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                                                                                                                       April May June 2015                                                                                                                                                                                    THE BOOK OF LUKE                                ADULT SABBATH SCHOOL BIBLE STUDY GUIDE

      Editorial Office 12501 Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, MD 20904
      Come visit us at our Web site: http://www.absg.adventist.org

                                                                                             1

John M. Fowler has served the church for 53 years as pastor, theology and philosophy teacher, editor, and educational administrator. As author of numerous articles and books, he has written two other Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guides: “The Cosmic Con- flict Between Christ and Satan” (2002) and “Ephesians: The Gospel of Relationships” (2005).



                                                                                   3

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  The Coming of                            Jesus



  Sabbath Afternoon Read for This Week’s Study: Luke 1:2, 3; 2 Tim. 3:16; Luke
  1:5–22; Deut. 18:15; Luke 2:9–12, 25–32.

  T
         he Gospel of Luke was written primarily to the Gentiles. Luke
         himself was a Gentile (implied in the context of Colossians
         4:10–14), as was Theophilus, to whom the Gospel is addressed.
     In addition to being a physician, Luke was a meticulous historian.
  In introducing the Gospel, Luke places Jesus in real history; that is, he
  puts the story in the historical context of its times: Herod was the king
  of Judea (Luke 1:5), Augustus reigned over the Roman Empire (Luke
  2:1), and a priest by the name of Zacharias was exercising his turn in
  the temple in Jerusalem (Luke 1:5, 9). In chapter 3, Luke mentions
  six contemporary dates related to the ministry of John the Baptist, the
  forerunner of Jesus.
     Thus, Luke places the story of Jesus in history—real people, real
  times—in order to dismiss any idea of mythology with his narrative.
  His readers must stand in awe and wonder at the fact that Jesus is real
  and that through Him God has invaded history with the “ ‘Savior, who
  is Christ the Lord’ ” (Luke 2:11, NKJV).

 “An Orderly Account”
   Acts 1:1 tells us that before Acts was written, its author wrote a “for-
 mer account.” This, and the fact that both accounts were addressed to
 Theophilus, helps lead us to conclude that one author was responsible
 for both books. The two accounts can be viewed as parts 1 and 2 of
 “Origin and History of the Christian Church.” Part 1 is a narrative of
 the life and work of Jesus (the Gospel of Luke), and part 2 (Acts of the
 Apostles) is an account of the spread of the message of Jesus and of
 the early church.

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

   Luke was aware of many who had written about the events that had
 shaken the city of Jerusalem and beyond—the events concerning Jesus
 Christ. The sources for such literary works included many “eyewit-
 nesses and ministers of the word” (Luke 1:2, NKJV)—a clear reference
 to the disciples and other contemporaries of Jesus. Luke himself had
 an exposure to these witnesses and ministers (such as Paul and other
 apostolic leaders) and possibly also to the Gospels written by Mark and
 Matthew. Luke, obviously, was not an eyewitness to the Jesus story, but
 he was a credible and authentic convert to Christ.
   Matthew wrote to a Jewish audience, presenting Jesus as the Great
 Teacher, the fulfillment of prophecy, and the King of the Jews. He
 often referred to Old Testament prophecies being fulfilled in Christ.
 Mark wrote to a Roman audience about Jesus, the Person of action.
 Luke, a doctor and a Gentile, wrote to the Greeks and the Gentiles
 about the universal Jesus—the Savior of the world. Luke mentions
 that the purpose of his writing is twofold: to present an “orderly
 account” (Luke 1:3, NKJV) and to provide certainty to the great teach-
 ings of the new era. Certainty about truth, as in Jesus, is one goal of
 his Gospel.

  Luke, an inspired author of Scripture, used other material in his
  writings. Very interesting! Obviously, that use of other sources
  doesn’t negate the inspiration or authority of what he wrote.
  What lessons should that have for us as Seventh-day Adventists
  regarding the question of how inspiration, either canonical or
  noncanonical, works on inspired writers?
                                                                         7

 “Call His Name John”
    For nearly four hundred years after Malachi, divine silence marked
 the history of Israel. With the birth announcements of John the Baptist
 and Jesus, the divine silence was about to be broken.
    The birth stories of John and Jesus have parallels. Both are miracles:
 in the case of John, Elizabeth had gone well past the child-bearing age;
 in the case of Jesus, a virgin was to bear the child. The angel Gabriel
 announced both birth promises. Both announcements were received in
 a spirit of wonder, joy, and surrender to God’s will. Both babies were to
 grow and become strong in the Spirit (Luke 1:80, 2:40).
    But the mission and the ministry of the two miracle babies were dis-
 tinct and different. John was to be a preparer of the way for Jesus (Luke
 1:13–17). Jesus is “ ‘the Son of God’ ” (vs. 35) and the fulfillment of
 the Messianic prophecies (vss. 31–33).

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

   “The birth of a son to Zacharias, like the birth of the child of
 Abraham, and that of Mary, was to teach a great spiritual truth, a
 truth that we are slow to learn and ready to forget. In ourselves we
 are incapable of doing any good thing; but that which we cannot
 do will be wrought by the power of God in every submissive and
 believing soul. It was through faith that the child of promise was
 given. It is through faith that spiritual life is begotten, and we are
 enabled to do the works of righteousness.”—Ellen G. White, The
 Desire of Ages, p. 98.
   The miracle of John had a decisive purpose in God’s dealing with His
 people. After 400 years of prophetic absence in the history of Israel,
 John did break forth into that history with a specific message and with
 a decisive power. John’s mission and message was “ ‘to make ready a
 people prepared for the Lord’ ” (Luke 1:17, NKJV). He was to be the
 forerunner of the Messiah, the one to prepare the way for the mission
 of Jesus. 8

 “Call His Name Jesus”
   The birth of Jesus Christ was no normal event. It was marked in
 God’s eternal calendar, and “when the fullness of the time had come,
 God sent forth His Son, born of a woman” (Gal. 4:4, NKJV). It is the
 fulfillment of the first promise God made after the entrance of sin in
 Eden (Gen. 3:15).

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

   Six months after Gabriel announced to Zacharias the coming birth of
 John, he announced to Mary of Nazareth an even greater miracle: that
 a virgin will “ ‘conceive . . . and bring forth a Son, and shall call His
 name Jesus’ ” (Luke 1:31, NKJV).
   The virgin birth of Jesus goes against all nature, and it cannot be
 explained by nature or naturalistic philosophy. Even Mary had her
 question: “ ‘How can this be, since I do not know a man?’ ” (vs. 34,
 NKJV). The angel assured her that this would be the work of the Holy
 Spirit (vs. 35), and “ ‘with God nothing will be impossible’ ” (vs. 37,
 NKJV). Mary’s immediate and faithful submission was remarkable:
 “ ‘Let it be to me according to your word’ ” (vs. 38, NKJV). Every
 human question, no matter how natural or logical, must give way to
 the divine answer. Be it Creation or the Cross, the Incarnation or the
 Resurrection, the downpour of manna or the outpouring of Pentecost—
 the divine initiative demands human surrender and acceptance.
   While Mary answered her own question by submission and sur-
 render to God’s sovereignty and eternal purpose, Gabriel assured her
 with another great answer: “ ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
 and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also,
 that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God’ ” (vs.
 35, NKJV).

