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| River Registered user Username: River Post Number: 1490 Registered: 9-2006  |
This morning at 3:15 I was ask to come into the room and verify that “uncle” has passed. He had Alzheimer’s disease and we had kept him for four years as I watched this disease progress, I would take him for rides in my pick-up and even though his mind was going he would look and point and jabber at a certain bridge we would cross, he had recognition of that bridge with its unmistakable form and large steel girders and he would look with interest at the forested hills. Finally it came to the day when we crossed the familiar bridge and as we crossed I watched his face to see the reaction, but there was none, I watched him all the rest of the way home and there was no longer any reaction from the passing country side, his eyes just straight ahead. He never reacted again to that familiar bridge. As far as I know he has never accepted the Lords grace, the last thing to go in his speech were curse words, about a week ago, maybe two, he spent most of the day jabbering curse words, my wife remarked that it wore on her. This morning I feel a sense of great peace. The struggle is over, Oh, it will take awhile for me not to listen for him. I will still be tempted to open his door and check on him for awhile, but I also have the realization that his time on earth has passed, I really didn’t have to listen for a heart beat to tell he was dead, my spirit told me and listening for a heart beat was just a formality, but my spirit sensed the finality. It has never failed me. The absence of a spirit within is unmistakable stillness. This morning I am reminded of this scripture, Hebrews 3:8 Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness, Hebrews 3:9 Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, And saw My works forty years. Hebrews 3:10 Therefore I was angry with that generation, And said, 'They always go astray in their heart, And they have not known My ways.' Hebrews 3:11 So I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest.' " Hebrews 3:12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; Hebrews 3:13 but exhort one another daily, while it is called "Today," lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For this man it is no longer called today, the opportunity has passed to enter into his “rest”. I wonder about my Adventist friends this morning who are steeped in the deceitfulness of a false gospel, the clock ticks down and have they entered into his rest? How about it Bible scholars, what “rest” is he speaking of in Hebrews 3:11? Is it the “rest” of soul sleep? Or the “rest” of an intermediate holding place for spirits who have gone on? Or the “Rest” of a body worn out from living? Of a mind that has ceased to function and a body that “sleeps” in the ground? Is his “rest” just an option we have to choose from? Is it an option to believe in the IJ? Is assurance an option that we have to choose from? What about this passage of scripture? Hebrews 4:10 For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. Hebrews 4:11 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. Is this the same “Rest” that he speaks of in Heb. 3:11? What do you think? Must we enter into that “rest” while it is called today or after death takes hold, the sun has set and the today is forever gone? The writer says ” be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall” when might that “Fall” occur? The writer seems to be speaking to and exhorting to those of the “while it is called today” “Today harden not your heart”. He speaks in another place Hebrews 4:3 For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: "So I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest,' " although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. So although the works were finished from the foundation of the world, through the hardness of unbelief, to all outward appearances uncle did not enter into that “rest” while it was called today. Does the proponent of the IJ, soul sleep and other false doctrines seeking for perfection through works have rest from his work? Or is it just an option and God will go ahead and receive those restless souls even tho he “Swore in his wrath the unbeliever would not enter it”? How about it? Do you think that “rest” is an option? Is this “rest” the same as what we call “assurance?” River | ||
| Martinc Registered user Username: Martinc Post Number: 16 Registered: 9-2006 |
Thanks for that story, River, I was very moved. I really appreciate your linking your uncle's death with Hebrews 3. That is one of the passages that convicted me to make a clean break from Adventism, because I was self-deceived. Adventists such as Bacchiocchi think Heb. 3 and 4 is a call to more Sabbath-keeping, more "grateful response," more survival of the fittest. For this non-scholar, it appears straighforward. The Adventist distinctives you mentioned all promote unrest and distrust in Christ's finished work. Death provides no rest, nor does compulsive sin-confessing, as taught by EGW. Sinning and confessing that way promotes a spiritual binge and purge cycle. There comes a day when we throw down all our works, then wildly, insanely abandon ourselves to His mercy, resting in Christ's finished work alone. It is harder for an achieving Adventist to be saved than for a camel to squeeze through the eye of a needle. Of course, "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." Heb. 7:25. For the Adventist who is still testing Him in the wilderness with IJ and achievement theology, there is no day like Today. | ||
| Colleentinker Registered user Username: Colleentinker Post Number: 6822 Registered: 12-2003  |
Wow, River and Martin, powerful posts. Thank you for the story, River—and I agree with Martin that linking it with Hebrews 3 and 4 and your ongoing struggle with your Adventist friends is appropriate and insightful. As an Adventist, I was Hebrews 3 all the way. I didn't even realize, then, that I was "in" Hebrews 3. I just knew that the uncertainty and struggle were always unresolved, and even if I decided to operate on the assumption that God saved by grace and I wanted to trust that idea, in the back of my mind was the high-tension hum of fear, uncertainty, out-of-control-ness, and struggle that pretty much shaped my life. You said a mouthful, Martin: "It is harder for an achieving Adventist to be saved than for a camel to squeeze through the eye of a needle." Today there is deliverance. Colleen | ||
| Flyinglady Registered user Username: Flyinglady Post Number: 4317 Registered: 3-2004  |
River, Losing a loved one is hard, especially when that person does not know God. I agree with Colleen and Martin. Today there is deliverance and I am so thankful that today I have it. Thank you God, you are so awesome. Diana | ||
| Philharris Registered user Username: Philharris Post Number: 194 Registered: 5-2007  |
Hebrews 3:7-11 is a quote from Psa. 95:7-11. It is informative to go back and read the complete psalm. Psa. 95 O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also. The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land. O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker. For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work. Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways: Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest. 1. The subject of this psalm is declared to be salvation in verse one. 2. The generation of Israelites (adults) who turned away from the rock of salvation died without crossing over the River Jordan into the land of rest, their salvation. Not even Moses. Of the adults who escaped Egypt, only Joshua and Caleb crossed over. Of course Moses received the promise that he would cross over into the "true rest" and was allowed to see it (the Promised Land) from a distance. 3. Our rest, the Rock of our salvation, is found in Jesus and begins when we become a part of the Body of Christ. Heb. 4:3 For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4. Then Hebrews goes on to say that there is a future rest. A full complete rest. Heb. 4:9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. Romans 8:38,39 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 5. If Romans 8:38 & 39 means what it says, and it does, then there can be no gap or break between our initial rest and the complete rest to come. These last two verses are my favorite because when I finally understood them, the assurance they produced in my life gave me the courage and freedom to turn my back on SDA theology forever. The silly idea of "Soul Sleep" is complete nonsense. 6. Nothing can separate us from the love of God…period, amen, halleluiah! Phil | ||
| River Registered user Username: River Post Number: 1494 Registered: 9-2006 |
Not a very good option to turn your back on that salvation which was prepared before the foundation of the world is it Phil? Thank for the rundown on that scripture, what a rest we have in Jesus, what peace, what joy, what contentment he brings. River |
