Series

I Must Tell Jesus

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Each morning, before we start the workday here at Steps to Life, we have staff worship. Part of our worship is singing a hymn. Recently, we sang I Must Tell Jesus, and after having sung the hymn, we contemplated what tragedy or discouragement might have befallen the writer of the song to elicit such a heartfelt declaration. I determined to see if I could find out.

I Must Tell Jesus was written, both lyrics and music, by Elisha (E. A.) Hoffman. He was born in 1839 in the town of Orwigsburg, Pennsylvania.

In 1864, at the age of 24, Elisha served in the Union Army during the Civil War. In 1865, he married Susan Orwig, who died in 1875. In 1879, he married Emma Sayres Smith. In total, he had three children, sons Orey and Harry, and daughter Florence.

He worked for eleven years in the Evangelical Association’s publishing house. In 1868, following in his father’s footsteps, he was ordained in the Presbyterian Church. He served as a minister for over 60 years in Ohio, Illinois, and Michigan, spending 33 of those years as pastor of the Benton Harbor Presbyterian Church.

He is credited with writing over 2,000 hymns, such as Are You Washed in the Blood?; Leaning on the Everlasting Arms; and I Must Tell Jesus. He was both lyricist and composer of his songs.

While serving a church in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, he visited a woman who had faced a number of struggles. He relates his visit with her thusly:

“There was a woman to whom God had permitted many visitations of sorrow and affliction. Coming to her home one day, I found her much discouraged. She unburdened her heart, concluding with the question, ‘Brother Hoffman, what shall I do?’ I quoted from the word, then added, ‘You cannot do better than to take all of your sorrows to Jesus. You must tell Jesus.’

“For a moment she seemed lost in meditation. Then her eyes lighted as she exclaimed, ‘Yes, I must tell Jesus.’ As I left her home, I had a vision of that joy-illuminated face, and I heard all along my pathway the echo, ‘I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus.’ ”

Upon arriving home, he wrote the words of this beloved hymn and composed the tune he titled “Orwigsburg” after his birthplace. I Must Tell Jesus first appeared in the Pentecostal Hymns hymnal in 1894.

Perhaps some might find the song simplistic or repetitious, since in the four stanzas, with their refrains, the phrase “I must tell Jesus” is repeated twenty-one times. But I think it would be true to say that, sometimes, we most definitely need to be reminded—and reminded again—that Jesus alone is the One who can help us.

“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you. I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10

Elisha Hoffman retired from the ministry in 1922, and died at the age of 90 on November 5, 1929, in Chicago, Illinois.

Sources: dianaleaghmatthews.com/i-must-tell-jesus; hymnary.org/person/Hoffman_Elisha; wordwisehymns.com/2011/12/02/i-must-tell-jesus; Wikipedia; hymnologyarchive.com/elisha-hoffman

I must tell Jesus all of my trials;

I cannot bear these burdens alone;

In my distress, He kindly will help me;

He ever loves and cares for His own.

 

I must tell Jesus! I must tell Jesus!

I cannot bear my burdens alone;

I must tell Jesus! I must tell Jesus!

Jesus can help me, Jesus alone.

In Harmony with God

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“And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness, God was manifested in the flesh.”

1 Timothy 3:16

In the old covenant, God’s law was written on stone, but in the new covenant, His law is written on a fleshly tablet—the heart. “You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.” 2 Corinthians 3:2, 3

Jesus is a perfect, living example of the ten commandments written in the heart and lived out in the life. We can read this in Psalm 40:8. “I delight to do Your will, O My God, and Your law is within My heart.” The context of this verse makes it clear that this is a prophecy regarding the Messiah.

Since Jesus is our perfect, living example of how the ten commandments are to be lived out in the life, anything that is in my life, anything that I think or say or do that is not Christlike is a violation of the ten commandments, and therefore is sin. This is the new covenant understanding of what sin is.

Just as God was manifested in the flesh of Jesus Christ, He wants to be manifested in my flesh and in your flesh. In fact, unless this happens in your life and my life, we will never be in the kingdom of heaven. Let me repeat that. If God is not manifested in your flesh and my flesh, as He was in the flesh of Jesus Christ, then we will not be in the kingdom of heaven.

