Unquestionably. God’s infinite love was manifested in the aeons before the sin disaster intruded upon the unblemished happiness of the creatures throughout the universe, but the manifestation of that love is even more wonderfully revealed since sin’s entry.

Yet, while no one who has any understanding of God’s Word, would even consider that He punished or destroyed before the appearance of iniquity, the vast majority are strongly convinced that necessity has demanded such actions from God since the rebellion began.

There are at least two reasons for this thinking. Firstly, the human mind has long been educated to believe that the only way to overcome rebellion is by force, Therefore, because man is conscious of no other way than this, and because he is aware that the Lord does have a problem which must be solved, man, unless especially enlightened by God’s Word under the tutelage of the Holy Spirit, cannot see that there can be any alternative but for the Lord to use force. But there is another way. Examinations will be made later, of incidents in Bible history to show that God’s actions can be viewed in a different light altogether.

A second reason is that the mind has been trained to read Scripture references according to a certain method of interpretation. When read according to that system there are many Scriptures which will be understood as saying that God punishes, destroys and liquidates.

Consider the following examples.

"And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

"And it repented the Lord that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart.

"And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth Me that I have made them." Genesis 6:5-7.

"And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die. Genesis 6:17.

"Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven;

"And He overthrew those cities and all the plains and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground." Genesis 19:24, 25.

"And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the over-

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throw, when He overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt." Genesis 19:29.

And the Lord said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have, put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people so. Exodus 4:21.

And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt. And He hardened Pharaoh’s heart that. he hearkened not unto them as the Lord had said. Exodus 7:3, 13.

"And he said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God a Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour. Exodus 32:27.

"The Lord is regarded as cruel by many in requiring his people to make war with other nations. They say that it is contrary to His benevolent character. But He Who made the world, and formed man to dwell upon the earth, has unlimited control over all the works of His hands, and it is His right to do as He pleases, and what He pleases with the work of His hands. Man has no right to say to His Maker, Why doest Thou thus? There is no injustice in His character. He is the Ruler of the world, and a large portion of His subjects have rebelled against His authority, and have trampled upon His law. . . . He has used His people as instruments of His wrath, to punish wicked nations, who have vexed them, and seduced them into idolatry." S.D.A. Bible Commentary 1:1117.

"It was to be impressed upon Israel that in the conquest of Canaan they were not to fight for themselves, but simply as instruments to execute the will of God; not to seek for riches or self-exaltation, but the glory of Jehovah their King." Patriarchs and Prophets, 491.

"Like the men before the Flood, the Canaanites lived only to blaspheme Heaven and defile the earth. And both love and justice demanded the prompt execution of these rebels against God and foes to man. ibid., 492.

"And it came to pass, as they fled from before Israel, and were in the going down to Bethhoron, that the Lord cast down great stones from heaven upon them unto Azekah, and they died: they were more which died with hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword." Joshua 10:11.

"But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city." Matthew 22:7.

A careful reading of the whole parable of which this last verse is a part, and the commentary on it in Christ’s Object Lessons, 307-309 will show that the king is God, the armies were those of the Romans, the murder were the Jews and the city was Jerusalem. The text was fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70.

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Therefore the text is really saying, "And when God heard thereof He was wroth: and God sent forth His armies, the Romans, and God destroyed the Jews and God burned up Jerusalem."

"And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them." Revelation 20:9.

This is by no means a comprehensive list of statements of this nature. There is no special point in assembling every such quotation here. However, these are more than sufficient to provide the examples needed to show that there are many such Scriptures, which when interpreted according to the way our minds have been accustomed to interpret them, leave one with no option but to believe that God does use force to liquidate those who have rebelled against Him.

There are many folk today who read these texts, interpret them according to long-accustomed methods, and are quite satisfied to believe that God does behave as an executioner to those who refuse to obey His laws.

But in doing so they have to ignore several things. Firstly, there are quite a number of statements which say the opposite from what these statements are interpreted to mean. Secondly, there are the great principles which are embodied in the constitution of God’s government. Thirdly, there are the terrible implications of holding such beliefs about God.

These will be considered in turn as we proceed, but firstly let a list be made of what some would call counter-statements. In reality they are not and cannot be counter-statements for there is no such thing as a contradiction in God’s Word.

Here are some examples of such statements:

"The LORD is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works." "Thy testimonies that thou hast commanded are righteous and very faithful." Psalms 145:17; 119: 138.

The Lord is righteous and the law is righteous. Therefore God is what the law is. It is the "transcript of His own character." Christ’s Object Lessons, 315, and that law declares "Thou shalt not kill." Exodus 20:13. Therefore, it is not in the law to kill, it is not in the character of God to kill.

So, "God destroys no man. Everyone who is destroyed will have destroyer himself." Christ’s Object Lessons, 84.

"God destroys no one." Testimonies 5:120.

"God does not stand toward the sinner as an executioner of the sentence against transgression but He leaves the rejecters of His mercy to the themselves, to reap that which they have sown. Every ray of light rejected, every warning despised or unheeded, every passion indulged, every transgression of the law of God, is a seed sown, which yields its unfailing harvest. The Spirit of God, persistently resisted, is at last withdrawn from the sinner, and then there is left no power to control the evil passions of the soul, and no protection from the malice and enmity of Satan." The Great Controversy, 36.

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"Satan is the destroyer. God cannot bless those who refuse to be faithful stewards. All He can do is to permit Satan to accomplish his destroying work. We see calamities of every kind and in every degree coming upon the earth, and why? The Lord’s restraining power is not exercised. The world has disregarded the word of God. They live as though there were no God. Like the inhabitants of the Noachic world, they refuse to have any thought of God. Wickedness prevails to an alarming extent, and the earth is ripe for the harvest." Testimonies 6:388, 389.

"This earth has almost reached the place where God will permit the destroyer to work his will upon it." Testimonies 7:141.

"God keeps a reckoning with the nations. Not a sparrow falls to the, ground without His notice. Those who work evil toward their fellow men, saying, How doth God know? will one day be called upon to meet Ions-deferred vengeance. In this age a more than common contempt is shown to God. Men have reached a point in insolence and disobedience which, shows that their cup of iniquity is almost full. Many have well-nigh passed the boundary of mercy. Soon God will show that He is indeed the living God. He will say to the angels, ‘No longer combat Satan in his efforts to destroy, Let him work out his malignity upon the children of disobedience; for the cup of their iniquity is full. They have advanced from one .degree of wickedness to another, adding daily to their lawlessness. I will no longer interfere to prevent the destroyer from doing his work." The Review and Herald, September 17, 1901.

When Jesus was asked to destroy the Samaritans who had rejected Him, He replied to His disciples, "Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are

of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. And they went to another village. Luke 9:55, 56.

"There can be no more conclusive evidence that we possess the spirit of Satan than the disposition to hurt and destroy those who do not appreciate our work, or who act contrary to our ideas." The Desire of Ages, 487.

"Rebellion was not to be overcome by force. Compelling power is found only under Satan’s government. The Lord’s principles are not of this order. His authority rests upon goodness, mercy and love: and the presentation of these principles is the means to be used. God’s government is moral, and truth and love are to be the prevailing power." ibid., 759.

"The exercise of force is contrary to the principles of God’s government; He desires only the service of love; and love cannot be commanded; it cannot be won by force or authority." ibid., 22.

We know that God does nothing that is contrary to the principles of His government. Therefore, He does not use force.

"Sickness, suffering, and death are work of an antagonistic power. Satan is the destroyer; God is the restorer." The Ministry of Healing. 113.

Here is a compilation of statements, emphatic and clear, asserting that God is not an executioner, does not punish, and destroys no one. When

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these and the first set are viewed side by side, there appears no possibility of their being reconcilable. No attempt has been made to search out and copy every statement which exists for one side or the other. This is not necessary because any further quotations would only say that which is already quoted in these representative selections.

These apparent contradictions present the Bible student with a problem. For some, it is "solved" by simply discarding faith in the Word of God, charging it and its Author with duplicity and inconsistency. Others simply ignore the words which they are unable to understand or do not really desire to accept, while they carefully collect the opposite set. building their faith accordingly.

This was the course adopted by the Pharisees and Jews prior to and at the first advent. In the Old Testament there were many prophetic statements describing both the first and second coming of Christ. One set naturally spoke of His coming in obscurity, shame, ignominy, rejection and to final crucifixion. The other set described a coming in indescribable power, glory and triumph in which all His enemies would be totally annihilated. To the Jewish mind, especially as it lost the Spirit’s illumination, it was impossible to reconcile these seeming contradiction . Their solution was to ignore every statement which spoke of humility and obscurity and to dwell heavily on those which spoke of power and glory. Thus Satan trained their minds to reject the Saviour when He came. So clever was he, that he used the Scriptures themselves to accomplish this. Once they had embarked on that wrong principle of interpretation, then, the more they studied their Bibles, the more conditioned they became to reject the Saviour when He appeared. He came exactly as the Scriptures said He would but not as they had read the prophecies. Therefore, because He did not fulfil the set of prophecies they had gathered, they rejected Him and thus lost their eternal lives.

The story of their experience contains a lesson of the most solemn warning. While we understand the differences between the comings of Christ, we find ourselves confronted with other subjects about which two different sets of statements are written. The subject of God’s character has one set which states that He does not destroy and another which says He does. We can do what the Pharisees did by selecting the set which we prefer to believe, carefully gathering all the quotations supporting that view and discarding or ignoring the others. Should we do this we will emerge with a view of the subject as erroneous as that of the Pharisees in regard Christ’s coming. The consequences for us will be the same as for them—the, loss of eternal life.

The true student of God’s Word will not make this mistake. He will ignore no statements no matter how they may seem to contradict others. He will candidly acknowledge that so far as his understanding has now developed, these statements remain for him a flat contradiction of each

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other, though by faith, he knows that in God’s Word there is no real contradiction. Consequently, he will rest in the conviction that the problem is only apparent and not real. Confessing the weakness and frailty of the human mind, he will recognize that the difficulty lies in an inadequate depth of spiritual perception on his part. Undisturbed by the clamour of voices around, he will move forward in quiet faith, patiently studying God’s Word, knowing that, under God’s tutelage, such revelations of the mysteries will come to him as will remove all contradictions, providing instead, a perfect harmony, where previously only confusion existed.

As the spirit-enlightened student of God’s Word thus comes into possession of a harmonious system of truth, he will find that those who follow out the alternative system of interpretation, by carefully collecting only those statements supporting their own preferred view, will charge him with twisting the Scriptures. They will accuse him of making the Word of God say what it does not. They will argue emphatically that the Bible says ‘God destroyed them." Then they will ask, "What could be written more plainly than that?

One might counter by saying, It also says, "God destroys no man." this will have no effect. Their minds have been programmed to accept only that which they have chosen to believe. No impression can be made by quoting contrary statements. They merely entrench themselves more firmly behind their list. while in glowing indignation, they level the charge that the plainly written words of God are being rejected.

Two things must be established at this point. One is that this problem cannot be solved by simply countering statements with other statements. Secondly, it cannot be resolved by twisting or changing the statements to conform to our preferred ideas. In this study great care will be taken not to do this. Even so, we still expect that the opponents of the position taken in this publication will Level this accusation against us. We will strive to make our position so clear that such an accusation will in fact be groundless. We ask each objective, candid, and responsible reader to carefully check to see if in any way the Word of God is twisted to suit a personal or private view as these pages unfold. We believe it will be found that the only interpretations given to the Scriptures will be those found in the Scriptures themselves, with no private interpretation being offered. At the same time it will be perceived that all disharmony between the two sets of statements will disappear.

There has been the careful and frank quoting of the two different and seemingly contradictory compilations, in order to demonstrate that there is a problem which needs solving. How can this problem be solved so as to bring the thoughtful, responsible student to an accurate knowledge of what the Word of God is teaching? That is the important question which we must now study.

Our recollections go back to that time when without question we did believe that God destroys. We understood that after great patience and

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longsuffering, when God had sought to win the sinner, He was finally left with no recourse but to obliterate from the face of the earth, in an act of signal destruction, those who refused to repent and come into harmony with the principles of His government. For many years this idea remained unchallenged. Meanwhile, our understanding of God’s ways was becoming far more extensive as with careful, conscientious purpose we studied God’s Word. In so doing, we arrived finally at that point where other statements and principles began to unfold. These principles denied the position we already had in regard to God’s character. We could not honestly reject the new concepts and at the same time could not easily revoke the old. Yet, there was no solution as to how they could be reconciled.

Faith was a steadying factor in the problem. Faith said that there are no contradictions in God’s Word. Faith said that we must take both of these statements as they read. Faith said that in due time, the God of heaven Himself would provide the answers if we trusted Him and continued our careful, objective study.

In my own personal experience it came about as follows. As far back as 1952,1 had never doubted the way in which God dealt with the unrepentant. It was plain to me that He destroyed them in the lake of fire. In that year however, the Sabbath School lessons in the church of which I was a member, dealt with the origin of evil. We looked deeply and carefully into the nature of God’s government, the problems which arose in Lucifer’s mind, the issues of his challenge against God’s government and the way in which God would deal with that problem. It was not as clear then as it has been set out in the previous chapters, but we did gain a beautiful and wonderful grasp of the constitution of God’s government.

We saw how upon this earth, there was to be worked out in absolute fairness so far as God was concerned, the great struggle between good and evil. Good was to conquer upon its own merits without the assistance of an overpowering physical force. I shall never forget the soul-filled rejoicing with which I grasped these precious principles of truth. I possessed understandings of the great controversy the like of which I had never known before, but which have increased in depth since that day. Today I cannot recommend too strongly, the necessity of every soul making a deep and detailed study of the issues involved in the great controversy from its origin to its end.

A few weeks later my new found belief was to receive a serious challenge. The Sabbath School lessons moved on through the fall of Adam and Eve, the death of Abel and the proliferation of people upon the earth. Then we came to the flood.

The implications of the standard view of what God did in the obliteration of the human race in Noah’s day were very serious indeed. I saw that the commonly accepted view of what God did back there, meant that He was forced to admit that righteousness was not able to withstand the

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crushing tide of evil, so that God and Christ were obliged to step in, exercising Their own superior physical power to reverse the tide, erase the entire company of Satan’s followers, and preserve alive only Their own.

