Lesson 12: “Earth’s Closing Events”
COLLEEN TINKER | Editor, Life Assurance Ministries
Problems with this lesson:
- This lesson equates “sign” with “seal” and establishes Sabbath as God’s seal on believers.
- “Commandments” are assumed to be the Decalogue instead of God’s “entole”, or teachings, not law.
- Sabbath-keeping is presented as loyalty to God; former Sabbath-keepers are Satan’s agents.
This week’s lesson, based on chapters 37 and 38 of The Great Controversy, reminds readers that the final conflict is coming. Saturday’s lesson sets the tone for the week with this paragraph:
More than anything else, Jesus wants to take us through the storms of life and get us home. Ellen G. White writes, “A storm is coming, relentless in its fury. Are we prepared to meet it?”— Testimonies for the Church, vol, 8, p. 315. The purpose of Christ’s life, death, resurrection, and ministry in heaven’s sanctuary is to ensure that we get home. The prophetic messages of Daniel and Revelation are divine instructions, especially for an end-time people, to help us through life’s storms so that one day we can feel the warm embrace of a loving Savior.
Here author Mark Finley subtly reminds his readers that the Adventist “gospel” includes Jesus’ supposed work of the investigative judgment currently going on in heaven as He applies His blood in a continuing atonement of confessed sins. This heavenly work of atonement is necessary for ensuring that Adventists “get home”. Moreover, the Adventist interpretations of Daniel and Revelation, already shown to be the foundational proof-texts for the investigative judgment, are said to be the instructions for navigating the coming time of trouble.
This lesson further establishes the Adventist worldview that places Satan at the heart of reality as the great opponent of God. In fact, Finley reiterates this formula with these words in Sunday’s lesson:
Throughout the ages, the great controversy has been a battle between truth and error. Satan is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44). Jesus is the author of all truth. He declared, “ ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life’ ” (John 14:6). The truth that sets us free from Satan’s deceptions is found in God’s Word. The Bible unmasks Satan’s strategy and reveals God’s plans. Scripture is a lamp to our feet (Ps. 119:105).
In fact, the Bible is not about Satan. It is God’s story, not the story of man or the story of Satan. Satan is never a central player in the biblical picture of reality. If we read Scripture looking for Satan’s strategy, we will be reading God’s word through a distorting lens. Satan is a disarmed and defeated foe, and God’s faithfulness and unfailing promises are the focus of Scripture. In fact, God does what He wills whether or not humans or angels honor Him. He even uses human unfaithfulness for His ultimate glory. The day’s lesson ends with these guilt-producing words from The Great Controversy:
To every soul will come the searching test: Shall I obey God rather than men? The decisive hour is even now at hand. Are our feet planted on the rock of God’s immutable word? Are we prepared to stand firm in defense of the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus?”—Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, pp. 593, 594.
Of course, when EGW asks if people are prepared “to stand firm in defense of the commandment of God and the faith of Jesus,” she is asking if the reader is prepared to be loyal to the Sabbath in the face of persecution. In fact, the EGW-established Adventist doctrine of Sabbath as the seal of God that marks those who will be saved is established in Monday’s and Tuesday’s lessons.
First, Finley states that God’s faithful people “will be sealed by the Holy Spirit (Eph. 4:30) and cannot be moved.” He is correct that God’s new covenant believers are sealed by the Holy Spirit, but he uses a peripheral text instead of the central passage explaining how and when believers are sealed. Ephesians 4:30 says the following:
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. —(Ephesians 4:30 LSB)
This passage warns believers not to grieve the Holy Spirit—a passage most Adventists understand to mean that the Holy Spirit will leave them if they sin because He will be so grieved. This passage fits the Adventist teaching that the Sabbath is the mark, or sign, of having been sealed by the Holy Spirit. Within an Adventist context, this text will merely confirm the Adventist doctrine that Sabbath-keeping is the seal of God—that the Holy Spirit sealed them by giving them the knowledge and conviction to keep the Sabbath.
The central passage explaining the Holy Spirit as God’s seal, however is Ephesians 1:13, 14:
In Him, you also, after listening to the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation–having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, unto the redemption of [God’s own] possession, to the praise of His glory. —(Ephesians 1:13-14 LSB)
This passage explains that the Holy Spirit Himself is the seal of the believer who has heard “the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation” and has “also believed”. There is no hint of Sabbath-keeping involved with receiving the seal of the Holy Spirit. Only belief in the gospel is required for the seal of the Spirit. Furthermore, the indwelling Spirit is God’s guarantee that the believer has absolute certainty of salvation and an eternal inheritance.