Mrs. White wrote the following regarding the purpose of the plan of salvation. “In order to understand what is comprehended in the work of education, we need to consider both the nature of man and the purpose of God in creating him. We need to consider also the change in man’s condition through the coming in of a knowledge of evil, and God’s plan for still fulfilling His glorious purpose in the education of the human race.” Education, 14, 15

There are four things in this quotation we need to study:

  1. The nature of man
  2. The purpose of God in creating him
  3. The change in man’s condition through the knowledge of evil
  4. God’s plan for fulfilling His purpose in the education of the human race

When God created man, He said, “ ‘Let Us make man in Our image, and in Our likeness.’ ” The purpose of the plan of salvation is to restore in mankind, in all who will accept His salvation, the image of God.

When I was seven years old, I began reading my Bible through for the first time. I read the first chapter of Genesis and contemplated that man was created in the image of God. I thought that we must then look like God. I have hands and eyes, feet and ears, so God must have those, too, I thought. But I was a child, and as I grew into adulthood, I started thinking differently about the terms likeness and image.

Being in the likeness of something has to do with resemblance, being a copy, representing someone, acting like someone, specifically bearing the character or power of another. Children may have the same color eyes and hair as their parents, but they also may adopt their parents’ mannerism and habits, they may sound like them, walk like them, they may have the same moral character and spiritual beliefs as their parents. People will say of them, “You are just like your mother,” or “You are just like your father.”

God wants you to become like Him. He wants people to look at you and me and see Him in our words and actions, in our compassion and love. “Higher than the highest human thought can reach is God’s ideal for His children. Godliness—godlikeness—is the goal to be reached.” Ibid., 18

“When Adam came from the Creator’s hand, he bore, in his physical, mental, and spiritual nature, a likeness to his Maker. ‘God created man in His own image’ (Genesis 1:27), and it was His purpose that the longer man lived, the more fully he should reveal this image—the more fully reflect the glory of the Creator. All his faculties were capable of development; their capacity and vigor were continually to increase. Vast was the scope offered for their exercise, glorious the field opened to their research. The mysteries of the visible universe—the ‘wondrous works of Him which is perfect in knowledge’ (Job 37:16)—invited man’s study. Face-to-face, heart-to-heart communion with his Maker was his high privilege. Had he remained loyal to God, all this would have been his forever. Throughout eternal ages he would have continued to gain new treasures of knowledge, to discover fresh springs of happiness, and to obtain clearer and yet clearer conceptions of the wisdom, the power, and the love of God. More and more fully would he have fulfilled the object of his creation, more and more fully have reflected the Creator’s glory.” Ibid., 15.

That was God’s purpose when man was created, but when man sinned, it seemed to the whole universe that God’s plan would never be fulfilled.

Man was created to be like his Creator in every way, and it was God’s plan that as he continued to live, he would more and more fully reveal or reflect His image. “The glory of God is His character. While Moses was in the mount, earnestly interceding with God, He prayed, ‘I beseech Thee, show me Thy glory.’ In answer God declared ‘I will make all My goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.’ ” The Signs of the Times, September 3, 1902

“In the beginning, man was created in the image of God. He was in perfect harmony with the nature and law of God; the principles of righteousness were written upon his heart.” The Great Controversy, 467

In his original state, Adam was in perfect harmony, not only with the law of God, but also with the nature of God. The principles of righteousness were written on his heart. You will recall that nature, heart, mind, and character are used synonymously in the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy. It is the natural thoughts and feelings, the disposition and affections that make up a person’s character. Adam’s natural thoughts and feelings, his disposition and affections were in harmony with the nature and law of God; he reflected the character of God.

First John 4:16 tells us that “God is love.” This is His nature. Adam was in harmony with the nature of God because the principles of righteousness were written in his heart. A principle is “a law of action in a human being,” in other words, an innate propensity common to the human species. And when man was created, his nature was in harmony with the nature of God.

