By John Thiel, Preparation for the Close of Probation Conference, Study 3, mp3
Revelation 22:11 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. 12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward [is] with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.
Probation has been given to us to become holy. The period of probation is a period of preparation to be fitted for the citizenship of heaven. The time when we will meet God is when a people will be holy.
Hebrews 12:14 Follow peace with all [men], and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:
For us to be fitted to see the Lord we must be holy. That is the work of probation, to bring us to that point.
2 Peter 3:14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.
By the time probation closes, God’s people must be without spot, blameless, holy as God is holy. That is what is written. It is not by our own works that this can happen, but by the activities of God, who is the one who will do this work in us. During this time of probation it is paramount for us to understand what the activities of Jesus are. In the following scripture Jesus speaks to the disciples and to us in answer to that which is often the expression of those who come face to face with the condition that they must reach. They say, “I can’t make that, I can’t get there;” they are troubled, but Jesus says:
John 14:1 Let not your heart be troubled:
He says, Take away your anxiety;
John 14:1 …ye believe in God, believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many mansions: if [it were] not [so], I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, [there] ye may be also.
In the light of our meditation about reaching that condition of holiness, these words of Jesus become more meaningful than simply what is written on the surface. Most people seem to think that Jesus is going to prepare mansions there. But the fact is that the mansions are already there. The New Jerusalem is there, He hasn’t gone there to build it. It is there. But what He is doing in the heavenly kingdom is preparing us so that we can have a place there. That is what He is saying, I go to prepare a place for you. I am going into heaven to work so that the activities of My work are going to render you a person who can be there. We read the amplification of this work in Hebrews. We do not have to come to this subject with anxiety, but with hope:
Hebrews 6:19 Which [hope] we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;
We have something secure for us; it is a steadfast security, a hope, because Jesus has gone to prepare us an acceptable place there, to make us acceptable to have a place there.
Hebrews 6:20 Whither the forerunner is for us entered, [even] Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
The eternal priesthood is what Jesus’ activities in the heavenly sanctuary are all about. He is there working for us, to provide us with a condition that will be able to fit in the heavenly fellowship. This is further enlarged in this scripture:
Hebrews 8:1 Now of the things which we have spoken [this is] the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; 2 A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.
What are His activities in that sanctuary, in the heavenly sanctuary that the Lord pitched, and not man?
Hebrews 8:6 But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.
He is mediating in the heavenly sanctuary the everlasting covenant. What is that covenant that He is mediating?
Hebrews 8:10 For this [is] the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
That is what Jesus is mediating as our High Priest in the sanctuary. He is there working to impart to us who believe in Him the laws that will render us fit to be in the kingdom of heaven with Him. He will put His laws into our mind, and write them in our hearts, and be to us a God, and we to Him a people. To do that work involves very personal engagement with us:
Hebrews 9:14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 15 And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions [that were] under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.
He is the Mediator. What is He doing? He is applying His blood, so that, as He applies His blood to our conscience, He purges our conscience from dead works and installs His law. This is the mediator of the new covenant, of the everlasting covenant. This is the work of Jesus. We see that we have something to rejoice about. Even though we have broken the promises of keeping His earlier testament, He is now doing something better for us. The sins that were committed under the first testament are now replaced by the work of Jesus.
God’s law [the law that He is going to write in our foreheads, in our hearts] reaches the feelings and motives, as well as the outward acts. It reveals the secrets of the heart, flashing light upon things before buried in darkness. God knows every thought, every purpose, every plan, every motive. The books of heaven record the sins that would have been committed had there been opportunity. {5BC 1085.4}
As Jesus applies His blood in reference to the broken law, our conscience becomes purged. It reveals to us everything about us inside of us. It purges our conscience, revealing the deep motives, even the things we would have committed if we had opportunity.
God will bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing. By His law He measures the character of every man. {5BC 1085.4}
The character of us all is transferred like it is in the times of our modern technology – you can actually speak to somebody in another country on Skype, and you can put the camera on, and your personality can be seen by the other person on the other side. The heavenly internet connection brings these computers here, us human beings, as a visible picture up in the heavenly sanctuary.
As the artist transfers to the canvas the features of the face, so the features of each individual character are transferred to the books of heaven. {5BC 1085.4}
In Sister White’s time they didn’t have computers; today computers are identified as books. In the computers of heaven God has a character picture of us, as a living picture of character. It is there.
