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Commentary on "God as Artist"
BEN AND DELINA McPHAULL
Day 7: Friday, March 16, 2012 - Further Study
The author has chosen two Ellen White quotes for further study. I will focus on the first one because it more closely applies to the scope of the lesson. (The second quote, from Child Guidance, lays burden of a child’s future fitness for the Kingdom at the feet of the parents. This is wrong, wrong, wrong, but that is another topic, for another day.)
Here’s the quote:
“Let the converting power of God be experienced in the heart of the individual members, and then we shall see the deep moving of the Spirit of God. Mere forgiveness of sin is not the sole result of the death of Jesus. He made the infinite sacrifice not only that sin might be removed, but that human nature might be restored, rebeautified, reconstructed from its ruins, and made fit for the presence of God.”—Ellen G. White, Manuscript Releases, vol. 6, p. 11.
As we talked about in Sunday’s commentary, we are new creations, not mere restorations, rebeutificated reconstructions of our fallen selves.
My friend, Ane Edwards, explained this newness like this: "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being TRANSFORMED into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit." 2 Corinthians 3:18 (NIV)
1. Note the certainty of this promise "are BEING transformed."
2. The greek word for TRANSFORMED into His image, is #3339 metamorphoó (see http://concordances.org/greek/3339.htm) [3339 (metamorphóō) is the root of the English terms "metamorphosis" and "metamorphize."
When a caterpillar goes through the process of metamorphosis, it becomes a new creation. Once it becomes a butterfly, it can NEVER go back to being a caterpillar.”
More importantly, though, the transformation of character is not what makes us “fit for the presence of God.” Let’s refer back to the Ephesians passages we read earlier in the week.
Ephesians 3-14 (NLT): All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.
God has now revealed to us his mysterious plan regarding Christ, a plan to fulfill his own good pleasure. And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth. Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.
God’s purpose was that we Jews who were the first to trust in Christ would bring praise and glory to God. And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.
We were fit to be in the presence of God when He chose us (before the foundations of the earth), but we didn’t know it. When we were born again, and believed in His Son -- accepted the Gospel, our sins were forgiven. As the text says, we are “holy” and “without fault” in His eyes (v.4) and we are adopted. Our Heavenly Father accepts us into His presence, right now, because of His Son. Our promised inheritance is guaranteed because the Holy Spirit lives in us.
Without appreciating and accepting the beauty and simplicity of the true Gospel of Jesus Christ, all of the truths contained in the lesson regarding God as Artist, fall flat into one-dimensional, mediocre and subtly distorted replicas of the original masterpiece.
Copyright 2012 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised March 10, 2012. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Camp Verde, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.
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