Chapter 4
Introductions to Chapter 4
This fourth Chapter is designed to bring spirituality into our personal thinking. It opens with document #04_01, What You Need to Hear. In most of the Christian churches of today, you are hearing that which is not truth – the idea that you can be saved while practicing sin. Jesus came to save us from our sins, not in our sins! If sin doesn’t end, suffering and death will not end!
Take note of what you are really hearing in the churches today – “The Ten Commandments have been nailed to the cross!” Do you really believe that? If the Commandments could have been changed, Jesus, the Son of God, would not have had to die in our place! God could have just proclaimed that they weren’t necessary to eternal life. No, Jesus paid the penalty of sin – sin is the transgression or breaking of the Law – so that we could start with a clean slate, to war against sin in our lives. Remember Romans 3:25? Baptism is the washing away of the sin record of the past, to begin again, born again, to live unto righteousness – the keeping of the Law of Liberty. Read, right now, James 2:10 to 12. We are saved, by God’s Grace, through faith: but because we are saved, we want to keep God’s Law, and this is the process of sanctification. Re-read the above till you are sure you understand it! Exodus 20 is the location in the Bible of the Ten Commandments. It is God’s intent from the first, that we understand the principle that because we are saved, we “shall not” (His promise) do evil in our completed saved condition! A stop sign at an intersection is a law of liberty. It cannot make you stop. You are at liberty to break that law, but it can have fatal consequences. Just so the Law of God. But it is the Law of eternal life!
Scripture: Revelation 14:6 (read)
Title: What You NEED to Hear.
The Three Angel’s Messages are full of prophecy: time and symbolic prophecies, and a whole lot of history. But we must not neglect the fullness of the First Angel’s message. He proclaims that “the hour of His Judgment is come!” But we may want to not notice that his message begins with “…having the Everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.” Everyone that dwells on the earth is to hear the Everlasting Gospel: not the “good news” you would rather hear, but the good news you need to hear. What do you need to hear? How you can be saved from your sins. What would you rather hear? How you can be saved in your sins! -while you continue to sin. Sin is the transgression of the Law. – the breaking of the Commandments of God. 1 John 3:4.
The wages of sin is death, eternal death! But the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 6:23. The hour of His Judgment is come! We shall all be Judged by the Royal Law of 10 Commandments. So says James in James 2:8-12. Jesus Himself teaches that we inherit eternal life by keeping the Commandments in Mt. 19:16 to 19. READ THAT right now!
When Judged by God, what question will be answered? After your conversion, did you continuously not want to sin, any sin, any more? You see, that’s what the investigative Judgment in Daniel 7 is all about. That’s why the books of record are opened. At the end of your life, which might be this very day, or tomorrow, or the day of your last sin, did your life reveal that you wanted to continue in sin, yet hoped to be saved in your sins? Or did you constantly want to overcome sin in your lifetime, by the power of Jesus on the throne in your mind? If the door of probation closes while you still live, which is fully possible, since we are way along in the hour of His Judgment, which side of the cancer problem called sinfulness will you be on? Jesus came to save His people from their sins. Mt. 1:21.
Oh people, don’t you see why the Christian churches are failing today? The hundreds of kinds of churches today, have been Judged for their message, and found fallen, because their Gospel is a false gospel, that you can be saved in your sins, while you continue to sin. Am I wrong? Sin is the breaking of the Law of God! If you worship in the Catholic church, or the Church of England, you worship Mary, that idol goddess, the “image” of the “beast!” Jesus foretold that soon all of the churches will make an image to the “beast” and bow down and worship it. Rev. 13:14,15. And it is North America in prophecy that will cause it to happen! Our governments, which are called “the false prophet” in Revelation 16:13, “…shall cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed!” Revelation 13:11 to the end of the chapter. You don’t think it is possible for it to happen any time soon? You don’t know, yet, what is coming that will bring it suddenly to pass! Jesus knows. Jesus foretold it. We’ll get to that in detail in another document, soon.
But there is more, for which they are Judged “fallen.” You are now aware that the “beast” has a “mark” of its power in this world. It thought to change the very law of God and claims to have done so! It tore out, and threw away the Second Commandment, regarding worship of idols. But that is the small part of its “mark.” The big part, still to do with worship, is that it tried to change the Sabbath of Jesus, the memorial of His Creation power! It is the seal of Who He is and why He is worthy to be worshipped. The Fourth Commandment, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy” is still there in the Bible. But almost all of Christianity today keeps Sunday as the day of worship, in obedience to Rome, while it breaks the Commandment of God! The church you know, whatever denomination it may be, rejected the light that revealed the true Sabbath, between 1844 and 1846, and was Judged “fallen” in SIN! – breaking God’s Fourth Commandment, and willfully continuing to break it, after the light came!
Thus they turned away from worship of Him who made heaven and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters, and continued to keep the commandment of the Papacy, which causes them, without knowing it, to worship the Pagan sun-god! Catholicism is overflowing with Pagan rites, and Christians of all stripes are partaking of her sins and will receive of her plagues! The Bible was kept from the people through the dark ages. But since 1798, the light has come back, like the dawning of the morning.
The Bible was returned to the people. It has been returned to you. What will you do with its truths? Will you continue to receive the “mark” of the “beast?” Or will you come out of Babylon, out of her confusion of the truth, and worship Him who made heaven and earth?
It won’t be easy to keep the Sabbath holy. Satan is doing his best, short of force, to make it hard. But soon now he will be enabled to do his worst to force you to break God’s Law. According to Revelation 13:14 and 15, he will start with causing governments to kill those who refuse to worship the image, and thus break the Second Commandment. After that limited success, he will go on to cause the people to break the Sabbath Commandment. Verses 16 and 17 have to do with enforcing the “mark” of the “beast” which is the veneration of Sun-day in the place of the Bible Sabbath of the fourth Commandment.
Why is it called Sunday on your calendar? All of the days of the week, on our calendar, are named from the Pagan worship of the sun, moon, and planets of our solar system! This is most clear in the French rendering of the days on the calendar in Quebec. Sunday is the day of worship of the sun. Lundi – moon’s day, is next. Then Mardi, Mercredi, Vendredi: can you see the planet names? All of this Pagan worship was instituted in Babylon in ancient times, in rebellion against the God who might again destroy them with a flood!
These gods are not real. They can’t move, or live in reality. It is “…the spirits of devils, working miracles” (Rev. 16:14), that will cause superstitious people to worship such false gods. Worship of any other “god” is worship of Satan by default since these gods are not real! If you are still breaking God’s 10 Commandment Law then, when false worship is enforced, it will be too late to build the strength of conviction needed to keep them and stand till Jesus comes to deliver us!
Your next homework pamphlets are crucial to the messages of the Three Angels of Revelation 14. You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; but they are they that testify of Jesus. Jesus is the center of the prophecies of Jesus. His Gospel is the good news that you can be saved from your sins, by the power of Jesus in you. If you will to do His will, you shall receive Him. Jesus said: “If you love Me, keep My Commandments, and I will pray the Father, and He shall give you the Holy Spirit, that He may abide with you for ever…I will not leave you comfortless; I will come to you.”
Study this week like your life depended on it, for the gift of eternal life, your eternal life, does depend on it!
Anthem: For God So Loved the World, He Gave His Only Son
Document #04_02
The Plan of Salvation, is an attempt to make more clear that we must personally make a Covenant with our Tri-une God-head, to actuate their Plan in our personal life. This is the DOOR by which we must enter to receive eternal life in Jesus. It is both legal in nature, and spiritual in nature, received, in both forms, by faith in the sacrificial death of the Lamb of God, Jesus, the Son of God.
THE PLAN OF SALVATION
Sin is: (definition in the Bible) “…the transgression (breaking of) the Law.” (the 10 Commandment Law). 1 John 3:4. Man’s laws are changed all the time, but God’s Law is written on stone – [un-changeable] by the very finger of God! Exodus 31:18. “The wages of sin is death (eternal death); BUT the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.”(our King) Romans 6:23.
“All have sinned, and come short of the glory [character] of God.” Romans 3:23. Therefore everyone born on this earth is a sinner. Jesus Himself said that “the Scripture cannot be broken.” John 10:35. What it declares no one has been able to show to be wrong. All of us need salvation. We have a fallen nature genetically inherited from Adam and Eve.
God has provided the only legal Way of Salvation. It requires a Covenant: (a contract: theological term: The promise of God to bless those who obey Him, sealed by their baptism – Dictionary). John 3:5, Acts 2:38. God [Jesus, our Creator God! See John 1:1 – 3, 10 and 14] wrote the stipulations of the Holy Covenant, on stone (unchangeable) with His own finger. They are the two tablets of the 10 Commandments, that were put in the Ark of the Covenant (thus they are the Covenant). This golden box had two angels, one on each end, looking down through the transparent gold lid [see Revelation 21:21] of the Ark of the Covenant onto those 10 Commandments. They represent Justice (prosecuting attorney) and Mercy (defense attorney). Psalm 85:10. In God’s Court, they must mingle together for true justice to be achieved. Thus they “kiss each other.” – their wings touch. God’s
Investigative Judgment of our lives is based on our relation to those 10 Commandments, the principles of eternal life. James 2:10-12. We can only accept, or reject, His Covenant, which Jesus and the Father designed as the only Way of Salvation possible. If the Law could have been changed to save us, Jesus would not have had to die in our place, on that cruel cross! He is our Divine Substitute!
