The Regeneration of the 144,000
By
J. Wilfred Johnson
May 19th 1976
Transcribed from C/Ds #53 & #54
Sept. 8, thru Sept. 14, 2012
Well, I should spend the evening going through that chapter (Joel 2) but I have
something more difficult to handle tonight. And I say more
difficult because it is the sword that we have just been reading about. And
when that sword comes upon us we’re either going to be unhurt or desolated. I
hope it’s not going to be that severe tonight. But that’s the
picture God has given us.
Now let me be a little more humble in my presentation of this. I will tell you
frankly that I am going to share with you that which I believe the Spirit of
God gave to me. It was either the Spirit of God or it was the Spirit of the
devil. One of the two. And whenever we meet up with these things, the Bible
says we are to do what with the spirits?
(John) Try the spirits.
(Wilfred)
Try them. Whether they be of God. That’s right, and that’s what I
recommend that you do. I hope nobody feels desolated because they may not be
able to follow the thing that I present tonight or that it may look
to them as though it where not true. But I do hope that everyone will be
willing to be discreet in the use of what we are talking about tonight. You can regard it
as a theory if you wish, you can stick it on the shelf if you wish, you can
reject it if you wish. I have been leading up to it for some time and I believe
that if your mind is alert you’ll recognize that theory or no theory it does
solve a lot of the dilemmas that I have been bringing to you during the past
few weeks. But it adds new ones and that’s the way God’s word is. It continues
to expand and unfold, it never reaches a dead end.
Personally, I have
checked and rechecked all the aspects of this particular subject, I have set it
aside at times. At times I have tried to reject it simply to be sure in my own
thinking that this thing holds water, that it is logical, that it makes sense.
And I must admit that there are spots which I cannot explain and I simply have
to leave them. But there are many of these dilemmas that we have been talking
about which are cleared right up when this key is applied. So, I’ll do my best
to share it with you.
Last week I went
through a number of items that present problems. And I think maybe I should
take just a few minutes to refresh our minds on those without going into all
the details.
1 The Shut Door :
On the Day of
Atonement the high priest goes into the holy apartment and he goes on into the
most holy apartment. (Without going into the details of what he does on that
day, you can find this all described very nicely in M.L. Andreasen’s book, The
Sanctuary Service, and Mrs. White has quite a bit in her books too). There
were no individual sin offerings brought to the tabernacle. Just the regular
morning offering services were conducted; first on behalf of the people at
large, and then the special services of the Day of Atonement were conducted.
Sister White said,
with reference to the midnight cry and the parable of the coming
bride groom to the wedding, that they went in and the door was shut. And they
didn’t understand that too well. Later it was revealed to her in vision that
this referred to going into the most holy apartment of the sanctuary leaving
the holy apartment on the part of Christ. He moved from the holy to the most
holy. And she was shown that the door to the holy apartment was shut and
nobody could open it. And the one to the most holy was opened and nobody could
shut it. This began in 1844 as the anti-typical Day of Atonement and has been
in progress ever since. But you see it presents a problem because the
preliminary service took place at the beginning of the Day of Atonement on
behalf of all the people and all the sins that were committed on the Day of
Atonement were obviously taken care of by that one service. There were no other
sacrifices made, this was a day that they had to recommit themselves, they had
to afflict their souls because of their sins. And they stood in trembling and
fear because it was a day of judgment. If the high priest went into the most
holy apartment and failed to come out, it meant that the Lord had not accepted
the people because he represented the people. But when he came out it meant
reassurance that God had accepted them in spite of their sins. And they were
clean, not just that their sins had been forgiven but that they were clean in
His sight. They were cleansed.
The problem is that some of us weren’t born at the time that that service took
place. At the beginning of the Day of Atonement in 1844, understand? So what
about our sins? Were all the sins that were confessed during the Day of
Atonement by us covered by that 1844 experience? Because the door was then shut
how can those sins get in from now on? If the door is shut my sins can’t be
transferred to the sanctuary by the sprinkling of the blood when the door is
shut. And the priest is already gone in there and gone into the most holy. You
get the problem? And yet, you’ll find in all the writings of Sister White she
talks as if when you confess your sins they're transferred to the sanctuary by
the blood of sprinkling. Now, what do we accept? How do we look at this thing?
One thing is sure God still accepts his people, that is sure. It’s not too hard
to prove that. The door of probation is not closed.
2 Then there is the delayed coming of
Christ :
What would have
happened if Christ had come before we got on to the scene of action? She said
it could have happened.
(A woman in the
audience) ...the same thing when He does come all those that are not born are
not going to be there.
(Wilfred) That’s true. Then, how can He ever shut it off? And have everybody
say, Well, you were fair Lord. Somebody is going to say, well look, if you would
have let it go on a little longer there would have been someone else come in.
3 Miller’s message :
I mentioned that one.
4 The seventh trumpet :
I mentioned that one.
I won’t go back to that one just at the moment.
5 Mark of the beast,
Revelation 21:4 the souls of these martyrs :
He saw them beneath
the alter and they had not received the mark of the beast. And yet Sister White
says that nobody has received the mark of the beast until it becomes a test in
the final days. And yet these people were dead. But those who don’t receive the
mark of the beast receive the seal of God and where do they go?
(John) Through to translation.
(Wilfred) Through to translation. Yes. That’s right. How come these people were
dead?
6 I don’t think I brought you this one, I should have put it in here but I
guess I just slipped up on it. It says, it is appointed unto men once to die
but after this...
(John) The judgment.
(Wilfred) Well, what about the hundred and forty-four thousand? Another
problem, right?
7 Then we have
promises to the over-comers in each of the eras of the seven churches in Revelation
2 & 3 :
Sister White makes it
quite clear that those promises are cumulative and that they all apply to the
one hundred and forty-four thousand. But the one hundred and forty-four
thousand she says are the living saints on the earth who go through the seven
last plagues and are translated. Now these over-comers in the other six eras of
the Church's history and the first portion of the seventh era including Sister
White are all dead. How can they be among the one hundred and forty-four
thousand? As the over-comers who go into the temple on Mount Zion and I pointed
that one out. As Jesus was leading the saints including Sister White during her
first vision they went out of the city and up to the temple on Mount Zion. And
Jesus paused before entering and raised His voice and said, only the one
hundred and forty-four thousand enter this place. So only the one hundred and
forty-four thousand can become, Can I say it?, members of the building of the
temple on Mount Zion? Those who are not among the one hundred and forty-four
thousand do not go into that temple, she says it very plainly in her first
vision, Early Writings. And she says that the ones who are the one hundred
and forty-four thousand are the living saints. At the same time she says that
the angel showed her that she would be with the one hundred and forty-four
thousand. And there was some other lady that was going to be there with the one
hundred and forty-four thousand.
And in her vision of 1856 she saw that some were to be food for worms, they
would die, some would go through the seven last plagues and die, and some would
go through to translation.
(John) And they are all dead.
(Wilfred) And they are all dead.
Now, lets get a few more here. If the one hundred and forty-four thousand are
the only ones who go into the temple on mount Zion with Jesus and if the one
hundred and forty-four thousand are the living saints who go through to
translation that would exclude all the apostles and the apostle Paul, all the
other over-comers.
(John) John the Baptist.
