Part I — The Image, the Law, the Life

Man made in the image — Gen. 1:26-27; 5:1, 3; 9:6:

• Gen. 1:26. "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion" — the Creator's set purpose; man is patterned on God Himself and given rule.
  • image of God = the likeness of God in man — His character reproduced in a created being, "both in outward resemblance and in character" (Gen. 1:26-27; Gen. 5:1; PP 45.2, "Man was to bear God's image, both in outward resemblance and in character") — not omnipotence or immortality but God's own moral likeness (SYNPT 117.1).
• Gen. 1:27. "in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them" — the purpose of v. 26 accomplished in fact.
• Gen. 5:1. "In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him" — Moses repeats the equation: man made = God's likeness stamped.
• Gen. 5:3. Adam "begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth" — the very words of Gen. 1:26 now describe a son bearing his father's likeness; the image is a reproduced character, passed on.
• Gen. 9:6. "for in the image of God made he man" — the image survives the Fall as the ground of man's worth, though marred; God still calls fallen man His image.
• WitnessEd 15.1. White: "When Adam came from the Creator's hand, he bore, in his physical, mental, and spiritual nature, a likeness to his Maker... it was His purpose that the longer man lived the more fully he should reveal this image—the more fully reflect the glory of the Creator" — the image was to deepen, not merely persist.
• WitnessPP 45.2. White: "His nature was in harmony with the will of God. His mind was capable of comprehending divine things. His affections were pure; his appetites and passions were under the control of reason" — the unfallen image described in full.
• WitnessECE 593.1. Jones: God "intended that they should ever and forever reflect the image and glory of Him who created them," standing in Eden "crowned with glory and honor" — the image is a thing reflected, not merely possessed.

The image is God's glory — His name — His character — Exo. 33:18-20; 34:5-7:

• Exo. 33:18. Moses prayed, "I beseech thee, shew me thy glory" — Moses asks to see the glory; God answers by proclaiming His name.
  • glory (of God) = the character of God — His goodness made visible (Exo. 33:18-19; AG 322.2, "The glory of God is His character"; TMK 131.3) — what Moses asked to see, God showed by naming His own goodness.
• Exo. 33:19. "I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee" — the glory Moses asked for = "all my goodness" = "the name of the LORD"; the three are laid down as one.
  • name (of God) = the character of God spoken out — His attributes proclaimed (Exo. 33:19; Exo. 34:5-7, "merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth") — the glory put into words.
• Exo. 33:20. "Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live" — the unveiled face is reserved; the glory is shown only in the proclaimed character.
• Exo. 34:5. "the LORD descended in the cloud... and proclaimed the name of the LORD" — God Himself does the proclaiming Moses was promised.
• Exo. 34:6-7. "The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin" — this list of attributes IS the name, IS the glory, IS the character; the equation is sealed by the text itself.
• WitnessAG 322.2. White: "The glory of God is His character. While Moses was in the mount... he prayed, 'I beseech thee, show me thy glory.' In answer God declared, 'I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee'... The glory of God—His character—was then revealed" — the three terms read as one.
• WitnessCOL 414.2. White: "The light of His glory—His character—is to shine forth in His followers" — glory and character interchanged again.
• WitnessECE 593.1. Jones: the unfallen pair were to "reflect the image and glory of Him who created them" — image and glory bound together, both terms for the same reflected character.

Sin lost the image — and with it the presence and the life — Isa. 59:2; Eze. 18:4, 20; Rom. 3:23:

• WitnessECE 593.2. Jones: "But they sinned. The glory departed. The image of God was gone. They no longer reflected the image and glory of God, but the image and shame of another" — the Fall stated as the loss of the reflected image.
• WitnessEd 15.2. White: "by disobedience this was forfeited. Through sin the divine likeness was marred, and well-nigh obliterated... He had become subject to death" — the image marred FIRST; death follows as its fruit.
• WitnessPP 595.2. White: "Sin has marred and well-nigh obliterated the image of God in man" — the same verdict; the gifts perverted, the likeness defaced.
• Isa. 59:2. "your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear" — the lost presence: the hidden face follows the marred image, for the unveiled glory cannot rest on a defaced likeness (Exo. 33:20).
• WitnessSC 33.1. White: the transgression "separated man from God and opened the floodgates of death and untold woe upon our world" — separation and death, both flowing from the one act.
• Eze. 18:4. "the soul that sinneth, it shall die" — the lost life, stated as law.
• Eze. 18:20. "The soul that sinneth, it shall die... the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him" — the wage of the marred image is death; the three losses are one loss, traced to its root.
• Rom. 3:23. "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" — the universal verdict named in the very term of Exo. 33: to sin is to fall short of the glory, the character, the image.
• WitnessSC 49.1. White: "You feel that sin has separated you from God, that you are in bondage to the power of evil. The more you struggle to escape, the more you realize your helplessness" — man cannot recover the image by striving; the loss is total.
• PTUK November 5, 1896, page 709.2. Jones: "if the man should not believe this word... just then he would separate from God, and God could not be made known through him, the image of God could not then be reflected in him" — unbelief breaks the reflection; the image is lost the moment trust is withdrawn.

Only the Creator can restore what sin lost — Heb. 1:3; Col. 3:10; 2 Cor. 3:18; John 1:1:

• Heb. 1:3. Christ is "the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person" — where man bore a made image and lost it, the Son IS the express image, unmarred and original.
• WitnessPP 45.2. White: "Christ alone is 'the express image' (Hebrews 1:3) of the Father; but man was formed in the likeness of God" — the contrast drawn out: Christ the express image, man the formed likeness.
• John 1:1. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" — the express image is God Himself, the Creator who first made the likeness and alone can remake it.
• WitnessCIS 104.3. Haskell: to "re-create" the sinner, "bringing them really to a higher state of perfection than when they first came from the hand of the Creator," is "a far greater work" than creation itself — restoration is re-creation, a Creator's work.
• WitnessDA 37.3. White: "Jesus came to restore in man the image of his Maker. None but Christ can fashion anew the character that has been ruined by sin... to reshape the marred character after the pattern of His divine character" — restoration = re-stamping the lost image, and Christ alone can do it.
• WitnessCOL 96.1. White: "in all who will submit themselves to the Holy Spirit... the lost image of God is to be restored in humanity" — the lost image is the very thing salvation gives back.
• Col. 3:10. "the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him" — the new birth is the image renewed, and renewed "in knowledge" — by coming to know the Creator.
• 2 Cor. 3:18. "we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory" — the restoration method: beholding the glory (character) remakes us into the same image; what was lost by ceasing to reflect is regained by beholding.
• WitnessEVCO 340.4. Waggoner: "Moses saw the glory with unveiled face, and was transformed by it. So if we believe, 'we all, with unveiled face, reflecting as a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image'" — the Exo. 33 glory and the 2 Cor. 3 transformation read as one continuous thread.
• WitnessPP 595.2. White: "The true object of education is to restore the image of God in the soul" — the whole work of grace stated in one aim.

