In this issue:
An End of Sins
David Clayton
One doctrine which I have believed in for
the past thirty-two years is the doctrine of the “Final Atonement.” This
is a teaching which is unique to the Seventh-day Adventist movement and
is one which I believe has a solid biblical foundation. As we have
focused on Righteousness by Faith over the past two years, there has
been concern in some circles that our understanding of Righteousness by
Faith does away with this concept of the final atonement.
If the Bible led me in this direction then I would have to accept it.
But does the truth of righteousness in Christ do away with the truth of
the final atonement? This is a very important question and will be our
main focus in this edition of Open face.
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Recently I was reading
from.Daniel 9:24 and I stated that this verse applied to the work which
Christ would do. Somebody said to me, “how do you know this is speaking
about Christ?” Let us look at what the verse says:
“ Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city,
to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make
reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness,
and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.”
(Dan 9:24)
Who is this prophecy referring to? It says, “seventy weeks are
determined upon thy people.” Since Daniel’s people were the Jews, then
it is clear that this was talking about the Jews. I am sure this
prophecy is familiar to most of us reading this article. We know that
these seventy weeks referred to a period of time which God allotted to
the Jews, and that this seventy weeks (which were actually 490 years)
came to an end in AD 34. Adventists believe that when Stephen was stoned
to death in that year, that this marked the end of the seventy weeks
that God gave to the Jews in which all these things were to be
fulfilled.
For many years I held to the belief that what God was saying was that
during this seventy weeks period of time, the Jews were supposed to stop
committing sin, to stop transgressing God’s laws and to become
everlastingly righteous. But as I look at the prophecy carefully today, I
realize that this cannot be correct. Let us look especially at one of
the things which was to happen which it was impossible for the Jews as a
people to accomplish: It says that reconciliation should be made for
iniquity. Look at that phrase. There is only one person in the universe
who can make reconciliation for iniquity. That person is Jesus Christ.
No ordinary man, no nation, no people can do this, Christ alone could
fulfil this prophecy. This prophecy was speaking of the work which
Christ was to do. Here again are the things which were to be done by the
end of the Seventy weeks:
a. A finishing of transgression
b. An end of sins
c. Reconciliation made for iniquity
d. The bringing in of everlasting righteousness
e. The sealing up of the vision and prophecy
f. The anointing of the most holy.
Some have insisted that this verse must be speaking of the Jews and what
God expected of them, rather than of the work of Christ. They reason
that if these things apply to the work of Christ then they must have
been fulfilled, because Christ cannot have failed. But they cannot
accept that these things have already happened, and especially that an
end has already been made of sins. It is easier to believe that God
expected these things of the Jews, who must have failed to accomplish
them, rather than to believe that Christ has already accomplished them.
Reconciliation for iniquity
But let us be faithful to what
the Scripture says. There are several verses which tell us that Christ
has already fulfilled the specifications of this prophecy. First of all,
has Christ made reconciliation for iniquity? What are we told in Romans
5:10?
For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by
the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by
his life. (Rom 5:10)
Notice what reconciled us to God, it was not something
that you or I did. It was the death of God’s son, something outside of
us, and independent of our actions. Our actions, or the actions of the
Jews have nothing to do with accomplishing this reconciliation. Humanity
is already reconciled to God, it is something which is done and
finished. It had nothing to do with what we do or how we live; it was
entirely on the basis of what God’s son did. We were reconciled by the
death of God’s son.
This truth is further emphasized in 2 Cor 5:18-19
And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to
himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of
reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world
unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath
committed unto us the word of reconciliation. (2 Cor 5:18-19)
This verse is very clear; it says that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ . The next phrase says, “not imputing their trespasses unto them.” Now this word “impute” means not charging
their trespasses. This is difficult for many of us to understand. Some
find this very difficult to accept, even though it is stated so plainly
in the Bible. But it clearly says that in His Son, God was reconciling
the world to Himself.
The world was reconciled to God, the entire planet was
reconciled to God by the death of Christ. If we think of it graphically,
there was a wall. On one side was man, on the other was God. The name
of this wall was sin , and it was a wall that
stood between God and man. This wall has been destroyed. What was it
that destroyed it? It was the death of Christ, the death of God’s son
took away this wall and put it out of the way. Jesus took our sins, not
just those that we committed already but also those which we will commit
in the future. Every one was paid for by Christ. If Jesus has paid for
them, they cannot still be a problem to God.
When I say this, somebody is sure to ask, “are you saying
that when I commit a sin it is not a problem?” I am not saying that, but
I am saying that as far as God is concerned, sin cannot stand between
you and Him anymore. But of course there is one thing that will make
your sin, still a problem, and what is that? It is if you do not believe
in what God has done for you through His son. If you cannot accept the
forgiveness and the enabling that is in Christ because you remember what
you have done and forget what God has done through His son, then for
you, sin is still a problem. The Bible says that God is not imputing the
trespasses of the world to them. It is not just the trespasses of
Christians, it is the trespasses of the entire world which is not
imputed unto them, God took it out of the way by the death of His son.
Now our problem is that we do not believe. Our real problem is not our
sin, but the fact that we cannot believe in the One who has dealt with
sins already.
An end of sins
What about the prediction that He would make an end of sins, did Jesus make an end of sins by A.D. 34?