God has a perfect photograph of every man’s character, and this photograph He compares with His law. He reveals to man the defects that mar his life, and calls upon him to repent and turn from sin (ST July 31, 1901). {5BC 1085.4}
These are the activities of Jesus before the Father’s throne. You can see here that God is very anxious to work for our salvation, not only in giving Jesus as the Lamb, but then as the High Priest who is doing the work of purification upon our person. Here is Jesus preparing us for a place with Him. This is what we need to keep very fresh in our mind, that as we are preparing for the close of probation, we bear in mind that it is Jesus who is preparing us, but is there something that we have to do? It is very interesting that in this scripture of Amos, it tells us something that we must do:
Amos 4:12 Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: [and] because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.
God wants to do something to cleanse and purge us, but He says, Because I am going to do that, I want you to prepare to meet your God. And what must we have in order to meet Him? Without holiness we can’t meet Him. To prepare we must cooperate with Him to come to a state of holiness, a state without blame or spot. The language of the Spirit of Prophecy on this matter is very important, because we have something to do in this work of the activities of Jesus in the heavenly sanctuary. The Saviour is mediating for us as our High Priest; what should we be doing to receive the benefits of that?
Those who would share the benefits of the Saviour’s mediation should permit nothing to interfere with their duty to perfect holiness in the fear of God. {GC 488.2}
We have a job to do – to perfect holiness as we share in the benefits of the Saviour’s mediation.
The precious hours, instead of being given to pleasure, to display, or to gain seeking, should be devoted to an earnest, prayerful study of the word of truth. {GC 488.2}
We will see as we proceed that the study of the word is so essential because it is the word that has to be the effective agency by which we are perfected.
The subject of the sanctuary and the investigative judgment should be clearly understood by the people of God. All need a knowledge for themselves of the position and work of their great High Priest. Otherwise it will be impossible for them to exercise the faith which is essential at this time or to occupy the position which God designs them to fill. Every individual has a soul to save or to lose. Each has a case pending at the bar of God. Each must meet the great Judge face to face. How important, then, that every mind contemplate often the solemn scene when the judgment shall sit and the books shall be opened, when, with Daniel, every individual must stand in his lot, at the end of the days. {GC 488.2}
Here is chronicled for us our participation in the work of Christ preparing us for a place with Him. We are to share the benefits of the Saviour’s mediation. To actually let Him purify and purge us we must be prayerfully engaged with the word. And as we so engage, by occupying our mind with the work of Jesus on our behalf, as we are reading and studying God’s word, there comes a point in time when this takes place:
Just as soon as the people of God are sealed in their foreheads {4BC 1161.6}
Remember what He wants to write in our minds? The law of God, for us to be holy. The priest in the sanctuary had a writing over his forehead that said, Holiness unto the Lord. What does this sealing in our foreheads mean?
–it is not any seal or mark that can be seen, but a settling into the truth, both intellectually and spiritually, so they cannot be moved–just as soon as God’s people are sealed and prepared for the shaking, it will come. {4BC 1161.6}
Here is what is meant with the probationary time preparation, it is when God’s people are so occupied with their mind exercises upon God’s word that as they are studying God’s word they are settling into the truth, both spiritually and intellectually, until they come to a point where they can’t be moved anymore. That is what the scripture of Revelation 22:11 says. “He that is holy, let him be holy still.” They cannot be moved because they have been cooperating, sharing in the benefits of the Saviour’s mediation, and because they have engaged so much with it that as they studied and prayed, their mind was so occupied with all this that it eventually settled things into an immovable position. This is the work of preparation for the close of probation.
As we have studied in the previous message, we see that time is nearly over; we don’t have a lifetime to achieve the work of this character building, this settling into the truth both spiritually and intellectually. Sanctification is the work of a lifetime. But we don’t have that lifetime as we head in towards the close of probation. It is before our life ends that this is to take place. So we need to reach a state of holiness very quickly. A state of holiness quickly… how are we going to get that? Well, it is not our works, but the works of Christ, and we are to share the benefits of His works. It is Him, the High Priest, taking His blood and pleading His blood and mediating and inscribing the law upon our conscience; it is this that is written of in Ephesians chapter 2. We see that it is God’s work, and it is the work of the Creator.
Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
This is very much part of the subject matter. We are to be prepared to stand before God in perfect obedience to all those commandments. Therefore, to be able to reach that condition, we are God’s workmanship; He who has created is going to create us in Christ Jesus unto those good works. The process of gaining that holiness is the work of creation. God is the Creator. How long did it take God to create the world? This is the very problem that people have – they believe it was by evolution, over a long period of time. But no, the understanding of the creative power of God is that, He did it all within six days, and He rested the seventh. Why could He do it so fast? Because of what is written in the following scripture, where we are given a summary of what He actually did at creation. The earth was empty, without form and void, and God said, Let there be light; and then God said, Let there be a firmament; and God said, and God said… It was at the power of God’s word that the world was created.
Psalm 33:6 By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. 7 He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap: he layeth up the depth in storehouses. 8 Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. 9 For he spake, and it was [done]; he commanded, and it stood fast.
When we are created in Christ Jesus unto good works, is it possible that God can do it like that [snap of finger], by His word? Is it possible that, as the word is uttered, it can happen? That is the way He created the world. He doesn’t want us to spend a long time when probation is nearly closed. He wants us to move fast. Is it possible that He could create His holiness in us in exactly the same way that He created the world? If we could arrive at a position of such total resignation to God, such total abandonment, is it possible that this following utterance, when probation closes, can produce in us what God produced at creation?
Revelation 22:11 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.
This is the title of our meditation. Let him be holy still. These are the words of the Creator who spoke and it was done. According to this, if we could be in a position like the planet earth was, in totally inanimate and unresisting existence, then God could do it like that. That is precisely where our preparation is to be focused – to be totally resigned so that God can hasten His work.
When Jesus says, He that is holy, let him be holy still; it is a declaration of creation – Let him be holy – and let him stay that way. Observe the priestly prayer of Jesus so that we can comprehend that, as Jesus was we can be, and God doesn’t need to spend a lot of time upon us when we are in such a position. Here is a rendition of the high priestly prayer of Jesus as He is pleading for us:
John 17:17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
He is speaking to the Father, pleading for us: Sanctify them.
John 17:19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. 20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
We believe on Jesus through the word of the apostles, and Jesus is here praying for us today. I pray for them that they might be sanctified, as I sanctified Myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. Jesus is here pleading and praying for us. He is calling us so that He can do this sanctifying of our life:
Matthew 16:24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any [man] will come after me,
That was the call. “Sanctify them through Thy truth;” “I sanctify Myself;” “If any man will come after Me,”
Matthew 16:24 …let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. 25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
I sanctify Myself so that they might follow My example. So He calls, Follow Me. In sanctifying Myself, I took up the cross. I died. So if you want to have a condition of holiness like I have, He says, then if you want to save yourself, if you want to gain eternal life by works, then you will lose it. But if you will lose this life for My sake, then you will find that eternal life.
Let him deny himself – that is what we are called to. That is what Jesus our High Priest is saying: I want to hasten the work, I want to prepare you to be holy; follow My example.
1 Peter 2:21 For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:
Jesus sacrificed Himself, He suffered, and that is how He sanctified Himself. He says, Follow Me. If you will follow Me, and suffer with Me, then, as you follow in those steps, you will be placed in the position where you will be holy. When we do as Jesus did, then, as Jesus, we will be created holy.
Romans 6:5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also [in the likeness] of [his] resurrection:
This is very simply saying, Follow Jesus into death. When Jesus was fully dead, then God raised Him again, and He was a pure, spotless person, the same that we are to become.
Romans 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with [him], that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. 7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.
Here is the condition that we must reach, a condition of freedom from sin. How? By following Jesus into complete resignation, into complete death of self – self gone. That is what Apostle Pau says:
Romans 6:11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
This is the attitude we are to have: We are to reckon ourselves to be dead to sin, and alive to God. That condition is the condition Jesus was in, and in that condition He was holy. We are to be in that condition, so we can be holy.
In our preparation for the close of probation, what then is our concentration to be focused on? We usually think, I’ve got to be holy, so I have to concentrate on being holy; but according to this, what is my work? My work is to follow Jesus, to look at Him long enough so that I can follow His example in self-surrender. And when I am totally surrendered, as Jesus was, then God can do a quick work. To understanding this, I want us to follow very carefully the words that were preached by the 1888 messenger, A. T. Jones. There was Waggoner and Jones; the message of Christ Our Righteousness was presented at that time. After 1888, A. T. Jones again presented the messages, and this segment of one of his sermons describes to us very clearly and very meaningfully the position we must be in when Jesus says, Let him be holy still:
Here is faith: “Where there is not only a belief in God’s word, but a submission of the will to Him; where the heart is yielded to Him, the affections fixed upon Him.” Now these are weighty expressions; they are worth considering. “The submission of the will to Him,” is it done? Is your will submitted to Him never to be taken back, or exercised in your own way or for yourself? {February 20, 1893 ATJ, GCDB 299.1}
He is looking to the congregation, and he says:
Is your will surrendered to Him? Yours? Yours, I mean? Has He your will? Says one, “I think He has.” Well, you want to know it. “Well,” says another, “I have been trying to submit my will to Him.” Well, stop your trying and submit your will to Him and be done with it and know it. {February 20, 1893 ATJ, GCDB 299.1}
“The submission of the will to Him,” is your will submitted to Him? {February 20, 1893 ATJ, GCDB 299.2}
Can you see the point he is making here? This is something to actually do.
