Issue: 2016 September

Question & answer – Who are the two witnesses in Revelation 11:3, 4?

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The two witnesses refer to the Old and New Testaments—the Bible.

“Concerning the two witnesses the prophet declares further: ‘These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.’ ‘Thy word,’ said the psalmist, ‘is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path’ (Revelation 11:4; Psalm 119:105). The two witnesses represent the Scriptures of the Old and the New Testament. Both are important testimonies to the origin and perpetuity of the law of God. Both are witnesses also to the plan of salvation. The types, sacrifices, and prophecies of the Old Testament point forward to a Saviour to come. The Gospels and Epistles of the New Testament tell of a Saviour Who has come in the exact manner foretold by type and prophecy.

“ ‘They shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and three-score days, clothed in sackcloth’ (Revelation 11:3). During the greater part of this period, God’s witnesses remained in a state of obscurity. The papal power sought to hide from the people the word of truth, and set before them false witnesses to contradict its testimony. When the Bible was proscribed by religious and secular authority; when its testimony was perverted, and every effort made that men and demons could invent to turn the minds of the people from it; when those who dared proclaim its sacred truths were hunted, betrayed, tortured, buried in dungeon cells, martyred for their faith, or compelled to flee to mountain fastnesses, and to dens and caves of the earth—then the faithful witnesses prophesied in sackcloth. Yet they continued their testimony throughout the entire period of 1260 years. In the darkest times there were faithful men who loved God’s word and were jealous for His honor. To these loyal servants were given wisdom, power, and authority to declare His truth during the whole of this time.” The Great Controversy, 267, 268.

“According to the words of the prophet, then, a little before the year 1798 some power of Satanic origin and character would rise to make war upon the Bible. And in the land where the testimony of God’s two witnesses should thus be silenced, there would be manifest the atheism of the Pharaoh, and the licentiousness of Sodom.” Ibid., 269.

Inspiration – Entering the Strait Gate

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“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find;
knock, and it shall be opened unto you.”

Matthew 7:7

Why is it that we do not take God at His word? Asking and receiving are closely linked together. If you ask in faith for the things that God has promised, you will receive. Look to Jesus for the things that you need. Ask Him for forgiveness of sins, and as you ask in faith your heart will be softened, and you will forgive those who have injured you, and your petitions will go up to God fragrant with love. With praying comes watching unto prayer, and every thought and word and act will be in harmony with your earnest petition for reformation in life. The prayer of faith will bring corresponding returns. But a mere form of words, without earnest sincerity and fervent desire for help, with no expectation of receiving, will avail nothing. Let not such a petitioner think he shall receive anything of the Lord. Those who come to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.

After asking the Lord for a knowledge of His will, for heavenly wisdom, for the light of the Holy Spirit, the petitioner will search the Scriptures, and find that passages that were dark to his mind have suddenly grown clear, and he understands his duty as never before. Jesus said: “My doctrine is not Mine, but His that sent Me. If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of Myself” (John 7:16, 17). The knowledge of divine truth is promised to those who will render obedience to the light and truth that have been given to them. An entrance into the strait gate is not dependent upon the possession of learning or riches, but it is dependent upon the possession of a teachable spirit. He who appreciates the first ray of heavenly light, and appropriates it, and walks in it, bringing his actions into harmony with that ray, and becoming sanctified through it, will receive yet more light. He will understand that the gospel is the plan of salvation.

Striving to enter in at the strait gate means that we give the subject of the future life our first attention. We are to cut away from every hindrance that would prevent our entering into the strait gate. Inclination to evil must be denied, habits and practises [sic] not in harmony with the word of God must be overcome. We must examine the Scriptures, determined to know what is the truth; and whoever comes to the Bible with a humble, teachable spirit, whether he be rich or poor, honored or despised, shall know of the doctrine as he renders obedience to the rays of light that fall upon his pathway. He will not be left to be deceived by the delusions of the enemy, to be swayed hither and thither by the doctrines of devils.

“Strive to enter in at the strait gate” (Luke 13:24). This means nothing else than to be one with Christ, to make Him the sole object of attraction. He who thus strives to enter in at the strait gate will hear the voice of Jesus saying: “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:28–30).

He who would enter in at the strait gate can not expect the aid of the world in his necessities; for it is the world that has proved a snare to his soul, and has brought him into a position of hopelessness from which he needs to be rescued. But as he detaches his affections from the world, and accepts the life of self-denial and self-sacrifice that Jesus lived, giving him an example both by precept and performance, he enters in at the strait gate, to travel the narrow path which leads to the celestial city.

He who has an obedient heart, that is ready to do the will of God, will not only gladly receive truth, but will earnestly seek for truth as for hidden treasure. He will come to the Scriptures with a humble and teachable spirit, seeking to understand how he may walk in the light, and saying, “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do” (Acts 9:6)? He is ready to sacrifice anything and everything, if required, in order that he may be in harmony with the will of God. It is not always an easy matter to render obedience to the will of God. It demands firmness of purpose to enter in at the strait gate and to travel in the narrow path that leads to eternal life, for on every hand are voices inviting the soul into bye and forbidden paths. Those who love wealth and honor and high position, will not enter in at the strait gate unless they part with their idols. There is not room to enter in at the strait gate and carry the things of this world along. He who would enter in at the strait gate must make an entire consecration of his all to God. Jesus says, “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Luke 9:23).

He who will follow Jesus through evil as well as good report, knows something of what is truth. He who will walk in the light as it comes, not waiting to have every mystery solved and every chance of doubt removed, will know of the doctrine, and will understand what are the advantages of entering in at the strait gate, and of walking in the narrow way. But he who would carry the world with him, will never enter in at the strait gate. There is no room for one to walk the narrow way and yet carry along evil surmisings, doubts, criticisms, jealousies, and unkindness. Such a one will refuse to enter in at the strait gate because he can not see the whole path to the paradise of God. He has many obstacles to present, many difficulties to bring to view, and Satan is ready to supply the soul with excuses for not entering in at the strait gate. Refusing to walk in the first rays of light, he fails to see the light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day (Proverbs 4:18). If he would walk while he has the light, the path would be illuminated as he advanced, and all would be made plain.

The Review and Herald, March 28, 1912.

Keys to the Storehouse – Insight – Contradictions

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Upon coming up out of the water, Jesus bowed in prayer on the river bank. A new and important era was opening before Him. He was now, upon a wider stage, entering on the conflict of His life. Though He was the Prince of Peace, His coming must be as the unsheathing of a sword. The kingdom He had come to establish was the opposite of that which the Jews desired.

