Picture
Picture
PLAN OF SALVATION
Freedom
Rebellion
Restoration
God’s greatest gift
to His creation is
FREEDOM
God put Himself at risk when He
decided that love was worth the
risk! (Love is inherently risky)
“Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world” (Rev 13:8)
Freedom is Never Free
From Risks
Freedom means the risk of
saying both Yes and No
unless God made robots
Giving us freedom God gave
Himself a forever heartache
Why did God go ahead
in the face of these
risks?
He could have had perfect
obedience with robots!
A loving universe requires
trust and appreciation—the
free expression of persons
saying Yes to each other.
What to do with Lucifer?
Even though God saw it all in advance,
as soon as He created Lucifer there
was no turning back!
Why didn’t God,
all-powerful and
all-wise, stop
Lucifer’s rebellion
before it went any
further?
What if God had zapped
Satan?
“It doesn’t pay to cross God!”
What if God had zapped
Satan?
God saw the end from the
beginning: “God permitted Satan
to carry forward his work until the
spirit of disaffection ripened into
active revolt. It was necessary for
his plans to be fully developed,
that their true nature and tendency
might be seen by all” (PP 41).
No doubt of God’s fairness
will remain after the
controversy is over
“Satan’s
rebellion was to be a lesson to
the universe through all coming ages…
“For the good of the entire universe…
he must more fully develop his
principles, that his charges against the
divine government might be seen in
their true light by all created beings…
No doubt of God’s
fairness will remain after
the controversy is over
and that the justice and mercy
of God and the immutability of
His law might be forever
placed beyond all question.” PP
43, 44.
Huge Risk—the Creation of men
and women on Planet Earth to
validate God’s side of the
controversy.
Huge Risk—to throw God’s
response to Satan’s charges
into the hands of men and
women made even lower than
angels!
Some of Satan’s Charges
God was basically
selfish—
Some of Satan’s
Charges
From the beginning of the great
controversy he has endeavored to
prove God's principles of action to
be selfish, and he deals in the
same way with all who serve God.
To disprove Satan's claim is the
work of Christ and of all who bear
His name” (Ed 154).
Satan Charged God As
Being
“Severe and unforgiving,” a “being
whose chief attribute is stern
justice, --one who is a severe
judge, a harsh, exacting creditor”
(SC:10, 11).
“the author of sin, suffering, and
death” (DA 761).
Satan’s Passionate Hatred for
Law
God was unfair in that He imposed
laws that men and women could
not keep—
“From the first the great
controversy had been upon the law
of God. Satan had sought to prove
that God was unjust, that His law
was faulty, and that the good of the
universe required it to be changed”
(PP 69).
Satan’s
Passionate
Hatred for
Law
Satan had pointed to Adam's sin as
proof that God's law was unjust, and
could not be obeyed” (DA 117).
“All who break God's commandments
are sustaining Satan's claim that the
law is unjust, and cannot be obeyed.
Thus they second the deceptions of
the great adversary, and cast
dishonor upon God” (DA 308).
God Risked His Integrity
on a Living Laboratory
“A new order” of responsible
intelligences
“New order” became the “talk” of
the universe
Satan’s principles and God’s
principles would be worked out
side by side.
“A New and Distinct
Order”
“All heaven took a deep and joyful
interest in the creation of the world and
of man. Human beings were a new and
distinct order...
They were made ‘in the image of
God,’ and it was the Creator's
design that they should populate
the earth. They were to live in close
communion with heaven, receiving
power from the Source of all
power. Upheld by God, they were
to live sinless lives” (RH, Feb. 11,
1902).
Purpose of the “New
Order”
“. . . that the longer man lived the
more fully he should reveal this
image--the more fully reflect the
glory of the Creator. . . .
Purpose of the “New
Order”
Throughout eternal ages he would
have continued to gain new
treasures of knowledge, to
discover fresh springs of
happiness, and to obtain clearer
and yet clearer conceptions of the
wisdom, the power, and the love of
God. . . .
