Caiaphas

Christ or Caiaphas

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“Why should ye be stricken anymore? Ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers. And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah. Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.” Isaiah 1:5–10.

Recently my eyes caught the following headline: “Time to close down the smaller churches.” Yes, the time has come. That is what the North American Division says in an issue of Plus Line Access, a special eight-page newsletter for Seventh-day Adventist Church leaders and pastors in the United States and Canada. The problems are spelled out and the solution is simple enough: Close the local churches. What are the problems? Any one of four is sufficient for the Conference President to close a church and pocket the key:

  1. Weekly attendance is low. The congregation does not have lots of members, and usually most of the members are aged. Such churches should be loosed so the pastor can dedicate his energies to more populous areas.
  2. Newly started churches do not get above thirty or forty members within a couple of years.
  3. The church is not sending in enough tithe to the conference office.
  4. A church becomes controlled by an independent ministry that is unsupportive of Seventh-day Adventist churches and its leadership. Such churches are like a cancer among other churches. The above four points include almost every small denominational congregation that is below thirty or forty members.

Why are the leaders so anxious to close down the small churches? The reasons are obvious, yet profound in their significance.

  1. It is invariably the smaller churches that will be the most conservative. They are the ones which stand as fortresses in defense of our historic beliefs and standards.
  2. It is the delegates from the small churches, which lead out in opposing apostasy at Conference constituency meetings.
  3. It is the delegates from smaller churches, which are the most dangerous to the agenda of getting worldly leaders elected and re-elected in the Conference.
  4. It is the smaller churches that want New Theology pastors transferred out.
  5. By eliminating the small churches, the way is cleared for the Conference leadership to more rapidly take its churches into modernism.
  6. By disbanding local churches, the members will have to join a larger church, where, because they are in the minority, they will have less influence over Board and Committee actions.

This Division-wide plan was disclosed in the January 1996 issue of the publication sent to church leaders and pastors throughout the North American Division. You were not supposed to know about this plan yet.

Our concern is the plan to close the churches of the faithful. Once these little flocks are scattered,leadership will have more control over that which remains. But there is an interesting question. What will be done with those padlocked buildings? In some incidences they will remain closed until a Conference evangelist comes along and brings in New Theology trained members.

But the temptation will be great to sell the buildings, which local church members in earlier years paid for. For over a decade Conference funds have been drying up, as the faithful have been crowded out by New Theology pastors. Throwing off these small churches will help subsidize Celebrations, Youth Congresses, Festivals and other activities intended to hold the shallow, who think more of entertainment than they do of serious study in the inspired books or in missionary work.

I must confess that as I read this amazing disclosure of what the North American Division plans to do, I felt a real heartbreak pain within me. This is what is called “institutional planning” and such a decision to close down the smaller churches demands an answer. Is such a plan ordained by God and baptized by the Holy Spirit? Or has Satan so infiltrated his leaders into God’s ranks that it is now possible to seriously wound the very small remnant that Isaiah saw that were left within God’s remnant church?

This article was taken largely from a sermon presented in 1963 by Elder Arthur L. Bietz, who was faced with a situation within his church regarding Conference leadership involved in institutional problems.

Please notice the parallel between then and now, and you decide where you should take a stand regarding such directives that are handed down from today’s structure.

I want you to be able to use your imagination to catch the meaning, the drama, the heart throb, the intensity of this situation for these are days of crisis, days of tremendous meaning.

In some ways, Caiaphas is one of the most tragic figures of the New Testament. Yet in another way he is a man of tremendous splendor. A man who was loved and probably in some respects greatly adored. The historical facts are that the people stood in awe before him, for he was indeed the symbolization of the great heritage of Israel. He embodied everything that Israel had fought for, all that Israel had prayed for, and theirs was indeed a glorious heritage.

Caiaphas had been chosen by the children of Israel as a “custodian,” of the great religious institution, but now something had happened.

Suddenly, the world, that then was, found itself polarized in two centers; on the one side stood Caiaphas, the high priest, on the other side stood Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The loyalties had congealed and the crisis was on.

This was a tragedy with a degree of splendor in it, for Caiaphas was a very notable person, with an impressive personality. Indeed, he was the most powerful man in Judaism at the time of Christ. He had not only the ecclesiastical power, but he also held the civil authority.

People have always responded to those who stand in authority. There is something splendid, something awe inspiring, about a man in this position. The children of Israel looked to Caiaphas for guidance.

