SST #8 | Peter and the Rock | 1888 Most Precious Message

Sabbath School Today

With the 1888 Message Dynamic

The Book of Matthew

Lesson 8: "Peter and the Rock"

The immense prestige and power asserted in the Temple in Jerusalem commanded the devotion of the multitudes when Jesus faced them and said, "Behold, your house is left unto you desolate" (Matt. 23:38), but a still small voice in the Bible story of Jesus of Nazareth intrudes upon the conscience. These teachings of Jesus call for our reverent attention today.

He waited until very near the end of His three and one-half years of ministry before He challenged His disciples with the ultimate question: "Whom say ye that I am?" (Matt. 16:15). They were clear that He is the long-awaited Messiah, but who is He?

God wants all of us to have perfect freedom to decide about Him. We read in Matthew 16:13 that Christ asked the disciples, "Whom do men say that I, the Son of man am?" The disciples replied that the people were divided about Him. Some said He was John the Baptist come back from the dead, or the prophet Jeremiah, or another of the prophets. John tells us that some of the people said, "He is a good man: others said, Nay; but he deceiveth the people" (John 7:12). It's somewhat like it is today, isn't it? "There was a division among the people because of Him" (John 7:43).

But when Jesus asked the disciples, "Whom say ye that I am?" they were silent for a moment, and it seemed that no one dared to speak. They had often wondered just who He was. They saw that no other man was like Him. What amazed them was not so much the miracles that He performed, but the perfect love expressed in everything that He said and did. Finally Peter spoke up for the group: "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matt. 16:16).

Jesus congratulated him for the courage of his convictions, "Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father which is in heaven. And I say unto thee, that thou art Peter [petros], and upon this rock [petra; rock solid truth as massive as Pre-Cambrian granite] I will build My church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (vss. 17, 18).

Petros is a little stone one can throw around; petra is the foundation rock which is Christ Himself. After poor unstable Peter had denied Christ three times and thus disqualified himself from being an apostle, he repented. Any thought that he was important was given up: he told the church of his day that Christ only is "the Rock" (1 Peter 2:8, petra). He knew he was nothing more than a petros.

Has the Lord's Church Always Been an Organized Body?

The beginnings of the true church can be traced to the everlasting (or new) covenant that the Lord made with Abraham long ago: "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee. And I will make of thee a great nation, ... and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed" (Gen. 12:1-3). Thus the Lord began to organize His people to be a denominated, visible family, a "nation." His purpose: that they witness in the world.

Abraham's descendants were elected to be the ancient equivalent of today's organized church. They were publicly to share and exemplify his faith. Their nationhood was to demonstrate that it is possible for human beings to function in an organized unity, perfectly devoted to the Lord's guidance.

That nation came to be known as Israel. Her history records a series of ups and downs, with many dark episodes of corporate failure. (The "downs" were the direct result of the old covenant idea they had embraced on their own.) But did her terrible backslidings cancel the original election of God? The answer has to be no.

Although they were severely punished for their apostasies (especially Baal-worship), neither Israel nor Judah ever became Babylon. Even while they were captives in Babylon they remained Israel. Baal-worship was a disease that afflicted the body but did not transform it into Babylon.

Who Is "Israel" Today?

At the beginning of His ministry Christ selected disciples and ordained them, disciplining them to proclaim the gospel to the world. "'He ordained twelve.'... The first step was now to be taken in the organization of the church that after Christ's departure was to be His representative on earth" (Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, pp. 290, 291). "On this rock [their expressed faith in Him] I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matt. 16:18). He commissioned them to be a disciplined, unified "body": "As the Father has sent Me, even so send I you" (John 20:21-23). They were not a disjointed scattering of "faithful souls." The Holy Spirit continued to organize and to lead the members toward perfect unity and cohesion.

When the Jews finally crucified Christ and rejected His apostles in 34 A.D., the Lord did not abandon His original covenant; He permitted a "shaking" to test His professed people. Two groups became distinguished and separated. The believing ones among them remained as His true church, and the unbelievers were shaken out. To the unbelieving Jews the Lord had to say, "The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth [bearing] the fruits thereof" (Matt. 21:43). The "nation" was the church continuing as the true Israel.

Also in 34 A.D., the physical nation of Israel was rejected, but the true Israel repented at Pentecost because of faith in Christ, for "if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise" (Gal. 3:29). That's how these contrite believers became the new Israel, the church, the true "nation bearing the fruits." The church was not an appendage or offshoot from Israel; it was the true descendants of Abraham (Matt. 21:42-45, etc.).

It is generally agreed among us that the modern Seventh-day Adventist Church has seriously repeated the history of ancient Israel. Ellen White often said that our "in-a-great-measure" rejection of the 1888 message over a century ago was a replay of the Jews' rejection of Christ.

But our 1888 history is different than that of the apostles—the apostles and church elders were responsive to the Holy Spirit's leading. What "the Holy Spirit said" to us we didn't do! But now the time has come when we must respond as promptly to His leading as the apostles did. The same Holy Spirit who organized the apostles is still alive today.

What Keeps the Church Together

When the early church functioned as a body in disciplined coordination under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the Lord respected its organization. For example, when Saul of Tarsus was converted, the Lord brought him into immediate fellowship with His organized church.