  Some secular cultures have been browbeaten into believing that
  everything, ultimately, has a naturalistic and scientific expla-
  nation. Why is this such a narrow, even superficial, view of the
  grandeur and greatness of reality?
                                                                        9

 The Manger of Bethlehem
   Luke begins the story of the Bethlehem manger with a note of his-
 tory. Joseph and Mary left their home in Nazareth to travel to their
 ancestral town of Bethlehem as a result of a census decree of Caesar
 Augustus, the emperor of Rome, when Quirinius was governor of
 Syria. Such historical details must lead Bible students to appreciate
 Luke’s submission to the Holy Spirit, so that he would record the details
 of the Incarnation within the framework of history.

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

    The story of the poor circumstances in which the Lord of heaven
 incarnated Himself continues with the first visitors the manger had:
 the shepherds. Not to the rich or the powerful, not to the scribes or the
 priests, not to rulers and the powers that held sway over the land did the
 “ ‘good tidings of great joy’ ” (Luke 2:10, NKJV) come, but to humble
 and despised shepherds. Observe the majesty and the simplicity of the
 message: A Savior is born to you. In the city of David. He is Christ
 the Lord, the Anointed One. You will find Him wrapped in swaddling
 clothes (author’s translation). Heaven’s most precious gift came in such
 a simple package, as often it does. But the gift brings “ ‘glory to God,’ ”
 “ ‘on earth peace,’ ” and “ ‘goodwill toward men’ ” (vs. 14, NKJV).
    Luke’s record of the angel (Luke 2:9–12) brings out three vital matters of
 Christian theology. First, the good news of the gospel is for “ ‘all people.’ ”
 In Jesus both the Jew and the Gentile become one people of God. Second,
 Jesus is the Savior; there is no one else. Third, Jesus is Christ the Lord.
 These three themes, so clearly established early in Luke, later became the
 foundation of the apostolic preaching, particularly that of Paul.

  Think about what we believe as Christians: the Creator of all that
  was made (John 1:1–3) not only entered into this fallen world as a
  human being but lived the hard life that He did, only to wind up on
  a cross. If we really believe that, why should every aspect of our life
  be lived in submission to this amazing truth? What parts of your life
  reflect your belief in the story of Jesus, and what parts don’t?

 The Witnesses to the Savior
   Although writing primarily to the Gentiles, Luke was aware of the
 importance of the Jewish heritage through the Old Testament. He takes
 care to link the New Testament story with the Old and provides the
 scene of Mary and Joseph having the Baby Jesus circumcised on the
 eighth day and taking Him to the temple in Jerusalem, all according to
 Jewish law (Luke 2:22–24).

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

   Simeon’s prophecy also predicted two significant features of Jesus’
 ministry.
   First, Christ is “ ‘destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel’ ”
 (Luke 2:34, NKJV). Yes, Christ has brought light and salvation to all,
 but not without cost to the recipient. With Christ there is no neutral
 ground: accept Him or reject Him, and upon the appropriate response
 one’s salvation depends. Christ demands exclusiveness; we abide in
 Him or we do not. Those who abide in Him will rise up and be part
 of His kingdom; those who reject Him or remain indifferent to Him
 will fall to the ground and perish without hope. Faith in Christ is
 nonnegotiable.
   Second, Simeon prophesies to Mary, “ ‘a sword will pierce through
 your own soul also’ ” (Luke 2:35, NKJV). The reference no doubt is
 to the Cross, which Mary will witness. Mary and all the generations
 that follow her ought to remember that without the Cross, there is
 no salvation. The Cross is the hub around which the entire plan of
 salvation revolves.

  Salvation is a gift in that we can do nothing to earn it. Yet, it can
  still be very costly to those who claim it for themselves. What has
  following Christ cost you, and why is that cost, whatever it may
  be, cheap enough?



                                                                        11

    The virgin birth is of God’s making, marked by His mystery,
   majesty, and mission. It is truly beyond human understanding
   too. But the question is, So what? How many secular things are
   beyond human understanding as well? If God does exist, and
   He has the power to create and sustain the universe, why should
   something like the virgin birth be beyond His power? Only those
   whose worldview is limited to natural laws alone (at least the ones
   we now currently understand) could, a priori, dismiss the idea of
   a virgin birth. In contrast, those whose worldview incorporates the
   supernatural should have, a priori, no reason to reject it. After all,
   look at what the angel said to Mary after giving her the incredible
   news: “For with God nothing shall be impossible” (Luke 1:37).

    An American TV interviewer is reported to have said that if he
   had an opportunity, the person he would most like to interview
   would be Jesus, and he would ask Him just one question: “Are You
   indeed born of a virgin?” Why is that question, and the answer to
   it, so important?

  Baptism and the
  Temptations


  Sabbath Afternoon Read for This Week’s Study: Luke 3:1–14; Rom. 6:1–6;
  Luke 3:21, 22; Luke 4:5–8; Isa. 14:13, 14; Luke 4:9–13.

  A
           s we saw last week, Luke provides a list of great historical dig-
           nitaries to, we believe, help show that his account of Jesus and
           John is as real and as historical as these powerful men.
    But there’s another important reason to mention these mighty men
  of power and influence. It is to contrast them with the humble man of
  the wilderness, John the Baptist, God’s chosen messenger who was to
  “prepare the way” for the most significant event in all human history
  so far: the coming of Jesus, the world’s Redeemer. How interesting that
  God chose not one of the world’s “great” men to herald the Messiah but
  one of the “lowlier” ones instead.
    Scholars put all these historic personalities together and give us a
  date close to a.d. 27 or 28 for the start of the ministry of John the
  Baptist and Jesus. It is within the historical time frame of these Roman
  Empire luminaries that Jesus was baptized and received the benediction
  of Heaven that He is God’s “beloved Son” (Luke 3:22). Luke establishes
  this fact right at the outset, even before he presents to his readers the
  “orderly account” of the mission and ministry of Jesus Christ.

  Prepare the Way of the Lord
    In Luke 3, John appears in his unique and crucial role in salvation
  history. Whatever else one could say about John’s preaching, he was not
  sugarcoating his words in order to please the crowd.

  _________________________________________________________

  _________________________________________________________

     Repentance is not just a theoretical notion. It is a way of life. The
  word comes from the Greek metanoia, which means a change of
  mind, and this leads to a new life.
     To “baptize” means to dip or immerse fully in water. Immersion
  has a profound meaning. Even before the time of John, the Jews had
  attached meaning to baptism by immersion. It was a common prac-
  tice when Gentile proselytes chose to join the Jewish faith.
     In inviting Jews to be baptized, John the Baptist was setting forth
  a new principle: baptism is an occasion to publicly renounce one’s
  old sinful ways and to prepare oneself for the coming of the Messiah.
  John the Baptist thus introduced a symbolic act of renunciation of
  sin and consecration to a new way of life as citizens of the Messianic
  kingdom, which was about to be inaugurated. John was quick to add
  that he was baptizing only with water, but the One who was to follow
  him “ ‘will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire’ ” (Luke 3:16,
  NKJV). Thus, a crucial point is made: baptism as an act of immersion
  in water is only an outer symbol of an inward change—a change that
  would eventually be sealed by the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

   Read Romans 6:1–6. What spiritual lessons is the apostle Paul
   drawing out of the act of baptism? Note the comparison he
   makes between the act of immersion and rising out of the water
   with dying to sin and living for righteousness. How have you
   experienced the reality of this new life in Christ?




