THE GOSPEL AND DISTINCTIVE ADVENTIST DOCTRINES
(ADVENTISM: Cultic or Christian to the Core – Section 3)

ADVENTIST FUNDAMENTAL BELIEFS

The 28 Fundamentals are a set of theological beliefs held by the Seventh-day Adventist. Traditionally, Adventists have been opposed to the formulation of creeds. It is claimed that the 28 Fundamentals are descriptors not prescriptors; that is, that they describe the official position of the church but are not a criterion for membership. The beliefs were known as the 27 Fundamentals until 2005 when another was added. They may be grouped into the doctrines of God, humankind, salvation, church, Christian life, and last things.

The preamble to the 28 Fundamentals states that Adventists accept the Bible as their only creed, and that revision of the statements may be expected:

“Seventh-day Adventists accept the Bible as their only creed and hold certain fundamental beliefs to be the teaching of the Holy Scriptures. These beliefs, as set forth here, constitute the church’s understanding and expression of the teaching of Scripture. Revision of these statements may be expected at a General Conference Session when the church is led by the Holy Spirit to a fuller understanding of Bible truth or finds better language in which to express the teachings of God’s Holy Word.”

The editors of the Adventist Fundamentals clearly stated, “We have not written this book to serve as a creed—a statement of beliefs set in theological concrete. Adventists have but one creed: “The Bible, and the Bible alone.” They identified their objectives as follow:

We have written this book with the deep conviction that all doctrines, when properly understood, center on Him, the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and are extremely important. Doctrines define the character of the God we serve…

We have written this book to lead Adventist believers into a deeper relationship with Christ through a study of the Bible. Knowing Him and His will is vitally important in this age of deception, doctrinal pluralism, and apathy…Only those who have fortified their minds with the truth of the Scriptures will be able to stand in the final conflict.

We have written this book to assist those who are interested in knowing why we believe what we believe. This study, written by Adventists themselves, is not just window dressing. Carefully researched, it represents an authentic exposition of Adventist beliefs.

Finally, we have written this book recognizing that Christ-centered doctrine performs three obvious functions: first, it edifies the church; second, it preserves the truth; and third, it communicates the gospel in all its richness…A true knowledge of God, His Son, and the Holy Spirit is “saving knowledge.” That is the theme of this book.—Editors.

Without ambiguity, they also make the following qualification:

This is not a speculative work…Rather, it is a thorough, Biblically-based, Christ-centered exposition of what we believe. And the beliefs expressed are not the product of a studious afternoon; they represent more than 100 years of prayer, study, prayer, reflection, prayer…In other words, they are the product of Adventist growth “in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18).

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THE CROSS AND GREAT CONTROVERSY THEME

The unique contribution of Adventism to Christendom is our understanding of the great controversy between Christ and Satan. The Great Controversy is the overarching theme of our theology. We can diagram this as follows:

GREAT CONTROVERSY ISSUES

Number 8 of the Fundamental Beliefs of Seventh-day Adventism states:

Great Controversy:
All humanity is now involved in a great controversy between Christ and Satan regarding the character of God, His law, and His sovereignty over the universe. This conflict originated in heaven when a created being, endowed with freedom of choice, in self-exaltation became Satan, God’s adversary. He led into rebellion a portion of the angels. He introduced the spirit of rebellion into this world when he led Adam and Eve into sin. This human sin resulted in the distortion of the image of God in humanity, the disordering of the created world, and its eventual devastation at the time of the worldwide flood. Observed by the whole creation, this world became the arena of the universal conflict, out of which the God of love will ultimately be vindicated. To assist His people in this controversy, Christ sends the Holy Spirit and the loyal angels to guide, protect, and sustain them in the way of salvation. (Rev. 12:4-9; Isa. 14:12-14; Eze. 28:12-18; Gen. 3; Rom. 1:19-32; 5:12-21; 8:19-22; Gen. 6-8; 2 Peter 3:6; 1 Cor. 4:9; Heb. 1:14.)

Paul completes his discourse on the righteousness of God in Romans 3:21-26 by emphasizing that the gospel is a declaration of God’s justice. “It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:26 ESV). Paul discloses the gospel’s “broader and deeper purpose” than just the salvation of man, to honor God’s holy character and declare His righteous way of justifying those who believe in Christ.

God’s kingdom stands on two great pillars: justice and mercy (Psalms 89:14). The Fall presented an infinite dilemma. God’s hatred for sin (justice) demanded that He punish transgression. Yet His eternal love for the sinner (mercy) called for compassion to spare this offending world. God solved the dilemma through the gospel! Christ’s life and death exhausted the rigors of divine justice while effecting man’s eternal salvation. In the gospel, justice and mercy met in Jesus Christ and “kissed each other” (Psalms. 85:10).

