UNIVERSAL LAW

UNDERSTANDING GOD’S GOVERNMENT

A panoramic view:

“The Gift”

Temcat

Now before I go even to one more sentence, I am going to respond to the question that this title may bring into your mind. NO! We can’t with our finite minds understand all the details of God’s ways and workings nor His purposes—BUT as we study broadly in the SOP and Bible and realize more of His characteristics and see His workings in the past, we can begin to understand things that help us co-operate with our salvation process.  It also helps us to see through a lot of misinformation that gets passed around as facts, merely because people think God is “such an one as yourselves” Psalm 50:21

 “For [as] the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah  55:9 

Are we to seek to understand His dealings with us? "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent”. John  17:3

Now first let us look at the incredible, unspeakable GIFT that God gave to save mankind:

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John  3:16

What does 'Believe' mean?  Is it just a mental accent that Jesus exists and came here and died for us?

James  2:19 …the devils also believe, and tremble. And we know the devils are not going to be saved! In fact the devils don’t even have to exercise faith to believe—they KNOW the facts.

No, to believe in Jesus is more than mental ascent—it means to accept Him as GOD. Supreme Lord! And as such it means we will obey His every word. The devils refuse to OBEY God or submit to His LAW.

The Battle between Christ and Satan began when Satan refused to obey Jesus and rejected God’s LAW.

See, His covenant to save man is connected with man returning to obedience:

 "And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments." Deuteronomy  5:10 

  "Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he [is] God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;" Deuteronomy  7:9

Only in the Old Testament? No—definitely not, and by the way, if God had made any different way for Old Testament people to be saved as opposed to New Testament people—He would have been declared to be UNFAIR. People have been saved in the same way all through history. Before the cross they exercised faith in a coming deliverer, and after, in the One that had come. The ‘New Covenant’ merely means we don’t sacrifice lambs any more, because now the Lamb of God has been offered.

  "And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment." John 3:23

 "Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." John 14:23

 "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love." John  15:10 

 "If ye love me, keep my commandments." John  14:15 

  "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous." 1 John  5:3

Does the UNIVERSE operate without LAW? Ask any scientist or astronomer—NO! Of course there are LAWS in the UNIVERSE. They are dependable and consistent as well. Just as Jesus Christ (is) the same  yesterday, and to day, and for ever. Hebrews  13:8 

One LAW of the universe needs to get more attention from us than it does, because we are constantly ignoring it. Now we have a hearty respect for the ‘Law of Gravity’ but the ‘Law of Cause and Effect’ gets ignored too often for our own good. Does such a ‘LAW’ really exist in the Universe? Yes—It most certainly does!

"As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come." Proverbs 26.2

"Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." Galatians 6.7

In the beginning God told Adam and Eve if they disobeyed Him they would die. Why?

Because God is the ONLY source of LIFE in the UNIVERSE—If you separate from Him, you will die.

SO—Why is Satan alive? And why did not Adam and Eve drop dead when they ate that fruit and chose to separate from God?

SOMETHING intervened or this could not be. God functions within His laws, as they are a transcript of His Character and He doesn’t change, therefore they don’t change either—however He can choose to intervene, and He did. In Satan’s case, He saw that the universe needed to see the direction that Satan’s rebellion would ultimately lead and so He allowed him to continue, so the principles of rebellion and lawlessness would be displayed before the universe. When the universe saw what Satan did to Jesus at the crucifixion, they saw clearly through Satan’s lies, but mankind still doesn’t.

With Mankind something different was put in place. God gave Jesus to bear the penalty and grant man a SECOND PROBATION. And ‘enmity’ was put into the heart of man. If it wasn’t for the ‘enmity’ (see Genesis 3:15) man would have always been in harmony with Satan and NOTHING could save him.

In our text above, John 3:16 we see what God gave: “His only begotten Son”.

God did not erase the ‘Law of Cause and Effect'' but Jesus stepped in to bear the penalty and purchase a ‘second chance’ for man. This world came under GRACE, and don’t let anyone try and tell you that Grace came in the New Testament only! No, without GRACE Adam and Eve would have died on the spot. Grace basically means that God is holding things together long enough to allow mankind to ‘choose you this day whom ye will serve’. Sin disrupted all nature and God holds it together and allows this world to continue.

