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Food for Life – Vegetarianism

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This quotation caught my eye the other day: “Until God changes what a person is, don’t try to change what he does!” Until we have a heart change, we cannot expect to change a lifestyle of wrong eating habits. Once we determine to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, we will not have any regrets in accepting the health reform message He has given to His people in the “end time,” to prepare them for His second coming.

The Lord is not arbitrary. There are reasons for each of His health principles. For example, in these last days vegetarianism is important because of the many diseases found in animals today, that were not present in the time of Christ.

The Spirit of Prophecy states very explicitly that we cannot make “gods of our bellies” and enter the Kingdom of Heaven. So we do have a work to do for ourselves. But not without help! That was why Christ endured the wilderness experience, to show us that He will be very near to each one of us in our most trying experiences.

“Our Savior fasted nearly six weeks that He might gain for man the victory upon the point of appetite. How can professed Christians with enlightened consciences, and with Christ before them as their pattern, yield to the indulgence of those appetites which have an enervating influence upon the mind and body? . . . Many who profess godliness do not inquire into the reason of Christ’s long period of fasting and suffering in the wilderness. His anguish was not so much from the pangs of hunger as from His sense of the fearful result of the indulgence of appetite and passion upon the race. He knew that appetite would be man’s idol and would lead him to forget God and would stand directly in the way of salvation.” Confrontation, 50, 51.

“Those who make determined efforts in the name of the Conqueror to overcome every unnatural craving of appetite will not die in the conflict. In their efforts to control appetite they are placing themselves in right relation to life, so that they may enjoy health and the favor of God and have a right hold on the immortal life.” Ibid., 79.

“Let him who is struggling against the power of appetite look to the Savior in the wilderness of temptation. See Him in His agony upon the cross as He exclaimed, ‘I thirst.’ He has endured all that it is possible for us to bear. His victory is ours.” Desire of Ages, 97.

February Recipe:

Pasta Salad

1 8 oz. package of Vegetable Pasta

Cook according to your package directions

1 4 oz. Can sliced Olives

1 Large Cucumber (or non-vinegar pickle) diced small

½ cup Tofu Mayonnaise

1 ¾ tsp. Sea Salt

Tofu Mayonnaise

16 oz. pkg. tofu

1/3 cup of lemon juice

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 Tablespoon onion powder

1 Tablespoon ground dill (optional)

1/4 cup pineapple concentrate

1 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 cup Fruit Source (granulated)

1/2 cup cashew pieces

4 oz. can chopped olives

Place first eight ingredients in blender on high speed and blend until smooth.Then add cashews and continue blending until very smooth. Pour into container and add the chopped olives and stir well. For use as sour cream on baked potatoes, omit olives and use chives. This also makes a delicious dip for chips (the baked variety with no oil, or Frito-Lay makes delicious Tostitos with nothing but corn and salt.)

The End

New Testament Church Organization

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He [Jesus] who was the foundation of the ritual and economy of Israel would be looked upon as its enemy and destroyer.” The Desire of Ages, 111. The reason for this was that those who were in charge of the system viewed themselves as being the church, and they realized that if Jesus were to be accepted, many of them would lose their positions.

Today, there is a similar problem in the professed church of God; there are some inspired counsels we are willing to deal with but others that we are not. If many of the counsels of Ellen White were really advocated, they would be considered to be dangerous to the church, possibly even capable of destroying it. I do not believe, however, we will ever receive God’s blessing until we feed upon every word.

Principles of church organization affect every aspect of the church, from the youngest member on up to the General Conference. In the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy, there is a great deal of information dealing with church organization that is written not only to those in leadership positions but to laymen as well.

Throughout history, whenever doctrine becomes corrupted, organization also becomes corrupt. In fact, in Revelation God is as concerned about false organization as He is about false doctrine. In the writings of Ellen White there is a great deal written about doctrine, but I also find hundreds of pages written about church organization which we are afraid to touch because if we even read the quotation, we will be accused of criticism. It is time, however, that we have the courage of John the Baptist, and with the spirit of love, humbly look at the things God has given to us. We must pray that He will help us to implement these things so that He can pour out His Spirit and finish the work He is seeking to do.

First Corinthians 1:2 tells us how the New Testament church is organized. “To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints.” The church at Corinth, identified by Paul, is not addressed as the church which is registered. It could be registered, but that is not the point. Nothing is said regarding their organization or where they meet. They may meet in some building and they are organized, but that is not the point. The church in Corinth are those people who are sanctified and called to be the saints of God. Now the church was to be organized, but the organization was not the church. The people were the church. These people could work in harmony because this is possible when God is in your heart. So they would meet and work together, send out missionaries and take up offerings, and do all those things which are necessary for God’s work to progress. But the church itself was the people. This is what the church has always been.

The Books of Heaven

In a special sense, the church are those people who are registered in the books of heaven. “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven” Hebrews 12:22, 23. The church, the true church of God, is composed of those people who are registered in the book of life in heaven.

Now this presents a very interesting situation. Who decides who is going to be a church member? Is it the pope who has the keys? If it is not the pope, is it the church board? Can they decide? What about the church body? Can we decide who is saved and who is not, whose name is written in heaven and whose is not?

Well, don’t we have anything to do? Oh, yes, we have something to do. We are called to recognize those whom God has registered in the books in heaven; and those whom He has registered there, we are to register here. He does not, however, follow our suit; we are to follow His, and there is a difference.

Let us suppose that God takes someone’s name off of the books in heaven and they are disfellowshipped. Are they still church members? No. But suppose their names remain in the books on earth. This is an interesting dilemma. The church is purified when the books on earth match the books in heaven. You see, God has given mankind no authority to decide who can be a member and who cannot be a member, but simply to recognize those whom He has accepted or rejected.

God has local congregations here on earth and we have organizations here to help organize the work, but the headquarters of your local church is in heaven, where only the sanctified are registered, not in some office in your state or some office in Maryland. Some people find this rather disconcerting, believing such a policy could lead to all kinds of trouble.

The Books on Earth

Just suppose that a coup took place in some local church or conference through politicking and some people, who were not inspired by the Lord, or filled with the Holy Spirit, took over through manipulation and because of their prejudices certain people were unjustly disfellowshipped. Would those who were disfellowshipped cease to be church members? Certainly not. Suppose, on the other hand, that people were allowed to come into the church who were never converted. Because their names were in the books on earth, would they, therefore, be church members? Not in any way, shape or form. God has never left His church to be manipulated and tampered with by the political whims of mankind. There is coming a time when He is going to turn and overturn the professed church that is called by His name. God’s true church remains the same as it has always—those people who are registered in the books of heaven.

“God has a church. It is not the great cathedral, neither is it the national establishment, neither is it the various denominations; it is the people who love God and keep His commandments. ‘Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them’ Matthew 18:20. Where Christ is, even among the humble few, this is Christ’s church.” Upward Look, 315.

When Paul was ordained, he was ordained to baptize and establish churches—the two together. According to inspiration, the same ordination that gives people the right to baptize gives them the right to establish churches. More and more, however, there are increasing restrictions controlling the starting of new churches.

I have been doing some studying on the history of Kansas. In 1903, Kansas had one hundred churches. The state has grown by almost a million people in the last fifty years, and during that period of time, we have gone from one hundred churches down to fifty-four.

Not only has God alone reserved the right to start and to recognize a church, but if you and I decide to go out and start a church apart from His will, no matter what conference committee may approve it, it will never be a church. “For the presence of the High and Holy One who inhabiteth eternity can alone constitute a church.” Ibid. [All emphasis supplied] If God’s presence is not the center of His church, it is not recognized by Him as His church whether or not it is recognized by a conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Called and Sanctified

In New Testament times, the church was those who were called and sanctified. Wherever Paul went and converted a few people, he organized them into a church, right then and there, without seeking any other permission. It was not up to the church in Jerusalem to give permission or to decide if they were a church, but to recognize the fact that they were. Now, of course, if a church apostatized or if a local member apostatized, it was also up to the church in Jerusalem to decide that, as these people are no longer keeping the commandments of God, they are no longer recognized by us as being one of God’s churches.

For us individually to receive the Holy Spirit, we must study the Bible, pray, overcome sin, and witness. For the church body to receive the Holy Spirit, they must, as a body, also have these four things present. Not only is it necessary for us as individuals to be winning others to Christ, but God’s design for His church is that every church should start new churches.

One of the things that must take place before God can pour out His blessing upon the church is not only a revival of primitive doctrine, but a revival of primitive organization. The New Testament churches had the freedom to go out and start new churches; but they were not just started and left to flounder by themselves, they were left with local organization. “And when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, ‘We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.’ So when they had appointed elders in every church, and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.” Acts 14:21–23.

Authority in the early church was to be earned because of a godly life, a knowledge of the Scriptures and the ability, that God had given to the individual; but never was it to come just by virtue of office. Today our church is almost being destroyed in some parts of this world because some have assumed the office of minister and decided that, because they have that office, they are the king of the local church. God never intended that office to be that of a king, but one of service.

Wolves Among the Sheep

“From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church.” Acts 20:17. What elders were these that He called? These were the elders who had been appointed. Notice, it is elders plural, not the elder. “Therefore take heed to yourselves [this is the instruction he is giving to these elders] and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.” Acts 20:28–31.

So he called the elders to guard the church from wolves. In a correlating passage to this in Testimonies, vol. 5, 77, Ellen White, writing of her own experience, says that she could scarcely keep from weeping when she saw the people who were taking charge of the church were people trained by Satan. Paul had the same concern, and the elders were called to protect the church from these wolves.

Now the questions is, suppose that a wolf came from Jerusalem. Were the elders to protect the church from that wolf? “Oh, no,” someone says, “not a local elder.” Turn with me to one of the most interesting passages in the New Testament in regard to this. “Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed; for before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy.” Galatians 2:11–13. Paul stood up and rebuked Peter, but Paul was not happy about this because he was not the one who should have had to do the rebuking.

God had established a local leadership to protect the church. “Not from Peter,” someone might say, “he was from Jerusalem. He was one of the pillars; he knew Jesus personally. No, not from Peter. They were only Gentiles who had been newly converted to the faith. You do not expect them, these Gentile Galatians who had just come into the Christian church a few years ago, to stand up and rebuke Peter, who was from the Jerusalem church, who had been a Jew all his life, one of the pillars in the church, a follower of Jesus—not Peter! I mean, Paul was an apostle. He could do that.” But Paul was most unhappy that he had to do that. “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified?” Galatians 3:1

“Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage” Galatians 5:1. Someone might say, “That scripture is dealing with circumcision and all those things.” Circumcision was involved, and eating with Gentiles was involved, but that was not the issue! The issue in Galatians was that Peter had caused them to transgress and they were to stand in their freedom, even if it was Peter from Jerusalem who should come down and preach false theology.

