Many today assume that since they keep the Sabbath and do not commit adultery, or kill, or steal, or lie, then they must be righteous. And since they are righteous they believe they are assured of an entrance into God’s kingdom. Many have believed and taught this for a long time. Others who have problems keeping the commandments do not view themselves as commandment keepers. Because of their habitual sins, they do not claim to be righteous, and therefore they feel that they cannot get into the kingdom.
Could both groups be wrong about their assumptions? When you keep the law, you assume that your law keeping is righteousness; therefore this qualifies you to stand in God’s presence. The message that came to this denomination in 1888 found fault with the concepts of righteousness of most Seventh-day Adventists. Do you know that? That message says that our righteousness is not good enough, no matter how good it appears to you or to me. You must have the righteousness of Jesus or you are unqualified for heaven. Some have still not understood that this message of Christ our righteousness says that our righteousness is not good enough. No matter how good you might think your righteousness is, the message of 1888 says loudly and clearly that it is not good enough. It finds fault with all our righteousness, and that is the heart and soul of it. But we argue with this because we think that since we are commandment keepers, we must be righteous, and therefore qualified to enter heaven.
This problem of righteousness involves much more than we usually assume. It is more than making the hands do the right things, and the lips say the right words, and so forth. It is more than attempting to be good.
Righteousness is symbolized in the Bible, and we can understand much more about it when we understand this symbol. “And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.” Revelation 19:8. In this verse, righteousness is symbolized by clothing, and when you study righteousness as clothing it means much more. It covers some of those areas that we often omit from the understanding of the word. Righteousness is spiritual clothing. Why does the Bible call it clothing? Does God hide our sins behind clothing? We must understand what He means by the symbol of clothing.
Sin produces a strange kind of undressed condition, and because of that undressed condition, a certain kind of clothing is required. This is introduced in the book of Genesis, but it is not easily understood. Talking about Adam and Eve, it says, “And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.” Genesis 2:25. They had no problem with their nakedness whatsoever. They were totally unashamed. But then they were tempted, and as we know, Eve partook of the forbidden fruit and tempted her husband, and he partook. “And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard Thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.” Genesis 3:7-10. Was Adam still naked when God came to the garden? No, he was not; yet some will say he was; and they are right, too. He already had some form of clothing on to cover his physical nakedness. It might not have been the most fashionable covering, but Adam and Eve were wearing fig leaves. They were not totally naked by any means.
The Lord asked Adam where he was and why he was hiding, and Adam answered, “I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.” He said he was naked, but he really was not. He had at least some type of clothing on, but he said he was naked.
We must understand this and what he meant by this undressed condition, or we will have difficulty understanding what the right spiritual clothing is and make assumptions that are not necessarily true. He was not afraid when he was with Eve, and she was not afraid. They did not hide from each other and they were not ashamed to be together, even though they were unclothed. There was no hiding and no fear until the Lord God came. It was the presence of the Lord that caused the problem.
“Naked and ashamed, they tried to supply the place of the heavenly garments by sewing together fig leaves for a covering. This is what the transgressors of God’s law have done ever since the day of Adam and Eve’s disobedience. They have sewed together fig leaves to cover the nakedness caused by transgression. They have worn the garments of their own devising, by works of their own they have tried to cover their sins, and make themselves acceptable with God.” COL 311.
The problem is more than covering my body or Adam’s body or Eve’s body. It is more than embarrassment over physical nakedness. They were concerned about covering their sins and about appearing in God’s presence. There did not seem to be much of a problem until God came to visit them. As long as the Lord seemed to be away, it was not too difficult. How do you cover sins? With good works? We think we can. They might have been good at sewing fig leaves, but it did not seem to help.
The following quote says that no amount of our good works can accomplish this: “But this they can never do. Nothing can man devise to supply the place of his lost robe of innocence. No fig-leaf garment, no worldly citizen dress, can be worn by those who sit down with Christ and angels at the marriage supper of the Lamb. Only the covering which Christ Himself has provided can make us meet to appear in God’s presence. This covering, the robe of His own righteousness, Christ will put upon every repenting, believing soul.” COL 311.
