FACE TO FACE
by David Birkenstock
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Psalm 42:1-4 (RSV): “As a hart longs for flowing streams,
so longs my soul for thee, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for
the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God?
My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me continually,
‘Where is your God?’ These things I remember, as I pour out my
soul: how I went with the throng, and led them in procession to
the house of God, with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving, a
multitude keeping festival.”
INTRODUCTION
From the very beginning, creation was filled with sound, and
every possible means of communication. In His desire to communicate
with His children, God met them in the cool of the day to educate
and guide them. He had placed Adam and Eve in a splendid garden
and declared that all was good. “The book of nature, which spread
its living lessons before them, afforded an exhaustless source of
instruction and delight. On every leaf of the forest and stone of
the mountains, in every shining star, in earth and sea and sky,
God's name was written. With both the animate and the inanimate
creation—with leaf and flower and tree, and with every living creature,
from the leviathan of the waters to the mote in the sunbeam—the
dwellers in Eden held converse, gathering from each the secrets
of its life” (Education, p. 21). God, who created human
beings in His image, loved to communicate with them and to share
with them the wonders of creation.
Today we find that animals, insects, and all living creatures
have ways to communicate. The dancing bee indicating to his fellow
workers where the nectar can be found; a young bird’s song that
is learned from his parents; all of nature is abuzz with the sounds,
smells and colors of communication. The herring gull, for example,
communicates with its hungry chick by the red spot on its beak,
and in response the chick tries to peck at the red spot, thus causing
the mother gull to regurgitate food for it. Communication is indeed
the common bond that holds all nature together.
Karl Jaspers, the German philosopher, wrote, “Man’s supreme
achievement in the world is communication from personality to personality”
(The Way to Wisdom). All our successes in our careers, family,
friendships, and companionships depend on communication. The fact
is that we need contact with others, want contact with other people,
and must have contact with fellow human beings if we are to become
fully human. We have an inborn need to be in contact with other
people and to communicate with them.
One of the most distinctive aspects of being alive is our
potential for joy, fun, excitement, caring, and showing warmth;
and this is only possible through communication. Just imagine what
life would be like if we suddenly lost all the inventions that have
to do with communication: the written word, newspapers, radio, TV,
faxes, telephones, cell phones, the internet. Without communication
our world would grind to a halt! Communication is vital for human
existence, and if communication is so vital to us, how important
it must be to God. God’s preferred means of communication is face
to face; this is the way God instituted His initial communication
with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. “Our heavenly Father personally
directed their education” (Education, p. 21)—it was that
important to Him! So it was that God met them in the cool of the
evening and educated them in all the secrets of the created world.
What a joy and delight that must have been, to hold face-to-face
communion with God! Ellen White reminds us of how heaven viewed
this matter: “All heaven took a deep and joyful interest in the
creation of the world and of man. Human beings were a new and distinct
order. They were made ‘in the image of God,’ and it was the Creator’s
design that they should populate the earth” (Review and Herald,
February 11, 1902).
Adam and Eve were the rulers of the Garden. Adam had been
crowned king in Eden and was given dominion over everything that
God had created (God’s Amazing Grace, p. 40). For Adam to
be the king of this perfect domain, God had to instruct him in what
was expected of him in caring for the garden and all the animals
that God had created. Although angels were also sent to instruct
him, it was God himself who taught Adam what he needed to know.
Adam and Eve had to learn how to care for the garden, and as they
worked they learned the secrets of the plants and flowers. There
was perfect harmony on earth, and God was very pleased with His
creation; in fact, He pronounced it very good. (Gen. 1:31). Then
came sin, and the perfect harmony was lost—including the face-to-face
communion with their Creator.
COMMUNICATION AND THE FALL
God’s desire to guide and save us is so strong that He designed
a way to communicate His plans to us after sin entered the picture.
Amos 3:7 tells us, “Surely the Lord God does nothing, unless He
reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.” We have the assurance
that God will make His plans for the affairs of this world known
to us, and therefore we need not fear the future.
The purpose of this sermon is to explore how God continued
to communicate with humanity and how that in the planning and providence
of God the time will come when the perfect mode of face-to-face
communication will again be restored.
