Character Reproduction of God

in the

Final Generation of Believers

 

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----- Original Message -----

From: KS

To: 'Ron Beaulieu'

Sent: Saturday, July 30, 2011 8:09 AM

Subject: RE: Character reproduction of God in the Final Generation of believers

 

Indeed. This is very good. Thanks.  ~K

 

 

From: Ron Beaulieu [mailto:rsbeauli@telusplanet.net]
Sent: Saturday, July 30, 2011 8:05 AM
To: Kevin Straub
Subject: Re: Character reproduction of God in the Final Generation of believers

 

Kevin,

 

Isaiah 62 comes to mind as to what occurs IN US when Christ is indwelling us, and what the world will see in us.

 

Isaiah 62  (KJV)

 

 1For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth.

 2And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name.

 3Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God.

 

The following is a based upon a recent conversation with a reviewer of the book As He Is, former SdA church leader, who is raising concern with the idea that God is preparing a final generation of saints who will perfectly reflect the glory of God, His Character. Some of this may be a bit technical, as it discusses the relation of the CoG message to various segments in modern Christianity, but there is something here for everyone to take home, who is interested in the cutting edge agitations currently taking place regarding what it means to be a follower of Christ and reflect God’s Character. ~K

 

 

First, I would like to post D­__’s letter so it can be read uninterrupted; then I will work with it, point by point.

 

Kevin:

 

I really admire you for your tenacity in moving forward with [Kevin’s book] AS HE IS. It is a good book and all the ideas and truths bear careful reflection by anyone who is a Christian….

 

I ran into a question when reading the first four chapters, chapters 3 and 4 in particular. Help me if you can. It has to do with the position taken centering on COL p. 69. As you know I am totally committed to the indisputable truth that God is love and that He never has, nor never will do an unloving thing. That where He is represented otherwise, it is because humans have misconceived who God is and they have not truly known Jesus Christ, the perfect reflection of God's character….

 

[Emphasized in this quote is]…that in these days the world is to see the true character of God "reproduced" in His children. The book then states with respect to interpreting Revelation 18:1, "It is the angel's glory and therefore the character glory within the people of the movement which shall lighten the whole earth." p. 17.

 

My mind is resisting the notion that any human will ever reproduce the character of God, and perfectly, at that. (Did EGW have it right to suggest that? Or did she mean something different from how we traditionally interpret that and similar passages?) Otherwise, the glory of man is what "shines" in the world.

 

I suggest that it is only our better understanding of God's character in Jesus Christ that is to be proclaimed in the world. Humans, no matter how noble and circumspect, cannot ever demonstrate God and His righteousness. We can only be, as it were, an arrow that points to Jesus, the fullest revelation of God this world will ever see. We cannot assume to invite the world to gaze at us; they must be invited to gaze at the Christ of whom we give testimony. It seems to me that the NT writers emphasize the glory of God in Jesus Christ. Let humans not conclude that their change in character by knowing God's character is the GLORY.

 

I am not suggesting that I am weak on character development. Not at all. Humans are called to living faith within a saving relationship with Christ Jesus. He cannot be known in mortals in the true sense, although the Bible is clear, mortals in their sphere are to manifest God-likeness or godliness.

 

Let me assure you I have moved on in reading the book. So far that is the only stumbling block, because I heartily rejoice wherein the book continues to elevate the true character of God. My problem is only with the idea that humans who have a better picture of God than the traditional one will become the "light of the world." I welcome your effort to clarify on this matter.

 

You are no doubt very busy these days. I am pleased that you are given opportunity to speak on this subject. I was interested to know about the special committee in Alberta to study the Character of God matter. Is this motivated by wanting to know, or is it to find ways to controvert it? Today I heard a "high" official of the Church make reference to "some people out west" who are saying that "God would not harm a flea." I felt sad that opposers of what may be an essential element of the Gospel come up with trivializations.

 

D__

 

Now, working line-upon-line:

 

Kevin:

 

I really admire you for your tenacity in moving forward with AS HE IS. It is a good book and all the ideas and truths bear careful reflection by any one who is a Christian….

 

I ran into a question when reading the first four chapters, chapters 3 and 4 in particular. Help me if you can. It has to do with the position taken centering on COL p. 69. As you know I am totally committed to the indisputable truth that God is love and that He never has, nor never will do an unloving thing. That where He is represented otherwise, it is because humans have misconceived who God is and they have not truly known Jesus Christ, the perfect reflection of God's character….

 

[Emphasized in this quote is]…that in these days the world is to see the true character of God "reproduced" in His children. The book then states with respect to interpreting Revelation 18:1, "It is the angel's glory and therefore the character glory within the people of the movement which shall lighten the whole earth." p. 17.

 

è The angels are symbols of a message which is carried by humans. The proclamations of angels 1, 2, and 3, were carried out as heaven-sent messages, from the Father, through Christ, via angelic agencies, and finally through human voices. God uses humans to reach humans at the last. This is heaven’s order.