Many have the idea that if they try hard enough, they will be good enough. Others say that if they have done the best they can, they will be good enough to appear in His presence. But that is not the problem. The problem is that we have to cover far more than we realize. There are many other issues to take care of than our goodness. Goodness is not the only problem. Our goodness does not counteract what we have been in the past. It does not matter how beautifully you sew or design your own fig leaves. Fig leaves are always unacceptable. Always! You can never do well enough with man’s devising to accomplish acceptance. God insists on something different, and He offers to give that to us.
This thought was expressed by Jesus in a parable where a man entered a wedding feast clothed in his common dress. He had refused to wear the robe provided by the king. “And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment. And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 22:11-13. No problem seemed to exist as they waited for the bridegroom who tarried, but when the king came in, then the problem arose, so much so that he was speechless. He seemed to be in good standing prior to that time, but now he was not. This clothing is a most unique problem, and, of course, the clothing in Christ’s parable is righteousness.
Referring to Adam and Eve, Ellen White wrote: “The love and peace which had been theirs was gone, and in its place they felt a sense of sin, a dread of the future, a nakedness of soul.” PP 57. Not of body but of soul. We try to make ourselves acceptable to people, and try to cover what we think is our nakedness. We try to do our best, but this is not the problem. I might look very good to you, but God does not look on the outside. He looks on the heart or the soul. He sees things you never see in me and in you. Sometimes He sees things in me that I am unwilling to see. What can I do about those things that are deep down in my soul? I can make my lips say right things and my eyes see right things and my hands do right things, but what about my soul? Does it like to cooperate with behavior changes? Or does it grudgingly say it will do only what is necessary to look good to my peers?
The Lord looks on the heart. It was contaminated by my first sin and by all my sins since then, and no matter how many good things my hands do, my soul still has some problems. When Jesus comes around, my soul seems to be naked. Jesus is capable of looking right into my soul. He does not seem to miss a thing.
We know about the time when Christ drove the money changers out of the temple, and how He looked into the hearts of those Pharisees and Priests. They ran for fear even though they were leaders. Was it because of the whip in His hand? It was the look in His eye. They felt undressed before Him. Everything was laid bare before His vision. Nothing was hidden from His sight. This is the problem. It is not a question of how much good or bad you see in me, or that I see in you. The question is: What will the King see in me when He comes in? What will I look like when exposed to His view? It is like He has x-ray vision, and my garments do not hide a thing from Him. That is the way Adam and Eve felt, standing there with nothing concealed. My righteousness might look good to me, and even to you, but He looks beyond the external right into the depths of my heart; and He finds things there I do not like. I hardly ever look at them, so I don’t feel well when I see them.
“One ray of the glory of God, one gleam of the purity of Christ, penetrating the soul, makes every spot of defilement painfully distinct, and lays bare the deformity and defects of the human character. It makes apparent the unhallowed desires, the infidelity of the heart, the impurity of the lips. The sinner’s acts of disloyalty in making void the law of God, are exposed to his sight, and his spirit is stricken and afflicted under the searching influence of the Spirit of God. He loathes himself as he views the pure, spotless character of Christ.” SC 29.
Somehow we think that when we feel that way, the preacher did it, or our parents did it, or the teacher. I become sensitive and say, “Get off my back and stop criticizing me!” We become afraid and we want to run and hide; and we say, “I don’t ever want to go back there again. I don’t want to hear that person again. They criticize me too much!” Did God criticize Adam and Eve? Not a word. Somehow they came to the conclusion that God was their enemy, but He had come every day in the cool of the day, because He was their friend and they were His friends. It was a pleasant occasion to meet together, and there they would sit during that heavenly visit in paradise. But with just one act of sin they supposed that a God of love was a God of hate who only criticized.
