true church

New Testament Church Organization

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He [Jesus] who was the foundation of the ritual and economy of Israel would be looked upon as its enemy and destroyer.” The Desire of Ages, 111. The reason for this was that those who were in charge of the system viewed themselves as being the church, and they realized that if Jesus were to be accepted, many of them would lose their positions.

Today, there is a similar problem in the professed church of God; there are some inspired counsels we are willing to deal with but others that we are not. If many of the counsels of Ellen White were really advocated, they would be considered to be dangerous to the church, possibly even capable of destroying it. I do not believe, however, we will ever receive God’s blessing until we feed upon every word.

Principles of church organization affect every aspect of the church, from the youngest member on up to the General Conference. In the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy, there is a great deal of information dealing with church organization that is written not only to those in leadership positions but to laymen as well.

Throughout history, whenever doctrine becomes corrupted, organization also becomes corrupt. In fact, in Revelation God is as concerned about false organization as He is about false doctrine. In the writings of Ellen White there is a great deal written about doctrine, but I also find hundreds of pages written about church organization which we are afraid to touch because if we even read the quotation, we will be accused of criticism. It is time, however, that we have the courage of John the Baptist, and with the spirit of love, humbly look at the things God has given to us. We must pray that He will help us to implement these things so that He can pour out His Spirit and finish the work He is seeking to do.

First Corinthians 1:2 tells us how the New Testament church is organized. “To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints.” The church at Corinth, identified by Paul, is not addressed as the church which is registered. It could be registered, but that is not the point. Nothing is said regarding their organization or where they meet. They may meet in some building and they are organized, but that is not the point. The church in Corinth are those people who are sanctified and called to be the saints of God. Now the church was to be organized, but the organization was not the church. The people were the church. These people could work in harmony because this is possible when God is in your heart. So they would meet and work together, send out missionaries and take up offerings, and do all those things which are necessary for God’s work to progress. But the church itself was the people. This is what the church has always been.

The Books of Heaven

In a special sense, the church are those people who are registered in the books of heaven. “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven” Hebrews 12:22, 23. The church, the true church of God, is composed of those people who are registered in the book of life in heaven.

Now this presents a very interesting situation. Who decides who is going to be a church member? Is it the pope who has the keys? If it is not the pope, is it the church board? Can they decide? What about the church body? Can we decide who is saved and who is not, whose name is written in heaven and whose is not?

Well, don’t we have anything to do? Oh, yes, we have something to do. We are called to recognize those whom God has registered in the books in heaven; and those whom He has registered there, we are to register here. He does not, however, follow our suit; we are to follow His, and there is a difference.

Let us suppose that God takes someone’s name off of the books in heaven and they are disfellowshipped. Are they still church members? No. But suppose their names remain in the books on earth. This is an interesting dilemma. The church is purified when the books on earth match the books in heaven. You see, God has given mankind no authority to decide who can be a member and who cannot be a member, but simply to recognize those whom He has accepted or rejected.

God has local congregations here on earth and we have organizations here to help organize the work, but the headquarters of your local church is in heaven, where only the sanctified are registered, not in some office in your state or some office in Maryland. Some people find this rather disconcerting, believing such a policy could lead to all kinds of trouble.

The Books on Earth

Just suppose that a coup took place in some local church or conference through politicking and some people, who were not inspired by the Lord, or filled with the Holy Spirit, took over through manipulation and because of their prejudices certain people were unjustly disfellowshipped. Would those who were disfellowshipped cease to be church members? Certainly not. Suppose, on the other hand, that people were allowed to come into the church who were never converted. Because their names were in the books on earth, would they, therefore, be church members? Not in any way, shape or form. God has never left His church to be manipulated and tampered with by the political whims of mankind. There is coming a time when He is going to turn and overturn the professed church that is called by His name. God’s true church remains the same as it has always—those people who are registered in the books of heaven.

“God has a church. It is not the great cathedral, neither is it the national establishment, neither is it the various denominations; it is the people who love God and keep His commandments. ‘Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them’ Matthew 18:20. Where Christ is, even among the humble few, this is Christ’s church.” Upward Look, 315.

When Paul was ordained, he was ordained to baptize and establish churches—the two together. According to inspiration, the same ordination that gives people the right to baptize gives them the right to establish churches. More and more, however, there are increasing restrictions controlling the starting of new churches.

I have been doing some studying on the history of Kansas. In 1903, Kansas had one hundred churches. The state has grown by almost a million people in the last fifty years, and during that period of time, we have gone from one hundred churches down to fifty-four.

Not only has God alone reserved the right to start and to recognize a church, but if you and I decide to go out and start a church apart from His will, no matter what conference committee may approve it, it will never be a church. “For the presence of the High and Holy One who inhabiteth eternity can alone constitute a church.” Ibid. [All emphasis supplied] If God’s presence is not the center of His church, it is not recognized by Him as His church whether or not it is recognized by a conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Called and Sanctified

In New Testament times, the church was those who were called and sanctified. Wherever Paul went and converted a few people, he organized them into a church, right then and there, without seeking any other permission. It was not up to the church in Jerusalem to give permission or to decide if they were a church, but to recognize the fact that they were. Now, of course, if a church apostatized or if a local member apostatized, it was also up to the church in Jerusalem to decide that, as these people are no longer keeping the commandments of God, they are no longer recognized by us as being one of God’s churches.

For us individually to receive the Holy Spirit, we must study the Bible, pray, overcome sin, and witness. For the church body to receive the Holy Spirit, they must, as a body, also have these four things present. Not only is it necessary for us as individuals to be winning others to Christ, but God’s design for His church is that every church should start new churches.

One of the things that must take place before God can pour out His blessing upon the church is not only a revival of primitive doctrine, but a revival of primitive organization. The New Testament churches had the freedom to go out and start new churches; but they were not just started and left to flounder by themselves, they were left with local organization. “And when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, ‘We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.’ So when they had appointed elders in every church, and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.” Acts 14:21–23.

Authority in the early church was to be earned because of a godly life, a knowledge of the Scriptures and the ability, that God had given to the individual; but never was it to come just by virtue of office. Today our church is almost being destroyed in some parts of this world because some have assumed the office of minister and decided that, because they have that office, they are the king of the local church. God never intended that office to be that of a king, but one of service.

Wolves Among the Sheep

“From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church.” Acts 20:17. What elders were these that He called? These were the elders who had been appointed. Notice, it is elders plural, not the elder. “Therefore take heed to yourselves [this is the instruction he is giving to these elders] and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.” Acts 20:28–31.

So he called the elders to guard the church from wolves. In a correlating passage to this in Testimonies, vol. 5, 77, Ellen White, writing of her own experience, says that she could scarcely keep from weeping when she saw the people who were taking charge of the church were people trained by Satan. Paul had the same concern, and the elders were called to protect the church from these wolves.

Now the questions is, suppose that a wolf came from Jerusalem. Were the elders to protect the church from that wolf? “Oh, no,” someone says, “not a local elder.” Turn with me to one of the most interesting passages in the New Testament in regard to this. “Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed; for before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy.” Galatians 2:11–13. Paul stood up and rebuked Peter, but Paul was not happy about this because he was not the one who should have had to do the rebuking.

God had established a local leadership to protect the church. “Not from Peter,” someone might say, “he was from Jerusalem. He was one of the pillars; he knew Jesus personally. No, not from Peter. They were only Gentiles who had been newly converted to the faith. You do not expect them, these Gentile Galatians who had just come into the Christian church a few years ago, to stand up and rebuke Peter, who was from the Jerusalem church, who had been a Jew all his life, one of the pillars in the church, a follower of Jesus—not Peter! I mean, Paul was an apostle. He could do that.” But Paul was most unhappy that he had to do that. “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified?” Galatians 3:1

“Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage” Galatians 5:1. Someone might say, “That scripture is dealing with circumcision and all those things.” Circumcision was involved, and eating with Gentiles was involved, but that was not the issue! The issue in Galatians was that Peter had caused them to transgress and they were to stand in their freedom, even if it was Peter from Jerusalem who should come down and preach false theology.

Kingly Power

“But strange fire has been offered in the use of harsh words, in self-importance, in self-exaltation, in self-righteousness, in arbitrary authority, in domineering, in oppression, in restricting the liberty of God’s people, binding them about by your plans and rules, which God has not framed, neither have they come into His mind. All these things are strange fire, unacknowledged by God, and are a continual misrepresentation of His character.” Testimonies to Ministers, 357, 358.

The Lord established the church upon the Rock, Jesus Christ, and He is to be the head of the church. See Ephesians 1:22, 23. The issue in the days of Martin Luther was who was in charge of the church, the Lord or the pope. That was the issue in Wesley’s day and it was the issue in 1888. I have been amazed at how little Ellen White deals with doctrine in relationship to 1888. The problem with Jones and Waggoner was that they did not go through the “proper channels.” They were not approved by the “proper people.”

The following statements are from a letter that Ellen White wrote to Elder Butler. “God designs that men shall use their minds and consciences for themselves. He never designed that one man should become the shadow of another, and utter only another’s sentiments. But this error has been coming in among us, that a very few are to be mind, conscience, and judgment for all God’s workers. The foundation of Christianity is ‘Christ our Righteousness.’ ” 1888 Materials, 112. Do you want to know what Christ our Righteousness means? She tells us what it means. “Men are individually responsible to God and must act as God acts upon them, not as another human mind acts upon their mind.” Ibid. God is to decide what is right, not some human committee. God makes the rules, not some human rule book. The Bible is our creed. We always used to say: “We do not have a creed book; the Bible is our creed.”

“For if this method of indirect influence is kept up, souls can not be impressed and directed by the great I AM. They will, on the other hand, have their experience blended with another, and will be kept under a moral restraint, which allows no freedom of action or of choice . . . If we would be wise, and use diligently, prayerfully, and thankfully the means whereby light and blessings are to come to His people, then no voice nor power upon earth would have authority over us to say, ‘This shall not be.’ ” Ibid., 112, 113.

In the book Testimonies to Ministers, Ellen White wrote a great deal of material, to the leadership and ministry in general, after 1888. Much of this book is dealing with this very principle of church authority. Among other similar statements, she said, “The high-handed power that has been developed, as though position has made men god’s, makes me afraid, and ought to cause fear. It is a curse wherever and by whomever it is exercised.” Testimonies to Ministers, 361. “The spirit of domination is extending to the presidents of the conferences. If a man is sanguine of his own powers and seeks to exercise dominion over his brethren, feeling that he is invested with authority to make his will the ruling power, the best and only safe course is to remove him.” Ibid., 362. “Rule, rule has been their course of action. Satan has had an opportunity of representing himself.” Ibid., 363.

Our Source of Light

In the chapter “Under Which Banner?” she says, “Humanity is hailed as God.” Ibid., 365. She is talking to us dear friends. She says, “God will not vindicate any device whereby man shall in the slightest degree rule or oppress his fellowmen.” Ibid., 366. A curse is pronounced upon all who do this (Jeremiah 17:5).

“State conferences may depend upon the General Conference for light and knowledge and wisdom; but is it safe for them to do this? Battle Creek is not to be the center of God’s work. God alone can fill this place. When our people in the different places have their special convocations, teach them, for Christ’s sake and for their own soul’s sake, not to make flesh their arm. There is no power in men to read the hearts of their fellow men. The Lord is the only One upon whom we can with safety depend, and He is accessible in every place and to every church in the Union. Is the president of the General Conference to be the god of the people?” Ibid., 375. Following the counsel and teaching of these ideas does not make a person very popular, but we are told to do it.

Instead of teaching the truth God has commissioned to be taught, do you know what she says we have been taught? “For many years an education has been given to the people which places God second, and man first. The people have been taught that everything must be brought before the council of a few men in Battle Creek.” Testimonies to Ministers, 325. I want you to notice that this is a serious matter because it is breaking the first commandment. God says, “You shall have no other gods before Me.” Exodus 20:3. “Let me entreat our state conferences and our churches to cease putting their dependence upon men and making flesh their arm.” Ibid., 380. Today we have gone far beyond where they were in 1888.

“In reference to our conference, it is repeated o’er and o’er and o’er again, that it is the voice of God, and therefore everything must be referred to the Conference and have the conference voice in regard to permission or restriction or what shall be and what shall not be done in the various fields . . . We have heard enough, abundance, about that everything must go around in the regular way . . . He [God] wants every living soul that has a knowledge of the truth to come to their senses.” Spalding–Magan Collection, 163. “The Lord wants His Spirit to come in, He wants the Holy Ghost King.” Ibid., 166. Today we have come to the point, in many places, that if you even invite someone to come and speak in the pulpit, you have to get the permission of the local conference.

Fall Upon the Rock

God is looking for every one of us, from the General Conference president down, to be broken on the Rock. When Jesus is the King, unity, peace and love pervade. This does not do away with organization. It is the only thing that creates a workable organization. We still have offices, but when God’s plan is followed, no one is striving for office because everyone is striving to serve one another. See Matthew 20:25–28.

The message of Christ our Righteousness has to become practical. We need to exercise less and less control over one another and do more and more praying for one another. Let us not decide that God has given any one of us authority to tell everyone else how they are to serve God. God is calling for much more freedom in His church than we have been willing to allow. There is a place for order, a place for leadership, but dear friend, God is calling for us to be broken on the Rock, to be filled with the humility and the love of Jesus. Then we will find that once again the Holy Spirit will be King.

The End

by Marshall Grosboll

Who and What is the Church?

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The subject of who and what is the church, is an exceedingly important subject. The most wonderful privilege any human being can have is to belong to God’s church.

“To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all people see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 3:8–10.

This tells us that there was a mystery hidden in the mind of God which no created beings understood. But Paul says, now this mystery is going to be made known. How?—by the church. If you belong to the church, God is going to reveal something through you to the beings all over the universe. There is a mystery that they have been wanting to know for a long time. They are going to find it out, through the church, through you. This seems inconceivable doesn’t it? Beings that have been alive for thousands and thousands of years, can learn something from you and me!

Abraham’s Covenant

The church is one of the most wonderful subjects in the Bible. We are going to go back to the book of Genesis to study about the church. After sin entered the world, gradually God unfolded to this world the doctrines of grace. The world rejected God and went into idolatry. Then God chose a certain person to preserve the knowledge of His law—His government. This person became a progenitor of Christ. The people of God, all the members of His church, for the next 2,000 years, looked back to this person as their spiritual father and to themselves as his children. In fact, to become a member of the church involves becoming this person’s child. This person’s name was Abraham, one of the most famous men that ever lived. God came to Abraham and said: “And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly . . . And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you.” Genesis 17:2, 7.

God gave circumcision to Abraham as a sign of the covenant. God told him that anybody wanting to become part of his seed, had to be circumcised.

“In Him [that is Christ] you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ.” Colossians 2:11.

Ishmael & the Covenant

Any person in the world could come to Abraham and say, “We want to worship your God. We want to be part of your religion and your family.” They could become a part if they were circumcised. That represented the cutting away of sin from the life. When you became a member of the church you had to covenant that you were going to follow God and keep His commandments. When Israel left Egypt, that very same covenant was renewed to them. Exodus 19. Circumcision was an outward symbol of an inward experience. I want to ask you a pivotal question. What if you only had the outward symbol?—You had been circumcised but you did not have the inward spiritual experience that it represented. Were you a member of God’s church? Were you really part of the seed of Abraham? The Bible says that Abraham took Ishmael, his son, and all that were born in his house and had them circumcised. Genesis 17:23–25.

Ishmael had the outward experience of circumcision. Was he part of Abraham’s seed? He was according to the flesh. But was he part of the spiritual seed? No. Abraham asked if Ishmael could be part of the seed, and God said that He was going to establish His covenant with the son of Sarah. “But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this set time next year.” Genesis 17:21.

Ishmael was not really a part of the church, because he did not have the inward experience that circumcision represents. When you give your allegiance to God and you choose to serve Him, keep His laws, and put away sin, then you become part of God’s chosen people—His church. In Old Testament times anybody could do this from any nation. Ruth was not a descendant of Abraham, but of Lot. She was a Moabitess. Notice what Ruth decided, “Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.” Ruth 1:16.