I imagined a conversation between the Father and the Son along these lines. "In the beginning We did undertake to fight this great controversy out on the basis that righteousness could stand on its own merits. But now it is clear that sin has reached such proportions that it is on the verge of a world take-over. At the moment We only have eight subjects remaining and in a short time, these too, will have died or passed into Satan’s camp thus making him the total victor in this struggle. So we must now act by coming to the rescue of righteousness. Let us step in with our limitless, infinite power, and obliterate the entire side standing for Satan. We will preserve only our own people and thus make a complete, fresh start. Thereafter, We will maintain the use of force in appropriate places to ensure that Satan never again brings the world to this same crisis point."

This implied that God had to revise His method of dealing with the sin problem. It revealed Him as beginning in one way, but finding Himself later obliged to introduce measures not contemplated in the beginning. This made God less than infinite, omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent. It meant that He was not really God because God has perfect foreknowledge, and needs no revisions, compromises, or changes as time goes by.

In this way I found a serious problem on my hands. Nothing could deny the clarity of the principles underlining God’s government or of His way of dealing with the sin problem. Yet, at the same time, the story of the flood seemed to show a God who was later forced to introduce an element of compulsion and destruction. While, on one hand, I could not and would not deny the truths learned in the origin of evil, on the other, I was unable to see wherein the popular view of the flood was wrong. So, for the first time, a real challenge to long-held concepts and views was presented to me. At first I could not meet that challenge. There were no answers to it.

My attitude was one of faith. I made no attempt to twist or bend either side of the question to suit the other. I believed implicitly that in the Word of God there are no contradictions. Those contradictions which appear as such are there only because of an Inadequate understanding on our part. I likewise believed that God would give light and understanding to those who humbly and sincerely sought for it. So I studied, prayed and waited. The time came when further evidence began to accumulate and piece by piece the puzzle came together until I found a perfect reconciliation between God’s stated attitude to the sin problem and the story of the flood.

I recount this development in my own thinking to indicate the way in which we all may come to the saving truth of God’s Word. There are problems in understanding and in interpretation. At the same time there are clearly laid out rules In the Bible as to the way in which the problems can be solved. If we will learn to follow those Bible explanations of interpretation we cannot but arrive at the living truth of God.

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This chapter has been devoted to the recognition that there is a very real problem to be solved because of the existence of apparent contradictions in the Word of God. As there are statements which plainly say that God does destroy and others saying that He does not destroy, we strongly recommend that each reader face the fact that such a problem exists. At the same time we encourage each believer to realize that there are no real contradictions in God’s Word, that the Bible is written for man’s understanding, that these problems are therefore solvable and that simple trusting faith in God will bring clear understandings in this connection. If we are prepared to adopt this attitude then we are ready to proceed on to the study of the way in which the problem may be solved.

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The problem before us is obviously one of interpretation; of determining just what the words used in Scripture are intended to say. Today, multiplied versions of what the Scriptures are supposed to say are clear proof that there are many false interpretations of God’s Word, for only one interpretation can be correct. The false are many, the true is singular.

We depend for our understanding of God’s character, on the revelation of it as given in His Word. That Word represents the effort to reveal in the limited framework of human language, the height, the depth, the length and the breadth of the infinite. As such, it is a masterpiece of simplification, perfectly designed for the human mind to understand.

But, if we are to arrive at a correct, and therefore life-saving, knowledge of God’s character, we must firstly understand what the correct principles of Bible interpretation are. This is obviously important. To begin studying the Word of God with an incorrect principle of interpretation, is to end up far removed from the truth. In fact, the more intensely and enduringly the study is pursued, the further removed from truth one will be.

It is a common assertion for one who teaches error to solemnly protest that he has been studying in his subject directly from the Scriptures for many, many, years. "Is that not convincing proof" he asks. "that what I am presenting is the truth?"

To many, a claim of this nature is impressive, but, to the true student, it is no proof at all. His mind probes with the question. "Has the person making this claim spent those years studying according to the correct principles of Bible interpretation or not?" If not, then the true child of God knows that those thirty years of study have removed that man just that much further from the truth. It would be better had he not studied at all.

In the early 1960’s, a man arose in the United States who began to proclaim that the second coming of Christ would take place in October, 1964. When challenged by Scripture evidences that this would not be so, he protested with great solemnity and authority that he had studied this matter for the past thirty years and, therefore, he knew with certainty that what he said was the truth and nothing but the truth.

Never learning, the man simply set another date when time proved his prophecy a delusion. When the second date failed, he set a third and a fourth. Finally he disappeared into obscurity.

How much wiser he would have been to have gone back and carefully checked his principles of Bible interpretation and methods of study.

The fact is that few people do approach the study of God’s Word with any real system of interpretation clearly laid out. They search through the

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Word and form their own opinions of what they think the passages mean. This is a haphazard and dangerous practice.

In our approach to the subject of God’s character, we dare not do this. We have before us a very real problem in the existence of two sets of statements which can and have been understood to say quite the opposite from each other. The only safe way to approach this difficulty is along the lines of correct Scriptural interpretation.

To use these principles, they must firstly be understood. Our task is to set them forth and, having done so, adhere to them strictly. Every view set forth here will be in accordance with these principles of interpretation. Therefore, any who seek to disprove this book’s message must firstly show wherein the principles of interpretation upon which it is developed are wrong, or wherein the principles being correct, the conclusions drawn are not in harmony with those principles. If neither of these can be shown, then the book’s message is correct.

It is from the Bible itself that we obtain the guidelines for its interpretation. Not only does the Bible give us the message of truth but it also informs us how those messages are to be comprehended. Our standing in this respect is the principle laid down in 2 Peter 1:20. "Knowing this first that no prophecy is of any private interpretation."

Let the message of this verse be forever impressed upon the mind of every person approaching the study of God’s Word. It provides no room for private interpretation because no prophecy of the Scripture Is to be of private interpretation.

Some might tend to limit the application of this verse to those areas of Scripture presenting foretellings of future events because this is the most generally accepted definition of the word "prophecy."

In a limited sense this is what the word "prophecy" means, but in its fuller and broader sense, "prophecy" applies to any revelations which come from the prophet. When this is understood, it will be recognized that every word in the Bible is prophecy. The prophets were not only foretellers. They were forthtellers, speaking forth whatever words God gave them, whether they be counsels, admonitions, revelations of the gospel or predictions of the future. Therefore this verse plainly lays down the rule that no prophecy—no word of the entire Scriptures—is to be of any private interpretation

We can now ask the question, "What is private interpretation as distinct from Scriptural interpretation?" Private interpretation is that which emanates from the mind of man as his considered opinion of what the divine revelations are intended to say.

He arrives at these conclusions according to the definitions of words already formed in his mind. His mind is a dictionary to which he makes reference whenever he reads a word. When he encounters a word not already stored in the limited compendium of the mind, he then turns to a

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comprehensive dictionary such as Oxford or Webster. Having obtained the meaning from there, he applies this word to the Scripture being read and develops therefrom an understanding of what the Scripture is supposed to say.

We may well define this method of Bible study. as definitions by the dictionary. It is one way of studying the Bible and we may be assured that if this method is used, then inevitably, certain views will be established.

For instance, when men read in the Scriptures that God sent the flood upon the earth and that He destroyed men by raining fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah, they will without thought or question take the definitions of the key words, "sent," "destroyed" and "rained", as those words are already defined in their minds. Such definitions can only give them the picture of God personally and directly using His mighty power to lash out and liquidate His enemies.

It cannot be too strongly emphasized that while this method of interpretation is used, no conclusion other than this can be drawn. Inevitably_, all who use this method must believe that God is a grim executioner and that He is doing things after the fall that He never did before.

The limited, erroneous nature of this method is exposed when it is seen that it leaves its adherents with inexplicable contradictions. They are left with no explanation of the other set of statements and the great principles which undergird God’s character. They conveniently ignore those Scriptures, concentrating their study on the ones which support their chosen view. When confronted with the extracts contradicting their concepts, they find refuge in two devices. One is to try and warp the difficult declarations to fit their view. The other is to assert that their view is supported by the preponderance of evidence (as if the truths of God’s Word are determined by the weight of numbers).

Those who learn and adopt the Scriptural method of interpretation, do not have this problem. They find that the whole of God’s Word becomes one harmonious pattern of saving truth. They find that they can take those statements of Scripture, which to others are a contradiction, and see in them only perfect consistency.

Why then, is the method of defining by the dictionary, words describing the character and behaviour of God, so certain to lead to erroneous views of Scripture? Surely, it may he argued, the very purpose of the dictionary is to make clear what words mean? If we do not use the dictionary to define our terms then to what shall we turn? How will we ever know the meaning of anything?

These are excellent questions.

Within the dictionary are contained the definitions of words as those words describe human behaviour. This is the key point. In this field, the dictionary is the undisputed authority and is to be heeded. But the dictionary is compiled by men who do not understand or who are not even concerned

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with divine behaviour. If divine and human behaviour were the same, then the dictionary would serve both, but they are not the same. They are very different indeed. The Lord has unmistakably warned us of this.

God says, "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than

thoughts." Isaiah 55:8,9.

God’s ways are not our ways. They are different. They are as much higher than man’s ways as the heavens are above the earth. Any one who would arrive at a correct concept of God’s character must engrave this statement on his mind and continually refer to it as a guideline in his study. He should programme himself to test every assertion, every concept, and every idea forming in his mind, by the words of this statement. Whenever, as he reads the words of God he forms a picture of divine behaviour as being the same as human behaviour, then, in the light of this Scripture, he must know that the concept formed, is erroneous.

While it is correct to conclude that every view of God which holds that He behaves as man does is incorrect, it Is not necessarily right to assume that any view which attributes to God a different way from man is the truth for it is possible to propose procedures common neither to God nor man.

This necessitates having two different sets of definitions for the same key words. One set is already well known to us, being the dictionary and everyday usage of the words as they describe human behaviour. What needs to be developed in human understanding is that other definition which defines the words as they are used by God to describe His own behaviour. Reference is made here to such keywords as "destroy", "justice," "judgment," "punish," and such like.

Man destroys. We know that. We also know what man’s way of destruction is. We know how he goes about it and have no difficulty in defining this word as it applies to human behaviour.

The Bible says. "God destroys." Therefore, it is the truth that God does destroy and no attempt will be made to deny that. But the Bible also says that God’s ways are not men’s ways. From this we can only conclude that God’s way of destroying is altogether different from man’s way. Between thorn there is no similarity

Therefore, the conclusion is drawn that when the Word declares that God does destroy, it is to be understood that this work is done in an altogether different manner from man’s way, while, when it declares that God does not destroy, the caution is being sounded that God does not do it according to the human method.

While this is the guideline of study offered to us in Isaiah 55:8, 9, the full confirmation of this principle will be found in the re-definition of these key words as they apply to the description of divine behaviour as distinct from the human. This Is the key to harmonizing the apparently contradic-

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tory statements Therefore, while the dictionary must be retained for determining the meaning of words used to describe human activity, it is to be discarded when the knowledge of God’s procedures is being sought.

Having determined that these alternate definitions are not written in the dictionary, question arises as to where they can be found. The Bible is to be used as its own dictionary. Only when we have learnt to use it as such can a correct comprehension of its messages be obtained.

God understood the problems facing the human being and because He intended His Word to be an understandable message to His people. He carefully incorporated within the Scriptures, means whereby a clear definition of the words as He uses them in describing His own behaviour can be found. Thus there is no excuse for anybody not obtaining the Scriptural definitions. They are there. God has provided them and it is our duty to search them out and, having found them to apply them to the study of God’s Word.

The great second Advent Movement was the mightiest spiritual undertaking this side of Pentecost. It was brought into existence by the revelation of truth and it was built upon a foundation of truth. That truth was arrived at by correct principles of Bible interpretation, giving us a tremendous endorsement of the system laid out in the above paragraphs. When the founding father of the Advent Movement first began the systematic study of the Bible, he did so, not according to dictionary interpretations of words, but according to Bible definitions of those words.

We turn now to the account of that man’s method of Bible study.

"Miller publicly professed his faith in the religion which he had despised. But his infidel associates were not slow to bring forward all those arguments which he himself had often urged against the divine authority of the Scriptures. He was not then prepared to answer them; but he reasoned that if the Bible is a revelation from God, it must be consistent with itself; and that as it was given for man’s instruction, it must be adapted to his understanding. He determined to study the Scriptures for himself, and ascertain if every apparent contradiction could not be harmonized.

"Endeavoring to lay aside all preconceived opinion, and dispensing with commentaries, he compared Scripture with Scripture by the aid of the marginal references and the concordance. He pursued his study in regular and methodical manner; beginning with Genesis, and reading verse by verse, he proceeded no faster than the meaning of the several passages so unfolded as to leave him free from all embarrassment. When he found anything obscure, it was his custom to compare it with every other text which seemed to have any reference to the matter under consideration. Every word was permitted to have its proper bearing upon the subject of the text, and if his view of it harmonized with every collateral passage, it ceased to be a difficulty. Thus whenever he met with a passage hard to be understood, he found an explanation in some other portion of the Scrip-

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tures. As he studied with earnest prayer for divine enlightenment, that which had before appeared dark to his understanding was made clear. He experienced the truth of the psalmist’s words, ‘The entrance of Thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.’ " The Great Controversy, 319, 320.

Miller’s method of Bible study is strongly endorsed as being the correct one in two ways. Firstly, while the religious world of his day was using anything but this method of study, he alone, by using it, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit arrived at the great, timely, saving truth of the advent message. It is safe to say that if Miller had not used these methods of Bible study, he certainly would never have arrived at the truths he did. The second endorsement comes from the fact that here in The Great Controversy, the whole system is laid out as a guideline for all who will follow it.

Let notice now be taken of the main points in this system. Firstly there is the mental approach. Miller reasoned that the Bible, being a revelation from God, must be consistent with itself. The necessity on the student’s part of recognizing that there is no such thing as a contradiction in the Word of God cannot be over-emphasized, When this conviction is firmly established, no effort will be made to wrench or twist Scriptures to fit in with other Scripture. Rather, the student will study with care, patience, and perseverance until the principles are so well understood that the statements are brought into perfect harmony with each other.