(Wilfred) John the Baptist and all the rest of them. Yet Jesus promised those
disciples something. Have you ever read it? What did He promise them? You can’t
come with me now but latter you can come with Me, wherever I am. And Revelation
14 says the one hundred and forty-four thousand, they follow the Lamb, how far?
(Many voices at once) Withersoever He goeth.
(Wilfred) And that means it in more than one sense. They not only follow Him in
his experience but they follow Him where He goes.
(John) Not only that Brother Johnson but in the Desire of Ages she says
that the ordination of the apostles, just as the twelve patriarchs were the
foundation of the Old Testament Church so when Christ laid his hands upon the
disciples He was saying they were the foundation of the Christian Church.
(Wilfred) Well, can you see that if all these difficulties are going to be
solved or resolved, if the promise of Jesus to his disciples is going to be
fulfilled, those disciples are going to have to be alive on the earth before
the close of probation. Well, somebody says that there is a special
resurrection; maybe they come up in the special resurrection. Well, Sister White
tells us plainly who comes up in the special resurrection all those who have
fallen asleep in the third angels massage and those who pierced the Lord and a
sprinkling of others.
(A man in the audience) Unintelligible
(Wilfred) Yes, but the point here is that that resurrection does not occur
until just before Jesus comes.
(John) And that’s long after the close of probation.
(Wilfred) And these people don’t live to see all these experiences. They just
come up specially to see the second coming of Jesus. So we’ve got a problem.
8 The apostle Paul
saw himself as being among the living :
He said, then we
which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them, the ones that
were raised from the dead, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Do you think
that was an accident? Was it a twist of speech? Do you think the Lord gets
careless when He gets His Bible written?
(John) Although Paul said that day shall not come unless there is a falling
away, he recognized that it wouldn’t be right away.
9 What about John?
(Wilfred) Remember
what Jesus said to Peter about John? If I will that he tarry till I come what
is that to thee? Follow thou me. And Sister White said that all the sayings of
Jesus have a meaning which is not on the surface. We have to read a little
deeper. There is a significance there she says that you don’t discover just by
reading it casually. Jesus did not make any statements that did not have
significant meaning. Why did He make a statement like that? What’s that got to
do with it?
Then over in the Revelation when John, that same John, was faithfully
doing what he was told to do, to write all the things that he saw and heard, seven
thunders uttered their voices and John was about to write as he had been
instructed to do, and the angel said, don’t do it. Don’t write that. Then the
angel went on to explain about that little book, and then he said, for you are
going to prophesy again before many nations, kindred, tongues, and people.
(John) And John was over ninety years old then.
(Wilfred) And John never had a chance to do that. Other than through his book,
but he didn’t write what the seven thunders uttered in his book. Did you get
that point? So there are two things about the apostle John that there is a
problem with.
Now these are the
spots that you need to pay attention to when you are studying God’s word
because those are the little Orions that open out into space where there is a
lot more light. But don’t go speculating. And I want to tell you frankly that I
did not speculate, I am going to give you the thing that the Lord presented to
me. The key that unites these things and unifies these things and makes sense
out of chaos and it pretty nearly shattered me, and it took me a long time to
get adapted to it. And to recognize that this is the way God works. We have
been so schooled in symbolisms and sand-table displays and pictures that we
have a hard time getting out of our childhood ways of thinking of things. Now,
when the apostle Paul says, when I was a child I spoke as a child and I behaved
as a child and so on. But when I became a man I put away childish things. And
he also talks about, we drink the milk first but as we grow up we’re able to
take the meat. And I think there is a little of that involved. It’s very easy
for us to say, Ok, the Lord can do this, he can do anything, and I’m not
limiting God but I’m going to say that while God will be able to do things, He
doesn’t. God can heal everyone of you from everyone of your diseases
miraculously in a few seconds of time. Do you believe that? But He doesn’t do
it. Am I right? God can form a body six feet below the ground and cause an
earthquake to erupt the graves and that body can come out alive. He can do it.
I don’t doubt it. There is no positive evidence anywhere in the Bible that says
He’s ever done it. You find it for me. If you can find it then I’ll agree that
he’s done it. But I haven’t found it. The only kind of resurrections I have
ever found in the Bible, positively are resurrections in which there was
already a body there. Got that?
Who was raised from the dead?
(John) Moses.
(Wilfred) Moses.
(John) Lazarus.
(Wilfred) Lazarus. Two widow’s sons.
(A woman in the audience) Unintelligible (those raised at Christ’s
resurrection).
(Wilfred) I figured someone would bring that up. There is no positive evidence
that those bodies were formed below the ground and reconstructed.
(A woman in the audience) Unintelligible (the graves were opened).
(Wilfred) But there was nothing in the graves.
(John) Those bodies weren’t there.
(Wilfred) Why did the graves have to open if there were no bodies in there?
Now, do you want the real key? Would you like to have the real key to
understand this? It’s in the Bible. At least it is to my vision. Better take
your Bibles and see if we can’t understand it.
Let’s try Hebrews
1: 5 “For unto which of the angels said he at any time," and that
“He” refers to God the Father. “Thou art my Son,” and that is how I know,
because “Son“ is capitalized. And somebody else is saying. “Thou art may Son.
And who’s Son was Christ?
(John) God’s Son.
(Wilfred) “This day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father,
and he shall be to me a Son?
6 And again, when he
bringeth in the first begotten into the world, he saith, and let all the angels
of God worship him.” Now what is Jesus called in verse 6?
(John) The first begotten.
(Wilfred) If there is a first begotten. Then it has gone beyond the stage of
the “only” begotten. Hasn’t it? There would be no point in calling Him the
first begotten if there was never going to be another begotten, He would be the
“only” begotten. Now He was the “only” begotten Son of God. But He went through
an experience known as the sacrifice of Christ in which He is going to give his
divine life to others and they are going to be born again into the family of
God. And they will be sons of God and joint heirs with Christ. They will also
be begotten of God. Did you get that? Jesus was then the first begotten, others
are going to come afterwards.
Now lets look
further. Revelation 1:5, This will put another slightly different slant
to this term. Everybody got it? 5 “And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful
witness, and the first begotten of the dead," now, He is the first
begotten of the dead, not the only begotten, the first begotten. If He is the
first begotten of the dead then there will be others begotten of the dead.
Right? What does that mean? Oh, you may say, that means He was resurrected. And
I am not going to deny that. I am sure that’s what it means. But I want to
point out to you that Moses was one ahead of Him. Since I learned how to count
in school I would have to conclude that Moses was the first begotten and Jesus
must have been the fourth or fifth begotten if that is what it means, that
somebody was resurrected into the body that he died in a few days before, or a
day or two before, or an hour or two before. Lazarus had been in there for four
days and they said that his body would be stinking by this time. Now the Bible doesn’t
say it did, it was the people that said that. I don’t know for sure, but I am
rather suspicious that God preserved that body, until it was raised from the
dead. But that’s neither here nor there. That’s a little personal thing thrown
in. I don’t throw these personal things in very often because I don’t expect
you to take something just because I think so. If I can’t prove it so, what
difference does it make, let’s forget it. But that is possible, that that body
was persevered until it was raise from the dead.
So, maybe there is another meaning to this first begotten of the dead. Maybe.
If Christ is the first begotten of the dead He’s the first one that has gone
through a certain experience in a matter of a resurrection that nobody else has
gone through before or He couldn’t be called the first begotten. Am I right?
