Eternal Purpose, Grand Design
Eschatological Reasons for Church Organization
Church organization serves two eschatological purposes: (a) It enables the entire world to be reached with God’s end-time gospel message, because no one person alone can accomplish that task. (b) It demonstrates the power of the gospel when people of very diverse backgrounds harmoniously work together to seek and save the lost.
Contents
- “Character of Christ ... Perfectly Reproduced in His People”
- Christ’s Character Manifested As We Work Together
- Charles E. Bradford Speaks
- The Most Diverse Organization on Planet Earth
- The Stage Is Set
- God’s Principles vs. Satan’s Principles
- As the Home, So the Church
- Ancient Prophecy: Genesis 22:18
- God’s Eternal Purpose Kept Secret for Ages
- The Good Samaritan and Leviticus 19:34
- Ancient Prophecy: Numbers 14:21
- “How Can These Things Be?”
- Not Until the Firstfruits
- The Ultimate Defeat of Satan
- From Near Defeat to Astounding Victory
- In Conclusion
“Character of Christ ... Perfectly Reproduced in His People”
The Bible is our only rule of faith and practice. But it was the following quotation that caused all the pieces to fall into place, a quotation taken from a book on the parables of Jesus:
Christ is waiting with longing desire for the manifestation of Himself in His church. When the character of Christ shall be perfectly reproduced in His people, then He will come to claim them as His own.—Ellen G. White, Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 69.
Western society tends to emphasize the individual rather than the group. But the above quote’s references to “His church” and “His people” suggest that we need to focus on the group when pondering what Christ is waiting for. Note how the very next paragraph speaks of reaching the world with the gospel:
It is the privilege of every Christian not only to look for but to hasten the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:12, margin). Were all who profess His name bearing fruit to His glory, how quickly the whole world would be sown with the seed of the gospel. Quickly the last great harvest would be ripened, and Christ would come to gather the precious grain.—Ibid.
The second paragraph before the quote also speaks of personal evangelism:
There can be no growth or fruitfulness in the life that is centered in self. If you have accepted Christ as a personal Saviour, you are to forget yourself, and try to help others. Talk of the love of Christ, tell of His goodness. Do every duty that presents itself. Carry the burden of souls upon your heart, and by every means in your power seek to save the lost. As you receive the Spirit of Christ—the Spirit of unselfish love and labor for others—you will grow and bring forth fruit. The graces of the Spirit will ripen in your character. Your faith will increase, your convictions deepen, your love be made perfect. More and more you will reflect the likeness of Christ in all that is pure, noble, and lovely.—Ibid., pp. 67, 68.
Christ’s Character Manifested As We Work Together
God wants “the everlasting gospel” preached unto “every nation, kindred, tongue, and people” before the end (Revelation 14:6; Matthew 24:14). But you and I can’t reach the entire world alone. That objective will only be accomplished as we work together as a group.
When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, He quoted two (Matthew 22:35-40; Mark 12:28-31). The greatest commandment He quoted from Deuteronomy 6:5: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” The second greatest He quoted from Leviticus 19:18: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
The greatest commandment tells us that we must obey and honor God above all else, ready to stand for the right though the heavens fall. The second greatest commandment tells us we shouldn’t value our own opinions, needs, wants, or achievements any higher than those of anyone else. If these divine principles are at work in the lives of believers, there will be unity and harmony, and God’s work will soon be finished.
Charles E. Bradford Speaks
An easy way to find comments on the above quote is to search for the phrase “perfectly reproduced” at documents.adventistarchives.org. Such a search yields more than 350 results. While few of those results expressed the above sentiments, Charles E. Bradford, president of the North American Division from 1979 to 1990, most certainly did:
To me the church is also a place where we prepare to live together throughout eternity. The prospect of inheriting all things depends on our ability to form the kinds of relationships that will make heaven a great place to be. Quarrelsome people, selfish people, people who disregard the rights of others, cannot be trusted there. Heaven will be made up of people who have learned to defer to each other, even to yield their rights so that there may be unity, community, and fellowship.
Finally, the church means that a group of people in time and history, called one by one from various walks of life, will learn to live together in perfect unity, not losing their identity. Then a skeptical world will cry out, “There they are, they keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” This is probably what Ellen White had in mind when she said, “When the character of Christ shall be perfectly reproduced in His people, then He will come to claim them as His own” (Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 69).—“What the Church Means to Me,” Adventist Review, November 20, 1986, p. 15.
The Most Diverse Organization on Planet Earth
Now here is where it gets really interesting.
Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth—to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people (Revelation 14:6).
