Lesson 1. Paul: Apostle to the Gentiles

Sabbath School Today
With the 1888 Message Dynamic

The Gospel in Galatians
Lesson 1. Paul: Apostle to the Gentiles

 

Have you learned to love the Book of Galatians? Or is it dull, boring, confusing, to you? It has been the spark that has ignited glorious reformations in people's lives since the time of Martin Luther. So you should learn to make friends with it, to love it, to let your heart revel in its powerful good news.

How does a lukewarm, sensual, half-worldly, half-cold, half-hot person get to be "on fire" like Paul? The answer is Galatians. People wonder why Galatians could have such gospel dynamite in it that it one time turned Europe upside down.

It is quite evident that the Third Angel's Message hasn't turned the world upside down. Yet, our quarterly maintains that we have accepted the 1888message. The statement of the "acceptance theory" of the 1888 message of righteousness by faith is made in the quarterly with these words: "Through the study of Galatians, E. J. Waggoner and A. T. Jones helped the Adventist Church rediscover the truth of righteousness by faith in the 1880s and 1890s" (The Gospel in Galatians, p. 2 [2017]).

The word "rediscover" is the operative word. This cannot be maintained in view of what Ellen White wrote: "An unwillingness to yield up preconceived opinions, ... [occurred] at Minneapolis against the Lord's message through Brethren [E. J.] Waggoner and [A. T.] Jones. By exciting that opposition Satan succeeded in shutting away from our people, in a great measure, the special power of the Holy Spirit that God longed to impart to them. ... 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." [1]

The church has yet to identify justification by faith with the at-one-ment with God sanctuary truth. To date justification is viewed, as do other denominations, with a mere legal transaction that doesn't affect the heart alienation with God. The church would be turned upside down if it captured the "big ideas" in Galatians that explode in people's hearts like sticks of spiritual dynamite. We must study and learn the message of Galatians--what Christ accomplished for us by His sacrifice on the cross, the good news of the atonement, which is the new covenant.

The one who wrote Galatians was the former Saul, a murderous "thug," the end product of Israel's old covenant unbelief. How ironic, that Saul should participate in the stoning of Stephen, the prophet. This event signaled the end of the 490 years of grace extended by God to His people (Dan. 9:24). God's patient forgiving mercy terminated for the "Jewish church." Its national apostasy in the worship of "self"--manifested in its ceremonialism (Acts 7:48-50)--drove away the Spirit of God (vs. 51). This resulted in national ruin and the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. by the Romans. But Christ plucked a brand from the fire,--the Pharisee Saul,--before its collapse.

Saul was a microcosm of the centuries-long old covenant unbelief of the ancient Israelite church in which they promised God to do everything just right (Ex. 19:8; cf. Heb. 8:7, 8). Christ Himself had instituted all the rites and ceremonies after they made their old covenant with God at Mount Sinai. God's intent with these "shadows" of the gospel was to lead them back to "the faith" in His promise of the everlasting covenant. But the leadership and scholarship of that day did not know the meaning of these types and shadows and failed to identify their Messiah--the suffering Crucified One--when He came into their midst.

The significance of Stephen's defense speech before the "council" and "high priest" was God's last warning and appeal to the leadership of His church to repent for their idolatrous history culminating in the murder of "the Just One" (Acts 7:52). The "council" had accused Stephen of teaching lawlessness (Acts 6:13); but they were the idolaters cherishing murder in their hearts (Acts 7:53). Stephen proclaimed the law and the gospel of the cross of Christ, which pricked their hearts. They chose to reject the Spirit's gift of repentance that Stephen announced. They took up stones to kill him. The leadership's decision sealed their fate as a nation. They would no more listen to the still small voice of the Spirit. They committed the unpardonable sin by attributing the work of the Spirit through Stephen to the work of the devil (cf. Matt. 12:22-32).

The young Saul was part of the council that participated in the stoning of Stephen. The shining face of Stephen and his forgiving spirit toward his executioners made a profound impression upon Saul (Acts 7:60). [2] Jesus had prayed for them all, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34; Acts 6:15-7:60). And that was Stephen's last sermon. We have the sermon recorded. There was no self in it. No "prophet of Baal" could preach such a sermon.