Secondly, Miller recognized that inasmuch as the Bible is expressly written for man’s instruction, it must be adapted to his understanding. In other words, he was convinced that the Bible was not beyond the reach of man’s intellectual grasp. It was written for man, therefore it could be understood by man. Again, when a student has this conviction, he will not dismiss as impossible to comprehend, those aspects of Scripture which do not fit in with his initial concepts.

Thirdly, Miller endeavoured to lay aside all preconceived opinions, and, dispensing with commentaries, he compared Scripture with Scripture by the aid of the marginal references and the Concordance. There can hardly be a more serious barrier to arriving at saving truth than that provided by, preconceived opinions and ideas. There is no person alive today who is not to a larger or lesser degree, afflicted with this problem. During the entire span of our past lives, we have been absorbing concepts, ideas and information. We have come to think along certain lines and these thought processes have mostly been erroneous so far as our concept of God’s kingdom is concerned.

The outstanding example of this is found in the experience of Christ’s apostles. They were born into a Jewish world wherein the prevailing expectations for the coming of the Messiah was the advent of an all-conquering king. As those boys grew, they heard this conversation around them, It was

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preached to them in church and taught to them in school. The result was the building up of strong, preconceived notions of Christ’s work and ministry. When the real Saviour appeared. those ideas formed a fearful barrier which for a long time made it impossible for Christ to bring to them the truth regarding His ministry and mission. Only when He was finally able to sweep away those preconceived ideas could He teach them the truth.

So with us today. Every one of us should humbly recognize that we are not possessed of accurate wisdom, knowledge, concepts and ideas and that these erroneous thought patterns are indeed a great problem.

‘The stamps of minds are different. All do not understand expressions and statements alike. Some understand the statements of the Scriptures to suit their own particular minds and cases. Prepossessions, prejudices, and passions have a strong influence to darken the understanding and confuse the mind even in reading the words of Holy Writ." Selected Messages 1:20.

‘The Scriptures are not to be adapted to meet the prejudice and jealousy of men. They can be understood only by those who are humbly seeking for a knowledge of the truth that they may obey it." Christ’s Object Lessons, 112.

Some may feel that earnestness and sincerity compensate for accuracy. But Jesus plainly said. "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." John 8:32. It is the truth and not error which saves us. For this reason, God is continually seeking to send us clearer and more advanced revelations of His truth so we may correspondingly ascend into greater heights of religious experience. Many a person will fail to enter the kingdom of heaven because prejudice has barred the door to their receiving the truth.

Notice carefully the solemn warnings laid out in this next quotation, which begins with the question, What shall I do to be saved?" The answer provided is an unexpected and solemn one.

"Do you ask, What shall I do to be saved? You must lay your preconceived opinions, your hereditary and cultivated ideas, at the door of investigation. If you search the Scriptures to vindicate your own opinion, you will never reach the truth. Search in order to learn what the Lord says. If conviction comes as you search, if you see that your cherished opinions are not in harmony with the truth, do not misinterpret the truth in order to suit your own belief but accept the light given. Open mind and heart that, you may behold wondrous things out of God’s Word." Christ’s Object Lessons, 112.

There are a number of answers which could have been given to the question "What shall I do to be saved?" Elsewhere those answers are given, but here the point is made that our salvation does depend upon laying aside preconceived opinions, hereditary and cultivated ideas. William Miller did

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For further material see Selected Messages 1:19-22.

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this and, because he did, arrived at saving truth. If we will do the same, we, likewise will arrive at saving truth.

Pains are being taken to emphasize this thought because in the field of knowledge dealing with the character of God, wrong concepts are prolific. Any emergence into this truth must be from a background of dark error and misconception. The whole world lies in ignorance of God as He really is, and we who have lived in that world have been unconsciously influenced by this atmosphere. There is no subject then, in which the need to lay aside preconceived ideas and opinions is more critical than this one.

We come now to a key point in William Miller’s approach to Bible study. As he proceeded from verse to verse, he came inevitably upon a Scripture which baffled his understanding and which in turn, appeared to contradict what he had already learned in other parts of the Word. How did he solve this problem? Discarding commentaries and dictionaries, he used the Bible as its own dictionary. "Thus whenever he met with a passage hard to be understood, he found an explanation in some other portion of the Scriptures." The Great Controversy, 320.

He followed "his rule of making Scripture its own interpreter". ibid., 324. By doing this, he avoided the perilous pitfall of private or human interpretations, which can only lead astray. The one thing which cannot be per-miffed in the quest for truth as God sees it, is the use of private or human interpretation of God’s revelations. It would be far better not to study the Bible at all, than to search it with the wrong method. Make the Scriptures their own dictionary, their own interpreter. Do this under the blessing and guidance of the Holy Spirit and the assurance is there of the certainty of arriving at an accurate, comprehensive and harmonious knowledge of saving truth.

This will take time so it is not to be expected that every error will be immediately swept away. While Miller arrived at tremendous concepts of saving truth, he did not live long enough to find deliverance from every preconceived error of the past. This does not deny for an instant the validity of his method of study. It only underlines the truth that it takes time, even with correct methods of study, to come to an accurate grasp of divine revelations. After all, God’s truth is the expression of the mind of the Infinite. Eternity will never exhaust it. Therefore, it is too much to expect that a person using perfect methods of study would emerge in a few short years from deep darkness to a correct understanding of the great verities. Appreciation should be felt for the tremendous progress Miller made in breaking away from the erroneous teachings of his day.

The sound and solid foundations laid down by William Miller were continued and developed by later Adventist expositors. To establish this point we could bring as evidence, the development of such truths as the two laws, the Sabbath question, and so on. Our choice falls upon the subject of the final punishment of the wicked. It is common understanding in worldly

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churches that the fires of final purification will unceasingly burn the unrepentant wicked who will suffer unending torture and torment within those unquenchable flames. The advent message denies this concept, teaching, rather, a short consumption of the lost to render them as though they had never been.

In the early days of Adventism, the truth on this subject had not been developed. It was not developed by William Miller but by the people who came after him. As the new idea was advanced, it met with serious objection and opposition. It is a difficult subject to present because there are certain Scriptures which make it appear that the wicked do burn forever and ever. Just as it is possible in the subjects of the two laws, the Sabbath, and the character of God, to gather two completely different sets of statements, with one apparently supporting one side, and the other seeming to present an opposite view, so it is in the question of the final punishment of the wicked.

It hardly seems necessary to quote the many statements from Scripture which tell us that the wicked will be as though they had not been, that we shall tread down their ashes, that they shall burn, leaving neither root nor branch. We know the Scriptures tell us that the dead know nothing, that their very thoughts are gone. This is one side of the question, but, on the other side are statements which clearly say that the wicked will burn forever. The most noteworthy reference of this nature is in Revelation 20:1O "And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever."

As an exercise in the correct principles of Bible study, let this verse be taken and interpreted according to dictionary definitions of the key words to show us the wrong way of Bible interpretation.

The important key words in this particular verse are the words "for ever and ever." In our minds there already exists a clear definition of this word which is in harmony with the written definition in the published dictionary reading as follows, "Forever means for a limitless time or endless ages, everlastingly, eternally, at all times, always, continually, incessantly." If this dictionary definition of the word "forever" is taken and Revelation 20:10 understood according to it then the only possible understanding of this verse would be that the wicked suffer eternally. One could only believe that there would never come a time when their agonies would end. It is hoped that no one will miss the point that a certain method of interpretation will yield its corresponding idea of what the truth is.

Serious doubt of the validity of this method is gendered when it is seen that it brings this text into sharp contradiction with other Scriptures. Here are two examples.

‘For as ye have drunk upon My holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually, yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been." Obadiah 16.

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"For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch." Malachi 4:1i

It is obviously impossible for the wicked to be as though they had not been, and to be burned up leaving neither root nor branch, and yet, at the same time, exist eternally. That is a contradiction. which will exist in our minds and will continue to exist until the understanding of the messages of these verses is chanced wherever it needs to be changed. Let it be strongly emphasized that the Scriptures themselves must not be changed. It is the understanding of the Scriptures which must be changed until there is perfect harmony.

This is a very different approach to the problem from that employed by those who do use dictionary definitions for these words. Their procedure is to carefully collect all statements supporting their chosen side of the question, and as carefully, to ignore those which speak contrary to their accepted ideas. This is no way to study the Bible yet it is the most commonly accepted method.

The only safety lies in discarding dictionary definitions of words wherever those words are a problem and to seek for a revised understanding of the meaning of the statements. The only way to discover that other meaning is by making the Bible and the Bible only, its own dictionary and therefore its own interpreter. The Advent people, in determining the message of the verse, Revelation 20:10, which speaks of the wicked burning eternally, found it necessary to discover the Bible meaning of those words. They learned that, in Bible usage, the word has a different meaning from what it has in everyday usage. We quote now from the book Answers to Objections by F.D. Nichol, 360, 361.

"We read of ‘Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them. . .offering the vengeance of eternal [aionios] fire.’ Jude 7. Are those cities, set ablaze long ago as a divine judgment, still burning? No: their ruins are quite submerged by the Dead Sea. The Bible itself specifically states that God turned ‘the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes.’ 2 Peter 2:6. Now the fate of these cities is declared to be a warning to all wicked men of the fate that impends for them. Therefore if the "aionios fire" of that long ago judgment turned into ashes those upon whom it preyed, and then died down of itself, we may properly conclude that the "aionios fire" of the last day will do likewise.

When we turn to the Old Testament we discover that ‘everlasting’ and ‘for ever’ sometimes signify a very limited time. We shall quote texts in which these two terms are translated from the Hebrew word olam, because olam is the equivalent of the Greek aion.

"The Passover was to be kept ‘for ever [olam].’ Ex. 12:24. But it ended with the cross. (See Heb. 9:24-26.) Aaron and his sons were to offer in-

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cense ‘for ever [olam].’ (1 Chron. 23:13), and to have an ‘everlasting [olam] priesthood.’ Ex, 40:15. But this priesthood, with its offerings of incense, ended at the cross. (See Heb. 7:11-14.) A servant who desired to stay with his master, was to serve him ‘for ever [olam].’ (See Ex. 21:1-6.) How could a servant serve a master to endless time? Will there be masters and servants in the world to come? Jonah, describing his watery experience, said, ‘The earth with her bars was about me for ever [olam].’ Jonah 2:6. Yet this ‘for ever’ was only ‘three days and three nights’ long. Jonah 1:17. Rather a short ‘for ever.’ Because Gehazi practiced deceit, Elisha declared, ‘The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee [Gehazi], and unto thy seed for ever [olam].’ 2 Kings 5:27. Should we conclude, therefore, that Gehazi’s family would never end, and that thus leprosy would be perpetuated for all time to come?

"Thus by the acid test of actual usage we discover that in a number of cases aion, aionios, and olam have a very limited time value."

Now that you have read the above statement from Nichol, it would be helpful to answer the following questions.

1. How much reference did F.D. Nichol make to standard dictionaries when seeking the definition of "everlasting," and "for ever," as those words are to be used In the Scriptures?

The answer is: No reference at all.

2. What then did he use as his dictionary when seeking the definition of those words as used in Scripture?

The answer is: The Word of God and that alone.

3. Did he find the words meant the same in Scripture usage as they do in everyday usage?

The answer is: No! The meanings are very different indeed. That means that "everlasting’ and "forever," have one meaning when used in our everyday speech but a different meaning when used in the Scriptures.

4. What is the meaning in everyday speech and as found in the dictionary of "everlasting" and "for ever?"

The answer is: These words mean eternally; without ever ceasing at all.

5. What is the meaning when the same words are used in Scripture?

Answer: It signifies time in unbroken duration so long as the nature of the subject allows. Thus in the case of the wicked, their sinful human nature does not allow a very long time in the fire before they are reduced to ashes, but be assured that the fire will go on for ever, that is, in unbroken duration, until they are consumed. On the other hand the nature of God and of the redeemed is that they go on forever as long as their immortal natures allow and that will be eternally without ever ceasing at all.

It should now be clear that when the words "for ever and ever" are interpreted according to dictionary definitions, a certain understanding of that verse will emerge, while if the Bible is used to uncover its usage of the words, then a very different understanding will result. In other words, ac-

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cording to the system of interpretation used will the resulting conclusions be. Set the method right and the desired objective of knowing saving truth will be naturally forthcoming.

A sound test of the true method is that it removes impossible contradictions and replaces them with harmony and cohesion. There will be no need to ignore statements which otherwise do not fit.

Once the correct method has been found, it is to be applied with unfailing consistency throughout the entire study of the Bible. One system cannot be used in one area and a different one used in another. It has been astonishing to see people having no trouble in believing that the wicked do not burn forever and then rejecting the principle that God destroys only by to save. Yet exactly the same methods of interpretation used to arrive at the former were the only means of arriving at the latter.

This does not mean that every word will have other than a dictionary definition when used in the Scriptures. Many will have the same meaning, but there will always be key words which do not. They are readily recognized for whenever a word, when understood according to its common everyday usage, creates a serious problem, then it is time to search out its Scriptural meaning as against its common one.

Throughout this book, with strict consistency, we will adhere to the Scriptural method of interpretation. When we find ourselves confronted with two statements or more, which, on the surface, stand in sharp contradiction to each other, we shall follow this procedure.

• Faith shall retain firm hold of the truth that there is no contradiction in the Word of God.

• Every endeavour will be made to lay aside old preconceived ideas and opinions.

• No reference will be made to the dictionary to solve the problem.

• The Scriptures alone will be consulted for the answer as to what these words mean when they are used in them.

This line of approach will be continued until every disharmony of thought disappears and every statement tells the same message.

Therefore, for anyone to deny the message of this book, he will have to prove firstly that these methods of interpretation are false. If however, he should agree that they are true, then he will have to show wherein we have not adhered to these principles. We confidently challenge anyone to prove either or both if they can.

We believe that we stand upon solid ground in our approach to the subject and that what is written herein is a true statement of the character of God.

