Lesson 9: The Great Controversy and the early Church

Sabbath School Today
With the 1888 Message Dynamic
Rebellion and Redemption
Lesson 9: The Great Controversy and the early Church
The grand finale of the work of God's Spirit will be a work of extraordinary beauty and simplicity. Ellen G. White describes it this way: "Those who wait for the Bridegroom's coming are to say to the people, 'Behold your God.' The last rays of merciful light, the last message of mercy to be given to the world, is a revelation of His character of love. The children of God are to manifest His glory." [1]

The good news is that these words will come true! The announcement will yet be sounded, "The marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints" (Rev. 19:7, 8). The key to fulfillment lies in the repentance that Christ calls for.

The secret of the early church's success was an understanding that "ye crucified Christ," and then true repentance followed. Christ crucified became the central appeal of all the apostles' ministry. The Book of Acts would never have been written if the members of the early church had not realized their share of the guilt of the murder of the Son of God, and likewise shared in the joyful experience of appropriate repentance.

Pentecost—A Glorious Model and Its Antithesis
Pentecost was a glorious model and ideal that inspired God's people for nearly 2000 years. What made those grand results possible? The people accepted the principle of corporate guilt, and frankly confessed their part in the greatest sin of all ages. "When they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?" (Acts 2:37).

The antithesis of Pentecost was the refusal of the Sanhedrin to accept Stephen's portrayal of corporate guilt through their national history. Evidence proved that Jesus was the Messiah. But the total, final rejection came when Stephen stood before the leaders of the nation and called them to repentance by laying bare the history of the nation. Listen to his testimony:

"Stephen ... took up his defense in a clear, thrilling voice that rang through the council hall. He proceeded to rehearse the history of the chosen people of God in words that held the assembly spell-bound. He showed a thorough knowledge of the Jewish economy, and the spiritual interpretation of it now made manifest through Christ. He began with Abraham and traced down through history from generation to generation, going through all the national records of Israel to Solomon, taking up the most impressive points to vindicate his cause.

"He made plain his own loyalty to God and to the Jewish faith, while he showed that the law in which they trusted for salvation had not been able to preserve Israel from idolatry. He connected Jesus Christ with all the Jewish history. He referred to the building of the temple by Solomon, and to the words of both Solomon and Isaiah: 'Howbeit the Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands.' 'Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool: what house will ye build Me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of My rest? Hath not my hand made all these things?' ...

"When Stephen had reached this point, there was a tumult among the people. ... Although he was just in the midst of his sermon, he abruptly concluded it by suddenly breaking away from the chain of history, and, turning upon his infuriated judges, said, 'Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.'" [2]

The stoning of Stephen was the final rejection of the witness that the Holy Spirit brought, and for this malady there was no further remedy. But in that very hour when Israel sealed her eternal doom by murdering Stephen, a process began to work itself out in honest human nature that would lead to a corporate and national correction of the sin of Israel. When the "witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul," they little realized that this young man with a disturbed conscience would soon think through the structuring of a worldwide "body of Christ." It would eventually display the blessings of corporate and national repentance which the Jews tragically refused.

Chosen to Fulfill a Divine Destiny
And now, in this end-time we profess and accept that we are the Israel of God, chosen, called to fulfill a divine destiny. As children of Abraham in the last generation, are we able to learn from our spiritual forefathers of 2000 years ago and our pioneers of 150 plus years ago? When we see that the Jews rejected Christ because they rejected their own written history, does it open our eyes to the peril we face?

In 1888 we rejected "in a great measure" the "most precious message" sent by the Lord to His people through Elders Waggoner and Jones." [3] The Holy Spirit which the Lord wanted to impart was shut away from us. "The light that is to lighten the whole earth with its glory was resisted, and by the action of our own brethren has been in a great degree kept away from the world." [4] But the "tradition of the elders" says this is not so. The thrust of well over 1800 pages (The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials) supports the denial, continuing to proclaim that there was no denominational rejection. Like the Jews we deny our own history. How can the marriage of the Lamb ever take place when the Bride says, "I didn't," and the Groom says, "Oh yes you did."