 

My mind is resisting the notion that any human will ever reproduce the character of God, and perfectly, at that. (Did EGW have it right to suggest that? Or did she mean something different from how we traditionally interpret that and similar passages?)

 

è These are strange words, D__. We are talking about fundamental Adventist theology, here. It has been called “Last Generation Theology” (LGT) by a certain set. It is “historic Adventism,” to other minds. It is the basic reality of the work being done in the MHP, the maturation of understanding and experience in the working out of righteousness by faith, with its advancing light on the Character of God, by the Truth for the Final Generation people. It is the “third angel’s message, in verity,” in the words of the messenger to the last day church.

 

To set forth advanced light on the Character of God and not embrace the concept of its actual outworking in the lives of the believers, especially as eschatological demonstration of God’s righteousness which brings the great controversy to its close, is a serious inconsistency and cannot but produce a flawed message regarding God’s Character. I see teachers who attempt this and they go down false paths. What I have seen is that they go to the mainstream evangelical side, first-apartment gospel, Fordian theology, popular in “Liberal,” ecumenical-tending Adventist circles. Generally speaking, these ones deny the basic teaching of the 1888 messengers to the church, Jones and Waggoner, as endorsed by EGW, even though they claim to have embraced “righteousness by faith,” a close examination will reveal that the gospel to which they subscribe is that of mainstream Christianity which, if we know the history of the reformation and the awakening message of the mid-nineteenth century, we will recognize as that of fallen Babylon. In spite of the fact that a segment of evangelical Christianity is embracing certain CoG concepts, a large portion of mainstream evangelicalism rails against the CoG message, as they lump it together with the new spirituality, which we discuss, next.

 

Other modern proponents of a Character of God message are seen going to the contemplative, Ignatian spirituality side, aka “spiritual formation,” with its super-ecumenical stance, which is a maturation of the plan of the enemy to bring all the world into line with the beast system, which operates upon principles inimical to that of God’s kingdom: force and deception. Yes, this is all so much confusion. These ones are reading the great modern teachers of contemplative spirituality, such as Rob Bell, with his book God Wins. While much of what is said is good, taking people away from the gross error of eternal hell fire, they are also taking people away from the authority of Scripture and in many cases leading into Universalism, “Universal Restoration/Reconciliation” (UR) and/or “Moral Influence Theory.”

 

Let’s talk about MIT for a bit.

 

It was recently reported to me by a friend, who in direct conversation with George Knight, heard him say, “In order to believe in the Character of God teaching one has to do away with substitutionary atonement.” That got me to thinking why he would say that. He can’t truly understand what the meaning of “substitutionary atonement” really is, for the true CoG teaching is inseparable from the truths of the S.A. Remembering that Knight, claiming to be a friend of the message of Righteousness by Faith, has done serious work to undermine the true 1888 message and especially the messenger, A. T. Jones, I realized that he is stationed in the evangelical camp, where the fundamentalists such as Lighthouse Trails Research and others are coming against the new spirituality of contemplative Christianity, with its Moral Influence Theory. These contemplative folk have embraced some of the realities of God’s Character, so the CoG message has become “guilty by association” with error. Sadly, neither the evangelicals or the contemplatives understand what substitutionary atonement is. Neither understand the great controversy or why Christ had to die. I’ll leave that there and proceed to the discussion of MIT.

 

As I understand the theory, MIT teaches that Jesus didn’t really have to die but that what happened at the cross gives such a picture of the love of God that hearts are melted and people come to God as a result. This is a half-truth, incomplete and erroneous in its tendencies. While Christ did say that if He was lifted up (on the cross) He would draw all men. It is true that the spectacle of the Son of God on the cross is an icon held up that all the world can see, even two millennia afterwards. Undeniably, many who behold His self-sacrificing love at the cross are brought into the fold of God. However, it seems to me that MIT, being in its own ditch, seeks to avoid the ditch on the other side, that God required a blood sacrifice in order to be appeased for sin and that He slayed His Son in order to meet that requirement. In the noble attempt to correct the notion of an angry God held in check by the intermediary of Jesus Christ, they have totally ignored the fact that Jesus did have to die in order to save man. Without the 1888 truths they are left in ignorance as to why this is so.

 

These 1888-era reformers (Jones and Waggoner) did so much more than merely re-emphasize the great reformation principle of salvation by grace alone through faith in Christ, as is claimed by some modern Adventist writers and teachers. They advanced the light of righteousness by faith by including the gift of the imparted righteousness of God in the human agent, which is part of the true experience of justification. What this means is that they emphasized the fact that to be a recipient of grace brings with it the Holy Spirit as a regenerating agent, transforming the character of the believer into the likeness of Christ. The older reformers such as Martin Luther, did away with “faith AND works” (creature merit) and the advent reformers brought in “faith THAT works” (Christ’s merit realized in the believer through imparted righteousness).

 

1888 brought to us the understanding of the everlasting covenant, the new covenant, the bringing of a new mind to humanity, through the “in Christ” motif, teaching that Christ came as the Second Adam. This is where the idea that Christ didn’t actually have to die falls flat.