Saul, too, resisted the Holy Spirit, and gave in to the "group think" of his superiors of the Sanhedrin. He concluded with them that Stephen was a blasphemer and that Christians were followers of an imposter messiah. Saul believed Stephen was a libertine and a destroyer of the law of God.

Saul now sought to gain the favor of his colleagues by following their example in the murder of Stephen. By obtaining letters of recommendation from the high court in Jerusalem he designed to go out to the synagogues and, with their support, persecute the followers of Jesus. This was Saul's purpose when journeying to Damascus.

But the Lord Jesus arrested him on the road with the blinding vision of His exalted position in heaven as a result of His crucifixion (Acts 26:13). The Lord Jesus asked him, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" (Acts 9:4; 26:14). Writes Ellen White, "Christ here identifies Himself with His people." [3] Saul was sincerely deceived by Satan. In doing the work of Satan he thought he was doing the work of God. He was actually re-crucifying the Son of God afresh in the person of His saints.

Christ said to Saul: "It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks" (Acts 26:14). The Lord put obstacles in his path to make the wrong way seem like kicking against the ox goads. Yes, the Lord made it "hard" for Saul to be lost by speaking to his conscience.

One of the "good news" ideas of the 1888 message is: easy to be saved, hard to be lost when God reveals His love (agape) to you. You live because One died in your place; agape now motivates you. "All along the road that leads to [eternal] death there are pains and penalties, there are sorrows and disappointments, there are warnings not to go on. God's love has made it hard for the heedless and headstrong to destroy themselves." [4]

When the enthroned Christ stopped Saul on the road the antagonist asked: "Who art thou, Lord? And He said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest" (Acts 26:15). This was Jesus' self-revelation of the ever-present cross to Saul. Regarding this event Ellen White makes an insightful comment: "In the glorious Being who stood before him he saw the Crucified One." [5]

The Holy Spirit convicted Saul's heart by means of the cross of Christ. Saul experienced a heart-melting appreciation that the Messiah is "the Crucified One." Now all the prophecies, types and shadows of the ceremonial system came alive for him as pointing to "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).

Later, Saul received the laying on of hands by Ananias. Thus Saul/Paul was ordained as Christ's "chosen vessel ... to bear [His] name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel" (Acts 9:15). Above all, Paul was called to be the Apostle to the Gentiles. In his speech before Agrippa, the call to a Gentile mission constitutes the center of Paul's conversion account. Paul is sent forth as the servant and witness of Christ (Acts 26:16).

--Paul E. Penno

Endnotes:
[1] Ellen G. White, Selected Messages, book 1, pp. 234, 235 [Letter 96, 1896].
[2] See also Ellen G. White, Acts of the Apostles, pp. 115, 116.
[3] Ibid., p. 117.
[4] Ellen G. White, Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, p. 139.
[5] Acts of the Apostles, p. 115.

Notes:
Pastor Paul Penno's video of this lesson is on the Internet at: https://youtu.be/dzb8hVVVqWU

"Sabbath School Today" is on the Internet at: 1888message.org/sst.htm

RR

Raul Diaz

https://about.me/raul.diaz

Sabbath School Lesson # 13 | "Major Themes in 1 and 2 Peter"

Major Themes in 1 and 2 Peter

Sabbath School Today
With the 1888 Message Dynamic

"Feed My Sheep": First and Second Peter
Lesson 13. Major Themes in 1 and 2 Peter

 

Consider the case of the church member who lives in a hedonistic culture. The gospel has been preached unto him; he is intelligent, he understands it; he believes it (or says he does); but he doesn't live it, doesn't render obedience to the Lord in ways he knows are God's will for him. He nods his head to every sermon or Bible study. Yes, and comes to church. But just doesn't do the things that the Bible says to do. What's wrong?

Some have tried to help him with portrayals of the "time of the end," and the coming "seven last plagues," and the horror of the "mark of the beast." It just doesn't faze him.