Our paranoid condition and our sensitivity about our sins is not necessarily caused by the law or the standards of the school or church. Our sensitivity is innate. It is inherent in transgression. Adam and Eve had no one else to blame for being so sensitive, did they? They tried to blame it on each other and on the serpent, but there was none to blame but themselves. God had not criticized them or harassed them. But they were very sensitive, so much so that they were afraid and tried to defend themselves, which is exactly what we do. We say it must have been the harsh standards of my home or my church or my teachers or my school, and we leave out the very nature of sin itself. We wrongly understand God. He suddenly becomes someone after us, against us; yet He only desires to come for a very friendly visit. In Eden, there was no change in God. All the change was in two people who used to fondly welcome His visits, but now feared them. We wonder why we sometimes fear going to church, or to Prayer Meeting, or Bible classes.
I wish you would think about this. We have so many misconceptions of God, and yet He is so different than what most of us think because we all have problems with our sins. Thus, we become afraid and run when we think He might be around. He is not what we often imagine or portray Him to be. We must not only learn to live with God in the hereafter but today. He wants to walk and talk with us today. He wants us to abide with Him. He desires a close intimacy with us because He is our friend; and in many ways the Bible tells us that. Because of our problems and our sins, we think that He is no longer our friend and that He is against us. This is something He has never said.
I wish you would go back and think of how in 1888, the righteousness of Jesus was preached. In reality they were preaching the Laodicean message; and that was an unpopular message then as well as today. The Laodicean message does not pat us on the back and make us feel good.
Laodiceans have a clothing problem. I hope you know who Laodicea is. The True Witness says, “I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear.” Revelation 3:18. Then He goes on to talk about the eye salve that we all need in order to rightly see our condition.
The counsel is to buy white raiment so you can be clothed and cover the shame of your nakedness. This is the Lord’s wish. He offers that white raiment to us. It is not something I do so that I am able to stand in His presence. It is something He gives to me. I keep trying to produce the righteousness that will qualify me, but He says, “Let me give it to you. I have it already. I would like to make it yours. Will you allow Me to do this?”
The nakedness of Laodicea makes them similar to Adam and Eve, but there is another problem here that makes it dissimilar. The Lord did not come into the presence of Adam and Eve, if you will check very carefully in Genesis 3:8. They only heard His voice, and when they heard the voice of God speaking to them, they were afraid and ran to hide.
The Laodicean message is the voice from the True and Faithful Witness. And according to Revelation 1:5 and 3:14, Jesus is the Faithful Witness. He says He is speaking to us, and wants to know if we can hear Him. Adam and Eve ran to hide, afraid when they heard God’s voice; but Laodiceans have the voice of God speaking to them, but they do not run and hide. In fact, they do not even think they are naked according to verse 17. “Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art…naked.” We do not know it. God speaks, but somehow I am not afraid, and somehow I do not want to run and hide. I do not even sense that I need clothing. Instead, I say I am dressed like a wealthy person with the finest clothing, and I am very well satisfied. How is it that the people in Laodicea can have the voice of God speaking to them, and still be so satisfied, believing that they are clothed? How can it be that they do not feel naked and afraid?
Here is the answer: “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him and will sup with him, and he with Me.” Revelation 3:20. Laodicea has trouble listening. Their ears somehow do not function well. He knocks, and the knocking is His voice. If we would only hear, He would speak to us and tell us many wonderful things. If we could only hear Him knocking and then respond by opening the door, He would come in and we could be together with Him. Then something would happen. When I come into the presence of the Lord, He sees me and I see Him. As long as I can keep Him outside of the door, apart from me, I can be very comfortable. As long as I can keep my ears from hearing, I can be quite satisfied. Therefore, I work hard at not hearing, and especially at not meeting Him. I avoid all occasions where I might meet Him. If only I could go to church every Sabbath and not meet Him, and never hear the still, small voice, I would go home feeling wonderful and certain that I am on the road to heaven. I would be content and smug and complacent. But I must not hear His voice. If I can sit in your Sabbath school class, or even teach your class, so that no one ever meets or hears Jesus, that is a very satisfying class. In fact, I can sleep nicely during class, and afterward and at night.