The idea is beautiful Good News. Christ being the "head," each believer is automatically an important and functioning member of the body. No political or other human organization can enjoy such perfect unity where each member sees himself as especially created to fill a need. Nothing nurtures it like living membership in the "body of Christ." Every believing person discovers therein to his everlasting joy his true sense of self-identity and fulfillment.

Well over a hundred years after Minneapolis and 1888, the time has come for us to fulfill Paul's vision of a perfectly coordinated church where every member feels needed. For nearly two thousand years Paul's picture of genuine, lasting "church growth" has been awaiting its full realization:

"We should no longer be children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, ... but, speaking the truth in love [agape], may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love [agape]" (Eph. 4:14-16, NKJV).

It's natural for some to fear that the church and its institutions are now too big and complicated ever to be successful. But the Bible gives no hint that the growth of the body makes difficult or impossible the Holy Spirit's work. Overall, the idea is that what will unify the church is pure, unadulterated truth promulgated wholeheartedly and unreservedly by its leadership. What happened in 1888 must be replayed, but this time in sanctified reverse.

—From the writings of Robert J. Wieland

http://www.1888mpm.org/node/2112

SST #7 | Lord of Jews and Gentiles | 1888 Most Precious Message

Sabbath School Today

With the 1888 Message Dynamic

The Book of Matthew

Lesson 7: "Lord of Jews and Gentiles"

Millions of Seventh-day Adventists around the world are studying about how an unknown little boy and the disciples fed 5,000-plus Jews and 4,000 Gentiles "bread." You say, I thought it was Jesus who fed the multitudes "bread." Yes, but He couldn't have done it without their help.

Creation ex nihilo ended on the seventh-day in the Beginning. If Jesus couldn't make bread out of stones to relieve His hunger in the wilderness, neither could He make bread out of nothing to feed the thousands.

The rules of the great controversy require that His faith be rewarded by the responsiveness and cooperation of those who believe in Him. His ministry of agape will succeed by eliciting unselfish service from formerly self-centered sinners turned disciples. Thus Satan's accusation that it is impossible for sinners alienated from God to render compassion and love for one's neighbor, which is required by the law of God, is proven false. Grace changes human hearts.

Jesus told the disciples, "give ye them [the Jews] to eat" (Matt. 14:16). Andrew found an unknown boy who was willing to give his lunch consisting of five barley loaves and two fishes to Jesus (John 6:8-9). That showed a commendable denial of self for a hungry boy, didn't it? Was he motivated by the love of Christ?

Jesus accepted the little boy's sacrifice, thanked His Father for the pitiful little gift in His hands, prayed for His blessing upon it (John 6:11). Think of it, thanking God for a totally inadequate supply of necessary food!

Then He broke the bread, gave it to each of the disciples and as He kept on giving, the bread kept on multiplying in His hands as they went—never a great pile of it all at once, only moment by moment as the need became apparent. Thus the 5000-plus Jews were fed bread.

In the case of the "four thousand" Gentiles (Matt. 15:38, 32), when He expressed His compassion on the people being so hungry that they might collapse on their journeys home, He first asked the disciples, "How many loaves do you have?" (Matt. 15:34). Apparently they scurried off to inquire and came back, "Seven, and a few little fish." Very well, now He can do something; "He took the seven loaves and the fish and gave thanks, broke them, and gave them to the disciples [He needs them to be the waiters!] and the disciples gave to the multitude" (Matt. 15:36). [1]

As the Son of God, Jesus was Spirit-filled from His birth. Surely He must have been the living embodiment of the three angels' message. How? He spoke and lived the everlasting gospel. His life was a constant call for individuals to repent and come out of the world and be separated unto God.

After thirty years of common labor in obscurity, Jesus—the Son of man—was led of the Spirit into the experience of conversion. [2]

Jesus as the Representative sin-bearer had our sin removed and the replacement was the baptism of the Holy Spirit—the latter rain. "He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon Him" (Matt. 3:16). Jesus was anointed as God's Apostle [sent one] to "lighten the earth with His glory" (Rev. 18:1). He bore witness to the loving character of God, which seeks and saves the lost. God does not condemn the sinner, but rather convicts of sin, of righteousness and of judgment—a genuine ministry of comfort to the "poor."

At His inaugural sermon in the synagogue on Sabbath morning Jesus used as His text Isaiah 61:1-3. "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings. ... that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified." And the message to the highways and hedges, and in the streets and lanes of the city, is emphatically carrying the gospel to the poor.

This message and work of Jesus was the fourth angel combined with the third angel's message. He taught the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. He ministered the forgiveness of sins and imparted the power for a restored life to God. Christ declares that "the bread that I will give is my flesh, ... I will give for the life of the world." [3] Thus we "have no life" except what is purchased by His "flesh" and "blood" (John 6:51, 53).

Jesus gave "bread" to the Jewish multitudes, which included the common folk and leaders of the church, thus calling upon all to a corporate repentance. But the leaders rejected Jesus, the true Bread.

He gave the bread to all including the imperceptive rabble crowd who saw him as the long-looked-for Deliverer and led a populist movement to crown Him. Even the Twelve were caught up in the moment. It was for this reason that Jesus sent them away out onto the lake in a boat, and He stayed behind to disperse the multitudes (Matt. 14:22).

