Wednesday, March 18, 2009 at 7:45PM
Eden to Eden
Kenneth Jorgensen
Fairplain, MI Seventh-day Adventist Church
I wish I could preach in Norwegian, but I realize there is no one here that could translate; so let's do the next best. It is a tremendous privilege and a blessing to be able to communicate the Word of God to God's people. You never know. Maybe there is one in this congregation who will hear the gospel for the last time; therefore it is a tremendous responsibility.
Can you remember the first weeks and months that you gave your life to Jesus? Do you remember the happiness of your life during those days? I can remember my life when I surrendered. And I think its the most happy time of my life. I'm still a happy person, but you know, the feelings, they were so strong during those days. And you could almost touch them.
And I remember as I went out in the forest, I looked up into the blue sky, and I was thinking about Jesus. And I was thinking by myself, maybe He will come back in the next hour with His angels. Maybe He will end all sin and suffering in this world. You know, this thought gave me so much happiness. But as I matured as a Christian, I realized that Jesus—He would not come back, you know, the next hour. Because certain things had to take place before He would come back. This is the clear word of God.
But you see, we are allowed to ask the question, why hasn't Jesus come back yet? You think that He would like to come back? Oh yes! He's eager to come back. But why hasn't He come back? It is a legitimate question for God's people to ask. Because it seems to delay. Why hasn't Jesus come back? Why is He waiting? Let us turn to God's Word for the answer to this pertinent question.
Let us turn to Acts chapter three, verse 19 to verse 21. Acts 3:19-21. And I believe that the Bible gives us the answer to this very complex and difficult question. By the way, it's one of the most difficult questions you can ask a Seventh-day Adventist scholar. Dissertations have been written about it; books have been written about it. And there are so many answers to this complex question. But I think the Bible will give us a quite simple answer. Acts 3:19-21:
"Repent therefore, and be converted; that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ who was preached to you before." And verse 21: "Whom heaven must receive until" (this word "until" is a crucial word), "until the times of restoration of all things which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since this world began."
So in other words, Jesus is going to stay in heaven until something special takes place. And what is going to take place? A restoration of all things that the prophets have spoken about.
Let's go to Isaiah chapter 61, verse 4. Because we need to ask, what have the prophets been spoken about? Let's go to Isaiah 61:4:
It speaks about God's people, after Christ came to this world, because when you read the first verse it is addresses the Messianic time. It says in verse four: "And they [God's people] shall rebuild the old ruins, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations."
So there is a work of restoration that needs to take place before Jesus comes back. Let's go to another text that is found in Jeremiah chapter six, verse 16. Jeremiah 6:16:
"Thus says the Lord. Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk in it. Then you will find rest for your souls." And the next sentence says why the Israelites had to spend forty years in the desert, why we are still in this world. It says but they said, "We will not walk in it." We will not walk in it.
I believe when you go back to the old paths—I believe the "old paths" are the two first chapters of the Bibel—of Genesis. Because these chapters describe the perfect environment; these chapters describe the ideal. And you need to go through the rest of the Bible to the last two chapters to see these ideal conditions be restored. So the first two chapters of the Bible speak about ideals. The last two chapters speak about ideals. And God, He wants to implant these principles in our hearts.
But then you will say, "but isn't the reason for the delay that God loves everyone and He wants everyone to be saved?" Oh yes, sure—that's the Word of God. But you see, if Jesus had to wait until everyone would be saved in this world, how long would we have to wait? Forever. Millions and millions of years. So you see, Jesus is waiting to save those who can be saved, and then He will come back. He is merciful. But the Bible also says that when the Bible has been proclaimed to all the world, then Jesus will come back. That is true; it is the Word of God. But who is going to preach this gospel? It's people. So God has to raise up people to preach this gospel. And not only raise up people to preach this gospel, but raise up people that can be a demonstration of the gospel. Because if they are no demonstration of the gospel, they can't preach the gospel as God wants them to preach the gospel.
So you see—these principles—they have to be part of God's people before Jesus comes back.
Let's go to Genesis chapter one, O.K.? And I'll summarize seven principles there in the two first chapters, and I believe from the bottom of my heart, that these seven principles must be a part of God's people before Jesus comes back.
First Point: Trust in God as the Creator
O.K. Let's go to the first. And that's found in the first sentence of the Bible: "in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." You see, it doesn't tell us why he created it; it doesn't tell us how He created it; but He explicitly states that he created it. And do you think that He wants us to believe it? Oh yes. Of course, you can make a few inquiries, and consult science, but that's secondary. First, pay attention to what God says. And God—';He wants His people to believe His Word. Even if it is seemingly contradictory to current science. If you have the choice of believing in science or the Bible, what do you want to believe in? The Bible, ya. We have seen through history that science has to be adjusted according to the Word of God. There is no question.
