2017 Spring Newsletter - "One Interest. One Subject. The Cross."
IN SEARCH OF THE CROSS IN THE PSALMS – PART 1
by Bob Hunsaker
How often do you go to bed at night, and during that period of time between when you get in to bed and when you fall asleep, you are thinking about different things - sometimes pleasant thoughts and sometimes, if it’s been a stressful day or there was a problem at work, then there is anxiety.
I don’t know what you think about at those times but a lot of times I like to step back in my mind and I wonder what Jesus thought about as He was lying down getting ready to go off to sleep? He had stressful days, He had difficult circumstances – much more than me, and He had good days when things went well. In the Psalms we are seeing the thoughts of Jesus.
What was Jesus thinking about before he fell off to sleep, when he went to bed at night? What was He thinking about when He woke up in the morning before He got up? What was He thinking about when He was walking with the disciples and there wasn’t any conversation going on? What did He meditate on during His devotional time with His Father? When He was praying all night, what was He saying?
That’s really what the Psalms are telling us about.
You and I have had the experience - you kneel down, ten minutes, twenty minutes, maybe 30 minutes - we have gone through our prayer list in detail – nothing left to pray about. Jesus prayed all night. What was He praying about all night?
He had an accentuated and heightened awareness of His own humanity, and of our humanity. The Psalms reveals this sensitivity that Jesus had to our humanity and to His.
Jesus emphasizes the importance of the Psalms in our understanding of His experience. In Luke 24:44-45, shortly after the walk on the road to Emmaus. He is speaking to the disciples in the upper room, and it says, “then Jesus said to them, ‘These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.’” And then he did something vitally significant, “he opened their understanding that they might comprehend the scriptures.”
Jesus had said something very similar in verse 27 of Luke 24, on the road to Emmaus, “He expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.” As they were reflecting back on this Emmaus road experience, they said, “did not our hearts burn within us?” This burning experience resulted from Jesus giving them a Bible study, and this Bible study caused their hearts to burn within them.
So Jesus knew the Psalms both from growing up studying the Psalms, and from His own personal experience. The Psalms were prophetic of His daily experience. Imagine him reading through the Psalms as a child, and coming to the conclusion that these were describing the experiences that He would go through. Then, as He moves through His life and His ministry, experiencing the very things He had read in the Psalms, He didn’t say, “now it’s time to recite this part of the Psalms.” He would be thinking, “this passage in the Psalms mirrors exactly what I’m going through right now.” It was validating the prophetic component of the book Psalms in regards to His life.
A.T. Jones and E.J. Waggoner actually had a lot of understanding regarding the significance of the Psalms in relation to the life of Jesus.
Notice this quote of A.T. Jones from the 1895 General Conference Bulletin. The sermon is themed from the phrase “Emmanuel” meaning “God with us” and Jones is developing what it means that God is “with us” over the course of several sermons. He starts a whole series of sermons off with this statement:
“In all points it behooved Christ to be made like unto His brethren, and He is our brother in the nearest blood relationship. We are now to study another phase of this great subject: First in the Psalms -- Christ in the Psalms - that we may see how entirely the Psalms mean Christ and that the one whose experience is recorded there is Christ.” {February 22, 1895 ATJ, GCB 299.2}
Notice that Jones is seeing this idea of Christ with us all throughout the Psalms. He does not just see Christ in a few of the Psalms. Sometimes we may have the idea, like I did, that there were a few “Messianic” Psalms - 22, 69, 88, 40 – maybe five or ten Psalms that refer to Jesus Christ. However, Jones’ point is how entirely the Psalms are about Christ.
“It is impossible to touch the whole 150 psalms in detail in one lesson or in a dozen lessons; yet in a sense we can touch the whole 150 by so touching a few as to show the one great secret of the whole number, and that secret is Christ. We shall take some of the psalms of which God himself has made the application to Christ, so that there can be no possible doubt that that psalm refers to Christ . . .” {February 22, 1895 ATJ, GCB 299.3}
Jones goes on:
“Then when we read these psalms, we know that we are reading of Jesus Christ, and of God's dealings with him, - he too being ourselves all the time, weak as we are, sinful as are we in the flesh” (Important modifier there, in the flesh)
“…made to be sinners just as we are, all our guilt and our sins being laid upon him, and he feeling the guilt and the condemnation of it in all things as ourselves.“ {February 22, 1895, GCB 299.3}
(TO BE CONTINUED)
THE CROSS OF CHRIST
by E. J. Waggoner
The failure with many people is that they make a distinction between the cross of Christ and their own crosses. There is no cross that comes to any person on earth, except the cross of Christ. If we will always remember this, it will be life and joy to us.
The Lord does not give us some crosses of our own, – little crosses adapted to different ones, –one having one cross and another. We cannot separate Christ from His cross. Christ is crucified; He is the only crucified one; therefore whatever cross comes to us must be the cross of Christ; and that cross is with us continually. But in the cross of Christ we find Christ Himself.
UNION WITH GOD BY THE CROSS
What do we get through the cross? – Forgiveness of sins, reconciliation. "Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God." 1 Peter 3:18. "That He might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross." It is the cross, then, that unites us to God, and makes us one with Him. Everything then that is a real cross is life to us, because it brings us to God. Take the things that come to us; new duties, perhaps, are revealed to us; sins, it may be, are shown to us, that must be denied. Different things come up that cut directly across our habits and our own way and convenience. We can take them in a hard and cheerless way, groaning over our religion, and giving everybody that comes near the idea that it does not agree with us, but that we must endure the service of Christ, hoping that by and by we shall get something better, when we get out of this grinding service. Or we can find joy in the cross, and salvation and peace and rest, by recognizing that cross as the cross of Christ.
THE CROSS WITHOUT CHRIST
Suppose we are stingy. Well, we have to make sacrifices for the cause of God, and so we know we must give something. We groan over it, and shrink from it, but finally by dint of hard work, will manage to give something. Then we think afterwards of what a hard cross we have borne.
Or take the Sabbath as a typical case. To keep the Lord’s Sabbath is very inconvenient for our business, and we perhaps stumble over that cross a long time. But there it is plainly before us: "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." If we do not keep the Sabbath, we are afraid we shall be lost. So in order to save ourselves from destruction, we agree to keep the Sabbath. It is a weekly cross, and we are always thinking of the inconvenience and hardship. Surely it must be we shall get credit for that because it is so hard to do. Not so; when we take it that way it is our own cross, with Christ left out; and there is no salvation except in the cross of Christ.
