Wonder of Jesus
Wonder of Jesus
2008 Quater 2
A t l a n t i c
M E X I C O
Nassau O c e a n
BAHAMAS
C U B A
division
Mexico City CAYMAN PUERTO VIRGIN
ISLANDS HAITI DOM. REP. RICO ISLANDS
ANTIGUA
●
2 BELIZE JAMAICA and BARBUDA
Belmopan
GUADELOUPE
GUATEMALA
HONDURAS C a r i b b e a n S e a
Guatemala City Tegucigalpa MARTINIQUE
P a c i f i c San Salvador BARBADOS
EL SALVADOR NICARAGUA Lesser Antilles
O c e a n GRENADA
Managua
TRINIDAD
Caracas and
●
COSTA RICA San Jose
1 TOBAGO
Inter-American
Panama City
V E N E Z U E L A
PANAMA
Georgetown
GUYANA Paramaribo
Where legally possible, offerings will go to these projects; otherwise special arrangement will be made with the
Bogota Cayenne
General Conference for distribution of funds based on the laws of the countries where these offerings are collected.
Unions Churches Members Population FRENCH
SURINAME GUIANA
Division 1 106 —4444 C O L O M B I A
Caribbean 560 200,354 3,575,000
Colombian 1,032 241,029 46,772,000
Cuban 272 26,550 11,269,000
Dominican 609 231,736 9,017,000
French Antilles-Guiana 125 28,623 1,058,000
Haitian 413 303,944 8,522,000 Mission Projects
Inter-Oceanic Mexican 918 161,315 33,172,000 Our Thirteenth Sabbath Offering this quarter will help congrega-
Mid-Central American 910 322,646 14,361,000
North Central American 706 216,140 13,320,000 tions throughout the Inter-American Division provide the following:
North Mexican 560 158,726 5,483,000
Puerto Rican 289 35,530 3,929,000 ●
1 Dormitory worship halls at the University of the Southern
South Central American 566 215,534 13,156,000
South Mexican 881 255,206 10,000,000 Caribbean in Trinidad
Venezuela-Antilles 707 166,996 27,284,000
West Indies 669 242,741 3,036,000 ●2 Churches for existing congregations and lay training centers in
Totals 9,218 2,807,176 263,625,000 the Inter-Oceanic Union of Mexico.
*Totals December 2006
EAQ080401 For more information, visit www.AdventistMission.org
*EAQ080401*
* Map not drawn to scale
■ ■
April May June 2008 THE WONDER OF JESUS ADULT SABBATH SCHOOL BIBLE STUDY GUIDE
The
■
A DULT
■
S ABBATH S CHOOL
April May June 2008
B IBLE S TUDY G UIDE
of
W onder
ADVENTIST CHURCH
SEVENTH-DAY
esus
Contents 1 Who Was Jesus?—March 29–April 4—————————————6
2 The Mystery of His Deity—April 5–11————————————14
3 The Reality of His Humanity—April 12–18 —————————22
4 The Wisdom of His Teachings—April 19–25—————————30
5 The Wonder of His Works—April 26–May 2 —————————38
6 The Challenge of His Sayings—May 3–9 ———————————46
7 The Puzzle of His Conduct—May 10–16 ———————————56
8 The Intensity of His Walk—May 17–23 ———————————64
9 The Tenderness of His Love—May 24–30 ——————————72
10 The Meaning of His Death—May 31–June 6 —————————80
11 The Power of His Resurrection—June 7–13 —————————88
12 The Efficacy of His Priestly Ministry—June 14–20 ——————96
13 His Return as King and Friend—June 21–27————————104
Editorial Office 12501 Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, MD 20904
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Editorial Assistants Principal Contributor Tresa Beard Roy Adams Larie S. Gray Editor Jean Kellner Clifford R. Goldstein
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The Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide is prepared by the Office of the Adult Bible Study Guide of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. The preparation of the guides is under the general direction of a worldwide Sabbath School Manuscript Evaluation Committee, whose members serve as consulting editors. The published guide reflects the input of the committee and thus does not solely or necessarily represent the intent of the author(s).
1
A Hope Big With Of all the people immortalized over millennia upon the pages of his- tory, Jesus of Nazareth had the shortest period of public labor. Only three and a half years. But what a three and a half years they were! Socrates taught for 40, Plato for 50, Aristotle for 40, Jesus for not even 4. Yet the impact of Christ’s short ministry infinitely exceeds that of the combined 130 years of those three Greek giants. Someone once wrote that “the grandest paintings of Raphael, Michelangelo, and Leonardo da Vinci are but a reflection of Jesus, the Light of the world. Haydn, Handel, Bach, and Mendelssohn gave to the world their best melodies in the symphonies and oratorios they wrote to glorify Jesus Christ. Art, culture, Christ’s appeal . . . music, philosophy—all have been enriched by is universal, His teachings. But Christ offers far more than philosophy, art, and music. These cannot save. transcending all Jesus offers light and life and salvation to sin- political, ethnic, ful men.” and cultural That statement, however eloquent, falls short of doing justice to the richness of Jesus, borders. for that quote is in the context of the West only; Christ’s appeal, in contrast, is universal, transcending all political, ethnic, and cultural borders. “You should search the Bible,” Ellen G. White writes, “for it tells you of Jesus. As you read the Bible, you will see the matchless charms of Jesus. You will fall in love with the Man of Calvary, and at every step you can say to the world, ‘His ways are ways of pleasantness, and all His paths are peace.’ You are to represent Christ to the world. You may show to the world that you have a hope big with immortality”—Life Sketches, p. 293. With Jesus at its center, Christianity is also a historical religion, meaning that it revolves around a person whose life and work are amenable to historical study and analysis. Yet, at the same time, we 2 Immortality cannot circumscribe Jesus Christ within the confines of history. For the reality of His person is suprahistorical (above history)—there’s a point beyond which historical analysis cannot probe. History cannot take us into the mysteries of salvation, or into the wonders of what Christ’s death offers the world. For all that history offers, it cannot begin to fathom what Ellen G. White called “a hope big with immor- tality.” This quarter centers on Jesus, on who He was, on what He taught, on what He did—and on what He is doing now. That last clause, “on what He is doing now,” makes all the difference in the world. It is what might be called “the mystery of the present tense,” a crucial ele- ment that distinguishes Jesus from every other historical figure, for what other historical figure, no matter how great, is doing anything for us now? Who was this amazing Jesus? What was He like? What did He do while here? What is He, indeed, doing for us now? And finally, why should He be a concern for people in the twenty-first century? The answers, as we will see, are far from academic. On the contrary, they affect the destiny of every human being.
Roy Adams, a native of the Caribbean, the author of this quarter’s Bible study guide, is an associate editor of the Adventist Review, the interna- tional magazine of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He is married to Celia (nee Wilson), and they have two adult children, Dwayne and Kimberly.
3
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The Adventist Church in Central Ame rica is large—3 million—and still growing, thanks in large part to faith ful lay workers. Pastors often shepherd dozens of churches, making it necessary to leave the week- to-week church work to the members . Properly trained lay workers have taken over much of the evangelism effo rts throughout the region. The program works so well that many areas, such as Mexico, are suffering growing pains. Many congregations mee t in homes and rented halls because they don’t have a church.
They are part of a winning team, and I want to help these believers have the training and tools they need to cont inue their good work. I’m glad that part of our Thirteenth Sabbath Offe ring will help equip even more lay workers to become successful lay leaders in their churches and small groups. For me, it’s personal. LESSON 1 *March 29–April 4
Who Was Jesus?
SABBATH AFTERNOON Read for This Week’s Study: Matt. 16:13–16, John 20:
26–28, 1 Cor. 1:18–27, 15:3–7.
Memory Text: “When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say the Son of Man is?’ ” (Matthew 16:13, NIV).
rom the earliest days of His ministry, there was discussion and
F debate about Jesus. How interesting that those discussions con-
tinue, even today. They began with the people of His own times
and from His own town. “ ‘Where did this man get this wisdom and
these miraculous powers?’ they asked. ‘Isn’t this the carpenter’s son?
Isn’t his mother’s name Mary . . .?’ ” (Matt. 13:54, 55, NIV).
It is what might be called the scandal of the particular: The
Messiah had to come from somewhere, all right, but not from a place
so familiar to us, and certainly not from a family that is just like the
rest of ours! In one form or another, the same fundamental concerns
expressed by these local townspeople concerning His identity have
framed the debate about Jesus across the centuries, heightening the
mystique around Him.
Who, indeed, was Jesus? Why was He confused with other promi-
nent Jewish characters? What were the challenges to Jesus’ integrity
and identity in the centuries following the New Testament era? How
convinced were the Bible writers of His identity, and why? These are
some of the questions that our first week’s lesson will examine.
*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, April 5.
6 S UNDAY March 30
Not the Baptist (Matt. 16:14)
The question raised by Jesus’ own townsfolk (Matt. 13:54, 55) came
up repeatedly during His public ministry, and in a variety of ways, as
people in the different areas of Palestine encountered Him. Thus, as
He went through the region of Caesarea Philippi with His disciples,
some six months or so before the final showdown of His life, He felt
the need to draw them out on the critical question of the day: “Who do
people say the Son of Man is?” (Matt. 16:13, NIV).
Read the disciples’ response in Matthew 16:14. What does this say about their familiarity with the theological questions of the day? Why do you think Jesus wanted to bring up this issue at this spe- cific time?
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____________________________________________________________________
The report on what people were saying about Jesus probably pro-
vides insight into how different individuals and groups experienced
His ministry in their own setting. How was it possible for some to
think that Jesus could be John the Baptist when the two were contem-
poraries? And what aspects of Jesus’ ministry may have resembled
that of the Baptist?
For possible answers, consider the following passages: Matt. 3:1–3; 4:12, 13, 17; 14:1, 2; Mark 1:1–5.
____________________________________________________________________
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Today, of course, we hardly can understand how it was possible to
confuse Jesus with John the Baptist. But given the absence of mass
communication in the first century and the abundance of secondhand
information and rumor, confusion came easily. After all, the ministries
of John and Jesus were not without parallels, as the passages above
show. But those who had actually encountered John should have been
left with no uncertainty (Matt. 3:11, 12; Mark 1:6–8).
It is easy to look back at the mistakes of others and wonder how
they could have done what they did. What lessons can we learn
from watching these mistakes that can help protect us from
making the same kinds of mistakes?
7
M ONDAY March 31
Not Elijah or Jeremiah or Some
Other Prophet
Read again Matthew 16:14. That people should mistake Jesus for
John is one thing. But for Elijah? Or Jeremiah? Or some other Old
Testament prophet? Where did such ideas come from?
Elijah was the fearless prophet of Mount Carmel fame, the fire-
brand who had the temerity to confront Israel’s recalcitrant king and
demonic wife. He was the one who held forth alone against the com-
bined religious establishment in Ahab’s corrupt regime (see 1 Kings
18).
Jeremiah (“the weeping prophet”), coming upon the scene at a time
of intense national ferment and crisis, conveyed a message to his com-
patriots that could not have been more unwelcome to the national
mood—and he paid for it, too (Jer. 20:1, 2, 7, 8).
As for the rest of God’s faithful prophets in the Old Testament, Jesus
in His scathing woes upon the scribes and Pharisees left Israel’s treat-
ment of these godly stalwarts for the last, as if to suggest that it was
the central point He wished to make: “ ‘So you testify against your-
selves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the
prophets’ ” (Matt. 23:31, NIV).
What significance do you see in the fact that Jesus’ contemporaries identified Him with these particular personalities?
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
To have been mistaken for any of the characters included in Peter’s
response in Matthew 16:14 was clearly a high compliment. These were
spiritual giants whose sterling character held deep resonance in Jewish
society. But however flattering, such comparisons (as we have come to
know) fell utterly short of truth. If Jeremiah had said, for instance, that
he was the light of the world, history would have considered him
demented. And however spectacular the victory on Carmel, had Jesus
quailed in the face of threat, as did the ancient hero of Carmel, we now
would not be falling at His feet in reverence. The confusion of Jesus
with these ancient stalwarts, however gratifying and intriguing, falls
completely short of the reality portrayed in the Gospels.
What is the main difference between Jesus and all these other
prophets, and why is that difference so important to us? (See
John 1:1–5, 17:5, Heb. 1:1–3.)
8 T UESDAY April 1
The Fascination Continues: Part 1 The New Testament does not speculate about Jesus. It simply pre- sents Him as the divine Son of God. Nor does it answer the numerous concerns about Jesus’ being and person that would occupy succeeding generations. Yet, in all the discussions and arguments, there was a rock-bottom acceptance of the centrality of Scripture and the basic identity of Jesus Christ. But the so-called Age of Enlightenment (of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries) would change all that. No longer would Scripture constitute the foundation of discourse about Jesus. Instead, new methods and criteria being applied to the study of other ancient documents also would be applied to the Bible. With everything now subject to rational analysis and criticism, supernaturalism, a founda- tional presupposition of biblical faith, was rejected. The traditional biblical view of a human race steeped in sin and needing divine res- cue was replaced by humanism, an optimistic belief in human capac- ity and progress. The change of outlook was so radical and far-reaching that many thought they were witnessing the end of Christianity. Religion was considered obsolete, and reason, once the handmaid of theology, became its acknowledged mistress. The result was that the focus now shifted from the Jesus described in the Gospels, the Jesus of our sal- vation, to the historical Jesus, supposedly the real Jesus as He actually existed without the theological baggage superimposed by the Gospels and later Christian piety. In other words, this Jesus, whoever He was, surely was not the Savior of the world.
As you reflect on these developments, consider the following: (1) The Gospel writers were very confident in the truth of what they had written (see Luke 1:1–4). What does Luke say about what he is writing? Why can we trust it? (2) One of those eye- witnesses that Luke speaks about was Peter, who himself had to confront doubters and skeptics (see 2 Pet. 1:16–21). Though Peter is speaking here about issues wider than the single one about Jesus’ identity, how might we use his approach to secure ourselves against the Enlightenment onslaught we are dis- cussing here? (3) Paul also needed to address the issue of Jesus head-on. How did he argue the case? (See 1 Cor. 1:18–27, 15:3–7.)
9
W EDNESDAY April 2
The Fascination Continues: Part 2
The so-called historical Jesus movement was founded on the belief
that we still can find in the Gospels sufficient data to reconstruct the
portrait of Jesus as a historical figure, notwithstanding the theological
tampering by the early church (as alleged by Enlightenment thinking).
The new approach to studying Jesus was seen by its advocates as sci-
entific, and thus in keeping with the mood of the times.
The trend held sway until the twentieth century, when new studies
helped undermine this whole movement, showing how this historical
Jesus idea was utterly unscientific and subjective. Studies exposed the
entire rationalistic enterprise as a miserable failure.
The history of Jesus studies are long, winding, and complicated;
and they need not detain us further, except to mention the so-called
Jesus Seminar, a contemporary group of radical scholars determined
to succeed where other historical quests before them failed. Their goal
is to “ ‘rescue Jesus from the spin doctors’ who wrote the Gospels.”
—Roy Hoover, in Kenneth L. Woodward, “The Death of Jesus,”
Newsweek, April 4, 1994, p. 39.
Few today take the Jesus Seminar people seriously. (After all, how
seriously can you take people who argued that instead of being resur-
rected, Jesus, after His death, was eaten by dogs?) Today, the prevail-
ing Christian position insists that Christianity stands on a firm, his-
torical foundation. Notwithstanding two millennia of criticism and
controversy, Jesus remains the undisputed Master of the centuries.
In one of his most penetrating rejoinders to the intellectual sophisti- cates of his day, Paul zeroed in on the essence of the Christian proclamation: “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor. 1:18, NIV). Why is the message of the Cross so impor- tant for us today, as well?
Read also 1 Corinthians 1:18–27. What message is there for us
in those verses? What are some of the things we believe that just
cannot be explained by the “wisdom of the world” (vs. 20, NIV)?
In what ways has “God made foolish the wisdom of the world”
(vs. 20, NIV)?
10 T HURSDAY April 3
Messiah, Son of God (John 17:3)
Who Jesus was is not simply a theological proposition to be proved
or disproved. No, we are dealing here with the faith of untold numbers
over the centuries. If Jesus is not what they have believed Him to be,
then they have all been clinging to falsehood and fables and are all
lost. If Jesus was simply a man who lived two thousand years ago in
Palestine, then the Christian church has been involved in the most rep-
rehensible hoax in the history of the world.
How do the following texts get at the heart of the issue?
Matt. 1:22, 23
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Matt. 11:2–6
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Matt. 22:41–45
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Mark 14:61–64
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John 20:26–28
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The reaction of the disciples as they witnessed the miracle of the
calming of the storm (Matt. 8:23–27) should be ours, as well: “ ‘What
kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!’ ” (vs.
27, NIV). The night of His arrest, the high priest put a direct question
to Jesus and charged Him to answer under oath: “ ‘Tell us if you are
the Christ, the Son of God.’ ‘Yes, it is as you say,’ Jesus replied” (Matt.
26:63, 64, NIV). And in Pilate’s judgment hall, the governor had his
own query: “ ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ ” Jesus’ response was the
same: “ ‘Yes, it is as you say’ ” (Matt. 27:11, NIV).
By any measure, these were two extraordinary responses. If Jesus,
only the son (as was believed) of a humble carpenter from Nazareth,
could have the boldness to answer yes to Pilate’s question about king-
ship, He obviously was thinking of realities that transcend this world.
And that is what we saw in His response in the high priest’s palace:
“ ‘In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of
the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven’ ” (Matt. 26:64,
NIV).
Thus, the Gospels (and the rest of the New Testament) make it
clear: In Jesus we have in human flesh the Son of the Living
God, the One entitled to extend the exceptional invitation,
“ ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will
give you rest’ ” (Matt. 11:28, NIV).
11
F RIDAY April 4
Further Study: On the issue of Jesus’ identity, read Ellen G. White,
“Is Not This the Carpenter’s Son?” pp. 236–243, in The Desire of Ages.
“Who is this Jesus? they questioned. He who had claimed for
Himself the glory of the Messiah was the son of a carpenter, and had
worked at His trade with His father Joseph. They had seen Him toiling
up and down the hills, they were acquainted with His brothers and sis-
ters. . . . They had seen Him develop from childhood to youth, and from
youth to manhood. Although His life had been spotless, they would not
believe that He was the Promised One.”—Ellen G. White, The Desire
of Ages, p. 237. “They would not admit that He who had sprung from 1 poverty and lowliness was other than a common man.”—Page 239.
“A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said
would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic . . .
or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice.
Either this man was, and is, the Son of God; or else a madman or
something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him 2 and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord
and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His
being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did
not intend 10.”—C. S. Lewis, “The Shocking Alternative,” p. 56, in
Mere Christianity (New York: McMillan-Collier, 1960).
Discussion Questions: 3 ●
1 What makes it easier for us, we who live two thousand years
after Jesus, to accept Him as the Messiah, than it was for those
who lived at the same time as Jesus to accept Him? What makes
it more difficult?
●2 Skepticism about Jesus is likely to continue as long as time
shall last. What, for you, is the single most convincing evidence of
the validity of Jesus and His saving grace? How could you share
this evidence with others in a way that could help convince them
as well?
●
3 We looked this week at how the scientific rationalism of the
Enlightenment had been used as a weapon against faith. What
are some other types of “isms,” or philosophies or ideologies,
prevalent in your own culture that work against faith, as well?
Most important, how can you meet these challenges?
●
4 As a class, go back over 1 Corinthians 1:18–27. What message
is Paul giving that is important for all of us to remember?
12
I N S I D E Stor Miriam’s Stubborn Faith Miriam (not her real name) is a teenager living in a polygamous family in Ibajiland, Nigeria. Because of her family’s religion, she knew little about Christianity until some Global Mission pioneers came to conduct concen- trated outreach. The pioneers hired Miriam’s aunt to cook for them, and Miriam went along to help. Miriam overhead the pioneers tell stories of Jesus that stirred her heart. She left the cooking pots and listened to the pioneers teach about Jesus. In time she gave her heart to Christ and asked to be baptized. Word of Miriam’s decision spread to her family, and fellow villagers tried to prevent her from being baptized. But they failed. Her baptism triggered hostility, and Miriam was forced to leave her father’s home. She found refuge with an Adventist teacher in her village, but militant religious leaders tried to kidnap her and force her to renounce her new faith, even if that meant killing her. The pastor managed to help Miriam escape to safety, but angry religious leaders turned on the Adventist community, threatening to burn the church down. In order to prevent a religious crisis in the region, the local king called a meeting of the two religious groups involved. The family’s religious lead- ers insisted that the only peaceful solution was for the Adventists to pro- duce Miriam. The king finally agreed and ordered the Adventists to return Miriam to her family. Reluctantly the pastor sent word for Miriam to return home. She was taken to the king’s palace, where she exhibited great boldness for a young girl. She told those present that she was not interested in returning to her parents’ religion, but wanted to continue to follow Christ. Some members of Miriam’s family, seeing her strong conviction, were willing to allow her to follow Christianity, but the religious leaders demanded that she return to her father’s faith and have no contact with Adventists. The pastor told the council that if Miriam wished to worship with the church members at any time, she would be welcome and the church would never send her away. Miriam returned home with her father, who tried to force her to worship with them. But Miriam is determined to remain true to Christ and finds ways to share her faith with others. She must remain under her father’s con- trol until she finishes high school, but then she will worship as she wishes. Her brothers have seen Miriam’s faith, and though they cannot openly say it, they too wish to leave their father’s religion and follow Jesus. Pray for Miriam, and give your mission offerings so that those who are searching for the truth may find it, no matter where they live.
Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. Web site: www.adventistmission.org 13 LESSON 2 *April 5–11
The Mystery of His Deity
SABBATH AFTERNOON Read for This Week’s Study: Isa. 9:6; Mic. 5:2; Matt. 16:
13–17; John 1:1, 14, 18; 8:58; 17:5; 20:28; 1 Cor. 1:3; 2 Cor. 13:14.
Memory Text: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him noth- ing was made that has been made” (John 1:1–3, NIV).
eaving the historical overview, we come to the Scriptures them-
L selves. We want to see what they tell us about Jesus, whose life
has commanded so much attention through the centuries. As we
do so, we ought to keep in mind the crucial exchange between Jesus
and His disciples at Caesarea Philippi. Upon hearing Peter’s confes-
sion of Him as the Messiah, the Son of God, Jesus reminded him that
this insight did not spring from human investigation but was disclosed
“ ‘by my Father in heaven’ ” (Matt. 16:17, NIV). (See Matt. 16:13–17,
also Matt. 11:25–27.) “Flesh and blood” (Matt. 16:17, KJV), our own
unaided, human wisdom, is inadequate in the presence of the supreme
mystery of the ages.
To believe in Jesus as the Messiah and the Son of God is to affirm,
indirectly, that He did not have His origin in Mary’s womb. It is to
affirm His essential differentness from the rest of humanity, however
much He may be like us in other ways. In short, it is to believe that He
existed before His time on earth; that, quite simply, He preexisted. He
was “the image of the invisible God,” by whom “all things were cre-
ated”(Col. 1:15, 16, NIV). “He is before all things, and in him all
things hold together” (vs. 17, NIV).
*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, April 12. 14 S UNDAY April 6
His Preexistence—What It Means
to Us Why should we be concerned about Christ’s preexistence? What has it
to do with salvation? What hint(s) toward an answer do you find
in Hebrews 1:1–4 and Colossians 1:15–20?
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For all of us, our existence began when we were born (or, as some
argue, it began when we were conceived). Christ was different. He did
not come into existence in Mary’s womb. He was before that, eternally
so. That is what we mean by His preexistence. He was there before all
time.
How do the following texts give us hints about Christ’s preexistence?
Isa. 9:6
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Mic. 5:2 (compare Matt. 2:1–6)
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The word mosa’ah (KJV: “goings forth”; RSV: “origin”) in Micah
5:2 is not easy to translate. But the other part of the verse clearly refers
not only to the preexistence of the coming Ruler but also to His eter-
nal preexistence “from everlasting.” (See The SDA Bible Commentary,
vol. 4, p. 1025.)
Isaiah 9:6 teaches the eternal preexistence of this special Person
who was to come into the world. It is an extraordinary claim that this
One would be called, among other titles, “Mighty God, Everlasting
Father.” It is all the more significant when we remember that the
prophecy was addressed to an audience decidedly monotheistic; and
the fact that Isaiah could refer to this Son as “Mighty God, Everlasting
Father” was nothing short of astonishing, nothing short of a divine
revelation breaking through the prophet’s own accustomed way of
thinking. The Son is the Father, “the Everlasting Father”? Talk about
having to live by faith!
What other aspects of our beliefs, contrary to accepted norms,
customs, and ways of thinking, do we have to take on raw, naked
faith and nothing else? Is there something wrong with having to
do that?
15
M ONDAY April 7
The Witness of the New Testament
Other evidence exists, now in the New Testament, that reveals the
preexistence of Jesus. Perhaps some of the most interesting ones come
from the mouth of Jesus Himself, as He says things that imply that He,
Himself, was aware of His own preexistence.