Caiaphas was feared by some, greatly respected by others. Do not ever think for a moment that this man was despised, for he was not. He was the symbol embodying all religious leadership at that time. He had under him some twenty thousand priests over whom he was the absolute head and they moved under his command. They were the spiritual leaders of the nation who are now suddenly faced with a desperate situation.

Caiaphas, on the one side, leads a great religious institution with a marvelous religious heritage, while opposing him stands Jesus Christ. One or the other must go. Who shall be crucified? Can you feel the drama in your own life and heart? Where would you have stood before these two opposing powers? Would you have cast your vote with the recognized religious institutional authority? Or would you have accepted Jesus Christ?

Caiaphas who headed the religious parades in all the Jewish festivals and on the annual Day of Atonement caused all Israel to tremble before his presence. This was the high priest, their representative before God. It was to him that God would speak and bring His message of forgiveness to the people. He stood between God and the people as their representative.

When Jesus spoke to Caiaphas, He did not speak with the respect or the esteem that the people thought he should give a religious leader. This is why one of the very devout Jews struck the Lord in the face. That was a tense moment. This was a day of choice, a day of salvation. It was a day when human hearts and minds were hanging in eternal destiny. Where would you have cast your vote?

“And when He had thus spoken, one of the officers which stood by struck Him with the palm of his hand, saying, Answerest thou the high priest so?” John 18:22. Our Lord, the one whom we worship, is struck with a forceful blow. I can see our Lord weaving as the blow struck Him. Then came the words, “You do not speak to our religious leader like that.”

Caiaphas had only one purpose and that was to save the religious institution that he represented. He said, “We must save the church.” Yet, on the other hand there stood the Son of God, who also came to save the church. Two forces are represented; both want to help save the church.

But Jesus had often spoken concerning the heartlessness of the religious leaders of His time. He did not mince words. Jesus had said, “They make up heavy yokes and packs and pile them on men’s shoulders.” About Himself Jesus had said, “My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

On another occasion, Jesus said of Caiaphas’ institutional leadership, “You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces.” Can’t you just see the high priest stand up in disbelief and shout, “This is blasphemy, I am the high priest and I am the head of the religious organization that opens the kingdom of God to mankind. But this man Jesus comes and says that we shut the door in the face of the people!”

Christ had also said that Caiaphas and the religious leaders were more interested in power and prestige and status than in the shepherding of the flock. Although there were twenty thousand religious priests paid out of the temple taxes, Jesus said, “Look at the people. There is nobody interested in people. All are serving the religious institution, but they have no shepherds.” That really stepped on some toes. Preachers do not like to hear that they are not doing their job correctly.

There is an old Negro spiritual that goes something like this: “Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Were you there? Oh sometimes it causes me to tremble, yes, tremble. Were you there when they crucified my Lord?” Were you? Are you there today contemplating that great sacrifice and following in the steps of Christ? We have before us the destiny of our souls.

Jesus revealed the motives of the Jewish leaders when He said, “Everything they do is done for show. Places of honor at the feasts and the chief seats at the synagogue are taken by your leaders and they do it for show.”

Jesus even dared to expose the corruption in the financial structure of their organization. He said, “You eat up the properties of the widows while you say long prayers for appearance sake. But you are going to receive a severe sentence.”

Jesus also had something to say about their mission program. He said, “You travel over sea and land to win one convert and when you have won him, you make him twice as fit for hell as you are yourselves.”

Such a situation could not go on any longer. This had to come to a showdown and everyone knew it. All the people in Jerusalem and the surrounding territories recognized the moment of destiny had come. And so we will have to stand before the Almighty God and before religious institutions and give an answer.

Christ said, “You are not at all ministers of spiritual insight or spiritual values. You are blind. You are blind guides of the blind. You are falling into the ditch and the people are falling into the ditch with you. You swear by the sanctuary. You swear by the gold. You swear by the altar. You strain at a gnat, yet you gulp down a camel. The organization of the temple is more important to you than God. You are tombs covered with whitewash, full of dead men’s bones.”

Was it any wonder that these two had to meet when Christ had said, “All of your religious organization, all of your twenty thousand priests ministering in the temple, all of your financial structure and your spiritual leadership is absolutely blind and your organization, house and institution has become desolate, for God is not in it.”