                                                                       15

 “You Are My Beloved Son”
    In Luke 2:41–50, we read the famous story of Joseph and Mary’s
 losing sight of Jesus in Jerusalem. What’s especially fascinating is
 Jesus’ response to Mary when she rebukes Him (vs. 48). Jesus’ answer
 is an affirmation of His divine self-consciousness, that He is the Son
 of God. “ ‘Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be
 about My Father’s business?’ ” (vs. 49, NKJV). As the next verse says,
 Joseph and Mary didn’t grasp the implications of what Jesus had said
 to them. In all fairness, how could they? After all, even the disciples,
 after years with Jesus, were still not totally certain of who He was and
 what He was to do.
    For example, after His resurrection, Jesus was talking to two disci-
 ples on the road to Emmaus. One of them, in referring to Jesus, had
 said that Jesus “ ‘was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God
 and all the people’ ” (Luke 24:19, NKJV). Jesus, of course, was much
 more than a prophet. Even then they still didn’t grasp who He was and
 what He had come to do.

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

   At His baptism, Heaven attested that Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus
 sought baptism not because He needed it as part of a postrepentance
 process but to set an example for others (Matt. 3:14, 15). Three impor­
 tant factors stand out concerning the baptism of Jesus: (1) the Baptist’s
 proclamation, “ ‘Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of
 the world!’ ” (John 1:29, NKJV); (2) the Holy Spirit’s anointing Him
 for His mission ahead; and (3) the heavenly proclamation that Jesus is
 the Son of God, in whom the Father is well pleased.

  Think about it: the spotless Son of God, the Creator of the cosmos,
  was baptized by a mere human being, all part of the plan of salva-
  tion. How should this amazing condescension on His part help us to
  be willing to humble ourselves whenever the occasion warrants it?

  Not by “Bread Alone”
     “Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, . . . was led by the Spirit
  into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil” (Luke
  4:1, 2, NKJV). Born for a God-ordained mission, commissioned to the
  task at His baptism, equipped with the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus
  the Christ retreated into the wilderness to contemplate the task ahead.
     The temptation in the wilderness was a significant battle between
  Christ and Satan in the great controversy, which has raged ever since
  Lucifer’s rebellion in heaven. In the wilderness, when the Savior was
  weak from 40 days of fasting, when the journey ahead looked bleak and
  weary, Satan took personal command in his attack against Jesus. “Satan
  saw that he must either conquer or be conquered. The issues of the
  conflict involved too much to be entrusted to his confederate angels.
  He must personally conduct the warfare.”—Ellen G. White, The Desire
  of Ages, p. 116.

  _________________________________________________________

  _________________________________________________________

     Bread is not the central issue here. Yes, the 40-day fasting in the wil-
  derness must have made the Savior hungry, and Satan used that circum-
  stance as bait. But Satan knew that Jesus is the Creator of the universe.
  To Him who created the universe out of nothing, making bread out of
  stone was not an issue. The crucial point in the temptation is found in
  its preface: “ ‘If You are the Son of God.’ ” Only 40 days before, the
  voice from heaven attested that Jesus was indeed the Son of God, and
  now should Jesus doubt that heavenly assurance? Doubting God’s Word
  is the first step in yielding to temptation. In heaven Satan challenged
  the authority of Jesus; he does so here as well, even if in a much more
  subtle manner than he tried in heaven.

   How can you learn not to succumb to Satan’s attempts to get you,
   as he tries with all of us, to doubt God’s promises?




                                                                          17

 “Worship Me” Read Luke 4:5–8. Why would Satan want Jesus to worship Him? What
 crucial issue was at stake here?
 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

    Worship is the sole prerogative of God. It is the one factor that forever
 separates the creature from the Creator. One of the issues in Lucifer’s
 rebellion against God in heaven is that of worship. Lucifer’s ambition
 was well summarized by Isaiah 14:13, 14: to ascend to heaven, to exalt
 his throne above the stars of heaven, to be like the Most High. It was
 an attempt to usurp the authority that belongs only to the Creator and
 never to any creature, no matter how exalted.
    In this context we can better understand what is happening in this
 temptation. When Jesus was about to set out on His mission to redeem
 the world back to God’s ownership and authority, Satan took Him to the
 top of a mountain, provided a panoramic view of all the kingdoms, and
 offered them to Him for a simple act: “ ‘If You will worship before me,
 all will be Yours’ ” (Luke 4:7, NKJV).
    Satan was trying to divert Christ’s perspective from His divine pri-
 ority and to entice Him with pomp and glory for no greater price than
 just a bow. He was trying to get here, again, the authority and worship
 that he failed to get in heaven.
    Notice how Christ dismissed the tempter with utter contempt. “ ‘Get
 behind Me, Satan!’ ” (vs. 8, NKJV). Worship, and the service that
 goes with it, belong to the Creator God alone. Here again the Word of
 the Lord comes to His help. Did not Inspiration say through Moses,
 “ ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love
 the Lord your God. . . . You shall fear the Lord your God and serve
 Him’ ” (Deut. 6:4, 5, 13, NKJV)? Absolutely resolving to follow God
 in faith and obedience is the ultimate answer to Satan’s lies and tricks.

  Any of us can face temptations to compromise our faith, even in
  “small ways.” Your job, your passing of a university examination,
  your promotion, demands a compromise in regard to Sabbath. At
  what point can you make a deal? When, if ever, is the price right?

 Christ the Victor
    Luke and Matthew reverse the order of the second and third temp-
 tations. The reason is not clear, but that need not detain us. The cru-
 cial point is the ultimate victory of Jesus over Satan, proclaimed by
 both Gospels. The significant factor that emerges from study of the
 temptations is that Jesus Christ is a real Person—tempted as we are
 but without sin (Heb. 4:15). With victory in each of the temptations,
 with His triumph over Satan, with the Word of God in His mouth, and
 connected with Heaven’s powerhouse through prayer, Jesus emerges
 to proclaim the kingdom of God and to inaugurate the Messianic age.