Ruth & the Church

Ruth was not a descendant of Abraham according to the flesh, but she wanted to have the same religion and belong to the same church. She was adopted in and became part of Abraham’s seed. “The Lord repay your work, and a full reward be given you by the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge.” Ruth 2:12.

The covenant people—those that entered into this covenant that Abraham and the Lord had made—said, “Yes, we want to forsake sin and follow God by keeping His commandments. We want to be part of Abraham’s family, of his seed.” They professed faith in God and obeyed His commandments; they became part of His professed people. Now here is a question. What if these covenant people did not abide by the conditions of the covenant? Remember, a covenant is an agreement between two parties. God made the offer and the conditions. Genesis 17. We can decide whether we want to be part of that offer—covenant, or not. What if I decide to be part of the covenant and then I do not follow through with my agreement with the Lord? I have the outward experience, but I do not continue to keep His commandments. I do not cut away sin from my life. This has been God’s problem for thousands of years. The prophets addressed it over and over again. Jeremiah tells God’s people what is going to be the end of this kind of thing. He said circumcise your heart and not just your flesh. In other words, you need to cut away sin from your life.

In Jesus’ day, the people who called themselves God’s people had not been faithful to the agreement. They said, “We are Abraham’s seed. We are the true church.” But to be part of the church, there are conditions. If you do not cut sin away from your life, you have broken your covenant with God. That was the problem in Jesus’ day. In fact, the people that professed to be the children of God were actually the children of the devil. You cannot be both, part of God and part of the devil, at the same time.

“We want to understand the time in which we live. We do not half understand it. We do not half take it in. My heart trembles in me when I think of what a foe we have to meet, and how poorly we are prepared to meet him. The trials of the children of Israel, and their attitude just before the first coming of Christ, have been presented before me again and again to illustrate the position of the people of God in their experience before the second coming of Christ. How the enemy sought every occasion to take control of the minds of the Jews, and today he is seeking to blind the minds of God’s servants. That they may not be able to discern the precious truth.” Selected Messages, vol. 1, 406.

John the Baptist’s Denial

If a person professes to be a child of God—you profess to be part of His church. God told Abraham, when you enter into this covenant you will be My people, I will be your God. In Jesus’ time, the people that professed to be the children of God, were not actually His children. They did not fulfill the covenant which was the condition for being the seed of Abraham. God sent a special messenger, John the Baptist, to give them a chance to turn around. These people said to John the Baptist, “Abraham is our father. We are his children, therefore, we are part of the true church. We are saved.” Notice what John the Baptist told them.

“And do not think to say to yourselves, We have Abraham as our father. For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.” Matthew 3:9. What was John the Baptist telling them? They said, “We are Abraham’s children. He is our father. We are part of the true church.” And John the Baptist said, “Don’t you say that. Don’t say that Abraham is your father. Don’t say you are a member of the true church. Don’t say it.” Don’t even think it.

Then he said, “And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” Matthew 3:10. If the tree doesn’t bear good fruit, no matter what the name is, it won’t save the tree. You can say, “Oh, I’m a member of the true church.” But, that will not save you. It is the fruit—not the name that determines the destiny of the tree.

“John declared to the Jews that their standing before God was to be decided by their character and life. Profession was worthless. If their life and character were not in harmony with God’s law, they were not His people.” Desire of Ages, 107. [All emphasis supplied.]

That is plain talk. “If your life and character are not in harmony with God’s law, you are not a member of the church. You are not Abraham’s children. You are not God’s people. It is your character, the fruit of your life that determines membership, and not your name and not your profession.” John the Baptist said there is coming a great shaking and sifting among the Jews. He calls it a winnowing fan. There is going to be a separation soon, and the wheat is going to be gathered into the garner and the chaff is going to be burned up. That time of judgment and shaking came when Jesus came. When you follow the life of Jesus, you find out wherever He went His words and His acts aroused opposition and a great tumult. Jesus spoke about this same issue to the Jews in even stronger language than John the Baptist. Jesus acknowledged that they were the descendants of Abraham according to the flesh, but he denied that they were Abraham’s spiritual descendants.

Jesus’ & Abraham’s Children

” ‘I know that you are Abraham’s descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father.’ They answered and said to Him, ‘Abraham is our father.’ Jesus said to them, ‘If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham.’ ” John 8:37–39.

Jesus said, “If you were really Abraham’s children you would do the works of Abraham. You would have a character like Abraham.” What God is interested in is not our likeness in the flesh to somebody else, but it is the likeness in our minds and in our spirit.

” ‘But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You do the deeds of your father.’ Then they said to Him, ‘We were not born of fornication; we have one Father—God.’ Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.’ ” John 8:40–44.

Jesus said to the Jews, “Your spiritual father is the devil. You are not the children of God. You are not part of God’s church at all. You are part of the synagogue of Satan. Your character proves it.” They were plotting to kill Him right then, and in addition to that they were lying.

Do you think people who heard talk that plain should be able to figure out who and what the church was? They didn’t. Even Christ’s own disciples took a long time to get this figured out. We human beings are so used to looking at the flesh, that often the spiritual truth in the Bible just bypasses us completely. The apostle Paul had to fight this same battle all over again.

Paul & Israel

“But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel.” Romans 9:6. Who is Israel?—God’s people. “They are not all Israel who are of Israel.”—They are not all Israel who profess to be Israel. They are not all God’s people who profess to be God’s people.

“Nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham: but, ‘In Isaac your seed shall be called.’ ” Romans 9:7. Ishmael does not count, even though he had the outward sign of circumcision to prove he was a church member.

“Those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed.” Romans 9:8. How much more plainly can you say it? Profession alone does not make anyone a child of God or a member of His church. Who really is a member of the church? It is not the children of the flesh, it is the children of the promise—those who have the spiritual qualifications.

“For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.” Romans 4:13. Paul teaches here that through righteousness by faith, the Gentiles have the same privileges as the Jews. It was God’s intention from the beginning that anyone could become part of the seed of Abraham, through faith. We saw this in the story of Ruth.

“For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression. Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all (as it is written, ‘I have made you a father of many nations’) in the presence of Him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did.” Romans 4:14–17. “The Israel of God are those who are converted.” Upward Look, 80.

John the Baptist said, “God is able of these stones [the Gentiles] to raise up children of Abraham.” Matthew 3:9. When a Gentile comes to Jesus and He puts His Holy Spirit in the mind, he then learns to keep God’s law just like Abraham did. When anyone has the same spiritual experience that Abraham had, he is accounted the seed of Abraham.

If Judah is the church, who would a church member be? He would be a Jew. If Israel is the church, a church member would be an Israelite or a Jew. Notice who Paul says is really a Jew. “For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly. [That is the one who makes a profession.] Nor is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh.” Romans 2:28. If that was the thing that did it, then Ishmael would have been a member of the church. But, Paul is very emphatic in the book of Galatians that Ishmael was not a member.

“But he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.” Romans 2:29. It is not outward, it is inward. It is not in the letter, but in the spirit. Paul says, “Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.” Galatians 3:7. Those are the only ones who are really part of the church.

“For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Galatians 3:26–29. Jesus was a seed of Abraham and if I am a child of Christ, I am part of the seed of Abraham too.

The Church in Revelation 12

“Now a great sign appeared in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth. And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born. And she bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and to His throne.” Revelation 12:1–5.

Who was the male child that was caught up to God and to His throne? It was Jesus. This is a symbolic prophecy about a woman that stood on the moon. This symbolic woman is a pure woman and is clothed with light. She is not a harlot woman. Who does a woman represent in Bible prophecy? A church. Paul said, “For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. [He is talking to the church.] But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” 2 Corinthians 11:2, 3.

In Revelation 12 we have a pure woman, God’s church. She is pregnant, about to bare a child. This is talking about God’s church. What does it mean? We can find one answer in Galatians 4:19. Paul is writing to a church that was converted but they went into apostasy and now he is making this appeal to them: “My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you.” Galatians 4:19.

Men do not have babies in the flesh. He is talking to the church. He is talking about the spiritual nature of Christ. This is the mystery that we read about in our first text from Ephesians 3. The mystery is Christ formed in you, so that you think, talk, and act like He does. Paul describes this: “To them 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.” Colossians 1:27. If you want to be a member of this church that is talked about in Revelation 12, you must bring forth the spiritual character of Christ in your life. That is what New Testament religion is all about. The apostles were continually talking about it.

“Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days.” Revelation 12:6. Why did the woman have to flee into the wilderness? Because the professed church tried to destroy the real or true church. If you do not understand the difference between the real church and the professed church, you cannot understand Revelation 12:6. “Romanists have persisted in bringing against Protestants the charge of heresy and willful separation from the true church. But these accusations apply rather to themselves. They are the ones who laid down the banner of Christ and departed from ‘the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.’ Jude 3.” Great Controversy, 51.

“Through the agency of Romanism, Satan took the world captive. The professed church of God was swept into the ranks of this delusion, and for more than a thousand years the people of God [true church] suffered under the dragon’s ire.” Signs of the Times, November 1, 1899.

Who Left the Church?

In the church at Rome there was a departure from the truth and the majority of the people and their pastor decided they were going to worship God on Sunday. This was happening by the second century. It started with Easter. They were going to celebrate the resurrection every year. Then they said, we might as well do it every week.

But there were a few people in the Roman church that would not go along with it. What happens when there are a few people and they do not go along with what the majority of the church wants to do? Who gets their way, the minority or the majority? The majority decided that they were going to worship on Sunday. But there were a few people that said we must keep all the commandments of God. Can you stay a part of a church when you cannot even agree on which day to go to church? No, you cannot. That little group had to go somewhere else and get another pastor and building. What if they met one of their brethren on the street in Rome and this person said to them, “Oh, why did you leave the church?” What should they say? They should say, if they understand who the church is, “Why did you leave the church?” You see, the majority of the people had the building, the pastor, the organization, the money, everything—everything but the truth. If you leave the truth, you leave the church. So the majority of the people left the church, but, from a human point of view, it looked like they stayed in. From God’s point of view the majority were the ones that left. And the minority that were forced out were actually the ones that stayed in the church, because the church is the pillar and ground of the truth. I Timothy 3:15.

Jesus told the Jews: “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.” John 7:24. Righteous judgment is not always according to appearance. There was this tremendous controversy during the Dark Ages as to who the church was. The controversy has persisted to the present day. Many Protestants today understand “who and what the church is,” more according to Catholic theology than Protestant theology. Protestants teach that the Bible is the ultimate authority and the church is underneath it. A Roman Catholic says, “I believe in the authority of the Bible, but the authority of the church is above the authority of the Bible.” (That is the difference. If you want to live according to everything in the Bible, you have to keep the seventh-day Sabbath.)

The Reformers & the Church

John Wycliffe said: “The holy church is the congregation of the just men for whom Christ shed His blood.”

Martin Luther said: “The Pope, the bishops, the monks and the priests need not make a noise. We are the church. There is no other church than the assembly of those who have the Word of God and are purified by it.”

Melancthon made almost an exact statement to Martin Luther’s. It is quoted by Ellen White. “There is no other church than the assembly of those who have the Word of God and who are purified by it.” Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 4, 237.

How is it that we find such a marked uniformity among the Waldensees and these Protestant Reformers? They had all been studying the same Book. They had found that the New Testament teaches what the church is. If we are Protestants, if we claim that we are going to base all of our religion on the Bible, should our understanding of who and what the church is be based from it also? We will here study a few texts that define who and what the church is.

“I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church.” Colossians 1:24. The apostle Paul says that the church is Christ’s body. Paul has some very specific things to say about this body—the body of Christ.

Have you ever wondered how big the church is? Some people think that the church is located on several acres near the city of Rome. Some people think that the church is located in Maryland. Some people think that the church is located where they go to church. The church is a lot bigger than any of those places. “And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” Ephesians 1:22, 23. Does this phrase “all in all” refer to merely this world? God says, “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” Jeremiah 23:24. The Lord fills heaven and earth. The church is His body, “the fullness of Him that fills all in all.” It is the biggest thing in the universe, “the fullness of Him that fills all in all,” not only in this world but also in heaven. There is only one church in this world and in heaven.

How many churches are there? “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling.” Ephesians 4:4. There is just one. It is “the fullness of Him that fills all in all.” How many heads does this body have? Just one. Ephesians 1:22, 23. There are beasts in the Bible that have seven heads, but Christ’s church does not have seven heads. He Himself is the only head of the body. This was a major controversy during the Reformation. Roman Catholic theologians had made two churches. They said there is an invisible church and Christ is the head of that; and there is a visible church and the Pope is the head of that. John Wycliffe said, “If there are two heads of the church, that is a monster.”

The Bride of Christ

Christ is the husband of the church. “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the Word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish . . . For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.” Ephesians 5:25–32.

The apostle Paul says that the church is bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh. We are to be one with Him. What does this mean? “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For ‘the two,’ he says, ‘shall become one flesh.’”

1 Corinthians 6:15–16. You cannot mistake what the apostle Paul is talking about here. Notice that in the next verse He uses the same verb. “But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.” To be a part of the church means to be joined to the Lord. What if I am not? If you get married and you go through all the process with the justice of the peace and get all the paperwork done, but immediately after you get married one of you moves to California and the other to Maine and you never see each other again, are they married? Not really. Any court would recognize that their marriage was not valid. They would not even need to get a divorce, that “marriage” could be annulled.

“But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.” Romans 8:9. If I do not have the Spirit of Christ, am I part of His body? No.

The Vine & the Branches

Jesus said: “You are the branches.” John 15:5. The church is God’s vineyard. It was described that way in Isaiah 5, and we are the branches united to the True Vine. Jesus talks about how necessary it is to have a vital relationship, otherwise if we just have an external relationship some day we will be cut off and the branch will die. Desire of Ages, 830. The branch has to bear fruit or it will be taken away.

The Good Shepherd & the Flock

This is one of the most beautiful illustrations in the Bible. It is found in John 10. Jesus talks of Himself as the Good Shepherd and His church as His sheepfold. He speaks of Himself as being this door and we must go through it to be part of His fold. The door represents His humanity, His life. When we live His life we are going through the door.

The Temple

“But if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.” 1 Timothy 3:15. The church is the house or temple of God—the pillar and ground of the truth. Paul speaks about this spiritual house for God to dwell in through the Holy Spirit in Ephesians 2:22.

What is the Church?

We will now compare some definitions from inspiration with the condition of the Jewish church when Jesus came. Here are some definitions of what the church is.

  1. The church is the spiritual seed of Abraham.
  2. The church is God’s people.
  3. The church is the people who have entered into God’s covenant. (The sign of entering into God’s covenant, even in the Old Testament, was keeping the Sabbath.)
  4. The church is the body of Christ, joined to Him as one spirit.
  5. The church is God’s fold.
  6. The church is God’s grain field.
  7. The church is God’s vineyard.
  8. The church is God’s spiritual temple.
  9. The church is the faithful souls. “From the beginning, faithful souls have constituted the church on earth.” The Acts the of Apostles, 11.
  10. The church is “those that love God and keep His commandments.” Upward Look, 315.
  11. The church is God’s “city of refuge.” The Acts of the Apostles, 11. God has made a city of refuge for you, friend, and if you enter that city of refuge you will never suffer the second death, because Jesus will save you from it.
  12. The church is “God’s fortress . . . which He holds in a revolted world.” Ibid.

Were all the Jews God’s Church?

Now, let us look at the Jewish church in the time of Christ, at the leaders and most of the people.

  1. Were they the spiritual seed of Abraham? No. Matthew 3:9; John 8:39.
  2. Were they God’s people? No. John 8:42; Desire of Ages, 36.
  3. Had they entered into God’s covenant? No. John 8:34–42.
  4. Were they the body of Christ? Absolutely not. They were not joined to Christ, they were fighting Him the entire time He was here.
  5. Were they God’s fold? No they were not. Jesus said to the Jews, “But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep.” John 10:26.
  6. Were they God’s vineyard? They had no vital connection with the true vine. They were like the fig tree that bore no fruit.
  7. Were they a spiritual building where the Spirit of God dwells? No, they were not. They became the agents of Satan. The people whom God had called to be the pillar and ground of the truth had become the representatives of Satan. Desire of Ages, 36. They were not a spiritual building where the Spirit of God dwelt.
  8. Were they faithful souls? No, they were not. They were unfaithful souls. Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 2, 41.
  9. Did they love God and keep His commandments? They professed to, but did they really? No, they did not, they murdered Jesus and lied about Him; they did not love Him or keep His commandments. Matthew 15:3.