We can have our daily devotions without ever meeting Jesus or hearing Him. We may study our Sabbath school lesson, and visit our friends, and discuss theology, and even preach, yet never meet Jesus, and never hear His voice, continuing on as if we are extremely satisfied, never afraid and never wanting to run and hide. We have become experts at avoiding Jesus. In fact, we can talk about Christianity and theology and never mention His name. Preachers can preach for a whole hour and never mention His name. We can even mention His name, but neither hear Him nor meet Him.
Two young people once came to me who at that time were attending a college of another denomination, and they asked me a puzzling question. “Elder Lehman, we are not opposed to the Sabbath nor the law. In fact, we rather like it and have even attended church here on the Sabbath. But why can we not talk to the people on this campus about Jesus? All they want to do is talk about the Sabbath and other subjects. Why will they not talk about Jesus?” It was just a question, not a criticism. Are you comfortable talking about Jesus, as comfortable as you are about talking about the Sabbath? Or are you uncomfortable? Do you get uneasy when someone asks, “Do you love Jesus?” Do you want to run and hide? Do the wheels in your mind begin to spin and you just want to get away?
It is not until I see Jesus, until I hear His voice, that I can ever discover what I am like in my soul. You do not make me feel undressed, so far as clothing the soul. Even when you get critical of me, I can excuse and justify everything I do. I have invented many good arguments. I can just push you away and you cannot make me cringe or afraid. I can always defend myself. But Jesus does not quibble, does He? He just looks and does not say anything. He just comes knocking on the door wanting a friendly visit. I feel like He hates me because I misunderstand Him so much. I become afraid because I misunderstand why He comes. He does not come to make us afraid. He comes because He loves to be with us. He comes to supply the great deficiency that makes us feel so naked. He comes to protect us, to clothe us. He comes to bless us so that we can stand in His presence with no fear. He says He has all that is required to enable you to stand. We don’t believe Him. We have been afraid of Him for so many years. We have been taught that God is against us unless we are totally right in commandment keeping; and therefore we must qualify ourselves for His first visit. But that is impossible for us to do—to qualify ourselves, or make ourselves worthy to meet with Him. We are all unqualified for the first visit.
How do you hear His voice? “You who in heart long for something better than this world can give, recognize this longing as the voice of God to your soul.” SC 28. I hear many people expressing a dissatisfaction with their experience. That is the voice of God. Recognize this longing as the voice of God to your soul. Ask Him to give you repentance, to reveal Christ to you in His infinite love, and He will do that. Do not run away and be afraid of the One who loved you so much that He died for you. We all need that visit and every succeeding visit. He is reconciled to us, but we think we are still alienated. Paul said, “be ye reconciled to God.” 2 Corinthians 5:20. He can even reach the hearts of the hard-hearted, and even the hearts of Laodiceans. He knows exactly what they need and what to do for them.
There are those who think they are righteous enough. “We may have flattered ourselves, as did Nicodemus, that our life has been upright, that our moral character is correct, and think that we need not humble the heart before God, like the common sinner: but when the light from Christ shines into our souls, we shall see how impure we are; we shall discern the selfishness of motive, the enmity against God, that has defiled every act of life. Then we shall know that our own righteousness is indeed as filthy rags, and that the blood of Christ alone can cleanse us from the defilement of sin, and renew our hearts in His own likeness.” SC 29,29.