For the Jews, the temple symbolized their entire religious heritage. It was very dear to the people, yet Jesus said, “It is forsaken of God.” The temple house is needed but there needs to be a loving family within it. The institution, the organization is necessary, but only as a means in helping to shepherd the people. If you have lost contact with the needs of the hearts of the people, your house is desolate.

This is a terrible indictment. Finally the high priest speaks to those who have gathered to make a decision about this man who claims to be God. He says, “You know nothing whatsoever. You do not use your judgment. The trouble with you is that you do not have good judgment. It is more to your interest that one Man should die for the people than that the whole nation should be destroyed.” And thus, the decision is made. But where would you have stood? The decision has to be made. It was religious institutionalism versus a personal human being, Christ our Saviour. It was an organizational religionism versus the gospel. It was organization versus a Person. It was vested interest against Christ, for the earthen vessel had become more the object of devotion than the treasure within the vessel. And herein lies the universal tendency of human beings toward idolatry.

Man wishes to make himself secure within religious institutions and therefore he hides himself from the presence of God. Laodicea thinks that she has everything, but Jesus Christ stands outside the door and knocks and knocks. But the question is as alive today for you and for me as it was two thousand years ago, because Caiaphas is very much alive in every one of us.

The issue is before us today and you will have to make your own decision, if you have not already made it. Antiorganizationalism is of the rudest of follies, because we need order and organization. But when the organization becomes the means as well as the end of our devotion, then we have crucified once again our Saviour Jesus Christ. It can happen today just as verily as it happened then.

Tell me, what could have happened if Caiaphas, the high priest, had said, “Look, we are confronted with God. Let us accept Him?” What a help and inspiration for the repenting souls that could have been. If he could have only said, “Let us use this institution, this money, everything in order to glorify God, but let it be God who is the center.” Unquestionably this is what the Seventh-day Adventist Church needs now. All institutionalism becomes corrupt with itself. It begins to build and build until we have forgotten the purpose of its building and we seek security in everything except God Himself.

When the Holy Spirit comes into our lives, let us remember that there will be a unity of our hearts, the binding of mind to mind, of heart to heart and spirit to spirit. Institutionalism can provide us with an outward uniformity, but only the baptism of the Holy Spirit can give us an interior union of our spirits.

Oh, that God would help us to understand that religious institutionalism can become the greatest tool of the devil. Dr. Henry P. Van Dolson who wrote in The United Church Herald, states, “The Holy Spirit has always been troublesome to officialdom and to institutionalism because He is unruly, unpredictable and radical. The call to the ministry is to be alert, to discover every moment of the living, confounding, uncontrollable Spirit of God in what someone has called His Sovereign Unpredictability. We want security but we do not want to be shaken out of our false securities. When our false securities are shattered and we stand helpless before a superior person who vitalizes our lives, suddenly we recognize ourselves to be under the guidance of the Spirit of God. When you are under the guidance of the Spirit, you cannot control it. And, of course, institutionalism is built on control. So there is an everlasting problem here.”

This is what Caiaphas had to face. How can you attack an institution and still retain it? How can you shatter that which you love? I happen to be one who has been reared in the Seventh-day Adventist Church and all my tenderest emotions and feelings are tied into Adventism. This can also become my greatest curse and damnation, because I begin to trust in it instead of the living God. If I begin to think that the structure is what makes me a Christian instead of a personal friendship with my God and the baptism of the Holy Spirit, my faith is resting on an institution instead of the Lord.

I think I can say concerning institutions that I love none better than Adventism. I was nurtured in it. I was cradled in it. I loved it. But this can also be my damnation unless I know that all of this is but for one purpose and that is to bow my head and my mind before the living Jesus and say, that unless Christ lives within the institution, it has become only desolation and hostility—nothing but empty institution.

Oh, that God would help us today to once again understand the issues clearly and make right choices. The people two thousand years ago had to make a tremendous choice and their choice was a devastating decision effecting their eternal destiny. If you have never gone through such an experience, you do not know what I am talking about. But those of you who know what I am speaking about realize the gravity of such a situation. It has shaken you completely until you have experienced a kind of death. The very thing in which you have trusted has been shattered before you and you will never be the same again, because the basis of your life now is Jesus Christ and only Jesus Christ.

“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, for the presence of the high and holy One who inhabiteth eternity can alone constitute a church.” The Upward Look, 315.

 

The Rending Of The Robe

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In the Scriptures, our robe, or our clothing, is used as a symbol of our character. We see this in the experience of Adam and Eve. They had a robe of light, representing a righteous character. When they sinned and lost that covering, they made some fig leaf garments to replace it. These artificial garments have become synonymous with righteousness by works, but they are not acceptable.

