1888 Message Study : The Christian and Work

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1888 Message Study : Education and Redemption

"EDUCATION AND REDEMPTION"

 

The basis of true education, of redemption and of creation is love.

Education and redemption are one in purpose. This purpose is also that of creation. In the beginning, God created man with the ability to think and to do. The creation of planet earth and of man, the members of the Godhead worked with one purpose in mind. Mankind was to be made in the image of God. In Genesis 1:1-2 the Spirit of God hovered over the waters. The term "hover" means to "cherish" and to "move gently" (Enhanced Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon, p. 934). The word reveals the value God placed on the creation of earth and later in the formation of Adam and Eve. God must have been moved with great emotion, of joy, and of delight as He set about His mighty work of creation – especially that of mankind (Proverbs 8:31). The songs and shouts of joy expressed by angels, as they saw creation week unfold before their very eyes (Job 38:17), were but a reflection of the joy and ecstasy God experienced during that same week.

God's plan involved the creation of a garden paradise for mankind, who was created at the end of creation week. As the Godhead worked in concert during that week, we observe the crowning act at the end of the week (probably Friday) when One of the Members declared, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness" (Genesis 1:26). The unity of the Godhead is shown in these words.

Waggoner put it this way: "He [Christ] brought all things into existence, and He preserves them in existence. His word caused them to exist, and His word upholds them. In all these things He acts, not independently, but conjointly with the Father. Said He: 'I and my Father are one.' John 10:30. Not a thought does one have that is not the thought of the other. Their unity in creation is shown in the words, 'And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness.' Genesis 1:26. This union of the Father and the Son serves to explain why the Hebrew word which is rendered 'God' is in the plural number." (E. J. Waggoner, Bible Echo and Signs of the Times, September 15, 1889).

Although Adam was formed of the dust of the ground, God set him over all His works of earth (Genesis 2:7; 1:28). Being but dust, Adam had "no more power in himself than the dust of earth on which he walked" (Waggoner, American Sentinel, July 29, 1897). Being made out of dust, but in the image of God, Adam was given "power akin to that of the Creator--individuality, power to think and to do" (Education, p. 17). Adam and Eve were given dominion over all the earth.

But that mighty power manifested in Adam was not his own power at all. It was the derived power of God working in and through him. God worked in him "both to will and to do of His good pleasure" without restricting Adam's liberty, his individuality and his ability to think and to do. Adam's liberty and ability were especially manifested when Adam chose to go against the will of his Creator. Upon hearing Eve's testimony after she ate the forbidden fruit from the forbidden tree, Adam deliberately chose to sin and to die rather than to lose his wife. He chose to lose his own soul rather than to be separated from Eve.

Think of the agony within the Godhead when Adam and Eve rebelled. Angel's, too, in their grief filled hearts ceased singing songs of praise. Earlier they heard the death sentence God pronounced on Adam, if he should eat of the forbidden fruit: "in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die" (Genesis 2:17). With bated breath they must have anticipated the complete destruction of Adam and Eve, and consequently all future posterity.

But no! They saw instead, a grief-stricken God pursuing the couple who were on the run. They fled because of the terror in their hearts because of being in the presence of God. What a change took place in their hearts and mind. Before sin they were delighted to be in His presence; now they felt nothing but fear. When the second Person of the Godhead pursued them, found them, questioned them and shared with them what He would do in order to redeem them. He promised to die in their place. When angels heard the news that Christ would take the place of fallen man and would exhaust the penalty of the broken law, the angels saw the love of God displayed more clearly than ever conceived before. We are told that "The angels . . . offered to become a sacrifice for man. But an angel's life could not pay the debt; only He Who created man had power to redeem Him." (The Faith I Live By, p. 79).

"The angels, as God's intelligent messengers, were under the yoke of obligation; no personal sacrifice of theirs could atone for the guilt of fallen man. Christ alone was free from the claims of the law to undertake the redemption of the sinful race. He had power to lay down His life and to take it up again…. The Son of God came voluntarily to accomplish the work of atonement. There was no obligatory yoke upon Him, for He was independent and above all law." 4T 120-121).

