Category: Monthly Studies

the false prophets that have and will continue to arise, causing confusion, assuring salvation in sin, and causing shipwreck of faith. But it is not difficult to know if a message is from above: if it exposes the true nature of sin, reveals the perfect righteousness of Christ, and slays it in the heart of the convicted sinner.

      “In His Word, God has committed to men the knowledge necessary for salvation. The Holy Scriptures [the Bible] are to be accepted as an authoritative, infallible revelation of His will. They are the standard of character, the revealer of doctrines, and the test of experience.

          Yet the fact that God has revealed His will to men through His Word, has not rendered needless the continued presence and guiding of the Holy Spirit. . . .

     It is therefore difficult to understand how those who claim to be “New Testament Christians” say that there is no judgment in open contradiction to this passage, among others, that so clearly warn of God’s righteous judgments and its nature.

    We read in Matthew 17: 1-7 and Mark 9:2-8 that after six days (the number of man), Jesus was transfigured. He first takes with Him to the mount three witnesses—Peter, James and John. These three disciples, in turn, also witness two other living witnesses who represent the two classes of people who will enter heaven: Moses, “the meekest of all men” (Num. 12: 3, 7) who first tasted the first death because of one sin (Num. 20:10, 11; Deut. 32: 48-52; 34: 1-50, but was resurrected, and Elijah, who was translated to heaven without tasting death. Both Enoch, the seventh patriarch from Adam and Elijah represent the 144,000–who will be formed when the last of all tests upon mankind will be given in the enforcement of the mark of the beast before probation closes,  and will be similarly translated.

The Two Witnesses of the Holy Scriptures

   In Revelation 11: 2-12 Jesus revealed to John at Patmos His “two witnesses”—the Old and the New Testaments which were also shown in vision to the prophet Zechariah as the two olive trees and the two candlesticks. The Old Testament, comprised of “the law and the prophets,” Jesus referred to as “the

     Instructing Timothy, the youngest apostle, Paul wrote: “Do not receive an accusation against an elder except from two or three witnesses. Those who are sinning [openly] rebuke in the presence of all, that the rest also may fear.” 1 Tim. 5:19, 20.

On the meaning of “witness,” or martures, Dr. John Davies in A Dictionary of the Bible (The Westminster Press, PA, 1942) says:

          “Evidence which could be appealed to was secured by some tangible token or memorial, as a heap of stones (Gen. 31: 46-52), or by calling in men to witness the event (23:10-18), by a written document, as a deed or letter of divorce (Deut. 24: 1, 3; Jer. 32: 10).

harmony with what the Holy Scriptures say about the matter. This is not to say, however, that proffered opinions are to not to entertained in any discussions. They are, however, to be subject to the principle enunciated here as guided by the Holy Spirit and done in the humble and spirit of true investigation of truth.

The following verses are where this principle is repeated (all quoted from the New King James Version):

“Whoever is worthy of death shall be put to death on the testimony of two or three witnesses, but he shall not be put to death on the testimony of one witness.” Deut. 17:6.  “One witness shall not against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits; by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established.” ch. 19:15.

thereby lessened, much less its binding claims done away with as preposterously claimed by many as to have been “nailed to the cross.”  Many somehow forget or deliberately ignore one fact, among many others when discussing the Sabbath topic, and that is, Jesus was born of Jewish parents, was circumcised according to the Jewish custom on the eighth day, grew up, died, and resurrected—all in the only seventh-day Sabbath-keeping people of His time—the Jewish nation. At His crucifixion, the “tipping point of eternity,” the sacred record says: “The superscription over His accusation was written over these words” in Greek, Latin, and Hebrew, testifying to all and for eternity that Jesus was “KING OF THE JEWS.” Mark 15: 26;  Luke 23: 38.

    As to what day of the week the Sabbath was and is, at that time, was never in doubt or subject to debate.  But something else was definitely a problem, causing the Sabbath to be profaned and made unholy, and it was not because another day, particularly the first day of the week was being observed. Christ’s prophesied work as “the Lord of the Sabbath,” of “magnifying the law and making it honorable” was to introduce a major overhaul in the manner, way, and spirit the Jewish nation, His chosen people then, was keeping the Sabbath.

given by eyewitnesses, is but an echo of the words of the Lord, recorded by the prophet Joel, 25 hundred years previous to their fulfillment. ‘The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come.’ Joel 2:31.’ ” (See Great Controversy, pp. 306-308).

     So do we conclude that it was only in the creation of earth that God created physical light? Was there therefore no light in the universe before God created the earth? What about in the other worlds (Heb. 1:2)? If man was the crowning act of creation according to inspiration, wouldn’t it follow that the other worlds with their sinless inhabitants were created before earth was? If darkness has never been in Heaven and in the other worlds, except on earth before it was made and especially after the fall six thousand years ago, then what light is it that lights both Heaven and the other worlds? We know the celestial glory of the Father lights up the whole of heavens from His person and His throne. But as to the light there, if there is any other than that of the Father, is it any different from the light that was “created or made” on the first day of the six-day Creation week on Earth?

the world. The light that rejoices the eyes of all mankind is the light that is shed on them from Christ. The visible is to teach us of the invisible. From the natural we are to learn of the spiritual. The physical light that shines in the world is designed to teach us that God is light, and that spiritual light from Him shines as freely for all, and is none the less real. ‘Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness’ (Ps. 112:4), so that He may say, ‘Rejoice not against Me, O Mine enemy: when I shall fall, I shall arise: when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto Me.’ Micah 7:8.

          Christ is the light of the world. So we read that when He went into Galilee the words of the prophet concerning the region were fulfilled: ‘The land of Zebulun, and the land of Naphtali, toward the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; the people which sat in darkness saw a great light, and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death, to them did light spring up.’ Matt.  4: 15, 16, R.V. Sin is darkness. It comes from the prince of darkness, and it brings darkness. The Word of the Lord is light; but that was virtually hidden from the people when the Lord came to earth. Men wise in their own conceit [Prov. 26:5, 12] had taken upon themselves the ‘interpretation’ of the law of God, and, as a consequence, had covered it up. They had taken away the key of knowledge. Even thus it was in the Middle Ages, which are generally known as the Dark Ages, for then the Bible was a proscribed [forbidden] book. It was imprisoned in the dark cell, and its rays did not enlighten the people. Men groped for light, and did not know which way to go. The knowledge of God well-nigh departed from the land; for even the priests whose lips should keep knowledge, were ignorant of the Living Oracles. Satan had caused false ideas of God and the right to prevail.

Study for the Month January 2010

Spiritual Lessons from Number Two

Part III

By Nathaniel Fajardo

Dedicated to Promoting the Pioneer View of the Pillars of Adventism of the Everlasting Gospel

Email:[email protected]

    “Let there be light.” – Light here is the Hebrew owr, meaning, “illumination or luminary, in every sense.” This is in contrast to the “greater light,” the sun, and the “lesser light,” the moon (Gen. 1:16) which is ma’owr, meaning, a luminous body; light as and element, specifically a chandelier. Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary.

     In last month’s issue of this series we considered what that light was that was created or made on the first day of Creation week when God said “Let there be light, and there was light.” I will here quote from E.J. Waggoner in his work “The Gospel in Creation” that was part of his messages along with A.T. Jones in the special light they brought to the denomination on the topic of righteousness by faith in what is often referred to as “The 1888 Message” (emphasis and commentary mine):