Ellet J. Waggoner, one of the 1888 messengers of the gospel whose mind was guided by the Holy Spirit, says of this kind of case: "I still insist that you don't believe." What does he mean? There is something defective in his idea of justification by faith. Waggoner goes on: "The price that was paid for us was [Christ's] own blood--His life. ... 'redeemed ... with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot' (1 Peter 1:18, 19). ... He 'gave Himself for us' (Titus2:14), ... 'for our sins' (Gal. 1:4). ... 'While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us' (Rom. 5:6, 8). ... The price paid was infinite." [1] In other words, it's impossible to believe this and go on transgressing the will of God in your life--"you don't believe," says Waggoner.

When Peter writes that we are "redeemed ... with the precious blood of Christ" it was God's Messiah, of the Old Testament prophecies, who died. An unfortunate view of some regarding the Messiah is that we have a divine Savior who ministered on earth for 33 years, and then, when it came time for Him to die as God's sacrificial Lamb, He withdrew His divine self so that only a human corporeality paid the price.

But the corrective to this is found in Peter's response to Jesus' question, Who do men say the Son of Man is? Peter replies, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matt. 16:16). It is the Son of God who died and paid our ransom from slavery to death. Divinity did not die. The Christ is the "lamb without blemish and without spot" who died.

Why did Peter and John call Him the "Lamb of God"? Is He only the human son of Mary, or is He indeed the divine Son of God? John says further that He is "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world" (Rev. 13:8). Is the Lamb the Son of God? Peter says the blood of the Lamb is "precious" and that could hardly be said if the Lamb is merely human. "Ye were redeemed ... with the precious blood [life] of Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish ..." (1 Peter 1:18-20).

Due to their belief in the natural immortality of the soul, Evangelicals and Catholics believe that only the human Christ died. Some even deny this, boldly stating, "Christ did not die on the cross!" Their belief requires the understanding that Christ went to "Paradise" "today" with the pardoned thief, so that He did not really die on the cross at all.

Then what difference does the death of the Son of God make with regard to God's forgiveness of sinner's obtained at the cross? The 1888 concept of justification by faith provides us with a greater appreciation for what it cost God's Son. Herein lies the motive power for our faith which works by His love. Ellen White saw something in it that Luther and Calvin never saw: It "is made manifest in obedience to all the commandments of God." [2] That was no superficial statement on her part, for "agape is the fulfilling of the law" (Rom. 13:10). "Precious blood" is that which "having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls" (1 Peter 1:8, 9).

In other words, genuine justification by faith is "rooted and grounded in agape," because faith is a heart appreciation of it. Catholics and Protestants cannot clearly see this beautiful truth. Why?

No one who believes the natural immortality of the soul can possibly have an adequate appreciation of agape--"adequate," in the sense of preparing the grain for the harvest. We are not talking about those millions or billions who have prepared for death--Adventism is concerned about a preparation for translation at the second coming of Jesus, or it is nothing.

Martin Luther believed the truth about the nature of man and thus could begin to break down the synthesis of agape and self-centered love that Augustine had developed. But his followers reverted to the pagan-papal doctrine, as did Calvin, and even the Wesleys.

Parallel with the Day of Atonement comes a restoration of agape [3]; but the popular churches do not see it, though they use words for love. The theologians such as Anders Nygren, Michael Harper, or Leon Morris in their books on agape are not able to sense the real significance of what happened on the cross. But agape is a revelation of truth that comes only from Christ's ministry in the second apartment of the heavenly sanctuary. [4] The popular churches do not by faith follow Him there; and thus, they cannot comprehend agape, because they believe in the natural immortality of the soul. The Evangelical doctrines of justification by faith therefore cannot comprehend the full truth of the cross of Christ. They cannot understand how He died the second death for the human race.

It is not possible to understand the length, breadth, depth, and height of agape while one believes in the natural immortality of the soul. If Christ knew that He needed only to endure a few hours of agony before being re-united with His Father in a disembodied spirit, that would destroy the meaning of the cross. In reality, He saw the cavern of an eternal grave stretching before Him, with no hope of a resurrection.

Who is that One Person of all history who has been in hell? Actually, He came out of it again, which no one else will ever do once they get there! At Pentecost, Peter said that David spoke of Jesus, "Thou wilt not leave My soul in hell, neither wilt Thou suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption" (Psalm 16:8-11; Acts 2:25, 27). So Christ went all the way to "hell," the second death in order to pay our ransom.