Christ stepped in between eternal death and the pair who sinned. This death was the second death and Jesus took upon Himself our debt of death. He died the equivalent of the second death. "By dying in our behalf, He gave an equivalent for our debt. Thus, He removed from God all charge of lessening the guilt of sin. By virtue of my oneness with the Father, He says, my suffering and death enable me to pay the penalty of sin. By My death a restraint is removed from His love. His grace can act with unbounded efficiency." (Youth Instructor, December 16, 1897).

 

Creation and Redemption
It takes nothing less than creative power to redeem us. The power by which Jesus saves us from sin is the power by which He created the worlds. The power of the cross is the power of creation. In Colossians 1:14-16 there is outlined for us forgiveness, redemption, and creation. These three are inseparable from the cross of Christ. The preaching of the cross is the power of the gospel unto salvation. (1 Corinthians 1:30, 18, 23-24). And the power of the gospel is illustrated in creation (Romans 1:16, 20). The power of God in the gospel is the power that creates (2 Corinthians 5:17). The cross of Christ has in it creative power, which is the power that redeems us. Is this not enough power for you?

Redemption is simply the carrying out of God's original plan of creation – that man should be in His image. Christ, the second Adam, "is the image of God," and God has predestined us "to be conformed to the image of His Son" (2 Corinthians 4:4; Romans 8:29).

 

Redemption and Education

It is through education that the purpose of redemption, and thus of creation, is carried out. Christ is both teacher and subject. He is the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:30), "in Whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Colossians 2:3). He is the Alpha and the Omega, the very Alphabet of heaven. And this Alphabet is learned in precisely the same way every alphabet of any language is understood, which is by faith alone. It is by faith alone that we learn that A is A and B is B and C is C, and so on through the rest of the alphabet. If we would have insisted on demonstration that A is A and B is B and so forth, before we believed we would not have learned to read and write, even if we should live for a thousand years.

So, whether we learn of education or creation, it is "by faith we understand" (Hebrews 11:3), and it is by faith in Christ's grace we are redeemed, "by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8). This brings us to the purpose of creation, redemption and education – do you know your ABC's?

It was by a measly mess of forbidden fruit that our first parents partook of the knowledge of evil. Eve "coveted what God had forbidden; she distrusted His wisdom. She cast away faith, the key of knowledge" (Education, p. 24). All Adam and Eve gained was the knowledge and experience of evil, of which we as a consequence learn and practice.

It is by faith alone that we are educated by the wisdom that comes from God. Parallel to true education there is a false one coming from another source, both of which are revealed in behavior. James wrote of this: "The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy" (James 3:17). On the other hand, the wisdom from beneath is likewise displayed in conduct: "If you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts … This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there" (James 3:14-16).

In closing, I leave you with this insight from Mrs. White which is both substance and summary of this week's lesson:

"To restore in man the image of his Maker, to bring him back to the perfection in which he was created, to promote the development of body, mind, and soul, that the divine purpose in his creation might be realized--this was to be the work of redemption. This is the object of education, the great object of life" (Education 15-16).

 

~Pastor Jerry Finneman

https://www.1888msc.org/resources/ssi/2020-q4/education-and-redemption

“MORE LESSONS FROM THE MASTER TEACHER”

"MORE LESSONS FROM THE MASTER TEACHER"

 

The lesson this week draws from many disparate texts and passages and so I chose to focus on Monday's lesson which uses Genesis 3:1-11 and Romans 5:11-19. Before we look at these texts, the concept of Jesus as Master Teacher should be explored. We began the quarter with the title Education in the Garden of Eden. In my vivid imagination, God, in the garden of Eden, was conducting a masterclass and Adam and Eve were His master students. Wikipedia gives this definition of a masterclass: "A master class is a class given to students of a particular discipline by an expert of that discipline—usually music, but also painting, drama, any of the arts, or on any other occasion where skills are being developed." I have friends that went to Juilliard School of Music for violin and they were always moved by the fact that they were in Master Class with the best Violinists in the world as their teachers. Adam and Eve were in a Master Class with the greatest of all Master Teachers, the Creator Himself. Think of that for a long while. They were taught by the Creator Himself.

