“LIGHTENED WITH HIS GLORY”QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT THE 1888 MESSAGE |
Chapter 2Practical Questions About the 1888 MessageDoes the 1888 message do something practical for those who believe it?Yes, it worked revival and reformation among the lay members who heard it immediately after the Minneapolis Conference (see A. V. Olson, Through Crisis to Victory, pp. 56-81). The reformation would have been complete had it not been for the continued opposition of General Conference and Review and Herald leaders (Ellen White, Review and Herald, March 11,18,1890). The message brings joy and hope to thousands of hearts today who hear and believe. How does temperance and health reform relate to the 1888 message?The 1888 message recovers the true motivation for temperance and health reform by relating justification by faith to the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary. Although we are living in the antitypical Day of Atonement there is a current general disregard of this truth within the church. Meanwhile, so-called “moderate drinking” has become such a problem that articles are now appearing in our official church press seeking to meet the problem. Biblical prohibitions of alcohol were generally taught by the Evangelical churches prior to National Repeal in 1933, but Evangelicals have now largely abandoned those once-held convictions in favor of so-called “moderate drinking.” Why have Evangelicals largely lost their anti-alcohol zeal?They have lacked the motivation that understanding the Day of Atonement truth would provide. We too may cite the same Biblical prohibitions, “don’t drink,” “say ‘no,’” etc., but without that grand motivation of the sanctuary truth they will prove equally ineffectual among us, especially among our youth. There is at present an alarming increase of social drinking in some Adventist circles, especially at our large institutions. The unique sanctuary truth is the hub from which have radiated all the spokes of Adventist health and temperance reform. Its neglect appears related to our drinking problem. Why is righteousness by faith in the Day of Atonement setting so important?Ellen White says that “the correct understanding of the ministration in the heavenly sanctuary is the foundation of our faith” (Evangelism, p. 221), “the central pillar that sustains the structure of our position at the present time” (Letter 126, 1897). Unless we understand it clearly, “it will be impossible … to exercise the faith which is essential at this time” (The Great Controversy, p. 488). The only true deterrent to intemperance is that “faith.” Fear of sickness or accidents, even of death and hell itself, is not a strong enough motivation. We can drum away with the fear motivation endlessly, but it will not hold our youth in times of temptation: We may dwell upon the punishing of every sin, and the awfulness of the punishment inflicted on the guilty, but this will not melt and subdue the soul (MS 55, 1890). Did Israelites in ancient times drink alcohol?While it is very true that God has always prohibited use of alcohol, His people in ancient times did have a problem with it (see, for example, Genesis 9:20, 21; 1 Samuel 25:36-38; Ruth 3:7; 2 Samuel 13:28, etc. The Bible has also prohibited worldliness and materialism, but both were practiced). But the people of Israel never took a drop on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:29, 30; 23:27-32). It is true that intemperance and “moderate drinking,” even drug usage, “abound” today, even within the church. But nothing can solve this problem except a revelation of “much more abounding grace,” the kind that is ministered by the great High Priest in His closing work of atonement in the Most Holy Apartment. In these “perilous” last days a better motivation must be found than self-concern or even us-concern, and that is concern for the honor and vindication of the One who gave Himself for us. Speaking again of the 1888 message, Ellen White related it to the Day of Atonement truths: We are in the day of atonement, and we are to work in harmony with Christ’s work of cleansing the sanctuary from the sins of the people. … We must now set before the people [that includes our youth] the work which by faith we see our great High-priest accomplishing in the heavenly sanctuary (Review and Herald, January 21, 1890). What is the truly effective motivation for temperance and health reform?The true reason for practicing health reform in general is not so we can enjoy a few more years of life in order to pursue ease and luxury, but that we may have clearer minds to comprehend the work of Christ as High Priest in the final atonement. The increased health we enjoy is so we can serve Him and our fellow-men effectively, not play more fun-and-games for ourselves. It is a heart-response to His love rather than a self-centered concern of “what’s-in-it-for-me.” The February 25, 1982 special Adventist Review issue on temperance included a brief mention of the cleansing of the sanctuary as the real reason for our Seventh-day Adventist health and temperance message. It would be wonderful if more could be said so that truth could appear again in our official press. What is sin? Can we define it as a broken relation-’ ship?“Relationship” is a foggy, fuzzy word. A relationship can be either good or bad. The word does not appear in Scripture. Instead, sin is there defined as transgression of the law or hatred of it (anomia; 1 John 3:4). Sin is more than a broken relationship; it is rebellion against God. The difference can be illustrated in the cross of Christ. As He suffered there in the darkness, He definitely experienced a “broken relationship,” for He cried out, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Yet that broken relationship did not mean that Christ sinned. In His total loneliness, darkness, forsakenness, and hopelessness, He chose not to sin because He chose to believe. “God is agape” (1 John 4:8). Therefore agape can endure a broken relationship without sin. This proves that “a broken relationship” cannot be an adequate definition of sin. The Bible articulates more clearly the true definitions of sin and faith than the word “relationship” can express. Confusion engendered by this word could be the cause of many people’s lack of assurance. Arnold Wallenkampf comments thus: The word relationship is often bandied around in today’s conversations. It is used also in the area of religion, implying a saving connection with God. But relationship is no panacea. A person or organization—or almost anything for that matter—sustains a relationship in some way to anyone or anything else. … All the three travelers who saw the unfortunate man who had been robbed and beaten on the Jericho road (see Luke 10:25-37) sustained a relationship to him. So the word relationship is not adequate to describe a person’s saving connection with God. A relationship per se with God guarantees no salvation. Satan himself sustains a relationship to God. Salvation results only from a friendship relationship, or soul-fellowship, with God. It was only the Samaritan’s friendship relationship to the suffering traveler that saved