Psalm 119, the longest chapter in the Bible, is about the ten commandments. Verse 172 says, “My tongue shall speak of Your word, for all Your commandments are righteousness.” The principles of righteousness are the principles of God’s commandments. Paul says, “Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” Romans 13:10. Ellen White describes it like this: “Love must be the principle of action. Love is the underlying principle of God’s government in heaven and earth, and it must be the foundation of the Christian’s character. This alone can make and keep him steadfast. This alone can enable him to withstand trial and temptation.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 49

So, what causes the Christian to obey God? Obedience is the outworking of a principle within. “The essence of all righteousness is loyalty to our Redeemer, doing right because it is right.” That I May Know Him, 118

“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. … Love is of God. The unconverted heart cannot originate nor produce this plant of heavenly origin, which lives and flourishes where Christ reigns.

“Love cannot live without action, and every act increases, strengthens, and extends it. Love will gain the victory when argument and authority are powerless.” Gospel Workers, 311, 312

After man sinned, when he was no longer in harmony with the character and love of God, we are told that, “Christ came to our world to represent the character of God as it is represented in His holy law; for His law is a transcript of His character.” Manuscript Releases, Vol. 1, 44

Christ came and lived the very principles of the law of God; the principles that are the very nature of God (Steps to Christ, 60). It is God’s purpose that as the law was written in the heart of Jesus (Psalm 40:8), so they will be written in our hearts. This is His promise to His people under the new covenant. “ ‘This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,’ says the Lord. ‘I will put My law into their mind, and write them in their hearts; and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to Me a people.’ ” Hebrews 8:10

To be in the kingdom of heaven, the law of God must be written in your heart. It was once a natural part of the nature of man, but once man sinned, selfishness took its place and became the all-governing principle of the human heart and mind.

“All true obedience comes from the heart. It was heart work with Christ. And if we consent, He will so identify Himself with our thoughts and aims, so blend our hearts and minds into conformity to His will, that when obeying Him we shall be but carrying out our own impulses. The will, refined and sanctified, will find its highest delight in doing His service. When we know God as it is our privilege to know Him, our life will be a life of continual obedience. Through an appreciation of the character of Christ, through communion with God, sin will become hateful to us.” The Desire of Ages, 668

Imagine it! To be so aligned with Christ that you would rather die than sin; that all you want, all you think about is to do the will of God. To know God so well that you literally hate sin. Have you ever eaten something and hated it so bad you would never eat it again? I’m reminded of a child with their lips firmly closed together, absolutely refusing the food mom is trying to spoon in their mouth.

If sin isn’t like that for me, then I don’t know God. If there is any sin that has not become hateful to me, if I have chosen to become a Christian, but there is still some darling sin that I am hanging on to, then I do not know God. But once the sinful things I used to love become hateful and terrible to me, then I can say that I know God and that He has changed me so that I now hate sin and once again love righteousness.

As part of his nature, Adam also had other powers of mind that were created in the image of God, such as his judgment, his reason, his intellect, and his affection, but these, too, were ruined when Adam sinned.

“When man came from the hand of his Creator, he was perfect in organization and beautiful in form.” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, Vol. 1, 1082. What does it mean that “he was perfect in organization”?

“Those who would have clear minds to discern Satan’s devices must have their physical appetites under the control of reason and conscience. The moral and vigorous action of the higher powers of the mind are essential to the perfection of Christian character.” Messages to Young People, 236, 237

This speaks of the higher powers of man’s mind. His will, judgment, reason, and conscience were regulated according to the truth, the law or the will of God, and therefore, they controlled the lower powers of the body.

“Before his fall Adam was free from the results of the curse. When he was assailed by the tempter, none of the effects of sin were upon him. He was created perfect in thought and in action.” Selected Messages, Book 3, 141

Our actions, good and bad, have their very foundation in the mind. The thought must exist before the action can take place. People must sin in their mind before they can sin with their lips or their hand. “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.” Steps to Christ, 17

“In the counsels of heaven God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. … So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him.’ The Lord created man’s moral faculties and his physical powers. All was a sinless transcript of Himself. God endowed man with holy attributes, and placed him in a garden made expressly for him.” The Youth’s Instructor, July 20, 1899

“God did not create man sinful. Adam came forth from the hand of his Maker without the taint of evil.” The Signs of the Times, August 26, 1897

All moral evil is sin. Therefore, the taint of evil can also be called the taint of sin. To be tainted with evil or sin means to be sinful. So, God made man upright with intellectual and moral powers. He was not created sinful, but was created without the taint of evil. “God made man upright. He gave him noble traits of character, with no bias toward evil. He endowed him with high intellectual powers, and presented before him the strongest possible inducements to be true to his allegiance.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 49

When Adam came from the Creator’s hand, he bore in his physical, mental, and spiritual nature a likeness to his Maker. He was noble, pure and holy, with no tendency to evil. The purpose of the new covenant is to restore men and women to the perfection they possessed when created. Christ alluded to the significance of this restoration in His conversation with the scribes and Pharisees.

