Commentary on "Preparing a People"

RICHARD PEIFER

 

Day 5: Wednesday, October 7, 2009

 

Overview

“How do we, as Adventists, live in anticipation of a better country, regardless of whatever country we are living in now? What are concrete ways that we can protect ourselves from getting so caught up with our vineyards here that we lose sight of our final destination?”

 

Problems

There are two problems with this section. First, it completely ignores that God told the Israelites explicitly, “After that, the Nazirite may drink wine” (Numbers 6:20b). As always, the legalist will ignore the obvious statement in favor of some highly spiritualized smoke screen.

Does this passage, along with many other passages in the Bible, permit drinking wine? Yes.

Does this passage, or any other passage in the Bible, endorse drunkenness? No.

If we’d just keep it simple much misunderstanding would be avoided.

Second, the question of identity comes up again (as it does in every Adventist publication). SDAs do not see themselves as children of God who happen to attend church on Saturday and believe in the literal second coming of Jesus. They see themselves as God’s chosen people, the only true keepers of the Ten Commandments.

Both statements are false. They are not God’s chosen people. Jesus is God’s chosen person. We have meaning and purpose only as we are identified with Him. It is only in Jesus that passages like 1 Peter 2:9-10 can be applied to anyone. Nor are they true keepers of the Law. “There is no one righteous, not even one” (Romans 3:9-10).

Please understand that this is not a criticism of Seventh-day Adventists only. Every denomination with which I’m familiar suffers from the same sense of myopia. Why else would there be so many of them, with everyone one of them claiming some special revelation from God that makes them uniquely His?

In short, although this passage from Numbers offers real insight into how God allowed for and managed such special vows, it, along with the rest of the Old Covenant, does not apply to us today. Instead, we are called to abide in the vine, fix our eyes on Jesus, and so on as the direct result of having the Holy Spirit living in us in a way that was not possible before Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection.

 

Summary

1. More good history and insight into people like John the Baptist.
2. Instead of rejoicing in the history, and in the fact that such vows are no longer necessary today, the author spiritualizes away most of the clear teaching in the passage.
3. Having a proper identity is critical to understanding what we have in Christ. Misunderstanding identity results in pride and arrogance, as demonstrated by the plethora of denominations existing today.

 

GO TO DAY 6

 

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