In Hebrews 9:26, speaking about Jesus it says:
For then must he often have suffered since the foundation
of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to
put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. (Heb 9:26)
I
say again, sin is not a problem to God, the Bible says that He took the
sins of the entire world upon Himself and what did He do? He took it to
the cross and He made an end of sin at the cross. What this means is
that now there is a human life in which sin does not exist and this life
is ours if we want it. The only condition is that we truly believe in
the Lord Jesus Christ. We have only to accept what God has done for us
through His son.
So it is clear that this prophecy was speaking about
Jesus, not about the Jews. It only related to the Jewish nation in a
secondary sense, because Jesus came from the Jews, He came from the line
of Israel, but it was in Jesus that sin was
brought to an end. The dominion of sin over humanity has been destroyed
because Jesus has “condemned sin in the flesh,” (Rom. 8:2) that is, in
human flesh. So sin has no more authority over humanity. He made
reconciliation for sins, He brought in everlasting righteousness. Now
there is a human life that is everlastingly righteous.
Our problem is that we have difficulty in believing that
this life has been given to us; that this life is our life. But to
believe it is to be set free. We need to understand that Jesus did not
just die to pay a price, but He died to provide a life for us that is
without sin and that is everlastingly righteous. If we can believe and
receive what Christ has done, we will be free from sin. Is that not what
the Bible says?
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (John 8:32)
For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. (Rom 6:14)
Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed
remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. (1 John
3:9)
These verses are amazing, most people are afraid to accept
what they say because it makes a lie of their experience. but it is the
truth of the word of God and the only reason why we do not experience
it is because we cannot believe in what Christ has already done. The
Bible says He would make an end of sin, and He did. And so God does not
impute our trespasses unto us because Christ took them out of the way,
He nailed them to the cross.
In 2 Cor 5:20, it says,
Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did
beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to
God. (2 Cor 5:20)
Here we see two parties involved, there is God and there
is man. There was a wall in the middle which God has taken out of the
way, but what is man’s problem? He will not accept what has been done.
God has been reconciled to man, but what about man? Man is not
reconciled to God. The barrier is entirely in man’s heart, not on God’s
side. Sin is not a problem to God because Jesus dealt with it and He
dealt with it completely and entirely.
When I understood this, I recognized that I had been
fighting an enemy that was dead. I had been condemning myself for
something that was not a problem to God. I realized that my problem was
that I would not believe in what God has done in His Son and when I
realized it, it brought a great release in my soul. I felt that a huge
weight had been lifted from my shoulders.
Many of us are under a burden of sin because we are
measuring ourselves by what we do, we are seeing ourselves instead of
seeing Christ, but when we see Christ and we understand what God did for
us in His son, finally the weight is lifted, and we not only are free
from sin’s condemnation, but we find that the power of sin is also
broken. Suddenly those sins no longer have the power to crush and beat
us down, suddenly we find ourselves free. Now, this is what Jesus did,
this is what the Bible says He did.
The Final Atonement
Jesus already made an end of sins
according to the teachings of the word of God. But if Jesus has taken
sin out of the way, how can it be that there is to be a final atonement?
If Jesus completely dealt with the issue of sin, finished the
transgression, made an end of sin, made reconciliation for iniquity,
brought in everlasting righteousness, all of this by AD 34 (Daniel
7:24), and by one offering, has perfected forever those who are
sanctified (Heb 10:14), how then can there be such a thing as a final
atonement? Has not Jesus already made an end of sin? Is it not all
already finished and accomplished, just waiting for us to believe what
is already true? What is this final atonement, is it really something
that is scriptural, or is it something that Adventists have invented? Is
it something that was made up in 1844 to save face, or does the Bible
really speak of a final atonement?
There is a lot of evidence in the Bible which shows clearly that there
is a final atonement for God’s people. The evidence cannot be honestly
denied. What we really need to ask is, what is this final atonement and
why is it necessary.
The Festivals of Israel
God instituted seven
festivals to be observed in Israel annually. Every year these festivals
were observed over and over at the times appointed by God. As we examine
these festivals it is very obvious that they were intended to represent
different events in the plan of salvation. In studying these festivals,
we learn some important lessons concerning the main events in this
plan.
The first of these festivals was the Passover which was
observed on the fourteenth day of the first month. This festival, the
Passover was instituted on the night when Israel was delivered from
Egypt, when they had to kill the lamb and paint the doorposts of their
homes with its blood to protect them from the angel of death who passed
over Egypt that night. Every firstborn child in every home which did not
have lamb’s blood painted over the lintel of the door, was killed.
The
second festival was the feast of unleavened bread, the third was the
wavesheaf or first fruits. These first three festivals took place one
day behind another, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The fourth was
Pentecost which took place fifty days after the Passover. All of these
were spring festivals, which means that all four took place during the
first part of the year, during the planting period. The fifth one was
the feast of trumpets, and this one took place later in the year during
the harvesting period. It began on the first day of the seventh month
and lasted for ten days. The sixth festival was the Day of Atonement,
and this took place ten days after the blowing of trumpets started. The
seventh festival was the feast of tabernacles which occurred on the
fifteenth day of the seventh month, after the harvest of the land was
gathered in.
Every year, the Israelites observed these festivals, and
this continued for hundreds of years. Why did they have to continually
repeat these services? According to the book of Hebrews, it was because
these ceremonies could not bring perfection (Heb. 10:1-4; 7:19). In
other words, none of these things were real, they were only symbols,
types, representations and acted parables. Over and over they went
through this sequence because until the reality came, they were learning
the truth by performing these rituals.