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

   Satan takes Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple in Jerusalem, the
 most sacred place in Jewish history. The city of Zion, the temple
 where God dwells among His people, becomes the avenue for
 Satan’s confrontation with Jesus. “If You are the Son of God” is once
 again the preface. Watch what Satan says: If God is indeed your
 Father, and if your mission is indeed at His bidding, throw yourself
 down from the pinnacle. Surely, if all that is true, God will not let
 you get hurt. He then quotes Scripture: “ ‘He shall give His angels
 charge over you, to keep you’ ” (Luke 4:10, NKJV).
   Satan knows the Scripture but misinterprets it. His tactic is to lead
 Jesus to put God to the test. God has indeed promised the protection
 of His angels, but only within the context of doing His will, such as in
 the case of Daniel and his companions. Jesus answers Satan decisively
 again by using Scripture, declaring that it is not for us to put God to the
 test (vs. 12). Our duty is to place ourselves in God’s will and let Him
 do the rest.
   Note four major biblical teachings on temptation: (1) No one is free
 from temptations; (2) when God allows temptations to come to us, He
 also provides grace to resist and strength to overcome; (3) temptations
 do not come the same way every time; and (4) no one is tempted
 beyond his or her strength to bear (1 Cor. 10:13).

                                                                         19

   Philosophers and theologians often talk about what they call
  a “metanarrative,” a grand overarching story or theme in which
  other stories occur. To put it another way, a metanarrative is the
  background, the context, in which other stories and events unfold.
  As Seventh-day Adventists, we see the great controversy as the
  metanarrative or background for what has been happening, not
  only here on earth but in heaven as well. What texts in the Bible
  show us the reality of the great controversy and how it helps
  explain what is going on in the world?

   What are some of the most powerful Bible texts that promise
  us victory over the temptations that come our way? Why, though,
  even with these promises, is it still so easy to fall?

   One of the daily studies this week made the following state-
  ment: “Doubting God’s Word is the first step in yielding to temp-
  tation.” Why would that be so?

   In what ways can idolatry be much more subtle than bowing
  down and worshiping something other than the Lord?

  Who Is               Jesus Christ?



  Sabbath Afternoon Read for This Week’s Study: Luke 4:16–30, 6:5, Eph. 1:3–5,
  Luke 9:18–27, 2 Pet. 1:16–18.

  W
              ho is Jesus Christ?
                This question is not a philosophical or a sociological gim-
              mick. It gets to the heart of who humans are and, even more
  important, what eternity will hold for them.
     People can admire the works of Jesus, honor His words, extol His
  patience, advocate His nonviolence, acclaim His decisiveness, praise
  His selflessness, and stand speechless at the cruel end of His life.
  Many may even be ready to accept Jesus as a good man who tried to
  set things right—to infuse fairness where there was injustice, to offer
  healing where there was sickness, and to bring comfort where there
  was only misery.
     Yes, Jesus could well earn the name of the best teacher, a revolution-
  ary, a leader par excellence, and a psychologist who can probe into the
  depths of one’s soul. He was all these and so much more.
     None of these things, however, comes near to answering the all-
  important question that Jesus Himself raised: “ ‘Who do you say that I
  am?’ ” (Luke 9:20, NKJV).
     It is a question that demands an answer, and on that answer the des-
  tiny of humanity hinges.

 Reactions to Jesus
    Read the Gospels; read the New Testament. All through these books
 incredible claims are made about not only what Jesus did but, even
 more important, about who Jesus was. (Of course, what Jesus did pow-
 erfully attested to who He was.) These claims—that He is God, that He
 is our Redeemer, that He alone is the way to eternal life—demand our
 attention because they are full of implications that have eternal conse-
 quences for every human being.

 _________________________________________________________

   His hometown audience was thrilled at first to see Jesus, who, after
 performing many miracles and wonders, returned to Nazareth, and they
 “marveled at the gracious words” He spoke (Luke 4:22, NKJV). But
 their reaction to His rebuke showed what spirit truly animated them.

 _________________________________________________________

   Even John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus and the one who
 announced Jesus as “the Lamb of God,” had doubts creeping into the
 depths of his soul. He wanted to know: “ ‘Are You the Coming One, or
 do we look for another?’ ” (Luke 7:19, NKJV).
   Notice, too, that Jesus does not answer John’s question directly;
 instead, He points to acts that cry out in witness: “ ‘The lame walk, the
 lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the
 gospel preached to them’ ” (vs. 22, NKJV). One could argue that Jesus
 didn’t need to answer John’s question directly; His deeds and actions
 gave ample testimony of who He was.

  In a sense, the answer that Jesus gave might have caused John
  even a bit more consternation. After all, if Jesus has the power to
  do all these incredible things, why am I languishing here in jail?
  Who hasn’t, amid their own personal tragedies, wondered some-
  thing similar: If God has all this power, why is this happening to
  me? Why is the cross, and all it represents and promises, our only
  answer?
                                                                        23

 Son of God
   “Son of man” and “Son of God” are two names used in the Gospels
 to describe who Jesus is. The first indicates God incarnate; the second
 points to His divinity as the second Person of the Godhead. Together,
 the two phrases invite us to ponder the miracle of Jesus Christ: God
 who is both divine and human. It’s a hard concept to grasp, but that
 difficulty does not in any way take away from this amazing truth and
 the great hope that it offers us.

 _________________________________________________________

    In Luke 1:31, 32, the angel links the name “Jesus” with the “Son of
 the Highest” to whom the “Lord God will give” the throne of David
 (NKJV). Jesus is the Son of God. He is also the Christ, the Messiah,
 who shall restore David’s throne, not as an earthly deliverer but in the
 eschatological sense in that He will ultimately defeat Satan’s attempt
 to usurp the throne of God Himself. To the shepherds, the angel
 announced that the babe in the manger is the “ ‘Savior, who is Christ
 the Lord’ ” (Luke 2:11, NKJV).
    At the same time, the title “Son of God” not only affirms Christ’s
 position in the Godhead but also reveals the close and intimate rela-
 tionship that Jesus had with God the Father while Jesus was on earth.
    Yet, the relationship between the Father and the Son is not the same
 as the relationship that we have with God. While our relationship is a
 result of the work of Christ both as Creator and Redeemer, His rela-
 tionship to the Father as the Son is as of one of three equal, eternal
 partners. Through His divinity Jesus maintained the closest possible
 ties to the Father.
    “Jesus says, ‘My Father which is in heaven,’ as reminding His disci-
 ples that while by His humanity He is linked with them, a sharer in their
 trials, and sympathizing with them in their sufferings, by His divinity
 He is connected with the throne of the Infinite.”—Ellen G. White, The
 Desire of Ages, p. 442.

