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In a sense, this is a follow-up to the previous study, “The Priests of Ba’al,” because it examines one of the key successes that the worship of Ba’al has had over the current state of Christianity.

We may recall that last time, we spoke about the confrontation between the prophet Eli-Yah and four hundred and fifty prophets of the god Ba’al, whose name means “Lord,” or in some contexts “Husband.” He was a substitute for Yahweh, who is the true Lord and Husband of Israel. Yet while a substitute, Ba’al was everything that Yahweh was not. The name Yahweh means “I am that I am,” “I am the one that exists,” while Ba’al did not exist except as a symbol used by demons to steal glory from the Creator. The title of Yahweh is “Elohim,” or God, which means the All-Mighty, and yet Ba’al could do nothing to save his worshippers, though they called upon him day and night. He had no might, no power, whatsoever.

The worship of Ba’al is, in very short summary, the worship of a god who does nothing. He does not answer prayer, except for coincidences and what miracles demons are permitted to perform. He does not transform his people into his likeness, converting them from carnal to spiritual beings. He does not keep them from transgressing the divine law, and while Yahweh provided a sacrifice for us, Ba’al and other false gods demand that humans offer sacrifices to them. Perhaps you have considered that. The priesthood of Yahweh offered up sacrifices of animals to symbolize what the Father would do for us. The priesthood of the pagans offered up sacrifices in order to fulfill their gods’ own selfish requirements. This is why Judaism, separate from Christ, is really no different than any other false religion… they believe that their God is appeased by blood, just like the worshippers of Ba’al, Chemosh and the others believe of theirs… just as Cain, the first murderer, believed that Yahweh would be appeased by the blood of his brother. Blood is necessary for atonement, yes… but not because the shedding of blood pleases our Father in Heaven.

The priesthood of Ba’al, both ancient and modern, calls upon God, but He does not answer, and this, to them, is normal. When they ask for the most important blessing, the most important answer, salvation from sin, He does not give a reply. Such a religion would be immediately identified as false, and abandoned, if that were the extent of it, but Satan has the modern Christian addicted to waiting… waiting until noon, and then the time of the evening sacrifice. (1Kings 18:29) The modern Christian must wait until he feels spiritually mature (this is noon), or until Christ is about to return (this is evening), before he dares to claim that his prayer for freedom from sin has been answered. Either that, or he must delude himself into believing that freedom from sin does not really mean freedom from the presence of sin, that salvation is some invisible, spiritual condition that doesn’t affect the real world, their actual thoughts and actions, and so even if salvation takes place now, today, we must wait until Christ returns to see it and enjoy its benefits.

You can see why the world does not take the Christian seriously. You can see why the worship of Yahweh is dismissed as just one of many religions with invisible Gods and faith without substance. The world does not believe there ever was a time when Christ, or one in whom Christ dwelt, could take a suffering sinner by the hand, and say, “Rise up and walk,” and then “Go and sin no more.”

It’s not historical, you see. It’s not realistic. It’s not scientific.

Well, I say it is all of those things. Our testimony as Creation Seventh Day Adventists says that it is all of those things. It is historical. It is realistic. It is scientific, because God is the one who knows how all this works, and we are here to investigate it. The word “supernatural” is a human invention. It’s not a Biblical word, although it is sometimes convenient for describing something outside of our day-to-day experience. In reality, nothing is supernatural to someone who knows everything about the way that nature works… and that doesn’t just go for the Father and Son. The 144,000 are on their way to this understanding as well.

The priests of Ba’al are content to have a religion where they dance around, and cut themselves, and wait for an answer that will, they believe, someday come. They are content to preach a Gospel of invisible fulfillments, and future miracles. But our Father is greater than this. His honor requires a priesthood that is better than this.

Let us read what Paul wrote about the Priesthood of Yahweh, as opposed to the priesthood of Ba’al.

“Now, brethren, if I come unto you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you, except I shall speak to you either by revelation, or by knowledge, or by prophesying, or by doctrine? And even things without life giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped? For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?” (1Cor 14:6-8)

An uncertain sound… we know what that is. That is the sound of Ba’al’s priesthood, carrying on and making noise. The opposite of that is a certain sound… and I don’t mean “certain” in the sense of it being a particular sound (although it is that) but a sound that indicates something is certain, is sure, is guaranteed. What does this certain sound sound like? What does faith sound like? What does the Faith of Yahshua sound like? What does a testimony of the Faith of Yahshua sound like? We have a progression here, getting more and more specific, but also more and more certain, with regard to the sound that we make.