Now the first four festivals took place in the spring, the
other three took place in the fall, or autumn. Significantly, these last
three occurred during the seventh month. I say significantly because
seven signifies completeness or perfection. So whatever we see happening
in this period, in the seventh month, is very
suggestive. It suggests that this is during the time of the finishing of
God’s work when the plan of salvation is being completed. In fact in
the book of Leviticus in chapter 23 the feast of tabernacles was
specifically said to not take place until after the fruit of the land
had been gathered in (Lev. 23:39-42). The people were supposed to leave
their houses for eight days, and live in temporary dwelling places. They
were supposed to build little booths on top of their houses where they
would stay, or to make tents and live away from their homes for one
week. They were to wave palm branches and rejoice before the Lord for
one week after the harvest was gathered in.
The significance of the feasts
This harvest clearly
represents the final ingathering of God’s people and so it is evident
that the feast of tabernacles signifies an event to take place after
Jesus takes His people to heaven. They leave their homes; they rejoice
and wave palm branches, what does that represent? It represents the time
that we spend in heaven, when we leave our homes (this planet earth)
for a while. In Revelation 7:10 we find God’s people waving palm
branches before the Lord in heaven. They are waving palm branches before
the throne in the real, antitypical feast of tabernacles.
It is easy to see the significance of most of the other
feasts. The death of Christ was represented by the Passover, Pentecost
was fulfilled by the coming of the Holy Spirit, fifty days after Christ
died. What was the fulfilment of the wave sheaf which took place on the
third day after the Passover? This was fulfilled by the resurrection of
Christ, when many of those that slept in the ground came back to life
and were taken with Christ to heaven as a first fruits of the harvest of
the earth. During the feast of unleavened bread the people were to put
away leaven out of their houses, and leaven represents sin. This
indicates that from the time that Christ died, we entered an age where
sin was abolished, it was taken away, and sin is no longer to be a part
of the experience of God’s people. The people were to put away all
leaven out of their houses for one week, and this one week in the type
represents an indefinite period of time, just as in the case of the
feast of tabernacles which lasted for one week, but which evidently
represents a much longer time period, probably, a thousand years.
Now let us consider the fact that the first four of these
festivals are clearly and indisputably in the past. Passover, Unleavened
Bread, Firstfruits and Pentecost were all fulfilled during the first
year of the Christian era, the same year that Christ died and was
resurrected. What about the other three, Trumpets, Atonement and
Tabernacles? Well, it is clear that the last one, the Feast of
Tabernacles is not yet fulfilled. It is the last event to be fulfilled
on the calendar and refers to a time after the ingathering of the
harvest of the earth, or the coming of Christ. So the question is, when
do the blowing of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement take place? Let us
see what the clues tell us:
First of all, it has to be after the day of Pentecost.
According to the sequence which God gave to the Jews and which they
followed every year, Pentecost always occurred before the blowing of
Trumpets and the Day of Atonement, therefore, these other two festivals
had to be some time after Pentecost.
Secondly, these two festivals took place during the Seventh
month of the year, with a long gap between them, and the first four
festivals. In fact, they took place during the same month as the Feast
of Tabernacles which, as we have already seen, takes place at the very
end of time. It is evident that these two festivals, the blowing of
Trumpets and the Day of Atonement, are end-time events which take place
during the last moments of time, shortly before the ingathering of God’s
people at the coming of Jesus.
When is the Day of Atonement?
Now that we have
established that these two, the blowing of trumpets and the Day of
Atonement are events which take place during the last days, let us see
if we can find out what exactly was the purpose of the day of Atonement.
Remember, we are trying to see if this idea that the day of Atonement
occurs during the last days is opposed to the truth of Righteousness by
Faith.
In Leviticus 16:29-30 we find a description of the work to be done on the day of atonement. It says,
And this shall be a statute for ever unto you: that in the
seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your
souls, and do no work at all, whether it be one of your own country, or a
stranger that sojourneth among you: (30) For on that day shall the
priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean
from all your sins before the LORD. (Lev 16:29-30)
Now here is the problem: It says that on that day the priest would make an atonement to cleanse the people from all their sins .
But as we saw in the previous article (“An End of Sins”), Jesus already
took care of all sin when He took the sins of humanity to the cross and
reconciled mankind to God. The Bible says he would make an end of sin
and bring in everlasting righteousness by the year A.D. 34. But here, in
Leviticus 16:29-30 it seems to speak of the deliverance of God’s people
from sin as something which would take place on the day of Atonement.
This is why some Christians argue that the Day of Atonement
must have been fulfilled at the time when Jesus died. Can you see the
reason for that argument? They say, “since God’s people are cleansed
from all their sins on the day of atonement, and Jesus made an end of
sin and brought in everlasting righteousness when He died and was
resurrected, then the day of Atonement must have been the day that Jesus
died.” But if we accept this, what we have done is destroy the meaning
of the sequence which God commanded the Israelites to follow in
observing these feasts. We are saying that when God gave them this
sequence and this pattern for observing these feasts it meant nothing at
all. We are saying that it does not matter if we shuffle these days
around as we choose. But God commanded the Israelites to observe these
festivals every year in the same exact order on the same exact days. Did
that sequence mean something?
