Hello All,
(Just a general disclaimer that I must insert here at the beginning. I am but a lay person, like most of you. And these weekly “thoughts” are but my own. Not the definitive word on this or any topic. Just my own conclusions derived from my own study and faith in God. The greatest hope I have for these weekly “thoughts” is to have them be a springboard for further study on your part. Not to be a weekly treatise to be blindly accepted. So, please read them with this intent, this motive in mind).
This week’s lesson from the “Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide” is titled “The End of God’s Mission”. As I read and thought about this last lesson of 2023, I wondered… When the redeemed are finally “Home” and the irreclaimably wicked are no-more, will God’s mission be ended? On one level, this is surely true. “The object of God’s mission is saving the lost in every people group on earth by making them loyal disciples of Jesus who are involved in His mission”. (Quarterly for Wednesday) … so quotes our lesson for this week. And this mission just quoted, will surely be accomplished when sin and sinners are no more. But again, does the quote from Wednesday’s lesson accurately define God’s mission? And if not, what might more accurately define His mission?
In a remarkable little article in the January 20, 1890 edition of “Signs of the Times”, EGW makes this conclusion; “In his prayer just before his crucifixion, he declared, "I have manifested thy name." "I have glorified thee on the earth; I have finished the work which thou gave me to do." When the object of his mission was attained, --the revelation of God to the world, --the Son of God announced that his work was accomplished, and that the character of the Father was made manifest to men”. In this quote, we see that God’s mission is to make Himself know to us, His children… to make His character known. So, is God’s mission completed when sin and sinners are no-more and the redeemed are finally “Home”? Was it fully accomplished in Christ’s life, death, resurrection and glorification? Or is His mission eternally ongoing… never really completed?
“As through Jesus we enter into rest, heaven begins here. We respond to His invitation, Come, learn of Me, and in thus coming we begin the life eternal. Heaven is a ceaseless approaching to God through Christ. The longer we are in the heaven of bliss, the more and still more of glory will be opened to us; and the more we know of God, the more intense will be our happiness” (Desire of Ages pg. 331). Therefore, God’s mission of making Himself known, is never-ending. His mission, which started in Heaven and continued on Earth, will continue into the ceaseless ages.
I bring this up because it is vital we know God’s mission (in which we share), and it is very clear to us. Else we can be working at-odds with Him. If we see His mission as only saving lost people, we might use means, methods, even words, that misrepresent His character. We might “win” them to saving themselves, while misrepresenting the Father (in whose image we are made) who is not intent on saving Himself but intent on giving Himself for the benefit of sinners like me. Isn’t God’s mission more about clearing-up the misunderstanding over His character that started long-ago when the angel Lucifer started promulgating lies about Him? Started promulgating the lie that the Father cannot be trusted? And, isn’t the Bible the evidence that we do have a God who can be trusted? The Good News is really about the Father, not about saving ourselves. For when we see the Father as He truly is (giving all to reach His children) we long to be with Him and to be like Him. The winning of lost souls to be saved becomes irrelevant. Winning them back to see the Father’s character of love, and to trust their Father is everything. All else will straighten itself out.
I present for your consideration, that God’s mission which we have accepted here on earth, is never really ended. God’s mission and therefore our own mission, never ends. It is the mission of love. Love for God and love for others.
With brotherly love… and blessings into 2024,
Jim