The Bible's "holy grail"

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I have read some of the chapters of the book and I have watched a series of excellent documentaries on the Da Vinci Code. I did not see the movie and do not plan on seeing it. What I have concluded from the information gathered is that man in his continual QUEST for God has looked to all the wrong places. Everything surrounding the "holy grail"of the Davinci Code is simply a constant reminder of man's unrelenting QUEST for something he does no longer possess, for peace with God, for a life that will never end. And if there is one thing that the Davinci Code makes crystal clear, it is this: For the most part, in his quest for the "holy grail," man relies solely on fiction, fables, superstitions, philosophical theories and brilliant literary essays!

In the seventies I remember going to the theater to watch this movie in which some men sold all their possessions to go in search of the "elixir" of life, some magic potion which would confer eternal life on them. If I remember correctly, they ended up on top of some mountain in South America. The story ends tragically in murder and suicide.

David Koresh and Jim Jones are also a reminder that the quest for eternal life is fraught with danger. The enemy of souls is determined to hide the true"holy grail" from man's grasp for he knows that as long as he can do this, he has nothing to fear.

The "holy grail" of the Bible is simply this: "The merits of Christ's sacrifice are sufficient to present to the Father in our behalf." Steps to Christ,36.

This is the true religion, the only religion of the Bible "Faith can lay hold of the merits of Christ, the remedy provided for sin." Faith and Works,100,101.

"Righteousness is obedience to the law. The law demands rightteousness. This the sinner owes to the law; but he is incapable of rendering it. The only way he can attain to righteousness is through faith. By faith he can bring to God the merits of Christ." F.W.101.

Thus, "Through the merits of Christ we may find the approval of God." E.G.White, Our Father Cares,122.

"Take hold by faith of the merits of Christ and the soul-cleansing blood will be applied." Faith and Works,96.

In other words, the only faith that will benefit us is "the faith that lays right hold upon the merits of the blood of a crucified and risen Saviour to bring Christ's righteousness into the life." Faith and Works,65,66.

And His righteousness is made manifest in obedience to all the commandments of God! See T.M.92,93.

"Unless he makes it his lifebusiness to behold the uplifted Saviour and to accept His merits which it is his privilege to claim, the sinner can no more be saved then Peter could walk upon the water unless he kept his eyes fixed steadily upon Jesus." T.M.93.

This is the only way the sinner can be saved.

This is the "holy grail" of the Bible.

Thus the Holy Spirit has deciphered the Bible code for us: "The only faith that will benefit us is that which embraces Him as a personal Saviour: which appropriates His merits to ourselves." D.A.347.

By daily appropriatiing to ourselves the merits of the blood that is of value beyond estimate, we become one with Christ as He is one with the Father and we are made partakers of all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. See Col.2:9; Eph.3:14-19.

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*"We shall come in repentance and contrition, with a despairing sense of our own finite weakness, and learn that we must daily apply to the merits of the blood of Christ that we may become vessels fit for the Master's use." F.W.86, Share