So, let’s go a little further.
James 1:18 "Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we
should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures." Now here’s the word first-fruits
introduced. What are first-fruits?
(John) Those that come first.
(Wilfred) Those that come first. And it is supplied in the Old Testament in
what connection?
(John) The wave sheaf.
(Wilfred) Yes, The crops that grew, that the Lord gave life to and because of
their gratitude to God for what God had done for them to give them this food.
They were to take the first fruits of this and offer it to God as a symbol of
their appreciation; I think that's it in a nutshell.
(John) And Sister White says that it is a symbol of the resurrection.
(Wilfred) Oh good. A symbol of the resurrection.
(John) The presenting of the wave sheaf was a symbol of the resurrection.
(Wilfred) Yes.
(John) And that wave sheaf was constituted of that which came first.
(Wilfred) Right. And there is a thought there, I won’t comment on it now. It’s
hard for me to know what parts to give and what parts not to give in the
progression because I don’t want to get you confused I want to take it as easy
as I can.
First Corinthians 15, and when we get all these pieces maybe we can just
put them together. I told you that the key to this thing was a little complex.
I can state it very simply but you might not see it if I did it that way. First
Corinthians 15 down about 15.
15 “Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God,” He’s saying, this is Paul
saying, I’m accused of being a false witness because we have testified of God
that He raised up Christ. Because Paul said that He was accused of being a
false witness. “Whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not.” So
they were discussing about the resurrection, do you remember the Sadducees
didn’t believe in the resurrection, was it? And the Pharisees did or the other
way around? And they had a little squabble sometimes about that, and Paul had
been called into question about believing in a resurrection from the dead. See?
So, he said, well then, I have been called a false witness because I testified
that God raised up Christ from the dead whom He didn’t raise up. Obviously if
there is no resurrection of the dead.
16 “For if the dead
rise not, then is not Christ raised:
17 And if Christ be
not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.
18 Then they also
which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished." No hope then if there is
no resurrection. They’re gone. Well, we’d better go on a little further.
19 "If in this
life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
20 But now is Christ
risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept."
All right, now, here the Bible through the voice of Paul applies the
first-fruits of them that slept, the first-fruits of the resurrection to Christ
in the sense that He is risen, and because He is risen then others are going to
risen too. But others have risen before this. But what is the significance of
the first-fruits of them that slept? Moses, Elijah, and Enoch are in Heaven
already. Does anyone want to suggest something? Do you think it's fair play to
call Him the first-fruits of them that slept? Yes?
(A woman in the audience) Unintelligible
(Wilfred) Yes, but isn’t Paul talking here about Christ being risen from the
tomb? I think he is.
(A man in the audience) Could it be that Jesus’ resurrection was the first
resurrection after the sacrifice had been made? So He could be the first.
(Wilfred) We've got some brains here.
(A woman in the audience) This would have been His second death.
(Wilfred) There was something about the experience of Christ that is different
from any other resurrection. And this brother here has hit the nail on the head
and we are going to come to it in a minute. Yes sir?
(Another man in the audience) Christ conquered death whereas Moses did not.
Moses and others raised of the Lord, Christ conquered death.
(Wilfred) Who raised Christ from the dead?
(John) By his Father.
(A woman in the audience) Didn’t He say that He would lay down His life and He
would take it up again?
(Wilfred) Yes, He did. Read verse 15. Anybody to read it out loud?
(John) 15 "Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have
testified of God that he raised up Christ:"
(Wilfred) Who does Paul say raised Christ?
(John) God.
(Wilfred) Wasn’t it James here that said the same thing? I read another
one here a few minutes ago that said the same thing. And that’s another
problem, because Sister White says He came forth from the tomb by a power that
was inherent in Himself. And I’ll bet you can’t explain that and maybe you can.
(A man in the audience) Verse 22 gives part of the answer.
22 "For as in
Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive."
(Wilfred) Yes, That’s right. We have already dealt with this. We have shown you
that nobody has eternal life except through the sacrifice of Christ in which He
gave his eternal life into the hand of the Father through the Everlasting
Covenant and the Father is now administering that lifeblood of Christ to his
people. Christ gave his life and took our death. That’s the only way we can
have eternal life. And in this sense, and I hope you get this, we are born
again. The Bible says, except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of
Heaven. He is to be born physically, but he is also to be born of the Spirit.
And the Bible is full of that. And I have some texts here tonight that I can read.
But, I think Adventists are familiar with this aspect that maybe I don’t have
to go through all that. To be born of God means to be born of the spirit. And
whose spirit was that that God is administering to his people to initiate the
rebirth? Whose spirit? Then you are born again by a power that was inherent in
Christ. And what Spirit was it that raised Christ from the dead?
(John) The Holy
Spirit.
(Wilfred) And who’s
Spirit was it?
(John) The very soul of the life of Christ.
(Wilfred) The very soul of the Life of Christ she says. That was the power that
was inherent in Himself. His physical body was dead in the tomb, there was no
life in it. If there had been life in it, it would not have been dead. The
power that raised that body from the dead was through the hand of the Father,
The Father used the power of the life of Christ to raise that physical body of
Jesus from the dead.
(John) Which was the Holy Ghost.
(Wilfred) Which was the Holy Ghost. Which was the life of Christ, which was inherent
in Himself. Mystery? Well, a dead corpse can’t be alive, if it is alive it is
not a dead corpse. And Jesus was a dead corpse in the tomb.
(John) We read last week that all that compose the life and intelligence of
Jesus, slept while He was in the tomb. That’s from the Bible Commentary.
(Wilfred) He slept. All right. We got a little off the track.
Let’s get back on
verse 23, “But every man in his own order:” He’s talking about the resurrection
there and in the previous verses. “Christ the first-fruits; afterward they that
are Christ's at his coming.” Now do you get the sequence? Who comes first?
(John) Christ.
(Wilfred) Then who comes afterward?
(John) The first-fruits.
(Wilfred) All right. What about these people who have gone before Him? Maybe
we'd better not labor that point. But there is some experience in which Christ
is the first-fruits of the resurrection. And others are going to follow after
at his coming. And I have pointed out to you that there are two comings.
What was it that came to the tomb of Jesus to raise Him from the dead?
(John) His Spirit.
(Wilfred) His Spirit. What is going to come to god’s people before the coming
of the great and dreadful day of the Lord to raise them from their spiritual
death?
(John) The same Spirit.
(Wilfred) The same Spirit. Now watch it. That same Spirit is going to bring an
experience of a resurrection to some people in harmony with the experience of
the first-fruits. He is the head of the new body of Christ. The members of the
body are still to come, but they have to be restored as members of the body of
Christ. And the marriage union has to take place so that they become one flesh.
Ephesians 5. And the body of Christ is restored. What was, how shall I
put this? It is simply, Christ in you. That’s it. He gave His life to share.
And He was the first partaker of it. He gave it back there in the heavenly
sanctuary court before He came to this world, that’s where He gave it. And He
had two witnesses’ there that He called up from this earth to see it. We’ve
shown you that. And He was born completely ignorant of His former life until He
reached a certain level. And He became a person in a human body who had lived
before.
(John) Without knowing it.
(Wilfred) Without knowing it. Now, the devil has picked this up and He is
scattering the idea of reincarnation all over the country. And I hope that some
of you people don’t go out and say, Wilf Johnson believes in reincarnation.
