Luke 21:8

Christian, Be Not Deceived!

CHAPTER ONE 

JESUS—ALMIGHTY GOD; THE GREAT "I AM"; "EQUAL WITH GOD."  A GREAT TRUTH ESSENTIAL IN UNDERSTANDING THE APOCALYPSE AND PARTICULARLY REVELATION 17. 

The Book of Revelation is, indeed, "The Revelation of Jesus Christ" (Rev. 1:1): it not only reveals Jesus in His heavenly ministry, in His power to save His people and to destroy their enemies, but He is revealed therein as God Almighty. Without a knowledge of the fact that Jesus is indeed God Almighty, the great "I AM," the "equal with God," it is impossible to completely comprehend the majesty of the Apocalypse; without that knowledge it is impossible to understand certain mysterious passages mentioned in Rev. 17. We repeat our positive declaration that a clear understanding of the unlimited Divinity of our Lord Jesus is absolutely necessary in order to elucidate the meaning of important symbols presented in the prophecy of Rev. 17. It is because of this absolute necessity that we present an abundance of evidence to prove the unlimited Divinity of our Lord Jesus. Some of our people may feel that there is no necessity for much emphasis upon this teaching, feeling that such emphasis is surely unnecessary. Fortunate indeed are those who see Jesus as sharing with His Father the august designation of "God Almighty", for this belief lies at the very foundation of our faith–only a Saviour Who is An Almighty God can save us. 

Our Lord Jesus claimed to be the great "I AM", the great Jehovah, of the Old Testament: this unspeakably sublime truth is unfolded in the New Testament with increasing splendour until the Apocalypse scintillates with a divine effulgence in the revelation that Jesus, indeed, is no other than the second Person of the infinite Trinity and as such shares with the Father the title of "God Almighty". 

Perhaps there is no truth which is so highly exalted and so frequently mentioned in the writings of the Spirit of Prophecy as the unlimited Divinity of our Lord. We Seventh-day Adventists who have inherited such a wealth of light upon this inspiring theme are debtors to God for the fulness of the light that now shines upon us through this inspired channel. We surely can enter sympathetically into the experience of some of our spiritual fathers, upon whose pathway there shone much light, yet a light which did not shine so clearly concerning the unlimited Divinity of our Lord as we now understand through the servant of the Lord. "It is a matter of record that Uriah Smith once believed that Christ was a created being, see Thoughts on the Revelation (1865), p. 91. But later he revised his belief and teaching to the effect that Christ was begotten sometime back in eternity before the creation of the world. Since his day, later books of the Spirit of Prophecy, such as Desire of Ages, came out in the nineties and later on, making clear with the support of the Scriptures that Christ is co-eternal with the Father"–Statement made by Pastor W. E. Howell, Chairman of the "Daniel and the Revelation Revision Committee," reported in "The Ministry," May, 1945. 

In his excellent book, "Looking Unto Jesus," pp. 10-17, Foreword written in July, 1898, Uriah Smith again made statements indicating that the fulness of the Light such as we have today through the Spirit of Prophecy concerning the eternity of Christ, had not been understood by him. He said: 

"God alone is without beginning. At the earliest epoch when a beginning could be–a period so remote that to finite minds it is essentially eternity–appeared the Word . . . His beginning was not like that of any other being in the universe . . . Thus it appears that by some divine impulse or process, not creation, known only to Omniscience, and possible only to Omnipotence, the Son of God appeared. And then the Holy Spirit . . . was in existence also. . . . no work of creation was accomplished till after Christ became an active agent upon the scene. . . With the Son, the evolution of Deity, as deity ceased. . . as related to all else, animate and inanimate, He antedated them all, as in uncreated being, derived from God, He took His place, as 'the only begotten Son'.... In point of existence He was thus before them all. And then began creation, of which a was 'beginner'." (Emphasis mine.) 

Thus it may be seen that our Brother Uriah Smith had not understood the Spirit of Prophecy teaching concerning the eternity of Christ. Our interpretation of certain Scriptures and especially concerning our understanding of Rev. 17 will be according to our ideas of the Godhead, as will be seen in the following chapters. It is for this reason only that we pause at the commencement of our study of Rev. 17 to show how Uriah Smith's views of the Godhead affected his interpretation. For instance, in his notes on Rev. 1:4 ("Daniel and the Revelation," edition 1891) he says: 

" 'From Him which is, and which was, and which is to come,' or is to be—an expression which signifies complete eternity, past and future, and can be applicable to the Father only. This language, we believe is never applied to Christ.” (emphasis mine.) 

