HOME / PROCLAMATION! MAGAZINE / 2010 / JANUARY FEBRUARY MARCH / EDITOR'S COMMENTS

January February March 2010
VOLUME 11, ISSUE 1

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D E P A R T M E N T S

Editor's COMMENTS

Past, present, and future sins forgiven
Colleen Tinker

 

I sat next to Richard at a baptism one evening a few years after joining Trinity Church. As usual, we were filled with amazement and moved to tears as we listened to each person tell of coming to know the Lord Jesus. Then a petite girl about 10 years old waded to the microphone and uttered the words that summarized what I did not know at her age:

"…And I know Jesus has forgiven all my sins—past, present, and future!"

My tears overflowed then, and I asked myself, what would it have been like to grow up knowing Jesus as that little girl knew Him? She had no doubt that Jesus had already forgiven all the sins of her entire life. Moreover, she knew without doubt that she was saved, and she loved Jesus. Furthermore, her love was not a "principle"; she loved Him enough that she was willing to declare publicly that He was her Savior, and she belonged to Him.

Another day, another paradigm shift…my colleagues from Arrowhead Christian Academy gathered in our kitchen one day in May, 2002, to celebrate the imminent birth of my department chairwoman's first baby. The head of the science department prayed before we ate, "And please bless this child who is about to be born. We pray she will come to know You at an early age."

Startled, I realized I had never thought of children knowing Jesus at an early age. As an Adventist I understood children gradually learned the "facts" about Jesus, and somewhere near the "age of accountability" (presumed to be about 12) they would be old enough to decide if they would be baptized. "Knowing Jesus" was not a term I'd heard much in the past. Rather, "deciding to accept Jesus"—resulting in baptism into Adventism—was a cognitive decision we were urged to make, and if a child was much under age 10, he was generally considered unable to make such a decision because he was not old enough to understand.

I know now what the difference is between the way I grew up thinking about Jesus and the way that unforgettable little girl knew Him. I learned about a Jesus who did not finish His atonement on the cross. I had no assurance that my future sins would be forgiven. I did not know I was born spiritually dead, nor did I know that Jesus could give me a real (not metaphorical) new birth by bringing my dead spirit to life. I understood Jesus to be my Example, demonstrating by His sinlessness how I, too, could resist sin and please God by my obedience.

When I finally learned who Jesus really is and that He has already finished everything necessary to atone for my sin, and when I finally understood that the Bible teaches I have a spirit that can know and worship God (John 4:25), I finally understood how even young children can know Jesus. The truth about Jesus is revealed in the Bible, and the Holy Spirit convicts even children's spirits when they are taught biblical truth.

In this issue we focus on the truth about Jesus. Scott Blakey reminds us that Jesus' birth was for the purpose of His death, according to Scripture. Bill Born challenges us to worship "God with us", and Chris Badenhorst examines the singular implications of the incarnation. I look at how and what we learned about Jesus as Adventists and also summarize the events of the fifth Former Adventist Fellowship conference. Carolyn Macomber shares her faith story, and Nicole Stevenson articulates her joy in knowing she is God's daughter. Chris Lee punctuates this issue by discussing what should and should not divide us as the body of Christ.

We pray that as you read, you will experience the Lord Jesus in a profound new way and embrace Him as all you will ever need.

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures (1 Cor. 15:3-4).

He is risen, indeed! †

 

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