“ ‘Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.’ ” Matthew 23:25–28

Notice, the people who crucified Jesus appeared clean on the outside, but on the inside they were unclean and full of wickedness. They worked to look good to the world, but they had failed to do the heart work necessary to make the inside clean so that the outside would then be truly clean.

Let’s say a bomb exploded inside your house and caused a lot of damage—ruined your furniture, blew out a couple walls and made holes in the ceiling, broke all the windows and left burn marks and peeling paint outside. You hurriedly replaced the windows and had the exterior of the house repainted, making sure that all signs of the damage were no longer visible. You stand back and smile because now everyone will see that the outside looks like new again. But inside, you just cleared a path and made do, making no repairs, not even making sure that the house was still in stable condition.

That’s what the scribes and Pharisees were doing. Sin had made a horrible mess on the inside of their lives, but they were only concerned with cleaning up what people could see.

God doesn’t work that way. He is determined to clean up the inside first. In our spiritual lives, with the inside clean, the outside actions and words will be clean also. When God gives us a new heart and mind, then our character will be like Christ’s character. This is the purpose of the plan of salvation under the new covenant. God’s purpose is to restore perfection in man’s physical, mental, and moral nature so that it once again reflects the likeness of his Creator.

Remember, the image of God is His glory and the glory of God is His character. God’s character was reflected in the character of Adam because the law of God, the principles of righteousness, were written upon his heart, and the Holy Spirit was the ruling power in his life. The law of God is a transcript of His character, and it is also, Ellen White says, an expression of His very nature.

Lucifer told God that he wanted a change in the law, but what he was actually telling his Creator was, You change. And today, people are still saying that. They look at the ten commandments as rules too restrictive to bear and they want to be free to adjust or do away with them as they please.

But the ten commandments are a transcript of God’s character, His very nature, the embodiment of the great principle of love that prompted God to create man in the first place. When God made man, He placed these precepts in his heart. They were a part of his very nature. Obedience to the law kept every thought and action in harmony with God’s own nature.

After man sinned, however, man’s nature was governed by selfishness, and it became necessary for God to write the ten commandments in stone so that man could read them and know what God required of him. But it wasn’t enough to have the law written down. So God sent His Son, in person, so that we, sinful man, could see Him live out the principles of God’s law—principles of righteousness and love so strong that Jesus was willing to die to redeem us, so that we might once again have these principles written in our hearts and perfectly reflect the nature of God.

“Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart. But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.  But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.  For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake.  For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” 2 Corinthians 4:1–6

Jesus Christ was a perfect reflection of the glory of God, the law of God, the nature of God. “For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” Verse 6. The purpose of the new covenant is to restore in you and me a perfect reflection of the law of God, the nature of God, the thoughts of God, the character of God.

Let it be our constant prayer to be changed so that the new covenant can be worked out in our lives; that the law may once again be written in our hearts, so that our lives will be in harmony with God and our characters will be like Jesus.

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.

To Reveal His Glory

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To understand the plan of salvation we must understand not only the nature of man when he was first created, but what happened to his nature when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit.

The glory of God is His character, and man was created in the image of God for the purpose of revealing His glory. We know that the law of God is a transcript of His character, and an expression of His very nature. The law of God embodies the principles of righteousness, and the very essence of God’s nature is summed up in two words: divine love.

Adam was created with these principles of righteousness written upon his heart; divine love motivated every thought, word, and action of his life. He was in harmony with the character and nature of God and could therefore reflect the glory of God. But when Adam disobeyed God and acquired a knowledge of evil, something changed in his nature.