the latter from death (What Every Adventist Should Know About 1888, p. 86). This idea of Christ dying for “all men” raises the question, “When is one’s name enrolled in the Book of Life?”In the Index to Ellen White’s writing there are many references to those who are “listed in the book of life.” But with two exceptions, they do not say when the name is written there. Even these two exceptions are not very clear: (a) “When we become children of God, our names are written in the Lamb’s book of life, and they remain there until the time of the investigative judgment” (Bible Commentary, Vol. 7, p. 987). (b) “The sinner, through repentance of his sins, faith in Christ, and obedience to the perfect law of God, has the righteousness of Christ imputed to him; it becomes his righteousness, and his name is recorded in the Lamb’s book of life” (Testimonies, Vol. 3, pp. 371, 372). When can a sinner repent and become “a child of God”?In some cases, at a very early age. In the womb of his mother Elizabeth, the child John the Baptist responded to the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:44). In the womb of his mother, Jeremiah was called, sanctified, and ordained to be a prophet (Jeremiah 1:5). In some sense Christ has been the “Saviour of all men” even before they respond. Because of His love, “all men” are candidates for eternal life by virtue of His sacrifice. His sacrifice actually provided life for all men (Romans 5:18). The book of life and the gift of life go together. God will “have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). Since Christ chose to “taste death for every man” (Hebrews 2:9), He has ordained life for “every man,” the opposite of the death He tasted for them. Surely the Lord wants everyone’s name to be in the Book of life, and those names will remain there unless by choosing darkness rather than light, they veto the “election” to eternal life which God has already chosen for them (John 3:16-19). In our darkness of mind we do not realize His gracious election to salvation until the time comes when we hear about it, believe, and respond. At that time, so far as we are concerned, our names are enrolled in that book. At what age can a child be told that his or her name is enrolled in the book of life?We must never draw a circle to shut a child outside of the assurance of God’s election to eternal life. In The Desire of Ages we read that Christ “did not refuse the simplest flower plucked by the hand of a child, and offered to Him in love. He accepted the offerings of children, and blessed the givers, inscribing their names in the book of life” (p. 564). Children only two or three years old can pluck a flower and give it to you in love. Paul had an unusual idea in Hebrews 7:9 that may help us understand. Levi “paid tithes in Abraham. For he was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchisedec met him.” In other words, God inscribed in His “book” that Levi was a tithe-payer before he was even conceived! “God … calleth those things which be not as though they were” (Romans 4:17). Paul’s illustration of the carefree child in Galatians 4:1 is also helpful. The son of the lord of the estate is being rudely bossed about by the slaves until he comes of age. At that time the boy does not realize who he actually is. But all the while, he is the true lord of the estate. His father had him “enrolled” as such before he realized it. How is this truth important in soul-winning?We are not to tell anyone that God plans to exclude him from heaven. The plan of salvation does not require the sinner taking the first step in His plan of salvation, for God has already taken that step “in Christ.” And John 3:16 tells us that the sinner’s part is to respond in heartfelt faith, for “with the heart man believeth unto righteousness” (Romans 10:10). It is a part of the Good News to tell the sinner that God has predestined him to eternal life, for He has not predestined anyone to be lost. Thus in His infinite mind He has already considered the sinner as a candidate for heaven, and if he appreciates that great benefit and responds and overcomes, God wants to retain his name in that book of life. The sinner must understand that by continued resistance of God’s grace he is taking the initiative to erase his own name. If a patient’s illness has been cured, he no longer needs the medicine. Do not our people today have a much better understanding of righteousness by faith than in past decades? Should not the 1888 message now be silenced?A century ago Ellen White said of this message, “There is not one in one hundred who understands for himself the Bible truth on this subject [justification by faith] that is so necessary to our present and eternal welfare” (Review and Herald, September 3, 1889; quoted in A. G. Daniells, Christ Our Righteousness, p. 87). Do our people today enjoy a significantly better ratio of understanding? Daniells said in his day (1926) that he thought the answer was no, for he said that the 1888 “message has never been received, nor proclaimed, nor given free course as it should have been” (p. 47). There are times when Evangelical concepts were imported and labelled as “the 1888 message,” but its basic elements have been lacking. Motif analysis can document this fact. When in our present century of history can it be said that the 1888 truths were recovered and promulgated? The Adventist Review of January 6,1991 reported a current survey that 70% of our youth do not understand the gospel. By “gospel,” the survey understands the basic Evangelical concepts as held by non-Adventist churches (the Valuegenesis Survey was based on Search Institute criteria). Therefore facts will very likely show that a much smaller percentage of our youth today understand the unique truths of justification by faith which Ellen White referred to above. She would hardly have said that “not one in one hundred” in her day understood the popular Protestant concept of justification by faith as taught by Moody or Spurgeon, for they were well-known 19th-century preachers, and multitudes read their sermons. She referred directly to the 1888 message itself. When these concepts are presented to our congregations today, many, youth and adults, frequently testify that they have never before understood them, even though they may have been baptized into the church years, sometimes even decades, before. We do not have a prophet who can give us an inspired percentage figure now as was the case a century ago. Whether or not the ratio is better now than “one in one hundred,” one fact is clear: if it were radically better, the church could not be lukewarm, because understanding and believing that glorious truth makes lukewarmness impossible. I am trying to understand at what point justification becomes ours as an experience.The only Biblical answer is—at the point that we begin to believe how good the Good News is. That is, at the point where our heart begins to appreciate what it cost the Son of God to redeem us. That is New Testament faith, and effective justification is by that faith. According to Galatians 5:6, such faith begins to “work” immediately, and the experience is subjective justification