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Adventist identity and
the presence of God
BY JOHN PECKHAM
ho do men say that I, the Son of Man,
am?” Jesus asked. “Some say John the
Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jere-
miah or one of the prophets,” His disciples replied.
“But who do you say that I am?” Jesus asked (Matt.
16:13-15).
On this question of Christ's identity everything
hinges—including my identity, your identity, and
the identity of everyone else.
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,”
Peter correctly answered (verse 16).
Jesus of Nazareth entered this world as a human
son, born to an ordinary Galilean woman. If you
passed Him on a dusty road, you might not have
even noticed Him. Jesus seemed like an ordinary
man, but He was far more. He was the divine Son
of God—"the Word” He “was God” and “He was in
the beginning with God” (John 1:1, 2).
This same “Word became flesh and dwelt among
us” (verse 14). Thus, He was called “Immanuel,”
which means “God with us” (Matt. 1:23). Only
through Him—truly God and truly man—could
humanity be reconciled to divinity so that humans
can live with God forevermore!
But we are not yet with God in the way He origi-
nally intended—the way the first humans dwelled
with God in Eden before sin, when God walked “in
the garden in the cool of the day” (Gen. 3:8). The
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