END-TIME ALERT

ESSENTIAL TRANSFORMATION FOR THE LIVING SAINTS BEFORE THE SECOND COMING
(The Pen of Wm. H. Grotheer Providing Meat In Due Season From The Bible)

Isaiah 13:12:
I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.

Jeremiah 32:17, Amplified Bible:
Ah Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! There is nothing too difficult or too wonderful for You.

THE THEOLOGY OF ADVENTIST LAYMEN'S FOUNDATION:

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The Day of Atonement was more sacred than a regular Sabbath. It is called a "Sabbath of sabbaths." (Lev. 23:32, Heb. ) "All the various elements effecting atonement are in a marked degree combined in the Day of Atonement ... It is called - 'shabbat shabbaton,' the holiest of rest days." (Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol. II, p. 280; quoted in Messiah in His Sanctuary, p. 67) On this day, as on the weekly Sabbath, no work was to be done, while on the other feast days, "servile work" - the performance of a trade - alone was prohibited. (Lev. 23:28, camp. with 23:7) It was to be fast day, a day for soul affliction. It was called "the fast" by Luke. (Acts 27:9, margin)

The blood of the Lord's goat is noted in Scripture as "the sin offering of atonements" (Ex. 30:10) The same emphasis is to be found in Leviticus 23, though not apparent in the KJV. Literally, the record reads: "On the tenth of this seventh month is a day of atonements ... and ye shall do no work in this same day: for it is a day of atonements, to make an atonement for you." (27-28)

This day called for soul affliction, fasting and no work. In contemplating .the significance of these requirements, it would be well to ponder the message of Isaiah 58:1-7. An observation worthy of much thought is to be found in the chapter. "The Seal of God." (Testimonies, Vol.5) It reads:

In the time when (God's) wrath shall go forth in judgments, ["the little company who are standing in the light", the] humble devoted followers of Christ will be distinguished from the rest of the world by their soul-anguish, which will be expressed in lamentation and weeping, reproofs and warnings. (p.210)

The Day of Atonement cannot be disassociated from the concept of the sealing. The modern orthodox Jews in their celebration of The Day, pray during its closing hours the following prayer:

Our Father, our King, seal our name in the book of life; our Father, our King, seal our name in the book of remembrance; our Father, our King, seal our name in the book of success and prosperity. ("Prayers for the Day of Atonement" quoted in Messiah in His Sanctuary, p. 69)
The Jewish Encyclopedia contributes to this concept:

Down to the first century, the idea of the divine judgment was mainly eschatological in character, as deciding the destiny of the soul after death rather than of men on earth. But ... the idea developed also in Jewish circles that on the first of Tishri [the seventh month] the sacred New Year's Day, ...man's doings were judged and his destiny decided; and on the tenth of Tishri [the Day of Atonement] the decree of Heaven was sealed. (Vol. II, p. 281)

F. C. Gilbert after quoting the above reference comments:

The belief in the sealing work on this most holy day has been prevalent and accepted among the seed of Abraham for many centuries. This idea is found in their literature through the ages. (Messiah in His Sanctuary, p. 71)

The relationship between the Day of Atonement and the Sealing work is further suggested by the vestments worn by the High Priest while ministering the atonement. The High Priest was to put on what is called "the holy linen garments." (See Lev. 15:4) In Ezekiel 9, the one who is commanded to "mark a mark" in the foreheads of the men "that sigh and cry" is designated as "the man clothed in linen." (9:2; 10:2)

In detailing the ritual for the Day of Atonement, we observed that when the cleansing process reached the Altar of the Court, only the "uncleannessess" of the children of Israel was cleansed. This was accomplished with the High Priest "for himself and his house" and the blood of the Lord's goat. In this shadowy type, it must be kept in mind that the High Priest was prefiguring the work of Christ the Great High Priest. The book of Hebrews tells us that Christ is "a son over His own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end." (3:6) One must ask himself if the final cleansing at the Altar in the court was a prefiguring of the prophetic utterances found in Zephaniah 3;13 and Revelation 14:5.

The prophecy of Zechariah 3, also enters the picture. Here in symbolism, Joshua is clothed in filthy (unclean) garments. But Joshua does not remove them. They are removed by the attendants of the "Angel of the Lord." Then this "Angel" declares - "Behold I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with a change of raiment." (3:4) No work was to be done on the Day of Atonement; neither did Joshua work in the removal of the filthy garments. His part in this transaction was to consent - surrender to the Divine objective.

