Editorial – Two Key Texts for Our Time

There are certain texts in the Bible that have special meaning for a certain time. For example, in the time of the apostle Paul, a key text for the first century Christians to understand was that the righteous man shall live by faith. (Habakkuk 2:4; Romans 1:16, 17.) A key text that was present truth during the days of John Wesley was that without holiness no man will see the Lord. (Hebrews 12:14.) A key text in 1844 was, “Behold the bridegroom comes; go out to meet Him.” Matthew 25:6.

Two key texts for the last generation living since 1798 are Revelation 12:17 and Revelation 14:12. These two texts point out the chief characteristics of God’s chosen people in the last days of earth’s history. The first one describes God’s people as the remnant, or last of the descendants of the woman; in other words, God’s elect people in the last days, His final movement or church. (Genesis 3:15 distinguishes between the children of God as descendants of the woman, in contrast to the children of the devil who are the descendants of the serpent. They are described as those who: keep the commandments. This means they would have to be Sabbath keepers because if you break one you have broken all. (James 2:8-12.); they have the testimony of Jesus and that is the spirit of prophecy. (Revelation 19:10.) In other words, the spirit of prophecy has been manifested in their midst.

Revelation 14:12 describes again God’s holy people (saints) in the last days, in contrast to those who worship the beast and his image and receive the beast’s mark in their forehead or in their hand. The faith of Jesus is that religious faith by which a person lives by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. A person is enabled to have this faith by the power of the Holy Spirit. (See John 14–16 and Romans 8.)

It is stated immediately after the warning of receiving the beast’s mark or worshiping his image, that the holy people of God keep His commandments. This directly implies that the receiving of the beast’s mark, or worshiping his image, involves the breaking of God’s commandments.

The Three Angels’ Messages are the focal point of the latter half of the book of Revelation which describes the very last epochal events in our world. Revelation 14:12 is a key text that everybody who desires to be saved at the end should especially study.

Editorial – Who Are Loyal?

Years ago I was working with several ministries who were sponsoring revival and reformation camp meetings in all regions of the country. Shortly before one of these camp meetings the pastor of a nearby church preached a sermon against the camp meeting and its sponsors. His subject was concerning loyalty to the message and the church etc… Since, in this magazine, we have explained many times from inspired writings who and what the church is, we will not enter into that subject here. We will merely ask, “what is the bottom line about who is loyal and who is not loyal to the work of God today?

Jesus had this problem when He was on this earth. See Desire of Ages, 111. Following are a few guidelines from the writings of Ellen G. White about who are loyal.

The loyal obey all the commandments of God: “The keeping of the Sabbath is a sign of loyalty to the true God.” Great Controversy, 438.

“How can fathers consent to their children attending school on the Sabbath, or any part of the Sabbath, the same as on any common weekday? Here is a cross to life. Here the line of separation is drawn between the loyal and disloyal. This is the sign that there is a people who will not make void the law of God although it is at a sacrifice to themselves.” Manuscript Release, vol. 5, 79.

The one who is loyal will refuse to obey earthly powers if they require him to violate a command of God. “The laws of earthly kingdoms are to be obeyed only when they do not conflict with the laws of God…when they try to control the minds and consciences of those whom Christ died to make free, God’s children are to show their loyalty to him by refusing to disobey his commandments.” Signs of the Times, May 13, 1897.

The one who is loyal will be at war against sin and evil: “In every age the true church of God has engaged in decided warfare against satanic agencies. Until the controversy is ended, the struggle will go on, between wicked angels and wicked men on the one side, and holy angels and true believers on the other.” Special Testimonies, Series B, No. 2, 5.

The One who is loyal will rebuke evil. (He generally will be accused of being critical, backbiting, and divisive when he does this duty.) “God would have His servants prove their loyalty by faithfully rebuking transgression, however painful the act may be.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 323, 324.

The loyal will not be found imbibing of worldly pleasure and will be practicing self-denial and humility: “Beware of those who preach to others the word of life, but do not themselves cherish the spirit of humility and self-denial which it inculcates. Such men cannot be depended on in a crisis…many today assert their loyalty to God, but their concerts and other pleasure gatherings, their worldly associations, their glorifying of self, and eager desire for popularity, all testify that they have not obeyed his voice.” Testimony to the Battle Creek Church, 71.

“How shall we know that they are disloyal and untrue?—‘By their fruits ye shall know them’…The Lord will not write as wise those who cannot distinguish between a tree that bears thorn-berries and a tree that bears olives.” Review and Herald, September 7, 1897.

The loyal are involved in evangelism: “He has opened a fountain for Judah and Jerusalem, and every member of his church is to show his loyalty by inviting the thirsty to drink of the water of life.” Review and Herald, November 12, 1914.

They will engage in acts in of love and reverence for Jesus: “Acts of love and reverence for Jesus are an evidence of faith in Him as the Son of God.” Desire of Ages, 564.

They will participate in the ordinance of the Lord’s House: “This ordinance of feet washing was made a religious service…It was given as something to test and prove the loyalty of the children of God.” Evangelism, 275.

“The loyal have given the affections of their entire heart to Jesus: It is the whole heart that Jesus prizes. The loyalty of the soul is alone of value in the sight of God.” Testimonies vol. 5, 73.

“They will not fail to declare all the Word of God: “in order to retain their position in the church, some consented to be silent in regard to their hope; but others felt that loyalty to God forbade them thus to hide the truths which He had committed to their trust.” Great Controversy, 372.

The loyal will be separate from the world: “It is impossible for a man to become loyal to God, rendering obedience to all his commandments, without finding himself immediately marked as odd from the rest of the world, and cut off from the society of those who transgress that law…a separation becomes necessary.” Review and Herald, January 13, 1885.

Editorial – The Law of Moses, Part II

The writings of Paul explain the ceremonial law as contrasted with the moral law, which is the law that defines right from wrong. Paul says, “I would not have known sin [what sin is] except through the law.” (Romans 7:7.) Later in the verse he quotes from the tenth commandment, indicating that except for the law that says you shall not covet, he would not have known that coveting was wrong.

In Galatians 3:19, he asks, “Why was the law given then?” which could be translated, “What purpose then is there for the law [the ceremonial law]?” He immediately answers this question: “It [the ceremonial law] was added because of transgression.” Paul says in Romans 4:15 that where there is no law, there is no transgression. In order for transgression to have occurred, a law had to exist first. What law was transgressed? It was the Ten Commandment law, the moral law which is eternal and unchangeable. What was determined right and wrong in the Garden of Eden is still the same today in harmony with the Ten Commandments, the principles of which have existed from eternity in the past, and will exist through all future eternity. Ellen White corroborates this in the first three sentences of the book, Patriarchs and Prophets, 21, “ ‘God is love.’ I John 4:16. His nature, His law, is love. It ever has been; it ever will be.”

When the moral law was transgressed, another law was added because of the transgression. This law can properly be called the ceremonial law, and included all laws that were added because of transgression. Sin is the transgression of law that is in force. Once the ceremonial law was added, it became sinful to transgress this law. For example, under the ceremonial law it was a sin for Moses not to have his male children circumcised, and he could not take the children of Israel out of Egypt before this was accomplished. (See Exodus 4:24–26.)

In Galatians 3:19 Paul shows the reason for the ceremonial law and when it came into being after transgression. He also shows the time limit of this law, clearly demonstrating its temporary nature, which only lasted until the seed should come to whom the promise had been made. (Genesis 3:15.) He had already explained that the seed was Christ (Galatians 3:16).

From Galatians 3:19 we understand (1) the purpose of the ceremonial law, (2) when it came into existence, (3) the intelligences that ordained it which are different than the moral law, and (4) the fact that it was a law that would only exist for a temporary time—until Christ should come.

From Darwin to Hitler

In the 1900s Charles Darwin presented new theories that were different than any other since the world began. One was the theory of evolution. It developed, became accepted, and eventually led to greater crimes being committed in the 20th century than ever before recorded.

In his autobiography, Charles Darwin stated that if man has no belief in God or an afterlife, his rule of life can only be to follow the strongest impulses and instincts which are within him. Morality, being based on biological instincts and not on any moral code or law, was believed to change over time. His theories were widely accepted throughout the intellectual world, especially in the European universities. Not only were they accepted in regard to biology, but Darwin’s theories of evolution began to be applied to ethics.

Thinkers in Europe drew several conclusions from Darwinism relating to morality and ethics. The concept of free will was undermined because Darwin’s theories were interpreted to mean strict determinism; and, behavior and moral character are, at least in part, hereditary. Some thought that behavior was totally hereditary.

The idea of an overruling purpose in the universe was destroyed and all phenomena were thought to be the result of the laws of chance. Morality, they said, has evolved.

Natural selection was thought to be the force that produces morality since morality is thought to be relative.

The idea of inherent human rights, and objective moral standards, were undermined by Darwinism. The idea became widespread in scientific and medical circles by 1900 that human moral behavior is determined largely by biological instincts inherited from one’s ancestors.

These new ideas that were becoming so widespread by 1900 had tremendous implications. Firstly it affected education, then justice, the criminal or penal code, the marriage policy, the sexual practices of any population that accepted these theories, and also control of reproduction and a person’s attitude toward personal responsibility.

If the human race had evolved and was still evolving, it was thought that some races had evolved more than others, and therefore were superior. It was also thought that the inferior races would eventually cease to exist through the natural victory and survival of the fittest. In other words, the evolution of higher life forms depends on the suppression and destruction of lower life forms.

Darwinism offered a secular view of life and death to replace a religious view. The new view was that human life was valuable only as it contributed to the higher evolution of the human species. Therefore, if a person could not contribute to the improvement of the community, his life was not so valuable. It was thought that human life was not intrinsically sacred and inviolable as in Christian thought.

As people’s conceptions of the importance and value of human life and the significance of death were changed, a debate erupted over such issues as to the morality of infanticide, euthanasia, abortion, and suicide.

Prior to Darwin’s time, the sanctity of human life was dominant in European thought and was referred to as the right to life. Christian churches explicitly forbad murder, infanticide, abortion and suicide. Until then there had been no significant debate in Europe over the sanctity of human life.

Another idea that developed from Darwinism was to help evolution along by selective breeding of humans rather than depending on natural selection. This development was called Eugenics. Its basic idea was to promote the superior human beings, the ones with the best genes, to have many children and to prevent the inferior human beings, the ones with inferior genes, from having children at all and thus improve the human race.

Eugenics, founded on the premise of human inequality, was popular in the United States, as well as in Europe. Eugenics’ philosophy taught that some races were not as highly evolved as other races, and hundreds of thousands of people were involuntarily sterilized to prevent them from having children, because of their supposed defects.

Christianity, on the other hand, taught the brotherhood of all races that descended from common ancestors, namely Adam and Eve.

The earliest advocates of involuntary euthanasia, infanticide, and abortion were those devoted to the Darwinian world view. Not only this, but less than one year after Darwin published his theory, there were German sources who were justifying racial extermination. This was considered a natural unavoidable consequence of the human struggle for existence—the survival of the fittest and the destruction of the less fit.

This is commonly called racism and it led to racial wars.

Adolph Hitler embraced an evolutionary ethic that made Darwinian fitness and health the only criteria for moral standards. The Darwinian struggle for existence, especially the struggle between different races, became the sole arbiter for morality. Hitler denied that anyone could escape the universal struggle for existence. He stripped individuals of any rights and argued that the destruction of the weak by the strong was humane. He believed Darwinism provided the moral justification for infanticide, euthanasia, genocide, and other policies that before had been considered immoral. The justification was to promote the highest evolution of the most highly developed or superior race which, in his opinion, was the Arian race of northern Europeans.

Darwinian theory provided the mechanism to bring about this highest evolutionary development:

  • Increase the population of the most fit.
  • Decrease the population of the less fit.

The means to bring about these two goals eventually included promotion of maximum sexual reproduction of the favored, and sterilization of the less fit. Both voluntary and involuntary sterilization were practiced and, finally, directly murdering the less fit.