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The principles of interpretation laid out in the previous chapter can now be applied to the problem of reconciling otherwise contradicting statements. In this case the concern Is over the declarations that God does not destroy versus those which say He does. These principles properly applied, are guaranteed to establish a perfect harmony where confusion previously reigned.

This application is a practical exercise. Commencement can be made by selecting a Scripture which has frequently been offered as proof that God steps forth in almighty power and cuts down the rejectors of His mercy.

"Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven.

He overthrew those cities and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities and that which grew upon the ground " Genesis 19:24, 25.

Ponder now upon those words. Just what picture do they suggest to you? Ask the question, "What do these words tell me God did?"

The normal understanding is the view that God. after working with great love and patience to bring these rebels to repentance, finally laid aside the garments of mercy, took hold of the mighty power of fire and personally poured it out on their shelterless heads. The result was such total obliteration that no trace of those cites can be found today.

Certainly, if we were reading another book in which the actions of a powerful monarch were being described In the same words, this is how they would be correctly understood. In the old days of warfare, when the enemy invested walled cities, the defenders would pour fire on them from above. It was a purposeful act designed to burn those below. The amount of fire was minimal compared to God’s capabilities, for whereas they could only burn one or two individuals at a time, God could engulf whole cities. If the same interpretation is given to God’s actions as to man’s, then the only possible picture which could be formed would be of God pouring down fire as did the defenders on the wall, except that He would do it on a grander scale.

But the Word of God expressly advises that God’s ways are entirely different from man’s. This difference is not in one point or another but Is completely so in every area. Because of this when Christ came to earth, "He presented to men that which was exactly contrary to the representations of the enemy in regard to the character of God, . . ." Fundamentals of Christian Education, 177.

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As will be successfully demonstrated, Satan achieves his misrepresentation of God’s character, by having God’s actions viewed as being identical to man’s. The more he can make God appear to being like men, the better pleased he is. But Christ works in the opposite direction. The more He can show that the ways of God and sinful man are different the more successful He is in saving them from Satan’s deadly lies. His revelations of God were exactly contrary to those offered by the devil. As a result of Christ’s effective ministry, we can know that God’s ways and man’s are not merely different in many, but in all things.

That these vital truths are not generally understood and accepted is evidenced by the usual interpretation of the verses concerning the fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, wherein God is considered to have behaved as any earthly potentate would under the same circumstances.

Therefore, as surely as it is established that God’s ways are different from man’s, then so certainly must another explanation to these verses be sought. This alternative is not found by casting around in the human mind for other possibilities. The Bible, under the illumination of the Holy Spirit, must be its own interpreter. When it is learned from there how such words are to be understood, the correct concept of God will be gained.

Within the Word of God the same terminology is used consistently when describing God’s actions in the destruction of people and cities. God does not provide a careful explanation of what He means by these words in every case. But there are two or three places where He does and this is sufficient to inform us how every such expression is to be interpreted. Thus the truth is established in the "mouth of two or three witnesses." Matthew 18:16.

Reference will now be made to three such witnesses to clarify from the Word itself how such statements are to be understood when used to describe God’s action. The method used in the Scriptures to make the meaning clear is to express the same truth in two different places in two different ways. In the first case, what God did will be clearly stated. Then the Lord Himself will use His own method of expressing or describing what He did. By putting these two together it will be clearly seen what God means when He says, "I destroyed them."

Remember that it is not important what we think the Lord meant when He uses certain expressions. Our task is to be sure of what the Lord meant when He used those words.

The first reference to be considered is in regard to the death of Saul the first king of Israel.

"And the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers hit him, and he was wounded of the archers.

"Then said Saul to his armourbearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and abuse me. But his armourbearer would not; for he was sore afraid. So Saul took a sword, and fell upon it.

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"And when his armourbearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise on the sword and died.

"So Saul died, and his three sons, and all his house died together." I Chronicles 10:3-6.

This is a simple, and therefore easily understood, account of Saul’s death. There is a background to this event which is but the climax of that which went before. After a certain critical point in the king’s life he persistently rejected the appeals of mercy. By this means he took himself further and further outside the circle of God’s protection until it was impossible for the Lord to help him. This was not because the Lord would not, but only because He could not.

Thus, when he went forth to the final baffle, he went without the Lord’s protection and he knew it. It was for this reason Saul sought guidance from the witch at Endor. Without God’s presence, there was nothing to save him from the dreadful power of the Philistines with the result that his destruction was a predetermined thing. As Saul’s life is considered, it will be seen that he took himself away from God, placing himself where there was no defence from Satan’s power, and thus, in fact, destroyed himself.

Nowhere in Saul’s entire history is there anything to give us the idea that God raised His mighty hand and struck him down. The only actions we see on God’s part were to extend every possible effort to save him and then when he would not be saved but only resisted with greater and greater vigour, the outreach of the Spirit, God had no choice but to withdraw from him. For God to have maintained a connection with Saul against his will, would have been to have forced His presence where it was not desired, and this the Lord cannot and will not do.

Having seen clearly, then, what the Lord did in respect to Saul’s destruction, we are now ready to see how He described what He did.

"So Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the Lord, even against the word of the Lord, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to inquire of it;

"And inquired not of the Lord: therefore He slew him. and turned the kingdom unto David the son of Jesse." 1Chronicles 10:13,14.

God exerted all the influence of love and truth to save Saul, and when he would not be saved, then the Lord went away and left him to what he wanted—his own way. God did not raise His hand to slay Saul. He killed himself just in time to save the Philistines from doing it. The Scriptures. which are the very expression of God’s thought, described that in these words, "Therefore, He (the Lord God of Heaven) slew him."

This is certainly not the way we would use the words. "He slew him "to describe human behaviour. If they were used to describe human behaviour, then we would have known that the slayer would have come to the victim, not moved away from him; that he would have carried the sword in his own hand, not been empty handed; and that he would have brought the sword down upon the head of the guilty person.

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So foreign is this form of expression to what we are accustomed to, that it is difficult initially, to think in this new terminology. Yet, In order to truthfully understand God’s thought as expressed in His word, the mind must be re-educated to think this way when reading about God’s ways as distinct from men’s ways. There certainly will be no difficulty in seeing that the way in which God uses words and the way in which we use them, are contrary to each other.

The presentation of one witness is never sufficient to establish the truth of the Bible. A second must be added.

As with Saul, so with the entire nation of Israel. Centuries of loving appeals had been spurned, the prophets had been persecuted and, in some cases, martyred. Eventually, the Son of God Himself, came with a personal message from the Father. But they rejected Him even more emphatically, underscoring the intensity of their feelings by seeking nothing less than the most torturous and humiliating death for Him that they could find.

The time came when Christ recognized that they had passed the point of no return. What did He say and do? He declared that Jerusalem was beyond hope and then, instead of launching fiery balls of destruction upon the city, He quietly left them to their fate. Again. He did not do this because He wanted to, but because there was nothing else He could do that was consistent with His character of love. Here are His sad words.

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!

"Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.

"For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." Matthew 23:37-39.

For the same reasons and in harmony with the same principles, God left Israel exactly as He had left Saul. Thus was removed from them the only effective defence from their many enemies. For centuries the devil had thirsted for the blood of the entire nation. Knowing that he could not touch them whilever the protection of God was about them, and knowing that while they were obedient it would always be there, he laboured with terrible success to lead them into disobedience.

So the time came when the Jews had caused God’s protection to be withdrawn from them and there was nothing to shield them from disaster. It came with ferocious savagery upon their unprotected heads. The full truth of this is clearly expressed in the following record.

"The Jews had forged their own fetters; they had filled for themselves, the cup of vengeance. In the utter destruction that befell them as a nation, and in all the woes that followed them in their dispersion were but reaping the harvest which their own hands had sown. Says the prophet, O Israel; thou hast destroyed thyself;’ ‘for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.’

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Their sufferings are often represented as a punishment visited upon them by the direct decree of God. It is thus that the great deceiver seeks to conceal his own work. By stubborn rejection of divine love and mercy, the Jews had caused the protection of God to be withdrawn from them, and Satan was permitted to rule them according to his will: The horrible cruelties enacted in the destruction of Jerusalem are a demonstration of Satan’s vindictive power over those who yield to his control.

"We cannot know how much we owe to Christ for the peace and protect ion which we enjoy. It is the restraining power of God that prevents mankind from passing fully under the control of Satan. The disobedient and unthankful have great reason for gratitude for God’s mercy and long-suffering in holding in check the cruel, malignant power of the evil one. But when men pass the limits of divine forbearance, that restraint is removed. God does not stand toward the sinner as an executioner of the sentence against transgression; but He leaves the rejecters of His mercy to themselves, to reap that which they have sown. Every ray of light rejected, every warning despised or unheeded, every passion indulged, every transgression of the law of God, is a seed sown, which yields its unfailing harvest. The Spirit of God, persistently resisted, is at last withdrawn from the sinner, and then there is left no power to control the evil passions of the soul and no protection from the malice and enmity of Satan. The destruction of Jerusalem is a fearful and solemn warning to all who are trifling with the offers of divine grace and resisting the pleadings of divine mercy. Never was there given a more decisive testimony to God's hatred of sin and to the certain punishment that will fall upon the guilty." The Great Controversy, 35, 36.

God’s actions in the destruction of Jerusalem are identical to His dealings with King Saul. The only difference in the two accounts is that in the fall of Jerusalem, we have a much more detailed account of what the Lord did. it is made transparently clear that they had not fallen by God’s hand buy by their own iniquity.

Of particular value is the reference made to the common interpretation of what was done there. Their sufferings are often represented as a punishment visited upon them by the direct decree of God." In other words, this is the way in which most people view God’s actions in this incident: —

"With loving appeals the Lord seeks to woo and to win until the time comes when His patience is exhausted. Then, having passed judgment upon them, He personally decides what form of punishment He will send. Will it be a fearful earthquake, a fire, a volcanic eruption, or pestilence, or shall He send their enemies among them? In the case of Jerusalem, God decided that He would send the Romans. Having made this decree, He called them to the terrible office of being the personal executioners of His vengence on the Jews."

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That is the view most people have of the judgments on the Jews in A.D. 70. This is the interpretation which comes of thinking that God’s behaviour is the same as man’s, and of defining Bible words according to dictionary meanings. While these methods are employed, it is impossible to come to any other conclusion.

When the statement is made, "Their sufferings are often represented as a punishment visited upon them by the direct decree of God, . . ." there is no direct evaluation in the sentence itself attesting to its being a correct or incorrect assessment of Gods works. However, there is the inference that it is not in that it is rated as being the more commonly held representation. Knowing that the majority are deluded in this sphere it is correct to assess this as an incorrect evaluation. This is confirmed by the next sentence which directly charges it with being a device of Satanic origin designed to shift the blame from the devil to God. It is thus that the great deceiver seek to conceal his own work."

So, not only is the above idea the result of wrong principles of Bible interpretation. it is also the very means employed by the devil to conceal the true nature of his own work, by attributing it to God, while to himself he credits the work and character of God. Therefore, it is to be rejected for what it is—a dangerous philosophy of Satan. While his view is entertained, it is impossible to form correct concepts of God’s character.

Further, we are informed that the Lord did not leave of His own choice. It was the Jews who "had caused the protection of God to be withdrawn from them," thus permitting Satan to finally work his evil designs upon them.

Then there is laid down forever the precious truth that "God does not stand toward the sinner as an executioner of the sentence against transgression; but He leaves the rejecters of His mercy to themselves, to reap that which they have sown." What befell the Jews was the natural outworking of their own course of action. It was not something brought upon them by . They had sown the seed; now they must gather the certain harvest.

We have before us a revelation of the course God pursued toward the Israelites which is the same as that with Saul. It is now necessary to find how God Himself described what He did.

In the death of Israel’s first king and the destruction of the nation in AD. 70, God consistently followed the same course, In both cases He worked with infinite love and patience to win them to the ways of righteousness and safety but they utterly rejected it, forcing Him to withdraw and leave them to the fate which lay nearest. For Saul it was the invasion of the Philistines, for Jerusalem the Roman onslaught.

God described what He did to Saul in words very different from the ones we would use to describe what He did. God said, "I destroyed him." We would say, "He destroyed himself."

Because God is consistent, it is to be expected that He would describe the same action in the fall of Jerusalem in the same language. Therefore, it

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(PICTURE)

must be anticipated that He would say, "I destroyed Jerusalem and killed those murderers." This is just how He did describe that terrible destruction.

In Matthew 22. there is a parable which, in its initial application, sets out the two final calls given to the Jewish people and their rejections of those calls. When the second call is complete and as completely rejected, the king’s reaction is described in these words:

"But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his,, armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city." Matthew 22:7.

This verse is couched in symbolic language. God, the Father, was the king; the armies were the Romans under Titus; the murderers were the Jews who crucified Christ; and the city was Jerusalem. The fulfilment of this fearful prophecy came in AD. 70 as verified in Christ’s Object Lessons, 309. where this verse is quoted followed by the words: "The judgment pronounced came upon the Jews in the destruction of Jerusalem and the scattering of the nation."

If we substitute for the symbolic words, the things symbolized, the verse must read as follows: "But when God heard thereof, God was wroth: and God sent forth His armies. the Romans. and God destroyed the Jews and God burned up Jerusalem."

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If these words are interpreted according to normal dictionary definitions the only possible picture of God would be identical to earthly despots. But, the inspired word quoted from The Great Controversy, confirms that an altogether different understanding is to be obtained from these verses. Therefore, the position adopted depends directly on the way In which the words are understood. The choice lies between accepting a meaning according to human or Scriptural language. The former is acquired by reference to a standard dictionary, the latter by the Scriptures themselves.

As in the case of King Saul so in this second witness, the same type of description is explained in an identical way. God is said to destroy the sinner when He accepts the sinner’s demands that he be left to himself. The fate which befalls him is not by either God’s election or administration. It is the inevitable outworking of the transgressor’s course.

The two witnesses already given are in perfect harmony. They support each other and go a long way toward confirming the truth of God’s Word. However, we will not rest with only two.

The third witness will also be drawn from Israel’s history. There was the occasion when the Israelites were travelling through the wilderness and once again murmured about God and Moses. Unknown to them, they were travelling through an area infested with deadly serpents and other terrors. Because of God’s protecting care, they had passed through this area unharmed until that time when they drove away His protection through their own ingratitude and sinfulness. The shield removed, there was nothing to hold back the invasion of those reptiles with the result that many of the people died a terrible death.