  What does it mean to us that Jesus is, in the fullest sense, God?
  Though this truth is filled with many implications, one of the
  most amazing is that, though God, Jesus condescended to not
  only take upon Himself our humanity but to offer Himself as a
  sacrifice in that humanity for us. We are talking about God here!
  What wonderful hope does this truth have for us because of what
  it tells us about what God is really like? 24

                                                                      25

 “The Christ of God” Read Luke 9:18–27. Why would Jesus have asked the disciples a ques-
 tion whose answer He already knew? What lesson was He seeking
 to teach them not only about Himself but about what it means to
 follow Him?
 _________________________________________________________

    “ ‘Who do you say that I am?’ ” (Luke 9:20, NKJV). The question that
 Jesus asked 2,000 years ago still haunts history. People have given many
 different answers. A great teacher. A profound ethicist. An embodiment of
 truth. An edifice of self-sacrifice. A fearless prophet. A social reformer. A
 great model of everything a human being should be. But no answer short of
 the confession that the original question drew from the lips of Peter will do.
    After revealing His authority over nature (Luke 8:22–25), His power
 over demons (vss. 26–35), His might over diseases (Luke 5:12–15,
 8:43–48), His ability to feed the 5,000 out of almost nothing (Luke
 9:13–17), His power over death itself (Luke 8:51–56)—Jesus confronts
 His disciples with, really, two questions: first, what others thought of
 Him; next, what the disciples themselves thought. He didn’t ask in
 order to learn something that He didn’t already know. Rather, He asked
 in order to help them to understand that who He was would, in fact,
 demand from them a commitment that would cost everything.
    “Our knowledge of Jesus must never be at second hand. We might know
 every verdict ever passed on Jesus; we might know every Christology that
 human minds have ever thought out; we might be able to give a competent
 summary of the teaching about Jesus of every great thinker and theolo-
 gian—and still not be Christians. Christianity never consists in knowing
 about Jesus; it always consists in knowing Jesus. Jesus Christ demands a
 personal verdict. He did not ask only Peter, he asks every one of us: ‘You—
 what do you think of me?’ ”—William Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew
 (Bangalore: Theological Publications in India, 2009), vol. 2, p. 161.
    Our response to the question Jesus asked cannot be anything short
 of Peter’s confession: Jesus is “the Christ of God” (Luke 9:20, NKJV).
 “Christ” means the Anointed One, the Messiah, whose mission is not
 that of a political liberator but the Savior who will free humanity from
 the grip of Satan and sin and inaugurate the kingdom of righteousness.

  It’s not enough simply knowing who Jesus is. Rather, we need to
  know Him for ourselves. If, then, you claim to know Jesus, what,
  in fact, do you know about Him? That is, what has your own
  personal knowledge of Jesus taught you about Him and about
  what He is like?

 The Transfiguration Read all three Gospel accounts of the Transfiguration (Luke 9:27–36,
 Matt. 17:1–9, Mark 9:2–8). (Read also Peter’s firsthand account of
 the incident, and note the truth the apostle establishes from his
 eyewitness experience; see 2 Peter 1:16–18.) What additional infor-
 mation does Luke provide, and why is it important?

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

    Luke begins the narrative with a detail that Matthew and Mark do not
 mention: Jesus took Peter, John, and James up the mountain to pray.
 Jesus set His eyes and mind toward Jerusalem and predicted the path of
 suffering that lay before Him. Jesus wanted to be certain that what He
 was doing was what God wanted Him to do. At such moments, prayer is
 the only way of finding certainty and assurance. The process of prayer
 instantly poured out divine glory on the person of Jesus: “His face was
 altered, and His robe became white and glistening” (Luke 9:29, NKJV).
    The transfigured Jesus was in conversation with Moses and Elijah
 about “His decease which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem”
 (vs. 31, NKJV). The word decease can be understood in two ways: His
 upcoming death in Jerusalem, although the Greek used here, exodus,
 is not often used for death; hence, “decease” can also mean the great
 “exodus” Jesus was about to accomplish in Jerusalem, the mighty
 redemptive exodus that would bring about deliverance from sin.
    The conference of the three concluded with a voice of approval from
 heaven: “ ‘This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!’ ” (vs. 35, NKJV). The
 Transfiguration anoints Jesus with glory, assures His Sonship once again,
 and announces that Redemption will cost the Son’s life. Therefore, the
 heavenly command to the disciples: listen to Him. Without obedience
 and exclusive loyalty to Him, there is no discipleship.

  Ellen G. White wrote that these men, meaning Moses and Elijah,
  who had been “chosen above every angel around the throne, had
  come to commune with Jesus concerning the scenes of His suf-
  fering, and to comfort Him with the assurance of the sympathy
  of heaven. The hope of the world, the salvation of every human
  being, was the burden of their interview.”—The Desire of Ages,
  p. 425. Thus, even Jesus Himself, who had comforted so many
  others, sought solace and comfort for Himself. What should that
  tell us about how even the strongest spiritually among us, even our
  leaders, teachers, and guides, can at times need solace, encour-
  agement, and help from others? In fact, whom do you know right
  now who could use solace, comfort, and encouragement?
                                                                      27

   Think about what happened on the mount of transfiguration.
  This amazing event in salvation history was about to happen, and
  what were the chosen disciples who came with Him on the moun-
  tain doing at first? Sleeping! In what ways could this be a meta-
  phor for ourselves, as individual believers, or for us as a church
  who live right before another great event in salvation history, the
  second coming of Jesus?

   Read some of the things that Jesus had said about Himself.
  Why, then, is the idea that Jesus was merely a great man, a great
  prophet, or a great spiritual leader logically flawed? Why must we
  either accept that He is what He said He is or that He was a luna-
  tic and someone who was greatly deceived about Himself? Why
  is there no other option for us in regard to the identity of Jesus?

  The Call to
  Discipleship


  Sabbath Afternoon Read for This Week’s Study: Luke 5:1–11, 6:12–16, 9:1–6,
  Matt. 10:5–15, Luke 10:1–24, Luke 9:23–25, Matt. 16:24–28.

  D
           isciple” means a follower, or a pupil. The word disciple occurs
           more than two hundred fifty times in the Bible, mostly but not
           exclusively in the Gospels and Acts.
     Being a disciple energizes the spirit, challenges the mind, and
  demands our utmost in our relationship with God and our fellow
  humans. Without total allegiance to Christ and the demands of His life
  and message, there can be no discipleship. What higher calling could
  one have?
     “God takes men as they are, and educates them for His service, if they
  will yield themselves to Him. The Spirit of God, received into the soul,
  will quicken all its faculties. Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the
  mind that is devoted unreservedly to God develops harmoniously, and
  is strengthened to comprehend and fulfill the requirements of God. The
  weak, vacillating character becomes changed to one of strength and
  steadfastness. Continual devotion establishes so close a relation between
  Jesus and His disciple that the Christian becomes like Him in mind and
  character.”—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 251.
     This week we’ll look at how Jesus called those who were to follow
  Him and see what lesson we can learn that can help us in our continu-
  ation of the work that He had started on earth.

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

    “ ‘Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men’ ” (Luke 5:10,
 NKJV). The transition from being fishermen to becoming fishers of men
 is extraordinary: it requires absolute self-surrender to the Master, recog-
 nition of one’s inability and sinfulness, a reaching out to Christ in faith
 for the strength to walk the lonely and unknown path of discipleship,
 and continual reliance on Christ and Him alone. The life of a fisherman
 is uncertain and dangerous, battling ruthless waves, unsure of a steady
 income. The life of a fisher of men is no less so, but the Lord promises,
 “Fear not.” Discipleship is not an easy road; it has its ups and downs, its
 joys and challenges, but a disciple is not called to walk alone. The One
 who said “Fear not” is by the side of the faithful disciple.