Some are Tares

For the sake of the whole universe being convinced as to who is faithful in their profession, God allows all who make a profession to be a part of the professed church—His chosen people. However, the parable of the wheat and the tares tells us that some who make a profession are tares. Jesus said the tares are the children of the devil. In the professed church, or the church militant as Ellen White sometimes calls it, there is a mixture of wheat and tares, a mixture of the children of God and the children of the devil. The tares are not a part of the body of Christ, they are not faithful souls, they are not part of the spiritual building, they have not gone though the door into the sheepfold, they do not love God, and they do not keep His commandments. But, they pretend, or profess, to do all these things, while in reality they are a part of the synagogue of Satan or the devil’s church. You cannot be a part of Christ and part of the devil at the same time (I Corinthians 10).

Now in addition to the tares, or children of the devil who are in the church, there are those who have once been converted but their spiritual experience has become tepid, or lukewarm. Their love for God is not wholehearted anymore, they have lost their first love. Now I have two questions for you. The first one is this: How do we relate to tares—children of the devil, who are in the church? People think that is an easy question and right away they say, well, the Bible says don’t pull them up. But, they have not read their Bible carefully enough. That statement, “don’t pull them up,” has a context. The Bible is very clear (see 1 Corinthians 5), that anyone who is living in open sin is to be put out of the church. However, if a person is false in their heart but they are making a profession, we cannot do anything about that. Those are the tares, the people who are making a profession. They are not living in open sin, they are not taking their brother to court, or using NLP, or lying, and openly doing those things that are contrary to the ten commandments, they are making a profession, but their heart is false. We cannot read that. Those are the tares. But they still are the children of the devil. Christ Object Lessons, 71.

I want you to notice something else Jesus said about the church which a lot of people have not noticed today. Look at Matthew 15. Jesus is talking about the tares in the church. You know He is talking about the tares because it says: “He answered and said, ‘Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted.’ ” Matthew 15:13.

Who are these plants that the Heavenly Father has not planted? These are the tares. Now, notice what He says about these tares that had gained control of the God’s professed church in Jesus’ day.

Let Them Alone

“Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch.” Matthew 15:14.

There were people in Jesus’ day, and they said, “Oh, these are the spiritual leaders. They have duly constituted church authority and they are the sons of Levi.” And Jesus told them that those spiritual leaders were blind spiritual leaders. They were not teaching the truth and if you followed them you would lose your eternal salvation. I hear people say, “I think we had better go and talk to these people.” But Jesus says, “Let them alone.” Do not go and talk to them or associate with them. Do not go and listen to them. If you do, you are going to be led somewhere you do not want to go and you are going to lose your soul. There are people today that have not studied this text and they are being led by blind leaders who are leading the blind, and they are leading them straight to hellfire and they do not even know it. Now that is plain talk, but that is what Jesus taught in Matthew 15.

A Little Leaven

Jesus warned His disciples: “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.” Matthew 16:6. Then the disciples got into a discussion about that, and Jesus said to them: “How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread?—but you should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Matthew 6:11, 12.

If you go and listen to someone preach doctrine that is not according to the Bible and if you keep going and listening, what is going to happen to you? Did you ever put a little yeast into some dough and let it sit there and watch what happens? It goes through the whole batch and soon, if you want to make unleavened bread, you are going to have to throw the whole batch out and start all over. The yeast will infect the whole batch. If you listen to a blind leader of the blind that is preaching or teaching, not according to the Bible, you are going to become infected with false teaching and will be ruined for the kingdom of Heaven. You will be led into the ditch. Look what Paul said about this in 1 Corinthians 5:7. Some people come and say, “I want to keep going to this church over here. I know the pastor isn’t preaching the truth but I have a lot of friends here. I will go to some camp meetings and other special revival meetings and stay alive spiritually.” Or another variation is, “I know that the messages there are not any different than those being preached in other churches.” But, pablum sermons will not get you ready to successfully go through the last days That is dangerous!

“Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.” 1 Corinthians 5:7. Paul says, purge out the old leaven. I want to warn you, I am doing this because of love for your soul. If you go and talk and have conferences with people who are blind leaders of the blind, you are going to become infected and not even know what has happened.

“God is displeased with us when we go to listen to error, without being obliged to go; for unless He sends us to those meetings, where error is forced home to the people by the power of the will, He will not keep us. The angels cease their watchful care over us, and we are left to the buffetings of the enemy, to be darkened and weakened by him and the power of his evil angels; and the light around us becomes contaminated with the darkness.” Early Writings, 125.

Here is a question for you. What is going to happen to the tares, the wolves in sheep’s clothing, those who have climbed over the wall into the sheepfold, those who do not have a vital connection to the true vine? Just like in the time of John the Baptist, there is going to be a shaking or purging in the church, and at the end, Jesus says there is going to be a separation. The angels are going to come and separate the tares from the wheat. John the Baptist said there would be a separation in the time of Christ—and there was a separation. There was a shaking and almost the entire Jewish church was shaken out. But, their church organization went right on. That is something that many people have not thought of and you need to think it through. Judaism still existed, but almost the entire group, or organization, was shaken out. I have to tell you the truth. According to prophecy, something very similar to this is going to happen to the Seventh-day Adventist Church before the end.

People say, “We are in the true church and we are going to be saved.” They do not know they are following blind leaders. This is what is going to happen, “How many I saw in the time of trouble without a shelter! . . . Those who refuse to be hewed by the prophets and fail to purify their souls in obeying the whole truth, and who are willing to believe that their condition is far better than it really is, will come up to the time of the falling of the plagues, and then see that they needed to be hewed and squared for the building.” Early Writings, 71. When the plagues fall then probation is over and it is too late to be saved.

“To the marriage supper of the Lamb will come many who have not on the wedding garment—the robe [Christ] purchased for them with His lifeblood. From lips that never make a mistake come the words, ‘Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment?’ Matthew 22:12. Those [thus] addressed are speechless. They know that words would be useless. The truth, with its sanctifying power, has not been brought into the soul, and the tongue that once spoke so readily of the truth is now silent. The words are then spoken, ‘Take them out of My presence. They are not worthy to taste of My supper.’ (Compare with Luke 14:24.)

“As they are separated from the loyal ones, Christ looks upon them with deep sorrow. They occupied high positions of trust in God’s work, but they have not the life insurance policy that would have entitled them to eternal life. From the quivering lips of Christ come the mournful words of regret, ‘I loved them; I gave My life for them; but they persisted in rejecting My pleadings, and continued in sin. O that thou hadst known, even thou, in this thy day, the things which belong to thy peace! But now they are hid from thine eyes.’ ” Upward Look, 301.

Oh, if you want to be part of the church, part of those that will be saved when Jesus comes, you must have the spiritual experience that makes you a part of His body, joined to Him as one spirit. You must have that vital connection with the True Vine. You must love God and obey His commandments. You must have the reality and not just the form. There is coming a time when the only people that will be left in the church will be holy people. Isaiah 4:3.

I want to be part of the real church when Jesus comes, not just someone that has made a profession and then falls out at the end. The profession is necessary. If you have the real thing you are not going to lie and say you do not have it, you are going to tell the truth and make a profession. I want to appeal to you, friend, to make that decision and come to Jesus and say, “Lord, I want to enter into the covenant. I want the real thing, more than just a profession. I want to be one of those faithful souls, one of those who loves God and keeps His commandments. I want to be a part of the body of Christ, ‘bone of His bone, and flesh of His flesh,’ one of those who is joined to Him in one spirit.” I want to be part of the church not just by profession but in character.

The End

by John J. Grosboll

Micah

by

The book of Micah is a beautiful book. Micah lived about 700 B.C. At this time, the Children of Israel had been living in the Land of Canaan for about 700 years and were well established. Israel was all still intact. They thought that as God’s people, He would always preserve them. After all, there were no other people on earth who were preaching the truth. If they were wiped out, who would God have? They were the depositors, as Paul says, of the oracles of God.

In Micah 3:11 God, through the prophet says, “Her heads judge for a bribe, her priests teach for pay.” They were making a comfortable, secure living in the priesthood. “And her prophets divine for money. Yet they lean on the Lord. . .” Does anyone like to be used? We do not like to be used, but how often we are tempted to use God. The Children of Israel used God. They leaned on Him to their advantage. “We are His people. We do not have to listen or obey Him, but He must take care of us. He has promised us things and we are going to hold Him to those promises. All nations will be blessed through us.” They knew everything was not right, politics had entered the church, but they reasoned if there was anything wrong at the head of the church, God would right it.

God’s church was going through. Through conniving or politics or however else the leaders happened to get at the head of God’s church—since they were on top of the heap that was going through, they thought they were going to succeed, too. All they had to do was stay on top. “Are we not God’s people? therefore, no harm can come to us.” “Therefore because of you Zion shall be plowed like a field, Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins, and the mountain of the temple like the bare hills of the forest.” Micah 3:12. Because of this attitude, because of you who are entrenched in your offices, because of you leaders of the people who are working for pay instead of for a calling, Jerusalem will be devastated, will be plowed like a field and be left destroyed.

Micah 4:3 says, “Then they will cry to the Lord, but He will not hear them; He will even hide His face from them at that time, because they have been evil in their deeds.” It is a hard thing for us to admit that God is not dependent upon us. Somehow we are determined that God has to be dependent on us. It is true, God wants to use us and it is even true that God has made His work dependent on some men, somewhere. God has suffered many losses because people have been untrue. He could have, many times, sent angels to do the work, but He has left it in the hands of men, and many times, unfaithful men.

And yet, never has God made His work entirely dependent upon people and never has He made it dependent upon any certain group of people. Hosea, a contemporary of Micah, says, “I will say to those who were not My people. ‘You are My people!’ ” Hosea 2:23. John the Baptist said, “God can raise up children to Himself from these stones. Do not think that He is dependent on you.” One of the most dangerous philosophies for the church, is to come to the place where we think that because we are God’s church , He is dependent on us. It is deadly and it destroyed the Children of Israel. Because they thought God was dependent upon them, the Children of Israel continued to carry out their ceremonies, rituals, and forms of worship. As apostasy deepened, the forms of worship increased. Their professions increased while their morality decreased.

Micah, in chapter 6, verse 6 speaking for the people says, “With what shall I come before the Lord, . . . Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?” Do you know why God required calves a year old? Because He did not want them to get the use out of them and then give them when they were old. A year old calf was a real sacrifice. “Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams or ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” Isaiah, descibes what the people were saying in chapter 58, “Look God, we have done everything. We have fasted. We have come with our sackcloth and ashes and we have given offerings and tithes and we have worshipped and come before You day after day and You do not hear. How come?” Isaiah answers, “It is because your sins have hid His face from you.”

Buying God

How does mankind come to the place where he thinks he can do things to buy God’s love? God requires a change of character. Can we do something to buy our way into heaven? Can we attend enough meetings to somehow appease God, as though He needed appeasing? Can we give enough offerings, enough tithe, or fast long enough?

There is nothing we can do to atone for our sins but accept the free gift of salvation through Jesus. However, there is a condition. Jesus said, “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of heaven.” John 3:3. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” I John 1:9. Is that a fair condition? God says, “You cannot claim Me as your Lord unless you allow Me to come into your life.”

The Children of Israel leaned on the Lord, but did not want Him to come into their lives or to be subject to Him. Why? They were afraid He might change their lives and we do not want to be changed because we like the way we are. That is why the Bible says, “The just shall live by faith.” Romans 1:17. By faith, we know that God loves us and He will do nothing but what is for our own good. By faith, we know that God’s way brings peace and joy and happiness even though it may not look like it to the natural eye. “In the world,” Jesus said, “you will have tribulation.” John 16:33. You may suffer persecution for keeping the Sabbath. You may suffer loss of job, or be unpopular. Even family members may turn against you. But, by faith, we know that while we suffer persecution on the outside, God has promised to give us peace, joy, and happiness on the inside.

Now the Children of Israel asked Micah, “Doesn’t God want us to worship Him? Doesn’t He want our calves of a year old? What about our sacrifices of oil and calves and our convocations and our ceremonies and all these other things?” The gist of Micah’s answer is, “Unless these ceremonies are bringing you closer to God in character, why do them?” (See Micah 6:6–8.)

The Scribes and Pharisees read the Scriptures daily and Jesus said, “You study the Scriptures every day and they teach of Me and yet you refuse to come to Me.” (See John 5:39.) They went to church, they fasted, they gave, they prayed and they even kept the Sabbath of the Lord, but they were lost. They fooled everyone into thinking they were religious and yet, there was one thing they never did. They never surrendered or accepted the way God had worked out for them. God’s way involved the cross. Jesus said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” Matthew 16:24

We must be broken on the Rock and yield completely to the Lord. I must come to the place where I am willing to yield all sin. But someone says, “I am not willing. So what do I do?” We are told if we pray, “Lord, make me willing to be made willing,” The Mount of Blessings, 142. He will do that. God will begin to work on our heart. God says, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live.” Ezekiel 33:11

The Lord through Micah gives promises to encourage us in this work of surrendering. “Therefore I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; My God will hear me. Do not rejoice over me, my enemy; when I fall, I will arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me. I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against Him, until He pleads my case and executes justice for me. He will bring me forth to the light; and I will receive His righteousness.” Micah 7:7–9

Promises and Warnings

God is merciful, yet the Children of Israel used these promises of God’s love and grace and goodness as excuses for sin. That is dangerous and presumptive. They said, “God is going to save us anyway. He will correct all our iniquity. Do not criticize. Do not cry aloud. Just trust in the Lord.”

“Thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who make my people stray; who chant ‘Peace’” Micah 3:5. Why were they crying peace? Because they thought they were standing on the promises of the Lord. They said, “Peace! Everything is going to be all right. God’s going to see us through.” God said, “While they chew with their teeth, but who prepare war against him who puts nothing into their mouths.” Ibid. God was putting nothing in their mouth. “Therefore you shall have night without vision, and you shall have darkness with divination; the sun shall go down on the prophets, and the day shall be dark for them. So the seers shall be ashamed, and the diviners abashed; indeed they shall all cover their lips; for there is no answer from God. But truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord, and of justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin.” Micah 3:6–8. But they said, “Don’t do that. Just say peace. Stand on the promises of God.” (See Jeremiah 6:14 and Desire of Ages, 106.)

True prophets were not prophets of peace. They gave good courage and promises on condition of obedience, but they also warned against iniquities. These prophecies of Micah are given for today. Notice Micah 4:1, “Now it shall come to pass in the latter days . . .” In Micah 4:6, 7, it says, “’In that day,’ says the Lord, ‘I will assemble the lame, I will gather the outcast and those whom I have afflicted; I will make the lame a remnant, and the outcast a strong nation; so the Lord will reign over them in Mount Zion from now on, even forever.’” God has promised, in the last days, to gather the outcasts of Israel and to make of them a remnant.

The Remnant—His Church

Have we learned the lessons from Micah? Are we today in danger of crying “Peace! Peace!” when there is no peace? Or are we in danger of trying to appease God and earn our way into His favor? Are we standing on promises to our own destruction, not fulfilling the conditions? “Sins exist in the church that God hates, but they are scarcely touched for fear of making enemies. Opposition has risen in the church to the plain testimony. Some will not bear it. They wish smooth things spoken unto them.” Spiritual Gifts, vol. 2, 283, 284

“Just as long as God has a church, he will have those who will cry aloud and spare not, [like Micah] who will be his instruments to reprove selfishness and sins, and will not shun to declare the whole counsel of God, whether men will hear or forbear. I saw that individuals would rise up against the plain testimonies It does not suit their natural feelings. They would choose to have smooth things spoken unto them, and have peace cried in their ears. I view the church in a more dangerous condition than they ever have been. Experimental religion is known but by a few. The shaking must soon take place to purify the church.” Ibid. The remnant in the last days are going to be made up of the poor, blind, lame and halt. “In the last solemn work few great men will be engaged. They are self-sufficient and independent of God and He cannot use them. But the Lord has faithful servants who in the shaking, testing time will be disclosed to view. There are precious ones now hidden who have not bowed the knee to Baal, but it may be under a rough and uninviting exterior that the pure brightness of a genuine Christian character will be revealed. Chaff like a cloud will be blown away on the wind even from places where we see only floors of rich wheat. All who assume the ornaments of the sanctuary, but who are not clothed with Christ’s righteousness will appear in the shame of their own nakedness.” Testimonies to the Church, vol. 8, 80, 81

That was the message of Micah. God’s people are in danger of trusting in being God’s people. “We are the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.” And yet, being the temple of the Lord, they have not developed a Christian character. God says He will destroy them, but a remnant will be left of poor and humble people. The promises in Micah are made to the remnant, “I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob, I will surely gather the [what?] remnant of Israel; I will put them together like sheep of the fold, like a flock in the midst of their pasture; they shall make a loud noise because of so many men.” Micah 2:12. “Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the [who?] remnant of His heritage?” Micah 7:18. The remnant is going to increase, people will come in, but it is only going to be a remnant of the Children of Israel.

