And God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” (Exodus 20:1,2).
It’s not uncommon that I start my car and, without any help from me, the music begins playing random selections of songs stored on my phone. I know there must be a setting that causes this to happen, but since it’s never bothered me, the setting remains, and I enjoy the surprise of whatever plays next as I make my way through town— usually picking up or dropping off one or both of my teenagers from something or other.
This time, however, I was pulling out of my driveway making my way to Richard and Colleen’s home to record our introduction to the book of Galatians for our current podcast series. As the car started, a familiar tune I hadn’t heard in a long time began to play, and soon I heard the voice of Steve Green begin to sing these words:
You are not a god created by human hands,
You are not a god dependent on any mortal man
You are not a god in need of anything we can give
By Your plan, that’s just the way it is.
You are God alone.
From before time began,
You were on Your throne.
You are God alone.
And right now in the good times and bad
You are on Your throne.
You are God alone.
As the music played, a swell of emotion surfaced, and I joined Steve Green with deep gratitude, worshiping our Sovereign God who’s in control of all things in both good times and bad. As I sang I prayed for the people of Ukraine to know the grace and peace of God and to learn rightly of Him who loves them and died for them, and for our brothers and sisters there to be comforted in the face of so much terror and uncertainty.
You’re the only God whose power non can contend. You’re the only God whose name and praise will never end. You’re the only God who’s worthy of everything we can give. You are God. That’s just the way it is… Unchangeable, Unshakable, Unstoppable That’s what You are… You are God alone.
As I sang and felt the comfort, joy, and hope that those truths about our God brought I couldn’t help but contrast what I know now with what I once believed.
The god I Knew in Adventism
I knew, as an Adventist, that God wasn’t created by mortal man, but I did believe that He needed us. Thanks to the Great Controversy worldview I’d been indoctrinated with, I believed that God had placed His hope in us to vindicate Him before watching worlds. I believed He needed me to be willing to die (even a horrible death) to stand up for the Sabbath so His character would be vindicated to other created beings all over the universe. I believed He needed me to be willing to be hunted, to give up the lives of my own children, and to be tortured and persecuted for my stand for the Sabbath day—God needed my loyalty. It was terrifying.
I also believed that evil happened on the earth because God was a “gentleman” who wouldn’t intervene in the affairs driven by man’s free will—that He was showing those same alien beings just how evil things can get when He isn’t in control. I believed that Satan had equal but opposite power that was only made greater and stronger as we allowed ourselves to be deceived by him into sin.
The world felt like a terrifying and lonely place. I believed that each time I strayed, I invited more bad things into my life, and each time I suffered, I knew it was because I was faithless. I was often crushed under the shame I felt as I imagined God looking on, hurt and disappointed in me.
I believed that if I ever wanted this dark world changed I had to do my part.
I believed that if I ever wanted this dark world changed I had to do my part. As a remnant Seventh-day Adventist I had to show the world that the Creator needed us all to obey Him and align ourselves with Him through loyally keeping and exalting His law—the “transcript of His character” to a deceived planet.
I believed this was all by grace through faith, too. I knew that we could only understand this last day message by faith in the Jesus of Adventism who by his grace gave us Ellen G. White and the last day message to course-correct His people before the great time of testing (the three angels messages).
As I drove to Richard and Colleen’s home, my mind flooded with all these thoughts and all the emotions that come with being freed from such error and being rescued by God to know Him truthfully. I reached for the “repeat button” and continued to worship. Over and over the song played as I drove.
Singing the words with tears in my eyes (while making my way through a hail storm on a partly sunny day— it was beautiful!) my mind wandered back to the podcast preparations I had just been working on. I prayed that the Lord would help us know how to talk about the indivisibility of the Mosaic Law to help untangle the deceptive explanations of Galatians given by Adventist teachers. I prayed that we would be clear. I prayed for people to understand the gospel and to be prepared to see what God has for them in the book of Galatians. I prayed for those who didn’t yet know Him to come to saving faith in Him and again thanked Him and praised Him for the reality that the gospel truly is good news and that it isn’t about us at all, it’s about God from start to finish!
