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What is the New Theology Part 14
Conclusion
Authored by Pr. Larry Kirkpatrick and published on GreatControversy.org on November 9, 2004
To our generation—and to our youth—much has been given. And much will be required. We are no longer under the Hebrew theocracy. In our day as in no other, personal opportunity to serve God and to learn of Him is unparalleled. Whereas in other ages responsibility has fallen mostly upon adults, in our day young people carry a greatly increased accountability. The youth of today are largely emancipated, freed from the shackles of limited knowledge. Compared to ages past, our young people have opportunities for study, for prayer and spiritual growth like no other generation has ever had. The faithful youth in Daniel’s day were carried away into captivity; the faithful youth in our own day may be the ones who lead us into the heavenly Canaan! But there are some issues we must understand.
A Meaningful Role for Humanity or Not?
To begin with, we need to know whether or not Heaven from the beginning has hard-coded the great controversy. Has God pre-arranged and pre-destined every element of the conflict between good and evil? Did our Father create a dualistic universe to fulfill His eternal purposes? For if God has pre-arranged the whole drama between good and evil, and humans have no participatory portion in the ultimate outcome, then there is little point in having a conflict at all. But before we ask if there can be a delay in the Second Coming of Jesus, we need to ask, Why didn’t God just finish this conflict the first day it began? Why not just erase the memory of every being that He had made and start over? None would have been the wiser.
But then, that’s the problem, isn’t it? Nothing fundamental would have been learned. You see, if God can, in the end, throw up His hands and tell the universe “OK, it is true; I have never really been able to change human beings through My gospel of grace. But I’m going to end this thing anyway,” then all of the suffering and sorrow for 6000 years past was in vain. Yet that cannot be. Scripture says that the creation was only made subject to the effects of sin within the context of hope for restoration (Romans 8:20). The whole creation is trapped in bitter impact from the conflict, waiting in hopeful expectation for that day when the gospel is at last conclusively manifested through the sons and daughters of God (Romans 8:22, 19).
But all is reduced to a meaningless torture if the outcome is merely a predetermined script. If so, then what use to invest 6000 years in the matter? The very fact that heaven has invested such a vast reservoir of time, energy, and interest into facilitating the concrete demonstration of righteousness and of evil warns that there is a significant part that God would have us play in the proceedings! The whole of the matter cannot be hard-wired, or the conflict is merely the equivalent of a video-taped program: finished, unalterable, un-influencible, predetermined. The great controversy, if it is thus, is no more than a mandatory torture for all of the universe.
But it is not that.
God is all powerful, and thus could force the outcome to go His way. But this is not about power. It is about morality, ideas, and truth. Raw, overpowering might cannot conclusively decide such a conflict. Consider 2 Peter 3:9-12:
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
The Bible does not say, “You are purchased with a price: Therefore, sit back and watch the conflict like a movie.” Rather, “You are bought with a price: therefore glorify God…” (1 Corinthians 6:20). Notice the teaching of 2 Peter 3:9-12:
- God is not lazy about His promise (2 Peter 3:9).
- He is giving every opportunity for repentance (2 Peter 3:9).
- The day of the Lord will come, and judgment against evil will be fully carried-out (2 Peter 3:10).
- With our awareness of this, we are called to live in a holy manner (2 Peter 3:11).
- We are to look toward and speed-up the arrival of the day of promise (2 Peter 3:12).
From these points we extract the following principles: Heaven urges us to live in a way that morally harmonizes with His government. Living this way can accelerate the time when Jesus returns. Which immediately leads to the question: Why?
Who Has Seen God?
It is worth our wondering why God has centered the conflict here. What differences are there between us and every other being in the universe? One is that we have all sinned and very few of them have. But another is that they have all seen God; they have all, every one of them looked into the face of God, directly, and beheld His unveiled, streaming glory. They have seen goodness at its source. They have looked into the most unselfish eyes in all that is. And some have seen all of the riches of what God is, and still said, “No. I’ll not have this loving, unselfish and giving Being to rule over me.” When you have seen it all and rejected ultimate kindness, how do you develop faith?
But, you and I, we can develop faith. We have seen God by faith. But much remains to see. We haven’t seen it all yet. “Been there, done that,” is something we can never authentically utter when it comes to the beauty of what God is. God is love (1 John 4:8). And “love never faileth” (1 Corinthians 13:10). And if this love will never cease, then who among us can say they’ve plumbed the depths and seen enough?