 

Briefly, in the first Adam, we were given carnal mind, which is enmity with God, subject to the death from which there is no hope of a resurrection. In this we had no choice. Satan gained claim to the race, arguing that fallen man was in a permanent condition of rebellion to God and on side with him. In Christ, the New Man, the New Head of the race, mankind was embraced. As God, He took upon Himself fallen flesh, our flesh, subject to temptation. But, as A. T. Jones says, “do not drag His mind into it.” He did not have carnal mind, He had the mind of Christ! Even so, He had to suffer under temptations which came through the flesh and which came to Him in ways we cannot fathom, due to being Divine. So, having our flesh, as our Representative, He lived a life of overcoming, by the power of God keeping Him through faith and submission to the will of the Heavenly Father. Then, He took that flesh to hell, the second death of the eternal grave. He rose in the glorified body. The old human flesh was forever gone and this was the first part of His gift to us: the assumption of our death. Therefore, we all died in Him. It is our choice to accept it. We regained the choice, where it was taken from us in the first Adam. The second part of His gift to us was that in His resurrection, we also rose. We received our glorified bodies in Him, which we will see at the last trump, at which time our sinful flesh will also disappear. We commemorate and anticipate these things in the ordinance of baptism.

 

Now, why this discussion is important here, is because mainstream fallen Christianity and many in mainstream Adventism who have fallen back into old reformation theology, with its focus on the sacrifice and justification FOR the believer and its lack of appreciation for the Most Holy Place work of Christ IN the believer, miss out on the riches of the truth of Christ-as-us, the Second Adam.

 

In Him, as the New Man, the Progenitor and Prototype of the New Humanity, we have not only forgiveness, but reinstatement into glory—regeneration--the very mind of Christ brought back into our experience, even while we also are yet in sinful flesh. His Character becomes ours! This could not be possible without His death, without His having become flesh and blood.

 

In this sense, I understand that it was necessary that there be blood. Not that it had to be spilled, although God saw that this would be the case, but that He would become bound up in flesh, dependent on the liquid tissue of blood, for this physical life. (We are talking about the truths regarding the nature of Christ and the atonement, truths which have become confused and obfuscated, especially since the 1950’s high level meetings with the evangelicals Walter Martin and Donald-Grey Barnhouse. Adventism has become a house divided, by its capitulation to Babylonian doctrine, by mixing wine with the many daughters of that great immoral woman that rides the beast and even with the woman herself.)

 

In addition to Christ’s becoming physically sinful human flesh and blood and taking it to hell for us and as us, God also saw that in the human body, His assumption of the burden of sin, as we saw it in Gethsemane, would bring about such a condition of stress that the blood would actually seep from capillaries into the sweat glands, a condition known as “hematohidrosis.”

 

Coming back to the point, we find that it was indeed necessary for the blood--it is true that “without blood there is no remission of sin. It was necessary for Him to enter the human experience, the confines of flesh and blood, even in its very lowest, fallen state, in order to live the righteous life for us and as us, take that old flesh -- the old man -- to the grave, and in turn release to us the Holy Spirit – His Spirit – as a regenerating agent, as His mind, to give us victory over the flesh, the world and the devil and enable us to stand as living representatives of His character in the world, and bring closure to Satan’s claim that all belong to him, none would obey God, none could obey God.

 

Let us not miss the implications of this second part. Not only did He take our sinful flesh to the grave, but His coming down from heaven and dying that death, rising again not to His former state of being, but remaining in human form, albeit glorified, in a spiritual body, He was giving to us His Spirit. We do not know the depths of this mystery, but without His having done all of this, we could not have the Holy Spirit as a regenerating agent. Remember that He said, “unless I go away you cannot have my Spirit” (John 16:7). I don’t believe He was talking simply about going to heaven to His Father, although He did do that, but rather about the great sacrifice made in going to second death at the cross – in a certain sense of His prior Being, He WAS going away forever.

 

The first Adam expelled the Spirit from our minds, but Christ, through His action, through “going away,” brought Him back, which could be done no other way. Only by the Holy Spirit could we be brought back to glory. If there were another way, less painful, less serious in its eternal implications for the Godhead, They would have done it. I’ll stop there, for I am on ground that is difficult to fathom and only revealed in diffuse terms.

 

All of this discussion was to show that CoG teachers who go onto the ground of “Moral Influence Theory,” rejecting the true message of 1888, Righteousness by Faith, do not understand why He had to die. In rejecting the pagan idea of appeasement of an angry God by human sacrifice, they miss out on the purpose of the Holy Spirit in the plan of salvation, which is to regenerate the fallen human suppliant into moral fitness for heaven and MORE THAN THIS, to close the great controversy by so imbuing us with His own mind and character that we are again truly agents of Christ in the world, even ministers of Christ Himself in the world, as He is IN US by that Spirit of His. In showing the Character of God, we show the government of God, the righteousness of God, and lay bare every one of Satan’s arguments and lies and claims against God and His government.