We find both direct and indirect indications that Jesus was, indeed,
conscious of His own history. As a possible example of an indirect
allusion to His preexistence, He said in Luke 19:10 that “ ‘the Son of
Man came to seek and save what was lost’ ” (NIV). For example, if
someone says, “I came to London to work at the House of Commons,”
the person implies that she was somewhere else before. The person
who has been living in London all along does not use that expression.
An explicit statement from Jesus came in the words of His great
Passion Week prayer when He asked His Father to glorify Him “ ‘with
the glory I had with you before the world began’ ” (John 17:5, NIV).
How do the following passages reveal not only the preexistence of Christ but His own awareness of that preexistence?
John 3:13
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John 8:23
____________________________________________________________________
John 8:58, 59
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John 17:8, 24
____________________________________________________________________
“ ‘Before Abraham was, I am’ ” (John 8:58). The “I AM” expression
in this text and elsewhere suggests the idea of everlastingness, of eter-
nal preexistence. Jesus’ audience, understanding this point very well,
took up stones to kill Him for what they saw as outrageous blasphemy
(vs. 59).
“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. He to whose
voice the Jews were then listening had been with God as one brought
up with Him.”—Ellen G. White, Signs of the Times, Aug. 29, 1900.
How does Ellen G. White’s quote above, along with the texts we
have just looked at, help us to better understand the incredible
sacrifice made in our behalf at the Cross?
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
16 T UESDAY April 8
Apparent Contradictions
Notwithstanding the clearest statements about Jesus’ deity and equal-
ity with God the Father, we still encounter passages that call for expla-
nation. One example occurs in what is undoubtedly the most beloved
and well-known text in all the Bible, John 3:16: “ ‘For God so loved
the world, that he gave his only begotten son.’ ” The problem is, How
can the text say Jesus was “begotten” if He was eternal? Did someone
beget Him, just like the rest of us?
The expression “only begotten” is one word in the Greek language:
monogenes, occurring nine times in the New Testament, with five of
those references applying to Jesus and all five in the writings of John
(John 1:14, 18; 3:16, 18; 1 John 4:9). It is significant that all five ref-
erences occur in the writings of the very author who from the start of
his Gospel seeks to establish the deity of Jesus Christ. Indeed, he com-
mences precisely on that point: “In the beginning was the Word and
the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). It would
have been incredible that this Jewish writer would have attributed the
title of Deity to someone he considered a created being.
In each of the following passages, the word monogenes refers to someone other than Jesus. If you are unfamiliar with the Greek, guess from the translation where the word falls. What do you think it means?
Luke 7:11–15
____________________________________________________________________
Luke 8:41, 42
____________________________________________________________________
Luke 9:38
____________________________________________________________________
The boy from Nain who had died is described as an “only son” (“the
only son of his mother”). No emphasis here on the idea of begetting.
Rather, the focus is on singleness, onlyness, uniqueness. The same is
true in regard to Jairus’s daughter—she was his “only . . . daughter,”
his monogenes, the only one of a kind, his only child; in this sense she
was unique. That is also the point of Luke 9:38.
The weight of scholarly opinion favors the view that monogenes,
linguistically, does not place emphasis on begetting or begotten,
but rather on the oneness of a kind, on the idea of uniqueness.
How does this idea, too, help us better understand the great sac-
rifice made for us at the Cross?
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
17
W EDNESDAY April 9
The Deity of Christ
The writers of the New Testament make it clear that Jesus deserves
the divine title of God. This fact takes on added significance when one
remembers that with the exception of Luke, all those writers were
Jews, strongly monotheistic, and not predisposed to using the Divine
titles carelessly. One must understand, therefore, that their testimony
to Jesus’ deity sprang from the deepest, Holy Spirit-inspired convic-
tion.
How do the following passages make the case for Jesus’ deity?
Matt. 3:3
____________________________________________________________________
John 1:1
____________________________________________________________________
John 1:18
____________________________________________________________________
John 20:28
____________________________________________________________________
Matthew 3:3 harks back to Isaiah 40:3, where Isaiah uses the word
Yahweh, the most sacred name for God in the Old Testament. The con-
struction of the John 1:1 passage in the original language leaves no
doubt about what John was saying. Some 65 years after His death,
Jesus is being expressly called God by one who had been in close
association with Him. In regard to John 1:18, the Greek expression
used in the passage calls Jesus, in effect, “the unique God.”
Then how about John 20:28? Was this simply an exclamation, an
expression of surprise on Thomas’s part, the same way people today
would use the name of God to express astonishment or shock? To
come to that conclusion would be to read a modern practice back into
the New Testament. In the first place, the Jews, careful as they were
to stay clear of blasphemy, did not have the expression in their vocabu-
lary. Furthermore, the very construction of the passage militates
against such an interpretation. The passage says, “Thomas said to
him” (NIV). Thomas, in other words, was addressing Jesus; it was an
expression of faith, not an exclamation of surprise. And the fact that
Jesus did not rebuke him shows that He was satisfied with Thomas’s
confession.
Jesus as God is the same Jesus who offered Himself as a sacri-
fice for our sins. How much more should the Cross mean to us,
knowing that it was God—God!—hanging there for our sins.
18 T HURSDAY April 10
And There’s More
The New Testament is full of evidence for Jesus’ deity, but space
prohibits more detailed elaboration here. We might have dealt with,
for example, such attributes as eternity and creatorship applied to
Jesus; His claim to forgive sins; His claim to be the final Judge of the
last day. In addition, we find the name of Jesus associated with that
of the Father on a footing of equality, as in the baptismal formula
(Matt. 28:19). Also, in John 14:9, Jesus uses words that would consti-
tute obvious blasphemy on the lips of any other human being:
“ ‘Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father’ ” (NIV).
Take a look at the following passages. What do they teach about Christ’s divinity?
1 Cor. 1:3
____________________________________________________________________
2 Cor. 13:14
____________________________________________________________________
Rev. 20:6
____________________________________________________________________
Rev. 22:3
____________________________________________________________________
The above passages put Christ on an equal footing with the One
whom we have come to call “God the Father.” And this all measures
up with Jesus’ own declarations when He walked the dusty streets of
Palestine. In John 10:30, for example, He declared, “ ‘I and the Father
are one’ ” (NIV). The neuter form of the Greek used here for “one”
implies a union as close as our minds can conceive. Jesus and the
Father are of one substance, one nature, yet not one and the same
Person (in which case He would have used the masculine gender). If
you have trouble plumbing the depths of all this, you have lots of com-
pany. The deeper you probe the subject, the more keenly you under-
stand the depths of your ignorance.
But imagine a situation in which the Being we have come to know
as God the Father came to die for us, and the One we have come to
know as Jesus stayed back in heaven (we are speaking in human terms
to make a point). Nothing would have changed, except that we would
have been calling Each by the name we now use for the Other. That is
what equality in the Deity means.
Review the life of Jesus, keeping in mind the points we have
touched on this week. What does all this tell us about the charac-
ter of God? Why should we, knowing what we know about God, be
so full of hope and joy and trust, even in difficult circumstances?
19
F RIDAY April 11
Further Study: See Ellen G. White, “God With Us,” pp. 19–26, in
The Desire of Ages.
It is instructive to see how deftly Matthew and Luke deal with the
genealogy of Jesus (Matt 1:16, 18; Luke 3:23; compare 1:26–35).
These Bible writers could not have been more careful on this point.
What we find is a complete absence of any confusion on this funda-
mental point, with John’s Gospel providing perhaps the strongest
affirmation of Jesus’ deity anywhere in Scripture (John 1:1–3, 14). It 1
shows how critical is the concept of the virgin birth for the whole
scheme of salvation. The virgin birth, on which rests the affirmation
of Christ’s preexistence and deity, stands rock solid in the Gospels.
“Another dangerous error is the doctrine that denies the deity of
Christ, claiming that He had no existence before His advent to this
world. This theory is received with favor by a large class who profess 2
to believe the Bible; yet it directly contradicts the plainest statements
of our Saviour concerning His relationship with the Father, His divine
character, and His pre-existence. It cannot be entertained without the
most unwarranted wresting of the Scriptures. It not only lowers man’s
conceptions of the work of redemption, but undermines faith in the
Bible as a revelation from God. While this renders it the more dan-
gerous, it makes it also harder to meet. If men reject the testimony of
the inspired Scriptures concerning the deity of Christ, it is in vain to 3
argue the point with them; for no argument, however conclusive,
could convince them. . . . None who hold this error can have a true
conception of the character or the mission of Christ, or of the great
plan of God for man’s redemption.”—Ellen G. White, The Great
Controversy, p. 524.
Discussion Questions:
●
1 Look at Ellen G. White’s quote above. Why is it so important
that we adhere to the doctrine of Christ’s deity and equality with
the Father? What would the plan of salvation lose were we to
abandon this teaching?
●2 How important is the incident of Matthew 9:1–8? How delib-
erate was Jesus about bringing the issue of His deity to a head?
What lessons was He trying to teach? What connection was He
making between our physical and our spiritual malady?
●3 Dwell on the implications of the deity of Christ, in light of the
Cross. Be prepared to bring your thoughts on this topic to class
on Sabbath.
20
I N S I D E Stor Walking in Faith José did not attend church, but he loved reading the Bible on his own. He just wished that his wife would study with him. He found new truths that excited him—and some things that baffled him. One day José met an Adventist pastor who invited him to visit the Adventist church. José went, and there he found answers to many ques- tions. He learned about the Sabbath and decided to ask his boss for Sabbaths off. He prayed for courage and went to see him. To his delight, José’s boss agreed to give him Sabbaths off. Then one day as José sat on the platform at church, he saw his boss enter the sanctuary and stand in the back. When the service ended, José went to greet him. His boss said, “A customer is waiting to see you at the office. You must come to the office—now.” “But today is my Sabbath,” José said. “I don’t go to the office today.” With that his boss turned angrily and walked away. Realizing that perhaps he had not explained the Sabbath clearly, José wrote a letter explaining why he would not work on Saturdays. On Monday he gave the letter to his boss, even though he might lose his job. His wife learned of the letter and worried that his religion would leave the family destitute. But José assured her that God would provide. José’s company gave him Sabbaths off. Because of his steadfast faith, José’s wife began attending church. The couple started a small group in their home, which quickly grew. They needed a larger place to worship. One day José saw some property that would make an ideal location for a church. The little group prayed that God would help them buy the land, and God answered their prayer. They began saving to build a church. When a hurricane ravaged their area, the group wondered what would happen to their dream for a church. Then they learned that Maranatha International was coming to rebuild churches and schools in Honduras. The little group applied for help, and Maranatha built their church. The new church holds 150 people, and the believers are working to fill it. José goes door-to-door introducing people to Christ and holds four evangelistic series a year. The congregation now has more than 60 mem- bers, most of whom are new believers. The church members are forming more small groups to help train new believers to lead others to Christ. Following Christ’s methods, this group has made a big impact on their community in Honduras. Our mission offerings support lay evangelism in many forms. Thank you for your part in telling the world about God’s love. JOSÉ JOYA is a graphic designer living in Choluteca, Honduras.
Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. Web site: www.adventistmission.org 21 LESSON 3 *April 12–18
The Reality of His
Humanity
SABBATH AFTERNOON Read for This Week’s Study: Gal. 4:4; 1 Tim. 2:5; 3:16;
Heb. 4:15, 16; 1 John 4:1–3.
Memory Text: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14, NIV).
n the New Testament, without any rationalistic explanations what-
I soever, Jesus Christ is presented as both human and Divine. After
beginning his Gospel with the Word who is God (John 1:1), John
makes the extraordinary declaration that this same Word, this same
God, “became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (vs. 14, NIV).
And perhaps anticipating future concerns about moral contamina-
tion, the New Testament maintains the sinless life of Jesus with
unequivocal consistency (Heb. 7:26, 1 Pet. 2:22). Moreover, the writ-
ers of the New Testament matter-of-factly regard Jesus as a proper
object of worship and veneration (Acts 7:59, Rom. 9:5, Heb. 1:6).
These earliest Christians were not detained by the philosophical
problems inherent in the concept of the God-man or by the difficul-
ties it would pose for later thinkers. “The humanity of the Son of God
is everything to us. . . . When we approach this subject, we would do
well to heed the words spoken by Christ to Moses at the burning
bush, ‘Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou
standest is holy ground’ (Exod. 3:5). We should come to this study
with the humility of a learner.”—Ellen G. White, Selected Messages,
book 1, p. 244.
*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, April 19.
22 S UNDAY April 13
In the Presence of Mystery (1 Tim. 3:16)
Last week’s lesson spoke about the mystery of Christ’s deity. But as
we contemplate His humanity, we stand also in the presence of a pro-
found mystery. As Paul expressed it: “Beyond all question, the mys-
tery of godliness is great: He [Jesus] appeared in a body, was vindi-
cated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the
nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory” (1 Tim.
3:16, NIV).
One scholar makes the point that the claim that the founder of
Christianity was Divine was not a big shock in the Roman world; after
all, their emperors routinely claimed divinity. But the claim that “the
Christian God was concerned about humanity; concerned enough to
suffer in its behalf. This was unheard of.”—Huston Smith, The
Illustrated World’s Religions (New York: HarperCollins, 1986), p. 219.
But however strange to the Greco-Roman world, that, precisely, was
the testimony of the New Testament.
What do the following passages teach about this amazing condescen- sion?
Matt. 1:18–24
____________________________________________________________________
Luke 1:26–35
____________________________________________________________________
John 1:1, 14
____________________________________________________________________
Gal. 4:4
____________________________________________________________________
Phil. 2:5–11
____________________________________________________________________
It is fascinating to watch the unstudied precision with which the
New Testament writers approach the issue of Christ’s humanity.
Matter-of-fact and straightforward, they simply tell the story, with no
knowledge (perhaps) of the firestorm that would follow in succeeding
centuries. But it is precisely the absence of any posturing that helps
give credibility to the documents that we have. It is not as if the earli-
est disciples faced no controversy in regard to the nature and identity
of Jesus; they did, as we see in the New Testament itself. But their
arguments in regard to Jesus’ person clearly were not designed to
counter the position of rationalistic or scientific opponents, which
gives an unspoiled freshness to their witness. It was as though they
argued their case out of surprise that anyone would dare to doubt the
uncommon mystery that had affected them so dramatically, both cor-
porately and personally.
23
M ONDAY April 14
Then There Was Conflict
As Christianity spread through the Greco-Roman world and moved
into the second generation, people began to reflect on its basic mes-
sage about Jesus’ person, and to raise questions: How could Divinity
and humanity cohabit the same body? How could Deity become mor-
tal? What is Jesus’ relationship to the Father? And so forth . . .
Beginning in the first century, two conflicting emphases emerged. One
would stress Christ’s humanity at the expense of His divinity; the other
would do just the opposite. Among those denying Christ’s deity were the
Ebionites, early Jewish Christians who taught that Jesus became the Son
of God only at His baptism, at which time He became united with the
eternal Christ, a nondivine being who could not save humanity but came,
instead, to call humanity to obedience. The Arians later would take up the
struggle against Christ’s divinity, beginning around the late third century,
a position strongly condemned by the Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325.
The heavyweights on the other side of the spectrum were the
Gnostics, who taught that spirit was good and matter evil, particularly
the matter that forms our body. Therefore, the human body could not
serve as a vehicle for the revelation of the Supreme Being.
Study 1 John 4:1–3. In what way does John’s concern relate to the Gnostic emphasis just described?
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
The controversy over who Jesus was raged for five solid centuries,
from the second century all the way down to the sixth. At first it was
over His deity. Was He God? And if so, how was He related to God
the Father? The questions then shifted to His humanity, and to how
Divinity and humanity were combined in a single person. There were
statements and counterstatements, pronouncements and counter-
pronouncements, accusations and condemnations and excommunica-
tions, with one “ism” after another claiming the day. Incredibly, amid
all the turmoil and controversy, biblical orthodoxy in respect to Jesus’
essential nature and person ultimately prevailed. (See the quotation
from the Creed of Chalcedon in Friday’s lesson.)
What are some of the questions in the church today about the
human nature of Christ? Why must we be careful not to let
these questions divide us, as they often did the early church?
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________ 24
T UESDAY April 15
He Took Our Nature (Gal. 4:4)
Many of His contemporaries considered Jesus an unusual person,
yet they each knew Him to be a human being, a man. When the
Samaritan woman rushed to her village to spread the word about the
unusual Jew she just had met at the well, her announcement was
straightforward: “ ‘Come, see a man’ ” (John 4:29, NIV). Hers was the
universal testimony of Jesus’ contemporaries. Even after He had
calmed the storm, the exclamation of those closest to Him was,
“ ‘What kind of man is this?’ ” (Matt. 8:27, NIV).
How do the following texts help support the fact that Jesus was a gen- uine human being of flesh and blood?
Matt. 8:24
____________________________________________________________________
Matt. 21:18
____________________________________________________________________
John 4:5, 6
____________________________________________________________________
John 4:7, 19:28
____________________________________________________________________
John 11:33–35
____________________________________________________________________
While on earth, Jesus voluntarily surrendered the independent exer-
cise of the Divine attributes. He surrendered; He did not relinquish.
The attributes remained in Him. He could have used them at any time
for His own advantage, but He did not. The temptation to call on these
attributes to extricate Himself from difficulty (in ways not open to us)
was a major ingredient of His daily trials.
It is helpful to keep in mind that the Scriptures are not definitive on
every point that stirs our interest. They make no overt attempt, for
example, to spell out precisely how the human and Divine compo-
nents of Jesus’ nature are related. But they make it clear that Christ
was one unified person. They do not discuss the technicalities of this
union, limiting themselves, rather, to the clear confession that such a
union did occur, that the Son made of a woman was, indeed, the Son
of God (Gal. 4:4). “Christ did not make-believe take human nature;
He did verily take it. He did in reality possess human nature.”—Ellen
G. White, Lift Him Up, p. 74.
Why is Christ’s humanity so important to us? What does it mean
to us to know that Jesus became a human being? How does it
encourage you to know that Jesus shared our human limitations?
25
W EDNESDAY April 16
To Feel Our Pain (Heb. 4:15, 16)
Why did God need to come into the world in human flesh? The
question is important. But we should wean ourselves away from
purely rational answers to it. It is not as if we need to come up with an
answer that makes sense to us. There is no independent research we
can do in philosophy, science, sociology, or whatever, that would lead
us to an answer. Nor should we concoct our own answer. The safest
way is to listen carefully to what the Bible itself reveals on this point.
And in the book of Hebrews, we find some of the clearest, most inten-
tional statements on the issue. Nor is it without significance that
Hebrews also happens to be the book focusing most directly on Jesus’
present high priestly ministry in the heavenly sanctuary.
Each of the following passages highlights one particular aspect of Jesus’ coming in human flesh, then proceeds to answer the implied ques- tion: Why did He do that? And in each case a reason for that par- ticular aspect of His humiliation is given. What are those reasons?
Heb. 2:9
____________________________________________________________________
Heb. 2:14, 15
____________________________________________________________________
Heb. 2:16, 17
____________________________________________________________________
Heb. 2:18
____________________________________________________________________
Heb. 4:14–16
____________________________________________________________________
Heb. 5:8, 9
____________________________________________________________________
Notice that in each case, the focus is on Jesus; and in each case, the
benefit is for us. These inspired reasons for Jesus’ humanity and suffer-
ing should be taken with utter seriousness. They should bring us
immense joy to know that Jesus meets us in our need; His arms are open
wide for us; He knows our plight because He has been here; He has felt
our pain. Can we imagine a more merciful Savior, a more understand-
ing and compassionate High Priest? Immense joy and profound grati-
tude wells up in the souls of those who know that He suffered all for us.
Thus encouraged, we “approach the throne of grace with confidence”
(Heb. 4:16, NIV), giving ourselves to Him in complete abandon.
What trials are you encountering at the moment? How does it
help you to know that Jesus feels and understands your pain?
26 T HURSDAY April 17
An Eternal Solidarity (1 Tim. 2:5)
When we imagine the huge difference between God and ourselves,
it is astounding to think that God would reach out to us by conde-
scending to take on human flesh. But after He was done, most of us
would have been content for Him to abandon His affinity with us and
return fully to what He was before. However—and this absolutely
astounds us—we learn that Jesus will forever remain in solidarity with
us by retaining our nature!
Consider the implications of the following passages in regard to Jesus’ eternal solidarity with us:
Luke 24:36–43
____________________________________________________________________
Acts 1:10, 11
____________________________________________________________________
Acts 17:31
____________________________________________________________________
1 Tim. 2:5
____________________________________________________________________
“By His life and His death, Christ has achieved even more than
recovery from the ruin wrought through sin. It was Satan’s purpose to
bring about an eternal separation between God and man; but in Christ
we become more closely united to God than if we had never fallen. In
taking our nature, the Saviour has bound Himself to humanity by a tie
that is never to be broken. Through the eternal ages He is linked with
us. ‘God so loved the world . . .’ He gave Him not only to bear our sins,
and to die as our sacrifice; He gave Him to the fallen race. To assure
us of His immutable counsel of peace, God gave His only-begotten
Son to become one of the human family, forever to retain His human
nature. . . . God has adopted human nature in the person of His Son,
and has carried the same into the highest heaven. It is the ‘Son of man’
who shares the throne of the universe.”—Ellen G. White, The Desire
of Ages, p. 25. “Christ ascended to heaven, bearing a sanctified, holy
humanity. He took this humanity with Him into the heavenly courts,
and through the eternal ages He will bear it, as the One who has
redeemed every human being in the city of God.”—Ellen G. White,
The SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 6, p. 1054.
A friend of yours, hearing about Jesus’ eternal solidarity with
us, says, “That is going too far. It is too much!” What would you
say to that person? And how do you feel about the fact He will
be like us for eternity? However incredible a concept, what does
it tell us about God’s love for humanity?
27
F RIDAY April 18
Further Study: In the centuries-old controversy over the person of
Jesus, the Council of Chalcedon (A.D. 451) marked a significant mile-
post. Essentially, it agreed and proclaimed that Jesus Christ is fully
God and fully man: “. . . we all with one voice teach that . . . our Lord
Jesus Christ is one and the same God, the Same perfect in Godhead,
the Same perfect in manhood, truly God and truly man, . . . [one] with
the Father as to his Godhead, and . . . [one] with us as to his manhood;
in all things like unto us, sin only excepted.”—Cited in Justo L.
Gonzalez, A History of Christian Thought, vol. 1 (Nashville:
Abingdon Press, 1970), p. 390. For an assessment of the implications 1 of the Chalcedon statement from an Adventist perspective, see Roy
Adams, The Nature of Christ (Hagerstown, Md.: Review and Herald®
Publishing Association, 1994), pp. 57–72.
“In contemplating the incarnation of Christ in humanity, we stand
baffled before an unfathomable mystery. . . . The more we reflect upon
it, the more amazing does it appear. How wide is the contrast between 2 the divinity of Christ and the helpless infant in Bethlehem’s manger!
How can we span the distance between the mighty God and a helpless
child? And yet the Creator of worlds, He in whom was the fullness of
the Godhead bodily, was manifest in the helpless babe in the manger.
Far higher than any of the angels, equal with the Father in dignity and
glory, and yet wearing the garb of humanity! Divinity and humanity
were mysteriously combined, and man and God became one. It is in
this union that we find the hope of our fallen race.”—Ellen G. White, 3 Signs of the Times, July 30, 1896.
Discussion Questions:
●1 What for you are the big issues surrounding Christ’s human-
ity? Why are they important for you? At the same time, why must
we be careful not to be too harsh or dogmatic about the finer
points of Christ’s humanity?
●
2 Ellen G. White says that Christ’s humanity is everything to us
(see Selected Messages, vol. 1, p. 244). What did she mean? In
what practical ways does the idea of Christ’s humanity affect you
in your Christian walk?
●
3 How might we use what we have studied in this week’s lesson
in our personal witness? How does the reality of Christ’s human-
ity touch people where they live today?