Do the law and live — Lev. 18:5; Luke 10:25-28:

• Lev. 18:5. "Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them" — the law is set as the very condition of life; to keep it perfectly is to live.
  • the law (as image of God) = the written transcript of God's character; keep it whole and a man's character is a perfect reflection of God's, so he lives (Lev. 18:5; Ps. 19:7, "perfect, converting the soul"; Rom. 7:12, "holy, and just, and good"; Rom. 7:14, "the law is spiritual"). Defined in full in the Symbol Dictionary.
• Luke 10:25. "Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" — the lawyer asks the life-question.
• Luke 10:26. "What is written in the law? how readest thou?" — Christ sends him to the law for the answer.
• Luke 10:27-28. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart... and thy neighbour as thyself... this do, and thou shalt live" — the law summed in love, and that doing IS life. Same equation as Lev. 18:5 (cf. Rom. 10:5, "the man which doeth those things shall live by them").
• WitnessCIS 7.1. Haskell: "Law is the foundation of God's throne, the stability of His government and character, and the expression of His love and wisdom" — the law is no arbitrary code but the expression of God's own character.

The law summed to two principles — Matt. 22:36-40:

• Matt. 22:36. "which is the great commandment in the law?" — the same question, the same answer.
• Matt. 22:37-38. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart... This is the first and great commandment" — love to God (Deut. 6:5).
• Matt. 22:39. "the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" — love to man (Lev. 19:18).
• Matt. 22:40. "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets" — the whole law and every prophet hang on these two.
• WitnessPP 305.2. White: "Ten precepts, brief, comprehensive, and authoritative, cover the duty of man to God and to his fellow man; and all based upon the great fundamental principle of love... In the Ten Commandments these principles are carried out in detail" — the Decalogue is love spelled out in ten lines.

Two principles to one — love — Rom. 13:8-10; James 2:8:

• Rom. 13:8. "Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law" — the second table compressed into one act.
• Rom. 13:9. "Thou shalt not commit adultery... Thou shalt not kill... it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" — the several precepts gathered into one.
• Rom. 13:10. "Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law" — the law's whole work is love.
  • love = the single principle the whole law is reduced to, the fulfilling of every precept; not a feeling but the keeping of the commandments (Rom. 13:10; James 2:8, "the royal law"; 1 John 5:3, "this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments"). Defined in full in the Symbol Dictionary.
• James 2:8. "If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well" — love is named the royal law, the king-principle ruling all the rest.
• WitnessWOR 192.3. Waggoner, on Rom. 13:8-10: "since he who loves his neighbor from the heart must also love God, and love is the keeping of his commandments... the apostle has set forth in this exhortation the whole duty of man" — love folds both tables into one duty.
• WitnessLOF_ATJ 69.1. Jones: "'This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments,' and Paul himself says that 'love is the fulfilling of the law'... the design of the commandment (or law) is that it should be kept" — love and law-keeping are the same word (Gk. agape), the same thing.

God IS love — so the law is His image — 1 John 4:8, 16:

• 1 John 4:8. "He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love" — the law is love; God is love; therefore the law is a drawn likeness of God.
• 1 John 4:16. "God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him" — to dwell in love is to dwell in God: the image realized.
• WitnessCOL 305.3. White: "God's law is the transcript of His character. It embodies the principles of His kingdom" — transcript = the law copied off from the character of God.
• WitnessGC 467.1. White: "It is a revelation of the will and the character of its Author. God is love, and His law is love... The character of God is righteousness and truth; such is the nature of His law" — the syllogism stated plainly.
• WitnessSC 60.2. White: "The law of God is an expression of His very nature; it is an embodiment of the great principle of love, and hence is the foundation of His government in heaven and earth" — the law is God's nature embodied.
• WitnessMB 77.2. White: "God is love. Like rays of light from the sun, love and light and joy flow out from Him to all His creatures. It is His nature to give" — love is not a rule God obeys but the substance of what He is.
• WitnessDA 22.1. White: "He desires only the service of love; and love cannot be commanded... Only by love is love awakened. To know God is to love Him" — the law-of-love cannot be forced; it is awakened by beholding the God it images.
• WitnessWOR 42.5. Waggoner: the Ten Commandments "are only a statement, and not the thing itself, just the same as a picture of a house is not a house... the law is often rightly said to be a photograph of the character of God... Only in Christ can the living law be found" — the law is the photograph; Christ is the living original (see "Christ — the Express Image of God").
• WitnessWOR 39.3. Waggoner: "the justice of God is always love itself, for God is love, and he can never be anything else but love, for he can not deny himself... The Gospel is in reality nothing else but the law of God in Christ" — even God's justice is His love, because love is His whole self.

Sin = transgression of the law — and Christ pushes it inward — 1 John 3:4; Matt. 5:

• 1 John 3:4. "Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law" — sin is defined wholly by the law; no law, no knowledge of sin (Rom. 7:7).
  • sin = the transgression of the law — and therefore the marring of the image of God it draws (1 John 3:4; Rom. 7:7, "I had not known sin, but by the law").
• WitnessGC 467.3. White: "'Sin is the transgression of the law.' ... the sinner must test his character by God's great standard of righteousness. It is a mirror which shows the perfection of a righteous character and enables him to discern the defects in his own" — the law is the mirror that shows the marred image (cf. "The Mirror of the Law").
• Matt. 5:17-18. "I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil... one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law" — Christ does not lower the standard; He magnifies it (MB 49.1; GC 503.1).
• Matt. 5:19-20. "except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter" — outward keeping is not enough; the law reaches the heart.
• Matt. 5:21-22. "Thou shalt not kill... But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment" — the hate that fathers murder is itself the transgression: anger mars the image.
• Matt. 5:27-28. "Thou shalt not commit adultery... whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart" — the inward lust is the sin: the act was only its fruit.
• Matt. 5:48. "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect" — the standard is the Father's own character: anything short of His perfect likeness is transgression.
• James 2:10-11. "whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all... if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law" — the law is one whole image; deface it at a single point and the whole likeness is broken.
• WitnessMB 49.1. White: Christ's mission was to "magnify the law, and make it honorable," to "show the spiritual nature of the law, to present its far-reaching principles" — He drives the law inward to the thought and motive.
• WitnessEd 76.2. White: "He came to manifest the nature of His law, to reveal in His own character the beauty of holiness" — Christ shows the law's nature by living the image it draws.
• WitnessDA 24.2. White: "Satan represents God's law of love as a law of selfishness. He declares that it is impossible for us to obey its precepts... His life testifies that it is possible for us also to obey the law of God" — the law-image vindicated in a human life (carried into "Christ — the Express Image of God").

The law is the schoolmaster — Gal. 3:24-26:

• Gal. 3:24. "Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith" — the law-image shows the standard, exposes the marred likeness, and drives us to Christ.
• Gal. 3:25-26. "after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster... ye are all the children of God by faith" — the schoolmaster's work is to deliver us to the One who restores the image (see "Christ — the Express Image of God").
• WitnessLOF_ATJ 66.3. Jones: "The law is the righteousness of God... but it cannot be kept except by faith, for the only righteousness which will stand in the Judgment is... 'the righteousness which is of God by faith'" — the law shows the image; only faith in Christ can keep it.

Christ names Himself the Life — John 14:6; 11:25; 1:4:

• John 14:6. "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" — He does not point to the Life; He is it, and He is the only road back to the Father.
  • the Life = the eternal life that is the exclusive property of God, original and underived, dwelling in Christ as in the Father (John 1:4, "In him was life"; John 5:26, "as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself") — the very thing lost in the fall, named in a Person.
• John 11:25. "I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live" — the Life raises the dead because the Life cannot itself die.
• John 1:4. "In him was life; and the life was the light of men" — the Life and the light of men are the same, and that light is the knowledge of God.
• WitnessDA 530.3. White: "In Christ is life, original, unborrowed, underived. 'He that hath the Son hath life.'" — the divinity of Christ is the believer's whole assurance of eternal life.
• Witness5BC 1130.3. White: "Christ's Life Was Unborrowed... not physical life that is here specified, but eternal life, the life which is exclusively the property of God" — the Word who was God had this life in Himself.
• WitnessCHR 22.1. Waggoner: "He is of the very substance and nature of God and possesses by birth all the attributes of God... So He has 'life in Himself.'" — the only-begotten Son holds the underived Life by birth.