Purpose of the “New
Order”
“More and more fully would he have
fulfilled the object of his creation, more
and more fully have reflected the
Creator's glory” (Ed 15).
Further, God planned that in the
development of the human race He
would “put it in our power, through cooperation with Him, to bring this scene
of misery to an end” (Ed: 264).
How Was Humanity a
“New and Distinct
Order”?
Responsibilities of procreation
Parents love children, especially when
they disobey
How many parents “love” their children
and then wait for them to accept it?
How long would it take in this “lab” to
see God’s purpose in this “new order”
to work out?
Living Lab–A world stage for Jesus
but what a risk!
He came not to show that God
could keep His own laws but
whether sons and daughters of
Adam would—and still be free!
Living Lab on Satan’s
Ground
What could please Satan more
than to have Jesus on his own turf!
Not even in the form of an angel
But as a weak human being with all
of humanity’s liabilities
Future of the Universe on
the Line!
“Jesus accepted humanity when the
race had been weakened by four
thousand years of sin. Like every child
of Adam He accepted the results of the
working of the great law of heredity.
What these results were is shown in
the history of His earthly ancestors. . . .
Future of the Universe on
the Line!
He came with such a heredity to
share our sorrows and temptations,
and to give us the example of a
sinless life. . . . Yet into the world
where Satan claimed dominion God
permitted His Son to come, a
helpless babe, subject to the
weakness of humanity. . . .
Future of the Universe on
the Line
He permitted Him to meet life's peril
in common with every human soul,
to fight the battle as every child of
humanity must fight it, at the risk
of failure and eternal loss peril . . .
that the path of life might be made
sure for our little ones” (DA 49).
Lord’s Limitations and
Liabilities
He accepted the limitations and
liabilities of the genetic code that
came through His human
bloodline. (We can read some of
that code by looking at His
ancestors—Matt 1; Luke 3).
Lord’s Limitations and
Liabilities
He came to share by actual
experience our sorrows and
temptations
He came to give us an honest
example of how to live burdened
with the weakness of humanity (DA
24
Lord’s Limitations and
Liabilities
He met life’s peril, as anyone of us
must, with no special advantages. “For
four thousand years the race had been
decreasing in physical strength, in
mental power, and in moral worth;
and Christ took upon Him the
infirmities of degenerate humanity.
Only thus could He rescue man
from the lowest depths of his
degradation.
. . . Our Savior took humanity, with
all its liabilities” (DA 117, 297).
Lord’s Limitations and
Liabilities
He came to shut Satan’s mouth
regarding whether God had asked too
much from created intelligences—He
proved that every person since Adam
can live a loyal, over-coming life by the
same powers available to Him. He
became our Benchmark! (DA 312, 313, 389,
664, 668, 762).
Lord’s Limitations and
Liabilities
His risk was possible failure and
eternal loss (DA 49, 131). This risk
is now moot, but its implications
are still mind-stretching.
Throughout eternity we will be
studying the depth of this risk
Keep the Big Picture In
Mind
Jesus, with liabilities such as all boys
and girls face at birth, faced His
envious rival on Satan’s home court.
Maligned God face-to-face with the
universe’s champion Liar.
Jesus came to earth’s laboratory to
have a public showdown with the
Master of Deceit.
What Did Jesus Want to
Prove?
That God was not the kind of Person
that Satan had made Him out to be
Jesus does not give us a whisper
supporting the notion that our
forgiveness in some way depends on
some kind of a deal we can make with
God, such as forgiveness granted only
after our confession.
What Did Jesus Want to
Prove?
Satan pictured God as a selfish
Dictator who would never bind
Himself to rules that He “imposed”
on His created intelligences.
What Did Jesus Want to
Prove?
Jesus revealed God as one willing to
submit voluntarily (John 5:30; Matt 5:17)
to the principles He Himself ordained
from “the foundation of the
world”(Rev13:8)—completely
uncoercive, ever patient with their
slowness to learn (John 14:7).