Why? Because He ‘so loved’—He wants to save as many of us poor lost little ones as He can but it can only be done within His Universal Laws. Jesus was on Death Row as soon as our first parents chose to reject God and chose to ‘believe’ in Satan. Even in this story you see demonstrated that if you ‘believe’ someone you go his or her way. 

If I tell you something to do to help your health, if you really believe what I’m saying, you’ll do it. If we really believe in Jesus, that He is our only answer, then we will want to obey him.

So how does fallen man come back into harmony with Universal Law? Well, without intervention, he can’t. But look again at that GIFT: “His only begotten SON”. Remember—forgiveness wasn’t the gift—doing away with the law wasn’t the gift—the SON was the gift.

"For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ." Romans 5:17

"But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:" 1 Corinthians 1:30

Jesus lived a perfect life when He was born as a man, and His righteousness is given to us: first—to cover past sins, and second—to allow us to choose to have Him live his righteous and law keeping life in us. He takes our life for which he paid the penalty and then lives His life in us—BUT this is only done through our CHOICE.

When it all boils down, ALL that man has is what Jesus bought back for him—a CHOICE! Adam had a choice—after he sinned he lost it—Jesus bought that free choice back for us. Each man gets to choose whom he will serve. It was to be Christ or Satan. There’s no third option; when man serves himself, that is Satan because selfishness is the foundation of Satan’s ‘government’.

The GIFT is the SON. The Son bought the CHOICE. If you ‘BELIEVE’ on Him, you choose to have the Son rule in your life—if you choose to go your own way, you DON’T believe! Christ is our only source to have righteousness in us, but eventually the saved will be given His righteousness as their own–for eternity, but in this life our job is to choose and let Him live in us.

God is keeping things going on this earth. We will never know, this side of eternity,  to what extent He intervenes to keep this decrepit world running. Man has had dozens of ways to wipe himself out, but God allows life to go on. We see this illustrated in Revelation 7:1-3:

And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.

Thus the Bible portrays the work going on to keep this world in a condition that life is possible; To delay the results of the ‘law of cause and effect’. That’s why we think we can ‘get away’ with things sometimes.

 "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him: But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he feareth not before God." Ecclesiastes 8:11-13

In order to allow His purposes of Salvation to be carried out, God has to ‘bear long’ with the wicked doings of man. Jesus actually stands in the gap and allows life to continue, to allow a chance to repent and accept the GIFT.

  "But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath. For he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again." Psalm 78:38, 39

This is a painful process to the Godhead, as sin and cruelty, suffering and disease cause His great heart to recoil with agony! When we realize these facts we can see why the Bible tells us that every nation, group of people or individual all have a ‘cup of iniquity’ and when it is full, God’s wrath (justice without mercy) falls.

 "The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:" Revelation 14:10

Before this irrevocable time occurs, God has a pattern of action that He follows, first He seeks to win hearts through His mercy and blessings, then He begins to allow some of the ‘causes and effects’ to dribble through His fingers, as it were. First blessings begin to be withdrawn, then curses begin to fall–a little at a time. This is because mercy is mixed with the judgments; the GRACE is still in operation. If these warnings are still unheeded, after a time set by God, the wicked nation, group or person is destroyed. This is especially seen in the flood, and Sodom, where these people would have destroyed the earth before the Savior could even appear, and He had to blot them out.

Some people live to a ripe old age on this earth in wickedness, but not always, and even so, They will still be destroyed ultimately and at least some of their ‘causes’ come home to roost—much suffering of disease comes by disregard of God’s laws of life. We are told that in the near future, when the US passes a National Sunday Law, thus rejecting the Religious Liberty they were raised up by God to promote, His wrath will fall upon them, mingled with mercy at first, allowing the individual to find salvation and finally without mercy!

The “ENMITY” can be understood by the work of the Holy Spirit seeking to bring the person to repentance. Guilt and troubling of the conscience is one of the ways God tries to get through to man. He ‘troubles the waters’ and man finds this uncomfortable. If we turn to Jesus with a humble heart, seeking to come into harmony with God through Him, He grants us repentance, followed by forgiveness, and will lead us and recreate us until we come into the image of Christ.

