When man broke the first commandment of God’s Law in the Garden of Eden, the world was divorced from God. That could have been the end for us all. “There was no way of escape for the offender. The whole family of Adam must die.” Early Writings, 149. But, “It is a wonderful thing that after man had violated the law of God and separated himself from God, was divorced, as it were, from God—that after all this there was a plan made whereby man should not perish, but that he should have everlasting life.” The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, vol. 1, 74. “The world, divorced from God by sin, has been restored to favor by the sacrifice of his Son.” The General Conference Bulletin, April 8, 1901.
After this great sacrifice was made, if the church tampers with God’s Law or teaches people to break it, our covenant with God as Christians has been broken, and a divorce is pending. “Although those standing at the head of the papacy claim to have great love for God, He looks upon them as haters of Him. They have turned the truth of God into a lie. Tampering with God’s commandments and placing in their stead human traditions, is the work of Satan, and will divorce the religious world from God . . . .” Sermons and Talks, vol. 2, 182.
In the days of Caiaphas, the divorce of the Jewish nation became final. Although individuals could still be saved, the nation would never again be God’s chosen people. “Virtually Caiaphas was no high priest. He wore the priestly robes, but he had no vital connection with God. He was uncircumcised in heart. With the other priests he instructed the people to choose Barabbas instead of Christ. They cried out for the crucifixion of Christ and, as representatives of the Jewish nation, placed themselves under the Roman jurisdiction, which they despised, by saying, ‘We have no king but Caesar.’ When they said this, they unchurched themselves.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 12, 388.
The same fate that happened to the Jewish nation at the first advent is predicted to happen again at the second advent! “When the Saviour saw in the Jewish people a nation divorced from God, He saw also a professed Christian Church united to the world and the papacy. And as He stood upon Olivet, weeping over Jerusalem till the sun sank behind the western hills, so He is weeping over and pleading with sinners in these last moments of time.” Review and Herald, October 8, 1901.
By studying the type, we get a glimpse of the future. The Jewish church was a type of God’s professed people today. (See Selected Messages, Book 1, 406.) “In the Jewish nation we behold a chosen nation divorced from God because of unbelief. Jesus, the lover of humanity, was called upon to pronounce sentence against the people for whom he had lived and labored, but from whom he had borne insult, mockery, and rejection. He had borne everything from them, he had done all that was possible that he might save them from ruin. . . . The salvation of the Jews would have been the joy of Christ, the rejoicing of the angels, but they would not. No man will be saved against his will.” Review and Herald, April 18, 1893.
“When Jerusalem was divorced from God it was because of her sins. . . . And if God spared not His people that He loved, because they refused to walk in the light, how can He spare the people whom He has blessed with the light of heaven in having opened to them the most exalted truth ever entrusted to mortal man to give to the world?” Manuscript Releases, vol. 12, 319, 320.
[All emphasis supplied.]