Commentary on "The Inspiration of the Prophets"

ROY TINKER

 

Day 6: Thursday, January 29, 2009

Believing in Ellen White as a prophet and trying to keep faith in that belief is an arduous task. The Seventh-day Adventist church and many of its members put countless hours of reasoning, thinking, writing, and researching to keep themselves convinced in her status as a prophet. I was just reading an article from the White Estate in which someone had categorized various forms of Biblical inspiration and then shown how Ellen White fits into those categories. The Sabbath School lessons continue to revisit the various arguments people have come up with for supporting her status as a prophet. What a lot of frenzied activity!

Today's lesson attempts to justify the fact that Ellen White lifted material (many would say “plagiarized”) from many contemporary authors and presented it as her own, often without citation. The argument is that she acted similarly to Bible authors, because several Bible writers relied on third-party sources for what they wrote:

• Luke relied on the accounts of eyewitnesses and “servants of the word” as he wrote his gospel
• Paul responded in some of his letters to information he had heard from someone else
• Paul quoted from a Greek poet as he preached about God to the philosophers of Athens at Mars Hill
• Paul quoted people in a couple of other places in the New Testament

However, comparing Ellen White to Bible authors simply cannot mitigate the problem that she took the work of others and put her own name on it—thus calling it her own. Even the content of some visions prefaced by “I was shown...” is lifted from third party sources.

How are we to respond when we are confronted with the findings of research on Ellen White? Even beyond Ellen White, what do we do when we're presented with a cold, hard truth that threatens to turn our world upside down and rob us of all that is familiar and comfortable? We could ignore it as best we can and hope it will go away, or perhaps fight it with as much strength as we can muster. We can live in frenzied activity, or we can isolate ourselves in the most comfortable setting we know. But what does God call us to do?

Jesus has said to us:

Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. (Matthew 11:28-30)

Remember from the commentary yesterday, that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one comes to the Father except through Him. If you aren't trusting Jesus to save you or to help you or to handle the difficulties in your life, He invites you to come to Him and pour out your heart to Him, and find rest.

Trust in Him at all times, O people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. (Psalm 62:8)

Instead of hiding and running and resorting to frenzied activity, God calls us to repentance and rest:

This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength" (Isaiah 30:15).

In the following verse, God responds to those who continue in rebellion. As a loving Father, he pursues His beloved who run from Him.

“You said, 'No, we will flee on horses.'

Therefore you will flee!

You said, 'We will ride off on swift horses.'

Therefore your pursuers will be swift!

 

A thousand will flee

at the threat of one;

at the threat of five

you will all flee away,

till you are left

like a flagstaff on a mountaintop,

like a banner on a hill.”

 

Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you;

he rises to show you compassion.

For the LORD is a God of justice.

Blessed are all who wait for him! (Isaiah 30:16-18)

To repent means to turn. In this context it means to stop running from God and turn around—He will be right there!—and fall at His feet. He longs to be gracious to you.

No matter what the situation that confronts you, no matter what the cold, hard reality is, we can rest in God's sure promise to those who know him:

God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." So we say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?" (Hebrews 13:5b-6)

And so, we can have the courage we need to step out into the unknown, like Peter walking on the water toward Jesus, leaving behind the boat of our “safety zone” and all that is familiar, and walking towards Jesus with our eyes fixed on Him. The truth may be scary beyond imagination at first, but it is ultimately the best, most wonderful place to be: it is where Jesus is. He promises to give us rest for our souls when we come to Him. And He is more trustworthy than the boat!

Let me pray for you.

Father in heaven, you know the burdens, you know the fear, you know the pain, and all the things that are in the hearts of those who are reading. You love and care for them. Lord, I pray for those who are facing difficult truths in their lives. I ask that they would have the courage to come to Jesus and lay these things down and receive His rest and His comfort. Deliver them from the evil one and from deception. Set them free by the truth. Help them to know how much they are loved, and the extent that you went to to save them – “He who did not spare His own son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?” Thank you for graciously providing. Please bring comfort and healing to those who need it; provide the encouragement and support they need; and give them the courage they need to surrender to you and follow where You're leading. I praise you for your power to save us completely and to deal perfectly with whatever issues are in our lives. We lay them at your feet now and trust you with them. In Jesus name, amen.

 

Summary

• Comparing Ellen White to Bible authors cannot mitigate the problem that she took other peoples' work and called it her own.
• When faced with difficult truths, Jesus calls us to come to him, pour out our hearts to Him, find rest in him, and trust in Him.
• God gives us salvation in repentance (turning to Him), rest, quietness, and trust. He pursues His own until they stop running from Him and turn to Him and find rest in Him again.
• Knowing that God will never leave or forsake us, we can courageously face difficult truths—they are where Jesus is!
   

 

Copyright 2009 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised January 29, 2009. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Glendale, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com. Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE ®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

The Sabbath School Bible Study Guide and the corresponding E.G. White Notes are published by Pacific Press Publishing Association, which is owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist church. The current quarter's editions are pictured above.

 

Official Adventist Resources

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