 

“‘And greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto My Father.’ By this Christ did not mean that the disciples' work would be of a more exalted character than His, but that it would have greater extent. He did not refer merely to miracle working, but to all that would take place under the working of the Holy Spirit.”  {DA 664.5} 

 

In our understanding, as modern day reformers, carrying on the work, the third angel’s message came to prepare a people for translation and to witness for God in a way that no other generation ever has. These are a people that stand without a mediator after the closure of probation. One cannot be informed of basic Adventist doctrine and history, claim to be Adventist, and not know and believe these things, can they?

 

My mind is resisting the notion that any human will ever reproduce the character of God, and perfectly, at that. (Did EGW have it right to suggest that? Or did she mean something different from how we traditionally interpret that and similar passages?)

 

è Again, I find myself confused by your thoughts, D__. How else can we read her? How else can we read the Bible? This isn’t tradition, it is plain the Word of God.  To His people He says: “The glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.” Malachi tells us that Christ refines us so that we may be fitted for the day of His appearing, that we will be “an offering in righteousness.” We are changed from glory to glory, by looking at Him As He Is, 2 Cor. 3:18; 1 John 3:2-10, 4:17.

 

Let us look at a passage in DA and see if she could have meant “something different” than perfect reproduction of God’s character in the human agent:

 

“God's ideal for His children is higher than the highest human thought can reach. ‘Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.’ This command is a promise. The plan of redemption contemplates our complete recovery from the power of Satan. Christ always separates the contrite soul from sin. He came to destroy the works of the devil, and He has made provision that the Holy Spirit shall be imparted to every repentant soul, to keep him from sinning.  {DA 311.2} 

     The tempter's agency is not to be accounted an excuse for one wrong act. Satan is jubilant when he hears the professed followers of Christ making excuses for their deformity of character. It is these excuses that lead to sin. There is no excuse for sinning. A holy temper, a Christlike life, is accessible to every repenting, believing child of God.  {DA 311.3} 

     The ideal of Christian character is Christlikeness. As the Son of man was perfect in His life, so His followers are to be perfect in their life. Jesus was in all things made like unto His brethren. He became flesh, even as we are. He was hungry and thirsty and weary. He was sustained by food and refreshed by sleep. He shared the lot of man; yet He was the blameless Son of God. He was God in the flesh. His character is to be ours. The Lord says of those who believe in Him, ‘I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.’ 2 Corinthians 6:16.  {DA 311.4} 

     Christ is the ladder that Jacob saw, the base resting on the earth, and the topmost round reaching to the gate of heaven, to the very threshold of glory. If that ladder had failed by a single step of reaching the earth, we should have been lost. But Christ reaches us where we are. He took our nature and overcame, that we through taking His nature might overcome. Made ‘in the likeness of sinful flesh’ (Romans 8:3), He lived a sinless life. Now by His divinity He lays hold upon the throne of heaven, while by His humanity He reaches us. He bids us by faith in Him attain to the glory of the character of God. Therefore are we to be perfect, even as our ‘Father which is in heaven is perfect.’”  {DA 311.5} 

 

I don’t find any wiggle room here for constructing any doctrine that would give any concession to attaining to a character any less than that of the sinless Son of God, do you? I cannot see how that it is not God’s purpose and promise to reveal the glory of His own Character, as manifest in Christ, then in us, to the world. This is why Christ came to us:

 

In describing to His disciples the office work of the Holy Spirit, Jesus sought to inspire them with the joy and hope that inspired His own heart. He rejoiced because of the abundant help He had provided for His church. The Holy Spirit was the highest of all gifts that He could solicit from His Father for the exaltation of His people. The Spirit was to be given as a regenerating agent, and without this the sacrifice of Christ would have been of no avail. The power of evil had been strengthening for centuries, and the submission of men to this satanic captivity was amazing. Sin could be resisted and overcome only through the mighty agency of the Third Person of the Godhead, who would come with no modified energy, but in the fullness of divine power. It is the Spirit that makes effectual what has been wrought out by the world's Redeemer. It is by the Spirit that the heart is made pure. Through the Spirit the believer becomes a partaker of the divine nature. Christ has given His Spirit as a divine power to overcome all hereditary and cultivated tendencies to evil, and to impress His own character upon His church.  {DA 671.2} 

     Of the Spirit Jesus said, "He shall glorify Me." The Saviour came to glorify the Father by the demonstration of His love; so the Spirit was to glorify Christ by revealing His grace to the world. The very image of God is to be reproduced in humanity. The honor of God, the honor of Christ, is involved in the perfection of the character of His people.  {DA 671.3} 

     "When He [the Spirit of truth] is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment." [Doug, how is this done, but through His church, His people?] The preaching of the word will be of no avail without the continual presence and aid of the Holy Spirit. This is the only effectual teacher of divine truth. Only when the truth is accompanied to the heart by the Spirit will it quicken the conscience or transform the life. One might be able to present the letter of the word of God, he might be familiar with all its commands and promises; but unless the Holy Spirit sets home the truth, no souls will fall on the Rock and be broken. No amount of education, no advantages, however great, can make one a channel of light without the co-operation of the Spirit of God. The sowing of the gospel seed will not be a success unless the seed is quickened into life by the dew of heaven. [It must not be empty words, but words that have transformed the preacher; then will the preaching be effectual.]  Before one book of the New Testament was written, before one gospel sermon had been preached after Christ's ascension, the Holy Spirit came upon the praying apostles. Then the testimony of their enemies was, "Ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine." Acts 5:28.  {DA 671.4} 