When you look at the first four, they have been fulfilled in
the exact order in which they were observed. Jesus died on the exact
day that the Passover was sacrificed, He was raised on the exact day
that the wave sheaf was offered, and that very morning when Mary came to
Him and held on to His feet He said, “don’t delay Me; I have not yet
ascended to My Father.” He had to go and offer Himself as the first
fruits of the harvest of the earth. In fact the fulfilment of the day of
Pentecost is very striking because the Holy Spirit did not come even
one day before the fiftieth day, it did not come one day after the
fiftieth day, the Bible says “when the day of Pentecost was fully come,”
that is the time when the Holy Spirit came. So everything happened in
the exact sequence, and we see that Tabernacles is the last event after
the harvest, so logically we cannot remove the blowing of Trumpets and
the Day of Atonement from their place in the sequence. It doesn’t make
sense.
Sin and the Christian
Let us consider a few
things. When a person comes to Christ, does the guilt of sin remain? Of
course not. How much of your guilt does Christ remove? He removes all.
The Bible says “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he
removed our transgressions from us (Psa 103:12).” How far is that?
That’s as far as infinity. That is how far God has removed our
transgressions. If you are in Christ, you have no more guilt, that is
gone. And how long does it take for guilt to be removed when you come to
Christ? It is removed immediately. It does not take until you are 90
years old.
Well then, if we are truly in Christ, how many acts of
rebellion remain in our lives? We are free from guilt, but do sinful
actions continue to overcome us if we are truly Christians? The Bible
says,
“Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in
him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.” (1 John 3:9).
“For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.” (Rom 6:14)
These verses and others are very plain. If we find ourselves
committing sin let’s admit where the problem lies, it is to be blamed
on the fact that we are not in Christ, we have not accepted the gift of
Christ’s life. But if we are in Christ, the Bible says, “he that abideth
in Him sinneth not” (1 John 3:6). It’s possible to lose our state of
abiding and commit sin, but as long as we abide in Him we cannot sin. So
for the person in Christ, sinful actions are gone as well as guilt.
Here, we are not speaking of those actions which we do not
know to be wrong? These will remain until God shows them to us, but are
those considered to be sin? No, if we are sincerely ignorant of the fact
that our actions are wrong, then God does not hold us guilty of them.
They do not cause a barrier between us and God, so we are not referring
to those as sin. The sin which brings a rift between us and God is
rebellion, that is, a conscious, deliberate, knowing choice to do what
is wrong.
What God really desires is to know that our hearts belongs
to Him one hundred percent. When that is right, then it will be easy for
Him to teach us His will on the Sabbath, health reform, dress reform,
music and any other subject. The response of a person whose heart
belongs to God will be, “Lord, I didn’t know my actions were wrong, but
I’m yours in every way. Anything you say, anything you want me to do I
am yours. Just show it to me and you know that I will willingly give it
to you. Your heart belongs to Him and that is all He wants. Then He will
teach you little by little what His perfect will is. But sin, as an act
of rebellion, as an act of self-will goes when you come to Christ and
it goes away one hundred percent. Rebellion does not remain in the
genuine Christian.
Is there any other aspect of sin which goes when we come to Christ? We have seen that Guilt is gone, sinful actions
are gone, but what about the sinful nature? Before answering this
question let us just be sure of what we are talking about when we say
“sinful nature.” The nature of man consists of the body, and the mind,
the physical and the spiritual. When we talk about the sinful nature we
need to make a distinction between each of these aspects of man.
When a person is in Christ does the sinful body remain? Of
course it does. It will remain until Jesus returns, or until we are
dead. This is something which will never change in this life. But does
the fallen body constitute sin? If it constitutes sin then Jesus must
have had sin because He had a fallen body, suffering the effects of sin,
just like ours! But the fact is, the body itself is not sinful. Yes, it
is weak and degenerate from six thousand years of weakened genes. It is
just a weak instrument, but weakness is not sin, it is just the effect
which the body has suffered as a result of thousands of years in a
sinful environment.
What about the sinful or carnal mind? Does the Christian
still have the carnal mind? Of course not. It cannot be! Here is what we
are told in Romans 8:7-9
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not
subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. (8) So then they that
are in the flesh cannot please God. (9) But ye are not in the flesh,
but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if
any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. (Rom 8:7-9)
This passage is very clear. The carnal mind is enmity
against God and surely the man in Christ cannot be an enemy of God,
therefore, the Christian cannot still have a carnal mind! The verse
tells us very plainly, “ye are not in the flesh …. if so be that the
spirit of God dwell in you.” So the man in Christ no longer has a
carnal mind. Of course when we say this carnal mind is gone, do we mean
that it is absolutely destroyed? Is it possible that this carnal mind
can come back to life? Of course it can. Paul says, “if I build again
the things I destroyed I make myself a transgressor,” (Gal. 2:18). So
although Paul says we have been buried with Christ, we are dead with
Him, meaning our carnal nature is gone, we must understand that this
state of death is obtained and maintained only by a faith relationship
in which we remain in Christ. If we choose to turn our eyes from Christ,
what happens then? The carnal mind will come back to life immediately.
So we need to understand that the carnal mind is conditionally dead. It is under subjection completely, but it is possible for it to be resurrected if our faith grows weak.
What is the carnal mind?
Now let us look at what
this carnal mind is a little more closely. Let us look at three aspects
of the carnal mind as we seek for an answer to the question, what is it
that remains of sin, in the Christian, to be finally removed on the Day
of Atonement?
The first thing we observe about the carnal mind is that it is self-centred .
Does this aspect of it remain when a person becomes a Christian?