The Life is given to us, and only in the Son — 1 John 5:11-12; John 10:10:

• 1 John 5:11. "this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son" — the Life is a gift, and the Son is its only vessel.
• 1 John 5:12. "He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life" — to have the Son is to have the Life; to lack Him is to lack it utterly.
• John 10:10. "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly" — He came to GIVE the Life; and to give the Life is to restore the image, for the image and the Life are one thing lost together (see "The Image of God — What Was Lost").

Christ is the express image and the brightness of His glory — Heb. 1:3; Col. 1:15; 2 Cor. 4:4:

• Heb. 1:3. "Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power" — the Son shows the Father exactly, with nothing added and nothing lost.
  • express image = the perfect, exact representation of God's person and character, so that Christ is to the invisible God what a stamped likeness is to its seal (Greek charakter, the engraved impress) (Heb. 1:3; Col. 1:15, "Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature"; 2 Cor. 4:4, "Christ, who is the image of God") — the image lost in man is intact in the Son.
• Col. 1:15-17. "the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature... by him were all things created... and by him all things consist" — the One who is the image is also the Creator who made the man who bore the image.
• 2 Cor. 4:4. "the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them" — the gospel's whole light is the image of God shining out in the face of Christ.
• 2 Cor. 4:6. "to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" — the glory (the character, the image) is read in the face of Jesus.
• Witness1SM 264.2. White: "He who was the express image of the invisible God, was alone sufficient to accomplish this work... God Himself must be revealed to humanity" — no verbal description could reveal God; the image had to be shown in a life.
• WitnessMH 422.2. White: "He who was the express image of the invisible God, was alone able to reveal the character of the Deity to mankind" — taking humanity, He came to make the Father known to sinners.
• WitnessCHR 16.1. Waggoner: Hebrews 1 says Christ is "the brightness of His glory, and the express image of his person" — and the same passage says "all things were made by him."
• WitnessCHR 25.1. Waggoner: though Christ was "the brightness of His glory and the express image of His Person... having all the attributes of God," He counted none of it worth keeping while men were lost — the image came down to restore the image.
• Witness8T 268.2. White, quoting the text: God "hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son... who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person" — God's final word to the world is the Son who is His image.

To see Christ is to have seen the Father — John 14:7-9; 12:45; 1:18; Matt. 11:27:

• John 14:7. "If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him" — to know the Son is, in the same act, to know the Father.
• John 14:9. "he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?" — the request "show us the Father" is answered by the face of Christ Himself.
• John 12:45. "he that seeth me seeth him that sent me" — the seeing is one seeing; the image and the Original are one in character.
• John 1:18. "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son... he hath declared him" — the unseen God is declared, made visible, in the Son.
• Matt. 11:27. "no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him" — the Father is known on earth only as the Son chooses to reveal Him.
• WitnessST June 9, 1890, par. 1. White: "Through Jesus, the Son of God, the Father is more fully revealed to the world... 'He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.'" — and the souls of thousands still cry, "Show us the Father."
• Witness1SM 295.2. White: those who think to know God "aside from His Representative, whom the Word declares is 'the express image of his person'... will need to become fools in their own estimation before they can be wise" — there is no knowledge of God around the Son.
• WitnessLOF_ATJ 71.3. Jones: Satan "had made the world believe that God was like men—cruel, vindictive and passionate... Then Christ came, and 'The people which sat in darkness saw a great light.'" — the express image came to correct the lie about the Father's character.

To know Him is the Life; and the knowing restores the image — John 17:3; 2 Cor. 3:18:

• John 17:3. "this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent" — life eternal is defined as a knowing; to know the express image is to receive the Life.
• 2 Cor. 3:18. "beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory" — beholding the image of God in Christ changes the beholder into that same image.
• WitnessCOL 355.1. White: "Looking unto Jesus we obtain brighter and more distinct views of God, and by beholding we become changed... We develop a character which is the counterpart of the divine character." — beholding the express image grows the image back in us.
• WitnessMB 25.2. White: "Only like can appreciate like. Unless you accept... the principle of self-sacrificing love, which is the principle of His character, you cannot know God." — to know God is to receive His character; the deceived heart misreads Him as a tyrant.
• WitnessCT 49.3. White: "To bring man back into harmony with God, so to elevate and ennoble his moral nature that he may again reflect the image of the Creator, is the great purpose of all the education and discipline of life." — the whole work of restoration is summed as reflecting the image again.
• WitnessRH May 8, 1894, par. 1. White: Christ "came to restore in man the defaced image of God, to impart to the repentant soul divine power by which he might be raised from corruption" — the giving of the Life (John 10:10) is, in plain words, the restoring of the image.

He was MADE flesh, of the seed of David and of Abraham — John 1:14; Rom 1:3; Heb 2:14, 16:

• John 1:14. "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us" — not the appearance of flesh, but flesh; God manifest in it.
  • the seed of David / our nature = the actual human flesh of fallen man, taken by the Son of God — "made of the seed of David according to the flesh" (Rom 1:3), "the seed of Abraham" (Heb 2:16), made "in the likeness of sinful flesh" (Rom 8:3), "in its deteriorated condition" (1SM 253.1), bearing the results of "four thousand years of sin" (DA 49; via FLB 48.6) — yet without sin (Heb 4:15).
• Rom 1:3. "made of the seed of David according to the flesh" — the line is the fallen line; David's seed is not Adam's unfallen flesh.
• Heb 2:14. "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same" — He took the SAME flesh and blood the children have, that "through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil."
• Heb 2:16. "he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham" — not an angel's nature, but a son of Adam's.
• Gal 4:4. "God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law" — born of a woman, under the law, in the fulness of time.
• WitnessCWCP 22.3. Jones: "He, in His human nature, took the same flesh and blood that men have. All the words that could be used to make this plain and positive are here put together in a single sentence." — Hebrews 2:14 is exhausting the language on purpose.
• WitnessCIS 252.4. Haskell: an angel "was not 'nigh of kin' unto humanity"; Christ "partook of flesh and blood... He took the seed of Abraham," becoming "the one nigh of kin" — only a kinsman can redeem the kin.

In the LIKENESS of sinful flesh — not a simulation, but the real flesh — Rom 8:3-4; Phil 2:7-8:

• Rom 8:3. "God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh" — the law could not condemn sin, being "weak through the flesh"; so God condemned sin in the very flesh where it had reigned.
  • likeness of sinful flesh = the same sinful flesh all men wear, taken without its sin — "He took the same flesh that all have who are born of woman" (WOR 126.6); "likeness" denies His OWN guilt, not His real flesh (1SM 256.1).
• Rom 8:4. "That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" — the WHOLE point of His taking that flesh: that the law's righteousness be fulfilled IN US — proof of concept becomes proof of power.
• WitnessCHR 26.1. Waggoner reads Rom 8:3-4 straight: the flesh was real flesh, "weak"; and the aim is "that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us."
• WitnessWOR 126.6. Waggoner kills the simulation theory: "There is a common idea that this means that Christ simulated sinful flesh... But the Scriptures do not teach such a thing... He took the same flesh that all have who are born of woman." — "likeness" is not "pretence."
• Phil 2:7. "made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men" — He emptied, He took, He was made.
• Phil 2:8. "being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death" — the humiliation runs all the way to the cross.
• Witness1SM 253.1. White: "Christ, who knew not the least taint of sin or defilement, took our nature in its deteriorated condition... God was manifest in the flesh." — our nature, deteriorated, yet He without taint.

