Advent Scripture Quotes

The next time believers tell you that 'separation of church and state' does not appear in our founding document, tell them to stop using the word 'trinity.' The word 'trinity' appears nowhere in the bible. Neither does Rapture, or Second Coming, or Original Sin. If they are still unfazed (or unphrased), by this, then add Omniscience, Omnipresence, Supernatural,Transcendence, Afterlife, Deity, Divinity, Theology, Monotheism, Missionary, Immaculate Conception, Christmas, Christianity, Evangelical, Fundamentalist, Methodist, Catholic, Pope, Cardinal, Catechism, Purgatory, Penance, Transubstantiation, Excommunication, Dogma, Chastity, Unpardonable Sin, Infallibility, Inerrancy, Incarnation, Epiphany, Sermon, Eucharist, the Lord's Prayer, Good Friday, Doubting Thomas, Advent, Sunday School, Dead Sea, Golden Rule, Moral, Morality, Ethics, Patriotism, Education, Atheism, Apostasy, Conservative (Liberal is in), Capital Punishment, Monogamy, Abortion, Pornography, Homosexual, Lesbian, Fairness, Logic, Republic, Democracy, Capitalism, Funeral, Decalogue, or Bible.

In Israel’s Scriptures, God’s concern is not restricted to insiders: it extends to strangers, to slaves, to women, and to any who are oppressed, for we are all children of God.

The advent of postmodernism, the enshrinement of Darwinian orthodoxy in the educational systems of Western society, and the rise of blatant humanism as the religion-by-default of large subcultures have brought no end of new challenges to biblical sufficiency.

The political powers, in both Jesus’ day and our own, play on fear to get their way—whether it be the fear of the emperor, the fear of terrorists, the fear of the foreign “other,” or the fear of death. But with “this day” comes a new possibility. The first words spoken after Jesus’ birth are “‘Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people.

We all feel the pressure to live without sadness or doubt, but that doesn’t come from God. The scriptures remind us that the journey with Jesus is just as often spent in the shadow places, the rough and darkened stretches where light and hope seem in short supply. We tend to see these moments as defeats, to imagine that they are places we need to emerge from in order to be properly spiritual—when in reality the low places are where we meet our Maker.

Religion is the most powerful entity on earth. A phenomenon that has conscripted millions to give or sacrifice their lives without so much as a minuscule query about their chosen beliefs or particular ideology. And today thousands of years on despite the huge advent, discovery and the advance of science forensic or otherwise, millions are still prepared and equipped to fall or kill in the name of their God, their Holy Scriptures, their messengers, their prophets and their faith’.

Christians had lost, their scriptures not having remained free from corruption, and many which were to be met with in their books but which they did not act upon. Some of these which were of permanent value were revealed in the Holy Qur’an, but others — referred to in passing over much — had been given to them to suit only the requirements of the time when they were given and were not now needed. Or, the reference may be to the prophecies of the advent of the Holy Prophet, for the Qur’an refers to only very few of them. 15b. Two

Liturgy gathers the holy community as it reads the Holy Scriptures into the sweeping tidal rhythms of the church year in which the story of Jesus and the Christian makes its rounds century after century, the large and easy interior rhythms of a year that moves from birth, life, death, resurrection, on to spirit, obedience, faith, and blessing. Without liturgy we lose the rhythms and end up tangled in the jerky, ill-timed, and insensitive interruptions of public-relations campaigns, school openings and closings, sales days, tax deadlines, inventory and elections. Advent is buried under 'shopping days before Christmas.' The joyful disciplines of Lent are exchanged for the anxious penitentials of filling out income tax forms. Liturgy keeps us in touch with the story as it defines and shapes our beginnings and ends our living and dying, our rebirths and blessing in this Holy Spirit, text-formed community visible and invisible. When Holy Scripture is embraced liturgically, we become aware that a lot is going on all at once, a lot of different people are doing a lot of different things. The community is on its feet, at work for God, listening and responding to the Holy Scriptures. The holy community, in the process of being formed by the Holy Scriptures, is watching, listening to God's revelation taking shape before an din them as they follow Jesus, each person playing his or her part in the Spirit.