You know, if God's people had not trusted God's word, however contrary to science it may have appeared, there would have been few great stories in the Bible. Isn't that true? I think the Bible would have been just a few pages. We need to trust the Bible just as it is written. Because if we cannot trust the first verse in the Bible, and the first chapter in the Bible, how can we trust that Jesus is our Savior? How can we trust that He hung on the cross to save mankind? I think that demands even more faith. You see, we need to be consistent. And before Jesus comes back, there will be a people that believe in the word of God as it is written. So this is very important.
Let's go to Revelation 14:7, because we can see it confirmed there. These are words about the last days. And what is the message that God's people are going to proclaim? You know, they started to proclaim this around 1844. And around that time Charles Darwin was just completing the first draft of his Origin of the Species. And at that time Nizche rose up with his anti-God philosophy, just before the French revolution had declared God dead. See, at this special time God raised up a people to address the issue of belief in God as the Creator; to believe in Him as the Word of God. Let's see: chapter fourteen, verse six. "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, saying with a loud voice, fear God, and give glory to Him. For the hour of His judgment has come. And worship Him who made heaven and earth, sea, and springs of water." God, the Creator. See, that was the first point. And there are seven points in the two first chapters of Genesis.
Second Point: God Wants Us to be Faithful Stewards
And the next point I have chosen to call stewardship. Stewardship. Because God wants His people to be true stewards. It says there in chapter one of Genesis, verse 26, "Then God said, let us make God in our image, according to our likeness. Let them have dominion..." Dominion—do you know what that means? To "have dominion" means to be stewards. "To have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
Chapter two, verse 15 speaks about the garden God gave them to tend. It says "Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it." And this should be a reminder about the greatness of God. It should be to God's glory. Who do you think is interested in destroying this garden? Satan, of course. And Satan, he started to attack God's creation.
We can see the result of it when we read together, for example, Isaiah chapter 24. That is a chapter that addresses the condition of the world just prior to Jesus second coming. Isaiah chapter 24:3-5. And here is the result of Satan's work, and people have followed him, joining in with his effort to destroy this world. "The land shall be entirely emptied and utterly plundered, for the Lord has spoken this word. The earth mourns and fades away. The world languishes and fades away. The haughty people of the earth languish. The earth is also defiled under its inhabitants because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinances, and broken the everlasting covenant."
And at the end of the Bible in the book of Revelation, only one short sentence in Revelation 11:18 speaks about the enemies of God's people. The enemy of God, it says there in chapter eleven, verse eighteen, the last sentence, "God will destroy those who destroy the earth." Two thousand years ago by the grace of God and by the Spirit of God the prophet anticipated that somebody would try to destroy the world. That's a big prophecy. God wants us to be true stewards of His planet. We must make a garden of Eden wherever we can. You know, how you treat the animals, or your neighbors, is stewardship, either for good or bad. God's people—those who are keeping the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus—they have an advantage in these days. We know they are the remnant people. As your conference President just stated, it is not that they are a better people, but there is more responsibility.
Because of our knowledge, we have received principles on how this planet should work. I think about the health message. I think about the message about agriculture. I think about the message against the tobacco exploiters. You see, if you think about this planet as a cake, it's supposed to be divided between the 6.2 Billion people living on this planet. But you know that the people in the western world, they take up eighty or ninety percent of this cake. Why? Because of the worlds craving for tobacco, spirits, tea, sugar, and meat.
Third Point: God Gives Mankind a Healthy Diet
You know, I'm coming to this in the next point, because if you read in Genesis chapter one, verse twenty-nine, the diet for mankind is described. And what kind of diet is the ideal diet? It is plant food. Plant food. Because it says there in verse 29, "and God said, See, I have given you every herb that yields seed that is on the face of the earth. And every tree whose fruit yields seed, to you it shall be for food." Did you know that it takes 15 pounds of grain to feed one kilogram or two pounds of pork-meat. And it takes like almost one gallon of petrol to feed one or two pounds of pork-meat. And it takes almost three thousand liters (I don't know how much this is in English, American), 3000 liters of water to feed up two pounds of pork-meat.
