We can know some of the thrill of appreciating beauty in God's creation; but can we sense the greater thrill of appreciating beauty in His message of salvation?
Is the gospel abstract theology as impersonal as mathematics or chemistry? Is our acceptance of it a commitment or proposition like signing for an insurance policy?
If understood aright, it's a message that grips the human heart more deeply and lastingly than any human love. A heart-response to it moves one to a never-dying devotion to Christ.
Throughout the long years of her ministry Ellen White tried to awaken that heart-response in the members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, with less than perfect success she often says. But she was overjoyed when she first heard the 1888 message. It was what she said she had been "trying to present" for forty-five years but had never heard anyone else publicly proclaim.1
It was straightforward New Testament truth but fresh to those who heard it because it was permeated with a new idea beyond what had been understood. It linked justification by faith to the unique idea of the cosmic Day of Atonement.
This seemed to be "new truth" rather shocking to many. Jesus said there is only one prerequisite to salvation: God loved the world, gave His only begotten Son, did all that so "who ever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."2 And to realize that this was the "third angel's message in verity," a message emphasizing grace and faith rather than beasts, a dragon, or fire and brimstone—to many it seemed strangely out of place in Adventism.
According to this, our part is to believe (the Greek word for believe and to have faith is the same.) Thus Jesus seems to have taught clearly that salvation comes through faith, and since He added nothing else, He obviously meant that salvation comes by grace through faith alone. He didn't say it's through faith plus works.
That made many draw a deep breath. Isn't it necessary to keep the commandments, pay tithe, give offerings, keep the Sabbath, do good works? Yes, definitely; but we have no right to add to John 3:16 words that Jesus did not utter.
Then did He teach the "only believe" heresy that lulls so many people into a do-nothing-and-love-the-world, couch-potato deception? Some opponents of the message mistakenly assumed that it was superficial Evangelicalism.
No; Christ taught a different kind of faith, the kind "which works," and which itself produces obedience to all the commandments of God. Such faith makes the believer "zealous of good works" so numerous they cannot be measured.3 God has already done the loving, and the giving. Our part (believing) comes by responding to that Good News with the heart appreciation that's appropriate— yielding to a heavenly love. Good works follow such genuine faith as surely as fruit follows seed planting. And then all the obedience part of thefamiliar "third angel's message” comes into place, but far more so, for here was a message that would prepare a people for the coming of Jesus. That’s what alerted Ellen White.
It was and still is a mistake to assume that the 1888 message was soft on works. Pure Day-of-Atonement righteousness by faith is the only message that can produce anything other than "dead works."
Getting to Know What Faith Is
What was the measure of the Father's love? Note carefully the verb in John 3:16. He did not merely lend His Son; He gave Him.
In our human judgment it's easy to assume that the Father lent Him as a missionary or foreign diplomat who spent 33 years in lonely exile here and then returned to His heavenly home base. The agony of the cross lasted only a few hours, and the entire episode of His life on earth seems like a comparatively brief term of service. Missionaries often spend many more years in lonely service overseas.
But the reality of Christ's sacrifice means infinitely more than almost all Christians imagine. A refreshing, wider view was glimpsed by the 1888 messengers:
Now a question: Was this a gift of only thirty-three years? ... Or was it an eternal sacrifice? ... The answer is that it was for all eternity. ... He gave himself to us. ... He bears our nature forevermore. That is the sacrifice that wins the hearts of men. ... That is the love of God.... Whether the man believes it or not, there is a subduing power in it, and the heart must stand in silence in the presence of that awful fact... Ever since that blessed fact came to me that the sacrifice of the Son of God is an eternal sacrifice, and all for me, the word has been upon my mind almost hourly: "I will go softly before the Lord all my days."4
The idea is that to believe means to stand in awe of that sacrifice, to let your human heart be moved by it to where you forget yourself and you let that love motivate you to a measure of devotion you never dreamed possible for your selfish heart. That is how righteousness is not by faith and works, but by "faith which works."5
But how can we learn to appreciate that love, so that this powerful faith can begin to work in us? If we can find the answer, we can get out of our rut of lukewarmness.
Here's where the problem arose. The answer lies not in frenetic doings of this or that superficial "obedience," but in seeing something: comprehending the kind of sacrifice that Jesus made.