THE CONTRADICTIONS OF HIS LIFE
He Who was the foundation of the ritual and economy of Israel would be looked upon as its enemy and destroyer.
He Who had proclaimed the law upon Sinai would be condemned as a transgressor.
He Who had come to break the power of Satan would be denounced as Beelzebub.
No one upon earth had understood Him, and during His ministry He must still walk alone.
Throughout His life His mother and His brothers did not comprehend His mission. Even His disciples did not understand Him. He had dwelt in eternal light, as one with God, but His life on earth must be spent in solitude.
As one with us, He must bear the burden of our guilt and woe.
The Sinless One must feel the shame of sin.
The peace lover must dwell with strife,
The truth must abide with falsehood,
Purity must abide with vileness.
Every sin, every discord, every defiling lust that transgression had brought, was torture to His spirit.
Alone He must tread the path;
alone He must bear the burden.
Upon Him Who had laid off His glory and accepted the weakness of humanity the redemption of the world must rest. He saw and felt it all, but His purpose remained steadfast.
Upon His arm depended the salvation of the fallen race, and He reached out His hand to grasp the hand of Omnipotent Love.

Father: Thank you for the gift of Jesus. Thank you Jesus for the gift of life and for what You endured for me and for Your mediation in the Most Holy Place right now. By Your grace I choose to let go of this world and to follow Thee. Amen.

Current Events – Can Christianity Save China?

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The growth of Christianity in China has been astonishing. At this point, it’s no longer a question of if China will become a Christian nation, but when. The ramifications of this religious shift are massive, and will shake China’s culture and economy to their cores.

Since 1979, Protestant Christianity has been growing in China at a compound annual growth rate of more than 10 percent. There were 3 million Christians in China in 1980, compared to 58 million in 2010, according to Fenggyang Yang, director of the Center of Religion and Chinese Society at Purdue University. By 2025, that number could swell to 250 to 300 million.

Surprised? That makes sense. The Chinese Communist Party has done all it can to downplay this phenomenon and keep a tight media lid on it. Meanwhile, Western media outlets are so taken with the idea that religion is an irrelevant (and declining) facet of modern life that they don’t pay attention to its growth in most places outside calcified Western Europe.

But this shift is happening, and it is astonishing, especially considering that China is officially an atheist country. From Chairman Mao’s accession to power until his death, China officially banned all religion, the only country in history besides Albania to do so. Then, in 1979, in keeping with its liberalization program, China cautiously allowed a few places of worship to open. But the government’s policy is still that religious expression must obey the party. Religion that is not officially sanctioned is still oppressed.

While it might seem surprising that Christianity could grow in the face of such repression, it is repression that prompted the growth of Christianity in the first place. In the third century, the church father Tertullian famously boasted that “the blood of martyrs is the seed of the church.”

To better understand what’s going on in China, let’s look back at the Roman Empire. There, both government and society had values that were at odds with Christianity. The religion was so foreign that the reaction to it was an incoherent mix of savage oppression, benign neglect, and attempts at cooperation.

Still, Christians eventually became the dominant group in the Roman Empire by compounding with a respectable yearly growth rate. But there was more to it than that. Christians were often over-represented among the intelligentsia, which gave them a strong cultural cachet, even as their innovative welfare work made them attractive to the poor. (Bone fragments show Christians were healthier and lived longer than pagans, almost certainly thanks to the church’s welfare system.) And of course, the church’s heroic work was great PR. After a plague, while most people fled to the countryside, Christians rushed in to help the people, like they did in China in the wake of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.

Under Xi Jinping, the Chinese government has stepped up its oppression of Christianity. As the Chinese writer and dissident Yu Jie writes in the magazine First Things:

An internal government document obtained by The New York Times in May 2014 shows that the church demolitions are part of a larger campaign to curb Christianity’s influence on the public. According to the nine-page provincial policy statement, the Xi administration wants to put an end to “excessive” religious sites and “overly popular” religious activities, but it names one religion in particular, Christianity, and one symbol, the cross.

If history is any guide, this will only increase the popularity of Christianity. As Yu writes: “One of the phrases I have heard most often among [Chinese Christians] is: ‘The greater the persecution, the greater the revival.’ ” Indeed, during the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and ‘70s, when oppression was at its fiercest, Christianity actually grew in China.

Interestingly, Protestant Christianity is growing much faster in China than Catholic Christianity, almost certainly because the Roman Catholic Church has practiced a doctrine of appeasement to the Chinese government. Given that Protestantism is a do-it-yourself religion, where anyone is empowered to decide doctrine based on their interpretation of the Bible, we could see the emergence of new and seemingly strange versions of Christianity, acculturated to China, and perhaps mixed in with Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism.

Today, China is pursuing a nationalistic foreign policy, combined with a domestic policy focused almost exclusively on economic growth and productivity. This comes at the expense of families, social welfare, and the environment. To say that these are not exactly Christian values is an understatement. It is not hard to understand why the Chinese leadership is not a fan of Christianity.

But Christianity could be China’s only chance to survive. Because of its one-child policy, and sex-selective abortion and infanticide, China is a fast-aging country with a massive gender imbalance. If you add to that the tensions wrought by breakneck crony capitalism and consumerism and inequality and pollution, the country is a powder keg. Most Westerners see China as a strong rival, but China’s actual leaders see the country as always teetering on the brink of collapse, which is why their grip on power is so white-knuckled. More deeply, decades of Communism have stripped China of so much of its cultural heritage and left its society and culture aimless.

Christianity’s enormous cultural and spiritual heritage, its emphasis on the rule of law, and its traditional focus on fertility are just what China may need to manage the next few decades without collapsing into civil war, revolution, or something equally terrible.

www.theweek.com/articles/635668/christianity-save-china

Gethsemane

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Because of our sinful human nature, we often find it difficult to understand what the Godhead has experienced to make possible our salvation. We need to pray that the Holy Spirit may guide us to comprehend the breadth, the length, the depth and the height of the love of God which passes knowledge, enabling us to taste the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:18).

Let us begin by refreshing our minds with a familiar text found in Matthew 16:24: “… Jesus said unto His disciples, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” May these words of Christ lead us into a deeper meaning of what is expected of each of us.

I invite you to come with me and join our Lord with His disciples as they walked through the streets of old Jerusalem on their way to the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus has just instituted the Lord’s Supper in the upper room and as we join with them, we notice that Christ is continuing to teach these profound truths. He explains that the blood that He is about to shed for everyone is to be remembered by the juice of the vine, and the bread is to represent His broken body.

As we near the eastern gate of the city He sums these eternal truths with the words, “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35). With His disciples our hearts thrill within us to hear these living words from the lips of the Master. Shining above us is the Passover moon in all its fullness. The sky is cloudless and around us in every nook and cranny are the pilgrim’s tents, now hushed in silence as we pass through Jerusalem’s gate. We and the disciples soon discover that prophetic time is running out, for something tremendous is about to happen.