So you see, lots of energy from this earth goes into the meat industry. And this is a factor in the tremendous imbalance between the poor and the rich in this world. Because some people, they starve, some people they eat too much. And shouldn't God's people be in the forefront to defend those poor people in this world? And one thing we can do is to change a little bit in our diet.
I am not promoting that everyone should cut off everything here and now. It needs to be progressive. We need to make a deal with the Lord, and say, Lord, I want to reform my life. So if you are used to eating pork every day, maybe you should leave this pork for awhile. Forever! And uh, [congregation, laughter] and eat a little [meat] sparingly. Maybe if you eat a lot of meat, even clean meat, you should maybe leave it maybe to once a week instead of three times a week. Make progress. You see, make progress. That is what God wants of us.
Why should Christians be vegetarians before Jesus comes back. I'll tell you why. Because God loves us. That's the reason. Because God loves us. He knows about all these diseases. He knows about this unfairness. He knows about all these things. And you know it is scientifically proven beyond doubt that the diet from Genesis one is superior to the diet that is proposed by the world today. So we don't need even to be contrary to science to follow this advice.
Ellen White, she has a strong statement. I decided to leave out some of the toughest, because there may be some people here who can't bear it. But I will read two for you, O.K.?
"Again and again I have been shown that God is trying to lead us back step by step to His original design, that man should subsist upon the natural products of the earth." That's a good statement, isn't it? God wants to lead us back to this ideal of paradise. The next statement:
"Among those who are waiting for the coming of the Lord, meat eating will eventually be done away. Flesh will cease to form a part of their diet. We should ever keep this end in view, and endeavor to work steadily toward it. I cannot think that in the practice of flesh eating we are in harmony with the light which God has been pleased to give us."
You know, I could spend lots and lots of time on this. But during the forty years the Israelites wandered in the desert the priests, they were eating meat. The people, they were eating manna—that's not meat. Why did the priests eat meat. Because it was ceremonial. It was a symbol of Jesus' life death, and resurrection. So when they ate this meat, they were reminded that an animal had to be slain. And when they partook of this meat, they partook of Christ. So it was a symbol. It was a ceremony. And when Jesus came 2000 years ago, we are not under the ceremonial law any longer. And so you see, the conclusion is, you come under the bondage of the law if you continue. So give it up. Give it up. That's the advice from the Word of God. And you can blame me afterwards, but that would not be fair, because you have to blame the Word of God. And you have to blame the prophet God sent to this world. Not me. I'm clear. [appreciative amens]. You see?
But I have a question: shall we continue? We are not half through yet. There are four more points. Do you dare to hear any more? [responses: yes, yes].
O.K., let's go to point number four. That is Genesis 2:2-3. I'll do it quick. I'll cut it short in righteousness.
Fourth Point: The Seventh-day Sabbath Comes to Us From Eden
Chapter verse two and three: this is the beloved Sabbath. "And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested ont he seventh day from all His work that He had done. And He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because that in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made."
So the seventh day is one of the seven points from Eden. And do you think that Satan was interested in destroying this? Oh yes, sure. And you know he found all kinds of other days that they could worship on later in history. But God always reminded them to come back to His holy day. And um, the book of Isaiah chapter 58 speaks of the restoration work just prior to Jesus' return. Look at this chapter: Isaiah 58:12-13.
By the way, Clinton, he read one text from the Bible during his inauguration speech. That was Isaiah chapter 58, verse 11. He should have continued, because then thousands of people in America would think about the Sabbath. But he didn't. He stopped there. Verse twelve. Let us read: "Those from among you shall build the old waste places. You shall raise up the foundations of many generations. And you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in, if you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord, honourable, and shall honour Him. Not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words. This is the kind of restoration work that we have to be part of in the last days if we are to be called God's people.
You know, this work started with a test. God tested His people—seeing whether they would obey His word. Because He put many trees in the garden, and He said, you can eat from all the trees of the garden. But the tree in the middle of the garden, the fruit there, you shall not eat of. Because when you do that, you will die.
You know what God did. He gave us many days during the week. And He told us, you can work on all these days. But this particular day, the seventh day, you shall not work on it. And you know where He put this commandment? He put it in the middle of the Ten Commandments. God started the world by testing men and women, and He will end the world by testing us. And the test will be on this point. Will you follow God, or will you follow man? This is the real test.