Absolutely not. When a man comes to Christ self-centeredness goes, he
becomes God centred. He become centred towards other people; He is no
longer looking out for himself. He fulfils the Scripture which says,
“love seeketh not her own (1 Cor. 13:5).” Christ changes that selfish
outlook. The selfish aspect of the carnal mind does not remain in the
person who is in Christ.
The second thing that we observe about the carnal mind, is,
self-awareness. At first that doesn’t look like something which should
be labelled as “carnal,” but as I use the term here,
it simply means an awareness of who I have always been, and of who I am.
Consider the question, who are you really? What do you know of
yourself? I know some things about myself from the time when I was five
years old, I know some things about my life and my past. This is my
concept of David Clayton? I know some embarrassing things, I know some
bad things, some things that I would like to forget. Is that who David
Clayton is?
The Bible says if any man is in Christ he is a new creature.
Do I know myself as the new creature or as the old creature? What do I
know? It is easy to say, “I know myself to be a new creature,” but when
somebody says something to hurt you, who is it that shows his face? Is
it the new creature or is it the old creature? Who do I know myself as?
That is what I mean by “self awareness.” That is a part of the carnal
mind, it is a part of self centeredness.
The third thing I wish to mention is the thing that probably
keeps self-awareness alive. What am I talking about? It is one critical
aspect of the carnal mind, and it is the memory. Let us consider this.
When a man comes to Christ, this is something that does not go. Even if
you have been a Christian for ninety years you will still remember the
evil that you did when you were five years old. Do we realize that the
greatest tool that Satan uses against us as Christians is the memory of
the wrong things we have done? Suppose a man who used to chase women
becomes a Christian, do you know that the next time he steps on the
street and sees a girl in a mini-skirt, or he looks at the TV and he
sees a half naked woman the tendency is to remember things in his past
which are associated with half naked women. It becomes a source of
temptation that Satan uses against him. When the man who has been a
thief encounters unguarded money the memory of what he did becomes a
tool that Satan uses to try to drag him back to that. His memory remains
and it’s one of the things that Satan uses to provoke and tempt him.
Does Sin Remain
The reformers had a
saying which I think had some truth in it, but it was not wholly true.
They said “sin remains but it does not reign.” Were they telling the
truth? When once a person has committed an action, is that sin still in
existence after the action is finished? Suppose I steal something, I
take what does not belong to me and I put it in my pocket. I did this
yesterday, am I still stealing today? Am I still committing the action
today if I did it yesterday? The fact is, when once the action is done,
the action is over. If I commit fornication or I tell a lie, once the
action is done, the sin is over. In what way does it remain in me? It
remains only in my memory, it cannot remain after it is done, yesterday
is gone, what I did when I was five years old is dead and gone, but it
lives on in my memory.
So there is a tool that Satan uses and it is the memory of
past sins. So the question arises, why does God allow this tool to
remain? If He took away my guilt, and my sinful actions and the carnal
mind, why didn’t He take away the sinful memories too? If a man had no
memory of the wrongs which he had done and he was filled with the Holy
Spirit wouldn’t it be much easier for him to live without sin? Why does
God allow these things to remain as a tool that Satan can use? Is it to
test our faith? Maybe that is one reason and maybe there are other
reasons as well, but the fact is that we do have a record of sin
remaining even after we have yielded our lives to Christ and that is the only way
in which sin can legitimately remain in a Christian. Not sin as an
actual entity, but sin in the sense that the scars which it has left,
remain. There is a record of it and this record is in our mind.
The question is, is there a corresponding record anywhere
else? Adventists have believed that during the Atonement there is
something called the blotting out of sin from heaven. This has offended
some people because they find the idea repulsive that there can be sin
in heaven? They have said that the very idea that sin could exist in
heaven is blasphemous. Many times our arguments and disagreements exist
simply because we do not all understand words in the same way and
therefore use them with differing shades of meaning. We have seen that
as far as the Christian is concerned several aspects of sin are taken
away, but one aspect of sin remains, and it is sinful memories. Are
these memories sin? Are sinful memories sin? Absolutely not, otherwise
the Christian would still be a slave of sin and God is the one who would
have left him in that condition. Memories are not sin; a record of sin
is not sin. What is it? It is an evidence of sin committed, it is not
sin in itself. And as long as you have the memory of sin, you have in
yourself the evidence of what you have done in your past.
When we understand this, then we see that there is harmony
between the fact that our sins were taken away entirely when Christ
died, and the idea that sin still remains to be taken away during the
Day of Atonement. Here we see guilt is taken away entirely when we truly
accept Christ, sinful actions are taken away entirely, the carnal mind
is put to death, sin is gone, but a memory, a record remains in the
mind. Is that memory to be removed at any time, or will the Christian
forever retain these offensive memories of the wicked life which he used
to live? Leviticus 16:30 say that on the day of atonement, “the priest
shall make an Atonement for you to cleanse you from all your sins.”
Ellen White wrote something interesting in Spirit of
Prophecy vol.1 p.123, the same thing can be found in The Great
Controversy p.620
“The righteous will not cease their earnest agonizing cries for
deliverance. They cannot bring to mind any particular sin, but in their
whole life they can see but little good. Their sins had gone before hand
to judgment and pardon had been written. Their sins had been borne away
into the land of forgetfulness, and they could not bring them into
remembrance”.
These people cannot see much good in their lives and that is
what is bothering them. Not that they can see any sin, they can’t
remember any sin. These have been blotted out, totally erased not only
from the books in heaven where they were recorded, but also from the
minds or memories of these Christians.That is what happens during the
final Atonement. The final atonement is an event where God finally
removes the last vestige of sin that remains in the Christian. Satan’s
last tool that he can use to tempt and harass us is finally gone. That
is what the final Atonement is about. It is the removal, not of sin , but of a record of sin, a record that remains and that is used to harass us.