Wilf Johnson is telling you something that’s in the Bible. That’s all he’s
doing. And Jesus was the first-fruits of the dead. The first begotten of the
dead. He was the first member of the new body of Christ, the head. And the
other members in particular, and you can find this in Paul’s writings, it is as
clear as a bell, they will become members of the body of Christ and then the
marriage union will take place before the close of probation. And the words of
Jesus to those Jews back there will be fulfilled. He said, Destroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it up. And all the words of Jesus
have a deeper meaning. He wasn’t just talking about the physical temple, He
wasn’t just talking about His physical human body, He was talking about the
body of Christ, that He had relinquished, the one that Moses had seen, the one
that He had told the Jews that unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood
you’ve got no life in you. That’s the one He was talking about. And at the last
supper He committed to his disciples the New Covenant, The Everlasting
Covenant, Sister White says that. And that Everlasting Covenant said that His
life was to be given to be shared with his people. And where is the life, pray
tell?
(John) In the Spirit.
(Wilfred) And where is the Spirit?
(A man from the audience) No man can see Him.
(Wilfred) But where is He in reference to a person?
(John) Within us.
(Wilfred) In the body. God breathed into Adam’s nostrils the breath of life and
man became a living soul. What happened to the body of Christ? And I can’t
answer this one. But what happened to the body of Christ when He gave up the
Ghost? The ghost of his eternal life. Before He came to take on humanity.
(John) It slept.
(Wilfred) I don’t know what happened to it. But I do know one thing, Jesus said
at the last supper that that body was broken. And to me that means divided, so
that the saints can have a piece. Now it refers to his Word, his Word is a
symbol of his body. And we eat his Word and we are partaking of the body of
Christ. Sister White bears that out. But what does that Word do for us? It
restores in us the mind of Christ. When the Spirit is added to the ingredients
of that body then the mind of Christ becomes alive in us. Can you see that? The
thoughts that were in the mind of Christ He wrote in his Word before that body
went to sleep. He gave it to his prophets, and wrote it. Now when Jesus came to
this world with a human brain He partook of that Word himself so that the Word
was restored in his brain and He was anointed with the Holy Ghost so the Word
was made alive in his brain. And the mind of Christ was restored. Jesus was
Christ. He was one who had laid down his life and now was alive again in a
human temple.
(A man from the audience) And that was at his baptism wasn’t it?
(Wilfred) Well, it took place from the time of his birth to the time of his
baptism, and I think it continued after that. I don’t think we can say at any
stage it was complete. But I don’t know.
(John) At the age of twelve He first recognized who He was.
(Wilfred) But prior to that his mind had been filling up with the ingredients,
you see. And then the Spirit came and began to assemble those ingredients into
a pattern of understanding.
Why did God do this? Why did Christ come? Well there were many reasons. One
reason that you may have missed and I want to bring it out because it ties into
a key that I’m going to give you in a few minutes. Hopefully.
This statement is found in volume 7 of the Bible Commentary page 924. It
says, "He lived out the character of God through the human body which God
had prepared for Him."
(The end of C/D #53 and the beginning
of C/D #54)
Who made this body for Him? How did He make it? He used the natural processes
that He has established for preparation of every human body to do it. And in
the Bible, in Hebrews it says, A body thou has prepared for me, lo in
the volume of the book it is written of me, I come or something to that effect.
I didn’t get it exactly right but those are the thoughts. The body was prepared
and He came into this body. How did He come in, suddenly? No, He grew up into
it. And as the Spirit came to fix those ingredients and to crystallize them, to
unite them, to coordinate them, to integrate them, the thought patterns of the
original mind of Christ began to grow and be restored into the mind of Jesus.
He was Christ. That is the process whereby Jesus went to sleep in the first
death and was restored to life. He was in this sense the first-fruit of the
resurrection, He rose from the dead the first time. The second time He died it
was different, He died the death of the sinner. From which there was no hope of
a resurrection. And He was still raised again to life. And that’s another
problem. Let me read on, “He blessed the world by living out in human flesh the
life of God. Thus showing that He had the power to unite humanity to
divinity." And that gives you the key to the meaning of this word
divinity, Living out the life of God. She says, I’ll read it again; "He
blessed the world by living out in human flesh the life of God. Thus showing
that He had the power to unite humanity to divinity."
Now, she tells us in Christ’s Object Lessons that it is only
through the union of divinity and humanity that sin can be overcome and the
divine life can be lived. It is through the divine nature of which we may
partake even as Jesus did. We may partake of that same divine character and
live a life of sinlessness. And if we are ever going to live a life of
sinlessness that’s how we are going to do it. And she tells us in Christ’s
Object Lessons that the union of divinity and humanity is what is
symbolized by the marriage in that parable. Does it make sense now? The
marriage of the Lamb to His saints which is to take place before the close of
probation. It involves the reception of the Holy Ghost by the saints and the
restoration in the minds of the saints of the mind of Christ from the
ingredients that the saint has been digging out of the Word and in symbol,
eating the flesh of the Son of God. The Holy Spirit is the life symbolized by
the blood, so it says, Except you eat my flesh and drink my blood you have no
life in you. And that’s it. And at the last supper Jesus went through that
ritual to establish that thought in the minds of his disciples. They were to
eat his body and drink his blood. And with that power which is the life of
Christ Himself they were to be restored spiritually and physically as Jesus
was. He was the first begotten, they follow after.
Now maybe we can turn to Revelation 14:4. We’ll pick up another little
piece here, it talked about the first-fruits. Christ was the first-fruits but
there are going to be others who will be first-fruits unto Him, and who are
they? Revelation 14 verse 4, “These are they which were not defiled with
women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever
he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the first-fruits unto God
and to the Lamb.” And who are they?
(John) The hundred and forty-four thousand.
(Wilfred) Go back to verse 1 to find that out. So that identifies those who are
going to have a similar experience as Christ. They are identified as the
hundred and forty-four thousand and she tells us that they sing a song, the
Bible does too, of Moses and the Lamb, and she says that nobody can learn that
song, the Bible says that too, save the hundred and forty-four thousand. And
she explains that that song is a song of their experience. They have the same
experience that the Lamb had.
(John) This raises another one of those little problems because here it plainly
says that the hundred and forty-four thousand are the first-fruits but in
Sister White’s writings those who were resurrected when Christ was resurrected
are called the first-fruits also. How can they be members of the hundred and
forty-four thousand as well as the first-fruits also? And there needs to be
something that's going to coordinate that.
(Wilfred) Excellent. Did you see that? Those who are raised at the resurrection
of Christ as a token that the resurrection is actually going to take place, the
first-fruits they are called, and yet the Bible says that the first-fruits are
the hundred and forty-four thousand, being the first-fruits unto God and the
Lamb. That’s what it says.
(A man in the audience) How about in Corinthians, where we were in
chapter 15 and verse 44...?
(Wilfred) Yes, You are going a little ahead of us on that. Verse 44. “It is
sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.” No, you are going a little
ahead of us here. This is moving into the general resurrection which is not
what I’m talking about at the moment. Ok?
Romans 8:28 -30 : Firstborn
28 “And we know that
all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to his purpose.“ Did you get that qualification? They are
called according to His purpose.
29 “For whom he did
foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son,
What did He predestine them to
be?
(John) To be conformed.