Paul says he "glories in the cross" because its reality solves a problem that psychiatrists and counselors are powerless to solve— the problem of deep self-centeredness." “I have been crucified with Christ," he says.6 Paul is not talking about a grit-your-teeth and clench-your-fist kind of self-discipline. He saw a dynamic power in the truth of the cross that has eluded most of humanity. And because we haven't comprehended it (to borrow from Paul's prayer in Ephesians 3:14-19), we can't help but remain egocentric and lukewarm in our devotion.
What Is So Special About Jesus Dying for Us?
Billions of people have died, and many have suffered physical agony for longer periods of time than Jesus did. Is the difference only in the personhood of the Victim—He was divine (whereas we who die are human), so that His death has sufficient merit to satisfy the legal demands of the law? However true this popular doctrine may be, it does not do justice to the death of Christ. Nor does it move the human heart.
When He humbled Himself "even to the death of the cross,” Christ suffered what Paul calls “the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree'). "The apostle is quoting the great Moses who ruled that any criminal sentenced to die on a tree is automatically “accursed of God." That is, God has slammed the door of heaven against him and refuses to hear his prayer for forgiveness.7 Don't get hung up on whether or not this was fair; Moses said it and everybody who respected Moses believed it.
That's why a crucifixion was a gala event, like a circus. The victim is God's write-off to be tormented as everyone's sadistic urges might dictate. If you as the spectator are "godly," you must show that you agree with God's judgment against the victim and curse him too, and do all you can to add to his torment. As Christ hung on His cross, that's how the people viewed Him. It was their duty to revile Him. He felt the "curse of God” as painfully real, and that's what killed Him.
The Bible speaks of two different kinds of death, and we must not confuse them. What we call death the Bible calls "sleep," but the real thing is "the second death."8 It's the death in which the sufferer sees no ray of hope because he feels forever forsaken by God. It's the horror-filled realization of utter despair, of divine condemnation beyond which the sufferer can expect no vindication, no resurrection, no light beyond a never-ending midnight blackness.
More than this, it's the death wherein one feels the full weight of sin's guilt, the fires of self-condemnation and self-abhorrence burning in every cell of one's being. You have no refuge of innocence. Such a death is the "curse" that Moses had mentioned.
Since the world began, not one human soul has as yet suffered that second death, the full consciousness of that complete God-forsakenness—with the exception of Jesus. He was "made a curse for us" (KJV). He experienced to the full the feelings of depression and despair that the lost will at last sense that they brought upon themselves in the final Judgment.
Why No One Else Has Ever Died That Death
No one else has ever been physically or spiritually capable of feeling that full weight of the guilt of sin, or of sensing the glory of a forfeited heaven. There’s a reason: no human being can feel this full load so long as a heavenly High Priest continues to serve as mankind's Substitute and High Priest, for “He is the propitiation ... for the sins of the whole world."9 He took the full condemnation upon Himself, and released us ("all men") from it. This does not make "all men" to be righteous by any means; but this is why God can treat "all men" as though they were righteous. It's why God can send His rain on the just and on the unjust alike.
God has given to Seventh-day Adventists a unique insight into the nature of Christ's sacrifice. In recently rereading three major works by Evangelical scholars on the nature of agape, I was impressed that not one sees this insight that Ellen White and the 1888 messengers saw in the cross:
The Saviour could not see through the portals of the tomb. Hope did not present to Him His coming forth from the grave a conqueror, or tell Him of the Father's acceptance of the sacrifice. ... Christ felt the anguish which the sinner will feel when mercy shall no longer plead for the guilty race.10
In Ephesians 3:14-19 we can try to measure some of the dimensions of the agape revealed at the cross, to sense a little of its "width and length and depth and height":
I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,... that He would grant you ... to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you ... may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love [agape] of Christ... that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
(1) Paul is not concerned about our doing this or that, but he prays that we might be privileged to comprehend something. If we grasp it, a new motivation possesses our hearts. Then all the right doings will happen. Even sacrifice will become a delight.
(2) For Christ to dwell in our hearts by faith means that we are "rooted and grounded in love [agape]."This is simply another way of defining faith as a heart-appreciation of that love.
(3) The dimensions of this love are as high as heaven, as deep as hell, as broad as the human race, as wide as your own heart's need (or anybody else's). It is tailor-designed to fit your own personality based on your unique life history—all the way from your conception. It's the idea in Psalm 139:
"You have covered me in my mother's womb,...
My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought..."
Christ being infinite, He understands the real you as no one else does, and much better than you do because you don't know that "secret" in your “mother's womb."