by faith. Waggoner says our main problem is unbelief—the opposite of faith: As to your being Christ’s, you yourself can settle that. You have seen what He gave for you. Now the question is, Have you delivered yourself to Him? If you have, you may be sure that He has accepted you. If you are not His, it is solely because you have refused to deliver to Him that which He has bought. You are defrauding Him. … Now as to your believing His words, yet doubting if He accepts you, because you don’t feel the witness in your heart, I still insist that you don’t believe (Christ and His Righteousness, 1890, pp. 74, 75). Note that the objective justification has already taken place at the cross for “all men.” Our sins were “imputed” unto Christ (2 Corinthians 5:19). But that objective justification makes no change in the heart. When the sinner appreciates this and believes, the subjective then becomes a reality—or at least it begins to be such. It continues and deepens all through life. I’m still trying to understand what God requires before justification becomes ours in experience.The only possible Bible answer remains one word: faith. That is all God asked from Abraham (Genesis 15:6). The Hebrew word “believe” is the root of our word “amen.” And Ellen White’s answer is the same. The Lord asks for one thing: “If we come to Christ, then what is the condition? … Living faith” (MS 9, 1890). For example, note the Hebrew of Jeremiah 11:5—his response to the “covenant” the Lord spoke to him. Jeremiah made no word of promise such as Israel did at Sinai. He only spoke the word “amen.” That is all that the Lord has ever required from any person at any time. A true response of faith includes within it a built-in dynamic—all the works and cooperation that make the believer fully obedient to all the commandments of God. Does justification by faith take care of past sins only?A mere confession of past entities of sin is not true confession in the sense of 1 John 1:9. We do not truly understand what our sins are in order to “confess” them until we realize that in fact our sins are deeper than we have superficially realized. “In Adam” the Bible sees the entire human race as one man. This describes our corporate relationship. If we did not have a Saviour, we would be guilty of the sins of the whole world—corporately. No one of us is innately, by nature, better than anyone else. The NEB for Romans 3:23 says that “all alike have sinned.” Our true guilt is what we would do if we had the full opportunity such as others have had: “The books of heaven record the sins that would have been committed had there been opportunity” (Ellen White, Bible Commentary, Vol. 5, p. 1085). According to the 1888 message, true justification by faith is an on-going present reality. Not only are there sins of the past, but there is buried sin of the present, heart-enmity against righteousness, that needs to be realized and then intelligently confessed. Our personal guilt that we realize is for the sins that we know we have personally committed. But this is only the tip of the iceberg of reality, and shows us what the rest would be but for the grace of Christ. The issue is not confessing so that “the past” will never confront us again. Even our true guilt of the present must not be left to confront us in the judgment. According to the above statement, the books of heaven record every sin that I would commit if I had “the opportunity.” This must include the crucifixion of the Son of God! Therefore true repentance and confession must include this. And that brings us to Zechariah 12:10-13:1: I will pour out the spirit of grace and prayer on all the people of Jerusalem, and they will look on him they pierced, and mourn for him as for an only son, and grieve bitterly for him as for an oldest child who died. … All of Israel will weep in profound sorrow. The whole nation will be bowed down with universal grief—king, prophet, priest, and people. … At that time a Fountain will be opened to the people of Israel and Jerusalem, a Fountain to cleanse them from all their sins and uncleanness. (The Living Bible) A number of times Ellen White applies this passage to the sealing work that must take place before probation closes (cf. T he Desire of Ages, p. 300; Signs of the Times, January 28,1903). For many years “we” have misunderstood the 1888 truth of justification by faith. As a result, we have resisted the idea of corporate guilt and corporate repentance. There has been a famine for the righteousness by faith that truly cleanses the hearts of God’s people (the KJV says, “the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem”). The Lord wants to grant to us this true realization; and then there will be that fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness. May that day come soon. Is there not a danger of making the Good News too good?The gospel is most certainly Good News. Not that the Lord saves us in our sins but from our sins. His job is being such a Saviour. And He is very capable. Our unwillingness to let the sin go is the problem. It’s not good news that He leaves us to wallow in sin while we cherish a vain hope. He does deliver from sin, and thus can prepare a people for His second coming. We cannot be honest and deny that “God so loved the world, that He gave (not lent ) His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him (not does everything just right) should not perish, but have everlasting life.” His love is active; He is a Good Shepherd seeking His lost sheep. One has to resist His grace in order to be lost. No, that Good News is pure, and it is good. It is good because the grace of God imparts to the believing heart a desire to relinquish sin. Then the believer is motivated to full obedience. Jesus says: Come unto me, all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light (Matthew 11:28-30). It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks (Acts 26:14). I have heard that the 1888 message interprets some texts like this backwards from the way we have always understood.Yes, that may be true. The pure gospel always upsets lukewarm church members. The usual understanding that has been drilled into our people, and especially our youth, is that it is very hard to be a good Christian, and very easy to be lost. Jesus says the opposite, as anyone can see who will consider His words of life. Here is another text that is usually understood backwards: … the flesh lusteth [strives] against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would (Galatians 5:17). Most of us have thought this means that we cannot do the good things we would like to do. But the 1888 message does see it backwards from that! If we believe how good the Good News is, the Holy Spirit turns out to be stronger than the flesh, and since He is striving against the flesh, the flesh loses out, and we cannot do the evil things it would prompt us to do. In other words, this is a comment on Romans 1:16 where we read that “the gospel is the power of God unto salvation” (our word “dynamite” comes from the Greek for “power”). Light is stronger than darkness; love is stronger than hatred; grace is stronger than sin; and the Holy Spirit