What Did Jesus Want to
Prove?
Satan accused God of being unfair
in asking obedience from His
created intelligences for that
denied them their freedom.
What Did Jesus Want to
Prove?
Again, Jesus, limited as we are,
proved Satan wrong. Pilate
expressed the response of all His
contemporaries: “I find no fault in
Him at all” (John 18:38). Even Satan
found no fault in Jesus (John 14:30).
What Did Jesus Want to
Prove?
Satan charged that God
was basically selfish.
Jesus
selfish?
Watch Him die! Could any suffering and
death be more undeserving? Gethsemane
and Calvary put the final seal on Satan’s
lying tongue regarding how selfish God
was!.
When Jesus returned to
heaven, He left God’s side of
the controversy in the hands
of men and women—
What a risk!
God’s Showcase to the
Universe
Jesus was the main centerpiece in
Planet Earth’s laboratory.
His followers will become divine
franchisers of the truth about God.
“As You sent Me into the world, I also
have sent them into the world” (John
17:18)
God’s Showcase to the
Universe
Paul challenged his converts—that
God now needed them “to be holy
and without blame before Him in
love. . . .to the praise of the glory of
His grace, . . .
God’s Showcase to the
Universe
that we who first trusted in Christ
should be to the praise of His
glory” (Eph 1:4, 6, 12). Paul exhorted
the Corinthians that as Christians,
“we have been made a spectacle to
the world, both to angels and to
men” (1 Cor 4:9).
Why Did God Need Further
Vindication after Jesus?
Not all the questions in the Great
Controversy had been settled, even in
the minds of unfallen angels and
created beings on other worlds.
Why Did God Need Further
Vindication after Jesus?
Granted, He won and Satan lost!
But--the issue in the Great
Controversy was not whether God
could keep His own laws but
whether created beings could—and
still live in freedom. Satan could
always say Jesus was still God and
that would prove nothing!
More Needed to be
Proved!
Perhaps this is why Ellen White noted
that at the Cross “the last link of
sympathy between Satan and the
heavenly world was broken. Yet Satan
was not then destroyed. The angels did
not even then understand all that was
involved in the great controversy.
More Needed to be
Proved!
The principles at stake were to be
more fully revealed.
And for the sake of man, Satan's
existence must be continued.
Man as well as angels must see
the contrast between the Prince
of light and the prince of
darkness” (DA 761).
Divine Franchises
The divine franchises would work like
this: through the work of the Holy Spirit,
Christ’s spirit and character was to be
reflected in his faithful followers.
This work was to answer Satan’s
haunting challenge that perhaps Jesus
being God could keep his own
commandments, but men and women
couldn’t and still be free and joyful.
Holy Spirit and Jesus
The role of the Holy Spirit in shutting
Satan’s mouth has rarely been
commented on. John 14-17 is awesome
in reminding us that
“the Spirit was to be given as a
regenerating agent and without this the
sacrifice of Christ would have been of
no avail” (DA 671).
Holy Spirit Completes
What Jesus Began
“It
is the Spirit that makes effectual
what has been wrought out by the
world’s Redeemer . . . . Through the
Spirit the believer becomes a partaker
of the divine nature.
Holy Spirit Completes
What Jesus Began
Christ has given His Spirit as a
divine power to over all hereditary
and cultivated tendencies to evil,
and to impress His own character
upon His church. . . .
Holy Spirit Completes
What Jesus Began
“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.
Holy Spirit Completes
What Jesus Began
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).
Second Reason for Risk
#5
God needed faithful loyalists, not
only to settle the questions
throughout the universe but also to
make the claims of Jesus
believable to men and women
throughout the world!!
Tectonic Shift from Saul to
Paul
Believable witnesses can only speak
what they have personally seen and
heard.
Tectonic Shift from Saul to
Paul
Paul could confidently assert that
he was “not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, for it is the power
[dynamite] of God to salvation for
everyone who believes [has faith] .