Suppose the remnant of Revelation 12:17 does that very thing. Suppose it preaches the three angels’ messages of Revelation 14:6-12 to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people. What will be the result? Some will respond from every nation, tribe, tongue, and people. And the remnant, by design, will become the most diverse organization on planet earth.
There are other diverse organizations today, such as the United Nations. But the United Nations isn’t uniting the nations, for there is only one thing that can: “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). Only the power of the gospel can truly unite people of diverse nationalities, tribes, languages, and cultures.
The Stage Is Set
Beginning at the Tower of Babel, God has caused or permitted this world to be highly divided.
And the Lord said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” (Genesis 11:6, 7)
Since Babel, it’s only gotten worse. The world today is extremely fractured by language, ethnicity, culture, color, political ideology, and religious belief. And thus the stage is set for the grandest demonstration of the power of the gospel this world has ever seen.
Rest assured that human devisings will never succeed in bringing unity, for of the divisions of the old Roman Empire, the nations of Western Europe today, we are told: “they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay” (Daniel 2:43). Only the power of the gospel can truly bring unity.
God’s Principles vs. Satan’s Principles
There’s a war going on. It’s called the great controversy. Good and evil are playing out in this world, and “we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men” (1 Corinthians 4:9). When it comes to unity in a diverse world, this is where God’s principles shine.
God’s grand principle is self-sacrificing, self-denying love. Satan denies that such a thing even exists (Job 1:9-11; 2:4, 5). The reason why his counterfeit to the biblical creation story is based on the idea of “survival of the fittest” is because the foundational principle of his kingdom is self-centeredness, selfishness. Drop Satan’s principles into a highly diverse world, and you’ll end up with strife, stealing, riots, murder, and wars of conquest. It’s inevitable.
The larger the nation, the greater the population that can work together, and the greater the resources they have at their disposal. The result today? The greater the military might, the greater the weapons constructed, and the greater the devastating impact if that force be unleashed. The remnant church, though, is different. Despite its great diversity, it works together to save rather than destroy.
As the Home, So the Church
So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them (Genesis 1:27).
No, diversity within the human race didn’t begin at Babel. It began at creation, when God created the two genders, male and female, seemingly so different it’s as if they’re from two different planets. And yet:
Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh (Genesis 2:24).
Even as self-sacrificing love is to unite husband and wife and make the home a little picture of heaven on earth, so also will self-sacrificing love make as one diverse peoples in God’s church in these last days.
That they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me (John 17:21).
Ancient Prophecy: Genesis 22:18
“By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice” (Genesis 22:16-18, KJV).
Paul points out that God here swore by Himself (Hebrews 6:13). Thus, this passage is very special. Paul also points out that “seed” refers to both the singular seed, Christ, and the collective seed, His people (Galatians 3:16, 29).
The promise of Genesis 22:16-18 first refers to the collective seed when it speaks of its increase in number. Then it shifts to the singular seed, Christ, when it refers to “his” enemies. In Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary every nation is to be blessed. But Christ ascended to heaven without first preaching to every nation, and the blessing cannot fully come until that occurs (Romans 10:13-15). Thus, the “seed” through whom all the nations are blessed refers to both Christ who died, and His people who preached a risen Savior.
God’s Eternal Purpose Kept Secret for Ages
Paul declares that what we are discussing here had been kept secret “for ages,” namely, “that the Gentiles are fellow-heirs, and fellow-members of the body, and fellow-partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel,” “according to [God’s] eternal purpose,” so that “the manifold wisdom of God” “might be made known through the church” to the entire universe (Ephesians 3:3-12).
When Paul was arrested, he was granted an opportunity to speak to the rioting mob in the temple court. The mob quieted down and listened to him speak of visions, Jesus, and baptism, but the riot resumed after Paul said that Jesus told him, “Depart, for I will send you far from here to the Gentiles” (Acts 22:1-22). There was something about a multi-ethnic church working together in harmony that was both revolutionary and infuriating.
The Good Samaritan and Leviticus 19:34
It didn’t need to be that way. When a lawyer answered his own question to Jesus about how to inherit eternal life, by quoting the two greatest commandments, and then wanted to distract by asking the long debated question, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus responded with the parable of the good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). After the parable, Jesus asked the lawyer who was the neighbor of the injured man. The lawyer responded correctly, but couldn’t bring himself to say the word “Samaritan,” so prejudiced was he. Indeed, the bad blood between Jews and Samaritans went back centuries.