With a thousand other things it is the same. We mourn over them, and it is only by will power that we force ourselves up to the rack, and take the bitter medicine, consoling ourselves with the thought that by and by all this will be ended. We shall not have such hard times when we get into the kingdom.
Possibly we put this rather strongly and yet this is the idea of the Christian life with a great many people who profess to be Christians. We sing of the "resting by and by," and of joys to come, giving the world the idea that there is no joy in the present. The idea so commonly is that the harder the cross is, the more joy there will be when it is done with.
PAGAN AND PAPAL PENANCE
That is not Christianity at all. It is heathenism. How much more Christianity is there in that than in the case of the man who puts pebbles into his boots and goes on a pilgrimage, so that the worse he can make himself feel now, the better he will feel when his journey is ended? The only difference is in the sort of penance we endure. We take this duty and that as scourges with which to afflict ourselves, thinking we are working out everlasting joy for ourselves by and by.
We have all done more or less of this. One it is human nature. That is the devil's way of deceiving people. He does not care how many crosses we endure. In fact, he must thoroughly enjoy seeing people groaning over their religion, and having a hard time of it generally.
Now all these things we have been laboring over may be things that God requires us to do. He doesn't require us to scourge ourselves with whips, or to go on pilgrimages on our knees; but the only difference between ourselves, when we have made burdens of our duties, and the man who has scourged himself or worn a hair shirt, is that we make our penances out of those things which God requires, and he makes his out of those things which the Lord has not required. Yet we have thought we were better than he!
OPPOSITION TO CHRIST
Both classes are trying to put up a cross that would take the place of the cross of Christ. People ask the Lord to accept their offering for sin. Every cross men bear in that way is hard. If that were all that is in the cross, those crosses ought to have served the purpose; for they were bitter and cruel enough. Then there must be something else in the cross besides hardness. Popularly the idea is that anything that is a discomfort, that a person doesn't like to do, is a cross, and some men perform their duties as the Catholic wears his hair shirts, to make themselves uncomfortable all the time.
It makes no difference how much people talk about the Lord; how much they say they believe in Christ; how much they call themselves Christians; the setting up of a cross aside from the cross of Christ, is opposition to Christ. Although there is much about Christ and much about crosses, in Roman Catholicism, we know that in the system itself there is none of Christ. Of course, many individual Catholics have Christ, and many more would gladly know of Him; but, as a system, with its penances put upon the people, we know that Catholicism tends to eclipse and shut out the cross of Christ; so that each individual is virtually to have his own cross, and atone for his own sins. In many cases the individual is deluded with the idea that what he is enduring is the cross of Christ, and that is worse yet.
Now thousands of professed Protestants are doing what amounts to the same thing, and yet all the time they are preaching and talking against the papacy. These crosses, men have thought, were going to bring them nearer the Lord. The idea has been, "No cross-no crown;" the more we suffer, the more we shall enjoy by and by. This is the time of suffering; by and by we shall have the time of enjoyment. So we will endure it. Certainly, we thought, these crosses will bring us nearer to God.
But as a matter of fact, try as hard as we could, even at things that were right in themselves, we couldn't get nearer to the Lord than before. We were always wanting to get nearer, and yet finding ourselves afar off. Then we did not have Christ in the cross, although we persuaded ourselves that we were believing in Christ and bearing His cross. For if we had had Christ in the crosses that we bore, we should have been brought near to God. The trouble was that we had a cross in the place of the cross of Christ, – a substitute for it.
SELF IN PLACE OF CHRIST
Who was on that cross? – Self. The power of the cross of Christ is the power of His life, the power of an endless life. The power in our crosses was only the power of our own life, which is nothing, and could not bring us nearer to God. We were crucifying ourselves on our own crosses; and as we thought that those crosses were the cross of Christ, we were putting ourselves in the place of Christ. We were very antichrist ourselves. And all the time we were doing that, we were throwing stones at the Pope. Christ said those who were without sin might throw stones; and whoever indulges in stone-throwing, thereby tacitly proclaims himself to be sinless.
And those who do as described above are claiming that very thing; because the cross is a sacrifice for sin, and atonement for it, and they are "bearing the cross." Didn't we do this duty? Didn't we perform that uncomfortable service? Didn't we deny ourselves? And thus by all these crosses, had we not, in our own minds, freed ourselves from sin, so that we could throw stones at other people? Again, we put the case rather strongly, perhaps, and yet we are assured that we are giving the experience of the natural heart. Many who have found Christ indeed testify to these old experiences, and there are many who are living through these experiences now, and are finding the way hard and wearisome and deceitful.
ONLY ONE CROSS
There is only one actual cross in the world, and that is the cross of Jesus Christ. "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me." We have often thought we were denying self, when we were only building self up; we were putting ourselves in the place of Christ. Our talk of self-denial was but Pharisaism. People are apt to get a wrong idea of what a Pharisee was. The word "Pharisee" denoted one who was "separated." They were the separated ones, zealous for the law, and for God, as they supposed. They were not bad as people saw them. The observer might find nothing crooked in the outward life of Saul, the Pharisee; before men he was blameless. But when he came to himself, he saw that he was all sin. There is no writer who states the depravity of human nature so vividly as the Apostle Paul. While it was all written by inspiration, he wrote what he had experienced. When he told of the wonderful grace of God, he told exactly that grace that had been revealed to him, as chief of sinners; for the man who sins and calls it righteousness, is of all sinners the chief.
KNOWING CHRIST
The question for everyone is, Do you know that Christ lives in you? Are you joined to Him? There are many who are workers for Him professedly, who dare not say that Christ lives in them; they do not know that Christ is one with them. When we were bearing crosses after the manner we have described, we could not say, "Christ liveth in me." So we were separated from Him, and thus separated from His cross. It was self in the place of Christ, "a form of godliness but denying the power thereof," for the power of godliness is the cross of Christ. We denied the cross of Christ, and so denied the power of the gospel.
