Friday: Further Thoughts – Victory in the Wilderness
Though one can find writers through the centuries touching on the theme of the great controversy, and though some evangelicals today are looking at the idea more closely-no one has a deeply developed great- controversy worldview as does the Seventh-day Adventist Church. A literal, physical, moral, and spiritual conflict between Christ and Satan is, indeed, a crucial hallmark of Adventist thought. And no wonder.
Image © Lars Justinen from GoodSalt.com
All through the Bible there is what one evangelical writer has called “the cosmic warfare theme,” and sometimes-such as in this week’s lesson on the temptations in the wilderness-that theme appears in a very stark and open manner. The idea of a battle between good and evil can be seen even outside a distinctly religious context. Poet T. S. Eliot wrote: “The world turns and the world changes / But one thing does not change. / In all of my years, one thing does not change, . . . / The perpetual struggle of Good and Evil.”-The Complete Poems and Plays, 1909-1950 (New York: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1952), p. 98. German atheist Friedrich Nietzsche, wrote: “Let us conclude. The two opposing values ‘good and bad,’ ‘good and evil’ have been engaged in a fearful struggle on earth for thousands of years.”-On the Genealogy of Morals and Ecce Homo (Vantage Books Edition: Random House, Inc., 1967), p. 52. Scripture, aided by the Spirit of Prophecy, reveals as nothing else does, the true nature of this conflict and the eternal issues at stake in it.
Discussion Questions:
- In class, go over your answers to Wednesday’s question about the line, the boundary, between trusting in God’s promises for the miraculous and that of being presumptuous. How do we know the difference?
- Temptation comes in many forms and shapes and sizes and colors and modes, all carefully designed to reach each of us where we are. And, of course, some things that tempt one person don’t tempt another. Besides the obvious sins, what are the more subtle ways in which we can be tempted?
- Read over the temptations of Jesus in the wilderness and the humiliation that He was subjected to. As you do, think about the fact that this same Jesus was, indeed, “God with us.” He was the one through whom “all things were made” (John 1:3). How can we grasp the incredible concept here, that of God-God!-enduring this fearful struggle in our behalf? Considering this truth, what else matters?
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I wonder why our study lesson have to quote infidels view of the great controversy when we have the Holy Bible and a more sure word of prophesy? A mind that is not control by the Holy Spirit of God however bright might be has nothing spiritually to teach us. Please stop bringing Babylon wine into our church.
Surely if God could speak through a donkey he can speak through an athiest
It shows that irrespective of the Bible, those who don't believe in God identify that there is a battle going on, and it is a battle between "good and evil".
You know the parable of the rich man and Lazarus was told the way because the thought that individuals were conscious after death was something people believed in at that time. (hence it wasn't a true account of hell) My point is that even though it was from an athiest it was a very real truth. And if it was a wrong teaching of the state of the dead why is it in the Bible?
Don't misconstrue my statements we need to be careful not to mix truth with error, but sometimes it is good to see the argument from a different frame of view.
"In this parable Christ was meeting the people on their own ground. The doctrine of a conscious state of existence between death and the resurrection was held by many of those who were listening to Christ's words. The Saviour knew of their ideas, and He framed His parable so as to inculcate important truths through these preconceived opinions." Christ Object Lessons p263.
The only thing matters is a life in Jesus Christ! Life without Jesus is no life at all!
May God help us to the the importance of surrendering to Him! Remember the Devil has no good plan for us. He set us up, drop us then laugh at us!
When I read over the Temptations of Jesus in the wilderness and the humiliation that he was subjected to. As I was reading my daily devotional today, Heavenly Places Page 42, Ellen White said this:We were lost; the sentence of death had been passed upon us; and Christ dies for us, and this set us free. He said," I will take upon myself the guilt of the sinner, that he may have another trial. I will put within his reach Power that will enable him to overcome in the struggle with Evil." Also Ellen White stated where Human beings stand today,Christ has bought us with his Life, and we belong to Him. All our Powers, Physical, Mental, Spiritual, Belong to Him; and to withhold from Him that which his own is Robbery. AMEN!
Isn't that something to think about. We don't understand what was done for us. Christ take out place, and pay the dept for us . I can't ask for more.
2. Besides the obvious sins, what are the more subtle ways in which we can be tempted?
Any thought, word or action that does not reflect the Character, Government and Purposes of God is sin. To the one who takes the Yoke of Christ, every sin is obvious or we have not invited the Lord to “search me and know my thoughts...”, for it is the work of God by His Spirit to “reprove the world of sin...” for any sin that remains would forfeit Life. This "the Wise will understand", so "Wisdom is the principle thing, therefore get wisdom,..." and "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom".
3. How can we grasp the incredible concept here, that of God-God!-enduring this fearful struggle in our behalf? Considering this truth, what else matters?
