HOME / PROCLAMATION! MAGAZINE / 2010 / OCTOBER NOVEMBER DECEMBER / THE LIFE EXAMINED WITH CAROLYN MACOMBER

Carolyn Macomber

 

A ll my life I had referred to Jesus as the Son of God, and many times I ended my prayers, "in Jesus' Name". I would talk with him often and thought, "If I could only be like Jesus". He was my friend. It's all about having a relationship with Jesus, I had been told. Well, I had one—or so I thought.

Suddenly, two years ago I had a complete paradigm shift in my understanding of salvation. I began to understand I added nothing to my salvation by good deeds, and I didn't lose my salvation by my bad deeds (Eph. 2:1-8). Salvation was all about Jesus paying the price of my sin and dying in my place. I confessed my pride and independence from God, and it was then that I received Christ for the first time. My real relationship with Jesus began July 15, 2008.

I searched the Scriptures, and it seemed I was reading them for the first time. The Holy Spirit through the Word began to reveal to me the false messiah (Matt. 24:23, 24, 26; 1 Jn. 2:22; 1 Jn. 4:1-3) I had understood all my life.

I remember clearly one day sitting at my computer reading a dialogue on the former Adventist forum. The thread discussed who Jesus is. I was confused by what I read and thought, "I'm not accepting anyone else's ideas." I began to look up scriptural texts that were posted, reading not only the specific verses but the context before and after them. As I wrestled with the texts, it suddenly dawned on me with the impact of a blow: I had understood Jesus completely wrong as an Adventist. I broke down in front of the computer screen and wept. I remember saying over and over, "Oh God, oh, God, forgive me!"

Jesus was not Who I thought He had been. He did not give up His "God-ness" while on earth. He was not "elevated" to the position of Son of God or taken into the counsel of God the Father. Jesus was fully God! He always had been and always will be God. Jesus humbled Himself and "took on" the "form" of man (Phil. 2:1-10). Paul in Philippians writes Jesus was equal with God, and took on the "form/likeness" of man by being born in the "form" of man though He had been in the "form" of God. Jesus, Who was/is Spirit (Jn. 4:24), encased Himself in flesh and bones and ligaments to pay the price for my independence from God.

Then, as I read further in Scripture, I realized that God the Father was "in" Christ reconciling the world (2 Cor. 5:18-21). God the Father was active in my redemption—He was not a bystander with arms crossed as His Son died for me. The whole Trinity was at work in my salvation (Heb. 9:14).

Christ did not claim to be less than God while He walked on earth. Christ claimed to be the Great "I AM" of the Old Testament, and that is why the Jews were going to stone Him (Jn. 8:58—the whole chapter is powerful). Jesus demonstrated in many ways that He was one with the Father. Jesus was God on earth.

My relationship and understanding changed that day as I sat at the computer and wept. I realized God's wrath against sin is just as much a part of God's character as His love. God the Son died in my place. Jesus Christ, fully God, took the wrath that I deserved and paid the price for my sin.

I thought I knew Jesus—but I know a totally different Jesus now. It is a Jesus Who loves me enough to suffer His own wrath against sin.

Jesus has brought me from spiritual death to spiritual life (Jn. 5:24). Do you know Jesus—I mean know the Biblical Jesus? Is your "Jesus" defined by Ellen White? Or is your Jesus defined by the Word and revealed by the Holy Spirit? †

 

 

---

Carolyn Macomber is a doctoral student at Andrews University. Discovering increasing inconsistencies between Adventism and the Bible, she withdrew her membership from the Seventh-day Adventist Church in 2009. She is a member of The Chapel Evangelical Free Church near Andrews University in St. Joseph, Michigan, is a children's teaching leader for the St. Joseph Bible Study Fellowship, and is co-founder and leader of the Former Adventist Fellowship at The Chapel. She will share her discoveries in this column, and you can read her experiences of processing out of Adventism into the Christian community at her blog or watch her testimony HERE.

October November December 2010
VOLUME 11, ISSUE 4

D E P A R T M E N T S

The life EXAMINED with Carolyn Macomber

 

I thought I knew Jesus