We are not crucified with Christ except we are one with Him in the crucifixion. He must be identified with us in the cross; for it is His. There is no crucifixion of the man that amounts to anything unless he is crucified with Christ. Crucified together with Him, there is virtue to us, because we get the virtue that is in Christ. That virtue is freedom, separation from sin, and redemption, life, joy, peace. So it is not so difficult a thing to bear the cross when we are crucified with Christ. He is with us and in us. Now it is Christ enduring the cross, and to us there is joy in the Lord in it. Christ is made peace for us through the blood of His cross.
Christ was crucified for sin. There was no cross except for sin. He bore our sins. There is wonderful joy that comes to us in this, that while we are yet in sin we are permitted to claim Christ as ours, and to say, "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me, and gave Himself for me." If we could not assert this with all assurance while yet sinners, we never could assert it. But while in sin we may claim Christ as ours, and that He is in us. We know it because the Holy Ghost says that it is so. To the man who believes the Lord and dares assert it, it is everlasting strength. "God who is rich in mercy, for the great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ." We could not be quickened or made alive together, unless dead together. So Christ identifies Himself with us in death, even the death in trespasses and sins, and it is He who bears the burden in His own body on the cross; and while we are crucified with Him we also live with Him, delivered from sin.
SAVED BY THE LIFE
Christ is the present Saviour of all men. He is the "Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." John says, "If any man sin, we have an Advocate [or Comforter] with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He is the propitiation [sacrifice] for our sins." 1 John 2:1, 2. Him "God hath set forth to be a propitiation [sacrifice] through faith in His blood." Rom. 3:24. His blood is now shed for us; He is now lifted up for us. The knowledge that the cross is set up in every heart, that He is crucified for us, makes a delight of the crosses which come to us, all the burdens to be born, all the habits to be given up, which are as taking our life, because they are our life. The knowledge that now Christ is crucified for us, that now are we crucified with Him, not in fancy but in fact, makes the presence of the cross a joy to us, for there we find Christ, and are brought into fellowship with His death, and live with Him. Being reconciled by His blood, we know we shall be saved by His life. To take up the cross is to take Him. To deny self is to own Him. To crucify self indeed is to take His life, and the life we live with Him is not one of hardness and discomfort, and the performance of disagreeable duties for the sake of joy by and by, but it is the constant springing up of life and joy; so that with joy and not groaning we draw water from the wells of salvation. It makes all the difference when we have His cross. "Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; an everlasting joy shall be upon their head." Isa. 51:11
(This article is from the booklet, by the same title, in the “Apples of Gold Library, No. 15” published August 1894 by Pacific Press Publishing Company, Oakland, California).
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WHAT HAPPENED AT THE CROSS?
by Monica Campbell
Have you ever wondered why the Cross was so important to the disciples and the early Christians?
The disciples for three years traveled with Jesus. They lived with Him, heard His sermons and witnessed His wonderful miracles. But, even so after all this, at the last supper they were looking out for themselves and did not understand His mission.
But then came the Cross! He had made the supreme sacrifice for the sins of the whole world! Jesus came back after His death and spent 40 days with them teaching them from scripture about His Love, His sacrifice and His death on the Cross. Now they were completely changed and unified for Christ. They were fearless and gave up everything for Him. They were willing to die for Jesus and turned the world upside down because of what His sacrifice on the Cross meant to them. As Paul said “I want to glory in nothing else but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. (Galatians 6:14)
So what changed? Let’s put ourselves in the shoes of the disciples and the Jewish leaders who were yelling “Crucify Him”. To them death on a cross had a specific meaning under Jewish law. To die by hanging on a tree meant to be eternally cursed by God. (Deut. 21:23) under their law and this included death on a cross. To the Jewish leaders this curse meant “goodbye to life forever” which is the final penalty for all sin, the final second death…and they wanted to be rid of Jesus forever. This second death meant separation from God who is the source of life and hope and without Him there can be no life.
The crime that Jesus was accused of was claiming to be the Son of God (which is blasphemy). This crime under Jewish law was to be punished by stoning and not crucifixion but the Jewish leaders wanted Him crucified to solve their problem.
On the cross, Christ cried out “Father, Father, why have you forsaken me? He was experiencing that separation or abandonment from God caused by taking the sin of the world upon Himself for all of us and He was afraid that sin was so offensive to God that their separation would be forever. (DA 753)
Do you realize that Satan tempted Jesus at least three times while He was on the cross…once through the Roman soldiers, once through the Jewish priest and once through the thief on the left-hand side? Each time they said, “Come down from the cross and save yourself.” Remember, Jesus was still God and could have taken hold of His divinity to save Himself against the Father’s wishes - but He didn’t and why not?
As Jesus hung on the Cross-experiencing God’s curse for our sins, He had to make a choice, between saving Himself or saving the world. He could not do both. He made the supreme sacrifice and chose to die eternally so that you and I may live in His place. Jesus was willing to accept the curse of our sin and give us His life in exchange.
“But God demonstrated His Love that while we were still sinners Christ died for us”. (Romans 5:8). This is what transformed the disciples so they were on fire for Jesus and they spread this gospel to the known world. They finally saw how deep God’s infinite Agape Love was for you and me and the whole world and how totally unselfish He was.
Do you know what Jesus was saying on the Cross? He was saying that He loves you and me more than Himself. That is God’s Agape Love and when we realize how much God loves us, it changes us just like it changed the disciples. God wants to use all of us to turn our world today upside down for Him because of the Cross of Christ.
WHAT WAS SECURED BY THE DEATH OF CHRIST?
Signs of the Times, December 30, 1889
by Mrs. E. G. White
It became Him for Whom are all things, and by Whom are all things, in the redemption of the world to save sinners by the blood of the Lamb. The great sacrifice of the Son of God was neither too great nor too small to accomplish the work. In the wisdom of God, it was complete; and the atonement made testifies to every son and daughter of Adam the immutability of God's law. The value of the law of Jehovah is to be estimated by the immense price that was paid in the death of the Son of God to maintain its sacredness.