Jesus Christ sent the Holy Spirit to raise up the Great Second Advent Movement. Jesus baptized this movement with the Holy Spirit. Individually we may experience the baptism of the Holy Spirit and His continual infilling all along the journey. But it is also true of us as a people that we must together experience the baptism of the Holy Spirit—the latter rain.

This is what is predicted. "I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power [baptism of the Holy Spirit]; and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice [the loud cry]" (Rev. 18:1).

Another angel takes us back to Revelation 14, to those three angels who have been doing a wonderful work since 1831 when William Miller gave his first Bible study on the prophecies, 185 years ago.

The Lord Jesus sent us "Bread," the beginning of the latter rain, in 1888 through His messengers A. T. Jones and E. J. Waggoner. [4] Jesus is "Bread" for the "life of the world" (John 6:33)—Jew and Gentile. [5] Justification, forgiveness of sins, is given to all at God's initiative. To all who eat/receive this "Bread" Jesus reconciles the sin-hardened heart to God; and one cannot be reconciled to God and not be reconciled to His commandments. Thus the "Bread" is justification by faith consistent with the unique Adventist idea of the cleansing of the sanctuary truth.

Shall "we" recover in our history the unique 1888 idea of "Bread" and give it to the world? Jesus needs "waiters" in order for Him to win the great controversy.

—Paul E. Penno

Endnotes:

[1] "The food multiplied in His hands; and the hands of the disciples, reaching out to Christ Himself the Bread of Life, were never empty. The little store was sufficient for all" (Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, pp. 369, 370).

[2] "After Christ had taken the necessary steps in repentance, conversion, and faith in behalf of the human race, he went to John to be baptized of him in Jordan" (Ellen G. White, The General Conference Bulletin, April 4, 1901, p. 36).

[3] The Greek word means the entire human race and the planet. We maintain that the "bread" is justification of life, which Jesus gave to all, Jew and Gentile. In reference to the "bread" the inspired pen writes, "He desires us to recognize Him in His gifts, that they may be, as He intended, a blessing to us. It was to accomplish this purpose that the miracles of Christ were performed. ... Nothing was to be lost. ... Not one word that concerned their eternal salvation was to fall useless to the ground" (The Desire of Ages, p. 368).

[4] "The Lord's message through Brethren [E. J.] Waggoner and [A. T.] Jones," "the light that is to lighten the whole earth with its glory was resisted, and by the action of our own brethren [and] has been in a great degree kept away from the world" (Ellen G. White, Selected Messages, book 1, pp. 234, 234).

[5] John 6:33-35 is not quoted in the lesson with respect to feeding the Jews and Gentiles. Thus one searches in vain for the unique idea of the 1888 message. God gives Jesus, the Bread of life, for the justification of the world.

SST #7 | Lord of Jews and Gentiles | 1888 Most Precious Message

Lesson 6: "Resting in Christ"

Sabbath School Today

With the 1888 Message Dynamic

The Book of Matthew

Lesson 6: "Resting in Christ"

The Sabbath [rest] is a revelation of Christ and a sign by which those who cherish it know that the Lord is the One who makes them righteous and sanctifies them. Resting in Christ is at the very heart of the 1888 Message. This message prepares a people, through righteousness by faith, for the second coming of Jesus. Ellen White writes concerning this message: "Christ is the complete system of truth. He says, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life." [1]

E. J. Waggoner elaborates and clarifies further: "The third angel's message is righteousness by faith; for the Sabbath is righteousness by faith; for by it a man comes into God's works, and those works are perfect. Therefore he gets rest by faith." [2] So, resting in Christ is at the core of the 1888 message and looking into the rest Christ gives is of great value. This is the rest gifted to us by Jesus (Matt. 11:28).

The Sabbath contains within it the creative power of God, the rest of God, the blessing of God, the presence of God, which makes holy, and the continuing dwelling presence of God, which sanctifies.

The Sabbath is a reminder of God as Creator: It is the reminder of His creative power manifested. It is a sign between Him and His people forever, "for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed" (Ex. 31:17).

The believer finds in Jesus the creative power of God manifested in making him a new creation: Creative power is the same as redemptive power, therefore redemption is creation—they are one and the same. The first thing that Jesus is to the sinner in this world is Creator (Redeemer), making the sinner a new creation. "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation" (2 Cor. 5:17). "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me" (Psalm 51:10). So the work of God in salvation is creation.

In the Sabbath is God's rest: "For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: 'And God rested on the seventh day from all His works'" (Heb. 4:4). We have seen that only those who believe can enter His rest. God is Spirit so therefore His rest is a spiritual rest. Spiritual rest is freedom from sin.

The believer finds in Jesus God's rest: "For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His" (Heb. 4:10). Rest is a gift, therefore it is written: "Come unto me, ... and I will give you rest" (Matt. 11:28). Spiritual rest is only received by faith.

In the Sabbath is God's blessing: "Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made" (Gen. 2:3).

The believer finds in Christ God's blessing: "God, having raised up his Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities" (Acts 3:26). And "God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ" (Eph. 1:3). It is God who blesses us and turns us from our sins.