Kingly Power

“But strange fire has been offered in the use of harsh words, in self-importance, in self-exaltation, in self-righteousness, in arbitrary authority, in domineering, in oppression, in restricting the liberty of God’s people, binding them about by your plans and rules, which God has not framed, neither have they come into His mind. All these things are strange fire, unacknowledged by God, and are a continual misrepresentation of His character.” Testimonies to Ministers, 357, 358.

The Lord established the church upon the Rock, Jesus Christ, and He is to be the head of the church. See Ephesians 1:22, 23. The issue in the days of Martin Luther was who was in charge of the church, the Lord or the pope. That was the issue in Wesley’s day and it was the issue in 1888. I have been amazed at how little Ellen White deals with doctrine in relationship to 1888. The problem with Jones and Waggoner was that they did not go through the “proper channels.” They were not approved by the “proper people.”

The following statements are from a letter that Ellen White wrote to Elder Butler. “God designs that men shall use their minds and consciences for themselves. He never designed that one man should become the shadow of another, and utter only another’s sentiments. But this error has been coming in among us, that a very few are to be mind, conscience, and judgment for all God’s workers. The foundation of Christianity is ‘Christ our Righteousness.’ ” 1888 Materials, 112. Do you want to know what Christ our Righteousness means? She tells us what it means. “Men are individually responsible to God and must act as God acts upon them, not as another human mind acts upon their mind.” Ibid. God is to decide what is right, not some human committee. God makes the rules, not some human rule book. The Bible is our creed. We always used to say: “We do not have a creed book; the Bible is our creed.”

“For if this method of indirect influence is kept up, souls can not be impressed and directed by the great I AM. They will, on the other hand, have their experience blended with another, and will be kept under a moral restraint, which allows no freedom of action or of choice . . . If we would be wise, and use diligently, prayerfully, and thankfully the means whereby light and blessings are to come to His people, then no voice nor power upon earth would have authority over us to say, ‘This shall not be.’ ” Ibid., 112, 113.

In the book Testimonies to Ministers, Ellen White wrote a great deal of material, to the leadership and ministry in general, after 1888. Much of this book is dealing with this very principle of church authority. Among other similar statements, she said, “The high-handed power that has been developed, as though position has made men god’s, makes me afraid, and ought to cause fear. It is a curse wherever and by whomever it is exercised.” Testimonies to Ministers, 361. “The spirit of domination is extending to the presidents of the conferences. If a man is sanguine of his own powers and seeks to exercise dominion over his brethren, feeling that he is invested with authority to make his will the ruling power, the best and only safe course is to remove him.” Ibid., 362. “Rule, rule has been their course of action. Satan has had an opportunity of representing himself.” Ibid., 363.

Our Source of Light

In the chapter “Under Which Banner?” she says, “Humanity is hailed as God.” Ibid., 365. She is talking to us dear friends. She says, “God will not vindicate any device whereby man shall in the slightest degree rule or oppress his fellowmen.” Ibid., 366. A curse is pronounced upon all who do this (Jeremiah 17:5).

“State conferences may depend upon the General Conference for light and knowledge and wisdom; but is it safe for them to do this? Battle Creek is not to be the center of God’s work. God alone can fill this place. When our people in the different places have their special convocations, teach them, for Christ’s sake and for their own soul’s sake, not to make flesh their arm. There is no power in men to read the hearts of their fellow men. The Lord is the only One upon whom we can with safety depend, and He is accessible in every place and to every church in the Union. Is the president of the General Conference to be the god of the people?” Ibid., 375. Following the counsel and teaching of these ideas does not make a person very popular, but we are told to do it.

Instead of teaching the truth God has commissioned to be taught, do you know what she says we have been taught? “For many years an education has been given to the people which places God second, and man first. The people have been taught that everything must be brought before the council of a few men in Battle Creek.” Testimonies to Ministers, 325. I want you to notice that this is a serious matter because it is breaking the first commandment. God says, “You shall have no other gods before Me.” Exodus 20:3. “Let me entreat our state conferences and our churches to cease putting their dependence upon men and making flesh their arm.” Ibid., 380. Today we have gone far beyond where they were in 1888.

“In reference to our conference, it is repeated o’er and o’er and o’er again, that it is the voice of God, and therefore everything must be referred to the Conference and have the conference voice in regard to permission or restriction or what shall be and what shall not be done in the various fields . . . We have heard enough, abundance, about that everything must go around in the regular way . . . He [God] wants every living soul that has a knowledge of the truth to come to their senses.” Spalding–Magan Collection, 163. “The Lord wants His Spirit to come in, He wants the Holy Ghost King.” Ibid., 166. Today we have come to the point, in many places, that if you even invite someone to come and speak in the pulpit, you have to get the permission of the local conference.

Fall Upon the Rock

God is looking for every one of us, from the General Conference president down, to be broken on the Rock. When Jesus is the King, unity, peace and love pervade. This does not do away with organization. It is the only thing that creates a workable organization. We still have offices, but when God’s plan is followed, no one is striving for office because everyone is striving to serve one another. See Matthew 20:25–28.

The message of Christ our Righteousness has to become practical. We need to exercise less and less control over one another and do more and more praying for one another. Let us not decide that God has given any one of us authority to tell everyone else how they are to serve God. God is calling for much more freedom in His church than we have been willing to allow. There is a place for order, a place for leadership, but dear friend, God is calling for us to be broken on the Rock, to be filled with the humility and the love of Jesus. Then we will find that once again the Holy Spirit will be King.

The End

by Marshall Grosboll

A Letter to Newlyweds

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Dear Edson & Emma,

My dear children, I am desirous that you should know Christ by experimental knowledge of Him yourselves. You should obtain an experience for yourselves and be His earnest, faithful servants, manifesting perseverance and zeal and energy in the work and cause of God. Seek to exemplify Christ in your lives. Seek to adorn your profession. Take an exalted position in divine things, seeking to perfect Christian character.

You, my children, have given your hearts to one another; unitedly give them wholly, unreservedly to God. In your married life, seek to elevate one another, not to come down to common, cheap talk and actions. Show the high and elevating principles of your holy faith in your everyday conversations and in the most private walks of life. Be ever careful and tender of the feelings of one another. Do not allow either of you for even the first time, a playful bantering, joking, censuring of one another. These things are dangerous. They wound. The wound may be concealed, nevertheless the wound exists, and peace is being sacrificed and happiness endangered when it could be easily preserved.

Edson, my son, guard yourself and in no case manifest the least disposition savoring of a dictatorial, overbearing spirit. It will pay to watch your words before speaking. This is easier than to take them back or efface their impression afterwards. Brother Winslow has made his married life very bitter by a dictatorial, ordering spirit, savoring of the arbitrary. He has made his wife’s family much trouble by the set will savoring of perverseness.

Edson, shun all this. Ever speak kindly; do not throw into the tones of your voice that which will be taken by others as irritability. Modulate even the tones of your voice. Let only love, gentleness, and mildness be expressed in your countenance and in your voice. Make it a business to shed rays of sunlight, but never leave a cloud. Emma will be all to you you can desire if you are watchful and give her no occasion to feel distressed and troubled and doubt the genuineness of your love. Yourselves can make your happiness, or lose it. You can, by seeking to conform your life to the Word of God, be true, noble, elevated, and smooth the pathway of life for each other.

Edson, you, my dear boy, have to educate yourself in practicing self-control. God help you, my much loved son, to see the force of my advice and counsel to you. Be careful every day of your words and acts. Yield to each other. Yield your judgment sometimes, Edson; do not be persistent if your course appears just right to yourself. You must be yielding, forbearing, kind, tenderhearted, pitiful, courteous, ever keeping fresh the little courtesies of life, the tender acts, the tender, cheerful, encouraging words. And may the best of Heaven’s blessings rest upon you both, my dear children, is the prayer of your mother. Manuscript Release, vol. 20, 333, 334.

The End

Who and What is the Church?

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The subject of who and what is the church, is an exceedingly important subject. The most wonderful privilege any human being can have is to belong to God’s church.

“To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all people see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 3:8–10.

This tells us that there was a mystery hidden in the mind of God which no created beings understood. But Paul says, now this mystery is going to be made known. How?—by the church. If you belong to the church, God is going to reveal something through you to the beings all over the universe. There is a mystery that they have been wanting to know for a long time. They are going to find it out, through the church, through you. This seems inconceivable doesn’t it? Beings that have been alive for thousands and thousands of years, can learn something from you and me!

Abraham’s Covenant

The church is one of the most wonderful subjects in the Bible. We are going to go back to the book of Genesis to study about the church. After sin entered the world, gradually God unfolded to this world the doctrines of grace. The world rejected God and went into idolatry. Then God chose a certain person to preserve the knowledge of His law—His government. This person became a progenitor of Christ. The people of God, all the members of His church, for the next 2,000 years, looked back to this person as their spiritual father and to themselves as his children. In fact, to become a member of the church involves becoming this person’s child. This person’s name was Abraham, one of the most famous men that ever lived. God came to Abraham and said: “And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly . . . And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you.” Genesis 17:2, 7.

God gave circumcision to Abraham as a sign of the covenant. God told him that anybody wanting to become part of his seed, had to be circumcised.

“In Him [that is Christ] you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ.” Colossians 2:11.

Ishmael & the Covenant

Any person in the world could come to Abraham and say, “We want to worship your God. We want to be part of your religion and your family.” They could become a part if they were circumcised. That represented the cutting away of sin from the life. When you became a member of the church you had to covenant that you were going to follow God and keep His commandments. When Israel left Egypt, that very same covenant was renewed to them. Exodus 19. Circumcision was an outward symbol of an inward experience. I want to ask you a pivotal question. What if you only had the outward symbol?—You had been circumcised but you did not have the inward spiritual experience that it represented. Were you a member of God’s church? Were you really part of the seed of Abraham? The Bible says that Abraham took Ishmael, his son, and all that were born in his house and had them circumcised. Genesis 17:23–25.

Ishmael had the outward experience of circumcision. Was he part of Abraham’s seed? He was according to the flesh. But was he part of the spiritual seed? No. Abraham asked if Ishmael could be part of the seed, and God said that He was going to establish His covenant with the son of Sarah. “But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this set time next year.” Genesis 17:21.