Don’t you realize that the only way that the fallen angels could be legitimately condemned is if they have committed the unpardonable sin? They have seen the brightest light and built up a numbing spiritual callous so thick that they have utterly and entirely deadened their spiritual faculty to the influence of God. Before God condemned the rebel angels, He shed upon them in the most wise and careful manner all of His glory that they could stand. Surely heaven left no stone unturned in trying to reach them!
What more could He do than show them all that He is? What reserve power does He have for helping them? But we live out our lives under a darker light. Our world is veiled. We do not see very well or very clearly. Heaven still has mighty revelations for us, if we are willing to receive them. We can learn and grow and develop trust in our unseen Creator.
So you see, it is true, we do stand in a different relation to God than any other beings in the universe. You look out into the sky at night and you see the stars. You wonder what’s out there. But it works the other way too! Some of those points of light may have planets orbiting round populated by beings looking our direction, and wondering ever-so-curiously how our race could have rebelled against God? Their eyes open in awe at the mercy and power of the Creator expressed to us, the wonder of grace. This is a mystery friends, that we get to live—the fullness of the plan of redemption. We Get to Live It.
And so Jesus didn’t go somewhere out there, but He came right here, and set up His tent here on this rebel planet in a human body (John 1:1-3, 14). He came to seek and save the lost. Obviously then, “the lost” are seekable and saveable!
See, Jesus can kindle faith in our dark hearts. He can light the fire of faith in a race that has never seen God face-to-face. Humanity can do something—can help all of the beings in the universe understand something that no other race can. No other creatures made by God have stood in the place where do we. What about the fallen angels? Oh, they are very different than us. From their initial creation they apparently do not experience sexuality as we do, do not have fathers or mothers, do not have children, or experience childhood. They are created physically mature. The first thing they ever saw was the glowing face of their Creator. They cannot do what we can do: learn to live by faith in our heavenly Father.
We Are the Test-Case
Because of this, we are the test case for God’s grace. We present to the universe a unique laboratory for the working out of good and of evil.
Seventh-day Adventists are probably the most studied religious group there has ever been. In a scientific study, to isolate what makes a difference, you need an experimental group and a control group. Both groups are subject to the same factors, except for the variable being tested. Physicians and scientists have studied the health effects of the diet of Seventh-day Adventists as the experimental group and compared the data to that of the control group who eat the typical American diet. The results have been fascinating. But this interest is merely a microcosm. Come to a whole different level. The universe is watching the earth. Here again we have two groups.
Experimental results may be obtained by looking into the lives of those who let God in and keep Satan out, versus those who keep God out and let Satan in. Who’s right, God or Satan? Measure the groups when it’s all said and done and the universe will know. I’m sure they are brilliant mathematicians out there; if they needed to measure tiny fractions they could do it. But they won’t need to. The outcome will be plain to all.
Selfishness or selflessness is concretized in our lives. We’re showing who truly is in charge. We are living-out the evidence-story of God and of the great controversy. We even get to “write” our own ending in the sense that we freely choose whom to trust: God, or ourselves. Inevitably, we must be either radical humanists or radical theists. Jesus is “Exhibit A,” of that there is no question. But we are “Exhibit B.”
What does the evidence show?
Why Standards?
Sometimes we wonder why the Church has “standards.” Why does the Bible make any mention of how we are to appear, what we eat, whether we return tithe and give offerings, or whether what we let penetrate our senses makes any difference? After all, “man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).
But that’s really the reason why there are standards. Because the Lord looks on our heart, He reveals to us the points of indulgence where we are damaging ourselves. Remember, the Bible says that the thoughts that God has toward us are thoughts “of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11 NKJV). What is written in The Desire of Ages is so true: “God reveals to us the plague spots in our characters, that by His grace we may overcome our faults… God’s ways are ways of mercy and the end is salvation” (The Desire of Ages, p. 301).
Jesus called these things repeatedly to mind. Do you remember the fellow with the wonderful crop-yield? And what was his solution? “I will build bigger barns to hold it all.” He was too selfish and indulgent to share the bounty. He kept it for himself. But God said he was actually a fool, because thinking he was rich, that night that man would close his probation (Luke 12:16-21). But often we treat our own future with equal blindness and indifference. What was the rich man doing? Accentuating the positive. And we have our “riches.” What are yours? Your possessions? Your wealth? Your family? Your beauty? Your hobby? Your hubby? What are you keeping for and building up for yourself?
Jesus Our Helper
Jesus said that if we would be His disciples, we must be willing to give up all. Not because He wants to take it all away from us, but because if we set our heart upon it then it will become a god to us, and it will be the means of our destruction. Because as soon as something acquires that much “pull” on us, Satan has a lever to destroy us. So Jesus comes gently to us, and He puts His hands upon ours, and if we will let Him, He will carefully apply His strength and help us pry our hands off of the wire that is electrocuting us and crispening our soul.
