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MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
November 13, 2024

The Third Person of the Godhead Series – Part 36

LOVE : THE FIRST ‘FRUIT’ OF THE HOLY SPIRIT (Part 9)

The gospel account of the youngest of the first Twelve who eternally bears the eternal distinction as “John the beloved” of Jesus, is unique among the four synoptic gospels in several aspects.

The outstanding ones are : 1) his is the most sublime presentation of the gospel, 2) dwells more fully on the LOVE of the invisible Father, as manifested “to the world, man, and angels,” in and through His “only-begotten,” both, as first, “Son of God” through whom He “created all things by Him and for Him,” and then, “Son of man,” verily God in the flesh, “the second Adam” in the “mystery of the incarnation,”
3) the coming of the Holy Spirit bearing the fulness of the Godhead” but “devoid of the personality of humanity and independent thereof,” as Christ’s only Successor and Vicegerent on earth after His ascension.

As John reveals that “the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are One” (1 John.5:7), he then writes that “God is LOVE, light, and life.” This is the love that Holy Spirit “bears fruit” in the lives of all true believers in whom He is abiding and dwelling because their “mind is the mind of Christ” (Phil. 2:5; ) and care for their “bodies as the temple of God and the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor. 3: 16, 17; 6:19, 20; 9:27:

Thus the love of the Father is that of the Son and the Holy Spirit. One love divine and excelling, one light of truth, and one life everlasting. We will quote portions of the “little John” epistles, highlighting this “love” and what it does.

 “Beloved, let us LOVE one another: for LOVE IS OF GOD; and everyone that loveth is BORN of God, and KNOWETH God. He that loveth NOT knoweth not God: for GOD IS LOVE. In this was manifested the love of God TOWARDS US, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might LIVE through Him. Herein is LOVE, not that we loved God, but that He LOVED US, and sent His Son to be the propitiation (atonement) for our sins. BELOVED, IF GOD SO LOVED US, WE OUGHT TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER. NO MAN HATH SEEN GOD AT ANY TIME [But] IF WE LOVE ONE ANOTHER, GOD DWELLETH IN US, and HIS LOVE IS PERFECTED IN US. Hereby we know that we dwell in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of HIS Holy] SPIRIT.” 1 John 4: 7-13, KJV.

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

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
September 27, 2023

God’s Saving Enmity
Part 37

ABSOLUTE UNRELENTING HATRED, NOT TOLERANCE OR COMPROMISE SHOULD EXIST BETWEEN MAN AND SATAN

God declared to Satan, disguised as the serpent and to Eve and Adam, after their fall in Eden: (all emphasis, bracketed words, and notes mine):

“‘I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it [the Seed of the woman] shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel’(Gen. 3:15, KJV). 

“The divine sentence pronounced against Satan after the fall of man, was also a PROPHECY, embracing all the ages to the close of time, and foreshadowing the GREAT CONFLICT TO ENGAGE ALL THE RACES OF MEN who should live upon the earth.

“God declares, ‘I will put enmity.’ This enmity is NOT NATURALLY ENTERTAINED. When man [beginning with Eve and Adam] transgressed the divine law, HIS NATURE [instantly] BECAME EVIL [he then ‘knew evil’ aside from ‘good’], and he was IN HARMONY, and NOT IN VARIANCE, with Satan. There exists naturally no enmity between sinful man and the originator of sin. BOTH BECAME EVIL THROUGH APOSTASY. The apostate [whether Satan and his seed or apostate man and his seed] IS NEVER AT REST, except as he OBTAINS SYMPATHY AND SUPPORT by inducing others to follow his example. For this reason, FALLEN ANGELS AND WICKED MEN unite in desperate [not loving or harmonious] companionship. 

NOTE: As ‘Misery loves company,’ and ‘like begets like,’ thusly ‘birds of the same feather flock together.’ In the end they are all “caged together’ as ‘every hateful birds.’ See Rev. 18.

“Had not God SPECIALLY INTERPOSED, Satan and man would have entered into an ALLIANCE AGAINST HEAVEN; and instead of cherishing enmity against Satan, the WHOLE HUMAN FAMILY would have been united in opposition to God. [Then it could’ve and would’ve not only been the ‘United States and Nations’ but the United Earth Against God and Heaven!].

