The following article was originally published by Secrets Unsealed-3rd Quarter 2023 Newsletter. The article has compiled Scriptures along with volumes of statements taken from the Spirit of Prophecy, highlighting some very insightful perspectives concerning God the Father and His Son’s hierarchical relationship, detailing the preeminent position of the Father as it relates to the Son’s voluntary submission, even before Jesus’ incarnation. This article offers a surprising and rare perspective, especially coming from one of the more notable Adventist ministries (Secrets Unsealed), echoing and in agreement with many of the familiar sentiments more in keeping with the non-trinitarian community when it comes to the kind of relationship the Father and the Son has always managed to maintain with each other not only from eternity past but to eternity future.

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Introduction

During the ministry of Jesus, the twelve were constantly arguing over who would be the greatest in the coming kingdom (Luke 9:46; Matthew 23:11; Luke 22 :24, 26). Each time, Jesus rebuked them teaching that the secret of true greatness is not coveting the highest place but rather descending in service to the lowest. However, Jesus not only taught about the virtue of humility. In the Upper Room, the day before His death, He gave a practical demonstration by performing one of the most menial, disgusting and humbling acts of servants. To demonstrate what He taught, the Master humbled Himself, stooping to wash the feet of His disciples. At that time, roads were not paved and it was the season of springtime rains, so their feet could have been muddy and if they weren’t, they were dusty.

While the eleven were dumbfounded and confused by what Jesus did, Judas was dismayed and disgusted. He had always harbored the hope that Jesus would ascend to the throne and rule with a rod of iron. Instead, Jesus humbled Himself to wash the feet of His disciples. The arrogant betrayer thought to himself, if the Master sets aside His dignity and humbles Himself to the point of washing the feet of his servants, He certainly cannot be the Messiah! After His act, Jesus took advantage of the moment to teach His disciples that humility and service are the secret of true greatness. Three times He exhorted His disciples to follow His example by washing one another’s feet (John 13:12-16). We know that Jesus emptied Himself during His earthly sojourn by taking the form of a servant and submitting to His Father’s will. However, is it just possible that, though He is just as much God as His Father, and possessor of all divine attributes, He has ever voluntarily subjected Himself to His Father’s authority and will even to the point of saying, “the Father is greater than I?” (John 14:28). To answer this question, let’s follow the trajectory from eternity past to eternity future.

The Father’s Initiative at Creation

The book of Genesis tells us that the Father took the initiative at creation and spoke to someone saying, “let us make man in our image, according to our likeness” (Genesis 1:26). Who was the Father speaking to? Was He talking to Himself? No. The Spirit of Prophecy explains that the Father was speaking to the Son. Notably, it was the Father who took the initiative and shared the creation plan with the Son. The consultation of the Father with the Son filled Lucifer with envy and jealousy and a desire to ascend (Isaiah 14:12-14). This was the first example in “universal history” of upward mobility to be followed by downward. Ellen White wrote: “But when God said to His Son, ‘Let us make man in our image,’ Satan was jealous of Jesus. He wished to be consulted concerning the formation of man, and because he was not, he was filled with envy, jealousy, and hatred. He desired to receive the highest honors in heaven next to God.” EW, p. 145

The Spirit of Prophecy provides a profound description of the Father’s initiative, the Son’s submission, Lucifer’s envy and a meeting of the heavenly council called by the Father: “The Father wrought by His Son in the creation of all heavenly beings. . . The King of the universe summoned the heavenly hosts before Him, that in their presence He might set forth the true position of His Son and show the relation He sustained to all created beings. The Son of God shared the Father’s throne, and the glory of the eternal, self-existent One [Hebrews 1:1, 2] encircled both. About the throne gathered the holy angels, a vast, unnumbered throng—ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands’ (Revelation 5:11.), the most exalted angels, as ministers and subjects, rejoicing in the light that fell upon them from the presence of the Deity. Before the assembled inhabitants of heaven, the King declared that none but Christ, the Only Begotten of God, could fully enter into His purposes, and to Him it was committed to execute the mighty counsels of His will. The Son of God had wrought the Father’s will in the creation of all the hosts of heaven; and to Him, as well as to God, their homage and allegiance were due. Christ was still to exercise divine power, in the creation of the earth and its inhabitants. But in all this He would not seek power or exaltation for Himself contrary to God’s plan, but would exalt the Father’s glory and execute His purposes of beneficence and love.” PP, p. 36

Here is a summary of the main points in this quotation:

• Before the entrance of sin, Jesus performed the Father’s will in the creation of all the heavenly beings.

• It was the Father who explained the Son’s true position in heaven.

• The glory of the Father encircled both.

• The Father is referred to as “the King of the universe”.

• The Son was the only one who could enter the Father’s purposes.

• The Son executed the mighty counsels of the Father’s will when He created all the hosts of heaven.

• The Son did not seek power or exaltation for Himself but exalted the Father’s glory and executed His purposes.

In another place, Ellen White described the Father’s authority and Christ’s willing submission on the same occasion: “The great Creator assembled the heavenly host, that He might in the presence of all the angels confer special honor upon His Son. The Son was seated on the throne with the Father, and the heavenly throng of holy angels was gathered around them. The Father then made known that it was ordained by Himself that Christ, His Son, should be equal with Himself; so that wherever was the presence of His Son, it was as His own presence. The word of the Son was to be obeyed as readily as the word of the Father. His Son He had invested with authority to command the heavenly host. Especially was His Son to work in union with Himself in the anticipated creation of the earth and every living thing that should exist upon the earth. His Son would carry out His will and His purposes but would do nothing of Himself alone. The Father’s will would be fulfilled in Him.” ST, January 9, 1879, par. 2

Here is a summary of the main points in the second quotation:

• The Father is called “the great Creator”.