Ishmael was not really a part of the church, because he did not have the inward experience that circumcision represents. When you give your allegiance to God and you choose to serve Him, keep His laws, and put away sin, then you become part of God’s chosen people—His church. In Old Testament times anybody could do this from any nation. Ruth was not a descendant of Abraham, but of Lot. She was a Moabitess. Notice what Ruth decided, “Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.” Ruth 1:16.

Ruth & the Church

Ruth was not a descendant of Abraham according to the flesh, but she wanted to have the same religion and belong to the same church. She was adopted in and became part of Abraham’s seed. “The Lord repay your work, and a full reward be given you by the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge.” Ruth 2:12.

The covenant people—those that entered into this covenant that Abraham and the Lord had made—said, “Yes, we want to forsake sin and follow God by keeping His commandments. We want to be part of Abraham’s family, of his seed.” They professed faith in God and obeyed His commandments; they became part of His professed people. Now here is a question. What if these covenant people did not abide by the conditions of the covenant? Remember, a covenant is an agreement between two parties. God made the offer and the conditions. Genesis 17. We can decide whether we want to be part of that offer—covenant, or not. What if I decide to be part of the covenant and then I do not follow through with my agreement with the Lord? I have the outward experience, but I do not continue to keep His commandments. I do not cut away sin from my life. This has been God’s problem for thousands of years. The prophets addressed it over and over again. Jeremiah tells God’s people what is going to be the end of this kind of thing. He said circumcise your heart and not just your flesh. In other words, you need to cut away sin from your life.

In Jesus’ day, the people who called themselves God’s people had not been faithful to the agreement. They said, “We are Abraham’s seed. We are the true church.” But to be part of the church, there are conditions. If you do not cut sin away from your life, you have broken your covenant with God. That was the problem in Jesus’ day. In fact, the people that professed to be the children of God were actually the children of the devil. You cannot be both, part of God and part of the devil, at the same time.

“We want to understand the time in which we live. We do not half understand it. We do not half take it in. My heart trembles in me when I think of what a foe we have to meet, and how poorly we are prepared to meet him. The trials of the children of Israel, and their attitude just before the first coming of Christ, have been presented before me again and again to illustrate the position of the people of God in their experience before the second coming of Christ. How the enemy sought every occasion to take control of the minds of the Jews, and today he is seeking to blind the minds of God’s servants. That they may not be able to discern the precious truth.” Selected Messages, vol. 1, 406.

John the Baptist’s Denial

If a person professes to be a child of God—you profess to be part of His church. God told Abraham, when you enter into this covenant you will be My people, I will be your God. In Jesus’ time, the people that professed to be the children of God, were not actually His children. They did not fulfill the covenant which was the condition for being the seed of Abraham. God sent a special messenger, John the Baptist, to give them a chance to turn around. These people said to John the Baptist, “Abraham is our father. We are his children, therefore, we are part of the true church. We are saved.” Notice what John the Baptist told them.

“And do not think to say to yourselves, We have Abraham as our father. For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.” Matthew 3:9. What was John the Baptist telling them? They said, “We are Abraham’s children. He is our father. We are part of the true church.” And John the Baptist said, “Don’t you say that. Don’t say that Abraham is your father. Don’t say you are a member of the true church. Don’t say it.” Don’t even think it.

Then he said, “And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” Matthew 3:10. If the tree doesn’t bear good fruit, no matter what the name is, it won’t save the tree. You can say, “Oh, I’m a member of the true church.” But, that will not save you. It is the fruit—not the name that determines the destiny of the tree.

“John declared to the Jews that their standing before God was to be decided by their character and life. Profession was worthless. If their life and character were not in harmony with God’s law, they were not His people.” Desire of Ages, 107. [All emphasis supplied.]

That is plain talk. “If your life and character are not in harmony with God’s law, you are not a member of the church. You are not Abraham’s children. You are not God’s people. It is your character, the fruit of your life that determines membership, and not your name and not your profession.” John the Baptist said there is coming a great shaking and sifting among the Jews. He calls it a winnowing fan. There is going to be a separation soon, and the wheat is going to be gathered into the garner and the chaff is going to be burned up. That time of judgment and shaking came when Jesus came. When you follow the life of Jesus, you find out wherever He went His words and His acts aroused opposition and a great tumult. Jesus spoke about this same issue to the Jews in even stronger language than John the Baptist. Jesus acknowledged that they were the descendants of Abraham according to the flesh, but he denied that they were Abraham’s spiritual descendants.

Jesus’ & Abraham’s Children

” ‘I know that you are Abraham’s descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father.’ They answered and said to Him, ‘Abraham is our father.’ Jesus said to them, ‘If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham.’ ” John 8:37–39.

Jesus said, “If you were really Abraham’s children you would do the works of Abraham. You would have a character like Abraham.” What God is interested in is not our likeness in the flesh to somebody else, but it is the likeness in our minds and in our spirit.

” ‘But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You do the deeds of your father.’ Then they said to Him, ‘We were not born of fornication; we have one Father—God.’ Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. 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. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.’ ” John 8:40–44.

Jesus said to the Jews, “Your spiritual father is the devil. You are not the children of God. You are not part of God’s church at all. You are part of the synagogue of Satan. Your character proves it.” They were plotting to kill Him right then, and in addition to that they were lying.

Do you think people who heard talk that plain should be able to figure out who and what the church was? They didn’t. Even Christ’s own disciples took a long time to get this figured out. We human beings are so used to looking at the flesh, that often the spiritual truth in the Bible just bypasses us completely. The apostle Paul had to fight this same battle all over again.

Paul & Israel

“But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel.” Romans 9:6. Who is Israel?—God’s people. “They are not all Israel who are of Israel.”—They are not all Israel who profess to be Israel. They are not all God’s people who profess to be God’s people.

“Nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham: but, ‘In Isaac your seed shall be called.’ ” Romans 9:7. Ishmael does not count, even though he had the outward sign of circumcision to prove he was a church member.

“Those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed.” Romans 9:8. How much more plainly can you say it? Profession alone does not make anyone a child of God or a member of His church. Who really is a member of the church? It is not the children of the flesh, it is the children of the promise—those who have the spiritual qualifications.

“For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.” Romans 4:13. Paul teaches here that through righteousness by faith, the Gentiles have the same privileges as the Jews. It was God’s intention from the beginning that anyone could become part of the seed of Abraham, through faith. We saw this in the story of Ruth.

“For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression. Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all (as it is written, ‘I have made you a father of many nations’) in the presence of Him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did.” Romans 4:14–17. “The Israel of God are those who are converted.” Upward Look, 80.

John the Baptist said, “God is able of these stones [the Gentiles] to raise up children of Abraham.” Matthew 3:9. When a Gentile comes to Jesus and He puts His Holy Spirit in the mind, he then learns to keep God’s law just like Abraham did. When anyone has the same spiritual experience that Abraham had, he is accounted the seed of Abraham.

If Judah is the church, who would a church member be? He would be a Jew. If Israel is the church, a church member would be an Israelite or a Jew. Notice who Paul says is really a Jew. “For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly. [That is the one who makes a profession.] Nor is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh.” Romans 2:28. If that was the thing that did it, then Ishmael would have been a member of the church. But, Paul is very emphatic in the book of Galatians that Ishmael was not a member.

“But he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.” Romans 2:29. It is not outward, it is inward. It is not in the letter, but in the spirit. Paul says, “Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.” Galatians 3:7. Those are the only ones who are really part of the church.

“For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Galatians 3:26–29. Jesus was a seed of Abraham and if I am a child of Christ, I am part of the seed of Abraham too.

The Church in Revelation 12

“Now a great sign appeared in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth. And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born. And she bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and to His throne.” Revelation 12:1–5.

Who was the male child that was caught up to God and to His throne? It was Jesus. This is a symbolic prophecy about a woman that stood on the moon. This symbolic woman is a pure woman and is clothed with light. She is not a harlot woman. Who does a woman represent in Bible prophecy? A church. Paul said, “For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. [He is talking to the church.] But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” 2 Corinthians 11:2, 3.

In Revelation 12 we have a pure woman, God’s church. She is pregnant, about to bare a child. This is talking about God’s church. What does it mean? We can find one answer in Galatians 4:19. Paul is writing to a church that was converted but they went into apostasy and now he is making this appeal to them: “My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you.” Galatians 4:19.

Men do not have babies in the flesh. He is talking to the church. He is talking about the spiritual nature of Christ. This is the mystery that we read about in our first text from Ephesians 3. The mystery is Christ formed in you, so that you think, talk, and act like He does. Paul describes this: “To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Colossians 1:27. If you want to be a member of this church that is talked about in Revelation 12, you must bring forth the spiritual character of Christ in your life. That is what New Testament religion is all about. The apostles were continually talking about it.

“Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days.” Revelation 12:6. Why did the woman have to flee into the wilderness? Because the professed church tried to destroy the real or true church. If you do not understand the difference between the real church and the professed church, you cannot understand Revelation 12:6. “Romanists have persisted in bringing against Protestants the charge of heresy and willful separation from the true church. But these accusations apply rather to themselves. They are the ones who laid down the banner of Christ and departed from ‘the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.’ Jude 3.” Great Controversy, 51.

“Through the agency of Romanism, Satan took the world captive. The professed church of God was swept into the ranks of this delusion, and for more than a thousand years the people of God [true church] suffered under the dragon’s ire.” Signs of the Times, November 1, 1899.

Who Left the Church?

In the church at Rome there was a departure from the truth and the majority of the people and their pastor decided they were going to worship God on Sunday. This was happening by the second century. It started with Easter. They were going to celebrate the resurrection every year. Then they said, we might as well do it every week.

But there were a few people in the Roman church that would not go along with it. What happens when there are a few people and they do not go along with what the majority of the church wants to do? Who gets their way, the minority or the majority? The majority decided that they were going to worship on Sunday. But there were a few people that said we must keep all the commandments of God. Can you stay a part of a church when you cannot even agree on which day to go to church? No, you cannot. That little group had to go somewhere else and get another pastor and building. What if they met one of their brethren on the street in Rome and this person said to them, “Oh, why did you leave the church?” What should they say? They should say, if they understand who the church is, “Why did you leave the church?” You see, the majority of the people had the building, the pastor, the organization, the money, everything—everything but the truth. If you leave the truth, you leave the church. So the majority of the people left the church, but, from a human point of view, it looked like they stayed in. From God’s point of view the majority were the ones that left. And the minority that were forced out were actually the ones that stayed in the church, because the church is the pillar and ground of the truth. I Timothy 3:15.