Tempted in ALL points like as we are, yet without sin — Heb 4:15-16; 2:17-18; 5:8-9:

• Heb 4:15. "we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin" — ALL points, LIKE AS WE ARE: if His flesh were different, the temptation would not be like ours, and the "like as" would be void.
• Heb 4:16. "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace... and find grace to help in time of need" — the practical fruit: boldness, because the Helper has stood where we stand.
• Heb 2:17. "in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest" — "in ALL things"; the high-priesthood requires the likeness.
• Heb 2:18. "in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted" — He can succour BECAUSE He was tempted in the same flesh; a different nature would make Him unable.
• WitnessCHR 27.1. Waggoner: "in all things it behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren... For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succor them that are tempted." — the ability to succour is grounded in the sameness.
• WitnessCIS 52.2. Haskell: "none but our High Priest, who was 'tempted in all points like as we are,' can give us the help we need" — the temptation qualifies the Priest.
• Heb 5:8. "Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered" — a real conflict, really learned, not a staged one.
• Heb 5:9. "being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him" — perfected through obedience; the Author is also the Pattern.
• Witness1SM 256.1. White draws the line that holds everything together: "In taking upon Himself man's nature in its fallen condition, Christ did not in the least participate in its sin. He was subject to the infirmities and weaknesses by which man is encompassed... 'Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.'" — fallen nature, no sin.

Real risk, real victory — He took humanity WITH the possibility of failure — DA 117.2; DA 49.1; DA 311.5:

• WitnessDA 117.2. White is blunt: "Many claim that it was impossible for Christ to be overcome by temptation. Then He could not have been placed in Adam's position; He could not have gained the victory that Adam failed to gain... But our Saviour took humanity, with all its liabilities. He took the nature of man, with the possibility of yielding to temptation. We have nothing to bear which He has not endured." — the victory is real only because the risk was real.
• WitnessDA 49.1. White: God "permitted Him to meet life's peril in common with every human soul, to fight the battle as every child of humanity must fight it, at the risk of failure and eternal loss." — the same battle, the same risk.
• WitnessDA 49 (via FLB 48.6). White settles the pre-fall theory: "It would have been an almost infinite humiliation for the Son of God to take man's nature, even when Adam stood in his innocence... But Jesus accepted humanity when the race had been weakened by four thousand years of sin. Like every child of Adam He accepted the results of the working of the great law of heredity." — Eden's flesh was not what He took; He took the line as the law of heredity had left it.
• WitnessDA 311.5. White names the exchange exactly: "He took our nature and overcame, that we through taking His nature might overcome. Made 'in the likeness of sinful flesh,' He lived a sinless life. Now by His divinity He lays hold upon the throne of heaven, while by His humanity He reaches us." — His-nature-for-ours is the whole transaction of righteousness by faith.

Why the flesh could be ours while the life stayed sinless — the battle is in the MIND, not the flesh — 1 Cor 15:45; Phil 2:5; Eze 18:20:

• Eze 18:20. "The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father" — guilt is not a substance transmitted in the flesh; it is the soul's own choice. So Christ could take the fallen flesh of His earthly ancestors and bear NONE of their guilt — the verse forbids inherited guilt, and so frees the doctrine.
• Phil 2:5. "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus" — the seat of the matter is the MIND; what is to be in us is a mind, not a new body.
• 1 Cor 15:45. "The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit" — the last Adam quickens by spirit; what He imparts is life to the mind and heart, not first a change of flesh.
• John 14:30. "the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me" — Satan found no foothold; the flesh offered no traitor within, because the cherished sin that gives temptation its power was simply not there.
• WitnessGC 623.1. White: "Satan finds in human hearts some point where he can gain a foothold; some sinful desire is cherished, by means of which his temptations assert their power. But Christ declared of Himself: 'The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in Me'... This is the condition in which those must be found who shall stand in the time of trouble." — the foothold is in the HEART, not the flesh; deny it the cherished desire and temptation has no purchase. The same condition is offered to us.
• WitnessMB 51.3. White locates sin where the transcript locates it: "It is not the greatness of the act of disobedience that constitutes sin, but the fact of variance from God's expressed will... for this shows that there is yet communion between the soul and sin." — sin is communion of the SOUL with evil, a choice of the will; the flesh of itself cannot transgress.
• Witness7BC 926.4. White names the goal of the incarnation as a restoration of MIND: "Jesus became a man that He might mediate between man and God... that He might restore to man the original mind which he lost in Eden through Satan's alluring temptation." — the plan of salvation restores the mind lost in Eden, not first the flesh.

The Spirit confessing Christ come in the flesh — the test of doctrine — 1 John 4:2-3:

• 1 John 4:2. "Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God" — the confession is "come in the flesh," real flesh, our flesh.
• 1 John 4:3. "every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist" — to deny that He came in our flesh is the very mark of antichrist; the doctrine is not optional.

The pattern and the promise — 1 Pet 2:21-22; Rev 3:21:

• 1 Pet 2:21. "Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps" — He is not only Substitute but Example; the steps are walkable.
• 1 Pet 2:22. "Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth" — the Example is spotless, in the same flesh we wear.
• Rev 3:21. "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame" — "even as I ALSO overcame" — His overcoming and ours are of one kind; He overcame in our nature so that we, in His, might overcome too.
• WitnessCWCP 23.6. Jones states the purpose: He "took part of the same flesh and blood as we have in the bondage of sin and the fear of death, in order that He might deliver us from the bondage of sin and the fear of death." — He entered the bondage to break it.

The law of the gaze — 2 Cor. 3:18:

• 2 Cor. 3:18. "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory" — the gaze is the engine: behold the glory, become the glory.
  • beholding (= becoming) = the law that the soul takes the character of whatever it steadily contemplates, so that to look on the glory of the Lord is to be remade into it (2 Cor. 3:18, "beholding... are changed into the same image"; 1 John 3:2, "we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is"; Col. 3:10, "renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him") — the upward channel, by which the lost image is restored (see "What Was Lost — the Image of God").
• WitnessAG 96.4. White: "Beholding Christ means studying His life as given in His Word. We are to dig for truth as for hidden treasure" — the glass is the Word; the beholding is study.
• WitnessCOL 355.1. White: "Looking unto Jesus we obtain brighter and more distinct views of God, and by beholding we become changed... We develop a character which is the counterpart of the divine character" — the gaze breeds the counterpart.
• WitnessSA 179.1. White: "It takes time to transform the human to the divine... By beholding, we become changed" — the law runs both ways; what is steadily gazed on is what is steadily grown into.