28
I N S I D E Stor The Woman Who Didn’t Like God by HEIDEMARIE KLINGEBERG On a snowy March day in Germany, a woman who had not liked God was baptized into the Adventist Church. “I thought Christians were weak people who could not manage their lives by themselves,” Ute testified. “Then I met my neighbor Frank. He manages his life and a demanding job quite well. One day he invited my children to join Pathfinders at his church. ‘They will learn a lot of useful things, and it will be good for them,’ ” Frank said. “Why not? I thought. My youngest daughter joined Pathfinders and really enjoyed it. “Frank invited me to attend a Pathfinders reception in the church. I wasn’t so sure I wanted to meet these strange people, but I decided to go in spite of my concerns. “I entered the church with mixed feelings and looked around the sanctuary. It was so simple, not as I had expected. And the pastor seemed normal and friendly. “I liked the people I met that day. They were not weird at all. I started attend- ing church and had to admit that I really enjoyed it. The warmth and love the people showed me made me feel accepted and loved. Each week I took part with greater enthusiasm and commitment in the worship at the Adventist Church. I was growing spiritually. “I began reading the Bible for myself, starting with the Old Testament. But that was too hard. I went on the Internet and searched for something in German to help me understand the Bible better. There I discovered the Voice of Hope Bible correspondence course. I enrolled, and I began completing the Bible study guides with growing enthusiasm. Studying the Bible became almost an addiction! My coach encouraged me when I got stuck and answered my frequent questions. “I have learned so much from the Bible studies, and my life has changed a great deal. I have discovered that the Bible gives me what I call operating instructions for my daily life, and from studying God’s ‘manual,’ I get great joy. I have discovered that I have a loving heavenly Father who will help me through life’s bumps. “I sealed my commitment to God through baptism and started a new life. My sorrows are not all gone, but Jesus goes with me into battle and has prom- ised never to leave me. I have seen Him work out several problems already. “The future may not be easy, but I am confident in spite of problems, for Jesus and my new brothers and sisters in Christ are beside me.” HEIDEMARIE KLINGEBERG works with Stimme der Hoffnung, the Voice of Hope Media Center in Darmstadt, Germany.
Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. Web site: www.adventistmission.org 29 LESSON 4 *April 19–25
The Wisdom of His
Teachings
SABBATH AFTERNOON Read for This Week’s Study: Matthew 5–7, 20:25–28,
John 4:22–24, 8:1–11.
Memory Text: “The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law” (Mark 1:22, NIV).
esus could have flashed bright beams of light on the darkest mys-
J teries of science, but He would not spare a moment from teaching
the knowledge of the science of salvation. His time, His knowl-
edge, His faculties, His life itself, were appreciated only as the means
of working out the salvation of the souls of men.”—Ellen G. White,
Mind, Character, and Personality, vol. 1, p. 245.
There is a danger that in talking about the wisdom of His teachings
(as in the title of this week’s lesson), we may not distinguish enough
between Jesus and other (so-called) wise teachers across the centuries.
Jesus’ teachings were not simply wise. They contained, in addition, a
qualitative element that essentially distinguished them from every-
thing that preceded or has since followed. There was about them a cer-
tain finality, a conclusiveness not found elsewhere. In other words,
this was God talking in human flesh. However much the people did
not know about the true identity of Christ, they still could tell there
was something unique about Him and what He said. “The crowds
were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had
authority” (Matt. 7:28, 29, NIV).
This week we will look at just what some of those teachings were.
*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, April 26.
30 S UNDAY April 20
The Greatest Sermon (Matthew 5–7)
Year after year hundreds of thousands of sermons make their way
into the realm of oblivion. Some are remembered for a while, then for-
gotten. What would it take to have a particular sermon not only
remembered and quoted for two thousand years but even identified by
the place of its delivery? Such is the Sermon on the Mount.
During the First World War, the Society of Friends printed The
Sermon on the Mount as a separate pamphlet, without commentary,
for distribution among the allied forces. But both the British and
French governments forbade its distribution among their troops. After
all, a sermon telling people to love their enemies was not exactly what
you wanted men on the front lines in a war to be reading!
Read through the Beatitudes (Matt. 5:3–12). Which aspects do you find most meaningful for the experiences you are going through right now? ________________________
____________________________________________________________________
In the Beatitudes some elements merely describe the condition in
which we may find ourselves. The person who “mourns,” for instance,
does not seek that state. But meekness (or better, humility) we should
seek; as the prophet says, “Seek righteousness, seek humility [meek-
ness]” (Zeph. 2:3, NIV). Hungering and thirsting after righteousness is
not a state natural to us humans, nor can we manufacture it. But we
are admonished to seek after it.
Give a brief summary of the following teachings that appear (among others) in the rest of the sermon:
1. Our influence in society (Matt. 5:13–16)
2. The law of God (Matt. 5:17–20)
3. Heart religion (Matt. 5:21–30)
4. Divorce (Matt. 5:31, 32)
5. Retaliation (Matt. 5:38–42)
6. Love for enemies (Matt. 5:43–48)
7. Prayer (Matt. 6:5–15)
As you reflect on the Beatitudes and the rest of the sermon,
which aspects do you find most pointed? Which most keenly
cuts across your accustomed ways, your own cultural norms?
What changes do you need to make in order to be more in har-
mony with these words from God?
31
M ONDAY April 21
What He Taught About God
Into a world dark with misunderstanding about the person and char-
acter of God, Jesus came to set things straight, by His life and by His
word. Coming from the very essence of God, He brought a revelation
of God that could not be improved upon. In the past, the prophets had
spoken about God; but now, “in these last days,” God was speaking
“by his Son . . . through whom he made the universe” (Heb. 1:1, 2,
NIV). Through Jesus, in other words, we have the ultimate disclosure
of the Supreme Being.
What is Jesus saying about God in following passages?
Matt. 5:8, 9
____________________________________________________________________
Matt. 18:5, 6, 10; 19:13, 14
____________________________________________________________________
John 4:22–24
____________________________________________________________________
John 10:27–30
____________________________________________________________________
A critical test of the decency of any society, ancient or modern, is
the value it places upon the most vulnerable of its members, and there
is none more vulnerable than children. Jesus’ regard for these tender
ones must have come as a breath of fresh air to those poor mothers two
thousand years ago when He vigorously defended their children’s
right of access to Him, when He made time in His hectic calendar for
these tiny tots, time to touch them and to bless them.
God is like that, Jesus’ action said. He cares for the children and, by
extension, for all who are vulnerable and exploited. He is the God of
the underdog. As He sat there with these little ones looking into His face,
Jesus must have thought of what we call “the Slaughter of the Innocents”
by Herod on account of Him (Matt. 2:16–18), and the bloody edict of
an ancient pharaoh against all Jewish male infants (Exod. 1:15, 16).
Jesus came to model a God who was the complete antithesis of these
murderous psychopaths.
From what you have read above, what picture of God does Jesus
present? How have you experienced these aspects of God’s char-
acter yourself? Even more important, how well do you reflect
those aspects of His character in your own life?
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
32 T UESDAY April 22
What He Taught About Forgiveness
(Matt. 6:12–14)
Of all the words that we might associate with Jesus, forgiveness has to
be right there among the top. Jesus and forgiveness go together. Amid the
excruciating agony of the cross, and as soldiers and people derided and
abused Him, the heartrending words stumbled out through quivering
lips: “ ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing’ ”
(Luke 23:34, NIV). And in the Sermon on the Mount He went so far as
to say that if we do not forgive those who offend us, then we should not
expect God to forgive our offenses against Him (Matt. 6:12, 14, 15).
What is Jesus teaching about forgiveness in each of the following pas- sages? Mark 2:5–12; Luke 7:36–50; 17:3, 4; John 8:1–11.
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
The wonderful statements about forgiveness notwithstanding, what cau- tionary, balancing factors do we find in the following passages? (Matt. 12:31, 32; 18:6; Mark 14:21).
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
In Mark 14:21, Jesus uttered a woe upon the “man who betrays the
Son of Man.” But suppose that man were to confess and repent? In this
connection, contrast the actions of Judas and Peter following their sep-
arate betrayals of Jesus. After witnessing Jesus’ condemnation by
those who had arrested Him, Judas, “seized with remorse,” returned
the betrayal money to the authorities, and his words seemed most
appropriate: “I have sinned, for I have betrayed innocent blood” (Matt.
27:3, 4, NIV). In contrast to Judas’s public display of regret, Peter’s
tears of penitence were shed in silence; nor did he return to Caiaphas’s
judgment hall to make amends for his shameful betrayal. Yet, the one
was condemned, the other forgiven. What was the crucial difference?
How are we to understand forgiveness in a practical sense? For
instance, a woman can forgive a husband who beats her, but
does forgiveness mean leaving oneself vulnerable to more
abuse? How can we forgive while at the same time be wise and
prudent enough to protect ourselves and others from those who
have violated our trust?
33
W EDNESDAY April 23
What He Taught About Humility
(Matt. 20:25–28)
In a 1995 survey, some athletes were asked the following question:
If there was a drug you could take that would guarantee you’d receive
a gold medal at the Olympics but that would kill you in five years,
would you take it? More than 50 percent said Yes. It is a commentary
on the lure of fame and power on contemporary society. To be “in
front of the camera,” to hold millions drooling in the palm of our hand,
that is the rage of the twenty-first century.
And that same general spirit can invade the church, if we do not
remain constantly on guard. The lust for power over others (the drive
to be in control, the hunger for the first place) has not diminished with
the passing of the years.
Study the following passages in the context of this insatiable struggle for the top:
Matt. 18:1–6
____________________________________________________________________
Matt. 20:25–28
____________________________________________________________________
Matt. 23:1, 5–12
____________________________________________________________________
1 Pet. 5:1–4
____________________________________________________________________
The harsh events of history sometimes have sent proud dictators
scrambling penniless among refugees or cowering in solitary confine-
ment, taking orders from third-class prison wardens. There even have
been times when a monarch temporarily gives up the throne to make
common lot with the marginalized members of society. But all these
cases put together, voluntary or coerced, pale in comparison with the
magnitude of the condescension we see in Christ. He was “in very
nature God,” Paul says; that is the God of the universe we are talking
about here! “But [He] made himself nothing, taking the very nature of
a servant, being made in human likeness.” Descending further yet, “he
humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a
cross!” (Phil. 2:5–8, NIV).
In light of the Cross, in light of the amazing condescension of
the Son of God, why should all forms of self-exaltation be
brought to shame? How can we protect ourselves from this sub-
tle yet very dangerous form of self-deception?
_____________________________________________________
34 T HURSDAY April 24
What He Taught About Grace—and
Faith
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not
from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works” (Eph. 2:8, 9, NIV).
The words are from the apostle Paul as he reflected on the Christian mes-
sage of salvation, which he expressed differently than Jesus did. In fact,
one might be tempted to ask whether Jesus believed in righteousness by
faith. But to ask that question is to grossly misunderstand both Paul and
Jesus. Jesus’ approach to teaching about grace seemed at times to go in
a different direction; one reason, incidentally, that we should not be too
legalistic with one another over the exact formulas we each use to
describe God’s marvelous act of grace in Jesus, and our response to it.
Jesus came as the epitome of grace. He was grace personified. To
encounter Him was to encounter grace. “We have seen his glory,” John
wrote, “the glory of the One and Only, . . . full of grace and truth”
(John 1:14, NIV).
In the following passages, what is Jesus teaching about grace and faith?
Matt. 14:28–31
____________________________________________________________________
Matt. 20:1–15
____________________________________________________________________
Luke 7:36–48
____________________________________________________________________
Luke 15:11–31
____________________________________________________________________
John 8:1–11
____________________________________________________________________
From these passages, we learn something of the many ways Jesus
taught about grace, through His parables and through the object les-
sons of His own life. How could Peter ever forget his utter helpless-
ness in the face of the deadly elements that surrounded him that night
on the lake? His only recourse was to cry out to a Power beyond him-
self. And instantly the response was there! No delay. No need for
penance. No complicated formula or requirement. Just three words,
coming naturally from his extreme desperation: “Lord, save me!”
(Matt. 14:30, NIV). And immediately the hand of Jesus was on him.
That is grace.
Of the various accounts listed above, which one speaks to you
most powerfully of God’s grace? Having received such grace
yourself, how can you be more willing to give it to others just as
undeserving as yourself?
35
F RIDAY April 25
Further Study: According to historian Huston Smith, Jesus’ teach-
ings “may be the most repeated in history. ‘Love your neighbor as
yourself. What you would like people to do to you, do to them. Come
unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you
rest. You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.’ Most
of the time, though, he told stories: of buried treasure, of sowers who
went out to sow, of pearl merchants, of a good Samaritan. People who
heard these stories were moved to exclaim, ‘This man speaks with
authority. Never spoke man thus!’ . . . The most impressive thing
about the teachings of Jesus is not that he taught them but that he
appears to have lived them. From the accounts that we have, his entire 1 life was one of humility, self-giving, and love that sought not its own.
The supreme evidence of his humility is that it is impossible to dis-
cover precisely what Jesus thought of himself. He wasn’t concerned
with that. He was concerned with what people thought of God. . . . We
have seen that he ignored the barriers that mores erected between peo-
ple. He loved children. He hated injustice, and perhaps hated 2 hypocrisy even more because it hid people from themselves.”—The
Illustrated World’s Religions, (New York: HarperCollins, 1986) pp. 212,
213.
Discussion Questions:
●
1 Many issues that have concerned us in recent times Jesus
never touched (drug abuse, health reform, homosexuality, slav-
ery, cloning, abortion, etc.). What conclusions should we draw 3
from these omissions? What conclusions should we not draw?
●
2 What role might Jesus’ teaching on forgiveness play in issues
of international conflict today? How can Christians bring that
teaching to bear upon the resolution of issues in their homes,
churches, and communities? When is forgiveness not the answer
to the particular problems faced by nations and individuals, or is
it always the answer?
●3 Notwithstanding its universal appeal, the Sermon on the
Mount often is ignored when we confront the real problems of
life. Why do you think this is so? And how is it in your own life?
In what ways could you consciously try to apply these principles
in your own walk with the Lord?
36
I N S I D E Stor The Sidetracked Shuttle by HOMER TRECARTIN Pastor Dave Weigley boarded the airport shuttle and sat down, eager to relax a little before his meetings. He thought of the evangelistic meetings he had held in this Florida city a year earlier and wondered how the new members were doing. And what about the people who had come to the meetings but did not make a decision to follow Jesus? His thoughts were interrupted by a woman’s voice. “Please, just drop me off on your way to the hotel.” Grudgingly the driver agreed to take the woman to her home. The shuttle bus wound through traffic and stopped in front of a familiar- looking block of apartments. Pastor Weigley jumped up to help the woman with her bag. “Do you live here?” he asked. “Yes,” the woman said. Excited, Pastor Weigley asked if a certain woman still lived there. The woman eyed him and slowly answered, “Yes, she still lives there.” The shuttle door closed, and Pastor Weigley sat down. This has to be more than coincidence, he thought. What does God want me to do? The woman he asked about had attended the meetings he had held, but in spite of many visits and prayers, she had not given her heart to Christ. Now God had led him back to her apartment complex. Weigley promised God that he would visit the woman before leaving town. A few days later Weigley returned to the apartment where the woman lived. As he climbed the stairs he thought, How do I greet someone whose name I don’t remember? He knocked on the door, but heard nothing from inside. As he turned to leave, the door opened and the woman exclaimed, “Well, Pastor Weigley. Please come in.” He entered and found the woman had company—a friend and another pastor who Weigley recognized. The women were as surprised as he was. Pastor Weigley told the others about his experience on the shuttle bus. The other pastor explained that he had come to apologize for an incident that had happened years earlier. The two pastors prayed and invited the women to give their hearts to Jesus. With tears in her eyes, the woman who had attended the meetings knelt and surrendered to Christ. This woman has since been baptized, in part because two pastors had followed the Holy Spirit’s leading and found a wanderer ready to come home. Our mission offerings support outreach—both organized evangelism and personal witness. Thank you for sharing God’s love through your offerings. DAVE WEIGLEY is president of the Columbia Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists in Maryland, U.S.A. Homer Trecartin is planning director for the Office of Adventist Mission at the General Conference.
Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. Web site: www.adventistmission.org 37 LESSON 5 *April 26–May 2
The Wonder of His
Works
SABBATH AFTERNOON Read for This Week’s Study: Matt. 4:23–25; 8:25–27;
11:2–6; 12:22, 23; Acts 3:19–21.
Memory Text: “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36, NIV).
ven the most cursory reading of the life of Jesus as presented in
E the Gospels reveals an interesting fact: With the exception of
the amazing events surrounding His birth, very little of Jesus’
childhood and early years are recounted. This gap has led to all sorts
of speculation through the centuries about what Christ had done dur-
ing all those lost years. Nothing, though, comes close to what Ellen G.
White wrote in The Desire of Ages (“As a Child”).
Instead, the Bible focuses on His adult life, specifically the three
and a half years of His ministry. What a three and a half years they
were!
The world has experienced nothing like it. His works, always for
others, and completely without capriciousness, are presented as evi-
dence of a new day dawning, the birth of the kingdom of God. The
moment the Sermon on the Mount ended, the scene changed abruptly,
with Jesus immediately plunging Himself into the needs of the people
(see Matthew 8, 9). For Jesus it was not just words. He had the works
to more than back up the words.
The kingdom of God had arrived, and Jesus was there to inaugurate it.
*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, May 3.
38 S UNDAY April 27
What Kind of Man Is This? (Matt. 8:25–27)
Read Matthew 8:1–4. What do you find significant about these verses in regard to the reasons for Jesus’ coming into the world?
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
The way Matthew tells it, the healing of the leper takes place as
soon as Jesus comes down from the mountain. Fresh from delivering
the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus runs smack into the furrow of human
need in the valley. And the first challenge He confronts is leprosy, a
symbol of our sinful human plight. Jesus touches the leper (what to
make of that?), and the leprosy is gone! Such is the power of our Lord.
In what follows in the rest of Matthew 8 and in chapter 9, Matthew
would depict Jesus as having power over nature: He calms the storm
(Matt. 8:23–27); power over demons: He frees the demoniacs (vss.
28–33); power “over sickness, disease, and infirmity”: He heals the
paralytic and the woman with a hemorrhage (vss. 1–9, 20–22); and
power over death: He brings Jairus’s daughter back to life (vss. 18, 19,
23–26). Making it personal, Jesus has power over the storms of our
lives, over the demons in our lives, and over the disorders (of whatever
description) that plague us.
What lessons can we learn from Matthew 8:23–27?
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
In certain ancient mythologies, water was regarded as a foe that God
overcomes. “To Israel, the raging, unruly waters symbolized the pow-
ers which are opposed to God’s sovereignty.”—The Interpreter’s
Dictionary of the Bible (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1962), vol. R–Z,
p. 809. The reaction of Jesus’ disciples should be ours, as well: “What
kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!” (Matt.
8:27, NIV). In a way, their exclamation recalls a statement in the first
chapter of Isaiah, where God calls heaven and earth to witness the
rebellious determination of His people. “The ox knows his master, the
donkey his owner’s manger, but Israel does not know, my people do
not understand” (Isa. 1:3, NIV). Of all creation, His people are the
only ones disloyal. So here we may well ask whether we are the only
entities of nature to stand in resistance to Jesus. The winds and the
waves obey Him. What about us?
39
M ONDAY April 28
The Sheer Marvel of It
It is not often that one pays attention to the paragraph headings in
those modern versions of the Bible that have them. But one in Matthew
9 in the New International Version comes close to a comprehensive
description of the wonder of Jesus’ works of healing, mercy, and power.
“A Dead Girl and a Sick Woman,” it says. The words depict the chal-
lenge constantly confronting the Savior during His time with us; not
the kind of challenge one could bluff one’s way through. Yet, Jesus con-
fronted it all. That day, the dead girl came back to life, and the bleed-
ing woman, after 12 years of misery, got a brand-new start.
Reflect on the following passages (or at least on as many as you are able). Do not write anything. Just simply be amazed by the sheer marvel of it all, at the wonderful Savior we have. (Matt. 9:27–34; 12:22, 23; 14:25–31, 34–36; 15:29–31; 20:29–34; Mark 2:1–12; Luke 6:19).
To grasp the full power of these passages, one must take them
slowly, trying to recapture their original setting. In Matthew 12:22, 23,
for instance, the man brought to Jesus is both blind and mute. Close
your eyes and put a finger over your lips for a while, and try to imag-
ine the condition of that unfortunate soul. In that state you do not
know what is around you, and you cannot ask. But the man meets
Jesus and leaves His holy presence with eyes wide open and with his
tongue unsealed in praise!
Then how about Matthew 15:30, 31: “Great crowds came to him,
bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and
laid them at his feet; and he healed them. The people were amazed when
they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking
and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel” (NIV).
It even got better. Matthew 14:34–36 and Luke 6:19 tell us that peo-
ple pressed forward to touch the Savior “because power was coming
from him and healing them all” (Luke 6:19, NIV).
Jesus promised that His followers will do greater things than He
did. What does that mean? Why are we not seeing such marvels
of healing and restoration today? Or, in some places, are we see-
ing it? How does the church’s healing ministry today compare
with the example that Jesus set? How can you as an individual
in modern times help continue Jesus’ healing ministry?
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
40 T UESDAY April 29
The Motive Behind It (Matt. 4:23–25)
Back in the 1980s, undercover investigators conducted a sting opera-
tion on certain American televangelists. Noticing that these preachers
would invite people to send in their personal prayer requests to the broad-
cast, with urgent appeals that they enclose a gift “to keep the program on
the air,” the investigators wanted to know what happened to those dona-
tions and prayer requests. What they discovered shocked them. Staffers
for the televangelists would go to the post office, collect the letters sent
in by listeners, open them on the spot, fish out the donations, then dump
the prayer requests right there in the post office trash bins.
In the key passage above, we read of Jesus traversing the entire area
of Galilee, with huge crowds following Him from all across the
region. And when Matthew returns to that same theme in chapter 9, he
adds a critical dimension that forever distinguishes the motives of
Jesus from that of these charlatans of the airwaves.
Read Matthew 9:35, 36. How does it describe the motive that pro- pelled Jesus’ ministry?
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
The word compassion comes from a Greek word (splagchnon) that
refers to “the inward parts,” “the bowels,” considered the seat of the
emotions in the ancient world. Compassion goes beyond sympathy
(which merely can be intellectual). Compassion comes from the
inside, from the heart and even the very gut.
That is what Jesus had. For Him, grabbing people’s money and
dumping their heartrending prayer requests into post office garbage
bins would have been inconceivable. Again and again in the Gospels,
the quality of compassion describes His attitude toward the people. A
leper begs Him: “ ‘If you are willing, you can make me clean.’ ” Jesus,
“filled with compassion,” reaches out to him: “ ‘I am willing. . . . Be
clean!’ ” (Mark 1:40, 41, NIV; cf. Matt. 20:29–34, Mark 10:46–52).
If you can imagine someone doing all this with never a thought of
personal gain, never a thought that what he is doing will be picked
up by the press, or at least will look good on a résumé—with
absolutely no thought of personal gain whatsoever—then you are
thinking about Jesus. The single force that moved Him was love,
love from the belly, love from the gut. The Gospels call it compas-
sion. To what extent does compassion like this undergird your
feelings and actions toward others?
41
W EDNESDAY April 30
Sign of a New Day (Matt. 11:2–6)
From his prison cell, John the Baptist sent an urgent message to
Jesus: “ ‘Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect some-
one else?’ ” (Matt. 11:3, NIV). For the reader of the Gospels, it is a
surprising and unexpected question. Was this not the same John who
so confidently announced the Messiahship of Jesus at the Jordan
(John 1:29–36)? And why would he raise the question precisely after he
had “heard in prison what Christ was doing” (Matt. 11:2, NIV)? What
is important for our study here, however, is Jesus’ response: “Go back
and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the
lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are
raised, and the good news is preached to the poor” (vss. 4, 5, NIV).
Jesus’ coded message to John was that His ministry was the sign of
a new day dawning; the Messiah had, indeed, arrived. Surely in the
back of Jesus’ mind as He spoke were the glorious Messianic proph-
ecies in the book of Isaiah, among others.
Read Isaiah 29:18, 19; 35:5, 6; 61:1–3. How do these passages relate to Jesus’ ministry? Why do you think John and others were so slow to catch on? ________________________
____________________________________________________________________
The idea of Jesus’ ministry as a fulfillment of prophecy and the
dawning of the Messianic age comes through clearly in Matthew’s
own interpretation of events, in the way he anchors Jesus’ activities in
the broader, Messianic context: “This was to fulfill what was spoken
through the prophet Isaiah: ‘He took up our infirmities and carried our
diseases’ ” (Matt. 8:17, NIV; citing Isa. 53:4). We see this same idea
playing out in Matthew’s summary description of Jesus’ overall min-
istry: “Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their
synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing
every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compas-
sion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep
without a shepherd” (Matt. 9:35, 36, NIV; see also Matt. 4:23–25).
Looking back, we marvel at how John and others could have been
so slow to see who Jesus was. Of course, hindsight is always very
clear.What about us today? How might we be just as blind to what
should be obvious truths? More important, how can we change?
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________ 42
T HURSDAY May 1
Sign of the Final Restoration (Acts 3:19–21)
The marvelous healing of the demon-possessed man who was blind
and mute, rather than bringing shouts of Hallelujahs from the
Pharisees, brought instead a charge: “ ‘It is only by Beelzebub, the
prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons’ ” (Matt. 12:24,
NIV). Thus was Jesus prompted to give an instructive explanation of
the meaning of what was happening: “ ‘But if I drive out demons by
the Spirit of God,’ ” He said, dismissing the Pharisees’ inference,
“ ‘then the kingdom of God has come upon you’ ” (vs. 28).