Solemn consideration declares that the root of our denominational problems is to be found in our 1888 episode. The fruit of that event becomes a little more bitter with each passing year. Heavenly insight proclaims there is no need for this church to continue indefinitely. Eternity can be ushered in soon! The work can be finished in an incredibly short time. But it will require more than we have been willing to face thus far. It will require acceptance of the heavenly "eyesalve." It will require the repentance of the ages, accepting the "love" and "rebuke" which the True Witness gives. It will require an understanding of the truth of our history that so far has eluded us. It will require the correction of theological confusion. It will require the abandonment of worldly policies and man-made programs. Every species of legalism will have to die. Finally, the ultimate experience awaiting the church is like that which Jesus went through at Gethsemane. Only God's very own will be willing to accept that.

From Eden to Calvary to Laodicea the universe has watched the outworking of sin. But now the last church is on the scene. There is no eighth church. The stubborn rejection of past years can be overcome. Jesus said He would build His church. When the church accepts all that the Lord wants it to have it will fulfill the same role that Christ filled when He was on earth. His work for the "short period of three years was as long as the world could endure the presence of the Redeemer." [5] The work of God's people at the end will be as effective and will be cut short for the same reason.

A repentance like that of Pentecost is what Christ calls for from us today. It will come, like a lost vein of gold in the earth that must surface again in another place. Like medicine taken in quantity sufficient to produce a concentration in the blood stream, our repentance must be comprehensive, full-range, in order for the Holy Spirit to do a fully effective work. Some are living in the serious awareness that this is the great Final Day of Atonement. Join them!
—From the writings of Robert J. Wieland and Donald K. Short

Endnotes (Ellen G. White):
[1] Christ's Object Lessons, pp. 415, 416.
[2] The Story of Redemption, pp. 264, 265.
[3] Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, p. 91.
[4] Selected Messages, book 1, p. 235.
[5] The Desire of Ages, p. 541.

Raul Diaz

Lesson 8: Comrades in Arms

Sabbath School Today

With the 1888 Message Dynamic

Rebellion and Redemption

Lesson 8: Comrades in Arms

The most important principle of the 1888 message lies in taking the Scriptures just as they read. These precious verses in Luke comprehend our memory verse for this week, and so much more! "Then He said to them, 'O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!' And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. And they said to one another, 'Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?' And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures" (Luke 24:25, 27, 32, 45).

 

The character of God is the central issue in the great controversy and it is in the Word of God that we learn the truth of His character. The men that were called in this week's lesson forsook all and followed Him—based solely on His word.

 

Note: the term "comrades in arms" is not found in the Bible,—the Bible uses the term "brethren." Brethren are two or more individuals who are crucified with Christ, yoked with Christ, and live by His word alone as the only standard and authority in their life. Each has Christ in them, the hope of glory (Col. 1:26, 27).

 

When speaking to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, Luke tells us that Jesus began at Moses. In the 1888 era, A. T. Jones used the same approach beginning with Moses and Eve in Eden to show just how important the word of God is. [1] "God has given His Word to man to be received through the Holy Spirit. This Word of God is but an extension of the thought of God, which is but the expression of God's mind. Thus man, receiving this Word, would be a constant partaker of the mind of God—fulfilling the Scripture to, 'Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus'" (Phil. 2:5).

 

He goes on: "To man in the garden there came another word—opposite the word of God. This second word was the expression of a second thought, and this thought was the product of another mind. To receive this word would be to receive the thought expressed in the word; and to receive the thought was to be partaker of this second mind. This second word is always opposed to the Word of God."

 

"Now the serpent ... said to the woman" (Gen. 3:1-5). Here was the second word representing the second mind—here was this "theologian in a tree" explaining what God meant by what He said; interpreting God's word.