In the light of what is taught in the Spirit of Prophecy, the revisers of "Daniel and Revelation" have naturally deleted from the revised book this declaration concerning the non-eternity of Christ. In his comments upon Rev. 1:8, Uriah Smith's conception of the non-eternity of Christ caused him to apply these words exclusively to the Father. Rev. 1:8 reads: "I am Alpha 

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and Omega the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty"; Uriah Smith's comment is: 

"Who is it who here speaks must be determined, therefore, by the terms used. Here we again have the expression, 'Which is, and which was, and which is to come', which has already been noticed as referring exclusively to God. But it may be asked, Does not the word Lord denote that it was Christ?” 

 In his endeavor to read this verse according to his conception of the non-eternity of Christ, he suggests that God might be substituted for the word Lord. The revised edition of "Daniel and Revelation" rightly deletes the old comments based upon the belief on the non-eternity of Christ and applies v. 8, as it should be applied, to Christ. Thus we read: "In declaring who He is, He uses two of the same characterizations, 'Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending', as are found in Revelation 22:13, where according to verses 12 and 16 of that chapter, it is plainly Christ who is speaking. We conclude, then, that it is Christ who is speaking in verse 8." (Emphasis mine.) 

Thus we have shown that one's conception of the Godhead will influence one's interpretation of certain passages of Scripture including the interpretation of Rev. 17. To grasp the essential ideas expressed in that chapter it is positively necessary to grasp fundamental teachings concerning the Godhead: what was involved in the death of Jesus on Calvary; how it affected or did not affect His position as a member of the Trinity; Christ's almighty power exercised in the life of each believer-the death of the old nature and the new life from Christ; the understanding of "The Mystery of Iniquity" in the light of "The Mystery of Godliness". Therefore, before commencing to enter into our consideration of the significance of the apparently mysterious passages found in Rev. 17, we must first make very plain to our readers the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy teaching concerning the Deity of Christ and associated themes, a knowledge of which is absolutely necessary to an adequate understanding of Rev. 17. 

Those of our readers who are clear on such subjects as the eternity of Christ will rejoice to have at hand Scriptural facts and Spirit of Prophecy extracts relative to this grand theme, and will be happy to read again arguments and statements with which they are familiar. But the attention of the reader is requested because later expositions concerning Rev. 17 are the outworking of the principles involved in the teachings concerning the Deity of our Lord and His work of salvation in the hearts of His children. 

It is most important that each believer obtains a clear understanding concerning the Deity of Jesus, that He is the Creator of all life and all worlds and that He employs His almighty power in His redemptive work for mankind. It is repeatedly stressed in 

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the Scriptures that the Creator is the Redeemer, and in those passages where this truth is stated the emphasis is particularly upon the fact that His ability to redeem is such because He, as the Creator, has the almighty power necessary to do the work of redemption. See Isa. 43:1-3, 11-14; 44:6, 24; 45:11-13, 17, 18; John 1:1-3, 12-14; Col. 1:14-20; Heb. 1:1-3; etc. After having declared that Jesus created all "the worlds" and upheld "all things by the word of His power", Paul showed how Jesus, employing His almighty, creative power in His work of redemption, was thus "able to succour them that are tempted" (Heb. 2:18); and "able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him." (7:25). 

The Lord's servant has revealed one of the important reasons why many fail to receive greater blessing in their Christian experience. She says: "The meagre views so many have had of the exalted character and office of Christ have narrowed their religious experience, and have greatly hindered their progress in the divine life. Personal religion among us as a people is at a low ebb" (5T. 743). Thus we see the vital connection between our beliefs concerning Jesus as Creator and Redeemer and our own advancement in Christian experience—and also our understanding of the Scriptures. We quote again from the pen of God's servant: "Christ's humanity was, united with divinity.... And He came to make us partakers of the divine nature.... God reaches for the hand of faith in us to direct it to lay fast hold upon the divinity of Christ, that we may attain to perfection of character" (DA. 123). Therefore let it be clearly understood that our conceptions of the divinity of Christ will influence our Christian experience, and will also influence our interpretation of the Scriptures. "The Divinity of Christ is the believer's assurance of eternal life.” (DA. 530). Our Lord claimed to be the great "I AM" –the eternal, self-existent One–and also declared that our salvation depends upon this mighty truth. 

The importance of this subject may be seen by observing that Jesus declared: "I am the Light of the World . . . if ye believe not that I AM ['he' is not in the Greek; as indicated by it being in italics], ye shall die in your sins" (John 8:24). Here we have the statement of our Lord that our salvation depends upon the truthfulness of His claim to be the "I AM". This truth is sustained by the teaching of the Spirit of Prophecy which says: "Jesus declared, ‘I am the resurrection, and the life.' In Christ is life, original, unborrowed, underived. `He that hath the Son hath life.' The divinity of Christ is the believer's, assurance of eternal life" (DA. 530). 