In the Sabbath is God's holiness: Only the presence of God can make anything holy. Moses, attracted by the sight of the bush burning yet not being consumed, turned aside "to see this great sight." "So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, 'Moses, Moses!' And he said, 'Here am I.' Then He said, 'Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground'" (Ex. 3:4, 5). That place was made holy ground solely by the presence of Him in the bush, just as the presence of the Lord made holy the seventh day, the Sabbath, when He rested on it and in it from all His works.

The believer finds in Christ the presence of God to make him holy: It is written: "At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you" (John 14:20). And "God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Col. 1:27). It is the presence of Christ that makes holy, and His continuing presence sanctifies.

Elder Robert J. Wieland remarked to me once: "Righteousness is holiness which has confronted the problem of sin in sinful human nature and has triumphed over sin. Thus righteousness is something far beyond mere holiness!" [3] So it is Christ in us that makes us righteous, and His righteousness is only received by His faith.

"The work of righteousness will be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever. My people will dwell in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places" (Isa. 32:17, 18). Righteousness is freedom from disobedience to the law and this is the definition of "spiritual rest,—perfect freedom from all sin." [4]

Ellen G. White wrote that the Sabbath points to Christ "as both the Creator and the Sanctifier." Moreover, "I gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them ... (Ezek. 20:12). Then the Sabbath is a sign of Christ's power to make us holy." [5]

The Sabbath has in it Christ's sanctification: He not only blessed the seventh day, but sanctified it that His presence might dwell in it. Christ's presence makes holy, but His continuing presence sanctifies.

All the above is what is found in Christ; for the Sabbath rest is the culmination of the everlasting covenant—of the gospel which is "Christ in you, the hope of glory." The good news of the gospel is that all that is found in Christ is now your own experience because of Christ in you.

The believer finds in Christ God's abiding, dwelling, presence to sanctify him: For it is written: "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him" (John 14:23); and "Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God" (1 John 4:15); "For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people" (2 Cor. 6:16).

So we see that the Sabbath stands as God's sign of a completed work. It is the sign of a completed work at creation and a sign of the completed work of His secondary creation, the cross.

E. J. Waggoner wrote: "The power it took to create the world and all things that are in it, the power that keeps all things in existence, is the power that saves those who trust in it. This is the power of the cross." [6]

But to be made just or righteous means that self must die. We cannot kill self, but there is good news here too: "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Gal. 2:20).

We know from the Sabbath that Christ's presence makes holy—which is to make righteous, and His continuing presence within completes the sanctification.

Waggoner commented that justification is the highest state man can have on earth, and that sanctification is nothing more than this same justification moving forward over time. Christ's righteousness brings rest. Christ's righteousness is Sabbath.

Sanctification is the completed work of Christ manifested in the individual. Rest follows completed work. Spiritual rest follows completed spiritual work. The image of Christ is completely formed in the believer so that when God looks at the believer He sees His reflection.

"For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: 'In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength'" (Isa. 30:15).

"So you see when God set up the Sabbath, he had set creation all before man to start with, and man could see God in creation. But, the Lord wanted to get nearer to man than that; man could study creation and find a knowledge about God. But God wanted him to have the knowledge of God. In creation he could know about Him; in the Sabbath he would know Him; because the Sabbath brings the living presence, the sanctifying presence, the hallowing presence, of Jesus Christ, to the man who observes it indeed." [7]

Jesus said, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matt. 11:28).

 —Daniel Peters

Endnotes:

[1] Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, p. 1273. [On page 730 we have a further statement: "We know that the gospel is a perfect and complete system, revealing the immutability of the law." And then that "ra is the complete system of truth." The 1888 message teaches that Christ Himself is the Gospel.]

[2] E. J. Waggoner, "Studies in the Book of Hebrews. No. – 16," General Conference Daily Bulletin 7, 17 (March 8, 1897), pp. 297-303.

[3] Personal email from Robert J. Wieland to Daniel Peters, March 8, 2009.

[4] E. J. Waggoner, The Gospel in Creation, p. 164.

[5] Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 288.

[6] Waggoner, The Glad Tidings, p. 140 (Glad Tidings ed.).

[7] A. T. Jones, 1893 General Conference Bulletin, pp. 136, 137.

--

http://www.1888mpm.org/node/2109

Raul Diaz

Lesson 5: "The Seen and the Unseen War"

Sabbath School Today

With the 1888 Message Dynamic

The Book of Matthew

Lesson 5: "The Seen and the Unseen War"

People around the world are deeply interested in "Elijah" being sent to us. They are realizing that "he" will come as a message, just as "Elijah" came to Israel in the message of John the Baptist (Mal. 4:5, 6; Matt. 3:1-3).

 

They see that as John the Baptist prepared God's people of his day for the first coming of Christ, so "Elijah" in these last days will prepare a people for the second coming of Christ (Rev. 14:6-15).

 

John's message was a clarion call for repentance (Matt. 3:1-8). In these last days, "Elijah's" message is a call to the leadership of Christ's last days' church to "be zealous therefore, and repent" (Rev. 3:14, 19). [1] In ancient Israel, Elijah zeroed in on the top, the leader of the nation, King Ahab.

 

Just as Elijah was "zealous" and called on king and Israel to "repent" of their Baal worship and return to the true LORD (just as Jesus calls on Laodicea), so the Elijah message today will call upon God's people to "examine [themselves] as to whether [they] are in the faith. Prove yourselves" (2 Cor. 13:5).