Conservative Christians are steeped in the idea that we must be punished for our sins, we must pay the price. But Peter teaches the idea known as the gospel, a concept of good news that says that Christ has already endured the punishment for our sins. He has paid the price, "exhausted the penalty" [5], because "The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all" (Isa. 53:6). "His own self [He] bare our sins in His own body ... by whose stripes ye were healed" (1 Peter 2:24). "Christ ... hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God" (1 Peter 3:18). What does that mean for the world of sinners? Christ has already borne his or her punishment. It is over! There is now no fearful looking for judgment. According to Peter, if only the sinner can hear and believe this good news he will be transformed by Christ's forgiveness.

--Paul E. Penno

Endnotes:
[1] E. J. Waggoner, Christ and His Righteousness, Glad Tidings ed., pp. 83; 79, 80 (1999).
[2] Ellen G. White, Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, pp. 91, 92.
[3] See Ellen G. White, Early Writings, pp. 55, 56.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ellen G. White, Selected Messages, book 1, p. 340.

Notes:
Pastor Paul Penno's video of this lesson is on the Internet at: https://youtu.be/WXBFRjtMMdk

"Sabbath School Today" is on the Internet at: 1888message.org/sst.htm

RR

Raul Diaz

https://about.me/raul.diaz

Lesson 12. The Day of the Lord

Sabbath School Today
With the 1888 Message Dynamic

"Feed My Sheep": First and Second Peter
Lesson 12. The Day of the Lord

 

Peter warns that "in the last days scoffers will come" (2 Peter 3:3), motivated by sinful desires and teaching: the world always continues in a steady state, without God's intervention, without catastrophes, without end. They ridicule, "Where is the promise of His coming?" (vs. 4). The scoffers prefer "walking after their own lusts" and are uncomfortable with moral and spiritual prodding in view of the day of the Lord. They teach that everything stays the same, but Peter teaches catastrophe: The world is "kept" for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly people (vs. 7). Just as the fallen angels were kept for judgment (2 Peter 2:4), the unrighteous are also kept for judgment (vs. 9), and darkness is kept for the false teachers (vs.17).

How do you prepare for the day of the Lord and the seeming delay of the end? We puny people are impatient because our life span is so short. But God operates on a vastly different timetable, a day with Him is like a thousand years (2 Peter 3:8). So the Lord is not late as some understand slowness.

Another reason for the delay is that God is "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (vs. 9). You are one of those who have been "called." It depends on how you respond to the call as to whether you are "chosen." Christ has chosen all who will choose Him. Our "election" is not something mysterious that depends upon the whim or fancy of God. God is voting for us, and Satan is voting against us; and it thus depends on our own vote which way the election goes! Those who simply choose Christ will be enabled by His grace to be faithful to the end. God waited patiently in the days of Noah. But His patience is not forever, for the flood did come.

One more point: "The day of the Lord will come like a thief" (2 Peter 3:10). A thief comes unexpected. The day of the Lord is the second coming of Christ and all the catastrophic events associated with it.

The practical consequences of belief in the day of the Lord is, What kind of people ought you to be? The question is answered by Peter: "What manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness" (vs. 11).

So Peter urges us, "Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God" (vs. 12). Can believers really hasten that day, in spite of how God experiences time?

Has Jesus' coming been delayed? (1) Has the Father inexorably fixed the time of His coming so that His people can neither hasten nor delay it? Or, (2) can His people hasten His return as 2 Peter 3:12 suggests, "Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God ..."? The original can be understood as either (a) longing for its coming or (b) as hastening its coming. Those who believe the Father has fixed the date inexorably hold to (a). Those who believe we can delay His coming hold to (b).

Jesus makes clear that the Father alone knows the time of His second coming (Mark 13:32), but that does not mean that He has fixed the time as Calvinist predestination. He has "appointed" the time in the sense that it is contingent on the completion of the gospel commission: "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come" (Matt. 24:14). The when is up to us.

