Are the Ten Commandments In Heaven?
I’ve been watching your YouTube videos from your annual conferences and have enjoyed them very much and am learning a lot from them. I have a couple questions I’m hoping you can help me with.
- One of the speakers in your 2022 conference, I believe it was Kaspars Ozolins, said that the Ten Commandments are not in heaven and that we won’t be judged by them. I would like Scripture that supports those comments. I recently had a conversation with one of my sisters who does believe that the Ten Commandments are in heaven in the Ark of His Covenant and that John’s vision (Revelation 11:19) is evidence of that. Can you tell me why Adventists believe this? What Bible verses support the belief other than that one which says nothing about the Ten Commandments being inside the ark? Is there a literal ark in heaven?
- Revelation 19:10-11 talks about the Spirit of Prophecy and says that the Spirit of Prophecy is the Testimony of Jesus. Adventists somehow equate the Spirit of Prophecy to E.G. White (my sister believes this). Can you help me understand exactly what is meant by this Scripture?
Thank you for the work that you’re doing, and thank you for taking the time to answer my questions.
—VIA EMAIL
Response: First, Adventists interpret Revelation 11:1 to say that the Ten Commandments are in the ark in heaven based on Ellen White’s statements. Following are some quotes:
It was represented to me that the remnant followed Jesus into the Most Holy place, and beheld the ark, and the mercy-seat, and were captivated with their glory. Jesus raised the cover of the ark, and behold! the tables of stone, with the ten commandments written upon them. They trace down the lively oracles; but they start back with trembling when they see the fourth commandment living among the ten holy precepts, while a brighter light shines upon it than upon the other nine, and a halo of glory is all around it. They find nothing there informing them that the Sabbath has been abolished, or changed to the first day of the week. It reads as when spoken by the mouth of God in solemn and awful grandeur upon the mount, while the lightnings flashed and the thunders rolled, and when written with his own holy finger in the tables of stone. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. They are amazed as they behold the care taken of the ten commandments. They see them placed close by Jehovah, overshadowed and protected by his holiness. They see that they have been trampling upon the fourth commandment of the decalogue, and have observed a day handed down by the heathen and papists, instead of the day sanctified by Jehovah. They humble themselves before God, and mourn over their past transgressions (Spiritual Gifts vol 1, p. 164).
I warn you, do not place your influence against God’s commandments. That law is just as Jehovah wrote it in the temple of heaven. Man may trample upon its copy here below; but the original is kept in the ark of God in heaven; and on the cover of this ark, right above that law, is the mercy seat. Jesus stands right there before that ark to mediate for man. We want you to keep God’s commandments and live. Seek for immortality, and the crown of life, and then you will have heaven at last (4 LtMs, Ms 6a, 1886, par 38)
We are not judged by the Ten Commandments because, according to the New Testament, Jesus fulfilled the entire law (not just the ceremonial aspects) and we are judged according to our belief or unbelief in Him. John 3:18 states that those who believe do not come into condemnation, but those who do not believe are “condemned already”. John 3:36 says that “he who believes in the Son has eternal life, but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” Adventists will say obeying then Son means keeping the law, especially the Sabbath, but that is not what Jesus taught. He told the Jews, when they asked, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent” (Jn. 6:29). Jesus told His disciples He was giving them a new commandment, “that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another” (Jn. 13:34). Furthermore, when we believe and place our trust in Jesus and His finished work, we “pass out of death into life” and do not come into judgment (Jn. 5:24).
Furthermore, Galatians 4 equates the Law with the slave woman, Hagar, and the heavenly Jerusalem with Sarah, the mother of the son of promise! And 2 Corinthians 3 explicitly contrasts the covenant of death written on stone with the covenant of the Spirit written on the heart.
All to say, that text in Revelation 11 is a vision representing God’s covenant with Israel. In context, John sees the ark, and the point is not the Ten Commandments but the fact that God is showing him that He is faithful and keeps His promises. That ark represented His covenant with His people. It is only EGW who insists that the Ten Commandments are in heaven!
Second, Revelation 19:10 in context has the angel John sees in vision explaining that the marriage supper of the Lamb is celebrating those who are the Bride of Christ being united with Him, and they are the ones who “hold the testimony of Jesus”. Then the angel says, “Worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
Ellen White wrote herself into the “Spirit of Prophecy” and called her writings by this name. (The blasphemy is hard to ignore.) In context, however, the Bride of Christ are those who “hold the testimony of Jesus”. In other words, they know Him, and they can testify of His atonement for their sins! Furthermore, the angel identifies this personal testimony about Jesus as “the spirit of prophecy”. In other words, a true believer’s personal witness of Jesus IS the truth about God which the Holy Spirit gives those who believe! We who know Jesus have the spirit of prophecy that is a gift from the Spirit when we are born again. That “spirit of prophecy” is the truth about Jesus and the gospel, and we who are His have this testimony. It is equally true (and can be understood this way) that Jesus’ own words about Himself as delivered in Scripture is the “spirit of prophecy”. The testimony of Jesus—the truth about Jesus and His gospel‚ IS the Spirit of Prophecy!