“Satan tempted man to sin, AS HE HAD caused angels [1/3 of the angelic host in heaven] to rebel, that he might thus secure the CO-OPERATION in his warfare against Heaven. There was NO DISSENSION between himself and fallen angels AS REGARDS THEIR HATRED [enmity] OF CHRIST; while on ALL OTHER POINTS THERE WAS DISCORD; they were firmly united in opposing the AUTHORITY of the Ruler of the universe.

“But when Satan heard the declaration that enmity should exist between himself and the woman, and between his seed and her seed, he KNEW that his efforts to DEPRAVE HUMAN NATURE WOULD BE INTERRUPTED [not eliminated]; that by SOME MEANS  man was to be ENABLED to resist his power.” -E. G. White, Great Controversy, original 1884 edition, Vol. 4 Conflict of the Ages series, Pacific Press and Review & Herald, Facsimile Reproduction ISBN O-8280-0575-3ch. XXV, pp. 324-5. 

Diligent and humble students of God’s Word know that (1) Satan immediately knew that his plans to deprave human nature beginning with Adam and Eve after their fall, would be interrupted, not instantly eliminated and that [by ‘some means’ fallen, sinful mankind would be enabled and empowered to resist his terrible power of deception in the “mystery of iniquity,” as he so successfully did with 1/3 of the angelic host in heaven.

This “some means” is the “mystery of godliness” in the enabling divine power of God’s saving grace in the comprehensive plan of redemption of the Gospel, given in the simple yet meaningful sanctuary doctrine that was to unfold in type and shadowy symbols and their types and substance progressively through the successive generations and dispensations “till all be fulfilled” in “His appointed time.”

We are living in the waning hours of mankind’s probation, “the most solemn hours of earth’s history,” the antitypical day of atonement of the investigative or pre-advent judgment. Are you a sleeping “wise” or “foolish” virgin? The antitypical “midnight cry” that will reach its stupendous climax in the final “loud cry of the fourth angel” of Revelation 18 has been sounding.

“He that hath ears let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.” “Today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts” for your own salvation’s sake and for God’s glory!

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

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:
October 29

THE SANCTUARY DOCTRINE EXPLAINS THE WAY OF SALVATION OF THE GOSPEL (Part 35)

Here’s more of the profound truths unfolded at the antitypical altar of sacrifice, where and when Christ, the suffering, the Creator incarnate, the only-begotten Son and Lamb of God was crucified, that have been mysteriously ignored or studiously avoided, both fatal errors!

Magnifying on the Biblical accounts regarding these events, the inspired pen continues (all emphasis mine):

“RELIGIOUS LEADERS [of the nation] united with Satan and his angels. They were doing his bidding. Jesus, suffering and dying, heard every word as the PRIESTS declared, ‘He saved others; Himself He cannot save. Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe.’ BUT IT IS BECAUSE HE WOULD NOT SAVE HIMSELF THAT THE [humble, repentant] SINNER HAS HOPE OF PARDON [forgiveness or justification] AND FAVOR WITH GOD.

“In their mockery of the Savior, THE MEN WHO PROFESSED TO BE EXPOUNDERS OF PROPHECY were repeating the very words which Inspiration had foretold [not foreordained or predestined] they would utter upon this occasion! Yet in their [spiritual] BLINDNESS they did not see that THEY were fulfilling the prophecy. Those who in DERISION uttered the words, ‘He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now, if He will have Him: for He said, I am the Son of God’, little thought that their testimony would SOUND down the ages.

“But although spoken in mockery, THESE WORDS led men to SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES as they had never done before! WISE MEN HEARD, SEARCHED, PONDERED, AND PRAYED. There were those who never rested until by COMPARING SCRIPTURE WITH SCRIPTURE [see Isa. 28:9-13], they saw the meaning of Christ’s mission.

“NEVER BEFORE WAS THERE SUCH A GENERAL KNOWLEDGE OF JESUS AS WHEN HE HUNG UPON THE CROSS. Into the hearts of many who beheld the CRUCIFIXION SCENE, and who heard Christ’s words, the LIGHT OF TRUTH was shining.” – E. G. White, Desire of Ages, p. 749.

(To be continued). Bless all, NMF.

July & August: The Decalogue Before and After Sinai – Part II has been added to Monthly Studies