Cleansing from Root Problems
/"Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots.... The things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man unclean. Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man unclean." Matt. 15:13; 18-20.
"Wrong feelings and dispositions are to be rooted out." UL 218.
"Christ desires nothing so much as to redeem His heritage from the dominion of Satan. But before we are delivered from Satan's power without, we must be delivered from his power within." COL 174, 5.
"Whatever is has already been, and whatever will be has been before; and God will call the past to account.... God will bring to judgment both the righteous and the wicked for there will be a time for every activity, a time for every deed." Eccl. 3:15, 17.
"For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil." Eccl.12:14.
"You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence." Ps. 90:8.
"In the solemn assembly of the last day, in the hearing of the universe, will be read the reason for the condemnation of the sinner.... There will be a general revealing of the secrets and motives of the heart, for that which is hidden will be made manifest. Those who have made sport of solemn things connected with the judgment will be sobered as they face its terrible reality." CG 560.
"The Lord searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts." 1Chron. 28:9.
NIV Conc. - Motive: Something formed, creation; inclination, disposition, motivation: - desire, mind.
"All a man's ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the Lord." Prov.16:2.
NIV Conc. (Heb.) - Motives: Ruah - breath, wind: Spirit, mind, heart, as the immaterial part of a person that can respond to God, the seat of life; spirit being, especially the Spirit of God: - anger, courage, feelings, overwhelmed, deeply troubled, discouragement, even-tempered, hostility, inspired, jealous, liar, life-breath, long-winded, loose heart, patience, pride, quick-tempered, rage, resentment, self-control, source of grief, strength, temper, trustworthy, wisdom.
"Every act of our lives, whether excellent or praiseworthy, or deserving of censure, is judged by the searcher of hearts according to the motives which prompted it." GW 275.
"Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore judge nothing before the *appointed time;* wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God." 1 Cor. 4:2-5.
"Paul refers to the *time appointed* by God for judgment." 6 BC 682. [Not E.G.W.] *See Daniel 8:13-19.
NIV Conc. (Gr.) - Motives: Plan, purpose, will: - decisions, motives, to wish desire; want, choose, plan: - counsel, determine, intended, like, willing.
"The secret purposes and motives appear in the unerring register; for God will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts." (1 Cor.4:5.) GC 481.
"Every act is judged by the motives that prompt it." COL 316.
“It is the motive that gives character to our acts, stamping them with ignominy or with high moral worth.” LDE 219
Note: The investigative judgment is the time when Jesus will judge the motives and secret things of man's heart. This phase of Jesus' ministry began in 1844 at the end of the 2300 days/years as predicted by Daniel in Daniel 8:13-19, as noted above. The beginning of this judgment is described in Daniel 7 and Malachi 3:
"As I looked, thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool. His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze. A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before him. Thousands upon thousands attended him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court was seated, and the books were opened." Dan. 7:9, 10.
"'See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,' says the Lord Almighty. 'But who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years." Mal. 3:1-4.
Note: After the great disappointment in 1844 when Jesus did not come to earth as the believers had expected, they began to study and found that Jesus
had begun a work of cleansing and preparing His people to be ready for His actual appearing.
"But the people were not yet ready to meet their Lord. There was still a work of preparation to be accomplished for them. Light was to be given, directing their minds to the temple of God in heaven; and as they should by faith follow their High Priest in His ministration there, new duties would be revealed. Another message of warning and instruction was to be given to the church. (Mal. 3:2,3 quoted.) Those who are living upon the earth when the intercession of Christ shall cease in the sanctuary above, are to stand in the sight of a holy God without a mediator. Their robes must be spotless; their characters must be purified from sin by the blood of sprinkling. Through the grace of God and their own diligent effort, they must be conquerors in the battle with evil. While the investigative judgment is going forward in heaven, while the sins of penitent believers are being removed from the sanctuary, there is to be a special work of purification, of putting away of sin, among God's people upon earth. This work is more clearly presented in the messages of Revelation 14.
"When this work shall have been accomplished, the followers of Christ will be ready for His appearing." GC 424, 425.
Note: Unfortunately, most people have believed that this work of judgment for God's people would be done in secret by Jesus in the heavenly sanctuary, and that we would not know until the plagues fall who were saved and who were lost. This belief is deadly, for it places no responsibility upon us to cooperate consciously with Jesus in His work in the heavenly sanctuary. But Ellen White states: "The Lord does nothing without our cooperation." 2 SM 236. She also states:
"Though all nations are to pass in judgment before God, yet He will examine the case of each individual with as close and searching scrutiny as if there were not another being upon the earth. Everyone must be tested and found without spot or wrinkle or any such thing....