Man has thousands of ways to try and escape from this troubling aspect of the Holy Spirit—much psychological symptomology comes from this. Using drugs, alcohol, entertainment, busy-ness, rationalization and on and on, man seeks to find the ‘peace’ that only surrender to Jesus and truly ‘believing’ in Him, which is a process of turning everything over to Jesus, can give him.

Let’s look for a moment at the concept of Laodecia found in Revelation 3, we find here a people who are not uncomfortable any more—they think they are just fine! But in reality they’re a real spiritual mess. Now consider for a moment, why does this happen? And why is it the last church? Well, what we see here is a time when the Spirit of God is gradually, reluctantly being withdrawn from the earth. People persist in going their own way and rationalizing away God’s warnings until He starts to withdraw. People start to feel good about themselves even though they are perishing!

The whole world is affected by this sad, final departure. People become more set to do evil no matter what, and they aren’t troubled with guilt as much. They are rejecting the ‘enmity’ that God bought for man at so great a cost.

Have you ever realized the events of the final days of this earth as portrayed in prophecy are symptoms of a dying world? Yes, the choices being made, the rushing into alliances and the determination to ‘do your own thing’ no matter who suffers, are all the results of the mercy of God being beaten back by a world in stubborn rebellion. Man is choosing to separate from God, and as he does this, he is choosing death. As his mind becomes less keen to see truth, he begins to die more and more, and he loves it, because he can feel the conscience less and less.

What about those who love Jesus? The ones who ‘believe’ in Him? Well the Holy Spirit is coming more and more to them and as this happens they become less and less satisfied with their own spirituality—they start crying to the Lord for cleansing, to have sin out of their lives fully!  As He draws closer they see their own unworthiness more and wrestle with Jesus for victory. You can see why these folks are terribly annoying to the ones who are self-satisfied.

Look with me for a moment at the outpouring of the ‘Later Rain’. If you take time to do a study on the preparation the high priest had to make in ancient Israel  prior to the day of Atonement, when he went in before the Holy Presence over the Mercy Seat, you will be impressed that SIN cannot live in the presence of God. That Holy Presence, by the way, was Jesus, before His incarnation.

Jesus was incarnated so He could come close to humans and not destroy them by His presence. We have examples of persons who perished before the Lord for presumptuously coming close to Him.  He allowed these examples to teach an important lesson—Sin cannot live in the presence of God! After Jesus was incarnated, He could only be in one place at a time, so the Holy Spirit was sent to be His representative on earth. The Holy Spirit woos and strives to bring man to the Savior. He can only come as close to us as our surrender to Jesus allows.

Remember how prophets fell on their faces when seeing even an angel? Well, if man were put suddenly into the presence of the Holy Spirit—he would cease to exist. That is why the disciples had to put away sin before Pentecost, It wasn’t just that they had to stop fighting; they stopped fighting because they put away sin and surrendered to Jesus! They were in unity because they were all surrendered to Jesus and that mind was in them that was in Christ Jesus. Philippians 2:5.

Now there are people telling you today that the Later Rain is what will cleanse us from sin—they are sadly mistaken. If the Latter Rain, which we are told must come with unlimited power, were to fall on anyone who still had unconfessed and unforsaken sin in his life—he would perish, just as Dathan and Abiram perished!

 The early rain is still with us, it comes gently as the soul surrenders more and more to Jesus and becomes like Him. It woos, recreates and strives with us, but the Later Rain will be full—if sin is still present, it will not come to that person. We are taught to pray for the Spirit and we should do that, but realize that you can’t have the Spirit fully and Sin too! When that Latter Rain falls it will be on a people that are totally surrendered to Jesus, and reflect Him fully. The Holy Spirit consumes sin—if you hang onto sin—you will perish with that sin.

The Holy Spirit is not a happy feeling that makes you talk gobble-de-gook or dance around and shout. When the Holy Spirit comes real close to a person, he falls on his face and humbles himself. He repents and forsakes sin.  God does not override our power of CHOICE—so He only removes sin as you agree to have it removed. The Latter Rain will not cleanse us from sin. That must be done before, by the working of the Former Rain and Jesus’ ministration in the Sanctuary.          

