Month: September 2023

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
September 20, 2023

God’s Saving Enmity
Part 36

GRACE IMPARTS ENMITY AGAINST SATAN AND SIN

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not ye yourselves; if [grace] is the gift of God [even as eternal life is, Rom. 6:23]: not of works, lest any man should boast. For WE are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus UNTO GOOD WORKS, which God had before ORDAINED that we should WALK IN THEM [the good works ordained in us, His workmanship].” Eph. 2: 8, 9, KJV [all emphasis and words in brackets mine]. 

Adam and Eve, mankind’s parents, were alone “created in the image and likeness of God” as the crowning act of His “workmanship” in His 6-day work of creation. Both were certainly “created in Christ Jesus,” the Creator, that is, in His image and likeness. But in the fall of man in Eden by transgression of God’s command in yielding to the temptation of Satan disguised as the serpent, man instantly lost his original immaculate character-image of innocent purity that was manifested as a soft white light covering their bodies. This garment of light instantly disappeared when they sinned, exposing themselves as naked, a symbol of guilt.

In God’s omnipotence, omniscience, “mercy that endureth forever,” and mysterious “love that conquers all,” His plan of redemption, “prepared before the foundations of earth were laid,” immediately kicked in. “The moment there was a sinner, there was a Savior!” God’s kingdom of grace instantly begun, inaugurated in Eden by the first lamb offered, typifying and certifying in its substitutionary death and spilled atoning blood that “the “wages of sin which is death.”

Four thousand years later, “the only begotten Son of God” and the “Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world,” as the promised “Seed of the woman” who the serpent would “bruise His heel,” died on the cross of Calvary, the antitypical altar of sacrifice. His death and the blood of God shed for the remission of sins—-which was first inaugurated in Eden as the KINGDOM OF GRACE [that saved Adam and Eve from instant death] was now RATIFIED—no longer with the typical blood of sacrificial animals, but with the antitypical, all-atoning blood of God in Christ Himself in the New Covenant!

Thus the Mosaic, Levitical, Ceremonial law with its system of sacrifices and earthly priesthood under the Old Covenant of the Old Testament dispensation was “nailed to the cross.” The death of Christ, “the Lamb of God” at Calvary was the transition point from the Mosaic-Jewish dispensation to the the New Covenant in the New Testament Christian dispensation. The former presented and preserved the gospel in symbols, as with the muted light of the moon at night; the latter, the gospel in substance, as in the glorious light of day!

We who are still alive today are living at the very closing hours of the New Testament, Christian dispensation. The ENMITY or the “great controversy between Christ and Satan” and their respective “seeds “ or followers is soon to reach its prophesied stupendous climax in “the time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time” (Dan. 12:1; cf. Rev. 7: 1, 2, 13: 1-18; chs. 15, 16).

Have you diligently appropriated the divine principle of enmity imparted by the Holy Spirit that alone enables us to “put on the whole armor of God,” “fight the good fight of faith” “fight the battles of the Lord where champions are few,” daily “overcoming the world, the flesh, and the devil” “by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony”?

This is major aspect of preparing to receive the seal of God in our foreheads—verily our “passports” giving us “the right to enter in through the gates into the city and eternal access to the the tree of life! Indeed, “saved by grace.”

To be continued next MWM, God willing. Bless all, NMF.

God’s Saving Enmity
Part 35

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
September 13, 2023

God’s Saving Enmity
Part 35

COUNT THE COST OF THE ENMITY AND DISCIPLESHIP

Luke 14:25-33:
“And there went a great multitude with Him [Jesus]: and He turned, and said unto them, ‘If any man come to Me, and HATE NOT his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and HIS OWN LIFE also, he CANNOT BE My disciple. And whosoever does not BEAR HIS CROSS, and come after Me, CANNOT be My disciple. And which of you intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and COUNTETH THE COST, whether he hath sufficient to finish it? . . . . So likewise, whosoever be of you that FORSAKETH NOT all that he hath, he CANNOT BE MY DISCIPLE.” KJV. (cf. Luke 9:23-26).

“The Lord does not deceive His soldiers. He opens before them the CONFLICT, presents the BATTLE PLAN, points out the HAZARDOUS UNDERTAKING, and exhorts everyone to COUNT THE COST. He does not leave them in ignorance. He tells everyone BEFORE ENLISTMENT, to count the cost before they enlist as soldiers in His army, for the soldier’s life is a LIFE OF DUTY [not ease and pleasure].” -E. G. White, MS 98, Aug. 4, 1900.