In the end, “…at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:10, 11). This is the cosmic view of the Cross, the gospel in the framework of the great controversy. This is the everlasting gospel of Revelation 14 which is proclaimed in the setting of God’s judgment hour. Its celestial perspective showcases the conflict between Christ and Satan.

Paul alludes to this larger view in Ephesians 3:10 where he uses phrases such as “principalities and powers” and “rulers and authorities in the heavenly realm.” Asserting his apostleship, he wrote the Corinthians, “we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men” (I Corinthians 4:9 NKJV).

Earlier in Ephesians, Paul establishes the main purpose of the gospel is to praise the glorious grace of God:

“to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins…that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth–in Him. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory” (Ephesians 1:6-7; 10-14 NKJV emphasis supplied)

Jesus Christ Himself clearly declared this purpose in John 13:30-32 after Judas set out to betray Him:

“Having received the piece of bread, he then went out immediately. And it was night. So, when he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in Him. If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and glorify Him immediately.” (cf. John 12:27-33; 17:1-2)

In Reformation terms, the preoccupation of Adventism in these last days is SOLI DEO GLORIA. As vital as the other 4 war cries of the Reformation are:

SOLUS CHRISTUS (Christ Alone)
SOLA SCRIPTURA (Scripture Alone)
SOLA GRATIA (Grace Alone)
SOLA FIDE (Faith Alone)

SOLI DEO GLORIA (Glory to God Alone) is the foundational slogan that glues all of them together. At times, this is not included in the emphases of Evangelicals, even Reformed churches. However, the messages of the 3 angels in Revelation 14 intentionally make God’s glory and His worship the central hub in proclaiming the everlasting gospel. This Adventist trademark testifies to a God-centered gospel.

GREAT CONTROVERSY CONTENDERS

The cosmic conflict began in heaven as we read in the Book of Revelation:

And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. (Revelation 7:7-9 NASB)

The main contenders in the great controversy are Michael and the great dragon, the serpent of old who is called the devil or Satan. It is fascinating that Bryan Chappell, who wrote what many Christian leaders consider the best volume on Christ-centered preaching, alluded to the great controversy as a vantage point in crafting Biblical messages with Christ as the focus.

So long as the message exposes theological truths or historical facts that show the relation of the passage to the war between the Seed of the woman and Satan, Christ assumes His rightful place as the focus of the message.

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THE CROSS AND THE IDENTITY OF MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL

Due to the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ teaching that Michael is a created being, most Christians recoil from identifying Michael with Jesus Christ. Yet, Michael is the chief protagonist in the great controversy against Satan. Thus, He must be Jesus Christ. He is the same Michael the archangel of Jude 9 and Michael the great prince of Daniel 12:1 and contrary to common misconception, this understanding in no way relegates Christ to a being less than God.

The term “angel” can be interpreted not as a specific class of created heavenly beings as generally viewed in the Scriptures, but more broadly as any being serving as a messenger from God. This English word “angel” is derived from the Greek ANGELO meaning “messenger.” In the strictest sense, Christ is the chief (“arch”) messenger of God in His incarnation. Michael is also Chief of the angels (archangel) in heaven, one of the many titles applied to the Son of God.

The word Archangel is compounded from two words, ARKH, a prefix denoting “chief” or “first in rule and power,” and ANGELOS, or “messenger.” Christ alone could cast Satan out of heaven. It was no mere angel that cast Satan out of heaven! He was cast out by the power of his Christ. “And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night” (Revelation 12:10).

It is also the voice of the Archangel that calls the dead from their graves. That voice is the same voice of Christ who conquered death on the cross and His loud shout will awaken the dead at His return (1 Thessalonians 4:16; John 5:28). No created being has the power, let alone the right, to challenge the power of death. Only Christ, the Resurrection and the Life, dealt the grave an utter defeat.

Apart from the account in Jude 9, the only Biblical reference to the burial of Moses is Deuteronomy 34:5, 6 where it is recorded that the Lord buried His faithful servant and that his grave was not known to men. Jude reveals that the dead body was the subject of dispute between Christ and Satan. It is evident that the Lord triumphed in His contest with the devil and raised Moses from his grave, making him the first known subject of Christ’s resurrecting power to eternal life (Matthew 17:3). Moses appeared with Elijah on the Mount of transfiguration.

Michael also appears in the book of Daniel. Michael your Prince in Daniel 10:21 refers to the Prince of princes in Daniel 8:25 and the same Person as Messiah the Prince in Daniel 9:25, the Christ who will be cut off to fulfill the sacrifice for our salvation. As Michael the Archangel is a title of Christ so is Prince: the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6), the Prince of life (Acts 3:15), the Prince and Savior (Acts 5:31), and the Prince of the kings of the earth. (Revelation 1:5)

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THE CROSS AND THE HOLISTIC VIEW OF MAN

It is common place among many Christians not to despair during the funeral of a departed loved one because he or she, they believe, is more alive after death since the soul of a believer goes straight to heaven at death. Such a belief comes from the philosophy of Greek dualism imposed on the Scriptures.

Similarly, Adventists don’t conduct funeral services without hope but for quite a different reason. With their mourning comes a bright hope for a resurrection morning when they will be reunited with their loved ones who died. This hope is solidly founded on the Biblical holistic view of man.

Greek dualism dichotomizes man into body and soul while Biblical holism sees man as a total, indivisible being. Man is not a divided entity:

He is, instead, a total being that can be viewed in 3 dimensions:

Greek dualism assumes an immortal soul that is encased in the human body. Therefore, immortality is innate to man. This is diametrically opposed to the most loved gospel verse: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16 NKJV) If the sinner has inherent immortality, then the gospel is irrelevant. The Cross of Christ becomes a travesty!

Contrary to the Grecian view of an immortal soul, the Bible teaches conditional immortality. Upon believing in Jesus Christ, immortality is given by God. Paul teaches in 1 Timothy 6:15-26 that “God… alone is immortal,” while in 2 Timothy 1:10 he writes that immortality only comes to human beings as a gift through the gospel. Immortality is something to be sought after (Romans 2:7 NIV) therefore it is not inherent to all humanity.

The Platonic dualism of Greek philosophy also claims that the soul is good and the body is evil. Consequently, only the body is sinful and not the soul. This categorically distorts the doctrine of sin. Salvation can simply be attained, as Socrates believed when he drank the cup of hemlock, by letting the body die and allowing the soul to escape.

On the other hand, Biblical holism recognizes that the whole man sinned and consequently, the whole man suffers and dies. Man does not have a soul. He is a soul and “the soul who sins dies” (Ezekiel 18:20 NKJV). As a result, sinners need a Savior and the Cross alone answers this need.

Christian Platonists attempt to bridge the gap between the views of Biblical holism and Greek dualism through the doctrine of holistic dualism. It concedes that Grecian dualism is objectionable from the standpoint of Scripture. As an alternative, an immaterial component of man is advanced to reckon with what is thought of as a Biblical tenet on survival between death and the resurrection. A main reference to this approach is John W. Cooper’s “Body, Soul, and Life Everlasting.”

Nevertheless, holistic dualism still dichotomizes the human being and it does so because of the a priori assumption of the dualism-laden historical church that man survives the death of the body (the soul survives death). The Biblical witness is to the contrary and teaches soul-sleep. When the living soul (total man) dies, he sleeps to await the resurrection (John 5:29; 11:11-14).

The question is soul immortality or the resurrection of the whole being. Through the dogma of an immortal soul, Satan hurls a most overt attack against the gospel using his minions of demons. Via the promotion and practice of spiritism, he persists in propagating his original lie that sinners will not die. His aim is to make sin and death irrelevant and lure people away from the saving power of the Cross of Christ. Yet, Biblical holism upholds the gospel truth that the whole man sinned and anyone who trust will have the gift of immortality by faith, now, and by sight when Jesus comes back.

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THE CROSS AND ANNIHILATIONISM

The doctrine of conditional immortality goes with annihilationism, that the souls of the wicked will be destroyed in Gehenna (hell) fire rather than suffer eternal torment. After all, if the soul is not innately immortal and the soul that sins dies then hell means eternal punishment, not eternal punishing. The gospel is quite lucid that those who believe in Christ will have eternal life but those who will not believe in Him will perish as opposed to having an eternal life of suffering in hell.

Many who believe in an unending hell recognize how inconsistent it is with the character of God and claim that He does not send anyone to hell; they send themselves there. Of course, they do not cite any scripture for this idea, for the Bible states that God will judge the world through Jesus the Lord (Acts 17:31) and that it is He who has the power to destroy the entire person (Matthew 10:28). Paul wrote that, according to the righteous judgment of God, those who refuse to obey the gospel of Jesus will “suffer the punishment of eternal destruction” (2 Thessalonians 1:5-9).

Also confounded is the expression of Jesus about the unquenchable fire of Gehenna (Mark 9:44, 48). To say that a fire is “unquenchable” and say that it “never shall be quenched” are different. The Bible speaks of fires that were said to be unquenchable, but eventually went out (Jeremiah 17:27, Isaiah 34:10, and Ezekiel 20:47, 48). Some also speak of “the devil in hell.” The Bible gives no hint that such is the case. In Revelation 20 it is said that the devil will be cast into the lake of fire, but this will be only after the millennium.

The Cross of Christ won a decisive victory over Satan and His enemies. “The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. For “He has put all things under His feet” (1 Corinthians 15:26-27 NKJV). Even death will be cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:14). The “heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up…all these things will be dissolved (2 Peter 3:10-11). Everything will pass away including death—the death of Satan, his demons, and the wicked. Then there will be a new heaven and a new earth (Revelation 21:1).

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THE CROSS AND THE JUDGMENT

Number 24 of the Fundamental Beliefs of Seventh-day Adventism reads:

24. Christ’s Ministry in the Heavenly Sanctuary:
There is a sanctuary in heaven, the true tabernacle which the Lord set up and not man. In it Christ ministers on our behalf, making available to believers the benefits of His atoning sacrifice offered once for all on the cross. He was inaugurated as our great High Priest and began His intercessory ministry at the time of His ascension. In 1844, at the end of the prophetic period of 2300 days, He entered the second and last phase of His atoning ministry. It is a work of investigative judgment which is part of the ultimate disposition of all sin, typified by the cleansing of the ancient Hebrew sanctuary on the Day of Atonement. In that typical service the sanctuary was cleansed with the blood of animal sacrifices, but the heavenly things are purified with the perfect sacrifice of the blood of Jesus. The investigative judgment reveals to heavenly intelligences who among the dead are asleep in Christ and therefore, in Him, are deemed worthy to have part in the first resurrection. It also makes manifest who among the living are abiding in Christ, keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, and in Him, therefore, are ready for translation into His everlasting kingdom. This judgment vindicates the justice of God in saving those who believe in Jesus. It declares that those who have remained loyal to God shall receive the kingdom. The completion of this ministry of Christ will mark the close of human probation before the Second Advent. (Heb. 8:1-5; 4:14-16; 9:11-28; 10:19-22; 1:3; 2:16, 17; Dan. 7:9-27; 8:13, 14; 9:24-27; Num. 14:34; Eze. 4:6; Lev. 16; Rev. 14:6, 7; 20:12; 14:12; 22:12.)

The Bible presents with certainty the prospect of final judgment. Most Christians conceive of the final judgment to be a single divine event but Seventh-day Adventists have come to regard the final judgment as occupying at least four successive phases:

1. the pre-advent investigative judgment of the professed people of God,
2. the second-advent separation of sheep and goats based on their works,
3. the examination of the records of the wicked by the saints during the 1000 years, and
4. the execution of judgment on the wicked at the end of the 1000 years.

This can be illustrated by the diagram below:

Adventism’s doctrine of an investigative judgment does not mean that God seeks information He does not have. After all, God is the Author of the books which His judgment opens. The books stand not for new knowledge that God has yet to acquire but for old knowledge that God now will expose. So the purpose of the investigative judgment on God’s part is not to discover reality but to unmask it, not to find out the truth but to reveal it.

As the Cross brings salvation in 3 tenses (past, present, and future), so does it sheds light on the 3-fold judgment of the believer:

In His dual office as Savior and Lord, Christ judged sin at the Cross, justifies the sinner by faith, and judges the justified by works. The cross is the means by which justification is effected; faith is the means by which justification is accepted; and good works are the means by which justification is manifested.

The pre-advent judgment and sanctuary beliefs are foundational to Adventism. It has gotten a bad rap because of the October 22, 1844 Great Disappointment. Despite reinterpreting the date from the Second Coming of Christ to His high priestly ministry in the heavenly sanctuary, Adventism has matured in its understanding of the atonement as observed in the following models described in the thesis of Johann A. Japp:

Adventists believe that Christ’s work of atonement encompasses both his death on the Cross and his ministration in the heavenly sanctuary. Early Adventism went as far as to claim that the atonement occurs in heaven, not on the cross.

“[Christ] ascended on high to be our only mediator in the sanctuary in Heaven, where, with his own blood he makes atonement for our sins; which atonement so far from being made on the cross, which was but the offering of the sacrifice, is the very last portion of his work as priest…” Quoted from Fundamental Principles taught and practiced by the Seventh-day Adventists (1872), proposition II.

Present Adventism has moved away from this unorthodox view, and now insists that Christ’s death on the cross was a fully completed work of atonement. Yet, Adventism continues to identify Christ’s priestly work in heaven as an “atoning ministry.”

The preceding models recognize the all-sufficiency of the cross but at the same time that recognition appears to negate a complete atonement at the cross. Two more models can resolve this seeming contradiction.

Conversion and the end-time judgment are consequences of the Cross. They are not stages but dimensions of the atonement.

TYPOLOGY OF THE JEWISH FEASTS

One of the strongest arguments for the pre-advent judgment is the typology of the Jewish feasts. The Old Testament holidays are a pattern of shadows fulfilled in a Messiah who has already come in the first phase of a two-part plan to save His people and rule the world. These holidays provide a panorama of history that paint a compelling picture of the past, present, and future work of Christ.

The plan of God was revealed during the spring feasts of Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, and Pentecost. On Passover, Jesus became the sacrificial Lamb whose blood marked all who believe in Him for deliverance. During the Feast of Unleavened Bread, He died to take away our sin and to give us, in the place of our own efforts, the “bread” (life-sustaining provision) of His eternal presence. On the Feast of Firstfruits, He arose from the dead to show that it was by God’s power that He carried out our rescue. Then 50 days later on the Feast of Pentecost (also known as the Feast of Weeks, or Shavuot), Jesus sent His Spirit to show His presence with all who are willing to stake their lives on Him.

Spring Feasts:
1. Passover (Pesach)
2. Unleavened Bread (Chag HaMatzot)
3. Firstfruits (HaBikkurim)
4. Pentecost (Shavuot)

The New Testament endorses the idea that the Jewish festival year typified the entire Christian age. In 1 Corinthians 5:& Paul alludes to the Passover as the type of the crucifixion of Christ. In Revelation 7:9 the redeemed are pictured as standing before the throne “clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands.” As shown in the marginal notations of the KJV, this is a reference to the Feast of Tablernacles. This feast was also called the Feast of Harvest in harmony with Christ’s allusion to the harvest at the end of the world. The New Testament references to Christ as the firstfruits and the time of Pentecost help portray the Christological significance of the Jewish ceremonial year.

By and large, the spring festivals have been applied to the First Advent of Christ by Evangelicals. Nonetheless, the autumn festivals have not met with the same study emphasis. While the Jewish spring festivals typified the significant events of the First Advent of Christ, the Jewish fall feasts point to important milestones related to the Second Advent of Christ. As Pentecost typified the first fruits of the world’s harvest in the gathering of the saved from all nations, the feast of tabernacles typifies the completion of that harvest in the final and universal gathering of the saved when Christ appears the second time.

As in the antitypical fulfillment of the wavesheaf in the resurrection of our Lord, the resurrection of all from the dead at His coming fulfills the celebration of the feast of tabernacles.

In like manner, the Day of Atonement has a special significance to those living in the last days of earth’s history. Whereas, Christ completed the atonement for our sin at the cross during the Passover, Yom Kippur typifies the consummation of that atonement in the final judgment and restoration of the earth.

Fall Feasts:
1. Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah)
2. Atonement (Yom Kippur)
3. Tabernacles (Sukkot)

Let’s diagram the parallel meanings of the Jewish feasts:

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THE CROSS AND THE SABBATH

Closely related to the Adventist teaching on the judgment is the importance given to the Sabbath. Dr. Jon Paulien, Adventist New Testament scholars, concludes:

“The cumulative evidence is so strong that an interpreter could conclude that there is no direct allusion to the Old Testament in Revelation that is more certain than the allusion to the fourth commandment in Rev. 14:7. When the author of Revelation describes God’s final appeal to the human race…he does so in terms of a call to worship…”

Jon Paulien asserts that worship is clearly the central issue in the earth’s final history and he considers Revelation 14:6-7 to be the central appeal of the Apocalypse. He elaborates on 3 parallels of the verses with the Sabbath:

1. Verbal Parallels. The language of Revelation 14 makes an unmistakable reference to the Sabbath commandment (Exodus 20:8-11).
2. Structural Parallels. The first table of the law is at the center of the Great Controversy. The context of Revelation 13 shows the beasts counterfeit The first 4 commandments of the Decalogue. The sea beast usurps worship from God (Revelation 13:4, 8). The land beast raises up an image to be worshipped (Revelation 13:14-15). The sea beast has the names of blasphemy written all over it (Revelation 13:1, 5, 6). Ancient covenants were stamped with a seal of ownership. The Decalogue follow the form of these covenants with the seal of ownership in the center: the Sabbath.
3. Thematic Parallels. The first tablet of the Ten Commandments contains 3 motivations for obedience. The first is salvation, “I brought you out of the land of Egypt” (Exodus 20:2). The second is judgment, “…visiting the iniquity of fathers upon their children” (Exodus 20:5) The third is creation, “Worship Him who made…” (Exodus 20:11).The same 3 motivations occur in Revelation 14:6-7. Salvation in the “everlasting gospel.” Judgment in “the hour of His judgment…” Creation in the summons to “Worship Him who made…” The same motivations even come in the same order as they do in Exodus 20.

In Hebrews 4:1-2, the following warning and invitation is given:

“Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest is still open, let us take care that none of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For indeed the good news came to us just as to them; but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.”

It will be helpful to trace the theme of the Sabbath rest from the New Testament back into the Old Testament, rather than vice versa. After all, it is the New Testament that clarifies the Messianic implications of the Sabbath rest.

The two greatest events in all history are the creation of the world and the redemption of mankind. Each involved a divine week of work and a day of rest. Creation Week, which culminated in a perfect world (Genesis 1:31), was followed by man’s fall and God’s Curse on the world (Genesis 3:17). Passion Week, which culminated in the death and burial of the Maker of that perfect world, is followed by man’s restoration and the ultimate removal of God’s Curse from the world (Revelation 22:3). A Tree (Genesis 3:6) was the vehicle of man’s temptation and sin; another Tree (1 Peter 2:24) was the vehicle of man’s forgiveness and deliverance.

The record of Creation stresses repeatedly that the entire work of the creation and making of all things had been finished (Genesis 2:1-3). In like manner does John’s record stress repeatedly the finished work of Christ on the Cross.

As the finished creation was “very good,” so is our finished salvation. The salvation which Christ thus provided on the cross is “so great” (Hebrews 2:3) and “eternal” (Hebrews 5:9), and the hope thereof is “good” (2 Thessalonians 2:13).

Then, having finished the work of redemption, Christ rested on the seventh day, His body sleeping in death in Joseph’s tomb. He had died quickly, and the preparations for burial had been hurried (Luke 23:54-56), so that He could be buried before the Sabbath. As He had rested after finishing His work of Creation, so now He rested once again.

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THE CROSS AND THE END TIMES

After the French revolution took atheism in the public arena, liberalism gripped Christendom in the early 1800′s and reason held sway as the Bible was humanized. Doctrinal preaching was all but unheard of, and the second advent was held up to ridicule by the clergy. Amillennialism was affixed to papal abuses and could not make a dent in the religious crisis. Postmillennialism contemplated a human utopia and practically lost the expectancy of Christ’s return.

When Napoleon’s General Berthier took Pope Piuus VI as prisoner in 1798, renewed interest in Biblical prophecy was kindled and advent movements arose. Joseph Smith taught a regathering of Israel and put out the Book of Mormon in 1830—the same year John Darby was acclaimed as the leader of the Bretheren movement (precursor to dispensationalism). In 1831, William Miller began a group which proclaimed 1844 as the end of the world leading to the formation of Seventh-day Adventism. Judge Rutherford wrote “Comfort for the Jews” after succeeding Charles Russell who founded Millennial Dawnism, the root of the “Jehovah’s Witnesses.”

All the above movements, except for the dispensationalists and the Millerites, espoused aberrant doctrines and were justifiably dismissed as cults by the Christian community. The 1844 Great Disappointment discredited Millerism and in an atmosphere of spiritual starvation, Dispensationalism seemed to be the only sound alternative left to remedy the dearth in scriptural teachings.

ADVENTISM AND DISPENSATIONALISM

The advent movements in Britain and America in the late 19th century revived widespread attention to premillennialism. John Darby led the dispensational British advent movement while William Miller guided the American counterpart. The Great Disappointment of 1844 discredited the Millerite movement. Thus, the Adventist millennial view is hardly acknowledged, if at all, in Christian circles and publications.

Meanwhile, Dwight L. Moody joined the dispensationalist camp. On John Darby’s death, C. I. Scofield took over the reins and made dispensationalism an integral part of the best-selling Scofield Reference Bible. Charles Swindoll, a very popular Evangelical writer and preacher even among Adventists, is chancellor of the Dallas Theological Seminary and is also a dispensationalist. Moody Bible Institute (MBI), Dallas Theological Seminary, the Scofield Reference Bible, and now The Left Behind series co-authored by Jerry Jenkins, chair of MBI Board of Trustees, are 4 major reasons why dispensational premillennialism is sweeping contemporary Christianity.

DISPENSATIONAL and ADVENTIST PARALLELS

• Both believe that the judgment of (for) the church will take place before God’s throne prior to the Second Advent.
• Both believe that there will be some sort of separation of the righteous and the wicked just before the great tribulation.
• Both believe that the second advent of Christ will be preceded by a short period of catastrophic stress and persecution.
• Both believe in the literal second coming of Christ to earth before the beginning of the millennium.
• Both believe in a real thousand-year millennium.
• Both believe in a second resurrection of the wicked and a final judgment at the end of the millennium.
• Both believe that the new earth will be the eternal home of the saved.

Historic premillennialism’s chief proponent was the late George Eldon Ladd, a leading New Testament scholar of our time. He is closest to the Adventist millennial scheme. The only difference is his placement of the millennial reign of Christ, i.e. on earth. Immersed in dispensationalism for years before abandoning the position in favor of historic premillennialism, he has unknowingly become the most influential apologist for the Adventist historic premillennial position.

While the Bible staunchly advocates only one gospel, dispensationalism teaches 4 gospels as described on page 1343 of the Scofield Reference Bible: (1) The gospel of the kingdom – This is the good news that God will set up a political, Jewish and universal kingdom ruled by Jesus as the greater Son of David during the millennium; (2) The gospel of the grace of God – This is the good news that Jesus died, was buried, and that he rose again to save wholly apart from forms and ordinances; (3) The everlasting gospel – This is to be preached by Jews after the church is “secretly raptured” during the “tribulation.” It is the good news that those who are saved during the “tribulation” will enter the millennial reign of Christ; and (4) Paul’s gospel. This is the gospel of grace which has a fuller development than that preached by Christ and the apostles.

The word “millennium” is not a Biblical term but is used by Bible students for the thousand-year period mentioned six times in Revelation 20. The millennium chapter (Revelation 20) continues the Revelation 19 narrative which proclaims the marriage of the Lamb, the triumphant return of Christ and His victory over all of His enemies. The 19th chapter reveals Christ’s conquest of the beast and the false prophet. Chapter 20 details Christ’s destruction of the devil which occurs in two stages.

We share beliefs in the second advent, resurrection, end-time judgment, and a future new eternal order with Postmillennialists and Amillennialists. Unlike the earlier, we maintain that Revelation 19 is a narrative on the second advent which will occur before the millennium. In contrast with the latter, we hold that the events in Revelation are distinct episodes in the “end times” played out in the “great controversy” between Christ and Satan to consummate what Christ inaugurated in his life, death, and resurrection. Because we don’t subscribe to the immortality of the soul, we also deny their notion of disembodied martyrs reigning in heaven with Christ.

It is interesting that Amillennialists posits the reign of Christ in heaven. With our doctrines on soul-sleep, multi-phase judgments, the “scapegoat,” and eternal punishment (as opposed to unending fires of hell), the heavenly reign of saints with Christ during the millennium are our distinctives in eschatology.

Recognizing the centrality of the Cross of Christ, we should allow it to measure the validity of dispensationalism regardless of endorsements by renowned Bible teachers. No one who genuinely and consistently holds to the doctrine of righteousness by faith can be a dispensationalist for the following reasons:

1. Though dispensationalists deny the charge, it is difficult not to see different plans of salvation in their 7 dispensations of God’s entire program. An example of this different plans of salvation is found in the Scofield Bible (page 1115, note 2), “The point of testing is no longer legal obedience as the condition of salvation, but acceptance or rejection of Christ…”
2. While the Holy Scriptures advocates only one gospel, dispensationalism teaches that there are 4 gospels described on page 1343 of the Scofield Reference Bible.
3. One of the central tenets of dispensationalism is that in the millennium, the Jewish temple will be rebuilt and the entire sacrificial system reinstituted. However, the millennial sacrifices will be a memorial to the sacrificial death of Jesus. This idea stands in direct opposition to the New Testament’s evident assertion that the Old Testament ceremonial system is obsolete.
4. The basic premise of Dispensationalism is two purposes of God expressed in the formation of two people who maintain their distinction throughout eternity. This contradicts the gospel claim that “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave or free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the Promise” (Gal. 3:28-29).

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THE CROSS AND ADVENTIST BREAKAWAY GROUPS

Closely aligned to the Great Controversy model is Covenant theology which views God’s dealings with mankind in all of history under the structure of 3 overarching covenants — the covenants of redemption, of works, and of grace. As a framework for biblical interpretation, covenant theology stands in contrast to dispensationalism to the relationship between the Old Covenant with national Israel and the New Covenant in Christ’s blood.

please click the picture to enlarge it

In his book, “The Blessed Hope,” George Eldon Ladd traces the rise of dispensationalism and lists noted Bible scholars who left the dispensational movement after examining it against Scriptural data. Along with Ladd, they hold onto a position closest to Adventist eschatology differing only in the location of Christ’s millennial reign.

With respect to the theological status of modern day Jewish people, covenant theology is often referred to as “replacement theology” by its detractors, due to its teaching that God has abandoned the promises made to the Jews and has replaced the Jews with Christians as his chosen people in the earth.

The Christian church continues to wrestle with the continuity / discontinuity of the Old and New Testaments. The Reformed tradition camp (Covenant theology) and Dispensationalist school (Dispensational theology) have debated the issue for more than a century. A relatively new system entering the melee is New Covenant Theology (NCT) which attempts to strike a balance between Covenant Theology (CT) and Dispensationalism (Disp). Most breakaway Adventists admit that their decision was influenced by their defection to New Covenant Theology (NCT). Their denominational desertion is most pronounced in their new Sabbath view which teaches that Christ has replaced the Sabbath.

When David Newman was pastor of Damascus Grace Fellowship, he wrote:

“If I grow up with the subtle misunderstanding that Sabbath keeping is connected to my salvation, a prerequisite to my entering heaven, and then discover grace, that I am saved ONLY by what Jesus did for me at Calvary, I will suddenly have a very different view of the Sabbath. I will want to DISCARD IT, and I should, as a MEANS OF SALVATION. But the relief of discovering grace can be so overwhelming that it is quite possible to throw out blessings simply because we have previously seen them as HAVE TO’s or MUST’s or SHOULD’s.”

In a way, Adventist breakaway groups have thrown the proverbial baby with the bath water. In steering away from a legalistic Sabbath interpretation they’ve abandoned the Sabbath altogether.

Former Adventists who adhere to NCT make an unwarranted statement that gospel-centered Adventists wrongly interpret the Sabbath because of their “Adventist bias.” Worse, they even imply that Sabbath-keeping is legalism. However, if they avoid using traditional Adventism as a diversion in their arguments they might better perceive the shortcomings of NCT:

1. Exegetically, NCT forces a new law rather than a new placement of the law in their interpretation of the new covenant passages of the Bible.
2. Ethically, NCT inaccurately claims that Christ replaced the Moral Law rather than magnified it.
3. Canonically, NCT drives an artificial wedge between the Old and the New Testaments by espousing a revelational canon — the Old and New Testaments — and an ethical canon limited to the New Testament.
4. Historically, NCT fails to do justice to the Reformed confessional theology that upholds the validity of the Ten Commandments in our day.
5. Evangelically, NCT’s abrogation of the Moral Law compromises the gospel of Justification By Faith and limits the Biblical teaching on the covenants to the contrast between the Mosaic and the New Covenants. The Everlasting Covenant and the Covenant of Works God made with the two Adam’s are bypassed.

Biblical discussions however eloquent and/or keen and noble are no more than high-sounding fluff when devoid of the gospel of Christ. Subjecting New Covenant Theology to careful Biblical scrutiny in comparison with the Adventist Reformed position reveals how much more consistent the Adventist faith is to the gospel of Justification By Faith.

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THE CROSS AND INSPIRATION

The central theme of the Bible is Christ as emphatically reiterated by Ellen White:

Here’s a diagrammatic comparison of Christ the Living Incarnate Word and the Scriptures as the Living Written Word.

The Handbook of Seventh-day Adventist Theology affirms the “inseparable union of the Divine and Human.” While recognizing “some minor transcriptional errors in Scripture,” it affirms the reliability of the Bible’s history and rejects the liberal attempt to question “the accuracy or veracity of numerous historical details in the biblical record.”

Adventism does not teach the mechanical view of verbal inspiration generally held by fundamentalists. This view of inspiration is neither fundamentalist nor liberal. It stands between the “right” and the “left.” While rejecting the naturalistic presuppositions of the historical-critical method of higher Biblical criticism, the historical-grammatical approach is advocated which incorporates the descriptive aspects of Biblical criticism.

Ellen White was instrumental in guiding Adventism to arrive at this position. She introduced the concept of thought inspiration when she wrote:

At the same time, she tenaciously held to the divine authority of the Bible:

Moreover, she was emphatic on the all-sufficiency of the Scriptures:

Does the Adventist claim that the gift of prophecy was manifested in the ministry of Ellen White negate her very high regard for the Bible? Adventism considers her to belong in the category of New Testament prophets who were given for “strengthening, encouragement, and comfort” (1 Corinthians 14:3). Unlike the Old Testament prophets, their utterances were discerned to be true or false based on the apostles’ teachings. Peter sees that the authority of the Old Testament prophets has been passed on to the New Testament apostles (2 Peter 3:2). The apostle Paul who was also a prophet defends his authority based on his apostleship (1 Corinthians 9:1; Galatians 1:11-12).

There are at least 3 things Ellen White says about her writings:

It is often said that Seventh-day Adventists, in practice if not in theory, put the writings of Mrs. White on a par with the Bible and even in place of the Bible. It is clear, however, that she did not encourage them to do this (EV 256-257).

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THE CROSS AND ELLEN G. WHITE

Arthur Patrick puts forth a case to consider Ellen White as an evangelical in Lucas with the following summary statement.

“Was Ellen White Evangelical? If to be Evangelical is to be motivated and restrained by a sense of faith and duty similar to Luther, Wesley and the Evangelical Party in Anglicanism, the answer must be yes. Her doctrine of Scripture, her analysis of the sinful nature of humankind, her idea of righteousness by faith, her methodical attempts to express the implications of the gospel in word and deed-all bear stronger testimony than do any countervailing factors” (Arthur Patrick Lucas n. 12, Dec 1991, page 48).

Without question, Ellen White’s regard for the centrality of Christ and His Cross can never be emphasized enough:

“Christ as manifested to the patriarchs, as symbolized in the sacrificial service, as portrayed in the law, and as revealed by the prophets, is the riches of the Old Testament. Christ in His life, His death, and His resurrection, Christ as He is manifested by the Holy Spirit, is the treasure of the New Testament. Our Saviour, the outshining of the Father’s glory, is both the Old and the New” (COL 126).

“The heart of the Advent message is Christ and Him crucified…let the world see and hear and know that the heart burden of Adventism is Christ and His salvation” (QOD 101-102).

“Of all professing Christians, Seventh-day Adventists should be foremost in uplifting Christ before the world” (GW 156).

“The sacrifice of Christ as an atonement for sin is the great truth around which all other truths cluster. In order to be rightly understood and appreciated, every truth in the Word of God, from Genesis to Revelation, must be studied in the light that streams from the cross of Calvary” (GW 315 ).

“Never should a sermon be preached, or Bible instruction in any line be given, without pointing the hearers to “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” John 1:29. Every true doctrine makes Christ the center, every precept receives force from His words” (6T 54).

“One interest will prevail, one subject will swallow up every other, Christ our righteousness” (RH 12/23/1890).

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