The whole purpose of this message is to bring about a righteous and a holy people. When we accept the grace of God through our Savior, there is liberation from the past life of sin. “Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness” (Romans 6:18). The natural heart is one where the rulership of the mind brings destruction. However, with this new change the control center of the being becomes righteousness. “That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 5:21). This is the real change of which both America and the world are in desperate need. This real liberation changes the once sinful life into that of a holy being. “He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous” (1 John 3:7).

This means that the purpose of this message of Christ our Righteousness is to produce characters like that of Jesus. If we accept a message that does not make us righteous as a result of its teachings, then it is a false doctrine. “In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother” (1 John 3:10). One cannot justifiably claim to belong to God and then consciously act directly in opposition to His will. “As the Son of man was perfect in His life, so His followers are to be perfect in their life.”1

This is not some kind of forced submission to the will of God. Our Creator has always desired willing obedience. Even in Old Testament times, when He spoke His will from the grandeur of Mount Sinai, He wanted not just a mental assent. It was Israel’s heart that was at stake. “O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!” (Deuteronomy 5:29). “It is no part of Christ’s mission to compel men to receive Him. It is Satan, and men actuated by his spirit, that seek to compel the conscience. Under a pretense of zeal for righteousness, men who are confederate with evil angels bring suffering upon their fellow men, in order to convert them to their ideas of religion; but Christ is ever showing mercy, ever seeking to win by the revealing of His love. He can admit no rival in the soul, nor accept of partial service; but He desires only voluntary service, the willing surrender of the heart under the constraint of love. There can be no more conclusive evidence that we possess the spirit of Satan than the disposition to hurt and destroy those who do not appreciate our work, or who act contrary to our ideas.”2

Before a change is possible one needs to realize his or her true condition as a sinner. If I think I am good enough, then no real substantial change is possible. This is the crux of the problem with one who is found in a Laodicean condition. “Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked” (Revelation 3:17). We are in danger of thinking we are in a healthy situation while in reality being totally absent of righteousness.

Do we really understand our natural human condition? “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10). The thought that we are in a “good enough” condition is far from the real truth. Instead of being barely able to make it, we are totally, fully corrupt and depraved. That is a real description of our human nature. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). Have we ever come to the point in our life to realize that this is a description of ourselves? If we have not, then we are in a very precarious condition as we are lost beings in need of a Saviour. It does not matter how long we have been attending church or even have been active members. Or even, dare I say, have been workers or pastors.

“The greatest triumph given to us by the religion of Christ is control over ourselves. Our natural propensities must be controlled. Few realize what this is. They do not know their own weakness; and the natural sinfulness of the human heart often paralyzes their best endeavors. There must be a coming out from the world, and a nearness to God, if we would be adopted into the family of Heaven as children of the great King. We must walk by faith. When we do the will of God, we shall know of the doctrine. Our feet will be planted on the rock of eternal truth, and we shall not be swept away by the doubt and skepticism of an unbelieving age.” 3

The whole purpose of this message is to bring us to this realization. “What is justification by faith? It is the work of God in laying the glory of man in the dust, and doing for man that which it is not in his power to do for himself.”4 Can we imagine two young ministers attending a General Conference session with the message that many holding leadership roles are in desperate need of a Saviour? That would be a very difficult message to receive by the foremost religionists of the day. However, this is exactly what happened in 1888. We are so easy to condemn the rejection of the leadership in Adventism of that precious message, but are we more ready to receive a message that tells us that we, as longtime Reformers, need Jesus?

“The Lord in His great mercy sent a most precious message to His people through Elders Waggoner and Jones. This message was to bring more prominently before the world the uplifted Saviour, the sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. It presented justification through faith in the Surety; it invited the people to receive the righteousness of Christ, which is made manifest in obedience to all the commandments of God. Many had lost sight of Jesus. They needed to have their eyes directed to His divine person, His merits, and His changeless love for the human family.”5 Keep in mind that this statement refers to a General Conference Delegation in Session. The people in this passage refers to ministers as well as other major leaders who were attending as delegates. Why is it, that as a person living in this Laodicean period, I have a tendency to think that I am good enough for the kingdom of heaven?

We find two equally dangerous positions today that were manifested in the time of Jesus. The first is the danger of conservatism similar to that of the Pharisees. They thought that all that was necessary for salvation was to mentally agree to the most rigid teachings of truth. “The greatest deception of the human mind in Christ’s day was that a mere assent to the truth constitutes righteousness.”6 As a result of this belief, Jesus called them hypocrites who were, far from the kingdom of heaven. This is why Jesus said, “Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20). Their form of righteousness was insufficient to bring them everlasting life. A sacred regard for even the pure truth is insufficient to bring us salvation. We actually need to live a righteous life.

