TRUTH BY THE HAND OF GOD
The Exodus
movement, during which the Israelites travelled from Egypt
to Canaan, is a type of modern spiritual Israel
Today it is
easy to believe that God was in the Exodus movement. Anyone who accepts the
Bible record is bound to admit this. We know that God led the Israelite by the
pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. We know that that
movement finally carried the people of God triumphantly into the Land of Promise
Can we be
sure that the present Advent Movement is as truly led of God as was the Exodus
movement? Can we be certain that the God of heaven is leading this movement
today and that it will complete its journey into the heavenly Canaan, as the
Exodus movement ended in the earthly Canaan ?
These are
important questions. To answer them let us compare the two movements, and if we
find the latter has parallels with the former we shall have ground for
adherence to the Advent Movement.
Let us
first compare the fundamental purpose of each movement. Why did God call Israel from Egypt
“He brought
forth his people with joy, and his chosen with gladness: and gave them the
lands of the heathen: and they inherited the labour of the people; that they
might observe his statutes, and keep his laws” (Ps. 105:43-45). God’s major
desire was to develop an obedient people – a people through whom He could make
known the principles of the truth to the rest of the world.
Similarly,
He has called spiritual Israel Babylon
In
connection with the call from Egypt
So today
God is calling a people out of Babylon Egypt
Nearly all
Christians acknowledge the validity of nine commandments of the Decalogue, but
many find excuses to avoid keeping the seventh day required by the fourth
commandment. Thus the fourth commandment becomes a test. It becomes a test
because it is one of the Ten Commandments. God still requires it to be kept,
and, therefore, when people understand this, they show their attitude to God by
their attitude to the fourth commandment.
In the
Revelation 14 prophesies God’s last invitation and warning for the world, found
in a message borne by three symbolic angels, Revelation 14:9-11. carry the
warning that anyone who receives the mark of the beast will “drink of the wine
of the wrath of God.” Adventists understand the mark to be not a literal brand
on the forehead or hand but some sign of allegiance to the power symbolized by
the beast.
Because the
prophesied struggle revolves around God’s law. Particularly the fourth
commandment, Adventists understand that Sunday will be that sign. The Sabbath
is the sign of allegiance to God (Eze. 20:12). The issue will be the keeping of
the Sabbath, or seal or mark of God,
versus the receiving of the mark of the beast. The people of the world will
decide their eternal destiny in the setting of this issue.
Ancient Israel was tested on the point of the Sabbath,
and God’s last Israel Israel
Ancient Israel came out of Egypt Haran
to go into Canaan his descendants, the Israelites, would leave Egypt to go into Canaan
(see Gal. 3:16,17). Did this come true? The record says, “If came to pass at
the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to
pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt” (Ex.
12:41). The Exodus movement began at the
time appointed by the Lord.
The Advent
Movement began in 1844 at the time God had previously appointed, as revealed to
Daniel the prophet (see Daniel 8:13,14). In chapter six we say that this
prophecy began in 457 a .c.
and ended in A.D. 1844. This latter years was the very time the Advent Movement
was born. And it came into being as a result of a group of Bible students
examining the subject of the cleansing of the sanctuary prophesied in Daniel 8.
Seventh-day
Adventists did not originate as an offshoot from some other religious body. They
did not begin because some men wanted to start a new denomination. God raised
up the Adventist people to proclaim His threefold message to all the people in
the world in fulfilment of His last-day message of Revelation 14:6-12.
Note a
number of ways in which the Advent movement is God’s counterpart to His Exodus
movement:
1-
God
unfolded to the Israelites the message of salvation as typified by the earthly
sanctuary (see Ex. 25:8; Heb. 8:4,5). He raised up the Advent people and gave
them an understanding of the work of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary
(Heb.8:1-3).
2-
God
gave Israel
3-
God
gave the Israelite the tithing system as a means for supporting His ministers
(Num. 18:21; Lev. 27:30-33). The same divine financial plan is followed in the Advent
Movement.
4-
The
Exodus movement had the spirit of prophecy connected with it: “By a prophet
(Moses; Ps. 77:20) the Lord brought Israel
out of Egypt
5-
The
Exodus movement was an organized movement. It had companies of tens, fifties,
hundreds, and thousands (Deut. 1:15). Then there were the seventy elders – a
sort of Supreme Court for making decisions on important questions (Num. 11:16,
17, 24, 25). The Advent Movement is similarly organized. It has local churches,
local conferences, union conferences, division conferences, and the General
Conference.
6-
The
Israelites had the seventh-day Sabbath as the sign of the only true God, the
Creator of heaven an earth (Ex. 20:8-11; 31:16, 17; Eze. 20:20), and also as a
sign of sanctification (Ex. 31:13; Eze. 20:12). Similarly, Adventist uphold the
same Saturday Sabbath as the sign of Jesus as the Creator and Sanctifier (Col.
1:16; 1 Cor. 1:2).
In this time of uncertainty many people are
foundering in perplexity and confusion. But God has given us in His Word
evidences by which we may know where to find a star and an anchor. He has His
people who are following the Star, and who have the Anchor. That Star, that
Anchor, is Jesus Christ and His truths revealed in the Word.