If there is, as it appears, a connection between the ministry at the Altar in the Court on the Day of Atonement and these prophecies noted above, then we must develop with caution the conclusion to be drawn. Zephaniah says "the remnant of Israel shall do no iniquity" and the removal of "a deceitful tongue" finds its echo in Revelation 14:5. But to interpret the cleansing of "the uncleannesss" - the taking away of the filthy garment - as the removal of the fallen nature would invoke the theology of the Holy Flesh Movement. But then, if as is prefigured in the type, the cleansing of the record of sin and iniquity is accomplished in the Most Holy Place, then what does this "uncleanness" represent and when will it be done? Over this point, much prayerful study must be made, and conclusions drawn only as light comes from the Throne.

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"Divine Grace Alone Can Complete the Work"

We have reached the hour and the end when God intends to send Jesus forth to bring about the restitution of all things as proclaimed through "all His holy prophets" since the reign of sin began. (Acts 3:20-21) Whether, therefore, we sleep or live till that hour, something

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must be done for us so as to live eternally in an environment where affliction will not arise a second time. If we should sleep, we cannot resurrect ourselves, or change the vile body of our human existence like unto the glorious body of our Lord. (See Phil. 3:20, 21) Divine grace alone will accomplish the objective in those who have walked with Him day by day in their earthly sojourn.

Those who are translated without tasting death will have lived in the sight of an Holy God a brief period of time after the Divine decree has fixed human destiny. There will be no Divine-human Mediator to minister the benefits of forgiving grace during that period, for He has stepped aside. (Rev. 15:8) A work will have been accomplished in them, and that work will have been by grace alone.

Herein lies the tragedy of the present theological confusion. Those who would place a period after justification reject the whole rationale of a final atonement. They believe that they will keep on sinning until Jesus comes. Those who place a period after sanctification believe that through their attainments in the process of sanctification - by their life style - will have fitted them for translation. It is divine grace alone that can complete the work. It is so humiliating to acknowledge our poverty, to accept the final "hand-out" of heaven. But to fail to accept the garment woven in the loom of heaven which has not one thread of human devising will exclude us from the marriage feast!

The very ceremony connected with the typical day of Atonement and the laws governing the conduct of the Children of Israel on that day should tell us something. Only the High Priest accomplished for the Congregation of Israel the typical cleansing. He alone went into the Most Holy Place to offer blood over which no confession of sin had been made - the blood of the bullock and the blood of the Lord's goat. (Lev. 16:11, 14-15, 17) While the High Priest was in the Most Holy Place, the people were to be afflicting their souls before God. Unique to the requirements of this day, the people were to do no work, even as in the observance of the Sabbath. Other feast days excluded only "servile work." (Lev. 23:27-31; cmp. 23:24-25) The failure to afflict one's soul, or to perform any work, meant their severance from the household of God. These regulations and service emphasize that the final work is indeed by grace alone. In their soul affliction, they could not rely on their works, human merit. Nothing they could do would cleanse. But a failure to recognize themselves for what they were, unclean, denied to them a cleansing.

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The message of the sanctuary, if understood and accepted, clarifies the whole issue of "perfection." On the Day of Atonement, the people were to gather and afflict their souls and do no work. (Lev. 23:27-31) A work was being done for them by the high priest which they could not do for themselves. They were to be cleansed but not by their own efforts to achieve cleansing. Those who are afflicting their souls today will see in their great Example, who took their "weaknesses," the example for them, and will confess with Him "I can of mine own self do nothing." (John 5:30) Their faith will be in what their great High Priest can and will do, for and in them, resulting from His final atonement. Their hope will rest in Him who "is able to keep [them] from falling, and to present [them] faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy." (Jude 24)

In their soul affliction, God's people will realize more and more the sinfulness of their own lives, and the total impossibility of realizing by human achievement that which God requires. They will be drawing closer and closer to Jesus. Perceiving the holiness of God rather than glorying in their own righteousnesses, they cast themselves wholly upon the merits and power of the Lamb of God who came to take "away the sin of the world." (John 1:29; note" "sin" not "sins") In their soul affliction, they will see that the "treasure" bestowed upon them through the ministry of the Spirit is ever in an "earthen vessel" and will continue to be until "the redemption of the body." (Rom. 8:23) By faith, they will perceive what they cannot see, that before the Throne of God, they stand faultless, because in their mouths will be found no guile. (Rev. 14:5) They are honest before God, because they accept the verdict of God on their own "righteousnesses." (Isa. 64:6) Through affliction of soul, they cease to be self-deceived!