 

Deception lies in attempting to explain what God means by what He has said. God's Word means what It says, and He says what He means. As a teacher of the Word of God, use any amount of time needed to help people see what the Word of God says; but never even a moment trying to explain what it means.

 

The two ways were now before Eve; the two words, the two thoughts, and the two minds. She accepted the second word and the result was a reversal of her own nature. Satan and man now had the same mind.

 

If Eve had done the simple thing of staying with the first Word exactly as it was she could not have sinned. If she had said to Satan: "I don t know whether the Word that I have cited means what you suggest it means, and I don't care, but what I do know is what the Word says, and I shall take it for just what it says; and there I stand. I will not eat of the fruit of this tree because the Word says that I shall not."

 

In this simple thing lies the power of the divine word to keep the soul from sinning. To every person this simple thing is as true today, as it was and as it would have proved itself to be to Eve. The divine Word, simply held by Eve, would forever have kept her from sin. The Lord Jesus, in human flesh, was kept from sinning by simply holding to the divine Word. "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee" (Psalm 119:11). Eve's sin was in not believing and holding to God's simple word. Her unbelief was made complete by her disobedience in eating from the tree.

 

Today our Laodicean paralysis stems from the same issue faced by Eve at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil—will we hold firmly to the Word of our Creator and thus be kept from sinning, or will we fall for the explanations and interpretations of the theologians in the trees? The apostle Paul writes: "But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ" (2 Cor. 11:3).

 

Writing about the Bible and Interpretation, E. J. Waggoner pens: "To interpret means to explain what is unintelligible,—to put that which is vague and mysterious into plain language. But the Bible does not stand in need of this. It is simple and plain to those who are simple enough to believe just what it says, without trying to make it fit their ideas.

 

"David said, 'Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path' (Psalm 119:105). A light is for the purpose of making other things clear; but a light which could not be seen without the aid of another light, would not be much of a light.

 

"How is it, then, that people find such difficulty in understanding the Bible? It is because there is a settled conviction in the minds of most people that the Bible does not mean what it says. Accordingly people will go everywhere except to the Bible, to find out the meaning of the Bible. They get from some source or other an idea of what the Bible means, and then try to fit the language of the Bible to that idea. This makes necessary a 'system of interpretation'; and as different classes of people have different ideas, so there are different systems of interpretation, and all tend to obscure the light.

 

"Is there, then, no need of teachers? Indeed there is. The gift of teaching is third in order of the gifts of Christ, and is above the gift of working miracles (see 1 Cor. 12:28). ... Teaching the Bible properly does not consist in 'interpreting' it by human wisdom, but in 'comparing spiritual things with spiritual' (1 Cor. 2:12, 13), by the aid of the Spirit, whose office it is to guide into all truth (John 16:13).

 

"Jesus, the great Teacher, who was anointed with the Holy Spirit for the purpose of preaching the Gospel to the poor, occupied His time in directing the minds of the people to the Word. They could not understand it because they had glossed over it so much.

 

"When He walked with the two disciples to Emmaus, 'He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself' (Luke 24:27). ... He set the Scriptures so plainly before them that they could not help seeing them as they were, and, referring to the matter, they said, 'Did not our heart burn within us, while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the Scriptures?' (v. 32).

 

"Let the Scriptures be opened. 'The opening of Thy words giveth light' (Psalm 119:130). For they themselves are light. 'It giveth understanding to the simple.' What is necessary is that we should consider what the Lord says, and He will give us 'understanding in all things' (2 Tim. 2:7).

