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In our recent studies, including some of our camp meetings discussions for the ongoing Feast of Unleavened Bread this week, the story of the rich young ruler who spoke with Yahshua has become relevant. To read the Scripture, “And, behold, one came and said unto Him, ‘Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?’ And He said unto him, ‘Why callest thou Me good? There is none good but one, that is, God; but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.’
“He saith unto Him, ‘Which?’ Yahshua said, ‘Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother, and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.’ The young man saith unto Him, ‘All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?’ Yahshua said unto him, ‘If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and come and follow Me.’ But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.” (Mat 19:16-22)
Even though this passage has been raised for discussion several times, there is still a great deal of wisdom to be obtained by studying it. We might point out that Yahshua’s response, that the young man should sell all that he owned, was a particularly relevant test since he began the conversation by asking what good “thing” he should do to obtain everlasting life. There is no real answer to that question, since no deed, no work, no dedicated obedience to the law, will make the soul suitable for immortality. Only a change in character, from the carnal to the spiritual, a healing that Yahweh performs based on our faith, can do that. What Yahshua asked for, then, was not so much a work, but an act of faith, of perfect trust. People spend their entire lives working in order to afford not to work for a few years. Their trust is in their riches, their possessions, their savings. There is nothing wrong with working hard and having savings, of course, but these are not to be the foundation of our peace.
We read the parable of another rich man in the Gospel of Luke: “And he said, ‘This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.’
“But God said unto him, ‘Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee; then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?’ So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:18-21)
It says of the young man in Mark 10, which is a parallel passage to the one in Matthew 19, “Then Yahshua beholding him loved him…” (Mark 10:21) The hard test that Yahshua brought to this person was an act of love, of great affection, because He did not wish him to end up like the subject of the Luke 12 parable.
It is also of interest to us the way that the Law was discussed in this passage. When asked what good thing he should do, Yahshua told the young ruler things he already knew. Keep the commandments. He did not list all of them; for example, He did not mention the one about idolatry, but He gave an easily understandable summary of the Law’s requirements on human behavior.
But this was not enough. In fact, Yahshua only listed the commandments so that the young man could say, “I have already been keeping those,” to show that there was something further.
Obedience to the Law does not make one righteous. The Scriptures, the writings of the SDA Pioneers, and we ourselves, all say that. But, why is this so? If faith-based righteousness is revealed in works, which James essentially says it is when declaring, “I will shew thee my faith by my works,” (James 2:18) then why isn’t obedience the standard?
It is because of the way the judgment works. If the judgment was based on actions, then we would obtain Heaven “circumstantially.” What do I mean by that? If the commandment says, “Thou shalt not steal,” and I never have the chance to steal, I am innocent of the Law. It does not mean I am not a thief in character, it just means I have never stolen. The same is true of murder. The Law says, “Thou shalt not kill,” but how many of us are truly tested on that commandment? We have all been angry at other human beings, but rarely does it rise to the point at which we are genuinely tempted to take another’s life. We might say the same for adultery, bearing false witness, and so on… not everyone has the occasion to be legitimately tempted in these areas, so what is the sanctifying value of having never killed anyone?
Those who are fortunate enough to have never been tempted can just walk into Heaven, if the judgment was based on actions. The lack of opportunity does not really reveal character. In practice, of course, everyone is tempted with sin, and all have fallen short at some point, but these are just the circumstances of humanity’s condemnation. The real problem is the weakness of spirit that makes man submit to those temptations when they do arise. The real problem is the breach in character, which the demons and the flesh can exploit to bring down the individual, just as a crack in the walls around a city leave that city vulnerable to invasion and overthrow.
Obedience can never be the true standard of righteousness, because while someone might say, “I would never do this or that,” unless they are divinely assured that they are made righteous, they do not really know what they would do, should the right circumstances arise. Many have said, “If I were in the times of Christ, I would not have mistreated Him, as the Jews did. I would have had compassion on Him, even if I did not know He was the Savior.” We would make a mistake in thinking about the Pharisees and Sadducees as immoral, openly wicked men. They are often shown in a negative light because they worked at cross-purposes with Yahshua but remember that Yahshua Himself had a very unique mission, and often said things that made even His own followers uncomfortable. In ordinary circumstances for their day, these were the sages, the wise men, the kind and compassionate religious leaders. They were the pastors and preachers of the ancient world, and like many evangelical figures today, they claimed to be men of faith, eagerly awaiting the appearance of the Messiah.