     Christ has promised the gift of the Holy Spirit to His church, and the promise belongs to us as much as to the first disciples. But like every other promise, it is given on conditions. There are many who believe and profess to claim the Lord's promise; they talk about Christ and about the Holy Spirit, yet receive no benefit. They do not surrender the soul to be guided and controlled by the divine agencies. We cannot use the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is to use us. Through the Spirit God works in His people "to will and to do of His good pleasure." Philippians 2:13. But many will not submit to this. They want to manage themselves. This is why they do not receive the heavenly gift. Only to those who wait humbly upon God, who watch for His guidance and grace, is the Spirit given. The power of God awaits their demand and reception. This promised blessing, claimed by faith, brings all other blessings in its train. It is given according to the riches of the grace of Christ, and He is ready to supply every soul according to the capacity to receive.  {DA 672.1}

 

My mind is resisting the notion that any human will ever reproduce the character of God, and perfectly, at that…. Otherwise, the glory of man is what "shines" in the world.

 

è The problem here, may I suggest, is that you are focusing on the human reproduction of God’s character and none of us are saying this. In fact, we go to great pains to repudiate the thought, emphasizing over and over that it is all of Christ, in Christ, by Christ, and for His sake! Nothing we ever preach, write, or quote from others will tend away from this foundational principle. HE is our all in all and it is by His Spirit that God’s Character is reproduced and set forth in the world as a witness to what God is like and Who He Is!

 

May I submit to you, pastor, that perhaps you may confusing the true doctrine of moral perfection in the final generation of living saints with the “ism,” i.e., perfectionism? The latter

 

“…is a false doctrine and false experience in which the deluded person bases his acceptance with God upon his own performance and is fully conscious of his assumed perfection. Such a person boasts about his “holiness” and compares himself with others….”

 

“In contrast, true Christian character perfection is characterized by humility, by depending entirely on the covering of Christ’s righteousness and by being unconscious of the imparted perfection because the mind is fixed upon Christ and what He has done rather than upon self and its performance.” Dr. E. O. Douglin, Strive To Be Among the 144,000, p. 100.

 

From the inspired pen, we may be assured:

 

“There is in the religious world a theory of sanctification which is false in itself and dangerous in its influence. In many cases those who profess sanctification do not possess the genuine article. Their sanctification consists in talk and will worship. Those who are really seeking to perfect Christian character will never indulge the thought that they are sinless. Their lives may be irreproachable, they may be living representatives of the truth which they have accepted; but the more they discipline their minds to dwell upon the character of Christ, and the nearer they approach to His divine image, the more clearly will they discern its spotless perfection, and the more deeply will they feel their own defects.” {SL 7.2} 

 

I suggest that it is only our better understanding of God's character in Jesus Christ that is to be proclaimed in the world. Humans…cannot ever demonstrate God and His righteousness.

 

è Again, how can this be? It is not taught in inspiration. We are given the Spirit to proclaim the truths of His glory, yes, but also we are given the same in order to be empowered “to will and to do” after His example, and to do so in no half-measure; to do so perfectly.

 

“Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. 

 

“For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee

 

“And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.”  Isa. 60:1-3

 

Humans, no matter how noble and circumspect, cannot ever demonstrate God and His righteousness. We can only be, as it were, an arrow that points to Jesus, the fullest revelation of God this world will ever see.

 

è I have to humbly disagree. We are to demonstrate the fullness of God. We are to be a light set on a hill. We are to let it shine. It is our light because He gave it to us. It is His light because it is Him. As we abide in Him, He abides in us.

 

Matt. 5:14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 

 5:15   Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 

 5:16   Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. 

 

John 1:4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men

 

John 17 is an amazing verification of the truth that God, through Jesus, puts His glory in us, in order to reveal His character and love to the world. There is much depth in this prayer of Jesus for us to contemplate, with regard to the Character of God imparted unto human agencies:

 

John 17:10 And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them…. 

17:22  And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: 

 17:23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. 

 17:24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. 

 17:25 O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. 

 17:26 And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare [it]: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.

 

“The light of His glory--His character--is to shine forth in His followers. Thus they are to glorify God…”  {COL 414.2} 

 

"Verily, verily, I say unto you," Christ continued, "He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also." The Saviour was deeply anxious for His disciples to understand for what purpose His divinity was united to humanity. He came to the world to display the glory of God, that man might be uplifted by its restoring power. God was manifested in Him that He might be manifested in them. Jesus revealed no qualities, and exercised no powers, that men may not have through faith in Him. His perfect humanity is that which all His followers may possess, if they will be in subjection to God as He was.  {DA 664.4} 

 

We cannot assume to invite the world to gaze at us; they must be invited to gaze at the Christ of whom we give testimony.

