Commentary on "Revelation"

RICHARD PEIFER

 

Day 4: Tuesday, April 28, 2009

 

Overview

“A prophet is a man or a woman who speaks on behalf of God. Those words have authority because the message comes from God…” According to the Bible, prophets are mentioned by name, prophecy is an abiding gift, there are false prophets and prophecy is a characteristic of the remnant church in the person of Ellen White.

 

Problems

Now we get to the core of the presentation. Ellen White is proclaimed as the prophet to the remnant church in these last days.

Here, in briefest outline form, is the fallacy of the argument. There are many excellent books and articles that delve into this topic completely.

Ellen White is presented first, before the Bible and Jesus Himself in this week’s lesson, as the source of truth about God. According to Seventh-day Adventist church practice, she is the only truly faithful witness to the meaning of the Bible and Jesus.

The Holy Spirit within the believer is not mentioned. Yet the Holy Spirit is the only way for a believer to understand the Bible (see 1 Corinthians 2).

All prophets in the Bible are treated the same, regardless of their position within the Old and New Covenants. Under the Old Covenant, a prophet’s only option was to point forward to a coming Messiah. Under the New Covenant, the prophet’s only option is to point back to Jesus’ completed work on the cross and in His resurrection and to point forward to Jesus’ final triumph as described in Revelation. This is a critical distinction. Under the Old, no one truly understood what or who the Messiah was. God gave many, many pictures, but the reality was not there. Under the New, we have the reality!

The “abiding gift” section doesn’t mention or explain 1 Corinthians 13:8 in spite of the fact that Chapter 13 is the central argument in Paul’s teaching regarding the abuse of Spiritual gifts in Corinth. Taking the beginning and ending statements in that section out of context only adds to the confusion. For example, is the SDA church now allowing tongues as a secondary expression of the Spirit among its believers, as long as Ellen White is still held in the primary position?

One of the verses chosen to explain the existence of false prophets, 2 Peter 2:1, can be used explicitly of Ellen White. Anyone who teaches that Jesus’ work was not completed on the cross and in His resurrection is “denying the sovereign Lord who bought them.” The same argument applies to identifying Satan as the scape goat in the “prototypical Day of Atonement.” Satan did not, and will not, bear our sin. Jesus became sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21), not Satan.

The texts used to “prove” that Ellen White is identified in Revelation 12 and 19 are hopelessly wrested to make the point. John is completely consistent throughout his writings that “God’s commandments” are “that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us” (1 John 3:23). In his letter, John is merely quoting Jesus’ own words recorded in John 6:29 (“Jesus answered and said to them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”) and John 13:34 (“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”) This is in stark contrast to His answer to the lawyer’s question regarding the greatest commandment (See Matthew 22:35ff) when He quoted Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18 in summary of the Law.

Also from Revelation 12:17, John is consistent when describing the “testimony of Jesus”. In 1 John 5:10-13 (NIV) John wrote, “Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.” Again, John merely is quoting Jesus’ own words as he recorded them in John 3:15 (“…whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.” NASB), John 3:16 (“…whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. NASB), John 5:39-40 (“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.” NASB), and elsewhere in John’s gospel.

Finally, using Revelation 19:10 as Adventists do is to turn its meaning completely upside down. The entire point of prophecy (i.e., the “spirit of prophecy”) is to testify about Jesus. It most definitely is not to claim that Jesus is testifying about the Spirit of Prophecy (i.e., Ellen White).

 

Summary

1. The only reason Seventh-day Adventists talk about prophets at all is to make their point that Ellen White is THE prophet of the remnant church.
2. Prophecy’s role today, under the New Covenant, is to point people to Jesus. There is no new revelation.
3. Jesus, as God’s final revelation to man, should be the topic of this entire week’s lesson, rather than a secondary discussion in the context of Ellen White.
4. Ellen White is not now, and has never been, a true prophet of God. She denies His finished work, she makes Satan out to be our redeemer, she makes it impossible for anyone who believes her to know the absolute assurance of salvation, and she always substitutes law for grace. In short, she is an example of antichrist.

 

 

Copyright 2008 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised April 25, 2009. 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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