. . for in it is the righteousness of
God is revealed from faith to faith”
(Rom 1:16, 17).
Peter Understood His
Assignment
In the big picture Peter could see
that the success of God’s plan to
convince men and women of His
side of the controversy depended
on the transparent faithfulness of
His loyalists.
Much to do with the
Second Advent
“Therefore, since all these things will
be dissolved, what manner of person
ought you to be in holy conduct and
godliness, looking for and hastening
the coming of the day of God. . . .
Much to do with the
Second Advent
Therefore, beloved, looking forward
to these things, be diligent to be
found by Him in peace, without spot
and blameless” (2 Peter 3:11-12).
God Had No Reserves!
This second reason for God to risk
putting His side of the controversy into
the hands of weak, sinful human
beings is that no one else in the
universe could really put the whole
controversy into three-dimension,
living color.
Check out where you personally fit into
the following quotation:
Where Do You Fit?
“It is God's purpose to
manifest through His people
the principles of His kingdom.
That in life and character they
may reveal these principles,
He desires to separate them
from the customs, habits, and
practices of the world. . . .
We Are God’s Answer
Today!
“ Satan is constantly urging men to
accept his principles. . . . He is an
accuser of the brethren, and his
accusing power he is constantly using
against those who work righteousness.
We Are God’s Answer
Today!
The Lord desires through His
people to answer Satan's charges
by showing the result of obedience
to right principles . . .
How Transparent Are
You!
“All the light of the past, all the light
which shines in the present and
reaches forth into the future, as
revealed in the word of God, is for
every soul who will receive it.
How Transparent Are
You!
The glory of this light, which is the
very glory of the character of
Christ, is to be manifested in the
individual Christian, in the family,
in the church, in the ministry of the
word, and in every institution
established by God's people. . . .
Divine Franchises at
Work
“All these the Lord designs shall be
symbols of what can be done for the
world. They are to be types of the
saving power of the truths of the
gospel.
They are agencies in the fulfillment of
God's great purpose for the human
race. . . .
Divine Franchises at
Work
They are to become channels
through which divine
instrumentalities communicate to
the world the tide of God's love. . . .
Franchises—Represent
the Home Office and
Pattern
“By
beholding the goodness, the mercy,
the justice, and the love of God
revealed in the church, the world is to
have a representation of His character.
Franchises—Represent
the Home Office and
Pattern
And when the law of God is thus
exemplified in the life, even the
world will recognize the superiority
of those who love and fear and
serve God above every other
people on the earth. . . .
Divine Franchises—
Distinguished People
“It is His purpose that those
who practice His holy precepts
shall be a distinguished people
. . . Not to this world only but to
the universe are we to make
manifest the principles of His
kingdom” (6T 9,11-13).
God’s Loyalists—
Bold Thread in the
Bible and EGW
Trace the biblical impact of the
gospel harvest (Mark 4:26-29; Rev 14:14-16)
as it matures individuals to reflect
Jesus as well as it gathers together
in the end time a world response of
those who truly endure tough
times…
“those who keep the
commandments of God and the
faith of Jesus” (Rev 14:12).
The Honor of Christ
Faithful loyalists (the primary
work of the Holy Spirit) are
obedient people who become
the irrefutable argument that
God’s law has not been unfair,
that God has offered to us
freedom and love when He
asked for our obedience. Thus,
The Honor of Christ
“the honor of Christ must stand
complete in the perfection of the
character of His chosen people”
(ST Nov 25, 1897).
A Standing Argument
Forever
Mirroring of the “honor of Christ”
is an eternal argument that
freedom produces true
obedience. Not a shadow of
legalism among them.
A Standing Argument
Forever
They mirror Jesus, not to impress
Him but to honor Him—the
dramatic difference between the
legalist and obedient sons and
daughters. This difference is the
result of letting God fulfill His
everlasting covenant in our lives!