And don’t think that He doesn’t feel it. Remember, “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5).
Jesus suffered unselfishly for us. He presented compelling evidence to the universe that God’s ways really are best. But the devil hopes that it will all stop right there. He redoubles his efforts to block and to distract us from living out what Jesus is like, because if we do, then God will have His “Exhibit B” evidence, and an enduring, compelling case for His vindication will have been made. This is where we stand when we get to the bottom line.
Character Witnesses for God
Consider this:
Unselfishness, the principle of God’s kingdom, is the principle that Satan hates; its very existence he denies. From the beginning of the great controversy he has endeavored to prove God’s principles of action to be selfish, and he deals in the same way with all who serve God. To disprove Satan’s claim is the work of Christ and of all who bear His name (Education, p. 154).
Thus we see that it is a real part of heaven’s mission for us to cooperate with Jesus in disproving the idea that God is selfish. This is as much a part of our work as the great commission (Matthew 28:18-20). In fact, it is “built-in” to it! Thus when the watchers, be they humans or angels or whomever, turn their gaze upon us, it is exceedingly legitimate for them to expect to see people who are different from the picture that Satan has presented to the universe.
Satan put forth the claim that God is selfish and His people are selfish too. But, he says, no one, not even God, operates unselfishly, and that actual unselfishness is a fiction that does not exist. Our adversary is gambling that even God will be unable to produce witnesses to unselfishness.
Those witnesses have, so far, been few.
God Has a Number in Mind: 144,000
Oh, there have been witnesses. There has been and continues to be a continuing line of Enochs; but only a tiny trickle of witnesses spun out through time. Satan can still point to each of them and claim, “this is an aberration, and besides, God didn’t let me really lay my temptations on this person. God can’t produce a large group who all are this way.” And so God has announced that He will produce, at the end of time, a large group completely willing to follow the Lamb Jesus where ever He goes—completely willing to be made unselfish like Him (Revelation 14:1-5). They will sing “a new song” before the throne (Revelation 14:3). A song that, we understand “none but the hundred and forty-four thousand can learn,” because “it is the song of their experience—an experience such as no other company has ever had” (The Great Controversy, p. 649).
Have people been ready before? Yes, but not in quantity. But in the end-time God combines empowering with quantity. Heaven will thus demonstrate that the gospel of God is not a fluke—not just a machine that sometimes works and sends a few encouraging bubbles up to the top. He will produce—in His people—the evidence that perfects His case for unselfishness. And only then will our Father say, “The defense rests its case.”
When we live in a way that harmonizes morally with God’s government, it makes a difference to the universe, because it shows all who are watching that God is telling the truth about sin and Satan is lying about it.
But we haven’t considered the other question: Can we accelerate the Second Coming of Jesus? Or delay it? What do we mean when we speak of a “delay” in the context of an all-knowing, all-powerful God?
“Delay” means not that God was caught unawares and changed His plans, but that He knowingly incorporated human interaction into His plan to demonstrate the power of unselfishness and the evil of selfishness to the universe, and that it was possible to end the conflict previous to this had His people chosen to demonstrate those principles. “Delay” does not mean that God had to stop everything in its tracks, but that in order to render the universe secure from sin once and for all, He chose to permit us to bring everything to a halt. And that makes sense. After all, had you invested 6000 years in making a point, and the payoff would be infinite love and peace, you too might be willing to invest a few more decades in the project rather than nullifying it all in the closing moment of the home stretch!
Ancient Lessons and Missed Opportunities
Consider the evidence of Numbers 32:15: “For if ye turn away from after Him, He will yet again leave them in the wilderness; and ye shall destroy all this people.”
As Israel ended its wilderness wanderings and drew near the promised land again, the tribes of Reuben and Gad determined that the land east of Jordan was ideal for their animals. They decided to seek their inheritance there. The remainder of the nation was approached with the plan that Reuben and Gad would settle on the east of Jordan.
Moses sharply reproved them. “Shall your brethren go to war, and shall ye sit here?” But the lecture wasn’t over…
Wherefore discourage ye the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land which the LORD hath given them? Thus did your fathers, when I sent them from Kadesh barnea to see the land. For when they went up unto the valley of Eshcol, and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the children of Israel, that they should not go into the land which the Lord had given them. And the Lord’s anger was kindled the same time (Numbers 32:7-10).
