Objection:
Christ is the center and circumference of salvation. So Paul declared to the Corinthian church: “I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” 1 Corinthians 2:2. But you, in your emphasis on the law and the Sabbath, and other peculiar doctrines, markedly fail to give Christ that central, dominant position that true Christians give to Him.
Answer:
We believe that our so-called “peculiar doctrines” uniquely and strikingly emphasize the importance of Christ. Note these facts:
Our Doctrine On The Law. We teach that “sin is the transgression of the law” and that all humanity stands guilty and condemned before God, for the wages of sin is death. If God’s law could have been abolished, man would no longer have been guilty of death; hence Christ’s death would not have been necessary to our salvation, for He died to save us from condemnation and death. Thus the historical incident of His death on Calvary would have significance simply as a beautiful exhibit of a good man’s dying for a noble ideal and setting before us a noble example. That is indeed the very position that some Christians take. Such a position robs Christ’s death of its awe-inspiring, saving quality.
But we are forever protected from this Christ-dishonoring view. We hold that God’s law is eternal. Hence a guilty sinner’s only hope of escape from the death which that violated law demands is found in Christ, who died in his stead. Thus, our very belief in the unalterable, eternal quality of God’s law causes us ever to flee to Christ as our only hope of life. How could we give greater significance to Christ as all-important to our salvation?
Our Doctrine On The Sabbath. The seventh-day Sabbath focuses the worshiper’s mind on the great truth of the creation as outlined in Genesis. It is this truth that is so largely denied by evolutionary Christians today. Now, when we focus thus on this creative display of divine power, we are led to give greater honor to Christ, for God “created all things by Jesus Christ.” Ephesians 3:9. “For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him.” Colossians 1:16.
Proper Sabbath-keeping is a weekly honoring of Christ in His role as Creator. Thus honoring Him, we are prepared to believe most literally and fully His promise to create in us new hearts and minds, indeed, to make us new creatures in Christ Jesus.
Because our minds are turned, weekly, to the thought of an originally perfect world, we are prepared to realize most fully how great the fall of our first parents was and to take most literally the words of our Lord. “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” John 12:32. How could we make Christ more central in our beliefs?
Our Doctrine On The Sanctuary. We teach that the earthly sanctuary service, given to the Israelites by God through Moses, was a type of the heavenly service to be conducted for man’s salvation. Thus we make vivid to men the reality of a sacrificial service and the shedding of blood for the remission of sins, a truth so largely forgotten or denied in Christendom today. We see in the earthly lambs slain a type of the “Lamb of God”; in the earthly Passover, a type of “Christ our Passover,” who is “sacrificed for us”; in the earthly priests, a type of Christ, our high priest who ministers in heaven above for us (See 1 Corinthians 5:7; Hebrews 8:1). How could we more highly emphasize or honor Christ in our teachings?
Our Doctrine On The Mortality Of Man. We take the text literally that “the wages of sin is death”; that is, we believe literally that the sinner’s ultimate doom is destruction, annihilation (See Romans 6:23). It follows logically from our belief that man does not possess an immortal soul. Hence we are led most fully to exalt Christ as the only hope of life. We take literally His words: “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” John 10: 10. We believe that life and immortality were brought “to light through the gospel” of our Lord and in no other way (See 2 Timothy 1:10). How could we more highly honor Christ than by thus teaching?
Our Emphasis On Prophecy. We are distinguished by our belief that the prophetic portions of the Bible are intended by God to be understood and to guide us on the road to heaven. In the books of Daniel and the Revelation, so frequently the basis of our sermons, we find some of the most glorious passages descriptive of Christ’s power and coming kingdom. We focus on the opening words of the Revelation: “The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass.” Revelation 1:1. We turn the hearer’s eyes upward to Christ walking amid the seven candlesticks (Revelation 1:13), to Christ “a Lamb as it had been slain” (Revelation 5:6), to Christ as “King of kings, and Lord of lords” (Revelation 19:16) coming to set up His everlasting kingdom.
When we preach from the prophetic book of Daniel, we come to the vision of the 2300 days of Daniel 8:14, which includes the seventy-week prophecy of Daniel 9:24-27. And it is this prophecy, so central to our theology, that provides one of the most irrefutable proofs that the Christ of Bethlehem was indeed the “Messiah the Prince,” whom “Moses and all the prophets” had foretold. How could we more highly honor Christ?
Our Doctrine On The Personal Second Advent Of Christ. No teaching is more central in our belief than this doctrine of the Advent. A person cannot long listen to our services without hearing this doctrine set forth. Indeed, no doctrine is more extensively discussed in such services. And the heart of that doctrine is best revealed in the words of the angels to the disciples on the occasion of Christ’s ascension: “This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go into heaven.” Acts 1: 11. When a person accepts true faith as outlined in the Bible, he is continually reminded of this great truth. We are not deceived by the false teaching so long prevalent in Christendom, that the world is gradually improving, and that finally, all will be millennial. Not in man’s power of improvement, but in God’s power to recreate this earth, do we find our hope for the future. We rest that hope on the promise that “the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout” and that then we, with the resurrected righteous, will be caught up “in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord.” 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17. How could we more highly exalt Christ?
We have here briefly considered the relation of Christ to six of our most distinctive teachings. We charitably like to think that the objector has never really found time to examine our teachings closely.