Arriving at the entrance to the garden, Christ suddenly becomes strangely silent. He has been here many times to pray, sometimes all night long, but this time we notice something is different. Jesus is beginning to experience an unheard-of agony. Why? What has happened? Up to this moment He has continually walked with God His Father. He could always say, “He that sent Me is with Me: the Father hath not left Me alone” (John 8:29). But now something strange is taking place. God His Father is beginning to separate Himself from His son. Christ is being numbered with the transgressors. He is to bear the guilt of all humanity. Jesus, Who had never sinned, is to bear the guilt of all. He is to bear the weight of the sins of all the world.

As these sins are being placed upon Jesus, He finds Himself being shut out from the presence of His Father. As a man, He is now beginning to experience the dreadfulness of sin. He now sees and feels that these sins that He is now bearing are so great that they are completely separating Him from His Father. Furthermore, as He feels the wrath of God against these sins, His human nature is forced to cry out aloud, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death” (Matthew 26:38).

The disciples are amazed to hear such words from the Master. They look at Him and behold a marked change. His face has always been filled with joy, but now it is filled with sadness. The teaching Christ has suddenly become the silent Christ. We notice that each step He takes has become difficult. His body sways as if to fall and He groans aloud because of the sins of the world which are being thrust upon Him. Twice His disciples reach out to support Him or He would have fallen to the ground.

Finally, we reach the inner garden. Here Jesus stops to choose three of His closest disciples, Peter, James and John. He especially chooses these because they had witnessed His transfiguration. As a man now in such a terrifying position, Jesus longs for friendship and for help. These disciples had seen the glory that He had shared with His Father. They had heard the Father’s voice when He said, “This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 17:5, last part). Now He longs for His close friends to repeat these words, revealing again the Father’s love for Him. He longs for their companionship in prayer. He pleads, Spend a night with Me in prayer. “Tarry ye here; watch with Me” (Matthew 26:38).

Now the struggle begins in earnest as Satan tries to overwhelm Him. He feels so alone, for God has completely separated Himself from His Son because of the sins Christ now bears. Jesus is faced with a horrible situation. He is surrounded by legions of evil angels. You and I would be frightened if we were suddenly confronted with one of the devil’s angels, but Christ is overwhelmed. Thousands of demons are causing Jesus to experience the very same condition that the lost will face when they come up in the second resurrection and find that they are completely in the power of the devil and His angels.

As a man, it is more than Christ can handle. He falls prostrate to the ground as He realizes that the separation from His Father is like a mighty gulf, broad and deep. It terrifies Him. His body actually shakes with fear. Although Jesus has never sinned, He is now in a different position than during His entire life, for Satan is thrusting every sin of the world upon Him. Prophecy describes His suffering in these words: “Awake, O sword, against my shepherd” (Zechariah 13:7).

My brother and sister, our minds cannot begin to comprehend a fraction of the suffering of Jesus Christ. If in any way you should possibly doubt this, may I remind you that in heaven to come, we shall never exhaust the study of what Christ experienced in Gethsemane so that you and I might live. Christ has now become the surety for sinful man. This means He has become our Substitute. In other words, all penalty which we should suffer for our sins He must now suffer.

Up to this moment He has always been an intercessor for others, pleading in their behalf, giving them courage and strength, a living example of the love of God, but now He Himself longs for an intercessor. The condition He now faces is like a man having a terrible dream who, when he awakes, discovers that it is not a dream at all; it is for real. It is like watching a loved one waiting to die on their deathbed. The anticipation of such an event is heartrending, but when death actually occurs, the final separation is overwhelming. Christ feels He cannot endure such separation from His Father.

He now remembers that some three years before, while in the wilderness, he had met Satan face to face. Although He was weak and emaciated from 40 days of fasting and was about to die, He had no fear, for God His Father was with Him. Then, with God’s power, He had conquered the devil, but now He is alone. God has completely separated Himself from Him. He now understands fully that sin and God cannot exist together. Oh, friend, would to God that we would realize this tremendous fact. Jesus now realizes that if He fails in this encounter with Satan, all will be lost. Every believing saint since Creation will be without hope and He Himself will be lost forever — if He should lose this battle. Never again would He be able to say that He was able to save to the uttermost (Hebrews 7:25), and more important, He Himself would be eternally separated from the Father.

It is now that the demons press the battle. Legions of these spirits surround Him and with all the satanic power that the devil and his angels can invent, they scream at Him saying, “What is to be gained by this sacrifice? Don’t You realize that the sins that You now carry are so great that God will never accept You again? And just look at the ingratitude of the people You love. They have rejected You. They are even now seeking to destroy You. Within an hour all will forsake You.” These intimate facts pierced His soul like a sword while the devil continued to press the point: “Look, those Whom You have created with Your own hands are demanding Your blood. The weight of the sins You now carry is crushing Your heart, causing this terrible pain.” As Christ hears these demon words He clings to the cold ground as if it will help Him. Alone, the chilling dew falls upon His prostrate form and from His lips comes the cry, “O My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me: nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt” (Matthew 26:39).

Christ in His humanity longs for sympathy. In this supreme moment he gropes for comfort. If only His disciples are praying for Him as the malignancy of sin is crushing out His very life. Terrible is the temptation to let the sinner bear his own sins. Where can He go for help? What can He do? He remembers these disciples and perhaps they can help Him. He arises painfully and staggers a few feet only to find them all asleep. Listen as He calls to Peter: “What! Could you not watch with Me for one hour” (verse 40 NKJV)?

At this point permit me to pause for a few moments in this description of Christ’s agony, for I must ask you a question: Have you by any chance imagined what our coming to Gethsemane experience will be like? Could it be that some of us are asleep today when the most evil of all storms is to burst upon us? Let me read from Inspiration, Testimonies, vol. 2, 205: “By these sleeping disciples is represented a sleeping church, when the day of God’s visitation is nigh. It is a time of clouds and thick darkness, when to be found asleep is most perilous.” But praise God, we are told in Early Writings, pages 269, 270, that not all will be sleeping: “I saw some, with strong faith and agonizing cries, pleading with God. …

“As the praying ones continued their earnest cries, at times a ray of light from Jesus came to them, to encourage their hearts and light up their countenances. Some, I saw, did not participate in this work of agonizing and pleading. They seemed indifferent and careless. They were not resisting the darkness around them, and it shut them in like a thick cloud.” Could it be that you and I are failing to take advantage of this little time of peace that God is giving us to prepare? Or are we like the disciples of old?

Now let me take you back again to the moment when Jesus called to Peter and awakened him with the words, “Sleepest thou? Couldest thou now not watch with Me one hour?” At these words all of the disciples were awakened and could hardly recognize the face of Jesus because it had become so utterly changed by His anguish. Yet in such agony Jesus tries to excuse them. “The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak” (Mark 14:38, last part).