 

è Nobody is saying we would invite the world to look at us. We are asking them to look at Christ and our God Whom we serve. Our testimony is in word, yes, but if we do not have corresponding lives, our testimony is invalidated, feckless, only words which have had no effect of transformation of Character. There is no demonstration given. Jesus, when here in person, gave a living example. The world needs a living example, not just words. We are empowered to be that living example of Christ, truly of Him, for it will be Him, His very Person, in the form of the Holy Spirit, living in us, showing to the world the glory of God and no less than the glory of God.

 

It seems to me that the NT writers emphasize the glory of God in Jesus Christ.

 

è And so will we. But because we emphasize that it is in Christ, we do not fail to speak the truths of the indwelling Christ, that He is to live in our hearts and minds by faith, that we are enabled by the Holy Spirit to show forth His Character. We are not saying “follow me,” but “follow Christ, Who is in me and Who will also dwell in you by the same Word which we have taken to ourselves.”

 

Let humans not conclude that their change in character by knowing God's character is the GLORY. 

 

è If the change is genuine and the knowledge is true knowledge, experiential knowledge, what other conclusion could we have? This change will be a demonstration of the same “all-for-the-other-none-for-self, self-sacrificing love” that God has. We cannot manufacture this agape love, which is the essence of God’s Character and the foundation of all the truths we teach on the subject of His Character. We show that the glory of God is the character of God; they are synonymous terms. If we are transformed by the Holy Spirit, “by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour” (Titus 3:5, 6) then how can we not conclude that His character is reproduced in us and therefore He is glorified in us. If this is not “the GLORY,” my friend, then what is it?

 

I am not suggesting that I am weak on character development. Not at all. Humans are called to living faith within a saving relationship with Christ Jesus. He cannot be known in mortals in the true sense, although the Bible is clear, mortals in their sphere are to manifest God-likeness or godliness.

 

è In what sense can He be known in mortals, then? Only a partial sense? Do not the Scriptures enjoin us to reflect Him fully? “Of His fullness have we all received.” (John 1:16). Ephesians 1:22-23 says that “the church…is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.” In chapter 3, we find the following teaching:

 

3:16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; 

3:17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 

3:18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what [is] the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; 

3:19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God

 

What about Ephesians chapter 4? It is rich and replete with this truth! Paul’s concern herein is that we would “walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called” (v.1), speaking about the “One God and Father of all, who [is] above all, and through all, and in you all (v. 6). Christ, he says, “gave gifts unto men” (v. 8). This was to be for “the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ (vv. 12-13). We are to “be renewed in the spirit of our minds;” putting “on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness” (vv. 23-24). 

 

Can the “righteousness” and “true holiness” that we receive in our new man be less than full and true? How can we read these things and come away with the idea that God “cannot be known in mortals in the true sense”?

 

Let me assure you I have moved on in reading the book. So far that is the only stumbling block, because I heartily rejoice wherein the book continues to elevate the true character of God.

 

è My prayer is that God is removing this block. It really has to go! I sincerely desire that we could come to unity on this matter. How much stronger we can be for the Lord when we are woven together as individual strands into one rope. How much more He can do through us when we walk together!

 

My problem is only with the idea that humans who have a better picture of God than the traditional one will become the "light of the world." I welcome your effort to clarify on this matter.

 

è Anything less than becoming the light of God in the world is not God’s work for the final generation and is not that which will bring all of the controversy to a final crisis, climax, and resolution. Without the “better picture of God” there is darkness involved and imperfection cannot complete the work. There is ultimate death in anything less than perfection. His final demonstration must be a perfect demonstration, that all mouths may be stopped.

 

In closing my answers to your thoughts on this subject, I would like to take a portion from A. T. Jones, in his talk of Sabbath, Dec. 28, Our Personal Service, last in the in the GCB 1901 series:

 

“In Christ's bodily absence from the world, we are in Christ's stead, we are in His place, in the world, between God and men; so that by us God shall reach men, as, when Jesus was bodily present, by Him He reached men. So that literally we are to minister God to men, as did Jesus; in us God is to meet and to save men, as He did in Jesus in our flesh. In us God is to dwell, to walk, to work, to speak, as He did in Jesus in our flesh. This is the very certainty of Christian truth; as it is written: "As My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you." "And we have seen, and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world." "As He is so are we in this world." Such is the only basis of our ministry; such things is our ministry; and such only is our ministry in the world: if our ministry is not that, it is nothing; and if our ministry is nothing, then our Christianity is nothing. {June 1, 1902 ATJ, UCR 18.6}

 