“‘In that day,’ says the Lord,‘I will assemble the lame, I will gather the outcast and those whom I have afflicted.’” Micah 4:6. There is coming a time when God will mold together a remnant. They are going to cry and be heard from one end of the earth to the other. It is described as three angels flying in the midst of the heavens with a fourth angel giving them power and that the earth was lightened with its glory. Then it is that God is going to receive the glory. Man’s wisdom will be made of none effect.

Many people are not going to be satisfied with this because God alone will receive the glory. All of man’s glory will be made of none effect. Look at Micah 4:9. “Now why do you cry aloud? Is there no king in your midst? Has your counselor perished? For pangs have seized you like a woman in labor.” People are going to be crying, “Look, we do not have any more kings in our midst. Where are our great counselors? They seem to be gone.” But it is at that time that Jesus will take charge of the church. It is that time that He and the Holy Spirit will receive the glory and He will be the head of the church. What God is looking for today is to become the head of His people. He wants to pour out upon His people, His Spirit. If we will yield ourselves to His character, to His Spirit, to His leading and guiding, God is willing to take charge of the church for His name’s honor and glory.

Today the Lord is inviting us to turn from the strongholds of men to the strongholds of God. May we each have the privilege to be among His remnant in that day when the Lord’s word will go forth with power to the world and He will come to judge the nations in truth and righteousness.

The End

Birth of the King! The Church Structure Of Jesus’ Day

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From Wichita, Kansas to Kongsberg, Norway, and around the world, the colorful sights and delightful sound of Christmas once again pervade the earth. Many Christians observe Christmas as a commemoration of the birth of Jesus in lowly Bethlehem. Though in all probability it is not His birthday, let us use this time of Christmas awareness to review the events surrounding that glorious occasion.

“When the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son” for whom it was proclaimed that “of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end.” He was to sit “upon the throne of David, and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever.” “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder.”” Galatians 4:4; Isaiah 9:7, 6.

Thus, according to Scripture, when Jesus was “born,” He was to sit upon the “throne of David” and to establish the kingdom in justice and peace. Though the chosen nation should suffer economic chaos, theological apostasy and political corruption, its members were sure it would ultimately recover, for the Messiah would once again bring justice and peace, prosperity and dominion to God’s people.

Was not “the government” to be “upon His shoulder”? And does the government not refer to the leaders and authorities of the nation? Thus, the people confidently looked to their leaders to proclaim the Messiah King.

While the world of Israel thus looked expectantly toward Jerusalem for the birth announcement of their Saviour and King, a newborn babe lay sleeping on the beaten-down straw, under strips of linen, in a Bethlehem barn. He was a normal looking infant, born of peasant stock. He was the Messiah, the Creator of the universe. The future of Israel’s prosperity and existence lay huddled beside Him.

Angels, bursting with eagerness to tell the good news, flew from house to house, synagogue to synagogue, throughout the length and breadth of Judea, searching for receptive hearts, to announce the birth of this newborn Son. They searched and searched. Where were the 7,000 faithful of Elijah’s day? Though Elijah had not known their whereabouts, these angels had known every name and address. But now they searched in vain! Yet the people of Israel were zealous Sabbath-keepers. They sent their children to the rabbinical schools and daily studied the Scriptures. And most of all, they were of the lineage of Abraham, loyal Jews, as demonstrated by their loyalty to their human leaders.

In one classroom an angel lingers as a scholar lectures his students. “It is nearly time for the Messiah to come,” he says. The angel starts forward with breathtaking joy—has he found a worthy group? He readies to lighten the room and share the good news, but the teachers continues:

“Beware, however, that the historic beliefs, based upon simple Bible statements, must today be balanced with modern scholasticism. Rabbi Benikel, for example, in his recent dissertation of the linguistic origins of Daniel, which has received the endorsement of Rabbi Honohan, points out several exegetical problems with the theory of the Babylonian origin of Daniel. He asserts that portions of Daniel were written during the early Maccabean period and that the Messiah prophecy was an attempt to strengthen the support of Judas Maccabeus in his resistance to the Antiochan occupation of Judea. The Sanhedrin Council has yet to decide on this theory, but Rabbi Benikel, understandably, has not wanted to submit it to their jurisprudence until he has more support in the council.”

The angel folds his wings and turns to leave. The professor drones on—Rabbi El-Sevens has also shown problems with the year-day theory. This theory, he says, developed as a result of Israel’s disappointment when the Messiah did not come when expected shortly after Cyrus’ decree. . . . But the angel has gone. The rejection of the Messiah had already begun.

Thus it was that “angels came . . . unseen to Jerusalem, to the appointed expositors of the Sacred Oracles, and the ministers of God’s house. . . . Yet Jerusalem was not preparing to welcome her Redeemer. With amazement the heavenly messengers beheld the indifference of the people whom God had called to communicate to the world the light of sacred truth. . . . They rehearsed their meaningless prayers, and performed the rites of worship to be seen by men, but in their strife for riches and worldly honor they were not prepared for the revelation of the Messiah. The Desire of Ages, 43, 44

The angel returns from his search to the hayloft headquarters of Bethlehem: “I’ve searched the classrooms of Judea,” he reports. “The teachers are expounding the Scriptures, but they are very proud and degree-oriented. ‘They love . . . to be called . . . Rabbi.’ (Matthew 23:6, 7.) The students’ minds are crowded with material that . . . [is] worthless, and they are so busy with their biblical studies that they have no time for ‘quiet hours to spend with God.’ Thus they do ‘not hear His voice speaking to the heart.’ The Desire of Ages, 69. They have elevated human philosophy above simple faith and have ‘set human teaching above God’s Word.’ Christ’s Object Lessons, 304. They pray before every class, but there is no real desire for divine enlightenment. I am sad to report that I have not been able to find a single classroom of Judea within which I could give the glad tidings of Jesus’ birth. Even if I had told them, unless it was endorsed by the Sanhedrin and came through the official channels, they would not have believed it.”

“That’s the kind of reports we’re getting from all over,” was the answer from the coordinating angel. “It is pretty bleak. If we could even find some in individual dwellings with whom we could share the goodness, but the angels visiting the homes report that the people have ‘respected the priests and rabbis for their intelligence and apparent piety’ for so long, that ‘in all religious matters they [have] yielded implicit obedience to their authority.’” The Desire of Ages, 611. They have almost made their human leaders infallible.

“We have found two persons, however, named Simeon and Anna, who are ‘just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel’ and filled with the Holy Spirit. (See Luke 2:29, 36.) Of course, they are so old that few will listen. What’s more, Anna is a prophetess, and you know how the testimony of the Spirit has been received of late. Completely made of none effect by many, I fear.

“Another detachment of angels have found some philosophers in Persia who are sincere seekers for truth. They have the writings of Balaam. Possibly we can reach them through their belief in astrology. Balaam said, ‘A Star shall come out of Jacob’ (Numbers 24:17); now if we make a visible star arise over Bethlehem. . .”

But the commander was interrupted by the entrance of another angel who appears radiant with joy—”I’ve found some who believe!” he announces. “There are some shepherds herding their sheep right outside this very city,” he says, “who are praying and meditating on the Scripture and are expecting the Christ to come!”

“But who will listen to shepherds?” asks one of the angels standing nearby. “They have no degrees, no preaching license, no literary or oratorical skills, no friends in the synagogue, no influence at all—if they preach this gospel it will turn many away!”

“But God is no respecter of persons” responds the angel. “They are worthy and I must tell them.”

“We’re all coming,” responds the commander. “You are the only one who has had success tonight—we’re joining you!”

That night the lowly shepherds became the best and only true theologians of Israel. They did not know four of five variant possibilities of prophetic interpretations; they could not quote rabbinical sources; they did not even know the dictionary definition of exegesis, but they knew the truth. True theology is the process of humbly arriving at truth, not the process of proudly elucidating human speculation.

Those who do not understand or believe in God’s holy Sabbath are not theologians. They may be sincere, but they are not theologians. The most common and illiterate person who understands and keeps the Sabbath is a greater theologian than is the wisest scholar who is ignorant of such a basic, plain truth of the Bible. Those who do not understand the closing events of earth’s history as delineated in Daniel, the Revelation, and The Great Controversy, are not theologians. Those who do not understand the power of Christ to deliver from sin, of the plain and simple gospel story of who Jesus was—”the seed of David according to the flesh” (See Romans 1:3.)—are not theologians. Those who have known and rejected God’s voice through the Spirit of Prophecy may be applauded for their great speculative skills, but their wisdom is no greater than was that of the scribes and Pharisees in Jesus’ day—they are not theologians. And if the church, or individuals, permit themselves to be educated by these broken cisterns, they will be deceived and rejected by God, as were the Jews in Jesus’ day.

As in Jesus’ day,

“There are men among us in responsible positions who hold that the opinions of a few conceited philosophers, so called, are more to be trusted than the truths of the Bible, or the testimonies of the Holy Spirit. Such a faith as that of Paul, Peter, or John is considered old-fashioned and insufferable at the present day. . . . God has shown me that these men are . . . to prove a scourge to our people. They are wise above what is written. This unbelief of the very truths of God’s Word because human judgment cannot comprehend the mysteries of His work is found . . . in most of our schools and comes into the lessons of the nurseries.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 79.

Few so-called scholars are true theologians, and few theologians are recognized scholars. Jesus said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and have revealed them to babes.” Matthew 11:25.

As with ancient Israel at Christ’s first coming, so with modern Israel “in the last solemn work” before His Second Coming—”few great men will be engaged.” They “have trusted to intellect, genius, or talent . . . [and] did not keep pace with the light. . . . God will work a work in our day that but few anticipate. He will raise up and exalt among us those [like the shepherds] who are taught rather by the unction of His Spirit than by the outward training of scientific institutions. . . . God will manifest that He is not dependent on learned, self-important mortals.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 80, 82.

In Jesus’ day the people had been led to believe that God’s work depended upon the priests and rabbis, as “we have been inclined to think that where there are no faithful ministers there can be no true Christian, but this is not the case. God has promised that where the shepherds are not true He will take charge of the flock Himself. God has never made the flock wholly dependent upon human instrumentalities.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 80.

The Jewish people could not fathom the Lord ever forsaking them. Their leaders had emphasized the texts that spoke of their eternal heritage to the exclusion of texts that spoke of the conditions of prosperity. This led to a false sense of security in the system. They forgot that God has not made Himself dependent upon any man, nation or church. Anyone, such as John the Baptist, who said, “God can raise up children to Himself from these stones,” was thought of as a schismatic and separationist. The question they asked both John and Jesus was, “By what authority do you do these things?” —What rabbi, priest, or synagogue has endorsed you?

The rejection of Jesus and the destruction of a nation followed a very simple path:

The leaders became political with only an outward appearance of piety in order to retain the people’s confidence and support.

The educational system elevated the human above the divine.

The people were taught that all questions of administration or policy must be submitted to ecclesiastical authority and that only those under such authority could preach, write or teach.

The people were taught that the chosen nation would continue to be blessed regardless of what it did.

The people were led to believe that the work of the Lord consisted totally of the political system then in control of the nation. God was not recognized as the Head of His church as stated in Ephesians 1:22, 23. The Lord Himself was obliged to go through the “proper channels” of the church. No one could ever hope to be the Messiah without the Sanhedrin’s recognition.

Following the anointing of Jesus at His baptism, the Father gave proof after proof of Jesus’ Messiahship. But the one proof He was lacking was the official approval of the church—or at least what the people thought was the church.

Of course, Jesus was the church. He was the government.

For “where Christ is, even among the humble few, this is Christ’s church, for the presence of the High and Holy One who inhabiteth eternity can alone constitute a church.” The Upward Look, 315.

No human council or organization, either today, in Martin Luther’s day, or in Jesus’ day can either establish or annul a church body by mere human fiat. The true church in Jesus’ day was not the temple in Jerusalem, but the believers that surrounded Jesus. This has constituted the church “in every age.” This is the church that “the gates of hell have not been able to prevail against,” and “is the one object upon which God bestows in a special sense His supreme regard.” Acts of the Apostles, 11, 12. But to even suggest such a thing in Jesus’ day would have been considered divisive, insubordinate and apostate. Thus the leaders were able to take a whole nation with them to ruin in their rejection of the humble King of Israel. The leaders were too proud, entrenched and educated to follow Jesus or to submit to His authority, and the people cast their lot with the priests.

Witness one of the most dramatic of Jesus’ healings. The man was born blind, the result, supposedly, of a curse from the parents’ or grandparents’ sins. But Jesus made clay, packed it upon his eyes, and told him to go wash in the pool of Siloam.

The man came seeing and rejoicing. Though he had never seen Jesus, he knew that He was the Messiah, and acknowledged Him so before the priests. The priests knew this man. They knew he had been blind from birth. They had tried to suggest in previous healings of Jesus, that it was by sleight of hand, but they could not deny this miracle. Neither could they accept the One who performed it, for it was done by Jesus, who was not under their authority or jurisdiction. To acknowledge Him would mean to humble themselves. It could possibly lead to the whole moral and economic collapse of their system. Tithes and offerings would probably start flowing to Jesus. Their own authority would be limited. If they should yield their authority here, what would prevent any and every other upstart from beginning his own ministry? What would preserve the “purity” of the church? To their way of thinking, the whole prosperity of a nation depended upon their handling of this case in such a way as to deprive Jesus of His glory and yet retain the confidence of the people. It would require the utmost skill in administrative tact and crisis management.

“So they . . . called the man who was blind, and said to him, ‘Give God the glory! We know that this Man [Jesus] is a sinner.’” But the healed man would not relinquish his faith in Jesus. “Then they reviled him and said, ‘You are His disciple, but we are Moses’ disciples.’” John 9:24, 28.

As one last attempt to break through the stubborn resistance of the Jews, Jesus raised a man to life who had been dead for four days. The priests knew that they could not refute this miracle. In their hearts they knew that He was divine. But to acknowledge Him now would destroy their whole social, economic and political system. And to their way of thinking, it would therefore destroy God’s church. That, as “faithful stewards,” they could not allow. Thus Caiaphas said, “It is [more] expedient for us that one man should die for the people, . . . [than] that the whole nation should perish.” John 11:50.

Corruption and political maneuvering they could permit; but someone calling for repentance, someone speaking without their authority, they could not tolerate. When the decision came to choose between Barabbas and Christ, they unanimously, save for Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, demanded Barabbas, and the multitudes followed suit.

“At the time of the first advent of Christ to our world, the men who composed the Sanhedrin exercised their authority in controlling men according to their will,” and the people blindly accepted their dominion.” Testimonies to Ministers. 301. In their acceptance of human authority they rejected God’s. And though the true church of Israel never fell, the human machinery that the people thought was the church did fall.

“The sin of ancient Israel was in disregarding the express will of God and following their own way according to the leadings of unsanctified hearts. Modern Israel are fast following in their footsteps and the displeasure of the Lord is as surely resting upon them.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 94.

“The religion of many among us will be the religion of apostate Israel, because they love their own way, and forsake the way of the Lord. . . . I know that a work must be done for the people, or many will not be prepared to receive the light of the angel sent down from heaven to lighten the whole earth with His glory.” Testimonies to Ministers, 468, 469.