By our love for Jesus for what He went through on the cross in order to save us, Holy Spirit writes the Commandments (the stipulations of the Covenant) on our hearts, as well as on our minds, and we desire to keep His Commandments. Hebrews 10:16. When tempted to sin, our submission to Holy Spirit’s will makes us capable, by His power, to refuse to sin. This is the proper place of our will. Philippians 2:12 and 13; Revelation 3:21.
Salvation from sins that are past (Romans 3:25) is based on His Grace, through our faith in the efficacy of the sacrifice of our heavenly King, Jesus, sealed by our baptism before many witnesses (the church). Peter declared, in Acts 2:38, “Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins [“remit,” law term – to refer (a legal proceeding) to a lower court {the heavenly Sanctuary!} for consideration – Dictionary] and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” My side of the Covenant can only be to declare, daily, hourly, minute by minute, “I don’t want to sin, any sin, any more! I want to keep your Commandments. I need Your Holy Spirit, to guide me into full Salvation!” If, after baptism, we fall into sin, Jesus is our advocate (like a defense lawyer). 1 John 2:1. If we confess that sin to Jesus, our record can be made clean again, while we learn to overcome sin. 1 John 1:9. Christ in you, [through the in-dwelling of Holy Spirit] is the hope of glory” -Heaven! NOTE Colossians 1:26, 27 – [renewed character, in the glory of Christ-likeness]. May today be the day of your salvation!
Document #04_03
Easter, The Rest of the Story, is actually a “Passover” study. Through the sacrificial (for us!) death of Jesus, God can “pass over” our past sins, and lead us to new life in Christ. Just as the Passover Lamb was instituted in Egypt to save alive the people of God as the 10th plague destroyed the first born of every Egyptian, and caused Pharaoh to release God’s first-born people from bondage, so, Jesus, the true Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed to release us from bondage to SIN!
Much more happened that fateful prophetic seventieth “week” (Daniel 9:24-27) that will illuminate your path to life!
Title: Easter: The Rest of the Story!
Put yourself in the picture as I describe to you the most momentous weekend in human history, when Jesus became the Lamb of God! It is Friday evening, A.D. 31. – the time of the Jewish Passover, now known to us as Easter. But this Passover, the lamb has not died in the Temple ritual for the Passover, for the Temple curtain between priest and the presence of Almighty God has been torn in two from top to bottom, at the death of the true Lamb of God, Jesus Christ our Saviour. The true Lamb, which all Passover lambs pointed toward, has died upon a cross for the redemption of His Creation!
(pause) Now the picture progresses: darkness has fallen and it is the Sabbath, A.D. 31. The Jewish Passover has begun, this time on the weekly Sabbath day. Jesus, the Christ, “the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world,” has been slain. He now rests in the grave. Here, through the Sabbath hours, He rests…from the travail of His soul. He rests from the agony He had felt in Gethsemane, where He felt the anguish of the weight of the sins of all mankind being pressed upon Him, as the Substitute for all of us. Rest, from the indescribable terror of the lost sinner coming face to face with the Judgment of Almighty God! And, yes, rest from the push and shove, the spitting, the whipping, the mocking…and the mock trials. Rest from the bearing of the cross of torture to Calvary’s hill. Rest from the horrific pain of nails being driven by a hammer through His hands and His feet. Oh, can you imagine such pain? Rest from the torture of suffocation just beyond every breath taken at the cost of excruciating pain: suffocation caused by hanging from the cross-bar of the most horrible engine of torture devised by demons. Rest, final rest, from the execution sentence from the Judgment bar of Almighty God…death, eternal death…separation for ever from life and the joy of knowing the wonders of the love of God! All this He had suffered, by faith believing the Word of God from the Hebrew Bible, that beyond this eternal grave, He, if He is the truly innocent Lamb of God, would live again…that His sacrifice, as the Lamb of God which is substituted for us, would be accepted by the one called…Justice, when touched by the one called…Mercy. (long pause)
When He had created, at the beginning, Jesus our Creator, rested the seventh day, the Sabbath, from His labour of love. Now, this Passover Sabbath in A.D. 31, again He rests from an even greater labour of love, the redemption, by His substitutionary sacrifice, of all who would choose to receive Him; of all who would dare to take up their cross daily, (Satan’s oppression, trying to destroy them) and follow in His steps toward the heavenly goal. (pause) Friend, have you yet really received Him as your Saviour?
The Sabbath hours draw to a close. The Roman guard around the tomb have settled down in their long night vigil over a corpse. Then, the record states, “In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, behold, there was a great earthquake, for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven and rolled back the stone from the door of the tomb, and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning and his raiment white as snow, and for fear of him the soldiers did shake, and fell to the earth and became as dead men!”
The angel speaks in trumpet tones: “Jesus, thy Father calleth Thee!” Jesus, the innocent Lamb of God, who had made Himself the Lamb for the suffering of death in place of all sinners, took again His life unto Him, and arose from the dead! “And the earth did quake, and the rocks rent, and the graves were opened!” “And certain of the dead, who came forth with Christ, went into Jerusalem and appeared to many in the city, declaring, “Christ has risen from the dead, and we be risen with Him! Christ the Lord is risen today; Alleluia, Alleluia!” Sing it from your heart!
The record goes on, saying, “Now when Jesus was risen, early the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven devils.” You can find the record in John, chapter 20: At the end of the encounter, Jesus said, “Touch Me not, Mary, for I have not yet ascended to My Father in heaven.” Leaving Mary, Jesus ascended unto heaven, past the adoring angels, straight unto the very throne of God the Father Almighty! Listen to these words penned by the messenger of the Lord: “Jesus refused to receive the homage of His people on earth until He had the assurance that His sacrifice was accepted by the Father. He ascended to the heavenly courts, and from God Himself heard the assurance that His atonement for the sins of men had been ample; that through His blood all might gain eternal life. The Father ratified the Covenant made with Christ, that He would receive repentant and obedient people from earth, and would love them even as He loves His Son.” Desire of Ages, p. 790.
Thus the first-fruit from the dead seed had been waved before the God of the Universe. (See John 12:23, 24) Jesus, the wave sheaf, the first fruit of the great harvest of souls from the portals of death, was waved before God Almighty. (Lev. 23:10,11) Then, Jesus returned to His followers in a world of sin, that He might impart to them of His power and the glory of His character.
Mark records the next events thus: “And very early in the morning, the first day of the week, the [rest] of the women came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun. And they said among themselves, ‘Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?’ (for it was very great). But when they looked, they saw that the stone was already rolled away! And, entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side clothed in a long white garment: and they were filled with fear of him. But he said unto them, “Be not afraid: you seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: He is risen! He is not here: behold the place where they laid Him. …Now: on your way; go and tell His disciples and Peter that He goeth before you into Galilee: there shall you see Him, as He said unto you.”
Then, according to Acts, the first chapter, Jesus showed Himself alive unto His disciples by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.
When Jesus ascended unto heaven for the final time, “He led captivity captive” (as was foretold in Psalm 68:18). Those saints who had arisen from the graves and witnessed to His resurrection; and their part in it, their victory over death through Him; Jesus led them back to heaven with Him, as the wave loaves (made with leaven) the first fruits of His victory over death, by which they had been held captive till His resurrection! (Note carefully Leviticus 23:11, and 15 to 17 – each feast is literally fulfilled as the Plan of Salvation unfolds!).
These final events of Jesus’ life upon the earth are the focus of Easter for the entire Christian world. …But the story of the work of Jesus on our behalf did not end there, rather it began there! By His sacrifice, the rest of His work for our personal salvation is made effective! Holy Spirit revealed, through the Book of Hebrews, the rest of the story of redemption.
Please turn to Hebrews 8:1 to 5. (read) Also, Hebrews 9:11 and 12; and 22 to 24. (read). **Jesus arose from earth to minister in the Temple in heaven, of which the Temple on earth had been only a “pattern” or copy. In the Temple in heaven, as our High Priest, Jesus has been daily mediating His blood sacrifice on our behalf, for forgiveness of the sins we confess. He has also been giving us the gift of Holy Spirit, to live in us, to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Here it is in 1st John 1:9: “If we confess our sins.” – referring to confessing our sins to Jesus, our High Priest – “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Yet, through transgression by those who led the church into apostasy, the truths of the Sanctuary in heaven were trampled under foot for 2300 years; first by the Jews, then by apostate Christendom. At the end of those 2300 years, according to Daniel the prophet, the truth of the Temple in heaven would be re-established in a remnant people on earth. You are hearing it NOW! At the time of the beginning of the Judgment hour, these people would be led to discover this new-to-them truth in the book of Hebrews. Daniel foretold that time as he wrote, “Unto 2300 days, then shall the Sanctuary be cleansed.” Daniel 8:14. God Himself re-established the Reformation at that time, and both the law, by which all will be judged, and the truth of the work of Jesus in the Sanctuary in heaven, were re-established in the knowledge of His people!