Here is the description of what happened and of what God did. It needs but little comment after the two already studied, for, once again it will be seen that the Lord simply left them to what they wanted. He did not decree the particular punishment. It was lurking there all the time only awaiting the opportunity to destroy them. Notice the consistent way in which God related Himself to the sinner in each case. In all three illustrations given, God is revealed as One with Whom there is no variableness neither shadow of turning.

"As the Israelites indulged the spirit of discontent, they were disposed to find fault even with their blessings. And the people spake against God and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.’

"Moses faithfully set before the people their great sin. It was. God’s power alone that had preserved them in ‘that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water.’ Every day of their travels they had been kept by a miracle of divine mercy. In all the way of God’s leading, they had found water to refresh the thirsty bread from heaven to satisfy their hunger, and peace

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and safety under the shadowy cloud by day and the pillar of tire by night. Angels had ministered to them as they climbed the rocky heights or threaded the rugged paths of the wilderness. Notwithstanding the hardships they had endured, there was not a feeble one in all their ranks Their feet had not swollen in their lone journeys, neither had their clothes grown old. God

had subdued before them the fierce beasts of prey and the venomous reptiles of the forest and the desert. If with all these tokens of His love the people still continued to complaint the Lord would withdraw His protection until they should be led to appreciate His merciful care, and return to Him with repentance and humiliation.

Because they had been shielded by divine power, they had not realized the countless dangers by which they were continually surrounded. In their ingratitude and unbelief they had anticipated death, and now the Lord permitted death to come upon them. The poisonous serpents that infested the wilderness were called fiery serpents, on account of the terrible. effects produced by their sting, it causing violent inflammation and speedy death. As the protecting hand of God was removed from Israel, great numbers of the people were attacked by these venomous creatures." Patriarchs and Prophets, 428, 429.

As in the previous illustrations, a comparison will be made between what the Lord is described as doing, and His own statement of what He did. If God is consistent, and we know He is, then He will describe this in the same way as He spoke of the previous two. Again the consistency of God stands forth without variableness neither shadow of turning.

"And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died." Numbers 21:6.

For those who want still further confirmation of the truths revealed in this use of the Bible as its own dictionary, referral is made to the experience of the patriarch Job. Satan demanded the right to destroy him. God withdrew and left him to the power of the devil with one restriction—that he could not take his life. Everything that happened to Job was at the hands of Satan, not God. The picture of God’s behaviour was the same as previously shown except for this difference. Whereas in each of the other cases, it was the sinfulness of the rejecters of His mercy which had driven God and His protection away, Job was "a perfect and an upright man. Therefore, God’s withdrawal from him was not the result of Job’s sinfulness_.

On what grounds then could the Lord leave Job to suffer at the devils hands? This is a good question which finds its answer in the following principle. Every true child of God has given his life into God’s hands to be sacrificed in His cause if thereby the work will be advanced. This is a privilege and the Lord will never deny that privilege to any one of His of children when the hour comes. The hour came for Job and the Lord did not stand in the way of his offering.

Thus there are two ways in which the Lord will remove from a person and leave him to the destroyer. One is by man’s sinfulness driving off the

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Spirit of God and the other is by the individual offering himself as a sacrifice for the cause of truth, a thing which every child of God does.

When the Lord came down to personally describe what He had done to Job, He again used the same language as previously noted. "Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause. Job 2:3.

Once again this is not the way we would use those words according to everyday usage. Our use of them would convey a meaning quite opposite from what God intended when He used those words.

It would be impossible to arrive at the meanings of the words according to God’s usage of them, without the guidance of the Word of God. Only from there could such an interpretation be obtained. That is, it is the only dictionary which does give this definition of these words.

It may take some time to train our minds to carry these double definitions for the same words. Conscious effort must be made until it is just as natural to think of the new definition as of the old, It must become second nature to ascribe one meaning to the words when they describe divine conduct and another when they deal with the human. Here is a comparison between the two.

When man destroys, he moves toward the victim with deliberate intention to kill.

When God destroys, He moves away from the subject with no intention of killing.

When man destroys, he carries the weapons of death in his hands.

When God destroys, He carries no weapons but lays down control of the destructive powers.

When man destroys, he guides the sword on to its target.

When God destroys, there is no personal administration of punishment. Whatever comes upon the sinner is the outworking of the forces of death which he himself has set in motion.

At this point two questions are apt to arise. The first is: After all, what is the essential difference between the direct act of destroying, or that of departing to leave the person to die? In both cases it is God’s action which brings about the destruction and therefore, in each case, He is a destroyer.

This would be true if God’s withdrawal was His own act, but it is not, The fact is that He is driven away. Think of the way in which Christ went to Calvary. He was taken there forcibly. This shows in its clearest terms man’s reaction toward the loving appeals of God. Man drives God away, depriving Him of an possibility of remaining unless He forces His presence, which the Lord will never do.

For those who are prepared to believe that God never puts forth His hands to destroy, yet consider that His act of withdrawing in the full

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knowledge of what that will mean, makes Him a destroyer just the same, the following illustration is given. This will show the distinct difference between merely-withdrawing and being forced to withdraw, It will show that even in His withdrawing it is not God who is responsible for the disasters which follow.

Let us suppose that there is an atomic plant located in the midst of a small township of two thousand people. The nature of this power plant is such that an operator must continually be in the control room to monitor the controls. Should this post be left unattended for several hours or more, the nuclear fission will run out of control and blossom into a holocaust of destruction.

The situation arises where every technician but one is taken away and the full responsibility rests upon this man. No one else in the whole area has the training, knowledge, or skill, to operate this volatile equipment.

This creates no special problem, for the man is healthy, very conscientious, and does his work with great faithfulness day and night. He is able to take sufficient rest between check times to enable him to carry on indefinitely.

But, there enters the area an arch-enemy of the technician who determines to run him out of town. To accomplish this, he circulates lying reports until a hate complex is generated among the villagers. They begin to persecute the technician in every imaginable way with increasing intensity. For a very long time he patiently endures the attacks in the hope that they will subside and with the realization that if he does forsake his post it will be disastrous for the village.

Finally his patience runs out. I have had enough of this," he cries. "I have gone the second and the third mile. These people have shown that they do not deserve to live. I am leaving."

Whereupon he walks out of the control room and drives far away. Several hours elapse and he is safe beyond the reach of the explosion when it occurs. The village and all in it are utterly destroyed.

While it is true that in a certain sense the villagers destroyed themselves, it is equally true that this technician destroyed them for he left them knowing that his departure would bring those sure and certain results. This is the picture which many have of God.

The situation faced by this man is the same as that faced by God. He is the great "Technician who is in charge of the power house of nature. When He lets go of those powers, there is no one else who can control them and keep them from exploding in a horror of destruction - An enemy has come in and a hate complex has been generated against God.

Many believe this truth and then see God coming to the end of His patience, as in our illustration, and voluntarily withdrawing to leave men to perish in the cataclysm of destruction which inevitably follows.

If this is the true picture of God, then, unquestionably, we would have to agree that He is, after all, a destroyer.

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But it is not. God is a very different person from this.

Let us retell the story as it would provide a true picture of God’s character.

Here is the same technician, the same control room, the same situation, the same village and the same enemy stirring up trouble.

This time the technician never thinks of leaving. No matter what they do to him, all he can see is their situation. He knows that if he leaves them, they will all be dead men so he stays on. His patience is not in question for he is not thinking of himself at all.

But the persecution becomes more and more intense until the people begin to demand that he go. He protests that if he does, they will perish and for their sakes, not his own, he desires to stay. They, in their hateful blindness, being ignorant of their real danger and over-confident of their own ability to handle the control room anyway, laugh derisively at him and shout for his departure.

With deepest concern for them he holds on and fulfils his work as faithfully as ever. Every time he thinks of them, a pang of fear and pain sweeps through him, and he considers most earnestly how he can win their love and confidence so that he might preserve them alive. Not one thought is for himself—every thought is for them and their need.

But every day they become more hateful and violent until they invade the control room and angrily shout at him to leave. They jostle him out through the door and down to his car. They put him into it and direct him to drive away. There is no choice left, Slowly, he drives out of the village and mounts the first hill beyond. He stops the car, climbs out and looks back toward the angry knot of people gathered to witness that he is truly gone. He spreads his hands in one last loving appeal. The instant response is agitated signals conveying to him their unchanged demand that he go.

What more can he do?

Nothing! Every possible source open to him to save those people is exhausted and with the heaviest of hearts he turns his car into the distance and is gone forever. Several hours pass and then the atomic fireball blasts the village and the villagers out of existence.

No one can say that this man is a destroyer. He acted out the character of a saviour only. He could not and did not save them because they would not let him.

This is the true picture of the character of God.

The truth of this is stated in a paragraph from Prophets and Kings, 176. "Christ will never abandon those or whom He has died. We may leave Him and be overwhelmed with temptation, but Christ can never turn from one for whom He has paid the ransom of His own life."

In view of the fact that Christ died for all men, this statement is saying that it is impossible for Christ to turn away from anyone. Men turn away from God. God cannot turn away from men. That is impossible.

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The second question is this: If God does not in fact destroy, then why does He use this word to describe His actions? Does this not tend to make the Scriptures confusing?

Again this Is an excellent question, In answer to which it must be said that this is the right word to use in describing God’s actions, for there is a deep and important sense in which it is true that He does destroy.

As the evidences gathered here unfold, it will be seen that God comes to man in one role only, which is as a Saviour. But the effect of that effort is not always a saving one. With the majority, the effect is to harden them in rebellion and to cause them to withdraw themselves from the voice of loving entreaty. Thus God destroys by trying to save. The more He exerts His saving power, the more men are driven by their rejection of it to destruction. It is in this sense that He destroys.

This principle of truth is spelled out with great clarity in the statement "It is not God that blinds the eyes of men or hardens their hearts. He sends them light to correct their errors, and to lead them in safe paths; it is by the rejection of this light that the eyes are blinded and the heart hardened. Often the process is gradual, and almost imperceptible. Light comes to the soul through God's word, through His servants, or by the direct agency of His Spirit; but when one ray of light is disregarded, there is a partial benumbing of the spiritual perceptions, and the second revealing of light is less clearly discerned. So the darkness increases, until it is night in the soul. Thus it had been with these Jewish leaders. They were convinced that a divine power attended Christ, but in order to resist the truth, they attributed the work of the Holy Spirit to Satan. In doing this they deliberately chose deception; they yielded themselves to Satan, and henceforth they were controlled by his power." The Desire of Ages, 322, 323.

"It is not God that puts the blinder before the eyes of men or makes their hearts hard; it is the light which God sends to His people, to correct their errors, to lead them in safe paths, but which they refuse to accept,—it is this that blinds their minds and hardens their hearts.’ Review and Herald, October 21, 1890.

The outstanding example of this outworking is the history of Pharaoh of Egypt. The Scriptures say, "And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply My signs and wonders in the land of Egypt." Exodus 7:3.

To harden is to destroy. It is not physical destruction but spiritual. This spiritual destruction is the prelude to the physical which must inevitably follow. The Scriptures plainly say that it was God who did it and He did, but every reference which throws light on what God did, shows that His action was to send spiritual light, and loving appeals to Pharaoh. These were designed to soften and save, not to harden him, but that which was sent to save, destroyed him instead, because he rejected it. Note carefully that it was not the light, but his rejection of it that hardened and destroyed him.

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Pharaoh saw the mighty working of the Spirit of God; he saw the miracles which the Lord performed by His servant; but he refused obedience to Gods command. The rebellious king had proudly enquired. ‘Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? (Exodus 5:2).’ And as the judgments of God fell more and more heavily upon him, he persisted in stubborn resistance. By rejecting light from heaven, he became hard and unimpressible. The providence of God was revealing His power, and these manifestations, unacknowledged, were the means of hardening Pharaoh’s heart against greater light. Those who exalt their own ideas above the plainly specified will of God, are saying as did Pharaoh, ‘Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice?’ Every rejection of light hardens the heart and darkens the understanding; and thus men find it more and more difficult to distinguish between right and wrong, and they become bolder in resisting the will of God." S.D.A. Bible Commentary 1:1100.

"Every additional evidence of the power of God that the Egyptian monarch resisted, carried him onto a stronger and more persistent defiance of God. Thus the work went on, finite man warring against the expressed will of an infinite God. This case is a clear illustration of the sin against the Holy Ghost. ‘Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.’ Gradually the Lord withdrew His Spirit. Removing His restraining power, He gave the king into the hand of the worst of all tyrants." The Review and Herald July 27, 1897.

"The Patience and long-suffering of God, which should soften and subdue the soul, has an altogether different influence upon the careless and sinful. It leads them to cast off restraint, and strengthens them in resistance. The Review and Herald, August 14, 1900.

The truth laid out in these statements is a very important one. When it is truly appreciated, there will be no careless attitude toward the revelations which are brought to us. There will be a conscious fear that a terrible mistake could be made by rejecting light which, because it touches our flesh or some preconceived idea and opinion, we desire to reject. There will be the dread of having the heart hardened and the spiritual sense benumbed. "Let ministers and people remember that gospel truth ruins if it does not save. The soul that refuses to listen to the invitations of mercy from day to day can soon listen to the most urgent appeals without an emotion stirring his soul." Testimonies 5:134.

We must clearly understand that the only effort God puts forth, is to save. That effort can and does produce two opposite effects. In the hearts and lives of those who accept God’s work, it achieves its intended result. It softens, changes, cleanses and restores. It is unto life eternal.

But in the lives of those who reject that saving ministry, there is a terrible work of destruction going forward. It is a destroying work which firstly breaks down every spiritual response within, then hardens the heart in

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rebellion, develops every sinful trait, and compels the Spirit of God to withdraw His presence and His protection. This leaves the individual to the choice he has made; to a position where there is no protection whatsoever from the destructive malice of Satan and sin.