Why does God allow Satan to have this tool that he can use?
The answer is simple, when this is gone, Satan has no other way to work
in your life, his foothold is gone. When this is removed, his greatest
tool is gone. Can God give this experience to somebody who is not a true
Christian? This is a supernatural act where God supernaturally removes
something from the mind of man. Can God do this to somebody who is not a
genuine Christian? No, a person has to be a true Christian first, but
it is not everybody who says, “Lord, Lord” who is a true Christian. So
God allows those memories to remain that it can be demonstrated whose
side we really belong to. Satan still has to have his tool to work with
until it is proven which side we belong to. When we have been proven and
tested, finally the memories are blotted out and God says, “now it is
over. You wont touch them anymore because they have proven which side
they are on.” This is why a judgment is so necessary, there has to be a
way to demonstrate which side we belong to. And that is why the record
remains in our minds as well as in heaven, up until the time that this
experience of the blotting out of sin takes place.
The heart and the altar
In Jeremiah 17:1, God says something that is very interesting
The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the
point of a diamond: it is graven upon the table of their heart, and
upon the horns of your altars; (Jer 17:1)
Why is this so interesting? Well, what does the heart
represent in the Bible? It represents the mind. God says the sin is
graven upon the mind with the point a diamond. What is the significance
of diamond here? It is one of the hardest substances. When our sins are
written with a diamond, God is trying to say it cannot be erased. That
means that this is something that is not going to be removed by ordinary
methods. When we are sinners, we develop habits, our bodies develop a
certain response to sin, we develop what are called conditioned
reflexes, our bodies react instinctively to certain things. Of course,
it is possible to re-train your body, but it is not possible to erase
the marks that are on your mind. Memories are things which are outside
of the realm of human endeavour and ability, only God can intervene and
do something about them. But it is not only written upon the tables of
our heart, it is also written upon the horns of our altars. I am not
sure that I fully understand what that means, but there is something
which suggests an idea to me. I have heard several persons say that
there is no evidence of a judgment in the sanctuary service, but here is
something that makes me think. In Leviticus 16:33 it says,
And he shall make an atonement for the holy sanctuary, and
he shall make an atonement for the tabernacle of the congregation, and
for the altar, and he shall make an atonement for the priests, and for
all the people of the congregation. (Lev 16:33)
Now we can understand why an atonement had to be made for
the priests because of course, they were sinners too. We can understand
why it had to be made for the people of the congregation because they
were the main target of the Day of Atonement service, but what is the
meaning of the atonement for the tabernacle of the congregation, and for
the altar? The Bible says that he was to put the blood upon the horns
of the altar to make an atonement for the altar. Let us consider the
meaning of this word “atonement.” What does it signify? The meaning
really signifies to bring back two parties into harmony where they are
at one. That’s the real meaning of this term atonement (at-one-ment).
There are two things that are at odds with each other, and the atonement
brings them together again into perfect harmony.
Now it says that the altar had the sins of Judah graven upon
it. Here is something interesting again; In Revelation 5 where it talks
about the opening of the books, (and I believe those books are the
books of judgment), what did John see when the fifth seal was opened? He
saw under the altar the souls of those who were slain for their
testimony, and white robes were given unto them (Rev. 6:9-11). I don’t
have a full answer to the question, but I ask, why are the dead
represented as being under the altar? The altar represents the place of
communion between God and earth. The way that the Bible presents it is
that the people approach God by means of the altar. From the altar of
incense, the fire was taken, put into the censer and the smoke ascended
with the prayers of the saints. So the altar represents the channel of
communion between man and God.
Our prayers are accepted because they are mingled with the
righteousness of Christ as they come up before God, but what is it that
pollutes our prayers? Isn’t it the state of our mind? The memories, the
channels of communication are polluted, and here the Bible represents
that in the sanctuary itself, the place where man and God meet, that
place is polluted and needs to be atoned for. Here we see a suggestion,
not that sin is in heaven, but that the record that is in man’s mind
also has a corresponding record in heaven, and that during this
atonement, that record is to be abolished from heaven, and only
abolished because it is also abolished from the mind of man. Both things
have to correspond, can you see? It would be pointless to take away the
record from heaven and leave it in the mind of man. Once that record
has been abolished, man has to be at a place where he will never sin
again, because once that record is cleaned, it remains clean for all
eternity. The removal of the memories of sin will place the Christian on
that vantage ground where Satan will never be able to induce him to sin
again.
NO WORK
Our last point comes from Leviticus 23:27-31:
Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a
day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye
shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the
LORD. (28) And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of
atonement, to make an atonement for you before the LORD your God. (29)
For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day,
he shall be cut off from among his people. (30) And whatsoever soul it
be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy
from among his people. (31) Ye shall do no manner of work: it shall be a
statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
(Lev 23:27-31)
Now, God says, “you shall do no work.” Was this true for
everybody in Israel? The priest had to work, one person in Israel worked
and it was the high priest. He alone worked. What was the duty of the
people, what was the work of the people? They were to afflict their
souls and by faith they were to follow the priest wherever he went. Who
made the atonement? The priest did. With his blood he made the
atonement; the people had to do nothing but follow him with their minds.
