Michigan Camp Meeting 2022: Knowing the Time

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Michigan Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

What Did Jesus Do?

Dan Rachor

01 Forever Linked

You are about to enjoy a presentation recorded at the 2022 Michigan Conference Camp Meeting held at Cedar Lake, Michigan.

We pray that the Lord will bless you as you listen.

Father in Heaven, as we begin this seminar here, this journey, we ask for your Holy Spirit to please be close to us.

So much beauty in the things you've given us.

Please be with us and help our minds and our hearts.

We pray these things in Jesus' name, Amen.

And I just want to read this here from the book, That I May Know Him, a wonderful devotional book.

It's really the last part I'm after, but it's a long sentence, and the context is nice anyway.

It's talking about the incarnation of Jesus.

It says, "...wondrous combination of man and God.

He humbled himself to man's nature." He did this, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

And the plan was entered into by the Son of God.

It says, "...knowing all the steps in His humiliation..." Knowing all the steps in His humiliation.

"...that He must descend to make an expiation for the sins of a condemned, groaning world." Well, I may have left a little bit off there, or did I read it wrong?

Oh yeah, the Son of God, knowing all the steps in his humiliation, that he must descend to make an expiation for the sins of the condemned world.

But what I really want to point out is just, Jesus knew all the steps that he must take to redeem the human race.

And that's really what this seminar is about, is the steps that Jesus needed to take to redeem us.

And I will just say this, that as I presented these things in my churches, the whole series, that is, most of the whole series, has been really, really appreciated.

And my hope is that by God's presence and His mercy and goodness, that we can all get our very rich blessing from this.

So, my message today is called Forever Linked.

So, I don't know how many of you, some of you, have had this experience, and I could wish this experience for all of you, even though, as I tell the story, you might not wish it for yourself.

So you're in your tent, and you're in some wilderness place, and you know very well that there's 10 gazillion mosquitoes outside the tent, just longing to get in and eat you.

Maybe it's chilly out there, not too cold because the mosquitoes are there.

And however, nature calls and you have to get out of the tent.

And so, finally, after a while, you have to make the move.

And you get out there and hopefully, maybe, you're someplace far away from any man-made light.

And so, everything I described, then you happen to look up and you just see innumerable stars.

And 1 of the things that comes to my mind, I think many of our minds, when we see those, just the glory of God, the handiwork of God, is the whole idea of eternity.

At least in my mind, there's always an association there.

And I'm going to spend just a few moments here, probably the next 5 slides, because this is the steps Jesus took.

And moving on from there over the next several days.

So, Romans 16, verse 25 says, Now to him who was able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, and then this, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began.

Actually, from my memory, I'm pretty sure that the word world isn't even in this little phrase here.

I think it's before, or way before the world began, in eons past.

So what we're going to be studying here is the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began.

Really way beyond the beginning of this world.

In fact, here it is in the revised version.

"...the mystery which has been kept in silence..." And that is the word there, silence.

It's not really secret, it's more silence than secret.

"...the mystery which has been kept in silence through times eternal." We'll talk more about that, but this points to an agreement, the Bible calls it the Council of Peace, between the Father and the Son, the plan for our redemption, which was kept in silence through times eternal, through the eons.

1 Corinthians 2, verse 7 says, but we speak, this is Paul saying, we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery.

The hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory.

But we are really looking into billions of stars as we begin this study.

Then Titus 1 verse 2, in hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began.

This reminds me of a book of Hebrews, which talks about God, who cannot lie.

Okay, so, in hope of eternal life was God, who cannot lie, promised before time began.

God promised us eternal life before we ever came into existence.

God promised us eternal life before time began.

So what we're studying is not a plan that is recent in any way, shape, or form.

I'm going to start about halfway through there I guess.

It says, "...but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began." So again, we are looking into eternity past.

We're really looking into the heart of God when we study this topic.

Indeed, the whole creation of the whole universe, and we'll focus on this world, it came out of a relational God, right?

The Father and the Son, who are relational gods, and therefore they brought worlds into existence, They brought planet Earth into existence.

So the whole beginning of our existence comes from the love of God.

According to His own purpose and grace, we should think about the Godhead and their relationship, and a sharing, a social relationship, if I can use that word.

And out of that came the magnificent, bringing into being, a race created after God's old image.

We should understand both our creation and certainly the plan of redemption as the fruit of the love between the Father and the Son.

We're going to look at Ephesians chapter 1 for Quite a bit of our time this morning.

Before that, I have this quote here from an author by the name of John Stott.

He wrote this, He said, God the Father is the source or origin of every blessing we enjoy.

His initiative is set forth plainly, for He is Himself the subject of almost every verb in these verses.

This is a quote on Ephesians chapter 1, at least the first 13 verses, or something like that.

So he's saying, you know, grammatically, God is the subject in, you know, all these verses here.

However, as we look at these verses, we see that Jesus is very, very front and center.

I should say, that is true, what John Stout wrote, and, nevertheless, Jesus is very, very integral in this passage, as we're going to see.