When the earth was lightened with the glory of the angels at Jesus’ first coming, few were ready to receive it—only the humblest were lightened by their glory. Just so, another angel is to lighten the earth before Jesus’ Second Coming. Again, only the humblest will receive His glory. The church, purified, is going through. But not everything that purports to be the church today is going to triumph with it. Only the pure and holy are going to triumph. Nothing that in any way bespeaks corruption or political maneuvering will survive.

“The Lord Jesus will always have a chosen people to serve Him. When the Jewish people rejected Christ, the Prince of Life, He took from them the kingdom of God and gave it to the Gentiles. God will continue to work on this principle with every branch of His work. When a church proves unfaithful to the work of the Lord, whatever their position may be, however high and sacred their calling, the Lord can no longer work with them. Others are then chosen to bear important responsibilities.” The Upward Look. 131.

“Let a church become proud and boastful, not depending on God, not exalting His power, and that church will surely be left by the Lord, to be brought down to the ground.” Testimonies, vol. 8, 127.

Throughout the land it is Christmas time again. Though the origins of Christmas preceded the Christian era, let us review the meaning of the Bethlehem scene. While all eyes were fastened upon Jerusalem for the official birth announcement of their Saviour and King, a newborn babe lay sleeping on beaten-down straw, under strips of linen, in a Bethlehem barn. While the church went on with its forms and ceremonies and Sabbath rituals, the lowly shepherds were bowing beside His cradle. They were the true theologians of Israel, but none would accept their inspired announcement. There in that cradle of Bethlehem lay the government of Israel. The prosperity of a nation, a church, a people, lay huddled beside Him. Though many rejected Him, God’s true church accepted Him. That church still lives!

Editorial – Little Company

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In all ages there have been an Israel, [church] according to the flesh and in addition, a much smaller group who are the true Israel—the children of the promise. “For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, ‘In Isaac your seed shall be called’ that this, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed.” Romans 9: 6-8. This truth Jesus clearly addressed when speaking to the church leaders of His day, He said, “I know that you are Abraham’s descendants, but you seek to kill me, because my word has no place in you, ‘I speak what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have seen with your father.’ They answered and said unto Him, ‘Abraham is our father.’ Jesus said unto them, ‘If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You do the deeds of you father.’” John 8:37–41.

“The Jewish people cherished the idea that they were the favorites of heaven, and that they were always to be exalted as the church of God. They were the children of Abraham, they declared, and so firm did the foundation of their prosperity seem to them that they defied earth and heaven to dispossess them of their rights.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 294

This smaller group is, and always has been, the true church of God. “From the beginning, faithful souls have constituted the church on earth.” The Acts of the Apostles, 11. “Those who keep God’s commandments, those who live not by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God, compose the church of the living God.” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 7, 949.

Will you be a part of this little company that comprises the true church? See Testimonies Vol. 9, 231. If you choose to do so, you must have the following characteristics:

  1. You must be willing to endure opposition from the professed Seventh-day Adventist church: “If we hope to wear the crown, we must expect to bear the cross. Our greatest trials will come from those who profess godliness. It was so with the world’s Redeemer; it will be so with his followers. . . . The opposition which Christ received came from his own nation, who would have been greatly blessed had they accepted him. In like manner the remnant church receive opposition from those who profess to be their brethren.” Review and Herald, August 28, 1883
  2. You must contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the Saints: “Satan claims the world, but there is a little company who withstand his devices, and contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints. Satan sets himself to destroy this commandment-keeping company. But God is their tower of defense. He will raise up for them a standard against the enemy. He will be to them ‘as an hiding place from the wind,’ and ‘as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.’ He will say to them, ‘Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. For, behold, the Lord cometh out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.” ‘And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.’ ” Review and Herald, September 17, 1901
  3. While filled with remorse for those professors who are in apostasy, you must remain in the light. “The leaven of godliness has not entirely lost its power. At the time when the danger and depression of the church are greatest, the little company who are standing in the light will be sighing and crying for the abominations that are done in the land. But more especially will their prayers arise in behalf of the church because its members are doing after the manner of the world.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 209, 210
    You must be bound together by the truth of the three angels’ messages: “He bade me look in an opposite direction, and I saw a little company traveling a narrow pathway. All seemed to be firmly united, and bound together by the truth, in bundles, or companies. Said the angel, ‘The third angel is binding them (sealing them) in bundles for the heavenly garner.’ ” Supplement to Christian Experience and Views Ellen G. White, 6

The End

Editorial – Letter 55

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Letter 55 is a most heart-searching letter from Ellen White that applies directly to the times in which we are living. You can read the entire letter in Manuscript Releases, vol. 12, 318–328. Some of the main points are quoted below. “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not” [Luke 13:34]! God forbid that these words shall apply to those who have had great light and blessings. In the rejecting of Jerusalem it was because great privileges were abused, which brought the denunciation upon all who lightly regarded the great opportunities and precious light that were entrusted to their keeping. Privileges do not commend us to God, but they commend God to us. No people are saved because they have great light and special advantages, for these high and heavenly favors only increase their responsibility. The more and increased light God has given makes the receiver more responsible. It does not place the receiver in any safer position unless the privileges are wisely improved, prized, and used to advance God’s glory.

When Jerusalem was divorced from God it was because of her sins. She fell from an exalted height that Tyre and Sidon had never reached. And when an angel falls he becomes a fiend. The depth of our ruin is measured by the exalted light to which God has raised us in His great goodness and unspeakable mercy. Oh, what privileges are granted to us as a people! 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? . . . “Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.” [Proverbs 14:34]. Sin is a disorganizer. Wherever it is cherished—in the individual heart, in the household, in the church—there is disorder, strife, variance, enmity, envy, jealousy, because the enemy of man and of God has the controlling power over the mind.

God never forsakes people or individuals until they forsake Him. Outward opposition will not cause the faith of God’s people, who are keeping His commandments, to become dim. The neglect to bring purity and truth into practice will grieve the Spirit of God and weaken them because God is not in their midst to bless. Internal corruption will bring the denunciations of God upon this people as it did upon Jerusalem. Oh, let pleading voices, let earnest prayer be heard, that those who preach to others shall not themselves be castaways. My brethren, we know not what is before us, and our only safety is in following the Light of the world. God will work with us and for us if the sins, which brought His wrath upon the Old World, upon Sodom and Gomorrah and upon ancient Jerusalem, do not become our crime. All the policy in the world cannot save us from a terrible sifting, and all the efforts made with high authorities will not lift from us the scourging of God, just because sin is cherished. If as a people we do not keep ourselves in the faith and not only advocate with pen and voice the commandments of God, but keep them every one, not violating a single precept knowingly, then weakness and ruin will come upon us. It is a work that we must attend to in every one of our churches. Each man must be a Christian.

The voice of the true watchman needs now to be heard all along the line, “The morning cometh, and also the night” [Isaiah 21:12]. The trumpet must give a certain sound, for we are in the great day of the Lord’s preparation. All the struggles to carry our appeals to the highest authorities in our land, however earnest and strong and eloquent may be the pleas in our favor, will not bring about that which we desire unless the Lord works by His Holy Spirit in the heart of those who claim to believe the truth. We may struggle as a mighty man in swimming against the current of Niagara, but we shall fail unless the Lord pleads in our behalf. God will be honored among His people. They must be pure; they must be divested of self, steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. The Lord will elevate the humblest soul that trusts in Him. He will unite His power with human effort if that man will honor Him as did Daniel. But as a people we need the beauty of righteousness, holiness, and truth. The most harmonious theory will not save us. The God that ruled in Babylon is the same God that rules now. We are to be ready and waiting for the orders of God. Nations will be stirred to their very center. Support will be withdrawn from those who proclaim God’s only standard of righteousness, the only sure test of character. And all who will not bow to the decrees of the national councils and obey the national laws to exalt the sabbath instituted by the man of sin to the disregard of God’s holy day, will feel, not the oppressive power of popery alone, but of the Protestant world, the image of the beast. Satan will work his miracles to deceive; he will set up his power as supreme. The church may appear as about to fall, but it does not fall. It remains, while the sinners in Zion will be sifted out—the chaff separated from the precious wheat. This is a terrible ordeal, but nevertheless it must take place. None but those who have been overcoming by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony will be found with the loyal and true, without spot or stain of sin, without guile in their mouths. We must be divested of our self-righteousness and arrayed in the righteousness of Christ.

That which God required of Adam before his fall was perfect obedience to His law. God requires now what He required of Adam, perfect obedience, righteousness without a flaw, without shortcoming in His sight. God help us to render to Him all His law requires. We cannot do this without that faith that brings Christ’s righteousness into daily practice. Dear brethren, the Lord is coming. Lift up your thoughts and heads and rejoice. Oh, we would think that those who hear the joyful news, who claim to love Jesus, would be filled with joy unutterable and full of glory. This is the good, the joyful news which should electrify every soul, which should be repeated in our homes, and told to those whom we meet on the street. What more joyful news can be communicated! Caviling and contention with believers or unbelievers is not the work God has given us to do.

If Christ is my Saviour, my sacrifice, my atonement, then I shall never perish. Believing on Him, I have life forevermore. Oh, that all who believe the truth would believe in Jesus as their own Saviour. I do not mean that cheap faith unsupported by works, but that earnest, living, constant, abiding faith that eats the flesh and drinks the blood of the Son of God. I want not only to be pardoned for the transgression of God’s holy law, but I want to be lifted into the sunshine of God’s countenance. Not simply to be admitted to heaven, but to have an abundant entrance. Are we so insensible as a peculiar people, a holy nation, to the inexpressible love that God has manifested for us? Salvation is not to be baptized, not to have our names upon the church books, not to preach the truth. But it is a living union with Jesus Christ, to be renewed in heart, doing the works of Christ in faith and labor of love, in patience, meekness, and hope. Every soul united to Christ will be a living missionary to all around him. He will labor for those who near and those afar off. He will have no sectional feeling, not interest merely to build up one branch of the work over which he presides and there let his zeal end. All will work with interest to make every branch strong. There will be no self-love, no selfish interest. The great issue so near at hand will weed out those whom God has not appointed, and He will have a pure, true, sanctified ministry prepared for the latter rain. Letter 55, 1886. (Written from Basel, Switzerland, to G. I. Butler and S. N. Haskell, December 8, 1886).

Living Stones

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Speaking about the church, Peter describes it as a spiritual house. He says, “Coming to Him [Christ] as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 2:4, 5. Another definition that the Bible uses of the church is that it is a temple. It is a spiritual building; and the material is not concrete blocks or marble blocks, as the temple in Jerusalem, but living stones—people. You can read about these living stones in Acts of the Apostles. There Ellen White describes these living stones as people who have been quarried, chiseled or cut out from the quarry of the world. They are brought as building materials to be laid up as a living temple—a living temple of living stones, as the Bible describes this spiritual temple of God’s church.

We are looking here at the Christian church and the question arises, How do Christians offer up sacrifices? Do they bring acceptable sacrifices to Christ? Yes, but it is a very special type of a sacrifice that they bring to God; and without this sacrifice, they will not be acceptable to Him.

Turning to Psalm 51:16, 17, we discover the sacrifices that are acceptable to God when offered by His people—those who comprise His church, this living temple. This is the psalm David wrote, you recall, after being reproved by the prophet for committing that terrible sin with Bathsheba. He realized that his sin had been discovered, and here he offered up one of those acceptable sacrifices to God. “For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart—these, O God, You will not despise.” So what are the acceptable sacrifices that God’s people are to bring to Him if they are going to be living stones? They bring the sacrifices of a broken and a contrite spirit. In other words, they are repentant. And these are the sacrifices that they bring, trusting in Jesus’ merits.

Friends, we cannot be living stones in God’s temple if we are living in sin. The prerequisite to being a part of God’s temple is that they “offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” Let us also notice something else. Going back to God’s church as it was under the Jewish system, they were told time and time again to repent of their sins. They claimed to be God’s people. God had called them to fulfill a purpose; but their lives, time and time again, disqualified them from being living stones. Many times they brought sacrifices, they went through all the protocol, they did all of the outward things that were necessary; but with those burnt offerings, those sin offerings, there was not a broken and contrite spirit and they could not be accepted by Him.

The Jewish people had a literal temple of polished marble, but they missed the point that it was but a symbol of the living temple that they were to be. Speaking to them God said, “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rebuke the oppressor; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow.” Isaiah 1:16, 17. “Look,” God says, “you claim to be My people, but you are in sin. Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil.”

The wonderful thing is, when we cease to do evil, the Lord is so merciful to us. “‘Come now, and let us reason together,’ says the Lord, ‘though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.’” Isaiah 1:18. Wonderful, precious, merciful God, even to those who are deliberately sinning against Him.

Sadly, the people had been bringing the wrong kinds of sacrifices. “‘To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?’ says the Lord. ‘I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs or goats. When you come to appear before Me, who has required this from your hand, to trample My courts?’” Isaiah 1:11, 12. They were offering the sacrifices, but it might as well have been a slaughterhouse. They did not offer them with a broken and contrite spirit.

What did God tell them? “Bring no more futile sacrifices; incense is an abomination to Me. The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies—I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting. Your New Moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; they are a trouble to Me, I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes.” Isaiah 1:13-16. Then He says, “Come now, and let us reason together. I want to forgive you, but it has to be on the right basis. I want to forgive you, and I will. Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow.”

Though God is a very merciful God, He expects certain conditions; and if we want to be a living stone in that living temple, we must abide by the conditions that He has laid down. “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people [a peculiar people], that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” 1 Peter 2:9. Here Peter is using the same terminology which God had used in the Old Testament in referring to Israel. Speaking to Israel, God had said, “‘And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.” Exodus 19:6

So, these living stones were to be a holy nation, a royal priesthood; but again, it was only under certain conditions. “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine.” Exodus 19:5. Only in obedience could the people meet the conditions of the covenant.

Just as there were conditions to being a living stone in the Old Testament, there are conditions being a living stone in God’s spiritual temple in the New Testament. “That you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” 1 Peter 2:9. So, friends, if we are living stones, we are called to come out of the darkness and to show forth “the praises of Him” who has “called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.”

What kind of darkness is this speaking about? This is the darkness that Peter made reference to when he said, “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.” Ephesians 5:8. Specifically, what does the darkness mean? “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness.” Ibid., verse 11. So, the darkness is the unfruitful works; in other words, it is sin. You cannot be a living stone if you are still living in sin, if you are still in spiritual darkness. It just does not work.

The Bible uses some very specific terms to describe those who choose to remain in spiritual darkness and sin. “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His son cleanses us from all sin.” 1 John 1:6, 7 The only way that we can be justified is to come out of the darkness and walk in the light.

Remember when Solomon dedicated the temple in Jerusalem? There was the table of shewbread, the candlestick, the altar of incense, and the gorgeous tapestry veil. In the second apartment, the Most Holy place, there was the ark of the covenant, inside of which were the tables of God’s Law. There were the priests in their beautiful, gorgeous costumes; everything was according to the direction that God had given. But there was something missing. Do you remember? It was the presence of God, the Holy Spirit. God’s shekinah glory was to come down into that temple. Remember that wonderful prayer of Solomon’s as he knelt there before the temple and prayed? As he prayed, what happened? The glorious presence of God was seen to come down and fill that temple. Now that it was filled with the Holy Spirit, it was fulfilling the purpose for its existence.

Jesus wanted to make the apostolic church a habitation for His Spirit; but before Pentecost could take place, those stones had to be made ready to be a fit habitation for the Spirit. For three and a half years Jesus had labored with these men. They were privileged above every other group of people; but the very night that He knew that He was going to be betrayed, there was strife over who was the greatest. He had been grooming them, preparing them to be this building that He could pour His Spirit in, that, like fire in the stubble, they might take the gospel to the then-known world; and here they were, His very last night, contending as to who would be the greatest?

It was customary, as you recall, for someone to wash the feet of the guests. As no one was willing to do it, Jesus got up and, laying aside His robes, got down upon His knees and started pouring out the water. Those last few hours of the life of Jesus were the culmination of what He was seeking to accomplish for them. This act did more to turn those men around than anything else.

