Messenger of the Lord

Larger View of the Plan of Salvation

Ellen White was led to see the results of “limited views of the atonement.” ³ Some of these results included: MOL 268.5

(1) A limited sense of what Christ suffered on Calvary, linking His agony to physical pain only. ⁴ MOL 268.6

(2) A limited sense of how the Father was involved in the agony of Calvary, not comprehending that God’s wrath expressed in His withdrawal of His immediate presence was the ultimate “price of redemption.” ⁵ MOL 268.7

(3) A limited sense of how Christ’s life and death together “were earning the right” for Jesus to become humanity’s High Priest. ⁶ MOL 268.8

(4) A limited sense of how far-reaching Christ’s atonement was in that it embraced everyone who has ever lived, this limited sense caused by the presupposition that God’s sovereignty has chosen both the special “elect” and those predestined to burn in an eternal hell-fire. ⁷ MOL 268.9

(5) A limited sense of the “cost” of what God “gave” (John 3:16) in the death of Jesus by not recognizing that Jesus did not resume all of His former prerogatives, that He indeed “gave” Himself to the human race, to forever identify as a human with the human race—He was forever limited to time and space. ⁸ MOL 269.1

(6) A limited sense of what Christ “satisfied” on Calvary in not recognizing that He died to give sinners a “second probation ... that they might return to their loyalty and keep God’s commandments,” not that He died so that obedience to God’s law was unnecessary. ⁹ MOL 269.2

(7) A limited sense of the “atonement” by confining the benefits to justification only, not grasping that the atonement was a “divine remedy for the cure of transgression and the restoration of spiritual health,” not sensing that it provided the means “by which the righteousness of Christ may be not only upon us but in our hearts and characters.” ¹⁰ MOL 269.3

(8) A limited sense of the depth in Jesus’ cry, “My God, my God, why? ...” whenever a person believes in the immortal soul error, not realizing that His hour of death was that which all sinners will experience in their “second” death after the judgment. Nobody on this planet except Christ has really died, those who have “passed on” are only sleeping, awaiting the Life Giver’s call; Jesus felt the final agony of sinners who realize what they have rejected. ¹¹ Further, Jesus experienced the unspeakable “wages of sin” (Romans 6:23), thus proving that Satan was wrong when he said, “You will not surely die” (Genesis 3:4). MOL 269.4

(9) A limited sense of sin in that most Christians have no idea of the universal implication of sin on this earth and how it affects the well-being of the universe. ¹² MOL 269.5

(10) A limited sense of how God plans, because of the atonement, to “place things on an eternal basis of security,” a plan that involves an executive review including angels prior to the Second Advent of all people who have ever lived, and then a peer review conducted by the redeemed between the two resurrections (John 5:29). ¹³ MOL 269.6