The Cost of Being a Wholehearted Follower of Christ:
“The word of God is plain, but often there is an ERROR in applying it to oneself. There is a liability to SELF-DECEPTION and to think that its warnings and reproofs DO NOT MEAN ME. ‘The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?’ [Jer. -17:9, 10]. SELF-FLATTERY may be construed into Christian emotion and zeal. SELF-LOVE AND CONFIDENCE may give us assurance that we are right when we are FAR from meeting the requirements of God’s Word.

“The Bible is full, clear and explicit; the CHARACTER of the true disciple of Christ is marked out with exactness. We must search the Scriptures, with humble hearts, trembling at the Word of God, IF WE WOULD NOT BE IN ANY WAY DECEIVED IN REGARD TO OUR TRUE CHARACTERS.

“There must be persevering effort to overcome SELFISHNESS and SELF-CONFIDENCE. Self-examination [introspection] must be thorough, that there be no danger of SELF-DECEPTION. A little catechizing of self on special occasions [such as altar calls in church, etc.] is NOT sufficient. DAILY examine the foundation of your hope, and see whether you are indeed in the LOVE OF CHRIST[not self].

Deal truly with your own hearts, for you cannot afford to run ANY RISK here. COUNT THE COST of being wholehearted Christian, and then gird on the armor [of Christ’s righteousness].” -Ibid, Testimonies, vol. 5, p. 322.

To be continued next MWM, God willing. Bless all, NMF.

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
September 6, 2023

God’s Saving Enmity
Part 34

THE AFFLICTIONS OF THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE TRUE GOSPEL

“The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry. . . Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.”

Ps. 34: 15, 19 (1-21).

“Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God.” 2 Tim. 1: 8, KJV. 

 “In every age God’s chosen MESSENGERS have been reviled and persecuted; yet through their affliction the knowledge of God has been spread abroad. . . .

“How often this result has been seen in the HISTORY of God’s messengers? When the noble and eloquent Stephen was stoned to death at the instigation of the Sanhedrin council, there was NO LOSS to the cause of the gospel. The light of heaven that glorified his face, the divine compassion breathed in his dying prayer, were as a SHARP ARROW OF CONVICTION to the bigoted Sanhedrist who stood by, and SAUL, the persecuting Pharisee, became a chosen vessel, to bear the name of Christ before Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel [the Jewish nation in Christ’s time and their national religion]. 

“And long afterward Paul the aged wrote from his PRISON HOUSE AT ROME: ‘Some indeed preach Christ even of ENVY AND STRIFE.....not sincerely, supposing to ADD AFFLICTION to my bonds.....Notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ [and His true gospel] is preached.’ (Phil. 1: 15, 16, 18). 

“Through Paul’s IMPRISONMENT the gospel was spread abroad, and souls were won for Christ in the very palace of the Caesars [the cruel and depraved emperors of pagan Rome who worshipped the sun]. By the efforts of Satan to DESTROY IT, ‘the incorruptible seed’ of the Word of God, ‘which liveth and abideth forever’ (1 Pet. 1:23), is sown in the hearts of men; THROUGH THE REPROACH AND PERSECUTION of His children, the name of Christ is MAGNIFIED, and souls are saved.” (All emphasis and bracketed words supplied)-E.G. White, Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, pp. 54-7. 

Who or what was the Sanhedrim, AKA Sanhedrin?
“An assembly convened for consultation, deliberation, advice, consideration, or agreement upon concerted action; in some cases, a permanent advisory, legislative, or administrative body. Various kinds of councils are referred to under different terms in the Bible, but nearly all the New Testament examples refer to a specific body, to which this discussion will be confined: the GREAT SANHEDRIN OF JERUSALEM, THE CHIEF JUDICIAL BODY OF THE JEWS for the Hellenistic period to A.D. 66…..

 “Authority. It was the highest judicial body in the country and had power over LIFE AND DEATH (Josephus’ Ant. xiv. 9, 3, 4; Matt. 26: 3, 4, 59, 66). However, during the administration of the Roman procurators, its death sentences had to be confirmed by the governor (John 18: 31), although this seems to have occasionally been circumvented (Acts 7: 58). The norm of its action was THE LAW OF MOSES AND THE  ORAL TRADITIONS that were pronouncements of leading Jewish scholars. It is generally agreed that the Roman administration also put in its hands the responsibility of collecting the taxes. The obligation was discharged by SELLING IT to tax purchasers or speculators, known as PUBLICANS in the NT.” SDA Bible Dictionary, Commentary Reference Series, Vol. 8, Review & Herald Pub. Asso., 1960, art. “Council.”

To be continued next MWM, God willing. Bless all, NMF.