The result of this was the largest, most destructive war that had ever occurred between nations. It resulted in:

  • 350,000 compulsory sterilizations of people for their supposed defects. This does not include the tens of thousands in the United States.
  • Over 70,000 put to death by physicians as euthanasia.
  • A whole generation of young people, demoralized by perverted ideas concerning the sanctity of the marriage and the family. That has had a demoralizing influence on the entire world right up until the present day.
  • Over 6,000,000 people violently murdered because they were considered an inferior race.
  • Over 50,000,000 lost their lives in the most deadly war this world has ever seen.

Many people think that it does not matter whether or not you believe in evolution, but this is not an insignificant ideal when considering its results.

The God of heaven considered this question of origins and how we got here of extreme importance.

In the Old Testament there is one document that was:

  • Spoken by God’s own voice, publicly.
  • Written by God’s own finger in tables of stone.
  • Declared to be God’s covenant and His law.

This document was declared by Jesus to be of imperishable obligation. He said that it would be easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for a part of a letter of this document to fail.

“And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one tittle (that is just part of a letter) of the law to fail.” Luke 16:17. The One who made that statement was the One who had created the heavens and the earth and everything in it.

With His own voice, from Mt. Sinai, God spoke His law to the people Himself; then wrote the Ten Commandments, with His own finger, in tables of stone for a permanent record. That document, His law, the foundation of His government, was not entrusted to any man to tell the people. God Himself spoke it and also wrote the document. In regard to that law the Bible says, “And I know that whatever God does, it shall be forever: nothing can be added to it, and nothing taken from it … that men should fear before him.” Ecclesiastes 3:14.

When God gave the world His law, the Ten Commandments, and He wrote it in tables of stone, one commandment is longer and more detailed than all the rest. It is the only commandment that in the Hebrew language has over fifty words. Some of the commandments, for instance, the seventh and eighth commandments, “You shall not commit adultery” and “You shall not steal,” have just two words in the Hebrew language.

The fourth commandment is longer than all the rest, and it is right in the heart of the law. This commandment explains the origin of the world and the human race.

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labour, and do all your work: But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God: in it you shall do no work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates.” Exodus 20:8–10.

The reason for the fourth commandment is given in the last verse of the commandment.

“For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day: therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.” Exodus 20:11.

It is so important for every human being to know where we came from, how we got here, and who we are, that God devoted more words to explaining the origins than any other moral precept. This commandment is in the heart of the ten. In ancient documents it was customary to place the seal of the document in the center.

The Sabbath will be a major issue in the last days of this world’s history. Part of the Sabbath commandment is quoted in the prophecy of Revelation with reference to the last days. The controversy over whether this world came into existence by the word of God is predicted to be a controversial issue in the last days. Eighteen hundred years before it happened, Peter predicted that in the last days people will scoff at the idea of creation and will not believe that this world came into existence by the word of God. See II Peter 3:3–7.

Bible students who make a careful study of the Bible know that the number seven is the number of spiritual perfection. In the book of Revelation we find another very significant number that is going to attract the attention of almost the entire world—666.

Within the Christian church there is some confusion over which day is the Lord’s day; however, the Bible is quite specific on this subject. Reading right from the fourth commandment we see that “the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God.” Exodus 20:10.

Within the most detailed of all of the Ten Commandments, we are told that the seventh day is the Lord’s day.

In Revelation 14:12, it says, “Here is the patience of the saints: here are those that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”

In the last days there will be some people who are called saints, or holy people, and they are going to keep the commandments—all ten of them. The book of Revelation also points out a terrible crisis that will come into the world in the last days. It talks about a beast power that will have the number 666. In essence, the controversy in the very last days of earth’s history is going to be over whether or not God is the Creator of the world and whom you will worship, the Creator or the beast. The beast, of course, is the anti-christ.

The Bible clearly identifies the God of heaven as the creator.

“You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power; for you created all things, and by your will they exist and were created.” Revelation 4:11.

“Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that are in it, and the earth, and the things that are in it, and the sea, and the things that are in it.” Revelation 10:6.

This world has a Maker. For thousands of years, until this theory of Darwinism about 150 years ago, almost the whole human race of all religions knew this. The book of Revelation, a book specifically for the people living in the last days, gives an appeal to worship God as the Creator. Revelation 14:6–12 describes three angels coming with a final message of mercy to be given to the inhabitants of this world.

The latter half of the book of Revelation focuses on these Three Angels’ Messages, and in Revelation 16 you will find that the people who reject these warnings are going to receive seven last plagues.

Revelation 18 describes what is going to happen to all the people in the world who reject the second angel’s message, and Revelation 19 describes Jesus coming and the destruction of those refusing the warnings.

Reading further on into Revelation 20 you will see that the people who accept the Three Angels’ Messages, even if they lose their lives through doing so, are taken to heaven to be with the Lord during the millennium.

The focal point of the latter half of the book of Revelation relates to the last three warnings of mercy to be given to the earth by the angels, and they are worthy of special study.

The first message says, “Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment has come: and worship him who made heaven, and earth, the sea, and springs of water.” Revelation 14:7.

As we approach the last days of earth’s history there will be only two camps. Every person in this world is going to chose to be part of one of them, worshiping God as the Creator or worshiping the beast—the anti-christ. The fourth commandment says to remember the Sabbath. Acknowledging this and keeping this day holy is to worship the creator God.

Those who worship the anti-christ will believe they are worshipping Christ, but will find out too late they are worshiping the wrong Christ.

God is the Creator. The Bible says that in the beginning “God said, Let there be light: and there was light.” Genesis 1:3.

After He created light, on the second day He created the firmament, the heavens that surround the earth—the envelope of oxygen, the air that surrounds our earth. And then He divided the waters from the waters and He caused the dry earth to appear, and then it says, “Let the earth bring forth the grass, and trees, and all manner of plants.” Verse 11. That was the third day. The Lord had everything planned, exactly what He was going to do before He started.

On the fifth day the fish and birds were created, and then on the sixth day God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures.” Verse 24.

By the sixth day He had created a paradise and when everything was ready, for His crowning act, God said, “Let us make man in our image; male and female he created them.” Verses 26, 27.

After Adam and Eve had been created, notice what the Bible says: “Thus the heavens and the earth and all the host of them were finished.” Genesis 2:1.

Creation was finished. And “on the seventh day God ended his work which he had done; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done. Then God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because in it he rested from all his work which God had created and made.” Genesis 2:2.

The seventh day was the Sabbath, the day God rested after creating this world. The Sabbath is God’s love gift to the entire human race. He blessed it, He sanctified it, and He made it holy (Genesis 2:3). Only God can make something holy. God made that day, the seventh day, holy. God rested on it as an example for the human family. It is a holy day.

In Revelation 1:10, John says he “was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day.”

“For the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” Matthew 12:8.

“Therefore the Son of man is also Lord of the Sabbath.” Mark 2:28.

“The Son of man is also Lord of the Sabbath.” Luke 6:5.

The Lord’s Day is the Sabbath. The Sabbath was a gift to the human family instituted in Eden and not something that was added because of sin, like the ceremonial law. It was given to Adam and Eve and their descendants in Eden. Jesus said that the Sabbath was made for man. See Mark 2:27.

When Adam and Eve were put out of the Garden of Eden because of their sin, everything was lost to them but two things. They still had the gift of marriage and the gift of the Sabbath.

Many years later, when God spoke His law and wrote it on two tables of stone on Mount Sinai, He wrote the Sabbath right in the middle, right in the heart of the law. It says:

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” Exodus 20:8–10.

Jesus kept the Sabbath. “So he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.” Luke 4:16.

A few days before the crucifixion the disciples wanted to know what would happen in the future and what sign would they have of His coming and the end of the age. Jesus gave them a sermon about future events. He told about the destruction of Jerusalem, and how they would have to flee. Notice what He said, “And pray that your flight may not be in the winter, or on the Sabbath.” Matthew 24:20.

Jesus was here referring to an event that took place 66 years after His crucifixion.

After Pentecost, we find over and over again that the apostles continually kept the Sabbath. After Paul had preached the gospel to the Jews (Acts 13:42), some Gentiles who had heard about this requested that he also preach to them the following Sabbath for they wanted to hear his message as well. Many years after the crucifixion, the Sabbath was still being kept by the believers and he never suggested that he preach to them on Sunday. But, “on the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God.” Acts 13:44.

These people were Gentiles; they were not Jews. The disciples, the apostles, and the converted Gentiles always kept the Sabbath. On one occasion the apostles were in a new area evangelizing to convert people from their idolatry to Christianity. There was no church or place to worship so they went to the river side, “And on the Sabbath day we went out of the city to the river side, where prayer was customarily made, and we sat down, and spoke to the women who met there.” Acts 16:13.

Again, “They came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews: And then Paul, as his custom was, went into them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the scriptures.” Acts 17:1, 2. In the book of Acts there are over 80 references to Paul keeping the Sabbath, and no reference of him keeping any other day.

Some may question that over time there may have been a calendar change or time has been lost and ask the question, Which day is the Sabbath? Certain events in the Bible prove that time has not been lost. Christ was crucified on what the Bible calls preparation day. Today that is called Friday, and most Christians refer to that day as Good Friday.

In Luke 23:54–56 and Luke 24:1, it says that it was the day of the preparation. They took Jesus down from the cross, then put Him in the tomb and then they went home. It says, they kept the Sabbath according to the commandment, and then came back the first day of the week, and it was the resurrection.

Jesus was raised on the first day of the week, Sunday. The day between the preparation day and the day of the resurrection was the Sabbath.

The Dictionary meaning of Saturday is: the seventh day of the week, following Friday. There is no known evidence that any time has been lost.

Interestingly, in 108 languages of the world, the word for the seventh day of the week is Sabbath. The word Sabbath comes from the Hebrew word that means a rest day.

“Moreover I also gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between them and me, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them, that I am the Lord that makes them holy.” Ezekiel 20:12.

This is something worthy of consideration. Paul says that, “without holiness nobody is going to see the Lord.” Hebrews 12:14.

It is impossible for a human being to become holy, as we do not have power to do this ourselves; it is something that only God can do: sanctify—make holy. God only can give the power, the ability, to be obedient.

God says that He gave His people the Sabbath that they would have a sign between them and know that He is the Lord, that He is going to make them holy.

Keeping the Sabbath is a sign between God and His people. God promises them, “This is a sign between Me and you; I am going to make you holy.” If God makes you holy, you will inherit the gift of eternal life. Only holy people will be in heaven.

In heaven there are no wars, there are no penal institutions, there are no punishments. Why? Because the people there are holy people and they do not need police, air force, armies, navies, wars, prisons, and things like that to make them do what is right. They are holy people.

The Bible teaches that even in heaven God’s children are going to keep the Sabbath. Nobody will be in heaven who argues with the Lord about what day they will keep, because everybody in heaven has decided to keep the Ten Commandments. Notice what it says:

“And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, all flesh will come to worship before me, says the Lord.” Isaiah 66:23.

Facts about the Sabbath:

  • It is Jesus’ day; He created it (John 1:1–3; Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 1:2).
  • It is the day that His people at the end of the world will be keeping. Those who will worship the beast and are connected with the number 666 will be worshipping on another day. Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath (Matthew 12:8; Mark 2:28; Luke 6:5).
  • Jesus is the law giver.

Jesus Christ was the One who gave Moses those two tables of stone. Jesus Christ existed from the days of eternity. He came to this world and was born a baby in Bethlehem, but that One who was born, His days were from old, from everlasting (Micah 5:2).

Concerning the Father, it says in John 1:18 that no man has seen the Father at any time. It was Jesus Christ who is the authority behind the law and who revealed His glory to Moses on Mount Sinai.

It was Jesus who commanded the Sabbath, and while here on this earth, He perfectly kept it holy.

He said to the Jews, “Which of you convinces me concerning sin [breaking the law]?” John 8:46. They couldn’t answer. They would have nailed Him immediately if He had been a Sabbath breaker, but they had nothing to say because Jesus perfectly kept the Sabbath when He was on the earth.

Jesus commanded His disciples to keep the Sabbath. He said, “Pray that your flight be not in winter, nor on the Sabbath day.” Matthew 24:20.

