This month features excerpts from an article in the February 11, 1999, issue of the Adventist Review, in which editor William G. Johnsson highlights the Incarnation and the crucial significance of faith in Jesus as God in the flesh and how Jesus is the center of the Adventist faith.
Nearly 2,000 years ago the stillness of a Judean night was shattered by a baby’s cry. Born in poverty, raised in obscurity, the Child of Mary would become the most controversial Person in history. . . .1
He Himself challenged His generation—and every subsequent one—with the question. “Who do you say I am?” He asked His disciples. And when Peter replied spontaneously, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God,” Jesus acknowledged the answer with “Simon son of Jonah, you are favoured indeed! You did not learn that from mortal man; it was revealed to you by my heavenly Father” (Matt. 16:15-17, NEB).2
Seventh-day Adventists have faced the issue of the ages—Who was Jesus?—and have given Peter’s answer. They believe that Jesus of Nazareth was no mere man—although He was fully human. They believe that He was Immanuel, God with us; that the eternal God had condescended to be incarnated among humanity in Him. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father” (John 1:1, 14, RSV).3
How God could become man is a mystery. Human experience offers no analogy that remotely unlocks the wonder of it all. “Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh” (1 Tim. 3:16).
Seventh-day Adventists do not attempt to unlock the mystery of the Incarnation. We accept the testimony of Scripture, rejoicing in the good news that God has not left us alone, that He gave His Son, eternally preexistent, to us in the miracle of Bethlehem. And we accept Him as God in the flesh because of what we have experienced and still experience: in His name we find forgiveness of sins, freedom from guilt, and joyous fellowship for a new way of life. . . .
That is why we’re a people who love and follow Jesus. He is the center of our faith. More than any doctrine, more than any practice, more than any facet of organization, more than any goal or purpose—our movement focuses on Him. Without Him everything else we believe in and preach; all our hospitals, schools, and universities; all our evangelistic crusades and social uplift programs—everything would be worthless. He is the “bottom line” of Adventism.
Christianity, as we understand it, is essentially a relationship. It is a day-by-day experience of knowing Jesus, the risen Lord, of sensing His guiding hand and powerful presence. It is like a marriage: we have fallen in love with Him, and each day we seek to love Him more and know Him better. . . .
Jesus—Our Favorite Subject
The life and teachings of Jesus—it is our favorite subject for reflection. Probably the most popular spiritual book outside the Bible that Adventists study is The Desire of Ages, by Ellen G. White. A massive devotional study of Jesus, it urges us to spend time every day in contemplation of the miracle of the Incarnation.
“It would be well for us to spend a thoughtful hour each day in contemplation of the life of Christ. We should take it point by point, and let the imagination grasp each scene, especially the closing ones. As we thus dwell upon His great sacrifice for us, our confidence in Him will be more constant, our love will be quickened, and we shall be more deeply imbued with His spirit. If we would be saved at last, we must learn the lesson of penitence and humiliation at the foot of the cross.”4
Especially the closing scenes! Great as was the life of Jesus—His teachings, His miracles, His sinless accomplishment of the Father’s mission—its high point came at the end. Unlike any other person, this Man was born to die. . . .
In Him we find pleasures evermore; in Him we have peace, joy, and strength for each day; in Him we have hope for a glorious tomorrow.
Jesus Died for the Sins of the World
We’re people who believe what the Bible teaches about the cross—that Jesus died for the sins of the world. We believe that “he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them” (Isa. 53:5, KJV; 2 Cor. 5:19, KJV).
Jesus lived a perfect life as a man. But without the cross we are lost—His perfect example only condemns us, showing us what we might be and should be. The guilt of our failures lies heavy on us; we have nothing to boast of before God, nothing to give us hope.
But His cross gives us hope. . . . We believe. We accept that in Jesus God has done for us what we could never do for ourselves, that He has taken our place, borne our penalty, and given us life.
So nothing can take away the centrality of Calvary for us. We understand from Scripture that Jesus is now our heavenly high priest, that He is judge. But these beliefs do not add to the value of the sacrifice He made for us on the cross; rather they flow from it. The cross is the turning point of history. . . .
“Christ was treated as we deserve, that we might be treated as He deserves. He was condemned for our sins, in which He had no share, that we might be justified by His righteousness, in which we had no share. He suffered the death which was ours, that we might receive the life which was His. ‘With his stripes we are healed.’ ”5 . . .
Two-Part Name Has Meaning
The two parts of our name, “seventh day” and “Adventist,” express how we love and try to follow Jesus.
“Seventh day” lets people know that we observe the Sabbath, the seventh day of the week—Saturday—as a day of worship. The Sabbath was the day Jesus observed, and therefore we too observe it. Although Jesus came into conflict with the religious leaders of His day over the manner of Sabbathkeeping, He never suggested that the day itself should be changed. We try to keep the Sabbath as Jesus taught us to keep it. It is a beautiful day, a time of relaxation, fellowship, worship, and helping others. To us it symbolizes our rest and freedom in Him—the One who has given us rest from sin and made us free for Himself. . . .
The Sabbath, of course, is but one of the Ten Commandments. The Scriptures take this law seriously, and so do we. By God’s grace we try to live according to its ideals, especially as Jesus expounded them in the Sermon on the Mount and by His own example. Now, we don’t do so in order to win God’s love or to be saved. Instead, because He loves us and has forgiven us by Jesus’ death for us, we want to show our love by a life that is like His. We are His sons and daughters, and we want to honor Him by living worthy of His name. He said: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15, RSV).
“Adventist” expresses our belief that the Jesus whom we love is coming again. “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again,” He promised (verses 2, 3, KJV). “This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven,” the angels assured at His ascension (Acts 1:11, RSV).
We rejoice at that prospect. We know it is sure—His first coming guarantees it; Calvary has made absolutely certain His eventual reign as King of kings and Lord of lords.
From our understanding of the Bible, we believe His return is near. So we proclaim it around the world by voice and pen, by radio and television, from pulpits and in homes. We want people to know about it, to be ready for it, to rejoice with us in it. In this world men and women are driven by various motivations. Some people live for pleasure, some for power, and some for possessions. And many in our times are adrift, with no guiding star.
Jesus is the guiding star for Seventh-day Adventists. In Him we find pleasures evermore; in Him we have peace, joy, and strength for each day; in Him we have hope for a glorious tomorrow.
That’s why we’re people who love and follow Jesus.
1 William G. Johnsson, “Our Guiding Star: Faith in Jesus, the Incarnate God, Is the Path of Salvation,” Adventist Review, Feb. 11, 1999, pp. 22-24.
2 Bible texts credited to NEB are from The New English Bible. © The Delegates of the Oxford University Press and the Syndics of the Cambridge University Press 1961, 1970. Reprinted by permission.
3 Bible texts credited to RSV are from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, 1971, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission.
4 Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1898, 1940), p. 83.
5 Ibid., p. 25.
