular temptation—presumption—was a parallel of the experience of ancient Israel when in their unbelief they tempted God. “God had already testified that Jesus was His Son; and now to ask for proof that He was the Son of God would be putting God’s word to the test—tempting Him. And the same would be true of asking for that which God had not promised. It would manifest distrust, and be really proving, or tempting, Him.” The Desire of Ages, 126

Temptation is a test to prove something. “We should not present our petitions to God to prove whether He will fulfill His word, but because He will fulfill it; not to prove that He loves us, but because He loves us. ‘Without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.’ Hebrews 11:6.” Ibid.

Jesus did not yield to either of the first two wilderness temptations, but He knew that we would.

“… through no class of temptations does he [Satan] achieve greater success than through those addressed to the appetite. If he can control the appetite, he can control the whole man.” Temperance, 276

“If Satan cannot prevent persons from exercising faith, he will try to lead them to presume upon the willingness and power of God, by placing themselves unnecessarily in the way of temptation. Presumption is a most common temptation, and as Satan assails men with this, he obtains the victory nine times out of ten.” The Signs of the Times, September 29, 1887

Every Christian needs to study the subject of presumption because we are all in a fight that the devil wins 90% of the time. If we are to win in this fight, then we must be studying and praying to strengthen our offense in the fight.

In the Wilderness – Pride

Having failed with the first and second temptations, Satan changed things up for the third. Interestingly, he no longer attempted to deceive Jesus by coming as an angel of light sent from the throne of God. Throwing off the disguise he used in the first two temptations, he came to Jesus as himself. Then he took Jesus up on a high mountain, a vantage point from which all the kingdoms of the world could be seen. All of these are mine, he said, but I will give them to You “if You will fall down and worship me.” Matthew 4:9

Satan came to Jesus claiming to be the rightful ruler of the world, willing to confer this honor on Jesus if He would simply bow down and acknowledge that Satan had the authority to do as he promised. Absolute blasphemy! How this must have stung the heart of Christ. Jesus had already defeated Satan in heaven. Satan was the ruler of nothing but evil. However, here in this world in the guise of fallen humanity, He now stands confronted by His chief adversary and the enemy of man, this boastful fiend who so successfully usurps Christ’s place in the hearts of all mankind.

“In the first two great temptations Satan had not revealed his true purposes or his character. He claimed to be an exalted messenger from the courts of heaven, but he now throws off his disguise. In a panoramic view he presented before Christ all the kingdoms of the world in the most attractive light, while he claimed to be the prince of the world.

“This last temptation was the most alluring of the three. …

“The eye of Jesus for a moment rested upon the glory presented before Him; but He turned away and refused to look upon the entrancing spectacle. He would not endanger His steadfast integrity by dallying with the tempter. When Satan solicited homage, Christ’s divine indignation was aroused, and He could no longer tolerate the blasphemous assumption of Satan, or even permit him to remain in His presence. Here Christ exercised His divine authority.” Selected Messages, Book 1, 285, 286

Does that last sentence give you pause? There are many statements in the Spirit of Prophecy that tell us that Jesus, in His humanity, exercised no power on His own behalf that is not freely available to us. But this seems to suggest that divine power is available to us when we face temptations. (See Christ’s Object Lessons, 333.)

“By which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” 2 Peter 1:4

“Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” James 4:7

“Placing Jesus upon a high mountain, Satan caused the kingdoms of the world, in all their glory, to pass in panoramic view before Him. The sunlight lay on templed cities, marble palaces, fertile fields, and fruit-laden vineyards. The traces of evil were hidden. The eyes of Jesus, so lately greeted by gloom and desolation, now gazed upon a scene of unsurpassed loveliness and prosperity. Then the tempter’s voice was heard: ‘All this power will I give Thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. If Thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be Thine.’ ” The Desire of Ages, 129

“The strength of this temptation to the Saviour was greater than the human mind can understand.” The Review and Herald, May 14, 1908