This brings us to Monday's lesson. We will start with Romans 5:12 "12Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—" You have heard the phrase "familiarity breeds contempt." Often when we read this text, we read it devoid of any feeling, except, perhaps jubilation. But I want us to connect this verse (and the rest of Romans 5, which we will read momentarily) with what led to this passage in Romans 5 in the first place, Genesis 3.

In Genesis 3, the Master Teacher has lost control of the classroom. Rebellion erupts in the classroom because one of the students rebelled and chose to believe, what appeared to her to be, a better master teacher. We have this account in Genesis 3: 8-13 following their sin, "8And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, "Where are you?" 10So he said, "I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself." 11And He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?" 12Then the man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate." 13And the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" Here is the first lesson from the Master teacher. Ask probing questions. We usually focus on only one question, "Where are you?" But Jesus asks four probing questions which on the surface may seem to have rather obvious and simple answers. The four questions are "Where are you?", "Who told you that you were naked?, "Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?", and "What is this you have done?"

Before we look at the questions, I want us, as the master students now, to go to Genesis 3:24, "So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life." Think of it, God has to walk that long way back to the garden all by Himself because the man He created just a short while before, who He formed with His own hands, rejected Him and rebelled. No. This was no surprise to Him. At the dawn of creation, He made a plan to take care of rebellion should it arise. Revelation 13:8 tells us that He was the Lamb slain from the Foundation of the world. This is the second of the attributes of a great Master Teacher. He leads by self-sacrifice, self-forgetfulness, and demonstration. So, what is going through the Master teacher's mind? I can only surmise the answer based on the questions He asked them. Here is my take. "Do you realize the gravity of what you have done?" Do you realize the implications of your actions on yourselves, the rest of humanity, the onlooking universe and Heaven itself including, US, in whose image you were made?" These are all inherent in all of the questions, most obviously in the first and last questions. I am drawn to another account of creation in which Jesus tells His own testimony. It is found in Proverbs 8. We will only look at verses 30 and 31: "30Then I was beside Him as a master craftsman; And I was daily His delight, Rejoicing always before Him, 31Rejoicing in His inhabited world, And My delight was with the sons of men. I want to suggest that God, as He was walking back to the garden alone, His thoughts went back to the counsel of peace that was "between Them Both" and He remembered that though He and the Son enjoyed and delighted in each other's company, Their delight was also with the sons of men." Enter Romans 5.

Romans 5 is actually intimately related to Romans 3 as chapter four is parenthetical. The lesson references only verses 11-19. But we need to begin in verse 1 and I will be using the Young's Literal Translation (YLT) and the KJV. "Having been declared righteous, then, by faith, we have peace toward God through our Lord Jesus Christ." This text is crucial to appreciation of Romans 5 because the immediate context is Romans 3 where the faith of Jesus is introduced as the way forward. Romans 3:22-24 says "22and the righteousness of God [is] through the faith of Jesus Christ to all, and upon all those believing, -- for there is no difference, 23for all did sin, and are come short of the glory of God -- 24being declared righteous freely by His grace through the redemption that [is] in Christ Jesus," (YLT). Our being declared righteous as it says here in YLT is predicated on the "faith of Jesus", the faith of the Master Teacher. The faith of Jesus is why Romans 5:12-19 is such an awe-inspiring passage. It says, "12Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned— 13(For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. 15But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. 16And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. 17For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.) 18 Therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man's righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. 19For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous." KJV. The YLT says "declared righteous instead of justification. This passage is truly amazing news. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound.

So, let us look at what it took for the Master Teacher to bring us this ability to be declared righteous, fit to sit in the master class. We have a hint in Romans 5:6-8: "6For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. 8But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Christ died for us, the ungodly, while we were yet sinners and demonstrated His love to us while we were yet sinners.

