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XVII - 04(84)
"Watchman,
what of the night?"
"The hour has come, the hour is striking and striking at you,
the hour and the end!" Eze. 7:6 (Moffatt)
SUBSTITUTION OR SELF-REALIZATION - WHICH?
Or Is It Substitution Producing Realization?
Jesus promised - "I will come again." (John 14:3) As Jesus ascended into heaven following His earthly sojourn, angels from the presence of God declared - "This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven." (Acts 1:11) And He will come! - not many years hence. That event will mark an experience for some, known to only two others of the human family in all history - Enoch and Elijah. Paul stated - "We which are alive ... shall be caught up ... to meet the Lord in the air." (I Thess. 4:17) The results of sin will not be experienced by a group of saints because sin has ceased in their lives.
The realization of this state of being will have been experienced at some point prior to the second coming of Christ. Events which in God's planning "must shortly come to pass" (Rev. 1: 1), indicate that prior to the coming of Jesus, the wrath of God will be poured out in the seven last plagues. (Rev. 15:1) During the administration of God's righteous judgments, "no man [is] able to enter into the temple" of heaven where the final intercession for man had been completed. (Rev. 15:8) Keep in mind that there is only "one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus." (I Tim- 2:5) By Him, and Him only has the sin question been met and solved. And it was settled during the final atonement in the Most Holy place of the Heavenly sanctuary.
For six thousand years men have died as the result of Adam's sin reflected in their own life's experience. "By one man sin entered the world and death by sin; and so death [has] passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." (Rom. 5:12) Yet some of the sons of Adam have died in hope - the hope of the resurrection. Why could they have hope? Because they accepted the Substitute provided by God - Jesus Christ the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. At the beginning of the record of the laws of the Hebrew sacrificial system this cardinal principle of substitution is stated. It reads:
"He shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make an atonement for him." (Lev. 1:4)
The whole of this sacrificial system typified the plan of God, where, by man's acceptance of Jesus, His death becomes the payment for man's sins. Though because of time, a man experiences the results of sin, yet because of this principle of substitution, he can have hope so as to attain unto the first resurrection.
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Then comes the question - "Will it always be substitution?" - even for those who will be translated without seeing death. Or, will there be a self-realization in the lives of the victors over the beast, his image, and his mark, whereby they will cease to commit acts of sin? Thus the very heart of the question as to how men are saved comes into review. We can then preview a whole series of questions.
Are we saved by faith, alone? Is it by works showing our faith? Or, are we saved by faith, and cease from our works? This latter question could introduce another aspect. We profess to keep the Sabbath as a memorial of the mighty creative power of God. But entering into the Sabbath rest, we cease from our own works. (Heb. 4:10) Can those who profess to be saved because of their works, ever really be true Sabbath-keepers? Then there is a further question to be considered. If I should be among those who are translated and can show a single work which I did, contributed to the experience whereby I ceased to sin, how then can I join in the chorus of heaven and sing - "Worthy is the Lamb, that was slain." (Rev. 5:12) Any contribution plan for my redemption negates the whole purpose of the great controversy that God may be all in all. (I Cor. 15:28)
How then can we reconcile the fact that the commission of sin will cease prior to the close of probation in the lives of those who will be translated, and the fact that all who are saved, are saved solely because of the merits of the great Substitute provided by God? We might add that this is the question which faced the Advent Movement from its inception, and a question to which every generation of Adventists has addressed itself, yet we are still here, with time racing to its close and the question still unanswered.
Since none of us has experienced this mode of living whereby we have ceased to commit acts of sin - in other words, we have not ceased from our works - we can only turn to the Word of God to find the answer to the question. The same Word which states that some who are alive when Jesus comes will be translated without dying - escaping the results of sin - is the same Word which declares that all intercession will cease at some point prior to that return.
This Word further declares that "by grace are (we) saved through faith; and that not of (ourselves): it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast." (Eph. 2:8-9) So to this word alone must we turn to find what it says in the solution of our problem - a problem faced now for decades by the Advent Movement, but which still seems to elude us.
