HOME / PROCLAMATION! MAGAZINE / 2014 / SPRING / EDITORIAL
S P R I N G • 2 0 1 4
VOLUME 15, ISSUE 1
D E P A R T M E N T S
Editor's COMMENTS
Antiochus IV Epiphanes and the resurrection
This past month has brought suffering and death close to home. First, on March 27, we attended the funeral of Janice Vandiver, the daughter of Gary and Elizabeth Inrig who recently stepped down as the senior pastor and the pastor of women, respectively, at Trinity Church in Redlands, California. We were moved and strengthened as Gary and his son Stephen reminded us that God’s promises are sure and His faithfulness never fails, even when we face more than we can stand. Our Father stands with us and holds us up.
Then, on Friday, April 4, I spent the day in the emergency room with my mother who was finally admitted into the cardiac care unit with wildly uncontrolled heart rates and rhythms three weeks after sustaining a spontaneous fracture of her spine at the T8 level. Three days later I sat with her and with a trusted friend of hers as she decided she did not want to have a pacemaker installed if it were to be recommended.
The Lord Jesus shatters the central doctrine of Adventism: His blood never defiles the sanctuary with our sin. |
As I listened to my mother say she was ready to go if it was her time, I thought of Psalm 139:16b: “In Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.” There was no drama or fear among the three of us, and I realized that God already knows when He will take my mother home to Himself. If God still has work for my mother to do, He will sustain her with or without a pacemaker.
The suffering and death of our loved ones—and of ourselves—is not meaningless. Because of the Lord Jesus, our lives, including our suffering, are redeemed for His glory and our good. Moreover, because Jesus broke the curse of death by offering the perfect, acceptable sacrifice for human sin, we who repent and believe in Him are guaranteed eternal life in His presence—and we are guaranteed that our bodies will be raised incorruptible!
So where does Antiochus Epiphanes fit into this discussion?
Adventism’s central doctrine, the investigative judgment (IJ), teaches that the abomination of desolation which pollutes the sanctuary is the sin of those who profess Christ. This sin, Adventism teaches, has been carried to the heavenly sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, and those sins stay there until Jesus is done investigating each person’s record, at which point He will place all the confessed sins of the saved on Satan the scapegoat. Satan will then bear those sins into the lake of fire and be punished for them.
This doctrine, of course, makes Jesus the One whose blood defiles the heavenly sanctuary. This Jesus did not complete the atonement at the cross but continues to “apply His blood” in an ongoing atonement during the IJ. This Jesus is not powerful enough to have saved us completely by His work on the cross nor to have broken the bonds of death by the life that was in him.
The Lord Jesus, however, did everything necessary for our salvation on the cross, and He rose from death because He is Life. His victorious, resurrection life is the reason we can be born again and can pass from death to life at that moment. Further, His resurrection guarantees our resurrection when He comes again.
The Lord Jesus shatters the central doctrine of Adventism: His blood never defiles the sanctuary with our sin. His blood always cleanses us from our sin.
Then who did defile the temple requiring its cleansing in Daniel 8:14? Antiochus Epiphanes! Dale Ratzlaff unpacks this historic fact in his article in this issue. Also in this issue Scott Blakey discusses the meaning and the mystery of the resurrection.
Paul Carden shares how he discovered the hidden reality of Adventism, and Martin Carey responds to critics of his spiritual formation articles. Charles Cochran tells his faith story, and we also hear from our regular columnists Rick Barker, Carolyn Macomber, and Chris Lee.
Jesus’ resurrection changed all of history. Our mortality is not our identity when we are in Him. We have peace with God; not even death can separate us from His love. He is risen! †
Copyright 2014 Life Assurance Ministries, Inc., Camp Verde, Arizona, USA. All rights reserved. Revised May 5, 2014. Contact email: proclamation@gmail.com
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