The statement is important, since in the teaching of the Gospels, the
kingdom of God is not only a present reality (as evident most directly
in the above statement) but also a future reality (see Matt. 26:29,
Luke 23:42, John 18:36).
What this means is that the works of Christ also look forward to the
final restoration. When Jesus applied the pivotal prophecy of Isaiah to
Himself during the reading of the scrolls in the synagogue at Nazareth
(Luke 4:18, 19), He was proclaiming much more than would happen
within the brief three and a half years of His own earthly ministry.
“The year of the Lord’s favor,” harking back as it does to the ancient
Jubilee, was an announcement of the inauguration of the kingdom of
God, beginning with the coming of the Messiah, and reaching all the
way down to the final consummation, when all prisoners will have
been set free, all sight restored, all oppression removed, and when joy
will pervade the entire cosmos.
What do the following passages teach about the relationship between Jesus’ ministry and the final restoration? (Mark 5:35–42, Luke 7:11–15, John 11:38–44, Acts 3:19–21).
The most powerful sign of the reign of sin is death. And the restora-
tion of life by Jesus during His ministry pointed forward to that final
day when death will be no more. “ ‘I am the Living One,’ ” says the
resurrected Christ in John’s apocalyptic vision, “ ‘I was dead, and
behold I am alive for ever . . . ! And I hold the keys of death and
Hades’ ” (Rev. 1:18, NIV). Those whom Jesus restored to life during
His ministry all succumbed to death again. But Jesus looked beyond
that, to the final restoration, when “the trumpet will sound, [and] the
dead will be raised imperishable” (1 Cor. 15:52, NIV).
How crucial is the hope of the resurrection? What do we have
without it? What reasons do you have for trusting in God’s
promise to one day destroy, forever, death?
_____________________________________________________
43
F RIDAY May 2
Further Study: Examine the following statement. How does it
relate to the overall lesson for this week? Do you see areas of tension?
Or does it make the same general point in a different way? Here it is:
“The Gospels are filled with accounts of Jesus’ miracles, but it would
be a mistake to place our emphasis there. For one thing, Jesus did not
himself emphasize them; almost all of them were performed quietly,
apart from the crowd, and as demonstrations of the power of faith. We 1
get a better perspective on Jesus’ activities if we place the emphasis
where one of his disciples did. Once, in addressing a group, Peter
found it necessary to epitomize Jesus’ life, and said, ‘He went about
doing good.’ Moving easily and without affectation among ordinary
people and social misfits, healing them, counseling them, Jesus went
about doing good. He did so with such single-minded effectiveness, 2
that those who were with him constantly found their estimate of him
modulating to a new key. They found themselves thinking that if divine
goodness were to manifest itself in human form, this is how it would
behave.”—Huston Smith, The Illustrated World’s Religions, p. 210.
Discussion Questions:
●1 Ellen G. White said that “the great work of the gospel is not to
close with less manifestation of the power of God than marked its 3 opening.” She spoke of a vigorous, worldwide thrust as the end
approaches, and said that “miracles will be wrought, the sick will
be healed, and signs and wonders will follow the believers” ( The
Great Controversy, pp. 611, 612). How do you see this prophecy
coming to pass? How do you visualize your own participation in
it? What role does your local church have in all this? What things
can we do to prepare for this time?
●2 Suppose someone appeared who did many amazing miracles,
as did Jesus, miracles that testified to what was clearly super-
natural. How could, should, you respond?
●
3 Bring to class your answer to Monday’s question about mod-
ern miracles, and discuss your answers and the reasons for them.
44
I N S I D E Stor Thrown Into the River: Part 1 by SUNIL BIKAS TRIPURA I am from the hills of Bangladesh. From my childhood I was devoted to several gods. I attended festivals, offered gifts to the gods to whom I prayed, and went on pilgrimages, all to receive the blessings of the gods. On one religious pilgrimage I was dismayed to find the priests asking pilgrims for money to forgive their sins. I could not believe it when I heard them say that the more a poor pilgrim gave, the more surely their sins would be forgiven. Can I buy forgiveness with money? I wondered. If so, then the rich can be forgiven. But what about the poor? I climbed the mountain to the holy place, but when I reached the top, I found drunken priests and pilgrims. Some declared themselves gods in their own right and asked other pilgrims for money to be forgiven. I knew that these priests and pilgrims were violating the holy writings— and on temple grounds! I thought about it and realized that one god I wor- shiped had committed at least three of the five forbidden sins. How could a human be expected to stay pure if a god cannot? I wondered who could save me if not these gods. I began to question my faith. Is my god the true god? Or is there another God, more powerful, more perfect, One who can overcome sin and take us to heaven? As I pondered these questions, I determined to start searching for the answers. One day I met a man who said he is a Christian, a Seventh-day Adventist Christian. When I asked him about sin and forgiveness, he told me that everyone is a sinner, and that Jesus is the only Savior. Only Jesus lived a perfect life, and only Jesus can save us from sin. I asked the man for a Bible and started reading it. I compared Jesus with my god and discovered that Jesus truly is the only righteous being, the true Savior. I surrendered my life to Jesus, trusting Him to save me. But my aunt and uncle, who were my guardians, were angry that I had forsaken their gods. They forbade me to touch the food or to drink from their cups, saying it would make them unfit for use. But even worse per- secution was to follow. (continued next week)
SUNIL BIKAS TRIPURA has completed his religion degree in Bangladesh Adventist Seminary and College and is working among his tribal group in Bangladesh.
Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. Web site: www.adventistmission.org 45 LESSON 6 *May 3–9
The Challenge of His
Sayings
SABBATH AFTERNOON Read for This Week’s Study: Matt. 5:48; 18:21, 22;
19:3–12; Luke 12:32–34; John 19:25–27.
Memory Text: “ ‘No one ever spoke the way this man does’ ” (John 7:46, NIV).
ome of Jesus’ sayings present a whole host of values radically at
S odds with what often is viewed as normal. We are, He says, to
turn the other cheek; that is, we are not to resist evil. Of course,
almost everyone assumes that evil should be resisted, often by every
means possible. And to love those who are our enemies? Are enemies
not to be hated? It is friends and families we are to love, right? Not
according to Jesus.
It gets even more confusing. According to Jesus, it is the outcasts,
the harlots, and others like them who will enter the kingdom of God
before so many of the so-called righteous. How can that be?
Jesus says that the blessed ones are the ones who weep, who are
merciful, who are pure in heart. We thought the blessed ones were the
rich, the powerful, those who have good looks and plenty of friends,
right?
Yet, even those sayings were not the most challenging to come from
the lips of Jesus. This lesson examines a few of Jesus’ pronounce-
ments that fall into the category of sayings, since they are not teach-
ings in the strict sense of the term.
What did Jesus mean by these sayings? And how are we expected
to apply them to our lives today?
*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, May 10.
46 S UNDAY May 4
About Marriage and Abstinence Some of Jesus’ hardest sayings deal with the question of marriage
and divorce. Read the following passage. What things are clear?
What things are not so easy to understand? Even with what is not
clear, what is the essential message that Jesus is giving here?
Matt. 19:3–12
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There is much to chew on in the Pharisees’ question. Note, for
example, the male-oriented nature of the question, “ ‘Is it lawful for a
man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?’ ”(vs. 3, NIV). Of
course, the answer is no, and Jesus makes that clear (vss. 4–6). But the
questioners’ real motive emerges as we come to verse 7: “ ‘Why then
. . . did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of
divorce and send her away?’ ” Going beyond Moses, Jesus tightens the
terms for a marital split, coming down hard on those men with a yen
for ditching wives. On one condition only, He says, marital infidelity.
Any other grounds would constitute adultery (vss. 8, 9). Shocked, the
disciples jump into the discussion: “ ‘It is better not to marry’ ” (vs.
10, NIV), they state.
Their response provides the impetus for one of the most difficult
statements to come from the lips of Jesus.
Read again Matthew 19:11, 12. Who are those that cannot accept Jesus’ tough line?
Does Jesus mean to exempt them? Who are included in “ ‘only those
to whom it has been given’ ” (vs. 11, NIV)? Are these a special group
of morally (sexually) gifted people? What are we to make of Jesus’
eunuch reference? How are the three categories of eunuch to be
explained, and how do they apply to us? Jesus’ most puzzling line
comes at the end: “ ‘The one who can accept this should accept it’ ”
(vs. 12, NIV). Is this a Divine concession for people too weak to com-
ply with the high standard He outlined? And if a concession, does it
apply to the whole discourse about divorce?
As is sometimes the case, there are things in the Bible that are
hard to understand (2 Pet. 3:16). Why is it so important not to
get hung up on those things, but rather to focus on and live out
what we do understand?
47
M ONDAY May 5
About Forgiveness (Matt. 18:21, 22)
Jesus, we saw in an earlier lesson, is the embodiment of forgiveness.
We return to the subject in this lesson, however, to grapple with the
issue as to whether Jesus’ statements about forgiveness (in the above
passage, for example) are as simple as we sometimes make them out
to be.
Reflect on Matthew 18:21, 22. What kind of offenses does Jesus have in mind here? How do we apply Jesus’ words in cases of repeated sexual or physical abuse, such as within the home? Did Jesus have very egregious offenses in mind, such as when someone kills a pregnant woman, opens up her womb, and steals her unborn baby (as happened in Melvern, Kansas, in December 2004)? Could it be that Jesus, speaking to ordinary people about ordi- nary offenses, mistakes, and hurts that we experience in our nor- mal interaction with one another, gives a command that does not envision the more complex and sinister cases of human criminal- ity? What do you think?
Known in the media as Girl X, she came to a Chicago court in a
wheelchair. Raising her head and making eye movements to commu-
nicate, the 13-year-old testified “about the attack in 1997 that left her
severely disabled. She was the third witness in the trial of Patrick
Sykes, 29, who is accused of raping her, beating her and pouring roach
killer down her throat in the attack.”—Mike Robinson, Associated
Press, Washington Post, March 24, 2001, p. A22.
Is Jesus asking the victims of heinous acts to forgive not only the
first occurrence but also the seventh? And is He saying that God will
never forgive those who find themselves unable to absolve the demons
in human flesh that commit them? The point here is not that we
should not forgive. Rather, it is whether we may press the gracious
counsel of the Lord too far when we apply it to the kind of ghastly,
mind-numbing atrocities listed above.
As you think about the questions above, do not forget Jesus’
words on the cross: “ ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know
what they are doing’ ” (Luke 23:34, NIV). If Jesus is asking God
to forgive those who crucified Him (Who did this include? The
Roman soldiers? Caiphas? Pilate? Herod? The chief priests and
scribes?), should we not forgive everything? Bring your thoughts
to class on Sabbath.
48 T UESDAY May 6
About Wealth and Giving (Luke 12:32–34)
To the rich young ruler who came to Him, Jesus said, “ ‘Sell every-
thing you have and give to the poor’ ” (Luke 18:22, NIV). Our expla-
nation of this radical command usually has been that Jesus’ stipulation
was specific to this young man, based on a prophetic insight into the
ruler’s need. Here Jesus put His finger on the one big obstacle
between the ruler and salvation: money. But does He not give that
same directive to everyone?
In Luke 12:33 Jesus seems to apply to everyone with means the
same injunction He gave the rich young ruler: “Sell your possessions
and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear
out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted” (NIV).
How should we understand this saying? Was Jesus advocating a redis- tribution of wealth for all Christians in all times and places? What practical problems would arise if we literally carried out His injunc- tion? Take any given community, in which all Christians have sold all their property and given the proceeds to the poor, what now is the economic status of those Christians? How do they support themselves and their own families? And how do they now get the means to carry forward the rest of Jesus’ mission—to take the gospel to new frontiers, for example?
Three considerations may be helpful here. One is to note what actu-
ally happened during the course of Jesus’ own ministry: His little
group seemed to have had funds on hand—Judas kept them (John
12:6, 13:29). A second is to take a careful look at what happened in
the early church, among those Christians closest to the life setting of
Jesus’ statement. (In Acts 4:32–37 we witness what appeared to be an
orderly, voluntary process as they sought to follow Jesus’ injunction.)
A third consideration is to examine what happened in the early church
beyond the book of Acts (in the letters of Paul, John, Peter, etc., we see
no wholesale selling of property).
When you take all these things, as well as the whole Bible (which
does not condemn wealth, per se), into consideration, what do
you think was Christ’s point? How does Luke 12:34 catch the
essence of His message?
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49
W EDNESDAY May 7
About Perfection (Matt. 5:48)
For many people, one of Jesus’ most puzzling statements comes in
the middle of the Sermon on the Mount: “ ‘Be perfect, therefore, as
your heavenly Father is perfect’ ” (Matt. 5:48, NIV). Across the cen-
turies, conscientious Christians have struggled to reach the standard to
which they thought Jesus Christ was pointing, a state of complete vic-
tory over the world, the flesh, and the devil. Some have flagellated and
beaten themselves; some have gone on pilgrimages; others have
sought it through stringent keeping of the law. The goal is altogether
worthy in every case. But is that what Jesus was calling for in
Matthew 5?
Compare the following pairs of scriptures. Notice how they inform and balance each other:
Matt. 10:34–39 and Luke 14:26, 27
____________________________________________________________________
Matt. 7:7–11 and Luke 11:9–13
____________________________________________________________________
Matt. 5:48 and Luke 6:32–36
____________________________________________________________________
The seemingly harsh language of Jesus in Luke 14 is mollified by
its parallel in Matthew 10, which gives us, we think, a better grasp of
what Jesus was trying to say. And whereas the Matthew 7 passage on
prayer has Jesus promising us, upon the asking of “good gifts” (vs. 11,
RSV; “good things,” KJV; which can inadvertently focus the mind on
the material), Luke has Jesus pledging, instead, “the Holy Spirit”
(Luke 11:13, NIV)—a considerable shift in perspective.
The same kind of synthesis takes place in respect to the final pair of
texts. Where Matthew has Jesus saying, “ ‘Be ye therefore perfect,’ ”
(Matt. 5:48), Luke reports His words as, “ ‘Be ye therefore merciful’ ”
(Luke 6:36), which, according to both contexts, comes closer to what
Jesus meant. In Luke the context speaks about loving our enemies,
and lending without expecting anything back. Doing things like that,
Jesus says, makes us “ ‘sons of the Most High, because he is kind to
the ungrateful and wicked’ ” (vs. 35, NIV). Then follows immediately
the statement, “ ‘Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful’ ” (vs. 36,
NIV). In Matthew the situation is identical, the verse on being perfect
preceded by talk of love to enemies, prayer for those who mistreat us,
and about God sending rain equally on the righteous and the wicked.
Jesus thus wanted to encourage us to be just like our heavenly Father,
who is kind to all and shows no partiality. That is what perfect in this
context means. It is a high order, to be sure, but what higher ideal can
a Christian strive for?
50 T HURSDAY May 8
About Family (John 19:25–27)
A young woman joined David Koresh’s ill-fated group back in the
1990s and was at the group’s Waco, Texas, compound when her
mother passed away in Canada. As she prepared to leave for the
funeral, the charismatic guru intercepted her plans. No need, he said,
to expend time and funds for such mundane purposes; there are more
important things to do on the compound. She never went.
Read the following sayings of Jesus: Matt. 10:34–37, 12:46–50, Luke 9:59–62, 12:49–53, 14:26. How would you answer the charge that they tend to give aid and comfort to charismatics like Koresh (and others) who denigrate natural family ties and loyalties?
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
“This reconfiguration of family values—driving a wedge between
earthly and heavenly, . . . becomes a major theme in Luke’s gospel.
. . . In addition to statements embracing all who keep God’s word as
true kinfolk (8:19–21; 11:27, 28), . . . Luke’s Jesus lays down the
shocking mandate to ‘hate father and mother’—even to the point of
leaving a dead father to bury himself!—as a condition for discipleship
(9:57–62; 14:25).”—F. Scott Spencer, What Did Jesus Do? (Harrisburg,
Pa.: Trinity Press International, 2003), p. 35.
Jesus’ statements sound harsh to the modern ear, to be sure. But are
they really so, when you understand what they mean? In the case of
letting “the dead bury their own dead” (Luke 9:60, NIV) for example,
had the father of the potential disciple actually died? Or was that per-
son saying, in effect, “I will follow you after my father dies, and I have
secured all the property”? And how should we understand Jesus’ state-
ment in Luke 14:26 that no one can be His disciple who “ ‘does not
hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sis-
ters—yes, even his own life’ ” (NIV)? As pointed out in yesterday’s
lesson, the Matthew parallel throws light on Jesus’ meaning here, by
Jesus talking in the Matthew text about those who love father and
mother and wife, etc., more than Him (see Matt. 10:37). “In the Bible,
‘to hate,’ often should be understood simply as . . . ‘to love less.’ ”—
The SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 5, p. 811. The idea Jesus was trying
to get across was the importance of putting God first.
Oftentimes our familial bonds are the strongest earthly bonds
that we know, and rightly so. Why, though, must God always
come first, even before family, if need be?
51
F RIDAY May 9
Further Study: No question, some of Jesus’ sayings are hard to
understand, especially if taken in isolation. When, however, we view
them in context, particularly with other corrective statements that bal-
ance them out, many of them become much easier to understand. Even
then it becomes clear that following Jesus cannot be a halfway thing. 1
Either we give ourselves to Him completely, regardless of the cost, or
we do not give ourselves to Him at all.
“Celibacy is not the ordinary, normal state, and it is a deception of
the devil that, of itself, it can lead to a superior state of holiness than
would otherwise be possible. Among the Jews celibacy was frowned 2
upon or pitied, and it was practiced only by extreme ascetic groups
such as the Essenes. . . . The Scripture record states specifically that
Peter was married, and probably the other disciples were as well. . . .
Jesus never recommended celibacy, either for Christians as a whole or
for Christian leaders. It is not natural, and does not contribute to the
development of a symmetrical character in the way that normal mar-
ried life can.
“The words of our Lord [in Matt. 19:12], if understood literally, 3
would run counter to the whole tenor of Scripture. The idea of bodily
mutilation is abhorrent. It seems proper to see this statement as anal-
ogous to Christ’s declaration in Matthew 5:30” (about cutting off an
offending limb).—The SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 5, pp. 455, 456.
Discussion Questions:
●1 The above statement on celibacy seems to have a particular
religious culture in mind. But in what ways might it, uninten-
tionally, bring discouragement to ordinary Christians who are
single or widowed, or who for other reasons find it appropriate
to be celibate? In what ways can we affirm people who have
made that choice?
●
2 Bring your answers to Monday’s final question to class, and
discuss the question of whether forgiveness does or should have
limits.
●
3 It is one thing to spout scriptures about how God has to come
first, even before family; it is another, of course, to actually exer-
cise the faith to do that. In most churches around the world, there
probably will be people who have been alienated greatly by their
families because of their faith. What about your own church? Is
there anyone there who has lost family because of their adher-
ence to Jesus? If so, how can you, as a church family, help make
up the difference?
52
I N S I D E Stor Thrown Into the River: Part 2 by SUNIL BIKAS TRIPURA As a teen I gave up my belief in many gods and became a Christian, mostly by reading the Bible. But my decision angered many people. Friends forsook me, and the girl I hoped to marry left me to marry another. And when my grandfather died, the villagers refused to let me attend his funeral ceremony. Instead they grabbed me and threw me into the nearby river. I had no Christian friends, no one to comfort or encourage me. I cried to Jesus, “Are You the true God? If so, where are You? I am persecuted. Have You no power to help me?” But I felt no answer to my prayer, so I stopped reading the Bible. I looked elsewhere for a god I could believe in, but other religions seemed full of confusion. Desperate, I picked up the Bible again and opened it at random. It opened to the book of Job. There I found courage. I again met the man who had given me the Bible. I told him of my prob- lem, and he encouraged me to be faithful. With his help I recommitted my life to God. I wanted to continue my studies at the Adventist college in Bangladesh, but without my family’s support it seemed impossible. I searched for work, but the only job I could find was at a cigarette factory. I had only 500 taka (about U.S. $8). It would not pay for even a week of school. Once more, dis- couragement set in. I stopped at the church’s headquarters and received encouragement not to give up on my dream to study. Encouraged, I asked God for 1,000 taka (U.S. $16) from my family, those who had turned from me when I became a Christian. That would be enough to at least enroll in school. I told my uncles about my need, and they gave me almost 3,000 taka, more than I had asked God for. I enrolled in the school and supported myself by selling books. I want to become a pastor and work among my tribal people, only a few of whom are Christians. I have begun working among my people, and I see them listen- ing and accepting God’s message of love. So far 35 people attend the little Sabbath School in my village and some nearby villages. They have no church in which to worship, so my goal is to provide a simple house of wor- ship for them. God has called me to this task, and I will not turn back. I have seen how God has led me in the past, so I have confidence He will provide for me as I follow His leading. Your mission offerings help me in my work of leading people who have never heard the name of Jesus to the foot of the cross.
SUNIL BIKAS TRIPURA has completed his religion degree in Bangladesh Adventist Seminary and College and is working among his tribal group in Bangladesh.
Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. Web site: www.adventistmission.org 53 We’re all God’s children.
Some of us just don’t know Him yet.
Your mission offerings help to Tell the World.
www.AdventistMission.org LESSON 7 *May 10–16
The Puzzle of His
Conduct
SABBATH AFTERNOON Read for This Week’s Study: Matt. 4:12, 13; 8:28–32;
11:18, 19; 21:12, 13; Luke 2:41–51; 5:32; 1 Cor. 1:26–28.
Memory Text: “The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collec- tors and “sinners” ’ ” (Matthew 11:19, NIV).
ast week’s lesson focused on sayings of Jesus that leave con-
L temporary people scratching their heads. This week’s lesson
probes similar issues, but in respect to His conduct.
One of our problems with Jesus is our perennial temptation to re-
create Him in our own image. The revolutionary makes Him out to be
one of them; social conservatives believe they have Him in their cor-
ner. To an extent, that is unavoidable. After all, our own culture and
situation form the matrix through which we both consciously and even
unconsciously view reality. But to be conscious of this fact offers
some hope that we can begin, at least in some limited way, to tran-
scend it, and attempt as objective an approach as we can to the Jesus
we find in the Gospels.
Once we do that, we discover that it is not easy to pigeon-hole Him,
not easy to place Him in a tidy little package with the word solved on
top. Instead, we find ourselves genuinely puzzled by aspects of His
conduct, wondering, Does He expect us to do that, and in the same
way?
This week we will look at some of the more puzzling actions of
Jesus in order to learn what we can apply and, perhaps, not apply to
our own lives.
*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, May 17. 56 S UNDAY May 11
Neglecting Parents?
As stated earlier, the Gospels are almost totally silent on the first 30
years or so of Jesus’ life. Though not much is given, there is one
account of this time frame that gives us pause.
Read Luke 2:41–51. At first sight, what impression does the passage leave about Jesus’ regard for His parents? On the other hand, what else might have been going on here? What hint could be found in verse 47?
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
The incident, on the face of it, gives the impression of an irrespon-
sible lad, utterly uncaring about the pain and anxiety of his parents.
What parents would not be terribly angry at such apparently callous
disregard for their convenience and the rules of their home?
This is one of those events that show the limits of using Jesus’ con-
duct as a model in every case. What is happening here, it would seem,
is that Jesus’ Messiahship has already begun to shine through at the
tender age of 12. He is becoming conscious of an allegiance to a
Power infinitely higher than His parents, however much He respected
them. The brevity of Luke’s account leaves a dozen questions unan-
swered, such as Who fed and housed the lad those three days? Did the
priests have any concern to find His parents?
Read Jesus’ response to His parents. What was He telling them, at least indirectly?
“But,” Luke reports, “they did not understand what he was saying to
them” (Luke 2:50, NIV). Jesus would return home with them and, as a
child, be subject to them (vs. 51); but He had taken pains to establish
the position of a higher loyalty. Nor is there any indication that He
ever apologized for the terrible inconvenience He had caused His anx-
ious parents.
Jesus’ entire life was guided by the supremacy of God and God’s
kingdom, even at the cost of being misunderstood. In what ways
might your loyalty to God be misunderstood by others? If this
has ever happened to you, what did you learn that could, per-
haps, help someone else going through a similar experience?
57
M ONDAY May 12
Displaying Anger?
When Jesus descended the Mount of Transfiguration, a man emerged
from a crowd at the base with a request that Jesus heal His son. He had
taken the boy to the disciples, the man explained, but they had been
unable to cure him. Jesus’ response, as it comes through in translation,
gives the impression of being peeved by the request. “ ‘O unbelieving
and perverse generation,’ ” He replied, “ ‘. . . how long shall I put up
with you? Bring the boy here to me’ ” (Matt. 17:17, NIV). At the very
least, such words seem uncharacteristic of the One we have come to
know as the “gentle Jesus, meek and mild.” How might we explain
Jesus’ tone here? It is a difficult call. The Gospels mention other occa-
sions when Jesus certainly appeared angry, as well.
How do you understand the following passages? (Matt. 21:12, 13; Mark 3:1–5).