What was on the Master Teacher's mind as He walked back to the garden of Eden alone? The cross certainly loomed large. It was now reality. How will He survive it? How will He make it? He had to bring about the reconciliation Paul talks about. But talk is easy. The faith of Jesus. What exactly is that? Many ideas are tossed around. I will use two sources, Ellen White and the book The Faith of Jesus Christ: The Narrative Substructure of Galatians 3:1-4, 11 by RB Hays, In his book, he makes the case that Paul's writings in both Galatians 3:1-4, 11 and in much of Romans is not so much a theological discourse of how we are saved. Rather it is the story of Jesus the Messiah and at the heart of that story is the faith of Jesus which Hays maintains is metonymy (shorthand word picture) for the cross event which begins in the garden of Gethsemane. God gave Him a mandate before time began and it was His faith that enabled Him to be successful in fulfilling His mandate. Hays says this, "The faithfulness of Jesus Christ refers first of all to His gracious, self-sacrificial death on the cross. The cross is the dramatic climax of the Jesus-story, and Paul uses the expression "faith of Jesus Christ" to suggest that focal moment of the narrative."

Ellen White makes similar statements: "The faith of Jesus. It is talked of, but not understood. What constitutes the faith of Jesus, that belongs to the third angel's message? Jesus becoming our sin-bearer that He might become our sin-pardoning Saviour. He was treated as we deserve to be treated. He came to our world and took our sins that we might take His righteousness. And faith in the ability of Christ to save us amply and fully and entirely is the faith of Jesus." {3SM 172.3}

She further puts this in the context of the cross. "Amid the awful darkness, apparently forsaken of God, Christ had drained the last dregs in the cup of human woe. In those dreadful hours He had relied upon the evidence of His Father's acceptance heretofore given Him. He was acquainted with the character of His Father; He understood His justice, His mercy, and His great love. By faith He rested in Him Whom it had ever been His joy to obey. And as in submission He committed Himself to God, the sense of the loss of His Father's favor was withdrawn. By faith, Christ was victor." {DA 756.3}

Master class, our Master Teacher has redeemed us with the precious blood of Jesus as Peter said. The class topic is "A New Thing. My Image Recreated In You." I pray we will all sit in that master class and respond to our faithful Master Teacher. It is His faith that made it possible for us to be in that class.

 

Blessings,

Andi Hunsaker

https://www.1888msc.org/resources/ssi/2020-q4/more-lessons-from-the-master-teacher

RR

Raul Diaz

1888 Message Study : Jesus As The Master Teacher

"JESUS AS THE MASTER TEACHER"

 

As we study this week's lesson together, I believe we will see that we have much to learn. Thankfully, we do indeed have Jesus as our Master Teacher! As our memory verse states: "For it is the God Who commanded light to shine out of darkness, Who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." (2 Corinthians 4:6).

That light pointing us to the Father is His Son, Jesus.

The following E.G. White quotes in Tuesday's lesson reaffirm this for us quite clearly (Education, pgs. 74-76, 82):

"The Light appeared when the world's darkness was deepest…

There was but one hope for the human race … that the knowledge of God might be restored to the world. Christ came to restore this knowledge. He came to set aside the false teaching by which those who claimed to know God had misrepresented Him. He came to manifest the nature of His law, to reveal His own character the beauty of holiness."

Everything Jesus did in His life on earth had a single purpose: "the revelation of God for the uplifting of humanity."

The core of this lesson as we see on Monday and Tuesday is Christ's teachings Revealing the Father. Why is this so important to us today? Satan has done a masterful job of misrepresenting God and His character to the world. For example, consider that natural disasters occurring around the world such as hurricanes, earthquakes, tornados, etc. are often referred to as "Acts of God", the implication being that He caused these disasters presumably either as some sort of punishment or to establish "fear" as a motive to obey Him. As a result, many refuse to believe in such a God or to worship Him.

For various world religions, God is seen as a stern taskmaster who seeks to punish sinners and demands obedience through that same fear motive. With Christians, this fear motive is prevalent as well, and they see the Father as looking to punish sinners with the threat of everlasting agony and torment in hell. Christ, being on our side, has the responsibility of trying to convince the Father that we should be allowed to forgo this punishment and enter heaven. Even in Adventist circles, the concept is common that we have to work hard at "doing our part" before the Father will consider forgiving us, which is, of course, salvation by works rather than faith and negates what Christ has already done for us on the Cross.

The good news is that Christ came to our world as our Saviour, paid an infinite price to redeem the entire human race, and in doing so revealed not only His agape love for us but the Father's as well. The plan of salvation was not a one man show.