Daniel’s book was unsealed, and the date of the end of the 2300 day prophecy was calculated to October 22, 1844. But all Christendom misunderstood the cleansing of the Sanctuary. They thought it was the earth that would be cleansed by fire at the Second Coming of Jesus. They thought that the word “Sanctuary” referred to the earth. (a preconception!) They also thought that the Judgment would take one day, and then Jesus would come.
After the Great Disappointment, when Jesus didn’t come, Holy Spirit Himself revealed the true event for that day, from the book of Hebrews. Here is how it happened, the day after October 22, 1844: Hiram Edson, a farmer in America, while walking with a friend across a corn field on their way to try to strengthen the few believers still clinging to God’s promises nearby, seemed to feel a hand touch his shoulder. He looked up to see – as if in a vision – the heavens opened, and saw Christ in the heavenly Sanctuary. Jesus was not leaving the Most Holy Place, but rather was drawing back the veil and entering into the Most Holy Place, there to begin a work of ministry in behalf of His people; instead of coming forth from the Most Holy Place to cleanse the world by fire, as they had taught. By the careful Bible study of this man, Hiram Edson, with F.B. Hahn, a physician; and O.R.L. Crozier, a schoolteacher, Holy Spirit revealed that the Sanctuary to be cleansed at the end of the 2300 years was not the earth, but the Tabernacle in heaven, with Christ ministering in our behalf in the Most Holy Place! As the book of Hebrews records, “Now when these things were first ordained, the priest went always (or daily) into the first Tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God. But into the second went the High Priest alone, once a year.” Hebrews 9:6,7. “For Christ is not entered into the Holy Places made with hands, which are the figures of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.” Hebrews 9:24.
Rather than once a year going into the second Tabernacle, Jesus, once in the end of the world, at the end of the 2300 years, moved forward into the Most Holy Place of the Sanctuary in heaven, to judge and blot out the sins of His people, by the power of His sacrifice. This work is the cleansing of the Sanctuary, and this is where our Redeemer is presently working to complete our salvation!
The work of cleansing the Temple in heaven is a work of removing the record of confessed and forgiven sins of His people. At the same time, during the Judgment hour, it is to be a work of cleansing from sin within His living people on earth, accomplished by Holy Spirit! See Leviticus 16:16, 17, 21 and 30.
Therefore, “…work out your own salvation, with fear and trembling; for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:12 and 13.) Listen to this advice from Early Writings, page 48: “Jesus is in His holy Temple and will now accept our sacrifices, our prayers, and our confessions of faults and sins, and will pardon all the transgressions of Israel, that they may be blotted out before He leaves the Sanctuary. When Jesus leaves the Sanctuary, then they who are holy and righteous will be holy and righteous still; for all their sins will then be blotted out, and they will be sealed with the seal of the living God. But those that are unjust and filthy will be unjust and filthy still; for then there will be no Priest in the Sanctuary to offer their sacrifices, their confessions, and their prayers before the Father’s throne. Therefore, what is done to rescue souls from the coming storm of wrath must be done before Jesus leaves the Most Holy Place of the heavenly Sanctuary.”
Friends, Jesus has re-established Reformation. Let us do our part to carry it through unto its conclusion, the cleansing from sin of all of the true followers of Jesus, making straight the Paths of the Lord for His return in glory! Let us also prepare our hearts, throughout this weekend, to truly celebrate His victory in our behalf, over sin and death. He lives, and is our High Priest in the Temple in heaven.
These are the real significance of the events of that Passover long ago, which, by the traditions of men, has been replaced by Easter. Our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed, all those centuries ago! Let us celebrate Passover by partaking of the Lord’s Supper together.
Document #04_04
Introduction: Jesus says, “Follow Me!” can cause us to search the Scriptures to understand the teaching of the Tent Temple in the camp of God. That Temple, and its services, is the illustration of the work that is ongoing in the original Temple in heaven, (of which the one on earth was a copy) to deal with our sins and our salvation from them. This document reveals how important this knowledge is!
Scripture: Revelation 14:1 and 4.
Title: Jesus says, “Follow Me.”
In the first century, the reform message (Present Truth) was that Jesus, the Lamb of God, who called His disciples to follow Him, had died and paid the redemption price of the wages of sin for all of His created beings on this whole earth. Because He gives all mankind freedom of choice, we can either choose to accept that gift, or, sadly, to reject it. That brings us to the second “Follow Me.” The rich young ruler chose, sadly, to reject the gift. He knew the message. He recognized the Messiah for what He was, “the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world.” Yet, he rejected the message, and the invitation to be part of that movement of destiny. Many others were called by Jesus. Many turned away when they recognized that His true mission was a spiritual mission, which was not what they wanted: they wanted a Messiah who would lead them in war against Rome and establish a temporal kingdom with Israel as its center.
Fast forward to Revelation by John, and Jesus calls “Follow Me” in these words, and their context: “These are they that follow the Lamb, whithersoever He goeth.” These words are to those who will make up the 144,000, whom I believe are being made up now! We are in “the sealing time,” just before the terrible tribulation that will come upon the whole world in the very last days. Have you rejected, or at least neglected, the call of Jesus to “Follow Me?” Question yourself as I unfold this message.
Jesus is preparing a people that will be “alive and remain,” who will be caught up to meet Him, without seeing death. This people are the 144,000. The context is their having followed the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. Now it’s your turn to help clarify the context by answering the following questions. First question. Most important. Has Jesus gone somewhere?
Somewhere that we should be following Him?
(Wait for an answer – extended.) Have you contemplated the true meaning of their having followed the Lamb whithersoever He goeth?
Listen up! He has gone into the Most Holy Place, in the heavenly Sanctuary! What date did He move to the Most Holy? (1844.) What church, of the seven churches of Revelation, chapters 2 and 3, is represented as existing at 1844?
Turn quickly to Revelation 3:7 (read). This is the message to the 1844 church! They loved their neighbours and wanted salvation for them. Philadelphia means “brotherly love.”
What happens to those who reject, or neglect, the message that He has moved? The door of the first apartment ministry Jesus has “shut.” He is no longer doing it. We will look at who has taken His place, deceiving people into believing that Jesus is still there. How much of Christendom is deceived, today, by his deception?
Is not most of Christendom deceived?
Who, alone, is preaching the Day of Atonement message and the Sanctuary doctrine?
The remnant church. Us. If we are personally among those who have followed Jesus, whithersoever He goes. No one can do this for you. You must study your “present truth” Message, make it your own, and follow Jesus into the Most Holy! Jesus has opened the door, and gone in. There is His ministry to this day. Have you willingly followed Him?
Are your prayers directed to Him there?
Are your prayers about His ministry there, or are you still “playing around with sin?” His work in the Most Holy is to cleanse us, the living Temples of Holy Spirit, from all sin. How much sin, everyone?
All sin! You have, hopefully, joined those that are following Him into the Most Holy. Let’s back up and examine our progress. You found out that you were a sinner in need of a Saviour. Thus you went to see Jesus. He became your sacrifice. Thus you entered the Temple court and came to the altar of burnt sacrifice. Jesus became for you, “the Lamb of God that taketh away your sins.” Then you went forward with Him to the Laver. You were washed, readied to enter into the Holy Place – Baptized. Reborn of the water and of the Spirit. Humbly, you proclaimed, before witnesses, “Lord, I don’t want to sin, any sin anymore! I need your Holy Spirit gift.” In the book of Acts, chapter 2:38, Peter proclaimed, “Repent (of sin) and be baptized, …and you will receive the Holy Ghost.” I hope this is the promise you claimed at your baptism! Was it??
Thus you are readied to enter, following Jesus, into the first room of the Temple or Sanctuary. There you see that God provides all you need: The shewbread – He provides your spiritual food as well as your biological needs. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but, by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God!” To your left, is the representation of the true church – the seven lampstand light. (In Revelation 1, Jesus walks among the seven golden candlesticks, which, the last verse states, are the seven churches.) These seven represent the remnant church through the ages since Jesus inaugurated the Christian church. Ahead, is the altar of incense. There is represented the prayers of you, the acknowledged sinner, seconded and made into sweet incense, by the High Priestly prayers of Jesus, and authenticated by His bloody fingerprint on the horns of the altar. Your prayers went there, to the Holy Place, where Jesus was till 1844, and, till then, the smoke of the incense went over the vail into God’s presence, and your mistakes and their forgiveness became recorded in the books of the Court of heaven. Then, (now?) you learned that Jesus went forward into the Most Holy in 1844. His centuries-long ministry in the Holy Place ended. He closed that door. He is no longer doing the first apartment ministry. The Way into the Most Holy apartment of the Sanctuary was finally revealed, after 1844. It is the Day of Atonement ministry. His Most Holy Place ministry began. Have you followed Him??