The character of God is implicated in this question. If He has fixed the time, then He has deceived His people by repeated messages telling them that it is "near." Some argue that when He says "know ye that it is near, even at the doors," He means something different than all human language means by "near," but again that implies deception. If I tell a hungry person that lunch is "near" when I mean next week, I have deceived him.

What does Christ's Object Lessons, p. 69, mean which says: "When the character of Christ shall be perfectly reproduced in His people, then He will come to claim them as His own"?

It must mean what it says. What it speaks of is not an impossibility. It's what Christ died to make possible and what He lives and ministers in the Most Holy Apartment of the heavenly sanctuary to accomplish. Objections logically deny the possibility for human beings to "overcome even as [Christ] overcame" (Rev. 3:21). In this last hour of the great controversy, we must not deny the plan of salvation and rob the Son of God of His power and glory to save people from sin.

Has Christ's return been "delayed"? Ellen White seems to recognize that there has been a delay: "God's unwillingness to have His people perish has been the reason for so long delay." [1] "The coming of the Lord is delayed." [2] "He [Jesus] delays His coming." [3] "For forty years did unbelief, murmuring, and rebellion shut out ancient Israel from the land of Canaan. The same sins have delayed the entrance of modern Israel into the heavenly Canaan. ... It is the unbelief, the worldliness, unconsecration, and strife among the Lord's professed people that have kept us in this world of sin and sorrow so many years." [4]

But five years later, the Lord sent the initial showers from heaven of the latter rain and the "beginning" of the loud cry message that must lighten the earth with glory. Speaking of the unbelief manifested at and after 1888, she said: "If every soldier of Christ had done his duty, if every watchman on the walls of Zion had given the trumpet a certain sound, the world might ere this have heard the message of warning. But the work is years behind. What account will be rendered to God for thus retarding the work?" [5] "Retarding" sounds like "delay."

What is clear is that the second coming of Christ cannot take place until the "marriage of the Lamb is come." And Revelation 19:1-9 makes clear that the only reason that "marriage" has not taken place is that His Bride "hath [not] made herself ready," for when she does make herself "ready," the heavenly Bridegroom will not tarry. Thus this question involves the character of Christ Himself. Does He love that Bride-to-be? Does He want to come?

--Paul E. Penno

Endnotes:
[1] Testimonies for the Church, vol. 2, pp. 192, 194.
[2] Manuscript Releases, vol. 10, p. 268; Letter 84, 1886.
[3] Manuscript Releases, vol. 10, p. 265; MS 5, 1876.
[4] Evangelism, p. 696; MS 4, 1883.
[5] General Conference Daily Bulletin, Feb. 28, 1893, p. 419.

Notes:
Pastor Paul Penno's video of this lesson is on the Internet at: https://youtu.be/kAFU8KNPRSA

"Sabbath School Today" is on the Internet at: 1888message.org/sst.htm

RR

Raul Diaz

https://about.me/raul.diaz

Sabbath School Lesson # 11 | "False Teachers"

Lesson 11. False Teachers

Sabbath School Today
With the 1888 Message Dynamic

"Feed My Sheep": First and Second Peter
Lesson 11. False Teachers

 

In the Christian faith, there is a true principle: If false doctrine is proclaimed, people will believe it if no one refutes it with truth. When teachers came from the church headquarters in Jerusalem to the churches in Galatia teaching false doctrine, Paul the apostle vigorously refuted their error in his Letter to the Galatians. He was obeying the command of Jude who said: "I gave all diligence to write unto you ... and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints" (vs. 3). The reason Jude gives is that false teachers had corrupted the truth of the gospel, and he was saying, Speak up for the truth!

Today some Christians shy away from "contention" for the gospel, saying, "we want peace and quiet." The common saying is true: All that is needed for evil to triumph is for good men to say nothing. When the Son of God became incarnate on this earth, He had only a brief lifetime, but He spoke up so vigorously for the truth that He changed the world. We are rapidly approaching the final struggle of the "great controversy" between Christ and Satan. It's too late in the day for anyone who loves Jesus to be content to be a spiritual coward.