is stronger than the flesh. The 1888 view is correct, for verse 16 says: “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.” Yes, the Bible may say that the Good News is very good; but doesn’t Ellen White say it is not as good as that?Ellen White never wants to contradict the Bible, and certainly not to contradict the Lord Jesus Christ. She does not deny the 1888 concept of justification by faith, but it is possible for us to read into her writings our own Arminian ideas that have been nurtured all our lives. Thus we can read her like the ancient Jews read the Old Testament—with a vail upon our heart (cf. 2 Corinthians 3:14-16). When she talks about “retaining justification,” the context always indicates she means justification by faith. Anyone who willfully continues in sin immediately negates his experience of justification by faith. If he continues in sin and counts “the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing” (Hebrews 10:29), he has done despite unto the grace of God and taken back the full condemnation upon himself. But nevertheless Ellen White is enthusiastic about the fact that the sacrifice of Christ embraced the whole world. This must mean that no legal debit stands against us in the books of heaven unless we reject that justification already effected for us and which has already “come upon” us, to borrow again the phraseology of Romans 5:18. Christ took away the written indictment against us, nailing it to His cross (cf. Colossians 2:13, 14). It is possible to take words, phrases, clauses, sentences, from Ellen White and string them together to give the impression that she is denying what Jesus said about His yoke being “easy” and His burden “light.” But in context she would never dare to contradict the Lord Jesus who bought her with his blood. She did say this: Yet do not therefore conclude that the upward path is the hard and the downward road the easy way. All along the road that leads to 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. … And all the way up the steep road leading to eternal life are well-springs of joy to refresh the weary (Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, pp. 139, 140). If this turns out to be true, the Good News is good. But how does the Holy Spirit strive so successfully against the flesh?The Holy Spirit comes as a Comforter (parakletos). It means the One called to come and sit down beside us and never leave us (para as in parallel, and kletos, called). He will never forsake us unless we beat Him off (John 14:16-18; 16:7-13). An example of how He works is in Isaiah 30:21: “Thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.” As you consider your past life, you can see that when you have made mistakes, it has always been because you have not listened to that “word.” Our part is to listen to Him, to pay attention, to respond to Him, to let Him guide us. When he convicts us of sin, our part is to say, “Thank You Lord; I believe it and I gladly give it up.” If our response is not positive, we are resisting Him, and that is the only way we can be lost. Sin is a constant resistance of the Holy Spirit, turning away from Him, choosing our way rather than His. The point of the 1888 message is that God is much more desirous of our being saved than we have thought. It’s the job of the great High Priest to cleanse His sanctuary, not our job; yet we are to cooperate with Him, to let Him do it. I would like to know more about why it is easy to be saved, and hard to be lost. This is a new idea!In 2 Corinthians Paul explains this grand truth for us. He has been pouring out his life in unlimited service for Christ, enduring “labours more abundant, … in prisons more frequent, … thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck,” and on and on he details his persecutions (ch. 11:23-28). Why not retire, and let the younger men bear these burdens? Paul says he can’t stop. He is defending himself against the charge that he is “mad” (Conybeare), or “out of my senses” (Goodspeed), or “insane” (Taylor): “For the love (agape) of Christ constraineth us” (ch. 5:14). Paul says he was not made of better stuff than we are made of. He has simply seen something that we have not seen— the true meaning of the cross of Christ. To appreciate the grand dimensions of agape as revealed at the cross supplies the missing motivation to serve the Lord. All self-centered motivation based on fear or hope of reward is childish, like the flower girl at the wedding who cares only for the cake and ice cream. In that sense, she is “under the law” (cf. Romans 6:14). The bride has discovered a better motivation for coming to the wedding—she is concerned for the bridegroom and couldn’t care less about the cake and ice cream. She is “under grace,” under a new motivation imposed by a mature heart-felt appreciation for the character, personality, and person of the bridegroom. This is not to say that Paul was forced against his will. He could have chosen to despise the cross, and trample upon the crucified Redeemer. But he chose to believe the gospel. He goes on to tell us why that love became such a powerful motivating force to him: … we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead [or, all would be dead if He had not died for them]: and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them and rose again (2 Corinthians 5:14, 15). What do those verses mean in modern language?The love of Christ is such a powerful motivation that it becomes impossible for the person who believes the gospel to go on living for himself. He now feels that constraint which moves him to live for Christ. The power of agape-love is the reason why it’s easy to be saved and hard to be lost—if one’s heart simply will believe the Good News. Can you explain why the New King James Version actually says it is “difficult” to be saved (Matthew; 7:14)? Doesn’t this contradict the 1888 message?The NKJV text does say: “Narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” But the KJV does not say “difficult.” The Greek word translated “difficult” is thlibo, which means “compressed,” “squeezed,” “hemmed in like a mountain gorge” (cf. W. E. Vine, Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, pp. 101, 102). But it is easy to pass through a narrow gorge if you drop your baggage. “Our” baggage is the love of self. The KJV correctly says: “Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” Yes, but dropping my baggage is what I find so difficult. It is not easy to give up self.That is very true unless we have seen the cross of Jesus. Go to dark Gethsemane, kneel down beside Jesus as He sweats drops of blood in His agony of temptation and hear Him pray, “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt” (Matthew 26:39). When your heart enters into union with Him by faith, you will find it easy to drop your baggage of the love of self, because you will be “incorporate in Christ,” at one with Him, appreciating what it cost Him to save you. If we make the Good News too good, won’t people take advantage of it and continue in sin?No, because “the gospel is the power of God unto salvation” (Romans 1:16). Nothing else can save us from sin! The sinner