We either fear to visit with Jesus, or we say we are good enough and do not need to spend time with Him. We isolate, or insulate ourselves from Him, even from His voice. We say we have no need, so why, then, should I open the door? He has nothing I need. I have it all. For one reason or another we keep Him away, and we go on in life saying that we will be able to stand when every eye shall see Him. Christ knows He is coming back soon, more than we accept that fact. He knows every eye will see Him, and He wants all to meet Him in peace, and not cry for the rocks and mountains to fall on them and hide them from the face of Him that sits on the throne. He does not want that or He would not have died for us. He wants to enable us to stand now and forever. Let Him make you acceptable, let Him hide that nakedness and cover it so that you never need to be afraid again.
God was pleased to say to Israel, “put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem,” Isaiah 52:1. Joshua the high priest was clothed in filthy garments and standing before the angel of the Lord; and the Lord said, “Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him He said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.” Zechariah 3:4.
Luke tells the story of how the prodigal son went back to the father, totally unfit, and how he said, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.” Luke 15:21. And the Father said, “Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him.” Not just any robe, but the best he had. Put it on him, the unfit one. Then he made a great feast for the one who was dead and is now alive. This is what our God says and what our Lord teaches. The prodigal son came home very hesitant because he knew all he lacked, and wondered how his father could accept him. What did the father do? He fell on his neck and kissed him.
Some people do so such damage to Christianity that it is unbelievable. We wonder why so many of our children stay away. They are wise, because we make it difficult for anyone to come the way we exact things from them. It is the father who made that son fit, and no one else. The young man probably did not even have a bath, but the father said to bring forth the best robe and put it on him. Not until we come to Jesus in all our great need can the nakedness of our souls be covered. The Lord says he is knocking at your door and wants you to hear His voice and let Him in. He also says, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.” Revelation 3:19. If He did not love us, He would stop knocking on the door. He is persistent because He loves us so much.
Peter taught that the Lord “is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9. He knocks, and knocks, and knocks, and He continues knocking. He has been knocking at the door of Laodiceans since 1888. And everyday that He keeps knocking He is saying, “Do not fear Me. Do not run and hide. Do not chase me away. Do not be afraid to open the door. I have stayed here so long because I want you and want to be with you. Let Me in.” But how often we think it is different. Some say they have everything and are already qualified for heaven. But He knocks at their hearts, too, and says He has something they do not have but greatly need.
The apostle Paul asks if we know that “the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?” Romans 2:4. He is trying to teach us that the goodness of God’s forbearance and His longsuffering should lead us to repentance. Why do you think that God is delaying the return of Christ? Do you think He is waiting on the world? He loves those in the world, but He is especially waiting on the Laodiceans who are afraid to let Him in, and those who think that they are good enough without Him.
In the message of Christ our righteousness, the Lord is knocking every day. It is a tragedy that we misunderstand His knocking. It must break His heart to realize that we hear Him but are afraid to let Him in. He does not want to criticize us. “For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved.” John 3:17. He is not out to find fault with us or to spy on us. He is not an enemy. He is our Lover, and we should know that.
It must break His heart that with all His expressions of love, and all the demonstrations of His goodness, that we still think He is against us. With all the beauty of holiness that the Lord possesses, it is a wonder that we would think that our righteousness might be good enough by comparison. Our own righteousness will continue looking good as long as He is outside the door.
No matter what your thoughts are about this, the Lord is patient, longsuffering, longing for you as though you were the only soul in the universe. He wants to take care of that emptiness in your heart; and right now any emptiness you feel is the Lord’s voice asking, “Why do you keep Me so far away? Why do you refuse to hear? Why do you listen to everyone else?”
He does not want us to be too emotional lest we fail to use our good judgment; but He certainly wants us to sense our great need, to hear His voice, and sense His strong desire to live with us so that we might never, never part. He wants to live with us now, and He wants us to meet Him in peace when every eye shall see Him, and with longing in our hearts say, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him and He will save us.” And thus we can live together forever with this precious One, because you are so precious to Him.
May God help us to realize this day that “If God be for us, who can be against us?” Romans 8:41. May we correctly understand the knocking and hear the sweet voice; and may we put away all our fears, and the temptation to run. May we let the Savior in.