Paul describes four ways in which the Christian makes a certain sound. He says that his words, my words, anyone’s words, won’t profit, unless they be revelation, knowledge, prophecy, or doctrine. That sounds like there may be some redundancy there, but there are some shades of meaning among them.

Revelation, we understand. This is the teaching of new light, previously unknown. John’s Book of Revelation contains information that, while deeply rooted in every book of the Bible from Genesis to the New Testament Epistles, is very different from everything that has come before, and contains symbolism that only the Holy Spirit, through Yahweh’s Church, can hope to express correctly. It contains warnings of trouble, and trials, that the world will not even recognize when it appears… but that the Little Flock prepares for, and will endure.

Doctrine, we understand. These are the teachings of our history, and the wisdom of those who have come before us in the faith. It is what the prophets have written, and what the Father and Son have said… at one time it was revelation, but it is now accepted as the foundation of our beliefs.

Knowledge, we understand. This is exposure to established light. When we speak of the Gospel, the Ten Commandments, the experience of being born again, this is divine knowledge. Knowledge contains doctrine, but it is more than that. It conveys the moral truth of our Creator, and the principles that we apply to our lives as we become sanctified. When we say “We know the Father and Son,” it does not merely mean that we know about them… that statement alone would be doctrine, and that is vital… but it also means that we understand Their Spirit, and can speak with authority about Them, and even on Their behalf.

Let me give you a few brief examples of the difference between doctrine and knowledge. I can confidently say that an addiction to tobacco is a sin. Is that a doctrinal statement? Not exactly. It can be derived from doctrine. We can quote Paul speaking about respecting the Temple of the Holy Spirit, which is our body, and we can speak about eating and drinking, and doing all, to the glory of Yahweh. But that statement in particular is knowledge drawn from those doctrinal statements. Because we understand why the dos and don’ts were given, we can apply their meaning, and their underlying principle, to correct choices today.

Consider the Trademark Law, which we understand to be the Mark of The Beast for this generation. That is drawn from doctrine, and being established in the CSDA Church can be taught as a modern doctrinal position… but it is technically “Knowledge,” because we cannot say, “This verse says that the Mark of The Beast will be a Trademark claimed by the Seventh Day Adventist Church.” We can know that, but it requires spiritual discernment to see it in the Scriptures.

Ellen White’s writings, to give a third example… would not be widely accepted as Christian doctrine. It is knowledge drawn from the Scriptures, where she adds her own insight and isn’t just quoting. It is knowledge worth gaining, because it is part of the certain sound that the Christian makes in these last days.

And of course, there is prophecy. We understand that too. Prophecy can cover a wide range, but as Paul uses it in contrast with Doctrine, Knowledge, and Revelation, we might consider it to be information that cannot be drawn from the Bible through ordinary means. Of course, the earliest prophets had no Bible from which they could draw anything… Yahweh interacted with them, and they related what they saw and heard. Revelation might be something that comes about through intense study… it doesn’t require a vision or a dream, but as Paul is using the term prophecy here, he appears to be speaking about new light that arises specifically from a direct experience with Yahweh… and so it is more of a method. It is a means of obtaining revelation, a means of reminding us of doctrine, and a means of providing us with knowledge.

If the distinctions among these four things escapes you a little, that’s actually perfectly fine. There is still no 100% clear line distinguishing among such things as statutes, judgments, commandments, and ordinances. They all indicate instructions Yahweh has given us, and similarly, all the terms that Paul uses there – although he does list them for a reason – mean that the things Yahweh has given to us, these are the things we are called to share with the world, and to do so with authority, with power, and with the full expectation that what we say, because it is Yahweh saying it through us by His Spirit, is truth, and is life.

What is the experience of standing up before a crowd and testifying of what Yahweh has told you to say? To the natural man, and the natural mind, it can feel scary to speak with such confidence. The history of the modern Christian involves mistakes, misunderstandings, miscalculations. One of the biggest events in Adventist history is actually called “The Great Disappointment,” not because our Father disappointed us, but because our forefathers make a mistake, and did not understand the significance of what the Bible’s prophecies meant. So, with all that baggage, with that unreliable history, how do we dare to give a certain sound, to speak with authority about revelation, and prophecy, and knowledge, and doctrine?