What then are the elements of our ministry?—God and Christ. For we are "ministers of God," and are "ministers of Christ." And this is not merely ministers sent by God, to minister this, that, or the other thing, as we might choose. No; it is that we are ministers of God and of Christ, in truth. It means that we are to minister God Himself to man. We are so to make God manifest to men that they shall see Him as the loving, pitying Father, merciful, gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, that they shall believe on Him and receive Him; that we shall make them acquainted with Him, and join them to Him in that blessed "perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten." It is that we shall minister Christ Himself to men: we are so to make Christ manifest to men that they shall recognise Him as the tender, sympathising Saviour, who "hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows," who has taken all our sins and given us all His righteousness; that they shall believe on Him, and receive Him: that we shall make them acquainted with Him, and join them to Him as that blessed Friend who sticketh closer than a brother, and who will never leave them nor forsake them. {June 1, 1902 ATJ, UCR 19.3}

 

These are the elements of our ministry; for we are to minister the gospel, and the gospel is "Christ in you the hope of glory:" it is "God with us," "God manifest in the flesh." {June 1, 1902 ATJ, UCR 19.4}

 

And in being thus ministers of God and of Christ, we are, in the nature of things, ministers of all that is in them,—the grace, the power, peace, the joy, the righteousness, the glory, oh, even "all the fullness," of God; all of which is summed up in the one word Life,—eternal life, the life of God. We are to be so connected with the Fountain of Life, the life of God, that we shall stand between the living God and dead men to minister to men the life of God, eternal life: holding forth the word of life: being ourselves means of connecting dead men with the life of God. {June 1, 1902 ATJ, UCR 19.5}

 

These are the elements of our ministry, and it being all-essential that these elements shall be in our own individual lives, there must of necessity be an efficient means of this ministry. Ah! this also is fully supplied: "As My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you. Receive ye the Holy Ghost." "Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost." "Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost." And "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance"—Oh, it is all the fullness of God, for the divinely recorded prayer is that ye be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith . . . that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God." {June 1, 1902 ATJ, UCR 19.6}

 

And so, "ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises [virtues, margin] of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous Iight." {June 1, 1902 ATJ, UCR 19.7}

 

Ye are a chosen generation, chosen to show forth the virtues, the character, the attributes, and thus the praises, of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous light. {June 1, 1902 ATJ, UCR 19.8}

 

Ye are a royal, a kingly, priesthood, anointed to minister, the virtues, the character, the attributes, and thus the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous light. {June 1, 1902 ATJ, UCR 19.9}

 

Ye are a holy nation: a nation in whom God dwells, a nation who are partakers of the divine nature,—partakers of the divine virtues, the divine character, the divine attributes,—ye are thus made a holy nation, expressly to show forth, to minister, the holy virtues, the holy character, the divine nature of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous light. {June 1, 1902 ATJ, UCR 19.10}

 

Ye are a peculiar people: a peculiar, a separated people, because of the abiding presence of Him whose presence makes holy, and so separates from all the other people that are upon the face of the earth. As it is written: "Wherein shall it be known here, that I and Thy people have found grace in Thy sight? Is it not that Thou goest with us? So [in this way] shall we be separated, I and Thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth." It is God with us, God going with us, God abiding with us, God manifest in our flesh—it is only thus that we can be a peculiar, a separated people. And ye are a peculiar, a separated people: so separated, so made peculiar, expressly that ye should show forth, that ye should minister, the virtues, the character, the attributes, and thus the praises of Him who has separated you by calling you out of darkness into His marvellous light; there to dwell, as He is in the light, in divine fellowship one with another, the blood of Jesus Christ His Son, cleansing us from all sin. {June 1, 1902 ATJ, UCR 19.11}

 

This is our priesthood, our ministry. {June 1, 1902 ATJ, UCR 19.12}

 

In old time, when men were inducted into the priesthood, there were three steps in the process, each in its order, each essential to the next, and all essential to the ministry: without any one of these no man could exercise the office and ministry of the priesthood. {June 1, 1902 ATJ, UCR 19.13}

 

First, there must be a change of raiment: the common garments of daily life must all be laid aside, and "holy garments"—garments made at the express direction of the Lord, and under the guidance of the Spirit of Wisdom—"for glory and for beauty" must be put upon each one who was to be a priest. {June 1, 1902 ATJ, UCR 19.14}

 

Secondly, they must be anointed with oil; the holy anointing oil was put upon them,—"the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of His garments." {June 1, 1902 ATJ, UCR 19.15}

 

Thirdly, they must be consecrated: that is, their hands must be filled with the elements of their priesthood and ministry; for to consecrate is to fill the hand. We are now in the time when God is making His people a royal priesthood, indeed, when He is actually inducting us into that divine priesthood and its ministry. {June 1, 1902 ATJ, UCR 20.1}

 

He first sent to all His people in all the world the blessed message of the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ—the changing of raiment, from the filthy rags of our own works, our iniquity, our own righteousness, to the beautiful garments of the royal priesthood, the garments of salvation, the white robes of His own pure and perfect righteousness: teaching every one to say with glad, free heart, "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, and my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself as a priest with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels." {June 1, 1902 ATJ, UCR 20.2}

 

He next sent to all His people in all the world the twice blessed message, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost" receive the holy anointing unto the royal priesthood, the holy anointing poured abundantly, even without, upon every one who is clothed with the holy garments of the salvation and righteousness of God, poured upon the head and going down to the very border of the holy garments. {June 1, 1902 ATJ, UCR 20.3}