The Advent Movement is looking to that Star an
is stabilized by that Anchor. Is you, reader, have not set your sights on the
Star. If you, reader, have not set your sights on the Star, if you have not
found that Anchor for your lives, we invite you to carefully study the Guiding
Principles at the end of this book, comparing them with your Bible,
prayerfully, with open heart and mind. And let the Holy Spirit lead you.
José Carlos Costa
CHRIST IN ALL THE BIBLE
A- GENERAL REFERENCES TO CHRIST
1- Of whom did Christ say the
Scriptures testify?
“Search the scriptures; for in them
ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” John
5:39.
2- Of whom did Moses and the prophets
write?
“Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith
unto him. We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did
write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” John 1:45.
3- From whose words did Christ say the
disciples ought to have learned of His death and resurrection?
“O fools, and slow heart to believe
all that the prophets have spoken: ought not Christ to have suffered these
things, and to enter into his glory?” Luke 24:25, 26.
4- How did Christ make it clear to them
that the Scriptures testify of Him?
“And beginning at Moses and all the
prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning
himself.” Luke 24:27.
5- Where in the Bible do we find the
first promise of a Redeemer?
“And the Lord God said unto the
serpent…will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and
her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” Genesis
2:14, 15.
6- In what words was this promise
renewed to Abraham?
“In thy seed shall all the nations
of the earth be blessed.” Genesis 22:18 – Genesis 26:4; 28:14.
7- To whom did this promised seed
refer?
“Now to Abraham and his seed were
the promises made. He saith not. And to seeds, as of many; but as of one. And
to thy seed, which is Christ.” Galatians 3:16.
B- BIRTH, LIFE, SUFFERING, DEATH,
RESURRECTION
8- Where was the Saviour to be born?
“But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah,
though thou be little among the thousands of Judah ,
yet out of thee shall he come froth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel
9- In what prophecy are Christ’s life,
suffering, and death touchingly foretold?
In the fifty-third chapter of
Isaiah.
10- Where is the price of Christ’s
betrayal foretold?
“So they weighed for my price thirty
pieces of silver.” Zachariah 11:12 – Matthew 26:15.
11- Where in the Psalms are Christ’s
dying words recorded?
“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me? Psalm 22:1 – Matthew 27:46 – “Into thine hand I commit my spirit.” Psalm
31:5 – Luke 23:46.
12- How is Christ’s resurrection
foretold in the Psalms?
“For thou will not leave my soul in
hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.” Psalm 16:10 –
see Acts 2:25-31.
C- CHRIST´S SECOND COMING AND KINGDOM
13- In what words does Daniel foretell
Christ’s receiving His kingdom?
“I saw in the night visions, and,
behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the
Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him
dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages,
should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass
away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.” Daniel 7: 13, 14.
14- How is Christ’s second coming
described in the Psalms?
“Let the floods clap their hands:
let the hills be joyful together before the Lord; for he cometh to judge the
earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with
equity.” Psalm 98:8, 9.
“Our God shall come, and shall not
keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round
about him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may
judge his people.” Psalm 50:3, 4.
José Carlos Costa
FORGIVENESS
God’s act of forgiveness toward us is a one-time event. We ask once, he forgives, he forgets, and that’s the end of it. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)
Our forgiveness of others should be the same, but it’s not always easy. Sometimes forgiveness is a process that has to be repeated again and again.
Maybe as many as ten years ago—or even twenty—someone hurt you. You forgave them and, for all practical purposes, forgot about it…until something happened to re-open the wound. It could be a conversation, a circumstance, a chance event, or any number of other things that causes you to find yourself struggling again with unforgiveness. It’s not that you weren’t sincere in your first (or second, or third) attempt to forgive them, it’s just that the hurt will not go completely away.
A few years ago a business associate took advantage of me financially. I forgave him and made an effort to move on. Sometime last year, I was racing through an airport to make a connecting flight, and I saw him. He saw me, too, I’m sure, but he diverted his eyes and kept moving past me. All of a sudden the resentment from the past came rushing back. As I took my seat on the plane, I realized I would repeat the process of forgiving this person, or it would nag at me for the rest of the day—or maybe even the rest of the month.
I have no doubt I was sincere in my desire to forgive him completely. But sometimes the bonds of bitterness aren’t easily broken. Sometimes we have to forgive someone again and again before it is settled completely in our own mind.
Jesus told Peter that we are to forgive our brother “seventy-times-seven.” I always assumed he was referring to “seventy-times-seven” separate offenses. The fact is he could have been referring to a single event.
Don’t let past hurts hold you back. Reliving the pain from last month, or last year, or your previous church, or from junior high, isn’t worth the price you have to pay. It keeps you from focusing on what God has called you to do today: serve him with joy, and love him with all your heart.
TRUTH BY THE HAND OF GOD
The Exodus
movement, during which the Israelites travelled from
Today it is
easy to believe that God was in the Exodus movement. Anyone who accepts the
Bible record is bound to admit this. We know that God led the Israelite by the
pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. We know that that
movement finally carried the people of God triumphantly into the Land of Promise
Can we be
sure that the present Advent Movement is as truly led of God as was the Exodus
movement? Can we be certain that the God of heaven is leading this movement
today and that it will complete its journey into the heavenly Canaan, as the
Exodus movement ended in the earthly Canaan ?