Amazingly this is only the beginning of this dreadful ordeal. Inspiration now states that Christ is seized with a superhuman agony. Fainting and exhausted, He staggers back to His spot of prayer, only to discover that His suffering has intensified and there is no one to help Him. Alone “His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling to the ground” (Luke 22:44). No other man in the entire world has ever experienced such unrestrained agony. What a change! Just a few days before He had cleansed the temple, unafraid of the soldier’s swords and of the stubborn will of the church rulers who were filled with malice and hatred, planning to kill Him. Yet He was unafraid. Why? Because His Father was with Him. But now He is like a battered reed bent in an angry storm. He is now in the hour of the power of darkness. And for the second time He cries aloud, “O My Father, if this cup may not pass away from Me, except I drink it, Thy will be done” (Matthew 26:42). Once again, as a human, He turns to His disciples for help, only to find them sleeping. They have permitted Satan to stupefy them with his devilish power, putting them to sleep.

Christ now awakens them, trusting that they will help Him, but instead, the disciples are terrified. Never have they beheld such a face! Never have they seen anyone so marked with blood and agony! Rather than helping Jesus, the disciples themselves are filled with fear. Prophecy has stated, “His visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men” (Isaiah 52:14). Sad to say, for the second time His disciples had failed Him.

Once again He staggers back to His retreat and falls prostrate to the cold ground. The awful moment has now finally come. He is overcome by Satan’s darkness. Yet in this awful moment His love for His disciples is so strong that He prays not for Himself but that their faith fail not. What a Savior! Christ now faces the final test. It is not too late; He can go back to heaven into His Father’s open arms and feel the peace, the comfort, and the love that He longs for. He can let the transgressor perish. Why should He suffer? For the third time Jesus cries aloud, “O My Father, if this cup may not pass from Me, except I drink it, Thy will be done” (Matthew 26:44).

Christ now understands the full depth of sin. He sees the transgressor before the law as helpless and perishing. For the first time, as a man, he fully senses the power of sin. The woes of a doomed world arouse His love for the lost. Alone He makes the final decision. He will save man at any cost to Himself. He will accept the baptismal blood. He will make possible eternal life to all who will take up their cross and follow Him. He will die even to save just one soul. Such is His love for the individual. He will become the Lamb of God and take away the sins of the world. Immediately, He experiences death for you and for me and falls dying to the ground. Where are His disciples in this final moment to encourage and strengthen Him, to bathe that blood-stained brow that is marred more than any man has ever experienced? (See The Desire of Ages, 693.) But this is not all. He must be tested beyond death. This might be incomprehensible for you and for me to understand, but the devil must never be able to claim that if he could have tempted Jesus just a few minutes longer the Savior would have given up.

For a moment, let us turn from this tremendous decision to save us and go up to heaven and see what is happening there. Inspiration states that God has suffered with His Son. This means that every pain and every anguish, every piercing depth of agony – all has been also suffered by the Father. As the angels surround the throne, they behold the agony of God the Father. There is silence in heaven. Not a harp is touched. In amazement the angels watch as the Father separates Himself from His Son, permitting Christ to become the sin bearer. The angels are filled with wonder. They now see that, bearing our sins, Jesus has become offensive to God. No wonder the Scripture says, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son” (John 3:16).

Now let me take you back to the garden. Thousands of demons have converged upon Christ as He falls to the ground. But watch. God in heaven now commands the angel Gabriel, who was given the place that Lucifer had occupied before his banishment from heaven, to immediately go to Jesus and give Him added strength so that He does not die for He must be tempted beyond death. This angel comes not to take away the cup of death but to strengthen Him that He may drink it. Watch as Gabriel brings assurance to Jesus of His Father’s love and tells Him, “God, Your Father is more powerful than Satan and because of the decision that You have made to die as the Lamb of God, You have gained the victory over Satan. The kingdoms of this world will eventually be given to the saints. The redeemed will shine in the universe as the stars of heaven.” Praise God! Christ believes the angel. He believes by faith that God still loves Him. Instantly He becomes calm and serene as a God-like peace captures His blood-stained face. Christ has now tasted death for every sinner. Jesus has gained the victory by faith. The angel lifts Christ’s head to his bosom and points Him to the open heavens. Jesus hears that sweet music of heaven and knows that His Father loves Him. Hope and comfort once more fill His heart. By faith He knows that His Father loves Him.

Beloved, are we ready for our Gethsemane to come? Do we really understand what the words, “Take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (Luke 9:23 NKJV) mean. Believe me, each of us who by God’s grace is determined to gain victory over sin will soon personally experience our own Gethsemane. We too shall soon live without an intercessor. Our past sins will overwhelm us. We shall feel forsaken of God and surrounded by devils. We will personally experience what it means to be alone. Our friends will forsake us and flee from us like the disciples fled from Christ. Religious forces will unite against us as the arm of the state joins in a confederacy with the church to do away with us. We will be betrayed by loved ones just as Judas betrayed His Lord with a kiss. Some of us will be in prison bound as Christ was, falsely accused, abused, and adjured before God to admit that we are His commandment keepers, knowing full well that in standing up for Jesus this will be our death warrant. Many will hear the verdict, Execute! Inspiration has stated, “Those who apostatize in time of trial will, to secure their own safety, bear false witness, and betray their brethren. Christ has warned us of this, that we may not be surprised at the unnatural, cruel course of those who reject the light.” The Desire of Ages, 630. “Those who are true to God will be menaced, denounced, proscribed. They will be ‘betrayed by parents, and brethren, and kinfolks, and friends,’ even unto death” (Luke 21:16). Prophets and Kings, 588.

“Some who profess righteousness will, like Judas, betray their Lord into the hands of His bitterest enemies.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 690. “As trials thicken around us, both separation and unity will be seen in our ranks. Some who are now ready to take up weapons of warfare will in times of real peril make it manifest that they have not built upon the solid rock; they will yield to temptation. Those who have had great light and precious privileges, but have not improved them, will, under one pretext or another, go out from us. Not having received the love of the truth, they will be taken in the delusions of the enemy; they will give heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, and will depart from the faith.” Testimonies, vol. 6, 400, 401.

Now beloved, if you think that I have over-emphasized what our coming Gethsemane will mean to us, then listen to this: “The ‘time of trouble, such as never was,’ (Daniel 12:1) is soon to open upon us; and we shall need an experience which we do not now possess, and which many are too indolent to obtain. It is often the case that trouble is greater in anticipation than in reality; but this is not true of the crisis before us. The most vivid presentation cannot reach the magnitude of the ordeal. In that time of trial, every soul must stand for himself before God.” The Great Controversy, 622.