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
Many Christians consider that the way for us to proceed with
choices in our complex, contemporary world is to ask, What would
Jesus do? It sounds simple enough, until one asks the logical prelimi-
nary question, What did Jesus do? Here we discover that the answers
are not always as simple as we may think. What, for example, are the
implications of the above passages for our own conduct today?
“Presuming that what Jesus would do today has some correlation with
what he actually did then—in first-century Roman Palestine . . . —how
in the world might a contemporary Christian go about replicating and
applying these bizarre incidents of tree-cursing and temple-disrupting?
If our favorite grocery store happens not to stock a particular fruit we are
craving—because it’s out of season!—do we proceed, with Jesus’ bless-
ing, to curse the fruit bin, the produce manager, and everything else in
sight? And if the preacher goes on too much about money one Sunday or
if we are just generally miffed at various church personnel and programs,
do we bust in during a worship service and start upending pews, pulpits,
altars—anything not nailed down—and bouncing ushers from the prem-
ises?”—F. Scott Spencer, What Did Jesus Do? p. ix.
What principles should we bring to bear upon such questions?
Where does spiritual common sense come in? Jesus came as the
Messiah, the Savior of humanity. How do we distinguish what
He did strictly in that role from that which He intends for us to
follow?
58 T UESDAY May 13
Destroying Personal Property?
An underlying concern of this week’s lesson centers on the way we
use Jesus as our model. How straightforward is the goal of “following
His example”? And what we are noticing is that it is a matter that calls
for the most careful thought and discrimination. There are certainly
cases—the majority, in fact—sin which we detect a clear, ethical
example to follow; in others the principle is not very clear. Two cases:
Read Matthew 8:28–32 (compare Mark 5:1–20, Luke 8:26–39) and Matthew 21:18, 19 (compare Mark 11:12–14, 20, 21). Why do you think Jesus allowed the demons to enter the herd of swine? Would He have done the same thing if the animals had been sheep? Where is the sympathy in Jesus’ action here? Was there a concern on His part that, regardless of His own dietary strictures, the herd, never- theless, represented the livelihood of one or more families in the town? How would the idea of compensation fit into this picture?
“If these swine were owned by Gentiles, we should be left without
a real explanation for their destruction. To say that the devils were
ordered merely to leave the men, and that their entering the swine was
their own act, contradicts their request to Jesus and the plain state-
ments of Mark and of Luke that Jesus gave them permission.”—R. C.
H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Matthew’s Gospel (Minneapolis,
Minn.: Augsburg Publishing House, 1943), p. 353. Another Bible
scholar sees in Jesus’ action “a powerful protest.” “The name ‘Legion’
and the pig mascot,” he says, “both signify Roman military occupa-
tion.” Thus Jesus’ intention was to “protest against oppressive Roman
possession of Israel.”—F. Scott Spencer, What Did Jesus Do? p. 101.
Ellen G. White says that “it was in mercy to the owners of the
swine that this loss had been permitted to come upon them.
They were absorbed in earthly things, and cared not for the
great interests of spiritual life. Jesus desired to break the spell
of selfish indifference, that they might accept His grace.”—The
Desire of Ages, p. 338. While these comments might help us to
understand certain calamities that come upon us personally,
how do you see it setting any precedence in regard to our own
action? Or is this one of those actions pertaining to Jesus’ role
as Messiah-Prophet, and not intended as an example for us to
follow, as such? How would you make the case that the same is
true in regard to the cursing of the fig tree (which probably had
a personal owner)?
59
W EDNESDAY May 14
Neglecting the Persecuted?
In His most dramatic depiction of the last judgment, Jesus tells about
when He will divide the nations gathered before Him into two groups,
the sheep and the goats. To the sheep He says, among other things, “ ‘I
was in prison and you came to visit me’ ” (Matt. 25:36, NIV).
Read the following texts in the light of Jesus’ judgment pronounce- ment. Give your immediate impression on how you think the text relates to His prison reference in the judgment.
Matt. 4:12, 13
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Matt. 11:2, 3
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Matt. 14:1–13
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How is Jesus’ conduct during the imprisonment of John to be
explained? Upon first hearing of John’s incarceration, He returns to
Galilee (Matt. 4:12). And all the evidence suggests that John did not
receive a visit from his illustrious contemporary while in the dungeon,
a clear implication of Matthew 11:2, 3. According to the passage, John
dispatches his disciples to Jesus with a question; that being, appar-
ently, the only means of contact available to him. Following the visit
of John’s people, Jesus launches into high praise for the embattled
prophet but does not visit him.
One of the most persistent questions we face as human beings cen-
ters around the issue of suffering: Where is God when we hurt? In the
experience of John, we have a partial answer, in terms of Jesus’ con-
duct. Though He was God in human flesh, with power to act, Jesus
does not intervene to rescue the one who had helped prepare the
ground for His own ministry. And following John’s murder, all we get
from Jesus (who, we suspect, felt it keenly) is silence. Nor is it likely
that He or His disciples attended John’s funeral.
How would you explain Jesus’ conduct during this dark time for John? What were the probable extenuating circumstances that might have played a role in His decision? (See The SDA Bible Com- mentary, vol. 5, p. 316, which suggests that the authorities were attempting to silence both John and Jesus.)
And how can His behavior during the entire episode with the
Baptist help us understand the silence of God in our own times
of trouble?
60 T HURSDAY May 15
Hanging Out With Undesirables
Most of us have a doctored image of Jesus. And however often we
hear that He associated with those whom His own society considered
unacceptable, our imagination either holds back from going all the
way or goes too far. Often, rather than quietly coming to grips with
what that aspect of Jesus’ life should mean for us today on a personal
basis, we use His behavior to beat one another on the head, for being
too exclusive, too conservative, in regard to the more seedy elements
of society. One suspects, however, that a careful examination of Jesus’
relations with the undesirables of His day would leave most (if not all)
of us feeling at least a tad uncomfortable.
Examine the following passages. What message can we take from them? Matt. 9:10–13; 11:18, 19; Luke 5:32; 1 Cor. 1:26–28.
____________________________________________________________________
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If we apply these passages to our times, our imagination should see
Jesus sitting down with people of questionable morals in settings of
deepest fellowship (as was mealtime in the ancient world). Eating and
drinking are taking place; loud and raucous music is heard; practicing
prostitutes lurk in the shadows. That is the setting, and that is precisely
where Jesus went.
Interestingly, it is from Jesus Himself that we learn about the most
pejorative labels His enemies promulgated about Him: that He was “a
glutton and a drunkard” (Matt. 11:19, Luke 7:34, NIV). “These slurs
would never work against a John the Baptist or a Gandhi, but for one
who spends as much time as Jesus does frequenting and talking about
dinner parties and banquets, they make a point, even if exagger-
ated.”—F. Scott Spencer, What Did Jesus Do? p. 90. However exag-
gerated, it was nothing short of extraordinary for the Savior of the
world to be charged with inebriation and overeating.
What can we learn from these texts that we can apply to our
own lives? What should we not apply? As you answer, think
about what purpose Jesus had for being with these people. How
does that answer help us understand what practical principles
we can take away?
61
F RIDAY May 16
Further Study: “Jesus saw in every soul one to whom must be
given the call to His kingdom. He reached the hearts of the people by
going among them as one who desired their good. He sought them in
the public streets, in private houses, on the boats, in the synagogue, by
the shores of the lake, and at the marriage feast. He met them at their
daily vocations, and manifested an interest in their secular affairs. He
carried His instruction into the household, bringing families in their
own homes under the influence of His divine presence. His strong per-
sonal sympathy helped to win hearts.”—Ellen G. White, The Desire of 1 Ages, p. 151.
“Christ’s method alone will give true success in reaching the peo-
ple. The Saviour mingled with [people] as one who desired their good.
He showed His sympathy for them, ministered to their needs, and won
their confidence. Then He bade them, ‘Follow Me.’ ”—Ellen G. White,
The Ministry of Healing, p. 143. 2
Discussion Questions:
●
1 What is righteous anger? When is it legitimate, and when is it
not? Take your thoughts to class for discussion.
●
2 How is Jesus’ relationship with the undesirables of society a
guide for us? Under what conditions might our association with
sinners become a peril to our own souls? In all His social con- 3 tacts, Jesus seemed to be in charge. What should that say to us in
our own attempts to penetrate the more questionable areas of
society?
●3 To what extent is Jesus’ conduct a model for us today? To what
extent is it not? What are other examples of His conduct here
that might be problematic for us to follow?
●
4 Think more about this idea of being misunderstood by others
as we seek to follow God’s will. Though we see examples of this,
such as in Jesus’ early life, why must we be careful? That is, some
people have done some very damaging things to themselves and
to others, all because they believed that God told them 10. How
do we know for sure that God is calling us to do certain things
that might cause us to be misunderstood? Why should we be
open to the counsel of others before we do things that we are con-
vinced that God told us to do? At the same time, how can we be
careful not to impede someone who is being led by God in ways
that might seem strange to us?
62
I N S I D E Stor Daniel’s New Song by DANIEL NEWMANN I was born in Brazil, but my parents took me to America when I was still a baby. I was a good kid, but in junior high things changed. I got interested in punk rock music, and it changed my life. I wore punk-style clothes and hung out with punk friends. I started drinking and smoking marijuana with them, and soon I was part of their culture. When my mom realized what I was involved in, she freaked out. She had sent me to a good school so I would make good friends, and suddenly I was going the wrong way. Although my mom had some weird religious ideas, she started telling me how much God loves me and how Jesus died for me. Because of her prayers and encouragement I stopped smoking and drinking. But I still loved punk music, and it drew me into a culture that spelled trouble. Mom tried to show me the dangers hidden in the lyrics of my music, but I would not listen. My punk friends never made fun of me when I refused to join them in drinking or smoking. However, in time I realized that there was no future in the gang, and I began to pull away. But when the gang realized that I wanted to leave, they told me that if I left they would kill me. I was afraid, for they had killed another boy who had betrayed the gang. I told my parents that my life was in danger. My mom understood and suggested that I go to Brazil. I had spent summers there, so I agreed. She found a Christian school on the Internet and enrolled me. I arrived at school—an Adventist boarding school—and liked it imme- diately. Everyone was friendly. And the music I heard there touched my heart. One Sabbath as the choir sang, I felt God speaking to me through the music. I knew that I was where God wanted me to be. I could relate to the speaker, who told how God had rescued him from a terrible life. By the end of the service I knew that I wanted to be a Christian. I began studying the Bible, and I shared with my mother what I was learning. Mom had enrolled me in this school to save my life, but God used this school to save my soul. I want my mom to believe in God the way I am learning to believe. I once loved punk music, but God has given me a new song, a song I love to sing.
DANIEL NEWMANN [left] is a student at an Adventist
academy in eastern Brazil.
Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. Web site: www.adventistmission.org 63 LESSON 8 *May 17–23
The Intensity of His Walk
SABBATH AFTERNOON Read for This Week’s Study: Matt. 4:4, Luke 2:40,
6:12, John 4:34, John 17, 1 John 2:6.
Memory Text: “Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did” (1 John 2:6, NIV).
dventists are a peace-loving people. We feel elated when the
A church or its members get positive press, when everybody
thinks we are good. But how might we react if we woke up one
day to find huge headlines in the media branding us as losers, dis-
rupters, or insurrectionists? Would our sense of assurance and confi-
dence in God be strong enough to sustain us? We admire Jesus after the
fact; but do we have any idea what it meant for Him to be vilified and
demonized by the highest civic and ecclesiastical powers of His day?
In the end we see Him manhandled by Roman soldiers: “They put
a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set
it on him. And they began to call out to him, ‘Hail, king of the Jews!’
Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on
him. Falling on their knees, they paid homage to him. . . . Then they
led him out to crucify him” (Mark 15:17–20, NIV).
What prepares a person to endure such physical and psychological
abuse without cracking? How does a person remain steadfast and
calm when the whole world turns against them—with not a shred of
visible human support in sight? For Jesus, the answer lay in His com-
munion with God, in the intensity of His walk with Him—which
forms the subject of this week’s lesson.
*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, May 24.
64 S UNDAY May 18
The Early Years (Luke 2:40)
As we have stressed already, we know very little about Christ’s early
years. We hear about His birth and very early years, including the visit
to the temple at age 12 (see Luke 2). But that is all, until His baptism
by John at the start of His public ministry, when He was “about thirty”
(NIV; see Luke 3:21–23).
Nevertheless, it is possible to look at His life, as we know it, and
draw certain reasonable conclusions in respect to the spiritual founda-
tion that gave it support. If we assume from our own experience that
the stability and strength we see in Jesus during His public ministry
did not materialize overnight nor arise from shallowness and superfi-
ciality, then we are bound to conclude, again from our own experi-
ence, that they sprang from an intense walk with God.
Read again the story of Jesus at the temple (Luke 2:39–52). What things are found there that help us understand the spiritual foun- dation upon which the young Jesus grew? Also, what role did His parents play in His growth?
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Incredibly, these passages (apart from the birth narratives) are all
we have on the first 30 years of Jesus’ life. Furthermore, biblical
scholars estimate that the vast majority of the Gospel materials center
on the final week of Jesus’ life, making them (as has often been said)
“Passion narratives,” not biographies, as such. They were produced,
evidently, for the well-defined purpose of shining the spotlight on the
two critical events of the Christian faith: the mystery of Jesus’ birth
(the Incarnation) and the significance of His death and resurrection.
Between these two events we see His unselfish life of service and sac-
rifice. And we correctly may assume that the focus and dedication we
see in His public ministry represent the flowering of a relationship
with God that was consistent, deeply personal, and intense.
What principles can we take from this story that we, in our own
context, can apply to ourselves and our own spiritual life?
65
M ONDAY May 19
At the Start of His Ministry (Matt. 4:4)
Following His baptism, Jesus goes out into the Judean desert for 40
days to pray, to reflect upon His mission. Perhaps none of us studying
this lesson has had any personal knowledge of what that means. Here
we come face-to-face with an intensity we can hardly grasp, a spiritual
concentration much beyond our usual experience, a pursuit of intimate
closeness with God that leaves our mouths wide open.
But the explicit reason for this wilderness foray was for testing
(Matt. 4:1; cf. Luke 4:2), and the tempter was on hand to take advan-
tage of the opportunity. Using the Savior’s extreme hunger as his tool,
he desperately tried to drive a wedge between Jesus and His Father, to
wrench Jesus’ firm grasp on God, to break the intensity of His walk
with Him, to intrude upon the intimate closeness.
How does Jesus’ response, as revealed in the following texts, show the intensity of His walk with God? What can we learn from this that we can apply to ourselves? (Matt. 4:3–10, Luke 4:3–12).
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To understand what is going on here, we need to keep in mind
Jesus’ unique status in the whole scheme of salvation. He was the
spotless Son of God. Coming into the world in human nature, He had
to live completely above the sinful sphere, not just for a day, but for
His entire time with us. He was to struggle as we do, to be tempted as
we are, yet He had to remain immaculate. We might compare it to
going through 33 years with your computer, writing articles, doing
homework, answering letters, and never making a single mistake,
never needing to use the delete key or the undo feature; or to going
through a course in algebra or physics, and getting every problem
right; or to playing the piano for 33 years without ever hitting a wrong
note.
That was Jesus’ lot. He came, not just to set an example in selfless
living, but to die as the sinless One, and thereby bring salvation to the
planet. Hence His total concentration, the utter intensity of His walk
with God; nothing could be taken for granted, nothing left to chance.
A single misstep, and the game was over.
Imagine what it must have been to have never sinned, not even
in thought, during His whole life. That is what righteousness is
all about. Dwell on what you owe to Jesus, who offers you what
you could never attain yourself.
66 T UESDAY May 20
In His Life of Prayer (Luke 6:12)
Jesus lived for prayer. His public ministry began with an extended
period of special prayer and communion (as we saw yesterday), and
the record indicates that He returned from the experience super-
charged with living power (see Luke 4:14). It would have been un-
natural for Him to go a single moment without lifting up His soul to
God, without experiencing that living connection between Himself
and Heaven. And what we find is that although His was a life of con-
tinuous communion with His Father, before every major event or
development He took time for special supplication.
How do the following passages demonstrate Jesus’ reliance upon God for guidance, direction, and strength during moments of high importance, stress, or danger? In each case, note the special event in question:
Matt. 14:23 (compare vss. 24–33)
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Luke 6:12 (compare vss. 13–16)
____________________________________________________________________
John 17 (compare 18:1–3)
____________________________________________________________________
Mark 1:35 seems to be describing not just one instance, but rather
a pattern, when it speaks about Jesus rising “a long while before day-
light” (NKJV) and going out to “a solitary place” (NKJV) for prayer.
He began each day with God. But times of special need increased the
tempo. Luke 6:12 informs us that Jesus spent the entire night in prayer
on a mountainside immediately preceding the selection of the Twelve
Apostles, apparently from among a larger group of followers (see
Luke 6:13). Before His jaw-dropping walk on the lake, He had taken
time out for a period of intense communication with His Father. And
during the Passion Week, as He faced the Cross, Jesus offered an
intense supplicatory prayer for His immediate disciples and for His
people to the end of time.
Take another look at Jesus’ great prayer in John 17. What ele-
ments of a deeply personal walk with God do you find there?
What events drive you to your knees? What has been your expe-
rience with the power of prayer to sustain you? How might you
improve your prayer life?
67
W EDNESDAY May 21
Intensity for Mission (John 4:34)
For American poet Robert Frost in “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy
Evening,” the woods were “lovely, dark and deep/ But I have promises
to keep/ And miles to go before I sleep.”
Jesus lived with the constant awareness of the darkness in the “woods”
around Him, always deep, but never lovely. Like the poet, He con-
stantly was aware of having miles to go before He slept, so much to
do in so little time. “I must work the works of Him who sent Me while
it is day,” He said, “the night is coming when no one can work” (John
9:4, NKJV). We see this mission intensity in His encounter with the
woman of Samaria. Suddenly, in the presence of this needy soul, He for-
gets all hunger and all thirst, totally consumed with the mission at hand.
Meanwhile, the woman, entering into the excitement of the
encounter, abandons her water jar and rushes to the village to spread
the news of the most focused character she has ever met. The disciples
return to find Jesus silent and pensive, praying for the success of this
brand-new contact.
When the disciples told Jesus to eat, what did He answer them? (John 4:32–34). How should we understand those words? What message can we take from them for ourselves?
What do the following passages say about the intensity of Jesus’ pas- sion for His mission? John 9:1–12, 35–39; 12:27–36.
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
Jesus’ sentiments in that last passage are pregnant with meaning.
They came following a request by certain visiting Greeks to meet Him
(John 12:20–22), a request that opened up before Him the possibility
of personally taking the message of the kingdom beyond His native
Palestine to the far corners of the earth. But He knew that to do so
would run counter to the most vital aspect of His total mission, to give
His life as a ransom for the nations. Hence, He follows with those
powerful words about a kernel of wheat falling into the ground (vs.
24), symbolic not just of His own sacrifice but of the principle that all
who follow Him must have a full commitment to the will of God,
regardless of whatever the personal cost might be.
What has been your own personal experience with what it costs
to follow Jesus? Why is the cost cheap enough, no matter how
expensive it turns out to be?
68 T HURSDAY May 22
Our Own Walk With God (1 John 2:6)
Read prayerfully the above text. What is the principle there for us to follow? Realizing, as we have in previous lessons, that we cannot (and should not) do everything that Christ did, how do we, never- theless, make this text real in our own lives? In what ways are we to walk as Jesus walked?
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The idea of walking with God has its roots in hoary antiquity.
Perhaps the first explicit biblical reference to the idea comes in
Genesis 5:22, 24. Verse 24 says, “Enoch walked with God; then he
was no more, because God took him away”(NIV). The Hebrew word
for walked there appears in a form that implies a kind of continual,
ongoing walk, something that happened all the time. Whatever his
faults and struggles, Enoch kept a consistent walk with his Lord.
We, as Christians, have the opportunity to do the same. However, it
is so easy to let other things get in the way of that walk.
Wherever you live, whatever your culture, what are the things that so easily can hinder your walk with God? Too much leisure time? Too much distraction? Too much to do? Too much work in order to just survive? Once you identify these concerns, what practical steps can you take to try to prevent these things from hurting you spiritually?
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Read what Jesus said in Matthew 13:22. What is He saying there
that, in many ways, is the essence of what we are talking about today?
Thus, it is clear that none of these things can really be a valid excuse
for losing our way, because the Lord already has foreseen them. How
crucial then that we, to the best of our God-given ability, make the
daily choices, as Jesus did, to keep our walk with the Lord intense and
ongoing. Why should we give the tempter anything at all to hold on to,
and thus turn us away from Jesus?
69
F RIDAY May 23
Further Study: “It would be well for us to spend a thoughtful hour
each day in contemplation of the life of Christ. We should take it point
by point, and let the imagination grasp each scene, especially the clos-
ing ones. As we thus dwell upon His great sacrifice for us, our confi-
dence in Him will be more constant, our love will be quickened, and
we shall be more deeply imbued with His spirit.”—Ellen G. White,
The Desire of Ages, p. 83.
“In every possible way Satan sought to prevent Jesus from develop- 1
ing a perfect childhood, a faultless manhood, a holy ministry, and an
unblemished sacrifice. But he was defeated. He could not lead Jesus
into sin. He could not discourage Him, or drive Him from the work He
had come to this earth to do. From the desert to Calvary the storm of
Satan’s wrath beat upon Him, but the more merciless it fell, the more
firmly did the Son of God cling to the hand of His Father, and press 2
on in the bloodstained path.”—Ellen G. White Comments, The SDA
Bible Commentary, vol. 5, p. 1130.
Discussion Questions:
●
1 The grudging compliments paid to Jesus in Matthew 22:15, 16
speak of Him as a person of integrity and truth, as unswayed by
people’s office or power. What would people say about you?
Could they offer you a similar kind of compliment? What about 3 on a larger level, the level of your local church? Is it as willing to
help the lower stratum of society as it is to try to impress the
higher-ups? What does your answer tell you about changes that
need to be made, if any?
●
2 As a class, go over what you wrote down in Thursday’s lesson
regarding the things that can hamper your walk with the Lord.
Compare notes with other class members. What did you list in
common? What were the differences? Even more important, how
can you work together to help each other get past these chal-
lenges? What practical help can you give each other?
●3 In Matthew, Jesus frequently is mentioned as spending time
on mountains and teaching on mountainsides. Finally, He is
transfigured on a mountain (Matt. 17:1–9). This association with
higher ground is meant, perhaps, to signify the daily closeness
Jesus experienced with the higher realms of reality. What are the
ways that we, as a church, can work together to reach, in a sense,
the upper regions, even while intensely engaged in the valley
below?
70
I N S I D E Stor The Drunkard and the Tailor by FULGÊNCIO CHALUFOIA I was a drunkard, and my drinking robbed me of everything. But a hum- ble tailor helped me find my way back from the edge of hell. I live in Mozambique. I kept my drinking a secret until my wife and I were married. I hoped to stop drinking, but I was powerless to stop. The harder I tried to stop, the worse my drinking became. My wife threatened to leave me if I did not get help. I went to a witch doctor, but he could not help me conquer my addiction. Sometimes I was so drunk I beat my wife. Finally she left me. Desperate to stop drinking, I bought a Bible and began attending church. One Sunday on my way to church, I met a tailor working in his roadside shop. “Where are you going?” he asked. “To church,” I replied. “Why are you going today?” he asked. “Yesterday was God’s Sabbath day.” Curious, I stopped to talk. The tailor told me that God has the answer to my problems and offered to teach me from the Bible. The tailor could not read, but he knew the Bible. He sat down beside me, opened a notebook filled with Bible references, and pointed to one. “Look this one up,” he said. I found the Bible verses and read them. Then he explained to me what they meant. We read many Bible texts, and the tailor explained each one to me. Finally he told me to read Exodus 20. I read the Ten Commandments and suddenly I realized that I was finding truths I had never known. I asked the tailor what church he belonged to, and he said he belonged to the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He told me where the church was located and invited me to visit. I thanked him and promised to be in church the next Sabbath. I then continued on to the Protestant church to tell my friends what I had just learned and to invite them to come to the Adventist church on Sabbath. The next Sabbath I found the Adventist church and worshiped there. In that church I found God’s peace and the power to overcome alcohol and tobacco. It took some time, but with God’s help, I never smoked or drank again. My drinking cost me everything—my job, my wife, my home. But God has given me my life back. I am happy in Jesus, and I have invited my friends to find Jesus as well. At least 15 have come to know God’s truth and joined the Adventist church because I shared with them what God has done for me. Your mission offerings help bring the gospel to thirsty souls everywhere.
FULGÊNCIO CHALUFOIA shares his faith in Chimoio, Mozambique.
Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. Web site: www.adventistmission.org 71 LESSON 9 *May 24–30
The Tenderness of His
Love
SABBATH AFTERNOON Read for This Week’s Study: Matt. 5:44–48; 19:13, 14;
23:37; Luke 10:38–42; John 8:2–11; Acts 6:7.