All the apostles were Sabbath keepers. The Sabbath is His sign of allegiance, “a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am the Lord your God.” Ezekiel 20:20.

The Bible says, “The Sabbath is a sign between me and you the Lord says, that I am the Lord that will sanctify you [make you holy].” Ezekiel 20:12.

Remember, according to Hebrews 12:14 only those who are holy will go to heaven. You cannot make yourself holy. Only God can make you a holy person. A holy person is a person who keeps all of the commandments, because “the law is holy.” Romans 7:12.

A holy person is a person whose life is in harmony with the law. An unholy person is a person whose life is not in harmony with the law. For example, the seventh commandment says, “You shall not commit adultery.” A holy person will not commit adultery.

It is the same for every other commandment. If you are a holy person you will obey all the commandments. And the Sabbath is a promise between God and you that if you keep this day, God says He will make you a holy person.

The Sabbath will continue in heaven. “It is going to come to pass, that from one Sabbath to another, from one new moon to another, all flesh are going to come to worship before me.” Isaiah 66:23.

There will be no controversy over which day is the Sabbath. The Sabbath will be a delight to all, a day of communion with our God in remembrance of creation.

The same appeal made to His disciples the night He was betrayed is given to you and me in this last generation: “If you love me, keep my commandments.” John 14:15.

Jesus tenderly calls and offers the invitation, “Come unto me, all of you that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle, and lowly in heart: and you will find rest unto your soul.” Matthew 11:28, 29.

It doesn’t sound like the survival of the fittest; it is an invitation to all, young and old, rich and poor, free or imprisoned, no matter what race or color or social standing or physical condition. It is an open invitation to anybody to come.

And then Jesus says, “For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:30.

There is a better way than any survival of the fittest. There is a better way than the struggle between the races. There is a better way than competition and rivalry, and trying to figure out by competition who is better than whom. There is a better way.

Jesus says, “If you love me, keep my commandments.”

For about 6,000 years there has been a great controversy in the universe over who is going to be Lord— the head of the beast power, which is Satan, or Jesus Christ.

The theory of evolution came from his satanic majesty to deceive the human race and to get people into an all out struggle with each other, to destroy one another. But Jesus says to all the weak, to all those who are considered inferior in our world, “Come unto me, all of you, all of you that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

The rest He offers here is rest from your burden of sin. Sin is the heaviest burden you can carry, one that will kill you. Jesus will give you rest from the restlessness that is in this world. He says, “If you love me, keep my commandments.”

The choice is yours. The difference between Darwin, and Hitler, and the survival of the fittest and the invitation of Jesus Christ is great.

“Choose you this day whom ye will serve; … as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15.

[Literal translations used in Bible quotes.]

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

God’s Covenant and Law

People get the idea that the Law of God is unimportant. However, it is so important that rather than change it, God sent His Son to die. How can anything be more important than that?

There has been a lot of interest in the Ten Commandments the last few years in the public. But, what concerns me is that I have not seen the Ten Commandments in very many churches. In fact, it is the churches that have said it is really not important. Speaking of the Sabbath, the Catholics simply say, that is what the Bible says, but we changed it to Sunday. They admit this, claiming to have the authority to do so.

We do not believe that God has given anybody the authority to change this law. There are certain groups, rather than admitting that it has been changed by man, will try to twist their theology with certain Bible texts to make it look like God’s Law has been done away with. When you go through the Ten Commandments with them, you realize that there is only one law they are trying to get rid of and the other nine are okay. The only one they want to get rid of is the one that He wrote with His own finger and said remember. To think that the Fourth Commandment is not important should not even enter our minds.

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears.” II Timothy 4:3. In other words, teachers wanting to tell people what they want to hear rather than what God said. People want their Certified Public Accountant or attorney to tell them the truth; but they want preachers to tell them what they want to hear rather than what the Bible says.

What does the Bible really say? It says, “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Revelation 14:12. The Commandments of God and the faith of Jesus are together and should always be together. There is no conflict between God and Jesus. Some people think that when Jesus came to this earth, He was a rebel and that He stood up against God’s law. Jesus not only taught the Law but He magnified God’s law.

In Luke 2:49 when his parents found Him in the temple, He said, “Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” He said, “I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.” John 5:30. This is the will that He seeks, not His own will. Jesus is not in conflict with the Fourth Commandment because it refers to creation. This is right in the heart of the Ten Commandments and here is the Creator.

“All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” John 1:3. “All things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him.” Colossians 1:16. He created all things. Then speaking of Jesus Christ, it says, “There is one lawgiver.” James 4:12.

When Moses brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, there was a cloud protecting them by day and the pillar of fire by night. That was Jesus. “And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.” I Corinthians 10:4.

If Jesus were in conflict He would be in conflict with Himself. The Bible was given to us by God through His prophets. One part of it He wrote with His own hand and amazingly that is the part that some people want to say is no longer in effect.

He is so clear in Matthew 5:17: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.” People have said that means to destroy. Does that say: Think not that I have come to destroy the law; I have not come to destroy but to fulfil? Jesus uses the word to fulfill in Matthew 3:15. When Jesus was baptized, John the Baptist said that he was not worthy to baptize Jesus. “And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness.”

Did Jesus do away with righteousness when He was baptized? Did He do away with baptism? No, remember His great commission in Matthew 28:19, 20: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” In other words, go and teach and baptize continually. The word fulfill means that He was bringing about a fulfillment of understanding and of knowledge.

Jesus said, “Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” Matthew 5:18. Take your right foot and stomp on the ground. Is the earth still there? Has heaven and earth passed away? Jesus says not one jot or one tittle, until all pass away. Jesus said as long as it is still here, the law will not pass away.

Jesus talked about those people who teach that the commandments have been done away with in Matthew 5:19, first part: “Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven.” Being called least in the kingdom of heaven means you are not going to be there. Being called least means that you are the least regarded which means that you are not going to be there.

Jesus said whosoever shall do. I am glad He added the word do because we could teach it but not do it. The talk and the walk must line up together. He says, “But whosoever shall do and teach them the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven” (verse 19, last part) which means they will be in the kingdom of heaven. God is so very clear. He continues to amplify this: “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment.” He does not say that you can kill all you want to. He says, “But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother.” Matthew 5:21. That really makes it serious.

He is talking about our heart, our response and how important that is. Jesus said, “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” Matthew 27, 28. Did He tell the woman caught in adultery that it was all right now to go ahead and keep doing it? No. He said, “That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” That should convict each and every one of us, if not on that particular subject, but it shows that the heart is what God is after. He does not want us to be able to simply quote the Ten Commandments or to just memorize them. He does not want us even to try in our human power to perform them. God wants a change in the spirit.

What is the purpose of God’s law? The Bible is clear that the law does not save us. But it tells us what the function of the law is. In James 1:23–25 it tells us, “For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.”

We all have mirrors at home. When I get up in the morning I wish I did not have a mirror. I drag myself in and I look and I start laughing. I have about 20 minutes to become a dynamic, enthusiastic individual and it is hopeless. The mirror tells me what kind of problems I have. I have another mirror also and she will tell me if this tie is perfect or if it goes with this suit. The law shows me that there is something wrong. The mirror can’t clean me up. The mirror can’t straighten me up. The mirror can’t tell me one thing. I can get rid of that mirror, but I am still as bad off. The law is how we know that there is sin. Roman 3:20 says, “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” Romans 7:7 says, “I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except through the law.” Verse 12: “Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.” “Sin is the transgression of the law.” 1 John 3:4.

People will say that the law was done away with 2,000 years ago. If you will stop and think about it, here we have the law and sin is the transgression of the law. Jesus is the One who brings us cleansing, forgiveness and grace. If the law was done away with 2,000 years ago, then nobody has sinned in the last 2,000 years. If the law is gone, there is no sin. Look around and you will see a lot of sin going on. The law is still being broken. If you get rid of the law, you have gotten rid of sin. You get rid of sin; you don’t need sin. Do you see how it breaks down when you take away God’s law?

The Bible tells me that there was something that was nailed to the cross. What was that?

One night I was in Washington D.C with a fairly well-known preacher who was preaching that the law had been done away with. We were talking and he asked me if I would attend a function with him on a specific date which happened to be on the Sabbath. I told him I would not be there and he asked me why not. I said because I keep the seventh day Sabbath. He said, “Oh, you do that?” I said, “Yes I do.” He said, “Don’t you know you do not need to do that?” I said to him, “I really do not want to be out of harmony with everybody. Why don’t you show me where I don’t have to do this.” I knew he could not do this. He had some new text that was in the Bible and I knew there was no new text because I had been all through the Bible. He asked me to come over to his hotel room because he had his Bible there and he was going to show me a text.

We got to his room and he read Colossians 2:14 to me. I said to him “Do you mean you brought me over here to read that text to me? That is not what that text says.” Let me read it: “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross.” What is this talking about—the handwriting of ordinances? Remember God’s law was written with his finger. There has to be two laws. “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances.” There are no ordinances in the Ten Commandments. There is nothing about washing or certain feast days or things of that nature.

In verses 15, 16 it says, “Having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days.” There is nothing about meat in the Ten Commandments. There is nothing about drink in the Ten Commandments or respect of a holyday. It is not talking about the seventh day Sabbath. There is nothing about the new moon or of the sabbath days, those ceremonial sabbaths, that happen during those feast days, “which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.” Verse 17.

We went back through and looked at all of the scriptures. He said, “You just can’t get around this, can you.” I said, “No, you can’t.” He told me that in 1949 H.M.S. Richards held a crusade at Fort Worth, Texas, and he went and was convicted that he should keep the seventh day Sabbath. He went home and his family opposed him. He said he just did not have the courage to stand up to them and so he decided not to do it. I told him it was not too late. You can do it now. We had prayer together. After I left his room that night I tried to call him, and he never accepted my phone calls again.

You can turn your back on truth. You can take subjects and you can twist them so they seem to say something they don’t say. My friend, who I thought an awful lot of, had done just that. It is dangerous. He had encountered truth the first time and then God gave him another opportunity and he encountered it again. I am just praying that God gives him another opportunity.

James 2:10 says, “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” If we break the law we are guilty. In other words, if you keep nine of them and you don’t keep that fourth one, then you are guilty of not keeping them all. “For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.” Verses 11, 12.

Another text about abolishing is found in Ephesians 2:15: “Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances.” All those ordinances were beautiful and wonderful but they did not save you. This was a big problem because people began to put emphasis on all of the to dos to be saved. Paul talks about them as the school teacher or the school master that brings you to the cross. “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.” Matthew 5:17.

Isn’t there a text that says we are not under the law but under grace? Yes, Romans 6:14, 15 says, “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.” God forbid. We are not under the penalty of the law if we have accepted Jesus Christ and He has come into our lives. We are not under that penalty.

When you read the Ten Commandments, it makes you wonder why anybody would want to get rid of them. In the Old Testament, sin was the transgression of the law. What is it in the New Testament?—the transgression of the law. There is absolutely no doubt that it is still the transgression of the law. God said, “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.” 1 John 3:4. “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:23. When God has saved you, you want to be loyal to Him. You want to be His. “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.” John 15:10.

The Ten Commandments are written in stone but God wants to write them in our hearts and in our minds. He is going to change me and I really need changing. Hebrews 8:10 says, “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.” Jesus desires a loving spiritual relationship. He wants to change us so effectively that we really have a relationship with Him.

“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.” John 15:4. Abiding in Him and receiving the gift. It changes our behavior and we become more like our indwelling Jesus. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:8–10. He wants to change us.

I met a young man who was telling me that nothing needs to happen when you accept the Lord. There will not be any change in your behavior. I told him if you accept the Lord, there will be a change. God wants to take us and change us. I don’t want my same habits. I don’t want these same problems that I have. I want to be changed. He says, I will change you. In Ephesians 2:10: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” That is how we walk.

He loves you and cares about you. We are not under law but under grace. We are not under the penalty of the law. We are not standing with the law on the outside; we are standing with the law on the inside because we have been born again. It is written in our hearts. As it was taken from the tables of stone to these tablets of our hearts and flesh, it did not drop one or two commandments on the way. All ten came to be written upon our hearts.