And so, just as the occasional scandal can reveal a respected religious figure today to be a hypocrite or fraud, so the reality of Yahshua’s presence removed the veil they had placed over the eyes of both themselves and others, the very same vail that many have today over their own spirits, when they say, “I would have accepted Jesus, if I had lived in His time.” They don’t know. They probably wouldn’t even have heard of Him until much later, perhaps years after His death. Are they to be judged based on the circumstances of their lives now, when Christianity has become a popular world religion, or then, when they would have been fortunate to have even heard of this crucified Man?
We cannot use circumstances as the basis of our judgment.
The judgment cannot be based on obedience to the Law, but on the character that would always choose righteousness, regardless of circumstances. If the young man who approached Yahshua had not been wealthy, the specifics of the test might have been very different, but the nature of the test would have been the same. In Luke 6:48 and 49 there is a parable of two men. One builds his house on a foundation of rock, and the other on a foundation of sand. The one with the firm foundation endures the elements, while the house built on sand is destroyed. Here is how that is relevant to what we have been discussing. The house is the part that everyone can see, but the foundation, which is beneath the surface, determines the strength of that house.
Similarly, the righteousness which is by faith is undetectable to the senses. It is a relationship between the un-seeable God and the invisible soul, but on that foundation, we build our visible persona, our outward “self” as we are known to our fellow man. When we say “self” is dead, we do not mean that we have no house, to follow the parable – no individual walls, or rooms, or decorations. We are each a unique and precious Temple in our Father’s eyes. We mean that the foundation laid is not our own, not our own merits, or accomplishments, or strengths, but the foundation is Yahshua, another Person, another “self” entirely, and all that we build on top, all that we are, depends on Him.
Yahshua is the foundation of our faith, and because the foundation is the most important thing, Yah constructed it of the strongest thing He could – His own Son.
So then, what place does the Law have? The Law shows us the pattern, the blueprint, by which the house is built on its foundation. The house will be heaven-shaped. We are free to paint it as we like, and to make a door of one or another kind of wood. Some may grow plants, and others will hang pictures on their walls… each house is unique and different. But each house rests on the same foundation, and will follow the same pattern so that, when the wind blows, and the rain beats down, and the earth shakes... because each has a sure foundation, and because each is built according to the divine pattern, it endures. Here is individuality in religion among a people who are One. We are all perfectly different, and we are all perfectly the same.
The Law shows where to put the supports, the strong beams, so that nothing can break it down. In practical language, the Law exists to show us the minimum standard of behavior in order to be called a “house,” but any reasonable person will go beyond that minimum and make a house worthy of a King to inhabit because, as it is written, the Father and Son want to live in that house with us. “Yahshua answered and said unto him, ‘If a man love me, he will keep My words, and my Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him.’” (John 14:23)
If you knew a King was coming to live with you, certainly, you would dress the place up a bit. Sanctification means growing in grace and knowledge, because of our earnest desire to please our Father, to walk worthy of the glory He has placed upon us, and it is seen as an absolute necessity by all who genuinely love the Father and Son, and see the beauty in the pattern They have given us, Their Law.
Creation Seventh Day Adventists now say, having received divine light, that the only standard of Christian fellowship, as the Scriptures and our Adventist Pioneers have identified it, is possessing the Faith of Yahshua, and submitting to the Commandments of Yahweh. Even that is somewhat governed by each individuals’ understanding of what “obedience” to the Law means, but here is where the Holy Spirit guides the Church, both as individuals and as a collective Body, forward along the path to perfection.
What if my conception of “Thou shalt not steal” was that I should not steal from other Christians, but the rest of the world was fair game? I might be so deceived as to genuinely believe that, but if a brother discovered that I was stealing money from my employer, he would certainly be inspired to correct me in the spirit of Agape love.