  Go back and read again Peter’s confession about being a sinful
  man. Notice how his sinfulness prompted him to want to be sep-
  arated from Jesus. What is it about sin that does that to us, that
  pushes us away from God?
                                                                           31

  Selection of the Twelve
    Discipleship is not self-made. It is a result of responding to the call
  of Jesus. Luke mentions that Jesus has already called Peter, Andrew,
  John, and James (Luke 5:11) and Levi Matthew, the tax collector (vss.
  27–32). Now the writer places the selection of the Twelve in a strategic
  location in his narrative: immediately after the Sabbath healing of a
  man with a withered hand (Luke 6:6–11), which led the Pharisees to
  plot the murder of Jesus. The Lord knew that it was time to consolidate
  His work and prepare a team of workers whom He could train and pre-
  pare for the task beyond the cross.

  _________________________________________________________
     Among the multitudes that followed Him, there were many disci-
  ples—ones who followed Him as students would follow a teacher. But
  Christ’s task is more than that of teaching. His is to build a community
  of the redeemed, a church that will take His saving message to the
  ends of the earth. For that purpose, He needs more than disciples.
  “From them He chose twelve whom He also named apostles” (Luke
  6:13, NKJV). Apostle means someone sent with a special message for
  a special purpose. Luke uses the word six times in the Gospel and
  more than twenty-five times in Acts (Matthew and Mark use it only
  once each).
     The Twelve were chosen not because of their education, economic
  background, social prominence, moral eminence, or anything that
  marked them as worthy of selection. They were ordinary men from
  ordinary backgrounds: fishermen, a tax collector, a Zealot, a doubter,
  and one who turned out to be a traitor. They were called for one purpose
  only: to be ambassadors of the King and His kingdom.
     “God takes men as they are, with the human elements in their charac-
  ter, and trains them for His service, if they will be disciplined and learn
  of Him. They are not chosen because they are perfect, but notwith-
  standing their imperfections, that through the knowledge and practice
  of the truth, through the grace of Christ, they may become transformed
  into His image.”—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 294.

   Let’s face it: we’re not perfect, nor are others in the church perfect.
   We all are in a process of growing (even if others seem to grow
   more slowly than we would like them to!). How, in the meantime,
   do we learn to work with others and accept them as they are?

 Commissioning of the Apostles Read Luke 9:1–6 and Matthew 10:5–15. What spiritual truths can we
 learn from the verses about how Jesus called these men?
 _________________________________________________________
 _________________________________________________________

    Luke describes the commissioning of the apostles as a three-step
 process.
    First, Jesus called them together (Luke 9:1). The word call or calling
 is as vital to Christian mission as it is to Christian vocabulary. Before
 it can become a theological term, it must become a personal experi-
 ence. The apostles must heed the One who calls, come to Him, and be
 “together.” Both the obedience to Him who calls and the surrender of
 everything to Him are essential to experience the unity that is vital for
 the mission to succeed.
    Second, Jesus “gave them power and authority” (vs. 1, NKJV). Jesus
 never sends His emissaries empty-handed. Nor does He expect us to
 be His representatives in our own strength. Our education, culture,
 status, wealth, or intelligence are powerless to accomplish His mis-
 sion. It is Christ who enables, equips, and empowers. The Greek word
 for “power” is dynamis, from which we derive “dynamo,” a source
 of light, and “dynamite,” a source of energy that can plow through a
 mountain. The power and authority that Jesus gives are sufficient to
 crush the devil and defeat his purposes. Jesus is our power. “As the
 will of man co-operates with the will of God, it becomes omnipotent.
 Whatever is to be done at His command may be accomplished in His
 strength. All His biddings are enablings.”—Ellen G. White, Christ’s
 Object Lessons, p. 333.
    Third, Jesus “sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the
 sick” (vs. 2, NKJV). Preaching and healing go together, and the mission
 of the disciples is to care for the whole person—body, mind, and soul.
 Sin and Satan have captured the whole person, and the whole person
 must be brought under the sanctifying power of Jesus.
    The life of discipleship can be maintained only when that life is
 totally given to Christ, with nothing coming in between. Neither gold
 nor silver, neither father nor mother, neither spouse nor child, neither
 life nor death, neither the contingencies of today nor the emergencies
 of tomorrow shall come between the disciple and Christ. Christ, His
 kingdom, and the witness to a lost world alone matter.
  “ ‘Take nothing for the journey’ ” (vs. 3, NKJV). What principle
  is expressed here that’s important for us to understand and to
  experience for ourselves?

                                                                       33

 Sending the Seventy Read Luke 10:1–24. What does this account, of the sending out of the
 70, teach us about the work of soul winning amid the reality of the
 great controversy?

 _________________________________________________________

    During His ministry, more than the Twelve followed Jesus. When
 Peter addressed the believers leading to the selection of a substitute
 for Judas, the group consisted of at least one hundred twenty believers
 (Acts 1:15). Paul tells us that Jesus had at least five hundred followers
 at His ascension (1 Cor. 15:6). So, the sending of the 70 does not limit
 the number of followers that Jesus had but only suggests His choice of
 a special group on a limited mission to go before Him into the towns of
 Galilee and prepare the way for His subsequent visits.
    Only the Gospel of Luke records the account of the 70, very typ-
 ical of the missionary-minded Luke. The number 70 is symbolic in
 Scripture, as well as in Jewish history. Genesis 10 lists 70 nations of
 the world as descendants of Noah, and Luke was a writer with a uni-
 versal worldview. Moses appointed 70 elders to assist him in his work
 (Num. 11:16, 17, 24, 25). The Sanhedrin was made up of 70 members.
 Whether all these have any significance in Jesus’ calling of the 70 is not
 mentioned in Scripture and need not detain us in speculation. But what
 is important is that Jesus, as a trainer of leaders for the church, has left
 a strategy not to concentrate power and responsibility in a few but to
 spread it across the spectrum of disciples.
    Joy and fulfillment marked the return of the 70. They reported to
 Jesus: “ ‘Even the demons are subject to us in Your name’ ” (Luke
 10:17, NKJV). Success in soul winning is never the work of the evan-
 gelist. The evangelist is only a medium. The success comes through
 “Your name.” The name and power of Jesus are at the heart of every
 successful gospel mission.
    But note three remarkable reactions of Jesus to the success of the
 mission of the 70. First, in the success of evangelism, Jesus sees a
 defeat of Satan (vs. 18). Second, the more involved one is in gospel
 work, the more authority is promised (vs. 19). Third, the evangelist’s
 joy should be not in what has been accomplished on earth but because
 his or her name is written in heaven (vs. 20). Heaven rejoices and takes
 note of every person won from the clutches of Satan. Every soul won
 to the kingdom is a blow to Satan’s schemes.
  Read again Luke 10:24. What are some of the things that we have
  seen that prophets and kings wanted to see but didn’t? What
  should that mean to us?