 

"He directed their minds to the Word, and they saw what they could not see before ... . It is evident that 'their eyes were holden that they should not know Him' in order that their faith might rest on the Scriptures alone, and that having found Christ and His life in the Word their faith might stand when His visible presence was removed from them." [2]

 

E. J. Waggoner writes of his personal experience: "Christ is primarily the Word of God, the expression of God's thought; and the Scriptures are the Word of God simply because they reveal Christ. It was with this belief that I began my real study of the Bible thirty-four years ago (1882). At that time Christ was set forth before my eyes 'evidently crucified' before me. I was sitting a little apart from the body of the congregation in the large tent at camp meeting in Healdsburg, one gloomy Sabbath afternoon. I have no idea what was the subject of the discourse. Not a word nor a text have I ever known. All that has remained with me was what I saw. Suddenly a light shone round me, and the tent was, for me, far more brilliantly lighted than if the noon-day sun had been shinning, and I saw Christ hanging on the Cross, Crucified for me.

 

"In that moment I had my first positive knowledge, which came like an overwhelming flood, that God loved me, and that Christ died for me. God and I were the only beings I was conscious of in the universe. I knew then, by actual sight, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself; I was the whole world with all its sin. I am sure that Paul's experience on the way to Damascus was no more real than mine. ... I resolved at once that I would study the Bible in the light of that revelation, in order that I might help others to see the same truth. I have always believed that every part of the Bible must set forth, with more or less vividness, that glorious revelation [of] Christ crucified."

 

Ellen White strongly endorses this 1888 principle regarding the Word of God: "We are to take the Word of God as it reads, the words of Christ as He has spoken them." [3] "Believe that Jesus means just what He says; take Him at his word, and hang your helpless soul upon Him." [4]

 

Dear brethren, we are the "foolish ones," and the "slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken." May Jesus open our understanding so that we may comprehend the Scripture and learn to appreciate its "most precious message."

—Daniel Peters

 

Endnotes:

[1] A. T. Jones, excerpts from three articles, The Medical Missionary, June 17, July 1, and July 9, 1908.

[2] Excerpt from: E. J. Waggoner, "Interpretation," The Present Truth, September 19, 1895.

[3] E. G. White, Lift Him Up, p. 265.

[4] E. G. White, Review and Herald, June 23, 1896

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Sabbath School Lesson 9 | "The Great Controversy and the Early Church" |...

Sabbath School Lesson 8 | "Comrades in Arms" | Pastor Paul Penno

Lesson 8: Comrades in Arms

Sabbath School Today

With the 1888 Message Dynamic

Rebellion and Redemption

Lesson 8: Comrades in Arms

The most important principle of the 1888 message lies in taking the Scriptures just as they read. These precious verses in Luke comprehend our memory verse for this week, and so much more! "Then He said to them, 'O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!' And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. And they said to one another, 'Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?' And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures" (Luke 24:25, 27, 32, 45).

The character of God is the central issue in the great controversy and it is in the Word of God that we learn the truth of His character. The men that were called in this week's lesson forsook all and followed Him—based solely on His word.

Note: the term "comrades in arms" is not found in the Bible,—the Bible uses the term "brethren." Brethren are two or more individuals who are crucified with Christ, yoked with Christ, and live by His word alone as the only standard and authority in their life. Each has Christ in them, the hope of glory (Col. 1:26, 27).

When speaking to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, Luke tells us that Jesus began at Moses. In the 1888 era, A. T. Jones used the same approach beginning with Moses and Eve in Eden to show just how important the word of God is. [1] "God has given His Word to man to be received through the Holy Spirit. This Word of God is but an extension of the thought of God, which is but the expression of God's mind. Thus man, receiving this Word, would be a constant partaker of the mind of God—fulfilling the Scripture to, 'Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus'" (Phil. 2:5).

He goes on: "To man in the garden there came another word—opposite the word of God. This second word was the expression of a second thought, and this thought was the product of another mind. To receive this word would be to receive the thought expressed in the word; and to receive the thought was to be partaker of this second mind. This second word is always opposed to the Word of God."

"Now the serpent ... said to the woman" (Gen. 3:1-5). Here was the second word representing the second mind—here was this "theologian in a tree" explaining what God meant by what He said; interpreting God's word.