You know that whom the Lord loves He chastens, reproves, and prunes. Have you ever received some chastening and reproof? Has God been pruning you recently? Friends, we have to submit to this process because it is part of the polishing that prepares us to finally become the recipient of the latter rain just before Jesus comes. Jesus had to reprove and correct His disciples very often so that they might become qualified to be these living stone, and He has to reprove us.

Well, something did happen to the disciples. As they saw the wonderful love of Jesus, as they beheld that love, that unselfish, self-sacrificing love for them, it just broke them completely. They witnessed the love that He had for them when they deserved it the least. This is the only thing that can break the stubborn, human, sinful heart that rises up against reproof. So there they were in one accord, and God was now able to fulfill His purpose through them. This is why we are told that every day it would be well for us to spend a thoughtful hour on the life of Christ, particularly the closing scenes. (See The Desire of Ages, 83.)

When we make the same complete surrender to Christ, friends, as the apostles and the believers did, then God will be able to give us that full outpouring of the Holy Spirit; and He will finish this work very quickly. We are told in Testimonies, vol. 1, that back in the 1850s, which was even before the Seventh-day Adventist Church had taken its name, that Jesus could have come. All of this shows that, while God is willing to use organization and all of our modern methods of communication, he does not need them. He has means of getting this message out that we do not even understand. What He does need is a people who are surrendered. It may be only a few, as in the apostolic age when there were just twelve apostles and a few followers. Though few in number, through the power of Christ, in a few short years they reached the world. Friends, He will do the same today if we will be yielded and allow ourselves to become those polished stones.

About 1859, James and Ellen White were concerned about the spiritual condition of God’s professed people. They thought they were the Philadelphia church, the church of brotherly love; but James and Ellen White came to the conclusion that the church was in the Laodicean state. James White wrote some articles in the Review and Herald and said, in so many words, “Folks, we are Laodicea. We are poor, miserable, blind, wretched, and naked; and we do not even realize it. We need to accept the reproof of the true witness.” James and Ellen White wondered if the people of God would receive this reproof.

By and large, they did; and as they accepted that reproof, they started to get down upon their knees and pray. They started to confess and repent of their sins. They started to receive from Christ that rich cup of grace that they needed. At the very same time that the people of God were surrendering to Christ, there took place out in the world and across this nation a great religious revival. Historians are at a loss as to how to describe how it happened, but it is well chronicled. Even in the stock exchange there were prayer circles.

At the time that this great revival was taking place in America, Ellen White wrote, “As this message affected the heart, it led to deep humility before God. Angels were sent in every direction to prepare unbelieving hearts for the truth.” Testimonies to the Church, vol. 1, 186. God was sending His angels out to work upon hearts and minds and consciences of multitudes of people to prepare them to receive the loud cry of the third angel that was about ready to be given by that little nucleus of Adventists.

Sadly, the people of God did not persevere. They pulled back, and the great work that God was wanting to accomplish came to almost nothing. Then in 1861 there was a civil war. Half a million sons, brothers, and fathers were swept into oblivion. This need not have been the case. Jesus was ready then to pour out His Spirit upon His people, to fill that living temple with the latter rain. That message would have gone around this whole world, and the Lord would have come.

Friends, Christ is still longing to prepare a people to receive the latter rain and give the loud cry of the third angel. When it comes, if we are to be a part of it, we must be among those who have been willing to submit to reproof, to counsel, and to correction that comes through the Word of God and the Spirit of Prophecy.

“The church is the repository of the riches of the grace of Christ; and through the church will eventually be made manifest, even to the ‘principalities and powers in heavenly places,’ the final and full display of the love of God.” Acts of the Apostles, 9. May the Lord help us to be those who are part of this, who see it as part of this grand and final display of the love of Jesus Christ.

The End

Reformers and the Church

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In Matthew 16:13, Jesus asked His disciples who He was. This is an important question because a correct understanding can make all the difference between eternal life and eternal death. “And Simon Peter answered and said, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ Jesus answered and said to him, ‘blessed are you, Simon BarJonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.’” Now in verse 18 there is a play on words that does not come through in the English translation, so I would like to insert the Greek words. “’And I also say to you that you are [petros] Peter, and on this [petra] rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.’” Matthew 16:18, 19. This is tremendous authority –not just earthly authority that has to do with eternal life.

Before we examine this question of church authority, let us look first of all at the text that says, “you are petros.” The word petros, which in Latin is the same as Peter, means a stone, while a petra is a very large boulder or rock.

On what rock is the church built? Let us allow Peter to give us his understanding of what Christ meant by the statement He made to him. “Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, ‘Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.’ Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, ‘The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone,’ and ‘a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.’ They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.” 1 Peter is talking about Jesus Christ as the Chief Cornerstone.

This agrees with the apostle Paul, who said, “Now therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.” Ephesians 2:19-22

All through the Scriptures you will find that Jesus is described as that supernatural, living Rock in which His children hide and find security, stability, safety, and salvation. Jesus spoke of Himself as the Cornerstone when He said, “And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.” Matthew 21:44

In Matthew 18:19, it appears that the keys were given to Peter, though, as we look in other Scriptures, it is evident that they were given to the rest of the apostles and to the entire church. (See John 20:21-23.) It was by the misuse of Jesus’ statement to Peter that the bishops of Rome attained authority over the nations of Europe during the Dark Ages. They said, “We have received apostolic authority from Peter. We have the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and we can shut you out and send you to hell, or we can give you eternal life.” When Bible-believing Christians dissented, before they were burned at the stake they were clothed with robes and miters on which there were painted demons, snakes, and devils. The church authorities would say, “Not only are you going to die, but we are consigning you to hell; and you are going to burn there forever.”

Before Jesus conferred authority on His apostles, He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” (See Ibid.) This is also clear from Jesus’ statement to Peter when He said, “for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.” Only people who are filled with the Holy Spirit have the divine authority of the church.

The question of apostolic succession has agitated the minds in the Christian world for hundreds of years. Who are the successors of the apostles? The way to understand this is to ask a question that was commonly asked in Christ’s day. Who is the true church? Who are Abraham’s seed?
This is a question that agitated the minds of the Jews a good deal. The Jews told Jesus that they were Abraham’s descendants. (See John 8:33.) They believed that they were saved; but Jesus said, “You don’t live like Abraham, You’re not working the works of Abraham. Therefore, you really are not Abraham’s seed.” He denied that they were Abraham’s seed because they did not have a character like Abraham.

The Bible says that we are going to be judged according to our works. That is the same as saying that we are going to be judged according to our character. Historic Seventh-day Adventists still believe that judgment is on the basis of your works—your character. This is why Ellen White said that the day of God would be a day of bitter disappointment to most of the Christian world because they make a profession, but they do not have a character that goes along with it. In the day of judgment, they are going to find out that their profession is worthless unless their character coincides with the profession. (See Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 7, 970.)

Now if you profess to be Seventh-day Adventist, you profess that you are a member of that church that is mentioned in Revelation 12:17 “who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus.” You profess to be a part of that group of people that it talks about in Revelation 14:12 where it says, “Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” That is what you profess; but if you do not keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus, if you do not have the testimony of Jesus, what good is your profession going to do? It will do no good.

Where did the concept come from that the church is the congregation of goodly men only? It came from the New Testament. Wherever you have a group of people who are filled with the Holy Spirit and are living godly, righteous lives, when they meet together and assemble and worship, that is a church. The Reformers all taught this concept; the Waldenses believed it. By the way, if they had not believed it, they could not have had a church. There would not have been a Reformation. They could not have remained true unless they understood who the church was. That time is coming again. It is right upon us. If you do not understand who the church is, the pressure will be so great that you will not be able to remain faithful and true.

The Bible teaches that it is character that counts. Now do not misunderstand; you do not earn salvation. Salvation is a gift; but let me tell you, it is a conditional gift. If you do not have the character qualification, you are not going to receive the gift. The apostles Paul, Peter, James, and John are all clear about that.

This concept was clearly understood by the great Protestant Reformers. One of the early leaders of the church, Claude of Turin, said, “Know thou that he only is apostolic who is the keeper and guardian of the apostle’s doctrine, and not he who boasts himself to be seated in the chair of the apostle, and in the meantime doth not acquit himself of the charge of the apostle.” J.A. Wylie, The History of Protestantism, vol. 1, 22

There was a remnant of the apostolic church in the land of Italy known as the Waldenses. They were terribly persecuted; and if you read such books as Martyrs Mirror, you will find that one of the main issues in the understanding of the Waldenses was the issue of who and what the church is. The Waldenses believed that they were the spiritual descendants of the apostles, and, therefore, they were the church. They were a perpetual reminder of what the church used to be; and as long as they were around, they testified to how far professed Christendom had departed from the original faith. For this reason they were bitterly persecuted.

You see, the battle of the Reformation had largely to do with the vital issue of who and what the church is. As long as people were afraid that there was someone who could say, “I am going to shut the kingdom of heaven against you and send you to hell,” there could be no Reformation.
On one occasion Tyndale was in a debate with a Roman Catholic by the name of More. During this debate, More said: “We must not examine the teaching of the church by Scripture, but understand Scripture by means of what the church says.”

Tyndale: “What! Does the air give light to the sun? Or the sun to the air? Is the church before the gospel or the gospel before the church? [Now notice his reasoning] Is not the father older than the son? God begat us with His own will, with the word of truth. James 1:18. If he who begets is before him who is begotten, the word is before the church. Or to speak more correctly, before the congregation.”

More: “Why do you say congregation and not church?”

Tyndale: “Because by the word church, you understand nothing but a multitude of shaved and shorn and oiled, which we now call the spirituality or clergy, while the word of right is common unto all the congregation of them that believe in Christ.”

More: “The church is the pope and his sect of followers.”

Tyndale: “The pope teaches us to trust in holy words for salvation, as penance, saints, merits, and friars codes. Now he that has no faith to be saved through Christ is not of Christ’s church.”

Calvin went through a period of great struggle and doubt in his mind over this issue. “The doubts by which his soul was now shaken, drew in strength with each renewed discussion. What shall he do? Shall he forsake the Church? That seems to him like casting himself into the gulf of perdition. And yet can the Church save him? There is a new light breaking in upon him, in which her dogmas are melting away; the ground beneath him is sinking. To what shall he cling?….

“’There can be no church,’ we hear Calvin saying to himself, ‘where the truth is not.’…

“In fine, Calvin concluded that the term ‘Church’ could not make the society that monopolised the term really ‘the Church.’ Highsounding titles and lofty assumptions could give neither unity nor authority; these could come form the Truth alone; and so he abandoned ‘the Church’ that he might enter the Church—the Church of the Bible.” J.A. Wylie, The History of Protestantism, vol. 2, 152, 154

Of John Knox, the Scottish Reformer, it is said, “Knox’s idea of a Church was, in brief, a divinely originated, a divinely enfranchised, and a divinely governed society. Its members were all those who made profession of the Gospel; its law was the Bible, and its King was Christ.” Ibid., vol. 3, 496

Taussan was a Danish Reformer. He drew up a confession which became the confession of the Protestants in Denmark. In this confession it was declared that the Holy Scriptures were to be the only rule of faith, “and the satisfaction of Christ in our room the only foundation of eternal life. It defined the Church to be the communion of the faithful, and it denied the power of any man to cast any one out of that Church, unless such shall have first cut himself off from the communion of the faithful by impenitence and sin.” Ibid., vol. 2, 42

The church is where Christ is. There can be no church without the presence of the deity. “Where Christ is even among the humble few, this is Christ’s church, for the presence of the High and Holy One who inhabiteth eternity can alone constitute a church.” The Upward Look, 315. The church is where the Holy Spirit is. It is where Jesus is, who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” John 14:6. That is the spiritual building of the church. Now if I leave the truth, what have I done? I have left the church.

For many years Romanists have accused the Protestants of heresy and of separation from the true church; but Ellen White says in The Great Controversy, 51, that this accusation applies rather to themselves because they are the ones who laid down the banner of Christ and departed from the faith that was once delivered to the saints. And when you depart from the faith, when you leave the truth, you have left the church. The church stays right there with the truth because the church is “the pillar and ground of the truth.” The Great Controversy, 376. It was when Calvin began to understand this that it set his mind free. “‘There can be no church,’ we hear Calvin saying to himself, ‘where the truth is not.’… In fine, Calvin concluded that the term ‘Church could not make the society that monopolised the term really ‘the Church.’ High-sounding titles and lofty assumptions could give neither unity nor authority; these could come from the Truth alone.” J.A. Wylie, The History of Protestantism, vol. 2, 154. What is it that gives unity and authority? It is the truth; and if you leave the truth, you have no authority.

It is time for Historic Adventists to wake up to the reality that our profession must coincide with our character or our profession is worthless. (See The Desire of Ages, 107.)

Have you heard somebody say, “Well, the church is going through”? Well, I believe that. In fact, I believe that the church has always gone through. I believe that the church went through in Samuel’s time. Most of the professed people did not go with it. I believe the church went through in Jeremiah’s time and Daniel’s time, and I believe the church went through in the time of Jesus and the apostles. Who was the church in the time of Jesus?

Let me ask you a question. When Jesus came down to this world, do you think that He was here in the flesh? Of course He was. The church is His mystical body. He was the head of it then, and He is the head of it now. So who was the church when Jesus was here? It is very simple, friends; it was the people who followed Jesus. That is who it was, and that is still who it is.

 

A church is not just bricks and mortar or corporations or theology. A church is people who are filled with the Holy Spirit; and as a result of being filled with the Holy Spirit, they are spoken of in the Bible as living stones, stones that emit light all around. Jesus said, “You are the light of the world.” Mathew 5:14

The Jews of Christ’s day called themselves the true church. Jesus said, “If you do not believe that I am the One, you are going to die in your sins.” That is about the most terrible thing that could happen to anyone. If you are a Christian, death is just a moment of silence and darkness. That is not the problem. But if you die in your sins, death will be forever. One of our greatest dangers is that we will be deceived, thinking that we are part of the church because we make a profession but not having a character to back it up. Unless we live the life, we are lost. The time is coming when every eternal destiny will be fixed. May the prayer of each one of our hearts be, “Lord Jesus, help me to have a character that will coincide with my profession.”

The End

The Body of Christ, part 2

by

As we approach the Second Coming of Jesus, the signs of the times are coming in upon us so rapidly that it is difficult to keep up. We are seeing developments taking place with lightning speed just as Ellen White said that they would. We see God’s judgments in the land, and we see a new world order taking shape. We find Vatican insiders, such as Malachi Martin, writing books, The Keys of This Blood, which provide us an astounding picture of the developments taking place as the pope strives to gain control of the world, undoing all that Protestantism has done and establishing persecution once again.

One of the most significant factors facing humanity is the disintegration of the sense of reality. It is as George Orwell wrote years ago in his book 1984. The totalitarian systems rule by dislocating the people’s sense of reality. As God’s people approach the Second Coming of Jesus, one of the great challenges is to have a correct perception of truth, of reality, a correct understanding of what is happening around us in the field of human thought. This is particularly difficult and yet important when we have a media that is being used as a propaganda tool for the new world order.

Over and over again my thinking has been brought back to the fundamental statement in the first verse of the Bible. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” One of the fundamental problems with humanity at this time, which has unleashed all manner of evil in the world, is a failure to recognize and worship the Creator. It is this issue that is addressed by the first angel’s message. “Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him.” Revelation 14:7. The whole concept of worship rests upon the idea of the Creator-creature distinction which our society has lost. Having lost the concept of the creatorship of God, humanity today has lost its orientation. It no longer knows who God is, who we are, and who humanity is. The entire sense of reality has been shifted and warped in preparation for totalitarian systems to revive in the world.

The first chapter of the book of John begins much the same as the first verse of the Bible. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake [that is a literal translation right out of the Greek] it.” John 1:1-5

The very foundation of all human life is the Word of God. He spake and it was done. He commanded and it was done. He commanded and it stood fast. That Word is omnipotent, it is all powerful, and it is the voice of God to our souls, transforming human life and bringing us into contact with reality. So when we look at all of human life, we have to dig deep. As Ellen White says, hunt for the Rock and make sure we are grounded on the Rock, Christ Jesus, who is the Word of God.