(4) We can't wait until eternity to begin to learn to know and appreciate what happened on the cross. It is possible now to know "by faith" what “passes knowledge." Without stretching our minds and hearts to "comprehend" it, we may find ourselves at last alienated from eternal life. Hearts can harden to a point of no return. Eternal life is not a materialistic orgy; it begins now with a new spiritual awareness. Our human hearts are so little—they need to be stretched and enlarged, as David prays, "l will run in the way of Your commandments, for You shall enlarge my heart."11
(5) Someone very important, even the apostle Paul, prayed for you and me that we might join “all the saints" in "comprehending" this reality. Part of the answer to Paul's prayer must have been God's sending the 1888 message to Seventh-day Adventists. It solves the problem of our universal love affair with our ego.
Why Has This Truth Not Been Understood as It Deserves?
Satan knows that if human beings can appreciate the dimensions of that love, they will “be filled with all the fulness of God," as Paul prays. Hence the enemy wants to eclipse or becloud it.
This has been the principal work of the "little horn" of Daniel 7 and 8 and the "beast" of Revelation 13.12 Long before the Sabbath was changed from the seventh to the first day, this apostate power sought to corrupt the true idea of agape that is essential to appreciating Day-of-Atonement righteousness by faith.
Perhaps his most successful method has been to invent the doctrine of the natural immortality of the human soul. It permeates many religions. The idea came from paganism and was adopted early on by apostate Christianity. It has had a devastating effect on the true idea of the gospel, for it paralyzes it. The Seventh-day Adventist Church does not believe in that false doctrine, but the modern lukewarmness that pervades the world church comes from importing popular ideas of the gospel that are related to it. A few exceptions only prove the rule. For example:
(1) If the soul is naturally immortal, Christ could not have died the equivalent of "the second death." For those who accept natural immortality, His sacrifice is automatically reduced to a few hours of physical and mental suffering while He was sustained throughout by hope. Thus the pagan-papal doctrine dwarfs "the width and length and depth and height" of Christ's love. It reduces His agape to the dimensions of a human love motivated by self-concern and hope of reward.13
(2) The result is a diluting of the idea of faith. It becomes an egocentric search for security. The highest motivation possible remains ego-centered. All pagan religions are self-centered in their appeal, and since almost all Christian churches accept this pagan-papal doctrine, they get locked in to what is basically an egocentric mind-set. Despite their great sincerity, so long as human minds are blinded thus they cannot appreciate the dimensions of the love revealed at the cross, and in consequence are hindered from understanding the righteousness by faith idea that relates to the cleansing of the sanctuary truth.
The result has to be a widespread lukewarmness, spiritual pride, self-satisfaction, due to subservience to ego-centeredness. Fear always lurks beneath its surface.
(3) As best he could in his day, Luther understood this dynamic of faith as a heart-appreciation of agape, yet he fell short of an adequate grasp of its full dimensions because he lived too early to grasp the idea of the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary. And after his death his followers soon reverted to the pagan-papal concept of natural immortality. Most Protestant ideas of justification by faith are therefore conditioned by this idea. A few individual exceptions prove the fact.
(4) Our 1888 message began to cut the ties that blinded us by Protestant views that beneath the surface were related to Rome. Now those ideas are bearing fruit in Protestants more and more openly leaning toward Rome. The 1888 message was "the beginning" of a rediscovery of what Paul and the apostles saw.
How the 1888 Message Was Such Unusual Good News
When Jesus died on the cross, did He make a mere provision whereby something could be done for us if we first did our part? Or did He actually do something for “all men"? If so, what did He do for them?
The Bible assures us that He "is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world." As "all have sinned," so all are “being justified freely by His grace.""God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them." Since "the wages of sin is death,” Jesus came that He “might taste [that] death for every man. "Through His “righteous act the free gift came to oilmen, resulting in justification of life."14
The common idea is that the sacrifice of Christ is on\y provisional, that is, it does nothing for anyone unless he first does something to activate it and "accepts Christ." As it were, Jesus stands back with His divine arms folded, doing nothing for the sinner until he decides to "accept." In other words, salvation is a heavenly process that remains inert until we take the initiative. Like a washing machine in a laundromat, it has been provided, but it does nothing for us until we first pay the price to activate it.
In contrast, the 1888 message understands our texts: (1) Christ tasted "death [the second] for every man." (2) As "all have sinned," so "all "are" being justified freely by His grace. “This is a legal justification, as we shall soon see; He does not force anyone to become righteous against his will. (3) By virtue of Christ's sacrifice, God is not "imputing their trespasses" unto the world. He imputed them to Christ instead. This is why no lost person can suffer the second death until after the final judgment, which can come only after the second resurrection. And this why all can live even now, believers and unbelievers alike. Our very life is purchased by Him, even though multitudes have no knowledge of that truth. (4) "The whole world" has been redeemed, if only someone could tell them and they could believe it. Hearing and believing that truth transforms the heart.
