Lesson 2 — The Sabbath and Liberty

JANUARY 14, 1905.

Questions

  1. In their bondage in Egypt, what was it difficult for Israel to do? Ps. 105:43-45.
  2. Which commandment in particular does it appear they had difficulty in obeying? Duet. 5:12-15. Note 1.
  3. What complaint did Pharaoh make against Moses and Aaron? Ex. 5:4, 5. What against the people? Verse 8. What did he style the instruction which they had received through Moses and Aaron concerning the keeping of the Sabbath? What command did he give in opposition to it? Verse 9.
  4. What two things, therefore, are intimately associated together in Israel’s experience in Egypt? — Bondage and oppressive measures against Sabbath-keeping.
  5. Because the children of Israel after their deliverance from Egyptian bondage oppressed one another, and did not “proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof,” what did God say He would do with them? Jer. 34:17.
  6. While disregarding the Lord’s instructions for bringing about universal freedom, what divine institution were they also disregarding? Eze. 22:8, 26.
  7. Upon what condition did God promise that Jerusalem should stand forever? Jer. 17:24, 25.
  8. What did He say He would do if they did not keep the Sabbath? Verse 27.
  9. When and by whom was this fulfilled? 2 Chron. 36:11-21.
  10. During their captivity, what was the land enjoying? Verse 21.
  11. How long did God say their captivity should be? Jer. 25:8-11.
  12. When the end comes, for how long a time will the world have been carrying on slavery and oppression, and disregarding the Sabbath? Note 2.
  13. For how long a time will the whole earth lie desolate? Rev. 20:1-4; Isa. 24:1-6; Jer 4:23-27. Note 3.
  14. What will the millennium be to the redeemed?—A time of freedom and rest from earth’s 6,000 years of sin, slavery, and Sabbath-breaking through which they have passed.
  15. What even now remains to the people of God? Heb. 4:1-11.
  16. For what, therefore, does the Sabbath, or seventh day, stand? Note 4.

Notes

  1. “In their bondage the Israelites had to some extent lost the knowledge of God’s law, and they had departed from its precepts. The Sabbath had been generally disregarded, and the exactions of their task-masters made its observance apparently impossible. But Moses had shown his people that obedience to God was the first condition of deliverance; and his efforts made to restore the observance of the Sabbath had come to the notice of their oppressors.” — Patriarchs and Prophets, page 260.
  2. “For six thousand years the great controversy has been in progress. . . . Now all have made their decision; the wicked have fully united with Satan in his warfare against God. The time has come for God to vindicate the authority of His downtrodden law.”, “For six thousand years, Satan’s work of rebellion has ‘made the earth to tremble.’… For six thousand years his prison-house has received God’s people.” “Satan’s work of ruin is forever ended. For six thousand years he has wrought his will, filling the earth with woe, and causing grief throughout the universe.” — The Great Controversy, pages 656, 659, 678.
  3. “The Revelator foretells of the banishment of Satan, and tffe condition of chaos and desolation to which the earth is to be reduced; and He declares that this condition will exist for a thousand years.” — The Great Controversy, page 658. “The great plan of redemption results in fully bringing back the world into God’s favor. All that was lost by sin is restored. Not only man, but the earth is redeemed, to be the eternal abode of the obedient. For six thousand years, Satan haS struggled to maintain possession of the earth. Now [after the 1,000 years and the destruction of the wicked] God’s original purpose in its creation is accomplished.” — Patriarchs and Prophets, page 342.
  4. From the study of this and the preceding lesson, it is evident that the Sabbath, or seventh day, stands for rest and liberty. On the first seventh day God rested from all His works, and was refreshed. In the seventh or sabbatical year the Hebrew servants were to be released and “go out free.” In the jubilee, or the great sabbatical year, the year after seven times seven years, universal liberty was to be proclaimed. And in the great millennial sabbath, the seventh thousand years, God’s people are to be released from all bondage and oppression, and spend a sabbath of rest in the kingdom of God.

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