Unlike what occurred with Christ, Who, in the garden made the final decision to die on Calvary’s cross to save you and me, we, who have also made the decision to die rather than sin, will be saved by divine intervention. Praise the Lord! The living saints will be translated without death. God has promised in Revelation 15:2, 3: “I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints.”

Beloved, by God’s grace I plan to sing that song of Moses and of the Lamb on the sea of glass, a song which the angels can never sing. What about you? Would you determine now before God to join me that together we can sing this song of victory over sin?

May this be our prayer: Dear God, we are determined by Thy mighty power to overcome every sin now so that we may so live ready for Jesus to come and stand with Him on that sea of glass and sing the song of victory.

For more than fifty years, Lawrence Nelson served the Seventh-day Adventist Church as a church pastor, evangelist, and then in Conference, Union, and General Conference leadership. When God laid upon him the responsibility to “tell it like it is” to alert the people how the church was leading them into the worldwide ecumenical movement, he was forbidden to preach in any church within the Oregon Conference. Elder Nelson passed to his rest on April 18, 2012.

The Dragon Pursues the Woman

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Satanic agencies confederated with evil men in leading the people to believe Christ the chief of sinners, and to make Him the object of detestation. Those who mocked Christ as He hung upon the cross were imbued with the spirit of the first great rebel. He filled them with vile and loathsome speeches. He inspired their taunts. But by all this he gained nothing.

“Could one sin have been found in Christ, had He in one particular yielded to Satan to escape the terrible torture, the enemy of God and man would have triumphed. Christ bowed His head and died, but He held fast His faith and His submission to God. ‘And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night’ (Revelation 12:10).

“Satan saw that his disguise was torn away. His administration was laid open before the unfallen angels and before the heavenly universe. He had revealed himself as a murderer. By shedding the blood of the Son of God, he had uprooted himself from the sympathies of the heavenly beings. Henceforth his work was restricted. Whatever attitude he might assume, he could no longer await the angels as they came from the heavenly courts, and before them accuse Christ’s brethren of being clothed with the garments of blackness and the defilement of sin. The last link of sympathy between Satan and the heavenly world was broken.” The Desire of Ages, 760, 761.

“When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child.” “The woman fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days”—“a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach” (Revelation 12:13, 6, 14).

Who was this woman (church) that Satan pursued into the wilderness for 1,260 years? Soon after Jesus opened His public ministry He “went up on a mountainside and called to Him those He wanted, and they came to Him. He appointed twelve”—designating them apostles—“that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach” (Mark 3:13, 14). “The first step was now to be taken in the organization of the church that after Christ’s departure was to be His representative on earth.” Ibid., 291.

At the close of His ministry on earth, Jesus gave His life on the cross. Through His shed blood, He gained authority to “rule all the nations with an iron scepter” (Revelation 12:5). With this authority, Jesus commissioned His disciples saying, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:18–20).

Soon after He gave them their commission, He “was snatched up to God and to His throne” (Revelation 12:5). While the disciples were watching, “He was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid Him from their sight” (Acts 1:9).

This newly organized apostolic church grew very rapidly baptizing 3,000 in one day, this rapid growth raised the need for more workers to be appointed for the church. So the apostles said to the church members, “Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word (Acts 6:3, 4).

“The appointment of the seven to take the oversight of special lines of work, proved a great blessing to the church. These officers gave careful consideration to individual needs as well as to the general financial interests of the church, and by their prudent management and their godly example they were an important aid to their fellow officers in binding together the various interests of the church into a united whole.

“That this step was in the order of God, is revealed in the immediate results for good that were seen. ‘The word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.’ ” The Acts of the Apostles, 89, 90.

Satan, knowing that Jesus had gained the victory over him by His death on the cross, and seeing the rapid growth of the church, became alarmed that he was losing control over the people of this earth. In desperation, “he pursued the woman [the true church] who had given birth to the male child” (Revelation 12:13).

Very early in the development of the Christian church, Satan began his attack on the purity and character of the woman (this true church) who was standing on the moon, clothed with the sun of righteousness. Jesus Himself warned the disciples to be on the alert, for deceivers and false prophets would enter the church. He said, “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.” “At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved” (Matthew 24:10–13).

The extent and seriousness of the apostasy is witnessed by the fact that all the New Testament writers speak of this problem.

Paul counseled the Thessalonians saying, “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition” (2 Thessalonians 2:3, 10). [Emphasis supplied.]

To the Galatians, he writes, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ” (Galatians 1:6, 7).

Paul discusses the subject in both of his letters to Timothy. In his second letter to Timothy, he warns, “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away” (2 Timothy 3:1–5 NKJV)!

Peter indicates that many will become involved in this apostasy. “But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words” (2 Peter 2:1–3 NKJV).

Luke, who traveled with Paul much of the time, tells of Paul’s instruction to the Ephesian church. “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 20:29–31 NKJV).

Jude very graphically describes these apostate leaders. “Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ” (Jude 3, 4 NKJV). “They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots; raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever” (Jude 12, 13).

The apostle John refers to this great apostasy as the spirit of the Antichrist. “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world” (I John 4:1–3 NKJV). [Emphasis added.]

There are many more texts that could be cited by these writers, which give evidence of Satan’s ruthless attack on that early apostolic church. His pursuit of the woman continued for centuries until only a remnant of faithful believers was left.

There is another very graphic description of Satan’s war against this young Christian church. It is found in Revelation 6.

“I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, ‘Come!’ I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.

“When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, ‘Come!’ Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other. To him was given a large sword.

“When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, ‘Come!’ I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, ‘A quart of wheat for a day’s wages, and three quarts of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!’

“When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, ‘Come!’ I looked and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth” (Revelation 6:1–8).

Because the first horse is white, there are some who believe that the first seal is a depiction of the Christian church going forth to conquer the world for Christ. There are at least three reasons why this cannot be a correct interpretation of these verses. When the weight of evidence is considered, it will be seen that these four seals reveal Satan’s attack on the apostolic church during which time he turned it into the “synagogue of Satan” (Revelation 2:9; 3:9).

  1. There are two things that are common to the first four seals. They are the riders and the horses. The item that changes in each seal is the color of the horse. It should be noted that the color does not include the rider. There is no evidence to support the view that the rider represents two different beings, such as Christ in the first seal and Satan in other seals. The rider is simply unidentified in the first three seals, but he is finally identified in the fourth seal.
  2. The fact that the rider is unidentified is a second reason that he does not represent Christ. Christ never works in secret. He always identifies Himself. He wants everyone to know Who He is so they can come to Him with their sins and have them washed away with His blood. He says, “I have spoken openly to the world; I always taught in synagogues, and in the temple, where all the Jews come together; and I spoke nothing in secret” (John 18:20 NASB).
  3. A third reason that these riders do not represent Christ is that they are bent on conquest by force. They are all riding horses, which in scripture represent conquest and war. The first rider is carrying a bow, a weapon of war, and is bent on conquest by force. The second rider held a large sword and took peace from the earth and caused men to slay each other. The third rider had a pair of scales (balances) in his hand. The fourth rider named Death, with Hades following him, was given power to kill by sword, famine, and plague.