So just what is this Latter Rain’s purpose? Well, as we said above, God’s Spirit is being driven back more and more from this world, but He still loves mankind. There is only one more demonstration He can use whereby He can save a few—It is by sending forth 144,000 copies of His own character into the world to show the contrast between the ways of the BEAST and the ways of GOD. As the symptoms of the death of this rebellious world are coming more and more on the scene, Jesus is preparing His last demonstration of love and mercy—a group of people fully under the Holy Spirit’s power! A group that will act like Jesus acted no matter what the devil throws at them. Can we do this ourselves—No Way! BUT Jesus will do it in us, He will prepare us, if we are willing. He is “Christ Our Righteousness”. This group will show to the World and the Universe that Satan’s accusations are lies!

Please think for a moment of the preparation we need to be seeking and how Jesus helps us to ‘get ready’. He sends trials, gradually making them harder until we have total confidence in Him and His ability to keep us and will ‘follow the Lamb withersoever He goeth’! We can know that many of what we now view as terrible and heartbreaking events, like the loss of dear ones and many other trials, will be seen to be the greatest blessings when we look back from the other side.

Now what about the world from whom the Spirit is being withdrawn? As mercy is withdrawn, God begins to let the effects of the causes dribble through. Disasters, troubles, increase on all sides. Mercy is still there, as God still tries to wake up any who are wake-able. Those who have had great light and rejected it, are the first to feel His wrath, unmingled with mercy. They will live for a while as lost souls, totally under the devils control!

Those who didn’t have light, have a last chance to see the contrast as God’s Love sweeps the earth in its final display and are gathered into the fold just as the gate comes down. The wicked urged on by the evil angels seek to blot God’s people from the earth, but they are hidden under His wings and they can’t, although some martyrs will be allowed at first to demonstrate a Love that goes beyond death. Once all final decisions are made and mercy’s door closes on a world that rejected everything that an infinite God could do to save them, there will be no more martyrs. 

“The Saviour's prophecy concerning the visitation of judgments upon Jerusalem is to have another fulfillment, of which that terrible desolation was but a faint shadow. In the fate of the chosen city we may behold the doom of a world that has rejected God's mercy and trampled upon his law. Dark are the records of human misery that earth has witnessed during its long centuries of crime. The heart sickens and the mind grows faint in contemplation. Terrible have been the results of rejecting the authority of Heaven. But a scene yet darker is presented in the revelations of the future. The records of the past,—the long procession of tumults, conflicts, and revolutions, the "battle of the warrior, with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood,"[1 ISA. 9:5.]—what are these, in contrast with the terrors of that day when the restraining Spirit of God shall be wholly withdrawn from the wicked, no longer to hold in check the outburst of human passion and Satanic wrath! The world will then behold, as never before, the results of Satan's rule.

 "But in that day, as in the time of Jerusalem's destruction, God's people will be delivered, "every one that shall be found written among the living." Christ has declared that he will come the second time, to gather his faithful ones to himself: "Then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."[2 MATT. 24:30, 31.] Then shall they that obey not the gospel be consumed with the spirit of his mouth, and be destroyed with the brightness of his coming.[3 2 THESS. 2:8.] Like Israel of old, the wicked destroy themselves; they fall by their iniquity. By a life of sin, they have placed themselves so out of harmony with God, their natures have become so debased with evil, that the manifestation of his glory is to them a consuming fire.” The Great Controversy [1888 edition] pgs. 37-38

The wicked experience the Wrath without mercy in the 7 Last Plagues. The effects of their causes fall upon them. Why are they not just blotted out? Because that would not serve Justice, the other aspect of God’s immutable character. These wicked have caused terrible suffering to one another, to the saints, to animate creation, and to God Himself, and they are allowed to see ‘what it feels like’ for a while but God intervenes in this Horror and Jesus comes to take His redeemed home and the wicked perish as He comes.

What’s the bottom line in all this? CHARACTER! The redeemed with be like Jesus, the lost like the BEAST! Choose YOU this day whom YOU will serve! Will you have God’s ONLY GIFT or your ‘EFFECTS’?

TEMCAT'S STUDY