is not moved by bad news or by fear, but by the revelation of God’s love (cf. The Desire of Ages, p. 480). It is “the goodness of God [that] leadeth thee to repentance” (Romans 2:4). Only a willful misunderstanding can misconstrue the gospel. I have always somehow gained the impression that God is going to judge me and condemn me if I give Him even a chance to do so. Can the 1888 message give me some light at the end of my tunnel?Heaven’s grand machinery is geared especially for saving sinners, not for condemning them (John 3:17). Many people are surprised to learn that the Father has refused to judge anyone, but has turned all judgment over to the Son (John 5:22). The text says that He has washed His hands of all judgment, and put it in Christ’s hands, because He is the Son of man. Therefore you can be certain that the Father will never condemn you. You can be equally certain that Christ will not condemn you. He says that He refuses to judge anyone with condemnation. The only judgment He will pronounce is the vindication, the acquittal, of those who appreciate His cross: “If any man hear my words and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world” (John 12:47). Therefore anyone who is condemned at last will be condemned by his own self-incriminating judgment because he has chosen not to believe the gospel: “He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day” (vs 48). The “wrath” that the Lord wants to save us from is not “God’s wrath,” as some mistaken modern translations render Romans 5:9 (the original language says, “we shall be saved from wrath through him;” cf. TEV, NIV, Goodspeed which insert a phrase that is not in the original). God would save us from the terrible experience in the last judgment day of our own wrath, of hating ourselves for a lifetime of self-seeking, wasted opportunities, and totally unjustified rebellion against His grace. It’s all very well to say that it’s easy to be saved, “if you believe the Good News.” My problem is that I find it hard to believe.This is a very practical question. We must agree that the most difficult thing we have to “do” is to believe. We have all been born, bred, trained, nurtured, and conditioned, in unbelief. We wake up every morning afresh as an unbeliever, and need to humble our hearts anew to choose to believe. A thousand times a day we need to choose again to believe what the Lord says. “I die daily,” says Paul (1 Corinthians 15:31). Israel could not “enter in” their Promised Land because of unbelief (Hebrews 3:12-19; 4:6), and that is our problem still today. Our battle is always “the good fight of faith” (1 Timothy 6:12), in other words, learning how to believe! How can I learn to believe?We have been told by an inspired writer that we can never perish if we will learn to pray a certain simple prayer. We find it in Mark 9 where a distraught father of a demon-possessed child begged Jesus, “If thou canst do anything, have compassion on us, and help us.” Jesus turned his “if” right around backwards, and said to him, “If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.” It seemed almost that Jesus was tantalizing him, dangling a glorious blessing before him just out of his reach, as we so often feel. The man thought he simply could not believe. But then he burst into tears, cast himself at Jesus’ feet and prayed this prayer: “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief” (vss. 23, 24). “You can never perish while you do this—never” (The Desire of Ages, p. 429). “God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith” (Romans 12:3). In other words, the Lord has granted each of us the capability to believe. The word “measure” is metron, like a vessel for measuring a liquid. In other words, He has “dealt to every man” a capacity for believing. No one can accuse Him in the judgment day that He withheld that “measure.” No human being can possibly believe until first of all he hears the Good News. You cannot originate faith within yourself apart from understanding God’s love. No one has a self-starter. We cannot make our own atonement apart from the revelation of Christ. Even faith itself is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8). “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher … [of] glad tidings of good things! … Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:14-17). The moment you hear the smallest beginning of that Good News, make a choice immediately to believe it. Don’t delay even a moment. If it is easy to be saved, do we never have a battle to fight?Yes, we do have a terrible battle to fight, but it is not where we have often supposed it is—with obedience and hard works that we don’t know how to do. The real battle is with ingrained unbelief. It is what Paul calls “the good fight of faith” (1 Timothy 6:12). Fight it! Get on your knees, wrestle your way through that maze of darkness to the light beyond. If it takes time to fight the battle, it is time well spent. If it takes hours, even days, of fasting and prayer, you will emerge a victor. The struggle is well worth while. And if you decline the struggle, you must always endure the conviction of your sin of unbelief. I need help in fighting that battle!You can get the precise help you need in the Bible. David had to fight the same battle over and over again. Read his Psalms. Make your choice to believe, even in what appears to be total darkness, and then you can say with him, “O Lord, truly I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds” (116:16). Then you will find your feet set on the solid rock, and you will have a song to sing for ever afterward (40:1-4). But all this “battle” does not mean that it is harder to be saved than to be lost, or easier to be lost than it is to be saved. All the angels of heaven are on your side; the Holy Spirit is striving against your flesh; Christ as the Good Shepherd is seeking you and trying to bring you back to His fold again; you have constant evidences of His grace. All this is making it easy for you to be saved, if you will choose to believe. But if you choose not to believe, you face a wearisome struggle to stifle the convictions of the Holy Spirit. This is His constant pleading not to crucify Christ afresh. That is difficult for any honest heart to do! You need to grasp the truth that God as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, is your Friend, not your enemy. Even though you may have been in darkness all your life, begin thanking the Lord for light you can’t yet see, for blessings you can’t yet feel. If He “calleth those things which be not as though they were,” it’s time you begin to do the same through believing His word. The light is shining on you, for Christ is “the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world” (John 1:9). In Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress we read of Christian asking the way to the Celestial City. Evangelist, pointing, asks, “Do you see yonder wicket gate?” “No,” says Christian. “Do you see yonder shining light?” Then he wisely replies in behalf of all of us natural-born unbelievers, “I think I do.” Says the Evangelist, “Keep that in your eye, so shalt thou find the