These four riders have the same objective—to rule by force. To rule by force is foreign to the government of heaven. The government of heaven is ruled by love. God loved the world so much that He gave His Son to redeem it. By self-sacrificing love, Jesus gained the victory over Satan when He gave His life on the cross. These riders are performing just the opposite to the principles of heaven.

In the fourth seal, Death is personified to represent Satan, the originator or cause of death in this world. Hades is personified to represent all the forces of evil; that is, all of the fallen angels. It could also include all the other followers of Satan.

When Satan began his attack on the young Christian church, it had a pure message of truth, represented by the color of the first horse. The central message of the church was Jesus, the Lamb of God, Who gave His life for the sins of the world. They told how He ascended to heaven to open the holy place of the sanctuary to begin His work as our advocate and high priest to receive and remove the confessed sins of His people on earth. Satan was so successful in obliterating this doctrine that by A.D. 1844 no one on the earth knew that there was a sanctuary in heaven. …

The apostolic church did not long remain in this pure state of truth. As we cited above, all the writers of the New Testament were concerned about the false prophets, the deceivers, and the errors that were creeping into the church. This phenomenon is represented by the red color of the second horse, red being a symbol of sin (Isaiah 1:18).

The third horse is colored black. In the Bible, black represents a condition in which there is an absence of light—the light of truth. At the time of the third seal, the church had drifted so far into sin that God could find no light of truth left in it. And like Belshazzar of ancient Babylon, there comes a time when God will weigh our characters in the balances of the sanctuary. If the one weighed is found wanting, God casts him or her aside. That is what happened to the apostolic church.

During the time of the third seal (Revelation 6:5)—the third horse—the light of truth was turned into error, but “the archdeceiver had not completed his work. He was resolved to gather the Christian world under his banner and to exercise his power through his vicegerent, the proud pontiff who claimed to be the representative of Christ. Through half-converted pagans, ambitious prelates, and world-loving churchmen he accomplished his purpose.” The Great Controversy, 53.

In the time of the fourth seal (Revelation 6:7, 8), we see Death (Satan) and Hades (fallen angels) in charge of the church. Professing to be Christian, this once-pure church had come under the leadership of Satan.

They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth (Revelation 6:8).

“In the sixth century the papacy had become firmly established. Its seat of power was fixed in the imperial city, and the bishop of Rome was declared to be the head over the entire church. Paganism had given place to the papacy. The dragon had given to the beast ‘his power, and his seat, and great authority’ (Revelation 13:2). And now began the 1,260 years of papal oppression foretold in the prophecies of Daniel and the Revelation. (See Daniel 7:25; Revelation 13:5–7.) … Christians were forced to choose either to yield their integrity and accept the papal ceremonies and worship, or to wear away their lives in dungeons or suffer death by the rack, the fagot, or the headsman’s ax. Now were fulfilled the words of Jesus: ‘Ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for My name’s sake’ (Luke 21:16, 17). Persecution opened upon the faithful with greater fury than ever before, and the world became a vast battlefield. For hundreds of years the church of Christ found refuge in seclusion and obscurity. Thus says the prophet: ‘The woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and three-score days’ (Revelation 12:6).” The Great Controversy, 54, 55.

This power is represented as “a little horn” (Daniel 7:8, 25) who thought “to change the set times and the laws.” It was during this time that the papacy changed the day of worship from the seventh day Sabbath to Sunday—the first day of the week—in fulfillment of the prophecy of Daniel 7:25. John was also shown this same power represented as a beast coming up out of the sea. (See Revelation 13:1–10.) The characteristics of this beast are the same as those of the little horn in Daniel 7:8, 25. The 1,260-year period in Daniel 7:25 and Revelation 12:6, 14 is the same as the forty-two months in Revelation 13:5. The papacy is also represented as a stern-faced king in Daniel 8:23. …

High Priest & Coming King, by Maurice Hoppe, 48–56.

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New International Version.)

Maurice Hoppe is Director of the Steps to Life training programs and a member of the Steps to Life Board. The Training Program for Ministers and Church Leaders is a correspondence course that prepares individuals to serve as pastors or Bible workers. Preparing for the Final Conflict is a correspondence course for the laity. Both of these courses teach present truth that will be an anchor for the soul during the storm of opposition and persecution just ahead. He and his wife also have a correspondence course offered through Revelation Ministry. He can be contacted at: mauricehoppe@stepstolife.org.

Drinking the Cup of Trembling

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We live in a moral universe, a society where there is right and wrong and if a wrong has been committed, a price has to be paid. Without morality there is no equity. The principle of morality is that there is a reward for right-doing and punishment for wrong-doing. God could not remain just and forgive a sinner if the price was not paid for the sin. For this reason, Jesus had to go to the cross and pay the penalty for man’s sin. This principle of equity or morality runs through the whole universe and is present in every time period of earth’s history. This is also true for any group of people, for a church, a family, or for an individual. Many people today are very lackadaisical believing by simply confessing the sin, it will all be erased, forgetting the consequences that have to be dealt with.

David committed a terrible sin when he took Bathsheba in adultery and then attempted to cover it up by having Uriah the Hittite killed. When confronted by Nathan the prophet, he confessed his sin. We know he was forgiven and will be in the kingdom of heaven, but there were temporal consequences to pay for his sin that are still felt today. 2 Samuel 12:10–12 states: “Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife. Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun.’ ” Remember, David had passed judgment on himself in 2 Samuel 12:5, 6: “… David’s anger was greatly aroused against the man, and he said to Nathan, ‘As the Lord lives, the man who has done this shall surely die! And he shall restore fourfold for the lamb, because he did this thing and because he had no pity.’ ”

The judgment took effect and he did pay four-fold. David killed one person, Uriah, and the Bible record says that he lost four sons as a result of his sin. The son of Bathsheba died and before David’s life was over he lost three other sons, Adonijah, Absalom, and Amnon.

There are consequences to sin. Young people are especially tempted of the devil to think they can go out and have a fling and it will not matter as long as they confess and repent later, but this is a delusion.

Most people that are middle-aged or older look at it more seriously and realize that they are already, and have been, paying some consequences for things that they have done earlier in their lives. God laid on Jesus the consequences of our sin so we would not have to pay the ultimate price. This was not a pleasant experience for Him. Let’s look at some texts about this.