 The Cost of Discipleship
   Socrates had Pla10. Gamaliel had Saul. Leaders of various religions
 had their devout followers. The difference between discipleship in
 such cases and the discipleship of Jesus is that the former is based on
 the content of human philosophy, whereas the latter is rooted in the
 person and accomplishment of Jesus Himself. Thus, Christian disci-
 pleship rests not just on Christ’s teachings but also on what He did for
 human salvation. Hence, Jesus bids all His followers to fully identify
 themselves with Him, to take up their cross, and to follow His lead-
 ings. Without people walking in the footprints of Calvary, there is no
 Christian discipleship.

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

    Christian discipleship is an operative link between the saved and the
 Savior; as the saved, we are to follow the Savior. Thus Paul could say,
 “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives
 in me” (Gal. 2:20, NIV).
    The cost of discipleship is defined in Luke 9:23: “ ‘If anyone desires
 to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily,
 and follow Me’ ” (Luke 9:23, NKJV). Note these operative words:
 “deny,” “take up,” and “follow.” When we read that Peter denied Jesus,
 we could not have a better definition of “deny.” Peter was saying, “I do
 not know Jesus.” So, when the call to discipleship demands that I deny
 myself, I must be able to say I do not know me; self is dead. In its stead,
 Christ must live (Gal. 2:20). Second, to take up the cross daily is a call
 to experience self-crucifixion on a continual basis. Third, to follow
 demands that the focus and direction of life is Christ and Him alone.
    Jesus expands the cost of discipleship even further, as revealed in
 Luke 9:57–62: nothing takes precedence over Jesus. He, and He alone,
 stands supreme in friendship and fellowship, work and worship. In
 Christian discipleship, death to self is not an option; it is a necessity.
 “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die. . . . It is the same
 death every time—death in Jesus Christ, the death of the old man at his
 call. . . . Only the man who is dead to his own will can follow Christ.”
 —Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship (New York: Macmillan
 Co., 1965), p. 99.

  What has following Christ cost you? Think hard about your
  answer and the implications of it.
                                                                        35

    Dwell more on the words of Jesus about one gaining the whole
   world but losing one’s soul. What does He mean by that? Or what
   about losing one’s life in order to save it? What does that mean?
   It’s one thing for a nonbeliever to cling selfishly to the things of
   this world. Why not, because that’s all they believe that they have?
   What else would they cling to? But why, even as believers in Jesus,
   those who know that this world will end and a new one will one
   day start, do we find ourselves so readily seeking to gain as much
   of this world as we can? How can we protect ourselves from this
   very dangerous spiritual trap?

    Read Luke 10:17–20. One can understand the excitement of
   these people as they saw that even demons were subject to them
   in Christ’s name. Look at Jesus’ response to them. What was He
   saying that’s so important for anyone involved in outreach to
   understand?

    Who are some people, besides Bible characters, whose choice to
   follow Christ has cost them a lot, perhaps more than most of us?
   In class, ask yourselves, “What did these people lose, what did fol-
   lowing Christ cost them, and would I be willing to do the same?”

  Christ as the Lord
  of the Sabbath




  Sabbath Afternoon Read for This Week’s Study: Mark 1:21, 6:2; Luke 4:17–19,
  31–37; 2 Cor. 5:17; Luke 6:1–11; 13:10–16.

  A
           lthough Luke wrote his Gospel primarily for the Gentiles, it is
           significant how frequently he refers to the Sabbath. Of the 54
           times the Gospels and Acts refer to Sabbath, 17 are in Luke and
  9 in Acts; there are 9 in Matthew, and 10 in Mark and 9 in John. As a
  Gentile convert, Luke certainly believed in the seventh-day Sabbath for
  Jews, as well as Gentiles. The first coming of Christ made no difference
  concerning the keeping of the Sabbath.
    Indeed, “Christ, during His earthly ministry, emphasized the binding
  claims of the Sabbath; in all His teaching He showed reverence for the
  institution He Himself had given. In His day, the Sabbath had become
  so perverted that its observance reflected the character of selfish and
  arbitrary men rather than the character of God. Christ set aside the false
  teaching by which those who claimed to know God had misrepresented
  Him.”—Ellen G. White, Prophets and Kings, p. 183.
    This week’s lesson turns to Jesus as the Lord of the Sabbath: how He
  observed it and how He set an example for us to follow. The practice of
  observing the first day of the week as Sabbath has no sanction either in
  Christ or in the New Testament.

 “As His Custom Was”
    “As His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day”
 (Luke 4:16, NKJV). This is a good Seventh-day Adventist text. Most of
 us use it in evangelistic meetings or in Bible studies in order to empha-
 size the point that it was the practice of Jesus to keep the Sabbath.
    Synagogues played a crucial role in Jewish religious life. During the
 exile, when the temple no longer existed, synagogues were built for
 worship and for the schooling of young children. A synagogue could
 be built wherever there were at least ten Jewish families. Growing up in
 Nazareth, Jesus followed the “custom” of going to the synagogue each
 Sabbath, and now on His first journey to His hometown, the Sabbath
 finds Him in the synagogue.

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

   “As His custom was” (Luke 4:16, NKJV). Only Luke uses this
 phrase: in Luke 4:16, as Jesus attended the synagogue in Nazareth; and
 in Luke 22:39, as the cross drew near, Jesus “went, as was his custom,
 to the Mount of Olives” (RSV). Both times the “custom” had to do with
 worship and prayer.
   Why should we make it our custom to go to church on Sabbath, as
 Jesus went to the synagogue on Sabbath?
   First, God is everywhere. He may be worshiped anywhere, but there’s
 something special about getting together in a common place on the day
 designated at Creation and commanded in His moral law.
   Second, it provides a public opportunity to affirm that God is our
 Creator and Redeemer.
   Finally, it gives an opportunity for fellowship and sharing one another’s
 joys and concerns.
  Those who accuse us of legalism or of being in bondage because
  we keep the Sabbath have obviously missed out on the great
  blessing that the Sabbath can bring. In what ways have you expe-
  rienced just how liberating Sabbath keeping can be?




                                                                         39

 Sabbath: Its Message and Meaning
   “When He had opened the book” (Luke 4:17, NKJV). The Sabbath
 was not only for going to church in order to worship but also to hear
 God’s Word. A life without His Word is not far from the trap of sin:
 “Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You”
 (Ps. 119:11, NKJV).

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

    After reading from Isaiah 61:1, 2, Jesus said, “ ‘Today this Scripture
 is fulfilled in your hearing’ ” (Luke 4:21, NKJV). The word today
 deserves note. The Jews expected the kingdom of God to come at some
 time in the future in a dramatic, militaristic way, uprooting an alien
 regime from Judea, and ushering in the Davidic throne. But Jesus was
 saying that the kingdom had already come in His person and that He
 would break the power of sin, crush the devil, and free the oppressed
 captives of his domain.
    Think, too, about how closely tied the Sabbath is with His Messianic
 claims. The Sabbath is a day of rest, rest in Christ (Heb. 4:1–4); the
 Sabbath is a symbol of freedom, of liberation, the freedom and liber-
 ation we have in Christ (Rom. 6:6, 7); the Sabbath reveals not only
 God’s creation but the promise of re-creation in Christ, as well (2 Cor.
 5:17, 1 Cor. 15:51–53). It’s no coincidence, either, that Jesus chose the
 Sabbath day to do many of His healings, to free those who had been
 oppressed and imprisoned by sickness.
    The Sabbath day is a weekly reminder, etched in something more
 immutable than stone (time!), of what we have been given in Jesus.

