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

1888 Message Study : The Law As Teacher

FOURTH QUARTER 2020
SABBATH SCHOOL INSIGHT #3
OCTOBER 17, 2020
"THE LAW AS TEACHER"

 

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength" Deuteronomy 6:5, NKJV.

God's law of love undergirds every commandment in the decalogue, every type, and every ceremony that foreshadowed His first advent. The everlasting covenant encompasses the entire plan of salvation from its inception to its accomplishment. 

We are living in an age in which the word "love" has many meanings, including acceptance of every perversion known to man. 

The distinction between the biblical concept of agape love (others-centered love) and self-love is almost unknown in the world. Today, society teaches that the issues of fairness and justice are better understood now than in the past. Is this true? What is the fruit of this movement? In place of God's law of self-sacrificing love, man has instated the law of selfishness and self-preservation. This false law was foretold in the Scripture as "the mystery of lawlessness," which would be characterized by the working of miracles, signs and lying wonders, as well as self exaltation and opposition to God (2 Thessalonians 2:3-9). We are living in fearful and amazing times.

Sunday's lesson calls attention to an intriguing text in Deuteronomy 31:9-13, which states that at the end of every seven years, at the appointed time in the year of release, at the Feast of Tabernacles, all of Israel was to gather together to hear the law read.

Similarly, in fulfillment of this type, God will once more magnify His law before all people in earth's final hour. This last message is delivered by three angels in Revelation 14 and again by one final appeal of a fourth angel in Revelation 18. These last day messages will fully unmask the deceiver, Satan, in his war against God's government and His throne. In contrast, God's law of agape love will be revealed in its brilliance through the testimony and lives of those who have settled into the truth. 

Our lesson points out that Joshua, Hezekiah, and others made a careful study of the Scripture to make sure their lives and the people whom they served were in harmony with every principle of God's law as set forth in Scripture. In our day God has shed an abundance of light on His last day church so that none need be ignorant of His love as it is to be expressed in our daily lives.

The lesson for Sabbath afternoon calls our attention to Galatians 3:21, which states that "If there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law." Satan has developed a counterfeit system of salvation in which love of self is the actuating principle. In contrast, God's law is based on His others-centered love for us which was revealed in His humiliation by becoming a man and being humbled even to the death of the cross. There is no "self" in the love of Christ or in His law. The world will take notice when God has a people on earth who are emptied of self and governed by His others-centered love principle. The Faith of Jesus is what works by this love to purify the soul.

Since Satan is the antithesis of love, his false gospel does not instill love for others in the soul. Rather, it keeps love of self supreme. His mantra is, "It's all about me," and he bids all his followers take up that refrain. 

In contrast, Paul experienced the effect of Christ's subduing love in His heart. He was constrained to live no longer for himself, but for Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:14, 15). That is the others-centered, agape love which our world needs to see in 2020, as an expression and the natural outgrowth of Christ living in His people, and their living by His faith.

Commenting on these themes, A. T. Jones wrote that "the everlasting covenant is not met in its fulness, in believers, until the second coming of Christ; that is, till the seed really comes to whom the promise of the inheritance was made.

"One provision of that everlasting covenant is, 'I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts.' And that provision will not be accomplished in its fullness until, by the Third Angel's Message, men are brought to the actual keeping of the 'commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus:' so that the Lord, looking down from heaven upon them, can say, in perfect truth: 'Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus' " (Studies in Galatians, p. 96).

~Patti Guthrie

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

1888 Message Study : Education in the Garden of Eden

"EDUCATION IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN"

 

"Behold, God is exalted by His power;

Who teaches like Him?" Job 36:22, NKJV

 

The primary purpose of the Eden school was for Adam and Eve to not only learn about the Creation, nor necessarily merely about the Creator, but to know the Creator for themselves, through their association with Him and the study of the things He had made to teach them of His very Person and character in order that they might become like Him, revealing His glory. The Sabbath was especially designed for this purpose, as humanity was to contemplate and study these things with God Himself committing to meeting with them on this day. They would rest in the knowledge that He was sharing all things with them as a loving Father.