In place of the garment of leaves, the Lord prepared a garment for them from the skin of an animal. This garment, which cost the life of the innocent animal, was symbolic of the garment of Christ’s righteousness, which cost the life of His own Son and which all must wear who will be saved. In Revelation 19:7-8, we find our clothing referred to as our works. “Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready. And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.” As acts are repeated, they become habits, and those habits become character.

You can read in Ephesians 5 concerning the church, that the church will be arrayed in linen, a garment of character that will be without spot or wrinkle, without blemish. Speaking of Armageddon, we read: “Behold I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame” Revelation 16:15. If your garment is torn or becomes spotted or wrinkled, you will not be ready for Armegeddon.

In the Old Testament, there is one robe that was a special symbol, and that was the robe worn by the high priest. Speaking of this robe, we are told: “The pattern of the priestly robes was made known to Moses in the mount. Every article the high priest was to wear, and the way it should be made, were specified. These garments were consecrated to a most solemn purpose. By them was represented the character of the great antitype, Jesus Christ.” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 5, 1104

Because it represented Christ’s character, under no condition was this robe to be torn or rent. The penalty for failing to comply with this requirement was death. The Jews, however, had gotten together and had written a church manual that contained rules differing from those in the Bible. According to their church manual, there was one exception to God’s rule. In the case of blasphemy, in order to show his horror, the high priest was allowed to tear his robe. It is quite obvious that Caiaphas placed a higher value on the church manual than on the Bible. By the way, in those days you could not even be a high priest unless you were willing to go along with the church manual. That was a prerequisite.

So, when Caiaphas tore his robe, though his action was approved of by the church manual, according to God’s Word, he was deserving of death. Of course, nothing like this could ever happen again, could it?

“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.” Selected Messages, book 1, 406

The condition of Israel then, according to Ellen White, was representative of our experience just before the second coming of Jesus Christ. Jesus told the people of His day, “You have made the commandments of God of no affect by your tradition.” Matthew 15:6

Have you ever heard of a “duly appointed leader”? Or have you ever heard the phrase, “properly constituted church authority”? Was Caiphas a duly appointed leader? Well, who is a duly appointed leader? This is something that we need to understand.

“For thus rending his garment in pretended zeal, the high priest might have been arraigned before the Sanhedrin. He had done the very thing that the Lord had commanded should not be done. Standing under the condemnation of God, he pronounced sentence on Christ as a blasphemer. He performed all his actions toward Christ as a priestly judge, as an officiating high priest, but he was not this by the appointment of God, the priestly robe he rent in order to impress the people with his horror of the sin of blasphemy covered a heart full of wickedness. He was acting under the inspiration of Satan.” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 5, 1105

Was he duly appointed? He was not appointed by God. Who was directing his actions? Do God and the devil ever work in partnership? No! Never! The Bible is very clear on that. First Corinthians 10:20-21 says, “You can not drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils.” It does not say you should not; it says you cannot. You can have it one way or the other but not both.

“Under a gorgeous priestly dress, he was fulfilling the work of the enemy of God.” Ibid.

Is it properly constituted church authority to do the work of the devil? Now notice the next sentence.

“This has been done again, and again.” Ibid.

Let me ask you this question. How much authority did Caiphas have?

“With Caiaphas the Jewish high priesthood ended. This proud, overbearing, wicked man proved his unworthiness ever to have worn the garments of the high priest. He had neither capacity, nor authority from heaven.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 12, 387

How much authority did he have? Though he had what they called properly constituted authority, he had no authority from heaven.

“He had not one ray of light from heaven to show him what the work of the priest was, or for what the office had been instituted. Such ministration could make nothing perfect, for in itself it was utterly corrupt. The priests were tyrannous and deceptive, and full of ambitious schemes. The grace of God had nought to do with this.” Ibid., 388

“Oh,” but someone says, “he was the high priest.” Well, let us just look at that for a moment. Was he the high priest? Now remember, it was several years before A.D. 34. Was Caiaphas the leader of God’s people? No, no he was not. “Virtually Caiaphas was no high priest.” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 5, 1101

Was he the high priest or was he not the high priest? He was not the high priest, though he may have been so by profession. Do you see why we say that there is a difference between the professed church and the true church? There is a difference, and in a time of apostasy, there is a great difference. We have been trying to teach people this for a few years now, but it is so ingrained that unless the Holy Spirit works on their minds, they never understand the point. Profession and reality are not necessarily the same thing.