Jesus told the Jews: “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.” John 7:24. Righteous judgment is not always according to appearance. There was this tremendous controversy during the Dark Ages as to who the church was. The controversy has persisted to the present day. Many Protestants today understand “who and what the church is,” more according to Catholic theology than Protestant theology. Protestants teach that the Bible is the ultimate authority and the church is underneath it. A Roman Catholic says, “I believe in the authority of the Bible, but the authority of the church is above the authority of the Bible.” (That is the difference. If you want to live according to everything in the Bible, you have to keep the seventh-day Sabbath.)

The Reformers & the Church

John Wycliffe said: “The holy church is the congregation of the just men for whom Christ shed His blood.”

Martin Luther said: “The Pope, the bishops, the monks and the priests need not make a noise. We are the church. There is no other church than the assembly of those who have the Word of God and are purified by it.”

Melancthon made almost an exact statement to Martin Luther’s. It is quoted by Ellen White. “There is no other church than the assembly of those who have the Word of God and who are purified by it.” Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 4, 237.

How is it that we find such a marked uniformity among the Waldensees and these Protestant Reformers? They had all been studying the same Book. They had found that the New Testament teaches what the church is. If we are Protestants, if we claim that we are going to base all of our religion on the Bible, should our understanding of who and what the church is be based from it also? We will here study a few texts that define who and what the church is.

“I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church.” Colossians 1:24. The apostle Paul says that the church is Christ’s body. Paul has some very specific things to say about this body—the body of Christ.

Have you ever wondered how big the church is? Some people think that the church is located on several acres near the city of Rome. Some people think that the church is located in Maryland. Some people think that the church is located where they go to church. The church is a lot bigger than any of those places. “And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” Ephesians 1:22, 23. Does this phrase “all in all” refer to merely this world? God says, “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” Jeremiah 23:24. The Lord fills heaven and earth. The church is His body, “the fullness of Him that fills all in all.” It is the biggest thing in the universe, “the fullness of Him that fills all in all,” not only in this world but also in heaven. There is only one church in this world and in heaven.

How many churches are there? “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling.” Ephesians 4:4. There is just one. It is “the fullness of Him that fills all in all.” How many heads does this body have? Just one. Ephesians 1:22, 23. There are beasts in the Bible that have seven heads, but Christ’s church does not have seven heads. He Himself is the only head of the body. This was a major controversy during the Reformation. Roman Catholic theologians had made two churches. They said there is an invisible church and Christ is the head of that; and there is a visible church and the Pope is the head of that. John Wycliffe said, “If there are two heads of the church, that is a monster.”

The Bride of Christ

Christ is the husband of the church. “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the Word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish . . . For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.” Ephesians 5:25–32.

The apostle Paul says that the church is bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh. We are to be one with Him. What does this mean? “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For ‘the two,’ he says, ‘shall become one flesh.’”

1 Corinthians 6:15–16. You cannot mistake what the apostle Paul is talking about here. Notice that in the next verse He uses the same verb. “But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.” To be a part of the church means to be joined to the Lord. What if I am not? If you get married and you go through all the process with the justice of the peace and get all the paperwork done, but immediately after you get married one of you moves to California and the other to Maine and you never see each other again, are they married? Not really. Any court would recognize that their marriage was not valid. They would not even need to get a divorce, that “marriage” could be annulled.

“But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.” Romans 8:9. If I do not have the Spirit of Christ, am I part of His body? No.

The Vine & the Branches

Jesus said: “You are the branches.” John 15:5. The church is God’s vineyard. It was described that way in Isaiah 5, and we are the branches united to the True Vine. Jesus talks about how necessary it is to have a vital relationship, otherwise if we just have an external relationship some day we will be cut off and the branch will die. Desire of Ages, 830. The branch has to bear fruit or it will be taken away.

The Good Shepherd & the Flock

This is one of the most beautiful illustrations in the Bible. It is found in John 10. Jesus talks of Himself as the Good Shepherd and His church as His sheepfold. He speaks of Himself as being this door and we must go through it to be part of His fold. The door represents His humanity, His life. When we live His life we are going through the door.

The Temple

“But if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.” 1 Timothy 3:15. The church is the house or temple of God—the pillar and ground of the truth. Paul speaks about this spiritual house for God to dwell in through the Holy Spirit in Ephesians 2:22.

What is the Church?

We will now compare some definitions from inspiration with the condition of the Jewish church when Jesus came. Here are some definitions of what the church is.

  1. The church is the spiritual seed of Abraham.
  2. The church is God’s people.
  3. The church is the people who have entered into God’s covenant. (The sign of entering into God’s covenant, even in the Old Testament, was keeping the Sabbath.)
  4. The church is the body of Christ, joined to Him as one spirit.
  5. The church is God’s fold.
  6. The church is God’s grain field.
  7. The church is God’s vineyard.
  8. The church is God’s spiritual temple.
  9. The church is the faithful souls. “From the beginning, faithful souls have constituted the church on earth.” The Acts the of Apostles, 11.
  10. The church is “those that love God and keep His commandments.” Upward Look, 315.
  11. The church is God’s “city of refuge.” The Acts of the Apostles, 11. God has made a city of refuge for you, friend, and if you enter that city of refuge you will never suffer the second death, because Jesus will save you from it.
  12. The church is “God’s fortress . . . which He holds in a revolted world.” Ibid.

Were all the Jews God’s Church?

Now, let us look at the Jewish church in the time of Christ, at the leaders and most of the people.

  1. Were they the spiritual seed of Abraham? No. Matthew 3:9; John 8:39.
  2. Were they God’s people? No. John 8:42; Desire of Ages, 36.
  3. Had they entered into God’s covenant? No. John 8:34–42.
  4. Were they the body of Christ? Absolutely not. They were not joined to Christ, they were fighting Him the entire time He was here.
  5. Were they God’s fold? No they were not. Jesus said to the Jews, “But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep.” John 10:26.
  6. Were they God’s vineyard? They had no vital connection with the true vine. They were like the fig tree that bore no fruit.
  7. Were they a spiritual building where the Spirit of God dwells? No, they were not. They became the agents of Satan. The people whom God had called to be the pillar and ground of the truth had become the representatives of Satan. Desire of Ages, 36. They were not a spiritual building where the Spirit of God dwelt.
  8. Were they faithful souls? No, they were not. They were unfaithful souls. Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 2, 41.
  9. Did they love God and keep His commandments? They professed to, but did they really? No, they did not, they murdered Jesus and lied about Him; they did not love Him or keep His commandments. Matthew 15:3.

Some are Tares

For the sake of the whole universe being convinced as to who is faithful in their profession, God allows all who make a profession to be a part of the professed church—His chosen people. However, the parable of the wheat and the tares tells us that some who make a profession are tares. Jesus said the tares are the children of the devil. In the professed church, or the church militant as Ellen White sometimes calls it, there is a mixture of wheat and tares, a mixture of the children of God and the children of the devil. The tares are not a part of the body of Christ, they are not faithful souls, they are not part of the spiritual building, they have not gone though the door into the sheepfold, they do not love God, and they do not keep His commandments. But, they pretend, or profess, to do all these things, while in reality they are a part of the synagogue of Satan or the devil’s church. You cannot be a part of Christ and part of the devil at the same time (I Corinthians 10).

Now in addition to the tares, or children of the devil who are in the church, there are those who have once been converted but their spiritual experience has become tepid, or lukewarm. Their love for God is not wholehearted anymore, they have lost their first love. Now I have two questions for you. The first one is this: How do we relate to tares—children of the devil, who are in the church? People think that is an easy question and right away they say, well, the Bible says don’t pull them up. But, they have not read their Bible carefully enough. That statement, “don’t pull them up,” has a context. The Bible is very clear (see 1 Corinthians 5), that anyone who is living in open sin is to be put out of the church. However, if a person is false in their heart but they are making a profession, we cannot do anything about that. Those are the tares, the people who are making a profession. They are not living in open sin, they are not taking their brother to court, or using NLP, or lying, and openly doing those things that are contrary to the ten commandments, they are making a profession, but their heart is false. We cannot read that. Those are the tares. But they still are the children of the devil. Christ Object Lessons, 71.

I want you to notice something else Jesus said about the church which a lot of people have not noticed today. Look at Matthew 15. Jesus is talking about the tares in the church. You know He is talking about the tares because it says: “He answered and said, ‘Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted.’ ” Matthew 15:13.

Who are these plants that the Heavenly Father has not planted? These are the tares. Now, notice what He says about these tares that had gained control of the God’s professed church in Jesus’ day.

Let Them Alone

“Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch.” Matthew 15:14.

There were people in Jesus’ day, and they said, “Oh, these are the spiritual leaders. They have duly constituted church authority and they are the sons of Levi.” And Jesus told them that those spiritual leaders were blind spiritual leaders. They were not teaching the truth and if you followed them you would lose your eternal salvation. I hear people say, “I think we had better go and talk to these people.” But Jesus says, “Let them alone.” Do not go and talk to them or associate with them. Do not go and listen to them. If you do, you are going to be led somewhere you do not want to go and you are going to lose your soul. There are people today that have not studied this text and they are being led by blind leaders who are leading the blind, and they are leading them straight to hellfire and they do not even know it. Now that is plain talk, but that is what Jesus taught in Matthew 15.

A Little Leaven

Jesus warned His disciples: “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.” Matthew 16:6. Then the disciples got into a discussion about that, and Jesus said to them: “How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread?—but you should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Matthew 6:11, 12.

If you go and listen to someone preach doctrine that is not according to the Bible and if you keep going and listening, what is going to happen to you? Did you ever put a little yeast into some dough and let it sit there and watch what happens? It goes through the whole batch and soon, if you want to make unleavened bread, you are going to have to throw the whole batch out and start all over. The yeast will infect the whole batch. If you listen to a blind leader of the blind that is preaching or teaching, not according to the Bible, you are going to become infected with false teaching and will be ruined for the kingdom of Heaven. You will be led into the ditch. Look what Paul said about this in 1 Corinthians 5:7. Some people come and say, “I want to keep going to this church over here. I know the pastor isn’t preaching the truth but I have a lot of friends here. I will go to some camp meetings and other special revival meetings and stay alive spiritually.” Or another variation is, “I know that the messages there are not any different than those being preached in other churches.” But, pablum sermons will not get you ready to successfully go through the last days That is dangerous!

“Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.” 1 Corinthians 5:7. Paul says, purge out the old leaven. I want to warn you, I am doing this because of love for your soul. If you go and talk and have conferences with people who are blind leaders of the blind, you are going to become infected and not even know what has happened.

“God is displeased with us when we go to listen to error, without being obliged to go; for unless He sends us to those meetings, where error is forced home to the people by the power of the will, He will not keep us. The angels cease their watchful care over us, and we are left to the buffetings of the enemy, to be darkened and weakened by him and the power of his evil angels; and the light around us becomes contaminated with the darkness.” Early Writings, 125.

Here is a question for you. What is going to happen to the tares, the wolves in sheep’s clothing, those who have climbed over the wall into the sheepfold, those who do not have a vital connection to the true vine? Just like in the time of John the Baptist, there is going to be a shaking or purging in the church, and at the end, Jesus says there is going to be a separation. The angels are going to come and separate the tares from the wheat. John the Baptist said there would be a separation in the time of Christ—and there was a separation. There was a shaking and almost the entire Jewish church was shaken out. But, their church organization went right on. That is something that many people have not thought of and you need to think it through. Judaism still existed, but almost the entire group, or organization, was shaken out. I have to tell you the truth. According to prophecy, something very similar to this is going to happen to the Seventh-day Adventist Church before the end.

People say, “We are in the true church and we are going to be saved.” They do not know they are following blind leaders. This is what is going to happen, “How many I saw in the time of trouble without a shelter! . . . Those who refuse to be hewed by the prophets and fail to purify their souls in obeying the whole truth, and who are willing to believe that their condition is far better than it really is, will come up to the time of the falling of the plagues, and then see that they needed to be hewed and squared for the building.” Early Writings, 71. When the plagues fall then probation is over and it is too late to be saved.

“To the marriage supper of the Lamb will come many who have not on the wedding garment—the robe [Christ] purchased for them with His lifeblood. From lips that never make a mistake come the words, ‘Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment?’ Matthew 22:12. Those [thus] addressed are speechless. They know that words would be useless. The truth, with its sanctifying power, has not been brought into the soul, and the tongue that once spoke so readily of the truth is now silent. The words are then spoken, ‘Take them out of My presence. They are not worthy to taste of My supper.’ (Compare with Luke 14:24.)

“As they are separated from the loyal ones, Christ looks upon them with deep sorrow. They occupied high positions of trust in God’s work, but they have not the life insurance policy that would have entitled them to eternal life. From the quivering lips of Christ come the mournful words of regret, ‘I loved them; I gave My life for them; but they persisted in rejecting My pleadings, and continued in sin. O that thou hadst known, even thou, in this thy day, the things which belong to thy peace! But now they are hid from thine eyes.’ ” Upward Look, 301.

Oh, if you want to be part of the church, part of those that will be saved when Jesus comes, you must have the spiritual experience that makes you a part of His body, joined to Him as one spirit. You must have that vital connection with the True Vine. You must love God and obey His commandments. You must have the reality and not just the form. There is coming a time when the only people that will be left in the church will be holy people. Isaiah 4:3.

I want to be part of the real church when Jesus comes, not just someone that has made a profession and then falls out at the end. The profession is necessary. If you have the real thing you are not going to lie and say you do not have it, you are going to tell the truth and make a profession. I want to appeal to you, friend, to make that decision and come to Jesus and say, “Lord, I want to enter into the covenant. I want the real thing, more than just a profession. I want to be one of those faithful souls, one of those who loves God and keeps His commandments. I want to be a part of the body of Christ, ‘bone of His bone, and flesh of His flesh,’ one of those who is joined to Him in one spirit.” I want to be part of the church not just by profession but in character.

The End

by John J. Grosboll

Editorial – Sinners in Zion, part 2

by

The sinners in Zion are the same as the tares who are in the church. “There are many sinners in Zion, and they are likened to tares among the wheat.” Review and Herald, November 10, 1893.

Jesus gave many illustrations to help us understand the difference between the true Israel (church) and Israel (professed church) according to the flesh. Romans 9:1–8. One illustration is that of the true vine. (See Desire of Ages, 830.)

There is an outward connection that apparently is part of the vine, but really is not, and there is an inner vital connection that makes a person part of the vine. The one with the outer connection only is a professed Christian, a professed church member, his name is on the roll on this earth but he is not really a member of the true church, he is a false or pretended brother or believer. Testimonies to Battle Creek Church, 64. When tested this person does not produce fruit. It is the same with the tares, they look like wheat but they are pretended or false brethren or believers and do not produce fruit. Christ Object Lessons, 71, 72. Notice how the following quotations explicitly state these facts: “The branch which does not derive its nourishment from the vine, is unable to bear fruit. Having no real, vital connection with the vine, not receiving the sap which flows through the parent stock, it is fruitless. So it is with those who are not truly united to Christ. They may claim to know him, their names may be on the church roll, but unless they are living branches of the True Vine, this is of no value. There is a union with the church that avails nothing with God. Their profession will not save them, for their want of faith, their lack of fruit, proves that they are false branches.” Signs of the Times, December 3, 1896. (A false branch, a pretended or false brother or believer, cannot be a true brother or believer, and a true brother is obviously a member of the true church, because we are all brethren. Matthew 23:8.)

“Faith is that mysterious and mighty principle that attracts the soul of man to God. As the sapless branch is united to the living vine, so we must be connected with Christ. There are two kinds of connection between the branches and the vine stock. One is visible, but superficial. The other is invisible and vital. So there is an apparent union, a membership with the church, and a profession of religion, which, though in itself good, is too often unaccompanied by saving faith in Jesus or living obedience to the commandments of God. The branches that are connected with Christ, the living vine, will make it manifest by bearing much fruit in good works to the glory of God. But the branches which have nothing but an apparent union, will be fruitless. As the branch cannot possibly bring forth fruit without a vital connection with the parent stock, so the Christian can be fruitful in good works only as union with Christ is made and preserved. The ruin [the sifting of the sinners in Zion] of those who are not connected with Christ, is as complete as though they had no name to live; for they are dead. Christ compares them to lifeless branches that are gathered and burned in the fire.” Signs of the Times, July 27, 1888.

See also Christ Object Lessons, 216, 279, 304.

So the sinners in Zion are outward, professed members of the body of Christ, the true church, but their profession is not accompanied by the real vital connection to Christ, which would enable them to overcome sin. During the time of the shaking and sifting they will be sifted (separated) from the loyal and faithful and true. Notice that the 1886 statement (see Manuscript Release, vol. 12, 324; or Selected Messages, vol. 2, 380) does not say that they will be sifted from the church organization; it distinctly says that they will be sifted from the loyal and true and that this is a most terrible ordeal. In a later article in Land Marks we will look at inspired statements about this sifting process in more detail but for now let us notice just who Zion is. There is a Zion according to the flesh, according to profession—all those who profess the Seventh-day Adventist faith—but, “He whom God accounts a citizen of Zion is he that ‘speaketh the truth in his heart;’ ‘that backbiteth not with his tongue,’ ‘nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor.’ ” Education, 235, 236. [All emphasis supplied.]

“False brethren will continue to increase.” Signs of the Times, January 3, 1884.

“When trees without fruit are cut down as cumberers of the ground, when multitudes of false brethren are distinguished from the true, then the hidden ones will be revealed to view, and with hosannas range under the banner of Christ.” Testimonies to the Battle Creek Church, 64.

The End

Bible Study Guides – The Word Became Flesh

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April 21, 2013 – April 27, 2013

Key Text

“And 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.” John 1:14.

Study Help: The Desire of Ages, 19–26; “Ellen G. White Comments,” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 7, 903–905.

Introduction

“Jesus was the Commander of heaven, one equal with God, and yet He condescended to lay aside His kingly crown, His royal robe, and clothed His divinity with humanity.” “Ellen G. White Comments,” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 5, 1130, 1131.

1 THE ETERNAL WORD

  • How does Scripture confirm the eternal existence of Christ? Micah 5:2; John 8:58; 17:5.

Note: “If Christ made all things, He existed before all things. The words spoken in regard to this are so decisive that no one need be left in doubt. Christ was God essentially, and in the highest sense. He was with God from all eternity. God over all, blessed forevermore.” “Ellen G. White Comments,” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 5, 1126.

“In speaking of His pre-existence, Christ carries the mind back through dateless ages. He assures us that there never was a time when He was not in close fellowship with the eternal God.” The Signs of the Times, August 29, 1900.

  • Besides the creation, what other important work has Christ accomplished? Isaiah 43:1; John 1:29.

Note: “Christ our Passover has been sacrificed for us. He gave His precious, innocent life to save guilty human beings from eternal ruin, that through faith in Him they might stand guiltless before the throne of God.” “Ellen G. White Comments,” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 7, 914.

2 DIVINITY AND HUMANITY COMBINED

  • What should we understand about the divinity of Christ even after His incarnation? Isaiah 9:6; Matthew 1:22, 23; Philippians 2:5–11.

Note: “Although Christ’s divine glory was for a time veiled and eclipsed by His assuming humanity, yet He did not cease to be God when He became man. The human did not take the place of the divine, nor the divine of the human. This is the mystery of godliness. The two expressions ‘human’ and ‘divine’ were, in Christ, closely and inseparably one, and yet they had a distinct individuality. Though Christ humbled Himself to become man, the Godhead was still His own. …

“Equal with the Father, honored and adored by the angels, in our behalf Christ humbled Himself, and came to this earth to live a life of lowliness and poverty—to be a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Yet the stamp of divinity was upon His humanity.” “Ellen G. White Comments,” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 5, 1129.

  • What fact should we bear in mind concerning the human nature of Christ? I Peter 2:22; John 14:30, last part.

Note: “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 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. …

“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 like as man is tempted, yet He is called ‘that holy thing’ (Luke 1:35). 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.” “Ellen G. White Comments,” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 5, 1128, 1129.

3 A NEW RELATIONSHIP

  • What was the purpose for which divinity was united to humanity? John 1:14; 14:7–10.

Note: “The Saviour was deeply anxious for His disciples to understand for what purpose His divinity was united to humanity. He came to the world to display the glory of God, that man might be uplifted by its restoring power. God was manifested in Him that He might be manifested in them. Jesus revealed no qualities, and exercised no powers, that men may not have through faith in Him. His perfect humanity is that which all His followers may possess, if they will be in subjection to God as He was.” The Desire of Ages, 664.

  • Into what new relationship do we enter by receiving the provisions brought by the mystery of godliness (I Timothy 3:16)? John 1:12, 13.

