The Eternal Sacrifices of the Father and the Son

Focus on the Sacrifice of the Father: HE IS GOD ALONE

When we see the length of the chain that was let down for us, when we
understand something of the infinite sacrifice that Christ has made in our
behalf, the heart is melted with tenderness and contrition. {SC 35.4}
He suffered the death which was ours, that we might receive the life which
was His. {DA 25.2}
We must seek to understand the infinite sacrifice He made in order to save the
race from eternal death. He laid aside His robes of royalty, His high command,
His riches, and for our sake became poor, that we might come into possession of an
immortal inheritance. {RH, July 9, 1901 par. 3}
What speech is to thought, so is Christ to the invisible Father (MS 77,
1899) {5BC 1131.6}

What are the Eternal, everlasting sacrifices each

member of the Godhead made? What eternal
sacrifice did the Father make equal to that of
Christ?
Satan had accused God of requiring selfdenial of the angels, when He knew nothing
of what it meant Himself, and when He would
not Himself make any self-sacrifice for others.

This was the accusation that Satan made against God in heaven; and after

he continually
charged the Lord with exacting service which
He would not render Himself. Christ came to the world
the evil one was expelled from heaven,

to meet these false accusations, and to reveal the Father. {1SM 406.2}
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Messengers Preface: The focus of this message is to again review the messages and doctrines
taught so far, in light of what they reveal concerning character of the Godhead of Self-Sacrificing
Love. This is the principle and the importance of these messages and why they are sent as

testing truths now according to the promise: at the end it (The Vision) shall speak and not lie
Habakkuk 2:3
To know the Infinite Sacrifice which God the Father and Jesus made truly melts our hearts with
contrition and love towards Them for true sacrifices They devised to convince Their intelligent
creation that, emphatically YES - God does indeed make the greatest Sacrifice for our good,
even as He is also calling us to be the same, to be like Him. The focus on this message is the
Sacrifice of the Father in giving us Jesus.
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The character of God the Father vindicated by His infinite sacrifice

As speech is to thought, so do the manifestations of Jesus reveal to us The
Father. The Father and Jesus are one; They are one in purpose, in mind, in
character. Therefore as we have discussed Jesus making an eternal, infinite
sacrifice it is manifest that each Person of the Godhead has also made an Eternal
Sacrifice for our redemption. We would do well to consider that God makes
sacrifices, then we shall understand that we also must heed the injunction to be ye
therefore followers of God, as dear children (Eph. 5:1) and make unselfish sacrifices
for Love.
Satan made accusation against God that He requires His subjects to obey and
do this and that, while He Himself makes no sacrifices EGW stated it this way:
Satan has represented God as selfish and oppressive, as claiming all, and
giving nothing, as requiring the service of His creatures for His own
glory, and making no sacrifice for their good. But the gift of Christ
reveals the Father's heart. It testifies that the thoughts of God toward us
are "thoughts of peace, and not of evil." Jer. 29:11. It declares that while
God's hatred of sin is as strong as death, His love for the sinner is stronger
than death. Having undertaken our redemption, He will spare nothing,
however dear, which is necessary to the completion of His work. {DA
57.1}
We must learn more about the sacrifices the Father and the Son made to
save us and to win our hearts forever
We must continue to grow in intelligently understanding what sacrifices the
Father and the Son has made to secure our redemption. Then having our hearts
melted and broken in view of the Love demonstrated to us, we choose to serve God
with our whole hearts and pray to Him to take away all remaining vestiges of sin
and evil tendencies. It is when we understand something of the infinite
sacrifice made in our behalf and meditate upon these things, that we will