Deception lies in attempting to explain what God means by what He has said. God's Word means what It says, and He says what He means. As a teacher of the Word of God, use any amount of time needed to help people see what the Word of God says; but never even a moment trying to explain what it means.

The two ways were now before Eve; the two words, the two thoughts, and the two minds. She accepted the second word and the result was a reversal of her own nature. Satan and man now had the same mind.

If Eve had done the simple thing of staying with the first Word exactly as it was she could not have sinned. If she had said to Satan: "I don t know whether the Word that I have cited means what you suggest it means, and I don't care, but what I do know is what the Word says, and I shall take it for just what it says; and there I stand. I will not eat of the fruit of this tree because the Word says that I shall not."

In this simple thing lies the power of the divine word to keep the soul from sinning. To every person this simple thing is as true today, as it was and as it would have proved itself to be to Eve. The divine Word, simply held by Eve, would forever have kept her from sin. The Lord Jesus, in human flesh, was kept from sinning by simply holding to the divine Word. "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee" (Psalm 119:11). Eve's sin was in not believing and holding to God's simple word. Her unbelief was made complete by her disobedience in eating from the tree.

Today our Laodicean paralysis stems from the same issue faced by Eve at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil—will we hold firmly to the Word of our Creator and thus be kept from sinning, or will we fall for the explanations and interpretations of the theologians in the trees? The apostle Paul writes: "But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ" (2 Cor. 11:3).

Writing about the Bible and Interpretation, E. J. Waggoner pens: "To interpret means to explain what is unintelligible,—to put that which is vague and mysterious into plain language. But the Bible does not stand in need of this. It is simple and plain to those who are simple enough to believe just what it says, without trying to make it fit their ideas.

"David said, 'Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path' (Psalm 119:105). A light is for the purpose of making other things clear; but a light which could not be seen without the aid of another light, would not be much of a light.

"How is it, then, that people find such difficulty in understanding the Bible? It is because there is a settled conviction in the minds of most people that the Bible does not mean what it says. Accordingly people will go everywhere except to the Bible, to find out the meaning of the Bible. They get from some source or other an idea of what the Bible means, and then try to fit the language of the Bible to that idea. This makes necessary a 'system of interpretation'; and as different classes of people have different ideas, so there are different systems of interpretation, and all tend to obscure the light.

"Is there, then, no need of teachers? Indeed there is. The gift of teaching is third in order of the gifts of Christ, and is above the gift of working miracles (see 1 Cor. 12:28). ... Teaching the Bible properly does not consist in 'interpreting' it by human wisdom, but in 'comparing spiritual things with spiritual' (1 Cor. 2:12, 13), by the aid of the Spirit, whose office it is to guide into all truth (John 16:13).

"Jesus, the great Teacher, who was anointed with the Holy Spirit for the purpose of preaching the Gospel to the poor, occupied His time in directing the minds of the people to the Word. They could not understand it because they had glossed over it so much.

"When He walked with the two disciples to Emmaus, 'He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself' (Luke 24:27). ... He set the Scriptures so plainly before them that they could not help seeing them as they were, and, referring to the matter, they said, 'Did not our heart burn within us, while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the Scriptures?' (v. 32).

"Let the Scriptures be opened. 'The opening of Thy words giveth light' (Psalm 119:130). For they themselves are light. 'It giveth understanding to the simple.' What is necessary is that we should consider what the Lord says, and He will give us 'understanding in all things' (2 Tim. 2:7).