There is a group described in Revelation who keep the commandments of God. (Rev. 12:17; 14:12) To keep God's commandments is plainly not to sin. But who is this group? They are designated as "the remnant of (the woman's) seed." The import of this prophetic terminology can be best understood in the context of the whole of the presentation in Chapter 12. The first scene is the prophetic symbolism of the first gospel promise. (Gen. 3:15) The seed of the woman would bruise the serpent's head. The "man-child" brought forth was that "seed." Through Him came "salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God." (12:10)
When the "dragon saw that he was cast into the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the Man." (12:13) The dragon is pictured as standing "before the woman" (12:4); as persecuting the woman;" as casting "out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman" (12:15); and as "wroth with the woman" (12:17). In the dragon's relationship with Christ, symbolized as the Man-child, and Michael, he makes "war." (12:7) It was a war to the death - and he committed the murder of the ages in the crucifixion of Jesus. This same term - war - is used to describe the action of the dragon against the remnant of the woman's seed. The term - seed - is used to describe only two different representations in Revelation 12, the Man-child, by the very imagery portrayed "travailing in birth and pained to be delivered" - and the final "remnant" which keep the commandments of God. In derision it has been asked - "Are the 144, 000 to be so many little christs? And the answer of the prophetic word, according to its symbolism is emphatically, "Yes!"
Those who have been most ardent in proclaiming that this means the reflection of the image of Jesus fully, have failed to perceive what it means to "reflect fully" that image. Some have proclaimed,
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and still do, that the eradication of the fallen nature is the answer. This is "holy flesh" doctrine. Others have embarked on a program of works and have emphasized "reforms" as a means of salvation. Time has demonstrated the failure of this human system of attempting to reach heaven. What then is the "image of Jesus"? First, who is Jesus?
Who Jesus Is
Jesus was unknown prior to Bethlehem, except in promise. At Bethlehem, the "Co-Fellow" of the Eternal God became man. He became Jesus. (Zech. 13:7; John 1:14; Matt. 1:21) In so doing, He "emptied Himself," (Phil 2: 7 ARV) and accepted the "slave form" of man. In this humility - the body of our humiliation - He, of Himself, had no more a chance of success than any other man had in bearing the "image of Adam" after the Fall. (Gen. 5:3) If this perception of the Incarnation is not understood nor perceived, then the only solution to the translation of some of the living at the second coming of Christ is Substitution - the same kind of substitution as for those who have died and are resurrected. The whole of the question and the answer rides on the true concept of the Incarnation.
Jesus did not fail even with the terrible risk assumed, and in face of a history of total defeat by the sons of Adam for four thousand years. How was His victory achieved? Jesus first recognized just what the humanity He assumed really was. "He knew what was in man." (John 2: 2 5) Knowing this, He knew that of Himself, He could not succeed. "Of mine own self, I can do nothing," was His frank admission. (John 5:30) He accepted the provision of God - "the will of God" for Him - the Divine Spirit without measure. (John 3:34) Thus at the close of thirty-three years of intense conflict, He could say - "The prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in Me," and "The Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works." (John 14:30, 10) Because of this experience - a complete self-emptying - He could testify - "I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in His love." (John 15: 10) And this is the only experience that will lead to the revelation of those saints - the remnant of the woman's seed - who likewise will "keep the commandments of God."
What Does This Mean?
First this means, a complete emptying of self, even as Jesus emptied Himself. Yes, a "painful process" (Ms. . 29, 1899), but the pain most poignant to us comes in the realization of our total degeneracy, and the utter worthlessness of our "ego." So long as we still cling to the perverse concept that somehow the good works we can do will ultimately produce a sinless life through the creation of habit patterns of right conduct, we shall continue to sin. As long as we refuse to recognize as Jesus did what is really "in man," even though the Word of God is clear (Jer. 17:9) we will continually meet with failure. All of our good works are but as filthy rags. (Isa. 64:6) We must be true Sabbath keepers - we must cease from our own works. Then, and then only, can God work in us "to do of His good pleasure." (Phil. 2:13) So what is it again? Substitution - the will of God being substituted for the will of man through the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life without measure, even as in the life of Jesus. Instead of self-realization, it will be substitution that will produce realization before the eyes of the universe, for the victors will be without fault before the throne - in the eyes and mind of God, for it will be His works. (Rev. 14:5)
This is exactly the picture described by as He spoke of the final hour of human history. He said:
"But take heed to yourselves: for they will deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for My sake, for a testimony against them. (And the gospel must first be preached among all nations.) But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Spirit." (Mark l3:9-11)
These words of Jesus invite close scrutiny. The time to which He alludes is after the Gospel has been preached to all nations. The witness to the Gentiles has been given; their allotted time is fulfilled. The contest now comes down to relationships within the church - "councils" and the
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"synagogues" - and the state - "ye shall be brought before rulers and kings." In this hour of final testimony, the human witnesses for Jesus are to take "no thought beforehand," not even to "premeditate" on what they are to speak in their self defense. Why? They are emptied of self to such an extent that when they open their mouths to speak, the Spirit of God speaks in defense of the truth of God to God's glory.