 

"Love, the basis of creation and of redemption, is the basis of true education." Ed. p. 16

 

"After resting upon the seventh day, God sanctified it, or set it apart, as a day of rest for man. Following the example of the Creator, man was to rest upon this sacred day, that as he should look upon the heavens and the earth, he might reflect upon God's great work of creation; and that as he should behold the evidences of God's wisdom and goodness, his heart might be filled with love and reverence for his Maker.

"In Eden, God set up the memorial of His work of creation, in placing His blessing upon the seventh day. The Sabbath was committed to Adam, the father and representative of the whole human family. Its observance was to be an act of grateful acknowledgment, on the part of all who should dwell upon the earth, that God was their Creator and their rightful Sovereign; that they were the work of His hands and the subjects of His authority. Thus, the institution was wholly commemorative, and given to all mankind. There was nothing in it shadowy or of restricted application to any people.

"God saw that a Sabbath was essential for man, even in Paradise. He needed to lay aside his own interests and pursuits for one day of the seven, that he might more fully contemplate the works of God and meditate upon His power and goodness. He needed a Sabbath to remind him more vividly of God and to awaken gratitude because all that he enjoyed and possessed came from the beneficent hand of the Creator." PP 47, 48.

Satan, of course, hated this close communion that the human race was having with their loving Creator. So, he carried his strategy developed among the angels to the earth, sowing the seed of doubt in the mind of Eve, and then Adam. Before the first lie, "you shall not surely die," came the first higher criticism. Did God really mean what He said, or was His word conditioned on a precedent context that changed the meaning of what Adam understood God to say? In this, he attacked the credibility of the Eden school Teacher, suggesting there was a greater context in which to judge God Himself. To this day, this incredulity continues in worldly schools of so called "higher learning," in some form even affecting our own, and bleeding into our churches.

 

E. J. Waggoner: 

"'No Lie Is of the Truth'" The Present Truth 17, 44.

"'He is a very good man, so spiritual and elevating in his influence. You must mind, however, and be on your guard against believing his stories, for his judgment is so poor that he often tells egregious lies, supposing them to be true. He cannot tell the difference between truth and error, and is very credulous; but there is no doubt that he is a sure guide in morals and religion.

"Do you believe anybody could be found so foolish as to talk that way about any man? Would you accept, as tutor to your children, a man, even if he did not tell willful lies, gave utterance to the most ridiculous nonsense about matters which he considered it his special province to explain, in which he professed to know more about than anybody else?

"Of course, you would not; yet that is just what, following the leading of the so-called 'Higher Criticism,' a great many ministers of the Gospel are telling us now about the Bible. They will pick flaws in almost every Bible narrative, and declare that many of them are utterly impossible and absurd, and that no man of education could think of believing them, and then will hasten to assure us that 'the fact that it is mistaken in all these things does not impair its value as a religious guide.' They try to make themselves believe that they are relieving the Bible of some of its 'difficulties;' but they are, so far as their influence goes, weakening its hold on the people. Their teaching is more pernicious than that of any of avowed infidel. We know that the Bible speaks the truth, because it tells us the truth about ourselves, and therefore we know it to be true when it tells what happened before we were born." October 31, 1901 EJW, PTUK p.704.

 

W.W. Prescott:

"What is the difference between the true method of study, of education, and the false method of study and of education? The true method is to study all things as the study of God; the false method is to leave God out, not to get to Him at all, or have His laws control. The laws of nature are the habits of God, simply God's usual way of working. This field is as broad as the universe, and to begin to illustrate it, we begin an indefinite study. All this is Bible study. This is the study of the gospel. It is the power that attracts us to Him and keeps us from sin. The result for us of this study is growth. We will desire the sincere milk of the Word that we may grow thereby, and if we are as submissive as nature, we will grow. Every product of creation was pronounced after its kind to be good. God had a certain ideal for trees, grass, plants, man, and that was submission. Perfect submission means perfect being.