This belief cannot be part of Adventism’s doctrines because no Adventist can know he is saved until the end of the investigative judgment. It is no accident that Finley did not use this central passage. It teaches a completely different salvation scenario than Adventism. Ephesians 1:13, 14 identifies God the Spirit as the permanent, secure seal of every true believer. Furthermore, this passage exposes Adventism’s teaching that Sabbath is the seal of God as the blasphemy it is.
Jesus said that the only unpardonable sin is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit; ascribing the work of the Holy Spirit to a person’s keeping the seventh-day Sabbath is blasphemy.
Furthermore, Finley explains that the Sabbath must be the seal of God because the fourth commandment contains
…“three elements of an authentic seal: (1) the name to whom the seal belongs, ‘the Lord thy God;’ 2) His title, the One who ‘made”—the Creator; (3) and His territory, “heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is.” A seal is sometimes called a sign in the Bible (Rom. 4:11). The two words are interchangeable. As God’s sign or seal in the heart of God’s law, the Sabbath is at the center of the final conflict over worship (Eek. 20:12, 20; Rev. 12:17). …
The devil hates those who are obedient to God. The great controversy comes to a climax when the dragon (Satan) wages war on the believing remnant, who ‘keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus” (Rev. 14:12, NKJV). They are settled in their loyalty to Christ.”
First, “sign” and “seal” are not interchangeable. The passage he uses to proof-text his claim says this:
and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised, so that he might be the father of all who believe without being circumcised, that righteousness might be counted to them, —(Romans 4:11 LSB)
In this verse (taken out of its context), Paul is explaining that, after Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness (Gen. 15:6), God then gave Abraham the sign of circumcision, a seal marking him as God’s own person and also marking his physical descendants as God’s chosen people. Paul’s argument makes the point that in this way Abraham, who believed BEFORE receiving the sign of circumcision, is the father of faith to all gentiles who believe without ever converting to Judaism by being circumcised and coming under the law. Furthermore, he is also the father of faith to all believing Jews who come to faith in Christ after being circumcised.
This text is not equating the meaning of “sign” with “seal”. This juxtaposition of Abraham’s receiving a SIGN which was God’s SEAL is a singular instance which demonstrates Abraham’s unique role as the father of God’s chosen race as well as the father of faith to both Jews and gentiles. There is no sense whatsoever that the sign of the Sabbath which God gave Israel was the same as a “seal”. This equation is never stated nor implied except by EGW and Adventism.
Exodus 31:13 states that the Sabbath was given to “the sons of Israel”:
“But as for you, speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘You shall surely keep My sabbaths; for [this] is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am Yahweh who makes you holy.’” —(Exodus 31:13 LSB)
The passage goes on to say that the Israelites were to keep the Sabbath would be “a sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever…” In fact, verse 16 states that the sabbath would be “an everlasting covenant” with the “sons of Israel…throughout their generations”. This covenant sign was embedded in the center of their covenant document, the “the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone” (v. 18).
There is no Scripture anywhere that makes the Sabbath a continuing requirement after the temporary Mosaic covenant was fulfilled by the Lord Jesus. Furthermore, there is NO Scripture that asserts that the Sabbath was a “seal” for the nation of Israel. Quite the contrary; they were to observe the Sabbath as a SIGN between them and God so that they would know that Yahweh—not their obedience, not their Sabbath-keeping, but Yahweh Himself—was the One who made them holy!
Sabbath was never a seal. The Adventist arguments that the fourth commandment is the only commandment that contains the identity of God and the components of a seal are entirely invented. In fact, Adventists do not teach the fact that the Decalogue does not begin with Exodus 20:3 commanding “no other gods before Me.” In fact, the Decalogue begins with verse 2:
“I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me.” —(Exodus 20:2-3 LSB)
The entire Decalogue is introduced with God’s declaration of His identity and His role as the nation’s Savior: “I am Yahweh, who brought you out of the land of Egypt”! God primarily introduced and identified Himself as the One who rescued them from Egypt. Furthermore, in Deuteronomy 5 when the Decalogue is reiterated to the wilderness generation, the fourth commandment identifies God as the one who brought them out of slavery, not as the Creator.