Ellen White agrees. Every person owes his or her physical life and all he has or is to the One who "died for all":
To the death of Christ we owe even this earthly life.... Never one, saint or sinner, eats his daily food, but he is nourished by the body and the blood of Christ. The cross of Calvary is stamped on every loaf. It is reflected in every water-spring.15
When the sinner sees this truth and his heart appreciates it, he expenences justification byfaith This is therefore far more than a legal declaration of acquittal—which was made at the cross for "all men." Justification by faith includes a change of heart. It is the same as the forgiveness that actually takes the sin away from the heart. The Greek word for forgiveness means taking it away, reclaiming from it.16
In other words, the believer who exercises such faith becomes inwardly and outwardly obedient to all the commandments of God. Such faith, if it is not hindered and confused with Babylon's error, will grow to be so mature and powerful that it will prepare a people for the return of Christ. This, said Ellen White, “is the third angel's message in verity."17
Not all will be saved. But the reason is deeper than that they were not clever or prompt enough to seize the initiative. That is true, but there is something beyond it. They will have actually resisted and rejected the salvation already "freely” given them in Christ. God has taken the initiative to save "all men,” but humans have the ability, the freedom of will, to thwart and veto what Christ has already accomplished for them and has actually placed in their hands. They can repeat what Esau did who "despised" his birthright and "sold" it for "one morsel of food."18
We can cherish our alienation from Christ and our hatred of His righteousness until we close the gates of heaven against ourselves. According to the 1888 concept, those who are saved at last are saved due to God's initiative; those who are lost at last are lost because of their own initiative. Here is the 1888 idea:
The faith of Christ must bring the righteousness of God, because the possession of that faith is the possession of the Lord himself. This faith is dealt to every man, even as Christ gave himself to every man. Do you ask what then can prevent every man from being saved? The answer is, Nothing, except the fact that all men will not keep the faith. If all would keep all that God gives them, all would be saved.19
There is not the slightest reason why every man that has ever lived should not be saved unto eternal life, except that they would not have it. So many spurn the gift offered so freely.20
According to Jesus, the only sin for which anyone can be lost is that of not appreciating and receiving His grace. This is what unbelief is. "He who does not believe is condemned.... And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light."21
How can it be that the cross is "stamped on every loaf" of bread so that even unbelieving sinners enjoy life because of Christ's sacrifice? As the Lamb “slain from the foundation of the world,” He has "brought life... to light through the gospel,"22 life for the world itself. The human race was so degraded in the time of the Roman Empire that mankind would have destroyed themselves if Christ had not come when He did "in the fullness of the time."
Even the wicked today draw their next breath because of Christ's cross, though they do not know the fact. No one, believer or unbeliever, can know a moment's joyous laughter except that a price was paid by the One upon whom was laid "the chastisement for our peace,” and by whose “stripes we are healed."23 The Hindu doctrine of karma is wrong because we do not pay for our sins; but Christ paid the karma for them all. For "all men" He has brought "life." For those who believe, He has also brought "immortality."
Isn't Paul's Idea Clear as Sunlight?
He sets it out succinctly: "As through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man's righteous act, the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life."24
There are four ways that this inspired statement has been understood:
(1) The Calvinist view implies that Paul didn't say it quite right— "the free gift... resulting in justification of life “came only on the elect, not on "all men."Or, the non-elect are so unimportant that they aren't included in "all men."
(2) The Universalist view understands from this that "all men" must be saved at last. But they err, as we shall see.
(3) Arminianism was a protest against Calvinism, but again it doesn't get what Paul actually said even though it is the generally popular Adventist view. Paul did not say it quite right—"the free gift... resulting in justification of life “did not actually come upon "all men," says this view. Christ only made it provisional whereby it might possibly come if, but not until, they do something right first. Unless they activate the heavenly machinery, nothing happens. The washing machine in the laundromat is provisional, but it won't work without coins.25 This view is widely believed, for it sounds reasonable. It superficially explains why so many will be lost—they didn't take the initiative to pay the price and put the coins in the machine. But this view conflicts with what Paul actually said and requires changing his word "gift" (repeated five times in Romans 5) into a mere “offer."