(Wilfred) "To be conformed to the image of his Son." We’re talking
about the very same thing again. The restoration of the image of God in His
people.
(John) That ties right in with the statement when the image of God is perfectly
reproduced in his people He will come for them, and this is the hundred and
forty-four thousand again.
(Wilfred) Right, now let’s go on. It says then, “Conformed to the image of his
Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.” Is that not clear? He
is the firstborn among many brethren who are predestined to reflect His image
perfectly. Got that?
30 “Moreover whom he
did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called, them he also
justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” So what is going to
be the end result? Justification and glorification. Firstborn, and we’ve got
that terminology now.
Colossians 1:13-17
13 “Who hath
delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the
kingdom of his dear Son:” The Father has done this.
14 "In whom we
have redemption through his blood,” that’s the blood of the Son, “even the
forgiveness of sins:
15 “Who,” talking
about the Son, “is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every
creature.” Nobody is going to be born ahead of Christ. Now, He was the
firstborn originally, the original Son of God. And I don’t understand that
birth. He was the firstborn in the cradle of Bethlehem and He was the firstborn
on the morning of the resurrection. He was the firstborn all the way through.
The firstborn of every creature. And in every experience He’s the first one.
And anybody who’s gone through an experience prior to Him, there is something
different about that experience than what Jesus went through or He couldn’t be
the firstborn. And I can’t answer you all the problems that arise from here, I
told you that there are new problems arising. But let me assure you there are
answers. God’s truth is just not dead it will continue to expand. So He’s
called here the firstborn of every creature.
16 “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in
earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or
principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:” So,
you see that He was the firstborn in the sense that He came before everyone
else. And that’s what it says in verse 17.
17 “And he is before
all things, and by him all things consist.” Now, here we have what I was
telling you minutes ago. Right here it is in black and white.
18 “And he is the
head of the body.” What body?
(John) The Church.
(Wilfred) The Church. Well you say brother Johnson, that word “body” there
means “group”. We say a body of people, a group of people. Yes, it does. I
believe that. But I hope you have been with me long enough to discover that the
Word of God is not limited to one interpretation. And I can read you passages
from the Spirit of Prophesy that verify that that is correct. And that
word “body” has more that one meaning. It is talking also about the body of
Christ which is his church, in a deeper sense. Who is the beginning? The
firstborn, now watch that next word, from the dead. Christ was the firstborn
from the dead. If He is the firstborn from the dead, somebody else is going to
be raised from the dead. But He became what in the body of the Church?
(John) The head.
(Wilfred) The head. And those raised from the dead are going to become what?
(John) Members in particular of the body of Christ.
(Wilfred) And the wedding takes place when?
(John) Before the close of probation.
(Wilfred) So when must they be living?
(John) Before the close of probation.
(Wilfred) Do they have to be living to be married?
(John) Yes.
(Wilfred) Why, certainly. How can the Spirit of God come into a dead person,
whose body has disintegrated in the grave and reproduce the image of God in a
thing that isn’t there? Does that make sense? That doesn’t make sense. Is that
the way He did it with Jesus? He is the example, He is the first-fruits, the
first begotten, the firstborn, He is the way, follow Him. Take up your cross
and follow Him. The hundred and forty-four thousand have the same experience as
He has. They sing the same song that He sings and that Moses sang. What did
Moses sing? Deliverance from Egypt. Which is?
(John) Deliverance from sin.
(Wilfred) Well, How can a dead man have deliverance from sin? If you’re going
to have deliverance from sin Brother and Sister you’ve got to have it while you
are alive. Sin is a decision. A dead man can’t make a decision. Let’s think
reasonably here. “The firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have
the preeminence." Now if He is the firstborn from the dead there are
others who are going to follow after.
This is Hebrews 12:23, just an interesting
comment here.
23 “To the general
assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God
the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect." Shall we
take it again? 23 “To the general assembly and church of the firstborn,"
Who was the firstborn? The Church of Christ the firstborn. “Which are written
in heaven,” The margin says, “enrolled” their names are in Heaven. They are the
ones who have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ and their names are written in the
Lambs book of life. “And to God the Judge of all,” And in another place it
says, all judgment has been committed to the Son. Here it says God judges,
another one of those things we have to except as it says. “And to the spirits
of just men made perfect." There are just men who are not made perfect. Is
that right? I am just in the eyes of God if I follow the conditions but I may
not be perfect. But what is going to happen to those first-fruits who are going
to follow Christ? They are going to follow Him all the way and they will be
perfect. So it’s talking about here, the spirits of just men who have been made
perfect. They are the general assembly and Church of the firstborn. The hundred
and forty-four thousand.
Well, you might question some of that, and I wouldn’t blame you if you did. But
I thought you would be interested in seeing that text.
Now, I want to go back to John 3. We have tried to show you that in
order to clarify some of the problems we’ve presented it would appear to be
necessary that certain people be alive on the earth during the great crisis and
the purification period of God’s people.
(John) Before the
close of probation.
(Wilfred) Yes. And
we’ve been trying to show you that. And the question then arises, how can they
be there, when the resurrection doesn’t occur until the second coming of
Christ? Last week I pointed out to you that the resurrection occurs at the last
trump. And we think in terms of last trump being just before Jesus comes, and I
do not quarrel with this, but I am seeing a deeper meaning in that last trump
statement. Because the last trump is the last one in a series, and that the
Bible interprets itself and you will find that there is a series of seven
trumpets in Revelation. And at the last trump the door to the holy
apartment was shut and the door to the most holy opened and the Ark of the
Testament was seen in the most holy apartment.
(John) So the last trump began in 1844.
(Wilfred) Which would indicate that the resurrection in some form or other was
due since 1844. Now, without going any further, if we just simply make that
statement, that would account for the fact that the door to the holy apartment
could be shut and that the sins that were confessed since 1844 were placed on
the head of the scapegoat with special mention, different from ones that had
gone before. Do you understand? And it will account for other things but I
haven’t got into that yet, the investigative judgment.
Let me read to you the sample again. The sample was Jesus, He came into a human
body that was born of a woman before He realized who He was, his character was
being tested. He lived out the character of God through the human body which
God had prepared for Him. Did He ever sin?
(John) Never.
(Wilfred) How come He didn’t sin? When He was a little boy He had a divine
character which enabled Him in his humanity to build up a human character of
sinlessness. And that’s the experience that God’s people are going to have to
have. And it is only through the reception of the divine character that it can
be accomplished. But there is no other Christ. Not even an angel could have
come and done it. And God is going to prove that today. He’s going to prove it.
But He’s also going to prove that it is possible for one to accept the divine
provisions and having done that to become like Christ, to reflect his image.
Now, Jesus lived out the character of God in the human body that God had
prepared for Him. The character of God had been questioned, his integrity had
been challenged, and God submitted Himself in the person of Jesus in a human
body to an investigative judgment before the eyes of all the universe. The
books of God’s character were opened. Did you follow me? And today, the books
of God’s people are being opened to the universe in human bodies living in this
world since 1844, the characters that were developed by these old saints all
down through history are being reproduced in human minds as the character of
Christ was reproduced in the human brain of Jesus. And every last one of them
is sinning, but those sins have gone beforehand to judgment, the door is shut.
God has accepted them; He is now investigating and proving before the universe.