How is it with you today, friend? Is your character in harmony with your profession? If it is not, your profession is telling a lie and you can never go to heaven, although you call yourself a Seventh-day Adventist. If the things you profess to believe are not a reality in your life, your life is a lie because your character is not in harmony with your profession.

“He [Caiaphas] was uncircumcised in heart. With the other priests he instructed the people to choose Barabbas instead of Christ.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 12, 388

When Caiaphas asked Jesus if He was really the Christ and Jesus replied that He was, Caiaphas tore his robe. Why did Caiaphas tear his garment? He did it deliberately, and he did it for a reason. It was a custom among the Jews that whenever one of your relatives had died, you would tear your clothes as a way of expressing extreme sorrow and grief. The Lord had prohibited the priests from doing this, but, as was pointed out earlier, they had found a way around God’s clear command.

The experience Christ was subjected to was repeated many times during the Protestant Reformation. First, the Protestant Reformers were excommunicated, or disfellowshipped, from their churches. When this did not stop the Reformation, they were placed in prison. Finally, when other measures had failed to suppress their activities, it was determined that they must die. The men who were responsible would maintain that they certainly hated to treat them so, but they were left no choice. This is what Caiaphas was telling Jesus. He was saying, in essence, “I’m going to have to kill you because of your theological errors, but I’m so sorry about it.” The trouble with such a statement was that Caiaphas was not really sorry at all. Ellen White makes this very clear.

“So perverted had the priesthood become that when Christ declared Himself the Son of God, Caiaphas, in pretended horror, rent his robe, and accused the Holy One of Israel of blasphemy.” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 5, 1104

It is wrong to pretend under any circumstance, but the worst kind of pretense is when you pretend to be pious, and that is the kind of pretension this was—he was pretending to be in terrible sorrow and shock, and it was not even so. This made the act even more wicked than it would have been otherwise.

By the way, have any of you ever received any letters that begin something like, “I’m so sorry to have to inform you,” and then go on to explain the unpleasant action they have been forced to take? Friend, you had better never tell someone you are sorry if it is not really the truth, because God hates pretense.

Caiaphas also showed that he did not realize, if he ever knew, what his robe represented. It represented the character of the One standing before him. It was terrible blasphemy for him to tear his robe because Christ’s character had not been torn; it had never been defiled.

When he tore his robe, he said, in effect, we will not have this Man to rule over us. What had he done? He separated himself—remember now, he was a representative of the whole Jewish nation—from God.

God has given to you and me the power of choice, but I want to tell you, He honors our power of choice. People say, “Well the church is going through.” Do you believe that we have the power of choice? Did Caiaphas have the power of choice? Certainly he did, but he made a choice, and God honored his choice. I want to tell you, friend, God honors people’s choices.

“In Christ the shadow reached its substance, the type its antitype. Well might Caiaphas rend his clothes in horror for himself and for the nation; for they were separating themselves from God, and were fast becoming a people unchurched by Jehovah. Surely the candlestick was being removed out of its place.” Ibid., 1109

What were they doing? They were become a people unchurched. Do you want a synonym for that? That means they were disfellowshipping themselves. By this act, Caiaphas was separating, or divorcing himself from God; and everyone who followed his example, yielding to his influence, was doing the same thing. Because of this choice, millions of people lost their lives.

By the way, they still went to church; they went to the building; they said the same prayer; they went through the same service. They still had the same organization; they still had the same bank account; they still had the same name; but they were disfellowshipped, and they did not even know it.

If they had been striving to be in harmony with God’s will and to obey Him, Caiaphas would have been killed for the crime he had committed; but they decided instead to follow him.

What was God’s response?

“When Caiaphas rent his garment, his act was significant of the place that the Jewish nation as a nation would thereafter occupy toward God. The once favored people of God were separating themselves from Him, and were fast becoming a people disowned by Jehovah.” The Desire of Ages, 709

God accepted the choice that Caiaphas made; and God is watching the choices that you and I are making, the choices that every minister is making and the choices that every church is making God is going to respond in keeping with the decision of each person.

Here is what happened when Jesus died on the cross:

“It was not the hand of the priest that rent from top to bottom the gorgeous veil that divided the holy from the Most Holy Place. It was the hand of God. When Christ cried out, ‘It is finished,’ the Holy watcher that was an unseen guest at Belshazzar’s feast pronounced the Jewish nation to be a nation unchurched.” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 5, 1109

Do you realize that this was some time before A.D. 34?