"The judgment is now passing in the sanctuary above. For many years this work has been in progress. Soon -- none know how soon -- it will pass to the cases of the living. In the awful presence of God our lives are to come up in review. At this time above all others, it behooves every soul to heed the Savior's admonition, 'Watch and pray: for you know not when the time is. If therefore thou shalt not watch I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee....
"When the work of the investigative judgment closes, the destiny of all will have been decided for life or death....
"Watch ye therefore.... lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. Perilous is the condition of those who growing weary of their watch, turn to the attractions of the world. While the man of business is absorbed in the pursuit of gain, while the pleasure lover is seeking indulgences, while the daughter of fashion is arranging her adornments; -- it may be in that hour that the Judge of all the earth will pronounce the sentence, 'Thou art weighed in the balances and art found wanting.'" GC 489-91.
Note: Can you imagine Jesus doing this work of judgment in heaven and examining our characters, which includes not only our outward acts and behavior, but also our our internal thoughts and feelings -- ["The thoughts and feelings combined make up the moral character." 5 T 3:10], -- without letting us know that He has come to our name and is inviting us to cooperate with Him as He does this work of examination? The text says if we do not watch we will not know. But what if we do watch? Then our hearts will be open to His work of cleansing and preparing His people -- His bride-to-be -- to be ready when He comes. When the judgment is finished, what a day of rejoicing and celebration that will be in heaven for God and Jesus and the whole heavenly hosts:
"Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: 'Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen bright and clean, was given her to wear.' (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.) Then the angel said to me, 'Write: "Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!''" Rev. 19:6-9.
Note: Notice that the text says, "His bride has made herself ready." This, of course, is done in full cooperation with Jesus, who is doing the work of the cleansing during the judgment time. Without this cooperation, Jesus has to judge us unready and unwilling, because we are too busy and preoccupied with the things of earth to listen to His still, small voice, wooing and inviting us to a close walk with Him which will allow him to purify our lives.
"All of God's people should come nearer to Him and wash their robes of character in the blood of the Lamb [Rev. 7:14]. They will then see sin in the true light and will realize how offensive it is in the sight of God." 3T 324.
What a tragedy it will be when many wake up too late and discover that the judgment of the living has passed and they are found unready. This is the condition of those who will be among the five foolish virgins.
"The class represented by the foolish virgins... have not... permitted their old nature to be broken up.... They have been content with a superficial work. They do not know God. They have not studied His character; they have not held communion with Him; therefore they do not know how to trust, how to look and live. Their service to God degenerates into a form." COL 411.
"If they cherish hereditary and cultivated traits of character while professing to be His disciples, they are represented by the foolish virgins." 4 BC 1179.
"Inherited and cultivated tendencies to wrong must be crucified." MYP 68.
It should be obvious that this work of cleansing cannot be done without a personal, constant walk with Jesus. This is what constitutes our cooperation with Jesus in the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary. Anyone who is not experiencing this should make haste to seek the Lord and ask Him to help you understand and cooperate with this process. Daniel points out that only those who understand this process will be among the wise virgins:
"I heard, but I did not understand. So I asked, 'My Lord, what will the outcome of all of this be?' He replied, 'Go your way, Daniel, because the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end. Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand." Dan. 12:9, 10.
What will the wise understand that the wicked will not? It seems clear that the wise will understand the process of how to cooperate with Jesus in being made spotless and refined. This includes hereditary and cultivated tendencies to wrong thinking and behavior.
"It is those who by faith follow Jesus in the great work of the atonement, who receive the benefits of His mediation in their behalf; while those who reject the light which brings to view this work of ministration are not benefited thereby." EW xxix.
"Jesus sent His angels to direct the minds of the disappointed ones to the most holy place, where He had gone to cleanse the sanctuary and make a special atonement for Israel. Jesus told the angels that all who found Him would understand the work which He was to perform." EW 251.
"There must be a purifying of the soul here upon the earth in harmony with Christ's cleansing of the sanctuary in heaven." Maranatha 249.
Note: Are you looking to Jesus moment by moment to understand and fully cooperate with Him in the work that He is doing right now in the heavenly sanctuary to cleanse and purify you to be ready for His coming and to prepare yourselves and your families for the close of probation when there will be no more Mediator in the heavenly sanctuary to plead His precious blood for you? If you are wise, you will make haste to come before Him and open your heart to receive Him to cleanse you and to pour out His Holy Spirit upon you so that you will be among the wise virgins who had oil in their lamps when the cry went forth, "Behold the Bridegroom cometh! Go ye out to meet Him!" Matt. 25:6.
