Tag: God

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
January 4, 2023

GOD’S SAVING ENMITY

It’s already the fourth day of the new year 2023. If you have already started implementing whatever resolutions, quickly yet prayerfully add this “new principle,” which, in fact and truth, is as “old and ancient” as the fall in Eden but is as potent as when first given, and even more critically vital as we near the stupendous closing events of the great controversy between good and evil laid out in the closing chapters of the prophecies of Daniel and the Revelation.

Instill this divine principle in your heart and mind and inject it into your mental and spiritual arsenal of the “whole armor of God”(Eph. 6: 10-18).

See Gen. 3: 15. Enmity is a translation from the Hebrew and Greek words that means hatred; trouble; agitation; variance; hostility; a reason for opposition.”

It was God Creator who put this new principle of enmity or hatred between Satan and man immediately after the fall—the first of all PROVISIONS that accompany all of His promises and prophecies.

“[Gen. 3: 15 quoted]. 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 races of men who should live upon the earth.

“God declares, ‘I will put enmity.’ THIS ENMITY IS NOT NATURALLY ENTERTAINED. When man transgressed the divine law [hence sinned and fell in Eden], his nature [instantly] became EVIL, and he was IN HARMONY, and NOT IN VARIANCE, with Satan. [This is part of the ponderous “mystery of iniquity” or sin].

“There exists naturally NO ENMITY between sinful man and the originator of sin [Satan, the enemy of God and man, “the father of lies and murderer from the beginning;” the “old serpent;” the devil]. Both became evil through APOSTASY [a falling away from the truth, disobedience and rebellion against God’s law].

The apostate is NEVER AT REST [never has Christ’s peace “that passeth understanding”], 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 COMPANIONSHIP.

“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.” (From the inspired pen of E. G. White, Great Controversy, 1911 ed., Pacific Press Publishing Asso., p. 505. All emphasis and words in brackets mine).

To be continued next MWM, God willing. Remain blessed and “strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.” NMF

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
December 21, 2022

THE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS UNVEILED BEFORE THE EYES OF MAN AND ANGELS IN GOD INCARNATE IN A MANGER OF ANIMALS

First, you can, if you will, find time in your multi-layered, multi-tasking hectic and stressful schedules during these unprecedented, mind-boggling times, to literally take a pause. Take your Bible (preferably the KJV or NKJV) and read, “pondering in your heart,” the following verses in this order, focusing on the “Seed of the woman”: Genesis 3:15; Galatians 4: 4, 5; John 3:16: Matthew 1: 21-23.

Then follow these scriptures (all emphasis and bracketed words mine]:
“And without controversy, GREAT IS THE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS: GOD WAS MANIFEST IN THE FLESH, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels [both the holy and the fallen angel-demons], preached [first to His own people, the Jews, then to the] Gentiles, believed on in the world [by the true believers], received up into glory [after His death, resurrection, and ascension].” 1 Tim. 3: 16, KJV.

If we are truly convinced and fully convicted that Christ indeed is the REASON we celebrate the Christmas SEASON, then our most precious thoughts and affections would center upon the glorious revelation of the great mystery of godliness, when, according to the plan of redemption, God Creator was manifested “before man and angels” as the promised “Seed of the woman,” made in the flesh and blood nature of man four thousand years after the Fall in Eden.

Love divine and love excelling, unfolded in the humblest yet immaculately-pure and majestic simplicity of the birth of the only begotten Son of God into the Son of man, when and where divinity was manifest in humanity in the unfallen universe in greatest act of divine condescension—-the incarnation!

Without ever ceasing to be God, the Creator became a Man to walk among men for thirty-three and a half years, beginning as every human does “according to natural law, an infant “born of a woman” but of a virgin birth,” Mary being “overshadowed by the Holy Spirit.”

In the Incarnation God Bound Himself to Humanity with Ties that can Never be Broken.

“In STOOPING to take upon Himself HUMANITY, Christ [the Creator] revealed a character OPPOSITE the character of Satan [the fallen covering cherub, Lucifer]. But He stepped STILL LOWER in the path of humiliation. [Phil. 2:8].

“Christ was treated as WE deserve, that we might be treated as HE deserves. He was condemned for OUR sins, which He had no share, that we might be justified [forgiven; pardoned] by His righteousness, in which we had no share, He suffered the DEATH which was OURS, that we might receive the LIFE which was HIS. ‘With His stripes we are healed.’. . . .

“In taking our nature, the Savior has bound Himself to humanity by a tie that is never to be broken. Through the eternal ages He is LINKED with us [John 3:16 quoted]. He [the Father] gave Him NOT only to BEAR our sins, and to DIE as our sacrifice; HE GAVE HIMSELF TO THE HUMAN RACE. [God gave divinity to to humanity, even to the depths of fallen humanity].