Is it gone so that you know it is gone, and that you have no wish or impulse or any inclination ever in any situation to use it yourself? Is it gone? You can know it. You can know whether that is done. [Voice: “How?”] How? Why by doing it, telling the Lord it is done and it is so. Of course a man knows it is so when it is done. {February 20, 1893 ATJ, GCDB 299.2}
If a person hasn’t really, literally done it, how does he know that he has done it?
[A voice: “If he does not know it, it is not done.”] Exactly. {February 20, 1893 ATJ, GCDB 299.2}
If you don’t know that you have given everything up to the Lord, of course it’s not done.
If a man does not know it, that is the strongest possible evidence that he could have that it is not done. And when it is done, ah! He knows it. That is the very thing. When it is done he becomes a spiritual man, and he knows what he never knew before in his life. … {February 20, 1893 ATJ, GCDB 299.3}
Now I ask again, Is your will submitted to Him? Is that thing done? Have you gone over that barrier and stand where you know that you stand there and that you know that your will is surrendered to Him, for Him to use in His way, and that there is no further question about it, and no dissent from it in any way? Now is your will submitted to God for Him to use as He pleases and you have no objection to raise at all; you have no thought or inclination to use it your way; you want Him to do His way, and that is all you care for? Is that so? Is your will there? [Congregation: “Yes.”] {February 20, 1893 ATJ, GCDB 299.4}
But as long as I reserve some of my will, I will go my way in spite of myself, I cannot have God use me fully. {February 20, 1893 ATJ, GCDB 299.6}
Can you see what he is dealing with here? The will must be submitted to God so that He can actually do His work fully, not hampered in any way.
He cannot come in fully, Christ cannot come in fully, unless there is a full submission to Him. Let there be some dying here. Let there be some actual dying to self. That is what it means; it means death: and of course people never struggle to die. They struggle to stay alive, if there are any struggles. {February 20, 1893 ATJ, GCDB 299.6}
“Where the heart is yielded to Him.” How much of it? [Congregation: “All of it.”] Is it done? [Congregation: “Yes.”] The whole heart is gone? Everything is gone? Well, says one, I have yielded all I know. Well, now just take the other step, and yield all you do not know. {February 20, 1893 ATJ, GCDB 299.8}
To yield to Him all that you know, and all that you do not know
… Many say, “I have surrendered to the Lord all I know.” That is not enough. What you want to do is to surrender to Him all you know and all you do not know. Because when I surrender to Him only what I know, there are a good many things left that I do not know, a good many situations where I will meet myself, and good many things will come up, and I will meet something that will be very attractive and desirable to me, and if I have not surrendered all, what then? There will be a contest, whether I will surrender that or not. So I am kept constantly in hot water to know whether I am surrendered to the Lord or not. The Lord wants you to get out of the hot water and stay out. Surrender everything you know and everything you do not know. Let everything go to Him, with no reservation now or evermore. Then you are not afraid of anything; you do not care if you drop into the bottom of the sea the next minute. It is all surrendered; you are in His hands–and then you have got something. That man has got something; he has something he never had before, and he has something that he cannot get until he does just that thing. {February 20, 1893 ATJ, GCDB 300.8}
You never have to fear anymore, because it’s all surrendered. If ever there is any fear, like I used to have fear in flying in the aircraft, but when all this came to my understanding I came to the point where I decided, That’s it, if the aircraft crashes, it’s all surrendered. If I fall into the bottom of the sea, it doesn’t matter. It was a restful position. This is the case that must be ours if the Lord is going to get us there, to that state of holiness.