God destroys, but not as man destroys. Every effort on God’s part is to but it has an altogether different result in the lives of those who reject that saving power. Therefore we can know that, in fact, God is a Saviour and a saviour only. He destroys by trying to save so that the more His saving power is manifest in the world and that power is rejected, the more swiftly and terribly are the rejecters destroyed by the simple outworkingof the forces involved.

This principle will come through with greater clarity and force as the individual cases of the flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, the plagues of Egypt, the crucifixion of Christ, the seven last plagues, and the final judgment, are studied. These will be taken up progressively. For now it is sufficient to establish the principle that the way in which the Lord destroys is by seeking to save. Thus His way of destroying is entirely different from man’s way. Once this is clearly comprehended, it will be possible to view all God’s actions in a new and enlightened way. As a result, the whole of the Scriptures will emerge as one great harmonious truth.

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There is no contradictions in the Word of God; it must not be interpreted according to private or human methods; the Bible is its own dictionary and therefore its own interpreter; God’s ways and man’s way are entirely different from each other; and the only way in which God destroys is by trying to save; any destruction eventuating is because of rejection by man and not the action of God.

This established, the groundwork has been prepared for studying the various incidents of history in which God has played a part. Reference is made here to the flood, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the plagues of Egypt, the execution of those who worshipped the golden calf, the stoning of the Sabbath breaker, the adulterer, the glutton, and Achan, the slaughter of the Canaanites, the obliteration of Sennacherib’s army, and I many other such events, right through to the concluding one—the final liquidation in the lake of fire.

The study of these happenings has left the majority with definite ideas of the character of God. He is viewed as a stern judge Who, ruling His kingdom like any earthly potentate, has visited deadly punishments upon those who do not obey Him. These concepts are formed because of the human tendency to think of God as being like themselves.

That such a mistake should be made is quite understandable, for it is natural for men to think in terms of the familiar. The only kind of kingdoms, kings, governments, laws, punishments and destruction known to men are in the context of this earth. They are familiar with the connection between possession of great power and despotism. In their own hearts they long for power so that they can rule over others rather than be ruled by them. They know that acquired power can only be maintained by the suppression or destruction of those who oppose them.

Thus, when they see God in a position of absolute rulership combined with infinite power, they cannot conceive of His using that in any other way than they would if they were in the same situation. So natural is this way of thinking to man that the standard view of God’s conduct in the Old Testament. is accepted without question. Not even a second thought is given to it. To them, God is simply acting in the accepted and expected way

a person situated as He is. How often as I have spoken to people about this, the response has been, "Well, I just never had any occasion to question whether God does or does not destroy. I have read that He does and that is as far as I have gone into it. After all, He is the Creator. He does have absolute power, and therefore He has the right to destroy us if we do not please Him. It seems as simple as that to me."

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But to others, the Old Testament has presented serious problems. They shudder as they read the stories of Israel’s conquests wherein men, women, beautiful little girls and boys, together with tender infants in arms were ruthlessly put to the sword. That God should command such atrocities, projects a frightening rather than attractive picture of Him. It brings but scant comfort to the soul, and tends to produce a service of fear rather than love.

In her hospital bed, a woman, sick and despairing, turned to reading the Bible to find rest and comfort. She naturally began at the beginning and soon found herself wading through grim accounts of bloody slaughters. The picture was revolting and disturbing, causing her very shortly to lay the Book aside forever.

Her reaction is understandable when it is considered that her study was without an understanding of what God actually did in these situations. Had she seen God’s real character as it was truly revealed in those instances, then her love for Him would have been quickened, and her soul would have been rested with joy and hope. But tragically it was not so.

Evidence will now be presented to show that the Old Testament is not the place to begin searching out the character of God. The convincing argument for this is that not even the holy angels were able to understand God’s character as it was revealed in the Old Testament. Not until the advent of Christ, and especially until the demonstration of infinite love and justice given on Calvary, were they able to see God as He really is. At the same time, Satan was revealed in his true light. For the first time, the angels were trul_y convinced of the righteousness of God’s cause. The Scriptural evidences for this have already been quoted but it is appropriate to re-quote them here.

"Not until the death of Christ was the character of Satan clearly revealed to the angels or to the unfallen worlds. The archapostate had so clothed himself with deception that even holy beings had not understood his principles. They had not clearly seen the nature of his rebellion." The Desire of Ages, 758.

At the cross "Satan saw that his disguise was torn away. His administration was laid open before the unfallen angels and before the heavenly universe. He had revealed himself as a murderer. By shedding the blood of the Son of God, he had uprooted himself from the sympathies of the heavenly beings. Henceforth his work was restricted. Whatever attitude he might assume, he could no longer await the angels as they came from the heavenly courts, and before them accuse Christ’s brethren of being clothed with the garments of blackness and the defilement of sin. The last link of sympathy between Satan and the heavenly world was broken." ibid., 76).

There is a direct relationship between the misunderstanding of Satan’s character and the falsification of God’s. Therefore, to whatever extent the angels were not able to see the true nature of Satan and his work during the

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Old Testament era, then to that extent were they unable to correctly comprehend God’s principles of character and conduct. If holy angels, mighty in intellectual and spiritual power and personally participant in God’s workings in the Old Testament dispensation, still had clouded views of God, then it is impossible for human minds to understand God from these evidences alone.

When the revelations of God as given by Christ at the cross swept away the haze with which Satan had obscured God’s character, they were able to go back and review the past in a new light. In the glory streaming from Christ and Calvary, they found the mysteries solved and the dark spots illuminated. Perfect peace filled their souls as they rejoiced in eternal deliverance from the misconceptions of the past.

What was necessary for them, is even more so for earthbound travellers seeking the knowledge of God which is life eternal, This search must start with the finest and fullest existing revelation of Him—the life of Christ and the marvel of Calvary. Entering the study at this point will quickly impress on the searcher’s mind the necessity of penetrating beyond the commonly held view of the Old Testament God.

To too many for too long, the Old Testament revelation of God, compared with Christ’s unfolding of Him in the New, has provided an altogether contradictory picture. God is seen as a stern, exacting lawmaker Who will not permit His will to be thwarted, while Christ is viewed as a tender, benign, loving forgiver of all sins, To God is ascribed one character and to Christ another. This destroys the precious truth that Christ and the Father are one in authority, character, spirit, aims, and works. The belief is spawned that Christ is the Appeaser of the Father’s fury, influencing Him to act contrary to His real character by showing mercy when it is not in His heart or nature to do so.

The further men are steeped in the darkness of Satan’s misrepresentations of the Father and the Son, the more exaggerated this appeasement doctrine becomes. In its worst form it is found among those religionists who offer human sacrifices to the deities to placate their wrath. Consider how such a concept of God makes Him to be altogether such an one as ourselves.

Yet, strange as it may seem, the average professed child of God today is .prepared believe, on the one hand, that the Father and Son are one in character spirit, and power, while, on the other hand, holding to the view that the Father, as revealed in the Old Testament in particular, and the Son, as manifested in the New, are two very different characters.

It is grossly inconsistent to hold such a position and only possible if the two ideas are carefully compartmentalized into separate areas of the brain so that they are never thought of at the same time. Let them be brought together and the honest, thoughtful student will realize that one or the other has to go. Either Christ and the Father are one, or they are not.

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Solving this problem is not difficult for the Scriptures are emphatic that the Father and Son are one in every particular. Jesus testified to this repeatedly.

"I and My Father are one.’ John 10:30.

"If I do not the works of My Father, believe Me not.

"But if I do, though ye believe not Me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in Me, and I in Him." John 10:37, 38.

"If ye had known Me, ye should have known My Father also: and from henceforth ye know Him, and have seen Him.

"Philip saith unto Him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.

"Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip? he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?

"Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of Myself: but the Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works.

"Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me: or else believe Me for the very works’ sake." John 14:7-11.

"Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily. I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do for what things soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise." John

5:19.

By these words, Christ, on His Father’s behalf, denied that there was any difference whatsoever between Them in character and work. Both are joined in the most intimate way, in dedicated purpose to save the perishing. Christ does not have to appease the Father for He is doing exactly what the Father has commissioned Him to do.

Division is Satan’s objective, but God’s great purpose is to bring all things in heaven and earth into unity as it is written; "Having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He bath purposed in Himself:

"That in the dispensation of the fulness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in Him." Ephesians 1:9, 10.

Evidence was presented back in chapter three that the specific method employed by Satan to drive wedges between God and His creatures was the false presentation of God’s character.

"Sin originated in self-seeking. Lucifer, the covering cherub desired to he first in heaven. He sought to gain control of heavenly beings, to draw them away from their Creator, and to win their homage to himself. Therefore he misrepresented God, attributing to Him the desire for self-exaltation. With his own evil characteristics he sought to invest the loving Creator. Thus he deceived angels. Thus he deceived men. He led them to doubt the word of God, and to distrust His goodness. Because God is a

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God of justice and terrible majesty, Satan caused them to look upon Him as severe and unforgiving. Thus he drew men to join him in rebellion against God, and the night of woe settled down upon the world." The Desire of Ages, 21,22.

"By the same misrepresentation of the character of God as he had practised in heaven causing Him to be regarded as severe and tyrannical, Satan induced man to sin." The Great Controversy, 500.

"Adam believed the falsehood of Satan, and through his misrepresentation of the character of God, Adam’s life was changed and marred. He disobeyed the commandment of God, and did the very thing the Lord told him not to do. Through disobedience Adam fell; but had he endured the test, and been loyal to God, the floodgates of woe would not have been opened upon our world.

"Through belief in Satan’s misrepresentation of God, man’s character and destiny were changed, but if men will believe in the Word of God, they will be transformed in mind and character, and fitted for eternal life." Selected Messages 1345, 346.

Satan’s method of destroying the unity of the universe can only be countered by the restoration of the truth about God. That character was manifested in all God’s dealings with both loyal and rebellious individuals and nations between the fall and the first advent, but men, influenced and blinded by Satan, were not able to see the verities offered there.

Therefore, an incontrovertible revelation of God’s character had to be supplied to counteract Satan’s lies and make clear the real message of the Old Testament. There was only one being who could give such a demonstration and that was Christ, "Who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, . . ." (Hebrews 1:3) was commissioned by God to do so.

"The Saviour was deeply anxious for His disciples to understand for what purpose His divinity was united to humanity. He came to the world to display the glory [character] of God, that man might be uplifted by its restoring power." The Desire of Ages, 664.

"Christ came to the earth to reveal to men the character of His Father and His life was filled with deeds of divine tenderness and compassion." Patriarchs and Prophets, 469.

". . . Jesus, the express image of the Father’s person, the effulgence of His glory; the self-denying Redeemer, throughout His pilgrimage of love on earth was a living representative of the character of the law of God. In His life it is made manifest that heaven-born love, Christlike principles, underlie the laws of eternal rectitude." God’s Amazing Grace, 102.

So total is the revelation of God’s character as given by Christ that "All that man needs to know or can know of God has been revealed in the life and character of His Son." Testimonies 8:286.

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There is not a single reason for doubting the veracity of this statement. Jesus confirmed the truth of it in His words to Philip, "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip? he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?" John 14:9.

Jesus is the Word of God. This is a most important and significant title whereby we are informed of Christ’s special mission to mankind. It is a serious mistake to limit Christ’s role to that of a sacrifice by which the penalty of sin was paid. He certainly came to pay that ransom and this aspect of His work must never be minimized or disparaged, but it is just as important to see the other tasks He came to prove that any human being who will permit Christ to take away the old nature and then make him a partaker of the divine nature can, by living faith, keep all the commandments to perfection.

But, great and essential as those works are, they are not sufficient to end the great controversy without the third work; that of revealing God’s righteous character to the point where Satan’s lies are shown for what they are.

As a description of this work, the title, "The Word of God," is most appropriate. Falling from the lips of one who is entirely honest and truthful, words are an exact expression of the thinking and character of the speaker. Upon this earth, Jesus Christ was the word of God. That is, He did not speak His own words but those of the Father. He did not do His own deeds hut the deeds of the One Who had sent Him.

These great truths are not to be construed to mean that Christ did not have a mind or an individuality of His own. "In Christ is life, original, unborrowed, underived." The Desire of Ages, 530. He could certainly have come to the earth to express His own mind, to do His own works, and to reveal His own character. But, He came with a commission other than that, He was sent to reveal the words, thoughts, character, and deeds of the Father of righteousness. With perfect faithfulness, He fulfilled that commission, thereby assuring all that God can be seen and understood, simply by looking to the life and teachings of His Son.

"He was the Word of God—God’s thought made audible." The Desire of Ages, 19. Therefore, He declared of His mission, "Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of Myself: but the Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works." John 14:10.

"Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father hath taught me, I speak those things." John 8:28.

Therefore, great care should be taken to understand this aspect of Christ’s mission. The truth that Jesus was the very expression of the thought and character of God should hold so firm a place in the mind, that

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no matter what contradictory pictures of God may be presented, the only acceptable ones are those in harmony with Christ’s representations of God.

Already mentioned is the apparent difference between the image of God as seen through the history of the Old Testament and Christ’s revelation of Him. Many are convinced that they are faced with a choice of which picture of God they will accept, but, if the principle laid down above is grasped and followed, it will be seen that the contradictory view of God as gained from the incorrect understanding of the Old Testament, must be rejected. This is because it does not agree with the revelation of God as given by Jesus Christ. His presentation of God’s character is the clearest, the most convincing and the most easily understood.

In other words, those who wish to know what God is like, how He relates Himself to the sinner and to the righteous, have only to look at God in the face of Jesus Christ. Any ideas about God which find no reflection in Christ’s life and teachings must be unhesitatingly rejected as error. This can only mean that belief cannot be retained in both the popular view of God and Christ’s presentation of Him. One or the other has to go. God is utterly consistent and, therefore, His Word is consistent with itself. It cannot and certainly does not present a concept in one place and the opposite in another. This cannot be. Every searcher for truth must be convinced of this as a provision motivating him to reject any tendency to accept contradictory views of Scripture, while he searches with earnest perseverance for biblical solutions which will bring them into perfect harmony.

In the New Testament, Christ gave us the true picture of God. Let that truth be forever and without question established in the mind. As surely as the Lord is consistent, then the Old Testament presentation of Him must coincide with the New. The student must not rest until the two are harmonized.

