IT is utter futility to talk of righteousness by faith if we are not living the experience of forgiveness and justification from sin through faith in Christ's atoning sacrifice.
At this time [the time of Satan's final attacks against God's people] the church is to put on her beautiful garments,—"Christ our righteousness."— Testimonies to Ministers, p. 16.
After all the sad contentions of the ages over divine grace and righteousness by faith, it still remains an indispensable necessity that we, as individuals, must fall at the foot of the cross, and in deep contrition for our own sins, understand that only by faith in that atoning blood can Christ's righteousness become real in our daily lives. We must not forget that righteousness by faith ceases to be righteousness by faith when it makes us more concerned with the sins of omission or commission in our brother's life than with our own need to rest trustfully at the foot of the cross. Aside from the atonement there made, nothing else has theological meaning, not even the ministry in heaven, important as that is in the whole pattern of atonement.
Paul urges the individual Christian to wear the armor provided by God, knowing well that the church can be only what the individual believers are. Each must live momentarily by divine grace.
To be converted daily is to renew the soul's life by receiving vital power from Christ as the branch receives nourishment from the vine. The growth of every Christian is from within, not from without. It is only as the Spirit of Christ dwells in the heart by faith that we can grow in grace and the knowledge of Christ. Only through the grace daily drawn from Jesus can the heart be kept. There can be no safety in extolling self; we must hide self in Jesus. —Ellen G. White in The Review and Herald, Feb. 16, 1892, p. 98.
Peace, a Saving Grace
"The gospel of peace" is meaningless except to the man who has found forgiveness of sin. Those of us who travel love to quote Mrs. White's beautiful words in The Desire of Ages, page 336: "Whether on the land or on the sea, if we have the Saviour in our hearts, there is no need of fear." But "peace" is not a matter of personal safety. It is a matter of saving grace operating in the soul. In the same context we read:
Sin has destroyed our peace. While self is unsubdued, we can find no rest. The masterful passions of the heart no human power can control. We are as helpless here as were the disciples to quiet the raging storm. But He who spoke peace to the billows of Galilee has spoken the word of peace for every soul. . . . His grace, that reconciles the soul to God, quiets the strife of human passion, and in His love the heart is at rest. . . . "Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." "The work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance forever."—Ibid., pp. 336, 337.
I shall never forget standing with a Christian woman whose home had been completely destroyed. Words failed me, as she said through her tears: "But the peace of God is still ours!" Peace does not depend on safety, as many a Christian in a prison cell has testified. It is the priceless possession of a soul redeemed from sin.
The Great Word "Salvation"
When we speak of salvation, which is one of God's weapons for believers to use against the adversary, we face one of the great words of the Bible. It has many meanings, and generally we are not speaking in terms of finality when we use it.
In Deuteronomy 7:7-9 we read: "The Lord did not set his love upon you . . . because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: . . . but because the Lord loved you." We are all "redeemed . . . out of the house of bondmen" because the Lord loves us, and not because we are good, or better, or have more truth than others. "The Lord loved you" is literally, "Jehovah, who is the lover of you."
The development of the idea of salvation is represented in the Old Testament by a number of words used to convey the idea of deliverance from illness, danger, death, war, bondage, misfortune, wickedness. From this came the idea of being cured, freed, victorious, and thus it is linked with Messianic and eschatological teaching in the sense of both present reality and future total redemption of soul and body.
The word "Hosanna" meant "Save now!" or "Save, we pray," and is so rendered in Psalm 118:25: "Save now, I beseech thee, O Lord." This word, originally a cry for help, had in Christ's day become a cry of praise, as can be seen in John 12:13, where the people cried: "Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord." Could we Adventists not combine these meanings of present salvation from sin with the gratitude arising therefrom, so that we can raise a glad "Hosanna!" to our King. Salvation is a free gift. ... In the market of which divine mercy has the management, the precious pearl is represented as being bought without money and without price.—Christ's Object Lessons, p. 116.
In brief, salvation frees from sin ("he shall save his people from their sins," Matt. 1:21); from condemnation ("God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved," John 3:17); from perdition ("For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us who are saved it is the power of God," 1 Cor. 1:18); from the wrath of God ("Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him," Rom. 5:9). These are all hateful things to the adversary of souls, but they are the protective helmet of the saints.
There is, of course, a future finality to salvation, as may be seen in such comments as this: "For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life" (Rom. 5:10). "Let us ... be sober, putting on . . . for an helmet, the hope of salvation" (1 Thess. 5:8).
This finality and totality of salvation includes "the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body" (Rom. 8:23). The victory we now enjoy is the earnest of the triumph to come. Truly this daily experience of salvation from sin, which is the gift of divine grace, should shine in us as the continuous experience of the victorious life, so that doctrines cease to be cold and abstract like distant stars in the wintry sky, and become living realities, warm, meaningful, and attractive to weary souls along the highways of life.
The Sword of the Spirit
"Take . . . the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God," says Paul. How skillfully Paul wielded that sword! His writings, like his preaching, are so impregnated with the words of the Bible as he knew it, and so full of the thoughts and words of Jesus, that his skill with the mighty Sword of the Spirit made him the great theologian and evangelist of the New Testament. Hearts were cut to pieces as they heard him, to use Ellen G. White's words (Testimonies, vol. 4, p. 441); and who of us today has not sat with the writings of this amazing man of God and felt the impact of God's Spirit and words breaking up his heart?