For EGW to highjack this phrase is unconscionable. Here are some things she wrote about her own writings:
God has been speaking to His people in the testimonies of His Spirit, in the Spirit of prophecy, to lead the minds of His people to the Bible teaching, and these lie upon the shelf, neglected, unread, and unheeded (3LtMs, Lt 23, 1879, par. 12).
The volumes of Spirit of Prophecy, and also the Testimonies, should be introduced into every Sabbathkeeping family, and the brethren should know their value and be urged to read them. It was not the wisest plan to place these books at a low figure and have only one set in a church. They should be in the library of every family and read again and again. Let them be kept where they can be read by many, and let them be worn out in being read by all the neighbors (Testimonies for the Church vol 4, p. 390, par. 3).
Elder Haskell and his wife carried their responsibilities wisely. Elder Haskell could speak positively in regard to the testimonies of the Spirit of prophecy and of the work that God had accomplished through them. It was pleasing to see the spirit of liberality that existed and the willingness to help in many lines of work. We hope that a true report of the work done here will be given in our papers. Many books were sold, and this will mean that light will shine to believers and unbelievers (23 LtMs, Lt 142, 1908, par. 3).
I recommend that, if you haven’t, you listen to the Former Adventist Podcast. We discuss the underlying Adventist worldview that causes Adventists to understand Scripture the way they do. The link to the podcasts is here.
You might like to start with our series on the 28 Fundamental Beliefs. You can find them organized into a group here.
Judged for Works?
What does Revelation 20:12 mean the it says these people will be judged by their works?
—VIA EMAIL
Response: We know that the idea of judgment on the basis of works is mentioned in Psalm 62:12, Jeremiah 17:10, Romans 2:6, and 1 Peter 1:17. We further know that the lost are all those who have not believed in the Lord Jesus and His finished work.
We get a bit more clarity on this subject from 1 Corinthians 3:9–15 where we find Paul discussing the concept of rewards for those who are saved. There will be rewards “for the deeds done in the flesh”, and even though a person’s deeds may be burned up and not last, the person himself will be saved (if he has believed and has been born again) even as one escaping through the flames. In other words, eternal life is on the basis of belief. Rewards for one’s deeds done while on the earth is a different subject and is not about judgment for sin. We aren’t told what those rewards will be, but salvation is NOT a reward. It is a free gift. Yet God will grant rewards for the works done in the flesh for the sake of Christ.
It appears that degrees of punishment for the lost will be similarly administered. Being lost is on the basis of unbelief, but degree of punishment may be on the basis of how evil one’s deeds are.
Adventism taught us that salvation was the “reward” for good deeds. Yet Ephesians 2:1–10 and Romans 4:4 is clear that salvation is NOT a reward. It is a free gift on the basis of faith in the gospel of our salvation. Rewards and degrees of punishment, however, is a different subject—one which Scripture tells us about but which it does not explain in detail.
Is the Lord’s Day Sabbath?
Which is the LORD’s day as mentioned in the Bible, Sabbath or Sunday?
—VIA EMAIL
Response: John, who wrote Revelation, was a Jew. To him, the seventh day would have been Sabbath. There was no hint that Sabbath was ever changed or that the name was used for other days. The Sabbath was the seventh day of the fourth commandment, and the Lord Jesus had fulfilled all of the law. For John to say he was in the spirit on the Lord’s Day (Rev. 1), he had to mean a day other than the Sabbath. The day the Lord rose from the dead—the first day—was the day on which early Christians met together. Imagine those first believing Jews: the disciples of Jesus—when they realized He had risen from the dead! That day would have marked their lives forever! In fact, the resurrection life of Jesus IS the life that we receive from Him when we believe (Rom. 5; 1 Cor. 15, etc).
John would not have referred to the Sabbath as the Lord’s Day. Never in Scripture was it called that. The Lord’s Day was the day in which the Lord was celebrated—the risen Christ whose resurrection brought life and immortality to light for all who believe (see 2 Tim. 1:10; Romans 8:1–12; Romans 5:10, etc.)!
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