The entrance of sin brought separation between God and His
children; no longer could there be face-to-face communion. As Isaiah
59:2 reminds us, “Your sins have hidden His face from you, so that
He will not hear.” Sin is the great separator between people and
between us and God. This was a crisis moment in the history of
the world, and we need to take a closer look at how God solved this
problem. Along with the sentence that God pronounced over mankind
because of sin came also the promise that a Savior would come and
restore us to our rightful place in the universe. This promise of
hope implied that God would continue to communicate with mankind
on a different level. Time revealed how he would do this. God
would communicate with us through a Mediator, Jesus Christ. Christ
was now Jacob’s ladder, bringing heaven and earth together. Through
a system of worship and sacrifices, God would teach fallen human
beings that a Substitute would take their place. God would communicate
with us through the Substitute and the angels. No longer would
He speak to us face to face but through Christ and His angels, His
Spirit, and His chosen servants. (See passages below: CC 20, CON20,
CON21, GC v1, PP 184.)
COMMUNICATION DURING PATRIARCHAL TIMES
During the time of the Patriarchs, God continued to speak
to humanity through the system of sacrifices He instituted; He also
sent His Son and His angels to be His messengers and spoke directly
to His people. God now called certain people to be His voice in
the world. After Adam and Eve left the garden they started to see
the results and effects of sin, not only in nature but also in their
own family. Despite even the powerful ministry of Enoch, people
became progressively more wicked until God decided to destroy the
earth by water. Before bringing this destruction on the world,
He called Noah to be His spokesman and preacher for 120 years!
Evil had made such inroads into their lives that God thought it
best to destroy humanity and all their works and to start anew with
the family of Noah.
God’s call to Abram demonstrated a new strategy in His communication
with His fallen creatures. He not only called a man, but He promised
him descendants and gave him the prospect of being the father of
a great nation. This new nation would evangelize others and keep
alive God’s purposes in the world. Now it was no longer just a
single leader or person that was called to be God’s mouthpiece,
but an entire nation was to do His bidding (Gen. 12:1-3). Thereby
God illustrated His will for all people, namely that they should
be a blessing in the world where they are (Gen. 12:2).
As this nation of faith grew, God chose to speak to His people
in various ways. He spoke to Joseph through dreams, to the High
Priest by means of the Urim and Thummim, and then through visions
to the prophets who were called to be God’s spokespersons. During
the time of the Judges the Lord continued to speak through the leaders,
and especially through His messengers, including people like Deborah,
Samuel, and others. After settling in the Promised Land, the people
desired to be ruled by a king like the nations around them; it was
then that the role of prophets came into greater prominence.
Why did God continue to care and try to communicate with His
people despite their rebellion and sinfulness? In 2 Chronicles 36:15
we are given an insight into how God felt about His people: “He
had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place.”
Prophets are not only spokesmen for God but are also known
as the foretellers of things to come. During the time of the kings
the prophets played a very important role in the affairs of the
nation. In the days of the prophet Samuel we hear of the Schools
of the Prophets—special schools that trained the nation’s spiritual
leaders. These prophets had the responsibility of keeping the kings
and the royal family on track, even having to rebuke kings who were
not living in harmony with God’s requirements for the nation. It
is from this time that we come across the well known text from 2
Chronicles 20:20, when King Jehoshaphat said to the people, “‘Believe
in the Lord your God, and you shall be established; believe His
prophets, and you shall prosper.’”
The work of the prophet was two-fold: to receive the Lord’s
messages, and to deliver them. The Hebrew language has three words
for the word “prophet: “chozeh” which means seer, akin to seeing
or vision. The second word is “nabi” which is most frequently used
for prophet and means “one who speaks for God.” The third word
is “roeh” which is also translated as a seer, or one who discerns
God’s will, one who receives visions in guiding the nation. The
New Testament Greek word is “prophetes” which means one who speaks
forth. God used various methods to transmit His message to the
prophet, and the prophet was to interpret and transmit the message
to the people.
By the time the nation was being established there were already
some criteria for testing a prophet. False prophets have often
plagued the people of God. Moses gave one of the first criteria
of a true prophet: The predictions a prophet makes should come to
pass, otherwise the Lord has not spoken (Deut. 18:21, 22). (The
Bible does allow, however, for some prophecies to be conditional.
These may not be fulfilled if the conditions are not met or the
situation has changed; see Jer. 18:7-10 and the Book of Jonah.)
Another important criterion is that the prophet teaches truth and
obedience, as noted by Moses in Deuteronomy 13:1-4. A prophet does
not deny truth previously given by another prophet but teaches obedience
to God and His will. A similar thought is given in Isaiah 8:20:
genuine prophets speak in harmony with the word and revealed will
of God. With the passage of time it became very clear that a prophet
also had to be a man or woman of God, whose life was in harmony
with his or her beliefs and thus their lives would produce fruit
in line with their profession (Matt. 7:15-23).