Every one of us is called to prophesy before the world. I have deliberately used the words “priests” and “prophets” of Ba’al interchangeably in these last two studies, because they served the same function, just as the priests and prophets of Yahweh serve the same function… and that is even without taking into account the outpouring of the Spirit mentioned in Joel chapter 2. It is to mediate between the holy Creator and the fallen creation. When you give a certain sound about prophecy, of course, but also about doctrine, and knowledge, and revelation, you are a prophet of Yahweh. What does it mean to take up that responsibility?

We don’t have many insights into the minds of the Old Testament prophets as they went about their ministries, but we do have one notable record, and that is from the Book of Jonah. Here is one remarkable passage, right at the very beginning: “Now the word of Yahweh came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, ‘Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness is come up before me.’ But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish, so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh.” (Jonah 1:1-3)

Now, let me clear something up right away. In some treatments of this book, Jonah is seen as something of a comical figure. People ask, “Did Jonah really think that God wouldn’t be able to find him in Tarshish? What kind of a prophet is that?” And I won’t deny that here are some humorous parts of the Book of Jonah, but this isn’t really one of them. If you look at a map of the region involved here, Nineveh is on the eastern side of the wide Mediterranean Sea, and Tarshish is on the opposite side… they are as far apart as two points can be in that part of the world. What this means is that Jonah determined to go so far away from Nineveh that even as Yah continued to insist that Jonah go and give his testimony, he would be so distant by the time that conscience compelled him to obey, he would be unable to give the warning before the forty days expired. Jonah tried to make it impossible for him to obey the instructions given to him, so that Yahweh, realizing this, would leave him alone… thus, escaping His divine presence.

But just as Satan thought he could win a war in Heaven, rebellion makes fools of even the wisest of creatures. Jonah eventually gave his testimony, and Nineveh was spared the Creator’s wrath for a time. At the end of the book, Jonah explains why he decided to run away in the first place. When Nineveh repented and was spared, Jonah became angry, and so we read: “And he prayed unto Yahweh, and said, ‘I pray thee, O Yahweh, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish, for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.’” (Jonah 4:2)

God’s promises and threatenings alike are conditional. Jeremiah knew that. Jonah knew that. Ellen White knew that. We know that. But this should not embarrass us. Yahweh’s goodness, which allows Him to turn curses into blessings, and His justice, which at times requires Him to turn blessings into curses, this should not embarrass us. We need to be able to convey this reasonable, personable aspect of our Father to the world… it is a part of His character. Ironically, His mercy, His longsuffering, is a part of His unchanging nature… that He (to our human perceptions) appears to turn from one course to another in response to our will, to our faithfulness or rebellion, is what makes Him more than just a pantheistic force that establishes and ensures cause-and-effect. This is what makes Him a Person, the great divine Prototype in whose Image we have been created.

So yes, we may speak even of conditional things with perfect confidence. They Father will not let us be ashamed before the world; therefore, when we say, “This is how it is going to be,” as revealed by the Spirit, especially the Spirit working through the Church, and when we say, “God has set me free from sin, therefore I know, just as Paul knew, that I will receive a crown of life when Christ returns,” that is also a prophecy that gives a certain sound. It is a certain sound in that it is particular, unique, and different from any other sounds… different than any other gospel message in the world today. But that is also what makes it a certain sound of another kind… a sound of certainty, a sound of salvation in which we are confidently resting.

Where is the Bride of Christ? Where is the Little Flock? They are found giving the Testimony of Yahshua the Messiah, the Testimony of Jesus Christ. This profession of the Faith of Yahshua angers the dragon and his servants, but they are powerless to prevent the message from being proclaimed, just as the demons (even with Jonah’s foolish cooperation) were powerless to prevent the warning from being given to Nineveh.

And so yes, there will be temptations regarding being seen as a false prophet, being seen as an unreliable witness, but just as with Jonah, Moses, and Peter, and Paul, we learn from the mistakes of those who have gone before us, and avoid them on our own path to sanctification.

Those who have not learned the lessons are the ones who are afraid to repeat them. And we see this among modern priests of Ba’al. In our interactions with various groups and individuals over just the past few months, we have heard from those who claim to be giving the Gospel statements like, “I cannot testify to having ceased from sin. I am still broken, and I could never testify to that.” That is the doctrine of Ba’al, not of Yahweh. A couple of our very aggressive opposers on Facebook just a few weeks ago revealed that they were prophets of Ba’al. One said, “I believe that complete victory will come someday, probably right before the close of probation. Until then, we will continue to fail God.” Another, after I showed him the sermon by A.T. Jones about Creation vs. Evolution replied quite honestly and directly, “Yes, I am a spiritual evolutionist, because I believe that the Christian gets ‘better’ over time.” That is not how the Creator works, nor how the Savior heals. That is not genuine Adventism.