• The Father conferred “special honor” upon His Son.

• The Father ordained that the Son be equal with Himself. Thus, equality and submission are not antithetical.

• The Father invested the Son to command the heavenly host.

• The Son was to work in union with the Father.

• The Son carried out His Father’s will and purposes.

• The Son did nothing of Himself alone. He did not act independently of His Father.

• The Son fulfilled the Father’s will.

Ellen White described the authority structure in heaven before Jesus came to this earth:

“The Son of God was next in authority to the great Lawgiver. He knew that his life alone could be sufficient to ransom fallen man. He was of as much more value than man as his noble, spotless character, and exalted office as commander of all the heavenly host, were above the work of man. He was in the express image of his Father, not in features alone, but in perfection of character.” The Review and Herald, December 17, 1872, Par. 1

Clearly, if expressions mean anything, the Father has prime authority in heaven and the Son’s authority is next. In a similar way, the president of the United States is first in authority and the vicepresident’s authority is next. The Father and Son are equal as persons but not in their positional authority.

These quotations from the Spirit of Prophecy are supported by the testimony of Scripture. John 1:1-3 tells us that Jesus is God and that nothing exists except through Him. Hebrews 1:1, 2 adds that the Father appointed Jesus heir of all things and created the worlds through Him. Colossians 1:16-17 is even more explicit. These verses tell us that Jesus was before all things and that everything in the universe was created through Him and for Him:

“For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.”

1 Corinthians 8:6 provides a powerful corroboration of Ellen White’s two quotations above:

“Yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live.”

The consistent use of the preposition diá (through) in these verses indicates that the Father created through the instrumentality of the Son. All things are from the Father through the Son.

Revelation 4 describes the heavenly throne room where the Father was surrounded by cherubim and seraphim and the representatives of the worlds who were singing His praises as Creator. Verse 11 contains the hymn: “You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created.” (Rev. 4:11)

In what sense is the Father described as the Creator in this verse and why did Ellen White refer to Him as “the great Creator”? Didn’t we read that creation came through the Son? True. However, the passive voice of the text (“were created”) indicates that the Father was not the active agent. All things were created by the Father’s will through Jesus. We are reminded of Ellen White’s statement that ‘the Son of God had wrought the Father’s will in the creation of all the hosts of heaven.” PP, p. 36

Psalm 33:6 tells us that the heavens and all their host were made by the Word of the Lord and John 1:1-3 identifies that Word as Jesus. Ellen White wrote this insightful statement where she explained that Jesus, the Son, speaks the Father’s thoughts into existence.

“What speech is to thought, so is Christ to the invisible Father. He is the manifestation of the Father, and is called the Word of God.” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, volume 5, p. 1131

The Father’s Permission to Redeem Man

Let’s examine now the relationship between the Father and the Son after sin intruded into this world. Ellen White described an intimate meeting between the Father and the Son after Adam and Eve sinned. When Jesus entered the meeting, He had an expression of “sympathy and sorrow” but when He came out His countenance was “free from all perplexity and trouble”. What made the difference?

“The whole family of Adam must die. I then saw the lovely Jesus and beheld an expression of sympathy and sorrow upon His countenance. Soon I saw Him approach the exceeding bright light which enshrouded the Father. Said my accompanying angel, ‘He is in close converse with His Father.’ The anxiety of the angels seemed to be intense while Jesus was communing with His Father. Three times He was shut in by the glorious light about the Father, and the third time He came from the Father we could see His person. His countenance was free from all perplexity and trouble and shone with a loveliness which words cannot describe. He then made known to the angelic choir that a way of escape had been made for lost man [this is what they communed about]; that He had been pleading with His Father, and had obtained permission to give His own life as a ransom for the race, to bear their sins, and take the sentence of death upon Himself, thus opening a way whereby they might, through the merits of His blood, find pardon for past transgressions, and by obedience be brought back to the garden from which they were driven. Then they could again have access to the glorious, immortal fruit of the tree of life to which they had now forfeited all right.” EW, p. 126

It is remarkable that, although Jesus was just as much God as the Father, He had to seek for permission from the Father to redeem man. In another place, Ellen White described the Father’s struggle in giving up His Son and the reason why their communing was long continued:

“Before the Father He pleaded in the sinner’s behalf, while the host of heaven awaited the result with an intensity of interest that words cannot express. Long continued was that mysterious communing— the ‘counsel of peace’—for the fallen sons of men. The plan of salvation had been laid before the creation of the earth; for Christ is a lamb ‘foreordained before the foundation of the world’; 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 [the Father] so loved the world, that He gave His onlybegotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life’. Signs of the Times, November 4, 1908, par. 3

The apostle Paul described the Father’s final decision in giving up His Son:

“He who did not spare His Own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32)

In another place, Ellen White described Jesus as the Father’s “Darling Son”:

“It was even a struggle with the God of heaven, whether to let guilty man perish, or to give His Darling Son to die for them.” EW, p. 127

Abraham’s anguish on Mount Moriah gives us a pale glimpse into the Father’s struggle in giving up His Own Son, the true Son of the Promise:

“Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” (Genesis 22:2)

Read the entire article HERE.