The fourth commandment is NOT the place where God identifies Himself to Israel; it is in the document’s introduction: Israel was always to know that Yahweh was their Redeemer, the One who rescued them from slavery. For that reason they were to obey His commandments.
Furthermore, Adventists use Revelation 14:12 to say that they are supposed to keep the Ten Commandments, the “commandments of God and the faith of Jesus”. Contextually, this verse does not have the Decalogue in view at all. In all of John’s five books of the New Testament, wherever he uses the word “commandments” he uses a form of the Greek word “entole”. Whenever he uses the word “law”, he uses a form of the Greek word “nomos”.
“Entole” means teachings, instructions, commands, or sayings. John NEVER uses “entole” to signify “law”. Always, if John means “law”, he uses “nomos” He is entirely consistent in this usage.
Revelation 14:12, therefore, does not refer remotely to the Ten Commandments. John here is referring to the “new commandments” that the Lord Jesus gave His followers: to love one another as He loved them; to love the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, and mind; to make disciples; to believe in the Son of God. These are the commandments of God which are given to God’s people on this side of the cross!
For Adventists to teach that the seventh-day Sabbath is the seal, or even the sign of the seal of God that will mark those who will be saved when Jesus returns, is heresy. The mark of those who will be saved is belief in the Lord Jesus and the consequent new birth they receive from God Himself. They are indwelled by the Holy Spirit and guaranteed their eternal inheritance the moment they believe.
Friday’s lesson, however, presents believers who abandon the ranks of Sabbath-keepers for the sake of Jesus as Satan’s agents. Finley concludes this week’s lesson with this quote from Ellen White:
“As the storm approaches, a large class who have professed faith in the third angel’s message, but have not been sanctified through obedience to the truth, abandon their position and join the ranks of the opposition. By uniting with the world and partaking of its spirit, they have come to view matters in nearly the same light; and when the test is brought, they are prepared to choose the easy, popular side. Men of talent and pleasing address, who once rejoiced in the truth, employ their powers to deceive and mislead souls. They become the most bitter enemies of their former brethren. When Sabbathkeepers are brought before the courts to answer for their faith, these apostates are the most efficient agents of Satan to misrepresent and accuse them, and by false reports and insinuations to stir up the rulers against them.”—Ellen G.White, The Great Controversy, p. 608.
The Sabbath functions as an idol within Adventism. By the authority of EGWs great controversy vision and her book by the same name, Adventists have proof-texted Scripture to support a false interpretation of what marks a true believer. They have moved people’s attention away from trusting in Jesus alone and replaced Him with the Sabbath as the focus of loyalty.
Adventism has made Sabbath-keeping the requirement of everyone who hopes to make it to heaven. They have replaced the Lord Jesus as the judge of all the earth and have made the Decalogue the means of judgment. Within Adventism, people see the Law with its fourth commandment as the “thing” that will condemn or vindicate them, not the actual righteousness of the Lord Jesus Himself. They do not see that they must be born again and made alive in order to be saved; instead, they believe they must be faithful to the Sabbath no matter the cost.
Further, the great controversy model has identified former Adventists who have been made alive in Christ as the most efficient, the most deadly of all of Satan’s agents. Adventists are taught to fear and disbelieve those of us who know what Adventism teaches and who call other Adventists to lay down their Adventist identities at the foot of the cross and trust in Jesus and His completed atonement alone.
The most telling perversion of all, however, is identifying the Sabbath as the seal of God. Adventism ascribes to the Sabbath—to the work of each individual Sabbath-keeping Adventist—the work of the Holy Spirit! No person can claim the “seal of God” for himself by obeying a law! The work of the Holy Spirit is the work of God alone, and it is blasphemy to attribute the role of the Holy Spirit to anyone or anything else. The blasphemous claim that the Sabbath is the seal of God should cause each Adventist to tremble before the Lord God.
The Sabbath has no role whatsoever in a person’s salvation. There is only one question you must deal with: have you believed in the Son of God? Have you admitted that you are a sinner who must be saved? Have you repented and trusted the finished atonement of Jesus in His death, His burial, and His resurrection? Have you renounced the heresy of an ongoing atonement and the requirement of observing a day as a condition of salvation?
Have you heard the word of your salvation and believed? Have you been sealed with the indwelling Holy Spirit?
If not, look to Jesus now. Believe and trust His finished work for you, and pass today from death to life. He is all you need. †
- We Got Mail - June 27, 2024
- June 22–28, 2024 - June 20, 2024
- We Got Mail - June 20, 2024