Many of you haven’t followed Him, have you?
He has called you, again and again, through His remnant church, but you haven’t yet gone forward from “playing around” with sin. Your baptism was the baptism of repentance; John’s baptism. But you haven’t yet been baptized by Jesus’ baptism – the baptism of the Holy Ghost, with power to overcome all sin! When baptized by Jesus’ baptism, you will make your Covenant with Jesus, the wording of which must be, “Lord, I don’t want to sin, any sin, anymore! I need Your Holy Spirit in me, to give me power to overcome, as Jesus overcame!” You must be born of the water, and of the Holy Spirit! – John 3:5 – Jesus’ own words! But you were not ready to follow Jesus into the Most Holy. By choosing to “play around” with sin, you are still in the Holy Place, and Satan is there, keeping you deceived and willing to stay there! Time is far spent! The Fourth Angel’s message, from Revelation 18:1 to 5, is now to be sounded. Its power is the revelation of the Open and the Shut Door of Revelation 3:7 and 8! The purpose of this study is to now reveal its power to you!
In 1844 to 1846, the 3rd Angel’s Message came into prominence. The Sabbath truth was revealed. In 1888, the Fourth Angel’s Message began to sound. But it was not received at that time. It was not seen that the vision I will read to you, given to Ellen White, had already begun after October 22, 1844! Turn again to Revelation 3:7 and 8. This is the message to the remnant in 1844 – 1846! They were “the church in Philadelphia,” which means, “the church of brotherly love.” They sought the salvation of the souls of their friends, and neighbours – their brothers in the world! Revelation 3:7 and 8 (read).
Now I will read to you from Early Writings, by Ellen White, “the prophet of the last days,” pages 54 to 56. I will comment as we go along, so that you will see its important messages. Under the Title: End of the 2300 Days, I read: “I saw a throne, and on it sat the Father and the Son.” I will comment on that shortly. “Before the throne I saw the Advent people – the church and the world. I saw two companies, one bowed down before the throne, deeply interested, while the other stood uninterested and careless.” My comment: the uninterested ones reject, or neglect the heaven-sent message. Continuing: “Those who were bowed before the throne would offer up their prayers and look to Jesus; then He would look to His Father, and appear to be pleading with Him. A light would come from the Father to the Son and from the Son to the praying company. Then I saw an exceeding bright light come from the Father to the Son, and from the Son it waved over the people before the throne. But few would receive this great light.” My comment: Later she explains that this light was “the Midnight Cry” – “Behold, the Bridegroom cometh!” Mt. 25:6.
Continuing: “But few would receive this great light. Many came out from under it and immediately resisted it; others were careless and did not cherish the light, and it moved off from them. Some cherished it, and went and bowed down with the little praying company. This company all received the light and rejoiced in it, and their countenances shone with its glory. I saw the Father rise from the throne.” NOTE: Jesus “sits” at the right hand of the Father on the throne of the Universe, from whence they both minister in the heavenly Sanctuary. Make this distinction in Hebrews 8:1 and 2. The Sanctuary was constructed only to deal with the sin problem, when it arose.
Continuing from Early Writings: “I saw the Father rise from the throne, and in a flaming chariot go into the holy of holies within the veil, and sit down. [Refer to Daniel 7:9 and following.] Then Jesus rose up from the throne, and the most of those who were bowed down arose with Him. I did not see one ray of light pass from Jesus to the careless multitude after He arose, and they were left in perfect darkness.” My comment: This is the result of the “shut door!” Further comment: This is after the Disappointment, and now the Sanctuary doctrine was opening before the praying company of those who believed the 1844 message of the Second Coming of Jesus in that year. Really notice this: They were following Jesus, whithersoever He goeth!
Continuing: “Those who arose when Jesus did, kept their eyes fixed on Him as He left the throne and led them out a little way. Then He raised His right arm, and we heard His lovely voice saying, ‘Wait here; I am going to My Father to receive the kingdom; keep your garments spotless, and in a little while I will return from the wedding and receive you to Myself.’ Then a cloudy chariot, with wheels like flaming fire, surrounded by angels, came where Jesus was. He stepped into the chariot and was borne to the Holiest, where the Father sat.” My comment: This is Daniel 7 – the great Judgment scene in the Most Holy! See its description in an earlier parallel Judgment, in Ezekiel, chapters 9 and 10! (read it, NOW, please!)
Now I will continue the vision to its end before I comment further. Continuing: “There I beheld Jesus, a great High Priest, standing before the Father. On the hem of His garment was a bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate [the garments of the High Priest]. Those who rose up with Jesus would send up their faith to Him in the Holiest, and pray, ‘My Father, give us Thy Spirit.’ Then Jesus would breathe upon them the Holy Ghost. In that breath was light, power, and much love, joy, and peace. I turned to look at the company who were still bowed before the throne; they did not know that Jesus had left it. Satan appeared to be by the throne, trying to carry on the work of God. I saw them look up to the throne, and pray, ‘Father, give us Thy Spirit.’ Satan would then breathe upon them an unholy influence; in it there was light and much power, but no sweet love, joy, and peace. Satan’s object was to keep them deceived and to draw back and deceive God’s children.”
That is the end of the vision. Now, my comments, by which I hope to reveal to you the power of the 4th Angel’s Message: Those who rejected the message of the Second Coming in 1844, called “the Midnight Cry,” which was, “Behold, the Bridegroom Cometh!” rejected, and have ever since rejected, the 3rd Angel’s Message as well, which brought with it the Sabbath truth. Thus the denominations which reject the Sabbath Commandment, and teach men so, are considered “least in the kingdom of heaven,” as it plays out here on earth. They have some of the old light, but are not “following Jesus whithersoever He goeth!” By the work of Satan, carrying on the Holy Place ministry Jesus has left, they have become the enemies of the Present Truth and the Sabbath.
I read you this confirmation from Early Writings, the chapter on the Open and the Shut Door, page 43: “The enemies of the present truth have been trying to open the door of the Holy Place, that Jesus has shut, and close the door of the Most Holy Place, which He opened in 1844, where the ark is, containing the two tables of stone on which are written the Ten Commandments by the finger of Jehovah. Satan is now using every device, in this sealing time, to keep the minds of God’s people from the present truth and to cause them to waver…unsettled on the truth.” My Comments: By so doing, they are keeping their flocks deceived and willing to remain in the Holy Place, continuing to confess, yet repeat their sins, and reject the present truth of the Sabbath (The 3rd Angel’s Message: “Don’t worship the beast, nor his image, nor receive his mark.”) and, the “present truth” of the “shut door!” By deceiving the leaders of the denominations, causing them to not follow the Lamb, but remain in the Holy Place Ministry, Satan, and all his demons are carrying on the work!! This is the connection to Revelation 18’s 4th Angel’s Message! The 4th Angel “cries mightily, with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the Great [and I say, which includes her harlot daughters] is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit!” Are you scared now?
You may be in the right church, but if you have not made it your work to learn Christ’s Messages for our time in history, you are not the remnant part of the church! You know about the Messages, but you have chosen not to follow Jesus on into the Most Holy, but rather have chosen to continue enjoying the world and its allurements. So now, if you are willing, is the day of your true conversion. Now, like Peter, after Jesus’ resurrection, you can truly follow Jesus all the way. Jesus is calling you now! “Follow Me,” He says. “It’s not yet too late. I have held off the final day, hoping that you, beloved, will choose to not look back, but forward into the Most Holy! Follow Me, and prepare for translation, alive, at My Coming.”
Study the Present Truth, and make it your own! Pentecost was the Former Rain. The Latter Rain is connected to the final Messages. It will not be poured out on those who do not possess the final Messages. The Latter Rain is to give Holy Spirit power to boldly carry the four Angel’s messages! If you work to make the Messages of Jesus your own, thus you will follow Jesus! Thus you will prepare yourself to “prepare the Way of the Lord!” And, you will also be prepared for Jesus’ Second Coming! Every otherwise, will prepare you for eternal death! You must have, or possess, the testimony of Jesus!
Let us kneel and pray. Oh Jesus, our great Redeemer, we hear You loud and clear. You are at our heart’s door and knocking. You want to teach us all truth, especially “Present Truth.” (quiet pause) Now, while heads are bowed, Jesus is calling, “Follow Me.” Who will choose to learn the 4 Angel messages, so Jesus can use you in the Latter Rain?
Raise your hand now. I plead with you, Let Him in, before it is too late! Thank you, Lord Jesus, for these who are deciding finally to follow you into the Most Holy. Deepen their conviction, I pray, that they will not turn back. Prepare us, with Your Messages, so you can pour out the Latter Rain and take your family home. And everybody said, Amen. P.S. Dear friend, please re-read this message, and study it. Its message is one of the most important of the seminar.