Satan, a Liar on all
Accounts
Even as Jesus showed the way
for them to do it! God has not
asked the impossible. Much to
the contrary, God’s loyalists prove
that the gospel is God’s way out
of the quicksand of sin and all its
consequences.
Satan, a Liar on all
Accounts
They reflect the life witness of
Enoch, Daniel, and all the others in
times past who became
overcomers, and thus the
vindicators of the wisdom, justice,
and love of God.
Job Vindicated God
“According to his faith, so was it
unto Job. ‘When He had tried me,’
he said, ;I shall come forth as
gold’ (Job 23:10). So it came to
pass…
Job Vindicated God
By his patient endurance he
vindicated his own character, and
thus the character of Him whose
representatives he was” (Ed 156).
Job’s Experience
Reproduced!
Such is the urgency resting on
those in the end time who claim to
be commandment keepers and
heralds of a soon-coming Savior:
Job’s Experience
Reproduced!
“If there was ever a people in need
of constantly increasing light from
heaven, it is the people that, in this
time of peril, God has called to be
the depositaries of His holy law
and to vindicate His character
before the world” (5T 746).
Earth’s Lab’s Final
Exam
Such people have fulfilled God’s
purpose for waiting. They have
accomplished their role in earth’s
laboratory proving God right and
Satan wrong:
Earth’s Lab’s Final
Exam
“The Lord desires through His
people to answer Satan’s charges
by showing the result of obedience
to right principles” (6T 11).
God’s Risks
Paid Off!
God’s loyalists of
all the ages will be
His showcases as
they visit unfallen
worlds.
Talk about the triumph of
Grace!
But He has one
more risk!
Huge risk–to give
eternal life to former
rebels!
Was not His whole purpose to place
the universe “on an eternal basis of
security”? (DA 759).
Would God be taking a risk in giving
you eternal life? Why would giving
you eternal life be worth the risk to
God’s integrity?
What Does God Know?
What does God know that
perhaps others don’t
when the gates of heaven
are opened?
God knows . . .
that the Holy Spirit “who has
begun a good work in you will
complete it until the day of Jesus
Christ” (Phil 1:6)
if you do not resist!
God knows . . .
that this “good work” will mature
the faithful.
that the “good work” is the sealing
work (Rev 7:1-3; 14: 1-5)
What is the Sealing
Work?
“Just as soon as the people of
God are sealed in their
foreheads--it is not any seal or
mark that can be seen, but a
settling into the truth, both
intellectually and spiritually, so
they cannot be moved.” 4BC 1161
(1902). LDE 219.4
God knows . . .
that sealed people have worked
with the Holy Spirit in
developing habit patterns of
thinking and doing that will
forever say “Yes” to God’s
wisdom—and never again say,
“No.”
God knows . . .
that sealed people experience a
--“natural outflow of love,
sympathy and tenderness to
others” (5T:606);
--“habitual tenderness of feeling,
Christlike love and holy deeds”
(AG:235);
God knows . . .
–right thoughts and actions become
habitual” (MH 491);
–“impulse to help and bless others
springs constantly from within”
(COL:384)
–“as natural for us to seek purity and
holiness . . . as it is for the angels . . .
to execute the mission of love
assigned to them” (RH Oct. 23, 1888)
God knows . . .
That Planet Earth Laboratory will
produce what He had promised:
“The plan of redemption contemplates
our complete recovery from the power
of Satan” (DA 311).
Restoration—goal of the gospel!
How Did God Do It?
Not by a legal declaration—
Not by celestial surgery—
But by patiently letting the whole
universe watch how love has
turned every call for obedience
into a free leap of joy.
God’s Six Risks Shut
Satan’s Mouth
Forever!
The cost of freedom has been awful but
the purpose of freedom has become
eternally vindicated.
God’s Six
Risks Shut
Satan’s
Mouth
Forever!
Forever, the reasons to
serve God have become so
etched into the intellectual
pathways of both the
redeemed and the unfallen
that the whole universe is
finally “settled into the
truth” about God “so that
they cannot be moved.”
Ever!