Moses next reminded them of the very event that had precipitated the 40 years of wilderness wandering:
And He sware, saying, Surely none of the men that came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob; because they have not wholly followed Me: Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite, and Joshua the son of Nun: for they have wholly followed the LORD. And the Lord’s anger was kindled against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation, that had done evil in the sight of the Lord, was consumed. And, behold, ye are risen up in your fathers’ stead, an increase of sinful men, to augment yet the fierce anger of the Lord toward Israel (Numbers 32:10-14).
But the tribes of Reuben and Gad promised that they would not sit back but that they would go and fight the wars of Israel with their fellow tribes until they had subdued the land, and only then return to their chosen inheritance east of Jordan. Their promise was accepted. But not before Moses had uttered the dire warning: “for if ye turn away from after Him, He will yet again leave them in the wilderness; and ye shall destroy all this people.”
The warning is clear. God gave these no free passage, no change in conditions their ancestors had faced. Obedience was still requisite to enter into their inheritance. If not, then just as the previous generation that was consumed in the wilderness, “for if ye turn away from after Him, He will yet again leave them in the wilderness; and ye shall destroy all this people.” The result of their disobedience would have been the sure destruction of all the people.
Some very plain statements in the writings of Ellen G. White help us understand a similar risk before us today.
In 1883 she wrote:
Had Adventists, after the great disappointment of 1844, held fast their faith, and followed on unitedly in the opening providence of God, receiving the message of the third angel and in the power of the Holy Spirit proclaiming it to the world, they would have seen the salvation of God, the Lord would have wrought mightily with their efforts, the work would have been completed, and Christ would have come ere this to receive His people to their reward…. It was not the will of God that the coming of Christ should be thus delayed. God did not design that His people, Israel, should wander forty years in the wilderness…. The same sins have delayed the entrance of modern Israel into the heavenly Canaan. In neither case were the promises of God at fault. It is the unbelief, the worldliness, unconsecration, and strife among the Lord’s professed people that have kept us in this world of sin and sorrow so many years (Selected Messages, vol. 1, pp. 67-69).
In 1900 she wrote:
Christ is waiting with longing desire for the manifestation of Himself in His church. When the character of Christ shall be perfectly reproduced in His people, then He will come to claim them as His own. It is the privilege of every Christian not only to look for, but to hasten the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Were all who profess His name bearing fruit to His glory, how quickly the whole world would be sown with the seed of the gospel. Quickly the last great harvest would be ripened, and Christ would come to gather the precious grain (Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 69).
In 1901 she wrote:
We may have to remain here in this world because of insubordination many more years, as did the children of Israel; but for Christ’s sake, His people should not add sin to sin by charging God with their own wrong course of action (Evangelism, p. 696).
Those are very plain words. Our spiritual forefathers delayed the second coming of Jesus. No question about it. The questions we must answer are, (1) how they managed to miss the opportunities granted, and hence, (2) how we can successfully avoid making the same mistakes.
Remember, the Bible tells us that “All these things happened to Israel” and were recorded as examples for us—“for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come” (1 Corinthians 10:11).
Remember why Israel didn’t enter? In Selected Messages four reasons were pointed out: unbelief, worldliness, unconsecration, and strife among themselves. “The same sins have delayed the entrance of modern Israel into the heavenly Canaan.” That’s how the opportunity was missed.
Why are we still here some 2000 years after Jesus first came? We don’t believe strongly enough. We are too prone to worldliness. We have not given ourselves over to God as we truly must, and we have let ourselves limit our heavenly Father by strife over ridiculous points that we ought to be settled on.
A Hopeful Ending
Nevertheless, someone will go through, and I am not content to let it be someone else! Now is our hour. And we can all be there. If we let God move us. Now is our hour—not because of technology or because God has a pre-determined, pre-locked-in, unalterable alarm built into the clock of eternity—but because the universe is ready to say, “it is enough.” Israel said, “it is enough that Joseph is alive. I will see him before I die” (Genesis 45:28); Pharaoh said, “It is enough,” ask God to stop the plagues (Exodus 9:28); Jesus said, “it is enough” for a disciple to be like His master (Matthew 10:25).
Jesus said, “it is finished” when He offered His life for us on the cross; He had made a complete sacrifice. But He didn’t say, “it is enough.” He still had to offer that perfect sacrifice for us in heaven. But He also said, “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself” (John 14:2-3). He is presently ministering before the Father in our behalf. He calls us to tap into His power through faith, and become all that He can make us. He longs to rest His case.
And take us home.