“The world laid its homage, as a willing offering, at the feet of the enemy.” Testimonies, Vol. 6, 236

“From eternal ages it was God’s purpose that every created being, from the bright and holy seraph to man, should be a temple for the indwelling of the Creator. Because of sin, humanity ceased to be a temple for God. Darkened and defiled by evil, the heart of man no longer revealed the glory of the Divine One.” The Desire of Ages, 161

Paul refers to this in Ephesians 2:2, 3, “You once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.” We are familiar with what happened after Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. They knew they had sinned, and in shame they hid from God’s presence. Adam said, “ ‘I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.’ ” Genesis 3:10

First John 4:18 tells us that there is no fear in love because perfect love, God’s kind of love, casts out fear. If we are afraid, then we have not been perfected in love. Adam was made perfect in love and given a simple test to determine his loyalty to his Creator, but he failed when he ate of the fruit. He yielded to temptation, and his nature was changed.

Now no longer perfected in love, he feared his Creator. This was the first change we see in the nature of man as a result of sin. Adam was now a bondservant of the devil, and as the legal representative of the human race, he had chosen for himself, and on behalf of all mankind to come, to serve the enemy of righteousness.

Adam’s single act of disobedience demonstrated that he believed Satan’s lie and disbelieved God’s word, thereby implying that God was a liar. As a result, he transferred his love and loyalty from God to his new master, Satan. “The white robe of innocence was worn by our first parents when they were placed by God in holy Eden. They lived in perfect conformity to the will of God. All the strength of their affections was given to their heavenly Father. A beautiful soft light, the light of God, enshrouded the holy pair. This robe of light was a symbol of their spiritual garments of heavenly innocence.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 310, 311

Adam and Eve were not naked, they were clothed in light. But once they ate of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they accepted Satan as their new master, and traded this robe of innocence for the nakedness of sin. We need to know what this garment of light represented, why it is so significant that Adam and Eve were once clothed in it, and what a great loss it was when it was removed from them.

The Bible uses light to represent the law of God and since the law is a transcript of His character, light also represents God’s character.

“For the commandment is a lamp, and the law is light; reproofs of instruction are the way of life.” Proverbs 6:23

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

“Listen to Me, My people; and give ear to Me, O My nation: for a law shall proceed from Me, and I will make My judgment to rest for a light to the people.” Isaiah 51:4

Jesus came as a man to represent God’s law, to bear this light to the world. “Christ came to our world to represent the character of God as it is represented in His holy law; for His law is a transcript of His character.” Manuscript Releases, Vol. 17, 8. “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. The robe of light worn by Adam and Eve before the fall was a symbol of the law of God—the righteousness of God that was written in their heart when they were created.

“This robe of light was a symbol of their spiritual garments of heavenly innocence. Had they remained true to God it would ever have continued to enshroud them. But when sin entered, they severed their connection with God, and the light that had encircled them departed. Naked and ashamed, they tried to supply the place of the heavenly garments by sewing together fig leaves for a covering.

“This is what the transgressors of God’s law have done ever since the day of Adam and Eve’s disobedience. They have sewed together fig leaves to cover their nakedness caused by transgression. They have worn the garments of their own devising, by works of their own they have tried to cover their sins, and make themselves acceptable with God.

“But this they can never do. Nothing can man devise to supply the place of his lost robe of innocence.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 311

Revelation 16:13 describes the sixth plague as three unclean spirits that come out of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet. These spirits go out to the kings of the earth and the whole world to gather them together to that great battle of the great day of God almighty. We want to notice, right in the middle of this description, Jesus stops and makes an announcement in verse 15, “ ‘Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.’ ” Mrs. White explains this more clearly in Manuscript Releases, Vol. 8, 345, “ ‘Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked (without the robe of Christ’s righteousness) and they see his shame.’ ”

Friend, there is nothing that we can ever do to cover our own nakedness, no more than could Adam and Eve. People try, just like Adam and Eve tried, but the only way your spiritual nakedness can be covered is with Christ’s righteousness, a spiritual robe of light that embodies the principle of God’s law and love.