And now, to-day, while it is called to-day, He sends to all His people in all the world the thrice blessed message, "Fill the hand;" fill the hands full and quickly with the elements of the ministry of God in your royal priesthood. Consecrate your service this day unto the Lord. Fill the hand, even with "all the fullness of God," and, as priests of the Lord and ministers of God, go out quickly and everywhere in all the world, showing forth, ministering the virtues, the character, the attributes of God; ministering the grace of God, the power of God, the peace of God, the joy of the Lord, the righteousness, the glory of God—oh, ministering all the fullness of God to every creature going about doing good, as did He who came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and who, sending us as the Father sent Him, says to every one, "Change your garments"—receive the righteousness of God; receive the holy anointing, "receive ye the Holy Ghost: fill the hand," consecrate your service this day, in the ministry of God in your royal priesthood. {June 1, 1902 ATJ, UCR 20.4}

 

The message of God to-day, "Fill the hand," "consecrate your service" to this divine ministry to men, is  as certainly and as distinctly the message of God, as was, each in its place, the message of the righteousness of God, and the message, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost." Those two messages were preliminary and preparatory to this: they were the first two steps of induction into the royal priesthood, of which this third is the last, the culminating step. And as this is the culmination of the induction into the ministry of our royal priesthood, there will be no other message to follow. This is the last: the three now go on together in the mighty power of God to lighten the earth with the glory of the Lord and bring the end and the glorious appearing of our glorious Lord unto which we have toiled, for which we have watched and waited, which has been delayed; but of which now God declares, "There shall be delay no longer." Bless the Lord! {June 1, 1902 ATJ, UCR 20.5}

 

And now, here is our divine commission and the divine means unto our divine priesthood, to-day and henceforth:— {June 1, 1902 ATJ, UCR 20.6}

 

"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; {June 1, 1902 ATJ, UCR 20.7}

 

Because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; {June 1, 1902 ATJ, UCR 20.8}

 

He hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted; {June 1, 1902 ATJ, UCR 20.9}

 

To proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; {June 1, 1902 ATJ, UCR 20.10}

 

To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; {June 1, 1902 ATJ, UCR 20.11}

 

To comfort all that mourn; {June 1, 1902 ATJ, UCR 20.12}

 

To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning; and the garments of praise for the spirit of heaviness; {June 1, 1902 ATJ, UCR 20.13}

 

That they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified." {June 1, 1902 ATJ, UCR 20.14}

 

And in this blessed course, "ye shall be named the priests of the Lord: men shall call you the ministers of our God;" and "for your shame ye shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land shall they possess the double: everlasting joy shall be upon them. And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people; all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed." {June 1, 1902 ATJ, UCR 20.15}

 

Thus in all the world shall be the glad word, "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself as a priest, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels." {June 1, 1902 ATJ, UCR 20.16}

 

And therefore, "As the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are in it to spring forth; so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations." {June 1, 1902 ATJ, UCR 20.17}

 

And let all the people say, Amen.

 

ALONZO T. JONES. {June 1, 1902 ATJ, UCR 20.18}

 

You are no doubt very busy these days. I am pleased that you are given opportunity to speak on this subject. I was interested to know about the special committee in Alberta to study the Character of God matter. Is this motivated by wanting to know, or is it to find ways to controvert it? Today I heard a "high" official of the Church make reference to "some people out west" who are saying that "God would not harm a flea." I felt sad that opposers of what may be an essential element of the Gospel come up with trivializations.

 

è Yes, this is all very interesting. I just got a letter from a former conference official in Alberta. We recently gave him a book and he was past page 200 when he decided to write to tell me that if I “continue to call the Trinity a liar” I am going with my “whole body and soul right into Hell,” because I am “doing the work of the devil himself…making God out to be a liar, and…blaspheming the Holy Spirit.” He goes on to say that I am “dead, hell-bound wrong in these matters” and that I need to “seek God’s face in repentance before it’s too late and the very thing…[I] fear most will become…[my] reality.”

 

Alright, I am done, now. I have been wanting to take the time to give a good answer to your letter and it has taken me a few days to arrange it. I hope I have brought forward some things to give pause for thought, my friend, that you might believe that truly we can be filled with all the fullness of God as was our Elder Brother, even the Lord Jesus. It is a thing that causes us to bow low at His feet in great humility. It is a wonder and a mystery, but it is true. He came as low as we are in order to bring us as high as He is. Let it be the theme of all our contemplation and the treasure for which we ever strive to obtain, giving all that we have and are so that we, in Him, may be all that He has and is, so that He is our all, in all! Do you not believe this is our privilege and high calling? Oh, believe it! Though the world considers it foolishness and the church spurns it, let us not do after men, but by faith take hold of all His promises, which are “Yes” in Christ Jesus.

 

“But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, [even] as by the Spirit of the Lord.” 2 Cor. 3:18  

 

Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.

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

“And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.” 1 John 3:1-3

 

Blessings today and forever,

 

Kevin