In the time in which we live, and particularly since Vatican II, the Protestant churches, which are virtually asleep, are being led step by step back into the fold of Rome. Soon to be raised is the issue of whether a power on this earth can exalt itself against the law of God, challenging his sovereignty, and whether the rest of humanity will yield allegiance to that power. We must never forget that the fundamental question of the Sabbath-Sunday issue at the end of time is, will divine authority be in its rightful place or will human authority replace divine authority and pervert humanity? J.A. Wylie in his The History of Protestantism, which paints for us the struggle that has gone on through the centuries between the forces of Protestantism and the Papacy, points out that human liberty depends upon its recognition of divine authority.

In 1215, the barons of England forced King John to sign the Magna Charta. Wylie points out, however, that the great charter for England was not, in reality, the fundamental charter of liberty for the English-speaking people; it was the Word of God. When the Word of God sank down into the hearts of Englishmen, it transformed all of human life in England and exalted England to greatness. When divine authority is present, it demands freedom to obey God and is a fundamental principle of all liberty.

But we live in a society that has rejected the authority of God, laying the foundation for human tyranny. In England the teachings of evolution destroyed the concept of the creatorship of God. For some time the American nation has been driven hard to the left into immorality and homosexuality, and we may except to soon see a hard shift back to the right. Already, Patrick Buchanan, regarded as a staunch conservative, is holding seminars across this land asserting that the only way to save America is to make it Catholic.

Soon, every person in this nation is going to have to come to grips with issue of what they are going to do with the creatorship of God and with the authority of His Word. Even in Adventism we are wrestling with this issue, and it is the result of a regard for the authority of God’s Word that we see the independent movement today.

When Luther, in reading the Scriptures, found that Christ is the head of the body, he began questioning whether there was any head of the whole church other than Christ. There came a point in his experience where he was engaged in the Leipzig debates, and, as a result of that experience, Luther began coming to grips with the issue of authority in the church. He finally came to doubt whether, after all, any other head of the whole church had been appointed upon earth except Christ. Once he accepted the principle that the authority of God’s Word is above counsels, popes, and all human authority, it began to transform all human life, changing even people’s concept of the church.

Once Luther established the principle of the supremacy of the Word of God, he began energetically applying it to every phase of human life. The outgrowth of that principle is reflected in our Constitution in the principle of the free exercise of religion. The whole Bill of Rights rests upon this principle of the supremacy of divine authority. But what has happened in America? As the creatorship of God has been destroyed by the teachings of evolution, we have lost the concept of inalienable rights, and we now have a government that is contemptuous of the Bill of Rights.

In 1958, the year before the pope called for Vatican II, a European theologian sounded a warning. He did not know what was coming, but he pointed out that unless we begin to have an experience with the Word of God so that our entire life rests upon it and unless we have placed our feet so firmly on the Word that we can say we know with certainly what we believe, we will eventually come back under the dominion of Rome. He sent out that warning to the world. The next year, the ecumenical council was called. Vatican II met from 1962-1965, and the religious world has never been the same since.

But the people are not going deep enough. They are skimming the surface and are not rooted on the Word of God. Therefore, they do not know how to evaluate what is taking place, and after a while they begin to adjust, adapting to the new realities of Socialism as it comes in like a flood. Meanwhile, a totalitarian system of enormous proportions is being set up in our nation and around the world.

It was Luther who observed that, “A council cannot make divine right out of that which is not by nature divine right. To establish the Romish papacy by divine right is a ‘new dogma’ which is not binding. The church needs no head. The hierarchical system is not biblical, nor of divine right. The whole canon law [set up by Rome] begins to totter.” The History of Doctrines, 290

When the human being submits to the authority of God and His law of liberty, he finds true freedom; and he is delivered from human tyranny. The central orientation of the Protestant worship was the Word of God, not the charisma of the speaker. The movement of the three angels’ messages of Adventism will triumph as it adheres to this principle of the primacy of the Word of God.

And so, the principle of the supremacy of the Word of God was adopted by Luther in the Reformation, and it transformed his idea about the church. Because he had bowed to the supreme authority of Christ, who is the head of the church, he no longer felt that he had to somehow stay within the confines of the papacy. It was out of the fountain spring of personal salvation that a whole new conception of the church was born, bringing Protestantism into being.

Luther first develops this doctrine in detail in a tract in which he observed that the church is an assemblage of all Christian believers on earth and is made up of those who are of His flesh and of His bone, who are united with Him by faith. He further pointed out that as this is a community of saints and is represented as a spiritual fellowship, the principle of its unity is not to be seen in a body such as Rome, or the papacy, but in Christ. He went on to say that it is Christ operating upon the members that unites them into one community. (See Ibid., 291.)

Remember, Ellen White says that the groups of believers at the end of time are bound together by the truth; and the truth rests, of course, upon Him who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. As the head, Christ infuses His disposition, temper, and will into the community. The church is, therefore, the spiritual association of those who believe on Christ, those established and sustained by Him.

“Where two or three are present who love and obey the commandments of God, Jesus there presides, let it be in the desolate place of the earth, in the wilderness, in the city enclosed in prison walls.” The Upward Look, 315

The idea that the true church is the spiritual fellowship where Christ presides is an entirely new concept of the church that came about from the study of the Word of God in the Protestant Reformation.

“By the word church is also understood the organized association of those who believe on Christ, ‘an outward thing with outward actions,’ and the order of the clergy. This ‘outward, bodily church’ and the ‘inner spiritual church’ are to be carefully discriminated, but not separated. They are related to one another as body and soul in man.” The History of Doctrines, 291. And in the Protestant Reformation, the concept that Jesus enunciated when He said the kingdom of heaven is within you, is an internal, spiritual kingdom of righteousness and peace. This is the non-negotiable element of the church that Luther seized upon in the Protestant Reformation. And then that spiritual fellowship that are of His flesh and of His bone have a visible, external manifestation as they gather together for the preaching of the Word and administration of the Lord’s ordinances, such as the Lord’s Supper and Baptism.

Luther recognized that the outward, bodily church and the inner, spiritual church are related to one another as body and soul to man. He asserted that, “It is, of course, of chief importance that we belong to the spiritual church, but this membership stand in close connection with membership in the external church.” Ibid. He went on to say that it is the Word of God, the preaching of the Word, externally set forth that calls into existence the inner, spiritual church. “The church is therefore in one aspect, an external, visible association. But this is not ‘the true church which is believed.’ Since, however, the Word and the sacraments are here operative, faith concludes that here in the external association may be found a community of saints. Thus the church is an object of faith and not the visible, ‘for what is believed is not bodily nor visible.’” Ibid., 292

Basically, what Luther was saying is that the invisible, inner relationship with Christ is the foundational concept of the church, just as Paul says here in Ephesians 5:30, “For we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones.” And out of that inner relationship with Christ, there comes a visible, external manifestation of the church as the community of faith comes together and hears the Word of God preached to them. The church is the assembly of all believers, the holy Christian nation, the regenerated. It is holy because the Holy spirit reigns in it. Those who belong to it are all priests in the spiritual sense. It is the new creation of God, the product and sphere of the redemptive work of Christ, the kingdom of God in which Christ reigns through the spirit and faith.

The Reformers went on to say that, “If the question be raised, which of the two churches, the Romish and the Evangelical, is the ‘true’ one, the answer cannot be given on the basis of their comparative morality. But, sense the object of the outward organization of the church is to bring Christ to men through the Word, therefore, it can lay claim to the title, ‘true church,’ just in proportion as its preaching of the Word is in harmony with this purpose, i.e., is truly evangelical.” The History of Doctrines, 294. And so, the mark of the true church, Luther said, is that in it, the gospel is purely preached.

This entire movement of historic Adventism rests upon this principle of the primacy of the Word of God because we believe that, where the truth is purely preached is the sign of the true church. Martin Luther said that this true church must have the “teaching, faith, and confession of Christ. This can be known from the agreement of its doctrine with the ‘Word of Christ.’ That the true church holds with me to God’s Word.’ Our doctrine is ‘the Scriptures and the clear Word of God.’ The ‘pure doctrine’ is therefore of the highest importance, since every corruption of it must immediately influence the life. Hence, the church dare not tolerate false teachers.” Ibid., 295. That is the sixteenth century Reformation.

The struggle that we are involved in in Adventism today is that we are faced on the one hand with a structure that has very subtly shifted its emphasis from the authority of God and His Word to the authority of man, as is evidenced by the fact that we find men who profess to speak for the structure exalting the church manual as being an inspired document. Recently, a man from the General Conference, who was delivering a sermon at a baccalaureate service, asserted that, yes, we have the authority of Scripture, but we also have the authority of tradition which is to be interpreted for all by the community of faith. These are Roman Catholic concepts.

On the other hand, there is the celebration movement. This movement is right out of Vatican II.

The issue that Seventh-day Adventists are now having to come to grips with is, what are they going to do with a pastor who is going in a different direction, with a conference structure that is going a different direction? This is not a situation that is taking place only in Adventism but throughout the churches. We have Baptists who, as soon as their Adventists neighbors get Freedom’s Ring, want to borrow it. They recognize that this is happening in their church. I was just talking to Texe Marrs; some of you know who he is, exposing the occult, exposing spiritualistic forces, exposing the new world order in a remarkable way. He said to me, “You know, I was brought up as a Baptist. My mother was Pentecostal. But you know, I didn’t go to church very much; and when I was in the Air Force, Wanda, my wife, and I gave our hearts to the Lord and began pursuing truth. When we got out of the Air Force, we went to attend the Baptist church.” And he said, “It was nothing like the Baptist faith I had known about.” This is happening in all of the churches. I have a friend who went, just out of the appeal of his Lutheran family, to attend a Lutheran service in North Dakota. The whole sermon was New Age, about the God within. I have a book by a conservative Roman Catholic who tells how New Age is all through their schools and all through their whole movement.

Part 2

As we approach the end, the people of God are called upon to proclaim the Sabbath more fully. The Sabbath rests upon the principle of the creatorship of God. It is the memorial of Creation, a sign of the power and love of Christ. As it is a sign and memorial of Creation and thus a memorial and sign of the power of Christ to recreate our hearts, every week it exalts the authority of Christ above all human authority. It is a foretaste of eternity; and as we proclaim the Sabbath more fully at the end of time, it involves this exaltation of Christ who is the head of the church, the true head of the church. As Luther said, “The inner unity of the church is established through Christ as its head, so its external unity is secured through the pure doctrine of the gospel.” The History of Doctrines, 295. This is why Satan is trying to attack this movement of historic Adventism with every form of fanaticism to pervert the pure preaching of the Word of God.

Our security from all of the forces that are harassing humanity at this time lies in our submission to the Word of God and the authority of Christ who is the Word made flesh. The power and love of Christ, and only a holy people, can keep the Sabbath day holy; therefore, the Sabbath is a sign of righteousness by faith. What a wonderful thing, every week to have the Sabbath come on Friday evening. Rest, rest from our labor that earns our living through the week and the rest of faith, as Paul said in Hebrews 4. A rest from our own labors and a resting in Christ. It is exactly what humanity needs. It is exactly what the whole human race needs. It exalts Christ to His proper sphere and thus eliminates human tyranny. It is the answer for a world that is racked with fear as it sees the new world order coming upon it.

We have no idea of what is hanging over the human race right now, but we are told in Early Writings that she saw a covering being drawn over God’s people, over all those who were settled into the faith of the three angels’ messages. But if their knees were shaking and they were not settled into the truth, intellectually and spiritually, that covering was not drawn over them, and they were left shelterless in the storm of human and demonic wrath at the end of time.

Martin Luther said, “This unity of the church is not said to be, and is not, the having and holding of any one form of outward government, law, or ordinance, and church customs, as the pope and his crowd profess and wish to have all excluded from the church who will not in this be obedient to him…It is called one holy catholic or Christian church, because there is here one pure and uncorrupted doctrine of the gospel and outward confession of the same.” Ibid.

And so, as we come to grips with what is happening in our own movement, we must come to grips with what is the church and the fundamental issue of where the church is really located. When we recognize that the head of the church is Christ and the church is made up of those who are of his flesh and of His bones, who keep His commandments and have the testimony of Jesus, when we understand the biblical definitions of the church, it sets us free to go ahead and proclaim the message to the entire world. The sovereignty of God is at the very foundation of this entire question. It is also at the basis of the entire question. It is also at the basis of the entire Sabbath-Sunday question. The point to which I am leading up to is that if we accept the exaltation of human authority above the authority of the Word of God in the sphere of the church, are we not setting ourselves up for the exaltation of human authority in the implementation of the mark of the beast? It is the same principle. Therefore, the Word of God calls upon us to be the Lord’s free people, secure in our understanding of our relationship with God, in our personal salvation, and in our understanding of what the Bible teaches regarding the nature of the church.

According to the Protestant concept, as brought forth from Luther’s writings, the church is first and foremost that invisible relationship with Christ of those who are of His flesh and of His bone, who are united with Him by faith. Therefore, it has an external manifestation of the preaching of the Word of God and the administration of the Lord’s ordinances. The next question is, What is the legitimate expression of the visible church? The answer is that it must be a part of the invisible church of those who are united with Christ, by faith, and who hold to the pure doctrine of Christ. There is no legitimacy for a visible church that is in apostasy from the Word of God, that is no longer teaching and preaching the pure Word of God. They cannot lay claim to being the visible church. This is the point that we are at in this struggle to understand what the church really is.

In Jesus’ day, He had to somehow break the chains of the hierarchy that were holding the people from following the word of God. That is why He preached the woes on the Pharisees in Matthew 23; the Pharisees had to be exposed. The whole system had to be exposed for what it was so that the people would be free to follow the Word of God and to join His kingdom. Many people, however, were afraid to confess Christ for fear of being put out of the synagogue. In John 9, when Jesus healed the man who had been born blind and this man confessed Christ, the One who had given him physical and spiritual eyesight, he was cast out because of his confession of Christ. Ellen White says that they did not throw him out in any gentle way. It was a very rough disfellowshiping. Jesus came to see this man, Ellen White says that Jesus took him into His fold. (See The Signs of the Times, December 4, 1893)

In John 10, which follows right on the heels of this incident, Jesus tells where His fold rally is. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.” John 10:1-4. This is an entirely new concept regarding the fold of God. The Pharisees, priests, and scribes felt that they determined who was in the fold of God and that if they excommunicated and disfellowshiped this man who confessed Christ, and everybody else who confessed Christ, they were putting them out of the fold. They thought that they had the final authority over who was in the fold and who was not, but Jesus came to the man and told him that he was a member of His fold. Later on in John 10, He turned to those men who had disfellowhiped the healed man and told them that they were not His sheep. Not only were they not His sheep, they were not even in His fold. What was He saying? The fold depends upon the inner, spiritual following of Christ.

In verses 7-9, “Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before Me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.” And in verse 11, “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth His life for the sheep.” He said, in verses 27, 28, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give unto them eternal life: and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand.”

What can give you the assurance of following your conviction and the truth that you are on the right course when an entire local church may disfellowship you for following you conscience? It is found in these words: “My sheep hear My voice… they follow Me. And I give unto them eternal life.” And then he says, “They shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand.” Christ is making it very plain that He is not only the head of the church, not only the good shepherd, but He is the guardian of the flock, and no one can take anyone out of His hand because that hand is omnipotent. And then He goes on to say, “My Fathers, which gave them Me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one.” Verses 29, 30. When that voice of Christ comes to you through the Word of God, do you acknowledge it and bow before it as the voice of One who is one with the Father? Jesus asserted that no man can take you out of His hand.

If you are listening to His voice, coming to you through His Word, and you are following it and no one can take you out of His hand, and the Father is grater than all and no one can take you out of the Father’s hand, you are absolutely secure. Then why is this issue such a big issue right now? I believe it is this: It is not going to be long and God’s people are going to have to be living outside of the confines of the legal and economic system of the new world order. You will not be able to buy or sell unless you have the mark of the beast and submit to the human authority that is a rival of God’s authority. You will be living in the most desolate places of the earth. You may be in caves and dens of the earth, in forests, in a torture chamber, or a prison cell. But if you are going to be faithful to the authority of God in your life, the Bible is very clear that you are going to be living outside of the legal and economic confines of the new world order.