In working to achieve that harmony, begin where the truth is clearest. This means that the starting point must be the life of Christ—not the history of the Old Testament. For four thousand years, both human and angelic minds failed to see the revelation of Himself which the Lord had sought to transmit throughout all His dealings. Having failed to penetrate the devils sophistries during that time, He sent Christ to accomplish what had before been impossible. It was impossible, not because of any shortcoming on God’s part, but because of the blindness and prejudice of men’s darkened minds and the sheer subtlety of Satan. It is much easier to spread a lie than to establish the truth. Raising a doubt, or insinuating an evil motive is a simple thing compared to the vindication of a righteous character.

Christ came, then, to settle forever the question of God’s character. He did it by bringing that which had been distant and obscure into the closest contact with the human race. So intimate is the proximity of that spotless life, that it is impossible not to see it as it is. There are none to argue that Christ possessed any other than an impeccable righteousness in which is

(PICTURE)

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embodied all that is most precious and desirable in any being, divine or human. It would be impossible to give a more convincing argument than that, What Christ came to accomplish, He was pre-eminently successful in doing. The question of what God is in character, is forever sealed.

To appreciate the full value of Christ’s matchless presentation of God’s character, it is necessary to recognize how all-encompassing it was. Did Christ come to present a partial view of God? Was it simply a shifting of emphasis? Did God, feeling that He had most satisfactorily convinced men in the Old Testament of the sterner and uncompromising side of His nature, leave Christ to emphasize the qualities of love, forgiveness, and mercy?

Such a view is adopted by many as a solution to what they feel would otherwise be a contradiction between the messages of the Old and New Testaments, but it is not the message of the Scriptures themselves. Therein, it is asserted that Christ’s manifestation of the Father was complete. It leaves nothing more to be shown. This is not saying that everything about God’s character can be understood in one contact with the Saviour, for it will take eternity to see all that Christ came to tell. What must be recognized and accepted as truth is that the revelation of God in the face of Christ is complete. Therefore it is written: "AU that man needs to know or con know of God has been revealed in the life and character of His Son." Testimonies 8:286.

This statement is specific, comprehensive, and accurate. It leaves no space for the supposition that Christ revealed only a certain aspect of God’s character or even the larger part of it. It does not admit to the notion that Christ’s ministry provided a further stage in this revelation with final unfoldings to be given in the future. Rather, it confirms in language so simple that no doubt is left of its meaning, that Christ came to give a manifestation of God so complete that there is nothing more which can be shown. Nothing was overlooked or omitted. There is no inquiry about God which can be raised except it be answered in the life and teachings of the Saviour. The work Is complete. It has all been unfolded. All that remains is for the eager, spiritual child of God through earnest study and prayer to come into possession of this richest of all treasures. Some may counter that eternal life is the richest of treasures. This is true and in its truth establishes this point, for the knowledge of God is eternal life. "And this is life eternal that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom Thou hast sent." John 17:3.

Christ Himself declared the totality of His revelation of His Father.

"Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do: for what things soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise," John 5:19.

This Scripture is a key in understanding Christ’s ministry as the Word of the living God. Let the precious truths contained therein be examined with thorough care.

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Christ testified that He did nothing of Himself. Thus He dented that any act of His during this earthly ministry was original with, or from, Himself. Unlike men, who feel they must do something that is distinctly themselves, Christ had come with only one great purpose in mind which was to do the works and will of His Father. He had not come to glorify Himself, but the Almighty God Who had sent Him.

Therefore, as certainly as His life, so filled with activity, contained nothing done of Himself or from Himself, so all that He did was of God and from God. It was the Father Who was acting out His life and character through the medium of His beloved Son. Therefore, in Christ’s every act, we see God at work and know thereby exactly what the Father does in relation to His subjects, be they sinful or righteous.

This is confirmed in Christ’s words, "For what things soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise." John 6:19.

The witness of Christ here is not simply in these terms, "What things He doeth." but "What things soever He doeth." The addition of this word means that everything the Father does is included. This is a word which carries the idea of completeness, of infinitude. Therefore Christ is attesting that everything the Father does, without any exceptions, the Son does likewise.

The student must not fail to observe the insertion of the word, "likewise." It adds significant meaning to the Saviour’s message. It is important that we believe that Christ did upon this earth, everything the Father did. It is equally essential for us to know that He did likewise as the Father did it. Not only did He do all the Father did, but He did it exactly as the Father did it.

Therefore, the revelation of God as given by Christ was not only complete but it was a facsimile. If the Father Himself had come down in place of Christ, the picture would have been so identical that it would have been impossible to tell them apart.

In a further attempt to argue that the revelation of God by Christ was incomplete, it may be claimed that during the earthly interval, Christ did not have a full knowledge of the works of God. Such an argument is stifled in the very next verse where Christ claimed complete knowledge of the ways and works of God.

"For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and He will shew Him greater works than these, that ye marvel." John 5:20.

What Christ says, we believe, for He is Truth. By His testimony then we know that everything the Father does, the Son did in the same way precisely, and, inasmuch as there was nothing of His ways which the Father did not reveal to the Son, that revelation is complete.

What a challenge this is to the old ideas about God. Every idea in which God is seen as the destroyer of those who refuse His offers of mercy, can be sustained only if we find Christ doing the same thing. What citadels of error

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must collapse before the onslaught of this impregnable truth! What an entirely new and glorious structure of living verities about the Father must now arise from the wreckage of those edifices of lies!

Consider the time-honoured theories about God. He is viewed as One Who initially seeks the salvation of His creatures. From His position of supreme authority, He calls upon men to repent of their sins and obey His will. He demonstrates patience while men play with His appeals, but the time comes when that patience is exhausted. Then He arises to perform His "strange act." With terrifying power, wielded in His own hands, He wipes the rebellious from the face of the earth, thus demonstrating that He is not a God to be scorned. He thus asserts His will by the naked use of destructive force, convincing men that they must obey Him or perish. This is the view of

Is this what God does? Is this a true picture of His patterns of behaviour? It is important to know the answer for, if it is not correct, then it is a lying representation of God designed by the devil to separate us from Him and to effect our destruction. Certainly, it is the time-honoured view of God and His ways, so that, if this were the determining factor, it would be the truth. But, the fact that a belief is hoary with the dignity of age and majority acceptance, does not make it correct.

There is another and altogether reliable means of testing the veracity, or otherwise, of these concepts. That proof is offered in the life of Christ. He came to show us exactly how God behaves in any situation. Therefore, if this long-standing and popular concept of God is correct, it is certain that it will be supported by Christ’s doing the same thing in the same way.

But where can this pattern of behaviour be found in His life upon this earth?

It cannot he found. Search as exhaustively as possible. Investigate every word and act. Listen to His inspired utterances. See Him dealing with those who had rejected His last appeals of mercy. Behold Him receiving abuse and mockery in return for love and mercy and never once can any suggestion be found of His even entertaining an idea of doing as men have understood God to do. Not even by a thought did He enter into any work whereby He would use the mighty power available to Him to destroy the impenitent.

Men have long seen God as having two faces. One of these is the forgiving, merciful face which He turns toward man during the pleading for their repentance, while the other is the face of thunder as He is about to destroy him. Christ exhibited no such duality. Throughout His life only one role was ever played by Him—that of a Saviour and a Saviour only Not once do we find Him lifting His hand to destroy anyone. He lived only to bless, to heal, to restore, and to save.

"How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: Who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him." Acts 10:38.

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"Christ stood at the head of humanity in the garb of humanity. So full of sympathy and love was His attitude that the poorest was not afraid to come to Him. He was kind to all, easily approached by the most lowly. He went from house to house, healing the sick, feeding the hungry, comforting the mourners, soothing the afflicted, speaking peace to the distressed. . . . He came as an expression of the perfect love of God, not to crush, not to judge and condemn, but to heal every weak, defective character, to save men and women from Satan's power." Welfare Ministry, 53, 54.

"Constantly He went about doing good. By the good He accomplished, by His loving words and kindly deeds, He interpreted the gospel to men." ibid., 56.

"Just as we trace the pathway of a stream of water by the line of living green it produces, so Christ could be seen in the deeds of mercy that marked His pathway at every step. Wherever He went, health sprang up, and happiness followed wherever He passed. The blind and deaf rejoiced in His presence. His words to the ignorant opened to them a fountain of life. He dispensed His blessings abundantly and continuously. They were the garnered treasures of eternity, given in Christ, the Lord’s rich gift to man. ibid., 57.

"Christ, the outshining of the Father's glory, came to the world as its light. He came to represent God to men, and of Him it is written that He was anointed ‘with the Holy Ghost and with power,’ and ‘went about doing good.’ " Christ’s Object Lessons, 416, 417.

This statement is very much to the point declaring that Christ came to this earth to represent God to man and then telling us that in order to do that. He went about doing good. How tragic that so many have failed to appreciate that Christ is the exact and complete revelation of the Father of lights. When this truth is seen as it should and must be. then it will be understood that God is committed to only one work—that of going about and doing good. He, together with Christ, is the great Healer, Restorer, Saviour, and Friend of all mankind. It is not His way to destroy them. They are destroyed only when they take themselves out of His care and beyond the limits of His circle of protection.

"The life of Christ was filled with words and acts of benevolence, sympathy, and love." Early Writings, 160.

So it was. It was not partly, but overflowingly filled so that there was space for nothing else but that. The truth of the statements just quoted can be verified by studying the inspired records of His life. Such a study will fail to bring to light a single act of destruction or the administration of any punishment.

Some may raise the objection that Christ cursed and destroyed the barren fig tree and that He drove the money changers out of the temple on two occasions by using a whip to do so. Both these events will be studied in the next chapter. The presentation of Scriptural evidences will show that the

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wasting of the fig tree was not an act of destruction on Christ’s part. It will be shown that He related Himself to it exactly as He does to every sinner, by permitting His protection and life to be withdrawn from it. Likewise, it will be shown that it was not by personal, physical force that He was successful in clearing the temple of the money changers.

These are the only events which could be offered as an exception to the rule of Christ’s ministry. When it is successfully shown that they are not an exception, then it will be recognized that Christ did only good while upon this earth. He came as a Saviour only. ‘For God sent not His Son to condemn the world: but that the world through Him might be saved." John 3:17.

This is the great and thrilling message from the life of Christ. It testifies that throughout all the ages before He came, men held to a serious misconception of God’s character. Christ had come to dispel that error, and by acting out the ways and works of His Father, declares, "Here is the correct view of My Father. This is what you are to believe that He is and does."

At this point, some will be thinking that if they accept Christ’s life as the full and complete picture of what God is, then how will they ever understand God’s actions in the Old Testament?

Let all such be earnestly encouraged to take hold of Christ’s words by faith. Jesus said that He had come to do the works of His Father. He has told us that to see Him is to see the Father. Therefore, faith in those words assures us that the picture of the Father which Christ came to give is the truth in regard to the Father. Faith then comforts us with the happy thought that there is a better and more beautiful interpretation of the Old Testament Scriptures than we have had in the past. Thus we are filled with eager anticipation as we return to the study of events prior to the first advent of the Word of God.

Later, many of the great happenings of that period will be re-examined. To the glad surprise of many of our readers, and we would hope all, it will be seen that God is a Saviour and a Saviour only.

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 147

God provided in Christ’s life and teachings the complete and final means whereby every theory about Him can be tested. By this means, every interpretation of God’s behaviour can be infallibly categorized as true or false. Thus, for instance, the idea that God destroys those who defy Him, is classified as erroneous.

If faith can take firm hold upon the principle that Christ is the perfect and incontrovertible expression of all that God is, the groundwork has been thoroughly laid for revising the common interpretations of the Old Testament stories. Confidence will be established in the truth that there is an alternative version of what God actually did in those terrible situations.

To strengthen that confidence and expectation, further consideration will now be given to the testimony of Jesus. When, upon this earth, He showed no disposition to reach out in acts of punishment and destruction, it was not because He was afforded no opportunity or power to do so. He certainly had the power as was manifested in His miracles of healing, His command of the wild storms, and His ability to restrain the demoniacs.

There was no lack of occasion for the administration of punishment and destruction, for He was continually confronted with those who despised His offers of salvation, not only refusing to obey Him, but actually working in open rebellion against Him.

More than this, He was urged to raise His hand and rain fire upon those who had turned against Him.

"And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem,

"And sent messengers before His face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for Him.

"And they did not receive Him, because His face was as though He would go to Jerusalem.

"And when His disciples. James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt Thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume even as Elias did?

"But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.

 "For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And they went to another village." Luke 9:51-56.

The Samaritans could have offered no greater insult to the Son of God. The offer of hospitality to a stranger is regarded in the east as being an obligation on all, and to refuse this is to indicate rejection of the worst kind. If ever, from the human point of view, a sin needed to be punished to teach a lesson of warning to all others, then this was it.

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"James and John, Christ’s messengers, were greatly annoyed at the insult shown to their Lord. They were filled with indignation because He had been so rudely treated by the Samaritans whom He was honouring by His presence. They had recently been with Him on the mount of transfiguration, and had seen Him glorified by God, and honoured by Moses and Elijah. This manifest dishonour on the part of the Samaritans, should not, they thought, be passed over without marked punishment.

"Coming to Christ, they reported to Him the words of the people, telling Him that they had even refused to give Him a night’s lodging. They thought that a grievous wrong had been done Him, and seeing Mount Carmel in the distance, where Elijah had slain the false prophets, they said, ‘Wilt Thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them. as Elias did?’ " The Desire of Ages, 487.

Those men were familiar with Old Testament history and they thought they understood quite well the way in which God had dealt with similar of-fences in the past. Therefore, they believed that they were asking Christ to do just what they were sure God would have done under the circumstances. Their misunderstanding of His character led them to expect Christ to endorse their suggestion.

Like millions before and since, those men had a concept of God and His kingdom which differed in no way from earthly kings and their kingdoms. For this reason they held to the expectation that Christ would establish a kingdom by using force and compulsion. So firmly entrenched was this idea that Christ’s efforts to disillusion them proved fruitless. They came to the last Passover making no provision whatsoever for Christ’s rejection, a crown of thorns, and a crucifixion.

