IJP: Investigative Judgment Phobia

IJP: Investigative Judgment Phobia

Originally Posted on Thursday, September 21, 2006

 Alex walked into the room. He heard a faint noise. Immediately, his heart started pounding faster. His face turned pale, and his forehead became shiny with perspiration. Very soon after this Alex started breathing hard and short breaths; he also started shaking. Suddenly, Alex stormed out of the room running as fast as he could. Every one in the room looked at each other all confused. You could see in their faces they were concerned. Fernando walked out of the room to see if Alex was OK, but Alex was no where to be found. What could set Alex off this way? Many things could, but in this case it was a phobia. The noise he heard reminded of him of something he feared. He reacted in the way many phobia persons react.

Phobias are defined as an intense, abnormal, or illogical fear of a specified thing. Every one of us can say we have a phobia of some kind or another. It may be some type of critter, closed or open spaces, crowds, heights, depths, strangers, etc. Some define fear as an acrostic: False Evidence Appearing Real. Their rational is that many causes of fear are truly unfounded. We are frightened of things and situations we have never encountered. We imagine the worst outcome, and of course, we end up the biggest losers. Phobias are in this category.

 Why do we fear things? Some say that one major cause is that we have no control over that which we fear. In other words, if we believed that we could overpower or had a way of escaping that which we fear we would not fear it. Could this be the reason why many fear the Investigative Judgment? The mention of an Investigative Judgment causes many to either fly away or fight (the normal reactions to fear.) Why? Why has the term Investigative been exchanged for Pre-Advent? Pre-advent sounds nice, and Investigative sounds invasive. God is going into our hearts and discovering what is there. However, God not only knows what is there, He also reveals it to us. And, this is perhaps what we fear: that we and others will know all the evil that abides in our hearts. But, this is good news! The uncovering of unknown Sin can only help us. I can hear you laugh sarcastically, while yelling out, "Yeah, right!"

 You see, God reveals Sin to us so that we can yield it to the Holy Spirit. As we yield it to the Holy Spirit, He will blot the Sin out of us. This is what King David did. David was not afraid of the Investigate Judgment. In fact, he not only welcomed it, he asked God to search His heart. In Psalm 139: 23, 24 David pleads with God,

Psalm 139: 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
Psalm 139: 24And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting

 David understood that Sin separated him from God. HE wanted oneness with God. So he asked God – Who knows the secret of our hearts (Psalm 44:21) – to search his heart, cleanse it, and lead Him in the right way. If we pray as David prayed, then God can do this with us. God does this because He wants oneness with us and loves us with perfect love. When we accept the Lord He gives us His perfect Love. When we have this perfect love John tells us 1 John 4:17, 18 that

 1 John 4:17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

 To many, the Investigative Judgment may give false evidence that God is against us, but as we see this is far from the truth. We have no control over the Judgment, but we do have control over its outcome. If we yield to the Holy Spirit, He will lead us to eternal life.

--
Raul Diaz
www.wolfsoath.com

IJP: Investigative Judgment Phobia

Originally Posted on Thursday, September 21, 2006

 Alex walked into the room. He heard a faint noise. Immediately, his heart started pounding faster. His face turned pale, and his forehead became shiny with perspiration. Very soon after this Alex started breathing hard and short breaths; he also started shaking. Suddenly, Alex stormed out of the room running as fast as he could. Every one in the room looked at each other all confused. You could see in their faces they were concerned. Fernando walked out of the room to see if Alex was OK, but Alex was no where to be found. What could set Alex off this way? Many things could, but in this case it was a phobia. The noise he heard reminded of him of something he feared. He reacted in the way many phobia persons react.

Phobias are defined as an intense, abnormal, or illogical fear of a specified thing. Every one of us can say we have a phobia of some kind or another. It may be some type of critter, closed or open spaces, crowds, heights, depths, strangers, etc. Some define fear as an acrostic: False Evidence Appearing Real. Their rational is that many causes of fear are truly unfounded. We are frightened of things and situations we have never encountered. We imagine the worst outcome, and of course, we end up the biggest losers. Phobias are in this category.

