The Message from the Church
The purpose of the formation of the SDA church, and the message given to it.
When Satan was cast out of the heaven, along with 1/3 of the angels, there remained doubts in the minds of the angels because Satan had at his disposal tools of which God could never make use of: lies, force, etc.
The character of God is the central issue in this conflict. Satan is attacking His character, declaring Him to be unloving, uncaring, and the Author of a Law that is impossible to follow.
If God were to have destroyed Satan immediately, the power of choice and free will would have been violated. God created His beings with this power, because He IS a loving God. If He had destroyed Lucifer right away, questions would have remained in the minds of the angels forever, questions as to the legitimacy of Lucifer's claims that God's goverment doesn't work.
From its very inception, sin has caused suffering. The suffering experienced at the cross was but a glimpse of the infinite pain in the heart of God that exists as a result of the transgression of His Law. But Satan had the perfect alibi to explain away this pain: "It's God's Law! It cannot be followed!"
At the cross, for the first time, an innocent being was killed. Who killed Jesus? We did. Who inspired us to? Satan. At that point, all doubt was removed from the minds of the angels. When the extent to which the Devil would take this battle was clearly seen, all of heaven was convinced that he was wrong and that to let his method run its course would be to succumb to evil and the eventual destruction of the universe.
The arguments used by the Devil in heaven were far beyond the comprehension of any human mind (Revelation 12:7- "war in heaven". The word for war here is "polemos", from whence we get our word "polemics", or verbal arguments). Were we to be exposed to the full force of his deceptions, we wouldn't stand a chance. God has been protecting us, holding a shield over us, preventing Satan from attacking us with the full barrage of his tempting capacity (1 Cor. 10:13). That shield has lasted from the origin of sin to the present day. No great man of God, no patriarch of history has met Satan face to face. No human has lived for the full expanse of history, so no human has the full picture. For this reason, God protects us and will not allow us to be tempted above that which we are able to withstand through His power.
Now this seems all fine and dandy to us, but how does the Devil feel? He has never been able to fully expose the "errors" of God's government. He has never been able to show the universe what his government is all about. So before this world comes to an end, God will remove His protection from humanity and will permit the Devil's plans to run their course. There will be a group of humans that live through this time and survive the wiles of the Devil, remaining true and faithful to the Lord. The Bible calls them the 144,000. They will overcome sin in the face of overwhelming temptation, showing to the watching universe that they are fit to enter heaven and live there forever.
Picture it this way: there is an element called Element X. Whoever lives in heaven must have this Element X. Element X = absolute turst in Christ and in the merits of His redeeming sacrifice. Element X is a guarantee to overcome sin. The 144,000 will have Element X, and they will be able, through reliance on Christ, to withstand temptations even as extreme as having Satan stand before them masked as an angel of light.
1 John 5:4 says, "For whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world: and this is the victory that overcomes the world, EVEN OUR FAITH." Ephesians 2:8 says, "We are saved by grace THROUGH FAITH." Faith isn't merely believing that God exists. Even the devils believe and tremble (James 2:19). "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:1) Faith is seeing things as God sees them. If we are seeing through God's eyes, we have the full perspective of all the ages since history began, and we have no need for the protective shield that God has kept over us since the Fall.
Element X => faith => action => ????????????
The character of God is the central issue in this conflict. Satan is attacking His character, declaring Him to be unloving, uncaring, and the Author of a Law that is impossible to follow.
If God were to have destroyed Satan immediately, the power of choice and free will would have been violated. God created His beings with this power, because He IS a loving God. If He had destroyed Lucifer right away, questions would have remained in the minds of the angels forever, questions as to the legitimacy of Lucifer's claims that God's goverment doesn't work.
From its very inception, sin has caused suffering. The suffering experienced at the cross was but a glimpse of the infinite pain in the heart of God that exists as a result of the transgression of His Law. But Satan had the perfect alibi to explain away this pain: "It's God's Law! It cannot be followed!"
At the cross, for the first time, an innocent being was killed. Who killed Jesus? We did. Who inspired us to? Satan. At that point, all doubt was removed from the minds of the angels. When the extent to which the Devil would take this battle was clearly seen, all of heaven was convinced that he was wrong and that to let his method run its course would be to succumb to evil and the eventual destruction of the universe.
The arguments used by the Devil in heaven were far beyond the comprehension of any human mind (Revelation 12:7- "war in heaven". The word for war here is "polemos", from whence we get our word "polemics", or verbal arguments). Were we to be exposed to the full force of his deceptions, we wouldn't stand a chance. God has been protecting us, holding a shield over us, preventing Satan from attacking us with the full barrage of his tempting capacity (1 Cor. 10:13). That shield has lasted from the origin of sin to the present day. No great man of God, no patriarch of history has met Satan face to face. No human has lived for the full expanse of history, so no human has the full picture. For this reason, God protects us and will not allow us to be tempted above that which we are able to withstand through His power.
Now this seems all fine and dandy to us, but how does the Devil feel? He has never been able to fully expose the "errors" of God's government. He has never been able to show the universe what his government is all about. So before this world comes to an end, God will remove His protection from humanity and will permit the Devil's plans to run their course. There will be a group of humans that live through this time and survive the wiles of the Devil, remaining true and faithful to the Lord. The Bible calls them the 144,000. They will overcome sin in the face of overwhelming temptation, showing to the watching universe that they are fit to enter heaven and live there forever.
Picture it this way: there is an element called Element X. Whoever lives in heaven must have this Element X. Element X = absolute turst in Christ and in the merits of His redeeming sacrifice. Element X is a guarantee to overcome sin. The 144,000 will have Element X, and they will be able, through reliance on Christ, to withstand temptations even as extreme as having Satan stand before them masked as an angel of light.
1 John 5:4 says, "For whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world: and this is the victory that overcomes the world, EVEN OUR FAITH." Ephesians 2:8 says, "We are saved by grace THROUGH FAITH." Faith isn't merely believing that God exists. Even the devils believe and tremble (James 2:19). "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:1) Faith is seeing things as God sees them. If we are seeing through God's eyes, we have the full perspective of all the ages since history began, and we have no need for the protective shield that God has kept over us since the Fall.
Element X => faith => action => ????????????
2 comments:
you talk the talk, now make sure you walk the walk
"No great man of God, no patriarch of history has met Satan face to face. No human has lived for the full expanse of history, so no human has the full picture."
Ahh, but there was one... Jesus! Direct and face to face with Lucifer he was just after His baptism.
Love you! Dad
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