Get Up, Stand Up!


By Bob Marley



Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights! 
Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights! 
Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights! 
Get up, stand up: don’t give up the fight!
Preacher man, don’t tell me, 
Heaven is under the earth. 
I know you don’t know 
What life is really worth. 
It’s not all that glitters is gold; 
‘Alf the story has never been told: 
So now you see the light, eh! 
Stand up for your rights. come on!
Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights! 
Get up, stand up: don’t give up the fight! 
Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights! 
Get up, stand up: don’t give up the fight!
Most people think, 
God will come from the skies, 
Take away everything 
And make everybody feel high. 
But if you know what life is worth, 
You will look for yours on earth: 
And now you see the light, 
You stand up for your rights. Jah (God)!
Get up, stand up! (Jah, Jah! ) 
Stand up for your rights! (oy-yo! ) 
Get up, stand up! (get up, stand up! ) 
Don’t give up the fight! (life is your right! ) 
Get up, stand up! (so we can’t give up the fight! ) 
Stand up for your rights! (Lord, Lord! ) 
Get up, stand up! (keep on struggling on! ) 
Don’t give up the fight! (yeah! )
We sick an’ tired of-a your ism-schism game – 
Dyin’ ‘n’ goin’ to heaven in-a Jesus’ name, Lord. 
We know when we understand: 
Almighty god is a living man. 
You can fool some people sometimes, 
But you can’t fool all the people all the time. 
So now we see the light (what you gonna do?), 
We gonna stand up for our rights! (yeah, yeah, yeah! )
So you better: 
Get up, stand up! (in the morning! git it up! ) 
Stand up for your rights! (stand up for our rights! ) 
Get up, stand up! 
Don’t give up the fight! (don’t give it up, don’t give it up! ) 
Get up, stand up! (get up, stand up! ) 
Stand up for your rights! (get up, stand up! ) 
Get up, stand up! (… ) 
Don’t give up the fight! (get up, stand up! ) 
Get up, stand up! (… ) 
Stand up for your rights! 
Get up, stand up! 
Don’t give up the fight!

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, an is intended by God to teach us valuable lessons. In 1 Corinthians 10:1-10 Paul mentions some of the incidents of the journey. Then he draws this conclusion: “All these things that happened to them were symbolic, and were record for our benefit as a warning. For upon us the fulfilment of the ages has come” verse 11). The Advent Movement is a counterpart of the Exodus movement. It has a revelation of truth, by the hand of God, appropriate for this end-time.
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 to be a separate people?
“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 to be obedient to His laws. The call of God is for His people to come out of Babylon, that we “be not partakers of her sins” (Rev. 18:4). “Sin is the transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4). And, as previously noted, when, in the prophecies of Revelation, God refers to the last-day people, He points to them as keeping His commandments (Revelation 12:17; 14:12). So, on this point, we can drive down a stake to indicate that both movements began with the same divine objective.
In connection with the call from Egypt, God tested His people on the point of the keeping of the seventh-day Sabbath (Exodus 16:4, 5, 26). The test was given in connection with food, called manna that God miraculously provide for the Israelites in the wilderness. This manna was provided for the Israelites in the wilderness. This manna was provided daily but would not keep overnight. However, God instructed them to gather extra for the Sabbath each Friday. Then, on the Sabbath none came, and that which was held over did not spoil. The record tells us that they made the necessary preparations on Friday and kept the seventh day holy, proving they were obedient to God. (Exodus 16:22-25). Those who did not make the preparation on the sixth day broke God’s holy Sabbath by going out hoping to find manna on the seventh day (Exodus 16:27, 28).
So today God is calling a people out of Babylon and asking them to keep the seventh-day Sabbath. The Israelite had practically lost sight of God’s holy Sabbath during their stay in Egypt. So today nearly all the Lord’s professed people have lost sight of the true Sabbath.
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, His church, will be tested on the same point. And as Israel was distinguished from the surrounding nations by the keeping of the Sabbath, so God’s faithful ones in the last days will be distinguished in the same manner.
Ancient Israel came out of Egypt at the time appointed by God. He appointed that 430 years from the time Abraham left 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 the Ten Commandments as His supreme law of righteousness (Ex. 20:1-17), based on love to God with all the heart (Deut. 6:5). This same law, as interpreted by the Lord Jesus (Matt. 22:36-40) and coupled with the true faith in Jesus (Rev. 14:12), is the foundation of Adventism.
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, and by a prophet was he preserved” (Hosea 12:13). The remnant church that keeps God`s commandments has the same gift (Rev. 12:17; 19:10).
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.