Memory Text: “But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scat- tered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd” (Matthew 9:36). atthew 9:35 tells how Jesus went through many areas of
M Palestine “preaching the good news of the kingdom and heal-
ing every disease and sickness” (NIV). In our cynical age, when
people suspect that every effort to help them is tinged with some hidden
agenda, the motive behind Jesus’ ministry comes as a breath of fresh air:
genuine love, described as “compassion” (vs. 36). He was moved for the
people; His heart went out to them. We see this same general concern in
Mark 8:1–3, where Jesus is concerned about the people fainting on their
way home. “They have . . . been with Me three days,” He reminds His
disciples, “and have nothing to eat. If I send them home hungry, they will
collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance”
(vss. 2, 3, NIV).
This is a remarkably tender concern that says a lot about Jesus. He
knew His audience. He empathized with their needs. He felt their pain.
Nor does He ask us to be exactly what He was or to do exactly what He
did. Although He had gone through 40 days of fasting, He was con-
cerned about the health and safety of those who had experienced just
three days eating next to nothing (though perhaps not totally without
food).
This is the kind of loving compassion we want to trace in this week’s
lessons, in the lives of individuals and that of the nation of Israel. *Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, May 31.
72 S UNDAY May 25
For the Woman Caught in Adultery
(John 8:2–11)
Review the story of the woman caught in adultery. Though Ellen G. White made it clear that the woman was set up (The Desire of Ages, p. 461), there was still no question of her guilt. Nevertheless, how did Jesus treat her? What can we learn from this story?
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“In His act of pardoning this woman and encouraging her to live a
better life, the character of Jesus shines forth in the beauty of perfect
righteousness. While He does not palliate sin, nor lessen the sense of
guilt, He seeks not to condemn, but to save. The world had for this
erring woman only contempt and scorn; but Jesus speaks words of
comfort and hope. The Sinless One pities the weakness of the sinner,
and reaches to her a helping hand. While the hypocritical Pharisees
denounce, Jesus bids her, ‘Go, and sin no more.’ ”—Ellen G. White,
The Desire of Ages, p. 462.
What tender compassion and love on Jesus’ part! He handled the sit-
uation in such a way that forever afterward the woman’s accusers
would be eager to leave her alone, since they never could be sure what
she had read about their private lives on the pavement that morning.
In what ways was Jesus ministering even to the hypocrites who brought this woman to Him in order to try to snare Him?
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____________________________________________________________________
If you read the story carefully, you can see the compassion of Jesus
even for those who were so evil in their intentions. If only their hearts
would have been as open to the wooing of Christ as was that unfortu-
nate woman’s.
How would the typical Adventist congregation handle a situa-
tion like this? How do we balance adherence to high moral stan-
dards with compassion for those who fall?
73
M ONDAY May 26
For the Children (Matt. 19:13, 14)
Children have borne the brunt of suffering over the centuries.
Helpless and dependent, they often have been caught in the crossfires
of wars and conflicts, public riots and family feuds. It was children,
infant males in particular, who bore the brunt of the first hideous
“solution of the Jewish problem” under the ancient pharaohs of Egypt
(Exod. 1:15, 16). And it was infant males who again were decimated
in Herod’s slaughter of the innocents (Matt. 2:16), leading Matthew to
recall another time of indiscriminate slaughter of children at the start
of the Babylonian captivity (Matt. 2:17, 18; compare Jer. 31:15).
Learning about Herod’s slaughter, perhaps on His mother’s knees, how
keenly Jesus must have remembered it, knowing that these innocent
little ones had died, in a sense, because of Him. (He had come to die
for them; but before He was old enough even to conceive of His mis-
sion, they had died because of Him.)
How do the following passages capture Jesus’ tender love and concern for infants and children? What messages are being given to us in these accounts that go beyond how we should treat children? (Matt. 18:2–6, 19:13–15).
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Those children who sat on Jesus’ lap that day and to whom His hand
had been outstretched in blessing, what might their future have been?
What memories did they take from that day, those old enough to
remember? Did some of them later accept Jesus as the Messiah? And
how must they have felt to know that that loving Person who had put
His hands on them in blessing was now in the highest heavens minis-
tering in their behalf? What depth of assurance that must have brought
them! Politicians kiss babies for their parents’ votes; but Jesus loved
the children for their own sake. “Let the little children come to me,”
He scolded His protective disciples, “and do not hinder them, for the
kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these” (Matt. 19:14, NIV).
What children, if any, are within your own sphere of influence?
How do you respond to them? Think carefully about how you
treat them. What steps can you take to make sure your influence
is as positive as possible?
74 T UESDAY May 27
For the Lazarus Family (John 11:5)
We do not know a great deal about the Lazarus family of Bethany.
The Gospels provide us with little about them. But it seems clear that they
were three unmarried adult siblings keeping house together. Probably not
your typical Jewish family, but that is where Jesus chose to go when-
ever He came to town. John informs us that “Jesus loved Martha and
her sister [Mary] and [their brother] Lazarus” (John 11:5, NIV).
Study the incident recorded in Luke 10:38–42. How do you see Jesus’ handling of Martha? How, even here, do we see the loving com- passion of Jesus being manifest?
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Martha’s request seems eminently justified. After all, the meal lay
at the center of Eastern hospitality, and preparing it had to count for
something. Perhaps too poor to afford servants, Martha in the kitchen
needed help. In light of all this, Jesus’ response to her comes across as
uncharacteristically uncaring.
Perhaps the key to understanding it is to consider the wider dimen-
sion of Jesus’ mission. For Jesus, nothing was ordinary, as His own
parents discovered during the incident at the temple (Luke 2:48, 49).
For Jesus, destiny hung upon every minute of His time with us, and in
that context, kitchen work did not count, regardless of its importance.
Still, we misunderstand Jesus if we think He was unsympathetic to
Martha. Quite the opposite is the case. The Gospels do not provide us
with video clips of the incidents they report. We cannot see the face of
Jesus as He responded to Martha. We cannot hear the pathos in His
voice. Using our imagination, however, and informed by what we know
of Jesus elsewhere in the Gospels, we may picture Him rising from His
place as He addresses Martha, affectionately calling her name twice.
“Martha, Martha,” He says, making His way to the kitchen, Mary fol-
lowing, “there’s something infinitely more important than entertaining,
and Mary has found it” (Luke 10:41, 42, paraphrase).
In what ways might you be in the position of Martha, so busy
with the cares of this world that you forget what is really impor-
tant? Most important, how can you tell if your priorities are not
right?
75
W EDNESDAY May 28
For His Enemies (Matt. 5:44)
One of Jesus’ most famous sayings was found in Matthew 5:44–48. Review the verses. What is the essence of this important message to all who would follow Jesus?
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In a real sense, one could say that Christ’s whole life and death were
a manifestation of this principle, that of loving your enemies, that of
doing good even to those who do not do you good.
After the Fall of Adam and Eve, the whole world became, in a sense,
enemy territory, a race of fallen and rebellious beings living in oppo-
sition to God. What, though, did God do to this enemy planet? Did He
send an army of angels down to sweep it away in its iniquity? No,
instead, He sent Jesus, His Son, who came to save the world, not to
condemn it.
What overt examples can you find in the Gospels that show the love of Jesus, even for His enemies? Which ones stand out the most in your mind?
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How about, for example, when He healed the ear of the servant
when Peter cut it off (Luke 22:50, 51)? Or how about the time He
revealed to Judas His foreknowledge of what Judas was going to do,
giving the hardened disciple another opportunity to turn away from
his sin (Matt. 26:25)?
Of course, the greatest example has to be His prayer to the Father as
He was being crucified: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what
they do” (Luke 23:34). In many ways that is the ultimate example of
love for those who do not deserve it; though they did not know what
they were doing, they had no excuse. During His time here, Jesus gave
ample opportunity, to both Jews and Romans, to know who He was, or
at least to know enough to know that Jesus did not deserve what He was
getting. Despite that, Jesus showed His compassion for them anyway.
It is one thing to say you are supposed to love your enemies; it is
another to know how to do it. What is the key to manifesting this
attribute in your own life? How willing are you to make the
changes needed in order to be able to love your enemies?
76 T HURSDAY May 29
For Israel (Matt. 23:37)
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and
stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have
gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chick-
ens under her wings, and ye would not!” (Matt. 23:37).
How is the character of Jesus revealed in the above text? What does it tell us about God’s love for His people? What does it tell us about the limits of what love can do? At the same time, before you start pointing fingers at anyone, ask yourself: How might those words be applied directly to me?
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If God shared the same emotions as humans, then the story of His
relationship with Israel would amount to four thousand years of
almost continuous disappointment and frustration. To be sure, there
were high points, times when the nation brought God joy, but those
times were rare and comparatively brief. Eventually, His phenomenal
patience running out, God gave the nation a period of 490 years (Dan.
9:24) that would reach to the coming of Messiah. Jesus was that
Messiah; and what we see in Him, from start to finish, was an attitude
of compassion, a love at once tough yet tender.
How does Matthew 23:25–35 exemplify the toughness of Jesus’ love?
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What we are watching here is the phenomenon of Divine patience
nearing its end. Yet, however severely provoked, and however pro-
tracted the provocation, tenderness breaks through the outer crust of
Jesus’ toughness. He would not have spoken those harsh words were
there not hope that some of these people eventually would see the
error of their ways.
Read Acts 6:7. Notice who was also “obedient to the faith.”
Might some of them have been among those Jesus rebuked ear-
lier? What is the message to us here about being quick to judge
or condemn?
77
F RIDAY May 30
Further Study: Read Ellen G. White, “Lazarus Come Forth,”
pp. 524–536; “Before Annas and the Court of Caiaphas,” pp. 710–715;
“Judas,” pp. 720–722, in The Desire of Ages.
“In the work of soul-winning, great tact and wisdom are needed.
The Saviour never suppressed the truth, but He uttered it always in
love. In His intercourse with others, He exercised the greatest tact, and
He was always kind and thoughtful. He was never rude, never need-
lessly spoke a severe word, never gave unnecessary pain to a sensitive
soul. He did not censure human weakness. He fearlessly denounced 1 hypocrisy, unbelief, and iniquity, but tears were in His voice as He
uttered His scathing rebukes. He never made truth cruel, but ever
manifested a deep tenderness for humanity. Every soul was precious
in His sight. He bore Himself with divine dignity; yet He bowed with
the tenderest compassion and regard to every member of the family of
God. He saw in all, souls whom it was His mission to save.”—Ellen 2 G. White, Gospel Workers, p. 117.
Discussion Questions:
●
1 Dwell on this idea of loving your enemies. What does that
mean, in a practical sense? How is this love to be manifested? Is
there a time when it would be impossible to love your enemies? If
so, what might that situation be? 3
●
2 What is the situation of the children in your local church?
How much attention is paid to their needs? What could you as a
church be doing better in that regard?
●
3 In what ways is it easy to confuse love with cheap grace? That
is, what danger is there of allowing people to get away with things
that they should not be doing, all because we want to reveal to
them love? When is love sometimes best manifested by strict,
moral accountability? How can we strike the right balance? If
you are going to err, which side is it best to err on?
●
4 What parallels can you find between the Jewish nation (dur-
ing the time it was a theocracy) and the Adventist Church today?
What lessons should we learn from their example? Are we learn-
ing them?
78
I N S I D E Stor Rosswick’s Church by NOS TERRY Aniwa is a tiny island in the Vanuatu group in the South Pacific. The island is home to about 500 people, but the Seventh-day Adventist Church had no presence there. However, Adventists on nearby islands have been praying to reach these people. Recently God answered those prayers. Rosswick lives on Aniwa Island. He was a leader of a cargo cult* for years, and traveled to a neighboring island to attend cult activities. Occasionally, when he could not return to his home because of rough seas, he would stay with Adventists on the host island. He watched his Adventist hosts pray and noted how they took their reli- gion seriously. And he went to church with them. He learned a few Christian songs and enjoyed their hospitality until he could return home. During his visits, he became convinced that Adventists were right in what they believed, for they lived according to their actions. These small acts of kindness made a big impact on Rosswick. In a bold move, he stepped down from leading the cargo cult and pronounced him- self a Seventh-day Adventist Christian. He cleared a piece of land and built a small thatched grass house-church in which to worship. Every Sabbath morning he took his little grand- daughter to worship in the church. They sang the three Christian songs they knew; he told the child that God loves them both and that Jesus is coming back someday. Then they prayed. After their simple Sabbath wor- ship service, Rosswick and his granddaughter returned to their house to pray and rest. At sunset Rosswick and his granddaughter returned to the grass church, sang the same three songs, prayed, and closed the Sabbath. I visited Rosswick shortly after I heard his story and was humbled to realize how God used this man to light the flame of truth on a dark island. Today on Aniwa Island the door is fully open to the Adventist message. Youth groups have visited in homes and introduced the Adventist message, and today a Global Mission pioneer is fanning the flame of faith on this tiny island. Because of Rosswick’s faithfulness and world mission offer- ings, today many others on Aniwa Island are worshiping with Rosswick and his granddaughter each Sabbath.
- A cargo cult is a religion that rose out of European efforts to colonize the islands of the South Pacific. Cargo cults focus on material goods that followers hoped would come to them if they worshiped certain deities.
NOS TERRY is the Sabbath School, Personal Ministries, and Global Mission director in the Trans Pacific Union Mission, part of the South Pacific Division.
Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. Web site: www.adventistmission.org 79 LESSON 10 *May 31–June 6 The Meaning of His Death
SABBATH AFTERNOON Read for This Week’s Study: Matt. 27:45, 46; Luke 2:25–
35; 1 Cor. 15:3; 2 Cor. 5:18–21; Gal. 6:14; Heb. 2:17.
Memory Text: “ ‘For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many’ ” (Mark 10:45, NIV). cover article in a major magazine reported on a discussion in
A a men’s Bible-study group. The topic? The reason for Jesus’
death. Among the questions asked in the discussion were such
things as, What if God’s plan were merely for Jesus to come and give
us good teachings, such as loving our enemies? Or did He have to suf-
fer and die, as well? If so, why? Why wouldn’t the teachings be
enough? And even if He did die, what has that to do with us, today,
many centuries later?
Almost two thousand years after His death, the meaning of the
Cross is still a subject that challenges Christians. In fact, even before
His death, the prophets constantly tried “to find out the time and cir-
cumstances” to which the Holy Spirit was calling their attention,
“when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would
follow” (1 Pet. 1:10, 11, NIV).
So, this week we will seek to try to answer the important question
of why Jesus died, what purpose was accomplished by His death, and
what it means for us many centuries after the fact. Did Christ, as some
assert, die merely to show us God’s love, and thus to change our feel-
ings about God; or did Christ’s death, in fact, do something that
changed how God relates to us? These are all topics worthy of our
deepest interest. *Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, June 7. 80
S UNDAY June 1
Born to Die Read Luke 2:25–35. What is the meaning of this passage? What is the
message to Mary? What is its message about Jesus?
This story, told only by Luke, is powerful in its simplicity and pro-
found in its implications. The devout Simeon, meeting at last the
Messiah for whom he had been waiting, reveals the Infant’s future to
His parents with cryptic terseness: “ ‘This child is destined to cause the
falling and rising of many in Israel. . . . And a sword will pierce your
own soul too’ ” (Luke 2:34, 35, NIV). The word for “sword” in the
Greek signifies a huge, Goliath-type instrument, destined to pierce the
heart of Mary, a prediction of the agony she would experience at the
Cross. “These mysterious words of Simeon must have passed over
Mary’s consciousness like a chilling and ominous portent of things to
come.”—The SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 5, p. 704.
What do the following passages tell us about the death of Jesus? Was it something that had to happen? (Matt. 16:21; 26:52–54; Mark 10:45; Luke 18:31–33; John 3:14; Heb. 9:25–28).
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The consistent note here is that Jesus was born to die; His death was
not an accident. It had to happen. Why did it have to? Well, that is not
a matter that can be explained fully by rational processes, not because
it is irrational, but because it is suprarational, above human reason. It
falls in the realm of Divine revelation, part of that “mystery . . . kept
hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints”
(Col. 1:26, NIV). The Bible does not go into any long attempt to jus-
tify it or to explain it, maybe because it is not something subject to
human logic. We do not have other instances elsewhere by which to
judge or compare it. Biblical atonement represents a solo occurrence
in the history of the universe. And our task is to seek to understand
what the Bible says about it and to apply what it means to our own
lives.
The fact that Jesus had to die in order to atone for our sin
should tell us something about how serious sin really is. How
seriously do you take the sin in your own life? What efforts are
you making to overcome?
81
M ONDAY June 2
How It Happened (Matt. 27:45, 46)
The Gospels devote an immense amount of space to the final week
of Jesus’ life. In Matthew, it occupies one-third of the book. In Mark,
more than one-third. And one-quarter of Luke and one-half of John
are devoted to it. Clearly, the central focus is on Jesus’ passion, death,
and resurrection. The Gospels are not biographies; they should be
seen, rather, as theological summaries of the significance of Jesus’
death.
Relive the awful events of the Passion by reviewing the following pas- sages: Matt. 27:27–31, 45–54; Mark 15:21–32; John 19:28–30. How do they make you feel? What is your overwhelming emotion, and why?
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None of us ever can claim to understand the full meaning of Jesus’
death or the circumstances surrounding it. What seems clear, however,
is that the role played by those physically present and active (whether
at His trial or at the cross) was theologically incidental, so far as the
participants’ racial or national identities were concerned. To malign
Jews today, or modern Italians for that matter, for the involvement of
some of their ancestors in the death of Jesus is theological stupidity,
an attitude contrary to the very essence of biblical religion. The indi-
vidual guilt of those involved in His death will be a matter between
them and God. Instead of pointing fingers, maybe we should ask our-
selves, What might we have done were we, ourselves, there? In one
sense, actually, we were!
Read Matthew 26:38. What was it that hung so heavy on the
Savior during this crushing agony? How did He manage to sur-
vive the ordeal? (See Luke 22:43.) “Having made the [final] deci-
sion,” wrote Ellen G. White, “He fell dying to the ground [there
in the garden]” ( The Desire of Ages, p. 693). This means that
although He later was killed by Roman hands, the fatal blow
had come much earlier, delivered by one giant, collective hand,
ours. How does it make you feel, knowing that your own guilt
caused the death of Jesus? More important, how should you
respond to those feelings?
82 T UESDAY June 3
What It Accomplished: Part 1 What is the central focus of these following passages? (1 Cor. 2:2, 15:3,
Gal. 6:14).
The writers of the New Testament used a variety of metaphors,
images, and pictures in their attempts to express the saving work of
God in Christ. In this lesson (and in Wednesday’s) we sample a few:
1. The Concept of Sacrifice, Offering, Substitute—Ephesians 5:2:
Christ “gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering [prosphoran] and
sacrifice [thusian] to God” (NIV). Hebrews 9:26: He came “to do
away with sin by the sacrifice [thusias] of himself ” (NIV). Hebrews
10:14: By means of “one sacrifice [prosphora] he has made perfect
forever those who are being made holy” (NIV).
The idea in all these passages is that of vicarious death, death in our
place, death as our Substitute. Vicarious suffering is suffering endured
by one person in the stead of another. In 1 Corinthians 15:3, Paul says
that “Christ died for our sins” (NIV); Romans 5:8 says that “while we
were still sinners, Christ died for us” (NIV); and 1 Peter 2:24 says that
Christ “bore our sins in his body on the tree” (NIV).
2. The Concept of Ransom: The word ransom derives from the
Greek term lutron; the basic idea conveyed is that of a payment for
something delivered. In classical Greek the term often was used in
connection with the redemption of slaves and war prisoners. The
sacred writers borrowed the concept and pressed it into the service of
a grander theme (Matthew 20:28; compare Mark 10:45): Jesus came
“to give his life as a ransom [lutron] for many” (NIV). (Here “many,”
incidentally, means “all.”)
The family of words from which lutron comes puts the finger on the
substitutionary nature of Christ’s sacrifice. He gave His life for us, the
tense of the verb gave in the original Greek pointing to a specific
event in time, to Jesus’ death on the cross. The basic concept here is
that we were slaves to sin, condemned to eternal death, and unable to
free ourselves; but Jesus came as our ransom, our lutron.
Think about the things that you have done wrong, things you
knew were wrong but did them anyway. What does it mean to
you to know that Someone Else, Jesus, Someone innocent,
received in Himself the punishment that would, otherwise, be
yours for those things (and others) you did?
83
W EDNESDAY June 4
What It Accomplished: Part 2
Yesterday, we discussed two of the many metaphors employed by
the writers of the New Testament to express the accomplishments of
Christ’s death. Here are two more:
1. The Concept of Propitiation (or Expiation) (hilasterion): In
regard to the mission of Christ, the word is found in Hebrews 2:17,
where it speaks of Christ making “propitiation for the sins of the peo-
ple” (NKJV). “Propitiation” has the sense of pacifying someone. The
belief was that when a god was angry, the people should make a ges-
ture of appeasement (hilasterion) in order to render the god hilaros
(happy, joyous) once more. What students of the New Testament
repeatedly have noted, however, is that its authors, though borrowing
vocabulary from classical Greek and elsewhere, nevertheless fill that
vocabulary with brand-new content and meaning.
Accordingly, many Bible scholars agree that a better English trans-
lation of the word is “expiation.” So understood, the idea is that by
means of Jesus’ death, God “expiates,” “covers,” “erases” our sin. Any
idea of human appeasement of God would be utterly foreign to the
New Testament writers. Instead, they wanted to emphasize that the
entire human race, threatened by the righteous wrath of God on
account of sin, was rescued by Jesus’ death. Jesus became our hilas-
terion, covering us from the wrath of God (see Heb. 9:5).
2. The Concept of Reconciliation (katallage):
Read the following passages. What important emphasis do they share in common? (Rom. 5:10, 11; 2 Cor. 5:18–21; Eph. 2:16; Col. 1:20–22).
Sin is departure from God and God’s will. It puts us into a condition
of estrangement from God, a state whose end result is death.
Reconciliation speaks of the restoration of harmony between us and
God, the recovery of wholeness. And here is a critical point to note: It
was God who took the initiative (Rom. 5:8–11). “God was in Christ,
reconciling the world unto himself ” (2 Cor. 5:19). Because of sin, the
whole world stood condemned before a righteous God; because of the
Cross, our standing before God changed, and thus all who come to
Jesus by faith have the assurance of eternal life.
Because of the Cross, you have the opportunity by faith to stand
perfect, holy, and accepted by God. In what ways, on a daily
basis, should your life reflect this new standing that we can have
through Jesus?
84 T HURSDAY June 5
The Security of the Universe
The cross has become the central symbol of Christianity. And in the
theology of the New Testament, it says several things about the human
condition, pointing beyond itself to its ultimate accomplishment.
Examine the following passages. What do they say about the human condition and about the need for Jesus’ death? (Rom. 3:10, 23; 1 Cor. 2:2; 15:3; Gal. 6:14). ________________________
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The Greeks and others in the ancient world thought of humanity as
basically in good moral health. Given the right opportunity, our natu-
ral, innate goodness will blossom and flourish, they believed. The atti-
tude represented a significant challenge for Christianity, with its con-
cept of universal human depravity and our desperate need for outside
intervention. That is why Paul could say that “the message of the cross
is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being
saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor. 1:18, NIV). That quiet power, he
said, will eventually conquer, and “every knee [in the universe] should
bow, . . . confess[ing] that Jesus Christ is Lord” (Phil. 2:10, 11, NIV).
Yet, however central to our salvation, the Cross has an importance
that goes beyond us.
“The significance of the death of Christ will be seen by saints and
angels. Fallen men could not have a home in the paradise of God with-
out the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. . . . The angels
ascribe honor and glory to Christ, for even they are not secure except
by looking to the sufferings of the Son of God. It is through the effi-
cacy of the cross that the angels of heaven are guarded from apostasy.
Without the cross they would be no more secure against evil than were
the angels before the fall of Satan. Angelic perfection failed in heaven.
Human perfection failed in Eden, the paradise of bliss. All who wish
for security in earth or heaven must look to the Lamb of God. The plan
of salvation, making manifest the justice and love of God, provides an
eternal safeguard against defection in unfallen worlds, as well as
among those who shall be redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.”—Ellen
G. White Comments, The SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 5, p. 1132.
Even the angels in heaven are guarded from apostasy because of
the Cross! What an incredible thought! If the Cross means so
much to unfallen beings, those whose lives were not even
redeemed by it, how much more so should the Cross be the cen-
tral focus for us, we who have been redeemed through it?
85
F RIDAY June 6
Further Study: Read Ellen G. White, “Calvary,” pp. 744–757; “It
Is Finished,” pp. 758–764, in The Desire of Ages.