These are
important questions. To answer them let us compare the two movements, and if we
find the latter has parallels with the former we shall have ground for
adherence to the Advent Movement.
Let us
first compare the fundamental purpose of each movement. Why did God call Israel from Egypt
“He brought
forth his people with joy, and his chosen with gladness: and gave them the
lands of the heathen: and they inherited the labour of the people; that they
might observe his statutes, and keep his laws” (Ps. 105:43-45). God’s major
desire was to develop an obedient people – a people through whom He could make
known the principles of the truth to the rest of the world.
Similarly,
He has called spiritual Israel Babylon
In
connection with the call from Egypt
So today
God is calling a people out of Babylon Egypt
Nearly all
Christians acknowledge the validity of nine commandments of the Decalogue, but
many find excuses to avoid keeping the seventh day required by the fourth
commandment. Thus the fourth commandment becomes a test. It becomes a test
because it is one of the Ten Commandments. God still requires it to be kept,
and, therefore, when people understand this, they show their attitude to God by
their attitude to the fourth commandment.
In the
Revelation 14 prophesies God’s last invitation and warning for the world, found
in a message borne by three symbolic angels, Revelation 14:9-11. carry the
warning that anyone who receives the mark of the beast will “drink of the wine
of the wrath of God.” Adventists understand the mark to be not a literal brand
on the forehead or hand but some sign of allegiance to the power symbolized by
the beast.
Because the
prophesied struggle revolves around God’s law. Particularly the fourth
commandment, Adventists understand that Sunday will be that sign. The Sabbath
is the sign of allegiance to God (Eze. 20:12). The issue will be the keeping of
the Sabbath, or seal or mark of God,
versus the receiving of the mark of the beast. The people of the world will
decide their eternal destiny in the setting of this issue.
Ancient Israel was tested on the point of the Sabbath,
and God’s last Israel Israel
Ancient Israel came out of Egypt Haran
to go into Canaan his descendants, the Israelites, would leave Egypt to go into Canaan
(see Gal. 3:16,17). Did this come true? The record says, “If came to pass at
the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to
pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt” (Ex.
12:41). The Exodus movement began at the
time appointed by the Lord.
The Advent
Movement began in 1844 at the time God had previously appointed, as revealed to
Daniel the prophet (see Daniel 8:13,14). In chapter six we say that this
prophecy began in 457 a .c.
and ended in A.D. 1844. This latter years was the very time the Advent Movement
was born. And it came into being as a result of a group of Bible students
examining the subject of the cleansing of the sanctuary prophesied in Daniel 8.
Seventh-day
Adventists did not originate as an offshoot from some other religious body. They
did not begin because some men wanted to start a new denomination. God raised
up the Adventist people to proclaim His threefold message to all the people in
the world in fulfilment of His last-day message of Revelation 14:6-12.
Note a
number of ways in which the Advent movement is God’s counterpart to His Exodus
movement:
1-
God
unfolded to the Israelites the message of salvation as typified by the earthly
sanctuary (see Ex. 25:8; Heb. 8:4,5). He raised up the Advent people and gave
them an understanding of the work of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary
(Heb.8:1-3).
2-
God
gave Israel
3-
God
gave the Israelite the tithing system as a means for supporting His ministers
(Num. 18:21; Lev. 27:30-33). The same divine financial plan is followed in the Advent
Movement.
4-
The
Exodus movement had the spirit of prophecy connected with it: “By a prophet
(Moses; Ps. 77:20) the Lord brought Israel
out of Egypt
5-
The
Exodus movement was an organized movement. It had companies of tens, fifties,
hundreds, and thousands (Deut. 1:15). Then there were the seventy elders – a
sort of Supreme Court for making decisions on important questions (Num. 11:16,
17, 24, 25). The Advent Movement is similarly organized. It has local churches,
local conferences, union conferences, division conferences, and the General
Conference.
6-
The
Israelites had the seventh-day Sabbath as the sign of the only true God, the
Creator of heaven an earth (Ex. 20:8-11; 31:16, 17; Eze. 20:20), and also as a
sign of sanctification (Ex. 31:13; Eze. 20:12). Similarly, Adventist uphold the
same Saturday Sabbath as the sign of Jesus as the Creator and Sanctifier (Col.
1:16; 1 Cor. 1:2).
In this time of uncertainty many people are
foundering in perplexity and confusion. But God has given us in His Word
evidences by which we may know where to find a star and an anchor. He has His
people who are following the Star, and who have the Anchor. That Star, that
Anchor, is Jesus Christ and His truths revealed in the Word.
The Advent Movement is looking to that Star an
is stabilized by that Anchor. Is you, reader, have not set your sights on the
Star. If you, reader, have not set your sights on the Star, if you have not
found that Anchor for your lives, we invite you to carefully study the Guiding
Principles at the end of this book, comparing them with your Bible,
prayerfully, with open heart and mind. And let the Holy Spirit lead you.
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