“He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed” (Rev. 13:15)
The time will come when he who stands to his allegiance to the third angel’s message will have the penalty of death pronounced upon him. His life will be declared forfeited by the powers of this earth.
Then can any question of life come into our calculations now? Shall one weigh up what his life is worth now, and weigh anything in his calculations as to whether he is going to stand by the third angel’s message or not?
When all earthly support and protection are taken away, when all questions of reputation (which the world thinks so much of) are taken away with all questions of property or business of any kind, and when all questions of life are taken away, how much is left? None. Then it is time for everyone of us to begin to think very seriously indeed.
But thank the Lord, we need not be a bit afraid of our enemy. The Lord will never allow one to be shut up in a place where [H]e does not expect to take us out a great deal more gloriously than if we had never got in there. The Lord does not call upon you and me to forfeit anything, but that in the place of it He will give us that which is worth infinitely more. When He call upon us to stand in allegiance to His truth, which shuts off from us all considerations of earthly support or protection, then He simply says, “Here is all the power of heaven and earth for you.” Here is the covering of the Almighty drawn over you. “The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms” (Deut. 33:27). “be not afraid.” That is His word, is it not? Let us go on our way with singing then.
General Conference Bulletin, pp. 126, 127
“When the fulness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons” (Gal. 4:4,5)
Anyone in all the world who knows guilt knows also what Jesus felt for him. And by this he knows how close Jesus has come to him. Whoever knows what condemnation is [also] knows exactly what Jesus felt for him, and how thoroughly Jesus is able to sympathize with him and to redeem him. Bearing guilt, under condemnation, and under the weight of the curse, Jesus lived the perfect life of the righteousness of God without ever sinning at all for a whole lifetime in this world of guilt, condemnation, and the curse.
Anyone knowing guilt and knowing also that Jesus actually felt in His experience all this just as he feels it, by believing in Jesus he can know the blessedness of the perfect righteousness of God in his life.
“Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us” (Gal. 3:13). His being made a curse is not in vain: it accomplishes all that was intended by it in behalf of everyone who will receive it.
“In the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear…And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation for all who obey Him” (Heb. 5:7,9).
Jones, The Consecrated Way to Christian Perfection, p. 24
“Therefore having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Cor. 7:1)
Having become one of us, He has made this “consecrated way” our way; it belongs to us. He has endowed every soul with divine right to walk in this consecrated way, and by His having done it Himself in the flesh-in our flesh-He has made it possible that every human soul can walk in that way.
As one of us, in our sinful human nature in this world, for a whole lifetime He lived a life “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners” (Heb. 7:26). By this He has made a way by which, in Him, every believer for a whole lifetime can live a life holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and as a consequence be made with Him higher than the heavens.
Perfection of character is the Christian goal-perfection attained in human flesh in this world. Christ attained it in human flesh in this world, and thus consecrated a way by which every believer can attain it in Him. He has become our great High Priest, and the High Priesthood and ministry of Christ in the true sanctuary is the only way by which any soul can attain this true goal. “Your way, O God, is in the sanctuary” (Ps. 77:13).
“Therefore, He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him since He ever lives to make intercession for them” (Heb. 7:25).
Jones, The Consecrated Way to Christian Perfection, pp. 61,62