On the other hand there was the liberalism of the Sadducees. They applied a spiritual application to the entire Scriptures and openly declared that a righteous life is not necessary to have the blessings of God. This group views the message of 1888 as a liberating philosophy that gives freedom to a person to transgress the law without a negative impact in his or her present life or even in the future estate. It is interesting to compare the Pharisee and the Sadducee. They argued their positions publically and privately. They had not a single point of agreement. However, they finally came to one point they could all agree upon. They united their efforts to crucify Jesus. Why? Why did they form an unbelievable coalition against the powerful worker of miracles who was so loved by the people? It was because He lived a righteous life. “But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham” (John 8:40). Jesus did not tell the truth merely in words as the Pharisees have often done that. “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth” (1 Peter 2:21, 22). It was His character that they hated. Both the Pharisee and the Sadducee lived in transgression of the law of God. One lived in open transgression, while the other lived a hypocritical double life.

The message of Christ Our Righteousness cuts across the path of both the conservatives as well as the liberals in Christian society today. Jesus is not interested in a label. Rather, He is interested in changed characters, ready for the society of angels, and occupants to sit with Him in His throne (Revelation 3:21).

How is it possible for us as sinners by nature and by choice to see ourselves as God sees us? We all have a tendency to think of ourselves as good people to some degree or another. Because of this value that we place upon ourselves it is impossible for God to bring salvation to the common human through a natural process of reasoning and understanding. “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil” (Jeremiah 13:23). A supernatural power needs to be introduced into the mode of human reasoning.

We all, as Christians by profession, intellectually recognize the need of Jesus. We say that the world needs Jesus. But what do we mean by the term “Jesus.” We refer to Him as a person and ask people to accept Jesus as a personal Savior. We speak of Him in theological terms and describe His preexistence and His eternal nature. However, all that talk does not bring us to a real, deep realization of our corrupt human nature.

One Bible verse places all this in its proper perspective. “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul” (Psalm 19:7). Is it possible that the law brings genuine conversion? In Adventism we have heard so much about the law and begin to think that the message of 1888 is a rejection of the preaching of the law. It is true that there was a misapplication of the law in the pre-1888 Adventism. We even remember the words of the last-day prophet about this experience by our forefathers. “As a people, we have preached the law until we are as dry as the hills of Gilboa that had neither dew nor rain.”7 Most of us may remember this statement clearly. However, do we know that the next sentence places this thought in its proper perspective? “We must preach Christ in the law, and there will be sap and nourishment in the preaching that will be as food to the famishing flock of God.”

We are well aware that we are to preach the truth to the people in order for them to accept salvation. This truth is none other than Jesus Christ Himself. “Jesus saith . . . , I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). Is it possible to separate Jesus and the truth from the law of God? “Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is the truth” (Psalm 119:142). In reality, Who is this Jesus and this preaching of righteousness by faith? “[Many] are not willing to exchange their own righteousness, which is unrighteousness, for the righteousness of Christ, which is pure, unadulterated truth.”8

When we speak of the law separated from Christ, we miss the whole purpose of the message of salvation. However, if we remove the law from our teaching, we cannot bring salvation to a single soul because it is the law as seen through Jesus that converts the soul. “Without the law, men have no just conception of the purity and holiness of God or of their own guilt and uncleanness. They have no true conviction of sin and feel no need of repentance. Not seeing their lost condition as violators of God’s law, they do not realize their need of the atoning blood of Christ. The hope of salvation is accepted without a radical change of heart or reformation of life. Thus superficial conversions abound, and multitudes are joined to the church who have never been united to Christ.”9

What happens to an unconverted soul whether in the church or in heathen lands that hears the law (as it is in Jesus) taught? “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). Can you imagine that? The entrance of faith comes through the medium of the word of God. It is this word that has the power to change the soul from a sinner to a saint. From one who is without righteousness to one who is able to reflect the character of Christ perfectly. It is through the study and understanding of the word of God (in reality the revelation of the law of God) that victory is possible. “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith” (1 John 5:4).

Why is such a radical change possible through the study of the law of God as revealed through Jesus, the Word? “By looking constantly to Jesus with the eye of faith, we shall be strengthened. God will make the most precious revelations to His hungering, thirsting people. They will find that Christ is a personal Saviour. As they feed upon His word, they find that it is spirit and life. The word destroys the natural, earthly nature, and imparts a new life in Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit comes to the soul as a Comforter. By the transforming agency of His grace, the image of God is reproduced in the disciple; he becomes a new creature.”10

Do you want this type of change in your life? Are you prepared to make a determination to understand the character of God through a diligent daily study of His Word?

As important as Bible study is in the turmoils that this 21st century brings, it alone is insufficient to bring about salvation. The various religious leaders among the Jews in the time of Christ were readers of the Scriptures. “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me” (John 5:39). The unwritten subject of this sentence is the word “you.” So it would read, “You search the scriptures.” They studied the Bible because they thought that by studying alone they would have eternal salvation. That study actually brought merit to their spiritual plight. Yet through their study they were rejecting the very One that the Scriptures were pointing to. Why was it that their study did not help them? Why was it in vain?

