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Commentary on "Heaven's Means of Communication"

COLLEEN TINKER

 

Day 1: Sabbath Afternoon, December 27, 2008

This brief lesson identifies general revelation as God’s “revelation of Himself to all people through nature and conscience (see Ps. 19:1, Rom. 1:20).” It further identifies special revelation as “God’s revelation through the prophets as recorded in Scripture, especially His revelation through Jesus Christ.” The lesson further states, “Then later, He sent His Son, who, in the garb of humanity revealed the Father in a unique and powerful way.”

In the E.G. White Notes is this quotation from page 20 of Conflict and Courage, a collection of White’s quotes compiled for a "morning watch" devotional in 1971:

“There was to be co-operation between man and God. But this plan was greatly interfered with by Adam’s transgression. Satan led him to sin, and the Lord would not communicate with him after he had sinned as he did when he was without sin.

“After the fall Christ became Adam’s instructor. He acted in God’s stead toward humanity, saving the race from immediate death. He took upon him the office of mediator. Adam and Eve were given a probation in which to return to their allegiance, and in this plan al their posterity were embraced.

“Without the atonement of the Son of God there could have been no communication of blessing or salvation from God to man. God was jealous for the honor of His law. The transgression of that law had caused a fearful separation between God and man. To Adam in his innocence was granted communion, direct, free, and happy, with his Maker. After his transgression, God would communicate to man only through Christ and angels.”

 

Problems:

This first lesson presents Jesus not as Almighty God but as an agent of God. The quote from Conflict and Courage states that after the fall, Jesus communicated with man instead of God communicating with him.

Jesus was not merely another revelation of God and His will in a category with the prophets and the angels. In Jesus all the fullness of deity dwelt bodily (Colossians 1:19). Jesus was God (John 1:1), not merely one-third of God or an emanation of God or even one whom God exalted to the position of His Son As E. G. White stated in Spiritual Gifts, Vo. 3, P 37 and Early Writings p. 145.

While some of the angels joined Satan in his rebellion, others reasoned with him to dissuade him from his purposes, contending for the honor and wisdom of God in giving authority to his Son. Satan urged, for what reason was Christ endowed with unlimited power and such high command above himself! He stood up proudly, and urged that he should be equal with God. […] At length all the angels are summoned to appear before the Father, to have each case decided. Satan unblushingly makes known to all the heavenly family, his discontent, that Christ should be preferred before him, to be in such close conference with God, and he be uninformed as to the result of their frequent consultations. God informs Satan that this he can never know. That to his Son will he reveal his secret purposes, and that all the family of Heaven, Satan not excepted, were required to yield implicit obedience. Satan boldly speaks out his rebellion, and points to a large company who think God is unjust in not exalting him to be equal with God, and in not giving him command above Christ. He declares he cannot submit to be under Christ’s command, that God’s commands alone will he obey” Spiritual Gifts, Vo. 3, P 37.

In fact, Jesus incurred the wrath of the Pharisees because He claimed the identity of God and used God’s name, I Am (John 8:58).

Further, the Bible never implies that Christ acted “in God’s stead toward humanity”. Genesis 3 reveals God speaking face-to-face with Adam and Eve after the fall, telling them the consequences of sin and giving them the promise of a coming Redeemer who would crush the serpent’s head. Jesus further stated the complete unity he had with the Father in John 10:30, “I and the Father are one,” and John identifies Jesus this way: “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known” (John 1:18, ESV).

Moreover, the Bible does not even hint that Adam and Eve “were given a probation in which to return to their allegiance.” Rather, God stated in Genesis 3 exactly what would happen to Adam and Eve and the human race, and He promised a Redeemer and covered their shame with the skins of animals—as He covers our shame with the literal righteousness of Jesus when we believe.

In addition, the last paragraph in the Conflict and Courage excerpt above states, “God was jealous for the honor of His law.” Never does the Bible suggest that God was jealous for the honor of His law, nor does it hint that anyone ever questioned His need to vindicate His right to give the law to humans. Rather, Romans 3:20-26 clarifies that no human is justified in God’s sight by works of the law, “since through the law comes the knowledge of sin. God, however, defended His own righteousness—not the law—by displaying Jesus as a propitiation for sin, thus demonstrateing God’s righteousness in leaving the sins committed before the cross unpunished. Through Jesus’ death God demonstrated His own righteousness so “he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

Finally, the lesson closes with a question: “What can nature teach us about God? What can it not teach us? How does the revelation through Jesus Christ differ from God’s other revelations?”

Romans 1:20 states exactly what nature reveals: “his invisible attributes his eternal power and divine nature” (ESV).

Jesus, on the other hand, is “the only God, who is at the Father’s side” (John 1:18), and while “the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17, ESV). Jesus came to take away the sin of the world (John 1:29), and God publicly displayed Jesus as “a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that [God] might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:25-26, ESV).

 

Summary:

  1. Jesus is God, not an agent of God in the category of prophets or angels.
  2. God continued to communicate with mankind directly after the fall (see Genesis 3; Genesis 4:1-16; Genesis 6:7-7:5)) without using an “agent” in His stead.
  3. The concept of a time of probation is nowhere in the Bible.
  4. Jesus revealed the Father’s forgiveness, justice, and mercy.

 

Copyright 2008 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised December 27, 2008. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Glendale, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.

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