Document #04_05
is called, Baptism – Raised for Our Justification. Here you will find the truth about the meaning of baptism and what it accomplishes in our life. There is much to learn about where Jesus is working for our salvation, and how we access His intercession.
Scripture Text: Romans 4:25 – RSV (Read before the study).
Title: Raised for our Justification (RSV)
Today, I’d like you to think back to your baptism, and carefully consider the reasons of your faith. If you have not yet been baptized, please follow along with us and prayerfully consider being baptized. Can you tell me, Why do we get baptized?
Is it merely to get our name on a church list of members?
What is the right reason?
Whether you realized it or not before your baptism, isn’t the right reason to be baptized because you don’t want to sin, any sin, any more?
Someone has shown you Romans 6:23, which says that “the wages of sin is death:” and you have realized that you are unable to pay the price of even your past sins: but you want the promise of eternal life, so you turn to God for salvation and follow His prescription, beginning with seeking baptism. This is what is called repentance and conversion. As you were taught by someone, to prepare you for baptism, you learned that when Jesus died on the cross of Calvary, our redemption price was paid. “The wages of sin is death:” Jesus paid it for you and for me, and for all of Adam’s children. (Read Romans 3:23, 24). Would you please keep your Bible open there, when you finish, for we will continue with verse 25. Study this verse, while I explain this carefully worded passage. “God set forth Jesus to be a propitiation – the dictionary meaning of that word is, ‘something that would cause a court to be favorably disposed to forgive.'” [pro-pity-ation] Continuing – “…through faith in His blood…to declare His righteousness [in our place that is] for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.”
Two more words to note: “remission,” and “past.” Remission means, “to pardon, forgive, as a sin or a crime.” What you didn’t know is that the dictionary doesn’t stop there. The dictionary goes on to say that it is a legal term, meaning, “to refer (a legal proceeding) to a lower court for further consideration.” This is very appropriate, because sins are forgiven, but, as we will see, they are still entered into court record for later consideration, in the court of heaven, at the end of the world! Second word to note: “…for the remission of sins that are past.” Did you catch that? “…sins that are past.” This text is referring directly to baptism. All of your past sins are forgiven, covered by the sacrifice of Jesus, and the righteousness of Jesus is put in your place as yours, fully received, by faith. Isn’t that absolutely wondrous?
Further, what is “faith in Jesus?” We believe that Jesus is saving us! Isn’t that right?
“He is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him.” Hebrews 7:25. Salvation is an on-going process in every believer.
Now: something else is fulfilled at baptism. Know it or not, you were making a Covenant with God. You want to stop sinning against God and be a citizen in His kingdom. God covenants with you that He will adopt you as His child, and help you to stop sinning. If you will be His obedient child, and keep His Ten Commandments, He will be your God, and will give you Holy Spirit to empower you to stop sinning. “For this is the Covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.” Hebrews 8:10. In Peter’s first great sermon, he proclaimed, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins: and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” Acts 2:38. For this reason, we believe that, as at the baptism of Jesus, but in smaller measure, depending on our ability to receive Him, God gives Holy Spirit to us to direct our lives and empower us to obey His rules of life, as Jesus Himself did as a man. If we are fully willing to obey, Holy Spirit is given to us in larger measure than if we are still hedging with sins and are unwilling to live according to all truth as it is revealed to us. I will leave it up to you to decide what your experiences have revealed about the measure of Holy Spirit given to you, and the increase, or decrease, as the case may be, of Holy Spirit’s power in your life due to your decisions since your baptism. Have you waxed strong in the Spirit, like John the Baptist did?
Following your baptism, and the making of your Covenant with God, begins anew your probation. You are then a child of God, a Christian, and you enter upon an experiential journey toward the kingdom of heaven, by faith in Jesus. Please turn in your Bible to Hebrews 7, verse 24. I want to show you something. Hebrews 7:24-27 (read). Did you notice the “High Priesthood” of Jesus?
Now keep your finger there and compare this with our Scripture reading text, Romans 4:25. I found that the Revised Standard Version of the Bible says it a little more clearly than the wording of the KJV. Romans 4:25; “Jesus was put to death for our trespasses, and raised for our justification.” Jesus was put to death for our trespasses; but He was raised from the dead unto His Priesthood in the heavenly Sanctuary, where He ever lives to make intercession for us! His intercession for us is what gives us our justification, isn’t it? He was raised from the dead to intercede for us for our justification. It is a very important point, as we will see. The false gospel, preached everywhere else today, says that if we receive the truth that Jesus died for us, we will be saved unto eternal life. I say that that is a false gospel, because it stops there, inferring that we don’t have to stop sinning, stop breaking the Ten Commandments, but all we have to do is just keep asking God forgiveness, again and again for the same sins, claiming the blood of Jesus shed in His death. If you think about it, that makes us our own intercessor, and leaves us totally without power to overcome sin in our lives. Will Jesus just keep forgiving sin, on into eternity?
If we kill once we get to heaven, will not someone’s life be lost?
Will we not finally self-destruct?
Sin must stop, mustn’t it?
(Read 1 John 3:4-6, and v.22. Compare this with Romans 3:20, and then thoughtfully read Hebrews 10:26-31). Read, Please!
Let’s get it right. We are not justified by the death of Jesus. By His death we can be redeemed, not justified. We are justified by His life, His resurrected life, as our High Priest in the Heavenly Sanctuary. Romans 5:10, says, “…we shall be saved by His life.” But note the following statement carefully. Romans 5:9, says, “…we are justified by His blood,” but this refers to His applied blood, not His shed blood. There is a difference as we will now see. The key to this correct understanding is in our Scripture reading text; Romans 4:25 – “Jesus was raised from the dead for our justification.” Jesus had to apply the blood of His sacrifice, as our High Priest in the true Sanctuary, heavenly Court, or we could not be justified, and saved from our sins.
Allow me here to read Hebrews 8:1 to 6 (read). The Old Testament Sanctuary on earth was the example and shadow of what is going on in the Sanctuary in Heaven! Hebrews 9:24 says, “For Christ is not entered into the Holy Places made with hands, which are the figures of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.” Verse 12 says, “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.” And verse 14, “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself, without spot, to God, purge your conscience from dead works, to serve the living God?”
Turn now to the baptism chapter of the Bible, Romans 6. At baptism, “we are buried with Him into death.” Romans 6:4. Verse 6 continues, “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him: that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.” And verse 12, “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.” As we go under the waters of death, we must die to our sinful past!
So: at baptism we declare that we are not wanting to sin any sin, anymore. We are turning to God for salvation from sin’s hold on us. God covenants with us to be our God, and He gives us Holy Spirit to guide and empower us to obey His will. Holy Spirit writes God’s Law in our hearts (as well as in our minds) through reminding us that Jesus, our Creator God, died for us: “If you love Me, keep My Commandments.” John 14:15. When Holy Spirit has written God’s Law in our hearts, then our new probation begins. We are then a Christian. Jesus has redeemed us – paid all of the requirement of the Law. Because of our faith, He declares His righteousness in place of our past sinfulness. And from then forward, If we should stumble into committing a sin, He ever lives, as our High Priest in the Sanctuary in Heaven, to intercede for us.
But against what is Jesus interceding for us?
Is it against God the Father?
No way. God the Father is with Jesus, on our side in the heavenly court! “For the Father Himself loveth you.” John 16:27. It is against the requirements of the Law that They intercede for us! When we break the Law of God, and repent of it, Jesus is our intercessor, who pleads His blood for our forgiveness. God the Father, the great supreme court judge, is willing to accept the price paid demanded by the Law, because His own Son paid that price for us! Thus the Law is satisfied by the mercy of God. “For by Grace are you saved through faith…it is the gift of God!” Eph.2:8
But our own judicial system teaches that mercy must be answered by right-doing from then on. The forgiven criminal cannot go out and willfully commit the same or even another crime. If he does, next time before the court, they’ll “throw the book (of the Law) at him” – he will be the more severely punished. Instead, he must refuse to commit crime of any kind. He must show the court that he is a changed man. He is justified by the court – treated as if he was a just and righteous person. But he is put on probation by the court! Entered into the court record is the record of our sin, but with “forgiven” written as the court’s finding. Since our baptism, we are on probation!
Now: those of us who are on the experiential journey to the kingdom of God know that by errors in judgment, we do make mistakes and break God’s Law again occasionally, but as we repent of it and go to Jesus confessing it, He again is willing to justify us and extend our probation. (Read 1 John 1:9). But let us be careful not to presume on His mercy! We must overcome sin! “He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.” Revelation 2:11. Further, notice this: when our life ends, our probation ends. At the “end time,” in “the hour of His Judgment,” Jesus opens all of the court records and judges whether or not we became a right-doing person, whose settled way was to choose not to sin! (See Daniel 7:9 and 10)! Did we, by faith in Jesus, and by the power of His Spirit within us, as it were, on the throne of our mind, overcome our propensity to sin, and continuously not want to sin any sin, any more? Did we thus submit to the will of God, that we keep His Commandments?