In Paul's reference here to the Word of God as a sword, two things are worth noting: (1) This sword is the only offensive weapon in the armor. Without making too much of that, we cannot avoid the fact that without the Word of God, Christianity, and particularly the Advent message, as a militant spiritual force is inconceivable. (2) "The worlds were framed by the word of God" (Heb. 11:3), and if Christ is the logos of John 1:1-3, then "all things were made by him." In Romans 10:17 Paul states that "faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." It is preferable to render this: "hearing cometh by the word of Christ." The Revised Standard Version reads: "So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes by the preaching of Christ."
We cannot preach the Word without preaching Christ, which at once places the Lord Jesus Christ at the center and circumference of every doctrine taught in the Holy Word. It is a tragic misconception to ask: "How can I preach Christ and the doctrines of the Advent message?" It is not possible to preach Christ without preaching doctrine. He should be the converting power and the focal point in all doctrinal teaching. "Every true doctrine makes Christ the center, every precept receives force from His words."—Testimonies, vol. 6, p. 54.
If we do not find it possible to make doctrine winsome with the love of Christ, may it not be that we insert ideas and teachings that are un-Biblical, and therefore not basic New Tesa-ment doctrines? It is easy to multiply what we call "fundamentals" by adding human ideas not found in the Bible. The man who thinks he can preach doctrine without preaching a divine Christ is not preaching true Bible doctrine.
One of our greatest needs today is for a deeper love for God's Word, for better Bible study. Only thus can our preaching be rescued from the spiritual poverty that will surely come to our ministry if we allow it to be submerged in activities which, however necessary in themselves, can easily crowd out the vitals of spiritual life—Bible study, meditation, and prayer.
It is through the word that Christ abides in His followers. This is the same vital union that is represented by eating His flesh and drinking His blood. . . . Living in Christ, adhering to Christ, supported by Christ, drawing nourishment from Christ, you bear fruit after the similitude of Christ.—The Desire of Ages, p. 677.
Small wonder that the hosts of evil flee before the "sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." It is recorded that John G. Paton, the great missionary to the New Hebrides, was facing a terrible drought in the islands. He found a group of natives looking up into the sky, crying out to God for rain. He called to them and told them to go with their spades and shovels and dig deep into the earth until they found streams flowing beneath their feet. God's Word is a mine of truth, but we must dig deep to get it.
If there is a point of truth that you do not understand, upon which you do not agree, investigate, compare scripture with scripture, sink the shaft of truth down deep into the mine of God's word.— Testimonies to Ministers, p. 476.
Prayer
It is to be noted that Paul exhorts even well-armored Christians to much prayer, for the armor he has outlined is not protective without it. The importance Paul attached to prayer is seen in Nestle's literal rendering of Ephesians 6:18, 19: "The sword of the Spirit which is [the] word of God, by means of all prayer and petition concerning all the saints, and on behalf of me. . . ."
Enoch, the man who walked with God, was a prototype of the righteous in the last days (Patriarchs and Prophets, pages 88, 89). Of him it is said, "To him prayer was as the breath of the soul; he lived in the very atmosphere of heaven."—Ibid., p. 85. If like Enoch we are "distressed by the increasing wickedness of the ungodly"; if we are concerned about lowering standards both inside and outside the church, how urgent it is that we long for Enoch's close communion with God, and find it through prayer, meditation, the Word. "The darkness of the evil one incloses those who neglect to pray." —Steps to Christ, p. 94. "It is impossible for the soul to flourish while prayer is neglected."— Ibid., p. 98.
The statement "all prayer and supplication" mentioned in Ephesians 6:18 probably means all kinds of prayer—praise, intercession, supplication, et cetera. It doubtless also means prevailing prayer on all occasions, as when Jesus said, "Pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things" (Luke 21:36).
The condition of the world, the needs of the church, the deficiencies of our own poor hearts and lives, should drive us to a life of importunate, prevailing prayer such as we have never yet known.
Stand Therefore
Because we face an implacable foe we are to don the armor and stand our ground. "Stand therefore" is a grand heroic Pauline phrase in itself. But he says more: "Take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand." To paraphrase: "Don your armor! Stand up! Into the battle! And when the fight
is over, be still standing your ground!" That is true warrior thinking.
John Bunyan portrays poor Christian in the armor being harnessed from head to foot for protection on his journey. In the Valley of Humiliation he suddenly meets the foul fiend Appolyon. Christian was afraid, but remembering that he had no armor on his back, resolved that he would not run, but face the enemy and "stand his ground."
Brethren, these are fateful days when we should close ranks and, standing together, go forth for God to use us in accomplishing His purpose on earth.
"Forward! be our watchword,
Steps and voices joined; Seek the things before us,
Not a look behind. Burns the fiery pillar
At our army's head; Who shall dream of shrinking,
By our Captain led? Forward through the desert,
Through the toil and fight; Canaan lies before us,
Zion beams with light.
"Glories upon glories
Hath our God prepared By the souls that love Him
One day to be shared; Eye hath not beheld them;
Ear hath never heard; Nor of these hath uttered
Thought or speech or word; Forward, ever forward,
Clad in armor bright; Till the veil be lifted,
Till our faith be sight."
—Henry Alford (1810-1871)