But can anyone follow Christ truly and not be involved in warfare? Christ, who is heavily engaged in "the great controversy" says to us, "The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. ... Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. ... He that taketh not his cross, and followeth after Me is not worthy of Me" (Matt. 10:24, 34, 38). No room here for "couch potatoes"!

A current example of conflict that has raged in the minds and hearts for hundreds of years is "justification (or righteousness) by faith." The battle has been going on for most of the 2000 years since Christ. One entire book in the New Testament is devoted to the conflict--the Book of Galatians. There was no way one could be a Christian then and not take a side either for what Paul declared is "the truth of the gospel" or for the false teachers who came from "Jerusalem" to oppose him. And the battle has not subsided! Bring up the subject in almost any church or Bible class, and you will see the sparks fly. Must the conflict go on and on forever? Or can those who choose to believe in Christ resolve the conflict and come into genuine and lasting heart unity? Is the Bible clear? Or is the very source of our faith itself muddled and confused?

The rejection of the 1888 light opened the way for false ideas to enter under the guise of righteousness by faith. Indeed, if we turn from the genuine, nothing can prevent our grasping the counterfeit. A. T. Jones, at the 1893 General Conference Session showed how the mind devoted to self becomes the mind of Satan. He traced its development though paganism to the subtleties of Romanism. He said there are two kinds of justification by faith--a true and a counterfeit.

The counterfeit says that justification by faith is purely a legal pronouncement made millions of light years away that has no relation to our human heart; we verbally "accept Christ" and we start the heavenly machinery rolling. One's name is then entered in God's computer and our eternal social security benefits are then credited to our account. Our decision has initiated this process of legal acquittal. We were clever enough to put the coins in the washing machine. An element of pride can enter here; we initiated the process of our salvation. A perfect example of what Peter has told us: "While they promise [us] liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage" (2 Peter 2:19, NKJV).

Peter says that these false teachers smuggle in "destructive heresies" (2 Peter 2:1). One of the most distressing things about them was their denying the sovereign Lord who bought them. Christians are the property of Jesus because He bought them, as Peter says. The price He paid was His blood, His life (1 Peter 1:18, 19). The false teachers denied their Master by repudiating His ownership. This they did by their licentious conduct, returning to the slavery of sin.

The false teachers claimed to be liberated and enlightened. For them, Jesus was the messenger from the realm of light who came to awaken them to their true natures, to help them discover their true selves. He did not come to die but to inform, to reveal the great knowledge. He was not their Master, and they were not His slaves. Rather, they had the spark of divinity in themselves, just as Jesus did. They were not bound by any commands. Such was their gospel, and it was attractive. Peter says that they denied the Master who had bought them for the highest price imaginable and therefore owned them. The result of their impudence would be "swift destruction"--the judgment, even though they also denied that a judgment would take place (2 Peter 2:1).

The false teachers were popular--"Many will follow their destructive ways" (2 Peter 2:2)--and their immorality and that of their followers brought "the way of truth," meaning Christianity, "into disrepute."

Peter charges that an important motivation of the false teachers is greed--a covetousness for money, sex, and power (vs. 3). These teachers were especially adept at attracting women (2 Tim. 3:6), achieving control over their minds, their purses, their hearts, and their bodies.

How did they do it? With stories they made up (2 Peter 2:3), i.e., fabricated doctrines. Women and sensitive men were distressed and depressed by a harsh and oppressive world. The false teachers claimed to give the explanation of why things were as they were and how to be liberated from them. They claimed they had the real gospel, really good news that could restore the self-image and self-worth of people who felt devalued by the system. People were more than willing to pay to become one of the worthy.