The law of God is a transcript of His character; it portrays the nature of God. As in Christ we behold the brightness of His glory, the express image of His person, so also in the law the attributes of the Father are unfolded. Although the law is unchangeable, His having provided a means of salvation for the law-breaker does not in the least detract from the dignity of the character of God, since the penalty of man's transgression was borne by a divine Substitute. The Father Himself suffered with the Son; for "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself." Man, with his human, finite judgment, cannot safely question the wisdom of God. Hence it is unbecoming for him to criticise the plan of salvation. Before the theme of redemption, let man lay his wisdom in the dust, and accept the plans of Him Whose wisdom is infinite.
God grants men a probation in this world, that their principles may become firmly established in the right, thus precluding the possibility of sin in the future life, and so assuring the happiness and security of all. Through the atonement of the Son of God alone could power be given to man to establish him in righteousness, and make him a fit subject for heaven. The blood of Christ is the eternal antidote for sin. The offensive character of sin is seen in what it cost the Son of God in humiliation, in suffering and death. All the worlds behold in him a living testimony to the malignity of sin, for in his divine form he bears the marks of the curse. He is in the midst of the throne as a Lamb that hath been slain. The redeemed will ever be vividly impressed with the hateful character of sin, as they behold Him who died for their transgressions. The preciousness of the Offering will be more fully realized as the blood-washed throng more fully comprehend how God has made a new and living way for the salvation of men, through the union of the human and the divine in Christ.
The death of Christ upon the cross made sure the destruction of him who has the power of death, who was the originator of sin. When Satan is destroyed, there will be none to tempt to evil; the atonement will never need to be repeated; and there will be no danger of another rebellion in the universe of God. That which alone can effectually restrain from sin in this world of darkness, will prevent sin in heaven. The significance of the death of Christ will be seen by saints and angels. Fallen men could not have a home in the paradise of God without the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Shall we not then exalt the cross of Christ? The angels ascribe honor and glory to Christ, for even they are not secure except by looking to the sufferings of the Son of God. It is through the efficacy of the cross that the angels of heaven are guarded from apostasy. Without the cross they would be no more secure against evil than were the angels before the fall of Satan. Angelic perfection failed in heaven. Human perfection failed in Eden, the paradise of bliss. All who wish for security in earth or heaven must look to the Lamb of God. The plan of salvation, making manifest the justice and love of God, provides an eternal safeguard against defection in unfallen worlds, as well as among those who shall be redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. Our only hope is perfect trust in the blood of Him who can save to the uttermost all that come unto God by Him. The death of Christ on the cross of Calvary is our only hope in this world, and it will be our theme in the world to come. Oh, we do not comprehend the value of the atonement! If we did, we would talk more about it. The gift of God in his beloved Son was the expression of an incomprehensible love. It was the utmost that God could do to preserve the honor of his law, and still save the transgressor. Why should man not study the theme of redemption? It is the greatest subject that can engage the human mind. If men would contemplate the love of Christ, displayed in the cross, their faith would be strengthened to appropriate the merits of his shed blood, and they would be cleansed and saved from sin. There are many who will be lost, because they depend on legal religion, or mere repentance for sin. But repentance for sin alone cannot work the salvation of any soul. Man cannot be saved by his own works. Without Christ it is impossible for him to render perfect obedience to the law of God; and heaven can never be gained by an imperfect obedience; for this would place all heaven in jeopardy, and make possible a second rebellion.
God saves man through the blood of Christ alone, and man's belief in, and allegiance to Christ is salvation. It is no marvel to angels that the infinite sacrifice made by the Son of God was ample enough to bring salvation to a fallen race, but that this atoning sacrifice should have been made is a wonder to the universe. It is a mystery which angels desire to look into. The angels are amazed at the indifference and coldness manifested by those for whom so great a salvation has been provided. They look with grief and holy indignation upon those who do not seek to appreciate the unspeakable gift of God. Instead of offering adoration to God, finite men think themselves capable, without divine unction, of determining what is worthy of praise or blame in their fellow-men. But to be glorified by man is no glory. We should learn to value the praise of man at what it is worth. The Lord says, "Them that honor me I will honor." Let every breath of praise, every word of exaltation, flow to him who is worthy, flow to Jesus, the Prince of life, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. Elevate the cross of Christ. Elevate the Mediator. Lift up Jesus. In him is everything noble. Contemplate God in Christ. He is surrounded with angels, cherubim and seraphim continually behold him. Angelic voices day and night cry before him: "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.... Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created." "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing." "Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy; for all nations shall come and worship before thee." But although God only is holy and worthy to be praised, human tongues are perverted to praise and glorify man rather than God.
The greatest gift that God could bestow upon men was bestowed in the gift of His beloved Son. The apostle says, "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" There was nothing held in reserve. No second probation will ever be provided. If the unspeakable gift of God does not lead man to repentance, there is nothing that ever will move his heart. There is no power held in reserve to act upon his mind, and arouse his sensibilities. The whole character of God was revealed in his Son, the whole range of the possibilities of heaven is displayed for the acceptance of man in the Son of the Infinite One. The way for man's return to God and heaven has no barriers. The matchless depths of the Saviour's love have been demonstrated; and if this manifestation of God's love for the children of men does not prevail to draw men to himself, there is nothing that ever will. {ST, December 30, 1889 par. 6}
Those who will be saved in the kingdom of God will be those who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. The image of Christ will be perfected in every soul who accepts the gift of his grace, and those who are perfected through his grace, will stand before God equal in elevation, in power and purity, to the angels, and will be honored with them before the eternal throne. The angels of heaven will love those whom Christ has loved, and has bought with his own precious blood.
The attention of all the inhabitants of all worlds will be directed to the cross of Christ, around which will cluster the exceeding and eternal weight of glory. The imagination becomes exhausted in its stretch to comprehend the wonderful work of redemption. The plan of salvation is too high to be fully reached by human thought. It is too grand to be fully embraced by finite comprehension. The apostle says, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." Can we wonder that Heaven is amazed because men act as though the gift of God were valueless? What will be the eternal loss of those who reject so great a salvation, offered freely through the merits of God's only-begotten and well-beloved Son!
JONATHAN AND MARLA MAYBROOK: OUR TESTIMONY
(Jonathan speaking) "The Lord in His great mercy sent a most precious message to His people. "The 1888 message, Christ our Righteousness, has been a most precious message to me. It brought me out of an offshoot movement to God's true remnant church, the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
I was brought up in the Seventh-day Adventist Reform Movement. In the summer of 1981 my wife and I became members of that organization. We were active in the church and during the past few years I was elder of our local group in New Jersey. In the summer of 1985 a Reform minister told me about the 1888 conference that was to be held at Camp Mohaven in Ohio. He wanted me to go with him so that we could recruit members for our church. If he had only known then the results of my going, he never would have asked me....
