From the Stormy Sea to the Clouds of Heaven

Sabbath School Today
With the 1888 Message Dynamic

Daniel
Lesson 8: From the Stormy Sea to the Clouds of Heaven

 

In Daniel 7:9-10 we read:"I beheld till the thrones were cast down and the Ancient of days did sit, ... the judgment was set, and the books were opened."

In Revelation 14:6, 7, we read an announcement to the world that the time of the judgment here described has alreadycome--"the hour of His judgment is come." It was future in Daniel's day; it is present truth in ours.

What thinking man can fail to tremble before an infinite personal Judge? It is a fearful time, when the angels assemble before Him and the books which record every secret of our lives are opened for divine inspection. It is of this judgment time, when our names will be called for judgment, that Jesus warns us: "Take heed to yourselves, lest ... that day come upon you unawares. ... Pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy ... to stand before the Son of Man" (Luke 21:34-36). But there are two kinds of judgment: one is condemnation; the other is vindication. What God's people face in the judgment is vindication, because Christ has accepted in Himself their condemnation and has died for them their second death.

The "books" are the records kept of all that has been right or wrong on earth. They contain our "tears" of agony and sorrow and repentance (Psalm 56:8), the names of those who respond to God's love (Psalm 69:28; Exodus 32:32, 33), and the record of our lives (Psalm 139:16; Malachi 3:16). Those who devote their lives to God's service have their names enrolled in the book of life (Phil. 4:3).

So do not be afraid of this judgment! Your Savior died to redeem you. He is not trying to keep you out of His kingdom, but He is seeking to prepare you to enter in triumphant so you'll be happy there. He will honor and vindicate in this judgment those who respond to His Holy Spirit. Trust your case to Him (1 John 2:1, 2). "Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out," says Jesus (John 6:37). Cling to that promise as for dear life!

Again, in Daniel 7:11-14 we read:"I saw ... one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed."

The "One like the Son of man" can be no other than Jesus, the Son of God, who loved to call Himself "the Son of man." He became one with us as our Elder Brother. The footsteps of Jesus can be traced all through the Old Testament because He is the One "whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting" (Micah 5:2). His footsteps lead today into that place in the sanctuary of heaven which is called "the most holy apartment." There He is working for us as our great High Priest in the "presence of God for us," to finish His work of redemption. When this judgment described in verses 9 and 10 is finished, Christ will win an everlasting kingdom of righteousness.

The nations and languages who serve Christ in His coming kingdom are not worldly kingdoms, but the host of redeemed in the "new earth" from every language and people (see Rev. 21:24).

Ellen White was overjoyed when she heard the message of justification by faith from the lips of A. T. Jones and E. J. Waggoner. To her this clear teaching was consonant with the message of the three angels: "The hour of His judgment is come" and our Priest is cleansing the heavenly sanctuary. What connection was there between justification by faith and the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary by Jesus our High Priest?

The answer is that since 1844 Jesus has been performing the Day of Atonement ministry--the final blotting out of sins. But before the sanctuary could be cleansed in heaven, the temple of His people on earth must be cleansed. The source of sin pollution must be ended in His people. The honor of God and the integrity of His covenant were at stake. God has the solution to the problem of sin. The gospel of Jesus Christ can forgive sins, and His righteousness has the power by virtue of the Holy Spirit to cleanse the soul temple. This God has promised in His everlasting covenant (see Jer. 31:33).

So when she heard this message she recognized in it the power and force of the gospel which would prepare God's people to stand with a pure character in the day of Christ's second coming. They would be a living testimony for God through the crisis hour. They would be part of the 144,000 who would be translated without seeing death at His return. They would be a living testament to the power of God unto salvation from sin. Living in sinful flesh, tempted, tried and afflicted, the mystery of godliness would be revealed in them--"Christ in you the hope of glory."

God's people have been given a unique understanding of justification by faith in connection with the cleansing of the sanctuary that is to prepare a people for the coming of the Lord.

Justification by faith in connection with the sanctuary cleansing is the third angel's message in verity. It is the judgment hour message, which prepares the way for the great and dreadful day of the Lord. It prepares a people to stand in the hour of crisis and to be translated without seeing death at the second coming of Jesus. It was and still is the shaking message to the Laodicean church. It bears with it all the prospect of the loud cry and latter rain of the Holy Spirit.

--Paul E. Penno

Notes:
Pastor Paul Penno's video of this lesson is on the Internet at: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvwvBJSbB0w

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

 

--

RR

Raul Diaz

https://about.me/raul.diaz

Lesson 6: From Arrogance to Destruction

Lesson 6: From Arrogance to Destruction

 

"Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall" (1 Cor. 10:11, 12). "Ensample" is an old English word translated from the Greek word typikos, which means a pattern of warning; ruinous events which serve as admonitions or warnings to others. The message in Daniel chapter 5 is a warning to the world, to "believers" as well as non-believers. Arrogance or pride will bring the destruction of the individual as well as a nation. "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall" (Prov. 16:18).

The opening line of the lesson used the word "hubris" which means exaggerated pride and self-confidence. Hubris can be used when speaking of both people and nations. An example is found in Pharaoh's declaration: "Who is the LORD that I should obey His voice?" (Ex. 5:2). The same arrogant defiance of the God of heaven was recorded for us concerning Nimrod. In Genesis 10:8, 9 we read that he was "a mighty one in the earth; he was a mighty hunter before the LORD." The Hebrew word for "might one" means "to raise oneself up in arrogance and stand in God's face."