What we behold is the character — Ex. 33:18; 34:6-7:

• Ex. 33:18. "I beseech thee, shew me thy glory" — Moses asks to see the glory; what God shows is His name and His goodness.
• Ex. 34:6-7. "The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth" — the glory proclaimed is a catalogue of character; to behold the glory is to behold the character (see "What Was Lost — the Image of God").
• Heb. 1:3. "Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person" — the glory we behold has a face: Christ is the brightness, the express image (see "Christ the Express Image — the Life That Restores").
• Witness8T 322.1. White: "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ... more and more fully will declare Him 'merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth'" — the glory beheld in Christ's face speaks Exodus 34 over us.

The truth is what sanctifies — John 17:17:

• John 17:17. "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth" — the agent of transformation is named: truth, and truth is the Word.
  • truth (the sanctifier) = the revealed character of God in His Word, the means by which the beholder is made holy — not bare doctrine but the seen glory working change (John 17:17, "sanctify them through thy truth"; John 8:32, "ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free"; Rom. 12:2, "be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind") — the day-by-day instrument of sanctification (see "The Holy Place — Sanctification").
• Witness1SM 318.2. White: "Are you becoming sanctified through the truth in answer to the prayer of Christ? He prayed... 'Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth'" — Christ's own prayer is that the truth would sanctify us.
• Witness1SM 262.1. White: "'For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth'... Jesus presents the truth before His children that they may look upon it" — He set Himself apart so the truth set before us would set us apart.
• WitnessSC 89.1. White: "As we meditate upon the perfections of the Saviour, we shall desire to be wholly transformed and renewed in the image of His purity" — meditation on the truth of His character breeds the hunger to be remade in it.

Man lives by the Word — Deut. 8:3; Matt. 4:4:

• Deut. 8:3. "man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live" — life does not come from bread; it comes from the Word.
• Matt. 4:4. "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" — Christ in the wilderness makes Deuteronomy His sword: the Word is the life-source.
  • bread / the Word = the spoken Word of God as the soul's food and life, that on which man actually lives — and that Word is a Person, Christ Himself (Deut. 8:3; Matt. 4:4; John 1:1, "the Word was God"; John 1:14, "the Word was made flesh") — the Table of Shewbread, the daily eating (see "The Holy Place — Sanctification").
• WitnessLOF_ATJ 38.10. Jones: when Jesus said man shall live "by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God," He "simply said, in other words, Man shall live by faith" — feeding on the Word and living by faith are one act.
• PTUK December 31, 1896, page 837.1. Jones: "Even physically, man cannot live on what has no life in it. Dead air is death... Whatever we take... must have in it the element of life" — only the living Word carries the element of life.
• WitnessEVCO 248.3. Waggoner: "Every man lives only by the Word—by Christ. God gave manna to sinful... Israel, in order that they might know that man lives 'by every word'... which was Christ" — the manna was Christ; the Word that feeds is Christ.

The Word is Jesus — John 1:1, 14:

• John 1:1. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" — the Word is not merely speech; the Word is a Person, and that Person is God.
• John 1:14. "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us... full of grace and truth" — the Word took flesh; to feed on "every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" is to feed on the One who is that Word (see "Christ the Express Image — the Life That Restores").
• WitnessEVCO 243.2. Waggoner: "Life comes only from the Word of God. 'In the beginning was the Word'... Man lives only by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God" — the John 1 Word and the Deuteronomy 8 word are the same Word.
• WitnessCHR 8.2. Waggoner: "'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God'... That this Divine Word is none other than Jesus Christ is shown by verse 14" — the equation is fixed: the Word = Jesus Christ.

Eat His flesh, drink His blood — John 6:53-54, 63:

• John 6:53. "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you" — the life is in the eating; without it there is no life.
• John 6:54. "Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day" — the eating is the title to the resurrection.
• John 6:63. "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life" — Christ self-interprets: the eating is not literal flesh; the words ARE the flesh, the eating is receiving the Word.
• WitnessDA 389.3. White: "To eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ is to receive Him as a personal Saviour... It is by beholding His love, by dwelling upon it, by drinking it in, that we are to become partakers of His nature. What food is to the body, Christ must be to the soul" — eating = beholding = becoming a partaker; the three threads are one act.
• WitnessSC 88.2. White: "Fill the whole heart with the words of God. They are the living water... the living bread from heaven... 'Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man'... 'The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life'" — the bread eaten is the words received.
• WitnessCOL 130.3. White: "'Whoso eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath eternal life... It is the Spirit that quickeneth... the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life'" — the flesh eaten is the quickening Word.
• WitnessCOL 38.1. White: "The word of God is the seed... there is life in God's word. Christ says, 'The words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit, and they are life'" — the Word is living seed; received, it germinates life.
• WitnessLOF_ATJ 73.2. Jones: "'Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, ye have no life in you'... This life of Christ we eat and drink by feasting upon his word" — the supper is study; the eating is feasting on His Word.

To eat is to know Him — John 17:3:

• John 17:3. "This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent" — the end of the eating and beholding is named: to KNOW Him; that knowing IS the life.
• WitnessEd 126.3. White: "'The words that I speak unto you,' said Jesus, 'they are spirit, and they are life.' 'This is life eternal, that they should know Thee the only true God, and Him whom Thou didst send'" — the living words and the knowing of God are laid side by side as one life.
• Hosea 4:6. "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge... seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children" — the reverse proves the rule: where the Word is not eaten, there is no knowledge, and no knowledge is death.

The Word does the work — Heb. 4:12; 1 Pet. 1:23; Jer. 15:16; Ps. 119:11:

• Heb. 4:12. "the word of God is quick, and powerful... piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit... a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart" — the Word eaten is alive and cuts; it works the change in the inward man.
  • bread / the Word — defined above.
• WitnessEVCO 231.1. Waggoner: "'The word of God is living and active.'... 'The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life'" — the Word is living and active; it is no dead letter.
• 1 Pet. 1:23. "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever" — the new birth itself is worked by the living Word as seed (see "The Outer Courtyard — Justification").
• Jer. 15:16. "Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart" — the prophet ate the Word and it became his joy: the eating is real.
• Ps. 119:11. "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee" — the Word taken in is the safeguard against sin: feeding produces holiness.

The sentence is death — Gen. 2:17; Ezek. 18:4, 20:

• Gen. 2:17. "in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" — the penalty was named before the sin; the law had a wage attached, and the wage was death.
  • death (the penalty of sin) = the sentence the broken law demands — not annihilation of being only, but separation from the God who is life, the wage justice requires be paid before any forgiveness (Gen. 2:17, "thou shalt surely die"; Ezek. 18:4, "the soul that sinneth, it shall die"; Rom. 6:23, "the wages of sin is death") — the debt the substitute must satisfy.
• Ezek. 18:4. "all souls are mine... the soul that sinneth, it shall die" — God owns the soul, and God's own verdict on the sinning soul is death.
• Ezek. 18:20. "The soul that sinneth, it shall die... the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him" — guilt is not transferable along bloodlines; it rests on the one who sinned, and so does the sentence.
• Witness1SM 308.1. White: "The law of God had been broken. The divine government had been dishonored, and justice demanded that the penalty of transgression be paid" — the death-penalty is a debt to justice, not an arbitrary threat.
• WitnessPP 72.3. White: Abel "saw sin and its penalty, death, standing between his soul and communion with God" — the first worshipper already read the two facts: a penalty (death) and a barrier (no communion).