experience more advanced progress in making the choices and sacrifices that are
necessary on our part to receive more and more of the Latter Rain of Gods Spirit as
it is even now being poured out - until we will be filled to the full measure by the full
revelation of grace of Jesus Christ.
With these purposes in mind, let us contemplate more of what we can know
about the eternal sacrifices of the Father and the Son.
The Eternal sacrifice of Jesus Christ:
Though He is still God Almighty, Jesus is eternally a human man; and as a
man, He will forever be subject to and dependent upon God the Father whereas in
the beginning He was equal to God the Father in every way and was not subject to
law or dependent upon the Father for life.
From eternity past Christ was God in the Highest Sense
Christ was God essentially, and in the highest sense. He was with
God from all eternity, God over all, blessed forevermore. The Lord Jesus
Christ, the divine Son of God, existed from eternity, a distinct person, yet one
with the Father. He was the surpassing glory of heaven. {Selected Messages
Volume 1 page 247.3}
Christ was God in the Highest sense; before His incarnation as a man, He was in
the form of God.
Christ was under no obligation to become man's sacrifice. He was
above law. But he took upon him the form of a servant, and went without
the camp, bearing our reproach. {The Sign of the Times, July 15, 1880 par.
12}
The Son of God came voluntarily to accomplish the work of atonement.
There was no obligatory yoke upon Him, for He was independent and
above all law. The angels, as God's intelligent messengers, were under the
yoke of obligation; no personal sacrifice of theirs could atone for the guilt of
fallen man. Christ alone was free from the claims of the law to
undertake the redemption of the sinful race. He had power to lay down His
life and to take it up again. "Who, being in the form of God, thought it not
robbery to be equal with God."
Yet this glorious Being loved the poor sinner and took upon Himself the
form of a servant, that He might suffer and die in man's behalf. Jesus might
have remained at His Father's right hand, wearing His kingly crown and royal
robes. But He chose to exchange all the riches, honor, and glory of heaven for

the poverty of humanity, and His station of high command for the horrors of
Gethsemane and the humiliation and agony of Calvary. He became a man of
sorrows and acquainted with grief, that by His baptism of suffering and blood
He might purify and redeem a guilty world. "Lo, I come," was the joyful
assent, "to do Thy will, O My God." {Testimonies Volume 4 page 120.3,
121.1}
Christ consented to make Himself subject to God the Father forever
Christ was independent (not dependent) and not a subject, whose
responsibility it is to obey.
But now, since His incarnation, death and resurrection, behold what the Bible says
about His estate now:
1 Corinthians 15:24-28 Then cometh the end, when (Christ) shall have
delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when He shall have
put down all rule and all authority and power.
For He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet.
The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
For He hath put all things under His feet. But when He saith all things are
put under Him, it is manifest that He is excepted, which did put all things
under Him.

then shall the

Son also Himself be subject unto Him that put all
And when all things shall be subdued unto Him,

things under Him, that God may be all in all.

Can we ever truly comprehend the eternal wonder that Jesus, Who was God
essentially and in the Highest sense would become a man forever to win our
hearts, so none could ever say, that God required the service of His creatures for
His own glory but made no sacrifice for their good?
Jesus voluntarily became one with a race of created beings whose whole
duty it is to reverence and obey God...
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his
commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. (Ecclesiastes
12:13)
How wonderfully blessed we are to be human, with Christ standing as the
Head of Humanity
And verily it must truly be wonderful to be a human if God should consent to
be one of us forever Remember, He knew all of this when He made us; Jesus knew
He would join us!

God created man a superior being; he alone is formed in the image of

God and is capable of partaking of the divine nature, of co-operating with his
Creator and executing His plans {Testimonies Volume 5 page 311.4}
No other creature that God has made is capable of such improvement,
such refinement, such nobility as man. {Amazing Grace page 278.4}
The works of His creation upon each successive day were called good;
but man, formed in the image of his Creator, was pronounced "very good." No
other creature that God has made has called forth such exhibitions of His
love. And when all was lost by sin, God gave His dear Son to redeem the
fallen race. It was His will that they should not perish in their sins, but live to
use their powers in blessing the world and honoring their Creator.
{Testimonies Volume 4 page 562.4}
And Christ has given Himself to the Human race, to stand as the Head of
humanity to be our example in all things; including how to Love serve and honor
our Creator.

The Eternal Sacrifice of God the Father:

"And the counsel of peace shall be between them both." The love of the
Father, no less than of the Son, is the fountain of salvation for the lost race.
Said Jesus to his disciples, before he went away, "I say not unto you, that I
will pray the Father for you; for the Father himself loveth you." [JOHN 16:26,
27.] God was "in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself." [2 COR. 5:19.]
And in the ministration in the sanctuary above, "the counsel of peace shall be
between them both." "God so loved the world, that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have everlasting life." [JOHN 3:16.] {The Great Controversy 1888
version, page 416.4}
We understand clearly that the sacrifice the Father made in giving Jesus to
the human race, to die in our place, was an equally painful process for Him even
as it was for Jesus. Did this pain, this sacrifice of giving His only begotten Son
consist alone with Christs shameful death upon the cross? It cannot be, because
Christ was resurrected and received again into the presence of the Father with
exceeding joy.