The Bible says that salvation is not of works, it is of
grace through faith. It is not you who accomplish it, it is Christ who
does it. Where do works come from in the Christian’s life? They are the
works of Christ being worked out through us.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto
good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
(Eph 2:10)
For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. (Phil 2:13)
Therefore, what does the Bible say about the Christian who
is found working his own works,? What does it say here in the day of
Atonement? “He shall be cut off from his people.” Do you see that the
Day of Atonement is talking about the works of self versus the works of
Christ? The only one who is supposed to work is Christ, the Christian
who is found working his own works on the Day of Atonement, is a man who
is seeking salvation by works, he is a man who is doing his own way and
not allowing Christ to live in him. Here is further evidence to
strengthen the point that salvation is entirely Christ’s work. We don’t
have any work to do, our work is to have faith in Christ.
The Jews came to Jesus and they asked, “what shall we do
that we might work the works of God?” What did Jesus say? “This is the
work of God that you believe in the one that He has sent (John 6:39).”
that is God’s work. That is our only work, and if you believe in Jesus,
the works of Christ will appear in your life. He will work in you to do
of His will and good pleasure. What you cannot do He will do, if you
will accept what God did for us through His son.
We have a work to do, but that work is to believe, and I am
not saying that it is the easiest thing in the world to believe because
our minds are packed with junk, we have watched TV until we are dizzy,
we have talked about foolishness until we can’t concentrate on the right
things. Many times we go to pray and find our minds in the supermarket
or on the last football match, our minds are all over. Faith sometimes
is the hardest thing to really exercise and so we have a fight, but it
is the fight of faith, not the fight of works. Many times a Christian
finds that he falls and do you know what he does? He decides to be
stronger and he grits his teeth and he uses his strength and he goes to
face that temptation again and falls again because humanity cannot fight
sin. Instead of seeking Christ, he goes to fight sin; he goes to fight
the fight that is not his fight. Our fight is to believe, and when we
sin it is because we have lost our focus. Let us find the way to seek
Christ again, find the way to live in Christ again and the works will
fall into place.
God is so serious about this He says the soul who does his
own work, during this time of the atonement shall be cut off from among
his people. So God takes it as a very serious issue, and I am very happy
that as we look at righteousness by faith we can see that everything in
the Bible is fitting together under this banner. We must go back and
study the prophecies and every doctrine that we believe in, in the light
of righteousness by faith. Everything will appear with a brighter
lustre, with a brighter glory, as we examine it in the light of the
knowledge that Christ is our righteousness.
Under The Law
For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. (Rom 6:14)
All my life I have been confronted with this text by non-Adventists.
Adventists have been accused of being legalists and of not understanding
the purpose and the relevance of the law as it was given on Mount
Sinai. This text, Romans 6:14 has been one of the favorite texts of
those who say that the law is no longer relevant for Christians since
the time of the death of Jesus. These Christians have stated (with much
Scripture to back them up), that Christians are not under the law .
How should we understand this statement that Christians are no longer
under the law? A significant number of Christians understand this to
mean that the Ten Commandments have been abolished. In addition, many of
them go on to teach that there was a time when God saved people by
means of the law, if they were obedient, but that He has changed His
method of saving people since Jesus Came.
On the other hand, as far as I can remember I have always heard Adventists interpret this phrase to mean being under the “ condemnation
of the law.” I have listened to sermons, read books by outstanding SDA
evangelists and authors and, this was always the way that the phrase was
interpreted. The explanation is, when a person commits sin, he is under the law, because he is condemned
by the law. The law condemns him because of his sin. However, if a
person commits no sin, then he is not under the law because then, the
law cannot condemn him.
Both sides agree that there is a condition which the Bible describes as
being “under the law.” There is no question or argument about that. The
real issue is, what does the Bible mean when it speaks about being
“under the law? The problem is that neither of these two views fits with
all the references in the Bible. There are some places where one
interpretation seems to make sense, but others where it just does not
fit, and it is the same with the other interpretation. This question is a
very critical one because our understanding of it contributes to our
understanding of several issues which are presently agitating Adventism,
including the issue of righteousness by faith. Is the “Adventist” point
of view correct or is the non-Adventist point of view?
After examining this issue carefully for several years, I have come to
the conclusion that neither of those views is correct. I have come to
see that there is another explanation which not only makes much more
sense, but which perfectly harmonizes all the references to being “under
the law,” and which gives us a much more complete understanding of what
God’s purpose was when He gave the law on Mount Sinai.
One passage in particular which helps us to understand what Paul means
in using this phrase, is Galatians 4:1-5. Let us examine this passage
and see what we may learn from it on this question of what it means to
be, “under the law.”
Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing
from a servant, though he be lord of all; (2) But is under tutors and
governors until the time appointed of the father. (3) Even so we, when
we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: (4)
But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made
of a woman, made under the law, (5) To redeem them that were under the
law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. (Gal 4:1-5)
Perhaps it is not necessary to go any further than this passage to come
to an understanding of what the phrase means. We are told that as long
as a person is a child he is placed under tutors
(teachers) and governors (his behaviour is restrained by others). It
does not matter if he is one day to be Lord of all, as long as he is a
child, this is how he is treated. Then Paul says, “even so,” this shows
that he is using this as an illustration of something which he is about
to say. What is his point? His point is that there was a time when we,
(meaning the people of God) were children (spiritually speaking), and
because we were children we were in bondage under what he calls the
“elements of the world.”