(4) The 1888 message view accepts that he said it exactly right. Christ as "the last Adam" has reversed the evil that the first Adam did. As surely as "all men" were condemned by Adam's sin, so surely "all men" have been legally justified by Christ's sacrifice. He has already tasted death for "every man," suffered the punishment of sin for "all men," died their second death. He is the propitiation for the sins "of the whole world." No one could draw his next breath unless his sins had already been imputed unto Christ, for no one, saint or sinner, could bear his own full guilt even for a moment and still live.
Waggoner sees that Christ did more than make a mere provisional plan for a possible salvation that becomes real only if we succeed in taking the initiative:
As the condemnation came upon all, so the justification comes upon all. Christ has tasted death for every man. He has given himself for all. Nay, he has given himself to every man. The free gift has come upon all. The fact that it is a free gift is evidence that there is no exception. If it came upon only those who have some special qualification, then it would not be a free gift. It is a fact, therefore, plainly stated in the Bible, that the gift of righteousness and life in Christ has come to every man on earth.26
In the light of the cross, even "neglect" of "so great salvation" is seen to be rejection of it. This is the definition of unbelief. Thus the lost person condemns himself before the universe. He unfits himself for eternal life. He shuts himself out of heaven.27
The Good News Is Better Than We Have Thought
According to the "most precious" 1888 message, our salvation does not depend on our taking the first step; it depends on our believing that God has taken the initiative in saving us. It does not depend on our holding on to God's hand (we are weak); it depends on our believing that He is holding on tight to our hand.
There is no parable that tells of a lost sheep that must find its way back to the shepherd; but there is one of a Good Shepherd who searches for His lost sheep. The ancient pagans were scandalized by the apostles’ teaching that God is not waiting for man to seek Him, but is already seeking for man.28 The lady didn't wait for her lost silver coin to come back; she went looking for it. The prodigal came home only because he remembered, and was drawn by the father's love. The initiative was always with the father; the son only responded to it.
The Bible teaches that it is not our job to initiate a "relationship" with Christ, for He has initiated it with us. Our job is to believe it, to cherish and appreciate it.
If teaching which professes to be righteousness by faith turns out to be a subtle works program, it nurtures lukewarmness because its bottom line is fearful self-concern. It's questionable if human wisdom can invent a righteousness by faith closer to Scripture than what Ellen White described as "most precious" which the Lord sent us "in His great mercy."
Neither is it strictly true to say that our salvation depends on our maintaining a relationship with the Lord. The Good Shepherd keeps looking for His sheep "until He find it."29 In other words, He wants you to be saved more than you want to be saved. He does not get tired or discouraged as we do in our lukewarm unbelief.
Our salvation depends on our believing that He loves us so much that He will maintain that relationship unless we beat Him off. Stop resisting the leading and prompting of the Holy Spirit! His role is that of Husband; His people become the bride. Their devotion is always a response to His aggressive, initiating, and on-going love. This truth humbles the pride of man in the dust.
In other words, to put the 1888 message into very simple words— salvation is by grace alone and receiving it depends on faith. Your job is not to climb up to heaven or descend down to hell looking for Jesus as though He were hiding from you, but to recognize that He has found you by "the word of faith, which we preach."30
When we ask the Bible question, “What must I do to be saved?" we must let the Bible give the answer. It is not do this, and do that; get up earlier, work harder, study more; pray more; do more witnessing; make more sacrifices; give more; achieve more goals; master more techniques; go to more seminars. All these things are good, but the true answer is, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved."31
The Bible does not teach a heresy! The key is understanding what it means to believe. Due to the natural immortality error, it is difficult for "Babylon" to grasp the idea. We can't permit Satan to preempt that genuine word "faith" through his counterfeits, so that we turn away from genuine righteousness by faith and revert to a subtle works program.
But People Still Have Problems with the Good News
Doesn't the Bible tell us that it is our job to "seek the Lord"? Do the Old Testament "seek-ye-the-Lord" texts contradict Jesus' New Testament parable of the Good Shepherd seeking us?
Even the Old Testament texts that appear to give that impression do not do so in context. The sin of the ancient Jews was twisting Scripture to fit their old covenant ideas. Jesus came to reveal a "grace [that] did much more abound."32 Unless we understand we will forever wallow in a subtle form of legalism, paralyzing our message to the world so that we win only a few of those we could otherwise win.