He knows who is saved and who isn’t. He doesn’t have to do it for his sake; He
knew that Jesus was perfect, that He would live a sinless life. He didn’t have
to prove it for his sake. Who was he proving it for?
(John) The universe.
(Wilfred) And whom did He want to silence?
(Several voices at once in the audience) Unintelligible
(Wilfred) God does not want to take any person into the Kingdom of Heaven that
anybody is going to have a question about. Nor does He want to destroy any man
in hell that anybody in the future will have a question about. But, how is He
going to do it? I’m sharing with you what God showed me. He’s going to do it
exactly the way He did it with Jesus. Jesus was the firstborn, the
first-fruits, the first begotten, and His family follows after. And the Bible
says when it talks about all those Old Testament saints who by faith were
accepted of God in Hebrews chapter 11, I think it is; The Bible says,
“They without us should not be made perfect.”. That’s what my Bible says. And
starting with the Old Testament saints starting back in 1844 God opened the
door to the most holy apartment and showed them his law. And as He said back in
Malachi chapter 4 verse 3, “Remember ye the law of Moses which I command
him in Horeb for all Israel with the statutes and judgments you are going to be
tested in the judgment on the law of Moses. And the Old Testament saints from
1844 on down were tested on the law. They taught the law, the law, the law,
until Sister White says in 1888 that it was as dry as the hills of Gilboa. And
then He gave them the message of righteousness by faith all over again. And the
New Testament saints have to be tested. I don’t know whether you are following
this. But the character of Abraham has been tested, or is being tested, or will
be tested in a human brain born in this world since 1844 so that all the
universe can see it. And this testing time Sister White talks about since 1844,
this testing time, and she tells us what you’re tested on. You follow?
Oh, but I’m not finished yet. There have been over-comers in each of the eras
of the Church's history, over-comers in the sense that they accepted the full
provisions that God had made for them up to that time. Not until 1844 was the
door to the most holy apartment opened so that they without us should not be
perfect in the sense that they come to attain to the fullness of the character
of Christ. Now, there was a difference between the perfection of the saints in
the Old Testament and the perfection of the saints just before probation
closes. I can’t go into the details because I don’t understand them all. All I
know is that the door to the most holy apartment was opened and the cleansing
of the sanctuary did not start until 1844 and therefore they could not be made
perfect without us. The cleansing of the sanctuary did not take place in
Israel’s day during the daily services through the year, they didn’t take place
until the Day of Atonement. That’s clearly portrayed. I am pointing out to you
what the Bible says.
(John) It says in Zechariah 13, “In that day there should be a fountain opened
to the house of David and to the inhabitance of Jerusalem for sin and
uncleanness.” And that is referring to that cleansing that’s available since
1844.
(Wilfred) All right, That’s good John. Thank you.
Now, I want to read a little from John chapter 3. We’ll start with verse
3, this is where Nicodemus comes to Jesus and he says, Rabbi, we know that
you’re a big teacher come from God and no man can do these things that you’re
doing, all these miracles. Then in verse 3 He says, 3 "Jesus answered and
said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee," Now, when the word
‘Verily” is used in the scriptures, it means “Watch what is coming afterward”.
This is very true and important. And He repeats it two times. Jesus said,
“Verily, Verily, I say to you Nicodemus except a man be born again, he cannot
see the kingdom of God.” And I’m suggesting to you that that means more than
what it says on the surface, Because Sister White says that all the words of
Jesus do. And unless a man is born again and receives of the Spirit of God as
Jesus received it during the Day of Atonement his soul temple and sanctuary
cannot be cleansed. Because the cleansing of the sanctuary does not take place
until the Day of Atonement. Did I get my point across?
Sister White has a statement about taking the Bible just as it reads. I forget
where it is. I think it is in one of the manuscripts someplace. But Brothers
and Sisters, when the Bible says, through the angel, this same Jesus shall so
come in like manner as ye have seen Him go. Did the angel mean what he said or
do you think it means something else? Now when Jesus says, Verily, Verily, I
say unto you except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God. Do
you think He means what He says? Well, Nicodemus, couldn’t understand that. And
what did Jesus do with Nicodemus? Well, Jesus knew that Nicodemus couldn’t
grasp this thing yet. It was a long time in the future before all the truth was
going to be brought by the Holy Spirit to God’s people. Right? So Jesus did the
same with Nicodemus as He’s done on other occasions, He talks to the people at
their level. And I hope I’m not talking to you beyond your level. But the day
is here Brothers and Sisters when we are going to have to understand the plain
teachings of the Word of God or Christ cannot come. If you don’t believe that
just look over past Adventist history, we should have been there by now. We
have been told that I think, three times. Three different occasions, we could
have been in the Kingdom before, at three different points in history. And we
are still not there. Something is missing! But when He, the Spirit of truth is
come He will guide you into all truth. And the truth is the sword of the Lord,
and the sword of the Lord is going to cause the shaking. It is going to bring
on God’s people the persecution and suffering which is going to bring about the
purification of his people which is going to bring the latter rain to his
people, which is going to close the work, restore the image of God in his
people, which will close the probation, which will bring Jesus to this world.
Can you follow me?
I promised God that if
He would open to me his Word so I could understand it and it made logic to me
so I could honestly say that I believe Him, I am a genuine true Seventh-day
Adventist Christian even though I am a sinner; I said that I would do anything
He asked me to do. And He did His part and now He is asking me to do my part.
And I’m doing it. And I thank you people for your cooperation, for your
prayers. Some of you have been just out of this world to me. Just out of this
world. And I thank God for you. But don’t accept anything I say without going
to the book and checking it, and going to God asking Him to show you plainly,
is it true or is it false. And don’t be afraid to disagree with me. I’m not
here to try to make myself some big one. I’m only here fulfilling the commission
that God has given me to do; because I promised Him I would do it. And it’s
been the hardest thing that I have ever had to do in my whole life. I can’t
explain that to you. You’d have to experience it to know. I’m telling you what
God’s says, “Except a man be born again, he cannot enter into the kingdom of
God.” And that means that unless he is born of the Spirit, as Jesus explained
it to Nicodemus, he cannot become a member of the Kingdom of God. And John
again talks about it further over here; you don’t need to turn to it yet we may
look at it a little later. He said, he that is born of God does not commit sin.
What position has he reached? The perfection of Jesus, He did not commit sin.
It’s that simple. Now, I apologize to anybody who has explained it in some
other way. Every man explains it to the best of his ability as he sees it to
that point, and Jesus explained to Nicodemus to the best of Nicodemus’s ability
to understand it at that point, and I don’t think Nicodemus really understood
it. Neither could Nicodemus understand a physical interpretation of it. It
didn’t make sense to him. And it doesn’t make sense to a lot of people today.
The incarnation of Christ doesn’t make sense to a lot of people, they don’t
believe it; they don’t believe it. But I want to tell you something, you don’t
need to get all turned upside down about this. Just wait, just wait. But at
least do one thing, get into the books and fill your mind with the Word of God.
Fill it, keep all the other junk out. Then the Spirit of God can come and have
something to work with. He’s not looking around for tools. And if what I am
telling you is true it won’t be very long before you'll know it. Jesus knew it,
He knew it. He knew who He was and what his commission was and so will you. You’re
going to have a taste of the same experience of Jesus so you can sing the same
song and you are going to come out of sin because when you are born of God you
don’t commit sin.