Man must die a slave — Rom. 6:6-7, 16, 20-23:

• Rom. 6:16. "to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are... whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness" — there is no neutral man; every man is a bond-slave, and the master of the unconverted is sin, whose service-wage is death.
• Rom. 6:20. "when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness" — the slave of sin has no claim on righteousness; he cannot manumit himself.
• Rom. 6:21. "the end of those things is death" — the slavery runs one direction only; its terminus is the grave.
• Rom. 6:6-7. "our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed... For he that is dead is freed from sin" — the only exit from the slavery is death; the slave goes free by dying. Man must die.
• Rom. 6:22-23. "now being made free from sin... the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ" — the two ledgers set side by side: the wage earned (death) and the gift given (life). The wage must still be paid; the question the sanctuary answers is who pays it.
• WitnessMB 61.2. White: "God is the fountain of life, and we can have life only as we are in communion with Him. Separated from God, existence may be ours for a little time, but we do not possess life" — to be cut off from God is already to be dead while we live; death and separation are one fact seen from two sides.

The gulf is fixed — Isa. 59:1-2; Hab. 1:13; Luke 16:26:

• Isa. 59:2. "your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear" — the barrier is not in God's weakness (Isa. 59:1, His hand "is not shortened"); it is sin standing between, hiding His face.
  • the gulf / separation = the impassable barrier sin set between man and God — not distance in space but the moral chasm a holy God's purity opens against iniquity, severing communion and cutting earth off from heaven, which no work of man can bridge (Isa. 59:2, "your iniquities have separated"; Luke 16:26, "a great gulf fixed"; SC 20.1, "earth was cut off from heaven... there could be no communion") — the chasm the ladder must span.
• Hab. 1:13. "Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity" — the gulf is opened from God's side by His very holiness; purity cannot look on sin, and that is what fixes the chasm.
• Luke 16:26. "between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot" — the parable names it: a gulf no traveller can cross from either side.
• WitnessCOL 269.3. White: the rich man "was separated from Abraham by an impassable gulf — a character wrongly developed... The great gulf fixed between him and Abraham was the gulf of disobedience" — the gulf is moral, a character at enmity; it is disobedience itself made into a chasm.
• WitnessSC 33.1. White: the small matter of the forbidden fruit "was the transgression of God's immutable and holy law, and it separated man from God and opened the floodgates of death and untold woe" — one act, both wounds: it separated (the gulf) and opened the floodgates of death (the penalty).

Dead in sins, and reconciled — Eph. 2:1, 5; Col. 1:20-21; 2:13; 2 Cor. 5:18-20:

• Eph. 2:1. "And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins" — man on the far side of the gulf is not sick but dead; he must be quickened, made alive, not merely improved.
• Eph. 2:5. "Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)" — the quickening is grace's act, not the corpse's effort.
• Col. 2:13. "you, being dead in your sins... hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses" — life and forgiveness arrive together; the dead man is raised and his debt cancelled in one motion.
• Col. 1:21. "you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled" — the gulf is enmity; its closing is called reconciliation.
• Col. 1:20. "having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself" — peace is made, the gulf bridged, by blood; the death-penalty paid is the very means that closes the separation.
  • reconciliation = the closing of the gulf — peace made through the blood of the cross, God in Christ no longer imputing trespasses, the enmity slain (Col. 1:20-21; 2 Cor. 5:18-19, "reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses"; Rom. 5:10, "reconciled to God by the death of his Son") — the death-penalty paid is what bridges the separation.
• 2 Cor. 5:18-19. "God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ... God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them" — reconciliation is God's own act from His side of the gulf, reaching across to the dead.
• 2 Cor. 5:20. "be ye reconciled to God" — having bridged it, He beseeches man to cross over by the bridge He built.
• Rom. 5:8, 10. "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us... when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son" — the death answers the penalty; the reconciliation answers the gulf; one cross does both.
• WitnessWOR 82.3. Waggoner: "being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand" — the once-separated sinner is brought into peace and given access; the gulf is now crossable.
• WitnessCHR 15.1. Waggoner: "The object of Christ in coming to earth was to reveal God to men so that they might come to Him... 'God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself'" — reconciliation is God revealed, the far country made near.
• WitnessGTI 12.1. Waggoner: "all who are in Christ are new creatures, having been reconciled to God by Jesus Christ; and all who have been reconciled are given the word and ministry of reconciliation" — those carried across the gulf are sent back as ambassadors to call others over.

The bridge: a ladder, a gate — Gen. 28:12-17; John 1:51; John 10:9:

• Gen. 28:12. "a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it" — across the very gulf where communion had been cut off, Jacob sees a single ladder restoring the traffic between earth and heaven.
• Gen. 28:16-17. "Surely the LORD is in this place... this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven" — the place of the bridged gulf is the gate of heaven and the house of God: the sanctuary in seed.
• John 1:51. "Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man" — Christ claims Jacob's ladder for Himself: He is the bridge over the gulf.
• John 10:9. "I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved" — and He is the gate of that house; the only crossing-point over the chasm is a Person.
• WitnessSC 19.2. White: Jacob, "lonely and outcast... separated from all that had made life dear, the one thought that above all others pressed upon his soul, was the fear that his sin had cut him off from God" — the dreamer's terror is the universal terror: the gulf.
• WitnessSC 20.1. White: "In the apostasy, man alienated himself from God; earth was cut off from heaven. Across the gulf that lay between, there could be no communion. But through Christ, earth is again linked with heaven. With His own merits, Christ has bridged the gulf which sin had made" — the figure read plainly: the ladder is the bridge over the gulf this section has named.
• WitnessDA 311.5. White: "Christ is the ladder that Jacob saw, the base resting on the earth, and the topmost round reaching to the gate of heaven... If that ladder had failed by a single step of reaching the earth, we should have been lost. But Christ reaches us where we are" — the bridge touches both shores; were it short of the human shore by one step, the gulf would still divide.
• Witness1SM 280.1. White: "This ladder represented Christ, who had opened the communication between earth and heaven... one end of the ladder resting upon the earth... the top of the ladder, reaching unto heaven... thus links earth to heaven and finite man to the infinite God" — the two ends are the two natures; the ladder spans the whole gulf.
• Witness1SM 261.1. White: Christ "laid hold of the nature of man, and partook of the divine attributes, and planted His cross between humanity and divinity, bridging the gulf that separated the sinner from God" — the cross is the bridge's footing; the death that pays the penalty is the same act that closes the separation (nature of Christ — see “The Nature of Christ — Tempted in All Points”).

Why a sanctuary at all — Exo. 25:8:

• Exo. 25:8. "let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them" — God's stated purpose: not merely to forgive at a distance but to dwell. The two problems — penalty and gulf — exist precisely because they stand between Him and the dwelling He desires.
• WitnessDA 23.3. White: God said, "'Let them make Me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them'... So Christ set up His tabernacle in the midst of our human encampment. He pitched His tent by the side of the tents of men, that He might dwell among us" — the sanctuary, and the Christ it figures, exist to reverse the separation and bring God back among men.
• WitnessSATDSD 3.1. White (James): "'Let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.' That Sanctuary was 'a sacred place.' There the Lord placed his name, and manifested his glory" — the sanctuary is the place where the once-hidden face (Isa. 59:2) is shown again.
• WitnessSLWM 61.3. Miller (in James White): the atonement is "by which means the offended is reconciled to the offender, the offender is brought into subjection to the will of God; and the effect is, forgiveness of sin, union to the divine person" — the sanctuary's whole work, named at the outset: penalty forgiven, gulf closed, union restored.

