LESSON 13.—DECEMBER 27.—THE REAL PRESENCE RESTORED.
The Gospel is the divine provision for salvation from sin. Rom. 1:16. It supplies righteousness to the believer. Verse 17. This is the Gospel of the manifested life (1 John 1:1, 2) through which we are brought into fellowship with God (verse 3). The Son of God took the flesh in order that we might be brought into the same relationship and fellowship with God. Gal. 4:4, 5. This relationship is established on our part through our faith in Jesus, the Son of God. Gal. 3:26, R. V. This faith lays hold upon the righteousness of God (Rom. 3, 20-22), and he who exercises it is justified by it. Justification by faith is the basis of salvation for the whole world (Gal. 3:8), Jew as well as Gentile (Gal. 2:15, 16). The experience of it is the experience of the real presence of Christ in the service of the living temple, the mystery of godliness.
In taking away the continual, the real presence, the Papacy struck at the very heart of the Gospel, and took away justification by faith, changing the law of faith into the law of works, and substituting the mystery of iniquity for the mystery of godliness. This ought to be clear from the lessons already studied. The Reformation of the sixteenth century was an attempt to restore this fundamental doctrine of Christianity. Says D’Aubigne, the historian of the Reformation: “The church had fallen, because the great doctrine of justification by faith in the Saviour had been taken away from her. It was necessary, therefore, before she could rise again, that this doctrine should be restored to her. As soon as this fundamental truth should be re-established in Christendom, all the errors and observances that had taken its place—all that multitude of saints, of works, penances, masses, indulgences, etc.,—would disappear. As soon as the one only Mediator and His only sacrifice were acknowledged, all other mediators and sacrifices would vanish. ‘This article of justification,’ says a man whom we may consider enlightened on this matter [Luther], ‘is what creates the church, nourishes it, edifies it, preserves and defends it; no one can teach worthily in the church, or oppose an adversary with success, if he does not adhere to this truth.’ ‘This,’ adds the writer whom we quote, in allusion to the earliest prophecy, ‘is the heel that shall bruise the head of the serpent.’” (“History of the Reformation,” Vol. I, page 90.)
The teaching of the Scriptures on the subject of justification by faith was both the cause of the Reformation and the power for the Reformation. It brought light to the mind of Luther, the monk at Wittenberg. D’Aubigne says: “In the retirement of his quiet cell he used to consecrate whole hours to the study of the divine Word, this epistle of St. Paul [to the Romans] lying open before him. On one occasion, having reached the seventeenth verse of the first chapter, he read the passage from the prophet Habakkuk, ‘The just shall live by faith.’ This precept struck him. . . . This promise, which he received into his heart, as if God Himself had placed it there, unveils to him the mystery of the Christian life, and increases this life in him.” (“History of the Reformation,” Vol. I, page 186.) “This powerful text has a mysterious influence on the life of Luther. It was a creative sentence, both for the reformer and the Reformation. It was in these words God then said, ‘Let there be light; and there was light.’” (Id., page 198.)
In our day a message is to be given announcing the fall of the church (Rev. 14:8), and a call is to be made for a separation from this fallen church (Rev. 18:1-4). This movement is to carry to a successful issue the work of the Reformation, and its keynote must be the same, “The just shall live by faith.” It is clear then that the purpose of the Third Angel’s Message, the message against the beast and his image, must be “to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” by restoring the continual, which the horn, the Papacy, has taken away, and that this can be done only through the ministry of the experience of the real presence of Christ in the heart, the experience of the doctrine of justification by faith.
QUESTIONS.
What is the Gospel?
What is revealed in it to the believer?
Under what other form of statement is this same Gospel taught?
What is the result of accepting this Gospel of life?
For what purpose was the Son of God “born of a woman”?
How do we accept the offered relationship of sons?
What is received by all believers? What experience does this bring?
What is the only basis of salvation for all times and for all peoples?
Is there any different plan for the Jew than for the Gentile?
What experience does this way of salvation bring to those who accept it?
What did the Papacy take away? What changes did it make in God’s way of salvation?
What does D’Aubigne say was the cause of the fall of the church?
What does he state to be necessary for her restoration?
What consequences would follow the re-establishment of this fundamental truth of Christianity?
Of how much importance did Luther regard the doctrine of justification by faith?
What connection did Luther make between this great truth and the first promise of the Gospel?
What statement of the Scripture was the creative sentence for the Reformation?
What message is to be given in the present generation?
What definite call is to be sounded throughout the world?
What truth must be the inspiration and the power for this work?
What must be the purpose of the Third Angel’s Message?
What is the only way in which this purpose can be accomplished?