In compassion for His people, God reveals Himself during periods
of crisis. The appearance of prophets is often linked with a major
crisis in the history of the world. Think of the flood, before which
God sent Noah to warn the world of the impending doom. Think of
Israel in bondage in Egypt, to whom God sent Moses to take them
to the Promised Land. Think of the severe oppression during the
time of the Judges, and people such as Deborah and later Samuel
who were sent to bring relief and courage to the people. Think
of the periods of dark apostasy during the reign of the kings of
Israel, when God sent men like Elijah to save the nation. Think
of the time of national decline, and God’s grace in sending Isaiah
and Jeremiah to encourage the people. During their captivity we
find Daniel and Ezekiel, who brought messages of courage to the
remnant.
It is clear from Scripture that God used prophets and that
His choice of spokesperson was not limited by gender or genealogy,
as in the choice of priests and the High Priest; but God used both
men and women to be His spokespersons. In times of crisis for the
nation of Israel God sent His prophets to give guidance, to rebuke,
and to lead the nation. At some of these crucial points God had
a number of prophets working to guide the people, but after the
captivity of Israel there came a period of nearly 500 years when
the prophetic office was silent. When the time was ripe in the
history of Israel and in the history of the world, God sent the
greatest of the prophets in the person of His Son with the true
messages about God (Heb. 1:2).
TEACHING IN THE EARLY CHRISTIAN CHURCH
The prophetic voice was heard again when the time had come
for the Messiah to be born and the Christian church to be established.
We see the prophetic voice in the amazing work of John the Baptist
who alerted the people of the coming Messiah, finally baptized Him,
and pointed Him out to the people as the Lamb of God (John 1:36).
John was God’s means of communicating hope to His people and calling
them to repentance. The ministries of both John and Jesus were accompanied
by signs and miracles, confirming their messages in the minds of
a skeptical Jewish nation.
Jesus gave His message into the hands of a special community.
This community, made up of apostles, leaders and believers, were
to go into the whole world. It was up to them, under the guidance
of the Holy Spirit, to tell the world about the price that was paid
for their redemption, and that salvation was now freely available
to all humanity. They were to voice God’s intention of bringing
heaven and earth together again after a final showdown between Good
and Evil. At the Cross, Satan knew he was a defeated foe, but he
would continue trying to deceive the world into following him in
opposition to God. Jesus, by His life and ministry, had given the
greatest revelation of who God is; He was indeed the greatest of
the prophets (Heb. 1:2, 3).
God raised up great and mighty prophets in the ministry of
Paul, Peter, John, and many other leaders. They clearly taught
that the prophetic gift was to continue to the end of time in the
church. In His compassion and care for His church, God would again
raise up prophets to lead the church in time of crisis. The apostle
Paul expected the prophetic gift to be with God’s people till the
end of time, and so in his writings he admonished the Corinthian
church not to come short in any gift (1 Cor. 1:7). Paul assured
the Galatians that the fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22) were for
the Christian, and that besides this God gives the gifts of the
Spirit to various ones whom He selects (1 Cor. 12:11), for the blessing
of the church. In looking down the passage of time, Jesus expected
the prophetic gift to continue to the end of time, for He warned
the end-time church to beware of false prophets (Matt. 24:24). A
warning against false prophets implies that there should also be
genuine prophets, from whom the false ones must be distinguished,
or else the warning would be against any prophets. Therefore
we need to heed carefully the words of Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:20,
“Do not despise prophecies.”
It is clear that God’s last church on earth would have the
prophetic gift. In fact, this gift would be one of the marks of
the remnant church as recorded in Revelation 12:17 and Revelation
19:10. The disciples on the road to Emmaus were dismayed as they
walked in the shadow of the crucifixion, thinking all was lost.
Then Jesus came near and opened their minds to the events of their
day and brought them hope and comfort. In a similar way, after
the confusion and despair following the October 22 disappointment
of 1844, God came close to His people by means of the prophetic
gift, to encourage them, warn them of what was coming, and to prepare
a people to meet their God.
SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS AND THE PROPHETIC GIFT
The Seventh-day Adventist Church that arose after the great
disappointment of October 22, 1844, came to believe strongly in
the role and place of the prophetic gift in the church. The great
disappointment shattered the faith of many who had believed that
Christ would return in October of that year. Many gave up their
faith. Various groups emerged from the disappointment, all seeking
to find a way through the events that had so devastated them. One
of these groups became the forerunners of the Seventh-day Adventist
church. It was to this group that Ellen Gould Harmon, at the age
of 17, revealed what God had shown her.