Did we become sanctified by our faith in Jesus?
Would we be able to live eternally, because we would never sin again?
Jesus, the righteous Judge, who knows our frame, will make that decision, based also on His omnipotent foreknowledge of our future. Or will we be lost, because we put self on the throne of our mind, and thus had no power over sin in our lives, and would continue in sin, were we allowed to have life again?
When Jesus is through with that Judgment work, He will return in the Second Advent. He will cleanse the Sanctuary by removing all of the recorded-but- forgiven sins transferred there, and, bearing them on Himself, will place them on the head of the scapegoat, Satan himself, who is the author of sin! The point that I have been leading up to is this: it is because the sacrificial blood of the Lamb of God must be applied, that our justification requires the resurrected Jesus to be our High Priest.
This truth, the Old Testament Sanctuary, as the example and shadow of the Heavenly Sanctuary, teaches, through the book of Hebrews. The Priest of the Old Testament applied the blood of the sacrifice. The blood was collected in a bowl, as the animal bled to death from a knife slash across the throat, which severed the jugular vein. Then, only the priest could apply the blood. As man’s representative, he either (most of the time) dashed the blood against the altar of burnt sacrifice (outside) or, he carried it into the Holy Place, the first room of the Sanctuary, where he applied it, by sprinkling it before the vail first, and then by applying it to the horns of the altar of incense. (See Leviticus 4:13-18). For obvious reasons, the blood from all of the sacrifices could not possibly be sprinkled inside the Holy Place: but in several ways the priest symbolically bore the iniquity of the congregation in his own body, and when he did go in before the vail, he made atonement for them all. 1 Peter 2:24, states that Jesus Himself bore our sins in His own body, to Calvary! In like manner to the Old Testament priests, He is making atonement for us!
Let us carefully note what the priests of the Old Testament did, and consider why they did it. Turn to Leviticus 4:13 to 18 (Read). What was done, and why? The elders of the congregation laid their hands on the head of the offering animal. Can you tell me why?
The answer is that the animal now bore the sin, and died for it, in place of the sinners. The blood is given to the priest. Why does he go into the Holy Place, dip his fingers into the bowl of blood, and “sprinkle it before the Lord, even before the vail?”
Like the vail there between God and man, God put a vail between Himself and the dying Jesus upon the cross of Calvary! Remember the unnatural darkness?
The blood shed upon the cross sprinkled upon the ground, seen by God, from beneath that vail, that hid His own Son from His sight! The earthly Temple vail didn’t touch the floor, and the symbolism is that the blood drops are seen, and noted, from the other side! After the blood is sprinkled in this way, then it is applied by the priest to the horns of the altar of incense. Why? (We’ll see in a moment). Then the priest put incense on the coals of the altar of incense. What does the smoke of the incense represent?
The answer is that it represents prayers for forgiveness of sin, seconded by the intercession of the priest. In applying the blood to the horns of this altar, the bloody fingerprint of the priest was put onto the horns. The blood on these horns, which I believe faced inward, symbolically was carried with the smoke of the incense, up over the vail, and into the presence of God in the Most Holy place. What else is there, in the Most Holy? …the Law; and the two cherubim on the “mercy seat” (the lid of the ark of the Covenant). This is the court room of Heaven! The one cherub represents the prosecuting attorney – called “Justice.” The other cherub represents the defense attorney – called “Mercy.” They look downward, through the transparent gold “mercy seat.” (See Rev. 21:18 and 21) They look through it to the 10 Commandment Law, written on the stone tablets by the finger of God! The Law has been broken by the penitent person out in the court-yard of the Temple. Angels record the sin, the prayer for forgiveness, the person’s repentance, and the blood applied by the priest. Jesus offered His own blood on Calvary for all who would receive it, and went to heaven’s Temple to apply it to the altar of incense there!
The application of the blood, in the heavenly court, is the only personal receiving of its benefits by the repentant sinner! Even the blood sprinkled before the vail was not enough. The sinner must have our real High Priest, Jesus, apply His blood sacrifice in their particular case …sin by sin…till all sins are overcome by the power of Jesus’ gift of the Spirit. Christ in you is your hope of heaven, or glory. See Colossians 1:27. Jesus was put to death for our trespasses, but was raised from the dead for our justification. “If we confess our sins, Jesus is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9. Who do we pray to in confession of our sins?
Where is He?
Do we need the living Jesus?
Do we need the Sanctuary truth?
Have you personally followed our High Priest, by faith, on into the Most Holy, where He is now, where, since 1844, He has been judging the lives of the dead, and where, right now, while you are alive, He may be reading the book of record of your life, and preparing your final Judgment? We are in the Sealing time!
Do you believe in Jesus?
Do you have faith in your High Priest in heaven?
Is He your God, and are you His obedient child? …If not, now is the accepted time. Now is the day of salvation. Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, today!
Document #04_06
Seventy Times Seven Times, reveals the actual tremendous Grace of God toward us, as we fight the good fight of faith. Jesus really meant what He said, regarding how often we should forgive our brother. He Himself has fulfilled exactly that!
Scripture: Mt.18: 21, 22
Title: 70 X 7 Times
Please open your Bible to Luke 11:1 (read). Jesus was asked to teach His disciples how to pray. In His example prayer, which we call the Lord’s Prayer, we find that there are 7 petitions. The number 7 is the number of perfection, in its use in the Bible. (For example, there are 7 days taken for Creation.) One of those petitions of the 7 in the Lord’s Prayer, refers to our forgiving others. “Forgive us our debts [trespasses – sins – see Mt. 6:14] as we forgive our debtors.” Mt.6:12.
In the Scripture read to us today, from Mt. 18:21,22, we find Peter checking out with Jesus just how merciful he should be when someone sins against him repeatedly. An answer to that question might come to your mind from Peter’s suggestion of 7 times. You may remember that Mary, probably Mary Magdelene, according to legend, was forgiven 7 times for falling into prostitution again and again after being forgiven and admonished by Jesus Himself to “Go and sin no more.” At Simon the Pharisee’s banquet for Jesus and His disciples (Luke 7:36), Simon saw Mary anointing Jesus for His impending burial, in full and unconditional belief of what Jesus had said was soon to happen to Him. Remember that Simon knew of her prostitution, perhaps even first hand! He was thinking to himself that if Jesus knew who she actually was, He wouldn’t let her near Him. But Jesus read his thoughts, and immediately rebuked him, but in a wonderful manner, by a parable. See Luke 7:41 and 42 (read).
So, Jesus Himself, if the legend is true, continued to forgive Mary Magdalene until seven times, until she finally did overcome by the power of the love for her Redeemer that she had. She fully understood her need for a redeemer, a sacrifice that Jesus had revealed that He would accomplish soon, at the hands of evil hypocrites of the priestly class, who were also the political leaders of Israel. [NOTE: no separation of church and state]. She alone, of all of the disciples, really accepted His calm statement that He would soon die as an offering for the sins of others. But it took six times of forgiveness and partial overcoming, before the seventh time had the full effect in her, breaking her free of Satan’s hold. I want you to notice, that her love had become full and deep as no other. Love conquers all. It is faith in Jesus, that works by love of Jesus for what He has accomplished for us, that overcomes all sin. Gal. 5:6. That love is the power of the Gospel!! Memorize this text!
And so, coming back to Peter, “How often should I forgive a brother who sins against me? Seven times?” The Pharisees suggested 3 or possibly 4 times, so Peter thinks he has it figured right when he suggests 7 times. That is way more than anyone would allow by reason isn’t it?
Most of us would probably say, “Three strikes and you’re out, buddy!” Right?
The answer Jesus gives is astounding! 70 X 7 times! Unbelievable! Isn’t that how we feel?
Jesus must be exaggerating. Are you ready for this?
Jesus meant what He said! How could He, you say. Now you are astounded, aren’t you? So am I! Jesus meant what He said! Jesus Himself was doing just that, forgiving His brethren 70 X 7 times! Let me explain. What is 70 X 7 times? 490, right?
Could Jesus really mean that we should forgive our brother 490 times?
Or is it instead just a symbol of unlimited forgiving?
The answer is yes. and no. Now you’re getting confused, right?
Where else in the Bible is 70 X 7 times used?