Note: “Divinity and humanity were mysteriously combined, and man and God became one. It is in this union that we find the hope of our fallen race.” “Ellen G. White Comments,” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 5, 1130.

  • What words of Christ should be echoed in our experience? John 8:29.

Note: “As Jesus was in human nature, so God means His followers to be. In His strength we are to live the life of purity and nobility which the Saviour lived.” Testimonies, vol. 8, 289.

“Not by outward display, not by worldly patronage, is the kingdom of Christ established, but by the implanting of Christ’s nature in humanity through the work of the Holy Spirit. ‘As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God’ (John 1:12, 13). Here is the only power that can work for the uplifting of humanity. And the human agency for the accomplishment of this work is the teaching and preaching of the Word of God.” Evangelism, 531.

4 BLESSINGS RECEIVED

  • Once the new relationship becomes established, how is God manifested in us? John 14:15–18, 21, 23; I John 4:12.

Note: “Man is allotted a part in this great struggle for everlasting life; he must respond to the working of the Holy Spirit.” Testimonies, vol. 8, 65.

  • What promise belongs to us as we accept Christ, with the blessings derived from His incarnation? Hebrews 2:16–18; 5:2; Philippians 4:13.

Note: “Christ’s humanity was united with divinity, and in this strength He would bear all the temptations that Satan could bring against Him, and yet keep His soul untainted by sin. And this power to overcome He would give to every son and daughter of Adam who would accept by faith the righteous attributes of His character.” “Ellen G. White Comments,” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 7, 927.

“Christ came to give to the world an example of what perfect humanity might be when united with divinity. He presented to the world a new phase of greatness in His exhibition of mercy, compassion, and love. He gave to men a new interpretation of God. As head of humanity, He taught men lessons in the science of divine government, whereby He revealed the righteousness of the reconciliation of mercy and justice. The reconciliation of mercy and justice did not involve any compromise with sin, or ignore any claim of justice; but by giving to each divine attribute its ordained place, mercy could be exercised in the punishment of sinful, impenitent man without destroying its clemency or forfeiting its compassionate character, and justice could be exercised in forgiving the repenting transgressor without violating its integrity.” Selected Messages, Book 1, 260, 261.

“Let the self-distrustful, whose lack of self-reliance leads them to shrink from care and responsibility, be taught reliance upon God. Thus many a one who otherwise would be but a cipher in the world, perhaps only a helpless burden, will be able to say with the apostle Paul, ‘I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me’ (Philippians 4:13).” Education, 256.

“Christ has given His Spirit as a divine power to overcome all hereditary and cultivated tendencies to evil, and to impress His own character upon His church.” The Desire of Ages, 671.

5 A PATTERN BEFORE US

  • How, and for what purpose, should we know Christ better and better? John 5:39.

Note: “No man, woman, or youth can attain to Christian perfection and neglect the study of the word of God. By carefully and closely searching His word we shall obey the injunction of Christ, ‘Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me’ (John 5:39). This search enables the student to observe closely the divine Model, for they testify of Christ. The Pattern must be inspected often and closely in order to imitate it. As one becomes acquainted with the history of the Redeemer, he discovers in himself defects of character; his unlikeness to Christ is so great that he sees he cannot be a follower without a very great change in his life. Still he studies, with a desire to be like his great Exemplar; he catches the looks, the spirit, of his beloved Master; by beholding he becomes changed.” Counsels on Sabbath School Work, 17.

  • What should we experience as a result of our communion with Christ? Romans 12:2. What must we do if we actually want Christ to be our Saviour? Revelation 3:20.

Note: “Just as a good tree will bear good fruit, so will the tree that is actually planted in the Lord’s garden produce good fruit unto eternal life. Besetting sins are overcome; evil thoughts are not allowed in the mind; evil habits are purged from the soul temple. The tendencies which have been biased in a wrong direction are turned in a right direction. Wrong dispositions and feelings are changed, new principles of action supplied, and there is a new standard of character. Holy tempers and sanctified emotions are now the fruit borne upon the Christian tree. An entire transformation has taken place.” “Ellen G. White Comments,” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 6, 1080.

PERSONAL REVIEW QUESTIONS

1 What is revealed about the preexistence of Christ?

2 What should we realize about the nature of Christ after His incarnation?

3 On what condition can we reap the benefits of His incarnation?

4 Where is the merging of divinity with humanity to be seen today?

5 How are we to become transformed?

© 2007 Reformation Herald Publishing Association, Roanoke, Virginia. Reprinted by permission.

Bible Study Guides – A Plan to Regain Paradise

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April 14, 2013 – April 20, 2013

Key Text

“Jesus saith unto him [Thomas], I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.” John 14:6.

Study Help: Patriarchs and Prophets, 71–79; “Ellen G. White Comments,” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 7, 931.

Introduction

“The Father has given the world into the hands of Christ, that through His mediatorial work He may redeem man and vindicate the authority and holiness of the law of God.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 366.

1 GOD’S PROMISE

  • What promise has God often repeated? Genesis 12:3; 22:18; 28:14; Galatians 3:8, 16.

Note: “Not alone at the Saviour’s advent, but through all the ages after the Fall and the promise of redemption, ‘God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself’ (II Corinthians 5:19). Christ was the foundation and center of the sacrificial system in both the patriarchal and the Jewish age. Since the sin of our first parents there has been no direct communication between God and man. … All the communion between heaven and the fallen race has been through Christ. It was the Son of God that gave to our first parents the promise of redemption. It was He who revealed Himself to the patriarchs. Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses understood the gospel. They looked for salvation through man’s Substitute and Surety. These holy men of old held communion with the Saviour who was to come to our world in human flesh.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 366.

  • What does the Bible call God’s promise to send His Son into the world, and how was the promise fulfilled? Isaiah 61:1; Luke 4:18, 21.

Note: “The gospel preached to Adam, Noah, Abraham, and Moses was to them good news; for their faith embraced a coming Saviour.” The Signs of the Times, August 7, 1879.

2 CAIN AND ABEL

  • How was Abel blessed, accepted, and justified through the gospel? Hebrews 11:4.

Note: “ ‘By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain’ (Hebrews 11:4). Abel grasped the great principles of redemption. He saw himself a sinner, and he saw sin and its penalty, death, standing between his soul and communion with God. He brought the slain victim, the sacrificed life, thus acknowledging the claims of the law that had been transgressed. Through the shed blood he looked to the future sacrifice, Christ dying on the cross of Calvary; and trusting in the atonement that was there to be made, he had the witness that he was righteous, and his offering accepted.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 72.

  • How did Cain forfeit the blessings and acceptance of the gospel, and why? Genesis 4:3, 5.

Note: “Cain came before God with murmuring and infidelity in his heart in regard to the promised sacrifice and the necessity of the sacrificial offerings. His gift expressed no penitence for sin. He felt, as many now feel, that it would be an acknowledgment of weakness to follow the exact plan marked out by God, of trusting his salvation wholly to the atonement of the promised Saviour. He chose the course of self-dependence. He would come in his own merits. He would not bring the lamb, and mingle its blood with his offering, but would present his fruits, the products of his labor. He presented his offering as a favor done to God, through which he expected to secure the divine approval. Cain obeyed in building an altar, obeyed in bringing a sacrifice; but he rendered only a partial obedience. The essential part, the recognition of the need of a Redeemer, was left out.

“So far as birth and religious instruction were concerned, these brothers were equal. Both were sinners, and both acknowledged the claims of God to reverence and worship. To outward appearance their religion was the same up to a certain point, but beyond this the difference between the two was great.” [Author’s italics.] Patriarchs and Prophets, 72.

3 TWO CLASSES OF WORSHIPERS

  • What two classes of worshipers do Cain and Abel represent? How do the two phases in the life of Paul illustrate the difference between these two classes? Philippians 3:4–9.

Note: “Cain and Abel represent two classes that will exist in the world till the close of time. One class avail themselves of the appointed sacrifice for sin; the other venture to depend upon their own merits; theirs is a sacrifice without the virtue of divine mediation, and thus it is not able to bring man into favor with God. It is only through the merits of Jesus that our transgressions can be pardoned. Those who feel no need of the blood of Christ, who feel that without divine grace they can by their own works secure the approval of God, are making the same mistake as did Cain. If they do not accept the cleansing blood, they are under condemnation. There is no other provision made whereby they can be released from the thralldom of sin.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 72, 73.

  • What lesson should we learn from the fig-leaf garments of our first parents and from the offering of Cain? Genesis 3:7; Jude 11, first part. What principle underlies the belief and practice of those who fail to abide by the true gospel?

Note: “The class of worshipers who follow the example of Cain includes by far the greater portion of the world; for nearly every false religion has been based on the same principle—that man can depend upon his own efforts for salvation. It is claimed by some that the human race is in need, not of redemption, but of development—that it can refine, elevate, and regenerate itself. As Cain thought to secure the divine favor by an offering that lacked the blood of a sacrifice, so do these expect to exalt humanity to the divine standard, independent of the atonement. The history of Cain shows what must be the result. It shows what man will become apart from Christ. Humanity has no power to regenerate itself. It does not tend upward, toward the divine, but downward, toward the satanic. Christ is our only hope.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 73.

4 THE GOSPEL AND THE TWO COVENANTS

  • How are we in danger of failing—as the Israelites failed—to truly understand the gospel? Exodus 24:7; Joshua 24:19–21; Hebrews 3:15–17; 4:2.

Note: “The people [of Israel] did not realize the sinfulness of their own hearts, and that without Christ it was impossible for them to keep God’s law; and they readily entered into covenant with God. Feeling that they were able to establish their own righteousness, they declared, ‘All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient’ (Exodus 24:7). They had witnessed the proclamation of the law in awful majesty, and had trembled with terror before the mount; and yet only a few weeks passed before they broke their covenant with God, and bowed down to worship a graven image. They could not hope for the favor of God through a covenant which they had broken.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 371, 372.

  • What covenant did the Lord offer to establish with Israel and is offering to each one of us? Jeremiah 31:31–34; Hebrews 8:8–12.

Note: “The same law that was engraved upon the tables of stone is written by the Holy Spirit upon the tables of the heart. Instead of going about to establish our own righteousness we accept the righteousness of Christ. His blood atones for our sins. His obedience is accepted for us. Then the heart renewed by the Holy Spirit will bring forth ‘the fruits of the Spirit.’ ” Patriarchs and Prophets, 372.

