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Letters to the Editor

If we go to heaven when we die, why a resurrection?

I’m an unofficial former Adventist, and I’m trying to shake off my former beliefs taught by Adventism. One thing I don’t understand is this: if we die and go to heaven, why does Jesus have to come back for us in the first resurrection? Why does He say He’s coming quickly to reward us according to the things we’ve done? Wouldn’t you have your reward when you died and went to Heaven? Please help me to understand. 

—VIA EMAIL

Response: You ask a very good question.

When we die and become “absent from the body and present with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:1–9), it is our spirits, not our bodies, that go to Jesus. Our true identities—our spirits—leave our bodies and go to Jesus. Second Corinthians 5:1–9 is an amazing explanation of this reality. In fact, Jesus showed us this fact when He died. He cried, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit,” and He breathed His last and died. His body was placed in the tomb, but His spirit, as He promised the thief who died beside Him, went to the Lord. He truly was with the thief that very day. His essence—His identity—did not cease to exist or become dormant. He was alive with God although His body went into the tomb. 

The resurrection is necessary for us, though, as it was for Jesus. God created us with two parts: our bodies and our spirits. We are not fully human unless we have both parts united. When Jesus rose from death, His spirit was reunited with His body—this time a glorified body equipped to exist in eternity and in dimensions beyond our three. As Jesus was resurrected, so we will be, too. God will make us completely new: our spirits which have been given Jesus’ own resurrection life will be united with our then-glorified and eternal bodies, and forever we will live as redeemed humans with our Lord who shares our human identity now. We see in Scripture that God’s intention for us was to live as redeemed and glorified HUMANS. Jesus shows us what this reality “looks” like. He never intended for us to be only spirits as are the angels and God Himself. For reasons we don’t know, He made us body and spirit. Our spirits are in the image of God who is spirit (Jn. 4:24), and our bodies make us physical. But we are not ONLY physical. We have to have both parts of ourselves united by LIFE in order to live as humans. 

Salvation, though, is NOT a reward. As Adventists we were taught that it is, but a “reward” is something we get on the basis of the merit of our work. Salvation is a free GIFT. Nevertheless, there will be rewards for the work we do in the body (see 1 Cor. 3:9–15). Paul tells us that believers will be rewarded for their work AS BELIEVERS. If the work we do builds on the foundation of the Lord Jesus and is His work, it will last for eternity, and we will receive rewards (not defined) for those kingdom works. If our works are not built on the foundation of the Lord Jesus but are our own “good ideas” which we pursued, not yielding eternal fruit, those works will be burned in fire, but the person himself will be saved “as one escaping through the flames”. 

As an Adventist I never “saw” what that passage was really saying. I read “reward” as “salvation”, and I completely missed the fact that a person who has a lot of works burned up, if he is a believer and has been born again, will still be saved even if his works are burned. Going to heaven and being with the Lord are NOT rewards. That reality is a guarantee for believers (Eph. 1:13-14), a GIFT not of ourselves. Rewards are things the Lord will give us when we are with Him. We don’t know what they will be, but that judgment for rewards is not about sin and salvation. It is entirely about our stewardship of God’s work which He gives us AFTER we are born again (see Eph. 2:10). 

Here are some links—a couple of articles and a video—that might be helpful:

 

Completely New Paradigm: New Birth

I’ve written you a couple times, but as school starts and my life gets very structured I just wanted to write and thank you all before I got snowed. 

I teach math all year and own a glass cleaning service that I run all summer. I have one giant client and spend about 8 weeks each summer cleaning about 3500 windows. I only mention this to help you imagine how much time I have to listen to books each summer. This summer was much the same until one day I opened your podcast (which I normally do once a week) and for the next 5 weeks I completely binged on episodes. It was transformative and I know that it may seem a bit much to spend so much time listening to one topic, but one must realize that you cannot undo 17 years of Adventist “Bible” classes without diving deep. You folks enabled me to dive deep and truly wrap my head around a completely new paradigm, the new birth and completed work of Jesus.

I had never more than glanced at the phrase, “born again”, and you two brought it home. I realize now that the Holy Spirit has been working on me for years, but without the new birth, I was simply unable to move forward. Some of my Bible versions say that without the new birth we cannot enter the Kingdom of God, while other say that without the new birth, we cannot “see” the Kingdom. I like both ways of saying it because I believe them both. I couldn’t see to make the New Testament make sense, but once I prayed, repenting, believing in His finished work, and directly asking to be reborn, it all just happened, and I had no idea that I could be this alive! 

My guilt is gone. My appetites have changed. I’m no longer forcing myself to act good. I just don’t know how to describe it, but I do know that I have never met an Adventist who has gone through what I have in that moment, because if they had, they would never go back. I’m free, and He’s free to do what He will in/with/through me. You weren’t kidding about the crying part; I’m a mess…Your prayers would be appreciated.

Have a great day, and please don’t stop what you do. 

—VIA EMAIL

 

Sabbath Questions

Hi. I am still wondering about these two things: first, the statement that the Sabbath is made for man and not man for the Sabbath, and second, that we are not under the law but under Grace. What does that idea really mean for us today?

Thank you.

—VIA EMAIL

Response: It is essential to understand the covenants in order to understand the place and purpose of the Sabbath. It was the sign of the MOSAIC covenant, and that covenant was temporary. It was given 430 years AFTER Abraham and was to last until the SEED came (Gal. 3:17–21). 

I am going to give you a couple of links that will help you, and I’m going to give you an assignment.

First, get a notebook and literally copy the book of Galatians. Go as slowly as you wish, but take in each word and ask the Lord to teach you what you need to learn from it. That little book addresses the Adventist false use of the law. 

Second, I am attaching a link to a video from our 2020 FAF conference addressing Jesus as Lord of the Sabbath. Adventists have taught Jesus’ words, “the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath”, completely backwards. When Jesus said the Sabbath was made FOR MAN, that means that Sabbath was the “servant” of man, not man the servant of the Sabbath. It’s a “second” position, a helping position, in a way similar to God saying He created woman FOR MAN (1 Corinthians 11:9 explicitly states that fact). In other words, man is the first value, the thing that came first; Sabbath was made for his benefit. Adventists twist those words to mean that Sabbath is BIGGER than man and preceded man, and it was like a governing piece of time to which we are supposed to submit and find it helpful. That is NOT the meaning of the words!

Here are the promised links:

We are now under a NEW law: the Law of Christ. Jesus has completely fulfilled every shadow of the Mosaic law (Heb. 10:1 and Co 2:16-17). We are filled with His Spirit when we believe and are born again, and we live under HIS law and the influence of His Spirit (see 2 Cor 3). Galatians will help with the understanding of Grace as well, and the book of Hebrews is also very helpful. In fact, I suggest that you listen to our Former Adventist Podcast series on the book of Hebrews. You can find the Hebrews studies at the podcast link above, and the series through Hebrews begins with podcast number 37. 

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