The gulf sin opened — Isa. 59:2:

• Isa. 59:2. "But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you" — sin cuts earth off from heaven; God's face is hidden, and of himself fallen man cannot cross back.
• WitnessSC 20.1. White: "In the apostasy, man alienated himself from God; earth was cut off from heaven. Across the gulf that lay between, there could be no communion" — the separation is the whole problem the ladder answers.

Jacob's dream names the bridge — Gen. 28:12-17, 22:

• Gen. 28:12. "behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it" — one structure touches both worlds; the traffic of heaven runs upon it.
  • ladder = the one connection between earth and heaven since the fall — base on earth, top in heaven, the road the angels travel (Gen. 28:12; John 1:51, the angels ascend and descend "upon the Son of man"; 19MR 338.4, "All the intercourse between heaven and earth since the fall is by the Ladder").
• Gen. 28:13. "And, behold, the LORD stood above it" — at the ladder's top stands the LORD himself; the road leads to a Person, to the throne.
• Gen. 28:16. "Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not" — God was present where the sleeping man lay; the bridge reaches down to the very ground where the sinner is.
• Gen. 28:17. "How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven" — Jacob gives the place two more names: the gate of heaven and the house of God.
  • gate / door = the single entrance by which one passes from earth into the presence of God — there is no other (Gen. 28:17, "the gate of heaven"; John 10:9, "I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved"; DA 477.3, "the only door is Christ").
  • house of God / sanctuary = the place God chooses for his dwelling among men, where his presence is manifested (Gen. 28:17; Exo. 25:8, "that I may dwell among them"; 1 Chr. 28:10, "an house for the sanctuary").
• Gen. 28:22. "And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house" — Jacob marks the spot; the ladder, the gate, and the house of God are one place, named at once.
• WitnessPP 184.2. White: "the plan of redemption was presented to Jacob... The mystic ladder revealed to him in his dream was the same to which Christ referred" — the dream is the gospel in figure.
• WitnessCTr 86.4. White: "I long for heaven, but how can I reach it? I see no way. That is what Jacob thought, and so God shows him the vision of the ladder" — the ladder is heaven's answer to the soul that sees no way up.

Christ takes the ladder to Himself — John 1:51:

• John 1:51. "Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man" — Jesus points to Jacob's ladder and names Himself the ladder; the figure has a face.
• WitnessDA 311.5. White: "Christ is the ladder that Jacob saw, the base resting on the earth, and the topmost round reaching to the gate of heaven... He took our nature and overcame, that we through taking His nature might overcome... by His divinity He lays hold upon the throne of heaven, while by His humanity He reaches us" — the two arms of the ladder are His two natures; reach Him and you reach God.
• Witness19MR 338.4. White: "Christ is the Ladder; the foot on the earth in His human nature, the top in heaven in His divine nature. His human arm encircles the race while His divine arm lays hold upon the Infinite" — humanity grasps us, divinity grasps the throne (see "The Nature of Christ — the Ladder Reaches the Earth").
• WitnessSDP 137.4. Haskell: "Jacob... as he lay with his head upon the stone in Bethel, and watched the angels ascending and descending upon that glorious ladder, he also saw the Lord above it. He beheld his glorious vestments" — Jacob saw the High Priest above the ladder; the figure was Christ from the first.

Christ takes the gate to Himself — John 10:7-10:

• John 10:7. "I am the door of the sheep" — the gate of heaven Jacob saw is a Person; Christ is the only opening into the fold.
• John 10:9. "I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture" — entrance, salvation, and sustenance all hang on passing through the one door.
• John 10:10. "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly" — the door does not merely admit; it gives the life that was lost in the separation (see "The Image Lost — What Sin Took").
• WitnessDA 477.3. White: "Christ is the door to the fold of God. Through this door all His children, from the earliest times, have found entrance... But the only door is Christ, and all who have interposed something to take the place of Christ... are thieves and robbers" — every other way in is theft; the gate is exclusive.
• John 14:6. "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" — Christ states the gate's exclusiveness flatly; He is the only road to the Father.
• 1 Tim. 2:5. "one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" — one door because one Mediator; the ladder has a single set of rounds.

Christ is the sanctuary, the house of God — John 2:19, 21; Heb. 9:11; 10:19-20:

• 1 Chr. 28:10. "the LORD hath chosen thee to build an house for the sanctuary" — the one other place on earth Scripture calls the house of God is the sanctuary; the names converge.
• WitnessDAR 167.2. Smith: "It was the earthly dwelling-place of God. 'Let them make me a sanctuary,' said he to Moses, 'that I may dwell among them'... In this tabernacle... he manifested his presence" — the sanctuary's first office is to house God among men.
• WitnessS23D 47.1. Andrews: "The sanctuary was the habitation of God. It was erected for this express purpose, that God might dwell among his people" — habitation is the whole point of the building.
• John 2:19. "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" — Jesus calls His own body the temple.
• John 2:21. "But he spake of the temple of his body" — the inspired gloss: the sanctuary, the house of God, is Christ's flesh; the third name is His too.
• Heb. 9:11. "Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building" — the true tabernacle is Christ Himself, not the shadow of wood and gold.
• Heb. 10:19-20. "boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh" — the way into God's presence runs through the veil of Christ's flesh; the gate and the sanctuary are one flesh.
• WitnessCWCP 82.2. Jones: "this is the 'new and living way' which Christ, through the flesh, 'hath consecrated for us'... He, coming in the flesh... has, for us who are in this flesh, consecrated a way from where we are to where He now is" — the ladder's lowest round is the incarnation; the road starts where we stand.

Therefore Jesus = Ladder = Gate = Sanctuary:

• The three names Jacob gave one place — ladder (Gen. 28:12), gate of heaven (Gen. 28:17), house of God (Gen. 28:17, 22) — Christ claims one by one: the ladder (John 1:51), the door (John 10:9), the temple of His body (John 2:21). One place, one Person, one way up.
• Eph. 2:13, 18. "now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ... For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father" — the gulf of Isa. 59:2 is bridged in Christ; the access is restored.

God's purpose: to dwell with us — Exo. 25:8-9:

• Exo. 25:8. "And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them" — the reason for the whole structure: God means to live among men again, to undo the separation.
• Exo. 25:9. "According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle... even so shall ye make it" — the building is a copy of a heavenly pattern; nothing in it is arbitrary, every part teaches.
• WitnessDA 23.3. White: "God commanded Moses... 'Let them make Me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them'... So Christ set up His tabernacle in the midst of our human encampment. He pitched His tent by the side of the tents of men, that He might dwell among us" — the incarnation is the sanctuary realized; "the Word became flesh, and tabernacled among us."
• WitnessCWCP 62.2. Jones: "That He might 'dwell among them' was the object of the sanctuary" — the dwelling is the object, not a side effect.
• WitnessCWCP 26.1. Jones: "man through sin became without God, and God wanted to be again with us. Therefore Jesus became 'us' that God with Him might be 'God with us'" — Emmanuel is the sanctuary's name; the dwelling is restored by Christ becoming us.
• WitnessCWCP 39.5. Jones: "The faith of Jesus is that God must dwell with us and in us in order that we shall be holy or pure at all" — the indwelling is not the reward of holiness but its source.