This story begins in Matthew 20:20 when James and John wanted to sit on the right hand and the left hand in the kingdom. Jesus said in verse 22, “ ‘You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?’ They said to Him, ‘We are able.’ ”

Ellen White comments in The Desire of Ages, 689: “The Redeemer had spent entire nights praying for His disciples, that their faith might not fail. Should Jesus now put to James and John the question He had once asked them, ‘Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?’ they would not have ventured to answer, ‘We are able’ (Matthew 20:22).”

Incidentally, the apostle Paul refers to this in Hebrews 12:4 where he says, “You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin.” Jesus had a cup to drink. If He had refused to drink the cup of suffering, there would be no way for you and me to be saved. We would be lost. The Bible records that He prayed three times, “Lord, if it is possible, let this cup pass.” It would have been impossible for the cup to pass if man was to be delivered from this world. So Jesus determined to drink the cup. (See Matthew 26:39–42.) As we draw near the end of earth’s history, everybody in the world is going to have a bitter cup to drink.

Let’s look now at the devil’s table. In 1 Corinthians 10:21 we are told, “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord’s table and of the table of demons.”

Notice, you can choose which table you will eat from and whose cup you are going to drink, but you cannot have both of them. He does not say not to do it, but you “cannot” do it. Adam and Eve had that very same choice with free access to the tree of life. When they chose to eat at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they never again ate from the tree of life; they were cut off. In their garden home they were free to choose this one or that one, but they could not have both. If you choose the devil’s table you are cut off from the Lord’s table.

Many sit in front of their television set, internet screen or video recorder feasting at the devil’s table all week long and then they come to church and can’t figure out why they are not blessed by the Holy Spirit. You cannot switch tables one day each week and expect miracles. God knows where you are the happiest.

John the Revelator makes a prediction concerning a cup that the people who refuse to accept the third angel’s message of warning will drink. “He himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation” (Revelation 14:10). This cup is not optional; it will be drunk to the dregs.

Another Scripture which tells us what is in the cup is found in Jeremiah 25:14–16: “ ‘(For many nations and great kings shall be served by them also; and I will repay them according to their deeds and according to the works of their own hands.)’ For thus says the Lord God of Israel to me: ‘Take this wine cup of fury from My hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it. And they will drink and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them.’ ”

What does this mean, “because of the sword that I will send”? Jesus said to Peter, “Put up your sword into your sheath, because all they that take the sword shall perish by the sword” (Matthew 26:52, literal translation).

The people that have led other people into captivity will be led into captivity. The people that have killed with the sword will be killed with the sword.

“Then I took the cup from the Lord’s hand, and made all the nations drink, to whom the Lord had sent me: Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and its princes, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse, as it is this day: Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his princes, and all his people; all the mixed multitude, all the kings of the land of Uz, all the kings of the land of the Philistines (namely Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod); Edom, Moab, and the people of Ammon; all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coastlands which are across the sea; Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who are in the farthest corners; all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the mixed multitude who dwell in the desert; all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes; all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the world which are on the face of the earth. Also the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.

“Therefore you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Drink, be drunk, and vomit! Fall and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you” ’ ” (Jeremiah 25:17–27).

This is a prophecy about the cup that people are going to drink when we come to the end of the world. There will be many people who are not going to want to drink it.

“And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: “You shall certainly drink!” ’ ” (verse 28). What you have done is going to return on you. Some people do not like to believe that. They don’t want to believe that we live in a moral universe and want to think, “I will confess it and it will all be erased and it won’t come back.”

The prophets talk a lot about this. For instance, in Obadiah 15, it says, “For the day of the Lord upon all the nations is near; as you have done, it shall be done to you.” That describes a moral universe. As you have done, it will come back. Your reprisal shall return upon your own head.

See, people think that you can sin and then just say, “I am sorry” and then go on and it will be erased. It says, “… as you have done, it shall be done to you.” Your reprisal shall return upon your own head. “For as you drank on My holy mountain, so shall all nations drink continually; yes, they shall drink, and swallow, and they shall be as though they had never been” (Obadiah 16).

We have often thought that we are the Lord’s people and that divine retribution is just for the other people and doesn’t apply to us, but notice what it says in the book of Jeremiah 25:29: “ ‘For behold, I begin to bring calamity on the city which is called by My name, and should you be utterly unpunished? You shall not be unpunished, for I will call for a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth,’ says the Lord of hosts.”

If you keep reading in Jeremiah 25, you will see that when the Lord comes, all the wicked in the whole world will be killed. There will not be a single person left (see verses 30–33). “… at that day the slain of the Lord shall be from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth. They shall not be lamented, or gathered, or buried; they shall become refuse on the ground” (verse 33).

Notice that Jeremiah 25:29 warns that the people that drink the cup first are God’s people. “… I begin to bring the calamity on the city which is called by My name …” The people that drink the cup first are God’s people.

Do you understand that, if we go into apostasy, the deeper the apostasy we go into, the bigger is the cup that we are going to drink. If we go contrary to God’s word in anything, we will drink the cup of consequences.

God’s people will actually drink of a cup. I call it the cup of trembling for when Jesus took it He trembled. God’s people are going to drink the cup first. Then after they have drunk the cup, the Lord is going to take the cup from them and the rest of the people are going to drink.

In Zechariah 12 and 13 there is a prophecy about the end times and what is going to happen. God’s people are going to become a cup of trembling to all the surrounding peoples when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. Zechariah 12:3 says, “And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it.” All the nations of the earth are gathered against Jerusalem, against God’s people, but even though they want to do away with her, they themselves end up getting cut in pieces when they try to do away with Jerusalem.

“ ‘In that day,’ says the Lord, ‘I will strike every horse with confusion, and its rider with madness; I will open My eyes on the house of Judah, and will strike every horse of the peoples with blindness’ ” (verse 4).

Verse 6 says, “In that day [same time] I will make the governors of Judah like a panfire in the woodpile, and like a fiery torch in the sheaves; they shall devour all the surrounding peoples on the right hand and on the left … .”

This is still talking about that very same time and it says again in verse 8, “In that day the Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; the one who is feeble among them in that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the Angel of the Lord before them.”

Zechariah 12 is used by Ellen White over and over again in her writings to describe the situation among God’s people during the Sabbath-Sunday controversy when there is agitation to enforce Sunday worship by a national law, thereby initiating the mark of the beast. Verse 8 says, “The weak person is going to be like David” (literal translation). David was a person who in his youth, when he was considered almost a boy, went out and challenged Goliath. He not only challenged Goliath, but he picked up stones. When Goliath drew near, he got angry. It says, “David ran” (1 Samuel 17:48). David didn’t just challenge him, but he ran toward Goliath with his sling intending to use it. He would have been killed if the Lord had not intervened and blessed him. David was a person that had unbelievable energy and courage to face incredible odds. The weakest person in the church, at the time depicted in verse 8, is going to be like David. The person that would be naturally like David, a warrior, is going to be like the angel of the Lord. Under God, the angels are all powerful. There is coming a time when the church is going to have that kind of an experience when the weakest will be like David. However, that is not going to happen until we receive the special outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

Verse 9 says, “It shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.” There is going to be destruction from the Lord over all the earth. The Lord is going to walk through the land and destroy it. This prophecy is not talking primarily about after probation closes but about the time just shortly before. Notice what it says in verse 11: “In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem … .” Verses 11 to 14 talk about the great mourning and grieving in Jerusalem over the sins in Jerusalem.