THE CONFLIT ENDED


1-      In narrating the work of creation, what statement in made concerning its completion?
“This heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made.” Genesis 2:1,2.
Note: God´s work here referred to was “very good” Genesis 1:31. Had it not been for sin, this first plan of God would not have been followed by the three steps we shall now study.
2-      When expiring on the cross, what did Christ say?
“When Jesus therefore ha received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.” John 19:30.
Note: Christ came into the world to save sinners. Costly though the prince was, He paid it. Bitter as was the cup, He drank its last dregs. In that final moment He said, “It is finished.”
3-      At the pouring out of the seventh plague, what announcement will be made?
“And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.” Revelation 16:17.
Note: This outpouring of God´s wrath is upon the rejecters of Weaven´s mercy. Human probation has closed, and when the great voice cries, “It is done,” Christ starts on His way to earth the second time.
4-      And when the new heavens and the new earth have appeared, and the holy city, New Jerusalem, has descended from God and become the metropolis of the new creation, what announcement will then be made?
“And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, Il is done, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.” Revelation 21:5,6.
A-    PLEASURES FOREVERMORE
5-      In the new earth, what will be no more?
“And God shall wipe away all tear from their eyes; shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” – v. 4. “And there shall be no more curse.” Revelation 22:3.
6-      What will then be the condition of all the earth?
“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice´ den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” Isaiah 11:6-9.
7-      What universal chorus of praise will then be heard?
“And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying. Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, he unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.” Revelation 5:13.
B-    SEEING HI AS HE IS
8-      What will finally be the privilege of God´s children?
“And they shall see his face.” Revelation 22:4.
9-      How perfect will be their knowledge of God?
“For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” 1 Corinthians 13:12.
10-  Whom will they be like?
“Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” 1 John 3:2.
11-  From what ills will the saints be forever delivered?
“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” Revelation 21:4.
12-  Who will dwell with the redeemed?
“He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.”  Revelation 21:3.
13-  What will it mean to dwell in God´s presence?
“In thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” Psalm 16:11
14-  How long will they possess the future kingdom?
“But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.” Daniel 7:18.
15-  How long will they reign?
“And they shall reign for ever and ever.” Revelation 22:5.
 