 

That must mean a close re-examination—do we understand what God's holy word says about justification by faith? Or have we repeated ancient Israel's century-long slide down the slippery slope into Baal worship—that is, counterfeit ideas of popular Christianity that Revelation says are "Babylon"? Don't be confused and bewildered by Babylon's false version.

 

ELIJAH'S MESSAGE

"The faith of Jesus" will be Elijah's message. He "slays" the recalcitrant, unrepentant modern "priests of Baal." [2] Elijah proclaims the reconciling, "at-one-ment" message that heals the wounded hearts of those who appreciate Christ's cross.

 

The very last words of the Old Testament spell it out, "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord" (Mal. 4:5). The scribes and Pharisees naturally expected that this stern old man with a white robe and flowing beard must come before the Messiah could show up. Thus when Jesus appeared on the scene He couldn't possibly be the Messiah. There had been no "Elijah" first.

 

The grand appearance of "Elijah the prophet" went right over their heads. It was all done before they knew what was going on. The message of John the Baptist had been "Elijah"! Malachi's prophecy had been fulfilled before their eyes while they were looking the other way. How dumb can God's people be? Even Jesus' disciples "asked Him, saying, 'Why ... do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?'" His answer caught them napping: "'I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know him' ... Then the disciples understood that He spoke to them of John the Baptist." It was his message (Matt. 17:10-13). Could something great happen while wonderful—wise—"we" don't know what's going on? Could we miss our long-prayed-for "latter rain"? Elijah must come!

 

When the "Elijah message" comes, what will it do? How can we recognize it, so we don't treat it as the Jews treated John the Baptist?

 

It will not be a revival of legalism, harsh, vindictive, condemnatory. Just the opposite: "He ["Elijah"] shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers" (Mal. 4:6). A message of reconciliation! And that means "atonement"—the cosmic Day of Atonement ministry centered in the sanctuary's Most Holy Apartment.

 

Elijah had no patience with the "prophets of Baal," but he had enormous patience and tenderness for the people. The people were sheep who had been led astray by their shepherds who had been supported from the national treasury. Elijah's indignation was inspired by the Holy Spirit. It was the "righteous indignation" God expresses in Ezekiel 34:2 where He says, "Woe to the shepherds [the pastors] … who feed themselves." Self-worship disguised as the worship, the ministry, of Christ! That is the essence of Baal worship. God hates it.

 

But His heart yearns toward the people who are led astray, especially the youth and the children. "Elijah's" message will heal alienated hearts. Hardness will be melted. Through "the grace of God," not through harsh legalism, buried "roots of bitterness" will be exposed for what they are and a people will realize a precious oneness with Jesus. And, of course therefore, a precious oneness with one another! "Elijah's" message will do for God's people what it did for him—it prepared him for translation. Satan will oppose that message hell-bound. But "the grace of God" will be much more abounding. God's people will respond to their High Priest.

 

"BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD"

"And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force" (Matt. 11:12). Ellen White comments:

 

"The violence here meant is a holy earnestness, such as Jacob manifested. We need not try to work ourselves up into an intense feeling, but calmly, persistently, we are to press our petitions at the throne of grace. Our work is to humble our souls before God, confessing our sins, and in faith drawing nigh unto God." [3]

 

It's probably impossible for us to imagine what happened before the days of radio or TV or any flashing electronic news that encircles the world in a moment. The news that startled people went out worldwide: when Jesus of Nazareth was being crucified, spikes driven through His wrist-bones and ankle-bones, He prayed for the men doing that, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). The news went around the world by word of mouth. Never in the history of Roman crucifixions (which were many) had a crucified victim of this unspeakable cruelty prayed for his murderers. This was news!

 

People talked about it everywhere. The news catalyzed humanity: there were those who despised the divine Victim; there were others whose hearts were deeply impressed and solemnized. Like the honest-hearted centurion that Luke has to tell us about, they said, "Truly this was a righteous man" (vs. 47).

 

In the end of time the world will again be lightened with the 1888/"Elijah" message that turns it upside down, a message that grips some hearts and reconciles them to God and to His holy law; and that goads others to enforce the "mark of the beast" against them. This will be the message of a fourth angel of Revelation 18:1-4 that brings to a triumphant conclusion the work of Christ's gospel; the message of the three angels of chapter 14 doesn't accomplish that great work; it can't.

—Paul E. Penno

 

Endnotes:

[1] The "angel" of the church of the Laodiceans has to be its leadership (see Gospel Workers, pp. 13, 14).

[2] This is the same as the "perishing" of those who disbelieve in John 3:16; the "should not perish" is in the middle voice of the Greek verb meaning those who disbelieve commit their own spiritual suicide.

[3] Our Father Cares, p. 136.

--

Raul Diaz

Lesson 4: "Get Up and Walk!"

Sabbath School Today

With the 1888 Message Dynamic

The Book of Matthew

Lesson 4: "Get Up and Walk!"

It's fascinating to go through the Gospels in the New Testament. The first book, the Gospel of Matthew, begins with an introduction, with these interesting words: "the historical record of Jesus Christ." This Gospel was written from a strong Jewish perspective to show that Jesus truly is the Messiah promised in the Old Testament.