This is the image of Jesus fully revealed before men. And what is the result? Even as in Jesus, for Jesus declared of Himself - "He that seeketh His glory that sent Him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him." (John 7:18) The testimony of Jesus' life and witness was - "I seek not my own glory." (John 8:50) Even the words, as well as the works of Jesus were of the Father. (John 12:50; 14:10) Such was the life of one born of the Spirit, and filled with the Spirit without measure. Such will be the witness of those who reach such an height of self-abnegation, that the Spirit without measure alone appears in their lives. The very words uttered are no longer theirs, but the very voice of the Spirit of God in its final appeal to humanity before the close of all human probation. It is substitution that produces realization. Thus it is in reality, substitution all the way: - the life of Jesus for my "sin and woe;" the Holy Spirit for my perfection. This results from the final atonement. The Holy Spirit indwells me as I resign myself to be merely "a temple of flesh." I cease from my own works, for I cease to be. A new creation is formed in life, and the sanctification of the Sabbath rests upon me as I await that transformation of body "in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, at the last trump." God is thus enabled to proclaim the Sabbath "more fully," because once again the "image of God" is seen in man.
"THE CHRISTIAN LIFE IS A BATTLE AND A MARCH. BUT THE VICTORY TO BE GAINED IS NOT WON BY HUMAN POWER. THE FIELD OF CONFLICT IS THE DOMAIN OF THE HEART. THE BATTLE WHICH WE HAVE TO FIGHT - THE GREATEST BATTLE THAT WAS EVER FOUGHT BY MAN - IS THE SURRENDER OF SELF TO THE WILL OF GOD, THE YIELDING OF THE HEART TO THE SOVEREIGNTY OF LOVE. THE OLD NATURE, BORN OF BLOOD AND OF THE WILL OF THE FLESH CAN NOT INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD. THE HEREDITARY TENDENCIES, THE FORMER HABITS, MUST BE GIVEN UP" -The Mount of Blessing, p. 203
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"Let Christ Jesus be your example as to what your attitude should be. For He, who had always been God by nature, did not cling to His prerogatives as God's equal, but stripped Himself of all privilege by consenting to be a slave by nature and being born as mortal man. And, having become man, He humbled Himself by living a life of utter obedience, even to the extent of dying, and the death He died was the death of a common criminal. That is why God has now lifted Him so high, and has given Him the name beyond all names, so that at the name of Jesus, 'every knee shall bow,' whether in Heaven or earth or under the earth. And that is why, in the end, 'every tongue shall confess' that Jesus Christ is the Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Phil. 2:5-11 Phillips)
"Then in my vision I heard the voices of many angels encircling the throne, the living creatures and the elders. There were myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, crying in a loud voice, ' Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing!' Then I heard the voice of everything created in Heaven, upon earth, under the earth and upon the sea, and all that are in them saying, 'Blessing and honor and glory and power be given to Him who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb, for timeless ages!'" (Phil. 2:11-13 Phillips)
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SO MUCH IN COMMON
(Concluded)
7. SDA on Faith and Order Commission
"An evident result of the Conversations was the appointment of a Seventh-day Adventist as a member of the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches. While it is clear that churches are not members of this Commission and theologians selected for membership are chosen in their personal capacity, and therefore the SDA Church is not a member of the Faith and Order Commission, it does mean that the Commission will have the benefit of hearing a bona fide SDA voice, and the Seventh-day Adventists would have the opportunity of learning from the discussions of the Faith and Order Commission.
