My Vision on the
Godhead – September 2, 2005
My mind has, for a time, been exercised with the
meaning of the following statement by Ellen White:
"The darkness rolled away from the Saviour
and from the Cross. Christ bowed His head and died. In His Incarnation He
had reached the prescribed limit as a sacrifice, but not as a redeemer."
E.G. White Manuscript Releases Volume Twelve, p. 409.
I have been praying that God would show me
additional light as to how the Incarnation act, in and of itself, BEFORE THE
CROSS, BEFORE HE BECAME OUR REDEEMER, met the prescribed limit as a sacrifice.
You see, the statement says that a "prescribed limit" was reached
BEFORE Christ became our redeemer on the cross. If Ellen White was speaking of
the total Incarnation aspects involved AFTER THE CROSS, she would not have said
the words: "but not as a redeemer." So the Incarnation fulfilled the
prescribed limit of the Testator Everlasting Covenant, BEFORE Christ became our
redeemer on the cross. But how?
Early this A.M., Friday, September 2, 2005, I
received a vision providing the answer to my question. God showed me that the
Son had to be offered up in the Sanctuary of heaven, before He was combined
with our humanity upon earth in the womb of Mary. That act was according to the
Heavenly Sanctuary Service, of which the earthly was only a shadow.
The volunteer Testator of the Everlasting
Covenant was the Son of God. He must be the sacrificial Lamb in the heavenly
Sanctuary first. I asked my angel why this was so. He replied: "The Son
had to offered up in the heavenly sanctuary, as the Testator, before being
combined with humanity, because it was the Son uncombined with humanity who
volunteered to be the Testator of the Everlasting Covenant."
Hbr 8:5 Who serve unto the example and
shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was
about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, [that] thou make all things
according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.
The Son of God was not combined with humanity
when, at the foundation of the earth, He volunteered to atone for man's sins.
That was the estate of the Godhead that must meet the "prescribed
limit" of the Testator--namely death of the Testator ONLY, for no
man could atone for sin, and no man was party to the Testator Covenant.
Hbr 9:16 For where a testament [is], there
must also of necessity be the death of the testator.
Hbr 9:17 For a testament [is] of force after
men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator
liveth.
Since Divinity cannot die, the Son must
"die" to His former estate of DIVINITY ONLY, and then be combined
with humanity FOREVER. This FOREVER SEPARATION from his former UNCOMBINED
ESTATE, is a form of eternal death to that state of being. Now, Christ is FOREVER
COMBINED WITH HUMANITY. Ellen White attests to this fact. I asked my attending
angel about the fact that Divinity cannot die. He told me that the Son's death
was different than we view death; that it was His "laying aside" of
His former life as DIVINITY ONLY, that constituted His eternal death for our
sins. I asked my angel how the Son could die to Divinity only, and still be
FULLY DIVINE AND FULLY HUMAN after His Incarnation combination with humanity.
He said that is now a mystery to man and that we would be further instructed in
that mystery throughout eternity.
I knew before my vision that such men as J.N.
Andrews and James White, believed that the Trinity Doctrine did total despite
to the Atonement. Why? Because the Trinity doctrine teaches that Divinity
cannot die, so according to that Central Doctrine of Rome, only a man atoned
for our sins, and that atonement was only on the cross. That doctrine totally
by passes the Heavenly Sanctuary Service. Adventists also teach that Divinity
cannot die. So what is the difference between the early pioneer Adventist
position and the Trinity doctrine?
"The Godhead was stirred with pity for the
race, and the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit gave Themselves to the
working out of the plan of redemption. In order to fully carry out this plan,
it was decided that Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, should give Himself
an offering for sin. What line can measure the depth of this love? God would
make it impossible for man to say that He could have done more. With Christ He
gave all the resources of heaven, that nothing might be wanting in the plan for
man's uplifting. Here is love--the contemplation of which should fill the soul
with inexpressible gratitude! Oh, what love, what matchless love! The
contemplation of this love will cleanse the soul from all selfishness. It will
lead the disciple to deny self, take up the cross, and follow the
Redeemer." E.G. White, Councils on Health, pp. 222, 223.