"The hearers of the Word are not to be mere echoes. The Gospel plan is that everybody should be original, an original, independent thinker, in the proper sense of the term. No person is to build upon any other person, but upon the one foundation, Jesus Christ; 'for other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.' The promise is, 'They shall be all taught of God.' True thinking, right thinking, is the product of the Spirit of God in the soul, the expression in words of the experience of the life. This is all the real originality that is possible. True originality is the working of 'that one and the selfsame Spirit, distributing to every man severally as He will.' Thus, there is no ground for anybody to complain of lack of education, nor any reason for one to ape another, for the Gospel itself provides the highest education for all. There is no teacher like God. 'The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.' This wisdom is not on the surface, but is in the life and character. 'A good understanding have all they that do His commandments.'" October 18, 1900 EJW, PTUK p. 663.

Restoring by true education what was lost in Eden culminates in the final call and experience of giving glory to the Creator God as the hour of His judgment arrives, an obvious reference in the first angel's message to the Sabbath commandment. Notice the relationship to Revelation 13, and the second and third angels' messages, as well as Revelation 18. False education, willful misunderstanding of God, is what undermines and causes the destruction of Babylon.

 

A. T. Jones:

"Now, mark the situation. Here was the world's education. The world's education had brought the world to where it did not know God. God comes to reach the world by preaching, which is simply teaching; and He sends out His apostles, those whom He had taught, to teach the world. Now, what did they use in their teaching? What did God employ from which to teach the world, when the world by wisdom had reached the point where it did not know God?—His word, the Bible. Everyone who is sent forth to preach under His commission is charged by the Lord Himself: 'Preach the Word.' They are not to diminish aught from it: 'Preach the Word.'

"Then: preaching is teaching; the world by its wisdom had reached the point where it did not know God; God comes now to teach the world, to give it the true education; and to do this, He takes His word and presents that to the world. And when that is done, it is counted foolishness, by the world. The Spirit of the Lord, when writing of it, recognizes the fact that it was called foolishness: 'It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.' It pleased Him to do in that way—by the foolishness of preaching the gospel—by the foolishness of teaching the word of God—what the wisdom of the teaching of the world and of the schools of the world had not been able to do.

"'But unto us which are saved,' the use of the Bible as the basis of all education—that education which is Christian education—that education which comes from God—he who will receive that as Christianity, to him 'it is the power of God.' 'But unto us which are saved it [the preaching of the cross] is the power of God.' [Voices: Amen.] Not only is it the power of God; but it is 'the power of God, and the wisdom of God.' [Voices: Amen.]

"Thus went forth the gospel, Christian education, in that day when Jesus sent forth His disciples preaching the Word. Presently, there were those who, in their professed Christianity and half-hearted Christian experience, thought that Christian education, Bible teaching—the teaching of the word of God—was too narrow. It was not sufficiently deep, nor sufficiently broad, not sufficiently balanced, to give Christianity the proper standing before the world. To give it its proper place, Christian education must be blended with the world's education.

"Therefore they took the world's philosophy and the world's literature, and made them the real basis of education, and made the Bible and Christian education conform to them. That was the great apostasy, which finally seized upon the power of the Roman government; and of which the result was 'the beast' of the book of Revelation. When that result of the abandonment of true Christian education had manifested itself in the world, God again sent a message to the world in the great Reformation. In that again he exalted the Bible as truly educative, as that which has in it Christian education, root and branch. And that made Protestantism. But instead of Protestantism holding fast to that principle, it, too, gradually became cold and half-hearted, adopted the world's wisdom and the world's literature, and imitated the world in its work of education. And so much is this so that, as you know, Protestantism is now making the very image of the beast." October 10, 1899 ATJ, ARSH p. 647.

 

Ellen G. White:

THE TREE OF LIFE AND THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE

"'And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. . . . And the Lord commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.'