But that lawyer already knew or should have known the answer to his question, “Who is my neighbor?” The very chapter he had quoted “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” from also says: “The stranger who dwells among you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself” (Leviticus 19:34). The strangers, the aliens, the Samaritans, we are to love them as ourselves, just like we love our neighbor as ourselves. Thus, even a Samaritan is our neighbor.
Ancient Prophecy: Numbers 14:21
“But truly, as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord” (Numbers 14:21).
What was God referring to here? In verse 18 Moses had just quoted what God Himself had previously said when God revealed to Moses His glory and proclaimed His name (Exodus 34:5-7; 33:18, 19). And that previous occasion shows us that God’s name, glory, and character are, at least sometimes, synonymous. Thus, when Numbers 14:21 declares that one day the whole earth will be filled with His glory, it is predicting that one day God will have a people who will reflect His character of love to all the world, something Israel was definitely not doing in Numbers 14.
And this is one reason why Jesus came: “The glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one.” “I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them” (John 17:22, 26). In the last moments of time, Numbers 14:21 will be fulfilled when the last message of mercy is proclaimed to all the world (Revelation 18:1-4).
“How Can These Things Be?”
Perhaps like Nicodemus, we’re inclined to ask, “How can these things be?” (John 3:9). The answer is simple: “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Romans 5:5). The next three verses explain how that love, God’s love, is what led Christ to die for us while we were still sinners, rebels, scoundrels. And what happens if that love is in our hearts? “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (1 John 3:16, KJV).
Make no mistake about it. God’s eternal purpose and grand design will be fulfilled one way or another. Despite Satan’s efforts to thwart God’s purposes, he will be vanquished.
Not Until the Firstfruits
Until the wave sheaf of firstfruits was offered two days after the Passover, the new harvest could not be eaten (Leviticus 23:10, 14). Christ is called “the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep,” which makes sense, because if He had not been raised from the dead, no one else could have either (1 Corinthians 15:20, 17).
Of the 144,000 we are told, “These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb” (Revelation 14:4). There must be a reason why these last fruits are called the firstfruits. It is as if the earth cannot be harvested (Matthew 13:39; Revelation 14:14-16) without the 144,000 fulfilling their divine purpose first.
The Ultimate Defeat of Satan
Suppose the entire cabinet of the president of the United States, either now or in the last 50 years, suddenly resigned. Would that not raise questions in many minds as to the fitness of the president? Of course it would! Now imagine what questions must have been raised when Satan and one-third of the angels rebelled against God’s government, one-third of the angels whom God had created to be “ministering spirits” (Hebrews 1:14).
The redeemed shall be as the angels in the resurrection (Matthew 22:30; Daniel 12:2, 3). And even today, the redeemed are called to minister to those in need, as if they are in training to fill the places left vacant by the angels that rebelled.
We today are a physically and morally decrepit generation, far removed from the innocence and vigor of Eden. And yet, though formerly in Satan’s administration, we have chosen to repudiate his principles of selfishness and leave his service. Embracing the principle of self-sacrificing love and entering Christ’s service instead, we take orders from above and work harmoniously with one another in order to be a blessing to our fellowmen. It’s the ultimate defeat of Satan.
From Near Defeat to Astounding Victory
But it almost never was, by design.
For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened. (Matthew 24:21, 22).
As page 306 of The Great Controversy explains, “The 1260 days, or years, terminated in 1798. A quarter of a century earlier, persecution had almost wholly ceased. Following this persecution, according to the words of Christ, the sun was to be darkened.” And it was darkened, on May 19, 1780. But the point to catch here is that the great tribulation being cut short by about 25 years meant the difference between utter defeat and eventual victory. God permitted His cause to come that close to failure.
What a dramatic rebound in such a short time!
And in this last generation the parable of the mustard seed is to reach a signal and triumphant fulfillment. The little seed will become a tree. The last message of warning and mercy is to go to “every nation and kindred and tongue” (Revelation 14:6-14), “to take out of them a people for His name” (Acts 15:14; Revelation 18:1). And the earth shall be lightened with His glory.—Christ’s Object Lessons, pp. 79.
Not by brute force compelling the conscience will this be accomplished, but through the implanting of the principles of truth and righteousness (Ibid., p. 77).
In Conclusion
Ages ago, God ordained that a remnant drawn from every nation, tribe, tongue, and people would work unitedly and harmoniously together to bring the blessing of Calvary within the reach of all, by preaching the three angels’ messages in all the world. Satan wants to thwart God’s eternal purposes in this regard by causing discord and fragmenting His church into independent atoms.
Church organization is therefore an integral and vital component of God’s plans in these last days.