Friday of the Third Week of Advent Isaiah 56:1–3a, 6–8; John 5:33–36 The works that the Father has given me to complete, the very works that I am doing, testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me. —John 5:36 A Bias Toward Action Jesus says, “I am not asking you to just believe my words, look at my actions, or the ‘works that I do.’ ” Actions speak for themselves, whereas words we can argue about on a theoretical level. The longer I have tried to follow Jesus, the more I can really say that I no longer believe in Jesus. I know Jesus. I know him because I have often taken his advice, taken his risks, and it always proves itself to be true! Afterward we do not believe, we know. Jesus is not telling us to believe unbelievable things, as if that would somehow please God. He is much more saying to us, “Try this,” and you will see for yourself that it is true. But that initial trying is always a leap of faith into some kind of action or practice. The Scriptures very clearly teach what we call today a “bias toward action.” It is not just belief systems or dogmas and doctrines, as we have often made it. The Word of God is telling us very clearly that if you do not do it, you, in fact, do not believe it and have not heard it. The only way that we become convinced of our own sense of power, dignity and the power of God is by actually doing it—by crossing a line, a line that has a certain degree of non-sensicalness and unprovability to it—and that’s why we call it faith. In the crossing of that line, and acting in a new way based on what we believe the kingdom values are, then and only then, can we hear in a new way and really believe what we say we believe in the first place. In the years ahead I see Christianity moving from mere belief systems to an invitation to “practices” whereby we then realize things on a new level. (Jesuits call them “exercises,” Methodists call them “methods,” Gandhi called them “experiments with truth.”)

It’s dangerous to predict what God will do, to go beyond what He has revealed of His will in Scripture.

The New Testament testifies to the reality that Jesus Christ is the only perfect revelation from God that the human race has known, or ever will know, this side of the Second Coming (Heb. 1: 1-3; John 14: 6; Gal. 1: 8,9). Jesus is the source of every true principle, all authority resides in Christ, and every thing contained in the New Testament Scriptures begin and end with Christ (Col. 3: 11; Rev. 1: 8,11).

The True Foundation of the Seventh-day Adventist Church What then is our foundation? Here’s the answer: The scripture which above all others had been both the foundation and central pillar of the Advent faith was the declaration, “Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed” (GC, 409). Thus “the foundation” of our “Advent faith” is Daniel 8:14, not Leviticus 26. What about “the platform”? God is leading out a people and establishing them upon the one great platform of faith, the commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus (3T, 447). These “people” are Seventh-day Adventists, and based on the above quote, that “one great platform of faith” is the message of the third angel. Ultimately, “Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 3:11. “Upon this rock,” said Jesus, “I will build My church.” ... That Rock is Himself,—His own body, for us broken and bruised. Against the church built upon this foundation, the gates of hell shall not prevail (DA, 413). Thus the primary foundation of the Seventh-day Adventist Church is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Himself, not a chart.

D. CONCLUSION: SILENCING THE MOST RELEVANT VERSES BY SAYING THEY ARE DISPUTED IS ANOTHER STEP TOWARD LIBERALISM I realize that the evangelical feminist authors who say the verses on women in the church are “too hard to decide” do not think they are moving their churches toward liberalism. They may just be overwhelmed with all the literature written on these topics and so they conclude, “I can’t decide this.” But then they do decide it. They decide to adopt an evangelical feminist view, contrary to the sense of those passages that has been plain to millions of readers for centuries. In doing so, they take their churches toward liberalism. The position that says, “We can’t decide these disputed passages, so we will make decisions based on factors other than these passages,” is guaranteed to silence the most important and most relevant passages of Scripture on roles for men and women. When evangelical feminists claim, “Nobody knows what these passages mean,” no further reasoning or argument from these verses can influence their decisions. Their position is: “The verses are too hard to decide. They are confusing. We can’t figure them out. Therefore we won’t consider these verses anymore. They cannot speak to us on this issue.” But to say this on an issue where God has given direct instruction, and where churches have to make decisions every day, and where the whole Christian church has had widespread agreement until the advent of modern feminism, results in silencing the most relevant verses, and thus it is ultimately another way to undermine the authority of the Bible. Saying that such passages are too hard to decide is another dangerous step on the path to liberalism.

As guides for the children in our life, we need to find ways to connect their growing understanding of God’s Word and His truth to an authentic faith lived life-on-life with others. We need to keep pointing them back to Scripture as the truth in their lives. At the same time, we need to recognize that God has also given us a gift through them—an opportunity to see how powerful a childlike faith can be.

Now, Matthew 12 tells us when He bound Satan. He says Satan was bound during His first advent. Therefore, the millennium has already gotten under way according to Scripture.

I have no problem believing the Scriptures are inspired by God, or that many inspired writings exist outside the twenty-seven books of the New Testament and thirty-nine in the old. But it is important for any serious Christian intent on studying the Bible to understand how it has been passed down through the centuries. With the advent of the printing press, the number of errors entering the text of has fallen significantly. These days the scribe has been cut out of the equation. But his role was a very human one. God created humans with an incredible capacity for intellectual thought, and it’s a shame when people fail to use that capacity to foster their own faith and better understand their creator.