(A woman in the audience) Is that the hundred and forty-four thousand only?
(Wilfred) Those are the only ones I'm talking about. I mentioned the
investigative judgment but what I said about that is as far as I can go on that
at the moment.
(A woman in the audience) Unintelligible
(Wilfred) But you’ll forgive me if I just stay with the hundred and forty-four
thousand at the present moment because that’s what concerns you. We’re living
now in the day when God is gathering in his people to mount Zion. That’s the
day we’re living in. That’s the commission, I have to bring that message. And
while we can be concerned about other things and we can study other things, and
we can think about other things. Let’s not speculate. Let’s stay with the
things that we can bring out of the books that apply to us. God is concerned
that we understand the things that are coming to pass in our experience. And
before they come to pass He has told us and promised us that He will give us a
warning. And that’s what He’s doing right now.
5 “He answered, Verily, Verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water
and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.
6 That which is born
of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” And
that’s how He explained it to Nicodemus because that is what Nicodemus needed
to know and that is what all the Christians down through all the ages to our
time needed to know. Today, God has a special message for his people, I read
you that. We need to know how it applies to us. It applies to us the same way
it applied to Nicodemus. But it goes one step further, the truth is unfolding,
new truth does not destroy the old. It is not independent of the old, it builds
upon it and unfolds from it. You got me? So, He says,
7 “Marvel not that I
said unto thee,” he’s talking to you, “ye must be born again.” Now, I want to,
Oh, there’s many more texts that I should bring here. But I want to give you
this key even though I don’t get all the texts to you. Maybe I can
get it done later if I can't get it done tonight.
Do you see now how the apostle Paul can be here right now? And his character is
being tested, and he is still asleep so far as his life is concerned back
there. The books are open in absentia, but he is living the life of his
character even as Jesus lived the life of the character of God. Don’t you see?
Can’t you see that the character of God was reproduced in those twelve billion
brain cells of Jesus, and from the time of His infancy He was functioning
according to that character. So will the apostle Paul, but he will be a sinner.
Nobody can live a life like Christ did. Until he has that final cleansing of
the soul temple that takes place on the Day of Atonement and Paul has to be
here on the Day of Atonement to get it. Can’t you understand? And Paul is going
to because of his victory and overcoming and the character that he built, the
only thing that he can really take with him through the grave. He is going to
function by that character, and all the sins that he is committing during this
judgment period are caused by the devils interference, and when the Lord takes
the devil away, Paul lives without sin. When the Lord lets the devil at him,
Paul sins. The difference between Paul and somebody else who hasn’t built a
character according to the divined pattern, the difference is, that when the
devil is at him he sins when the devil is away from him he still sins. And
before the universe this demonstration is going on right now. And it has been
going on since 1844. And the sins that are committed by God’s people are
therefore placed upon the head of the scapegoat as He leaves the sanctuary. All
the sins that are confessed by God’s people since 1844 are placed on the head
of the scapegoat. Can you see what I am getting at? And the investigated
judgment, the books are opened before the universe. And the fellow who is a
overcomer in the Laodicean period is going to partake of the outpouring of the
final cleansing blood that cleanses the sanctuary, changes the heart,
transforms it to the image of God so that he has the same character as Jesus had,
and he cannot sin. But he can if he chooses. But his love for God will not
permit him, He doesn’t want to sin, he hates sin, he recoils at sin just like
Jesus did. Jesus was the first-fruits, he follows after. He follows the Lamb
whithersoever He goes through his experience and he sings the same song. Got
it? So Paul can say, The dead in Christ shall arise first then we which are
alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds so shall
we ever be with the Lord.
Now let me finish this. Just before Jesus comes, after the investigative
judgment is finished and the test through the final conflict after the close of
probation is finished and the apostle Paul has demonstrated that He can live
before a Holy God without an intercessor then suddenly in a twinkling of an eye
Paul is going to wake up, and Peter is going to wake up, and Paul can talk to
Peter in his old language and say, Do you remember Peter when we had that
little argument back there in Antioch and Paul will know positively who he is,
and Peter will know positively who he is. Sister White says the one hundred and
forty-four thousand will know positively, and they are perfectly oriented in
the modern environment and society. Can you think of a more rational, logical,
systematic, scientific way for God to do it than that? Why if Paul had come
suddenly out of his grave in all his old garb and Peter would come out in his
old garb. What’s that? That’s an electric light. What’s an electric light? They
would be frightened silly. Oh, you would say, God could fix that up. Yes He
could. God could. I told you God could heal you of all your diseases just like
that if He wanted to. But God doesn’t do it. God could have sent Jesus down
here full-grown but He didn’t do it. Why not? Because Jesus was the
first-fruits, the first begotten, and his saints follow after.
Now let’s just see what we have done. All of the over-comers in all of the
periods of the Church's history are born again in the last generation. They are
gathered as the Bible says. He goes out to all nations and gathers in his
people and assembles them. You’ll find it in the Bible.
(John) It says they will be gathered the second time.
(Wilfred) The second time. And here they are, they have gone through their
investigative judgment, they are victorious over sin they have experienced the
cleansing and they are all among the hundred and forty-four thousand and go
into the temple with Jesus on Mount Zion. All the over-comers in all the eras
of the Church's history, and Abraham and all the rest of them, they are there.
Is God Fair? Did sister White tell the truth when she said that the living
saints, one hundred and forty-four thousand in number, did she tell the truth?
Yes, she told the truth. Did she tell the truth when she saw that she was among
the hundred and forty-four thousand? Now, you have another problem, I know.
Don’t bring it up now. Did she tell the truth when that other women was going
to be with the hundred and forty-four thousand? Yes, she told the truth. Did
she tell the truth when she said that all those who have fallen asleep in the
third angel’s message are going to come forth in the special resurrection to
see Jesus come? Yes, she told the truth. How are they going to get there? They
are going to be born again. God is going to prepare a body for them like He
prepared for Jesus, who was the first-fruits.
John, have you got that text on the seed?
(John) Yes, Would you like to read it or shall I read it?
(Wilfred) You read it.
(John) This is page 243 of Testimonies to Ministries, and I have never
had anyone but Brother Johnson explain this to me. It says, “The human agent
plants the seed, and God waters it and causes His sun to shine upon it, and up
springs the tiny blade. Here is the lesson God gives to us concerning the
resurrection of the body, and the renewing of the heart. We are to learn of
spiritual things from the development of the earthly.”
(Wilfred) “The human agent plants the seed, and God waters it and causes His
sun to shine upon it, and up springs the tiny blade. Here is the lesson God
gives to us concerning the resurrection of the body, and the renewing of the
heart. How do plants continue to live? Well, they don’t they die. How does the
species continue to live? The seed regenerates. How do my fingernails continue
to live? They regenerate. How does the human race continue to live? It
regenerates. Why do you suppose God was so fussy about who they married back
there? You know, the Bible says, the disciples asked Him about what they were
going to receive, you know, because they had left all and followed Him. He
said, in the regeneration you will set on twelve thrones judging the twelve
tribes of Israel. The word “regeneration” means generated again. That’s exactly
what it means, generated again. My fingernail is lost, it’s generated again. My
body dies and is lost, what happens? It is generated again. How was it
generated the first time?
(Same woman) By
natural means.
(Wilfred) How is it
going to be generated again if it is a regeneration?