José Carlos Costa, Pastor

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, an is intended by God to teach us valuable lessons. In 1 Corinthians 10:1-10 Paul mentions some of the incidents of the journey. Then he draws this conclusion: “All these things that happened to them were symbolic, and were record for our benefit as a warning. For upon us the fulfilment of the ages has come” verse 11). The Advent Movement is a counterpart of the Exodus movement. It has a revelation of truth, by the hand of God, appropriate for this end-time.
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 to be a separate people?
“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 to be obedient to His laws. The call of God is for His people to come out of Babylon, that we “be not partakers of her sins” (Rev. 18:4). “Sin is the transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4). And, as previously noted, when, in the prophecies of Revelation, God refers to the last-day people, He points to them as keeping His commandments (Revelation 12:17; 14:12). So, on this point, we can drive down a stake to indicate that both movements began with the same divine objective.
In connection with the call from Egypt, God tested His people on the point of the keeping of the seventh-day Sabbath (Exodus 16:4, 5, 26). The test was given in connection with food, called manna that God miraculously provide for the Israelites in the wilderness. This manna was provided for the Israelites in the wilderness. This manna was provided daily but would not keep overnight. However, God instructed them to gather extra for the Sabbath each Friday. Then, on the Sabbath none came, and that which was held over did not spoil. The record tells us that they made the necessary preparations on Friday and kept the seventh day holy, proving they were obedient to God. (Exodus 16:22-25). Those who did not make the preparation on the sixth day broke God’s holy Sabbath by going out hoping to find manna on the seventh day (Exodus 16:27, 28).
So today God is calling a people out of Babylon and asking them to keep the seventh-day Sabbath. The Israelite had practically lost sight of God’s holy Sabbath during their stay in Egypt. So today nearly all the Lord’s professed people have lost sight of the true Sabbath.
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, His church, will be tested on the same point. And as Israel was distinguished from the surrounding nations by the keeping of the Sabbath, so God’s faithful ones in the last days will be distinguished in the same manner.
Ancient Israel came out of Egypt at the time appointed by God. He appointed that 430 years from the time Abraham left 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 the Ten Commandments as His supreme law of righteousness (Ex. 20:1-17), based on love to God with all the heart (Deut. 6:5). This same law, as interpreted by the Lord Jesus (Matt. 22:36-40) and coupled with the true faith in Jesus (Rev. 14:12), is the foundation of Adventism.
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, and by a prophet was he preserved” (Hosea 12:13). The remnant church that keeps God`s commandments has the same gift (Rev. 12:17; 19:10).
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; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” Micah 5:2.
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 Egypt to Canaan, is a type of modern spiritual Israel, an is intended by God to teach us valuable lessons. In 1 Corinthians 10:1-10 Paul mentions some of the incidents of the journey. Then he draws this conclusion: “All these things that happened to them were symbolic, and were record for our benefit as a warning. For upon us the fulfilment of the ages has come” verse 11). The Advent Movement is a counterpart of the Exodus movement. It has a revelation of truth, by the hand of God, appropriate for this end-time.
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 to be a separate people?
“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 to be obedient to His laws. The call of God is for His people to come out of Babylon, that we “be not partakers of her sins” (Rev. 18:4). “Sin is the transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4). And, as previously noted, when, in the prophecies of Revelation, God refers to the last-day people, He points to them as keeping His commandments (Revelation 12:17; 14:12). So, on this point, we can drive down a stake to indicate that both movements began with the same divine objective.
In connection with the call from Egypt, God tested His people on the point of the keeping of the seventh-day Sabbath (Exodus 16:4, 5, 26). The test was given in connection with food, called manna that God miraculously provide for the Israelites in the wilderness. This manna was provided for the Israelites in the wilderness. This manna was provided daily but would not keep overnight. However, God instructed them to gather extra for the Sabbath each Friday. Then, on the Sabbath none came, and that which was held over did not spoil. The record tells us that they made the necessary preparations on Friday and kept the seventh day holy, proving they were obedient to God. (Exodus 16:22-25). Those who did not make the preparation on the sixth day broke God’s holy Sabbath by going out hoping to find manna on the seventh day (Exodus 16:27, 28).
So today God is calling a people out of Babylon and asking them to keep the seventh-day Sabbath. The Israelite had practically lost sight of God’s holy Sabbath during their stay in Egypt. So today nearly all the Lord’s professed people have lost sight of the true Sabbath.
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, His church, will be tested on the same point. And as Israel was distinguished from the surrounding nations by the keeping of the Sabbath, so God’s faithful ones in the last days will be distinguished in the same manner.
Ancient Israel came out of Egypt at the time appointed by God. He appointed that 430 years from the time Abraham left 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 the Ten Commandments as His supreme law of righteousness (Ex. 20:1-17), based on love to God with all the heart (Deut. 6:5). This same law, as interpreted by the Lord Jesus (Matt. 22:36-40) and coupled with the true faith in Jesus (Rev. 14:12), is the foundation of Adventism.
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, and by a prophet was he preserved” (Hosea 12:13). The remnant church that keeps God`s commandments has the same gift (Rev. 12:17; 19:10).
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.