gate.” If you think you have difficulty seeing the shining light, for sure there is one place where it is not quite as dark as all the rest. “Keep that in your eye.” You will see the Light. You say that God is a Friend. This raises the question, “Does God kill?” Does the 1888 message comment on this?We are not happy to get into contention over this. We do not preach about it, and try to avoid the question wherever possible. We emphatically do not believe that our heavenly Father is a cruel tyrant worse than Goebbels, Hitler and Stalin, sadistic and vengeful toward unfortunate people who have failed to prepare to enter the New Jerusalem. But we have no sympathy with torturous attempts to explain away or contradict Scriptures that clearly say that sometimes the Lord has slain people in an executive, judicial sense. They were in total, hopeless rebellion against the plan of salvation, and a curse to other people. God’s character is agape, it always has been and it always will be. But that does not mean that there is no executive sentence of death divinely pronounced upon the finally unrepentant wicked. There must come a time when He withdraws His subsidized life-support system from them. The Bible speaks of God as doing what He does not prevent. In such a judgment of doom God will not act unilaterally. It will be ratified by the entire universe (Revelation 16:5-7). For Him to withdraw His sustenance from the wicked is a “strange work” (Isaiah 28:21). But it is a further revelation of His love, for it would not be love to perpetuate the existence of people who would only be miserable in it. The 1888 messengers emphasized God’s character of love when they discussed the final fate of the lost:The work of the gospel being finished means only the destruction of all who then shall not have received the gospel (2 Thess. 1:7-10); for it is not the way of the Lord to continue men in life when the only possible use they will make of life is to heap up more misery for themselves (A. T. Jones, The Consecrated Way, p. 117). The unbeliever who rejects the Saviour “is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:18). Now he lives under judgment. When God is forced to withdraw that life-subsidy which the lost have repeatedly despised, they must perish. Actually, for the finally impenitent to face Him in judgment will be self-destruction, for “our God is a consuming fire” to sin (Hebrews 12:29). Therefore those who have clung to sin like a vine clings around a tree must of necessity perish with the sin itself. Does Ellen White give us any help with this question?She has made a number of statements which are in harmony. We cannot cite them all. Here are a few: “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” Gal. 6:7. God destroys no man. Every man who is destroyed will destroy himself. When a man stifles the admonitions of conscience, he sows the seeds of unbelief and these produce a sure harvest (Our High Colling, p. 26). God does not stand toward the sinner as an executioner of the sentence against transgression; but He leaves the rejectors of His mercy to themselves, to reap that which they have sown (The Great Controversy, p. 36). God has declared that sin must be destroyed as an evil ruinous to the universe. Those who cling to sin will perish in its destruction (Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 123). How will that reaping or “destruction” take place? Ellen White does not contradict herself. The following resolves all apparent contradiction and demonstrates that there is perfect harmony with her many other statements: Christ says, “All they that hate Me love death.” God gives them existence for a time that they may develop their character and reveal their principles. This accomplished, they receive the results of their own choice. By a life of rebellion, Satan and all who unite with him place themselves so out of harmony with God that His very presence is to them a consuming fire. The glory of Him who is love will destroy them (The Desire of Ages, p. 764). Then does God actually kill the wicked in the last day?Paul says that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23), and the version that says “sin pays its own wages—death,” is not inaccurate. If one smokes cigarettes for many years and dies of lung cancer, can we say that God has destroyed him? In a sense He has, for it is His laws that the smoker has transgressed. But the smoker has surely destroyed himself, according to all understanding of human language. Controversy and anathemas over this issue are out of place. Let us not split churches and alienate brethren and sisters. One can read ten texts in Scripture that say that God hardened Pharoah’s heart; and there are ten texts that say he hardened his own heart (cf. Exodus 8:15, 32 and 9:12, etc.). If we find ourselves getting angry over this or other debatable points, we may end up being killers ourselves, for “whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer” (1 John 3:15). How does repentance fit in with justification?The goodness of God is already leading every human soul to repentance (Romans 2:4). It is a happy gift of God (Acts 5:31). Since it is sin that brings unhappiness, misery, and vain regrets, turning away from that sin automatically brings happiness. A child of God confesses all his known sin and rejoices in salvation by faith today; but then tomorrow he remembers a deeper level of sin that he did not know of today. This is evidence that the Comforter has come, for His first work is to convict of sin (John 16:8). Blessed work! If He did not point out the sin to us, we would at last perish with it. During this great Day of Atonement, the Holy Spirit continues that work. “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” … Then when the Lord, by His law, has given us the knowledge of sin, at that very moment grace is much more abundant than the knowledge of sin. Then there is no place for discouragement at the sight of sins, is there?… It is the Comforter that reproves! Then what are we to get out of the reproof of sin? [Congregation: “Comfort.”] (A. T. Jones, General Conference Bulletin, February 27, 1893). And this goes on for a lifetime. At any given moment there is a level of “thou knowest not” in the heart’s experience. “At every advance step in Christian experience our repentance will deepen” (Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 160). This is the work on earth that parallels the cleansing of the sanctuary in heaven. You say this is a “happy work.” On the surface, doesn’t it look like unending misery?Discovering these “loose ends” of a lifetime of selfishness and sin is not to overwhelm us with discouragement. The closer we come to Christ, the more we experience repentance, but Christ also experienced repentance in our behalf. Repentance is reality, and reality is true peace and happiness for the soul. The sins of others are seen to be our sins, but for His grace. Since Christ did no sin, yet experienced a repentance in behalf of the sins of the world, it must have been a corporate repentance that He experienced (cf. Ellen White, General Conference Bulletin, 1901, p. 36). We have never truly