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Then there is the matter of "soul affliction." It, too, if not done will be cause for being cut-off. Hand wringing over the Church in apostasy is not soul affliction. Decrying the symptoms does not cure the disease. It may be that I may have the same disease, and in my Laodicean folly not sense it. We need to ask ourselves - all of us - the question:  "Am I so involved in exposing the apostasy in the Church that I am gullible to the deceptions being mixed with truth by the "many voices" sounding in the community of Adventism today? Whether the deceptions come from within the Church, or from the "voices" sounding on the periphery, all deception is basically the foundation of apostasy. To think that I can separate truth from error without the Spirit of discernment which comes from God alone, is to deceive myself. With the winds of doctrine blowing at gale force through the Adventist Community, one needs to be before God in soul affliction as he never was before. "So closely will the counterfeit resemble the true, that It will be impossible to distinguish between them except by the Holy Scriptures. By their testimony every statement is to be tested." (GC, p. 593)

May God have mercy on our self-confidence, and our misdirected devotion. May we be driven to our knees because we have been warned that the diabolical working of the enemy transforms his agents into "ministers of righteousness." (II Cor. 11:15) May we through soul affliction be "so firmly established upon His word" that we will not yield to the evidence of our perverted senses. May we in the crisis that now engulfs us "cling to the Bible, and the Bible only." (GC, p. 625)

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As created, Adam reflected the Divine likeness. (Gen. 1:27). His son, Seth, reflected "his own likeness, after his image." (Gen. 5:3) The degeneration was so rapid and intense that by the days of Noah, "every imagination of the heart was only evil continually." (6:5) Noah "found grace" (6:8) - he received a warning to give to the world, and a blueprint for deliverance. He carried out the directions. (6:22) Yet the record notes his heart was still corrupt, subject to indulgence. (9:21) The summary picture in Hebrews reveals that because of "faith" in God's word, and acting upon it - Noah became "an heir" - not a possesser - "of the righteousness which is by faith." (Heb. 11:7)

We need to distinguish between two realities - the reality of what God requires, and the reality of man's inability to so attain. God has not altered; He requires now just what He required in Eden  - perfect obedience. The Old Testament is replete with the second reality - man's inability. Job asked - "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?" His answer - "not one." (14:4) Isaiah cried out - "We are all as an unclean thing, and all of our righteousnesses are as filthy rags." (64:6)

We need to pause and grasp what this picture from the Old Testament means. First, "our righteousnesses" - those things we do that are good. A good "moral" life can be attained. Man can carry out the directions of God, even as did Noah in building the ark, and as Moses in the construction of the sanctuary. Yet each must admit with David - "Our goodness extendeth not to Thee." (Ps. 16:2) It is a holy God with Whom we have to do. To a clear perception of God's holiness, there is but one human response - "Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips." (Isa. 6:5) The gulf between the holiness of God, and the righteousnesses" of man must be bridged. "Filthy rags" are not the vestments of heaven!

It is from this take-off point that Paul outlines the "gospel" he received "by revelation of Jesus Christ." He quotes from the Old Testament - "There is none righteous, no not one." (Rom. 3:10) "Therefore, by the deeds of the law ("our righteousnesses") there shall no flesh be justified in [God's] sight." (3:20) This leaves only one solution - "Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." (3:24) By grace alone, through Jesus alone, - no man cometh unto the Father but by Me" -  can man hope to again fellowship with an holy God.

But someone asks, isn't sanctification connected with our redemption? Most assuredly! "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared unto all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world." (Titus 2:11-12) Does this mean then that the "works" that had no merit in justification are now given a high priority rating in sanctification? Paul asked - "O foolish Galatians ("independents" - "historic Adventists") who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth? ... This only would I learn of you. Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?" (Gal. 3:1-3)

Since sanctification is the work of a lifetime, let us consider what this means if sanctification is perceived as having redeeming merit. For example, say you have ten years from the time you were "justified freely" until death over takes you. Another person has twenty years. Does this mean that into your ten years, you must concentrate the perfection required for heaven while another will be given twenty years to obtain the same? Sanctification is not Protestant "penance" even though there are many who seek to so make it.

Jesus illustrated the place of sanctification by a parable. A servant coming from the field does not first feed himself, and then wait on the needs of the master of the house. No, he first prepares and serves the meal for the master, not even expecting a thank you "because he did

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 the things that were commanded him." Note carefully the conclusion Jesus draws - "So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants; we have done that which was our duty to do." (Luke 17:7-10) Where then is there merit in sanctification? It returns to the simple fact - "For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them" - which was our duty to do anyway! (Eph. 2:8-10)

Why are we so loath to accept the simple Reformation formula - by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone? I suspect that this is due in part to the unwarranted conclusion drawn by Evangelicals. Because Christ died once for all, then by accepting this once for all sacrifice supposedly brings to me once for all salvation. It seems to be forgotten that though Christ did die once for all, I must die daily (I Cor. 15:31) Jesus also emphasized this factor - "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me." (Luke 9:23) The provision is there; the Word of God stands behind it; but daily I must renew my consecration to that provision.