The Father and Son had the ONE ETERNAL HOLY
SPIRIT, but it was the Father and Son and their Holy Spirit that worked out the
Everlasting Covenant:
"As the divine Sufferer hung upon the
cross, angels gathered about Him, and as they looked upon Him, and heard His
cry, they asked, with intense emotion, 'Will not the Lord Jehovah save Him?'
... Then were the words spoken: 'The Lord hath sworn, and He will not repent.
FATHER AND SON ARE PLEDGED TO FULFILL THE TERMS OF THE
EVERLASTING COVENANT. God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten
Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting
life.' Christ was not alone in making His great sacrifice. It was the fulfillment
of the covenant made between Him and His Father before the foundation of the
world was laid. With clasped hands they had entered into the solemn pledge that
Christ would become the surety for the human race if they were overcome by
Satan's sophistry." E.G. White, The Faith I Live By, p. 76.
"Christ declared that after his ascension,
he would send to his church, as his crowning gift, the Comforter, who
was to take his place. This Comforter is the Holy Spirit,--the soul of his
life, the efficacy of his church, the light and life of the world. With his
Spirit Christ sends a reconciling influence and a power that takes away sin.
In the gift of the Spirit [HIS LIFE--THE SOUL OF
HIS LIFE], Jesus gave to man the highest good that heaven could
bestow....
The Spirit was given as a regenerating
agency, and without this the sacrifice of Christ [on the cross] would have
been of no avail....
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
the church." E.G. White, Review and Herald Articles, May 19, 1904, vol. 5,
p. 42.
"Cumbered with humanity Christ could not be
in every place personally, therefore it was altogether for their advantage that
He should leave them to go to His Father and send the Holy Spirit to be His
successor on earth. The Holy Spirit is Himself divested of the personality of
humanity and independent thereof. He would represent Himself as present in all
places by His Holy Spirit." E.G. White, (Manuscript Releases Volume 14
(No's 1081-1135) MR No.1084.
"The Incarnation of Christ was an act of
self-sacrifice; His life was one of continual self-denial. The highest glory of
the love of God to man was manifested in the sacrifice of His only-begotten
Son, who was the express image of His person. This is the great mystery of
godliness. It is the privilege and the duty of every professed follower of
Christ to have the mind of Christ. Without self-denial and cross bearing we
cannot be His disciples." E.G. White, Selected Messages, Book 2, p. 185.
Emptied Himself--"laid down His
life--"Literally, 'emptied Himself.' This emptying was voluntary (see on
John 10:17, 18). It was not possible for Christ to retain all the tokens of
divinity and still accomplish the Incarnation." SDA Bible Commentary, vol.
7, p. 155, col. 1.
Emptied Himself -- Laid aside: It should be
obvious that prior to being born of the virgin Mary Jesus was not human at all,
and only divine. When Jesus became a man, the Bible says, He emptied Himself.
'Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form
of God, though it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no
reputation ['emptied himself.' --Green's Literal Translation and RSV], and took
upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being
found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and
given him a name which is above every name." Phillippians 2:5-9.
Jhn 10:17 Therefore doth my Father love me,
because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
Jhn 10:18 No man taketh it from me, but I
lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to
take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.
Most students of Scripture apply the above
verses to the Cross ONLY. That is a great mistake. They apply first and
foremost to the Incarnation Sacrifice in the Heavenly Sanctuary. Both times the
life of the Son was offerred up through THE ETERNAL SPIRIT:
Hbr 9:14 How much more shall the blood of
Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without
spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Psa 77:13 Thy way, O God, [is] in the
sanctuary: who [is so] great a God as [our] God?
Psa 63:2 To see thy power and thy glory, so
[as] I have seen thee in the sanctuary.
Psa 68:24 They have seen thy goings, O God;
[even] the goings of my God, my King, in the sanctuary.
Conclusions
"It [the Alpha
apostasy--in context] introduces that which is nought but speculation in regard
to the personality of God and where His presence is [the Godhead]. No one on
this earth has a right to speculate on this question. The more fanciful
theories are discussed, the less men will know of God and of the truth
that sanctifies the soul." E.G. White, Selected Messages, vol. 1,
202.
The Omega of Apostasy
does the same thing by negating the following:
What is the truth
that sanctifies the soul. The truth of the Incarnation as depicted above and in
the evidence as follows:
"The Power of God in the Third Person.--The
prince of the power of evil can only be held in check by the power of God in
the third person of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit.-- Special Testimonies, Series
A, No. 10, p. 37. (1897).