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Later in this same chapter (8) of John's gospel, Jesus repeated His claim of being the "I AM", the Almighty Jehovah of the Old Testament: "Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I AM." The Jews did not misunderstand His claim, for immediately "took they up stones to cast at Him: but Jesus hid Himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed vs. 58, 59). By His declaration of being the "I AM", Jesus was seeking to ring the Jewish nation to the point of decision: either they accept Him as the God of Israel, their God, now incarnate in human form, or reject Him. The Lord today also desires His people to accept Him as the God of Israel, and as such to trust wholly in His almighty power and the certainty of the fulfilment of His promises as the covenant-keeping God of His people. 

Jesus could have prevented the Jews' attempt to stone Him, but instead of attempting to alter in any way the colossal claim He had made, He performed a miracle to enable His safe passage through their midst so that they could not slay Him before the completion of His earthly ministry. The Jews could not treat with indifference this claim made by Jesus, for if His claim was sustained they knew that they would be obliged to obey the Old Testament declaration: "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God." On the other hand, the teaching of the Old Testament was equally explicit: "He that blasphemeth the Name of the Lord, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him. ' (Lev. 24:16). They were thus compelled to do one or the other: accept Jesus as the God of Israel, their God, their Saviour, their covenant-keeping God, the Almighty God, the I AM; or they had to stone Him as a blasphemer. A simple sentence on the part of Jesus to the effect that they had misunderstood Him and that He did not mean to convey such a meaning would have prevented their endeavour to stone Him to death. But Jesus made no attempt to make any such statement; instead, He performed a miracle to preserve His life a little longer until His work on earth was all accomplished. Thus Jesus' claim to be the great "I AM" is made doubly certain. 

Commenting upon this experience in the life of our blessed Lord, the Spirit of Prophecy says: "Through his own suffering, Abraham was enabled to behold the Saviour's mission of sacrifice. But Israel would not understand that which was so unwelcome to their proud hearts. Christ's words concerning Abraham conveyed to His hearers no deep significance. The Pharisees saw in them only fresh ground for caviling. They retorted with a sneer, as if they would prove Jesus to be a madman, 'Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast Thou seen Abraham?' With solemn 

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dignity Jesus answered, 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I AM.' Silence fell upon the vast assembly. The name of God, given to Moses to express the idea of the eternal presence, had been claimed as His own by this Galilean rabbi. He had announced Himself to be the self-existent One, He Who had been promised to Israel, 'Whose goings forth have been from of old, from the days of eternity.' " (DA. 469, 470). 

"Here Christ shows that, although they might reckon His life to be less than fifty years, yet His divine life could not be reckoned by human computation. The existence of Christ before His incarnation is not to be measured by figures" Signs o f the Times, May 3, 1899. 

" 'Before Abraham was, I AM.' Christ is the pre-existent, self-existent Son of God. The message He gave to Moses to give to the children of Israel was, 'Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent you.' " Signs of the Times, Aug. 29, 1900. 

In the Old Testament, "God Almighty", "Jehovah", and the "I AM", refer to the same Being–compare Gen. 17:1; 35:11; 48:3 with Ex. 6:2, 3, margin; 3:6, 13, 14, 15. Many, many times the Old Testament Scriptures record the manifestation of "God Almighty", "Jehovah", the "I AM", to the patriarchs, to the prophets and to Israel, and in all these manifestations may be discerned the Person Whom later we know as Jesus. God's servant says: 

"All through the pages of sacred history, where the dealings of God with His chosen people are recorded, there are burning traces of the great I AM.... In all these revelations of the divine presence, the glory of God was manifested through Christ. . All the communion between heaven and the fallen race has been through Christ. It was the Son of God that gave to our first parents the promise of redemption. It was He Who revealed Himself to the patriarchs.... 

"Christ was not only the leader of the Hebrews in the wilderness-the Angel in Whom was the name of  Jehovah, and Who, vailed in the cloudy pillar, went before the host—but it was He Who gave the law to Israel. Amid the awful glory of Sinai, Christ declared in the hearing of all the people the ten precepts of His Father's law" (P.P. 366). 

