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Commentary on "Heaven's Means of Communication"
Day 7: Friday, January 2, 2009
Day seven only presents quotations from Ellen White and discussion questions. The first quotation is from Testimonies for the Church, vol. 8, pp. 265-266. The second is from Bible Echo, October 1, 1892, Par. 5.
The quote from Testimonies is this: “Christ came to teach human beings what God desires them to know. In the heavens above, in the earth, in the broad waters of the ocean, we see the handiwork of God. All created things testify to His power, His wisdom, His love. But not from the stars or the ocean or the cataract can we learn of the personality of God as it is revealed in Christ. God saw that a clearer revelation than nature was needed to portray both His personality and His character. He sent His Son into the world to reveal, so far as could be endured by human sight, the nature and the attributes of the invisible God.”
“Christ revealed all of God that sinful human beings could bear without being destroyed. He is the divine Teacher, the Enlightener. Had God thought us in need of revelations other than those made through Christ and in His written word, He would have given them.”
The second discussion question is this: “If God does reveal Himself to us through nature, at least partially, what does this tell us about our need to protect the environment?”
Problems
The quotation from Testimonies states that nature was not enough to reveal the “personality of God”. It further states that God sent Jesus to reveal, “so far as could be endured by human sight, the nature and the attributes of the invisible God.”
These statements miss the depth and reality of what Jesus revealed. Jesus came and revealed God’s justice and mercy. He did not come to demonstrate that God is gentle and not harsh or worthy of fear. He did not come to reveal a God different from the Old Testament God. Further, He did not come to vindicate the Law or to prove that He was justified in requiring the law. He did not come to prove that He was just in punishing sinners or to prove the Law could be kept. None of these ideas have any basis in Scripture.
Rather, Jesus came to demonstrate God’s righteousness. God publicly displayed Jesus “as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith” (Romans 3:25a). This public display of Jesus as a blood sacrifice was not to vindicate the law or to prove God was justified in punishing sinners. Rather, this public sacrifice was to vindicate God because He had not punished the sins of the world that had occurred prior to the cross.
Romans 3:25b-26, ESV: “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 he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”
Jesus came to show us the Father—yes. But He came to show us that God took full responsibility for sin, that God gave part of Himself—His own Son—to become a blood sacrifice to satisfy His own law of sin and death and to make it possible to forgive everyone who places saving faith in the Lord Jesus and receives the gift of His blood in payment for their sin. Jesus’ death vindicated God—but God’s death decree for sin was never in question. Nowhere does the Bible posit an accusation by any being against God’s justice.
Rather, the issue was whether or not God was justified in not destroying sinners. Jesus’ death demonstrated God’s justice in not punishing the sins committed beforehand. He didn’t vindicate God’s law—it needed no defense. It was always there as the vehicle through which came the knowledge of sin—never as the blueprint for how to be saved (Romans 3:20). Jesus demonstrated God’s mercy and justice in that God Himself is seen to be both just—properly demanding and providing propitiation for human sin—and the justifier—the one who takes the punishment onto Himself, thus justifying His own forgiveness.
This debt of God’s sacrifice is a debt too big for us to contemplate. We cannot earn it, repay Him, or bypass it and still be saved. We have to accept this horrific sacrifice as a free gift. We have to surrender to the Lord Jesus and give up our “right” to attempt to earn or repay Him. We have to live in His debt, our lives totally surrendered to Him for His purposes.
When we surrender to this greatest of all gifts, we receive the very life of God through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Our spirits are brought to life by the Spirit (John 3:5-6), we pass from death to life (John 5:24) and are seated with Christ at God’s right hand (Ephesians 2:6). Our lives become hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3), and God Himself transfers us from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of His beloved Son (Colossians 1:13).
Praise God, Jesus is all we need in order to be justified, sanctified, alive, and saved! Praise God, we can know we are saved. When we have the Son, we have life; when we do not have the Son of God, we do not have life (1 John 5:12).
Jesus is enough!
Summary
- Jesus didn’t just come to reveal the Father’s personality or to vindicate the law. He came to demonstrate God’s righteousness. God had not punished the sins committed beforehand, and Jesus came to prove that God was both just and the justifier of everyone who believes in Jesus (Romans 3:25-26).
- Jesus’ death is a sacrifice that leaves us entirely in His debt. We must give up our desire to repay, earn, or otherwise be worthy of it. Our only response can be surrender to His purposes. Our own control over our lives is over.
- When we surrender to the great gift, we receive the very life of God in the Person of the Holy Spirit indwelling us and bringing us to life. We cross over from death to life, and our life becomes hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3).
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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