Paul says, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20. We are His workmanship.

Pastor Jim Gilley’s sermon was taken from the Ten Commandments Weekend, 2008 series aired on 3ABN. For more information contact www.3ABN.org.

Who Will be Ready for Jesus’ Return?

The night Jesus was betrayed He disclosed to His disciples that the time had come for Him to leave. At this they became very troubled and depressed, as Jesus had become the best friend they had in this world and they could not stand the idea of being separated from Him and wanted to be with Him.

They were with Him as He opened the eyes of the blind, healed those with leprosy, gave people who were speech impaired the ability to speak, and those who were deaf, the ability to hear. They were with Him and witnessed as He raised the dead and understood that He was the Messiah.

It was their delight to be with Him and they looked forward to Him setting up a kingdom in Jerusalem. However, they did not realize that in less than 24 hours from that time, their Master would be dead on the cross and their hopes would vanish.

But now they were troubled because He told them that He was leaving. It was at this time, when they were so distressed and depressed and troubled, that Jesus gave to them one of the most wonderful promises in the Bible. He said, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” John 14:1–3.

It is and always has been the Christian’s hope that Jesus is coming again. The apostle Paul called it the blessed hope. When Jesus comes again for His children, there will not be any more pain, sickness or death and there will be no more separation or loneliness.

Jesus made this promise to His disciples at the communion supper before his betrayal.

Six weeks later was Pentecost, which was the beginning of the apostolic Christian church. At that time when Peter preached, there were 3,000 converted in one day and Christ’s promise to return was made to His disciples and all of His followers since that time. However, this event does not provide any hope for the rest of the world. We who believe look forward to being reunited with our loved ones who have died in Christ. It is the most exciting hope that we have—the blessed hope.

But for some, this will not be a wonderful event, and they are going to be very upset and distressed at Jesus’ return.

Jesus said the last days are going to be like it was in the days of Noah (Matthew 24). We know that only eight people out of all those living at that time actually accepted the invitation, entered the ark and were saved. Mathematicians have estimated that the world could have had a population of easily over one billion people at the time of the flood.

In those days people lived several hundred years. It is recorded that Adam lived 930 years so he and Eve would have had many children in their lifetime. From all of those people only eight got on the ark.

Jesus said it is going to be like that again. Paul said, “It is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you [the church]; And to give you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.” II Thessalonians 1:6–9.

What is going to happen to those who do not know God and do not obey the Gospel? They are going to be punished with everlasting destruction. When Jesus returns it will be the most exciting time for the saints, but for some it will be punishment with everlasting destruction.

A most important question to ask is, Will He acknowledge me as being part of His people, part of His church and one of His disciples?

It is not enough to simply make a profession and call yourself a Christian. How can you be sure that you are part of His remnant people in these last days? I want to know for sure that when Jesus comes, He will recognize me as being part of His people, part of His believers and part of His church.

Does God have a last day people in the earth today and if so, are they described in Bible prophecy?

Jesus said, “And I also say to you, That you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church; and the gates of Hades [that is the gates of the grave] shall not prevail against it.” Matthew 16:18.

He said that the gates of Hades will not prevail against His church—so it must still be in existence today.

Notice what happened on the day of Pentecost: “Them that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about 3,000 souls. … And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.” Acts 2:41, 47.

God knows the intent of each heart. No one can fool God. He looked at each heart and He saw those who were responding to the gospel and added them to the church.

Jesus said, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” Matthew 28:18, 19.

One might wonder where is God’s true church today with over 300 different denominations in North America. However, the Bible has a very clear answer to that question because it was revealed to the prophets and the apostles, and we find it written down very clearly in the book of Revelation.

In Bible prophecy, a woman represents a church, and in Revelation 17 the counterfeit church and false system of worship is described as a great prostitute woman, called Babylon. This woman is not a pure woman. She is the great prostitute who is going to get worldwide influence. In fact, it says that everybody in the world is going to worship this woman except those who are saved. In Revelation 12 there is described an enormous struggle between the forces of good and the forces of evil.

Satan’s object of attack is God’s church which is described in Revelation 12 as a pure woman—a woman standing on the moon, with a crown, and twelve stars on her head.

“A great sign appeared in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars: Then being with child she cried out in labour, and in pain to give birth.” Revelation 12:1, 2.

This is not actually a woman in the flesh—this is a sign, or a wonder in heaven. She is clothed with the sun, that is, with light. On her head is a garland of twelve stars and she is described as getting ready to bring forth a son. This woman represents God’s church. It is a pure woman, not a prostitute woman like the woman in Revelation 17 who gains control over most of the world in the last days.

In Revelation 12 verses 7–9, is described a gigantic war between Christ and His angels and Satan and his angels. “And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent.” In Hebrew the word Michael means one who is like God.

When Lucifer fell from heaven he became Satan and is referred to as the dragon. It was the dragon speaking through a serpent that deceived Eve and ever since that time he has been referred to as that ancient serpent. He was not created as a serpent. He was created as a leading angel in heaven. He was called in Ezekiel “the cherub that covers.” Ezekiel 28:14. His place was right next to the throne of God, but he rebelled. Then he persuaded a third of the angels to rebel with him and war broke out in heaven between Michael, that is, Christ and His angels, and the dragon, Satan and his angels. And it says, “The dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth [how much of the world?] the whole world.”

This dragon, the devil, was cast out into the earth and his angels were cast out with him.

He was cast out of heaven physically before the world was created, but he was not completely cast out from the hearts of the angels. Remember, the dragon, the devil, Lucifer and his angels had been friends and companions with the angels of God in heaven for we know not how long, but it could have been many, many millions of years.

Though he was cast out of heaven at God’s command the results of his rebellion had not been realized and the angels still had some sympathy for him.

God saw that if the universe was ever going to be safe, this sympathy the angels of heaven had for Lucifer had to be cast out, or heaven would never be safe.

The plan of salvation was put into operation. Angels of God watched with wonder the controversy between Christ and Satan during Jesus’ earthly life. They saw the devil following Him with every kind of temptation, trying to make His way as hard as possible. They witnessed him stir up the people against Jesus, causing the Jews to finally reject Him, which caused Him to be scourged and flogged. Angels wept as people spat in His face and then nailed their Commander to the cross, lifting it up and jamming it into the ground, causing the most excruciating suffering to the Majesty of heaven who was innocent of any crime.

The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross did not only benefit the people of this world. When the angels of heaven and the unfallen universe saw what the devil did to Jesus Christ, it totally uprooted any residual sympathy they had for their former friend.

Revelation 12:13 says, “And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman who brought forth the man child.”

Jesus was a descendent of Eve, a child of the church, born of the virgin, Mary. Satan knew that the “seed of the woman” would eventually “bruise his head” (Genesis 3:15). In an attempt to stop that prophecy from taking place he stirred up Herod, who sent his soldiers to Bethlehem to kill all the male babies two years old and under in an attempt to also destroy the promised seed, Jesus. God sent an angel to Joseph with the warning to flee down to Egypt right away, thus saving the life of Jesus. It is unknown how many babies were taken from their mother’s arms and put to death, causing great mourning in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:16, 19–21).

The prophecy says that this child that was to rule all nations with a rod of iron was caught up unto God and to His throne (Revelation 12:5). That is exactly what happened. After his death He was resurrected and Jesus ascended to heaven. Angels came to comfort the disciples and told them that, “This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, is going to come back in like manner as you have seen him go into heaven.” Acts 1:11.

At the cross, the dragon saw that he had been cast down—cast out of the affections and sympathy of all the unfallen universe, which stirred in him more anger. He then turned his attack on the woman—the church.

Revelation 12:11 says, “And they overcame him [the devil] by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.”

We will never know until the Day of Judgment, how many millions of Christians died violently at the hands of the pagan Roman government around the latter part of the 1st century. When the pagan persecution stopped, the Christian persecution began. The medieval church enlisted the power of the State to enforce its decrees and persecution started all over again. Christians were forced to make a decision. If they could not violate their conscience they were captured, taken in the dead of night from their hiding places to dungeons and prisons where many of them were cruelly martyred.

The Bible predicted this event in Revelation 12:14: “The woman fled into the desert, to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for twelve hundred and sixty days.”

In symbolic time prophecy, a day equals a year. “I have appointed you each day for a year.” Ezekiel 4:6.

During that prophetic time, faithful men and women of God kept the lamp of truth burning, but at the peril of their lives. They were constantly afraid, always aware of the danger each time they opened the Sacred Writings that they could be caught and punished with even death.

The freedom we enjoy today in the United States has been bought with much blood of the past.

In The History of the Popes, vol. 2, 334, it states: “Great numbers were driven from their habitations with their wives and children, stripped and naked, many of them inhumanly massacred.”

The Bible predicted that, “The serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.” Revelation 12:15, 16.

The water represents peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues (Revelation 17:15).

There were isolated and desolate places in the earth where people fled to escape the persecution to places like the Piedmont valleys in the Alps, which was the home of the Waldenses for many years. Instead of just fleeing into the Alps, or into southeastern France, eventually some people seeking to flee from the persecution fled all the way across the ocean to America. These Christians became known as pilgrims.

God’s faithful found refuge in a land that was to become the greatest nation on the face of the earth.

At the end of the 1,260 years was predicted the rise of God’s last day movement and last day events. “And the dragon was wroth [angry] with the woman [the church], and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Revelation 12:17.

Notice it is the same woman. It is the remnant of her seed. The word remnant means that which remains and is like the original.

The book of Revelation reveals the characteristics of this remnant. “And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”

Here we see that the remnant—God’s last people in the earth—keep the commandments of God. This means they would be Sabbath keepers because the Sabbath is the longest commandment in the whole law. They could not be idolaters because the second commandment is the second longest commandment in the whole law, condemning the practice of using idols or images in worship.

In the final angel’s message to the world, John describes God’s last people. “Here is the patience of the saints. Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Revelation 14:12.

God’s people are described as keeping God’s commandments and having the same religion or the same faith that Jesus had. These two distinguishing characteristics of God’s remnant or last day people are:

Keeping all ten of the commandments of God. “If you keep the whole law and you offend in one, you are a lawbreaker; you are not a commandment keeper.” James 2:10.

Have the testimony of Jesus. “And I fell at his feet to worship him and he said to me, See that you do not do that, I am your fellow servant and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” Revelation 19:10.

The testimony of Jesus is to be confirmed in those who are waiting for Jesus’ coming. Paul said, “Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you; So that you come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” I Corinthians 1:6, 7.

When Jesus left this world and ascended to heaven He gave to His church some spiritual gifts. It says, “And he gave some to be apostles; some prophets; some evangelists; and some pastors and teachers.” Ephesians 4:11. These spiritual gifts were given for the perfecting of the saints, or, in other words, until the church would be perfect in Christ.

God’s last day people will be keeping His commandments and they will have the testimony of Jesus, the spirit of prophecy, according to Revelation 12:17.

Toward the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century, there was a great religious and spiritual awakening all over the world. Bible scholars at that time discovered that after the 1,260 years of hiding from persecution, the church was to appear again after 1798. It was discovered that this earth had reached the period in history that the Bible called the last days, or the time of the end.

For the first time in history God began to move upon His servants all over the world, in many different churches, to proclaim the news that the second coming of Christ was approaching. What was the result of this?

At first many people were very excited about the preaching of Jesus’ soon return. There was an awakening in all the different churches, the Roman Catholic as well as all the different Protestant churches. People started studying their Bibles and said, “We believe from Bible prophecy that Jesus is coming soon.”

As time went on, the people of the 1830s–1840s had the same problem that many Christians have today. They actually loved this world more than they loved Jesus and His soon return.

The Bible talks about this. The Ephesus church was rebuked by Jesus. “You have lost your first love; you have fallen.” See Revelation 2:4, 5. The people in the Christian churches loved the world, especially in the United States because this country was starting to become prosperous. They loved the world more than they wanted Jesus to come so there was opposition to the teaching that the Day of Judgment was approaching and that Jesus was coming soon. Those who persisted to advocate were actually disfellowshipped from the mainline churches in America and also other countries just because of their belief that Jesus was coming soon and that the whole world needed to hear the message. They were forced out. Where did they go?