“It is impossible for us, of ourselves, to escape from the pit of sin in which we are sunken. Our hearts are evil, and we cannot change them. ‘Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.’ ‘The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be’ (Job 14:4; Romans 8:7). Education, culture, the exercise of the will, human effort, all have their proper sphere, but here they are powerless. They may produce an outward correctness of behavior, but they cannot change the heart; they cannot purify the springs of life. There must be a power working from within, a new life from above, before men can be changed from sin to holiness. That power is Christ. His grace alone can quicken the lifeless faculties of the soul, and attract it to God, to holiness.” Steps to Christ, 18.

“By His perfect obedience He [Christ] has made it possible for every human being to obey God’s commandments.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 312.

5 ONLY ONE TRUE GOSPEL

  • Since the days of Eden, men and women have been saved by only one gospel. How does this apply to us? John 14:6; Acts 4:12.

Note: “Christ is the connecting link between God and man. He has promised His personal intercession by employing His name.” “Ellen G. White Comments,” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 6, 1078.

“Through the grace of Christ we shall live in obedience to the law of God written upon our hearts. Having the Spirit of Christ, we shall walk even as He walked.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 372.

  • How are we to benefit from the gospel? I Timothy 1:15; Ephesians 1:4–11.

Note: “Jesus … took humanity upon Himself that He might touch and elevate humanity. He came to seek and to save that which was lost. He reached to the very depth of human misery and woe, to take man as He found him, a being tainted with corruption, degraded with vice, depraved by sin, and united with Satan in apostasy, and elevate him to a seat upon His throne.” Fundamentals of Christian Education, 199.

PERSONAL REVIEW QUESTIONS

1 Why is the plan of salvation referred to as the “gospel”?

2 How do we know that Abel was under the “new” covenant?

3 What will make us today to be an “Abel” instead of a “Cain”?

4 How can we be sure our religious experience is really in accordance with the new covenant?

5 How would you summarize the gospel to someone who has never heard it before?

© 2007 Reformation Herald Publishing Association, Roanoke, Virginia. Reprinted by permission.

Bible Study Guides – God’s Supreme Plan

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April 7, 2013 – April 13, 2013

Key Text

“If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to shew unto man his uprightness: Then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom.” Job 33:23, 24.

Study Help: Patriarchs and Prophets, 52–62; The Story of Redemption, 42–50.

Introduction

“It is the glory of the gospel that it is founded on the principles of restoring in the fallen race the divine image.” The Review and Herald, May 2, 1912.

1 CHRIST, THE EXPRESS IMAGE

  • How does God the Father address His Son? Hebrews 1:8–10. What distinctions characterize the Son of God? Colossians 2:9.

Note: “In the work of creation, Christ was with God. He was one with God, equal with Him, the brightness of His glory, the express image of His person, the representative of the Father.” The Signs of the Times, February 13, 1893.

“Christ was God essentially, and in the highest sense. He was with God from all eternity. God over all, blessed forevermore.” “Ellen G. White Comments,” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 5, 1126.

  • How does the Son of God summarize His relationship with the Father? John 10:30. What should we then realize as we seek to worship God?

Note: “In Christ is gathered all the glory of the Father. In Him is all the fullness of the Godhead.” The Signs of the Times, November 24, 1898.

“Our ministers must be very careful not to enter into controversy in regard to the personality of God. This is a subject that they are not to touch. It is a mystery, and the enemy will surely lead astray those who enter into it.” Sermons and Talks, vol. 1, 343.

2 THE COUNSEL OF PEACE

  • What was to be the crowning act of God’s entire creation? Genesis 1:26; Psalm 100:3. In view of the crisis that had occurred in heaven, what did the Father and Son consider?

Note: “The Father consulted His Son in regard to at once carrying out their purpose to make man to inhabit the earth. He would place man upon probation to test his loyalty before he could be rendered eternally secure. If he endured the test wherewith God saw fit to prove him, he should eventually be equal with the angels.” The Story of Redemption, 19.

  • How did the Father and Son plan to redeem humanity in case they would fall prey to the archrebel? Zechariah 6:13, last part; Job 33:27–30.

Note: “The great plan of redemption was laid before the foundation of the world. And Christ, our Substitute and Surety, did not stand alone in the wondrous undertaking of the ransom of man. In the plan to save a lost world, the counsel was between them both; the covenant of peace was between the Father and the Son. ‘For God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life’ (John 3:16). The Majesty of heaven, the King of glory, would become a servant. The only-begotten Son, in whom the Father delighted, was given for the ransom of a fallen race. …

“The Father gave Himself to the world in the gift of His Son. It was the love of the Father for fallen man that devised in union with the Son the plan of redemption. And in this great gift the character of God is exemplified to all who shall receive the world’s Redeemer by faith, as a God of holiness and a God of love. In the crucifixion of His dear Son upon the cross of Calvary, He gives to all the sons and daughters of Adam an expression of His justice and His love. This offering made manifest the immutability of the holiness of His law. In the cross of Calvary justice and truth have met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

“The Lord God omnipotent is the God of His people. He is also a tender, loving Father, ready to hear their prayers; for God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. God sent forth His Son to be the propitiation for them through faith in His atoning blood.” The Signs of the Times, December 23, 1897.

3 THE CREATION OF THE HUMAN RACE

  • What distinguishes humanity from all God’s other creatures? Genesis 1:27.

Note: “Created to be ‘the image and glory of God’ (1 Corinthians 11:7), Adam and Eve had received endowments not unworthy of their high destiny. Graceful and symmetrical in form, regular and beautiful in feature, their countenances glowing with the tint of health and the light of joy and hope, they bore in outward resemblance the likeness of their Maker. Nor was this likeness manifest in the physical nature only. Every faculty of mind and soul reflected the Creator’s glory. Endowed with high mental and spiritual gifts, Adam and Eve were made but ‘little lower than the angels’ (Hebrews 2:7), that they might not only discern the wonders of the visible universe, but comprehend moral responsibilities and obligations.” Education, 20.

  • What should we realize about the high calling of humanity? Psalm 8:3–9.

Note: “The same unseen Hand that guides the planets in their courses, and upholds the worlds by His power, has made provision for man formed in His image, that he may be little less than the angels of God while in the performance of his duties on earth.” Testimonies, vol. 4, 415, 416.

  • Describe the Edenic scene of Adam’s early existence. Genesis 1:31; 2:8, 15.

Note: “Adam was surrounded with everything his heart could wish. Every want was supplied. There was no sin, and no signs of decay in glorious Eden. Angels of God conversed freely and lovingly with the holy pair. The happy songsters caroled forth their free, joyous songs of praise to their Creator. The peaceful beasts in happy innocence played about Adam and Eve, obedient to their word. Adam was in the perfection of manhood, the noblest of the Creator’s work. He was in the image of God, but a little lower than the angels.” Selected Messages, Book 1, 268.

4 TRAGEDY STRIKES

  • How and why did God test Adam’s fidelity? Genesis 2:9, 16, 17.

Note: “God created man in His own image, after His likeness, free from sin, and with organs well developed. The earth was to be populated with intelligent beings who were only a little lower than the angels. But God would first prove the holy pair, and test their obedience; for He would not have a world filled with beings who would disregard His laws.” The Signs of the Times, January 23, 1879.

  • What warnings should we heed from observing the way Adam failed the test? Genesis 3:1–13.

Note: “The very fact that Adam’s trial was small, made his sin exceeding great. God tested him in that which was least, to prove him; and with the prohibition He stated that the punishment consequent upon his disobedience would be death. If Adam could not bear this smallest of tests to prove his loyalty, he surely could not have endured a stronger trial had he been taken into closer relationship with God, to bear higher responsibilities. He evidenced that God could not trust him; should he be exposed to Satan’s more determined attacks, he would signally fail. …

“Adam did the worst thing he could do under the circumstances. In doing that which God had expressly forbidden he set his will against the will of God, thus waging war with His requirements. The pen of inspiration has with accuracy traced the history of our first parents’ sin and fall, that all generations may be warned not to follow Adam’s example, in the slightest disregard of God’s requirements. Had the test been in regard to larger matters, men might have excused the sin of disobedience in what they call smaller things. But God made the test with Adam upon things that are least, to show man that the slightest disobedience to His requirements is sin in every sense of the word. God, the Governor of the universe, has made all things subject to law; things apparently insignificant, and things of the greatest magnitude, are all governed by laws adapted to their natures. Nothing that God has made has been forgotten or left to blind chance. To man, as being endowed with reasoning powers and conscience, God’s moral law is given to control his actions. Man is not compelled to obey. He may defy God’s law, as did Adam, and take the fearful consequences; or by living in harmony with that law he may reap the rewards of obedience.” The Signs of the Times, January 23, 1879.

5 HEAVEN TO THE RESCUE

  • How did the angels exemplify unselfish love? John 15:13. What was to be their privilege? Romans 15:1.

Note: “The angels prostrated themselves at the feet of their Commander and offered to become a sacrifice for man. But an angel’s life could not pay the debt; only He who created man had power to redeem him. Yet the angels were to have a part to act in the plan of redemption. Christ was to be made ‘a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death’ (Hebrews 2:9). As He should take human nature upon Him, His strength would not be equal to theirs, and they were to minister to Him, to strengthen and soothe Him under His sufferings. They were also to be ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who should be heirs of salvation (Hebrews 1:14). They would guard the subjects of grace from the power of evil angels and from the darkness constantly thrown around them by Satan.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 64, 65.

  • In the words addressed to the serpent, what hope did God offer to the fallen pair? Genesis 3:14, 15; Romans 16:20.

Note: “The Godhead was stirred with pity for the race, and the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit gave Themselves to the working out of the plan of redemption.” The Review and Herald, May 2, 1912.

“Christ would take upon Himself the guilt and shame of sin—sin so offensive to a holy God that it must separate the Father and His Son. Christ would reach to the depths of misery to rescue the ruined race.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 63.

“Adam marveled at the goodness of God in providing such a ransom for the sinner.” The Signs of the Times, February 20, 1893.

PERSONAL REVIEW QUESTIONS

1 What are the heavenly credentials of the Son of God?

2 What was the “counsel of peace”?

3 Why was Adam tested? Why is each of us tested?

4 Explain why the test in Paradise was relatively small. Why are our daily tests small as well?

5 Can we be inspired by the response of all Heaven to this crisis?

© 2007 Reformation Herald Publishing Association, Roanoke, Virginia. Reprinted by permission.

Keys to the Storehouse – Forgotten Gifts, Forgotten Joys

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Forgotten Gifts, Forgotten Joys!