Daniel chapter 9. 70 weeks, seventy sevens, are cut off from the 2300 days prophecy, for the Jewish nation to confirm the Covenant (or lose their status as the chosen people). From the time of the decree, to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, they were to have 490 years – seventy sevens – of years! In the yearly Judgment Day, the Day of Atonement, also called the Cleansing of the Sanctuary, all the sins of every repentant Israelite were judged and forgiven by God. 490 Days of Atonement! Jesus, the Son of God, Jesus the Creator, promised through Daniel that He was willing to forgive His people 70 X 7 times! And so He did! Jesus Himself forgave the sins of Israel, His brethren, 70 X 7 times! But there is an end to His forbearance. The end came. When they murdered Stephen, 3 and one half years still longer after having murdered Jesus, His forbearance came to an end. On the one hand, we would say that 490 times of forgiving His people was almost infinite forgiving. But on the other hand, we now see that His forbearance does have a limit! The Jewish nation received its terrible Judgment in 70 A.D., when Jerusalem and all of Judea was destroyed. There was no remedy. They would have, and still do, reject Jesus. So, Jesus meant forgive 70 X 7 times. That’s what He was doing with His people Israel!
I should be done…but I’m not. The 490 years was cut off from the 2300 years of Daniel’s prophecy. The 490 Days of Atonement, 490 days of forgiveness of sin against our Brother, Jesus, leaves 18 hundred and ten days of forgiveness for the Christian church that Jesus Himself set up, which was built upon love for Jesus, the Redeemer God-man! When people, His people, love Him, His forgiveness is extended almost infinitely! But not infinitely. His forbearance will come to an end. In actual fact, it has come to an end. The time, friends, has past! About 1844, at the end of the 2300 days of Daniel’s prophecy, the message was proclaimed against the daughters of Great Babylon, the Protestant Churches, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen; come out of her My people!” With the message of the Advent near, the time had come for the Christian churches to confirm the Covenant with Jesus, or be rejected of God! By their rejection of the Advent message, in 1843 and 1844, the Protestant Churches showed that they did not want Jesus to come: they did not love His appearing: so they were rejected by God! Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Prophecy, had to start a new Movement, to carry the Everlasting Gospel to the world. Advent believers found that they had to leave the churches, to be true to conscience and to continue to proclaim the Coming of our Lord Jesus. Thus the Remnant were separated from the fallen Protestant churches. People, think on the seriousness of this truth. The churches of Christendom were found fallen, and were rejected by God! Today, our message is still “Babylon is fallen, is fallen,” but now with the added warning, “and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird!” (buzzards, waiting to devour Satan’s victims!)
Jesus is calling even more emphatically, “Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues, for her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities!” Rev.18:2 and 4. Judgment will fall upon the unrepentant, as surely as 36 years after the stoning of Stephen, it finally fell upon Jerusalem, and the streets ran with rivers of blood from the slain. The marvelous, though now rejected Temple, replaced by the Sanctuary in heaven, was razed to the ground for the final time. The hour of His Judgment is come! The days of continuance beyond 18 hundred and ten days-of-Atonement, are nearly spent. Behold, He will come! Already, over 160 more days of forgiveness have passed. Do you think that because His Judgments have not yet fallen upon you, that He is not going to do it after all?
Did not the door of Noah’s Ark close after 120 years? …Did not Jerusalem and all of Judea perish in fearful Divine wrath?
Oh foolish Laodiceans! When will you awake from your stupor?
When will you shut off your television and go out to save your neighbours and yourself?
Jesus is waiting, mercifully, on you and I!
Let us pray: Our Father, Who is in heaven, hallowed is your name unto us. Bring each one of us up, up, into your Presence just now, that we may seek to confirm your Covenant with You. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain for us! Worthy are You, Who sent Jesus, to receive glory and honor and praise from us, Your people. Oh, how forgiving You are; how loving toward us, your erring children. Forgive us this once more, that we may finally overcome, by the love we have for Jesus! In His name, and for the sake of His Kingdom, we pray, Amen and Amen!
The Last document of Chapter 4, #04_07
Watch Out! is the unveiling of important prophecy for those who must fight the “beast” and all of his allies in this world of sin. We must know what is going on, in order to not be deceived in this trying hour of history. Our faith in the Bible as the Word of God, for our protection, will be tried by “strong delusion” that Satan will bring to pass, trying to destroy all of God’s children. Watch Out!
Scripture Text: Revelation 16:12-17
Title: Watch Out!
Are you preparing for the final scenes of the end of time for the world? As you have been studying the End Time Landmarks, in preparation for the glorious coming of Jesus, what should you watch for as you watch and pray?
Today, I’d like to focus on our most severe battle of faith yet to come, that we may prepare ourselves, through awareness given us by Bible prophecy, and the filling out of the picture by the books of Ellen White, to stand to the very end. This battle of faith has been given a name. “Armageddon.” It is tied extensively to the Three Angel’s Messages of Rev.14: 7-12, so its importance for our understanding is great. It is also the other side of the coin in the sealing. Some will be sealed, but most will be deceived and lost! Jesus Himself warned, in Mark 13:22, “For false Christs and false prophets shall arise and show signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect! But take ye heed,” Jesus went on, “behold, I have foretold you all things!”
The battle of Armageddon is not about military war. It is a battle for the mind of every human being on the earth. It is a battle between two trinities, each employing a trio of angels to persuade human beings to its side of the conflict. Also, a fourth angel is added at the very end by both trinities. Watch carefully for the counterfeit fourth angel as we unfold the prophecies.
First, understand that for the purpose of deception, Satan’s most diabolical tool is counterfeit-making. A false Christ, and false apostles and prophets, and false miracles and wonders, will cause most people to be deceived into joining the wrong camp! Satan forms a counterfeit trinity supported by a counterfeit trio of angels to deceive everyone on earth: with one exception – those who hold to the faith of Jesus (in the Scriptures as the Word of God) and keep the Commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus concerning the end basically correctly understood. (See Revelation 14:12 and Revelation 12:17) So. Who are included in this false trinity?
Look again at our text, Revelation 16:13. “And I saw three unclean spirits, like frogs, come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.” Rev. 13 reveals the last two. They are called up by Satan to oppose God’s people and the Bible. The first of those two, because of the nine clues to his identity given in the Bible, is Papal Rome, who claims the place of Jesus on earth! The second, verse 11 and on, is Protestant America, which is like a Lamb and calls itself Christian, but will finally speak as a dragon, the symbol for a persecuting power. This one will become the “false prophet!” But who is the first one of this false trinity?
The “dragon” is one of the names for Satan himself, according to Rev.12:9, but is not here exclusively being referred to personally. This dragon refers to the Rev. 12 great red dragon, with 7 heads and 10 horns and seven crowns upon his heads. Very near the end, as described in our Rev. 16 text, just before the 7 last plagues, this dragon of Satan’s is built upon 7 “beast” kingdoms (crowns on their heads) with ten horn (minor) kingdoms, without crowns as yet (See Rev.17:12) by the end of Rev. 12. (The number 10 represents all kingdoms in an area of the world – here, those kingdoms East of Europe, all the rest of the world). He goes to make war with the remnant at the end of Rev.12; and this war is Armageddon! Let’s focus on Rev. 16 again. During the sixth plague, the great river Euphrates is dried up. (verse 12) What follows v.12 is a parenthetical (…..) explanation of how the rest of the kingdoms of the earth join with the “beast” and his 10 kingdoms (note – crowned horns), and the false prophet, against God’s remnant people. It is the rest of the kingdoms of the earth that have been symbolized by the great river Euphrates. The “waters” are peoples, and nations, etc. Rev.17:15.
Is this part of Rev.16 a parenthesis?
It has to be, because the plagues fall after the close of probation: but this is clearly before that time, when all people are being persuaded which side they will take. The sealing is in full swing! “Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame!” The garment is the righteousness of saints, who keep the Commandments of God!
As you will often see in Revelation, v.12 points us back to the story of the taking of Babylon by Cyrus of Persia – a king from the east – by drying up the Euphrates river. The support of the “beast,” known in Rev. 17 as great Babylon, the harlot, by these other kingdoms of the earth, dries up in the sixth plague as they see by the plagues that they have joined the wrong camp! Turn to Rev. 17:11 to 14 and verses 16 and 17 to see that (read). They will turn against Babylon and begin her destruction which Jesus will finish at the Second Coming!
Let’s look closely at this false trinity. Satan’s counterfeits are carried out in considerable detail. First of all, the dragon seems to be the counterfeit of God the Father. Satan, along with all of the kingdoms of the world not professedly Christian, is clearly the leader. He gave his seat and authority to the “beast,” and will call into being the “false prophet” – fallen American Protestantism. The “beast” is clearly a counterfeit of Jesus, the second Person of the Godhead. The pope’s blasphemous name, “vicarious filii dei,” proclaims him the “vicar of the Son of God;” which means he is Christ’s representative on earth, who claims to be able to receive confession and forgive sins. Thus he takes away the daily ministration of Jesus in the heavenly Sanctuary. Among other things, the “beast” also has a death and resurrection like Christ, (Rev.13:3) and counterfeits Christ’s 3 and one half years of ministry: (42 months = 3 and one half years = 1260 days – Revelation 13:5).
Is the false prophet a counterfeit of the Holy Spirit?