The Bible makes it clear that we will not enter heaven because of “our righteousness” (Deuteronomy 9:3-6). But if we let Him, then He will go over before us, as a consuming fire, rooting sin out of our lives, conquering the fallen nature that constantly strives to rise and express our demon-likeness. Our lives will instead echo in a way unique to each of us individually, what Jesus is like. We will become unselfish.
And we will cross over.
The great controversy will be over.
Why hasn’t Jesus ended sin in this universe and returned? Very simply, because if God ended the conflict right now, He would not have conclusively demonstrated that unselfishness is the best way for the universe to be operated. To us is assigned the mission—filled with hope and wonder—to become more fully than any other generation ever has—His ambassadors of unselfishness. When the universe sees Jesus in us, then the end will come. This creation groans in pain, awaiting the manifestation of the sons and daughters of God (Romans 8:19). When He comes, “we will be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2).
Much of the trouble in the world can be laid right on our doorstep. But at the same time, if we are resolved, we can now, at this time, truly do something about it. So much of what we do is like chasing the sparks to put them out, while the fire rages on. But our Maker would like to put out the fire, once and for all.
Heaven calls us to a fresh commitment. Let us explore and lay hold of whatever it takes to solve our unbelief and to believe. Let us explore and take hold of whatever it takes to solve our worldliness and replace it with holiness. Let’s explore and take hold of whatever it takes to terminate our unconsecration and instead commit ourselves fully to the Lord. And when it comes to strife among ourselves, let us put it away and instead seek for harmony among ourselves. If we remove the conditions that keep Jesus waiting, our wait can be over.
It is time for Jesus to come. Therefore, it is time for us to come to Jesus. Like never before.
Resolve to give yourself to Jesus like never before. Sin must go out of our lives so that Jesus can come in.
The Nevertheless Deadly Nature of the New Theology
What had happened in Israel concerning the teachings God had given? In Israel, man’s teaching had been put in the place of God’s. Not only the things of nature, but the sacrificial service and the Scriptures themselves—all given to reveal God—were so perverted that they became the means of concealing Him (Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 18).
Truth can be “so perverted” that it becomes “the means of concealing” Jesus, and of present truth. In this last, desparate day, we need to demand a plain thus saith the Lord, and determine to beware of convoluted theological constructions and logical leaps.
Let all seek to comprehend, to the full extent of their powers, the meaning of the word of God… every statement made in the sacred pages requires thoughtful contemplation. It is true that some passages do not require as earnest concentration as do others; for their meaning is more evident… seek to understand the bearing of one passage upon another until the chain of truth is revealed (Fundamentals of Christian Education, p. 169).
Different meanings are expressed by the same word; there is not one word for each distinct idea (Selected Messages, vol. 1, p. 20).
These truths help us understand that rightly dividing God’s Word is no superficial thing. We must boldly forge ahead, ready to hear, ready to understand, ready to grasp the harmonies inwrought in the inspired writings. If we are not committed to this, we will fall into subtle traps that result in a lack of character preparation for eternity. We cannot afford to assume anyone is correct anymore. Their teachings must be tested. Since “different meanings are expressed by the same word,” we cannot be superficial in our study, but must check meanings against a broad selection of statements.
The New Theology is an outgrowth of the rebellion that began in 1888. It fights against life-changing truth. It is the opposite of what has been called “last generation theology.” One view retrenches itself under understandings of salvation that weaken the message this church historically has proclaimed; the other carries the message to its conclusion. In this respect then, it is 1888 again. But we cannot blame a failure to deliver Israel on an entombed generation. If there is failure this time around, it will be measured against our names.
Summing Up
The New Theology can be identified by several markers. In this short series we have looked at nine. Watch out for some form of involuntary or original sin, beware of any teaching that proposes that justification is salvation, sanctification is a nice add-on. Be alert for any view concerning Christ that makes His humanity a synthetic or prefall nature. Closely inspect any claim, not merely with reference to its own assertion of victory, but as to whether by means of it, authentic victory over sin is possible in this life. Beware of promises of all sin cancelled forever. Consider yourself warned if, by means of the system of belief proposed, there is really no need for a heavenly sanctuary or an investigative judgment. Watch out for the selective use of the inspired writings. Be ready to condemn any teaching that refuses to acknowledge the dramatic importance of the 1888 Message and to include in it the “making right” of the believer. Consider to be a scandal any teaching that says that the Reformation in the 1500s was essentially complete, and 1844 a minor point in the overarching whole. GCO
The above material is an extract from the projected 2005 book, Simply Seventh-day Adventism, by Pr. Larry Kirkpatrick, to be published by GreatControversy.org.
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