The Fathers sacrifice did not end at the resurrection of Jesus Christ, His
Son
Few

give thought to the suffering that sin has

caused our Creator. All heaven suffered in Christ's
agony; but that suffering did not begin or end with
His manifestation in humanity. The cross is a
revelation to our dull senses of the pain that, from its
very inception, sin has brought to the heart of God.
{Education page 263.1}
To understand more of the eternal sacrifice the Father made, and is yet
enduring, in that He GAVE Jesus to us (For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is
given Isa. 9:6) we must look at what has been revealed concerning another one of
Gods sons Adam.
What we can learn from the experience of Adam about the sacrifice of the
Father
When Adam was created He was perfect in every way, He was made in the
image of God. The most important aspect of being made in the image of God was
that He was partaker of the Divine Nature: He had the Mind of God and of Christ.
This was manifest when God caused all of the animals to present before
Adam so that He might name them. It was then that the Lord God brought them
unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every
living creature, that was the name thereof.
Adams mind was so in tune with the Divine mind, that whatever name Adam
called every living creature, that was the name God had already intended it should
have. But God had another purpose in mind in causing all of the living creatures to
pass before Adam. As this happened Adam intently observed something. After
every living creature was brought before him to receive its name; he saw that to
each had been given a companion, but among them "there was not found an
help meet for him." Among all the creatures that God had made on the earth, there
was not one equal to man. {PP 46.1}
How was it that Adam was alone?
When God saw that Adam looked for and desired one such as himself and
found none, a loving God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I

will make him an help meet for him." God declared that even in the perfection
and glorious bliss of Eden, man could not be completely satisfied, being alone.
But was Adam alone in the normal sense we think of as being alone; did he
have no creature to talk to but the beasts of the earth, who could not respond in his
manner of communication?
No! Adam held communion with Jesus and with angels from heaven!
The holy pair [Adam and Eve] were not only children under the fatherly
care of God, but students receiving instruction from the all-wise Creator.
They were visited by angels, and were granted communion with
their Maker, with no obscuring veil between. {Christian Education page
207.1}
Adam had fellowship with angels and God Himself. They could talk to each
other and freely communicate, yet God said It is not good that the man should
be alone What is the principle God is referring to here? And as we understand
this, we shall begin to understand more of the infinite sacrifice made by the Father
in giving us Jesus, for Adam in his perfection had the mind of God.
A social being desires one of the same nature to experience satisfying
companionship
Consider this revelation from the Spirit of Prophecy:
Man was not made to dwell in solitude; he was to be a social being.
Without companionship the beautiful scenes and delightful employments of
Eden would have failed to yield perfect happiness. Even communion with
angels could not have satisfied his desire for sympathy and
companionship. There was none of the same nature to love
and to be loved. {Patriarchs and Prophets page 46.1}
Here it is revealed that God understood that only when holding communion
with one of the same nature is a social being satisfied in his desire for
sympathy and companionship.
Jesus became our Companion
Immediately following the quote above, EGW uses these words: God
Himself gave Adam a companion. We belief that here EGW clearly uses a
literary allusion to the prophetic words Abraham spoke to Isaac concerning what
God would do, saying, God will provide Himself a Lamb for a burnt offering.
God Himself did give Adam a companion in Eve, who became Adams wife. Most