In the final essay of the book, E&CT, Neuhaus discusses what he calls "The Catholic Difference." (We shall discuss this in due course) When God committed to the trust of Adventism the "everlasting gospel," He gave "the Adventist difference." That difference lies in the theology of the sanctuary, and the final atonement. In the type, the High Priest alone achieved that atonement, and it was that atonement through the mingled blood of the Lord's goat and the bullock which removed the uncleanness of the children of Israel so that they might "be clean of all [their] sins before the Lord." (Lev. 16:18-19, 30)

Since the dictum to the Old Testament question - Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?" - remains - "not one," does not honesty require that we reject in toto the Tridentine Teaching of Romanism? The Day of Atonement required only two things -  1) soul affliction; and 2) Cessation from our works. (Lev. 23:29-30) This is the same basic criteria of justification, recognition of  1) our undoneness; and  2) the reality of our inability to meet the law's demands.

The problem returns to a single point - Laodiceanism - a deception that one needs nothing. Strip the "blubber" of Laodicean egotism from many of the voices sounding in Adventism today, and they would be reduced to a pip-squeak. Tragically, there is being pawned off as "historic Adventism" the Tridentine (Council of Trent) doctrine of justification by faith.

The Writings indicate that the objective of "the latter rain" is to bring "the seed to perfection" (Testimonies to Ministers, p.506). In the same chapter, "Pray for the Latter Rain," is found the suggestion that this experience is involved with the reception of the advancing light of truth: - "Only those who are living up to the light they have, will receive greater light" (p.507). The result is clearly written - "We are to be wholly transformed into the likeness of Christ" (p.506.) The "how" is also defined - "It is God who began the work, and He will finish His work, making man complete in Jesus Christ" (p.507). Paul wrote that in Christ "dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in Him" (Col. 2:9-10). This returns us again to the "in Him" concept of the Pauline epistles, and that Christ is the "Surety of a better covenant." We are His "house," the new house of Israel, a people of the covenant, and the promise is - "He shall save His people from their sins."

With all the failures of the past century to find the answer which the typical service of the Day of Atonement demands, one hesitates to even offer a suggestion as to what the answer might be. However, we would do well to consider a suggestion found in the Writings which reads - "Zechariah's vision of Joshua and the Angel [Chapter 3] applies with peculiar force to the experience of God's people in the closing of the great day of atonement" (Testimonies for the Church, Vol. V, p.472).

In analyzing this vision, the first revelation is that Satan will resist every effort not only to understand the final atonement, but also its realization. Joshua, the ministering high priest in the days of Zechariah, is seen standing before the Lord, and "Satan standing at his right hand to resist Him" (v.1). Satan is just as envious and just as set in his opposition to the plan of God for man as when God first suggested it in the beginning. He seeks to set himself at "the right hand" for power and control. In the vision the Lord first rebukes Satan before turning His attention to Joshua. "Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire," He asks. Joshua has no means to escape - his clothes are flammable - "filthy garments" ripe for the fire. Then the Lord commands those who stood before Him - those who have assented for God to carry out His original intent for man - "Take away the filthy garments from him" (v.4).

Here is the first test to those who would be cleansed. They can either yield their "filthy" garments, and become naked before whom they stand, or they can hold to them so as to cover their nakedness. This is the critical test –

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self is involved. It is embarrassing to have to admit that all the "righteousnesses" which sustain our egos are nothing but "filthy rags" (Isa. 64:6). But unless we are willing for this to happen, the next step cannot be taken. The Lord will not put His righteousness over our righteousnesses. He alone is righteous and He does not intend to share that righteousness in which there is not a thread of human devising with the fig-leaf devisings of men.

When Joshua yielded up his filthy garments - the angels of the Lord will remove them if we permit - the Lord declares - "Behold I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with a change of raiment" (v.4). The emphasis is on what God can and will do, not on what man can do, for his is only to surrender so that it can be done for him. On the typical Day of Atonement, it was the high priest alone who accomplished the atonement. The recipients were to afflict their souls and do no work (Ex. 23; 29-30). Soul affliction - how few understand what this is all about. Self denial - and this does not mean in material things of life - but the actual emptying of self even as He did, whose mind we are suppose to accept (Phil. 2:5-7 RSV). How painful to those who profess they can keep the commandments of God, and tell the Lord, "All these have I kept from my youth up, what lack I yet?"

ADDENDUM NOVEMBER 25, 2023

HONEST BEFORE GOD