"He directed their minds to the Word, and they saw what they could not see before ... . It is evident that 'their eyes were holden that they should not know Him' in order that their faith might rest on the Scriptures alone, and that having found Christ and His life in the Word their faith might stand when His visible presence was removed from them." [2]

E. J. Waggoner writes of his personal experience: "Christ is primarily the Word of God, the expression of God's thought; and the Scriptures are the Word of God simply because they reveal Christ. It was with this belief that I began my real study of the Bible thirty-four years ago (1882). At that time Christ was set forth before my eyes 'evidently crucified' before me. I was sitting a little apart from the body of the congregation in the large tent at camp meeting in Healdsburg, one gloomy Sabbath afternoon. I have no idea what was the subject of the discourse. Not a word nor a text have I ever known. All that has remained with me was what I saw. Suddenly a light shone round me, and the tent was, for me, far more brilliantly lighted than if the noon-day sun had been shinning, and I saw Christ hanging on the Cross, Crucified for me.

"In that moment I had my first positive knowledge, which came like an overwhelming flood, that God loved me, and that Christ died for me. God and I were the only beings I was conscious of in the universe. I knew then, by actual sight, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself; I was the whole world with all its sin. I am sure that Paul's experience on the way to Damascus was no more real than mine. ... I resolved at once that I would study the Bible in the light of that revelation, in order that I might help others to see the same truth. I have always believed that every part of the Bible must set forth, with more or less vividness, that glorious revelation [of] Christ crucified."

Ellen White strongly endorses this 1888 principle regarding the Word of God: "We are to take the Word of God as it reads, the words of Christ as He has spoken them." [3] "Believe that Jesus means just what He says; take Him at his word, and hang your helpless soul upon Him." [4]

Dear brethren, we are the "foolish ones," and the "slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken." May Jesus open our understanding so that we may comprehend the Scripture and learn to appreciate its "most precious message."

—Daniel Peters

Endnotes:

[1] A. T. Jones, excerpts from three articles, The Medical Missionary, June 17, July 1, and July 9, 1908.

[2] Excerpt from: E. J. Waggoner, "Interpretation," The Present Truth, September 19, 1895.

[3] E. G. White, Lift Him Up, p. 265.

[4] E. G. White, Review and Herald, June 23, 1896

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Raul Diaz about.me/raul.diaz

Sabbath School Lesson 7 | "Jesus' Teachings and the Great Controversy"

Lesson 7: Jesus' Teachings and the Great Controversy

Sabbath School Today
With the 1888 Message Dynamic

Lesson 7: Jesus' Teachings and the Great Controversy

"And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon.
And the dragon and his angels waged war, and they were not strong enough, and
there was no longer a place found for them in heaven" (Rev. 12:7, 8, NASB).
_________________________
"Michael" is Christ Jesus. The great controversy started with Lucifer's pride and lies long before the earth was created. Adam did not begin the great controversy, but he made the choice for human beings to become aligned with the wrong side of it. By His incarnation, sinless life, cross and resurrection, Christ demonstrated that Satan was lying when he maligned God's character. Jesus has promised He will be always with us, even to the end of the age, when the controversy ends.

What is so wrong about controversy? It is an inevitable fact of human interaction. Shouldn't we be comfortable with it by now? In His prayer recorded in John 17, Jesus prayed for His believers "that they may all be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that Thou didst send Me" (John 17:21).

What Jesus is saying is that He and His Father are perfectly unified, and He wants that for us. Throughout the Bible, God is trying to tell us that unity with Him is what we lost in Eden. Many rebel against that concept because they think it will deprive them of their individual will. They don't realize that their will has been warped, bent to self not to God, so they can't trust their wills.

Many who are longing for something better in their lives don't understand that this very longing comes from the controversy they have with God. Often, to settle this controversy, people think they need to turn to religion. Jesus said, "Take My yoke upon you," so people do their best to take that yoke, whatever that means. To most, religion means keeping the law, so they set about to do that only to feel the vague unrest that they are not keeping it well enough. It is not easy to keep God's law perfectly in one's own strength.

The harder you try, the worse you feel, and eventually you get angry with God, accusing Him of asking for the impossible. You reason that God's "yoke" is too heavy, too difficult. He is unreasonable. If we give in to such thoughts, we echo the accusation Satan used when he claimed God is unfair to require absolutely perfect law keeping. In your mind, you are perpetuating the Great Controversy.