From the very beginning the Godhead (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) have been One and before our world was created the plan of salvation was agreed to with each member of the Godhead having a specific role in anticipation of, and as a solution to, Satan and the sin problem. (the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Revelation 13:8)

The following quote from E.G. White emphasizes the enormity of the risk taken and the sacrifice made by all 3 Members of the Godhead to save this fallen world.

"Who can estimate the value of a soul? Go to Gethsemane, and there watch with Jesus through those long hours of anguish when He sweat as it were great drops of blood; look upon the Saviour uplifted on the cross; hear that despairing cry, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" Look upon that wounded head, the pierced side, the marred feet. Remember that Christ risked all; "tempted like as we are," He staked even His own eternal existence upon the issue of the conflict. Heaven itself was imperiled for our redemption. At the foot of the cross, remembering that for one sinner Jesus would have yielded up His life, we may estimate the value of a soul. GCB December 1, 1895, par. 23

The universe and the existence of the Godhead Itself was at risk for us! That eternal separation in experiencing the second death for us was felt by the Father and the Holy Spirit as well when they had always been One together.

God is love! We see this throughout God's word and through His Son, Jesus, the living Word. In 1 John 4: 8, 16 we see explicitly that "God is love" and the Greek word "agape" used to describe God's love is a totally unselfish love, vastly different from our human love. We are also told that our love is a response to His infinite, unselfish love for us. In giving us His Son forever as our Saviour to die on the cross and redeem the human race at an infinite price, He gave us everything He had to give. An infinite, unselfish love giving an infinite sacrifice. This is the Father that the world needs to see and why Jesus came to reveal the Father and His love for us. This is why we are told to share His everlasting gospel with the world.

This incredibly good news is also at the heart of the "most precious message" given to us by God through Elders Waggoner and Jones which E.G. White describes in Testimonies to Ministers pgs. 91, 92 as the message that God commanded that we (His people) give to the world. It is "a testimony that presented the truth as it is in Jesus, which is the third angel's message, in clear, distinct lines."

We see how important it was for Christ to reveal the Father and His love for each and every one of us. As Romans 8:31 says "If God be for us, who can be against us".

Let's now take a look at some quotes from E.G. White, E.J. Waggoner and A.T. Jones that relate to "revealing the Father":

E.G. White
"When Christ was about to ascend to heaven, He committed to His disciples the mission that His Father had committed to Him; and He taught them how to fulfil this mission. He declared that as He had represented His Father to the world, so they were to represent Him. Although He would be invisible to the natural eye, yet all who believed on Him would be able to behold Him by faith. He told His followers to work as He had worked. They were to be a spectacle to worlds unfallen, to angels, and to men, revealing the Father through a revelation of the Son. RH June 16, 1904, par. 3

… Clothed with humanity, Christ performed a work that revealed the invisible Father, in order that His disciples might understand the meaning of the prayer, "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven."

The life of Christ must become our life, our light, our exceeding great reward. Our words and works must bear a living testimony that in our lives we are not lying against the truth we claim to believe. If Christ is indeed formed within, the hope of glory, we shall manifest that tenderness, that love, that fervency of spirit, which reveals His character. Our hearts will be humble, our spirits contrite. Our works will bear witness to His indwelling presence. His disposition, His kindness, His compassion, manifested in us, will inspire hope in the hearts of the most hopeless. Thus, in act, as well as in word, we shall reveal to the world the character of the Unseen." RH June 16, 1904, par. 10

 

E.G. White #2
"Man must be emptied of self before he can be in the fullest sense a believer in Jesus; and when self is subdued, then the Lord can make of man a new creature. New bottles can contain new wine. Truth will be received into the heart, the character will be transformed into the likeness of Christ; the Son of God will be revealed to the world by His followers, as the Father was revealed to the world by the Son. And all who reveal Christ, are revealing the Father also." ST November 16, 1891, par. 3

 

E.G. White #3
"I spoke from Matthew 11:25-27. My mind was led out to dwell particularly upon the mission of Christ, which was to reveal the Father. The office work of revealing the Father and representing the character of God was reserved for Him Who had been with the Father from the beginning. The knowledge of the only true God had become indistinct, and His attributes were falsified by Satan. Satan's special work was to clothe the character of God with his own attributes, and he hid his satanic character and agency that he might be the more successful. The knowledge of God must be made known, His divine character represented." 6LtMs, Ms 51, 1890, par.4