Now this would be careless… in fact, this would be dangerous, if the Church were not composed of genuinely converted people. Anyone could claim a “misunderstanding” and keep on committing his or her favorite sinful acts. Anyone could say, “I am technically obeying the Law, so I must be okay with God.”
The New Testament teaches us about the “spirit” of the Law, which is going beyond the bare minimum requirements to see the principle behind the Law. Hatred is a violation of the commandment against murder. (1John 3:15) Inappropriate desire is a transgression of the commandment regarding adultery. (Mat 5:28) Resistance to the Holy Spirit indicates a very real sin of idolatry. (1John 5:20, 21) In seeing and understanding the principle, the soul is transformed, the character is developed, so that we are in harmony with the Father’s will, regardless of the exact circumstances of our testing. Someone who truly loves righteousness would indeed have accepted Christ when He was on earth, and will accept Him today when He appears in the Person of His saints, who say, “Your sins are forgiven. Go, and sin no more.”
Isn’t that beautiful? Because the Law is the foundation on which we learn the principles of righteousness, we can know who is being honest when they say, “I would not have rejected the Messiah.” We simply need to tell them, “The Messiah has sent me to you today to invite you to a life of victory over sin. The Messiah has sent me to invite you to the atmosphere of Heaven. Will you receive Him?” Their answer now would be their answer then, because while the test looks different, while we aren’t asking them to sell all their possessions, or to pledge loyalty to a convicted rebel hanging on a cross, the nature of the test is the same.
We cannot rely on our innocence of the letter of the Law to know that we have the Christ-like character. In fact, the only way to know is to be in communion with others who are walking the Narrow Path to Heaven, and to refine one-another with our mutual sanctification. It is written, “Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.” (Pro 27:17) Here is the essence of fellowship. Here is how we build our houses of character on the Foundation of Yahshua according to the pattern of the Law: with co-laborers.
We are saved as individuals (Rom 10:13) – each must have his own foundation in Christ. But we are sealed as Tribes, (Rev 7:5-8) and we are redeemed as a single, united, spiritual Nation. (1Pet 2:9) These are powerful revelations to mankind, and allow us to be guided by the Third Angel into the unity that is a sure indication of Yahweh’s saints.
I will say, of my own experience, that this Church has allowed me to build on the Foundation of Yahshua, and according to the pattern of the Law, in the manner approved by Heaven. In fact, this Church has saved my life, and continues to save my life, daily. I do not worship the Church, any more than I worship the Sabbath (which Sunday-keepers sometimes accuse SDAs of doing). I receive them both as necessary gifts for my growth, necessary tools for the identification of defects of character that would prevent me from inheriting everlasting Life.
And I am not saying that it is only because I am a baptized member that I have access to these things… that isn’t quite it either. It is about the gifts of the people around me. In recent months, I have been assaulted by Satan to an extreme degree, in ways that I have never read were possible before. There were times I felt terrible anguish of the spirit, so severely that I could barely function, and sorrow that threatened to cripple my usefulness. And yet, my Father preserved me through it, so much so that if I did not speak of it nobody would even know. And it was not by my own strength, not at all, but because I have a family on which I can rely, and whom I can trust with my very being. Specifically, talking to Pastor “Chick” and to Giselle, at times in the past few weeks, without the least exaggeration, this has kept me from destruction, and it is my Father’s doing, who has given them to me as a priceless gift.
Would they have comforted me, counseled me, prayed with me, if I was not a baptized member? Of course they would have. Yahweh loved us before we knew how to love Him. Yahweh continues to love us all, even those who do not respond to His invitations, or who have yet to hear them. His people are of His Spirit, and therefore are of His love.
“So then,” one might ask, “What is the point of Church membership, if anyone can come and fellowship, and be blessed by the gifts that Yahshua has placed in His Body?”