The next verse tells us "the beginning of his kingdom was Babel" (Gen. 10:10). From its founding, Babylon was "against" everything that was godly. For nearly 1700 years, ancient Babylon had existed as a magnificent city on the Plain of Shinar, an example of what the mind and hands of man can accomplish when in rebellion against God. The kingdom established by Nimrod represented the complete development of Satan's plans to overthrow the King of the universe and take His throne (see Isa. 14:13, 14).

At the time of our lesson study (538 B.C.), Babylon had received the witness of God's love and mercy for 69 years through Daniel and his three companions, who had ministered to the king of Babylon in high government capacities. These faithful men instructed all who would listen of the coming Messiah who would deliver them from sin. Day by day through their righteous living, they taught faith in the living God of heaven. As God's blessed servants, they revealed the "spirit of prophecy" through their God-given wisdom and abilities to interpret the "mysteries" God showed to the king. But they also preached the coming judgment and hour of God's destruction upon the wicked nation. Babylon had no excuse to continue in rebellion against the God of heaven.

Twenty-five years before the events that took place the fateful night of Belshazzar's bacchanalian feast, Nebuchadnezzar surrendered fully to God's will for him. However Nebuchadnezzar's grandson never learned his lesson. In fact, Belshazzar was not a particularly religious man. The arrogant and comfortable environment that he had been raised in caused him to discount anything that did not exalt and praise him. He thought of himself as "god on earth" and sought to prove it by using the sacred vessels from God's Temple in his drunken orgy. In doing so, Belshazzar filled his "cup of iniquity" to overflowing, and judgment was swiftly executed. 

For two years prior to that night, there were "signs" of the impending fall of Babylon. In 539 B.C., the Medes and Persians joined forces and started their march toward Babylon, bent on conquest. Cyrus's sacred white horse was drowned while attempting to cross a river and this event stopped his forward march for a period of time. When he arrived at the city, he had his men dig channels to divert the course of the river away from the gates under which the river flowed through the midst of the city. The work took nearly a year to complete. All who heeded the warning message sent by God through Jeremiah, left the city. They "came out of her" and were saved from destruction when Cyrus invaded the city the night God wrote His message upon the wall of the banquet hall.

We have been living in a suspended time frame, as God waits upon His people to flee the fallen theologies of the world. Since the Second Great Awakening, God has been working through His remnant people to bring the good news of salvation through Christ and His righteousness. The good news includes the glorious truth of the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary, that of necessity must be preceded by the cleansing of the hearts of His people. Since 1844 God has been calling people out of spiritual Babylon to join with His remnant church.

But God's remnant has a spiritual problem. Just like ancient Babylon's arrogance and self-sufficient attitude, Laodicea thinks that she is "rich and increased with goods" (Rev. 3:17). This "richness" does not mean material wealth. The Faithful Witness is pointing out our false assumption concerning spiritual blessings. We think we have "need of nothing" pertaining to spiritual things.

Voices from the power centers of the church counsel against the "1888 message" of overcoming sin before the second coming of Jesus, calling it is an impossibility, a theological fiction. These voices excoriate the idea of a "final generation" that will heed the counsel of the True Witness to "overcome even as I overcame" (see Rev. 3:21). Rejecting the "most precious message" that God sent through A. T. Jones and E. J. Waggoner [1], the church has succumbed to an erroneous view on justification and sanctification that will never prepare a people to overcome sin. The "popular" view focuses on human possibilities (or impossibilities) rather than on the power of the Holy Spirit working through a surrendered heart and mind.

"Our misunderstanding of the 1888 message has blinded us to the deficient and faulty theology of the Evangelical churches. Because of 'preconceived opinions' and 'opposition manifested at Minneapolis against the Lord's message,' a vacuum was created which we tried to fill with our methods and borrowed plans from popular churches. The result is, 'Satan has succeeded in shutting away from our people in a great measure the special power of the Holy Spirit that God longed to impart.' The enemy has prevented us from 'obtaining that efficiency which might have been [ours] in carrying the truth [of overcoming sin] to the world' [Selected Messages, book 1, pp. 234, 235]. Intensive professional research, Madison Avenue techniques [in advertising], church growth seminars, or any other man-made programs cannot replace the 'power' and 'efficiency' the Holy Spirit would bring God's people." [2]

"Our spiritual impotence can be traced to our history. The truths inherent in the 1888 message of Christ's righteousness are not comprehended by us or by any segment of Christians who do not understand the two-apartment ministry of the heavenly High Priest. The 'gospel' proclaimed by the 'little horn' power virtually justifies sin and therefore logically upholds Satan's rebellion. This is the secret of the lawlessness that pervades the modern world on all levels. ... As long as pride and self-seeking masquerade as devotion to Christ, there we have Baal-worship. It has penetrated all levels of the church body." [3]

"The hope of redemption rests upon the shoulders of that final generation and that responsibility can only be met when that generation comes to sense the travail and distress it has caused but which in its immaturity has mercifully been hidden from it. We are that generation! We have not fathomed the pain which the Lamb has borne since the inception of sin." [4]

For more than a century we have been earnestly praying for the latter rain, while we remain "dry as the hills of Gilboa." God cannot send us the latter rain until we overcome our spiritual arrogance, and understand our responsibility in resisting the message and power God has already given to us.

--Ann Walper

Endnotes:
[1] See Ellen G. White,Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, pp. 91, 92.
[2] D. K. Short, "Baal Worship and the Long Delay," pp. 11, 12.
[3] Ibid, pp. 13, 14.
[4] D. K. Short,Then Shall the Sanctuary Be Cleansed, p. 98, CFI ed., 2018.

Notes:
Pastor Paul Penno's video of this lesson is on the Internet at: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HidQryp4zmc

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

RR

Raul Diaz

https://about.me/raul.diaz