I went not knowing what to expect but found that there were others who belonged to offshoots. As I saw the love of Christ displayed among the people, I knew all walls of prejudice were broken down as we basked in the presence of the Holy Spirit that weekend. The message of 1888 when understood properly breaks down all walls of prejudice and dispels all bitterness. It seems as if all offshoots have separated or pulled away because of bitter feelings toward the brethren or because one or a few or many want to put self on the throne. When the love of Christ pervades us there is not room for these sinful traits of character.... Being born into the Reform Movement, I saw bitterness over and over again in members and ministers in the pulpits. This spirit of condemnation just isn't in line with the character of Christ.
It was this precious message by Jones and Waggoner expounded in Ohio where I started to see the true Spirit of Christ and the false spirit of the professed church of God.
Another scene that impressed me was the prayer groups that were praying all times of the day and kneeling in the grass under the trees amongst God’s beautiful nature. These are scenes I can't erase from my memory. These people were seeking in earnest for the latter rain. They wanted Christ to come soon. I witnessed youth praying for children. Needless to say, after I left that camp I was never the same. I went home with an earnest desire to know more of this 1888 message.
I can see how the Lord has been leading day by day in our lives, and I can testify as many others did at Camp Mohaven that it was in the providence of God that I be there.
(Marla speaking) I remember my husband talking about the conference in the car all the way home from Ohio. He was so excited that he couldn't keep quiet. The only thing that bothered him was that the message we have was to stick with the ship—the church is going through to the end. I was raised in a Seventh-day Adventist home and with great sacrifice on my mother's part I attended church schools. I met my husband at my home church and thus became acquainted with the Reform Movement. After thoroughly studying their literature and principles of faith, I became convicted that I should leave the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The Reform group seemed much holier than our associates in the Adventist Church. Later I found out that this is a deception of Satan to lead people away from the true church. The Reform Movement makes the Adventist Church look so bad by bringing up all their faults so that you are almost ashamed to be connected with it. Their movement is not based on a "Thus saith the Lord" but on criticism and faultfinding. Testimonies, Vol 4, p. 610 says, "When Christ is in the heart, it will be so softened and subdued by love for God and man that fretting, fault finding and contention will not exist there." My husband and I were carried off in this deception for four years, until the momentous Camp Mohaven meetings. I remember my husband coming home and getting up early every morning to study and pray. I saw a change come over him. Up to that time we had been lukewarm Adventists, even in the Reform Movement. Only after we understood the message of Christ our Righteousness could the Lord start working with us. As Ellen White says in Review and Herald, May 6, 1890, "While we are incased in self-righteousness and trust in ceremonies and depend on rigid rules, we cannot do the work for this time."...
From that point on the Lord led us step by step back into His true church. A friend pointed out to us a passage in Selected Messages, Bk 2, p. 66: "The message to pronounce the Seventh-day Adventist Church Babylon, and call the people of God out of her, does not come from any heavenly messenger, or any human agent inspired by the Spirit of God."
We started attending Seventh-day Adventist meetings. A correct understanding of the parables of the ten virgins and the wheat and tares enabled us to see that there are two groups in the church... off shoots fail to see the wise-virgin group—those that are sighing and crying for the abominations that are done in the church. Our eyes were opened to see this other group. They were more Christ-like than any offshoot group we had ever met. It was to this group that we wanted to belong and this group was part of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
We are so thankful for the prayers of friends and ministers during those years when we were out of the fold. Now we are earnestly praying for our beloved brothers and sisters that are in the same deception. The key to unlock their self-righteous position is the 1888 message. We will continue to praise the Lord for giving us that message.
RICH HARTLEY’S TESTIMONY
Grace and peace from the Lord and me,
…In 1998, I made my first trip to the Philippines. My wife and I traveled all over giving health and longevity lectures in our schools, churches and hospitals. I told the SDA people about carrot, beet, celery and other vegetable juices. I talked about colon health, the use of papaya to clean the liver, grapefruit for arthritis, how to get rid of gall stones, etc. During my presentations, I would always ask if anyone had heard of A.T. Jones and E.J. Waggoner. During 7 years, only 2 hands went up. I made 9 trips to the Philippines. In 2005, we sold our house and moved there. We took about 1,000 lbs. of books - Bibles, 1888 books, E.G. White books. Elder Wieland helped immeasurably and gave me $5,000 to pay for the shipping container. We lived in Mindanao... We had a small farm about 50 miles from Mountain View College. I had many invitations to visit our churches, schools, hospitals. Sometimes 20 people were in attendance, and as many as 250. I a1ways asked the question about Jones and Waggoner. We traveled as far west as Palawan, by the S. China sea.
I had a sermon at a small church in a farming community, about 25 members. Next to the church was a pig sty. We could barely breathe, but they never missed a Sabbath meeting. A lady was there who is the SDA Women’s movement leader for all of Mindanao. I gave her an 1888 book and she read it and told her son about it. One day I was walking down the sidewalk in Malaybalay City, looking for a bakery and her son came up behind me and said: "Are you Rich Hartley? I've been looking all over for you." We went to my van and I showed him all the books and other 1888 material. He told his friends. We built a library with a large room above where the students from Mountain View College could sleep and spend a few days finding out about the new life with the 1888 truth. The movement exploded. Some of the foreign students took the books back to their countries - Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Malaysia, Japan, China, India, etc. One of my friends lives in S.W. Mindanao, Radical Islam area. He is working with the teenagers of Islam there. They want to know about 1888 and it's a big event for them - their families will kill them.
I returned to California in 2010. I wanted to stay but because of the civil war with the N.P.A., the communist army, I had to get out. They wanted money from me every month. I came back with my three children, flat broke. It took 8 months to bring my wife, couldn't afford it at first. I started sending 1888 books back to the Philippines and the movement is growing. I have some very dedicated 1888 friends over there. They are all poor in this world and struggle, but are very rich in Christ. They love the 1888 message.