Look at Isaiah 55:6:"Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near."The Hebrew word translated "seek" (darash) does not primarily mean seek, but it means “pay attention to," or "inquire of" (compare its use in 1 Samuel 28:7).33 Isaiah says, Pay attention to the Lord "while He is near."He emphasizes His nearness, not His farness. There is no Bible statement that reveals God as indifferently waiting for us to arouse Him from lethargy, or that He wants to hide Himself from us. Our "seeking" is always represented as a heart-response to His initiative in seeking us.
The true gospel gives a beautiful and powerful reason for serving Christ: "The love (agape) of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again."34 The original language implies that those who sense Christ's love find it impossible "henceforth” to go on living for self:
It is not the fear of punishment, or the hope of everlasting reward, that leads the disciples of Christ to follow Him. They behold the Saviour's matchless love,... and the sight of Him attracts, it softens and subdues the soul.35
The pure gospel reactivated in the 1888 message provides a deep peace, and it grows in a heart that has been delivered from that subliminal fear that shadows us from the cradle to our grave.
Sometimes rage or bitterness erupts from the murky depths of our unknown selves like a volcano we thought was extinct. Molten lava pours forth from deep subterranean emotional fires.
Often they have smoldered from our infancy, yes, perhaps even from conception—like the child who realizes that he or she was the product of lust, an unwanted pregnancy. Can a fetus share somehow the bitterness of its pregnant mother? After birth the unwanted child can wonder, “Where was God when this happened?"
A child's parents may not have realized how they were destroying his or her sense of healthy self-respect by fault-finding or pressure to earn their love. Many of us carry a crushing load of guilt and alienation which stems from infantile traumas that are in no way our fault. Alcoholism, drug addiction, constitutional depression, sexual degradation, can often find their roots in infancy. Some say that homosexuality is triggered there.
And there are traumas of rejection that can devastate our adult lives, like the death of a spouse, or worse, divorce. Does the gospel have good news for us?
Yes—justification by faith! It gives you peace with God, as though you had never sinned and as though no one else had ever sinned against you. It enables you to forgive others, because you sense their guilt is corporately yours as well. It is practical healing for wounded emotions, always penetrating deeper, and blending into sanctification. And it is ministered by a High Priest who is "touched with the feeling of our infirmities."
The best modern translation of High Priest is Divine Psychiatrist or Divine Psychologist. He is on duty 24 hours a day; never takes a holiday; and He is so infinite that He gives you His full attention. You can feel like you are the only patient He has.
Notes:
- MS. 5,1889.
- John 3:16.
- Titus 2:14.
- A.T. Jones, General Conference Bulletin, 1895, p. 382.
- Galatians 5:6.
- Galatians2:20.
- Read Philippians 2:5-8; Galatians 3:13; Deuteronomy 21:22,23.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:13-15; Revelation 2:11; 20:14.
- 1 John 2:2.
- The Desire of Ages, p. 753; cf. Agape and Eros by Anders Nygren, Testaments of Love by Leon Morris, and The Love Affair by Michael Harper
- Psalm 119:32.
- Daniel 8:9-13; 7:25; Revelation 13:1-8.
- See Alexander Snyman, Natural Immortality: A Key Deception (available from this publisher).
- 1 John 2:2; Romans 3:23,24; 2 Corinthians 5:19; Hebrews 2:9; Romans 5:18.
- The Desire of Ages, p. 660.
- Aphesis, the a meaning "from," and phero meaning "carry." Cf. Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, p. 114; Selected Messages, Book One, pp. 396,397.
- This was Ellen White's phrase to describe the 1888 message. Cf. Review and Herald, April 1, 1890.
- Hebrews 12:15.
- E. J.Waggoner, Signs of the Times, January 16,1896.
- Ibid, March 12,1896.
- John 3:17-19.
- Revelation 13:8; 2 Timothy 1:10.
- Isaiah 53:5.
- Romans 5:18.
- God's grace is indeed a provision; but grace is not provisonal. It is freely given to all, not merely offered to all.
- Signs of the Times, March 12,1896.
- See The Great Controversy, p. 543.
- Luke 15:3-10; 19:10; John 4:23; Romans 10:6-8,10-13.
- Luke 15:4.
- Cf. Romans 10:6-8. All the good works will be accomplished, selflessly, by faith.
- Acts 16:30,31.
- Exodus 21:24; Matthew 5:38-42; Romans 5:20.
- King Saul asks his servants to "seek" or "find" him "a woman who is a medium."This is the common word that means "seek." It is not darash. Next he says, “that I may got her and inquire of her."That is darash, which is translated "seek" in Isaiah 55:6.
- 2 Corinthians 5:14,15, KJV.
- The Desire of Ages, p. 480