This word bondage is regarded as a bad word and is made worse because it says we were in bondage under the “ elements of the world .”
Surely, we think, the elements of the world must be something bad. But
if we look at the illustration, we cannot come to that conclusion. The
child is placed under tutors and governors. Is this something bad? Of
course not. His behaviour is restricted, his freedom is limited. In this
sense he is in bondage. Another person controls his behaviour but this
is not a bad thing, as long as he is a child. Now, “even so,” or in the
same way …. Paul says that the situation with us Christians was the
same. We were in bondage under the elements of the world. Who put us
there? Who was interested in keeping us under control and disciplining
our behaviour while we were still children? This “bondage” under the
“elements of the world” was the way of tutoring us and governing us
until we became adults and since, when we were children we were God’s
children, then it must have been He who placed us under these “governors
and tutors” which kept us in bondage under the elements of the world.
In 1 Corinthians 7:15 Paul uses this word bondage in a way which helps
us to see that when he uses it, he does not mean something bad:
But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is
not under bondage in such cases: but God hath called us to peace. (1 Cor
7:15)
What does the word “bondage” mean in this verse? Paul is speaking
of a Christian who is married to an unbeliever. He says that the
Christian should not separate himself from the unbeliever if the
unbeliever wants to stay with him. But then he says, if the unbeliever
wants to leave, then the brother or sister is not under bondage in such a
case. What is it that keeps the brother or sister under “bondage” if
the unbeliever desires to stay? It is the law! The law requires the
brother or sister to stay with such a person and Paul describes this
obligation to the requirements of the law as “bondage.” So we see that
Paul does not mean that bondage is a bad thing, only that when a person
is in bondage, he is controlled by rules and regulations which determine
how he is to behave, regardless of how he feels.
But why does Paul refer to these rules as the “elements of the world?”
Could Paul refer to the laws given by God as “elements of the world?”
Consider for a moment, what did these laws relate to? What aspect of a
person did these laws control, was it the spirit (mind) or was it the
body and the outward behaviour? Did these laws have to do with the life
of the world to come or did they have to do with life in this world? As
long as they had to do with the outward behaviour, the body and its
actions, then they were nothing but elements of the world, even though
they were given by God Himself.
This is not to say that God gave something which was not good, but He
certainly gave something which could not bring eternal life in itself.
He certainly gave a system which did not produce righteousness in itself
because that was never His purpose for the law. What was His purpose in
placing them “under” these “governors and tutors” or “elements of the
world?”
(Gal 3:24-25) Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto
Christ, that we might be justified by faith. (25) But after that faith
is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
This is as plain as day. The law was our schoolmaster .
It was our tutor and governor because we were children. But it had a
definite purpose and what was this purpose? Its purpose was to bring us
to Christ. It was to govern us until we became adults. But now that
Christ is come, are we still under the schoolmaster? Are we still under tutors and governors? Are we still under the law? Absolutely not. “ after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.”
But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son,
made of a woman, made under the law, (5) To redeem them that were under
the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. (Gal 4:4,5)
It should be clear then, that being under the law does not mean that one is necessarily under the condemnation
of the law. Neither does it mean that the Ten Commandments have been
abolished. What it really signifies is that one is under a certain
system of government, a system where one is controlled by external rules
and regulations which govern his behaviour. In other words, it means to
be under the administration of law. The implications of this are
tremendous. If this is true, what then is the alternative to being
“under the law?” If what we are being told is that the Christian is no
longer governed by the law, then by what is he governed? Again, the
Bible has a very clear answer.
But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. (Gal 5:18)
There are two kinds of system which govern the way a person behaves, one
is for children and the other is for adults. One is based on external
control. It is a system which deals with peoples’ actions, it governs
what they do and controls them on the basis of rules and regulations.
Its methods are based on, “elements of this world.” The other is based
on internal change. It is a system which deals with peoples’ hearts and
minds, it governs their natures and determines how they think. It
changes their behaviour on the basis of Christ living inside. This
system is not based on the rule of law, but on the rule of the spirit.
It is very difficult for some of us to accept this truth because if
flies in the face of what we have always believed. It contradicts the
entire direction of our religious lives which has been based on the
principle of following a system of rules and law rather than behaving on
the basis of a transformed nature. We cannot see how it is possible for
us to do what is right except it be on the basis of being instructed
how to behave. The idea of receiving a life which is by instinct
predisposed to good, a nature which always turns in the direction of
good, without the need of law seems an
impossible thing. It would require the actual introduction of something
supernatural and out of human experience to accomplish such a wondrous
miracle.
Oh how blinded we have been brothers and sisters! Isn’t this exactly
what we have been promised? An experience which is out of this world, a
new spirit and a new heart, the very life of Christ Himself. Something
which is out of this world, supernatural, something which human effort,
obedience to rules and laws can never produce. This is what it means to
be no longer under the law. It is to be under grace, that is, to be under the government of the spirit of God.
Now that we understand this, all the other verses which speak of being
“under the law fit neatly into place. We understand that they neither
speak of the abolition of the Ten Commandments, nor of being under the
condemnation of the law. What they really refer to is a condition where a
person is governed by external forces, a condition where rules and
regulations dictate how he behaves. The Christian no longer operates
under this kind of system.
But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the
faith which should afterwards be revealed. (24) Wherefore the law was
our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by
faith. (25) But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a
schoolmaster. (Gal 3:23-25)
But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law , To redeem them that were under the law , that we might receive the adoption of sons. (Gal 4:4, 5)
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