She was sickly, shy, and by no means one to promote herself,
but she had a message for the people that God had shown her in vision.
She saw herself as the weakest of the weak and a handmaiden of the
Lord. She never made a claim for herself to the prophetic office
but saw her role as a lesser light leading others to the Word of
God and to the Savior. Through His communication with this shy teenager,
who encouraged the people to restudy the Bible and pray for God’s
revelation of the truth, God once again came close to His people.
Perplexity and gloom changed to hope and courage. Soon these early
Adventists were sharing their joy and hope in the present truth
with the entire world.
Young Ellen had to contend with the prevailing sentiment among
Millerite leaders that all charismatic phenomena, such as visions
and trances, were to be rejected (Douglass, Messenger of the
Lord, p 39). Equally troubling were the widening divisions and
fearsome fanaticisms within the Millerite movement after the disappointment
(ibid.). Ellen was a frail and sickly teenager who could barely
speak above a whisper. Yet she was given a vision in December,
1844, which she was told to share with early believers. In time,
because of her humble, unswerving fidelity to God’s will for her
to be His messenger, she became the rallying point for earnest Bible
students who wanted to know what was right and wrong about the 1844
disappointment. From this humble beginning came the formation of
the Seventh-day Adventist church in the years 1860-1863.
The pioneers of the church were very watchful for anything
that would indicate that these manifestations of the prophetic gift
were not genuine. Ellen Harmon was therefore subjected to rigorous
tests by doctors, ministers, and other leaders; however, she passed
the biblical tests of a genuine prophet with flying colors, and
her experience corresponded to the Bible’s descriptions of the prophets’
physical condition in vision. There are numerous eyewitness accounts
of those who observed her and became convinced that she was a genuine
spokesperson for God. The guidance she gave in the early days of
the church, confirming the doctrinal positions of the church, and
also her personal work in the church gave credence to her words
and testimony. She married James White, a minister, in 1846, and
therefore became known to members of the church as Ellen G White.
Faced with this manifestation of the Spirit of prophecy in
the church, the church had to develop an understanding of the role
of spiritual gifts in the church, especially that of the Spirit
of prophecy. The early believers did so with much prayerful searching
of Scripture, and their findings have remained largely unchanged
as one of the fundamental beliefs of the Seventh-day Adventist church.
This belief recognizes the biblical view of the Spirit of prophecy
in the church and how the gift was manifested through the life and
work of Ellen G. White and her writings. For seventy years her
ministry and writings guided the church, and today, 93 years after
her death, her writings still continue to point God’s church to
the Bible and the Savior that it presents, the Lord Jesus Christ.
CONCLUSION
In the history of mankind God has revealed Himself through
the prophetic gift in times of great crisis, in times of need, in
times when God had something special to share with humanity. This
type of communication through the prophets was not limited to just
some biblical periods of history but was manifested throughout human
history. Though there were periods when the prophetic voice was
silent and we have little knowledge of what happened during these
periods, God’s Word assures us in Amos 3:7 that God will do nothing
in our world without first revealing it to His prophets. With every
new initiative, every new epoch in sacred history, God informs us
of His intentions for the future.
After giving His Son to pay the price on the cross for our
salvation, God will not abandon us in these last days, but will
continue to seek and to save all who accept Jesus and come into
harmony with Him. With the Bible writers we also exclaim, “Maranatha!
Come Lord Jesus, Come!” Come and restore the original mode of communication
with all mankind—face to face!
David
Birkenstock is the Director of the Ellen G. White Research Center,
Helderberg College, South Africa
Unless otherwise noted, Bible quotations are from the New
King James Version.
APPENDIX.
– ELLEN G. WHITE QUOTATIONS
1. CHRIST THE NEW WAY OF COMMUNICATION
BETWEEN MAN AND GOD
{CC 20}
After the fall Christ became Adam's instructor. He acted in God's
stead toward humanity, saving the race from immediate death. He
took upon him the office of mediator. Adam and Eve were given a
probation in which to return to their allegiance, and in this plan
all their posterity were embraced.
Without the atonement of the Son of God there could have been
no communication of blessing or salvation from God to man. God was
jealous for the honor of His law. The transgression of that law
had caused a fearful separation between God and man. To Adam in
his innocence was granted communion, direct, free, and happy, with
his Maker. After his transgression, God would communicate to man
only through Christ and angels. (Conflict and Courage, p.
20)
2. MAN’S SIN—IMPOSSIBILITY OF COMMUNION WITH GOD
{Con 20} The holy
and infinite God, who dwelleth in light unapproachable, could no
longer talk with man. No communication could now exist directly
between man and his Maker.