But the 1888 messengers (E. J. Waggoner and A. T. Jones) counteracted these teachings with a new, liberating understanding of justification by faith:

(1) It makes the believer to become obedient to the law of God, not by eradicating his sinful nature but by enabling him to triumph over it: "God justifies the ungodly. ... It does not mean that He glosses over a man's faults, so that he is counted righteous, although he is really wicked; but it means that He makes that man a doer of the law. The moment God declares an ungodly man righteous, that instant that man is a doer of the law. ... It will be seen, therefore, that there can be no higher state than that of justification. It does everything that God can do for a man short of making him immortal, which is done only at the resurrection. ... Faith and submission to God must be exercised continually, in order to retain the righteousness--in order to remain a doer of the law." [1]

(2) Saving faith is a heart appreciation of the sacrifice of Christ: "In this blessed fact of the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus, which was accomplished for every soul, there is not only laid the foundation of faith for every soul, but in it there is given the gift of faith to every soul. And thus the cross of Christ is ... the very power of God manifested to deliver us from all sin, and bring us to God." [2]

(3) Genuine justification by faith is meaningless apart from appreciating how close Christ has come to us: "There is no element of weakness in the law; the weakness is in the flesh. It is not the fault of a good tool that it cannot make a sound pillar out of a rotten stick. ... Poor, fallen man had no strength resting in his flesh to enable him to keep the law. And so God imputes to believers the righteousness of Christ, who was made in the likeness of sinful flesh, so that 'the righteousness of the law' might be fulfilled in their lives. ... Christ took upon Himself man's nature, and will impart of His own righteousness to those who accept His sacrifice." [3]

(4) This special, unique message was intended by the Lord to prepare His people for translation: What means, then, this special message of justification that God has been sending these [seven] years to the church and to the world? ... This special message of justification which God has been sending us is to prepare us for glorification at the coming of the Lord. In this, God is giving to us the strongest sign that it is possible for Him to give, that the next thing is the coming of the Lord. [4]

The 1888 message broke through centuries of fog into a clearer view of the sunlit New Testament truth.

God invites you to come to Him and get the issue settled once for all, so that your mind and heart are clear and your feet are set on the solid rock. David said, "I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings" (Psalm 40:1, 2).

Give God a day of your life (on your knees if possible), and prayerfully read in an authentic translation of the Bible itself (no paraphrases or commentaries), and let the fog be blown out of your mind and heart. Make your choice to believe how good the Good News is. Don't be proud and jump to conclusions; test and re-test your convictions. We can trust the Bible! Just read it with simple common sense.

--Mainly from the writings of Robert J. Wieland

Endnotes:
[1] E. J. Waggoner, Signs of the Times, May 1, 1893.
[2] A. T. Jones, Review and Herald, Oct. 24, 1899.
[3] E. J. Waggoner, Bible Echo, Feb. 15, 1892.
[4] A. T. Jones, 1895 General Conference Bulletin, p. 367.

Suggested supplementary reading:
1. Robert J. Wieland and Donald K. Short, 1888 Re-examined, chapter 9, "A False Righteousness by Faith: Sowing the Seed of Apostasy," p. 100ff.
2. Robert J. Wieland, Grace on Trial: The Heartwarming Message the Lord "Sent" to Us in 1888, chapter 6, "If You Can't Understand It, It's Not the Gospel," p. 65ff.

Notes:
Pastor Paul Penno's video of this lesson is on the Internet at: https://youtu.be/YifHRmCpzM8

"Sabbath School Today" is on the Internet at: 1888message.org/sst.htm

RR

Raul Diaz

https://about.me/raul.diaz

Sabbath School Lesson # 10 |"Prophecy and Scripture"

Lesson 10. Prophecy and Scripture

Sabbath School Today
With the 1888 Message Dynamic

"Feed My Sheep": First and Second Peter
Lesson 10. Prophecy and Scripture

 

For many faint-hearted Christians the second coming of Jesus is receding more and more into the background. For them the return of Jesus is being eclipsed by the darkness of the world.

The Apostle Peter sets forth two profound reasons why "the power and coming of our Lord" are not "cunningly devised fables" (2 Peter 1:16). The confirmation to Peter concerning the coming of Christ came when God spoke at the Mount of Transfiguration, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matt. 17:5). This was a foreshadowing of Christ's coming in the glory of His Father. At the transfiguration the apostles saw with their eyes and heard with their ears in miniature, a prescient forecast of Christ's coming. "The transfiguration stands for us, as it did for the apostles, a sure pledge of Christ's second coming in power and great glory. ..." [1]

But there is another evidence of Christ's coming, and that is the "more sure word of prophecy" because it is spoken by the Spirit of God. "It is possible that a person's eyes or earsmight deceive him, but there is no possibility of doubt in regard to the prophecy. And why not? Because it did not come 'by the will of man; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.' The prophecy, therefore, is as reliable as God Himself. There are very few things in this life upon which we can depend implicitly; how gladly, then, we ought to receive this sure word, and how eagerly we ought to search it." [2]

Peter uses the analogy of a light which shines in a dark place; we are in darkness until the day dawns. But we cannot understand the "sure word of prophecy" until it breaks through into our hearts like the dawning of the day when the morning star must arise in our hearts and illuminate God's character of glory to us.

