Mercy by nature, justice by necessity

“In transgressing and lying against the LORD, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no judgment…. For He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloke. According to their deeds, accordingly He will repay, fury to His adversaries, recompence to His enemies; to the islands He will repay recompence.” (Isa. 59:13-15,17,18).

“For the LORD shall rise up as in mount Perazim, He shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that He may do His work, His strange work; and bring to pass His act, His strange act.” (Isa. 28:21).

The above photo reveals the intensity of love between the Father and Son Godhead. Even though females are pictured here, that does not detract, rather it magnifies the affection between Them who created heaven and earth. In scripture many females represented the Son, who represented His Father. Sacrificial offerings were both males and females. The red heifer, a female, slain and burned to ash is the greatest representation of the intensity of our Father’s wrath that Jesus took for our sakes. But, His willing sacrifice made Him the perfect intercessor-mediating High Priest. The Father made His own infinitely perfect Priest to advocate between Himself and His fallen children. Nothing is more pure and immaculate than a spotless lamb burned to ash, Jesus Christ our Lord.

In Christ we see His Father and understand His Father’s government. The mercy of the Father comes naturally. His justice comes for the protection of His mercy throughout His universe. This we see in the picture of the soldier mother and her daughter. As the two year old is very happy to be back in her mother’s embrace, yet infinitely more so was the mother to be providing the embrace, so had the great Father and His only Begotten. Especially more so was He happy to have His dear Child again when He returned to His yearning Father after Their separation for three days and the difficult mission the Son accomplished for the strengthening of the kingdom.

“No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.” (John 1:18).

The Son who had always been in the bosom of His Father was once again in His bosom. And ever would remain, to the thralldom of the hosts of redeemed angelic and human hosts. The whole family of heaven and earth will thrill to no end because of the great things They did in the great controversy between Christ and Satan.

“And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; 

And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth. 

And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; 

Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. 

And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. 

And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped Him that liveth for ever and ever.” (Rev. 5:9-14).

They both proved that the Father’s mercy is by nature and His justice is by necessity.

“I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever: with my mouth will I make known Thy faithfulness to all generations.  For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: Thy faithfulness shalt Thou establish in the very heavens.” (Psa. 89:1,2).

The Spirit of Prophecy high standard--time of the end connection

 “But the anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him. 

And now, little children, abide in Him; that, when He shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.... 

Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. 

And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as He is pure.” (1Jn. 2:27,28;3:2,3).

The Spirit of Prophecy’s high standard came from Jesus at the same time as the start of the investigative judgment, and also when the cleansing of the heavenly and earthly sanctuaries began. Called for from page 425 of The Great Controversy, the “special work of purification”, which is needed for the cleansing of the sanctuary, is the fundamental guideline for all who pass the investigative judgment and who then will give the last warning to the world.

The Spirit of Prophecy’s very high standard is not just a nice thing to do to be good Christians, but, much more, it is the requirement for passing the investigative judgment when all true commandment keeping followers of Jesus will be found proven faithful to their professing Christ until the very end of probation. And in the purification that resulted from their growing up into His image they will allow the anti-typical Day of atonement to be finalized.

Three things must happen in order for them to pass the investigative judgment: 1) a genuine, initial conversion and justification before God; 2) faithfulness to the ongoing work of sanctification (which necessarily requires their often needing justification); and 3) until the end of probation, and come at them what may, their holding dear the third angel’s message, which is the godly counsel from Ellen White’s gift of Prophecy. These three items must require time in order for them to stand before Jesus when He returns in power. 

But, the investigative judgment limits the amount of time God will allow for the special work of purification. In other words, that special purification does not have an unlimited time-frame. We can’t expect God to wait until we feel ready to begin this work of purification. God will determine its length and “cut it short in righteousness”. Decisions in the court of heaven are being made upon every person who is honestly, earnestly trying to be purified. As it is written, “The marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready. And to her it was granted that she should be arrayed in  fine linen, clean and [bright]: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.” (Rev. 9:7,8). Or, the heavenly court is deciding who is simply making a profession and trying to fool people, and even God. But God knows who is honest, and He involves the angelic jury as a backup against the possibility (or probability) of Satan’s future charges.

In this closing up of the investigative judgment, they need their full focus on Jesus and His example, His life. “Because thou hast kept the word of My patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.” (Rev. 3:10,11). Their focus must ignore the mindset of the world around them if they will survive the investigative judgment trial and the darkness that increasingly covers the earth during this time. As Ellen White revealed to us:

“I saw some, with strong faith and agonizing cries, pleading with God. Their countenances were pale and marked with deep anxiety, expressive of their internal struggle. Firmness and great earnestness was expressed in their countenances; large drops of perspiration fell from their foreheads.... Evil angels crowded around, pressing darkness upon them to shut out Jesus from their view, that their eyes might be drawn to the darkness that surrounded them.... Their only safety was in keeping their eyes directed upward.” Early Writings, p. 269.

They need to see Jesus in His Law because His Bible, both Old and New Testaments, and the Spirit of Prophecy, testify of Him. All inspired writings, received into the soul, will let their faith sit in heavenly places with Christ. Whether it is a story, a letter of admonition, or an outright commandment, inspiration alone most clearly shows the character of Jesus and the love in His heart.

But, Ellen White continued: “Some, I saw, did not participate in this work of agonizing and pleading. They seemed indifferent and careless. They were not resisting the darkness around them, and it shut them in like a thick cloud. The angels of God left these and went to the aid of the earnest, praying ones.” Ibid. p. 270. 