Fifth Point: Man Has Conditional Immortality Only
The next point is in Genesis 2:7, and that has to do with the conditionality of man. You see, the whole world, at least the religious world, believe that man has a soul within him. And when man dies, this soul continues to live. We call it the immortality of the soul doctrine. And especially in the eastern religions this is a fundamental belief. But it is also a fundamental belief in the Christian world, Protestant and Catholic. But God's Word is contrary to it, because chapter two, verse seven says that the soul cannot live apart from the body. This is essential. It sets the tone for the rest of the Bible.
It says there, "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being, or a living soul." So you see, dust—material, and God's spirit together, becomes a soul—a living soul. This is the teaching throughout the Bible.
In Revelation 18, and verse two it describes Babylon. And I think that the term Babylon is a term that we as a people need to come to terms with. Because it is so misunderstood. We don't—we don't really believe what the pioneers believed on that point. Maybe a reason could be that we have been too closely connected with Babylon in many aspects. And um, you know, it is basic to identify because there is so much imitation of Babylon among us today—worship style, music, taste, preaching.
And what is Babylon? Babylon is religion. Christianity or whatever religion, that denies the truth of the first angel's message. If you deny the truths of the first angel's message, that group is part of Babylon. And you know that the Word of God says that the seven plagues are going to fall on Babylon. So what do we have to do? We have to call people out from Babylon. And instead of calling methods out of Babylon, we need to call people out of Babylon. There is a difference between people and methods, isn't there? We are not called to call methods out, but people. Because the people—they are going to perish there, if we are not calling them out! So therefore we need to call them out. So I wish that God's people could study this term Babylon. Study carefully. Because there is some truth for us to discover there. For some of us, I guess.
But there it says in chapter 18, verse 2, "And he cried mightily with a loud voice, Babylon is fallen," because it had rejected the first angel's message. "It has fallen, and has become a habitation of demons." I would not like to be there, would you? Think of what it would be to be int he same place as a host of devils. Oh no. That would be horrible. We need to call them out. And what are these devils doing in the last days? Oh, they are pretending to be deceased relatives, aren't they? They are extremely active. It is so dangerous to be in Babylon. So let's endeavor to call people out from Babylon. And let's also endeavor not to be influenced by Babylon ourselves.
Sixth Point: God Expects Obedience
Point number six: obedience. Point number six, obedience. Genesis chapter two, verse 16 and 17. And you know, we have touched it carefully. God, He told Adam and Eve not to eat of this tree—the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. He put them on a test. He wanted to see if they really wanted to obey Him, if they really wanted to be His people.
And let me say it, so there is no misunderstanding. Without Christ, we cannot obey God, O.K? Without Christ it is impossible to obey God. The Bible says so. So we need to invite Christ into our hearts. He has to transform our character. And only then can we obey God's law. And Adam and Eve, did they have Christ in their hearts? Oh ya, of course. So God, He didn't require anything from them that they could not give. And the same with us. If Christ is in our hearts, we can obey His commandments. Not only outwardly, but also inwardly: in thought, in word, and in works. And God calls us to be obedient. The last people, belonging to God in the last days, they are called the people who keep His commandments and have the faith of Jesus. They are a patient people.
A strong statement here, from Ellen White's Evangelism, page 696: "For forty years did unbelief, murmuring, and rebellion shut out ancient Israel from the land of Canaan. The same sins have delayed the entrance of modern Israel into the heavenly Canaan. In neither case were the promises of God at fault. It is the unbelief, the worldliness, unconsecration, and strife among the Lord's professed people that have kept us in this world of sin and sorrow for so many years." That's pretty clear words, isn't it? So we need to go into a deeper relationship with God so that Christ can dwell in us so that we can honor Him by keeping His commandments.
A few words from a former General Conference President, Elder Pierson. Pierson was the General Conference President for ten or fifteen years. And he wrote the following:
"The greatest need of the Seventh-day Adventist church today is not more money, bigger budgets, more buildings, more institutions and facilities. It is not even more evangelistic crusades. What we as Seventh-day Adventist Church members need is to be saved from our sins. God is not waiting for more storms, more political furor, more wars and rumors of wars before Jesus can come. He is waiting for His people to gain victory over sin, so that He can trust them with His heaven. Jesus came to save His people from their sins, to help us to be overcomers. This should be in focus."
So there are reasons why there is a delay. When we study the Word of God and His inspired sources, we can find the reasons.
Seventh Point: Marriage Comes From From Eden
The last point, because I can't stop before I give you the last point, is marriage. Genesis 2:18f, "And the Lord God said, it is not good that man be alone. I will make him a helper comparable to him." And then verse 24 and 25: "therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed."