confessed our sins until we realize that our true guilt, apart from the grace of Christ, is the sin of the world. We can never say of someone else that we are naturally better than he or she. Any goodness we may possess is entirely Christ’s imputation. What does forgiveness mean?We have never truly appreciated forgiveness until we realize what it is for, and how deep it must go. A superficial realization of our sin results in superficial forgiveness, and that in turn means superficial happiness. It will fail us in our hour of deepest need. The Greek word for forgiveness means the actual taking away of the sin. A truly forgiven person will immediately hate the sin that has been forgiven. The English word reminds us that forgiveness means there has to be a “giving for” that has borne the punishment of the sin. So, let the Holy Spirit get on with His work. Don’t stop Him or resist Him. He is called the Comforter because the knowledge of our sin is indeed comforting Good News; it means there is hope for us. If you have a deadly cancer but do not know about it, you are doomed. But if a knowledgeable physician tells you the truth so that you can have immediate surgery in order to save your life, isn’t that good news? And remember that when the Comforter convicts you of sin, it is that you may learn to understand the heart-needs of others. The time will come when our prayers will be others-centered, even Christ-centered, rather than self-centered or us-centered. Then we will truly be able to pray “in Jesus’ name.” Granted that it’s easy to be saved. But is it not easy to lose our salvation? 1 find it hard to maintain a devotional program.Justification is always “by faith,” never an exception by works. Therefore justification by faith is not “difficult to retain,” as some say, unless it is difficult to believe. And sanctification is as much “by faith” as is justification. Some deny this; but however we translate the words of Jesus, they end up with the same meaning when He says that we “may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me” (Acts 26:18). Therefore, again the problem comes back to believing. “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him” (Colossians 2:6). How do we “receive” Him? By faith. How then are we to “walk” in Him forever after? Obviously, by faith. But I have heard it often said that although Christ gets us started, we must keep on flying on our own, keeping up our speed or we will crash.The legalists of the Galatian believers apparently believed that only initial justification was by faith, but then afterward they were to maintain the Christian life by good works. Paul set them straight: “Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” (Galatians 3:2, 3). Our salvation does not depend on our holding on tight to God’s hand, but on our believing that He is holding on to our hand (Isaiah 41:10, 13). I have been told that I must “read the Bible, pray, and witness,” in order to retain salvation. These are the very things I find difficult to do.It is good to read the Bible, pray, and witness, but doing these things as works is not the way to retain salvation. If it is true that God takes the initiative in our salvation, it is equally true that He maintains that initiative. In other words, once you begin the Christian life, the Lord does not back off like a car salesman when you have bought your car, leaving you to struggle thereafter on your own. Struggling on our own discourages us and hardens the heart. The Good Shepherd still takes the initiative in looking for His lost sheep. He still keeps knocking at the door of the heart. And “He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6, NKJV). Never are we to think that our divine Friend becomes indifferent toward us. How did Jesus in His humanity maintain His closeness to His Father? He was human; He had only 24 hours a day as we have; He was busy as we are, and He needed sleep as we do. He gives us a surprising insight into His devotional life: the Father maintained the initiative. Speaking of His prayer and Bible study life, Jesus says in the prophecy: The Lord God has given Me The tongue of the learned, That I should know how to speak A word in season to him who is weary: He wakens Me morning by morning, He awakens My ear To hear as the learned (Isaiah 50:4, NKJV). His Father awoke Him morning by morning that He might listen and learn. The Lord promises nourishing food to all who “hunger and thirst after righteousness” (Matthew 5:6). Since there is only one kind of righteousness (by faith), what the Lord is saying is that a lifelong hunger for more and more righteousness by faith is happiness. You are hungry to learn more and more, and never satisfied with what you learned yesterday, any more than you are satisfied with the food you ate yesterday. We don’t eat our daily food because the Bible tells us to, or even because Ellen White tells us to; we eat because we are hungry. A starving but hungry refugee in Africa is better off than a millionaire who is so sick that he has no appetite. Ministers of the gospel have a peculiar problem here. They are often easily satisfied with what they learned in college or in the theological seminary, or what they learned in studying for a sermon last week. The Bible reveals a loving heavenly Father and Saviour and Holy Spirit eager to maintain connection with us. He continually invites us to come to “breakfast,” but of course if we are not hungry, we won’t go. How can I get this hunger and thirst?This is what the Lord gives to those who hear and believe the Good News. They want more, just as when you taste something delicious, you want more. They don’t have to set their alarm clocks to wake up in time, or force themselves to read and pray as a “work.” It is easy for us to make a devotional life into a works-program. Charles Wesley was right when he wrote his hymn, “Jesus, Lover of my soul” even though the Church of England divines of the day were outraged at the idea. The Lord is the divine Lover of your soul; He is seeking you, actually wooing you. But note how Jesus responded to His Father’s daily initiative to awaken Him “morning by morning” to “learn”: The Lord God has opened My ear; And I was not rebellious, Nor did I turn away (Isaiah 50:5, NKJV). Oh, how often we have been “rebellious,” and turned away from His knocking at our door in the mornings! Sometimes it is because we have stayed up to watch the late-late show on TV, so that we have deprived ourselves of proper rest and made ourselves deaf to His appeals. (There is a reason why Scripture says that the day begins at sunset!). To awaken in our souls that hunger and thirst is the purpose of the 1888 message of Christ’s righteousness. The gospel is the bread of life; and once you taste it, you will ever after want to “eat” without being forced to do so. What joy! Always to be hungry and thirsty for more. The world’s amusements, the TV, sports, vain pursuits, shopping, all lose their appeal when you “taste” the gospel for what it is. Many are now testifying that that hunger has been aroused in their souls by hearing or reading the 1888 message truths. Suppose you keep trying but don’t get that “hunger”?This is not to say there is never a time for force-feeding. A sick person must temporarily be fed intravenously. But that is not the healthy way to live. And we never find health by taking pills and capsules instead of wholesome food. Five or ten minutes of hurriedly forced Bible study and a casual prayer are not adequate spiritual nourishment. If you get sick with the flu, don’t you take a day off from school or work in order to stay in bed and recuperate? Why not take a day off for fasting and prayer? Not seeking the Lord as though He were trying to hide from you, but taking the time to listen to Him as He seeks you. That’s what Isaiah means when he says, “Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near” (55:6). He is not hiding from you—He is “near.” (The Hebrew word translated “seek” means inquire of, pay attention to; see 1 Samuel 28:7). Begin with confidence that the Lord will keep His promise to you. He says that “he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11:6). Again, your job is to believe Him! I have a problem with “the third angel’s message” in Revelation 14:9-11. It is supposed to be Good News of “righteousness by faith,” but why does it seem to be such very bad news?Yes, there is a “fire and brimstone” ferocity that seems to permeate the third angel’s message of Revelation 14:9-11. Youth think they see a terror-inducing portrayal of hapless sinners writhing in unprecedented torment day and night. And to make matters worse, “the holy angels” and Jesus Himself seem to enjoy watching this unprecedented human agony. And what is the primary fault of these people in agony, according to Ellen White? It appears that they merely get one day of worship mixed up for another. Can this be true? Here’s what the third angel says: If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. On the surface, this comes across to many people as an appeal to raw fear. There is not a word here about grace, no mention of the cross or the love of God; and even compassion seems totally excluded, for God’s “wrath” is to be “poured out without mixture” of mercy. And all this high heavenly dudgeon seems to be provoked by a mere matter of people observing one day instead of another! The most difficult problem youth have with this passage is the picture they get of “holy angels” and Jesus apparently presiding over this torture session like sadistic Nazi warlords gloating over the torments of their victims. Even though we may piously and indignantly reject this impression, the fact remains that many people think they see it in the Bible text itself. To those who see light in the 1888 message of much more abounding grace there comes an added problem: how could Ellen White characterize this apparently raw terrorism as the gospel? To her, “the third angel’s message in verity” is “most precious” (Review and Herald, April 1, 1890). Because they fear the problem, many pastors have stopped altogether talking about “the third angel’s message.” How does this third angel’s message have anything to do with the gospel of righteousness by faith?Can we find help in the Bible itself? Please note:
What is implicit here is the clearest, most powerful presentation of the Good News that has ever lightened the earth, because it must perform a work of grace never before accomplished. Never has such a group of “144,000” been prepared for withstanding Satan’s final thrust of temptation, and for translation without seeing death.
The problem is not jealousy on the part of Christ. When people choose to be loyal to Satan they actually invite suffering and death on themselves and on others. If allowed to go on, sin would sabotage the entire universe and bring the cosmic civilization of heaven to ruin and chaos, as it has already done to large parts of this planet. Sin is rebellion against God and high treason against His government.
Obviously, it means far more than we have superficially assumed. This must be why Ellen White said: There are but few, even of those who claim to believe it, that comprehend the third angel’s message, and yet this is the message for this time. … Said my guide, “There is much light yet to shine forth from the law of God and the gospel of righteousness. This message understood in its true character, and proclaimed in the Spirit will lighten the earth with its glory” (MS 15, 1888). But doesn’t it still look like God is losing His temper in this message?Let’s take a closer look at the original language. It gives us a different picture than of God having a hot-tempered tantrum. Several Greek words are usually translated in such a way as to give this “mad” impression, but they give us Good News when properly understood:
Arndt and Gingrich translate verse 8, “Babylon has caused the nations to drink the wine of her passionate immorality.” Babylon has made the nations drunk with the unrestrained passion of her spiritual adultery. Now the third angel “follows” this new development by saying that God cannot help experiencing the normal response—a passion of righteous jealousy. Christ died to redeem the people of the world, and now Babylon is ruining the world. This portrays God in a different light.
Now at last that divine response must erupt unrestrained, because the wicked have made their final decision in favor of sin and its tragic consequences. They seek to destroy His people, whose corporate body is the Bride of Christ.
In Revelation 6:16 the wicked ask to be shielded from looking at “the face of him that sitteth on the throne.” Now in chapter 14 the sight of that face (“before the eye of”) is what causes “torment,” not a craven fear of the pain of punishment like a slave fearing his master’s lash. It is the acute condemnation of sensing at last the total reality of their guilt, in contrast to the total righteousness of the Lamb whom they have despised. Ellen White comments on how seeing the face of Jesus and hearing His voice will mean torment to the wicked: The wicked pray to be buried beneath the rocks of the mountains rather than meet the face of Him whom they have despised and rejected. That voice which penetrates the ear of the dead, they know. How often have its plaintive, tender tones called them to repentance. How often has it been heard in the touching entreaties of a friend, a brother, a Redeemer. To the rejecters of His grace no other could be so full of condemnation, so burdened with denunciation, as that voice which has so long pleaded: “Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die?” … That voice awakens memories which they would fain blot out—warnings despised, invitations refused, privileges slighted. … They vainly seek to hide from the divine majesty of His countenance, outshining the glory of the sun (The Great Controversy, pp. 642, 667). Rightly understood, “the third angel’s message in verity” prepares the repentant sinner to stand alive “before the eye of,” “in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb,” without fear or shame or guilt. That is the ultimate measure of its grace. A world church, yes, the world itself beyond, is waiting to hear that message in its fulness. |
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