“Well, then, might the angels rejoice as they looked upon the
Saviour’s cross; for though they did not then understand all, they knew
that the destruction of sin and Satan was forever made certain, that the
redemption of man was assured, and that the universe was made eter- 1
nally secure. Christ Himself fully comprehended the results of the sac-
rifice made upon Calvary. To all these He looked forward when upon
the cross He cried out, ‘It is finished.’ ”—Ellen G. White, The Desire
of Ages, p. 764.
“The death of Christ upon the cross made sure the destruction of
him who has the power of death, who was the originator of sin. When 2
Satan is destroyed, there will be none to tempt to evil; the atonement
will never need to be repeated; and there will be no danger of another
rebellion in the universe of God.”—Ellen G. White Comments, The
SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 5, p. 1132.
Discussion Questions:
●
1 Some limit the Cross to a mere demonstration of God’s love,
devoid of any legal or atoning efficacy. That is, Christ died 3
merely to show us the Father’s love; there was no change in our
legal standing before the Father. Hence, the only purpose of the
Cross was to bring a change in us and in our attitude toward
God. Why is such a position a radically weak and ultimately
unsatisfactory view of Jesus’ death? How does such a view, of
necessity, lead to a salvation-by-works theology?
●
2 Dwell more on this idea of the universe being made secure by
the Cross. What does this tell us about the Cross and about the
grand issues that it dealt with? How does our understanding of
the great controversy help us better appreciate what happened at
the Cross?
●3 The life and death of Jesus present us with mystery from start
to finish. Though there are aspects that we can understand, other
things remain a mystery. How can you learn to trust the Lord
regarding the things you do not understand? What is the key to
keeping your faith strong?
86
I N S I D E Stor Kobamo’s Urgent Message Kobamo is the eldest son of a poor cattle herder in southern Ethiopia. His parents wanted a better life for him, so they sent him to school. There Kobamo met some Adventist children. Kobamo knew almost nothing about God, but he listened as his classmates shared their faith with him. Over time he realized that God loves even him, a poor farm boy. He could not attend the Adventist church with them, for he had many chores to do on Saturday. However, sometimes he attended special after- noon programs when his work was done. In time Kobamo accepted Jesus as his Savior. Kobamo’s grandfather was a witch doctor, an important and feared man. One day Kobamo felt an urge to visit his grandfather, who lived an hour’s walk away. In Kobamo’s culture children do not associate with their elders, even their grandparents. So Kobamo’s parents were surprised when he asked to visit his grandfather. Nevertheless, they allowed him to go. Kobamo finished his chores and set out for his grandparents’ home. The sun was low in the sky when Kobamo reached their home. His grand- parents were surprised to see Kobamo, and they invited him to come in and sit down. But Kobamo stood up saying, “I will not sit down until I have told you what I have come to say. God sent me to tell you to believe in Him.” Kobamo did not have a Bible, and he did not know many Bible texts to quote to his grandfather. He just knew that his grandfather needed to believe in God. So Kobamo, in his childish way, simply urged his grand- parents to believe in God. Kobamo’s grandparents were surprised that this young boy would talk to them in this way. For four hours Kobamo told his grandparents what he knew about God and asked them to believe. Finally Kobamo’s grandfather told the boy that he believed that God had sent Kobamo to share this message. The couple knew nothing about God except what Kobamo had told them, but because their young grandson spoke so bravely to them, this influential couple accepted Jesus as their Savior and faithfully attended church until their deaths. Kobamo’s parents joined another Protestant church, but Kobamo insisted on attending the Adventist Church. He obeyed his parents in everything, but he refused to work on God’s holy day. His parents allowed Kobamo to follow his faith, for they had seen God working in his life. Our mission offerings help spread the gospel in Ethiopia, where half the population follows non-Christian religions. Thank you for sharing Christ through your mission offerings.
KOBAMO continues to share his faith in southern Ethiopia.
Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. Web site: www.adventistmission.org 87 LESSON 11 *June 7–13 The Power of His Resurrection
SABBATH AFTERNOON Read for This Week’s Study: Matt. 27:62–66, Luke
24:36–39, Acts 3:14–16, 1 Corinthians 15, Phil. 3:7–10.
Memory Text: “ ‘I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever!’ ” (Revelation 1:18, NIV).
s Easter approached, a teacher sent her students out into nature
A around the school. She gave each a little box with the follow-
ing assignment: Bring back something in the box that is a sym-
bol of life. When the children returned, each box was opened, one at a
time. The first box had a butterfly, which flew away as she opened the
container. Another had leaves. Another twigs. But then one box she
opened was empty.
“How stupid!” one student exclaimed. “Somebody didn’t do the
assignment!”
At that point, Philip, a boy with Down’s syndrome, spoke up:
“That’s my box.”
“Well, Philip,” the same boy continued, undeterred, “you messed up
the assignment!”
“No,” replied Philip, confidently. “The tomb was empty!”
On that day Philip became a respected member of the group. He
died not long afterward, and at his funeral all the members of the class
brought empty boxes to the service, in honor of their fallen classmate.
Yes indeed, the tomb was empty! And in that empty tomb we find
the great hope of all Christians everywhere. This week we look at that
hope, which is found in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, June 14.
88 S UNDAY June 8
The Story of the Resurrection: Part 1
(Matt. 27:62–66)
Several events may be described as pivotal to Christianity, among
them the Incarnation, the Cross, and the Second Coming. But in a
sense, the Resurrection trumps them all, even the Cross that we
extolled in last week’s lesson. For without the Resurrection, nothing
else matters. Indeed, when we talk about the death of Jesus, we logi-
cally include the Resurrection, unstated. It is the central doctrine of
the Christian faith.
Of all the world religions, Judaism and Christianity are the only two
that espouse the concept of a resurrection, as such; and only
Christianity makes it central. Only Christianity has been founded on
the belief that its central Figure actually was raised from the dead. All
four Gospels cover the extraordinary event, and they tell the story with
a straightforwardness that makes it utterly credible.
What contribution does each of the following passages make to the credibility of the Resurrection story to follow?
Matt. 27:50–53
____________________________________________________________________
Matt. 27:54–56
____________________________________________________________________
Matt. 27:57–61 (compare Mark 15:42–47)
____________________________________________________________________
Matt. 27:62–66
____________________________________________________________________
The occurrences listed here are all public. Given the date of the
Gospel of Matthew (believed to be written before A.D. 70), eyewit-
nesses still would have been alive either to confirm or refute these
reports. Nor would the religious establishment have had any interest
in letting such claims and assertions go unchallenged if false: The
rending of the temple curtain “from the top”! (certainly some of those
who had ministered in the complex that day would have seen some-
thing); the earthquake would have been public and universal for the
immediate area; the resurrection of dead people and their appearance
to many in the city (what possible reason could the writer have for
manufacturing a detail like that!); the witness of the Roman centurion
and his fellow soldiers; the sealing of the tomb; the posting of a spe-
cial guard; the list goes on. These are concrete events, related with no
special pleading or defensiveness whatsoever.
89
M ONDAY June 9
The Story of the Resurrection: Part 2
(Luke 24:36–39)
In yesterday’s lesson, we began listing a group of passages in the
Gospels that describe events surrounding the death of Jesus, events
that in their straightforward and unembellished naturalness commend
the credibility of the Resurrection story. Following are a few more
passages in the same vein.
What essential message is found in these verses? What key point do all of them have in common? (Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24:10–44).
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
Although the above list does not carry any reference from John, all
four Gospels cover the Resurrection in considerable detail.
Why do you think that is so? What is so important about the Resur- rection to our faith?
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
“The historic faith of the Church has agreed with St. Paul: ‘If Christ
has not been raised, your faith is futile’ (1 Cor. 15:17). All other
Christian doctrines are dependent upon the proclamation of the resur-
rection: the significance of Christmas lies in the fact that the child
who was born is the one whom God raised from the dead; Good
Friday is only the anniversary of one more martyrdom, unless he who
died is the one who rose again; the institution of the Lord’s Supper in
the Church would have been unthinkable, had not the Lord been
known to the faithful in the breaking of bread.”—Alan Richardson,
ed., “Resurrection of Christ,” A Dictionary of Christian Theology
(Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1969), p. 290.
In the texts for today, we see the power of Jesus’ resurrection,
both physically and spiritually. He broke the shackles of the
tomb; the Roman seals gave way; the grave burst open. And He
declares today, “ ‘I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold
I am alive for ever and ever!’ ” (Rev. 1:18, NIV). If you were
asked to say in ten words or fewer what the Resurrection means
to you, what might those words be? 90
T UESDAY June 10
It Empowered a Movement (Acts 3:14–16)
How could such an outlandish belief as the resurrection of a dead
prophet spread through a pagan empire like that of Rome if it had no
credence? Why would a bunch of fishermen and tax collectors,
against all odds, invent such a story? And if they did invent it, how did
they come to believe it so strongly themselves that they were prepared
not only to forsake family and friends to defend it, but to give their
lives for the sake of the One they proclaimed as the risen Christ?
The arrest, trial, and execution of their Master had left these fol-
lowers broken, traumatized, defeated. Disillusioned, the erstwhile
inner circle began falling back upon old patterns, moving back into
their accustomed grooves (and they themselves tell the story). We hear
only about going fishing (the former livelihood of most of them); but
there also must have been a lot of brooding by the likes of nonfisher-
men, such as Matthew and Simon the Zealot, wondering where to go
from there, what to do next.
Flash ahead weeks later, to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at
Pentecost (Acts 2). As Peter delivered his impromptu Pentecostal ser-
mon, it was his reference to Jesus as a living person, risen and exalted
before the heavenly Father, the astonishing declaration that Jesus was
alive, that hearers homed in on. “ ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’ ” they
responded (Acts 2:37, NIV).
Nor was the emphasis on the Resurrection a fad for these early
believers, an ephemeral novelty to be abandoned when something bet-
ter came along. Quite to the contrary, the Resurrection constituted the
central element of apostolic preaching, with Peter and the other apos-
tles repeatedly returning to it in their discourses.
Read Acts 3:11–16, 4:8–12, 7:54–56, 17:29–31. What theme do they constantly refer to? And why?
“For the earliest Christian preaching it is the Resurrection that des-
ignates Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God. . . . This is the point at
which his reign as Messiah begins, when . . . he enters upon and inau-
gurates the age of GLORY.”—Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible,
vol. R–Z, p. 44.
Writing to the Philippians, Paul spoke of wanting to “know
Christ and the power of his resurrection” (Phil. 3:10, NIV).
What do you think that means? How can we today experience
the power of the Resurrection in our lives? (See, for example,
John 3:3, Rom. 6:1–12.)
91
W EDNESDAY June 11
Provided Authority for Witnessing
(Phil. 3:7–10)
We see the power of the Resurrection in the ministry of the apostles.
Peter’s words to the cripple are anchored solid in a resurrected Savior:
“ ‘In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk’ ” (Acts 3:6, NIV).
Then as the people go wild with astonishment and wonder over the
miracle, Peter reminds them of the trial and death of Jesus (vss. 13,
14) and then begins to move toward the good news, his goal from the
start: “ ‘You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the
dead’ ” (vs. 15, NIV). And, says Peter, it is through the power released
by His resurrection that the crippled man was made to walk. “ ‘By faith
in the name of Jesus, this man . . . was made strong. It is Jesus’ name
and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete
healing’ ” (vs. 16, NIV).
The spectacular miracle notwithstanding, Peter is arrested and
called upon to answer for these unusual developments: “ ‘By what
power or what name did you do this?’ ” (Acts 4:7, NIV). With such an
invitation, Peter falls back on what fast was becoming his favorite
theme, the resurrection of Jesus: “ ‘It is by the name of Jesus Christ
of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead,
that this man stands before you healed’ ” (vs. 10, NIV).
So, on three separate occasions now, Peter has zeroed in like a laser
beam upon the resurrection of Jesus as the source of his power for wit-
nessing. In fact, the very preaching of Christ implied His resurrection
(Acts 5:40–42).
“The conviction that Jesus continued to live transformed a dozen or
so disconsolate followers of a slain and discredited leader into one of
the most dynamic groups in human history. We read that tongues of
fire descended upon them. People who were not speakers became elo-
quent. They exploded across the Greco-Roman world, preaching what
has come to be called the Gospel but is literally the good news.
Starting in an upper room in Jerusalem, they spread their message
with such fervor that in their own generation it took root in every
major city of the region.”—Huston Smith, The Illustrated World’s
Religions (New York: HarperCollins, 1986), p. 215.
Read 1 Corinthians 15, Paul’s great treatise on the Resurrection.
How central is this truth to the Christian faith? In other words,
how much hangs on it? Do you have loved ones who have passed
away? What particular sections of Paul’s treatise bring you the
greatest comfort?
92 T HURSDAY June 12
Guarantees Our Own Resurrection
(1 Cor. 15:20)
No matter how clear the New Testament is on the literal bodily res-
urrection of Jesus, some liberal theologians, trapped in a purely sci-
entific and rationalist worldview, argue against the Resurrection being
real. Instead, they say that the Resurrection should be seen as a myth,
a metaphor of a new resurrected life we can have here and now if and
when we accept, as a community, the moral teaching of Jesus.
However nice that might sound, it is a view based on human think-
ing and not on the clear teaching of God’s Word, which is exceedingly
clear and unequivocal in the literalness of Christ’s resurrection.
For us, there is no danger accepting the Resurrection as a metaphor,
not if we take the Word of God for what it says; and it is explicit about
the literal bodily resurrection of Jesus. And once we are settled in our
acceptance of the Resurrection, then we can for ourselves garner the
hope it offers us in the face of death. Regardless of what happens to
us in this life, we have the hope that, as Jesus rose from the dead, so
will we. The promise of the Resurrection helps us to keep everything
in its proper perspective.
Read the following passages. What hope do they hold out for our own resurrection?
John 5:25–29
____________________________________________________________________
John 11:23–26
____________________________________________________________________
1 Cor. 15:51–58
____________________________________________________________________
Rev. 1:18
____________________________________________________________________
The resurrection of Jesus established three certainties: (1) Our des-
tiny is secure in Jesus (1 Pet. 1:3–5); (2) death is a vanquished foe
(1 Cor. 15:20–22); and (3) power is available to share this fantastic
news with others (John 14:12, Acts 1:8).
How should the hope and promise of our resurrection from the
dead help us to keep our life here, and the things that happen in
it, in the proper perspective? Imagine what life would be like if
you did not have this hope.
93
F RIDAY June 13
Further Study: “Over the rent sepulcher of Joseph, Christ had pro-
claimed in triumph, ‘I am the resurrection, and the life.’ These words
could be spoken only by the Deity. All created beings live by the will
and power of God. They are dependent recipients of the life of God.
From the highest seraph to the humblest animate being, all are replen-
ished from the Source of life. Only He who is one with God could say,
I have power to lay down My life, and I have power to take it again. In
His divinity, Christ possessed the power to break the bonds of 1
death.”—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 785.
“During His ministry, Jesus had raised the dead to life. He had
raised the son of the widow of Nain, and the ruler’s daughter and
Lazarus. But these were not clothed with immortality. After they were
raised, they were still subject to death. But those who came forth from 2
the grave at Christ’s resurrection were raised to everlasting life. They
ascended with Him as trophies of His victory over death and the
grave. These, said Christ, are no longer the captives of Satan; I have
redeemed them. I have brought them from the grave as the first fruits
of My power, to be with Me where I am, nevermore to see death or
experience sorrow.”—p. 786.
Discussion Questions: 3
●
1 Take another look at 1 Corinthians 15, the flagship theologi-
cal defense of the Resurrection in the New Testament. Follow
Paul’s arguments in favor of this basic Christian teaching. Why
do these texts make little sense if you believe that the righteous
dead go immediately to heaven at death? How is our under-
standing of the state of the dead vindicated by these texts? What
makes the promise of the Resurrection so crucial to us as
Seventh-day Adventists with our view of the state of the dead?
●2 Think about this question, and then bring your answer to
class: How differently would you live if you believed that at death
everything ended forever?
●
3 Go over all the textual evidence you can find that helps affirm
the resurrection of Jesus. Bring it to class, and together review the
evidence. How compelling is it? How can you put this material
together in a way that could be used as a powerful witnessing
tool?
94
I N S I D E Stor Sanjay’s Miracles: Part 1 Sanjay was a musician and played in a band in India. He was a Christian and did not join his fellow musicians when they went drinking or dancing. But something was missing from his life. Sanjay felt bad when his fellow musicians made fun of his Christian faith. One day he prayed that God would show His power to his friends so they would know that He was the only true God. That evening the band loaded their equipment into a small bus to drive across a mountain pass to their next appointment. They passed the summit and began their descent when the driver suddenly realized that he had no brakes. The bus veered off the road and rolled into the valley far below. No one was killed, but everyone was injured except Sanjay. Some of the musicians confessed that Sanjay’s God had saved him from harm and began calling him “God’s man.” Sanjay met an Adventist pastor who urged him to surrender his life totally to God. Sanjay agreed, but even though he felt God wanted him to use his talents to bring people to Christ, still he hesitated to give up the band. Then something happened that changed the course of his life. One day he climbed an old coconut tree to pick fresh coconuts. He grasped a palm frond to balance himself while he reached for a coconut. However, the palm frond broke loose, throwing Sanjay off balance. He fell from the tall tree into a field of cut sugar cane. The stalks that remained in the field had been cut at an angle and were as sharp as needles. “Lord, save me!” Sanjay cried as he fell. His brother heard Sanjay’s cry and watched in horror as his brother fell into the sharp stalks. He raced to his side, expecting to find his brother dead, but Sanjay was unhurt. He picked himself up and dusted himself off. Sanjay realized that God had saved his life a second time. “OK, Lord,” he said, “I’m Yours. Give me something to do for You.” He asked the Adventist pastor for work, and the pastor invited him to come and train to become a lay evangelist. Sanjay agreed. But how could he lead others to Christ? He had no experience with any work but music. (continued next week)
SANJAY GHATGE is a lay evangelist working in remote villages in Maharashtra, India.
Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. Web site: www.adventistmission.org 95 LESSON 12 *June 14–20 The Efficacy of His Priestly Ministry
SABBATH AFTERNOON Read for This Week’s Study: Exod. 25:8; Matt. 27:50,
51; Acts 7:54–56; Heb. 6:19, 20; 7:23–28; 8:1, 2; 9.
Memory Text: “Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens” (Hebrews 8:1, NKJV).
“ ot long after the Creation . . . our first parents fell into sin. . . .
N In the wake of this terrible crisis, God’s first concern was for
human restoration and the eternal security of the universe.
The death of a member of the Godhead—a contingency already deter-
mined in the foreknowledge and council of God (see Rev. 13:8)—was
the only means to that end.
“To secure human participation and cooperation in this supreme
endeavor, God moved quickly to inform our first parents of the plan.
At the same time, He put in place a teaching device to keep it perpet-
ually before their attention and that of succeeding generations.”—Roy
Adams, The Sanctuary (Hagerstown, Md.: Review and Herald®
Publishing Association, 1993), pp. 17, 18. That teaching device, of
course, was the sanctuary service.
The sanctuary became the center of Hebrew worship, and through
its activities and ceremonies it pointed suppliants to the cosmic reali-
ties of human salvation in a coming Messiah (see Hebrews 9) and to
the ministry of Jesus in the heavenly sanctuary. This week we will
look at that heavenly sanctuary and Christ’s ministry there.
*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, June 21.
96 S UNDAY June 15
Pointers From the Ancient Tabernacle (Exod. 25:9, 40)
Moses was told to build the tabernacle according to the pattern God had shown him on Mount Sinai (Exod. 25:9, 40). And while common sense would lead us away from the conclusion that every board and nail of the tabernacle (and later the temple) had theological signifi- cance, we should, nevertheless, take with all seriousness the teaching function of the Old Testament sanctuary system. Even so, we are not given a great deal of information on the meaning of the symbolisms; in fact, in most cases, none at all. Yet piecing together the little we find in the Old Testament with what we have in the New Testament, we are able to arrive at a fairly good understanding of the overall meaning of certain fundamental aspects of the ancient-sanctuary system and serv- ice that point beyond themselves to a greater reality. Consider the following:
- The morning and evening sacrifice (Exod. 29:38–42, Num. 28:1–6)
- The shewbread and candlesticks (Exod. 25:23, 30, 31, 37)
- The Day of Atonement ceremonies (Leviticus 16, Heb. 9:1–12)
-
The high-priestly garments (Exod. 28:6–21)
The morning and evening sacrifices symbolized “the daily conse- cration of the nation to Jehovah, and their constant dependence upon the atoning blood of Christ.”—Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 352. Many allusions to bread in the New Testament seem to suggest that the bread in the tabernacle/sanctuary pointed forward to Christ (see, for example, Matt. 26:26, John 6:48–51). “Both the manna and the shewbread pointed to Christ, the living Bread, who is ever in the presence of God for us.”—Page 354. Similarly, the candle- sticks seem to point to Him who said, “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12). “Those semiprecious gems of the [high priest’s] breast- plate . . . bore the names of the tribes of Israel, suggesting, says Ellen G. White . . . that as Christ our Great High Priest pleads His blood before the Father, He bears upon His heart the name of every repen- tant, believing soul.”—Roy Adams, The Sanctuary, p. 38. Compare it to Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 351.
Review, to the best of your understanding, the earthly sanctuary service. How does it help you understand the plan of salvation?
97
M ONDAY June 16
All Pointers Led to Him Read John 1:29. What is the significance of John calling Jesus the
“Lamb of God”?
The wilderness tabernacle stood at the center of Israelite worship
for hundreds of years. And as long as Israel remained faithful to God,
they looked upon this sacred edifice as the place of salvation, the
place of atonement between God and His people. The supernatural
manifestations that accompanied the dedication of the structure (see
Exod. 40:34, 35) had riveted such impressions deep into the psyche of
those who witnessed them.
The signal demonstration of God’s attendance at the temple’s dedi-
cation gave no hint, however, of the structure’s turbulent future.
Completely destroyed by the Babylonian army, it later was rebuilt,
though not up to the standard of its previous splendor. This, however,
was the temple Jesus knew, the one that felt His footsteps. And as
Jesus died upon a cross outside Jerusalem one Friday afternoon two
thousand years ago, it was in the inner sanctum of this very temple
that the curtain mysteriously ripped in two, from top to bottom (Matt.
27:51).
“It was the hour of the evening sacrifice. The lamb representing
Christ had been brought to be slain.” But the earth shakes, and “with
a rending noise the inner veil of the temple is torn from top to bottom
by an unseen hand, throwing open to the gaze of the multitude a place
once filled with the presence of God.” In one fell swoop, this place
where “the Shekinah had dwelt,” and where “God had manifested His
glory above the mercy seat,” is now open to public view! “The most
holy place of the earthly sanctuary is no longer sacred.” Then in dra-
matic fashion, she brings the message home: “All is terror and confu-
sion. The priest is about to slay the victim; but the knife drops from
his nerveless hand, and the lamb escapes. Type has met antitype in the
death of God’s Son. The great sacrifice has been made. . . . It was as
if a living voice had spoken to the worshipers: There is now an end to
all sacrifices and offerings for sin. The Son of God is come according
to His word.”—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, pp. 756, 757.
Many Christians today are looking toward the rebuilding of the
temple in Jerusalem as a sign of the end. Even if such a temple
were rebuilt, and sacrifices were resumed, why would those sac-
rifices have no efficacy in dealing with the sin problem?
98 T UESDAY June 17
Our High Priest (Heb. 7:25)
The apostle had been saying a host of things in the first chapters of
Hebrews about angels and their status, about Moses and his wilder-
ness experience, about Joshua and the land of Canaan, about the
prophets and Abraham and Melchizedek. But as he reaches chapter 8,
verse 1, he abruptly calls us back to focus:
Read Hebrews 8:1, 2. What is the main point of all that the apostle was saying up to these verses?
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
Within the physical layout of the ancient Israelite camp, the ordinary
Israelite worshiper stood several barriers removed from the sanctuary’s
innermost sanctum. To gain physical access, it would have been neces-
sary to get by the buffer of priests and Levites and no-go areas sur-
rounding the sacred enclosure. But now, says the author of Hebrews,
Christ, our heavenly Priest-Mediator, has opened a door of unlimited
access to the heavenly sanctuary itself, the throne room of the living
God. “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence,” says
the sacred writer, “so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help
us in our time of need” (Heb. 4:16, NIV). Jesus is our Intercessor in
heaven.
Though we do not know the exact form of Jesus’ intercession for us,
Scripture offers examples of the idea, albeit from a human standpoint.
Two of these occurred in the life of Moses, in connection with the rebel-
lion at Kadesh (Num. 14:10–20), and in connection with the golden calf
affair (Exod. 32:9–14, 30–32). These are powerful passages. “But now,”
Moses pled with God in that last reference, “please forgive their sin—
but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written” (vs. 32, NIV).
We also witness such forms of priestly intercession in Daniel (Daniel 9)
and in Jesus’ great prayer before His passion (John 17).
