Friday: Further Thought ~ He Died for Us
Further Thought: Read Ellen G. White, “Gethsemane,” Pages 685-697; “Calvary,” Pages 741-758, in The Desire of Ages; “Repentance,” p.27, in Steps to Christ.
Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com
“I saw that all heaven is interested in our salvation; and shall we be indifferent? Shall we be careless, as though it were a small matter whether we are saved or lost? Shall we slight the sacrifice that has been made for us? Some have done this. They have trifled with offered mercy, and the frown of God is upon them. God’s Spirit will not always be grieved. It will depart if grieved a little longer. After all has been done that God could do to save men, if they show by their lives that they slight Jesus’ offered mercy, death will be their portion, and it will be dearly purchased. It will be a dreadful death; for they will have to feel the agony that Christ felt upon the cross to purchase for them the redemption which they have refused. And they will then realize what they have lost — eternal life and the immortal inheritance. The great sacrifice that has been made to save souls shows us their worth. When the precious soul is once lost, it is lost forever.” — Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, p. 124.
Discussion Questions:
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In an attempt to stimulate the economy in Australia, NSW Government issued "Dine and Discover" vouchers which enabled people to go to restaurants and tourist locations either free or heavily subsidised. Following the end date for this program, a local newspaper reported:
Even though many people applied for and were given vouchers, a large number never used them. Could this be an admittedly limited analogy to God's gift of redemption through Jesus' death on the cross -- available to all, but only of value when individuals choose to accept and use the magnificent offer?
Very great analogy.
Hi Peter, that’s a wonderful analogy. Our salvation is free and everyone has it. But, it does require action. I must trust and obey, just like the song we all grew up singing. Those free vouchers also required action. First you would have to put them in your wallet/purse, showing you believed they were worth something. Then you would have to actually get in your car and drive to the restaurant, get out of your car and go into the restaurant. The culmination of “trust and obey” would be to actually order that meal, eat it, then hand that voucher to the waitress/waiter. Our salvation is that simple. John 6:37-40 are Jesus' own words telling us how simple it is. The entire chapter is good, but those verses are right to the point.
Christ can become a friend only to those who appreciate His character. He does not impose Himself on anyone! He died for all, but not all accept Him! How crazy not to accept this wonderful offer of Grace! But we were made free to choose!
As Christians, we take the Gospel story for granted and sometimes we fail to realize the seismic shift that the events of the cross meant to Jews living in the time of Jesus. Maintaining the status quo is easy - you just do what you always do.
I remember that in my computer science days, I had to wrap my brain around the ideas of persistent systems. It was initially hard for me to internalize these ideas simply because they had not crossed my mind before. It required a complete rethink about the way computers do things. Somewhere, my brain did a shift and it became natural to think in terms of persistence.
We have lots of examples of such seismic shifts in scientific thinking. The particle/wave/quantum models for light being a classic. Interestingly the shift in thinking is often not related to logic but more on personalities and experience.
And that brings me back to the importance of the cross. Its significance was transmitted through the community, not only by eloquent argument but by the changed lives of those who had been there during the time of the cross. If their lives had not been changed, their sermons would have fallen on deaf ears.
And in our generation, the same principle applies. Jesus has not risen if he does not rise in our lives. I don't mean this in some sort of ethereal "spirity" way, but in very practical terms. The death of Christ changes the relationship between us and God in a way that makes our relationships with one another more meaningful now. If it doesn't, all our talk of salvation is as meaningful as the medieval church's discussion about the number of angels that can fit into a very small space.'
Perhaps we need to ask ourselves if we are doing our best to maintain the status quo, or if we are actively seeking a seismic shift in our thinking/experience so we can communicate the meaning of Christ's sacrifice to others.
I have a question after this weeks study for thought/discussion. I think we would agree that there are other worlds in God’s creation. Why are we the only world that has had to endure Satan and his temptation? Is that fair?
Interesting question. We might also ask, "Is it 'fair' that the Creator of all the worlds should die the death earned by the rebels of just one world?"