The sanctuary reverses sin — its whole work answers the separation:

• Rev. 21:3. "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them... God himself shall be with them, and be their God" — the sanctuary's purpose reaches its end; the dwelling of Exo. 25:8 is made eternal.
• Rev. 21:22. "I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it" — when the dwelling is perfect, no copy is needed; the Lamb Himself is the temple, the figure swallowed up in the substance.
• John 14:2-3. "In my Father's house are many mansions... I go to prepare a place for you... that where I am, there ye may be also" — the ladder runs both ways: He came down to dwell with us that He might at last take us up to dwell with Him.
• Eph. 2:21-22. "all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit" — the end of the work is a temple of redeemed men, God dwelling in them by the Spirit; sin's separation wholly reversed.

God asks for a dwelling, built strictly to a heavenly pattern — Exo. 25:8-9, 40; Heb. 8:5:

• Exo. 25:8. "And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them" — the whole structure has one purpose: to reverse the separation of sin and bring God back among men (see "Jesus = Ladder = Gate = Sanctuary").
  • sanctuary = the appointed place where God dwells with His people, the figure of the whole plan of salvation (Exo. 25:8; Heb. 9:9, "a figure for the time then present"; Ev 222.2, "a complete system of truth, connected and harmonious").
• Exo. 25:9. "after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it" — not a man's design; every line is dictated.
• Exo. 25:40. "look that thou make them after their pattern, which was shewed thee in the mount" — the earthly is a copy.
• Heb. 8:5. The priests "serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things... make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount" — the earthly sanctuary is a shadow of the heavenly; therefore its floor-plan teaches the plan of salvation itself.
• WitnessSOTB 10.3. Andrews: "The earthly sanctuary was only made as the pattern of the sanctuary in Heaven... With the introduction of the new covenant came the real sanctuary of God, the tabernacle which the Lord pitched, and not man" — shadow below, substance above.
• WitnessLHU 24.7. White: the offerings and priesthood "were instituted to represent the death and mediatorial work of Christ... had no meaning, and no virtue, only as they related to Christ" — Christ is the substance every compartment shadows.

The structure is three-fold: a fenced court, then two apartments divided by the veil — Exo. 27:9; 26:33; Heb. 9:1-3:

• Exo. 27:9. "thou shalt make the court of the tabernacle... hangings for the court of fine twined linen of an hundred cubits long" — the first space, the open court, fenced off from the camp; the place of approach.
  • outer court = JUSTIFICATION — the first stage, where the sinner is brought from outside to peace with God: the place of the altar and the laver, of blood and washing (Exo. 27:9; Rom. 5:1, "being justified by faith, we have peace with God"; 1 Cor. 6:11, "washed... sanctified... justified in the name of the Lord Jesus"). Pardon received and power given before the worshipper ever enters the house (see “The Altar of Sacrifice — Forgiveness”).
• Exo. 26:33. "the vail shall divide unto you between the holy place and the most holy" — within the tent two rooms, parted by the second veil.
• WitnessPP 347.2. White: "The building was divided into two apartments by a rich and beautiful curtain, or veil, suspended from gold-plated pillars; and a similar veil closed the entrance of the first apartment" — court, first apartment, second apartment: three, parted by hangings.
• Heb. 9:1-2. "the first covenant had also... a worldly sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle made; the first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the shewbread; which is called the sanctuary" — the first apartment, the Holy Place, furnished for daily service.
  • holy place = SANCTIFICATION — the second stage, the daily walk: the candlestick, the table of shewbread, and the altar of incense, where the pardoned soul lives by the Word, shines in good works, and prays (Heb. 9:2, 6; 1 Th. 5:23, "sanctify you wholly"; 1SM 317.2, "the work of sanctification is the work of a lifetime"). The continual, growing service of the justified (see "The Table of Shewbread — Eating the Word").
• Heb. 9:3. "after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all" — the inner apartment, the Most Holy, entered through the second veil.
  • most holy place = GLORIFICATION — the third and final stage, the unveiled presence of God: where the law and the mercy-seat are, where the high priest enters with blood, and where, at the end, the redeemed are brought home into the presence itself (Heb. 9:3, 7; Rom. 8:30, "whom he justified, them he also glorified"; GC 414.2, "the glories of that heavenly temple where Christ our forerunner ministers"). The fellowship restored, sin's last residue purged (see “The Most Holy Place — Glorification”).
• WitnessCIS 31.2. Haskell: "There were two apartments in the sanctuary, or tabernacle. In the first apartment a service was performed daily throughout the year... On one day at the end of the year a service was performed in the second apartment" — daily in the first, yearly in the second: the two stages of the priest's own ministry written into the two rooms.

The two services keep the two stages distinct — Heb. 9:6-7; Lev. 16:16:

• Heb. 9:6. "the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service" — the Holy Place was the place of the CONTINUAL, daily service: sanctification is daily, never a single act.
  • WitnessCCh 51.2. White: "Sanctification is not the work of a moment, an hour, or a day. It is a continual growth in grace" — the daily apartment, the daily work.
• Heb. 9:7. "into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood... for the errors of the people" — the Most Holy entered once, with blood, to make the final atonement and cleanse the sanctuary.
• Lev. 16:16. He shall "make an atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel... in all their sins" — the inner work blots out what the daily work confessed; the last stage finishes what the first two began.

The veil barred the way until Christ — then opened it from court to throne — Heb. 9:8-12; 10:19-20:

• Heb. 9:8. "The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing" — under the type the inner presence was sealed shut; the three stages were promised, not yet thrown open.
• WitnessDAR1909 192.2. Smith, reading the same text: "the way into the holiest of all [Greek, holy places, plural] was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing" — the way into the sanctuary, court to throne, waited on the substance.
• Heb. 9:9. "Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect" — the shadow could picture justification, sanctification, glorification; it could not accomplish them.
• Heb. 9:11-12. "Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle... by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption" — the real Priest enters the real sanctuary; the three stages now have their Substance.
• Heb. 10:19-20. "boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh" — the torn veil is His own flesh; the road runs unbroken now from the court of justification to the Most Holy of glorification.

Paul names the three in order; so does the gospel — Rom. 8:30; 1 Cor. 6:11; 1 Th. 5:23:

• Rom. 8:30. "whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified" — the unbroken chain: justified, then glorified, sanctification the road between; the same order the three compartments stand in.
• 1 Cor. 6:11. "ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God" — all three named together as one work of grace.
  • WitnessFW 103.2. White: "Pardon and justification are one and the same thing. Through faith, the believer passes from the position of a rebel... to the position of a loyal subject of Christ Jesus" — the court-work: pardon = justification (see “The Altar of Sacrifice — Forgiveness”).
  • Witness6BC 1071.8. White: "Justification is a full, complete pardon of sin" — the first stage stated plainly.
• 1 Th. 5:23. "the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and... your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" — spirit and soul sanctified now (Holy Place), the body preserved to the coming (Most Holy, glorification); the whole man carried through all three.
  • WitnessAA 320.2. White, on 1 Cor. 15: "the triumphs of the resurrection morn, when all the sleeping saints are to be raised... We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed" — glorification, the work of the third compartment, finished at His coming.
• WitnessCHR 67.2. Waggoner: "what brings justification or the forgiveness of sins? It is faith... 'Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God'" — faith opens the court; the gate of every compartment is faith (Heb. 4:16; Heb. 11:6).
• WitnessCWCP 47.6. Jones: "Christ, who knew no sin, was made to be sin... that we, who knew no righteousness, might be made righteousness, even the righteousness of God" — the whole three-stage exchange in one line: His righteousness for our sin, worked out from court to throne.