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Commentary on "The Power of Choice"

MARTIN L. CAREY

 

Day 7: Friday, April 9, 2010

 

Review

Friday’s lesson suggests that we read a passage from Ellen White titled, “Good Angels More Powerful Than Evil Angels.” Here, White points out the essential role of angels in helping Christ through His temptation in the wilderness. Angels were with Him during the whole period of assault by satanic agencies. Their help was critical to His success, because,

“Angels of heaven…kept the standard uplifted, that Satan should not exceed his bounds and overpower the human nature of Christ.” I SM 96

According to this statement, Our Lord Jesus Christ would have been overpowered by Satan if He had not been protected by angels who kept Satan within certain boundaries. Without angelic assistance, “human power was ready to fail.” Angels rescued Him just before He collapsed under Satan’s assault. Drawing a direct parallel with our temptations, White states that in Christ’s victory over Satan, we can find confidence that we can also overcome sin. We have the same angelic help available to us. Because Christ had no advantage over us in temptation, we can duplicate His overcoming.

 

Observations

Ellen White presents a picture of Jesus in which He does not posses His divine attributes. In this battle with Satan, He was only weak and human with a sinful nature, and He could have failed. He was something much less than God. To support this alternative theology of Jesus, she also adds a great number of details about angels helping Jesus that are not in scripture. It is clear that in her version of this story, Jesus was no match for Satan without angels helping Him. He was just another man, a good man, battling the overwhelming power of Satan. She places a great emphasis on the importance of angels in the victory of Jesus, who was vulnerable to sin.

This passage also implies that Satan could have hurled much stronger temptations at Jesus that would have certainly succeeded—but for the fortunate interventions of angels who enforced limits on Satan. They made sure things were “fair” by holding him back. A disinterested observer might say that the fight was “fixed.” Perhaps an “unleashed” Satan would be much stronger than he was with Jesus, so our victory over him is a very shaky affair, at best.

The Bible is clear that Jesus’ defeating Satan was always certain, and just. In Colossians 1, we can see the attributes which He has always possessed, even while in the wilderness with Satan:

  1. Vs. 16: Jesus created Satan for His purposes and glory. Satan can only do what will ultimately glorify Christ, and nothing more.
  2. Vs. 17: In Jesus, all things hold together, including Satan, who draws his being and life from Jesus. Satan is not an “equal but opposite” power, but a rebellious creature under God’s controls (Job 1, 2).
  3. Vss. 18, 19: He is the Beginning, the “I AM,” in whom all the fullness of God dwells.
  4. Vs. 20: He has reconciled all things through His blood on the Cross, which was foreordained before the creation. He was always the spotless Lamb of God, so He could not fail.

Jesus did not take a leave of absence from being the I Am. He was never a lesser god, even though fully submitted to His Father. His divinity is our basis for confidence in temptation, not in His weakness and fallibility. He is our eternal, infallible Substitute who became sin, and in his bloody death, cancelled all our sin forever. This is the source for all our victories over sin—the perfect sacrifice of God Himself, for us. Everything that happened to Jesus, and everything He did, belongs to us. Our life and death are complete in Him, so our victories can add nothing to His (Col. 1:22).

Here is why Christ-followers can overcome when tempted:

  1. Since we are crucified and raised with Christ, we are dead to sin and alive to God. Rom. 6:5-11: sin remains, but does not reign.
  2. We don’t live according to the old, rebellious nature; we keep our minds on the “things of the Spirit.” Rom. 8:5 The “things” are God’s promises in His word.
  3. The message of the Word is the Gospel: God Himself came as our substitute and died on the cross for our sins, cancelling them all. He was raised to life, proving that His sacrifice was sufficient. Now, everything He did belongs to us, and all the promises of God are “Yes” in Christ. I Cor. 1:20
  4. Paul asked the Galatians, “Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith?” Gal. 3:5 Claiming the Gospel brings the miracle of overcoming, not pursuing law righteousness (Romans 9:30, 31).
  5. When tempted, we don’t ask for angels to help us battle Satan. We fling ourselves on our Substitute, and the Spirit gives power over sin. Remember, any sin we want to commit, He has already forgiven. Overcoming that is not won through the Gospel of forgiveness, is “of the flesh.”
  6. Because He is sufficient for us, all those things that make temptation attractive have no power over us. He gives us all we need.

“And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19

 

 

Copyright 2010 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised April 8, 2010. 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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