"Christ, Who was one with the Father, laid off His royal robe and His royal crown, clothed His divinity with humanity, and came into the world to bless the world with a living personation of God. He could approach the human family only as He should hide His glory and employ the faculties of a human being. Then humanity could touch humanity, while His veiled divinity, recognized in heaven, could lay hold on the Infinite One. The Father and the Son saw that it was expedient that Christ, the Only Begotten of the Father, should make Himself visible and walk and talk with men, not as an angel but as a Teacher sent from God, possessing all the attributes of the Godhead under the garb of humanity, revealing the love, the sympathy, the compassion of God. 6LtMs, Ms 51, 1890, par. 11

In a body which God—and not man—had prepared, He was fully able to unveil and disclose to man the perfection of Jehovah and reveal His paternal character as a God of infinite love. "No man," He declared, "knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son shall reveal him." Matthew 11:27 6LtMs, Ms 51, 1890, par.12

 

E.J. Waggoner
"Christ's qualification for the work of revealing the Father, consisted in the fact that there was nothing in Him that was not of the Father. Since He lived by the Father, and there was nothing in His life that came from any other source, every thought and word and action was a revelation of God's way. It is to be the same with all Christ's followers. "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God." 2 Corinthians 5 17-18 PTUK Feb. 16, 1899 p 100.4

 

E.J. Waggoner #2
"Jesus said, "All things are delivered unto Me of My Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and He to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him." Matthew 11:27. God was revealed in Christ, for Jesus said to Philip, when He had been asked to be shown the Father, "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip? he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father, and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?" John 14:9. PTUK June 1, 1893, p. 161.7

Immediately after saying that He alone could reveal the Father, because the Father was in Him, Jesus said, "Come unto Me, all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls." Matthew 11:28, 29. Christ was meek and lowly in heart; but He was but the manifestation of the Father; therefore that is the character of God. It seems too wonderful to be true, that God, the great Creator is meek and lowly in heart, but it is true, nevertheless. One trouble is that we have so meagre an idea of what meekness is. What Christ was, that He is still, for He is "the same yesterday, and today, and forever." Hebrews 13:8. So, God is now meek and lowly in heart, and that is why He can be a companion to men." PTUK June 1, 1893, p. 161.8

 

A.T. Jones - Christ glorifying God
"To glorify God, it is necessary for each one to be in the condition, and in the position, in which none but God shall be manifested, because that was the position of Jesus Christ. Therefore He said: "The words that I speak unto you I speak not of Myself" (John 14:10); "I came .... not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me" (John 6:38); "The Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works" (John 14:10); "I can of mine own self do nothing" (John 5:30); "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him" (John 6:44); "He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father" (John 14:9)? "He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory; but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him." John 7:18. GCB February 27, 1895, p. 377.3

Therefore, He said: "The words that I speak .... I speak not of Myself," because, as in the other verse, He that speaks of himself, that is, from himself, seeks his own glory. But Christ was not seeking his own glory. He was seeking the glory of Him that sent Him; therefore He said: "The words that I speak .... I speak not of Myself." In so doing, He sought the glory of Him that sent Him; and there stands the record that "He is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him." He was so entirely emptied of Himself, so entirely was He from being manifested in any way, that no influence went forth from Him except the influence of the Father. This was so to such an extent that no man could come to Him except the Father drew that man to Him. That shows how completely He Himself was kept in the background, how completely He was emptied. It was done so thoroughly that no man could come to Him - that no man could feel any influence from Him or be drawn to Him, except from the Father Himself. The manifestation of the Father, - that could draw any man to Christ. GCB February 27, 1895, p. 377.4

In closing, we see that Christ's role as the Master Teacher was to reveal and glorify the Father to the world. It is His desire for us individually and as His last day church to see and understand more of the infinite unselfish love and sacrifice of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit on our behalf so that our hearts may be changed and we become "new creatures in Christ" who want nothing more than to share this everlasting gospel, this most precious message at every opportunity. May that be our desire today.

Blessings,

John Campbell

https://www.1888msc.org/resources/ssi/2020-q4/jesus-as-the-master-teacher