Without an Intercessor

[Gregory Matthews]

Primarily based on what some have thought EGW wrote, some SDAs have expected a time in the future in which humanity would have to stand before God as perfect people outside of the ministry of Christ.  This has spawned a host of junk theological theories, which is beyond the purpose of this post and I will not address.  Also, much of what is said goes beyond what EGW said.

Angel M. Rodriguez, writing in the June 2021 issue of Adventist World (Adventist Journey) has written an excellent article on this subject.  

 

NOTE:  I will post a source for the article when I get it, hopefully in a few minutes.

[Gregory Matthews]

You may find the article at:  

June 2021 | Adventist World

 

Scroll to pages 22 & 23.

 

[phkrause]

On 6/2/2021 at 2:42 PM, Gregory Matthews said:

Scroll to pages 22 & 23.

Will be taking a look at that, I have that one here!!

[Kevin H]

It was an excellent article!!!

Some of our theologians have pointed out that the Roman Catholics had a view of intercession where you go to your priest to pray to the saints to pray to Mary to pray to Jesus to pray to the Father to forgive you. 

This was the view in the culture the reformers grew up in and they kept the same model but removed the middlemen, and had us just pray to Jesus to pray to the Father. 

We find Biblical intercession in Exodus 19:5-6 and in Revelation 1. Jacob's ladder was the tower of Babel upside down, The Biblical view of intercession is backwards from the Catholic view: It is God as king and power (God the Father) reaching out to through God as personal friend (God the Son) and through angels and priests to God's people and through them and how God working with our subjective experience (God the Holy Spirit) to turn people's hearts to accept God in their hearts. 

We sadly read into Mrs. White's quote about standing before God without an intercessor by reading into those words the Roman Catholic view of intercession as trimmed by the Reformers, and we mix it with a misunderstanding of just what (or rather who) hell fire is. And mixing her words with these two errors give us a very, very wrong understanding of her words. 

When we read it in the context of the Biblical view of intercession it is telling us that those who will respond to God's love have responded to God's love, and he has won us over. We love and trust him no matter what.  Meanwhile, those who have not have so hardened their hearts that they have become deaf to the pleadings of the Holy Spirit. They will not repent, nor will they listen to the Sprit's plead for mercy in their actions and how they treat others.