“The affections fixed upon Him.” Are your affections fixed there, so that He takes precedence of everything? So that He is first before everything? Nothing at all coming into the account anywhere or at any time? Is that so? When a man does that he has got something; he has indeed, and he knows it. … {February 20, 1893 ATJ, GCDB 300.9}
Well, now, is it so? Is the will submitted to Him? Is your heart yielded to God, so that your affections are fixed upon Him? Is it done, so that you can stand before Him and thank the Lord that it is so? I do not mean to stand up in the congregation and say that it is so but just tell it over to the Lord that it is so. People will get up in the congregation and say things there that they will not say to the Lord. You tell it to the Lord. Tell Him that your will is given up bodily to Him. Submit the whole thing without a particle of reservation now or evermore, and just tell Him that your heart is yielded up to Him, for it is good for nothing and you want His heart instead of yours. And after that your affections are fixed upon Him, and that there they stay. And they will stay there. Tell Him that all the time, every day; {February 20, 1893 ATJ, GCDB 300.10}
That harmonises with was Jesus said, Take up your cross daily.
…tell Him wherever you go. Live with Him, brethren; live with Him; live with Him; that is what He wants. Why He is raised from the dead, and we are raised up with Him that we may live with Him. Rom. 6:8. His personal presence is to be with us. That is what the Laodicean message is to do for us; it brings the presence of Christ to live in us. {February 20, 1893 ATJ, GCDB 300.10}
This you can do alone for yourself and nobody else can do it for you. {February 20, 1893 ATJ, GCDB 300.11}
We cannot be saved in groups. We are saved individually, because everyone individually has to do this surrender.
Brethren, let us go to doing that. Let us get into that place. {February 20, 1893 ATJ, GCDB 300.11}
When a man is in that position, can God create holiness in him?
When a man is there, then he simply waits the direction of the Lord; waits the time of the Lord. When the Lord gets ready to pour out His Holy Spirit there is nothing to hinder. {February 20, 1893 ATJ, GCDB 300.11}
At creation where was the Holy Spirit? He was brooding over the water. He is brooding over us; He is waiting to be in us.
If there be something that he does not know, Oh well, that was surrendered long ago. It may be as dear as the right eye, but that went long ago. {February 20, 1893 ATJ, GCDB 300.11}
If I have given up everything I know and everything I don’t know, when the Lord expects something of me and it is something I didn’t know before, well, I gave that up before, so it can go like that [snap of finger].
It is gone, thank the Lord, and so there is nothing between you and Him and He can pour out His Spirit whenever He pleases. That is where He wants you and me to stand in this Conference, waiting for Him to give us that teaching of righteousness according to righteousness. {February 20, 1893 ATJ, GCDB 300.11}
These were the words I wanted to read so that we may get the proper appreciation of what our preparation for the close of probation is meant to be. I cannot make myself holy, I cannot by my own works achieve that. But there is one thing I can do, I can give Him my will. Now if we will do just what Elder Jones has portrayed there, then God is free to move in my life; there is nothing that hinders Him. It is only you and I with our own will that can prevent God from doing His work. When we are in that position, God can go ahead and do what is written in this scripture:
Romans 9:28 For he will finish the work, and cut [it] short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.
It is God, Jesus, in the activities of the heavenly sanctuary, that is working to purge us from all sin and showing the things that mar our life. And if I am all surrendered to Him God can hasten the work. He just says, Here it is, this one, that one, this one; and it has all been given up a long time ago, so that now that He is showing it to me, it can be dropped just like that. And God can then hasten His work and cut it short in righteousness.
When we are firmly in that position, the holiness that we are to have at the close of probation can be uttered by God, Let him be holy still. And so it is as in creation, because we will be like Jesus was. Jesus is again speaking here, and He demonstrates to us the condition of total abandonment into the arms of God, of relying on His words no matter what He feels like:
Isaiah 50:4 The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to [him that is] weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. 5 The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back.
Whatever God revealed to Jesus, He listened and so it was. That is why He says the following:
Isaiah 50:6 I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting. 7 For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.
That is the way that you and I should be. Setting our face like a flint, a total surrender and abandonment to God; and like Jesus, we will not be ashamed. God will be my helper, I will not be confounded; I know that it is all resigned and God will bring me through to the end perfectly pure, holy.
It is my prayer that these things are so imprinted upon us that when we come to our next subject we can simply display the work of God in practical terms. Our next subject has to do with identifying the holiness, the actual items of holiness. As we have just seen how these items of holiness can come into existence, we want to study them so we can surrender to them, and put nothing in between, but just say, Yes Lord, so let it be; and we will walk with Him in daily consecration, as Jesus did.
May this be our decision that we will be in that position.
Amen.