The god of this world now owns the business world. Employment, simply to please the business world and its agenda of promoting the devil’s program of perpetuating unbelief, is forbidden and will prove our eternal ruin. “The merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.” (Rev. 18:3). Such work keeps us from ever preparing to participate in the Latter Rain of Christ’s Spirit. The world keeps us too busy to prepare to give the Loud Cry of the fourth angel, as seen in Revelation 18.

1) Working for the purpose of buying a newer car or a bigger house, just for the sake of having a nicer life;

2) not going to the Spirit of Prophecy for afflicting our souls to know whether or not we are reprobate;

3) not striving for sanctification to obtain victory over all our our sins, all our deformations of character and deficiencies of the character of Christ;

the failure of the above three will land us in the lake of fire when Jesus comes. And afterwards we will come up in the second resurrection. 

God forbid.

The How-to for the Thou-shalt

“Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? 

But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.” (Acts15:10,11).

The inability to bear the Law of Moses was not a dismissal of the Law. It was a rebuke to the idea that the Law can be kept without the Spirit of God filling the soul and impelling the soul to obedience.

“And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved. 

When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question. 

And being brought on their way by the church, they passed through Phenice and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles: and they caused great joy unto all the brethren. 

And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them. 

But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.” (Acts 15:1-5). 

Paul had revealed to the world the science of sanctification.

“Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. 

But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.” (Rom. 7:4-6). 

He had explained his misadventures in obedience and the solution to his inability to keep the Law. He contrasted the law of sin and the law of the Spirit of Christ. The first was a law of death, and the second was a law of life. The life was in the knowledge of divine love seen in the Father and Son at the cross. The death was in the absence of the knowledge of divine love seen in the Father and Son at the cross.

The divine love was seen in the Father’s hatred of sin being as strong as death; but the His love for sinners being stronger than death. God’s hatred of sin was seen in how the Son would rather die than sin. And His love of sinners was seen in how both He and His Son would rather die than have sinners die. Learning of such love in the Godhead for appalling sinners, and the sinner receiving it and believing it, the Spirit of God through Christ enters the soul and causes trust in God to be born in the saint’s heart. Then the desire to obey God’s Law happens spontaneously, naturally. And they do obey.

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” (Rom. 8:1,2). 

The Judaizers did not have this experience. All they had was a carnal attempt at obedience, an obedience that was motivated by their will power, and was fanatical hypocrisy. It was faked. It was forced out by only sinful, human power. It was filthy, unacceptable to the most holy God. He reads the heart, the mind, the soul. “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Heb. 4:12).

Paul’s gospel was the science of obedience. The Law was not given so that we could get busy with obeying it. It was given to create offense, wrath, a disconcerting humbling from a veiled rebuke. Paul found that when conviction of sin presented itself to his conscience, getting down to business and keeping what he knew to be expected of him, didn’t bring forth obedience. It, rather, brought frustration, despair, anger, and worse disobedience than before he began his effort to keep the commandments.

This is every person's experience when he is confronted with a sin. The one not trusting in the love of God can never satisfactorily find success at obeying God. And such a sinner even knows his great attempt at obedience was a disaster, if he has any honesty. He has to be blind to not see that the spiritual aspect to obeying a holy commandment must result in a blessing to those who were recipients of his obedience.

“Jesus increased in ... favour with God and man.” (Luke 2:52). Jesus was the most perfect example for righteousness and obedience. How did the Son of God find the power to overcome His mother’s sinful nature? Through “the bosom of the Father.” (John 1:18). Christ’s power to obey came through the endless, eternal embrace of God His Father. And He came to give us that example for us to have the same power to obey and be purified.

Paul learned this lesson in the school of hard knocks. We all must learn in the same school because no one can know this extremely evasive lesson except by responding to conviction with blind obedience, ignorant of the need of love from God in order to have obedience, and then falling on our face. We weren’t born with this knowledge, as Adam and Eve were, and like Jesus was. We all must gain that knowledge by the bumps and bruises we get by attempting to obey God's Law by our own effort and from our own fallen nature, which is an impossibility. And this knowledge is available to everyone who will put forth the effort to obey all that is plainly set before them when they look into the perfect Law of liberty.

And once stumbled and humbled by the letter of the Law, and healed and sealed by the Spirit of Christ, they are enclosed in the bosom of their reconciled God where the Son always was, is and will be. They are liberated from sin. So long as they are in the bosom of God with Christ, they are happy and they rule their lives. Individually, so long as they are in the bosom of God with Christ, they rule their own life and the life around them. So long as..., collectively, they rule the world. 

“So long as” is a very important aspect to this whole science of salvation. We often forget this, even while we are walking by faith. Our faith can disappear unannounced. Bells may not go off. The old nature then springs up again. Old habits and idols come back without our knowledge of their return. “Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.” (Heb. 12:15). That’s when trouble begins.

“When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto.” (Matt. 12:43-45).

Praying always is the only prevention for backsliding into to our old life, likened to a dog returning to its own vomit and a sow to its wallowing in the muck. Vigilance in prayer to keep Jesus’ love and care ever before us, and to maintain His grace on us, is our only hope to survive this world of demon-laid traps that can hold us prisoner all the way until the day of the Lord. No one, men or angels, can take us out of the Father’s and His Son’s hands, except ourselves. We need only to end our thoughts of Jesus, and Satan starts taking back his lost captives. He never sleeps. He is ever on the prowl. Life can be hectic, work can be busy and stressful. But, while the Spirit has our minds nothing can ruin our work day or the work we produce for our employer. Satan can’t take us back unless we allow business to take our souls away from Jesus, and our thoughts from our Father’s goodness. The “exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:7) are our hope and stay.

“If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” (John 15:7). While the Christian is remembering Christ’s oath to forgive penitent sinners and His everlasting covenant with them, then Jesus will give him the desires of his heart. “His delight is in the law of the LORD and in His law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.” (Psa. 1:2,3).