The Lord in His great mercy...
1888 OVERSEAS LITERATURE FUND
Dear Friends of the 1888 Message,
Ellen White reminds us that the message that A. T. Jones and E. J. Waggoner presented was “the message that God commanded to be given to the world” (TM91.2) - a clear reference to the gospel commission in Matthew 24:14. We, at the 1888 MSC, want to do all we can to support the propagation of the 1888 message, not only in the USA, but to God’s people all around the world.
We have been receiving a steadily increasing number of requests for literature from around the world, particularly Africa. The vast majority of the people requesting 1888 truth filled literature have no funds for the purchase and especially for the cost to ship 1888 materials to them. We want to meet the needs as often as possible.
To meet these growing requests from overseas, for 1888 literature, we are starting an “1888 Overseas Literature Fund”. We are asking you to partner with us in sharing the 1888 message to lighten the EARTH with the glory of God. This message is for the world, and we need your support to meet the requests we receive from all around the world. Please prayerfully consider if you can give additional support, above and beyond your usual contribution, to support the 1888 Overseas Literature Fund.
You can donate easily on our website specifically to the 1888 Overseas Book Fund, via the mail and label your check appropriately or call our office at 1-866-954-4523.
Thank you again for your generous giving to spread God’s most precious message.
Your Brother in Christ,
Robert Hunsaker,
President, 1888MSC
P.S. Your donations are tax-deductible and should not include any tithe. We are committed to the support of our beloved Seventh-day Adventist Church. All tithe is to be paid to the organized church. We support financially the local church, the Sabbath School, and other denominational programs.
THREE FACTS ABOUT THE CROSS OF CHRIST
by Jerry Finneman
There are three facts about the cross that we will examine in this article. These are God’s Sovereign foreknowledge, man’s freedom of choice, and the time of Christ’s crucifixion. To begin with let’s consider the first two facts as presented in Acts 2:22-23, – “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know—Him, being delivered by the ‘determinate counsel’ (KJV) and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death.”
In this passage, we have God’s part concerning the crucifixion of Christ, in the “determinate counsel” – the everlasting covenant – where it was decided that in the event of sin the Son of God would become Savior of the world through death in order to redeem the fallen race.
The second fact of the crucifixion is man’s part. (Man’s choice involves making a selection between two or more options. This choice is illustrated by Joshua as he presented two options to his people when he proclaimed, “If it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River [Euphrates], or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. (Joshua 24:15)). Mankind made the choice to crucify Christ as brought out in Acts 2.
Along with God’s sovereignty, man’s choice and consequent responsibility is described: “you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death” (Acts 2:22-23). Freedom of choice for God’s intelligent beings was so important to Him that He was willing to die to protect it – even when that choice went against Himself. This plan in the everlasting covenant “the determinate counsel” is referred to not only in Acts 2:23 but also in Luke 22:22; Acts 3:18; 4:28 and 1 Peter 1:18-20.
These two facts – God’s part and man’s part, concerning the death of Christ on the Cross, seemingly contradict each other. However, God’s course of action of grace, mercy and love, stirred the Godhead to save man in spite of the cost to Themselves. Even mankind’s part – his choice to sin and hate was overruled by God’s plan. The very principle of lawlessness that operated in the crucifixion of Christ was contradicted and overcome by that same death of Christ which was caused by sin. Christ who did no sin was made to be sin for us that we who hate and kill may be changed and thus “might become the righteousness of God in Him” – in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21.
In the inspired passages (which follow) both the time and purpose for the crucifixion of Christ are stated. In his letter to the Romans Paul penned that Christ came at the right time: “In due time Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6). The marginal reading of the KJV states, “according to the time.” In His letter to the Galatians, Paul wrote that “When the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law” (Galatians 4:4-5). These verses take in one sweep Christ’s incarnation and His condemnation as our Representative, Substitute and Surety on Calvary in order to redeem us.
In the Desire of Ages chapter three is entitled “The Fullness of the Time.” Outlined here are the conditions of mankind, including God’s chosen people who were locked in unbelief. The chapter presents several reasons that made it necessary for Christ to come to redeem us. One negative principle was “the principle that man can save himself by his own works [which] lay at the foundation of every heathen religion; it had now become the principle of the Jewish religion. Satan had implanted this principle. Wherever it is held, men have no barrier against sin.” The Desire of Ages, pp. 35-36. The fullness of time came.
Peter also wrote about the time and the purpose for the death of Christ: “Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow” (1 Peter 1:10-11). Not only did prophets search their own writings about the “manner of time” when Christ would suffer, but the angels of heaven likewise “desire[d] to look into” these things (vs 12).
Although the actual time for the crucifixion is not specifically given in the above passages, the definite time is given in Scripture. The time factors for the crucifixion are clearly revealed in the time of the Passover, the times of the morning and evening sacrifices and the year.
The Passover gives the month and day: “the first month (Abib) on the fourteenth day” “Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us” (1 Corinthians 5:7; Exodus 12:18; 23:15).
Christ was “crucified” at “the third hour” – the time of the morning sacrifice (Mark 15:25) and He died at the ninth hour of the day – the time of the evening sacrifice (Mark 25:34, 37). Daniel predicted the year Christ, the Messiah, would be “cut off” during the last prophetic week of the seventy week prophecy “in the midst of the week” which was in the spring of A.D. 31. (Daniel 9:25-27).
The time of the crucifixion was predicted as to the year, the month, the day and the very hour when Christ was crucified and when He died for the ungodly.
In Paul’s benediction to the Church in Rome, he wrote: “according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began but now made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith…” (Romans 16:25-26). This is “the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints” (Colossians 1:26).
This text of Scripture does not mean that nothing of the time and the purpose of the cross were unknowable. When Christ came there was no excuse for the unbelief of the world, especially regarding His people as to the time of His sojourn on earth. It was because of their unbelief that people were “blinded” by the enemy of God and man. “The god of this age … blinded” the minds of men who “do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.” (2 Corinthians 4:4). In this passage before us Paul wrote “if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost” (v. 3, KJV).
Commenting on this passage A.T. Jones wrote, “The lost ones are those who believe not. The saved ones are the ones who believe in Jesus Christ the Saviour. So then, ‘all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;’ but ‘all them that believe’ are ‘justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; whom God hath set forth to be propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness [God's righteousness] for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness [God's righteousness]: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.’ Rom. 3:22-24.” A. T. Jones “The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald,” October 16, 1900.