From the prophecy in Daniel 8:14 Jesus was expected to return to this world in 1843 and then in 1844. The misunderstanding of the work of Jesus, the High Priest (Hebrews 8 and 9) and the meaning of the sanctuary caused a great disappointment when Jesus did not come as the prophecy predicted. Diligently, the faithful ones studied the Bible prophecy to find their error. “And he said to me, for 2,300 days; then the sanctuary shall be cleansed.” Daniel 8:14.

A prophetic day is a literal year. The prophecy predicted exactly when the Messiah would come. He came at the very time specified in Daniel 9:24–26. This prophecy predicted the exact time when Jesus would be crucified and also the exact time when the judgment would begin in the sanctuary in heaven.

In 1844 this group who believed the second advent of Christ was to occur that year were deeply disappointed when He didn’t return. Faithful to His word, God raised up the gift of prophecy to guide His disappointed people and lead them into a worldwide movement to proclaim the gospel. Now there are thousands of people teaching this all over the world because Jesus is coming soon and the world has to be warned.

Revelation predicted that God’s remnant, or last day people, would appear after the woman (the church) came out of the wilderness where she (the church) was in seclusion for 1,260 years. In other words, God’s last day people would be seen some time after 1798. As mentioned before, these last day people, or remnant, are described as having two prominent characteristics:

They would keep the commandments of God in a time of lawlessness. Jesus predicted in Matthew 24:12 that the last days would be a time of great lawlessness. That is exactly what we see. Paul also said the same thing in II Timothy 3.

These people would have the testimony of Jesus—the gift of prophecy.

“And I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth, to every nation, and tribe, and tongue, and people.” Revelation 14:6.

Notice that this message is going to go to the whole world, just like it did in Noah’s day. God is not going to destroy people in this world until they have had a chance to escape the destruction that is coming. The people who choose not to accept the gospel are going to be destroyed. Those who do not accept the mercy, so freely offered, will receive the just reward of their deeds (II Thessalonians 1:6–10).

God’s remnant people would not only keep God’s commandments and have the testimony of Jesus, the spirit of prophecy, but they would take the gospel to all the world (Revelation 14:6–12).

Matthew 24:14 says, “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world as a witness for all nations; and then shall the end come.”

Jesus did not say that the whole world would be converted but only a very small percentage. The book of Revelation makes it very clear, exceedingly clear, that in the last days almost the whole world will reject the gospel and be destroyed. Everyone will have a chance to accept it, just like the people in Noah’s day who all had an opportunity to get on the ark and be saved from the flood. There are far more converts to the gospel in countries that are deprived than in the countries where there is much wealth. Remember Jesus said, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” Matthew 19:24.

The gospel will be preached in all the world as a witness to all nations and then the end will come.

There is a better world coming—a world with no death, no war, no sickness, and no pain. “And God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, and there shall be no more pain; for the former things have passed away.” Revelation 21:4.

Heaven is a good place. The time is coming when every single person in this world is going to want to be in that place. But now is the time to make that decision. If you want to be in heaven you need to make a decision today to follow Christ and be loyal to the government of God by keeping His commandments and receiving the Holy Spirit so that your heart can be transformed and changed. God cannot pollute heaven with taking those whose hearts are filled with the rubbish of earth.

Jesus is not coming back to this world to get church buildings or organizations. He is coming for His people, those who love Him and keep His commandments, who delight to do His will and live by the Spirit of Prophecy. These are those who make up His church on this earth.

Accept God’s invitation today and be part of His remnant church. He is coming soon. Be ready!

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

Bible Study Guides – Sin—What is it?

April 4, 2010 – April 10, 2010

Key Text:

“Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” Matthew 22:37–39.

Study Helps: Fundamentals of Christian Education, 135–137.

Introduction:

“Our work individually is to copy the character of Christ, who gave His life to make it possible for us to do this. Shall we evidence to the world that we are children of God, bought with a price, and that we are bearing fruit in speech, in tone of voice, and in kindness of redeeming love, showing what it means to keep the commandments of God?” In Heavenly Places, 220.

1 What is sin? I John 3:4.

Note: “This robe, woven in the loom of heaven, has in it not one thread of human devising. Christ in His humanity wrought out a perfect character, and this character He offers to impart to us. … Sin is defined to be ‘the transgression of the law.’ I John 3:5, 4. But Christ was obedient to every requirement of the law. … By His perfect obedience He has made it possible for every human being to obey God’s commandments. When we submit ourselves to Christ, the heart is united with His heart, the will is merged in His will, the mind becomes one with His mind, the thoughts are brought into captivity to Him; we live His life. This is what it means to be clothed with the garment of His righteousness. Then as the Lord looks upon us He sees, not the fig-leaf garment, not the nakedness and deformity of sin, but His own robe of righteousness, which is perfect obedience to the law of Jehovah.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 311, 312.

2 What law does sin break? James 2:10–12.

Note: “In the beginning, God gave His law to mankind as a means of attaining happiness and eternal life. …

“That law of ten precepts of the greatest love that can be presented to man is the voice of God from heaven speaking to the soul in promise, ‘This do, and you will not come under the dominion and control of Satan.’ There is not a negative in that law, although it may appear thus. It is DO and Live.” God’s Amazing Grace, 134.

3 Before giving His law to the Children of Israel what were the people instructed to do? Exodus 19:10–13.

Note: “Order and cleanliness is the law of heaven; and in order to come into harmony with the divine arrangement, it is our duty to be neat and tasty.” The Adventist Home, 254.

“The Lord commanded the children of Israel to wash their clothes and put away all impurity from their encampment, lest in passing by He should see their uncleanness. God is passing by our homes today, and He looks upon the unsanitary conditions of families and the lax habits. Had we not better reform, and that without delay?” Child Guidance, 106.

4 By whom and how were the Ten Commandments given to the Children of Israel? Exodus 20:1; Deuteronomy 5:22.

Note: “The ten holy precepts spoken by Christ upon Sinai’s mount were the revelation of the character of God, and made known to the world the fact that He had jurisdiction over the whole human heritage. That law of ten precepts of the greatest love that can be presented to man is the voice of God from heaven speaking to the soul in promise. ‘This do, and you will not come under the dominion and control of Satan.’ There is not a negative in that law, although it may appear thus. It is DO, and Live. … The Lord has given His holy commandments to be a wall of protection around His created beings.” Sons and Daughters of God, 53.

5 What are the commandments that God proclaimed? Exodus 20:3–17; Deuteronomy 5:7–21.

Note: “The signs exist today which prophecy predicted would characterize the state of society just prior to the second coming of Christ. You have heard much in regard to the authority and sanctity of the law of the ten commandments. God is the author of that law, which is the foundation of his government in Heaven and on earth. All enlightened nations have based their laws upon this grand foundation of all law; yet the legislators and ministers, who are recognized as the leaders and teachers of the people, live in open violation of the principles inculcated in those holy statutes.” The Health Reformer, July 1, 1878.

6 Now let us consider the blessings of the commandments one at a time. Exodus 20:3.

Note: “In the last days of this earth’s history the voice that spoke from Sinai is still declaring, ‘Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.’ Exodus 20:3. Man has set his will against the will of God, but he cannot silence the word of command. The human mind cannot evade its obligation to a higher power. Theories and speculations may abound; men may try to set science in opposition to revelation, and thus do away with God’s law; but stronger and still stronger comes the command, ‘Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.’ Matthew 4:10.” Prophets and Kings, 624, 625.

Worship One God—Exodus 20:4–6.

“Our Creator demands our supreme devotion, our first allegiance. Anything which tends to abate our love for God, or to interfere with the service due Him, becomes thereby an idol. With some their lands, their houses, their merchandise, are the idols. Business enterprises are prosecuted with zeal and energy, while the service of God is made a secondary consideration. Family worship is neglected, secret prayer forgotten. Many claim to deal justly with their fellow-men, and seem to feel that in so doing they discharge their whole duty. But it is not enough to keep the last six commandments of the Decalogue. We are to love the Lord our God with all the heart. Nothing short of obedience to every precept … can satisfy the claims of the divine law.” Sons and Daughters of God, 57.

“ ‘Showing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me, and keep My commandments’ [Exodus 20:6]. In prohibiting the worship of false gods, the second commandment by implication enjoins the worship of the true God. And to those who are faithful in His service, mercy is promised, not merely to the third and fourth generation as is the wrath threatened against those who hate Him, but to thousands of generations.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 306.

Honor God—Exodus 20:7.

“This commandment not only prohibits false oaths and common swearing, but it forbids us to use the name of God in a light or careless manner, without regard to its awful significance. By the thoughtless mention of God in common conversation, by appeals to Him in trivial matters, and by the frequent and thoughtless repetition of His name, we dishonor Him. ‘Holy and reverend is His name.’ Psalm 111:9. All should meditate upon His majesty, His purity and holiness, that the heart may be impressed with a sense of His exalted character; and His holy name should be uttered with reverence and solemnity.” Ibid., 306, 307.

The Sabbath—Exodus 20:8–11.

“The Sabbath is not introduced as a new institution but as having been founded at creation. It is to be remembered and observed as the memorial of the Creator’s work. Pointing to God as the Maker of the heavens and the earth, it distinguishes the true God from all false gods. All who keep the seventh day signify by this act that they are worshipers of Jehovah. Thus the Sabbath is the sign of man’s allegiance to God as long as there are any upon the earth to serve Him. The fourth commandment is the only one of all the ten in which are found both the name and the title of the Lawgiver. It is the only one that shows by whose authority the law is given. Thus it contains the seal of God, affixed to His law as evidence of its authenticity and binding force.” Ibid., 307.

Honor Parents—Exodus 20:12.

“ ‘Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee’ [Exodus 20:12].

“Parents are entitled to a degree of love and respect which is due to no other person. God Himself, who has placed upon them a responsibility for the souls committed to their charge, has ordained that during the earlier years of life, parents shall stand in the place of God to their children. And he who rejects the rightful authority of his parents is rejecting the authority of God. The fifth commandment requires children not only to yield respect, submission, and obedience to their parents, but also to give them love and tenderness, to lighten their cares, to guard their reputation, and to succor and comfort them in old age. It also enjoins respect for ministers and rulers and for all others to whom God has delegated authority.” Ibid., 308.

Respect—Exodus 20:13.

“All acts of injustice that tend to shorten life; the spirit of hatred and revenge, or the indulgence of any passion that leads to injurious acts toward others, or causes us even to wish them harm (for ‘whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer’) [I John 3:15]; a selfish neglect of caring for the needy or suffering; all self-indulgence or unnecessary deprivation or excessive labor that tends to injure health—all these are, to a greater or less degree, violations of the sixth commandment.” Ibid.

Morality—Exodus 20:14.

“This commandment forbids not only acts of impurity, but sensual thoughts and desires, or any practice that tends to excite them. Purity is demanded not only in the outward life but in the secret intents and emotions of the heart. Christ, who taught the far-reaching obligation of the law of God, declared the evil thought or look to be as truly sin as is the unlawful deed.” Ibid.

Honesty—Exodus 20:15.

“Both public and private sins are included in this prohibition. The eighth commandment condemns manstealing and slave dealing, and forbids wars of conquest. It condemns theft and robbery. It demands strict integrity in the minutest details of the affairs of life. It forbids overreaching in trade, and requires the payment of just debts or wages. It declares that every attempt to advantage oneself by the ignorance, weakness, or misfortune of another is registered as fraud in the books of heaven.” Ibid., 309.

Truthfulness—Exodus 20:16.

“False speaking in any matter, every attempt or purpose to deceive our neighbor, is here included. An intention to deceive is what constitutes falsehood. By a glance of the eye, a motion of the hand, an expression of the countenance, a falsehood may be told as effectually as by words. All intentional overstatement, every hint or insinuation calculated to convey an erroneous or exaggerated impression, even the statement of facts in such a manner as to mislead, is falsehood. This precept forbids every effort to injure our neighbor’s reputation by misrepresentation or evil surmising, by slander or tale bearing. Even the intentional suppression of truth, by which injury may result to others, is a violation of the ninth commandment.” Ibid.

