Friday: Further Thought ~ Jesus, the Perfect Sacrifice
Further Thought:
Read Ellen G. White, “Calvary,” Pages 741-757; “It Is Finished,” Pages 758-764, in The Desire of Ages.
Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com
Professor Jiri Moskala has explained the nature of this pre-Advent judgment. God “is not there in order to display my sins like in a shop window. He will, on the contrary, point first of all to His amazing transforming powerful grace, and in front of the whole universe He, as the true Witness of my entire life, will explain my attitude toward God, my inner motives, my thinking, my deeds, my orientation and direction of life. He will demonstrate it all. Jesus will testify that I made many mistakes, that I transgressed His holy law, but also that I repented, asked for forgiveness, and was changed by His grace. He will proclaim: ‘My blood is sufficient for the sinner Moskala, his orientation of life is on Me, his attitude toward Me and other people is warm and unselfish, he is trustworthy, he is My good and faithful servant.’ ” — “Toward a Biblical Theology of God’s Judgment: A Celebration of the Cross in Seven Phases of Divine Universal Judgment,” Journal of the Adventist Theological Society 15 (Spring 2004): p. 155.
“Both the redeemed and the unfallen beings will find in the cross of Christ their science and their song. It will be seen that the glory shining in the face of Jesus is the glory of self-sacrificing love. In the light from Calvary it will be seen that the law of self-renouncing love is the law of life for earth and heaven; that the love which ‘seeketh not her own’ has its source in the heart of God; and that in the meek and lowly One is manifested the character of Him who dwelleth in the light which no man can approach unto.” — Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, Pages 19, 20.
Discussion Questions:
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I have often mentioned my past experience as a maths teacher in my comments, but what you also need to know is that it is a long time since I seriously taught maths in a classroom. Be that as it may, I have been enlisted as the chief maths tutor for my grandsons and I am supposed to show them how to solve the hard stuff. My oldest grandson is in Year 11 and doing Extension Maths. It is really heavy stuff. The textbook alone weighs nearly 1kg.
Last night he showed me a combinatorics problem that he could not do. Neither could I. It did not take long for it to dawn on me that I was seriously out of practice. And worse, my reputation as a whiz-bang mathematician was at stake. Carmel made challenging comments suggesting that we ring up our son, who has a PhD in maths and get him to solve it, but that did not help me.
It is one thing to have a background in mathematics and be labelled a maths teacher, but when it comes to the crunch, if you are out of practice, who cares?
In the last week I have heard a lot of discussion about judgement, atonement, sacrifices, and a lot of it has been some pretty powerful theology. It is the sort of stuff that Adventist Bible students love to discuss. But, if there is one thing that I have learned, our mastery of the theory does not count for much if we do not put it into practice every day. Like my maths prowess, our spiritual experience may be past history. The theology stuff we are studying may be important but it has to translate into practical Christianity.
One of the ideas that came to me this week was that the day of atonement was not just a settlement of the past but signified a new beginning. Perhaps we can look at so much of what we have been studying this week, not as judgement of the past but as a present opportunity. The main message of the Gospel is really about a new beginning - and that is something practical that even unbelievers can understand.
By the way, I solved that maths problem for my grandson and did it in a way he understood. Never underestimate a retired maths teacher. We might forget some things, but we know how to learn, again!
The last sentence cracked me up a little.
Indeed I quote you Sir "if there is one thing that I have learned, our mastery of the theory does not count for much if we do not put it into practice every day.
God help me practice what I learn everyday about you and your word.
Forget not to pray for Ukraine/Russia and the World at large.
Addressing the bigger picture of this past week’s lesson:
Jiri Moskala’s quote: “Jesus will testify that I made many mistakes, …… , that I repented, asked forgiveness, and was changed by His grace. He (Jesus) will proclaim: ‘My blood is sufficient for the sinner Moskala, …… .”
I suggest that every time we see the word ‘blood’ in the New Testament related to Christ Jesus’ life, to replace it with the word ‘Love’. Regarding Jiri Moskala’s statement, it would then read: ‘My Love is sufficient for the sinner.’
I suggest to continue to unpack, dig through the many layers of human perception, to reveal the core source of Truth. Again and again we are shown the Creator’s Love for human kind in all its various expressions. Love for us is the motivation of all our Savior’s actions directly related to the work of rescuing man from certain death - offering us Salvation.
Regarding the second question of today’s lesson: “What is the role of sacrifice in the life of the believer?” I would answer by paraphrasing Matt.16:24: ‘If anyone desires to apply my teachings to live their life rightly, let him refrain from living his old ways and focus instead on the by Me revealed ‘Will and Way’ of the Father; accepting wholeheartedly all consequences arriving from this decision.
This is what all three Scripture references have in common. We ought to submit our whole being when we follow the Lord’s 'Way of service and love of Him and our fellow man' - 'taking up our personal cross'; ‘this is our acceptable, reasonable service.’
Christ our Redeemer liveth forever as our Intercessor, Mediator, and our Avocate. 1John 2:1. And many other supporting text. This makes Him, our Perfect Sacrifice. The cross is illuminated by the story of Nicodemus, which helps us see Jesus as our Redeemer. All the Bible points to our Perfect Sacrifice. It is vital that we dig deeper into the store house of God's love. John 5:39. The wonderful promise from our digging a little deeper, is that we will find God, and He will be found in us. Jeremiah 29:13-14. There is a wounderful reward for those who find Him. John 5:24.