When Jesus told the church of His day where the fold of God really was—in the final analysis where the church of God really was—it led them to want to murder Him. It was a critical issue in Jesus’ day because if you did not understand where the fold of God really was, you would have remained in subjection to the primacy of human authority and been destroyed in the destruction of Jerusalem instead of stepping out and following Christ.

What does all of this mean for the movement of historic Adventism and the proclamation of the three angels’ messages today? It is just this: When Luther finally discovered from the Word of God what the church really was, that Christ is the head of the church and that it is composed of those who are of His flesh and of His bone and have an inner, spiritual union with Him, it enabled him to break free from the chains that had bound him and to launch the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century.

In our day, the same recognition of the primacy of the authority of God’s Word and the true understanding from the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy regarding the nature of the church will enable us to have the power, conviction, and ability to take the three angels’ messages to the world and to give the loud cry. No longer crippled by an inadequate understanding of what the church really is, we will take our stand under the full authority of Christ and His Word and valiantly give this message to the world. And, regardless of where we may be found at the end of time, we will have the secure conviction of knowing that we are in the fold of God because we are hearing His voice and following it and are in submission to His authority above all else. Unless this principle of the primacy of Christ is deeply ingrained in our souls in every dimension of our life, we will never have the spiritual power or perception to even understand what is coming upon us and to range ourselves on the right side of the question of the Sabbath-Sunday issue. The temptations of Satan are being prepared for God’s people, and those who years ago thought that they would never drift have subtly drifted by the thousands and tens of thousands because they have accepted the principle of following human authority rather than the authority of the Word of God.

“It is the first and highest duty of every rational being to learn from the Scriptures what is truth, and then to walk in the light, and encourage others to follow His example. We should day by day study the Bible diligently, weighing every thought, and comparing scripture with scripture. With divine help we are to form our opinions for ourselves as we are to answer for ourselves before God…When the testing time shall come, those who have made God’s Word their rule of life will be revealed…. In summer there is no noticeable difference between evergreens and other trees; but when the blasts of winter come, the evergreens remain unchanged, while other trees are stripped of their foliage. So the falsehearted professor may not now be distinguished from the real Christian, but the time is just upon us when the difference will be apparent. Let opposition arise, let bigotry and intolerance again bear sway, let persecution be kindled, and the halfhearted and hypocritical will waver and yield the faith; but the true Christian will stand firm as a rock, his faith stronger, his hope brighter, than in the days of prosperity.” Maranatha, 94, 195. This will be the experience of the true Christian.

As I watched the Waco tragedy unfold, I saw the searchlights playing on those buildings night after night to keep the people awake so that could get no rest. Recordings of screaming rabbits being slaughtered, Tibetan chants, and rock and rap music were played to try to dislocate the sense of reality of those who were inside, destroying their ability to resist. I wondered what was really going on with those people inside. And now we have the testimony on video tape that has just been released of one person who was in there. She was questioned by one of the leading NBC newsmen and asked, “What was it like? What was the impact of all the psychological warfare that was unleashed on you?” She said, “It didn’t bother us at all. Our faith is greater than that. Our faith sustained us.” How will it be with the true Seventh-day Adventist?

Texe Marrs has just released a tape about all of the evil, psychological warfare that is being developed. It has now come out that in Operation Phoenix in Vietnam, our military tested all kinds of psychological and mental torture on Vietnamese prisoners to see what would drive the human mind mad. There are now men risking their lives to come forward and expose these things. What will sustain God’s people? Their faith and their knowledge of God’s Word and their conscious awareness of being in harmony with Christ.

The greatest hour in earth’s history is right upon us; and just as all or these evil forces are being unleashes, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard for His people and the Holy Spirit will be poured out as never before. We are told in Maranatha, 205, that the persecution will be more intense than it was when the papacy ruled the world and almost exterminated the religion of Jesus Christ. She says that it is impossible to describe the experience of God’s people because at the same time, they will walk in the light that streams from heaven through the gates ajar and they will receive the outpouring of the Holy Spirit as never before. Are we preparing for that? Do we have the depth of experience that will give us that kind of triumphant witness, even in the face of death? Is our faith supreme?

Our environment today offers many challenges. There is great danger that our thinking will become confused and the clarity of the features of our faith will become blurred, replaced with the desire for social prestige and other interests that will corrupt the purity of our faith. The challenge for us is to preserve our hours of communion with God, our time for personal study. If we preserve the primacy of Christ’s authority in our life above all else, He will bring us through to a triumphant victory.

The End

The Body of Christ, part 1

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As we approach the Second Coming of Jesus, the signs of the times are coming in upon us so rapidly that it is difficult to keep up. We are seeing developments taking place with lightning speed just as Ellen White said that they would. We see God’s judgments in the land, and we see a new world order taking shape. We find Vatican insiders, such as Malachi Martin, writing books, The Keys of This Blood, which provide us an astounding picture of the developments taking place as the pope strives to gain control of the world, undoing all that Protestantism has done and establishing persecution once again.

One of the most significant factors facing humanity is the disintegration of the sense of reality. It is as George Orwell wrote years ago in his book 1984. The totalitarian systems rule by dislocating the people’s sense of reality. As God’s people approach the Second Coming of Jesus, one of the great challenges is to have a correct perception of truth, of reality, a correct understanding of what is happening around us in the field of human thought. This is particularly difficult and yet important when we have a media that is being used as a propaganda tool for the new world order.

Over and over again my thinking has been brought back to the fundamental statement in the first verse of the Bible. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” One of the fundamental problems with humanity at this time, which has unleashed all manner of evil in the world, is a failure to recognize and worship the Creator. It is this issue that is addressed by the first angel’s message. “Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him.” Revelation 14:7. The whole concept of worship rests upon the idea of the Creator-creature distinction which our society has lost. Having lost the concept of the creatorship of God, humanity today has lost its orientation. It no longer knows who God is, who we are, and who humanity is. The entire sense of reality has been shifted and warped in preparation for totalitarian systems to revive in the world.

The first chapter of the book of John begins much the same as the first verse of the Bible. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake [that is a literal translation right out of the Greek] it.” John 1:1-5

The very foundation of all human life is the Word of God. He spake and it was done. He commanded and it was done. He commanded and it stood fast. That Word is omnipotent, it is all powerful, and it is the voice of God to our souls, transforming human life and bringing us into contact with reality. So when we look at all of human life, we have to dig deep. As Ellen White says, hunt for the Rock and make sure we are grounded on the Rock, Christ Jesus, who is the Word of God.

In the time in which we live, and particularly since Vatican II, the Protestant churches, which are virtually asleep, are being led step by step back into the fold of Rome. Soon to be raised is the issue of whether a power on this earth can exalt itself against the law of God, challenging his sovereignty, and whether the rest of humanity will yield allegiance to that power. We must never forget that the fundamental question of the Sabbath-Sunday issue at the end of time is, will divine authority be in its rightful place or will human authority replace divine authority and pervert humanity? J.A. Wylie in his The History of Protestantism, which paints for us the struggle that has gone on through the centuries between the forces of Protestantism and the Papacy, points out that human liberty depends upon its recognition of divine authority.

In 1215, the barons of England forced King John to sign the Magna Charta. Wylie points out, however, that the great charter for England was not, in reality, the fundamental charter of liberty for the English-speaking people; it was the Word of God. When the Word of God sank down into the hearts of Englishmen, it transformed all of human life in England and exalted England to greatness. When divine authority is present, it demands freedom to obey God and is a fundamental principle of all liberty.

But we live in a society that has rejected the authority of God, laying the foundation for human tyranny. In England the teachings of evolution destroyed the concept of the creatorship of God. For some time the American nation has been driven hard to the left into immorality and homosexuality, and we may except to soon see a hard shift back to the right. Already, Patrick Buchanan, regarded as a staunch conservative, is holding seminars across this land asserting that the only way to save America is to make it Catholic.

Soon, every person in this nation is going to have to come to grips with issue of what they are going to do with the creatorship of God and with the authority of His Word. Even in Adventism we are wrestling with this issue, and it is the result of a regard for the authority of God’s Word that we see the independent movement today.

When Luther, in reading the Scriptures, found that Christ is the head of the body, he began questioning whether there was any head of the whole church other than Christ. There came a point in his experience where he was engaged in the Leipzig debates, and, as a result of that experience, Luther began coming to grips with the issue of authority in the church. He finally came to doubt whether, after all, any other head of the whole church had been appointed upon earth except Christ. Once he accepted the principle that the authority of God’s Word is above counsels, popes, and all human authority, it began to transform all human life, changing even people’s concept of the church.

Once Luther established the principle of the supremacy of the Word of God, he began energetically applying it to every phase of human life. The outgrowth of that principle is reflected in our Constitution in the principle of the free exercise of religion. The whole Bill of Rights rests upon this principle of the supremacy of divine authority. But what has happened in America? As the creatorship of God has been destroyed by the teachings of evolution, we have lost the concept of inalienable rights, and we now have a government that is contemptuous of the Bill of Rights.

In 1958, the year before the pope called for Vatican II, a European theologian sounded a warning. He did not know what was coming, but he pointed out that unless we begin to have an experience with the Word of God so that our entire life rests upon it and unless we have placed our feet so firmly on the Word that we can say we know with certainly what we believe, we will eventually come back under the dominion of Rome. He sent out that warning to the world. The next year, the ecumenical council was called. Vatican II met from 1962-1965, and the religious world has never been the same since.

But the people are not going deep enough. They are skimming the surface and are not rooted on the Word of God. Therefore, they do not know how to evaluate what is taking place, and after a while they begin to adjust, adapting to the new realities of Socialism as it comes in like a flood. Meanwhile, a totalitarian system of enormous proportions is being set up in our nation and around the world.

It was Luther who observed that, “A council cannot make divine right out of that which is not by nature divine right. To establish the Romish papacy by divine right is a ‘new dogma’ which is not binding. The church needs no head. The hierarchical system is not biblical, nor of divine right. The whole canon law [set up by Rome] begins to totter.” The History of Doctrines, 290

When the human being submits to the authority of God and His law of liberty, he finds true freedom; and he is delivered from human tyranny. The central orientation of the Protestant worship was the Word of God, not the charisma of the speaker. The movement of the three angels’ messages of Adventism will triumph as it adheres to this principle of the primacy of the Word of God.

And so, the principle of the supremacy of the Word of God was adopted by Luther in the Reformation, and it transformed his idea about the church. Because he had bowed to the supreme authority of Christ, who is the head of the church, he no longer felt that he had to somehow stay within the confines of the papacy. It was out of the fountain spring of personal salvation that a whole new conception of the church was born, bringing Protestantism into being.

Luther first develops this doctrine in detail in a tract in which he observed that the church is an assemblage of all Christian believers on earth and is made up of those who are of His flesh and of His bone, who are united with Him by faith. He further pointed out that as this is a community of saints and is represented as a spiritual fellowship, the principle of its unity is not to be seen in a body such as Rome, or the papacy, but in Christ. He went on to say that it is Christ operating upon the members that unites them into one community. (See Ibid., 291.)

Remember, Ellen White says that the groups of believers at the end of time are bound together by the truth; and the truth rests, of course, upon Him who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. As the head, Christ infuses His disposition, temper, and will into the community. The church is, therefore, the spiritual association of those who believe on Christ, those established and sustained by Him.

“Where two or three are present who love and obey the commandments of God, Jesus there presides, let it be in the desolate place of the earth, in the wilderness, in the city enclosed in prison walls.” The Upward Look, 315

The idea that the true church is the spiritual fellowship where Christ presides is an entirely new concept of the church that came about from the study of the Word of God in the Protestant Reformation.

“By the word church is also understood the organized association of those who believe on Christ, ‘an outward thing with outward actions,’ and the order of the clergy. This ‘outward, bodily church’ and the ‘inner spiritual church’ are to be carefully discriminated, but not separated. They are related to one another as body and soul in man.” The History of Doctrines, 291. And in the Protestant Reformation, the concept that Jesus enunciated when He said the kingdom of heaven is within you, is an internal, spiritual kingdom of righteousness and peace. This is the non-negotiable element of the church that Luther seized upon in the Protestant Reformation. And then that spiritual fellowship that are of His flesh and of His bone have a visible, external manifestation as they gather together for the preaching of the Word and administration of the Lord’s ordinances, such as the Lord’s Supper and Baptism.

Luther recognized that the outward, bodily church and the inner, spiritual church are related to one another as body and soul to man. He asserted that, “It is, of course, of chief importance that we belong to the spiritual church, but this membership stand in close connection with membership in the external church.” Ibid. He went on to say that it is the Word of God, the preaching of the Word, externally set forth that calls into existence the inner, spiritual church. “The church is therefore in one aspect, an external, visible association. But this is not ‘the true church which is believed.’ Since, however, the Word and the sacraments are here operative, faith concludes that here in the external association may be found a community of saints. Thus the church is an object of faith and not the visible, ‘for what is believed is not bodily nor visible.’” Ibid., 292

Basically, what Luther was saying is that the invisible, inner relationship with Christ is the foundational concept of the church, just as Paul says here in Ephesians 5:30, “For we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones.” And out of that inner relationship with Christ, there comes a visible, external manifestation of the church as the community of faith comes together and hears the Word of God preached to them. The church is the assembly of all believers, the holy Christian nation, the regenerated. It is holy because the Holy spirit reigns in it. Those who belong to it are all priests in the spiritual sense. It is the new creation of God, the product and sphere of the redemptive work of Christ, the kingdom of God in which Christ reigns through the spirit and faith.

The Reformers went on to say that, “If the question be raised, which of the two churches, the Romish and the Evangelical, is the ‘true’ one, the answer cannot be given on the basis of their comparative morality. But, sense the object of the outward organization of the church is to bring Christ to men through the Word, therefore, it can lay claim to the title, ‘true church,’ just in proportion as its preaching of the Word is in harmony with this purpose, i.e., is truly evangelical.” The History of Doctrines, 294. And so, the mark of the true church, Luther said, is that in it, the gospel is purely preached.

This entire movement of historic Adventism rests upon this principle of the primacy of the Word of God because we believe that, where the truth is purely preached is the sign of the true church. Martin Luther said that this true church must have the “teaching, faith, and confession of Christ. This can be known from the agreement of its doctrine with the ‘Word of Christ.’ That the true church holds with me to God’s Word.’ Our doctrine is ‘the Scriptures and the clear Word of God.’ The ‘pure doctrine’ is therefore of the highest importance, since every corruption of it must immediately influence the life. Hence, the church dare not tolerate false teachers.” Ibid., 295. That is the sixteenth century Reformation.

The struggle that we are involved in in Adventism today is that we are faced on the one hand with a structure that has very subtly shifted its emphasis from the authority of God and His Word to the authority of man, as is evidenced by the fact that we find men who profess to speak for the structure exalting the church manual as being an inspired document. Recently, a man from the General Conference, who was delivering a sermon at a baccalaureate service, asserted that, yes, we have the authority of Scripture, but we also have the authority of tradition which is to be interpreted for all by the community of faith. These are Roman Catholic concepts.

On the other hand, there is the celebration movement. This movement is right out of Vatican II.

The issue that Seventh-day Adventists are now having to come to grips with is, what are they going to do with a pastor who is going in a different direction, with a conference structure that is going a different direction? This is not a situation that is taking place only in Adventism but throughout the churches. We have Baptists who, as soon as their Adventists neighbors get Freedom’s Ring, want to borrow it. They recognize that this is happening in their church. I was just talking to Texe Marrs; some of you know who he is, exposing the occult, exposing spiritualistic forces, exposing the new world order in a remarkable way. He said to me, “You know, I was brought up as a Baptist. My mother was Pentecostal. But you know, I didn’t go to church very much; and when I was in the Air Force, Wanda, my wife, and I gave our hearts to the Lord and began pursuing truth. When we got out of the Air Force, we went to attend the Baptist church.” And he said, “It was nothing like the Baptist faith I had known about.” This is happening in all of the churches. I have a friend who went, just out of the appeal of his Lutheran family, to attend a Lutheran service in North Dakota. The whole sermon was New Age, about the God within. I have a book by a conservative Roman Catholic who tells how New Age is all through their schools and all through their whole movement.

To be continued…