So, what happens when there is an absence of God’s love in the life and nature of man? “For God is love, and love is life.” Christ’s Object Lesson, 258. “Leaving the first love is represented as a spiritual fall.” The Review and Herald, December 15, 1904. Having left his first love, Adam now feared God, because he no longer had the perfect love of God in his heart, and his connection with God was severed. His robe of light—righteousness—was replaced with a robe of darkness—selfishness.

“Under God, Adam was to stand at the head of the earthly family, to maintain the principles of the heavenly family. This would have brought peace and happiness. But the law that none ‘liveth to himself’ (Romans 14:7), Satan was determined to oppose. He desired to live for self and sought to make himself a center of influence. It was this that had incited rebellion in heaven, and it was man’s acceptance of this principle that brought sin on earth. When Adam sinned, man broke away from the heaven-ordained center. A demon became the central power in the world. Where God’s throne should have been, Satan placed his throne. The world laid its homage, as a willing offering, at the feet of the enemy.” Counsels to Parents, Teachers and Students, 33

“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

“When man fell, the law of self was set up. This law harmonizes with the will of sinful humanity. There is no strife between them. But when the word of God speaks to the conscience, telling of a higher than human will, even the will of God, man’s will desires to go its own way, irrespective of consequences. The charm of obedience was broken by Adam’s disobedience. A sense of the importance of obedience as an absolute necessity, ceased to exist in the mind. And now man thinks, If I choose, I can obey God; and if I choose, I can disobey Him.” The Signs of the Times, January 25, 1899

“Love is power. Intellectual and moral strength are involved in this principle, and cannot be separated from it.” Gospel Workers, 311. Paul says in Romans 7:22, 23: “I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.” What is that other law? Paul calls it the law of sin. Mrs. White calls it the law of self. When Adam fell, the desire to live for self, the principle of selfishness that governs Satan’s kingdom, became the governing principle of the heart and mind of man.

“When man transgressed the divine law, his nature became evil, and he was in harmony, and not at variance, with Satan. There exists naturally no enmity between sinful man and the originator of sin. Both became evil through apostasy.” The Great Controversy, 505

The Bible says that the heart of man is, “deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.” Jeremiah 17:9. The literal translation of desperately wicked is incurably wicked. Remember that the heart, mind, and will are used synonymously in the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy, so these words all represent the governing power in the nature of man.

Think about this for a moment. When Adam sinned, everything about him changed. His perfect heart and mind, became sinful. His will, while still free to choose, became a slave to wickedness and, without determined effort and divine aid, would naturally always choose to do evil. His body was no longer free from age or disease or the desires of his selfish heart. His thoughts were no longer filled with love or in harmony with God’s mind, but were now open to and willing to receive the temptations and dictates of his new master. Adam could say, “I don’t want to be this way. I’m going to go back and be like I was before,” but he couldn’t make it so. Adam would be forever a sinner, unless he surrendered himself to the transforming power of God, which can and will change the heart, mind, and will of every man, woman, and child if they choose it, restoring once again the principles of righteousness and love within.

If the will is right, then all the rest of the being will come under its sway. The will is not an inclination, it is the choice, the deciding power, the kingly power which works in the children of men, either to obey or to disobey. “This will, that forms so important a factor in the character of man, was at the Fall given into the control of Satan.” Testimonies, Vol. 5, 515. Adam and Eve, by their deliberate choice to disobey God, gave their will to the tempter. Now in control of the will of man, Satan works in and through man to bring about his utter ruin.

“When man sinned, all heaven was filled with sorrow; for through yielding to temptation, man became the enemy of God, a partaker of the satanic nature. The image of God in which he had been created was marred and distorted. The character of man was out of harmony with the character of God; for through sin man became carnal.” The Signs of the Times, February 13, 1893

Carnal is from the Latin word caro which means flesh. The Greek word is Sarks, also meaning flesh. To be carnal is to be flesh. Just like heart, mind, and will, carnal and flesh are used synonymously in the Bible. Notice also, in the previous quotation, that the prophet uses nature and character synonymously. Let’s read that quotation again: “Through yielding to temptation, man became the enemy of God, a partaker of the satanic nature. The image of God in which he had been created was marred and distorted. The character of man was out of harmony with the character of God; for through sin man became carnal.”

