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Commentary on "Garments of Splendor"

RICHARD PEIFER

 

Day 3: Monday, May 16, 2011 - Unclean Lips

 

Overview

“Isaiah’s guilt was purged, his sin atoned for. He was born again, and the immediate fruit was his willingness to answer the call, ‘Who will go for us?’ Now ask yourself what kind of fruit is being manifested after your own conversion?” (Teacher’s Quarterly, Page 92)

 

Problems

Today’s lesson draws a strong contrast between Adventist belief and the Bible.

Isaiah’s sin was taken away (Isaiah 6:7). It was taken away by a special action on God’s part, an action not provided at that time to the regular population. Atonement was granted to everyone, but atonement did not take away sin. Note how the writer of Hebrews puts it:

For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins? But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. (Hebrews 10:1-4 NASB)

Therefore, although Isaiah’s sin was taken away by a special action on God’s part, in general, the sin of all humanity still separated them from God. They could not be born again of the Spirit until Jesus had provided the once, for all, sacrifice. Again note Hebrews:

Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says, “SACRIFICE AND OFFERING YOU HAVE NOT DESIRED, BUT A BODY YOU HAVE PREPARED FOR ME; IN WHOLE BURNT OFFERINGS AND sacrifices FOR SIN YOU HAVE TAKEN NO PLEASURE. THEN I SAID, ‘BEHOLD, I HAVE COME (IN THE SCROLL OF THE BOOK IT IS WRITTEN OF ME) TO DO YOUR WILL, O GOD.’ ” After saying above, “SACRIFICES AND OFFERINGS AND WHOLE BURNT OFFERINGS AND sacrifices FOR SIN YOU HAVE NOT DESIRED, NOR HAVE YOU TAKEN PLEASURE in them” (which are offered according to the Law), then He said, “BEHOLD, I HAVE COME TO DO YOUR WILL.” He takes away the first in order to establish the second. By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD, waiting from that time onward UNTIL HIS ENEMIES BE MADE A FOOTSTOOL FOR HIS FEET. For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. (Hebrews 10:5-14 NASB)

Was Isaiah a recipient of God’s grace? Yes. Was Isaiah under the Mosaic Covenant? Yes. Could the Mosaic Covenant make anyone holy? No.

Therefore, the Holy Spirit came upon Isaiah for a special work. Isaiah was granted this incredible blessing because of his faith response to God. He was looking forward to the coming Messiah and was willing to put his life in God’s hands on the basis of that promise.

Do we live under the Mosaic Covenant? No. Why? Because, according the verses just quoted, Jesus “took it away.” According to Paul,

But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near (by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. AND HE CAME AND PREACHED PEACE TO YOU WHO WERE FAR AWAY, AND PEACE TO THOSE WHO WERE NEAR; for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:13-22 NASB)

Therefore, under this New Covenant in which we live, sin has been taken away completely. It no longer stands between us and God. And conversion has changed. Now, we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, sealed and secure for eternity.

There is yet one more conversion to be realized; that is, when this mortal shall put on immortality. “Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.” (1 Corinthians 15:50-53 NASB)

By contrast, Adventist theology has the Old, or Mosaic, Covenant and the New Covenant as equivalent covenants, the only difference between them being the fulfillment of the so-called ceremonial law by Jesus. In Adventist teaching everyone is still under Law (note the capital L); they are not under grace. The believer’s job is to keep the Law, just like Jesus kept it. The believer’s job is to keep himself or herself forgiven, lest he or she be found wanting after the Investigative Judgment.

Because of equating the Old and New Covenants Adventism has stripped both of them of their power.

Isaiah truly did see his and Israel’s problem as the result of a moral disaster. He fully understood that under the holy, righteous and perfect Mosaic Covenant they were doomed. He looked forward by faith to a coming Messiah Who would take away sin and provide salvation. He did not agree to become God’s spokesman in order to prove his worthiness. He accepted the task as a response to God’s special intervention in his life.

We are not called to evaluate our actions against the Ten Commandments, to figure out whether our conversion was real. If you have been born again, then you have the testimony of the Holy Spirit Himself within you that you really do have eternal life (see 1 John 5). Having this testimony enables you to ask the question, “Am I walking by faith or by sight?” This is the only question that matters, because even the best outward behavior is putrefying sin if accomplished with the least amount of your own strength.

 

Summary

  1. Rather than putting Isaiah’s revelation, reaction, confession, purification and commission in the context of the Mosaic Covenant, Adventism tries to generalize it to everyone.
  2. Since we live under the New Covenant we should expect to experience God in our lives differently, and this is confirmed by the New Testament writers.
  3. Evaluating behavior is a fool’s errand. Behavior can be faked, and is all the time, so behavior never can be used as a plumb line.
  4. Today, every born again child of God is controlled by the Holy Spirit, and He can and will do in and through us what the Law could never achieve.

 

GO TO DAY 4

 

Copyright 2011 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised May 2, 2011. 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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