importantly though, Jesus gave Himself to be our Companion and Example in

all things.
This is our work; it is to keep the eye fixed upon the glory of God, and be
constantly seeking to yoke up with Christ as our companion and friend.
{Review and Herald, July 12, 1887 par. 2}
And yet this is the way we treat Jesus. We forget that He is our
companion. {The Sign of the Times, Jan. 9, 1893 par. 8}
God gave us a Companion in the unspeakable gift of Jesus Christ; One Who
shares our nature and Who can sympathize with us and understand all of our
feelings.
For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the
seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like
unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in
things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
Hebrews 2:16,17
In giving Jesus to us to share our nature, God consented that Christ should
empty Himself of His first estate - the form of God Jesus laid aside the nature or
form He possessed which was the same as the Father.
God the Father: the only true God; He is GOD ALONE
Verily, verily Jesus will be eternally capable of completely satisfying God the
Fathers desire for sympathy and companionship. Yet, can we consider the Fathers
sacrifice in giving Jesus to usin that now it remaineth none completely like
Himself? We can never truly understand the eternal sacrifice involved in this
demonstration of love. This would not be the sacrifice which it is if it had not been
that from eternity Christ had been one with the Father, possessing the same nature
the form of God in a wonderfully incomprehensible communion of Love.
In speaking of His pre-existence, Christ carries the mind back through
dateless ages. He assures us that there never was a time when He was not in
close fellowship with the eternal God. {ST, August 29, 1900 par. 15}
They were Two
This sublime revelation from the pen of inspiration helps us to begin to
understand something of the relationship between the Father and Jesus and the
great sacrifice it must have been for the Father to give Jesus to us:

This is a love the depth of which no sounding can ever

fathom. As the disciples comprehended it, as their perception
took hold of God's divine compassion, they realized that there is a
sense in which the sufferings of the Son were the sufferings of the
Father. From eternity there was a complete unity between the
Father and the Son. They were two, yet little short of being
identical; two in individuality, yet one in spirit, and heart, and
character. {YI, December 16, 1897 par. 5}
We can never fully appreciate the sacrifice of the Father in giving us Jesus,
but we can love and appreciate Him more as we see more and more of His selfless
love for us. God has given us the institution of marriage and the human relation of
bearing children so that we can begin to understand the unity which existed and yet
exists between God the Father and Christ. How must God feel, that because of sin,
and to have His universe secure from future apostasy, He suffered Jesus, Whom God
called the Man that is My Fellow (Zech13:7), Who was God essentially and in the
highest sense and of His same nature (being in the form of God) to make an
infinite sacrifice so that now God reveals Him as My righteous

Servant? (Isa.
53:11) Because of sin, God the Father from henceforth, must be God Alone.
Said our Lord Jesus,
And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee

the only true

God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. John 17:3
The eternal sacrifices of the Father and the Son demonstrate the Divine
attributes of Justice and Mercy
The eternal sacrifices of the Father and the Son are called forth by the
character of the Living God. The great Mercy shown to us in the gift of Christ and
the sacrifice endured by the Persons of the Godhead demonstrates before all the
universe that God is Love. Yet, Mercy could not have been exercised in our behalf
unless the full claims of Justice had been satisfied. God is Love, but His character of
Love is revealed no less in the majesty of His Justice than in His great Mercy He is
honoring the precepts of His Holy Law demonstrating His perfect character, which
is a perpetual safeguard to the inhabitants of His everlasting Kingdom which shall
have no end. In the sacrifices of Jesus Christ, God the Father and the Holy Ghost we
see revealed, Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace
have kissed each other.
This is the combined power of Mercy and Justice {RH, Dec. 13, 1892 par. 7}:

In His incarnation He had reached the prescribed limit as a

sacrifice, but not as a Redeemer. {12MR 409.1}
Christ, at an infinite cost, by a painful process, mysterious to angels
as well as to men, assumed humanity. {7BC 915.3}
The plan of salvation had been laid before the creation of the earth; for
Christ is "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world" (Revelation 13:8);
yet it was a struggle, even with the King of the universe, to yield up
His Son to die for the guilty race. But "God so loved the world, that He
gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not
perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16. Oh, the mystery of redemption!
the love of God for a world that did not love Him! Who can know the depths
of that love which "passeth knowledge"? Through endless ages immortal
minds, seeking to comprehend the mystery of that incomprehensible
love, will wonder and adore. {Patriarchs and Prophets page 63.3}
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Additional information and Bible studies under this topic:
- Essential EGW quotes on the pain and sacrifice of God
Ex.) All heaven suffered in Christ's agony; but that suffering did not begin or end

The cross is a revelation to

our dull senses of the pain that, from its very inception,
sin has brought to the heart of God His Spirit "maketh
with His manifestation in humanity.

intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." As the "whole creation
groaneth and travaileth in pain together" (Romans 8:26, 22), the heart of the infinite
Father is pained in sympathy. Our world is a vast lazar house, a scene of misery that
we dare not allow even our thoughts to dwell upon. Did we realize it as it is, the
burden would be too terrible. Yet God feels it all.