Unconscious Guilt In Scripture History
The existence of unconscious repressed
guilt is taught all through the Bible.
1. As a clear example of self-deceived
unconscious motivations mentioned above, look again at the crucifixion of
Christ Himself. The Jewish
leaders were pathetically sincere in believing that the very existence of
the "whole nation" required that Jesus die. Caiphas said:
"It is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and
that the whole nation perish not. And this spake he not of himself …
" (John 11:50, 51).
These men knew full well they were
crucifying an innocent man. What they "knew not" was that they
were giving expression to the unconscious ‘’enmity against God"
buried beneath the surface in all carnal human hearts. Their words and
actions were being motivated by an unknown force within them. We all have
the same problem:
That prayer of Christ for His enemies
embraced the world. It took in every sinner that had lived
or should live, from the beginning of the world to the end of time. Upon
all rests the guilt of crucifying the Son of God. (DA 745.
emphasis added).
Paul agrees that the sin of crucifying
Christ was an unconscious one: "Had they known it, they would not
have crucified the Lord of glory" (1 Cor. 2:8).
As in the case of the Jewish leaders,
humanity today is not conscious of that guilt. But their sin is also our
sin, for the simple reason that we all
partake of a common humanity. We are all "members of the body".
Let us all remember that we are still
in a world where Jesus, the Son of God, was rejected and crucified,
where the guilt of despising Christ and preferring a robber rather than
the spotless Lamb of God still rests. … The whole world stands charged
today with the deliberate rejection and murder of the Son of God. …
All classes and sects who reveal the same spirit of envy, hatred,
prejudice, and unbelief manifested by those who put to death the Son of
God would act the same part, were the opportunity granted, as did the
Jews and people of the time of Christ. They would be partakers of the
same spirit that demanded the death of the Son of God. (TM 38).
If we refuse this clear-cut truth, we may
well set the clock back for another generation. Spiritual pride evades
this revelation. "Impossible! I could never do that," one may
insist. Yet this was precisely the proud assumption of those who rejected
the beginning of the Loud Cry (see R & H, April 11, 1893).
The final unfolding of history will be
the disclosure of the world’s guilt so that all can see it at last. When
the world unites to exterminate the people of God in the final decree,
this unconscious mind of evil will be fully manifest. No longer will the
Holy Spirit restrain it. And their hatred of God’s people will be in
reality hatred of Christ — a fresh and complete display of the same
unconscious hatred manifested at Calvary, "that all the world may
become guilty [out in the open] before God" (Rom. 3:19).
The painful truth disclosed in the True
Witness’s message to the "angel of the church of the Laodiceans"
is that a related guilt is our real sin today. And it is holding up the
Latter Rain. Beneath the surface there is a "carnal mind" which
"is enmity against God". All through the decades this
unconscious enmity against
God has frustrated our best conscious
efforts to hasten the coming of the Lord.
Obviously, only the "blotting out of
sins" accomplished in the Day of Atonement can avail to cleanse this
deeper level of unknown sin. When this work is done, the mysterious
phrase, "the final atonement", will be better appreciated. No
magical process will do the work The now unknown sins will be brought
fully to consciousness and forthwith repented of. But this will not be
possible unless side by side with the abounding awareness of our sin there
is a "more abounding" awareness of what grace really means.
Hence the necessity for a clearer understanding of the gospel than we have
ever known before — righteousness by faith. The "enmity" fully
healed, the "atonement" becomes fully effective or
"final". It is, in fact, a final reconciliation.
2. Long before Calvary Jesus pointed
out the unconscious sin of His enemies:
Therefore speak I to them in parables:
because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they
understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias. which saith,
By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall
see, and shall not perceive [oida, be conscious:] For this people’s
heart is waxed gross. and their ears are dull of hearing and their eyes
they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and
hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should
be converted, and I should heal them. (Matt. 13: 13-15).
Mark adds in place of the last phrase,
"lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be
forgiven them" (Mark 4:12). Thus the thing not "known" (oida)
is shown to be their sins. The divine Agency whose work it is to bring
unrealized sin to
consciousness is the Holy Spirit:
"And when He is come, He will reprove [convict] the world of
sin" (John 16:8). It is impossible for such sin to be forgiven until
the Holy Spirit imparts a consciousness of it. This is why there can be no
automatic scrubbing of the tape by pressing the magic button —
"Lord, forgive me of all my sins’‘ — without those sins coming
to consciousness.
A.T.
Jones emphasized that …
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