 Why do we fear things? Some say that one major cause is that we have no control over that which we fear. In other words, if we believed that we could overpower or had a way of escaping that which we fear we would not fear it. Could this be the reason why many fear the Investigative Judgment? The mention of an Investigative Judgment causes many to either fly away or fight (the normal reactions to fear.) Why? Why has the term Investigative been exchanged for Pre-Advent? Pre-advent sounds nice, and Investigative sounds invasive. God is going into our hearts and discovering what is there. However, God not only knows what is there, He also reveals it to us. And, this is perhaps what we fear: that we and others will know all the evil that abides in our hearts. But, this is good news! The uncovering of unknown Sin can only help us. I can hear you laugh sarcastically, while yelling out, “Yeah, right!”

 You see, God reveals Sin to us so that we can yield it to the Holy Spirit. As we yield it to the Holy Spirit, He will blot the Sin out of us. This is what King David did. David was not afraid of the Investigate Judgment. In fact, he not only welcomed it, he asked God to search His heart. In Psalm 139: 23, 24 David pleads with God,

Psalm 139: 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
Psalm 139: 24And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting

 David understood that Sin separated him from God. HE wanted oneness with God. So he asked God – Who knows the secret of our hearts (Psalm 44:21) – to search his heart, cleanse it, and lead Him in the right way. If we pray as David prayed, then God can do this with us. God does this because He wants oneness with us and loves us with perfect love. When we accept the Lord He gives us His perfect Love. When we have this perfect love John tells us 1 John 4:17, 18 that

 1 John 4:17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

 To many, the Investigative Judgment may give false evidence that God is against us, but as we see this is far from the truth. We have no control over the Judgment, but we do have control over its outcome. If we yield to the Holy Spirit, He will lead us to eternal life.

 Raul Diaz

Commentary: Christ our Priest

Christ our Priest

There are a couple of things we need to establish before we delve into Christ as a Priest.  We need to reestablish the fact that the sanctuary, its priest and services were a contingency plan.  God's original plan was to make the children of Israel a nation of priests.  They refused that plan.  So God established a teaching tool so the Israelites – and the world – could learn the Gospel.   This brings us to the second point, the existence and presence of the sanctuary was as much evidence of God's presence as it was evidence of the Israelites failure in Sinai.  The Levitical is part of that contingency plan.  Remember, God promised to make all Israel priests, only the Levites became priests, this reveals that something went wrong at Sinai.  Therefore the Aaronic priesthood is also a sign of Israel's failure at Sinai. 

Now last week we studied Christ as our sacrifice.  This is represented by the animals sacrificed at the altar.  These all point to Christ.  For the most part, in the Levitical system the priest kills the sacrifice.  In our world he who takes the life is superior than the one killed.  None of the animals killed were resurrected.  Christ presents a dilemma to the Aaronic priesthood.  Caiphas sought to kill Christ and succeeded.  Thus, it seems Caiphas was superior.  But, when Christ is resurrected, Christ proved to be superior.  He was a better sacrifice (Hebrews 9: 23). 

When we look then at the order of services we see that the priests take the blood do what with it what they are supposed to do in the service.   The Aaronic Priests never went through the experience the animals went when killed, but Christ did.  So, when we look at Christ as a Priest, we have someone that knows how it feels to be sacrificed.  In terms of Christ being the Lamb, the Lamb became a Priest.  And, the blood He shed as a Lamb, as a Priest He applies to us, for our cleansing.  We read in Hebrews 9,

 

Heb 9:11 But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;

Heb 9:12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

Heb 9:13 For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:

Heb 9:14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

 

Christ was a better sacrifice.  His blood was more effective.  He was also a better Priest.  The Priests died and needed replacing, not Christ. 

 

Heb 7:22 By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.

Heb 7:23 And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death:

Heb 7:24 But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood.

Heb 7:25 Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.

 

What does it mean that Christ lives to make intercession?  But some ask why Jesus as our High Priest has to "make intercession" for us before the Father (Heb. 7:25). The word "intercession" implies that somebody is not happy and has to be interceded with on our behalf. Christ "is at the right hand of God," Paul says, "who also maketh intercession for us" (Rom. 8:34). John adds his insight when he compares Christ to "an advocate with the Father," the word "advocate" being parakletos in the Greek (1 John 2:1). Vine says the word "was used in a court of justice to denote a legal assistant, counsel for the defense, who pleads another's cause."