(John) By natural means.
(Wilfred) The body, the body, that’s how the seed is, that’s how the seed does.
And she says here, here is the lesson that God gives us concerning, (1) The
resurrection of the body and (2) The renewing of the heart. Do you see the two
aspects that I was trying to tell you that Jesus was telling Nicodemus? It’s
the resurrection of the body and the renewing of the heart. Both of those
things are involved and it’s right there in that statement.
(John) They are both involved with being born again.
(Wilfred) Now, let me give you something from the Bible.
I
Corinthians 15:35, “But some man will say, How are the dead raised up, and with what body
do they come?” You know what He’s talking about don’t you? He’s talking about
how the dead come and what body do they come with. That’s what He’s talking
about. Now see what He says,
36 “Thou fool, that
which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die:" The Body that goes
into the ground is not the one that comes back out. The seed you put in the
ground is not the one that comes back out. It’s the pattern of the seed that
comes up in a new seed, a new plant, right? Watch it.
37 “And that which
thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be,” The body that goes to
the grave is not the body that shall be. “But bare grain, it may chance of
wheat or of some other grain:
38 But God giveth it
a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body." Now how
does that body come that God gives you? It grows from the seed.
Now with that statement that Sister White makes and this statement here, we’ve
got the key to the resurrection of the hundred and forty-four thousand. So that
all these problems we’ve been talking about that demand these people be here in
order to fulfill the Bible, comes truth. What about that text, “It is appointed
unto man once to die and after this, the judgment.” Now, if the hundred and
forty-four thousand come on the scene now for the first time, they never die
and that text is not true. It doesn’t say, it is appointed unto all man except
the hundred and forty-four thousand once to die and after this, the judgment.
It doesn’t say that. It says, "It is appointed unto all man once to
die," Now you’ve got more problems I know. Don’t bring them up just now.
Do you see how that the hundred and forty-four thousand fulfill that text? If
you accept the key that we have just given you. Do you see that? And I don’t
see any heads shaking one way or the other. Do you see it?
Paul is dead, then comes his judgment. How does he come? How does the body
come? It comes from the seed. That’s what it says. And it grows and the
character is judged. How was Christ’s character judged? How was God’s character
judged? In the body of Jesus. Who gave Him that body? God did, the Bible says.
How did God make that body? Through the seed. What seed? The seed of Mary and
the Seed of Christ, the Holy Spirit. So that He had the divine characteristics,
and He had the human characteristics. And the divinity overshadowed the human
and enabled him to build a prefect human character without sin. Can’t you see
that? Now Paul is going to come from the seed. But the divine seed comes only
after the investigative judgment of Paul to prove to the universe that Paul
could not live without sin until he partook of the divine nature. Christ is in
all and all. Don’t you see? And the cleansing does not take place until the Day
of Atonement. How else can you explain the experience of these people who
didn’t live in the Day of Atonement? How else would you ever explain it? The
keys are in the Bible, I’ve tried to show it to you. But there is more to it
then that. There are more texts as you continue to read and follow The
Spirit of Prophesy; I think you’ll find that it starts to make sense. But
don’t speculate on the general resurrection. Leave that alone. Leave that alone
just now. That comes at the end of the era when everything is all finished. And
if God reveals it to somebody I would be happy for somebody to share it with
me. He has not revealed it to me. I don’t understand the general resurrection,
yet. But I’m perfectly willing to wait unit it takes place and see how it
happens. I know how the Bible describes it and it may take place exactly the
way the Bible describes it. And it may not. But it doesn’t bother me, all I’m
concerned about is that you understand what God is doing with his people now in
preparing the hundred and forty-four thousand for their experience. Because the
devil is counterfeiting it all over the place. There are people all over the
world today who are coming up with things that happened in their life when they
lived before. And it’s all the devil’s work. It’s all under the principle of
Satanic possession and I’ve got plenty of evidence at home in my files to prove
that. Lots of files. And Sister White says that the devil will counterfeit
everything that God is about to do. Why do you think the devil is so busy
counterfeiting that?
(A woman in the audience) Because time is short.
(Wilfred) Because time is so short, and God is about to do it. What purpose
would the devil have in counterfeiting it if it wasn’t going to happen? He
would be stupid to waste his time doing it.
Do you know that the devil is going to counterfeit the resurrection of the
apostles? Because Sister White says so. Why is the devil going to counterfeit
the resurrection of the apostles, pray tell?
(John) Because they are going to be resurrected.
(Wilfred) Because they are going to be resurrected.
Well, I’ve given you a terrible slab tonight to chew. I realize
it, I know it, I’m fully aware of the implications but I had to do it to
fulfill my commission, and I have done it. I hope that you people will be
discreet in the way you think about it and the way you use it. Out of
consideration and kindness to me I would appreciate you not distorting what I
have said and broadcasting it far and wide.
When Jesus came down from the mount of transfiguration He revealed certain
things to those three disciples and He told them specifically, please don’t
tell anybody about it until after I am raised from the dead. Remember that? Why
did He do that? It would have destroyed a part of his influence with the other
disciples and with other people. And I am saying the same thing to you. Please
don’t discuss this topic with anybody until you are firmly grounded in it from
A to Z, and can answer all the questions, and show them from the Bible. And if
you do it, then you do it, don’t quote me and say that Wilf Johnson says
this or Wilf Johnson says that. Say, the Bible says this and Sister White says
this. Is that a reasonable request? Because we are told not to follow any man.
So don’t go quoting any man. Now if you start quoting it but don’t believe it,
you simple start quoting it, you are transgressing the law of God. Because you
are bringing disreproach on one of your brethren. And Jesus’ last prayer, and
it ties right in with the sword of the Lord is love your brethren. Do good to
them that hate you and persecute you and so on. Well, I don’t hate you and I
don’t persecute you. Thank God for that. I might just as well been that way but
I’m not because He has taken hold of me, and I hope He hangs on to me.
But if you have any respect for the cause of God at all, I would recommend that
you confine your discussion of this topic for the present to folks within this
group who have had the background and know what the build-up is. And you may
want to listen to the tapes a few times to get thoroughly familiar with the
material. But if you feel that it is something you don’t want at all. If it is
so foreign to your thinking that you don’t want it, that’s you privilege, shut
it off, put it on a shelf. But I would appeal to you to accept the word and
council of the Lord not to do injury to those of your brethren who think
differently than you do. I have a reason for thinking the way I do and it is
not an ugly reason. And if what I am telling you is true I think you will
recognize that it is of prime importance that I told you. And when the day
comes that all the saints will be perfectly united you will appreciate the fact
that you are united by the truth. It will be the truth that will tie your
hearts together. And it will be the truth that will be a sword to separate. Can
you see that?
(John) Brother Johnson, could I suggest that I think for everyone in the group
there is a wonderful chapter that we could all read this coming week. It’s
chapter 65, 1st volume of Selective Messages. The whole chapter is
entitled “How to meet a controverted point of doctrine”
I just want to get one more text on the tape 1 John 3:9, it talks about the
seed, His word which remains in him and he cannot sin because he is born of
God.
Well, may the Lord bless us as we continue to study.
Now next week I am not going to plan any specific presentation. I hope we can
have one more meeting next week. I’m cutting it pretty close on my own part.
But I feel that we should have one more....
(The end of this two C/D series on The Regeneration of the 144,000)