Is it possible for us to be diligent students of the Scriptures and yet come to wrong conclusions? In reality our attitude when we come to the study of the Bible is critical in its proper understanding. “The spirit in which you come to the investigation of the Scriptures will determine the character of the assistant at your side.”11 What kind of attitude do we have as we are studying our Bible? What is the right attitude in Bible study that brings us salvation? A reading of a familiar passage in another translation gives us a better idea of the original meaning of Christ. “If anyone wants to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority” (John 7:17, NKJV). It is willingness to obey God that produces salvation as a result of Bible study and helps us come to right conclusions in our research.

This willingness to obey is also described as a complete and total surrender to the written will of God. “Submit yourselves therefore to God” (James 4:7). What happens to us when we truly surrender our will to the will of God as found on the pages of the inspired writings? What becomes our relationship to the law of God? “The law is an expression of the thought of God; when received in Christ, it becomes our thought. It lifts us above the power of natural desires and tendencies, above temptations that lead to sin.”12 Can you imagine your natural tendency to be so converted that, when tempted, your inclination will be to do the will of God? This is the real plan of salvation that cuts across the conservative and the liberal believers. It results in real obedience.

Why does God want to change more than just the outward actions? “All true obedience comes from the heart. It was heart work with Christ. And if we consent, He will so identify Himself with our thoughts and aims, so blend our hearts and minds into conformity to His will, that when obeying Him we shall be but carrying out our own impulses. . . . Through an appreciation of the character of Christ, through communion with God, sin will become hateful to us.”13 We need the experience of Jesus as seen from the manger to the cross. He hated sin so much that nothing could change His course, not even the cruel cross.

Why does this willingness to obey make such a difference in our outlook on life? Why does it change our inclinations and tendencies? The root of that reason is found in a small New Testament book. “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:4). This verse tells us that if we accept the precious promises in Scripture by total surrender, we actually become partakers of the divine nature.

When Jesus came to this world, “He took upon His sinless nature our sinful nature, that He might know how to succor those that are tempted.”14 It is by combining both of these natures that He was able to obtain victory in this corrupt world. “Christ’s humanity alone could never have endured this [appetite] test [in the wilderness], but His divine power combined with humanity gained in behalf of man an infinite victory.”15

It is impossible for humanity alone to have victory. Only defeat is a reality. But when we surrender the will, in that very act of submission to the written will of God, we partake of something supernatural. We partake of His divine nature and victory is a reality. All this is within our reach. “The life of Christ has shown what humanity can do by being partaker of the divine nature. All that Christ received from God we too may have.”16

When Nicodemus came to Jesus by night, he though to have an intellectual discussion regarding the validity of Jesus as a teacher. However, the Saviour touched the real need of his soul. It was not a philosophical discussion he needed. He already had that in hearing the Pharisees and Sadducees argue. What he needed was a new life changing principle instilled in his life. “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. . . . Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:3, 5).

What really is this new birth? “Christ brought His divinity to earth, veiled by humanity, in order to rescue man from his lost condition. Human nature is vile, and man’s character must be changed before it can harmonize with the pure and holy in God’s immortal kingdom. This transformation is the new birth.”17 When Jesus came to this world He was born of the Holy Ghost. When we realize our need as sinful human beings, we need to be born again of the same Holy Spirit. It is only as we receive the Holy Spirit, it is only as we partake of that divine nature that it is possible to escape the corruption that is in this world and that is intertwined with our human nature.

So far we have seen that in order for salvation to come to our soul, we must see ourselves as God sees us. This is only possible through a comprehensive understanding of the law of God as seen through the merits of Jesus as our Saviour. We also saw that by a complete surrender to that written will of God we partake of the divine nature and receive the power necessary to have victory over sin and experience a complete change in our life. But in order to become an overcomer and stand with Jesus for eternity, there is one more thing necessary for that message of 1888 to be more than just a theoretical understanding.

After telling us to “submit yourselves therefore to God,” the apostle continues with the rest of the responsibility: “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). It is only after we have been partakers of the divine nature that we have the needed strength to resist the temptations that come our way. “Resistance of temptation must come from man, who must draw his power from God.”18

The real battle is for the control of the human mind. God wants your mind, and once He has that will on His side, victory is a reality. “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). “The first work of those who would reform is to purify the imagination. If the mind is led out in a vicious direction, it must be restrained to dwell only upon pure and elevated subjects. When tempted to yield to a corrupt imagination, then flee to the throne of grace and pray for strength from Heaven. In the strength of God the imagination can be disciplined to dwell upon things which are pure and heavenly.”19

Do you want to be like Jesus? In our search for understanding the truth, we are to be looking not for mere theological understandings but a revelation of Jesus Christ. More than anything else, over one hundred years ago the prophet wrote: “The world needs today what it needed nineteen hundred years ago - a revelation of Christ.”20 How can we get that? We need to study not for mere understanding but to see Jesus. Jesus is something that cannot be described. But we can experience Him. Under inspiration, the disciple whom Jesus loved could say at the end of his life, “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not” (1 John 3:1). What will happen in our life when we really see Jesus? “When the sinner has a view of the matchless charms of Jesus, sin no longer looks attractive to him.”21 This is the purpose of the message of 1888. Are we ready to receive this message today and completely surrender our life to the will and way of our Creator and Redeemer?