The present age is called night. Paul says, "The night is far spent, the day is at hand; let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light" (Rom. 13:12). And this he says in view of the fact that it is high time to wake out of sleep, because our salvation is near. "The dawning of the day, and the rising of the Day-star, refer to the coming of Christ, who is 'the bright and Morning Star' (Rev. 22:16)." [3]

Just before the coming of the Lord, His Word is to be proclaimed, and His life is to be manifested, to an extent and with a power never before known. This will be the shining of the Day-star, which will usher in the perfect day, when "the Sun of Righteousness" will shine over all the land, and "the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea" (Isa. 11:9).

Christ cannot come until the power and love of God have been demonstrated in the lives of His followers to the same degree as in His own life. God will show by means of the church,--that is, all true believers in Jesus,--His power to work perfect righteousness in sinful mortals, thus accomplishing a work even greater than that which Satan set himself to overthrow.

In his chapter 60, Isaiah is overjoyed to write about the time when the earth will be drenched with a special "light" of "the truth of the gospel." He says to God's people, "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee" (vs. 1). We have usually thought of this as the time when we will have more radio and television stations, greater technology for increased volume, so everybody in the world will at last hear what has been our traditional understanding of the message.

There is an identical "loud voice" in Revelation 14:9 and 18:1-4 that characterizes the last soul-winning ministry of all time. Will it be a greater noise level that will command the world's attention? We have talked, and prayed, and sung about it for generations. Have we assumed it will be a glorious and triumphant success for the church, to validate all our past labors? Millions who have gone to "sleep in Jesus" have dreamed of living in those awe-inspiring days when the earth will be "lighted."

But wait a moment: The Bible is not talking about an increased noise level, but of increased "light." It's to be a clearer grasp of what Paul repeatedly calls "the truth of the gospel" (Gal. 2:5, 14). Jesus said, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32). Greater light in understanding the gospel of righteousness by faith brings that freedom.

But if someone feels "rich and increased with goods" in his understanding of the message, it could mean he has no "hunger and thirst after righteousness" (see Matt. 5:6). Emotionalism can easily be mistaken for truth. The "glory" spoken of in Isaiah 60:2 and Revelation 18:1-4 will be a clearer grasp of justification by faith. We don't want to be blind to the light when the Lord sends it as the Jews were blind to their Messiah when He came. You can "follow" Jesus only if you "take up [your] cross daily" to be "crucified with Him" (Luke 9:23, Gal. 2:20).

Scripture prophesies a worldwide proclamation of pure gospel truth. We know it as the 1888 message. "The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea" (Hab. 2:14). "Living waters shall go out from Jerusalem" (Zech. 14:8). "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and ... Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising" (Isa. 60:1-3). "In the last days, saith God, ... on My servants and on My handmaidens I will pour out in those days of My Spirit" (Acts 2:17, 18). "I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory" (Rev. 18:1). It is great Good News!

--Paul E. Penno

Endnotes:
[1] E. J. Waggoner, Prophetic Lights (1888), p. 30.
[2] E. J. Waggoner, "The Sure Word," The Signs of the Times(Feb. 15, 1883), p. 77.
[3] E. J. Waggoner, "Testimony of the Centuries. The Sure Word," The Present Truth (Dec. 20, 1894), p. 803.

Notes:
Pastor Paul Penno's video of this lesson is on the Internet at: https://youtu.be/Nzt2RcIi6Mc

"Sabbath School Today" is on the Internet at: 1888message.org/sst.htm

RR

Raul Diaz

https://about.me/raul.diaz