Unselfishness—Exodus 20:17.

“The tenth commandment strikes at the very root of all sins, prohibiting the selfish desire, from which springs the sinful act. He who in obedience to God’s law refrains from indulging even a sinful desire for that which belongs to another will not be guilty of an act of wrong toward his fellow creatures.

“Such were the sacred precepts of the Decalogue, spoken amid thunder and flame, and with a wonderful display of the power and majesty of the great Lawgiver. God accompanied the proclamation of His law with exhibitions of His power and glory, that His people might never forget the scene, and that they might be impressed with profound veneration for the Author of the law, the Creator of heaven and earth. He would also show to all men the sacredness, the importance, and the permanence of His law.” Ibid.

Additional Reading

“In the Bible every vital principle is declared, every duty made plain, every obligation made evident. The whole duty of man is summed up by the Saviour. He says, ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. … Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself’ [Matthew 13:37, 39]. In the word the plan of salvation is plainly delineated. The gift of eternal life is promised on condition of saving faith in Christ. The drawing power of the Holy Spirit is pointed out as an agent in the work of man’s salvation. The rewards of the faithful, the punishment of the guilty, are all laid out in clear lines. The Bible contains the science of salvation for all those who will hear and do the words of Christ.” Fundamentals of Christian Education, 187.

This quarter’s lessons were prepared by Ruth Grosboll prior to her passing in January, 2010.

The First Commandment

When we study God’s word, a correct understanding of that word is the result of a number of factors and ingredients. Not only do we need an understanding of the people and the times of the particular book under consideration, but the overall context.

We see God in His word as One attempting to initiate and desiring to establish and maintain an intimate relationship with His people. His desire has always been to make an atonement for the world in general and His people in particular. This provides the background of our studies, not only for the commandments, but for every law, every rule, every ordinance, prohibition, every sanction, as well as every blessing, promise and every prophecy that God gave to His children and through them to the world.

From the time God asked Abraham to look into the sky and count the stars, through the long period until the first stone hit the holy brow of Stephen, there was something very special that God wanted to do with the Jews, to the Jews, for the Jews and through the Jews to the world. So, Jesus began to codify in Exodus a set of laws predicated on the demonstrated fact that you can do, because He has already done. God enjoins that to His people today. We can indeed do all things because of what Christ has already done.

When we were kids and we were playing, my dad many times would tell us to do something, or more accurately tell us to stop doing something. Sometimes we would get a little insubordinate, a little obstinate or hardheaded and the context for what ensued was the fact that my father did not take a particular liking in saying anything twice. There were times as kids when we thought we were out of range and in a safety zone, that we would actually question one of my father’s directions. He would say, “Don’t do that.” Sometimes in a fit of insanity we would say, “Why”? My old-schooled dad would provide a context for the discussion. “Because I am your father,” he would say. “I brought you in; I will take you out,” or “Because I said so.”

Once when I was 10 or 11, I searched my brain and it occurred to me that because “I said so,” or “because I am your father,” was not sufficient justification to alter or abate my intended course of action. I might have even used the word, “Stupid.” I thought I was out of reach and I thought he had not heard me, but my father sprang like a cat with blinding human strength and lifted me off my feet and said, “Because if I catch you doing that again I will kill you.” While growing up in my house there were many infractions to which death was the ultimate penalty. But I stayed alive long enough to baptize my dad into the Seventh-day Adventist church.

Yet over and over again we see this preamble that we are about to look at that contextualizes the perspective future relationship and activities between God and His people.

Exodus 20:2 says, “I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” We see this pattern over and over again no less than ten times—four times on God’s behalf and six times it was recited by the Lord Himself. He recited this many times to a people who in many instances did not know God and even when they were introduced to Him they were disposed to develop an almost irresistible case of spiritual Alzheimer’s. There are pages in the Old Testament riddled with stories of a people afflicted with a selective memory loss. This loss resulted in their continual wandering from God. They never really got it right.

A loving Lord, knowing the unstable nature of his chosen people, would often have to reformulate in their minds the reality that He was the Lord God and beside Him there was no other.

He is the Lord God. Not just any god, but your God. He is the God who brought you out of Egypt. Pharaoh was a type of Satan, a type of sin. Jehovah is saying, I delivered you from their presence and their power. This is what I did for you; now I want you to do the following for me.

Verse 3 says, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” I always thought it was interesting that the Lord would have to put that there. It occurred to me that, other than Jehovah God, the one true God, there is no other god.

The word used in the Hebrew is Elohim, the im is a plural ending. It is mostly used in Scripture for God and often denotes the title or office of God. El was also the head of the Canaanites Pantheon, so it was a borrowed word. They had El; we have Elo—our God is greater than your god. Elohim bespeaks divinity, might, power and keeping ability. It is masculine in gender and always plural. Sometimes it means Jehovah, the real God; other times it means the false god. How do you know the difference?

When the context is singular with a plural Elohim, it is the true God. An example of this is found in Genesis 1:27: “So God created man in his own image.” So Elohim created man in his image. You have the plural Elohim with the singular word his. The plural with the singular is talking about the true God.

Another example is found in Genesis 1:29: “And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb.” Again Elohim plural with singular word I. Look at Deuteronomy 6:4: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord.” When you have a singular with a plural, you are talking about the true God.

When you have a plural with a plural, you are talking about a false god. It is the same word but a different god. God says, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me [Exodus 20:3].” No false gods before God.

There is but one true God. The mixed multitude in the desert thought that there were many gods. They had been seduced by 400 years of living in Egypt, over 200 of which they were in Egyptian bondage. But God would have them to know that there is only one true God and anything else is fiction or an idol. How dare we attempt to replace the real God with fiction.

The core meaning of the first Commandment is not to elevate to god status anyone or anything that can never really be God.

As bad as it is not to know God, it is arguably and grievously worse to know Him and live like He does not exist. Nothing comes before God. Nothing is more important than God. Not your money, your home, your job, your reputation, not your spouse or your family. Family is very important—next to God, but none of these temporal things can save you. Like jaundice—these things that replace God are symptoms of a deeper problem.

If your job is more important than Jehovah, you have a problem because the real issue is not your job and may lie somewhere else that is far more invasive and sinister.

The real demigod is not what we own; it is what we are. What you own is a symptom of what you are. Some say, “Tell me where a person spends his money and I will show you what he is.” Paul says, “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves.” II Timothy 3:1, 2. People are going to fall out of love with God and in love with themselves. God says that the prevailing sin of these last days, of the end times, the fertile garden from which so much misery grows, is the sin of self love. The problem we have is that we are so much in love with ourselves that we do not have room for God. We have replaced God with us.

Man’s god today is himself. What was alluded to in Timothy is stated emphatically in Romans 1:25: “Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator.” Heaven’s complaint is that those who were created for God’s glory have decided they don’t want Him anymore.

At the beginning of Christ’s mediatory work in the Holy of Holies in the days surrounding 1844, heaven stepped into high gear and so did Satan.

Just as God began to raise up young people like James White, 1821, and Ellen White, 1827, with strength, stamina and the Holy Spirit, Satan also raised up his champions, Karl Marx, 1818, and Fredrick Engels, 1820.

Charles Darwin in 1831, the same year that William Miller preached his first sermon, jumped aboard a ship called HMS Beagle. As an unpaid naturalist, he made amazing discoveries in the Galapagos Islands about 1,000 leagues west of the country of Ecuador. By the time he returned in 1836, he had convinced himself that mankind was the product of an evolutionary process that he called natural selection. Chance was in, God was out. He fine tuned his ideas for 23 years. Others bought into his theories and during the days of the Great Disappointment, October, 1844, Darwin was saying that God had nothing to do with creation.

By the time the first edition of the Origin of the Species came out in 1859, it sold out in one day. Five additional editions also sold out within days of their release. One doctor said, commenting on Darwin’s work, “He is the single most influential individual on planet earth in the last 250 years.” And it is no coincidence that Darwin came to the front about 1844. When Christ stepped up His ministry, Satan also stepped up his.

Another doctor stated, “With the publishing of the book, Origins, mankind had finally escaped from God.” Satan didn’t stop there. Karl Marx and Fredrick Engels collaborated on a book called The Communist Manifesto, released in 1848. The Communist Manifesto served as inspiration for countless 20th Century and 19th Century dictators and tyrants, including Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, Polpot and many others who got their theology from The Communist Manifesto. None of them had any value for human life. When you take God out of the picture, all you are left with is an animal in a world that asserts that daddy was a gorilla and mommy was a chimpanzee.

The Bible says, “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.” Psalm 53:1. There are scientists that will tell you that it takes more faith to believe in evolution than it does in creation. Dr. Mike Denton says that by the time Darwin’s last edition of Origins came off the press in 1872, even Darwin himself was plagued by self doubts because he was unable to meet the many objections to his own theories. By the end of his life, Charles Darwin wasn’t even buying what he was selling.

In 1844 one month after the great disappointment, Engels collaborated on another book called The Holy Family. There was nothing holy about it. The book was described as a sarcastic assault and revolt against the state, the family, religion and God Himself. Engels lived with a woman all of his life but he never married her. He refused to marry her. As an affront to God, he taught that marriage was unnatural, unethical and evil.

It was not a coincidence that these men came to the front about the end of the 2300 days because Satan knew his time was short. Now the whole world accepts a myth or theory as fact.

Science was the hook used to pull God from His throne and to replace Him with us. So a new ideology is born. Nobody buys that God is dead. The new theology simply is that God is unnecessary because we have science, art, medicine, college degrees and PhDs. We are not illiterate; we don’t live in tents, we live in houses and we rely on ourselves. God is just not necessary. “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.” Romans 1:22.

The most overused, underrated, bankrupt word in the English language is love. “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” 1 John 4:8. The concept of love, like ethics and morality, has absolutely no meaning without God. You can talk about emotionalism and physical attraction, but if you are talking about real love you have to be talking about God. How curious it is that the further we move from God or stray from God in these last days, the more we tend to use words that substitute for God and the more we use terms that have their relevance and meaning only in God.

We tend to deify the terms and forget about God. We have made a god of love. I love my dog. I love my cat. I love my new clothes. I love my television. I love this summer. I love, I love, I love and if any of them get old and rusty I am turning them in on a new model. The concept of the word love itself has been adulterated. We talk about love, we read about love, we hear about love and sing about it, we sell love, we worship love. Ever searching, never finding, looking for love in all the wrong places.

You cannot purchase a $1,500 handbag or a $4,500 watch for a cool $25. Love in today’s world is little more than justification of self-indulgence.

God is love, but love is not God. The God of love, as much as He loves, says you cannot have any other gods before me, not even love itself. So man is latter day’s god. Love is his holy spirit and the logical, predictable end to that kind of ideology is evolution. When you put man at the top and take God off the throne, you are in for trouble. We see how twisted we can become when we leave out the pure gospel. I am my god and you are yours.

Have you heard of the story of the self-made man who worshipped his own god? He is absolutely pathetic, and of all men most miserable. If you are your own god, may I suggest to you that your god is too small. If you are your own god, one day you are going to run into something that your god can’t handle. If you are your own god, some days your god is going to be sick. If you are your own god, occasionally your god is going to have a day where he simply does not want to be bothered. If you are your own god, sooner or later your god is going to face a problem he can’t solve. If you are your own god and your god can’t keep you, can’t heal you, can’t help you, can’t cure you or comfort you or free you or constrain you or transform you—if your god can’t save you, then what in the world is your god going to do with me?

Theology aside, it just makes sense to serve the living God. If you reject God, all you are left with is you. When it comes to my salvation you are not good enough for me. The Lord said, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore in loving kindness I have drawn you.” Jeremiah 31:3. That is the God I want.