"It was not the will of God that the sinless pair should know aught of evil. He had freely given them the good and had withheld the evil. But, contrary to his command, they ate of the forbidden tree. The disobedience to God's express command, opened the flood gates of woe upon our world. The tree of knowledge had been made a test of their obedience and their love to God. Satan could have access to them only at the forbidden tree. Should they attempt to investigate its nature, they would be exposed to his wiles. They were admonished to give careful heed to the warning which God had sent them, and to be content with the instructions which He had seen fit to impart.

"Filled with enmity against God, Satan lurked in the forbidden tree, making it the field for carrying out his plan to ruin the human race. Appearing to Eve in the form of a serpent, he addressed the woman, saying: 'Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. . . . For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.' By partaking of this tree, he declared they would attain to a more exalted sphere of existence and enter a broader field of knowledge. He himself had eaten of the forbidden fruit, and as a result had acquired the power of speech. He insinuated that the Lord jealously desired to withhold it from them, lest they should be exalted to equality with Himself. He said it was because of its wonderful properties for imparting wisdom and power, that He had prohibited them from tasting or even touching it; that God had been seeking to prevent them from reaching a nobler development, and finding greater happiness. Satan claimed to have received great good by eating of the forbidden fruit; but he did not let it appear that by transgression he had become an outcast from heaven. He concealed his own misery, in order to draw others into the same condition.

"Satan is still doing the same work begun in the garden of Eden. He is working vigilantly, that men may accept his assertions as proof against God. He is working against Christ's efforts to restore the moral image of God in man. By every species of deception, he is endeavoring to induce man to eat of the forbidden tree. He thus tempts man to disobedience by leading him to believe that he is entering a wonderful field of knowledge. But this is all a deception. Elated with his ideas of progression, man is setting his feet in the path that leads to degradation and death. Satan, in a deceptive garb, still lurks in the tree of knowledge. The words of God spoken at creation, 'But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it,' come sounding along the line of ages to us today: for 'they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.' 'Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the Lord. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve.' 'If the Lord be God, follow Him: but if Baal, then follow Him.'

"The garden of Eden was not only Adam's dwelling, but his school-room. As in that school, so in the school of earth today, two trees are planted, - the tree of life, which bears the fruit of the true education; the tree of knowledge, yielding the fruit of 'science falsely so called.' All who have a connection with Christ have access to the tree of life, a source of knowledge of which the world is ignorant. After sin entered this world, the heavenly Husbandman transplanted the tree of life to the paradise above; but its branches hang over the wall to the lower world. Through the redemption purchased by the blood of the Son of God, man may now partake of its life-giving fruit. The tree of knowledge has its roots in the earth - it is of the earth, earthy. All who have tasted of the heavenly fruit, the Bread of Life, are to be co-workers with God, pointing others from the tree of knowledge to the tree of life, that they also may partake of its fruits.

"Jesus Christ is to the world as the tree of life to which Adam and Eve had access in the garden of Eden. When, by disobedience, the fallen pair were deprived of the fruit of this tree, thy lost everlasting life. The tree of knowledge became a curse to them, not because of its poisonous qualities, but because of their act of disobedience. It was attractive to them; and in their great desire for it, they partook of it, and lost their purity and their allegiance to God. But Christ presents Himself as the Life-Giver, the tree of life for the world. By feeding upon His flesh, and drinking His blood, our spiritual life is perfected.

"Shall the education given in our schools be after God's order, or after the wisdom of this world which the Lord pronounces foolishness? Shall the hearts of the students become estranged from God by eating of the tree of knowledge, which hardens the heart into disobedience and administers to vanity and pride? Shall not the education given in our schools be of that character which will give a more decided knowledge of God's word, and which will bring the soul into a vital connection with God, keeping God before the mind's eye, and arousing every better feeling of the soul? This is the kind of education which is as enduring as eternity.

"There are many beliefs which the mind has no right to entertain. Adam believed the lie of Satan, the wily insinuations against the character of God. It is well and essential to obtain a knowledge of the world in which we live; but if we leave eternity out of our reckoning, we shall make a failure from which we can never recover. It will be as the knowledge gained by eating of the fruit of the forbidden tree. All the speculative opinions which, through the devising of Satan, have been brought into educational work, are to be separated from the truth. This was the work of the Redeemer in coming into the world. The opinions and speculations of men had become abundant; they occupied the ground with a multitude of theories which made it difficult to distinguish truth from error. In view of the near coming of Him Who is the Truth, now of all other times, we are to know the truth, and the truth is to make us free. Obedience to the commandments of God does not bring the soul into bondage. The sayings of Christ have a value above that of silver or gold.