In order to understand the Samaritan incident, it is important to recognize that the apostles did have a very wrong concept of God’s character and that their request to Jesus was made in harmony with that erroneous idea. They looked upon God as a majestic Being of judgment and destruction who would miss no opportunity of asserting His authority making an example of the impenitent.

They believed that Christ was on the journey to His coronation in Jerusalem so that if there was ever a time when men should have a signal lesson of the peril of withholding homage, this was that moment. A few lives sacrificed now, would save many later.

If the disciples had been correct in their assessment of God’s character; if what they thought they understood Him as doing in the Old Testament, had been what He really had done, then, because Christ did only as and what the Father did, He would have called down fire from heaven there and then. This would have been opportunity for Christ to show forth the character of God as the executioner of those who rebelled against Hun Christ would have taken full advantage of such a splendid opportunity to show this aspect of God’s policies.

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But Christ would not even consider doing any such thing. Instead, He rebuked the disciples. "They were surprised to see that Jesus was pained by their words, and still more surprised as His rebuke fell upon their ears, ‘Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.’ And He went to another village." bid.

Christ did not use this opportunity to show forth the Father as an executioner because that is not God’s character. But this does not mean that He missed the chance of revealing the Father. Far from it. This was a golden opportunity to do so and He made the most of it.

He instructed His followers that the course they proposed sprang from a spirit foreign both to Him and His Father. Such a spirit and its fruit, not being found in the divine nature, found its source in Satan’s heart. It was his way, not God’s, to destroy those who failed to serve him.

Having denied identification with that spirit, Christ reiterated what He had come to do. Close attention should be paid to what He said with care taken not to read into it what He did not say. Explicitly, He declared, "For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them."

He did not say, "The Son of man is come to save all who will be saved and then to destroy the remainder."

But this is what the Saviour would have had to say if the accepted view of God’s ways is correct. Furthermore, He would have been obliged to demonstrate the veracity His words by destroying every Samaritan whose rejection of Him was final. But He neither spoke such words nor performed such actions.

Instead with great plainness, He said, ‘The Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives . . ."

Men set out to achieve with the best of intentions and noble principles, only to find that they did not realize the complications which would arise. Too often, they then compromise their principles and modify their plans to meet the unexpected.

It is not so with God. At the outset, He is fully aware of every difficulty which will develop. In the fulness of that foreknowledge, He outlines the course He will pursue. With infallible consistency thereafter, He adheres to His stated principles. No pressure can be mounted sufficient to cause the least deviation.

When Christ said that He did not come to destroy men s lives, we can be assured of the absolute reliability of those words. Therefore, we can know that He did not destroy when He came. Further, inasmuch as He did only what the Father did, then we can know that the Father does not come to destroy us. Christ came only to save. Likewise, the Father comes to us as a Saviour and a Saviour only.

"It is no part of Christ’s mission to compel men to receive Him. It is Satan. and men actuated by his spirit, that seek to compel the conscience.

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Under a pretense of zeal for righteousness, men who are confederate with evil angels bring suffering upon their fellow men, in order to convert them to their ideas of religion; but Christ is ever showing mercy, ever seeking to win by the revealing of His love. He can admit no rival in the soul, nor accept of partial service; but He desires only voluntary service, the willing surrender of the heart under the constraint of love. There can be no more conclusive evidence that we possess the spirit of Satan than the disposition to hurt and destroy those who do not appreciate our work, or who act contrary to our ideas. " ibid.

The Samaritans did not appreciate Christ’s work and they certainly acted contrary to His ideas. Had He shown the least disposition to hurt or destroy them, He would have given the strongest evidence that He possessed the spirit of Satan. It was because He did not possess that spirit that He did not show any such disposition.

If we project this principle back to the Father’s behaviour, the same conclusions must be maintained. Let the popular concept of God’s character be thus tested.

It is true that the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah did not appreciate the works of God and they certainly acted contrary to His ideas. The longer they lived, the greater the depths of apostasy to which they carried this. In the meantime, they resisted wilfully and stubbornly every outreach of God to bring them back into appreciation of His works and to actions harmonizing with His ideas. Consequently, so popular theology declares, God destroyed them by raining fire upon them. In the light of the statement quoted above, if this is true, then God provided all with convincing evidence that He was actuated with the spirit of the devil.

There is no other conclusion which can be drawn but this. The only way to deny this is to prove the statement quoted to be false and this cannot be done for it is the inspired word of God.

When the implications of the popular belief stand thus exposed, it is evident that there is the need for another better informed and more spiritual investigation of God’s performance in that holocaust. It is certain that God does not possess the spirit of Satan. Therefore. it is equally certain that He

does not hurt nor destroy those who do not appreciate His work and act contrary to His ideas.

The stand made by Christ against His apostles in the matter of the Samaritans, is a valuable revelation of His utter refusal to be involved in any kind of punitive work of destruction. He made it quite clear that such had no part with Him and therefore no part with His Father in heaven. The life of Christ utterly denies the idea that God destroys anyone for any reason.

There are, of course, those two instances mentioned in the previous chapter which, on the surface, would seem to provide occasions when Christ did stretch forth His hands to use force and to destroy. They are the cursing of the fig tree and the expelling of the desecrators from the temple precincts.

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Let the case of the wasted fig tree be considered first.

This occurred very late in Christ’s ministry. A few days before the last Passover, He had ridden triumphantly into Jerusalem. This was an act of final appeal to the Jewish leaders, their rejection of which placed them beyond any further hope of deliverance.

He spent the night in Bethany and the next morning returned to the temple. "On the way He passed a fig orchard. He was hungry, ‘and seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, He came, if haply He might find anything thereon: and when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet.

"It was not the season for ripe figs, except in certain localities; and on the highlands about Jerusalem it might truly be said, ‘The time of figs was not yet.’ But in the orchard to which Jesus came, one tree appeared to be in advance of all the others. It was already covered with leaves. It is the nature of the fig tree that before the leaves open, the growing fruit appears. Therefore this tree in full leaf gave promise of well-developed fruit. But its appearance was deceptive. Upon searching its branches, from the lowest bough to the topmost twig, Jesus found ‘nothing but leaves.’ It was a mass of pretentious foliage, nothing more.

"Christ uttered against it a withering curse. ‘No man eat fruit of thee hereafter forever,’ He said. The next morning, as the Saviour and His disciples were again on their way to the city, the blasted branches and drooping leaves attracted their attention. ‘Master,’ said Peter, ‘behold, the fig tree which Thou cursedst is withered away.’ " The Desire of Ages, 581, 582.

"Jesus looked upon the pretentious, fruitless fig tree, and with mournful reluctance pronounced the words of doom. And under the curse of an offended God the fig tree withered away. God help His people to make an application of this lesson while there is still time." The Review and Herald, February 25, 1902.

The strong words in these statements are "uttered against it a withering curse,’ and "under the curse of an offended God."

Now, pause and ponder what kind of picture these words call before your mind. Practically anyone will find that this is what they see. The. unabated spirit of rejection and apostasy on the part of the children of Israel had brought God to the point where He became offended indignant, infuriated, and judgmental. So He cursed the fig tree whose pretentious foliage was a symbol of the Jew’s hypocrisy. This act of cursing is seen as a direct sending forth of a stream of death from God to the tree. In other words, God thus appears as one who specifically decides what the fate of the tree will be and then administers judgment on the tree.

Having developed this picture, let another one now be projected. This time let the words be used in describing the actions of the witch-doctor. He utters against another man a withering curse and under the cures of the of-

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fended witch-doctor, the man withers away and dies This happens continually in the dark lands of heathenism, In Australian aboriginal land, the curse is transmitted by pointing the bone. The victim towards whom the bone is pointed invariably dies. The witch-doctor has decreed the death of his victim and now he exercises his power for the direct purpose of transmitting the curse of death to the man.

Except for fine details perhaps, there is no difference between these two pictures. Some will say that there is a large difference, pointing to the righteousness of God versus the sinister evilness of the witch-doctor’s character. This is to argue that God’s righteousness gives His actions a sanctity which the evil of the witch-doctor cannot give to the same actions.

But a good character produces good deeds. It cannot sanctify evil deeds. Here is where thousands are deceived by a false philosophy. If this mist is cleared away, and the actions of the witch-doctor, as such, are compared with those which God is purported to do as in the paragraph above, then it will be seen that there is no difference.

The Scriptures emphasize that God’s ways are different from the ways of men, and therefore, particularly of witch-doctors. So we need to take a deeper look at what Christ really did there at the fig tree, for we cannot be satisfied with the popular view.

In the Word of God we shall find a very different view of this than is common to men.

The disciples, even though they expected this of Christ, were surprised. "Christ's act in cursing the fig tree had astonished the disciples. It seemed to them unlike His ways and works. Often they had heard Him declare that He came not to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. They remembered His words, ‘The Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them.’ Luke 9:56. His wonderful works had been done to restore, never to destroy. The disciples had known Him only as the Restorer, the Healer. This act stood alone. What was its purpose? they questioned." The Desire of Ages, 582.

They were not then able to see and understand all things. The light on this was to shine through for them later, but we are blessed with words of inspiration beyond that which they had, so we are without excuse if we do not understand. The truth of what Christ did is spelled out in the following statement.

"God ‘delighteth in mercy.’ ‘As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked.’ Micah 7:18; Ezekiel 33:11. To Him the work of destruction and denunciation of judgment is a ‘strange work,’ Isaiah 28:21. But it is in mercy and love that He lifts the veil from the future, and reveals to men the results of a course of sin.

"The cursing of the fig tree was an acted parable. That barren tree, flaunting its pretentious foliage in the very face of Christ, was a symbol of the Jewish nation. The Saviour desired to make plain to His disciples the

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cause and the certainty of Israel's doom. For this purpose He invested the tree with moral qualities, and made it the expositor of divine truth. The Jews stood forth distinct from all other nations, professing allegiance to God. They had been specially favored by Him, and they laid claim to righteousness above every other people. But they were corrupted by the love of the world and the greed of gain. They boasted of their knowledge, but they were ignorant of the requirements of God, and were full of hypocrisy. Like the barren tree, they spread their pretentious branches aloft, luxuriant in appearance, and beautiful to the eye, but they yielded "nothing but leaves." The Jewish religion, with its magnificent temple, its sacred altars, its mitered priests and impressive ceremonies, was indeed fair in outward appearance, but humility, love, and benevolence were lacking.

All the trees in the fig orchard were destitute of fruit; but the leafless trees raised no expectation, and caused no disappointment. By these trees the Gentiles were represented. They were as destitute as were the Jews of godliness; but they had not professed to serve God. They made no boastful pretensions to goodness. They were blind to the works and ways of God. With them the time of figs was not yet. They were still waiting for a day which would bring them light and hope. The Jews, who had received greater blessings from God, were held accountable for their abuse of these gifts. The privileges of which they boasted only increased their guilt.

Jesus had come to the fig tree hungry, to find food. So He had come to Israel, hungering to find in them the fruits of righteousness. He had lavished on them His gifts, that they might bear fruit for the blessing of the world. Every opportunity and privilege had been granted them, and in return He sought their sympathy and co-operation in His work of grace. He longed to see in them self-sacrifice and compassion, zeal for God, and a deep yearning of soul for the salvation of their fellow men. Had they kept the law of God, they would have done the same unselfish work that Christ did. But love to God and man was eclipsed by pride and self-sufficiency. They brought ruin upon themselves by refusing to minister to others. The treasures of truth which God had committed to them, they did not give to the world. In the barren tree they might read both their sin and its punishment. Withered beneath the Saviour's curse, standing forth sere and blasted, dried up by the roots, the fig tree showed what the Jewish people would be when the grace of God was removed from them. Refusing to impart blessing, they would no longer receive it. "O Israel," the Lord says, "thou hast destroyed thyself." Hosea 13:9." ibid., 582, 583.

There are several key sentences in this statement which clarify Christ’s actions. "That barren tree . . . was a symbol of the Jewish nation. The Saviour desired to make plain to His disciples the cause and the certainty of Israel’s doom . . . In the barren fig tree they might read both their sin and its punishment. . . the fig tree showed what the Jewish people would be when the grace of God was removed from them."

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Thus Christ’s act was a prophecy. He was declaring in advance just what was going to happen to the Jewish nation. In order for the prophecy to be accurate, Christ had to do to the fig tree exactly what He would later do to Jerusalem. Prophecy is valueless if it is not accurate.

It is a principle that a prophecy is never fully understood until it has been fulfilled. Jesus indicated this in these words, "And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe." John 14:29.

A careful study of the history of prophetic interpretation clarifies just what Christ meant when He uttered those words. The more distant the future prophecy stood, the less it was understood by God’s children. For instance, in the days following the apostolic era, the Christians of that day understood the rise and fall of the four great empires, expected the partition of the Roman Empire into ten great divisions, but did not understand the one thousand, two hundred and sixty days, the image of the beast, or the battle of Armageddon.

In like manner, while Luther, Knox, and their contemporaries saw that the little horn was the papacy, they did not understand what was to happen beyond that. But when the period of papal dominance was about to end, Bible scholars on both sides of the Atlantic were able to know the very year in which it would happen and said so just before it did. Immediately the interest turned to Daniel 8:14, but it was not until after the great disappointment that an understanding developed of the nature of the image of the beast.¹

On the basis of the principle that the prophecy is never fully understood until it is fulfilled, there is an obvious advantage in that we have both the prophecy and the fulfilment of the parable of the cursed fig tree. The prophecy was made by Christ just prior to His crucifixion and the fulfilment took place in the fall of Jerusalem in AD. 70.

What took place in the fulfilment is very clear. As already noted from The Great Controversy, 35, 36, God did not personally decree the nature of the punishment which should and did befall the Israelites. Instead, He sorrowfully and reluctantly submitted to their insistent demands that He leave them to their own way, thus exposing them to whatever potential of destruction was nearest to them. It proved in this case to be the enraged Romans who, freed of any restriction imposed by God’s presence, were able to wreak their vengeance upon the shelterless Jews.

In order, then, for Christ to reveal in the prophecy what God would do in its fulfilment, He must do the same in the prophecy. Therefore, Christ simply withdrew His presence from the tree leaving it exposed to whatever plague, blight, or other destructive force was waiting to consume it. Some

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