You ask
Perhaps the answer to your question is this: Our first parents were given complete dominion over this planet by their Creator. When they chose to listen to Satan, rather than their Creator, they became Satan's subject. And we now experience his rule, rather than that of our beneficent Creator. It was their choice, not God's - just as it is our choice to live vy our will, rather than His. (There are only two choices - we serve God or Satan. When we flatter ourselves that we are doing *our* will, we are really serving Satan because the focus of his government is the service of self. The focus of God's government is service to God and others.) Yet our Creator has made a way out for us. Through His death in our place, He opened the gate to eternal life in Him. Is that fair, or not?
Just between you and me, I really don't want God to be "fair." I need Him to be merciful!
Does that make sense?
Just a thought, but I wonder if those worlds were created before Lucifer fell.
Why are we the only world that has had to endure Satan and his temptation? Is that fair?
First, I don't believe we are the only world that had to deal with Satan's temptations (the angels in heaven were tempted by Satan). We are the only world that fell into sin. Ellen White also talks about other, unfallen, worlds.
Is it fair (i.e., deserved) that the saved from this earth will soon be co-heirs with Christ, adopted sons and daughters of the living God (Romans 8:17; Galatians 4:7)?
Is it fair that God has chosen this little speck of a blue planet as the seat of his new-earth Kingdom where we will reign with Christ and live with our Father in perfect peace and harmony forever (Revelation 21:1-7)?
Whatever the cost, I believe that we, like Paul (Philippians 3:8), will consider everything we had to endure, give up or suffer as meaningless compared to what God has prepared for those who love Him (1 Corinthians 2:9).
I think the answer is that it was in the planning of this world where it all began. It is after Lucifer as Ark Angel, was left out of the planning, he began his rebellion. When God’s way was questioned. It had to be answered with this cosmic play.
Jim why do you call Lucifer the archangel? Michael who is Christ is the archangel. https://ssnet.org/blog/please-send-michael/https://ssnet.org/blog/please-send-michael/
I think the Scripture references 1Cor.1:18 and 1Cor.2:14 bring clarity to why so many cannot receive the message of Truth that “He died for us”. That 'He died for us', or the theological meaning of His dying for us is still being debated among those who want to use their eyes, ears, and their intellectual minds to reason. But receiving discernment/understanding regarding spiritual things is through Truth being revealed and discerned by inspiration only.
To help me better understand, I googled the word ‘discernment’ and found 60 Christian quotes at the site ”Bible reasons”. To share a few:
“The heart of spiritual discernment is being able to distinguish the voice of the world from the voice of God.”
"We need discernment in what we see and what we hear and what we believe." Chalres R. Swindoll
“Discernment is not a matter of simply telling the difference between right and wrong; rather it is telling the difference between right and almost right.” Charles Spurgeon
“Discernment is God’s call to intercession, never to faultfinding.” Corrie Ten Boom
“Discernment is the ability to see things for what they really are and not for what you want them to be.”
Ellen White’s quote contains the sentence: “They have trifled with offered mercy, ….” Testimonies for the Church, vol.1,p.124. What are we doing when debating Truth which can only be spiritually discerned?
We know that the faith of a child is sufficient wherewith to enter the kingdom of God – Luke 18:16 ‘But Jesus called them (the Apostles) to him, saying, “let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God;” a child’s mind governed by faith.
Reasoning, the theological discourse about what, why, and how Jesus’ died for us, places layers of reasoning on top of our precious faith; it can so diminish its sensitive calibration when wanting to hear the voice of God only.
“He died for us”, but He left us the gift of the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, to inspire our faith and to praise Him for all that He has done for us. And so, our heavenly Father communes with the living soul’s inspired heart filled with compassion and love for the lost.
I think we need to ensure that we use our reasoning and intellect in the way God intended. He expects us to use the abilities that he as given us. Spiritual discernment is not some ethereal process, but rather the spirit-directed use of our intelligence. When God created us he said, "Let us make man in our image after our likeness..." and that means that like him we have reason. The big problem comes when we think we own reason and that our reasoning is a lot better than anyone else. That is self-centredness.
Hi, Brigitte. Indeed, I think you are "almost right." We cannot rely on our intellect alone to lead us into truth. We must depend on the Holy Spirit. On the other hand, any religion that asks us to "check our brains at the door" should be rejected out-of-hand, in my book.