God forbears, for a time, the full execution of the sentence
of death pronounced upon man. Satan flattered himself that he had
forever broken the link between heaven and earth. But in this he
was greatly mistaken and disappointed. The Father had given the
world into the hands of His Son for Him to redeem from the curse
and the disgrace of Adam's failure and fall. Through Christ alone
can man now find access to God. And through Christ alone will the
Lord hold communication with man. (Confrontation, p. 20)
3. MAN SAVED BY THE SACRIFICIAL SYSTEM
{Con 21}
Fallen man, because of his guilt, could no longer come directly
before God with his supplications; for his transgression of the
divine law had placed an impassable barrier between the holy God
and the transgressor. But a plan was devised that the sentence of
death should rest upon a Substitute. In the plan of redemption there
must be the shedding of blood, for death must come in consequence
of man’s sin. The beasts for sacrificial offerings were to prefigure
Christ. In the slain victim, man was to see the fulfillment for
the time being of God’s word, "Thou shalt surely die."
And the flowing of the blood from the victim would also signify
an atonement. There was no virtue in the blood of animals; but the
shedding of the blood of beasts was to point forward to a Redeemer
who would one day come to the world and die for the sins of men.
And thus Christ would fully vindicate His Father's law. (Confrontation,
pp. 21, 22)
4. AFTER ENTRANCE OF SIN GOD COMMUNICATES BY HOLY
SPIRIT
{GC v} Before the entrance of sin, Adam enjoyed open communion with
his Maker; but since man separated himself from God by transgression,
the human race has been cut off from this high privilege. By the
plan of redemption, however, a way has been opened whereby the inhabitants
of the earth may still have connection with heaven. God has communicated
with men by His Spirit, and divine light has been imparted to the
world by revelations to His chosen servants. "Holy men of God
spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." 2 Peter 1:21.
(The Great Controversy, Introduction, p. v)
5. JESUS AS MEDIATOR AND THE LADDER BETWEEN HEAVEN
AND EARTH
{PP 184}
Up to the time of man's rebellion against the government of
God, there had been free communion between God and man. But the
sin of Adam and Eve separated earth from heaven, so that man could
not have communion with his Maker. Yet the world was not left in
solitary hopelessness. The ladder represents Jesus, the appointed
medium of communication. Had He not with His own merits bridged
the gulf that sin had made, the ministering angels could have held
no communion with fallen man. Christ connects man in his weakness
and helplessness with the source of infinite power. (Patriarchs
and Prophets, p. 184)
6. COMMUNION WAS TO BE FOREVER.
Face-to-face, heart-to-heart
communion with his Maker was his high privilege. Had he remained
loyal to God, all this would have been his forever. Throughout eternal
ages he would have continued to gain new treasures of knowledge,
to discover fresh springs of happiness, and to obtain clearer and
yet clearer conceptions of the wisdom, the power, and the love of
God. More and more fully would he have fulfilled the object of his
creation, more and more fully have reflected the Creator's glory.
(Education, p. 15)
7. GOD COMMUNICATED THROUGH CHRIST—INCARNATION
IN CHRIST
Ever since Adam's sin, the human race had been cut off from direct
communion with God; the communication between heaven and earth had
been through Christ; but now that Jesus had come "in the likeness
of sinful flesh" (Romans 8:3), the Father Himself spoke. He
had before communicated with humanity through Christ; now
He communicated with humanity in Christ. Satan had hoped
that God's abhorrence of evil would bring an eternal separation
between heaven and earth. But now it was manifest that the connection
between God and man had been restored. (The Desire of Ages,
p. 116)
8. IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNICATION
Power to Communicate--The
extent of a Christian's usefulness is measured by his power to communicate
that which he has received, and which has become experience to him.
Education falls short if students do not obtain a knowledge of how
to use the faculty of speech, and how to use to the best advantage
the education they have obtained. The youth are to commence when
young to learn the proper manner of speech.--Ms 74, 1897. (The
Voice in Speech and Song, p. 43)
9. THE WORD A CHANNEL OF COMMUNICATION WITH GOD.
The Word of God
is a channel of communication with the living God. He who feeds
upon the Word will become fruitful in all good works. He . . . will
be the discoverer of rich mines of truth which he must work to find
the hidden treasure. When [he is] surrounded with temptations, the
Holy Spirit will bring to his mind the very words with which to
meet the temptation at the very moment when they are most needed,
and he can use them effectually. (The Faith I Live By, p.
8)