Zechariah 13:1 says, “In that day [the same day] a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.”

This will be the last opportunity to get cleaned up before probation closes, and those who are truly repentant of their sins will get rid of their idols at the same time.

Still talking about the same time it says in verse 2: “ ‘It shall be in that day,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘that I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they shall no longer be remembered. I will also cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to depart from the land.’ ” You can’t get rid of the sins and the uncleanness unless you cut off the idols.

And finally, verse 4 says, “And it shall be in that day …” at that same time, false prophets are going to be all cut off from the land.

Zechariah chapters 12 and 13 repeat “in that day, at that time,” almost ten times reiterating what is going to happen. This is at the time when Jerusalem is made a cup of trembling. The whole world will be gathered against God’s people.

Isaiah 51 tells us what is going to happen. Verse 13 says, “… you have feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor.” In other words, this is a time of persecution. Notice verse 17: “Awake, awake! Stand up O Jerusalem, you who have drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of His fury; you have drunk the dregs of the cup of trembling, and drained it out.” This is a description of God’s people who have drunk clear to the bottom of the cup. This cup is the temporal consequences of their sins.

“There is no one to guide her among all the sons she has brought forth; nor is there any who takes her by the hand among all the sons she has brought up. These two things have come to you; who will be sorry for you?—Desolation and destruction, famine and sword—by whom will I comfort you? Your sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, like an antelope in a net. They are full of the fury of the Lord, the rebuke of your God. Therefore please hear this, you afflicted, and drunk, but not with wine. Thus says your Lord, the Lord and your God, Who pleads the cause of His people: ‘See, I have taken out of your hand the cup of trembling, the dregs of the cup of My fury; you shall no longer drink it. But I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you, who have said to you, “Lie down, that we may walk over you. And you have laid your body like the ground, and as a street, for those who walk over.” ’ ” Verses 18–23.

When Jerusalem has drunk to the bottom of the cup, the Lord is going to take the cup from them and give it to those who cause the affliction, and they will drink.

We live in a moral universe where actions have consequences. The time of judgment is the time when the consequences are meted out.

Isaiah 40:1, 2 says: “ ‘Comfort, yes, comfort My people!’ says your God. ‘Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her, that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned; for she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.’ ”

In other words, she has to drink the consequences. Most people would like for that cup to be easy. It is especially important for young people to realize that the cup that they are to drink in the future will be the result of what they have lived in the past. See Isaiah 40 and Obadiah.

What you have done will be done to you. Those who have never gone out and sown wild oats will not have as big a cup of remorse to drink as those who did, for it is measured by what you have done.

Understanding this will affect your behavior now if you would rather not have such a bitter cup to drink in the future. Every sin that you have committed in the past is still stored in your memory bank. It may be unconscious, but physicians who have done experiments on the human brain are well aware that those things that you think you have forgotten can be brought to your consciousness instantly under the right stimulus. Every sin committed is stored until the record is reviewed during the investigative judgment and He is the only One able to blot sin out. If you are a Christian, He is going to blot them out, but until that time, whatever you have done wrong in the past provides the devil with a weapon to tempt you and enable him to get access to you in the future.

Just because the devil can tempt you does not mean that the Lord cannot give you the power to overcome, but it can be a bitter cup to drink on the way to victory. There will be a cup of consequences for things that have been done in this world both for the wicked and for the righteous, whether you go to church or do not go to church, whether you are God’s child or the devil’s child.

We have seen from the Bible that everyone is going to drink of a cup. If you do not want to drink such a large, bitter cup then you must decide when you are young to follow the Lord. At whatever age you are, today is the best time to make that decision, because the longer you sit at the devil’s table and drink his cup, the bigger the cup you are going to have to drink in the future.

The decisions you make today impact tomorrow. May we all recognize that we live in a moral universe and that even though we can confess our sins and they can be forgiven, there are temporal consequences that come to us as a result of what we have thought, what we have said, and what we have done.

May the Holy Spirit transform us in character and help us to become Christ-like in the way we think, the way we speak, and the way we act, so that our future may be less difficult as we come to that time of the judgment of the living.

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

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

Editorial – The Devil’s Fatal Sophistry

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Sophistry is deceptively subtle reasoning or argumentation, an argument correct in form or appearance but actually invalid and used to deceive. Something fatal is something that will cause death and is therefore deadly. The devil has a fatal sophistry which is believed today by millions of Christians. If you accept this belief, you will lose your soul and suffer eternal death.

“Through defects in the character, Satan works to gain control of the whole mind, and he knows that if these defects are cherished, he will succeed. Therefore he is constantly seeking to deceive the followers of Christ with his fatal sophistry that it is impossible for them to overcome.” The Great Controversy, 489.

(See Hebrews 5:9, Revelation 21:5-7, and Romans 8:13.)

“There are thousands upon thousands, millions upon millions, who are now making their decision for eternal life or eternal death. The man who is wholly absorbed in his counting room, the man who finds pleasure at the gaming table, the man who loves to indulge perverted appetite, the amusement lover, the frequenters of the theater and the ballroom, put eternity out of their reckoning. The whole burden of their life is: What shall we eat? what shall we drink? and wherewithal shall we be clothed? They are not in the procession that is moving heavenward. They are led by the great apostate, and with him will be destroyed.” Testimonies, vol. 6, 406, 407.

“Each one is required to understand the conditions upon which eternal life depends. We must know what saith the Lord, that we may be able to live ‘by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord’ (Matthew 4:4). … We cannot afford to trust to the ministers, to follow idle traditions, to subject our souls to human authority, but we must know for ourselves what God has said. We are to be laborers together with God, and we must know, we must be determined to know, what are the conditions upon which we may become heirs of salvation. If we neglect this important duty, we shall die in our sins.” The Medical Missionary, May 1, 1892.

“Let us not lose sight of the fact that we are probationers here, on test and trial, and that everything is at stake, to be lost or won. Individually we are daily deciding our own destiny either for eternal life or eternal death. If we would have eternal life, we must cooperate with God, and thus reach the Bible standard, conforming our characters to the character of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The Youth’s Instructor, September 7, 1893.