 

In other words, Jesus is a defense lawyer pleading a case "with the Father," John says. It seems that the Father is the Judge and that we are on trial before Him, and that we would lose our case if it weren't for Jesus being there in our behalf. This is 100 percent true; we would indeed lose out if it were not for our divine Lawyer working on our side.

 

The Father, as well as the Son, hate sin. But in accordance with the agreement between them Both, Christ became the representative Adam for the human race and paid the penalty as the sinner's Substitute and Surety, having tasted death for every man (Heb. 2:9). Thus God's wrath against sin was experienced by Christ on His cross. He suffered the curse of God which was the condemnation of the second death. His shed blood qualifies Him as mankind's Advocate with the Father. It makes it possible for the Father to shower his blessings of life equally on both the just and the unjust.

 

But who is He "pleading," "interceding" with? Who needs to be "persuaded" to accept us? Does it make sense to say it's the Father? Wasn't it He who took the initiative to "so love the world that He gave His only begotten Son" for us? How could He be against us, needing Jesus to "intercede" for us? Does the Father have a club behind His back, about to let us have it, and then Jesus steps up and says, "Look, Father, at the wounds in My hands, etc. Please be nice to these people!"? No, that doesn't make sense. The Father loves us just as much as the Son loves us! Then who is Jesus interceding with?

 

Is He interceding with the devil? Will he or his angels ever be persuaded to be nice to us? Hardly! Then who has to be persuaded to "accept" us, to stop condemning us? The good angels? No, they are "all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for" us, not against us (Heb. 1:14).

 

Then who is left who needs to be "persuaded," interceded with to "accept" us, except we ourselves? We are the ones who need to hold our heads high, to join Paul in being "persuaded" that nothing will ever "separate us from the love of God" (Rom. 8:38, 39).

 

Now, For Christ to intercede between God and us, to be our mediator, He needs to identify with us.  Ellen White said, 

 

"… the reconciliation of man to God could be accomplished only through a mediator who was equal with God, possessed of attributes that would dignify, and declare him worthy to treat with the infinite God in man's behalf, and also represent God to a fallen world. Man's substitute and surety must have man's nature, a connection with the human family whom he was to represent, and, as God's ambassador, he must partake of the divine nature, have a connection with the Infinite, in order to manifest God to the world, and be a mediator between God and man.

 

"Christ, the Son of God and Creator of the universe, humbled Himself beyond description to be joined together forever with the human race. As Adam was enjoined that in marriage a man would leave his father and mother and cleave unto his wife, so Christ left His Father in heaven to become forever a part of the human family.

 

"Clothing His divinity with humanity, He came to earth to be called the Son of man and the Son of God. He was the surety for man, the ambassador for God—the surety for man to satisfy by His righteousness in man's behalf the demands of the law, and the representative of God to make manifest His character to a fallen race." 1SM 257

 

The good news of what Jesus did for the human race as revealed in the gospel alone has power to extinguish our love for sin and prepare us for entrance to our heavenly home.

 

"For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Heb. 4:15, 16

 

A last word: you will notice that the work in the sanctuary is performed by the Priest and High Priest, not the sinner.  Likewise, the work in the Heavenly sanctuary is performed by Christ.  This means that the work of cleansing us, the Holy Spirit's temple, is also done by Him.  We just let Him. 

 

"The sinner may resist this love, may refuse to be drawn to Christ; but if he does not resist he will be drawn to Jesus ... in repentance for his sins" (Steps to Christ, p. 27). Therein is the essence of this cleansing of the sanctuary!