The blessing of the message given to the 1888 messengers is that law keeping never brings righteousness, but belief and acceptance of the righteousness of Christ brings righteousness, rest, and peace with God. In sermons given soon after the 1888 General Conference, A. T. Jones, one of the "messengers," had this to say:

"When Israel came out of Egypt, they knew not God, remembering only that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had a God, but knew nothing more. To make them understand their condition and what sin was, he took one of their own words and applied it to his purpose. He took a word meaning 'missed its mark' and used it to express sin. Now we have all sinned and come short—that is what Paul means—we have 'missed the mark.' Then the more righteousness of the law a man has the worse he is off—the more ragged is he. …

"Righteousness is the gift of life to everyone who believeth, and Jesus Christ will ever be the purpose of the law to everyone who believeth. It is Christ's obedience that avails and not ours that brings righteousness to us. Well then let us stop trying to do the will of God in our own strength. Stop it all. Put it away from you forever. Let Christ's obedience do it all for you and gain the strength to pull the bow so that you can hit the mark." [1]

So why does God give us the law? The law was given to show us our sins, and our utter inability to meet the perfect demands of its majestic claims. If the law can't save us, but only belief in Christ's righteousness brings salvation, how do we come to belief?

"Faith is the easiest and most natural thing in the world. There is nothing wonderful about faith, as some think, and say 'I try to believe and if I can't then how can I?' But we can believe God with the same faculties we believe others. Don't try to believe—quit it—and believe. We either believe or don't believe—then why not believe? Believe as a child, don't reason it out. Faith goes in advance of reason, knowledge and all else. At school the teacher pointed out a letter and told us 'That is [the letter] A,' and that is all the evidence we have of it. We believed it; now let us receive the kingdom of heaven as we did when a child the words of your teacher. If we reason on faith we can never believe, because to reason faith is unreasonable because the effort of reason always produces doubt. …

"Now, Romans 5:6-8-10, Christ died for you because you are ungodly, and he died for the ungodly, and you can be counted righteous right now if you will believe it. Christ's death reconciled the world unto God but it never saved any or ever can. His death met the penalty of the law, but we are saved by Christ's life. Read Romans 4:25. By his death then we have reconciliation, by his life justification, and by the second coming we have salvation—all these being necessary to complete the plan of salvation." [2]

What wonderful promises! Belief is the "easiest and most natural thing in the world." Why do we have so much trouble believing? The man who built his house on the rock heard the words of Jesus, so he was "well advised." Wisdom resulted in actions which meant his house stood firm. The Great Controversy is played out in our own minds. If our minds are not "well advised" in God's word, we cannot expect wise actions. The Good News is indeed better than we think. Our pride wants to reason it out, but "Don't try to believe—quit it—and believe."
—Arlene Hill

Endnotes:
[1] A. T. Jones, "The Sabbath Morning Sermon, No. 1," Presented at the Institute and Campmeeting, Ottawa, Kansas, May 11, 1889,
[2] Ibid., "Sunday Sermon on Righteousness, No. 2," May 12, 1889.

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Raul Diaz

Lesson 6: Victory in the Wilderness

Sabbath School Today

With the 1888 Message Dynamic

Rebellion and Redemption

Lesson 6: Victory in the Wilderness

Christ is the new Head of the entire human race. "All men" are naturally "in Adam" in a very real sense for all are descended from him—the Bible says we are all by nature, by birth, "in Adam." But now, because Christ as the Son of God has fired the first Adam from his job of being head of the human race and taken over as the new Head of the human race, we are all in a real sense "in Christ."

 

An example is seen in the baptism of Christ. When He came up, dripping wet, out of the River Jordan and the Father said, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased," at the same time the Father "embraces humanity." Jesus was putting His arms around the entire human race! "God spoke to Jesus as our representative." [1] You are all like My beloved Son! You are now one family!