The glorious manifestations of sublime majesty and terrifying splendour revealed at Mt. Sinai, and the powerful voice which spoke the ten Commandments were those of our Lord. Both in the Scriptural records and in the Spirit of Prophecy it is God, Jehovah, Who thus reveals Himself. The Lord's servant says: 

" ... the voice of God was heard. Speaking out of the thick darkness that enshrouded Him, as He stood upon the mount, surrounded by a retinue of angels, the Lord made known His law. Moses, describing the scene, says : 'The Lord came from Sinai . . . and He came with ten thousands of saints'. . . . Jehovah revealed Himself, not alone in the awful majesty of the judge and lawgiver, but as the compassionate guardian of His people : 'I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt'. . . . 'Thou shalt have no other gods before Me'. Jehovah, the eternal, self-existent, uncreated One, Himself the source and the sustainer of all, is alone entitled to supreme reverence and worship." (P.P. 303, 304.) 

When Jesus declared, "Before Abraham was I AM", He claimed more than pre-existence—He claimed self-subsistence: not only that He existed more than 1500 years previously, not only that He existed before Abraham was born and that it was He Who appeared unto Abraham as "the Almighty" (Gen. 17:1), but He claimed that His existence was neither derived nor attained. It was His by right. This is the meaning of the title "I AM"–"the self-existent One" (DA. 470). Thus Jesus unhesitatingly claimed to be the eternal, living God Whose existence was derived from no one. It is not to be wondered at that the Jews, who rejected Jesus' claim to this august title, should hasten, according to the explicit command given in Israel's law by Jehovah, Israel's Almighty God, to stone Jesus Whom they would rather reject than worship. 

As is well known, the Gospel of John was written to prove that Jesus, by nature, is equal with His Father. The introductory words of this gospel declare: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made ... and the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us" (John 1:1-3, 10, 14). Commenting on verse 1, Dr. Albert Barnes says: "'Was God.' In the previous phrase John had said that the Word was with God. Lest it should be supposed that He was a different and inferior being he here states that He was God. There is no more unequivocal declaration in the Bible than this, and there could be no stronger proof that the sacred writer meant to affirm that the Son of God was equal with the Father." 

The Lord's servant says: "From the days of eternity the Lord Jesus was one with the Father" (DA. 19). "He was equal with God" (2T. 200). From eternity He possessed all the attributes, prerogatives and power of Deity. In form and appearance He is the image of God: "The express image of His person" (Heb. 1:3); "The image of the invisible God" (Col. 1:15). "Being in the form of God, [He] thought it not robbery to be equal with God" (Phil. 2:6), or as the Revised Version has it, "Who being in the form of God, counted it not a prize to be on an equality with God." He would not count it a prize to be on an equality with God for that was His normal estate. 

Throughout John’s gospel appears evidence of the Godhead of the Saviour. After healing the impotent man, Jesus said: "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill Him, because He not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God" (John 5:17, 18). There can be no doubt as to how the Jews understood His words or of how Jesus desired them to understand their meaning. 

On yet another occasion Jesus declared that He was God in human form, and again the Jews sought to stone Him in accordance with the Mosaic law, because they could do no other when they rejected Him as their Lord and Saviour. Jesus said: "I and My Father are one. Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from My Father; for which of these do ye stone Me? The Jews answered Him, saying, For a good work we stone Thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that Thou, being a man, makest thyself God" (John 10:30-33). 

There are about fourteen references to attempts on the life of the Lord Jesus in John's Gospel alone; and yet He sat daily in the Temple teaching; but no man laid hands on Him-until He had completed His earthly ministry, and then He permitted them to kill Him. The only conclusion is that though they sought to slay Him because He claimed to be God, they could not do so because He was God. 

Before Pilate, the Jewish leaders reiterated their charge against Jesus: "The Jews answered him [Pilate], We have a law, and by our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God" (John 19:7). Now that His earthly work was nearing its full accomplishment, the Lord permitted the designs of these deluded, crafty men to be realised; He knew that the time had come for Him to die to save all those who would believe. Thus we observe that the chief charge (which they maintained until they succeeded in bringing about His death) the Jewish leaders had against Christ was that He made Himself "equal with God." 

In one of His forceful parables, the Lord revealed that the Jews rejected Him and that they declared, "We will not have this man to reign over us." In that same parable, the Lord also showed the rate awaiting those who reject Him as their King, saying: "But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before Me" (Luke 19:14, 27). Sin had its origin in heaven with Lucifer's rebellion against "the supremacy of Christ"; against the supremacy of Him Who by nature was "equal with God" (see P.P. 34-38). The fallen angels 

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led by Lucifer, "rebelled against the authority of the Son... . 
Satan wished to conquer the Son of God, and those who were submissive to His will" (EW. 145, 146). This was the test with Lucifer and all the angels, and also the test with the Jewish nation; and this is the test of all judgment-bound creatures. The acceptance of the Deity of Christ and obedience to His will is the supreme test of every finite being. Everything stands or falls by its relationship to this sublime truth. 