And as this illustrates here, We have verse 3, all these blessings come in Christ.

02 A Gift for Everyone

Father in heaven, as we enter into our study today, I pray that, in spite of myself, in spite of ourselves, that your Holy Spirit would be present here to help our minds and draw near to us in our hearts, help us to be drawn near to you.

This is our earnest prayer, in Jesus' name, amen.

All right, So, as you can see, my topic title today is A Gift for Everyone.

We're going to touch on 2 things, really.

2 things that pretty much immediately Jesus did for us.

So you know the title of this whole series is What Did Jesus Do?

And of course you're familiar with what would Jesus do?

And the title was, the word did was supposed to be italicized.

And today we're looking at 2 things that Jesus did for the human race pretty much immediately when sin entered, and indeed, as the title indicates, for everybody, for every human being.

We're going to start with a quick review, and that's Ephesians 1, verse 4, which says, He, the Lord, of course, we said yesterday the Father really is the subject of this very, very long sentence found in Ephesians 1, verse 3 and onward.

He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world.

And as we said yesterday, this is indicating that the plan of redemption was set, the Father accepted it, its justice, its rightness, and so on.

And with his trust in the sacrificial love of Jesus, He chose the human race as individuals, each and every individual, in Jesus.

Every single human being that comes into this world is predestinated to be adopted as a son or a daughter by Jesus Christ.

So over there in Romans it says, those whom he foreknew, them he also predestinated.

He wasn't taken by surprise by the birth of anybody.

So, truly, since this predestination takes place before we do good or before we do evil, it's clearly the whole world, every human being.

So, we're gonna talk here about the opportunity that the Lord gave Adam and Eve when they were first brought into this world.

Genesis 2, verse 9, you're all familiar with, says that, Out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food.

The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

When the Lord, " well, we'll just go 1 more here, "...when the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat it, For in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die." So I will first put forth this thought that there was no difference between the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Let's say there was no difference between the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and all the other trees in the garden.

There wasn't something poisoned in that fruit.

It represented choice in the Garden of Eden.

The Lord made sure there was choice there because the Garden of Eden was opportunity.

It was opportunity for Adam and Eve to form a character that would be worthy of immortality.

To me, I would say, If any place you ever want to be tested, the Garden of Eden would seem to be a wonderful place, right?

I mean, it was perfect ideal conditions, and so on.

So that tree represented a choice, represented an opportunity to obey God's command, and to build character that the wise and loving Creator could bestow immortality upon.

So, the book Patriarchs and Prophets, page 48, comments on this.

It says that God made them free moral agents capable of appreciating the wisdom and benevolence of His character, and the justice of His requirements.

So, He made them free moral agents, capable of understanding the goodness of God, and so, continuing here, and the justice of His requirements, and with full liberty to yield or to withhold obedience." So it was a place of freedom.

The book Confrontation, page 12, says this, it says, "...the Lord placed man upon probation, that he might form a character of steadfast integrity for his own happiness and for the glory of the Creator." So probably we don't generally think about the Garden of Eden as a period of probation, But that's really what it was.

As it says here, they were placed on conprobation that they may form a character of steadfast integrity which would bring them eternal happiness and glory to the Creator.

Yet, another statement from that wonderful book, Patriarchs and Prophets, Page 53 says, "...the dwellers in Eden had been placed upon probation.

Their happy estate could be retained only on condition of faithfulness or fidelity to the Creator's law." Again, we see that word probation.

They were happy, but it was probation for them to be faithful and true to the law of God.

And then, from the story of hope, He would place them on probation to test their loyalty before they could be made eternally secure.

They would talk with angels, and angels with them.

God did not see fit to place them beyond the power of disobedience.

So, the bottom line is, God was too good and too wise to put Adam and Eve in a situation where they would be eternally miserable, eternally evil.

They were given an opportunity to form character.

The Lord looked forward with great joy to bestowing immortality upon them.

They could talk to the angels, the angels talked to them.

And I'm sure all of heaven was waiting for the day when they would have immortality bestowed upon them.

Now they have had to wait another 6, 000 years, with just a few exceptions along the way.

So that's a Very short and sort of narrowed picture of what was taking place in the Garden of Eden.

Our next section here is second chance for everyone.

Now, Genesis 3, verse 22, and then verse 24, says this, And now, lest he put out his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat and live forever, he placed cherubim at the east of the garden, and a flaming sword which turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life." So as soon as there was sin, the Lord kept Adam and Eve away from the tree of life, for reasons we have already talked about.

Now, we know from Genesis 2, verse 17, that the Lord had said that in the day they would eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they would surely die.

The day they would eat of it, they would surely die.

And the question is, why did that not happen?

Well, the answer is, it's because the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world.

So as soon as there was sin, there was a Savior.

Yeah, they're kind of upside down and backwards and so on, I noticed that.

Okay, so, the Lord said that the day they would eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they would surely die.

Because as soon as there was sin, there was a Savior.