[How the WCC looks upon this appointment to the Faith and Order Commission is spelled out in a letter written to a lay-person here in the States by Gerald F. Moede of the Commission. He stated:
"The Seventh Day Adventists have had representation on the Faith and Order Commission since 1967. They have also been full participants in the annual meeting of the Secretaries of the various World Confessional Families (who meet here in Geneva) and as the book So Much in Common indicates, we have been having theological discussion with them annually since the mid-sixties."
The first Adventist appointee by the Central Committee of the WCC was Dr. Earle Hilgert, from Andrews University. The present Adventist on the Faith and Order Commission is Dr. R. F. Dederen, also of Andrews University. The background of this appointment is rather interesting and was conducted in such a way that B. B. Beach is able to say - "the SDA Church is not a member of the Faith and Order Commission." In 1967 after the Essay on the Seventh-day Adventist Church appeared in the official organ of the WCC - The Ecumenical Review - the associate editor of the Review - R. F. Cottrell - responded by suggesting:
"If the Secretariat on Faith and Order, for instance, were to invite SDA's to appoint someone competent in that area to meet with their group from time to time and represent the SDA point of view, we could accept such an invitation with a clear conscience." (Review & Herald, April 6, 1967, p. 13)
Apparently Cottrell did not know at the time how appointments to the Faith and Order Commission actually were made. There are still "blind spots" in our knowledge of all that took place. Whether the General Conference Committee sent a list of names to the WCC, or recommended a single name, is not known. The Central Committee of the WCC, which does the appointing, did appoint Dr. Hilgert. In a seven month period, an Essay appeared in The Ecumenical Review in January, 1967; the leadership of the SDA Church responded through its official organ - the Review & Herald
- in April; and by the end of July, Dr. Earle Hilgert was meeting with the 120
member Faith and Order Commission in Bristol, England. All one can say is that
B. B. Beach laid the ground work well. Was his pay-off his appointment to the
General Conference Department of Public Affairs?]
8. SDA/WCC Conversations in the United States
"As a kind, of corollary to the Geneva Consultations, Conversations began in 1969 in the United States between Seventh-day Adventists and a WCC, appointed group. While each Conversation will follow its own style and choose its own subject matter, those responsible for the Conversations on both sides of the Atlantic are keeping in touch with each other.
[This raises many questions: Who have the Seventh-day Adventist appointees been on this side of the Atlantic, and who appointed them? What topics were discussed? Did these Conversations lead to the inclusion in the 1980 Dallas Statement of Beliefs, the wording of the Basis for membership in the WCC, taken from the WCC Constitution? Was B. B. Beach brought into the General Conference to continue these Conversations? Are they presently taking place? If so, who all are involved? Perhaps various readers will attempt to write to the General Conference president to see what answers can be obtained to these questions. The laity have a right to know what is going on, other
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than a replay of the continuous refrain - "We are not members of the WCC, nor of the Faith and Order Commission."
9. Contacts on National Levels
"It is interesting to note that the contacts on the WCC level have, to some extent, filtered down to certain national levels. As examples one can mention the SDA contacts with the British Council of Churches, the Finnish Council of Churches and the office of the German Arbeitsgemeinschaft Christlicher Kirchen in Deutschland. There are many other contacts, but here we are only thinking of those that are at least to some extent directly attributable to the Geneva Consultations."