Look around. We have paid a heavy price for our arrogance. This year I heard on the news that nine fourth graders were arrested for plotting the murder of their teacher. It was so well organized that it shocked the community. When asked why, they said it was because she talked mean to one of them. The god of this world has replaced reason, sanity, morality, humility, kindness and sympathy. And terrorists, allegedly in the name of God, flew a plane into a 110 story building and we cry, where was God? He is right where you left Him.

He has not gone anywhere. He is right where you left Him. In the beginning God—He was there, and He is still there now. He says in Jeremiah 29:13, “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.”

What are the ideologies of this world? They are contingency, temporality, relativity and autonomy.

Demi-god #1: Contingency

This suggests that everything that happens in this world is the result of cause and effect. You do something, you get a response so there is no need to ascribe any of the outcomes in my life to God. I do the work, I get the reward. In other words, 299 people apply for a job. I get the job, 298 did not get the job. It was not because God helped me; it was because I deserved the job. I worked for the job, I am better than the rest of them or just plain dumb luck. The bottom line—no God. The new god—man. Man controls his own destiny, not God.

Some Christians believe that they have to help God out. If I don’t do it, it won’t get done. Do you see how that pushes God to the side, takes Him off the throne and puts self on top?

Demi-god #2: Autonomy

This concept is, I determine who calls the shots in my life. I reserve the right to make my own decisions. The concept is that it is my life and I can do what I want. There is no need to seek or follow God for direction. If I want something I get it and I don’t need to ask God or anybody else about it. I don’t owe anything to anybody. An animal lover will leave five million dollars to his pet and leave nothing to feed starving children in Haiti who are eating mud patties. “I” determines what has value. Autonomy says I report to me. Bottom line—no God. New god—autonomy. I give meaning to my life and I don’t need God. God is unnecessary. Defacto god—man.

Demi-god #3: Relativity

This suggests the idea that absolutes are unintelligent and unreasonable. It insists that the idea that one size fits all, that there is one rule or one set of rules is stupid. In any situation you adjust the rules to fit the situation. That is relativity. I am different and you are different so the rules for each one of us must be different. Why would we ascribe to one set of rules? Bottom line, there is no God. New god—relativity. Defacto god—man.

Situational ethics says that what is right for me, is what is right. What is right for you is not right for me. What is right for me is not right for you. You determine what is right for you and I will determine what is right for me and this idea that there are ten rules that never alter or change, that is not right. That is relativity.

Demi-god #4: Temporality

This simply suggests that nothing lasts forever. Your car, house, your wife, your job, your religion—they are not going to last forever. They will all change. There are people today who expect things to change and even engineer change. My car is going to last so many years; I will have to get a new one. They don’t expect to be in the same place or relationship. The idea that some things can be unchangeable, the same yesterday, today and forever, is incomprehensible. Bottom line, there is no God. New god—change. Defacto god—man. If this marriage were to get rough, I am gone. It will never last, so why work at it.

Just imagine what a world we would have if we all could simply put all man-made gods away and put God first. The tall skyscrapers are built on a firm and deep foundation. The glory of all of the ten wonderful commandments, the constitutional reality of man’s existence, is foundation and revolves around the fact that In the beginning God (Genesis 1:1) and God desires and deserves no rival, for truly there is no god but God. There is none like Him.

God does not try to justify, explain or rationalize it. He simply says, In the beginning God. You have to accept that first page, that first chapter, that first line or else close the book because everything else in the book is based on In the beginning God. If you are going to live with Him and live for Him, then you can’t have anybody else in front of Him. God says, I am a jealous God (Exodus 20:5). God, God and only God.

“Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God. And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people? and the things that are coming, and shall come, let them show unto them. Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any.” Isaiah 44:6–8.

Ellen White says, “We have nothing to fear for the future, except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us.” Christian Experience and Teachings of Ellen G. White, 1922, 204. If you cannot see the future, look back toward the past. You should be able to see a pattern of God inserting His hand into your life and bringing you from day one to today. You should be able to look and see where God kept you, directed you, instructed you. It is not an accident that you are here. God is in control of all life. There is no god but God.

Our God says, Don’t put anybody in front of me—not your children, not your sister, your husband or your wife. He is going to say to you, I knocked but you didn’t answer; you didn’t hear me over the sound of the television. I sent a letter, but you left it in the mailbox. I prayed for you, but you didn’t answer. Thou shall have no other gods because no one on this earth has a heaven to give you or a hell to keep you from. We owe our all to God and there is none other than God and one day very soon we are going to see Him face to blessed face.

Don’t let anything get between you and God. When you put your hand into His hand, nothing can take you out of His hand. He will take us home if we will but walk with Him.

Pastor C.A. Murray’s sermon was taken from the Ten Commandment Weekend, 2008 series aired on 3ABN. For more information contact www.3ABN.org.

I am a Jealous God

The second commandment is a very powerful commandment.

It says, “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: You shall not worship them, or serve them: for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquities of the fathers on the children, to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me; But showing loving kindness to thousands, to those who love me, and keep my commandments.” Exodus 20:4–6 (NAS).

There are negative consequences to idol worship that not only affect you, but generations that come after you. To those who are faithful to God He blesses with loving kindness for thousands of generations.

The heart of this commandment is that God is a jealous God (Deuteronomy 5:9).

We usually think of jealousy in negative terms, but there is also a good jealousy. Jealousy is defined in the dictionary as being intolerant of a rival or unfaithfulness; hostile toward a rival or one believed to enjoy certain advantages. An example of bad jealousy would include King Saul toward David (I Samuel 18:5–9) and the elder brother, in the parable of the prodigal son, who did not want to share because of jealousy of his younger brother (Luke 15:11–32). It would be a good thing to guard jealously the nation’s freedom. It is also good to be jealous for your health and integrity. The Bible says, “Contend for the faith that was once delivered to the saints.” Jude 1:3. It is a good thing to be jealous for the truth and for marriage. Marriage is a covenant between two people, an emotional attachment and commitment to one another that should never be stolen. It is right to be jealous over that covenant of love.

Often in both the Old and New Testament, God relates to His church as a husband relates to his wife. God has the exclusive right to His church which He will not give up without a fight.

Contrary to popular opinion, God does have a holy anger. When Elijah confronted wicked Ahab and Jezebel who had taken young men and young women of the nation, causing them to be temple prostitutes in the name of worshipping God by means of Bel, Elijah said God is not happy, and He is turning off the rain. The rain turned off for three and a half years (I Kings 17:1)! This caused great suffering to the people because of the effects of the famine; however, I would like to suggest to you that the horrible effects of famine were more merciful than what the continued idolatry of Ahab and Jezebel had on the nation.

God destroyed a whole nation, Pharaoh and his army, and all the first born in Egypt in the midst of the siege at the exodus. Lives were sacrificed to deliver Israel.

Herod also, who took the head of John the Baptist and the life of the apostle James, was eaten by worms. See Mark 6:21–27; Acts 12:1, 2, 21–23.

Jesus, speaking to the church of Thyatira under the symbol of Jezebel, says that you have this wicked woman and I am telling you what I am going to do with her. I am going to throw her on a bed of suffering and I am going to destroy her children with pestilence. See Revelation 2:20–23. God has a jealous anger for His church!

My wife and I have a Chihuahua named Tori. Chihuahuas see themselves as German Shepherds. A few years ago we moved out into the country and right across from our property is a big field which is dangerous to get to because of the busy highway between. One day as we got out of the car, Tori spotted a big reaping machine, a big combine. Having never seen one before, Tori decided she would get that thing, but between her and the combine was the road. I watched as Tori, with all of her energy, headed out towards that combine, at the same time watching a big Mack truck coming down the road. My sense told me that I was not going to catch that dog. I love my wife and I knew that if the dog got hurt, she was really going to be hurt so I knew I had to act immediately, so with all the strength I had and everything in me I screamed at that dog. It was powerful enough that it terrorized the dog, causing it to stop. With two big emotions I picked it up and was so glad it was not crushed but also mad that it could have been killed. I screamed at my dog; it was a jealous response to save the dog’s life and I was so happy to be able to give it back to my wife because I loved her.

The first commandment points out whom to worship, the second tells how to worship God, the third explains the name and its sacredness and the fourth tells when to worship. The result of violating that second commandment caused great trouble for Israel and also for the Christian church. In the wilderness thousands of people died because of building the golden calf (Exodus 32) and the book of Deuteronomy records many more instances where the Jewish people were cursed because of idolatry. In Jesus’ day some people actually made an idol out of their temple.

Jesus said to the woman at the well in John 4:23, 24: “The hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth.” There are great mysteries that surround God that are not understood and never will be, but God does have a throne of fire and when He has been seen, He seems to have the form of a man but the Bible says He is also spirit; He is everywhere. There is nowhere you can run from the presence of God. He must be worshipped in spirit and in truth.

Worship is a big issue which is found in Genesis, Exodus and also in Revelation. The second commandment says that you shall not make to yourselves an idol. You shall not means no!

What is an idol? It is an image that is worshipped as a god. The ancient sanctuary had angels embroidered on the curtain and other illustrations but you will never find the Israelites bowing down to the angels. They were illustrations. God does not prohibit illustrations. He does prohibit taking some object and using it to venerate Him. An idol can be any object that becomes a person’s compassionate devotion. Some people make idols out of their children and some men make goddesses out of their wives. Some worship their automobiles and lots of others worship their homes or even themselves.

The Scripture continues in Exodus 20:4–6, “or any likeness of what is in heaven above, or the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth.” No fish gods, no flying bird gods, nothing in the earth beneath, or on the earth or in heaven. Some different translations say, “You shall not worship or serve them.” NASB. “You shall not bow down [submit or yield, bend the head or body in submission, to give an act of service, to obey] yourselves to them.” KJV. “You shall not bow down or worship [to honor or reverence a divine being] them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous [demanding complete devotion] God.” NIV.

Why is God jealous? Is it just arbitrary or does He have a reason? Deuteronomy 4:39 says, “Know therefore today and take it to your heart that the Lord He is God in heaven above and the earth below and there is no other.” The truth is, there is no other God. God is not going to share with anything or let you embrace some false god. Our very life is dependent upon being unified with the One who created us. The devil, wanting to be God, has caused the mess in this world. This will only be resolved at the final judgment.

Jesus had something to say about this when the devil came to him with the three temptations in the wilderness. At the last temptation, the devil said that all these things I will give you and bypass the cross, if you will fall down and worship me. Jesus said to him to go Satan, for it is written that you should worship the Lord your God and serve Him only (Matthew 4:9, 10).

Paul said, “But I say that the things that the Gentiles sacrificed, they sacrificed to demons, and I do not want you to become sharers with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord with the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord at the table of demons.” I Corinthians 10:20, 21. Then he says in verse 22, “Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy?” So what he is saying is that all of this idol worship is really backed up by demonic forces. The Bible does talk about the things they can’t see, can’t hear and also the images which proves that there are unseen powers. God is not going to share His church with these demons. God does have a righteous indignation, but you do not want to arouse God’s jealous righteous indignation. God’s jealous love and jealous anger come out of His great love for us.

What if God said it doesn’t matter; go ahead and bow down to anything you want to and worship nothing. What would that say about Him? The fact that He is passionate about us tells us that He loves us. The greater the love, the greater the anger when it is violated. All this flows from God’s love, and His love for us is birth to his jealousy. His jealousy gives birth to His holy anger and His holy anger gives birth to His mercy because He is not willing for any to perish. God looks at His anger and says it is justified, but I cannot let them go, so I bring in mercy. He brings in His grace, all of which is the result of His love.

The apostle John revealed in the book Revelation what the Christian church would go through as a result of idolatry: “And the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues did not repent of the works of their hands.” Revelation 9:20.

This idolatry all came from the Tower of Babel. Nimrod died and Semaramis marvelously gets impregnated by a beam of light from the sun. This is what she told everybody and her baby was a miraculous baby, Tamuz. She soon had everybody worshipping her and, of course, Nimrod was in the sun. We have this mother/son cult which was an attempt to counterfeit the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. This idol worship spread all over the world and Semaramis took the name, the Queen of Heaven. The Bible has something to say about this. Abraham was called out of that mess in order to preserve the truths about God and his method of worship.