 

This means in plain language that when Christ died on His cross, the broken law of God (which demands death to the transgressor) has no claim upon you, for Christ died for your sins and you were "in Him" when He died. And Paul had the deep insight to sense that what that means is that you died "in Christ." If Christ had not died for you, you would have died. That's the sense in which "all died" when He died.

 

Jesus had a job description given Him by the Father: Defeat Satan in humanity; deliver the human race from this captivity of sin. Enter the fray where the problem is. Take on His sinless nature (brought with Him from heaven) the same fallen, sinful flesh that all humans have (they have all succumbed to Satan's onslaughts of temptation). And with no "exemption," and with no "bullet-proof vest," Jesus entered into the same battlefield where we have all lost the struggle. And right there He "condemned," defeated, outlawed, conquered, crushed, trampled on sin where it had taken root in human flesh. In our same flesh He won the great controversy with Satan, opened the gates of heaven for believing, repenting sinners, and rejoiced the hearts of all heaven.

 

Now what will happen because of His victory: "That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit" (Rom. 8:4). That phrase "righteous requirement" is one word in the original, dikaiomata, which means the righteousness that has its origin in Christ but has been imparted to the believing human being. Here again is the cardinal truth of the 1888 message: it is possible for human beings by the faith of Jesus to overcome sin, to "condemn" it in our fallen flesh, and to be ready in one generation for the second coming of Jesus—something no other group has attained in all past history. God had intended that Christ should return in that 1888 era generation.

 

But this is not the heresy of "perfectionism." This overcoming victory will not be a work of the flesh, or be motivated by fear or pride, or even a selfish hope of reward. It will be the work of grace which abounds much more than all the sin the devil can invent in these last days.

 

Hebrews describes how this works: "Inasmuch then as the children [that's we] have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy [Greek, paralyze] him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For indeed He does not give aid to angels [who have a sinless nature], but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham" (Heb. 2:14, 15).

 

We never dare to suggest that Christ had a sinful nature. He had a sinless nature; but He "took" on that sinless nature our sinful nature.

 

Why? "Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, ... for in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted" (Heb. 4:17-18).

 

This is the glorious 1888 gospel of hope that many have been hindered from seeing. But the Lord gave it to Seventh-day Adventists, and Ellen White said that "God commanded [it] to be given to the world." [2] It presented a Christ who knows how the sinner is tempted and can save Him from the lowest hell. "We do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin" (Heb. 4:15).

 

It has been generally assumed that getting serious about overcoming means hard work. But the 1888 message has good news. Here's a sample: "Jesus came to the world, and put Himself in the flesh, just where men are; and met that flesh, just as it is, with all its tendencies and desires; and by the divine power which He brought by faith, He 'conquered sin in the flesh,' and thus brought to all mankind that divine faith which brings the divine power to man to deliver him from the power of the flesh and the law of sin, just where he is, and to give him assured dominion over the flesh, just as it is." [3]

 

"He who takes God for the portion of his inheritance, has a power working in him for righteousness, as much stronger than the power of inherited tendencies to evil, as our heavenly Father is greater than our earthly parents." [4]

 

If a people were to receive such a message wholeheartedly, would it not prepare them for translation at the coming of Jesus? (See 1 Thess. 4:16, 17.)

—Paul E. Penno

 

Endnotes:

[1] The Desire of Ages, p. 113.

[2] Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, p. 92, 1896; The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, vol. 3, p. 1337.

[3] A. T. Jones, "Studies in Galatians. Gal. 5:16-18," Advent Review and Sabbath Herald (Sept. 18, 1900), p. 600.

[4] E. J. Waggoner, The Everlasting Covenant (1900), p. 66.

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Sabbath School Lesson 6 | "Victory in the Wilderness" | Pastor Paul Penno