God does not stand toward the sinner as an executioner of the sentence against transgression; but He leaves the rejectors of His mercy to themselves, to reap that which they have sown. {GC 36} What is the sentence for transgression? The second death.

How do you explain this plain statement APL?



You do not understand the intent of God.



The wicked see the glory of the Lord and they are tormented by His righteousness and God puts them out of their misery by raining fire out of heaven.

Case closed.

You are reading more into the quotations than is written. You have not said what the wrath of God is. It is clearly described in Romans 1.

The law of ten commandments is not to be looked upon as much from the prohibitory side, as from the mercy side. Its prohibitions are the sure guarantee of happiness in obedience. As received in Christ, it works in us the purity of character that will bring joy to us through eternal ages. To the obedient it is a wall of protection. We behold in it the goodness of God, who by revealing to men the immutable principles of righteousness, seeks to shield them from the evils that result from transgression. {1888 1575.3}

We are not to regard God as waiting to punish the sinner for his sin. The sinner brings the punishment upon himself. His own actions start a train of circumstances that bring the sure result. Every act of transgression reacts upon the sinner, works in him a change of character, and makes it more easy for him to transgress again. By choosing to sin, men separate themselves from God, cut themselves off from the channel of blessing, and the sure result is ruin and death. {1888 1576.1}

Sin is the cause of Death.

APL,

You are also reading more into the statements you quote than what is actually written. Whose eye has the speck and whose the beam may only be revealed in the future when we all witness the events for ourselves. Meanwhile, please note that saying "we are not to regard God as waiting to punish the sinner" does not mean that God will not punish the sinner. It means just what it says--that we are not to think that God is wanting to punish the sinner and is just waiting for His moment to do so. Such a concept is far from the truth. It is truth, however, that God will punish the sinner.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

Actually the wrath of God is not described in Romans 1, that is where what leads to God's wrath is recorded. It's in chapter 2 that Gods wrath is recorded.

Romans 2:4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? 5 But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed.

6 He will render to each one according to his works: 7 to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; 8 but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. 9 There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, 10 but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. 11 For God shows no partiality.

12 For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. 13 For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. 14 For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them 16 on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.

And that is only for the second coming when the wicked are slain by the brightness of His coming, the true fullness of His wrath is at the second resurrection.

God is the same, yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

Romans 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

The full manifestion of God's wrath will be at the end of sin, but a it is being revealed, present tense.

The wrath of God. That is, the divine displeasure against sin, resulting ultimately in the abandonment of man to the judgment of death (see Romans 6:23; John 3:36). The wrath of the infinite God must not be compared to human passion. God is love (1 John 4:8), and though He hates sin, He loves the sinner (SC-54). However, God does not force His love upon those who are unwilling to receive His mercy (see DA-22; DA-466; DA-759). Thus, God’s wrath against sin is exercised in the withdrawal of His presence and life-giving power from those who choose to remain in sin and thus share in its inevitable consequences (see Genesis 6:3; cf. DA-107; DA-763; DA-764; SC-17; SC-18).

This is illustrated by the terrible experience of the Jews after their rejection of Christ. Since they had become confirmed in their stubborn impenitence and had refused the last offers of mercy, “God withdrew His protection from them and removed His restraining power from Satan and his angels, and the nation was left to the control of the leader she had chosen” (GC-28).

When God’s wrath against sin fell upon Christ as our substitute, it was the separation from His Father that caused Him such great anguish. “This agony He must not exert His divine power to escape. As man He must suffer the consequence of man’s sin. As man He must endure the wrath of God against transgression” (DA-686). Finally, on the cross, “the wrath of God against sin, the terrible manifestation of His displeasure because of iniquity, filled the soul of His Son with consternation. … The withdrawal of the divine countenance from the Saviour in this hour of supreme anguish pierced His heart with a sorrow that can never be fully understood by man” (DA-753).

Thus, as Paul explains in Romans 1:24; Romans 1:26; Romans 1:28, God reveals His wrath by turning impenitent men over to the inevitable results of their rebellion. This persistent resistance of God’s love and mercy culminates in the final revelation of God’s wrath on that day when the Spirit of God is at last withdrawn. Unsheltered by divine grace, the wicked have no protection from the evil one. “As the angels of God cease to hold in check the fierce winds of human passion, all the elements of strife will be let loose” (GC-614). Then fire comes down from God out of heaven, and sin and sinners are forever destroyed (Revelation 20:9; cf. Malachi 4:1; 2 Peter 3:10).