Interestingly, this is the season in the United States for preparing tax forms. There are some "lucky" souls who are getting money back while others are calculated to have to pay the government. So, let's get acquainted with Matthew. He is well noted as a publican and a tax collector, a despised profession in Palestine. His name was really Levi, the tax collector, probably a shrewd person of his profession in collecting money from every single person. In Mark 2:14-17, we see how Levi accepted Jesus' recruitment in following Him. And as a result, Jesus named him Matthew, meaning in Hebrew, "Gift of God," after Levi chose to follow Jesus, along with other disciples who had newly joined.

In the book of Matthew, there are recorded numerous accounts of Jesus' healings—at least sixteen episodes worth reading:

• Healing the Leper in Galilee (8:1-4).

• Roman Centurion for paralyzed servant, at Capernaum (8:5-13).

• Peter's mother-in-law, sick with fever, at Capernaum (8:14-15).

• Two demoniacs at a tomb, near Gadarenes (8:28-34).

• Paralytic at Capernaum (9:2-8).

• Jairus' daughter at Capernaum (9:18-19).

• Woman with issue of blood at Capernaum (9:20-22).

• Two blind men at Capernaum (9:27-31).

• Mute demoniac in Galilee (Matt. 9:32-34).

• Man with a withered hand, at Synagogue at Capernaum (12:10-13).

• Blind, deaf demoniac in Galilee (12:22-24).

• Miraculous healings at Gennesaret (14:34-36).

• Gentile woman's demoniac daughter, in the Region of Tyre and Sidon (15:21-28).

• Healing of multitudes near the eastern shore of Galilee to Decapolis (15:29-31).

• Epileptic son near the town of Caesarea Philippi (17:14-21).

• Two blind men departing Jericho (20:29-34).

Please note the amount of faith emphasized in each of these healings, and how unbelief changed to miraculous faith in those who had seen darkness change to radiant light and those who experienced deafness to hearing.

There is a heart-moving story in Matthew 8:5-13 about a Roman centurion, who exemplified New Testament faith, faith "which worketh by love [agape]" (Gal. 5:6), one of the key elements of the 1888 message. The centurion was a Gentile military officer, who presented to Jesus his bedridden paralyzed servant, who was very dear to him. The centurion was amazed at Jesus' offer to go to his home to heal the servant. During that time, according to Jewish law Jews were banned from entering the home of a Gentile. Of course, it was a shock to the centurion that Jesus would have compassion on a Gentile like him, to heal his servant in his home; he would not want any disturbance in the community that would harm Jesus.

This is the picture not only of God's redeeming love to all mankind, but one of amazing faith that Jesus had never seen in anyone like this centurion, who just preferred to hear Jesus say the order of command to send him home, in believing his servant be healed. Jesus' words to the centurion were, "Go, as you have believed, let it be done for you," and the servant was healed from that very moment. That was amazing faith on the part of the centurion, one that Jesus had to teach his disciples on the topic, lessons on faith.

The lessons we see from the centurion are:

(1) He understands his sinfulness in the light of Christ's righteousness, for he said two things: "I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof" and "neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee" (Luke 7:6, 7). The centurion's faith was a total mental trust, a heart appreciation.

(2) There was an unusual love that filled this centurion's heart, being concerned for his servant, and not for himself. This is the faith that transformed him from selfishness, as not I but Christ.

E. J. Waggoner, one of the 1888 "messengers, wrote a short one-paragraph essay about the centurion's faith: [1]

"There was one thing at which our Lord Himself marvelled while here on the earth, and that was unbelief. Many things caused great surprise to His disciples and the multitudes that attended Him, but the most surprising thing to Christ Himself was the blindness and hardness of the human heart. This so hindered in His own country that He could do no mighty work there; and "He marvelled because of their unbelief" (Mark 6:5, 6). Also when He healed the centurion's servant (Luke 7:2-9) He marvelled, not because the centurion had faith, but because His own people had less faith than did this Roman. Unbelief is a stranger thing than is the mightiest miracle ever performed; because there has been a cause for every miracle, but for unbelief there is no cause. It is not strange that God can do most astonishing things, for He is omnipotent and omniscient; but it is strange indeed that man will not believe His word. It is so strange as to be absolutely without reason. Do you believe the Lord? If not, why not?"

Waggoner, in another article [2], wrote that the account of the healing of the centurion's servant is given by both Matthew and Luke, the latter writer giving some points which are omitted by the former. He says that to get the full narrative, both accounts should be read together because the reader might suppose that the two accounts conflict, but there is no contradiction.

This story helps us understand that the essential ingredient of all true miracle healing is faith, a heart appreciation for the sacrifice of Christ. And the fact that Jesus' word, as soon as He says it is done. I too need to grow from my little faith to realize the amazing element of faith in healing.

This was the very Gospel message that reached the heart of a young Japanese friend named Sadako, who rejoices in how such faith of Jesus would heal and restore the darkness in this world around us. This is more than what I experienced in the medical field when I was working in the hospital, with patients of all kinds of ailments and diseases. And even in my journey to the Holy Land, touring all the places that Jesus walked where the very healings that took place, no matter what you are, a homeless person, a filthy wretched person, or such a worm as I, it just amazes me to realize that we are considered a valuable ownership with Him, a loving Saviour. Such love and grace increases my faith in knowing that we have the Great Physician in restoring our heart, soul, and unbelief.