The false prophet, known in Rev.13:11 as “another beast coming up out of the earth,” is not “the beast,” but “exercises all the power of the first ‘beast’ before him, and causes the earth and them which dwell therein, to worship the first ‘beast’ whose deadly wound was healed.” Note that this false prophet convinces the people of the earth to worship the first beast. Holy Spirit does not speak of Himself, but instead glorifies Jesus. Thus the role of Holy Spirit is to promote Christ. The role of the “false prophet” is to promote the “beast,” the counterfeit of Christ! And just as the great act of Holy Spirit was to alight, as fire from heaven, upon the true believers at Pentecost and give them the power of speaking in tongues, which proved the disciples to be of God, so the greatest act of the “false prophet” will be to make “fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and deceive them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast.” (Rev. 13:13 and 14). This great deception shall be “strong delusion, that they should believe a lie” (2 Thess. 2:11).
Right at the Sealing time, the “false prophet” will perform a counterfeit of Pentecost! For what purpose? – to prove to the world that the worshippers of the “beast” and his “image” are God’s true church!
Now; let’s turn our attention to the trio of angels used by this false trinity to persuade human beings to its side of the battle. (Rev. 16:13). “Three unclean spirits, like frogs.” This is a direct reference to spiritualism; unclean spirits called up by Satan. Why like frogs?
Frogs catch their prey with their tongues! Further, remember that the 7 last plagues point us back to the story of the plagues of Egypt in Exodus. The last deceptive miracle that the magicians of Pharaoh could counterfeit was that of the frogs. Just so, this work by the evil spirits will be the last deception by these earthly powers. They are the spirits of devils, working miracles, to gather all of the kingdoms of the earth and of the whole world to the great battle.
God gathers them (symbolically) all together into a place called, in the Hebrew tongue, “Armageddon.” This Greek word here translated into English, is from the Hebrew word Har-Megiddo. God didn’t want us to miss that. “Har” means “mountain,” so it is referring to “the mountain of Megiddo.” Megiddo was a city on a little rise at the edge of the plain of Jezreel. The “mountain of Megiddo” is the mountain which dominates Megiddo, like Hamilton Mountain dominates the city of Hamilton, Ontario. Looming over Megiddo is the range of mountains called Carmel. Carmel is the mountain of Megiddo. Remember that the “false prophet” is the “beast that comes up out of the earth,” (Rev.13:11) and that he makes fire come down out of heaven onto the earth in the sight of men?
These two clues; the mountain called Carmel, and the fire being called down from heaven, point us back to the story of Elijah and the proving of which is the true God. But here in Revelation, it is the false prophet who calls down the fire from heaven!! This time, the fire from heaven will prove to the unsuspecting world that the “beast” and his “image” are the true church of God, a deception so convincing that even the very elect are tempted to believe it! But Jesus foretold that this would happen in Rev. 13 and 16, didn’t He?
Since Jesus foretold it, we must deny our senses and believe the Word of God! Our answer must be, “It is Written!” We are not likely to see a return to animal sacrifices for this deceptive proof (as in the illustrative story of Elijah): instead, the test will be based on Acts 2, the Pentecost experience (the only other fire from heaven used as a proof). Tongues of fire will alight on the worshippers of the beast and his image, proving that they are God’s true church! And you can bet they’ll speak in tongues too! This time, the false prophet will call all the world to watch the test of which is the true church!! WARNING: In the Elijah story, which may now be prophetic, what happened to the prophets of the now proven-to-be-false religion?
Will they attempt to repeat that against those who refuse to believe this sign by the false prophet?
But hang on: this false proof is not yet the almost overmastering deception. Like the fourth angel of Rev. 18, who calls the last of God’s people out of Babylon in the Loud Cry, Satan has again a counterfeit. His most desperate act will be to himself counterfeit the Second Advent (Coming) of Christ! 2nd Thessalonians Ch. 2 deals with this last deception in history. 2 Thess. 2:8 and 9. Watch this text interpret itself differently than you have ever thought!
2 Thess. 2:8 and 9 (read). Notice that there are two places that the word “coming” appears; at the end of v.8, referring to the Second Coming of Jesus, (which is what the whole chapter is about, if you look at v. 1) and at the beginning of verse 9. In the Greek, the word for both “comings” is “parousia,” very often used as a technical term for the Second Coming of Jesus. The problems with this text are to do with a preconception which has caused interpretive decisions that twist the meaning of the text! In every translation I looked at, the same thing is done! The preconception is that the “man of sin” (also referred to, variously, as “that Wicked” or “the lawless one”) is yet to come – in the “coming” (parousia) of verse 9! Adventists know that the “man of sin” is the Papacy, which from way back in Constantine’s time (321 AD) were “them that forsake the Holy Covenant” (Daniel 11:30) by changing the Sabbath Commandment, which is why the pope is styled as “the man of sin.” (Sin is the transgression or breaking of the Law). That is still their great sin, and it focused on the 4th Commandment (as well as on the 2nd Commandment)! Soon after 1798, when he was “taken out of the way,” it was recognized that the 1260 day (year) prophecy against this power revealed that the Papacy is both “the man of sin” and the “beast” of Rev. 13, who received his “deadly wound” in 1798. (42 months x 30 days-to-a-month = 1260 days or years). People, there isn’t any “coming”(parousia) of the “man of sin” in the future. He was instead revealed by fulfilling the 1260 day prophecy when he received his “mortal wound” in 1798, exactly 1260 years after the Papacy received the power to be “the corrector of heretics” in 538 AD! He’s been here all that time and will continue till Jesus comes!
So: 2 Thessalonians 2:9, is still referring to Jesus’ Coming (parousia) not a “coming” of “that Wicked” – the sense of the verse is entirely changed. Verse 7 is the key to correct translation of verse 9 (read). The old English word “let” is not used in the way we do today, meaning “to allow or permit.” The Dictionary defines it’s use here under the sub-heading “archaic: To hinder; impede.” (read v.7, replacing “let” with “hinder.”) In your KJV you will note that “even him” is italicized – it has been added to the original text in order to support the preconception. Strike those words out! The words “whose coming,” still using the technical term for Jesus’ Second Coming, continues the theme of the chapter – When will the Second Coming happen?
The “is” that follows, is OK, but the next word, “kata” in the Greek, commonly means “according to” – thus KJV “after the working of” Satan. But according to a Greek lexicon (a book which explains word usage by the Greek text) in usage such as verse 9, “after words and expressions that designate hostile speech, it means ‘to be against someone.'”
Since God is hindering the work of Satan through the “man of sin,” – hostile speech – therefore in verse 9, the meaning is that the Second Coming of Jesus is against the working of Satan “with all power and signs and lying wonders.” So now we see a direct reference to Satan working with all his power to deceive, even to making a counterfeit of the Second Coming of Jesus, to call everyone to his, and the “beast’s,” side of the conflict. (Satan Himself is the counterfeit fourth angel!)
From the book “The Great Controversy,” p. 624, I read you this: “As the crowning act in the great drama of deception, Satan himself will personate Christ. The church has long professed to look to the Saviour’s Advent [Coming] as the consummation of her hopes. Now the great deceiver will make it appear that Christ has come. In different parts of the earth, Satan will manifest himself among men as a majestic being of dazzling brightness, resembling the description of the Son of God given by John in the Revelation. Rev. 1:12-15. The glory that surrounds him is unsurpassed by anything that mortal eyes have yet beheld. The shout of triumph rings out upon the air: `Christ has come! Christ has come!!’ The people prostrate themselves in adoration before him, while he lifts up his hands and pronounces a blessing upon them, as Christ blessed His disciples when He was upon the earth. His voice is soft and subdued, yet full of melody. In gentle, compassionate tones he presents some of the same gracious, heavenly truths which the Saviour uttered; he heals the diseases of the people, and then, in his assumed character of Christ, he claims to have changed the Sabbath to Sunday, and commands all to hallow the day which he has blessed. He declares that those who persist in keeping holy the seventh day are blaspheming his name by refusing to listen to his angels sent to them with light and truth. This is the strong, almost overmastering delusion.” G.C. p. 624.
Finally, a universal death decree will be legislated world-wide to get rid of the hated sect of Sabbath-keepers. Then it is that the 7 Last Plagues will begin to fall on the worshippers of the “beast” and his “image,” and God’s people will be delivered! See its illustration by reading the book of Esther in the Bible!
Friends, all of this prophecy is soon to be fulfilled. Our understanding of the details may be flawed here and there. But events will reveal the flaws, if we are watching unto prayer. Others have also attempted an outline such as I have shared with you today, and I am indebted to them for some details from each. So: Jesus cautions us (Rev. 16:15) that He is coming when we could be not ready for Him. Blessed is he that watches and sees the unfolding of what Jesus has foretold to us for our protection. Keep your garments – the righteousness of saints – and endure to the end. Then when Jesus really does come, you can say: “Look! This is our God! We have waited for Him and He will save us! This is the Lord Jesus: we have waited for Him! We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation!