Lesson 7: “Ultimate Loyalty: Worship in a War Zone”
COLLEEN TINKER | Editor, Proclamation! Magazine |
The Great Controversy paradigm makes it impossible for an Adventist to understand the Bible in context. When Jesus is seen as engaging with a battle with evil, Adventists see themselves as part of that battle. They see themselves as the True Israel performing their own sacred rituals to remember their Adventist identity, sharing their great controversy worldview, values, beliefs, and mission. Adventists interpret the Bible to be revealing THEM as the true people of God. Because of their prophet Ellen White, they believe they have special knowledge that makes them the rightful inheritors of God’s blessings and of the truth about how to be saved. Their great controversy deceives them into believing Jesus did not complete the atonement at the cross, that He is carrying out His atonement in heaven now, and that the Sabbath of the Law is the mark of being safe to save.
Seeing “Me” In the Bible
The account of Joshua taking Israel into the Promised Land reveals his leading them through the process of submitting to God’s covenant requirements in order to be able to be part of the Lord’s holy wars in Canaan. This week’s lesson focusses on the rituals God required of Israel as His covenant people. Yet the lesson describes these requirements and events from the perspective of Israel’s needing to remember who they were, of needing to experience solidarity as God’s people. The covenant requirements are re-defined as ceremonies for the benefit of the people, routines and celebrations that would help them remember that God blessed them and that they were special to God.
In Scripture, however, these rituals and remembrances are not described from Israel’s perspective but objectively as God’s sovereign requirements for His covenant people. These ceremonies were not primarily for unifying Israel and reminding them they were special; these rituals were God’s mandated forms of worship designed to remind Israel that they were in a covenant with Almighty Yahweh, the Lord of heaven and earth.
Circumcision, Passover, altar-building, sacrificing, and remembering the Law constituted true old covenant worship. These acts of worship were to keep Israel remembering they were subjects of God, not the objects of His unrequited longing. Israel had to keep her covenant requirements in order for God to bless the nation, and they couldn’t be part of His holy wars in the Promised Land unless they were submitted to His covenant terms.
The lesson reminds the reader throughout the week that he is to understand the story of Joshua and Israel through the lens of the great controversy. For example, Sunday’s lesson focusses on Joshua 5:1–7 where Joshua had the entire nation of Israel circumcised after passing over the Jordan.
Our covenant with God should always be an answer of gratitude for what He has already accomplished for us, never an act of trying to obtain some benefit by legalistic conformity to His requirements.…They did this in order to celebrate their relationship with their God, who delivered them from Egypt.…Most of the time, everyday life seems to pressure us with the urgency of so many important things that we forget to give priority to the most important thing in our life: the daily renewal of our commitment to Christ.
Israel had to be circumcised because they were out of compliance with the sign of the Abrahamic covenant: they were the children of promise, and they had to be actively submitting to God in order for them to become part of God’s conquest of the land. Furthermore, their neglected circumcision is not a moral lesson for Adventists to remind them to practice “daily renewal” of their “commitment to Christ”. Commitment to Christ requires believing God and acting on His word. Israel had neglected to believe God during their years of judgment in the wilderness; they had neglected His covenant sign. Adventists do not know what it means to have a “commitment to Christ” because they do not understand what they must believe and do.
Adventists do not have a “covenant with God”. God’s covenants are named and explained in the Bible, but Adventists identify as spiritual Israel, assuming the Old Testament promises God made as part of the Mosaic Covenant for themselves, and they have no understanding of what it means to enter the new covenant.
Adventists are not in Scripture, and Israel’s circumcision followed by their celebration of Passover before their first battle in Cannaan are not examples to Adventists of “daily renewal” of “commitment to Christ”. Israel was practicing the true worship Yahweh prescribed for them as the nation He formed and chose, the nation to whom He was fulfilling the promises He made to Abraham that he would have seed, land, and blessings.
We see this Adventist great controversy focus again as it is subtly inserted into the second paragraph of Tuesday’s lesson which goes on to conclude with a question:
Notwithstanding the importance of warfare and the conquest, there is something even more vital: loyalty to the requirements of God’s law. The conquest is only one step in the fulfillment of God’s plan for Israel and the restoration of all humanity. Faithfulness to the precepts of the Torah constitutes the ultimate question in the destiny of humanity.…What are some spiritual practices we can do now that can have the same functions as building an altar had in ancient times?
To the normal Adventist reader, this quote will remind them that they, as modern spiritual Israel, must obey the Ten Commandments with special emphasis on the fourth. The Adventist will automatically believe that the practices of observing the seventh-day Sabbath, of having daily Bible reading, of paying tithe, and of being careful to eat vegetarian or vegan are important spiritual disciplines that function as “Adventist altars” that show God they are in compliance for His blessings.
Communion As Adventist Corporate Renewal
The Adventist great controversy understanding is emphasized again in Wednesday’s lesson. Here the author introduces the Lord’s Supper as a special occasion to remember one’s Adventism:
At every Communion service, we have a special occasion to rededicate ourselves to the Lord and to renew our covenantal commitment. It would be good to perceive these opportunities not only as chances for individual reconsecration but also as occasions of corporate renewal of our allegiance to God. In an increasingly individualistic society, we must rediscover the power of belonging to a community that shares the same worldview, the same values and beliefs, and the same mission.
The Lord Jesus transformed Passover into the Lord’s Supper on the last night before He was crucified. It was not a ritual designed to remind people of their shared worldview, values, and mission. Especially is was never designed for a religion teaching an incomplete atonement and a fallible Jesus. Adventism is not part of Christianity, and their appropriation of communion is illegitimate because Adventism does not teach that humans are by nature dead in sin and must be born again through faith in Jesus’ finished work.
In the quote above it is clear that the author is reminding Adventists of the great controversy paradigm through which they see reality; it reminds the reader that he must continually “rediscover the power of belonging to a community that shares the same worldview”, values, beliefs, and mission. That shared worldview IS the Great Controversy paradigm.
This paradigm includes the ideas that Jesus could have failed in His mission. He died to forgive one’s past sins, but now Jesus is in heaven performing high priestly duties by “applying His blood” to the sins which believers remember to confess. If they commit sins after “accepting Jesus”, they must remember to confess them in order to have them forgiven—and when Jesus’ heavenly investigation of believers’ sins is finally complete, He will end His heavenly investigative judgment by placing believers’ sin on the head of SATAN the scapegoat. Satan will then carry those sins into the Lake of Fire, and all creation will finally be cleansed of sin because satan is finally gone.
In this great controversy paradigm, Jesus is not the final sin-bearer. Rather He is continuing to atone for sins for an indefinite period of time, and ultimately SATAN will be the one who will carry away our sins and take their punishment.
Satan replaces Jesus in the great controversy paradigm. He, not Jesus, is punished for human sin and suffers the death those sins deserve.
The Lord’s Supper is never to be a corporate reminder of shared worldview and values. It is always and only to be a remembrance of our Lord Jesus’s finished atonement:
For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was being betrayed took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same way [He took] the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink [it], in remembrance of Me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes.—1 Corinthians 11:23–26 LSB
Are You Living In the Anti-Typical Day of Atonement?
Thursday’s lesson really drives home the Adventist great controversy worldview when it says:
It is even more important for us, as Christians living in the antitypical Day of Atonement, to focus our eyes on the heavenly sanctuary as we continue our struggle with the modern (or postmodern) giants that challenge our faith, hope, and spiritual inheritance. As we constantly rely on the work that Christ accomplished on the cross and in the heavenly sanctuary, we can look forward in faith to the time when God once again will dwell among His people, but this time it will be forever. (Compare with Rev. 21:3.)
That first sentence reveals that Adventism is not part of Christianity. Christians are not—nor do they believe—that they are living in “the antitypical Day of Atonement”!
Through the lens of the great controversy, Adventists believe that Jesus is in heaven completing His atonement because the cross was only phase one, not the completed propitiation for all sin. Because Leviticus describes the high priest in Israel entering the Most Holy Place of the tabernacle once a year when He took the sacrificial blood of the atonement and sprinkled it before God on the Mercy Seat, Adventists say that since 1844 Jesus has been in the Most Holy Place “applying His blood” to the confessed sins of professed believers as He examines their records in the books of heaven.
Because the high priest in Israel went into the Most Holy Place on the yearly Day of Atonement, Adventists say that, since October 22, 1844, they have been living in the “antitypical Day of Atonement”. They are still in that “Day of Atonement” waiting for Jesus to complete His heavenly judgment, send Satan and our sins out of heaven into the Lake of Fire, and then launch the fearful Time of Trouble when Sabbath-keepers will have to stand without an intercessor as the world seeks to hunt and kill them for their loyalty to the seventh-day Sabbath.
In other words, Adventists are living in a fearful time of probation as they wait for Jesus to finish atoning for sins. At any moment—no one knows when—that death decree will be issued, and Sabbath-keepers will have to hide in the hills as Sunday-keepers try to kill them as enemies of the world.
In fact, Friday’s lesson focusses on this great controversy paradigm in its final discussion question:
As Adventists, we believe that Jesus is ministering on our behalf in the heavenly sanctuary. How can this conviction be a constant source of hope and strength? Why should the knowledge that it is Jesus who is up there making “intercession” (Heb. 7:25) for us help us realize just what good news His work in the heavenly sanctuary is, especially now in the antitypical Day of Atonement?
Honestly, I do not know any Adventist who sees their investigative judgment scenario as “good news”. Believing they are now living in the “antitypical Day of Atonement” engenders fear, not confidence. Adventist do not believe that the Lord Jesus finished His atonement for sin on the cross. They do not believe that His blood actually satisfied God’s anger against sin as Romans 3:26 explains, and they do believe that they themselves must be committed to the Ten Commandments, especially the fourth, and that they must be demonstrating increasingly successful law-keeping.
They believe that if Jesus sees them trying and getting the victory over sin by following His example of prayer and dependence on the Holy Spirit and internal fortitude that chooses to obey, He will ultimately accept their best efforts and their sincerity as worthy of mercy, and He will make up what they lack at the final judgment.
Adventists live in desperate fear that they will not be able to maintain their obedience and perfect loyalty to the Sabbath as world events become more and more hostile to the Sabbath. They do not believe that a person is saved entirely on the basis of faith in Jesus’ finished work—in fact, they CAN’T believe this our gospel truth because they don’t believe that Jesus’ work IS finished!
They themselves have to demonstrate their loyalty by their Sabbath-keeping in order to pass that final judgment.
Rituals Teach Adventist Salvation
The Teachers Comments drive home the central teaching point for this week’s lesson: religious rituals teach God’s plan to humanity. On page 93 the author says this:
Rituals play a significant role in marking important life events, even in modern times. They are present throughout a person’s life, spanning family, school, work, and religious contexts. It is not a coincidence that God used the power of ritual to convey the essential aspects of His plan to humanity. These Old Testament rites, which often involved blood, sweat, and tears, engraved eternal truths in people’s minds regarding God’s character, human decay, and the divine plan to bridge the gap caused by sin.
The rest of the Teachers Comments are devoted to discussing the spiritual significance and symbolism of circumcision, passover, and altars. Then it makes this application:
Rites continue to be an integral part of the Seventh-day Adventist Church community. Here is a brief list of some of the most significant ceremonies that are observed in your local church. Reflect on how each of these practices has personally influenced your spiritual journey.
1. Child Dedication
2. Baptism
3. Communion
4. Weddings
5. Funerals
Each of these rituals, of course, is interpreted through the great controversy worldview, not through the lens of contextual Scripture reading. The emphasis of this lesson is that the reader is to double down on his or her Adventist identity and practice. More than anything, Adventist readers are to see themselves as the new Israel, the object of God’s special call and blessing in the end times.
Adventists are supposed to see themselves as being tasked with carrying a unique message to the world, and they are to see themselves as part of an organization whose members have the great controversy, the seventh-day Sabbath, a fallible Jesus with an incomplete atonement, and a last-day prophet in common.
Nowhere in this lesson are the readers asked to trust Jesus’ shed blood as a complete propitiation for sins. Nowhere are they reminded that they are dead in sin and cannot obey God but that they need a rescuer, a Substitute who does everything needed to save them. Nowhere are they called to bring their sin to Jesus and lay it down, trusting and believing that He has already finished the work of atonement.
At the end of the Teachers Comments the Lamb of God is mentioned, but even here Jesus’ supposed second-phase of atonement is written into Jesus’ work:
Calvary is the ultimate altar whereon the Lamb of God was offered once and for all (Heb. 10:10). As in the ritual system, His sacrifice is the pivotal point, bringing completion to the plan of salvation. Now He presents the blood as the new covenant before God, interceding on behalf of the penitent sinner (Heb. 7:25). Following Christ’s example, we are called to offer ourselves as living sacrifices, pleasing to the Lord (Rom. 12:1). In Christ, the altar of death becomes the doorway to life.
Even here, Jesus’ sacrifice is described as “pivotal”, not COMPLETE. Jesus is described in the present tense—not the past tense—presenting the blood of the new covenant before God. This paragraph overtly places Jesus’ finished work into the false doctrine of the investigative judgment and confirms to the Sabbath School teachers that the great controversy paradigm describes reality and keeps Adventists always working for their salvation, always seeking to be pleasing to the Lord as they try to get through that doorway to life.
But what does Scripture say?
But now apart from the Law [the] righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even [the] righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith, for a demonstration of His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.—Romans 3:21–26 LSB
The great controversy is not true. It is made up, a fanciful front for a deadly heresy. Jesus has completed His propitiation for our sins by shedding His blood. He died our death and was buried, and on the third day He rose again. He Himself is just—He won’t forgive sins without justice. Yet He Himself is the justifier: He literally became a man and took our sin in Himself so that a just sacrifice could be offered for human sin. His sacrifice broke our curse, and when we trust and believe Him, we pass from death to life.
There is no great controversy. Satan is a defeated foe, and Jesus did not come to fight the devil. Rather He came and shed the blood that cleanses our sin and reconciles us to God.
Dear Adventist, I beg you to ask God to teach you the truth. Ask Him to rescue you from your great controversy worldview and to plant you deeply in truth and reality. Ask Him to teach you His word and to transform your mind through your reading of its truth.
Trust the Lord Jesus who has already completed the atonement for you sin. Believe Him—and pass today from death to life! †
This weekly feature is dedicated to Adventists who are looking for biblical insights into the topics discussed in the Sabbath School lesson quarterly. We post articles which address each lesson as presented in the Sabbath School Bible Study Guide, including biblical commentary on them. We hope you find this material helpful and that you will come to know Jesus and His revelation of Himself in His word in profound biblical ways.
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