—Mary Chun

Endnotes:

[1] E. J. Waggoner, "A Marvellous Thing," The Present Truth, Sept. 20, 1894.

[2] E. J. Waggoner, "The Commentary. Notes on the International Lesson. The Centurion's Faith," The Signs of the Times, Sept. 15, 1887.

--

Raul Diaz

Lesson 3: The Sermon on the Mount

Sabbath School Today

With the 1888 Message Dynamic

The Book of Matthew

Lesson 3: The Sermon on the Mount

Jesus began His famous Sermon on the Mount with nine sure-cure prescriptions, each one beginning, "Happy are those who ..." (see Matthew 5:3-12, Good News Bible). Even though our lesson book (p. 22) says that "we ... must apply it [the sermon]," you may be surprised to note that not one of those nine "beatitudes" tells us what to do in order to be "happy," as though Jesus were a guru proposing a program of works. The emphasis in Jesus' message of Good News is not on doingsome good thing in order to be happy, but on believing some "Good News."

 

If happiness is contingent on our doing the right thing, we always run into the snag of realizing we can't do that thing just right. No matter how hard we try, there is always an element of failure or non-attainment. If God promises us something good on condition that we must first fulfill certain do-it-yourself prerequisites, His promises are bound to fall flat because we can't perform. God can promise us the sky, but it's a cruel trick if His promises are nullified by some impossible condition.

 

There long has been a question as to whom Jesus preached His Sermon on the Mount—to His disciples or to the multitude. Some say that God is not the Father of "all humanity" but only of those who are converted. All the rest are children of the devil. But Matthew 5:1 says that when Jesus saw "the multitudes, He went up into a mountain" and preached, about "your Father which is in heaven," and "after this manner pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven," etc. (chapters 6, 7).

 

"LOVE YOUR ENEMIES ..."

In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told us to "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you" (Matt. 5:44).

 

But no one knew what He meant. It went right over people's heads. No one really understood the true dimensions of "love" until the cross (cf. Eph. 3:18, 19). The word Jesus used for "love" was not the ordinary, day-to-day one that people used in the Greek or Latin world--it was agape. The idea was foggy; it couldn't be defined until the cross.

 

The world marvels at the miracle of Christ's resurrection after three days in the tomb; but the even greater miracle was the love He demonstrated. It was unearthly--it had never been seen since time began. Every crucifixion done by the Romans had been a demonstration of cursing, and raw hatred. Here was one where the Victim prayed for His murderers! It became talked about throughout the Empire. No advertising could have been purchased at any price that was more effective for proclaiming the gospel.

 

This love known as agape is in a different category than what we call love. Unlike the "natural" love we are born with that loves its own, or loves nice people, agape loves ugly people, mean people, unworthy people, yes, enemies. Unheard of! (Our lesson book on page 26 alludes to this idea when the author says, "the whole focus on this section [Matt. 5:43-48] deals with loving people, not just those whom anyone could love but those whom, by the world's standards, we would not generally love ..." However, the focus seems to be on our "love," not God's, and the word agape is not used.)

 

On the lips of the apostles, it became the word that "turned the world upside down" (Acts 17:6). Its origin was unearthly. It had to be "poured into" emptied human hearts from an Outside source (Rom. 5:5). It couldn't be conveyed by lectures, and it can't be propagated by PowerPoint. It has to be communicated by a white hot flame burning in a human heart that has been deeply moved by the Holy Spirit.

 

PERFECTION

Our lesson (p. 26) states: "Of all the teachings in the Sermon on the Mount, this has to be one of the most amazing, the most 'extreme.' To be as perfect as 'your Father in heaven'? What does that mean?"

 

A. T. Jones, one of the 1888 "messengers," in his landmark book, The Consecrated Way to Christian Perfection [1], writes:

 

"Perfection in every respect is attained through the priesthood, the sacrifice, and the service of this our great High Priest at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens in His ministry in the sanctuary and the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man. ...

 

"Perfection, perfection of character, is the Christian goal—perfection attained in human flesh in this world. Christ attained it in human flesh in this world, and thus made and consecrated a way by which, in Him, every believer can attain it. He, having attained it, has become our great High Priest, by His priestly ministry in the true sanctuary to enable us to attain it.

 

"Perfection is the Christian's goal; and the High Priesthood and ministry of Christ in the true sanctuary is the only way by which any soul can attain this true goal in this world. 'Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary' (Psalm 77:13)."

 

A QUIET, HEART-WARMING MESSAGE

God cannot bring His people to attention by an unprecedented fear-motivated demand for holy living. The means the Lord will employ will be a quiet, heart-warming message of "the righteousness of saints," a message that woos the heart—"righteousness by faith."

 

When that last great angel comes down with the message that will "lighten the earth with glory" it will be a message to go to "every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people" with the powerful impact that Jesus' Sermon on the Mount had on the world two millennia ago, because it will be simple (Rev. 18:1-4; 14:6, 7). The Lord does not overburden you (Rev. 2:24). But do study!

—From the writings of Robert J. Wieland

 

Endnote:

[1] Alonzo T. Jones, The Consecrated Way to Christian Perfection, pp. 87-89; Glad Tidings ed.