Examine the following key passages from Hebrews as examples
of what our heavenly High Priest does for us: Heb. 2:18, 7:25,
8:3–10, 9:11–14, 10:11–17. Most important, ask yourself, How
can I personally benefit in my walk with the Lord by knowing
that Jesus is doing these things for me? How can I apply these
promises in my life?
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_____________________________________________________
99
W EDNESDAY June 18
The Difference It Makes: Part 1 Read Hebrews 4:16. What promise is there for us? What are we
admonished to do? What hopes does this offer us? How can you
apply what is here to your own life?
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
Do those who know Jesus as Savior and High Priest have a spiritual
advantage over others who know Him only as Savior? We will deal
with the question in two lessons, but perhaps we can begin by noting
the contribution of Hebrews 9 to the issue, in general.
There are, of course, several ways to read the chapter. One is to take
a strictly exegetical and linguistic approach to it, defining the mean-
ing of words and phrases, and squeezing out the significance of the
verses from a purely academic point of view. But another way, equally
valid, essentially bypasses all that. Without ignoring the results of the
first approach, it simply reads the chapter and observes what it says.
When we do that, here is what we find, as it relates to the basic ques-
tion before us:
1. What happened under the first covenant (the Old Testament sanc-
tuary services) was provisional only. Fundamentally inadequate to
bring about internal change, the offerings and ceremonies pointed
beyond themselves to something bigger.
2. That bigger something now has happened. Christ has come. He is
the real High Priest (Heb. 9:11). His entrance into the heavenly sanc-
tuary was not through “the blood of goats and calves; but . . . once for
all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption” (vs. 12,
NIV).
3. The offerings under the old system achieved external results (vs.
13) but could not effect internal change. But the blood of Christ
reaches to our inner being, cleansing “our consciences from acts that
lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!” (vs. 14, NIV).
4. Christ shed His blood once, on our behalf; and now He appears
for us in the presence of God as our High Priest (vs. 24–28).
Read over Hebrews 9. What is the essential message it is giving
us? What promises are found in there that you especially find
encouraging for yourself?
100 T HURSDAY June 19
The Difference It Makes: Part 2
The knowledge and acceptance of Jesus as our High Priest should
make us kind and generous and patient, the same traits He has mani-
fested toward us. It should make us merciful and gracious, in the same
way He has shown mercy and grace toward us. And it should make us
morally upright and everlastingly grateful for the profound sacrifice
made on our behalf. But any Adventist who has interacted with
Christians of other persuasions would readily admit that they have
found them equally gracious and merciful and patient and generous
and kind and morally upright. So, then, what real difference does “our
message of the sanctuary” make?
It probably has something to do with loyalty and faithfulness. When
the author of Hebrews wanted to reestablish the recipients of his book
in the faith, he turned to the sanctuary theme.
Read Hebrews 10:19–25. What is the practical message given to us here, a message that should influence how we live our lives and how we relate to others?
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
The book of Hebrews invites us to approach “the throne of grace”
(Heb. 4:16). The implications here are multifaceted, but one of them
gets to the question before us just now. The way has been made for us,
through Jesus, to approach God in the heavenly sanctuary. And to fol-
low Jesus by faith into the sanctuary is not only to have one’s soul
cleansed by His marvelous grace but also to experience a new appre-
ciation for His immutable law (see Heb. 8:10). This transaction,
utterly significant in the context of what Adventists call “the great
controversy between good and evil,” defines the difference the sanc-
tuary teaching makes for us. By faith we enter with full assurance into
that sacred place where Jesus ministers. And there, against all pos-
sible odds, we cling to the One whose indelible promise is symbolized
by the ark of the covenant, the throne of the living God Himself,
founded on justice and mercy. Thus anchored, we do not drift—not
into a view of the law that leads to the abandonment of God’s holy
Sabbath, and not into evolutionary conceptions of origins that seek to
dethrone the living God from His own universe. The doctrine of the
sanctuary thus becomes a protection for us against rebellion and
secures for God a faithful remnant in a revolted world.
101
F RIDAY June 20
Further study: Read Ellen G. White, “In the Holy of Holies,”
pp. 423–426, in The Great Controversy; “The Tabernacle and Its
Services,” pp. 350–358, in Patriarchs and Prophets.
“The subject of the sanctuary was the key which unlocked the mys-
tery of the disappointment of 1844. It opened to view a complete sys-
tem of truth, connected and harmonious, showing that God’s hand had
directed the great Advent Movement, and revealing present duty as it
brought to light the position and work of His people”—Ellen G.
White, The Great Controversy, p. 423. 1 “I . . . see the heavenly sanctuary as the dwelling place of God, the
seat of His government, the nerve center of the universe. As such, it has
always existed. But with the fall of humanity it assumed an added func-
tion, namely, the solution of the cosmic rebellion and the security of the
universe. It is in this sense that we picture it when we think of the
ancient sacrificial system. We see it through a glass colored by the min- 2 istry for the eradication of sin.”—Roy Adams, The Sanctuary, p. 71.
“I do not visualize an empty heavenly sanctuary. The throne of God,
in whatever form, is there, surrounded by multitudes of angels. Best
of all—from our standpoint, at least—our All-sufficient High Priest,
Jesus Christ Himself, is there! He fills it full! He stands before the
throne of God for us! And that’s enough for me!”—Page 71.
Discussion Questions: 3 ●
1 How does our understanding of the pre-Advent judgment fit
in with our understanding of Christ as our High Priest in the
heavenly sanctuary? Why should the judgment be part-and-
parcel of our sanctuary message? Most important, how can we
teach the judgment as part of the good news of Jesus as our
Substitute in judgment?
●
2 What does the reality of Christ’s high-priestly ministry mean
to you personally? What experience(s) can you share about how
this teaching has benefited you spiritually?
●3 Go back over the week’s lesson and make a list of all the ben-
efits we derive from Christ as our High Priest. Bring them to
class and discuss the implication of these benefits and how they
should impact our lives as individuals and as a church commu-
nity. How can we better take advantage of these promises in
order to further our witness and mission to the world?
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I N S I D E Stor Sanjay’s Miracles: Part 2 Sanjay realized that God had miraculously saved his life twice, and now he dedicated himself to work for God. He became a lay evangelist and was sent to a village where no one had even heard of Adventists before. Sanjay found a family who let him stay in the room in which the family kept their idols. Sanjay prayed that his host family would be blessed by his presence and would not force him to leave when they learned that he was Christian. Sanjay learned that his host had a health problem. He asked to pray to his God for the man’s healing. The man agreed, and the homeowner was healed. Sanjay told the man that he was a Christian and invited him to study the Bible. The man invited his family to study with him, and within a few months the entire family gave their hearts to Jesus and offered their home for small group meetings. Sanjay visited people, prayed for their needs, and urged them to trust in the living God, who hears and answers prayer. When one family mocked him, saying that their god protected and blessed them, Sanjay left feeling that he had failed. The next day the homeowner told Sanjay that after the family had gone to bed the night before, a rat had entered their home and knocked over the oil lamp, which caught the straw walls on fire. The fam- ily barely got out alive. “We were wrong about your God. Please, may we attend your prayer meetings?” Another woman, Ompatti, was troubled by evil spirits. Her husband abandoned her and their three children. Doctors couldn’t cure the woman, and trips to religious shrines brought her no relief. Then someone asked Sanjay to pray for her. As he prayed, Sanjay touched the woman, and she fell to the ground screaming. The devils left her. She told everyone of her healing. When her husband learned that she was no longer possessed, he returned. But he objected to Christianity and refused to have anything to do with them. Soon after, he became possessed by demons. Church mem- bers continue to pray for him. In the three years that Sanjay has worked as a lay evangelist, some 200 people in seven villages have given their lives to Christ and been baptized. Some of the groups of believers, which number from 15 to 25 people, have no place to worship. No one’s home is large enough to accommodate them. They need churches if these congregations are to continue growing. Sanjay continues to use music and prayer to lead people to Jesus. Your mission offerings help make Sanjay’s work and the work of Global Mission pioneers around the world possible.
SANJAY GHATGE is a lay evangelist working in remote villages in Maharashtra, India.
Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. Web site: www.adventistmission.org 103 LESSON 13 *June 21–27 His Return as King and Friend
SABBATH AFTERNOON Read for This Week’s Study: Dan. 9:24–27, Matthew 24,
Luke 21:25–31, John 14:1–3, 1 Thess. 4:13–18, Heb. 9:28.
Memory Text: “So Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him” (Hebrews 9:28, RSV).
hough a distortion of the truth regarding the Second Coming,
T the Left Behind series of books and movies grabbed the atten-
tion of millions worldwide. The whole episode presented God
as wickedly capricious, and it fostered a climate of irrational fear (if
not panic) in people’s minds about the Advent, a mood opposite to the
way the Bible wants us to think about Christ’s return. In the New
Testament, generally, the return of Jesus is a glorious, supremely joy-
ful event. He is our King, and also our Friend.
Though unpleasant elements are associated with the Second
Coming (as we will see), it is not the fear factor that will cause peo-
ple to turn their eyes toward heaven. Fear is important, and we do not
proclaim the whole truth about the Advent without including it. But in
doing so, we ought to stick with what the Scriptures explicitly say and
not present anxiety-provoking nightmares of our own making. To give
the various aspects of the Advent the same emphasis they receive in
Scripture is to create in the hearts of those who care to listen some-
thing akin to the anticipation of children yearning for Christmas.
The message of the Second Coming should be good news, not
something that sends people looking for anxiety therapy.
*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, June 28.
104 S UNDAY June 22
Waiting in the Outer Court (Heb. 9:28)
The period in which we are now living was foreshadowed by the
Day of Atonement in ancient Israel. As the high priest performed his
once-a-year ministry in the Most Holy Place, the people, with bated
breath, waited in the outer court for his emergence. That emergence
would signal the successful completion of His work on their behalf,
the eradication of sin from the nation and from the individual.
Since 1844, Christ has been engaged in a phase of ministry prefig-
ured by the Day of Atonement in Israel. When that work is done, He
will emerge from the heavenly sanctuary to receive His people. In the
words of Hebrews 9:28, “Christ, having been offered once to bear the
sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to
save those who are eagerly waiting for him” (RSV).
How do the following texts relate to the idea of expectant waiting?
Luke 12:40–48
____________________________________________________________________
Titus 2:11–13
____________________________________________________________________
1 Pet. 1:3–8
____________________________________________________________________
William Miller and his followers ardently expected the emergence of
the heavenly High Priest in 1844. We know they were disappointed, but
try to imagine the passion that moved them. Here were people who
loved Jesus with all they had. They felt close to Him; they yearned to
see Him. He was their friend. And the sentiments expressed years later
by Hiram Edson fairly represent how the whole group felt. They had
“confidently expected to see Jesus Christ and all the holy angels with
Him,” Edson wrote. When that did not happen, “such a spirit of weep-
ing came over us as I never experienced before. . . . We wept, and wept,
till the day dawn.”—Hiram Edson, manuscript fragment, Center for
Adventist Research (from Heritage Room), James White Library,
Andrews University. These believers did not breathe a sigh of relief that
Jesus did not come. Instead, they were disappointed, and bitterly so.
Are you excited about the Second Coming? Do you want it
soon? Or are you fearful? Do you dread it? What are the rea-
sons for your answers? Write them down and then prayerfully
examine what they might be saying about your Christian expe-
rience.
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M ONDAY June 23
Addressing the Fear Factor
There is a dark side to the coming of Jesus. Jesus Himself said it
will be a time of distress for the nations: “ ‘At that time the sign of the
Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will
mourn’ ” (Matt. 24:30, NIV). He compares the event to the judgments
of the Flood and of Sodom (Matt. 24:37–39; compare Luke
17:26–30); He speaks of the phenomenon of final separation, using
the illustration of two women grinding at the mill, with one taken, the
other left (Matt. 24:40, 41). And when He speaks of remaining watch-
ful, His warning could not be stronger (see vss. 43–51). Peter, one of
those present the day Jesus spoke about His coming in Matthew 24,
refers to “the day of the Lord” as one of fire and terror (2 Pet.
3:10–12). When John sees the event in vision, he says that “all the
peoples of the earth will mourn because of him” (Rev. 1:7, NIV); and
Revelation 6:15, 16 portrays people from every walk of life at the
Advent appealing to the rocks and mountains to fall on them and
“hide [them] from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the
wrath of the Lamb!” (NIV).
What do the following texts say about the Second Coming?
Matt. 25:31–33, 41
____________________________________________________________________
2 Thess. 1:6–9
____________________________________________________________________
Heb. 12:25–29
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There are those who torture and abuse others, those who murder
and exploit, who plunder and pillage, and who rob the coffers of their
governments, leaving millions to suffer in degradation and poverty.
And then there are the good people who arrogantly turn their backs on
God and His gracious offer of mercy and pardon. It would be the
height of irresponsibility to give them the impression that the Second
Coming holds anything for them but bad news, unless they change.
With people’s eternal destiny hanging on these issues, it would be
criminal on our part to sugarcoat the reality of the situation.
In what ways might a little fear do us all some good (Phil. 2:12)?
Maybe some of us need a little more fear than others . . .
106 T UESDAY June 24
On the Other Hand. . . .
As we saw in yesterday’s lesson, there is a dark side to the coming
of Jesus. But for the converted Christian, the scene is always bright;
for not only is the Coming One their King, He also is their Friend. This
joyous sense of anticipation is encouraged by Jesus Himself, whatever
the omen over the horizon. “ ‘When these things begin to take place,’ ”
He said, “ ‘stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption
is drawing near’ ” (Luke 21:28, NIV). No heads-down, drop-shoulder
posture here. Jesus wants His followers to be hopeful, buoyant, radi-
ant, in anticipation of the climactic day, to set their gaze toward the
skies in wistful yearning for that glorious hour of His return.
Read the following passages, and see how they strengthen this notion of expectation and joy.
John 14:1–3
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Acts 1:11
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Phil. 3:20, 21
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1 Thess. 4:13–18
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Rev. 7:9, 10, 13–17
____________________________________________________________________
It is instructive to notice that when Jesus is speaking to the pompous
religious leaders (or when He has the rejecters of His grace in mind),
He emphasizes the majesty, the kingliness, the judgment aspects of
His coming. But when His followers come into focus, the emphasis
switches to ideas of comfort, assurance, joy. Thus in Matthew 24:31,
immediately after talking about the mourning of the nations at His
coming, the tone changes as He comes to focus on His people: The
angels gather them, He says, from every nation into His kingdom. And
in John 14:1–3, His promise to return is given to calm the “troubled”
hearts of His followers, to steady their fraying nerves, to anchor them
in hope.
If you believed, with all your heart, that Jesus was coming
within the month, what moral changes would you feel inclined
to make in your own life? After you think about your answer,
then ask yourself, Why wait until then to make those changes?
After all, might it be a little harder to make those changes than
you think?
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W EDNESDAY June 25
When Will We See Jesus?: Part 1
Matthew 24 is a pivotal chapter on the second coming of Jesus,
recording Jesus’ own response to questions raised by His disciples,
questions we still have today about when the Advent will occur. Jesus
emphasized several points, among them the following:
1. We should not be alarmed. (In the Greek, the statement is
terse; we might even say, emphatic: “ ‘see to it that you are not
alarmed’ ” (vs. 6, NIV)—whether by famine, by earthquake, or by
conflict between nations (vss. 6–8).
2. We will face conflict and hatred, even within the church (vss.
9–13).
3. We should not be naive and gullible as we wait for the Second
Coming (vss. 4, 5, 23–26). (Jesus lingered on this point!)
4. The gospel will be preached in the whole world before the end
(vs. 14).
5. The event will be a spectacular, visible, worldwide phenome-
non (vs. 27).
6. Certain cosmic signs will signal the Advent’s approach (vs.
29).
7. As the end arrives, angels will gather together the faithful
from all over the globe (vs. 31).
8. The day and hour of the Advent is known only to God (vs. 36).
9. Notwithstanding all warnings or predictions, the Second
Coming will be sudden and unexpected (vss. 42–44).
One important point worth emphasizing from the above list has to
do with the gospel. It says that the gospel will be preached everywhere
“ ‘as a testimony’ ” to all, “ ‘and then the end will come’ ” (vs. 14,
NIV). This suggests that Christ’s followers play a role, however indi-
rectly, in creating a condition vital for the termination of human his-
tory. It thus calls for increased fervor on the part of each of us to
advance God’s kingdom where we are.
Leighton Ford tells about a prison chaplain trying to bring a con-
demned prisoner to Christ in a London jail. “Do you really believe
what you say, Chaplain? . . . If I believed your Gospel were true, I
would crawl across England on broken glass to tell men about it.”
—The Christian Persuader (New York: Harper & Row, 1966), p. 29.
That is the kind of enthusiasm needed now.
If the gospel must go everywhere before Christ returns, and if
we are called to preach that gospel, then we ourselves have a role
in working with Him to hasten the Second Advent, do we not?
Yes or no? What are the challenges, opportunities, or problems
this idea presents to us? 108
T HURSDAY June 26
When Will We See Jesus?: Part 2
Sunday’s lesson referred to the Millerites and how they eagerly
waited (albeit in vain) for the Advent on October 22, 1844. What they,
and we since, have discovered is that Jesus was not coming back the
next day, either, nor the next week, the next month, the next year, the
next decade, or the next century! And here we are today, some 164
years later, still in this world. How do we grapple with this problem in
our own minds?
One way is to focus on the veracity and certainty of the event. In
other words, regardless of the when of the event, we can come to grips
with the fact of it, not by logic, but by considering who made the
promise in the first place. It came from Jesus Himself, an authentic,
historical figure, whose probity and credibility have stood the test of
the centuries. We see this very Person addressing a group of follow-
ers, worried and apprehensive about His impending departure. Do not
be troubled, He says to them. Trust Me (John 14:1). “ ‘If I go and pre-
pare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me’ ”
(vs. 3, NIV).
Review the following passages. How do they help put the issue before us in perspective? (Gen. 3:15, Isa. 40:8, Gal. 4:4; see also Dan. 9:24–27). ________________________
____________________________________________________________________
The promise of the First Advent was given way back in the Garden
of Eden (Gen. 3:15); and the world was to wait thousands of years for
its fulfillment. But as God’s great cosmic clock struck the divinely
prescribed hour, mystic beings announced to startled shepherds on a
hillside in Bethlehem: “ ‘Today in the town of David a Savior has been
born to you’ ” (Luke 2:11, NIV). The promise did not fail; for it was
anchored on the unshakable Word of the living God. And so it will be
with the second coming of Jesus.
What good was Christ’s first coming if we do not have the assur-
ance of the Second Coming? How should the certainty of the
First Coming, and what Christ did for us at it, make us
absolutely certain about the reality of the Second Coming,
regardless of whenever it happens?
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F RIDAY June 27
Further Study: “Christ had ascended to heaven in the form of
humanity. The disciples had beheld the cloud receive Him. The same
Jesus who had walked and talked and prayed with them; who had bro-
ken bread with them; who had been with them in their boats on the
lake; and who had that very day toiled with them up the ascent of
Olivet,—the same Jesus had now gone to share His Father’s throne.
And the angels had assured them that the very One whom they had
seen go up into heaven, would come again even as He had ascended. 1 . . . Well might the disciples rejoice in the hope of their Lord’s
return.”—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 832.
Our concept of time has a lot to do with the level of anxiety we
experience in respect to the so-called delay of the Advent. In Western
society in particular, our expectation of temporal precision affects our 2 thinking about the event. To be told that an event will happen soon has
a certain currency with us, and we expect it to take place shortly, in
the Western sense. For the Eastern mind, on the other hand—the con-
text in which the biblical writers operated—the more important aspect
of an event was its certainty; time was secondary.
Discussion Questions:
●
1 From about the mid-eighteenth century up through World War 3 I, many people in the West thought that through science, reason,
and technology, humanity could greatly improve itself, and that
evils such as war, disease, and other calamities could be eradi-
cated or at least greatly limited. Contrast that view with the view
of the world presented by Jesus more than nineteen hundred
years ago, in Matthew 24. Who was right? How should Matthew
24 be a factor in helping us have faith in the promises of Christ’s
second coming, especially when contrasted with these other views
of what the future would be like?
●
2 There is a subtle danger in the fact that the idea of the Second
Coming has become part of our regular Adventist vocabulary.
This can prevent us from fully appreciating (and thus adequately
conveying to others) the extraordinary, mind-boggling nature of
this event. How can we protect ourselves from becoming hard-
ened to this extraordinary event, upon which all our hopes rest?
●
3 Look at your local church, and then ask this question: Are we
helping hasten the Second Coming of Jesus, or are we part of the
reason for the delay? Discuss the implications of this question
and your answers to it in class.
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I N S I D E Stor Seeking the Lost by FERNANDO CUNHA DIAS I had always wanted to be a missionary, so I studied for the ministry. But God had a mission field far closer than I could have dreamed. I was assigned to work with a pastor in his three churches in a region of Brazil where people are closely bound to their traditional religion. It was difficult to get people to even listen to God’s message here. Then someone told me that a woman named Vera lived in a camp of poor people not far from a town in the district. I set out to find this woman. The camp was located in a beautiful valley four miles up a steep moun- tainside. When I arrived, I found 70 families living in simple dwellings made from bamboo and covered with black plastic tarps. I stopped at several bamboo homes asking for Vera, but no one knew her. Then I met a young man working outside his little hut. I asked the man whether he knew anyone who was a Seventh-day Adventist. “Are you a pastor?” the young man asked. When I told him I was, he responded, “Praise God! I have prayed for a long time for a pastor.” Then he introduced me to several people who had been Seventh-day Adventists, but who had not attended church for a long time. I arranged to return and visit each of them to study the Bible and minister to them. The next time I visited the camp, I brought some church members with me. We built a little chapel from bamboo and covered the roof with a tarp. It was not very comfortable, but the people did not mind; they were eager to hear the Word of God. Interest in Bible studies continued to grow, and evangelistic meetings were arranged. The district pastor led out, and several members of nearby Adventist churches lent their support to the meetings. Attendance grew until we had to build more pews to accommodate the people. Eventually some 200 people attended the nightly meetings. Ivanette, a teenage girl who attended the meetings, had a recurring dream in which she returned home after the meetings to discover that she had left her sandals at the church. When she returned to the chapel to get her sandals, she heard a voice saying, “This is the true church, the church you should follow.” Following the meetings, 30 new believers were baptized, including Ivanette and her father. The “bamboo church” was organized as a com- pany. Ivanette’s father donated land on which to build a permanent church, and the believers are working to build a more permanent church. Our mission offerings make evangelism such as this possible. Thank you for giving faithfully. FERNANDO CUNHA DIAS is a pastor in the Espírito Santo Conference of Brazil.
Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. Web site: www.adventistmission.org 111 2008 Bible Study Guide for the Third Quarter
The Bible gives us many inspirational stories of God’s agents of
hope. In this quarter’s study, “Agents of Hope: God’s Great Mission-
aries,” we will focus on some of these outstanding missionaries; on
who they were and what they did in seeking to bring others to a saving
knowledge of the Lord of salvation.
This quarter is designed to lead us into a renewed commitment to
share God’s love with our neighbors, friends, and those in mission fields
around the world, bringing us to a new dimension in our Christian lives.
Lesson 1—For Such a Time as This: The Apostle Paul The Week at a Glance: SUNDAY: Paul’s Background (Acts 22:3–5, 25–29) MONDAY: Paul: His Conversion and Calling (ACTS 9:1–19) TUESDAY: Paul: A Man of Like Passions ( Rom. 7:19–25, 1 Cor. 9:27) WEDNESDAY: Life and Salvation through Christ (1 Cor. 2:2; Gal. 6:14) THURSDAY: Themes of Hope (Rom. 5:15, 6:23, Eph. 2:8)
Memory Text—Romans 15:17, NIV
Sabbath Gem: The apostle Paul had a powerful impact on his world
and radically helped to spread the gospel well beyond Israel. What a
model are both his life and ministry to us in our mission to the world.
Lesson 2—“All Things to All Men”: Paul Preaches to the World The Week at a Glance: SUNDAY: Paul Encouraged for Mission (Acts 9:24-27) MONDAY: All Things to All People (Acts 9:19–22, 13:14–16) TUESDAY: A Witness to the Philosophers (Acts 17:18–34) WEDNESDAY: The Message on Mars’ Hill (Acts 17:28) THURSDAY: Paul’s Method of Church Planting (1 Thess. 1:7, 8, NIV)
Memory Text—1 Corinthians 9:22, NKJV
Sabbath Gem: Paul gives us an excellent example of how we need
to learn to adapt the way we present our message, depending on the
context and culture in which we are giving witness to the gospel.
Lessons for the Visually Impaired The regular Adult Sabbath School
Bible Study Guide is available free each month in braille and on audiocassette to sight-
impaired and physically handicapped persons who cannot read normal ink print. This
includes individuals who, because of arthritis, multiple sclerosis, paralysis, accident, and
so forth, cannot hold or focus on normal ink-print publications. Contact Christian Record
Services, Box 6097, Lincoln, NE 68506-0097.
112