Marriage is a symbol of our connection with Christ. It is also a foretaste of heaven. Those of you who live happy lives as couples, you know that it is a foretaste of heaven. You can't come higher in this world than with Christ, but marriage is as if it were the next thing to that. So marriage, it is a symbol of our connectedness with Christ and foretaste of heaven. And Christ, He was confronted by some of the Pharisees in Matthew chapter nineteen. I will focus a short time on this text, because it is crucial to the whole argument that we have presented this morning. Pay attention to what Jesus answers when these Pharisees try to put Him into a corner. It is in relation to divorce, marriage and divorce, O.K.?
Verse three: "The pharisees also came to Him testing Him, and saying to Him, is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason? And he answered and said to them, have you not read that He who made them in the beginning made them male and female." O.K., He refers to the beginning, He refers to Eden. Verse five, "and said, for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. So then there are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let not man separate. They said to Him, why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce and to put her away? He said to them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts permitted you to divorce your wives. But from the beginning it was not so." Do you see? "But from the beginning it was not so." So what is the ideal in the mind of Christ? The beginning. The beginning. He refers back to the beginning. There's the ideal. And we should strive to reach this ideal. God knows that we are dust. He is merciful to us. But that is no excuse for willfully disobeying His advice.
So, when we go to Matthew chapter five, we can clearly see that Jesus was lifting up the standard. As the prophets of old time, they came to lift up the standard, so did Jesus. Because chapter five says so very, very clearly. Verse 21: "You have heard that it was said to those of old ...but I say to you," Jesus He lifted it up! And what are we supposed to do as a movement just before Jesus comes back? Lift the standard of course. Lift Jesus high up for the world! So that they can see Eden. So that they can see Jesus Christ as this world's Savior.
You know, in these times of unveiling monuments and these things, this movement is not a monument. You know what it is? It is a movement. It is not a monument, it is a movement. Ya. We are dust. Let us remember that God is merciful. However, we are a movement. We should do progressive reformation.
Conclusion
I have a grandmother (maybe that should be the last story). And uh, She died a long time ago. But I was told this story by the pastor who baptized her. And also I met her, and my mother has told me this story.
When she received the gospel, and was converted, in the little village where she lived it stirred up all the people, and especially her husband. He was furious. He told her to leave the home. He didn't want to be married to her anymore. And the day she was going to be baptized, you know what happened? My grandfather, he was furious. He invited the local priest to come and warn my grandmother not to be baptized. Just before she was going to be baptized, this priest came to my grandmother, and there were many people around. And this priest told her, "You must not do this Bertha, because this is a sect. It is dangerous. You are going to lose your soul if you join yourself with these people." And he used hard words. And my grandmother she was a tremendous humble person. You know, she patiently listened to this priest. And then, when he had finished with all of his accusations, she gave him one text from the Bible: Ezekiel 22:26. I'll read it for you.
And she said to this priest, "her priests have violated my law, and profaned my holy things. They have not distinguished between the holy and the unholy, nor have they made known the difference between the unclean and the clean. And they have hidden their eyes from My sabbaths so that I am profaned among them." And then he (the priest) said, "oh, we do the best that we can." And he never said anything more. And there is a happy ending to this story. My grandfather, he became an Adventist. So by the example of this God-fearing older woman he turned into an Adventist two or three years before he died.
So you see, there are many who have not the peace of God. There are many people, even among God's people, who do not even know Jesus Christ. Who is the King in your life? You know, wherever God rules, there is the kingdom of God. Does God rule in your life? Who is ruling in your life? Is it the world? Is it the influences from all kinds, from all sides? Or is it Jesus Christ?
Surrender to Jesus Christ this moment. He stands there, knocking at our doors. You see, we can compare this movement of the last days with a single person. Because Jesus, He's waiting for His people. Maybe Jesus is waiting for me and for you. He's a gentlemen. He stands and He knocks at the door. Open the door and let Him in. And there will be a newness in your life. And we can together experience the tremendous happiness of being connected with Jesus Christ as our Savior. He died on the cross so that we should be saved. Do not let His death be in vain. Jesus—He loves us. He will forgive us. He will give us His power so that we may live new lives for Him.
May His name be glorified. Amen. Let's pray.
Dear Father in heaven, in the name of Jesus do we come before You. Thank You so much for the gift of life that we receive through Jesus Christ. Be with us now as we go out into the world to share the wonderful gospel. Be with Your movement. Bless it. And Father, we know that You are still in charge. You are still loving these people on earth. Be with us now, and send us Your Spirit, we pray in the name of Jesus, amen.
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