--
Raul Diaz
www.wolfsoath.com

Christ, Our Sacrifice

Christ, Our Sacrifice

There are two aspects of sacrifice that shine out in lesson: the death and the blood.  The sanctuary had three compartments. In each of them something happened that pointed to Christ as a sacrifice.  Let enumerate them,

1.       Outer court – Passover (from an article in Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passover_sacrifice#cite_note-JE-2 )

a.       The killing took place in the court of the Temple at Jerusalem, and might be performed by a layman, although the blood had to be caught by a priest, and rows of priests with gold or silver cups in their hands stood in line from the Temple court to the altar, where the blood was sprinkled.

b.      These cups were rounded on the bottom, so that they could not be set down; for in that case the blood might coagulate.

c.       The priest who caught the blood as it dropped from the victim then handed the cup to the priest next to him, receiving from him an empty one, and the full cup was passed along the line until it reached the last priest, who sprinkled its contents on the altar. The lamb was then hung upon special hooks or sticks and skinned; but if the eve of the Passover fell on a Sabbath, the skin was removed down to the breast only.

d.      The abdomen was then cut open, and the fatty portions intended for the altar were taken out, placed in a vessel, salted, and offered by the priest on the altar, while the remaining entrails likewise were taken out and cleansed.

e.      The family would take their lamb home to roast it and eat it according to God's ordinance. 

 

2.       Outer court and Holy Place -  Daily sacrifice

a.       IN this sacrifice the blood was taken in the Holy Place to be sprinkled there.

3.       Outer court and Most Holy Place – day of atonement

a.       In this sacrifice the blood is taken into the Most Holy Place. 

In summation, in each event an animal was killed and blood was shed, and sprinkled in certain part of the sanctuary.   Let us look first as the killing of the animal.

I.                    The death

In all of these sacrifices Christ is prefigured.  They were a representation of what Christ would accomplish at the Cross.  He is the lamb that was slain from the beginning to take away the sin of the World*.  How did He take Sin away?

"He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed" (1 Peter 2:24, NASB).

 

This verse is a reference to Isaiah 53.  Here are some excerpts,

 

Isa 53:4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows…

Isa 53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

Isa 53:6 … and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Isa 53:7 … he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, …

Isa 53:8 … he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken…

Isa 53:10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, …

Isa 53:11 … by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.

 

 "Christ was treated as we deserve, that we might be treated as He deserves. He was condemned for our sins, in which He had no share, that we might be justified by His righteousness, in which we had no share. He suffered the death which was ours, that we might receive the life which was His. 'With His stripes we are healed.'"—The Desire of Ages, p. 25.

It was an exchange: the priceless for the worthless trade.   He died, so we would live.  Ellen White says,

"Nothing less than the death of Christ could make His love efficacious for us. It is only because of His death that we can look with joy to His second coming. His sacrifice is the center of our hope. Upon this we must fix our faith."—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 660.

Simply, in order for humanity to be saved Jesus had to die.  There was no other way.  Paul says,

Heb 2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.

 

Christ's death reconciles to God.  Paul says in Rom 5:10, "For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, …" We are reconciled to live with him.  Let us read Romans

 

Rom 6:3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

Rom 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Rom 6:5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:

 

Notice the language: baptize into Jesus, buried with Him, planted together…We were in Him, when he died and resurrected.  And, now we are in Heavenly places in Him (Ephesians 2: 6). 

 

II.                  The Blood

 

Genesis 9: 4, Leviticus 17: 11, and Deuteronomy 12: 23 says that the life is on the blood.  Thereore any reference to blood signifies life.  When Jesus says in Mar 14:24 "… This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many," it is His life he is pouring.  We read in Hebrews 9,

 

Heb 9:12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

Heb 9:14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

Heb 9:22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.

 

Understanding then that the blood is a reference to the life of Jesus which accomplishes our redemption, let us read the following quote from Ellen White,

 

The law requires righteousness,--a righteous life, a perfect character; and this man has not to give. He cannot meet the claims of God's holy law. But Christ, coming to the earth as man, lived a holy life, and developed a perfect character. These He offers as a free gift to all who will receive them. His life stands for the life of men. Thus they have remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God. More than this, Christ imbues men with the attributes of God. He builds up the human character after the similitude of the divine character, a goodly fabric of spiritual strength and beauty. Thus the very righteousness of the law is fulfilled in the believer in Christ. God can "be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." Romans 3:26. {DA 762.2}

 

Let us then allow for His blood to cleanses us, to purge our Sin away, to transform our minds and hearts after the similitude of Christ.

--
Raul Diaz
www.wolfsoath.com