When Caiaphas rent his garment, there was more than one rending that took place. We have been looking at the outward rending of the garment of the high priest and its spiritual significance. It was a symbolic act of the separation, the divorcing of God’s people from Himself. When was this act completed? It was completed when the priest said, “We have no king but Caesar.” John 19:15

The Church is to be the bride, the wife of Christ; but if that church chooses to depart from the Lord and to form an alliance with the state, it has said in effect, we will no longer have the Lord to be our ruler. You cannot have two masters; it is impossible. No church or religious group can go to the state for the enforcement of their religious teachings without having left the Lord, and God will recognize that choice.

Are you aware that the Spirit of Prophecy says that there are three things the Lord will do when the church goes to the state for assistance in enforcing her decrees? First, He says that He will not hear their prayers. If that was the only thing to happen, that would be so serious that it should shake us to the bottom of our foundation. Second, she says that He will take the Holy Spirit away from them. Without the Holy Spirit you are lost. The third thing that the Lord will do is write them in the book of heaven as unbelievers. See Selected Messages, book 3, 299-302. If you are written in heaven as unbelievers, you are not even part of the church. You have torn the garment; you have separated yourself from the Lord.

There is a true rending of the garment.

“Christ mourned for the transgression of every human being. He bore even the guiltiness of Caiaphas, knowing the hypocrisy that dwelt in his soul, while for pretense he rent his robe. Christ did not rend His robe, but His soul was rent. His garment of human flesh was rent as He hung on the cross, the sin-bearer of the race. By His suffering and death a new and living way was opened.” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 5, 1105

Jesus had an inner rending of His soul, and, friend, we are to enter into that experience if we are going to be saved.

“Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in My holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand;…Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: and rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth Him of the evil. Joel 2:1, 12, 13

“And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son.” Zechariah 12:10

what are these verses talking about? Oh, friend, when Jesus hung on the cross, it was your sin that pierced Him; and it was my sin that pierced Him. The past, the present and the future are all alike to God. God saw you, and that is why Jesus came and died on the cross. When he hung on the cross, His heart was pierced; it was torn for you. The tearing of His flesh, His hands and His feet is just a symbol or a type of the real pain that was in His heart. The pain in His heart was so great, Ellen White says in the Desire of Ages, that the physical pain was hardly felt. We do not realize how bad sin is until we come to Calvary, and even then we cannot fully comprehend it.

Have you ever met parents who had only one child and that child died? The Lord says, that is the way My people are going to mourn in the last days. They are going to mourn as parents mourn who have lost their only child and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.

“Many today who claim to be Christians are in danger of rending their garments, making an outward show of repentance, when their hearts are not softened nor subdued. This is why so many continue to make failures in the Christian life. An outward appearance of sorrow is shown for wrong, but their repentance is not that which needs not to be repented of. See 2 Corinthians 7:10. May God grant to His church true contrition for sin. Oh that we might feel the necessity of revealing true sorrow for wrong-doing!” Review and Herald, June 12, 1900

Did you know that there was one garment that was not torn that day? Jesus had on an outer garment that the Bible says was without seam. As it had no seam, the soldiers decided not to tear it. Prophecy said that it would not be torn; it said they would cast lots for it. Do you realize the significance of this?

“Christ’s seamless garment is a representation of the unity that should exist in the church.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 5, 371

You are never going to have unity with just profession; but if you have a group of people who have had the true rending of the heart and not the garment, you are going to have a true unity. One of the most exciting things that I am finding as I travel is that all over the world God is drawing together faithful, Historic Seventh-day Adventists—just little groups here and there—and they are having the most marvelous experience of unity that I have ever seen. There is no question that God is going to have a united movement at the end. The only question is, Am I going to be part of it?

The devil is determined that this unity will never happen, but it is going to happen anyway. I would consider it the greatest privilege of my life if I could just have a little part in it. How about you?

That seamless robe represents the unity that is to exist among Christ’s true believers, and it must never be torn. We must always think of that seamless robe in all of our dealings with each other. We are not to tear it. The body of Christ is one body, and when one part suffers, all of the rest suffer. Oh, friend, Christ’s seamless robe represents the unity that is to exist among His true followers until the end of time. Do you want to be a part of it?

The End