Comfort in the Supremacy of God
As I continued to worship and to be comforted by the truth of who God is, I reflected on how the truth of God’s supremacy comforts the people of God in all of life. It also made me think of the first commandment God gave Israel in the words of the covenant He made with them through Moses. It was to know who He was: “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.”
The Israelites had just watched God’s Sovereign rescue of them. They knew their helplessness and powerlessness to rescue themselves from the oppression of Egypt. They watched God rescue them without needing their help. They endured the plagues, they witnessed the miracles, they knew His power and kindness toward them. They knew what their God had done for them and that He had rescued them to know and serve Him in freedom. Everything that God commanded next flowed from their knowing who He was and what He’d done for them.
All glory belongs to God Alone
I can’t prove it, but I suspect that if we were to ask a Jew which of the Ten Commandments was most deserving of a halo of glory, they would likely say the first one. Yet false teacher Ellen G. White had a “vision” in which she “saw” the Ten Commandments in Heaven where God put the brightest halo of glory around the Sabbath commandment. Let that sink in a moment. She then built an eschatology surrounding human obedience to, and glorification of, the Sabbath day in order to escape the mark of the beast and be saved! Her teachings completely dismiss and dismantle the God of the Bible and jump right over the next commandments in the decalogue to build an idol out of created time set aside for Israel but culturally appropriated and interpreted through a gentile calendar for her people!
It’s no wonder that the gospel and the demands of Adventism come without hope. They are empty and vacant of truth. They are man-centered, legalistic, false, and without power. They are without a sovereign God who rescued His people from slavery and made them His own to serve Him in freedom. They jump right over who God is and what He’s done and make salvation about who they are and what they must do for God.
In Adventism we made much of ourselves—of our obedience, of our failures, of our sin, of our fear that we will not be able to withstand the evil day, of our eating and drinking, of our day of worship, of our attire and behavior in the sanctuary, of our lifestyle habits, of our faithfulness—we made an idol out of our false sense of control over the world and the things of God. It was all about us, and if we’re being honest, that terrified us.
The Church and Her God
We are not Israel, but through the Lord Jesus, God fulfilled the terms of the Old Covenant with Israel and ushered in a New Covenant promised for all people ages ago.
God has come again to His people proclaiming who He is and what He’s done for those who are His. He is the Lord our God who rescued us from our helpless depravity and slavery in the domain of darkness and who by His gracious gift to those who have faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ has transferred us into the kingdom of the beloved Son (1 Co. 15:1-5; Eph. 1:13-14; 2:1-10; Col. 1:13,14). Every command of God thereafter flows from knowing who He is and what He’s done for us. We are now free from “Egypt” to serve Him and to draw comfort in knowing who He is. This is why we can make much of Him in all things through all circumstances! This is why we rest in Him!
We do not look to our own faithfulness but praise God for His (2 Tim 2:13)! We do not look to our own obedience to feel secure, but we thank God for keeping us by His power (1 Peter 1:3-5) and pray to remain obedient. We do not rely on our own strength to endure the evil days but rejoice in knowing the God who promises to sustain and sanctify us through all that He calls us to endure for His glory and for our good.
We do not worry about the future because we know the One who holds it and orchestrates it according to His purposes and divine omniscient will. We know that God has the people of Ukraine and that He’s not idle but is at work in all things. So even as we grieve with the Ukrainians and call out to God for mercy, we also worship with our Ukrainian brothers and sisters who know their God and know His comfort and His care.
Do you know the God of the Bible? The one who is in control of all of life and who calls you to know Him through His own testimony about Himself in His word? If not, I pray you will learn of Him on His terms in the pages of Scripture. If you don’t know where to start, I recommend you open your Bible and read Galatians even now. Then, if you’d like, come join us for our podcast series discussing this amazing book written so long ago but offering you Today true emancipation from the slavery of false religion and false teachings. Come to Scripture and know God. †
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