Earlier, in a General Conference session, he preached: “If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not.”--not them who had no chance to believe; the god of this world blinds no man until he has shut his eyes of faith. When he shuts his eyes of faith, then Satan will see that they are kept shut as long as possible. I read the text again: “If our gospel,”--the everlasting gospel, the gospel of Jesus Christ which is Christ in you the hope of glory, from the days of the first Adam's sin until now—“if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost.” It is hid to them “in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds.” And why did he blind the minds? Because they “believe not.” ATJ, General Conference Bulletin, February 21, 1895, p. 269.
In closing, let’s recap and apply what we have considered in the article. We considered three facts concerning the crucifixion of Christ. These are the Sovereign foreknowledge of God, man’s freedom of choice with his consequent responsibility and the time of Christ’s death. Jesus came at the right time to redeem us from the condemnation of the law. That time was “in the fullness of time,” and “according to the time” that God laid out in the everlasting covenant, then He revealed in His Word regarding the exact year, month, day and very hour when Christ was “cut off, but not for Himself” (Daniel 9:26).
The application is as follows: “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). “And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed” (Romans 13:11).
1888 MESSAGE BIBLE STUDY GROUPS
We would like to publish a list of groups who are actively studying the 1888 Message around the world. Many are seeking to study this most precious message with a group of believers. We would appreciate your help in this endeavor by informing John and Barbara Falconbridge of your group. They can be reached in the following ways:
Mail: P0 Box 642, Edmore, Ml 48829;
Phone: (989) 427-3418;
E-mail: bobbie1025@gmail.com
If you have a study group, we would LOVE to list it in the next newsletter. Please CONTACT John and Barbara and give them as much information as possible. When inquiries are received regarding where and when groups meet, the details will be shared.
Dear New Jersey 1888 Newsletter Readers:
If you belong to an 1888 Message Bible Study group or would like to join a group in New Jersey, please contact me at my contact information below. I look forward to getting together with you and studying this "most precious message", encouraging one another, our church family and those around us in the faith. Blessings!
Marshell Ann Grant; naturetestifies@outlook.com; 908-672-5533
SABBATH SCHOOL INSIGHTS & NEWSLETTER
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A.T. JONES AND E.J. WAGGONER IN SEARCH OF THE CROSS - PART 1
by John Campbell
The cross, it’s meaning, its importance and the message of “Christ and Him Crucified” was the central theme of the 1888 message brought to us by Jones and Waggoner. With this in mind let’s spend some time together looking at how they focused on the Cross in their message for God’s remnant church which we are to take to the world representing the third angel’s message in verity and thus the everlasting gospel!
In Part I, we will examine A.T. Jones’ writings and different aspects of the Cross that he brings to our attention:
1. The Cross as an eternal sacrifice.
Wherein did He link Himself with us? In our flesh, in our nature. To what extent did He link Himself with us? “By ties that are never to be broken.” Thank the Lord! Then He sank the nature of God, which He had with God before the world was, and took our nature, and He bears our nature forevermore. That is the sacrifice that wins the hearts of men.
Were it looked upon, as many do look upon it, that the sacrifice of Christ was for only thirty-three years and then He died the death on the cross and went back into eternity in all respects as He was before, men might argue that in view of eternity before and eternity after, thirty-three years is not such an infinite sacrifice after all.
But when we consider that He sank His nature in our human nature to all eternity, that is a sacrifice. That is the love of God. And no heart can reason against it. There is no heart in this world that can reason against that fact. Whether the heart accepts it or not, whether the man believes it or not, there is a subduing power in it, and the heart must stand in silence in the presence of that awful fact. {February 27, 1895 ATJ, GCB 382.5}
2. God’s purpose for man fulfilled on the Cross - glorification.
Then do you not see that God’s purpose concerning man is not fulfilled until man is glorified? Therefore Jesus came into the world as we do. He took our human nature as we do, by birth. He went through this world in human nature--God dealing with human nature. He went to the cross and died--God dealing with human nature on the cross and in the grave and God raising Him and setting Him at the right hand of God, glorified--that is His eternal purpose. That is God’s eternal predestination. That is the plan He has arranged and fixed for you. Will you let Him carry out the plan? We cannot do it. He must. But He has shown His ability to do it. He has proven that. Nobody can dispute that. He has proven His ability to take us and fulfill His purpose concerning human nature, concerning sinful flesh as it is in this world. And I am glad of it. {February 27, 1895 ATJ, GCB 367.5}
3. Crucified with Christ, risen with Christ.
But the Lord did more for Him than to raise Him from the dead, and He has done more for us in Him than to raise us from the dead. He died. He was raised from the dead. We died with Him, and what then? Did we rise with Him? Have we a resurrection with Him? Have we life from the dead in Him? We are crucified with Him. We died with Him. We are buried with Him, and He was raised from the dead. Then what of us? We are risen with Him God did more with Him than to raise Him from the dead. He raised Him, and also seated Him at His own right hand in heaven. What of us? Do we stop short? No, sir. Are we not in Him? As we are in Him while He was alive on the earth, as we are in Him on the cross, as we are in Him in death, as we are in Him in the resurrection, so we are in Him in the ascension and we are in Him at the right hand of God. {February 27, 1895 ATJ, GCB 363.6}
4. In Christ, human nature has been crucified on the Cross.
Now it is the same way here. Our old man is crucified, yet when God sets forth His word that it is so, we accepting that word and surrendering to it, it is so to each one who accepts it because the word has the divine power in it to cause it to be so. And by that means it would be everlastingly so, even if that were all there is to it. But that is not all there is to it, because in Jesus Christ human nature has been crucified on the cross, actually, literally, and that is my human nature, that is myself in Him that was crucified there.
And therefore God sets down the record of everyone who is in Christ, “He is crucified.” So that by the two immutable things, by the double fact, it is so. Therefore, we can say with perfect freedom, it is no boasting, it is not presumption in any sense; it is simply the confession of faith in Jesus Christ, “I am crucified with Christ.” Is not He crucified? Then as certainly as I am with Him, am I not crucified with Him? the word of God says so. “Our old man is crucified with Him?” Very good. Let us thank the Lord that that is so. {February 25, 1895 ATJ, GCB 351.3}
5. “It is all in Him” on the Cross.