"All who receive Christ in truth will believe Him. They will see the necessity of having Christ abiding in the heart by faith. They will escape from the control of their hereditary and cultivated tendencies, their pride, vanity, self-esteem, worldliness, and every sin, and will reveal Christ in their lives. If God's word is eaten as the bread of life, they will become thoroughly aroused to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling, knowing that it is God that worketh in them, both to will and to do His own good pleasure. Men must co-operate with God. By obedience to His laws, they must reveal the respect they have for His word. They will not then disobey the commandments of God, eating of the forbidden tree of knowledge. They will heed the requirements of God. In this they are eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of God, Who is represented by the tree of life.

"Age after age the curiosity of man has led him to seek for the tree of knowledge; and often he thinks he is plucking fruit most essential, when, like Solomon, he finds it altogether vanity and nothingness, in comparison with that science of true holiness which will open to him the gates of the city of God. Human ambition has been seeking for that kind of knowledge that will bring self-exaltation and glory and supremacy. Thus Adam and Eve were worked upon by Satan, until God's restraint was snapped asunder, and their education under the teacher of lies began in order that they might have the knowledge that God had refused them, - to know the consequences of transgression. The sons of men have had a practical knowledge of evil; but Christ came to the world to show them that He had planted for them the tree of life, the leaves of which are for the healing of the nations.

"Satan is playing the game of life for every soul that is upon the earth. All who will study and obey the directions of God, will have the mind of Christ. Then all passions, all dissensions, will be put away. There will be a cultivation of the higher faculties of the mind. It is essential that we gain a knowledge of God, and of Jesus Christ Whom He has sent. False religion and erroneous educational ideas and sentiments are prevalent. Because there is so little study of the word, there is with many scarcely any desire to know what saith the Lord. Errors have come in and usurped the place of truth. The wild branch has been grafted in and has borne wild grapes. The result has been centuries of darkness and error. Men have introduced human theories, thinking as did our first parents when tempted by Satan to eat of the tree of knowledge, that they would thus become as gods. But these sentiments are not in harmony with the Word. They are false and ruinous theories. The one, the word of God, is the tree of life; the other is the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge, and all who pluck and eat of this possess a disorderly imagination. . . .

"We cannot, in this day of peril, accept teachers because they have been in school two, three, four, or five years. The question which should decide whether they are qualified for their work should be, Have they, with all their acquisition of knowledge, searched the Bible and dug beneath the surface for truth as for hidden treasures? or Have they seized the chaff in the place of the pure wheat, thoroughly winnowed? Are they partakers of the fruit of the tree of life? We cannot consent, at this period of time, to expose our youth to the consequences of learning a mixture of truth with error. The youth who come from school without feeling the importance of making the word of God the first study, the main study, above every science in educational lines, are not qualified in these days of peril to enter upon the work of the teacher. . . .

"The question of how to obtain a knowledge of God is to all a life and death question. Read Christ's prayer to His Father, intended not merely as an important lesson in education for the disciples, but to come down through all time for the benefit of those who should read the inspired writings. 'Father,' He prayed, 'the hour is come; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee; as Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him. And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom Thou hast sent.'

"Christ promised his disciples that He would send them the Holy Spirit, Who would bring all these things to their remembrance. All those who render obedience to God's commands will be given free access to Eden restored and to the tree of life. He who is the fountain of all knowledge has stated the condition of our fitness to enter the heaven of bliss, in the words, 'Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.'" E. G. WHITE. March 6, 1899 N/A, GCDB p. 158,159.

 

~Todd Guthrie

https://www.1888msc.org/resources/ssi/2020-q4/education-in-the-garden-of-eden