The Apostle Paul was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write more than half the books of the New Testament: He was chosen as a special agent of the Lord Jesus to make clear to the church those truths which it is imperative for His people to understand. Observe how Paul discourses at great length on the glory of Christ's essential Deity and pre-existence; observe how he brackets Christ's name with those of God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, and declares that, "By Him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by Him, and for Him; and He is before all things and by Him all things consist" (Col. 1:16, 17). 

In this same epistle, the apostle Paul declared: "For in Him [Christ] dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in Him, which is the head of all principality and power" (Col. 2:9, 10). In commenting upon v. 9 Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown say, "The Greek (Theotes) means the ESSENCE and NATURE of the Godhead, not merely the divine perfections and attributes of Divinity (Greek, Theiotes). He, as man, was not merely God-like, but in the fullest sense, GOD. " 

In the book of Hebrews Paul began his revelation concerning the heavenly ministry of our Lord in the heavenly temple, applying in an anti-typical sense the Jewish sanctuary services explained fully in the Old Testament, by declaring that Jesus was not only the Creator, but also the Sustainer of all the worlds. see Heb. 1:1-3. This wonderful truth Paul seeks to point out is absolutely necessary in His work as Saviour, for no one less than the Creator and the Sustainer of the universe could be capable of doing what is required in the plan of redemption. How could anyone but an infinite God hear simultaneously thousands of prayers offered in hundreds of different languages and know all the intricacies involved in each petition and be able to give a faithful answer and a true judgment? Think of the circumstance often involved in a single request; the answer of each petition may well involve the petitioner’s whole future, and other people will also be affected by the answer. What care needs to be taken with the correct answer to only one solitary request! And how quickly comes the answer! Christians are urged to have fellowship and communion with their ascended Lord all through the day–"moment by moment"–and they are assured that their Lord will never be found too busy to hear their every request, but He will carefully weigh everything that pertains to their lives here in material things as well as in regard to their spiritual interests. What an amazingly intricate problem is involved, and yet everyone who has had fellowship with Jesus knows that He has never failed them once: every Christian knows that every detail of his life is under the constant supervision of the Lord Jesus, and from actual experience has seen the outworking of a providence that takes into account the smallest detail. 

A moment's consideration will reveal the absurdity, the impossibility, of thinking that anyone but an infinite Saviour could actually do the work required to save numbers of people simultaneously and perform that service continuously for thousands of years; it necessitates not only almighty power but also infinite wisdom. Thank God, Jesus our Lord possesses all this power and wisdom which He employs so freely in the salvation of all those who come unto God by Him. 

In enlarging upon the foundation of his exposition concerning the ability of Jesus to save the lost, Paul says of Him: "Who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high" (Heb. 1:1-3). In other words, Paul declares that this Almighty Saviour Who created the worlds and Who still sustains them has "sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high" to employ all that Almighty power and infinite wisdom in connection with the work of redemption. In other epistles Paul inculcates the exultant worship of the Lord Jesus on the ground that He is God, the Son “from everlasting to everlasting,." He wrote: "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and for ever" (Heb. 13:8). To Jesus the Son of God belong, as well as to the Father, the words: "Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever Thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God" (Ps. 90:2 . 

The belief that Jesus is the Son of God, Possessor of the nature and all the attributes and power of Deity, is the foundation of the Christian church, see Matt. 16:16-18; 1 Cor. 3:11; 1 Pet. 2:5-8; etc. The New Testament declares that Jesus was no other than the Creator–not only of this planet, but of everything in the vast, illimitable universe. From the tiny specks which float in the sunbeam to the ponderous orbs which wheel across the arching heavens–Jesus is the Creator of them all. It was the hand of

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Jesus which fashioned our world; that adorned the face of nature with the pretty, nodding variegated faces of thousands of forms of flowers and vegetation. He it was Who laid down the living carpet of green. It was by His skill that the birds were endowed with the ability to cleave the heavens in swift and graceful flight. The ten thousand wonders which bedeck this earth in such glorious profusion are all the product of His beautiful mind, "all things were made by Him", and "by Him all things consist." It was by the Almighty power of Jesus that all came into existence, and it is by His power that "all things consist" or hold together and function as they do. “He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing" (Job 26:7). Our earth moves in space—so do all the heavenly bodies which glitter and shine in the stellar realms. Supported in space and held together by what?—"gravitation"! What is gravitation? Only a name given by men to the almighty power of our Lord; for it is He Who upholdeth "all things by the word of His power" (Heb. 1:1-3).