“Satan brought all his strength to bear upon this last temptation, for this last effort was to decide his destiny as to who should be victor.” Ibid., September 1, 1874

Satan knew that if he was to win the great controversy, it had to be at that moment. He had to overcome Christ in His humanity, or he would be overcome. “This was the most subtle and overpowering temptation that Satan could bring against Christ in His human nature to unsettle His faith in His heavenly Father and to separate Him from God.” Manuscript Releases, Vol. 18, 86

Jesus gazed upon the kingdoms of the world for but a moment, then He turned to Satan and said, “ ‘Away with you, Satan! For it is written, “You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.” ’ ” Matthew 4:10

Defeated, Satan left, and angels were sent to minister to Christ.

Ultimate Victory

Christ knew who He was and He knew things about His future, but this knowledge brought little peace to His life. “At every opportunity they manifested their bitter opposition against Christ. There was no more peace for Him; for the caviling of His enemies was continual, and their plans to entrap Him abundant.” The Signs of the Times, February 8, 1899

As He was our substitute and surety, all of our guilt and sin was laid upon Him. He was counted as a transgressor that we might be redeemed from the condemnation of the law. Jesus was to bear, on man’s behalf, the indignation and wrath of God against sin and sinners to the cross.

“Now with the terrible weight of guilt He bears, He cannot see the Father’s reconciling face. The withdrawal of the divine countenance from the Saviour in this hour of supreme anguish pierced His heart with a sorrow that can never be fully understood by man.” The Desire of Ages, 753

This was real. It was real when they pulled His beard until patches of it came out. The spit was real. The brutality was real. The crown of thorns was real. The hammer and nails used to nail Him to the cross were real. It was real when they slammed the cross into the ground tearing His flesh. Yet this intense, physical agony was as nothing compared to the mental agony He endured.

“Satan with his fierce temptations wrung the heart of Jesus. The Saviour could not see through the portals of the tomb. Hope did not present to Him His coming forth from the grave a conqueror, or tell Him of the Father’s acceptance of the sacrifice. He feared that sin was so offensive to God that Their separation was to be eternal. Christ felt the anguish which the sinner will feel when mercy shall no longer plead for the guilty race.” Ibid., 754

On the cross, Christ felt the horror of the people who will die the second death—absolute aloneness, total and eternal separation from God.

The sense of sin and the Father’s wrath were real and they broke Jesus’ heart. Jesus knew the sorrow and suffering that He would endure, and still He took each step to Calvary. Friends, there is coming a time when, because of our faith and love for God, we will experience suffering, scorn, rejection, and imprisonment, even death, but no mortal man will experience it to the degree that our Lord did.

“Christ’s mission could be fulfilled only through suffering. Before Him was a life of sorrow, hardship, and conflict, and an ignominious death. He must bear the sins of the world. He must endure separation from the Father’s love. … Christ might deliver Himself from the dreadful future by acknowledging the supremacy of Satan. But to do this was to yield the victory in the great controversy. It was in seeking to exalt himself above the Son of God that Satan had sinned in heaven. Should he prevail now, it would be the triumph of rebellion.” The Desire of Ages, 129

This last temptation was the most alluring of the three because Satan was offering Jesus a way out. No Gethsemane, no Calvary. Just an admission that He and God had been wrong when they threw him and his followers out of heaven. An acknowledgement that he was worthy of the praise and worship that he so craved, worthy of a seat next to the throne of God. It was just a simple thing.

“ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ” Matthew 4:10, last part

Jesus “who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2

What is this joy? That His love for us is returned, that we accept His salvation, and offer Him His rightful place in our hearts.

Never let it be said of us that “Christ pleaded, He invited; but His love was unrequited by the people He came to save.” Testimonies, Vol. 4, 189

Let us be part of the few in this world who go up the narrow road that leads to everlasting life and show to our Saviour the love that He has shown to us.

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.