In the Christ, God endured temptation as any man must endure it daily. What else matters? Much! HOW He endured is the vital lesson for each of us isn't it? How He endured it is why He endured it for us. He could only win our salvation by showing us the Way. IF we don't find the Way to imitate His enduring, His enduring will have been in vain. While it is the glory of God to forgive "all manner of sin", He cannot clear the guilty. Unless we come to "the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ:", we will not see the kingdom of heaven. "He hath shewed thee O man what is good, and what doth the Lord require of thee,..."
All that matters is that we accept God's great sacrifice on our behalf, through the merits of Jesus Christ, our Substitute. He is Immanuel!
And that we back it up with actions that agree with that acceptance and love for the Savior that did it all for me!
It is worth noting that non-Christian writers recognize there is a battle between good and evil but have no explanation as to its cause. The contrast is that Christians do have an explanation for its cause. That is what our lesson author is pointing out to us.
It is helpful too that we do not become complacent in our belief. All too often we have the view that we have the truth and that is the end of the story. However sometimes our own confidence clouds our ability to share our beliefs with those who do not hold them. In my own career I have had to spend a lot of time with un-churched academics. It takes a lot of work to talk to them about my beliefs in a language that they understand.
I believe that the author has appropriately and sensitively given us a glimpse of what others thank about the issue of the conflict between good and evil so that we are able to communicate better with them.
Maurice, Isn't one of the main reasons for a lack of concern between good and evil among much of the populace of our society, because there is a distorted idea as to what evil is or is not. The motto, if it feels good do it, is the ideal that many live by. God is a novelty or nonexistent in the much of the academic and scientific world. Satan has a secure foothold as expressed in Eph. 6:12. A prayer for that protective armor is in order.
Paul, Jesus said the Holy Spirit would convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. People usually conceal their evil deeds, knowing they are evil. The reasons for lack of concern over sinning is selfishness, born of pride and coveting. Living for self rather than others breeds sin.
Once deceived by sin, we can lose our understanding and spiritual discernment, as Paul wrote that finding pleasure in unrighteousness will lead any to believe lies, who "love not the truth".
There is a fallen nature in all of us. It is corruptible, serving the law of sin and death. We sin! We may not overtly rebel, we may not sin the same way we sinned a month ago, a year ago but we sin none the less. Until this corruptible puts on incorruptible that is the way it is! I say wake up to the reality, "If you think you are without sin, you call God a liar." In the great controversy theme, Satan is not saved, he does not returned to His former glory and neither will anyone remain the same who is born of God. We on the other hand are saved by grace through faith! Faith that God is working in us to will and to do according to His good pleasure. The Lord is not the author of perfectionism, He does not stand over us expecting flawless work, but there is an attitude of gratitude which accompanies all believers that enables God to work in us to will and to do according to His good pleasure. The carnal man cannot know the things of God, and never will, so let us put off the old man of sin, and put on the new man made in the image of God. Christ in you the hope of glory. Do good, judge not!
O. Clayton,
you've presented a number of thoughts that I would like to respond to. But I think it best if I confine myself to one comment, or perhaps two.
You say "there is a fallen nature in all of us. It is corruptible", and yes, I cannot disagree with any of those words. However, when Jesus came to dwell among us, did He come with a fallen nature, and was it possible for Him to sin?
I submit two brief statements in answer:
"Think on Christ's humiliation [i.e. just how far He stepped down in His incarnation]. He took upon Himself FALLEN, suffering human nature, degraded and defiled by sin." (4Bible Comments p.1147)
But of course,
"In taking upon Himself man's nature in its FALLEN condition, Christ did not in the least participate in its sin." (5BC p.1131)
So I have no hesitation in saying that having a fallen nature does not necessitate sin.
I would add: "Now unto Him who is able to keep you from falling..."
This is speaking of this life, while being on this earth prior to the return of Jesus in glory.
Through such "exceeding great and precious promises" we are able to become "partakers of the Divine nature".
I think, Mr. Reid, that it is a far more important point than many realize that Jesus did not in the least participate in the sin of fallen humanity. Unlike Jesus, we are sinful participants inherently by nature, and it is only by the grace and power of Christ living within us that we can be upheld. Christ Himself was absolutely sinless inherently and by nature. Sin was abhorrent to Him, and it can become so to us as well, as we rise above our own corrupt human nature by becoming one with Him.
It was not anything sinful or corrupt in the human nature of Christ that made it possible for Him to sin. Right from creation, the perfect Adam could sin, and unhappily he did, notwithstanding Adam's nature was neither tainted nor corrupted by sin (like that of the Second Adam was not) nor was it weakened by millennia of ancestral sin (as that of the Second Adam was weakened).