It is the same as with any other intimate relationship. We are talking about these matters in the context of building our individual characters and, collectively, building the society of Heaven. The Scripture says, “Neither shall they say, ‘Lo here!’ or, ‘Lo there!’ for behold, the Kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:21) What does that mean? It means that the society we create here, the society we build here, in this earthly atmosphere, will be the same society we enter when we are translated or resurrected. What kind of a society is that going to be?
Consider a human relationship as a parallel. A man and a woman meet, and they fall in love. They do not need to get married. They can move in together. They can share intimacy. They can have children together. They can grow old together, having spent all their time as a committed couple. Considering this, someone might ask, “So then, what is the point of marriage? Why does there need to be a wedding? What is the purpose of the covenant?”
The relationship we see here is an agreement between two human beings, and so far as that goes, it is fine. But a covenant is an agreement between those two people and Yahweh. It is a seal around the relationship, so that it has a spiritual dimension, a sanctifying power that not only gives earthly happiness, but also develops eternal benefits as well. The husband and wife refine each other in ways not possible to an uncovenanted couple. And some of those ways might not be detectable to the senses. Remember, the foundation is below the surface; it can’t be seen, but the strength of the visible house nevertheless depends on it. The blessing of the Sabbath is not something you can test in a laboratory, or see under a microscope. You might not even be able to detect Sabbath-keepers by a statistical survey of who is doing “better in life” by mortal standards… yet the blessing is there, waiting to be seen in the Day when all things are revealed.
The Covenant of Yahweh involves a special promise between Him and us: “And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be My people.” (Lev 26:12)
There are biological and emotional benefits to being in a relationship with another human being. We were created to benefit from such an arrangement, and so whether or not Yahweh is involved, there will be some advantages. Similarly, if someone obeys the physical elements of the 10 Commandments, he will probably experience some blessings, whether or not he is born again. But when there is a covenant, when there is this arrangement between the divine and the material, then there is a unique advantage that endures into eternity. So yes, certainly, anyone will benefit from association with the people of Yahweh, but our Father wants to embrace us all together, as one, and bring us into His experience.
The Covenant of Yahweh allows us to claim all of His promises. It is a seal, a sign of spiritual protection. It is a conduit through which angels are empowered to act on the earth. It is a channel of truth – we become a part of that channel of truth – through which the Father and Son can reach out to fallen humanity and call sinners to repentance. What is the difference between a marriage and a live-in partnership? Nothing to the senses, perhaps, but a great deal in the spirit. What is the difference between fellowship and membership? It is the quality of that invisible, below-the-surface foundation that may not be visible directly, but reveals itself in the pattern of the house built upon it, in the way that the Law can bless and strengthen the construct.
And this isn’t even getting into the evangelistic purpose of being “One Body.”
Imagine an independent group of people who see a problem with the Church they are in. Unable to compromise or see any reasonable alternative, they break away. They begin to meet in houses, and eventually their numbers grow. After a while it gets big enough, and popular enough, so that others start to imitate them, but imperfectly – they teach doctrines that are not quite right. So then, how can someone tell the true fellowship from the impostors? How do people know the genuine reformers from the counterfeits? Remember, the Bible says there are false brides, false prophets, and false teachers. How will the genuine seekers after righteousness know the true product? Well, they need a trademark.
Now, “trademark” isn’t a bad word! It’s just that the world, and specifically the religious world that started to think of itself as a business, misuses it. They have made it a basis for persecution and exclusivism. But in its true sense a trade-mark is simply a sign, a symbol, of a particular tradesman, or producer.
The people of Yahweh have a trademark. We have a sign of approval that says, “This product, this soul, comes from the heart and mind of Yahweh.” This sign of approval is spiritual; it will never be used as a creed. It will never be used as a reason or means to force the conscience of another. It will never be the basis on which human power will be used to defend the Church. All it does, its entire purpose, is demonstrate that this building is of Yahweh’s construction.