Bible proof:
Act 3:26 Unto you first God, having raised up
his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his
iniquities.
"But through the power of the incarnation
of Christ, God manifest in the flesh, the strength of God is revealed in
gentleness and beauty. To 'as many as received him, to them gave he POWER to
become the sons of God.' By this POWER we may OVERCOME OUR EVIL TENDENCIES and
so modify our imperfect dispositions that the will of God may be fulfilled in
us."--Letter 79, May 7, 1903, to J.A. Burden and wife. The Upward Look,
141.
The Trinity doctrine negates the great sacrifice
of the Son of God in the Heavenly Sanctuary, that was made to provide the power
for man to overcome by the same process and empowerment Christ availed Himself
of while on earth and as a man being tempted. Sure, Christ was fully Divine
also, but if He had availed Himself of that Divinity, He would have proved
Satan wrong--that God made a law man could not keep. The Trinity doctrine
teaches that there was no such Heavenly Sacrifice; that the Holy Spirit existed
as a third person from eternity. That is a lie.
Christ and His Father sacrificed much more for
us than the Son's death on the cross! The Trinity doctrine by-passes that
greatest of sacrifices, without which His death on the cross would have been to
no avail. Why? Because there would have been no remedy for sin
and man would have been redeemed in sin rather than from sin. Sin would thus
have proliferated for eternity.
It is thus that the Trinity doctrine by-passes
the greatest sacrifice involved with the Incarnation--the laying aside of the
Divine life of the Son in the Heavenly Sanctuary, in the person of His Holy
Spirit, His Divine Nature, in bequeathment to us for the purpose of
regeneration of character back into the image of God, by enabling us to
overcome all propensities to sin.
"Lower PROPENSITIES to Be Under
Control.--We are laborers together with God' (1 Corinthians 3:9). Man is to
work out his own salvation with fear and trembling for it is God that worketh
in him both to will and to do of His good pleasure. God gives man physical and
mental powers. None are needless. Not one is to be misused or abused. The LOWER
PROPENSITIES ARE TO BE KEPT UNDER CONTROL OF THE HIGHER POWERS.--Lt. 39, 1898.
E.G. White, Mind, Character, and Persaonality Volume 2, p. 377.
2Pe 1:4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding
great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the
divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world
through lust.
It was the laying aside of that Divine Nature in
the heavenly Sanctuary as a "highest good" gift to us, that
made partaking of His Divine Nature possible. Mainline Christianity teaches
that the cross sacrifice was the highest good that Christ contributed to man.
However important the cross indeed was, it was not the highest good gift to us.
True faith in the efficacy of the Holy Spirit to
overcome sin in our lives is true righteousness by faith. Where sin abounds,
grace empowerment by the Holy Spirit life and soul of Christ, much more
abounds. So much so, that the humanity of Christ Jesus overcame the temptation
of every sin ever committed, when they were laid upon Him, and He was thus made
to be sin for us. We are redeemed in the same way He was--by the power of His
former life and soul Holy Spirit, that was bequeathed to us at His Incarnation
sacrifice in the Heavenly Sanctuary, before the cross, and without which His
death on the cross would have been to no avail.
2Cr 5:21
God's Participation in Suffering--The result of
hastening or hindering the gospel, we think of, if at all, in relation to
ourselves and to the world. Few think of its relation to God. Few give thought
to the suffering that sin has caused our Creator. All heaven suffered in
Christ's agony; but that suffering did not begin or end with His manifestation
in humanity. The cross is a revelation to our dull senses of the pain that sin,
from its very inception, has brought to the heart of God. Every departure from
the right, every deed of cruelty, every failure of humanity to reach God's
ideal, brings grief to Heaven. When there came upon Israel the calamities that
inevitably followed separation from God, -- subjugation by their enemies,
oppression, cruelty, and death, -- it is said of God, that "His soul was
grieved for the misery of Israel." Judges 10:16. "In all their
affliction He was afflicted;... and He bare them, and carried them all the days
of old." Isa. 63:9. {EGW, GCB, July 1, 1902 par. 3}
In the Name of the God of Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob,
Ronald William Beaulieu