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son” (John 3:16). He is still giving, but many have become so blinded by the cares of this world that blessings innumerable have been forgotten or ignored. Christ was the greatest gift God could have given to us, but few appreciate this Gift with all of its benefits and joys.

“The Prince of heaven was among His people. The greatest gift of God had been given to the world. Joy to the poor; for Christ had come to make them heirs of His kingdom. Joy to the rich; for He would teach them how to secure eternal riches. Joy to the ignorant; He would make them wise unto salvation. Joy to the learned; He would open to them deeper mysteries than they had ever fathomed; truths that had been hidden from the foundation of the world would be opened to men by the Saviour’s mission.” The Desire of Ages, 277.

There is a joy listed for every person:

  • Joy to the poor; for Christ had come to make them heirs of His kingdom.
  • Joy to the rich; for He would teach them how to secure eternal riches.
  • Joy to the ignorant; He would make them wise unto salvation.
  • Joy to the learned; He would open to them deeper mysteries than they had ever fathomed; truths that had been hidden from the foundation of the world.

Have you overlooked and taken for granted the joy available for your life? Praise God for all the joy that is listed plus all the others that are not! And besides all of these “joys,” Christ is also made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption. (See I Corinthians 1:30.)

These benefits through Christ tremendously affect our lives.

Wisdom: God solves the problem of our ignorance through Jesus. By imparting His wisdom to us through the Holy Spirit, we are enabled to discern our sin, our danger and the way into the Most Holy Place of the heavenly sanctuary for cleansing and forgiveness.

Righteousness: Christ’s righteousness is placed upon each person who has repented of his or her sins and has chosen to live for Christ and reflect His character. The guilt is removed.

Sanctification: He sets us apart and sanctifies us, or makes us a holy people, moment by moment. What a growing experience we may encounter if we choose to receive His way.

Redemption: We have been purchased by the blood of Jesus—saved from loss, redeemed to a wonderful, eternal future.

And let’s not forget the faithful heavenly angels and the Holy Spirit! God’s gifts and joys are innumerable. Do not allow the shadow of care, stress or business to dampen these joys and gifts from your memory! Keep them fresh in your heart by praising Him throughout each day!

Father: I had forgotten all of the joys You have given me through Jesus. Please forgive me. I now raise my heart and voice to Thee in praise and thankfulness for the gift of Jesus and all of the benefits which follow. Praise God from Whom all blessings and joys flow. Amen

Bible Study Guides – The Government of Heaven

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March 31, 2013 – April 6, 2013

That I Might Live

Key Text

“By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.” Psalm 33:6.

Study Help: Patriarchs and Prophets, 33–43; The Story of Redemption, 13–19.

Introduction

“The Son of God had wrought the Father’s will in the creation of all the hosts of heaven; and to Him, as well as to God, their homage and allegiance were due.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 36.

1 THE GOD OF HEAVEN

  • What characteristic is unique to the Godhead? Psalm 33:6, 9. How—and by Whom—were all things in the universe created? John 1:1–3.

Note: “The Sovereign of the universe was not alone in His work of beneficence. He had an associate—a co-worker who could appreciate His purposes, and could share His joy in giving happiness to created beings. …

“The Father wrought by His Son in the creation of all heavenly beings. [Colossians 1:16 quoted.] Angels are God’s ministers, radiant with the light ever flowing from His presence and speeding on rapid wing to execute His will. But the Son, the anointed of God, the ‘express image of His person,’ ‘the brightness of His glory,’ ‘upholding all things by the word of His power,’ holds supremacy over them all (Hebrews 1:3).” Patriarchs and Prophets, 34.

  • What does Inspiration reveal about the throne of God? Jeremiah 17:12. How does this relate to the Son of God? Hebrews 1:8.

Note: “The Son of God shared the Father’s throne, and the glory of the eternal, self-existent One encircled both. … The Son of God had wrought the Father’s will in the creation of all the hosts of heaven; and to Him, as well as to God, their [the angels’] homage and allegiance were due.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 36.

2 LIFE IN HEAVEN

  • What are some of the fundamental characteristics of the government of Heaven? Psalm 89:14; I John 4:16.

Note: “The law of love being the foundation of the government of God, the happiness of all intelligent beings depends upon their perfect accord with its great principles of righteousness. God desires from all His creatures the service of love—service that springs from an appreciation of His character. He takes no pleasure in a forced obedience; and to all He grants freedom of will, that they may render Him voluntary service.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 34.

“God’s love has been expressed in His justice no less than in His mercy. Justice is the foundation of His throne, and the fruit of His love. It had been Satan’s purpose to divorce mercy from truth and justice. He sought to prove that the righteousness of God’s law is an enemy to peace. But Christ shows that in God’s plan they are indissolubly joined together; the one cannot exist without the other. ‘Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other’ (Psalm 85:10).” The Desire of Ages, 762.

  • What characterized the relationship between the entire host of heavenly creatures and their beneficent Creator? Psalm 103:20, 21.

Note: “So long as all created beings acknowledged the allegiance of love, there was perfect harmony throughout the universe of God. It was the joy of the heavenly host to fulfill the purpose of their Creator. They delighted in reflecting His glory and showing forth His praise. And while love to God was supreme, love for one another was confiding and unselfish. There was no note of discord to mar the celestial harmonies.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 35.

“All created beings live by the will and power of God. They are dependent recipients of the life of God. From the highest seraph to the humblest animate being, all are replenished from the Source of life.” The Desire of Ages, 785.

“When the Lord created these [angelic] beings to stand before His throne, they were beautiful and glorious. Their loveliness and holiness were equal to their exalted station. They were enriched by the wisdom of God, and girded with the panoply of heaven.” The Signs of the Times, April 14, 1898.

3 UNPRECEDENTED DISSONANCE

  • What ambition was nourished by Lucifer, the highest created being? Ezekiel 28:12–15.

Note: “There was one who perverted the freedom that God had granted to His creatures. Sin originated with him who, next to Christ, had been most honored of God and was highest in power and glory among the inhabitants of heaven. Lucifer, ‘son of the morning,’ was first of the covering cherubs, holy and undefiled. He stood in the presence of the great Creator, and the ceaseless beams of glory enshrouding the eternal God rested upon him. ‘Thus saith the Lord God; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering. … Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee’ (Ezekiel 28:12–15).

“Little by little Lucifer came to indulge the desire for self-exaltation. The Scripture says, ‘Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness’ (Ezekiel 28:17). ‘Thou hast said in thine heart, … I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. … I will be like the Most High’ (Isaiah 14:13, 14). Though all his glory was from God, this mighty angel came to regard it as pertaining to himself.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 35.

  • What was the real cause of Lucifer’s dissatisfaction? Proverbs 13:10; Psalm 10:4.

Note: “Not content with his position, though honored above the heavenly host, he [Lucifer] ventured to covet homage due alone to the Creator. Instead of seeking to make God supreme in the affections and allegiance of all created beings, it was his endeavor to secure their service and loyalty to himself. And coveting the glory with which the infinite Father had invested His Son, this prince of angels aspired to power that was the prerogative of Christ alone.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 35.

4 TWO OPPOSITE WAYS OF WORKING

  • How did Heaven’s reasoning with Lucifer exemplify God’s tender appeals to His erring creatures throughout all ages? What was Lucifer’s attitude?

Note: “In heavenly council the angels pleaded with Lucifer. The Son of God presented before him the greatness, the goodness, and the justice of the Creator, and the sacred, unchanging nature of His law. God Himself had established the order of heaven; and in departing from it, Lucifer would dishonor his Maker and bring ruin upon himself. But the warning, given in infinite love and mercy, only aroused a spirit of resistance. Lucifer allowed his jealousy of Christ to prevail, and became the more determined.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 36.

  • In sharp contrast to God’s methods, what means did Lucifer use to subtly dissuade many angels from their trustful allegiance to God? Psalm 55:21.

Note: “Leaving his place in the immediate presence of the Father, Lucifer went forth to diffuse the spirit of discontent among the angels. He worked with mysterious secrecy, and for a time concealed his real purpose under an appearance of reverence for God. He began to insinuate doubts concerning the laws that governed heavenly beings, intimating that though laws might be necessary for the inhabitants of the worlds, angels, being more exalted, needed no such restraint, for their own wisdom was a sufficient guide. They were not beings that could bring dishonor to God; all their thoughts were holy; it was no more possible for them than for God Himself to err. The exaltation of the Son of God as equal with the Father was represented as an injustice to Lucifer, who, it was claimed, was also entitled to reverence and honor.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 37.

“While claiming for himself perfect loyalty to God, he urged that changes in the order and laws of heaven were necessary for the stability of the divine government. Thus while working to excite opposition to the law of God and to instill his own discontent into the minds of the angels under him, he was ostensibly seeking to remove dissatisfaction and to reconcile disaffected angels to the order of heaven. While secretly fomenting discord and rebellion, he with consummate craft caused it to appear as his sole purpose to promote loyalty and to preserve harmony and peace.” Ibid., 38.

5 OPEN REBELLION

  • Trace the final stages of Lucifer’s rebellion in heaven. Revelation 12:7–9.

Note: “He [Lucifer] nearly reached the decision to return [to God], but pride forbade him. It was too great a sacrifice for one who had been so highly honored to confess that he had been in error.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 39.

  • How is Satan’s fall summarized? Isaiah 14:12–15. Why didn’t the Lord immediately destroy him? Ezekiel 28:17, 19.

Note: “Even when he was cast out of heaven, Infinite Wisdom did not destroy Satan. Since only the service of love can be acceptable to God, the allegiance of His creatures must rest upon a conviction of His justice and benevolence. The inhabitants of heaven and of the worlds, being unprepared to comprehend the nature or consequences of sin, could not then have seen the justice of God in the destruction of Satan. Had he been immediately blotted out of existence, some would have served God from fear rather than from love. The influence of the deceiver would not have been fully destroyed, nor would the spirit of rebellion have been utterly eradicated. For the good of the entire universe through ceaseless ages, he must more fully develop his principles, that his charges against the divine government might be seen in their true light by all created beings, and that the justice and mercy of God and the immutability of His law might be forever placed beyond all question.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 42.

PERSONAL REVIEW QUESTIONS

1 Why is the Son of God entitled to share the Father’s throne?

2 What can we learn from the heavenly plan of government?

3 How can we avoid even the initial steps of Lucifer’s personal disaffection?

4 What warning should we take from the way so many angels were influenced by Lucifer?

5 Explain the wisdom of God’s methods of handling this crisis.

© 2007 Reformation Herald Publishing Association, Roanoke, Virginia. Reprinted by permission.