“To assure us of His IMMUTABLE COUNSEL OF PEACE [Zech. 6:13; Heb. 6:17), God gave His only-begotten Son to BECOME ONE OF THE HUMAN FAMILY, FOREVER TO RETAIN HIS HUMAN NATURE.” E.G. White, Desire of Ages, pp. 25-6 (emphasis mine).

In the incarnation, as visibly manifested in Christ’s birth, fallen humanity gained a new member of its family—the sinless “second Adam.” He partook of and will forever retain the human nature which He did not possess prior to the incarnation. And yet He never gave up His divinity. He who is “the same yesterday, today, and forever,” the “great I am,” “who changeth not,” never ceased to be God Creator when He became the Man Christ Jesus, the Savior of mankind whose promised second advent “draweth nigh: even at the door!”

It is only when we hold these profound, precious and glorious truths close to our hearts that we will truly understand, appreciate, and receive the specific blessings enfolded in the grand anthem sang by the celestial choir over the plains of Bethlehem at Christ’s birth. “Glory to God,‘peace on earth and good will towards man!”

Bless all, NMF.

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:

May 4, 2022

GOD’S LAW REVEALS THE EXCLUSIVELY ALL-ENCOMPASSING, INFINITELY INEXHAUSTIBLE AND UNEQUALLED POWER OF THE GODHEAD

What kind of power is this? The power of love, the power of wisdom, the power of creation, the power of redemption embodied in the comprehensive plan of redemption as taught in the sanctuary and its services, the power of His sacrificial atonement and His atoning blood shed for the remission and cleansing of sins repented of and confessed to Christ, the power of His enabling grace that is “greater than sin wherever it abounds;” the power to “overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil” in the same way Christ overcame in His incarnated human nature as “the second Adam;” the power to see the invisible by intelligent and living faith; the power to discern and understand the “deep mysteries of God” by the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit in His holy Word; the power to “please God” in all that we think, say, and do while yet in the sinful fallen nature and mortal state, as Enoch (the seventh patriarch from Adam) did and was translated to heaven without tasting death; the power to “fight the battle of the Lord where champions are few; the power to “do all things” that God desires and expects of us “through Christ who strengthens us;” the power to become “living epistles seems and read by all men,” and “spectacles unto the world, men, and angels” as “new creatures” in Christ Jesus” having been amazingly “transformed by the renewing of the mind,” in the midst and in spite of overwhelming odds to the contrary; the power to think, speak, and act “in the image and likeness” of Christ’s life example through His amazing, empowering grace! 

Character is power and the Law is a Transcript of Christ’s Character.

“Apostle Paul did not represent either the moral [Ten Commandments] or the ceremonial law as MINISTERS [pastors, theologians, and Bible teachers in the Christian mainstream] in our day venture to do so. Some cherish such antipathy to the law of God that they will go out of their way to denounce and stigmatize it! Thus they despise and pour contempt on the MAJESTY AND GLORY OF GOD. 

“The moral law was NEVER a type of a shadow. If existed BEFORE man’s creation, and will endure as long as GOD’s THRONE REMAINS. God could NOT change or alter one precept of His law in order to save [fallen] man, for THE LAW IS THE FOUNDATION OF HIS GOVERNMENT. It is UNCHANGEABLE, UNALTERABLE, INFINITE, AND ETERNAL. 

“In order for man to be saved, and for the HONOR of the law to be maintained, it was necessary for the Son of God to offer Himself as a sacrifice for sin. ‘He who knew NO sin BECAME sin for us.’ He died for us on Calvary. His death shows the wonderful LOVE of God for man, and the IMMUTABILITY of His law!

“We all, with open face beholding as in a glass (or mirror) the glory of the Lord, are CHANGED into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the [Holy] Spirit of the Lord’ (2 Cor. 3:18). Christ is the sinner’s advocate. Those who accept HIS GOSPEL ‘behold Him with open face.’ [Meaning] They see the RELATION of His mission [on earth] to the law, and they acknowledge God’s wisdom and glory as revealed by the Savior. 
THE GLORY OF CHRIST IS REVEALED IN THE LAW, which is the transcript of His character and His TRANSFORMING EFFICACY is felt upon the soul UNTIL man become changed to His likeness! They are made ‘PARTAKERS OF THE DIVINE NATURE, and grow more and more like their Savior, ADVANCING step by step in CONFORMITY to the will of God till they reach PERFECTION [of moral character]. 

“The Law and the Gospel are in perfect harmony. Each upholds the other. In all its MAJESTY the law confronts the CONSCIENCE, causing the sinner to feel his NEED of Christ as the PROPITIATION [atonement] for his sin. The GOSPEL recognizes the POWER and immutability of the law. ‘I had not known sin, but by the law,’ Paul declares (Rom. 7:7). 

The SENSE OF SIN, URGED HOME [to the conscience] BY THE LAW, DRIVES THE SINNER TO THE SAVIOR.” (E. G. White, Vol. 1 Selected Messages, pp. 239-241. Emphasis mine).

Till next week’s MWM, God willing. Bless all, NMF