Man sinned and became carnal, his nature governed by selfishness. The mind of man is intimately associated with his nature, and his mind is now ruled, not by the principle of divine love, but by the natural, ruling principle of selfishness.

“Selfishness and covetousness are at the foundation of all sins, yet many are not convicted of the sin of selfishness because it is a part of their nature, and they do not listen to the reproving of the Holy Spirit.” Manuscript Releases, Vol. 13, 270

“It is a weakness of humanity to pet selfishness, because it is a natural trait of character.” The Faith I Live By, 140

“Sin alienated him [Adam] from his Maker. He no longer reflected the divine image. His heart was at war with the principles of God’s law. ‘The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.’ Romans 8:7.” The Great Controversy, 467

We clearly see that when Adam sinned, the change that occurred in his nature—replacing the robe of light representing the principles of love and obedience with a robe of selfishness and sinfulness—is a change that affected all who came after him, right down through time to all of us today. But we must look carefully at something else that was handed down to us as part of the change in our nature.

“Adam sinned, and the children of Adam share his guilt and its consequences; but Jesus bore the guilt of Adam, and all the children of Adam that will flee to Christ, the second Adam, may escape the penalty of transgression.” The Signs of the Times, May 19, 1890

Many Adventists do not believe or at least struggle with the idea, that through Adam we all share in the guilt for an action that we had nothing to do with. But let me ask a question: Is the guilt a result of Adam’s decision to eat of the fruit, or is it a consequence of something else?

“It is plainly written on the unrenewed heart and on a fallen world, All seek their own. Selfishness is the great law of our degenerate nature.” Ibid., December 8, 1881. “Selfishness is the want [lack] of Christlike humility, and its existence is the bane of human happiness, the cause of human guilt, and leads those who cherish it to make shipwreck of faith.” Mind, Character, and Personality, Vol. 1, 271, 272. What is the cause of human guilt? It is the governing principle of selfishness in the heart of man.

When Adam sinned, his loyalty and allegiance, and that of the entire human race, was transferred from God to Satan, and the principle of selfishness which is the cornerstone of his government became the natural ruling principle in man’s life. The key word here is natural. Man’s nature is now naturally selfish. It cannot, of itself, be any other way. And since selfishness is sin (The Signs of the Times, April 13, 1891), man is guilty of selfishness whether he commits a particular act of selfishness or not. Adam’s disobedience resulted in the consequence of a ruined nature, and the principle of selfishness by which his nature, and ours, is now governed, is the cause of our guilt.

In addition to this ruinous change in man’s nature and the guilt that accompanies the principle of selfishness that governs his heart, there is another consequence of Adam’s sin that his children must face.

“Sin is the cause of physical degeneration; sin has blighted the race, and introduced disease, misery, and death.” Pacific Health Journal, February 1, 1902. Consequences to our moral nature led to a selfish, sinful nature and involved us in guilt, but there are also degenerative consequences to our physical nature that are not sin. It is very important to understand the difference.

“Adam disobeyed, and entailed sin upon his posterity.” Manuscript Releases, Vol. 6, 3. The word entail means to be settled on a person and his descendants. Adam settled sin upon his posterity. This entailment separates us from God because we now have carnal minds and hearts.

“ ‘The carnal [or natural] mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.’ Human nature could not keep the law, even if it would. Apart from Christ, without union with Him, we can do nothing. ‘Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God.’ The law requires us to present to God a holy character. It demands of men today just what it demanded of Adam in Eden—perfect obedience, perfect harmony with all its precepts in all relations of life, under all circumstances and conditions. No unholy thought can be tolerated, no unlovely action can be justified. As the law requires that which no man of himself can render, the human family are found guilty before the great moral standard, and it is not in the province of law to pardon the transgressor of law. The standard of the law cannot be lowered to meet man in his fallen condition. No compromise can be made with the sinner to take less than the full requirement of the law. The law cannot acquit the guilty, it cannot cleanse the sinner, or give power to the transgressor to raise himself into a purer, holier atmosphere. Standing before a holy, good, and just law, and finding ourselves condemned because of transgression, we may well cry out, What shall we do to be saved?” The Signs of the Times, May 30, 1895

This statement is very clear. The law requires righteousness, a holy character. The law must be written in the heart, stamped on the soul. We do not have this righteousness, but Jesus does, and He offers it to each and every one of Adam’s children. He offers it to you and me.