That shouldn't surprise us, because we already saw that the plan was settled in eternity, past.

So I have this verse here, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

Book Desire of Ages, page 210, the wonderful book on the life of Jesus, makes this statement.

03 The Word Became Flesh

Father in heaven, as we study your inspired words today, we ask that you will truly draw near to us, Not just teach us, but accomplish Your will in our hearts and in our minds.

Alright, well, we're a smaller group today.

So we're going to define that for a moment.

And then we're going to talk about a certain view that sort of puts Jesus far from us.

And then we're going to talk about really just how close Jesus is to us.

The Word made flesh, which of course you recognize, comes from John 1, verse 1.

We're starting here in Genesis 28, verse 12, which says, and you know this is about Jacob, he said, then he dreamed and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth and its top reached to heaven.

And there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

Now here, the book, Desire of Ages, page 301, makes a direct comment on this.

It says that Christ is the ladder that Jacob saw, the base resting on the earth, and the topmost round reaching to the gate of heaven, to the very threshold of glory.

Then she says, if that ladder had failed by a single step of reaching the earth, we should have been lost.

He took our nature and overcame that we, through taking His nature, might overcome.

If that ladder had failed by a single step of reaching the earth, we should have been lost.

That is really the theme for today right there.

Prescott, who was a Seventh-Davening pastor way, way long ago, first generation really, 1 of his sermons, he commented on this passage.

It appears he was probably reading the book Desire of Ages.

He says, this is the lesson, actually, this is the lesson of Jacob's ladder.

It rested on the earth where Jacob was, but the topmost round reached to heaven.

When Christ comes to help man out of the pit, He does not come to the edge of the pit and look over and say, come up here and I will help you back.

He goes on, If man could help himself to the point from whence he has fallen, he could do all the rest.

If man could help himself up to the point from whence he has fallen, he could do all the rest.

If he could help himself 1 step, He could help Himself all the way.

But it is because man is utterly ruined, weak, and wounded, and broken to pieces, in fact, perfectly helpless, that Jesus Christ comes right down where he is and meets him there.

As I said, that's really the theme for today.

Hebrews 10, verses 6-8, we have this marvelous passage here.

It says, Therefore when he, that is, when the Savior, came into the world, he said, so this was some 2, 000 years ago, a voice was heard, And here's the quote, Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you have prepared for me.

In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you had no pleasure.

Then I said, behold, I have come, in the volume of the book it is written of me, to do your will, O God." So I mean, The plan of redemption is in this passage here.

First of all, it's clear that the formality, as it became of the sacrificial system, you know, was not working, lives were not changed.

And so the Son of God had a body prepared for Him.

And, the last part says exactly what He was going to do in that body.

Behold, I have come to do your will, O God." So that is, again, very simply, Jesus came, as is in our passage today, He became flesh, and he did so in order to do God's will.

He came to do God's will in the flesh, we can say.

And that's, that is a big part of the plan of redemption.

So, now to our actual verse that our title is based on.

John 1 14 says, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us.

And that's really as far as we're going to get in that verse today.

So the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

I'm just going to talk real fast about the Word, a couple slides on that, and then quite a bit about became flesh, what does that mean.

So, I'm going to use Hebrews 1, verse 3 to describe who the Word was.

It's deep and there's a lot of background.

But Hebrews 1, verse 3, I think, very well describes the same second person of the Godhead when it says, "...who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person." So that's what Jesus was.

The Bible speaks of, you know, no man can look upon God and so on, and that's what Jesus was.

That's certainly what he became on earth, wasn't it?

So that we could see the character, that is the glory of the Father.

He was the brightness or the outshining or the visible manifestation of God's glory, the express image of his person.

That would include his character, his purposes, and so on.

It says, "...the radiance of the glory of God, the flawless expression of the nature of God, the Word.

And then the wonderful book, Desire of Ages, puts it very simple.

God's thought made audible, so we can understand it.

So we just skipped a lot of theology, and so on and so forth.

As the Son of God, he perfectly reflected the glory of God.

Now, I skipped a slide, and I'm on John 1.18, as you can see.

The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him." Again, talking about the Word.

Now, I talked about this the other day, John 1.3, all things were made, all things became through Him.

Describing the Word again, all things were made, in the Greek it's simply, all things became through Him.

That, and of course, then, so astounding, And of course, then, it's so astounding that the Word Himself became flesh.

From the book Selected Messages, there's 2 of those wonderful books.

This happens to be the first volume, page 244.

And it says, notice this, "...the humanity of the Son of God is everything to us." So the human nature of the Son of God is everything to us.

It is the golden chain that binds our souls to Christ and through Christ to God.

So the human nature of Jesus, the humanity of the Son of God, is everything to us.

It is the golden chain that binds us to Him.

So Jesus' humanity is the golden chain that binds us to Jesus and through Jesus to God.

And notice, it's very convenient I have this here, still introducing today's topic, this is to be our study.

So the humanity of the Son of God is to be our study.

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What Did Jesus Do?

03 The Word Became Flesh

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