We find that in Jeremiah 7:18, 19 it says, “The children gather wood, and the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke me to anger. Do they provoke me to anger? declares the Lord: but are they not harming themselves to their own shame?” Yes, it provokes the Lord, but here it says they are really doing themselves the disservice.

Ezekiel, a contemporary of Jeremiah, said that Israel was about to go down the tube. Babylon surrounds Jerusalem and Ezekiel is taken in vision on a tour of the temple where the God of heaven should be worshipped, but where Israel, with their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east, were worshipping the sun. “Yet you will see greater abominations which they are committing. Then He brought me to the entrance of the gate of the Lord’s house which is towards the north and behold women were sitting there weeping for Tamuz.” Ezekiel 8:13–16.

Would the New Testament church succumb to idolatry? In the book of Revelation two women are represented. In Revelation 12 one woman is chased by a dragon. She represents God’s church. She is clothed with the sun, standing on the moon, a crown of 12 stars on her head. The church represented here keeps the commandments of God and has the faith of Jesus. These commandments are those which were given at Sinai and they are described here in the context of the heavenly sanctuary and the Ark of the Covenant.

The other woman presented in Revelation 17 is described as the harlot. She is called Babylon; she has great mysteries and a cup full of fornication which she has with the kings of the earth. She is called an adulterer because she was supposed to be the bride of Christ but has prostituted herself to the world. Just so in the Christian community there will be those who are faithfully keeping God’s commandments and having the faith of Jesus, as well as those who are unfaithful and who made their league with the world. Both of these will call themselves Christian.

In the United States of America we have seen a huge shift towards idolatry. Evangelicals and Protestants and some Sabbath keepers have shifted from God centered worship to human centered worship, and the very essence of Christianity is being sacrificed in order to gain numbers.

Some mainline Protestant churches are basically abandoning the Bible for humanistic teaching, philosophy and psychology, which has caused their numbers to go down because there was not anything there. If you take the Bible out of the church, you do not have anything to keep the people.

Some of these mega churches began to say, “We think we can get crowds if we do this right.” They set out to do it. In fact, one of the large churches was the Mecca of thousands of Protestant Evangelical ministers across the United States, including many Sabbath keeping ministers, who said they are going to teach us how to do evangelism. Recently this large church, to their credit, said that, “We are telling you we were wrong; it doesn’t work; we did get a crowd but our people are not growing spiritually.”

One writer said concerning this particular church that it has been one of the most influential churches in America for the last 30 years. Hanging outside the pastor’s door was this sign: What is our business? Who is our customer? What does the customer consider of value? What about this customer driven method? This changes Jesus’ directions to His disciples from teaching them to obey all that He had commanded them, to find out what they want. That is a major shift!

To human centered worship, I ask if this is like Aaron and the golden calf all over again? The impact has been astounding. Everywhere you go you see the Protestant, Evangelical churches and some Sabbath keeping churches absorbed in drama, disco music, clowns and puppets and anything else Madison Avenue and Hollywood have to offer become the cutting edge. Church growth has become the in, and whirly methods have become the means. However, the truth is that God demands to be worshipped on His own agenda and not ours. Church was not created for us to have a party; it was created for people to hear the Word of God so that their lives would be transformed.

There are many people who love Mary and there is no doubt that she was a godly woman and we are grateful that God chose her, but we have never ever seen such veneration of Mary as we have seen today. People are seeing images of Mary on garage doors and underpasses and people are going there by the thousands to kiss whatever looks like her. They are sincere and they mean well. This practice has been given great support from Pope John, who believed he owed his life to Mary for saving him from the bullet that was fired at him; however, the Bible does not teach that Mary is to be venerated or worshipped.

I love the apostles and I praise God for saints, but when it comes down to my theology I want to hear what Jesus has to say and not the councils of the church, or the opinion of the learned, but give me the Word of God. Luke 11:27, 28 tells when Jesus was teaching and a woman thought this was just marvelous: “And it came about, while He said those things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice, and she said to him, Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you were nursed.” Jesus did not hesitate but immediately responded and would not accept it. He said just because Mary bore me and just because I nursed at her breasts does not make her something special. On the contrary, Blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe. None of us, including Mary, are blessed unless we do the will of God.

The Council of Trent shaped the modern Roman Church. To the Virgin Mary, they pray in these words, “Oh Mother of God, queen of heaven, command thy son to have mercy on us.” The right use of images, says the Council of Trent, is to honor them by bowing down before them even though the Bible says do not bow down before them (Exodus 20:4, 5). The Bible portrays Mary as being humble and obedient, even calling herself the handmaid of the Lord (Luke 1:38); however, the Pope officially gave Mary the title, Queen of Heaven, and established a feast day honoring her. The Bible says that Mary knew she needed a Savior: “My spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour.” Luke 1:47. The papacy says no, she was immaculately conceived, meaning she was conceived sinless, without original sin, and that she is all holy, meaning she lived a sinless life. You see, goddesses do not need salvation!

Cardinal Gibbons said, quoting Isaiah 49:15, “Can a woman forget her infant so as not to have pity on the fruit of her womb; even so Mary will not forget us.” The actual text says in the Catholic New Jerusalem Bible, “Can a woman forget her suckling child that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yes, these may forget but yet I [the Lord talking about Himself] will not forget you. Behold I have engraved you on the palms of my hand.” Verse 16.

Many religions scoff at the idea of idol worship, but the Hindu religion, which is a classic example of pagan religion, blatantly admits that they worship idols, believing it to be a good thing. They accept it with open arms as a simple way of expressing one’s devotion and love to God, but that is exactly what the second commandment forbids. God commands that you do not use an idol or an image to express your worship to Him. God responds personally to those who are devoted to Him.

A huge phenomenon occurred in 1995 when one night a man had an idea. He was impressed that he should go to his idol and give it some milk. When he did, the milk disappeared and pretty soon people everywhere were giving their idols milk, and milk was drying up all over India. People thought it was a hoax and some reporters out of New York said, “On Thursday, September 1, 1995, the news swept around the world of extraordinary miracles of milk drinking Hindu statues. Never before in history had a simultaneous miracle occurred on such a global scale. Television, radio, newspapers eagerly covered this unique phenomenon and even skeptical journalists held their milk filled spoons to the gods and watched humbly as the milk disappeared.”

You can bring any image you want in here made of plaster of Paris and plastic and take a hammer and knock them down and they will fall down. You can take a piece of wood and carve it up and everybody knows that these things cannot see or hear, but there is another supernatural force that you cannot see that surrounds these things. I was listening to Catholic Radio in Lansing, Michigan, discussing this incident and how wonderful Mary was. They talked about the statues of Mary crying tears and bleeding and were so excited about this. Every time I turn around there is a new miracle of weeping, crying, bleeding or something coming from a statue of Mary. Catholics call them miracles, and many people are coming to see.

The Hindu teaching is that the idols are not just a symbol, but the belief is that the idol represents something, a form with which the mind can be connected and concentrated upon. The ultimate reality is beyond the senses; it is what you cannot see.

The Roman Catholic teaching is: “That the honor which is given them (the images of saints and relics) is referred to the objects which they represent so that through the images which we kiss and which we uncover our heads and kneel, we adore Christ and venerate the saints whose likeness they are.” This is the same concept as the Hindus. We know this image is not Jesus; this is not a saint; we know that, but we are doing this in order to venerate Christ.

The second command says do not use images in the act of worship. We have a jealous God and He demands exclusive rights to your worship. You can say you will worship any way you want; go ahead, but that does not mean God will accept your worship. Worshipping God is about His agenda and not yours or mine. The Israelites thought they could worship the way they liked but God will not share His church with anyone or anything in heaven above or earth beneath.

What would happen if after your honeymoon your wife comes in with a picture of your wedding and says, That is so beautiful! You know, I have decided what I will do. I have three old boyfriends and we had great times together and those are memories I don’t want to give up. I have three pictures that are smaller and I will set them over here. I am sure you won’t mind. Will you mind?

This did not happen, but just suppose I walked into my house one day and there was my lovely wife with my picture and she was looking at my picture and kissing it saying, I love you so much! I walked in and I saw this and felt pretty good and said, Honey, your prince is home. She said, Oh yeah; I really love you and then she continues kissing my picture. I said, Honey, it is me, in the flesh, but she keeps kissing my picture and saying, Oh, I just love you so much! What would I do with that picture?

Our God is a jealous God and He is not going to put up with you just kissing His picture. He wants you to worship Him in spirit and in truth.

Pastor Jay Gallimore’s sermon was taken from the Ten Commandment Weekend, 2008 series aired on 3ABN.org. For more information contact www.3ABN.org.

Let These Sayings Sink into Your Ears

As I was reading my Bible, I came to a verse that I have read many times before; however, this time it made more of an impression on my mind than ever before. Jesus said, “Let these sayings sink down into your ears.” Luke 9:44. This had more meaning when I considered what Jesus was talking about. He added, “The Son of man should be delivered unto men.”

He had already told His disciples that, “The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day,” Luke 9:22, but they just could not comprehend what He was telling them. They had such high hopes for themselves of having a place in His kingdom that they mistakenly expected Him to set up His kingdom in Jerusalem. They could not conceive of Jesus being taken from them or of Him suffering such a terrible trial and death.

Peter just took a hold of Jesus and said, That’s not going to happen to you. We can read about it in Matthew 16:22: “Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.” If Peter and the rest of the disciples would have just accepted what Jesus was telling them they would have prayed to be ready and they would have been prepared for the crisis. This makes me wonder, Are we prepared for what is just ahead of us?

When the most awesome thing that had ever happened in the history of the universe was transpiring, the disciples were devastated, disappointed and discouraged. It was right to be sad and solemn but at the same time they could have understood what was being accomplished and not been discouraged, disappointed and worried about what was going to happen to them. They did not understand the wonderful plan of redemption. This historical story leads me to think of something in the Spirit of Prophecy that our modern day prophet has told us.

“Let these sayings sink down into your ears.”

“Those who endeavor to obey all the commandments of God will be opposed and derided. They can stand only in God. In order to endure the trial before them, they must understand the will of God as revealed in His word; they can honor Him only as they have a right conception of His character, government, and purposes, and act in accordance with them. None but those who have fortified the mind with the truths of the Bible will stand through the last great conflict. To every soul will come the searching test: Shall I obey God rather than men? The decisive hour is even now at hand. Are our feet planted on the rock of God’s immutable word? Are we prepared to stand firm in defense of the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus?

“Before His crucifixion the Saviour explained to His disciples that He was to be put to death and to rise again from the tomb, and angels were present to impress His words on minds and hearts. But the disciples were looking for temporal deliverance from the Roman yoke, and they could not tolerate the thought that He in whom all their hopes centered should suffer an ignominious death. The words which they needed to remember were banished from their minds; and when the time of trial came, it found them unprepared. The death of Jesus as fully destroyed their hopes as if He had not forewarned them. So in the prophecies the future is opened before us as plainly as it was opened to the disciples by the words of Christ. The events connected with the close of probation and the work of preparation for the time of trouble, are clearly presented. But multitudes have no more understanding of these important truths than if they had never been revealed. Satan watches to catch away every impression that would make them wise unto salvation, and the time of trouble will find them unready.” The Great Controversy, 593, 594.

We are living in the closing scenes of this world’s history and we need to know how to face the end time events. We have heard about the Sunday laws and we hear about not being allowed to buy or sell and we have heard about being in prison. But are we sure that we understand all that we need to know about the latter rain, about the perfection of character and about Christ in you, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27)? Are we really ready to face death for our faith?

Here is another statement from the pen of inspiration that causes me to stop and think and ask myself the question—do I really understand my true condition?

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

It is time that we, as Seventh-day Adventists, spend much time on our knees and examine our characters. Are we really ready for probation to close? Are we ready to experience the greatest event that has ever happened? Are we ready to see the dead in Christ rise and the living take on immortality and go up in the clouds with Jesus and the angels? It will be real and I pray that each one who reads this article will be ready to enter into eternal life.

This was the last article written by the late Ruth Grosboll just prior to her death. She was an integral part of the team working at Steps to Life until December, 2009.