So this independent group that has grown large, and wants to identify itself as separate from counterfeits, if they are wise, even the most organization-rejecting group of people, will need to be able to identify themselves from counterfeits and falsehoods... and so, they will need a name. The problem is, without the actual guidance of the Holy Spirit, they would need to choose a name for themselves, out of their own limited human intellect and experience, and so they choose a name that doesn’t properly represent the truth. This is what has happened to so many independent churches and ministries… it started out well; they know they must separate from the ungodly, but because they have not followed the Three Angels’ Message, all the great things they have done, all the doctrines they have taught, and the people they have transformed from Sunday-keepers to Saturday-keepers, all the persuasive arguments they have made in favor of the Sanctuary Doctrine, or against the Trinity Doctrine, all good works… it will not be identified in the end as Yahweh’s workmanship.
There is an evangelistic and identifying purpose to taking a name, and when it is the name that Yahweh has provided, it has eternal benefits. A wife takes her husband’s name, it is a formal thing, but “formal” doesn’t mean dead, useless, or rote. Formality can be a sign of order, if done within the will of Yahweh. The tribes, under which we are given our seals, have their own gates into the City of New Jerusalem. (Rev 21:12) Can you imagine someone saved under the name of Judah saying, “I don’t care to stand in this line; I want to go in through Issachar!” No, that will not happen in any who are redeemed, and yet on earth we have people saying, “I don’t want to go through the gate that Yahweh’s providence has put in my path, I want to go in some other way...”
As we have been discussing during one of our recent feast meetings, it is relatively easy to get people to see the flaws in a Church, to reject the General Conference of SDAs, for example, and to leave… but getting them to follow all Three Angels into a united and covenanted Church? There are few there be that find that pathway. Even so, we have our ministry to perform. We have our houses, the houses of our character, the houses we will live in for all eternity, to build. We have a perfect foundation, which is the Savior, and we have a perfect blueprint to follow, which is the Law. We have a Family of co-builders, which is the Church, and we have a sign of approval to receive and place on the completed building, which is the Seal of Yahweh.
Among all people who have ever lived, we are the most blessed. Let us pray for, and seek out, opportunities to invite others into this Atmosphere of Heaven, this Construction Zone of Heaven, where we build for eternity, and labor for life and love everlasting.
David.
An Enduring Witness
“Christ has plainly taught that those who persist in open sin must be separated from the church, but He has not committed to us the work of judging character and motive. He knows our nature too well to entrust this work to us. Should we try to uproot from the church those whom we suppose to be spurious Christians, we should be sure to make mistakes. Often we regard as hopeless subjects the very ones whom Christ is drawing to Himself. Were we to deal with these souls according to our imperfect judgment, it would perhaps extinguish their last hope. Many who think themselves Christians will at last be found wanting. Many will be in heaven who their neighbors supposed would never enter there. Man judges from appearance, but God judges the heart. The tares and the wheat are to grow together until the harvest; and the harvest is the end of probationary time.” [Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 71]
“God has given us the ten commandments for our instruction in righteousness. These commandments are a transcript of God’s character, and in the fourth chapter of Deuteronomy we are told that it is our life to obey them. We have no excuse for transgression. Christ came to our world to represent the Father in character, and He is our example in all things. Those who claim to be the children of God, and yet misrepresent the Lord Jesus by disorderly behaviour, as a child determined to have his own way, will find that such a life is a very hard one. He sets up his own will as a standard for others to follow, and the plans that he makes to carry out his own preconceived ideas and opinions frequently bring him into opposition to the will of Christ and into transgression of the law of Jehovah.” [Manuscript 162, 1903]
“The church is a Christian society, formed for the members composing it, that each member may enjoy the assistance of all the graces and talents of the other members, and the working of God upon them, according to their several gifts and abilities. The church is united in the holy bonds of fellowship in order that each member may be benefited by the influence of the other. All are to bind themselves to the covenant of love and harmony. The Christian principles and graces of the whole society of believers is to gather strength and force in harmonious action. Each believer is to be benefited and improved by the refining and transforming influence of the varied capabilities of the other members, that the things lacking in one may be more abundantly displayed in another. All the members are to draw together, that the church may become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. The covenant of agreement in church membership is that each member will walk in the footsteps of Christ, that all will take His yoke upon them, and learn of Him who is meek and lowly of heart.” [Testimonies to Southern Africa, pp. 89, 90]