If there is any truth in Scripture at all, this is true—that those who stubbornly refuse to submit to the gospel, and to love and obey Jesus Christ, incur at the Last Advent an infinite and irreparable loss. They will pass into a night on which no morning dawns.

The doctrine of the second advent is the very keynote of the Sacred Scriptures. From

All who put their ultimate trust and allegiance in God (Ex. 20: 3-11) and are truly committed to loving and serving their fellow human beings (Ex. 20: 12-17), particularly the poor and the victims of injustice (Ex. 22: 21-25), enter into the Everlasting Covenant (Matt. 22: 36-40). All the other covenants with Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, etc. have been restatements of the Everlasting Covenant which human beings have continually distorted. The most significant restatement came through Jesus Christ (Heb. 12: 24; 13: 20). In Scripture, the Everlasting Covenant is synonymous with salvation. Those who enter into this Covenant with God are saved.[

The words of Christ bring comfort to all who are afflicted with their own sinfulness, “I am telling you the truth: whoever hears my words and believes in him who sent me has eternal life” (John 5: 24). This is the essence of justification by faith. Such a promise seems difficult to harmonize with the abundant texts in scripture which state that all human beings including the righteous will be judged according to their works. However, the key to understanding this seeming contradiction lies in the substitutionary work of Christ itself. Our works cannot save us in the final judgement and neither can our commitment to God, for both are imperfect, and inadequate to perform such a task (Isa. 64: 6). The judgement is good news for all who genuinely seek intimacy with Jesus and claim His blood, because Christ himself stands in their place in the judgement and his perfect works are credited to them in place of their failures and imperfections (1 John 4: 17). Those who are in Christ have already been judged and saved (John 12: 31).

The majority of the prophets in Scripture seem to be more interested in the present than in the future. For the most part they function as forthtellers, who seek repentance, reform, social justice and a restoration of God’s covenant, rather than foretellers. The purpose of prophecy is to strengthen faith, not to make us fortune tellers (John 14: 29).

Otherworldiness can be a real temptation in the religion, but the Incarnation itself is a corrective. Down to earth, real flesh and blood. And even at feasts such as the Ascension, which might seem otherworldly, the scripture texts for the day are anything but: "Why stand ye gazing up into heaven?" (Acts 1:11, KJV). As if to say, take a look around; your work is here! One of my favorite passages in the Roman Catholic Breviary, used during Advent, has a practical and yet visionary tone, a combination I find irresistible. Heaven seems to be an important construct in the human imagination, and these words by St. Augustine tempt me to believe that the power to imagine such a heaven is almost heaven enough. "Let us sing alleluia here on earth, while we still live in anxiety, so that we may sing it one day in heaven in full security... We shall have no enemies in heaven, we shall never lose a friend. God's praises are sung both there an adhere, but here they are sung in anxiety, there in security; here they are sung by those destined to die, there, by those destined to live forever; here they are sung in hope, there in hope's fulfillment; here, they are sung by wayfarers, there, by those living in their own country. So then ... let us sing now, not in order to enjoy a life of leisure, but in order to lighten our labors. You should sing as wayfarers do - sing, but continue your journey ... Sing then, but keep going.

I beseech you, dearly beloved in the Lord: understand that this Scripture is the command of God. For it is a great thing for us to understand the form that Jesus accepted for us: for he became in all things like unto us, apart from sin (Heb 4:15). Now therefore it is right that we also should set ourselves free by his advent, that by his foolishness he may make us wise, and by his poverty may enrich us, and by his weakness strengthen us, and confer resurrection upon us all, destroying him that had the power of death (Heb 2:14)

Regardless of when Advent begins, every year the same Scripture readings are used for weekdays from December 17-24. The Gospels on those days describe events leading up to the birth of Christ: December 17: The genealogy of Jesus (Matthew) December 18: The annunciation to Joseph (Matthew) December 19: The annunciation to Zechariah (Luke) December 20: The annunciation to Mary (Luke) December 21: Mary’s visit to Elizabeth (Luke) December 22: Mary’s “Magnificat” (Luke) December 23: The birth of John the Baptist (Luke) December 24: The “Benedictus” of Zechariah (Luke)

Jesus, the Sinner's Friend, walks in the avenues of Scripture as once He traversed the plains and hills of Palestine: you can see Him still, if you have opened eyes, in the ancient prophecies; you can behold Him more clearly in the devout evangelists; He opens and lays bare His inmost soul to you in the epistles, and makes you hear the footsteps of His approaching advent in the symbols of the Apocalypse.