But even this final revelation of God’s wrath in the destruction of the wicked is not an act of arbitrary power. “God is the fountain of life; and when one chooses the service of sin, he separates from God, and thus cuts himself off from life” (DA-764). God gives men existence for a time so that they may develop their characters. When this has been accomplished, they receive the results of their own choice. “By a life of rebellion, Satan and all who unite with him place themselves so out of harmony with God that His very presence is to them a consuming fire” (ibid.; cf. GC-543).

Yes and Jesus experienced just what the wicked will experience, so the fullness of what God designed as His wrath is fulfilled in the second death experience. Jesus fulfilled what was fortold by him and the Father at the fall of man, perfectly fulfilled at the exact moment God ordained it. Executed by the Father withdrawing His presence. I have stated this over and over and it is on my blog about Jesus in Gethsemane fulfilling the Red Heifer sacrifice. http://redheifersbloodysweat.blogspot.com/2011/12/red-heifer.html

The second death experience includes the evil ones persecuting and tormenting, both Jesus, and the 144,000, and the wicked at the second resurrection are engulfed in their own evil, left to their own destruction. God does allow everything you have said over and over, THEN He executes judgment and the scapegoat is burned to ashes with the wicked. If you think this is spontaneous, or as a result of sin as if a self-destruct hell mechanism is ingrained in creation you are not correct.

God executes sinners in the end. What was the attitude of the Father towards His Son on the cross?

So to you, SIN really is not the problem because sin does not kill the sinner. Sin does not kill. We are not saved from sin, we are saved from the Father's execution.

BTW - where in the sanctuary service is the scapegoat burned? What is done to the scapegoat in the sanctuary service?

To understand His sanctuary service is a good approach if you want to know the intent of God. He gave us the sanctuary for this purpose.

"...while the sin offering pointed to Christ as a sacrifice, and the high priest represented Christ as a mediator, the scapegoat typified Satan, the author of sin, upon whom the sins of the truly penitent will finally be placed. When the high priest, by virtue of the blood of the sin offering, removed the sins from the sanctuary, he placed them upon the scapegoat. When Christ, by virtue of His own blood, removes the sins of His people from the heavenly sanctuary at the close of His ministration, He will place them upon Satan, who, in the execution of the judgment, must bear the final penalty. The scapegoat was sent away into a land not inhabited (The Abyss), never to come again into the congregation of Israel. So will Satan be forever banished from the presence of God and His people (from our minds and hearts through sin), and he will be blotted from existence in the final destruction of sin and sinners.—The Great Controversy, 409-422. {CIHS 99.3}

"On the Day of Atonement two kids of the goats were brought to the door of the tabernacle, and lots were cast upon them, “one lot for the Lord, and the other lot for the scapegoat.” The goat upon which the first lot fell was to be slain as a sin offering for the people. And the priest was to bring his blood within the veil, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat. “And he shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins: and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation, that remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness.” {CIHS 35.2}
“And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: and the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited.” Not until the goat had been thus sent away did the people regard themselves as freed from the burden of their sins. Every man was to afflict his soul while the work of atonement was going forward. All business was laid aside, and the whole congregation of Israel spent the day in solemn humiliation before God, with prayer, fasting, and deep searching of heart." {CIHS 35.3}

"Important truths concerning the atonement are taught by the typical service. A substitute was accepted in the sinner’s stead; but the sin was not canceled by the blood of the victim. A means was thus provided by which it was transferred to the sanctuary (through the blood of Jesus). By the offering of blood the sinner acknowledged the authority of the law, confessed his guilt in transgression, and expressed his desire for pardon through faith in a Redeemer to come; but he was not yet entirely released from the condemnation of the law. On the Day of Atonement the high priest, having taken an offering from the congregation, went into the most holy place with the blood of this offering, and sprinkled it upon the mercy seat, directly over the law, to make satisfaction for its claims. Then, in his character of mediator, he took the sins upon himself and bore them from the sanctuary. Placing his hands upon the head of the scapegoat, he confessed over him all these sins, thus in figure transferring them from himself to the goat. The goat then bore them away, and they were regarded as forever separated from the people." {CIHS 97.1}

"Since Satan is the originator of sin, the direct instigator of all the sins that caused the death of the Son of God, justice demands that Satan shall suffer the final punishment. Christ’s work for the redemption of men and the purification of the universe from sin will be closed by the removal of sin from the heavenly sanctuary and the placing of these sins upon Satan, who will bear the final penalty. So in the typical service, the yearly round of ministration closed with the purification of the sanctuary, and the confessing of the sins on the head of the scapegoat." {CIHS 38.5}