--

Raul Diaz

Lesson 2: The Ministry Begins

Sabbath School Today

With the 1888 Message Dynamic

The Book of Matthew

Lesson 2: The Ministry Begins

The rite of circumcision was given as a sign to Abraham and his descendants of their inability within themselves to produce the Heir of promise. Abraham and Sarah's bodies were essentially dead. Isaac's birth was a miracle promised by God. Without that promise, they could not produce the ultimate Heir, which was Jesus.

 

THE CEREMONY OF BAPTISM

The ceremony of baptism is a sign that the believer identifies with the death of Christ, so they can say with Him, "of mine own self, I can do nothing." We are utterly incapable to produce righteousness by our own works because we are dead in trespasses and sin.

 

Jesus wasn't dead in trespasses and sin so why did He submit to the ceremony of baptism? John wondered why Jesus requested baptism, and His response is intriguing. "Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness" (Matt. 3:15, NASB). Jesus didn't say it was to fulfill the law, but to fulfill "all righteousness."

 

Baptism was not unknown to the pre-Christian world. The book of Leviticus contains many ritual and hygienic washing requirements. The works-loving Pharisees perverted God's reasonable requirements into impossible burdens. Although baptism's origin is uncertain, it may have been derived from the Jewish custom of ritual immersions or "mikvehs." Before the devout Jew could attend worship or other ceremonies, they would perform the ritual of immersion not necessarily for hygiene or cleanliness, but for spiritual purity. Presumably, because of this symbolism, no one thought it strange that John was baptizing.

 

Generally, the explanation of why Jesus participated in baptism is that He is our example, and that is true. But He told John to baptize him to "fulfill all righteousness." The word Jesus used in Matthew 3:15, dikaiosune, is the Greek word for imputed righteousness. This is the righteousness which Christ, Who came in the likeness of our sinful flesh, accomplished for us.

 

It is always only the righteousness of Christ—He is always its ultimate value. He is the only One in the universe who possesses genuine righteousness because He went to the cross and died the "second death." His free will choice to die the second death was motivated by genuine love (agape) and that alone is genuine "righteousness."

 

The wages of sin are death, the second death. While humans can (and many will) die the second death, it does them no good as there is no resurrection without divine power. Since we don't have divine power and thus cannot resurrect ourselves, Christ did it for us and imputes this "judicial verdict of acquittal" (Rom. 5:16, REB) to us, but He is always the value, or surety of that righteousness.

 

MADE LIKE HIS BRETHREN

In order to qualify to do this for us, He had to be made like His brethren (Heb. 2:17). He laid aside the prerogatives of divinity (Phil. 2:5-8) and was made in the likeness of sinful flesh so that He could do what the law could not do, as an offering for sin He condemned sin in the flesh (Rom. 8:3). None of the inhabitants of the vast unfallen universe possesses real righteousness, for none except Christ has died the "second death." No unfallen angel possesses "righteousness." They have only "holiness."

 

A. T. Jones, one of the 1888 "messengers," expressed it this way: "All our sins which we have actually committed were laid upon Him, were imputed to Him, so that His righteousness may be laid upon us, may be imputed to us. Also our liability to sin was laid upon Him, in His being made flesh, in His being born of a woman, of the same flesh and blood as we are, so that His righteousness might be actually manifested in us as our daily life. ... And to keep us from sinning, His righteousness is imparted to us in our flesh; as our flesh, with its liability to sin, was imparted to Him. Thus He is the complete Saviour. He saves from all the sins that we have actually committed; and saves equally from all the sins that we might commit, dwelling apart from Him." [1] This 1888 message concept is based on the then-prevailing belief in the Seventh-day Adventist Church of "God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemning sin in the flesh."

 

Imparted righteousness is a different word in the original language—dikaiomata. It is the gift of Christ's righteousness finally appreciated, received into the heart so that the soul can never be moved; it now hates sin with such total hatred that he or she would rather die forever than yield to a sinful temptation; it is sharing that self-emptying agape with Christ, becoming a partaker with Christ of the divine nature (see 2 Peter 1:4).

 

The work of the Holy Spirit is to administer, or impart Christ's righteousness into our hearts and minds as Jesus ministers in the Most Holy Place of the heavenly sanctuary. This work is specific to the individual as each participates and gives permission to the cleansing process. Revelation 14:1-5 describes a people at the close of time who "are without fault before the throne of God," who "follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth." Not part way, but totally. They will refuse "the mark of the beast" and will receive "the seal of God" (Rev. 13:16, 17; 7:1-4). This process results in the righteousness becoming part of each believer, but this is possible only through faith.

 

When Christ died for the entire human race, He gave value to His sacrifice which benefitted all mankind. There is no need for anyone to die the second death because Christ has already done that.

 

We can conclude that when Jesus told John to baptize Him in order to fulfill "all" righteousness, He was including everything fallen humans need, both imputed and imparted. The Father expressed His approval by speaking, "This is my beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased." The Holy Spirit manifested Himself in the form of a dove to anoint Jesus for the ministry mission He was starting. So it is with us. We are empowered to accept by faith that the Godhead worked this out, and if we accept we will receive all power heaven has to reflect the righteousness of Christ. Pray that none of us reject this wondrous Gift.

—Arlene Hill

Endnote:

[1] A .T. Jones, The Consecrated Way to Christian Perfection, pp. 48, 49; Glad Tidings ed.

--

Raul Diaz