“By nature we are alienated from God. The Holy Spirit describes our condition in such words as, ‘Dead in trespasses and sins;’ ‘The whole head is sick, the whole heart faint;’ ‘no soundness in it.’ We are held fast in the snare of Satan, ‘taken captive by him at his will.’ ” Steps to Christ, 43

Let’s do a quick review and answer the following questions:

What does it mean to be naked?

To be naked represents an absence of Christ’s righteousness. Christ’s righteousness is represented in His law which is described in two words: divine love.

Why did Adam’s nakedness cause him to fear?

Because perfect love casts out fear and Adam had left his first love.

What does being naked have to do with the change in man’s nature after the fall?

The robe of light was a symbol of God’s law—His righteousness surrounding them, the principles of righteousness and love in their hearts. This garment departed when Adam and Eve sinned and selfishness became the natural, ruling principle of the nature and character of man.

Does this nakedness have anything to do with death?

Paul tells us in Romans 8:6, “For to be carnally [fleshly] minded is death.” Remember, “God is love, and love is life.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 258. Without God’s love and righteousness in the life, death is the inevitable result. Adam, having left his first love, died spiritually that day, and would have died physically as well if Christ had not interceded on man’s behalf. Man’s choice resulted in death, but Christ’s choice to intercede resulted in redemption.

“When man sinned, all heaven was filled with sorrow … . They ceased their songs of praise, and throughout the heavenly courts there was mourning for the ruin sin had wrought. … Since the divine law is as changeless as the character of God, there could be no hope for man unless some way could be devised whereby his transgression might be pardoned, his nature renewed, and his spirit restored to reflect the image of God. Divine love had conceived such a plan. …

“The Creator of man, could be his Saviour. No angel of heaven could reveal the Father to the sinner, and win him back to allegiance to God. … None but Christ could redeem man from the curse of the law. He proposed to take upon Himself the guilt and shame of sin—sin so offensive in the sight of God that it would necessitate separation from His Father. Christ proposed to reach to the depths of man’s degradation and woe, and restore the repenting, believing soul to harmony with God. … Christ redeemed him from the condemnation of the law, and imparted divine power, and through man’s cooperation, the sinner could be restored to his lost estate.” The Signs of the Times, February 13, 1893

Any particle of selfishness in my heart makes me a partaker of the satanic nature and an enemy of God, and I have no ability to remove selfishness from my nature. But there is hope for mankind—it is to surrender and be born again. The Christian religion is more than just Jesus dying on the cross and forgiveness of sins. That was necessary or I could not be saved, but I can never be saved until the natural selfishness of my nature has been replaced with a new heart and a new mind. This is accomplished only when I surrender my heart, mind, and will to the working of the Holy Spirit.

[Emphasis supplied.]

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

What is Sin?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Divine Nature of Christ

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Express Image of His Person

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

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

What are the attributes of our heavenly Father?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Emphasis supplied.]

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

Be Still, My Soul

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;

Leave to your God to order and provide;

In ev’ry change He faithful will remain.

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

Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

Be still, my soul; your God will undertake

To guide the future as He has the past;

Your hope, your confidence, let nothing shake;

All now mysterious shall be bright at last.

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

His voice who ruled them while He lived below.

 

Be still, my soul; when dearest friends depart

And all is darkened in the vale of tears,

Then you will better know His love, His heart,

Who comes to soothe your sorrows and your fears.

Be still, my soul; your Jesus can repay

From His own fullness all He takes away.

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

When we shall be forever with the Lord,

When disappointment, grief and fear are gone,

Sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored.

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

All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

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

 

Joy to the World

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Joy_to_the_World

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

“Joy to the world! The Lord is come;

Let Earth receive her King;

Let every heart prepare Him room,

And heaven and nature sing,

And heaven and nature sing,

And heaven, and heaven, and nature sing.”

Introduction to the Mystery of Godliness Series

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

By Judy Rebarchek
Managing Editor

To Him Who Overcomes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Who Will be Saved and Who Will be Lost

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So what is in the world?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Emphasis supplied.]

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