That is their faith, and they will receive the reward of that faith, unless they repent and give Yahweh the glory that He is worthy to receive. The worship of Yahweh leads men to forget the “self,” the part that they play, so that rebellion and sin are swallowed up in righteousness, and there is no possibility of our failure, because it is Christ in us that fulfills the perfect will of the Father who sent Him. Yahweh cannot fail, and we cannot fail because we do not fail… that is the covenant between God and man, all by His power, all by His majesty that overcomes even the most sinful of flesh.

The worship of Yahweh gives a certain sound. It involves acknowledging that He is who He says He is. The First Angel says “Worship God.” This involves believing that He fulfills His promises, but those who deny Christ before men, He will deny them before His Father. Let us conclude today by looking at that passage, and how it is connected to both Paul’s words and the First Angel’s message.

“Whosoever therefore shall confess Me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven; but whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.” (Mat 10:32, 33)

What does this mean? There is a letter and a spirit of this teaching. To deny Christ before men does not just mean denying that you are a Christian in front of hostile company. That can be one interpretation, but that is only the letter of the Law. There is also the Spirit - literally. Men deny Christ by denying His Spirit in them, which is sent for the purpose of keeping them from sin. To say, “I continue in known sin” is to deny that Christ is dwelling within them, and anyone who does this… regardless of what else they may believe correctly, regardless of how sincerely they wait for that experience to someday happen to them, the Savior says, “Him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.” To the sinner: Your only safety is in accepting Him now, in receiving His Spirit now, so that there is never more an occasion to deny Him.

Matthew 10, verse 32 and 33, this passage is about the Victory over sin, because that is what confessing Christ means... to accept Him, to receive Him, and to acknowledge His promise to present us "faultless" before the Throne, that transforming miracle occurring here and now, not at some nebulous point in the future. That would be a very “uncertain” sound, and that is the testimony that the Priesthood of Ba’al offers to the world.

Inspiration tells us to speak an invincible faith. It does not mean we will always feel that our faith is invincible, or that our path is secure. In fact, at times we will need to actively and diligently deny the promptings of the flesh, the very work of Satan, in order to keep on blowing that holy trumpet. Evidence will say, “You are just wasting your time.” Demons will say to you, “You are no prophet! You are no teacher! You are not worthy to be a messenger of this great glory.” Agents of the enemy will call you an apostate, a sinner, a false witness, a cult leader, a thief of the name of God’s church... you have heard them. You have heard all these things. But in all this, there is a certainty, a kind of holy arrogance... let’s look at what that means as we close, that “holy arrogance” that comes with confessing Christ before men.

Remember what Yahweh said to Isaiah after he agreed to be His messenger: “For the Lord Yahweh will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded, therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.” (Isa 50:7)

Some of us might do well to print that statement out and paste it somewhere that we can easily see it. That is a powerful prophecy, and it is one that each of us is invited to proclaim. That verse is a very certain sound… and note that it says “I have set my face like a flint.’ The face is the part of you that the world sees. It doesn’t say, “I have hardened my heart like a stone.” It doesn’t say that the coldness in the words and actions of others, the rejection, and the insults, won’t hurt a bit. No, but I would rather have a soft heart, and have it wounded, than a hard one incapable of feeling pain. The Savior did not seek to dull His pain on the cross, and we do not need to do that either.

As we give that certain sound, as we give that invincible testimony, we have comfort. We have The Comforter, Christ Himself by His spirit. We have the protection of the One who receives the slings and arrows that have been aimed at us, because He is strong to bear the assault on our behalf.

We have all that we need, and we have authority when we speak of Knowledge, of Revelation, of Doctrine, and of Prophecy. We have a testimony that will reach the seeking soul, that will arrest the attention of those who are like sheep who have gone astray, and will answer the prayers of those in the world who don’t even realize what they are praying for, but to whom our Father has promised an answer. The certain sound we give is the answer to the prayer of dying humanity, and for love’s sake, we endure all things to give them that answer.

David.

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