F. General Significance
"As reinforcement of the already mentioned nine results, which in themselves certainly highlight the significance of the Conversation, there are a few more points of a more interpretive nature which throw additional light on the significance of these Consultations:
"l. It is quite clear that the SDA attitude toward the ecumenical movement, and more significantly the World Council of Churches, is unavoidably strongly influenced by the church's understanding of prophecy, eschatology, current trends and past church history, and its self-understanding of the role of the Advent Movement as epitomized by the SDA Church. It thus appears that a central problem of inter-church theological discussions in which Seventh-day Adventists are involved would be biblical interpretation in general and prophetic interpretation in particular. (Emphasis his)
"2. The participants in the Conversations discovered that each side approaches the Bible with respect and the basic expectation to be guided by Scripture into truth. There are, however, some noticeable differences in approach. While SDA theologians believe in the inspired integrity of the Bible and insist on the historicity of the record, the participants on the WCC side tend to favour a larger use of historical and form-critical methods. Underlying these dissentient approaches are differing views regarding the nature of revelation and inspiration. It should not be overlooked, however, that similar differences in approach can be found within the constituency of the World Council of Churches. (Emphasis his)
"3. In view of the prominence Seventh-day Adventists have traditionally given to religious liberty, it is significant to note the very substantial agreement that prevailed in this area of the discussions. While the SDA contribution to religious liberty has been largely of a pragmatic nature, without ignoring the necessary biblical basis, the World Council of Churches has through its Religious Liberty Secretariat concentrated on providing a sound theological foundation for religious liberty, and through the CCIA has underlined the general importance of human rights. (Emphasis his)
"4. The Conversations have made Seventh-day Adventists rather more aware of ecumenism as an expanding and driving influence, with strengths, weaknesses and problems. On the other hand, the World Council of Churches and some of its member churches appear more conscious of Adventism as a growing world-wide religious force. Both sides have gained a deeper understanding of each other's, raison d'etre. (Emphasis his)
"5. There has been a growth of mutual respect. The SDA participants cannot but respect the scholarship and "studiousness" of the World Council of Churches and its representatives. Faith and Order studies have shed considerable light on various contemporary issues. There is also evidence that the WCC members have gained a measure of respect for the calibre of Adventist scholarship. The Conversations have demonstrated that the participants on both sides are capable of respect[ing] differing views, especially when held by partners in dialogue whose Christian commitment cannot be questioned. (Emphasis his)
"6. The Conversations have been significant as an educational instrumentality. Minds have been opened and enlarged. Adventists have become more clearly aware that there is more than one point of view to most questions, and that there are earnest Christian men who hold differing beliefs that should be taken into account. While beliefs merit to be safe-guarded, serious thought must be given to expressing them in terms that will be readily understood,
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and, in some degree, accepted by those with divergent convictions. (Emphasis his)
[In this paragraph - perhaps unwittingly - Dr. Beach has expressed the real issue involved in this matter of dialogue with the World Council of Churches and their representatives. He indicates that the SDA participants discovered that there is "more than one point of view to most questions." This may be very true when the questions involve human philosophy and policy, but is this true when it comes to truth? In other words, did God commit to us a truth that admits of no compromise? Does this truth as given in the book of Revelation permit us to dialogue with the Enemy of truth before a tree of knowledge of good and evil created by him? Then Beach suggests that we should word our beliefs in such a way that these men of the WCC can more readily understand what we mean, and thus be, "in some degree, accepted" by them. Was not this the rationale in the dialogue with Barnhouse and Martin during the SDA-Evangelical Conferences? The bottom line is simply that when we express our beliefs in such a way that those who differ with us can, to some degree, accept them, the result is compromise of the truth.]
"The same educational process has enabled the WCC participants to realize that Seventh-day Adventists are genuinely committed Christians, who hold clearly defined, defensible beliefs in all major areas of Christian doctrine.
"The Conversations have made it abundantly clear that firsthand information is better than secondhand misinformation, that sharpening one's theological views on the grindstone of dialogue is not only at times painful but profitable, and that ignorance of the other side is not bliss." B. B. Beach *
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* "Dr. B. B. Beach, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, is the Secretary of the Department of Public Affairs, Northern European Division, United Kingdom."
[This footnote attached to the article noting B. B. Beach as connected with the "General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists," when he was only a departmental secretary of the Northern European Division, can convey only one message. What Beach has written, and what he did and said at the WCC/SDA Conversations had the full and unequivocal blessing of the General Conference.]
LETTERS
"Why should we protest the USA having an Ambassador to the pope - after all, we have B. B. Beach." -- An M. D., Pacific Northwest.
"I was interested in that letter from Oregon - someone went to church and saw a catholic priest in the pulpit ... I am somewhat familiar with the situation there. Friends communicate with us. Herb Bauman, ministerial Secretary, has strong positive feelings for the pope." Minister, Pacific Northwest.
You NEED To READ ------
Reflections on the Sanctuary - by Sigve Tonstad, M. D.
This booklet, faces up to the Sanctuary crisis in Adventism; gives the alternatives, and then presents a positive case for our historic faith. We highly recommend a thoughtful study of what Dr. Tonstad has written.
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