The Threefold Christian Life
Christian Life
Jesus is Who we behold and follow.
The Sabbath Way is the road we walk on.
The Bible is the Word behind our speech.
Let me explain in order, from the inside out.
The secret of creation is bound up with the freedom to choose. What are the choices? Creation or destruction. I will explain further: Around us are manifestations of creation. These are, for believers, patterns. As we behold the pattern, we may follow or be changed as the law of cause and effect dictates. These three — Jesus, the Sabbath, and the Bible, are the Supreme Pattern of believers in the Creator God. Humans were made to follow the example of Jesus, the most ideal human example. The Sabbath system is His first example in the process of creation. While the Bible records the history of His work of Creation and reveals His original plan of Redemption.
As we have these three on display, they become a pattern for those who choose creation. If one desires to choose destruction, how would they do it? They can ignore or forget the Bible. They can choose to work and earn a living through the Sabbath hours, and set up another day of rest. As for Jesus? Well, they can choose another leader. Once the choice is made, the choice is made. Creation is a way of life, while the way of destruction ends with death. Is there a work of destruction in the way of Creation? Yes, but not like that of mere human destructive activity. Humans may destroy the body, that which is physical. The Creator can erase or destroy by simply forgetting. The Creator gives His attention to the work of creation. He remembers the birds, and thus they live and sing on. This should tell us that everyone we see is in the memory and mind of the Creator. His attention is on each of us, for He numbers the hairs on our head. Thus in Him we “live, and move, and have our being.”
So what of those who have died? God has not yet ultimately forgotten them, and at the appointed time, He will give them life again as He gave it originally. Jesus was remembered by His Father. The Sabbath has been preserved by His power, and the Bible also. But why would these three be chief? Man is a physical, mental, and spiritual being. Jesus was a man, and He lived how we should live. He was more than a man however, and this is why the Sabbath and the Bible are included in this subject on what Christian life is. The divine power of Jesus is why He is called Christ, which means Anointed, and also the Messiah. With what was He anointed? The Holy Spirit. The Sabbath is the first introduction of the “Holy” to humanity. From the beginning, the first day to ever be sanctified or set apart was the Sabbath. This was the Divine day. God is holy, and the Sabbath was made Holy by His presence in that day unlike any other day. The Scriptures record this History and give us the meaning of this in the story of redemption. The name of God recorded by Moses, the author of the first five books of Scripture, was revealed at the burning bush where God said “the place where you stand is holy ground.” The name of God preserved in the Scripture is why they are Sacred, Holy.
Where does all this knowledge come from? Is it real? Imagine for a moment two fruits next to one another. An apple and an orange. Which is the right fruit? A silly question unless you have a purpose to fulfill. An apple pie needs the apple. Orange marmalade requires the orange. The purpose determines which is the right fruit for the job, the true fruit.
Lifting this illustration to something higher, when we look at history we find examples of those who some today might call “holy”. The holy apostles and prophets, the saints. These are they whose lives invited men, women, and children to know God. They lived differently from the world around them. They followed a path that was made set apart by virtue of the original Life whom they followed, of Jesus. How did Jesus live? Was His life true to the Creator or the Destroyer? The Bible invites us to examine this Holy Life. Yet there is so much to study and read, where shall we find time to do so? The Lord of the Sabbath invites us into that Day where you may become recreated through beholding the Holy, gently teaching you how to always behold Him. The purpose of the Creator determines which “fruit” is the true fruit to enjoy. If you and I would become holy, we must behold the true Holy One whom all that will finally be called “holy” had followed.
The Holy Spirit provides each a new name through Jesus. A new name is needed because all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, the Creator and Redeemer. The Christian name has been distorted by systems and institutions poisoned by infidelity and compromised teachings. These have reproduced various abominable and blasphemous character traits into multitudes of human beings. Accountability is “sure destruction to all”, to quote William Miller, a resting saint of the Lord Jesus. How shall we be renewed? The Sabbath and the Bible are Jesus’ appointed means. The mind must be recreated by true history and prophecy. The body must be healed through wholesome work and rest at appointed times. The heart must be reborn by the love of God as revealed in Jesus His beloved Son. Spiritually, mentally, and physically are we to be renewed and thus given a new name.
What shall be if we reject this? We must live with our life record alone, with the old name that professes many things yet is unable to perform that which it implies. Our life records must then go to the face of God without the robe of Christ’s righteousness. What shall the end be of those who do not obey the Gospel?
So Jesus offers the Bible as His life record to cover our lives. He offers the Sabbath as a resting point in the heavenward journey. Ultimately, He offers Himself and His unique power to make you and I free sons rather than mere servants, to make us sons of God who cry out “Abba, Father”.
Why so insistently Jesus, the Sabbath, and the Bible? Apart from the glorious promise of grace previously provided, there is a way of peace uniquely provided in this three-fold Christian lifestyle. The Bible gives us a step by step process that is needed for the mind to carefully build upon a unshakeable foundation, beginning with the Creator’s own example. As little children we may imitate His example Who in His limitless sphere “created Heaven and earth.” In our smaller spheres we may learn to work as He did. The Bible outlines this unlike any other book, and thus becomes inseparable from those who choose this pattern. The Sabbath is the chronological end of that pattern. Jesus walks with us the whole week and then meets us in a special way there at the end of that pattern. This simple way is unbreakable to those who believe—for it is His own life.
Jesus, as Son of man and Son of God, giving this gift of His own life to those who receive Him, reveals two things. One, the example or pattern to follow. Two, the power to obey. Author Ellen G. White writes, “By His humanity, Christ touched humanity; by His divinity, He lays hold upon the throne of God. As the Son of man, He gave us an example of obedience; as the Son of God, He gives us power to obey.” The Desire of Ages p. 24.3
The Sabbath and the Bible also reveal this dual nature of humanity and divinity. The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. The Holy Lord, becoming human, has now given humanity a unique freedom to choose on the Sabbath which He could not have apart from Christ. This is what distinguishes a Christian Sabbath keeper from a mere legal Sabbath keeper. As regards the Bible, it is written in human language which meets us where we are, strengthening our human frame because it has been inseparably united with the Divine Law. Thus, the Bible is a human-divine blend, as Jesus Christ is.
How will this three-fold Message come face to face with those that oppose it? History tells us the story already. The French Revolution was an example of what will happen when Jesus, and the Bible are rejected. But what of the Sabbath along with Jesus and the Bible? This picture has not yet been fully revealed, but the Bible tells us that future in a series of events called the “Seven last plagues” as a sort of domino effect. Also, as in history, so in future. The Bible and Christ rose when slain. So too will the Sabbath. As the Bible went to all the world as a result of its persecution, it followed the example of Jesus Who, when slain, rose from the dead, and His name began to be spread around the world.
This inseparable Three-fold Cord is offered to each of us as a gift. Will we daily reach out our hand and take this low hanging fruit?
Jesus still intercedes and prays that we will, and He is coming soon.