“ Jesus sunk His divine self in our human nature and altogether was crucified. When we sink ourselves in Him, it is so still, because in Him only is it done. It is all in Him. We call attention to the thought we had in the lesson a few evenings ago, that it is not in Him in the sense of His being a receptacle to which we can go and take it out and apply it to ourselves. No. But it is in Him in the sense that it is all there and when we are in Him, when we go into the receptacle, when we sink into Him, we have it all in Him as we are in Him. {February 25, 1895 ATJ, GCB 351.4}
Therefore, now let every soul of us say by the faith of Jesus Christ, “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him.” “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” He is alive again. And because He lives, we live also. “Nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith”--in the Son of God? “the faith of the Son of God,”--that divine faith which He brought to human nature and which He gives to you and to me. We “live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Gal. 2:20. 0, He loved Me! When He gave Himself in all His glory and all His wondrous worth for me, who was nothing, is it much that I should give myself to Him? {February 25, 1895 ATJ, GCB 351.5}
6. “Our old man is crucified with Him.
So then, as the Lord has lifted us to this height, and will hold us there, now let us go ahead and read and receive, as we read, what we have in Him. Begin with Romans 6:6. That is the scripture that comes most directly in connection with this particular thought that we have studied so far this evening. “Knowing this.” -- Knowing what? “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him.” Good! In Jesus Christ, in His flesh, was not human nature, sinful flesh, crucified? Whose? Who was He? He was man; He was ourselves. Then whose sinful flesh, whose human nature, was crucified on the cross of Jesus Christ?--Mine.
Therefore, as certainly as I have that blessed truth settled in my heart and mind, that Jesus Christ was man, human nature, sinful nature, and that He was myself in the flesh--as certainly as I have that, it follows just as certainly as that He was crucified on the cross, so was I. My human nature, myself there, was crucified there. Therefore I can say with absolute truth and the certainty and confidence of faith, “I am crucified with Christ.” It is so. {February 25, 1895 ATJ, GCB 350.6}
7. “Crucified with Christ because the Word of God says so.
We hear people so many times say, “I want self to be crucified.” Well, we turn and read the text to them, “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified.” And they respond: “Well, I wish it were so.” Turn to the next text and read, “I am crucified with Christ.” It says I am. Who is? Are you? Still they answer, I don’t see that I am. I wish it were so, but I cannot see how I am crucified and I cannot see how reading that there and saying that that is so will make it so.” But the word of God says so and it is so because it says so and it would be true and everlastingly effectual if that were all there is to it. But in this case it is so because it is so. God does not speak that word to make it so in us; He speaks that word because it is so in us, in Christ. {February 25, 1895 ATJ, GCB 351.1}
8. Christ as man’s substitute on the Cross.
Christ was to die as man’s substitute. Man was a criminal under sentence of death for transgression of the law of God as a traitor, a rebel; hence a substitute for man must die as a malefactor, because he stood in the place of the traitors, with all their treasured sins upon his divine soul. It was not enough that Jesus should die in order to meet the demands of the broken law; but he died a shameful death. The prophet gives to the world his words: “I hid not my face from shame and spitting!” {February 25, 1895 ATJ, GCB 332.6}
9. Christ’s humiliation on the Cross deals with self-exaltation. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.
In consideration of this, can men have one particle of self-exaltation? As they trace down the life and humiliation and sufferings of Christ, can they lift their proud heads as though they were to bear no shame, no trials, no humiliation? I say to the followers of Christ, Look to Calvary and blush for shame at your self-important ideas. All this humiliation of the Majesty of heaven was for guilty, condemned man. He went lower and lower in his humiliation, until there were no lower depths he could reach in order to lift up man from his moral defilement. {February 25, 1895 ATJ, GCB 332.7}
How low down were we then when, in order to lift us up from moral defilement He had to go step by step lower and lower until there were no lower depths He could reach? Think of it and see how low we were! All this was for you who are striving for the supremacy, striving for human praise, for human exaltation--you who are afraid you will not receive all that praise, all that deference from human minds, that you think is your due! Is this Christ like? {February 25, 1895 ATJ, GCB 332.8}
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. He died to make an atonement, and to be a pattern for every one who would be his disciple. Shall selfishness come into your hearts? and shall those who set not before them the pattern, Jesus, extol your merits? You have none, except as they come through Jesus Christ. Shall pride be harbored after you have seen Deity humbling himself, and then as man debasing himself, until as man there were no lower depths to which he could descend? Be astonished, 0, ye heavens, and be amazed, 0 ye inhabitants of the earth, that such returns should be made to your Lord. {February 25, 1895 ATJ, GCB 332.9}
10. Freedom vs slavery and the cross.
If you are in slavery, it is only because you do not know that you are free. That, indeed, is the common condition of mankind. Freedom, full and complete, has been purchased for all. The great emancipation proclamation for the race has been issued, over a name and seal that stand for all power and authority. The only thing necessary for any man is that he shall accept his freedom. (March 18, 1897 ATJ, AMS 162.5)
By the sacrifice on the cross, the Lord has purchased this liberty for every individual so that it becomes to each a free gift. But... not unless it is accepted. By accepting this it becomes the high prerogative of every person ... always the dictates of his will and conscience. {March 18, 1897 ATJ, AMS 162.7}
This, of course demands faith in the person. It is faith that sustains the individual in personal freedom. His will being always to do that when he simply obeys the dictates of conscience as unto the Word, and leaves the results with God. {March 18, 1897 ATJ, AMS 162.8}
The quotes from A.T. Jones that we have looked at here represent only a small portion of his writings relating to Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. After all, it is the core of the “most precious message” referred to by Ellen White and given to us, God’s remnant church, through Jones and Waggoner.
These quotes, however, do provide a sense of the depth and the significance of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. What was vitally important back in the late 1800’s seems even more so today as time nears its end and Christ, our bridegroom, looks to His bride to share this message with the world. May the reader be encouraged by this brief look to want to explore further for themselves the writings of A. T. Jones and E. J. Waggoner and share the treasures within.