  How has Sabbath keeping helped you to understand better salva-
  tion by faith alone, in that we can rest in what Christ has done for
  us, as opposed to seeking to earn our way to heaven?

 Sabbath Healings at Capernaum
    Rejection at Nazareth sent Jesus back to Capernaum, where He had
 already ministered before (Matt. 4:13). This important city became the
 base for Jesus’ Galilean ministry. In this city was a synagogue, possibly
 built by a Roman officer (Luke 7:5), and Jesus, as per His custom, went
 to the synagogue on the Sabbath day.
    On this single Sabbath, Jesus’ ministry covered a wide range of activ-
 ities—teaching, healing, preaching. Nothing is said as to what Jesus
 preached, but the reaction of the people was one of astonishment, “for
 His word was with authority” (Luke 4:32, NKJV). His teaching stood in
 contrast to that of the rabbis. No simple palliatives. Here was preaching
 with authority, rooted in the Scriptures, delivered with the power of the
 Holy Spirit, calling sin by its right name, and urging repentance.

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

   In Luke 4:31–41, we have the first of many healings on the Sabbath
 that Luke records (see Luke 4:38, 39; 6:6–11; 13:10–16; 14:1–16).
 In the Nazareth sermon, Jesus announced that it was His mission
 to relieve, to heal, and to restore those who are brokenhearted and
 oppressed. Here in Capernaum, on a Sabbath day, when the synagogue
 was full of worshipers, a demon-possessed man confronted Jesus
 with a confession: “ ‘Let us alone! . . . You, Jesus of Nazareth. . . . I
 know who You are—the Holy One of God!’ ” (Luke 4:34, NKJV). The
 demon, being one of the satanic host, and as such a supernatural being,
 was quick to recognize the Incarnate Savior. In this account, the veil
 between the seen and unseen world has been pulled aside.

  Think of how openly the great controversy was manifested here.
  Often it’s not that obvious. How, though, are you seeing it played
  out in your own life? What is your only hope of victory in this
  battle? See also 1 Cor. 15:2.


                                                                       41

 The Lord of the Sabbath
   Luke 6:1–11 provides two accounts of Jesus dealing with the Pharisees
 over the Sabbath.

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

    While walking through a field, the disciples plucked the heads of
 grain, rubbed them in their palms, and ate them. But the Pharisees
 twisted the fact to charge the disciples with breaking the Sabbath
 commandment. Jesus sets the story straight and refers the Pharisees
 to David, who, when he was hungry, entered the House of God and he
 and his men ate the shewbread, which only the priests were allowed to
 eat. By doing this, Jesus was pointing out how the Pharisees, through
 a long history of legalism, have heaped rule upon rule, tradition upon
 tradition, and turned the Sabbath from the joy it was supposed to be
 into a burden instead.

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

    Although all the synoptic Gospels narrate this story, only Luke tells
 us that the hand that was withered was the man’s right hand. Dr. Luke’s
 additional detail helps us to understand the serious impact this physical
 deficiency must have had on the man’s ability to carry on a normal
 life. The occasion stirred two responses: first, the Pharisees waited to
 charge Jesus with Sabbath breaking in the event He chose to heal the
 man. Second, Jesus read their hearts and proceeded to show that He is
 the Lord of the Sabbath, the One who created the Sabbath, and that He
 will not fail in His mission to deliver the broken man from the bondage
 of the sin-sick world. Thus, He placed Sabbath keeping in its divine
 perspective: it is lawful on the Sabbath day to do good and to save life
 (Luke 6:9–11).

  Think how blinded these leaders were by their own rules and reg-
  ulations, which they thought were God’s. How can we make sure
  that we don’t fall into the same trap of allowing traditions and
  human teachings to blind us to deeper divine truths? 42

 The Sabbath: The Sick Versus
 the Ox and the Donkey
   Of the three synoptic Gospels, only Luke records these two Sabbath
 healings of Jesus (Luke 13:10–16, 14:1–15). The first caused the
 ruler of the synagogue to be indignant with Jesus; the second put the
 Pharisees to silence. In either case, the enemies of Jesus were using
 their misinterpretation of the Law to accuse Jesus of breaking the
 Sabbath.

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

   Consider the crippled woman. She belonged to a gender that was
 looked down upon by the Pharisees; she was crippled for 18 years, long
 enough to test anyone’s patience and to multiply in her a sense of life’s
 meaninglessness; and, finally, she was totally unable to free herself.
   To her comes divine grace personified. Jesus sees her, calls her to
 come near Him, speaks to her in order that she may be healed, lays His
 hands on her, and “immediately she was made straight” (Luke 13:13,
 NKJV). Eighteen-year-old agony suddenly gives way to a moment of
 undiluted joy, and she “glorified God” (vs. 13). Each verb that Luke
 used is Inspiration’s way of recognizing the worth and dignity of the
 woman and, indeed, the worth and dignity of every despised individ-
 ual, regardless of that person’s situation.
   In the second miracle (Luke 14:1–6), Jesus—on His way to a
 Pharisee’s home for a meal on the Sabbath—heals a man who suffered
 from dropsy. Anticipating the objections from the leaders who were
 watching Him closely, Jesus raised two questions: first, on the purpose
 of the law (“ ‘Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?’ ” [vs. 3]); second, on
 the worth of a human being (“ ‘Which of you, having a donkey or an
 ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the
 Sabbath day?’ ” [vs. 5, NKJV]). His point should have been obvious;
 in fact, it was, because according to Luke they had no answer to what
 He had said. Jesus revealed their hypocrisy, the worst kind because it
 came under a veil of supposed holiness and righteous indignation over
 what they perceived to be an egregious violation of God’s holy law.
   How careful we need to be.


                                                                         43

   Look at how Satan has worked so hard to destroy the Sabbath:
  either he used the leaders in Israel to turn it into a heavy burden,
  all but denuding it of so much of what it was supposed to mean
  and be; or he used, and still uses, leaders in the church to dismiss
  it as antiquated, legalistic, or a mere Jewish tradition. What is it
  about the Sabbath, and what it entails, that would make it such a
  target of Satan’s enmity?

   Jesus is the “ ‘Lord of the Sabbath’ ” (Luke 6:5, NKJV). What
  implications does this statement have for Christians and their
  attitude toward the Sabbath?

  Women in the Ministry
  of Jesus




  Sabbath Afternoon Read for This Week’s Study: Luke 1:39–55; 2:36–38; 7:11–
  17, 36–50; Rom. 10:17; Luke 8:1–3; 18:1–8.

  L
          uke’s Gospel is sometimes called “the Gospel of Women” because,
          more than any other one, it makes special mention of how car-
          ing Jesus was to the needs of women and also of how involved
  women were in His ministry.
    In the time of Jesus, as in some cultures today, women were deemed
  of little worth. Some Jewish men in that time thanked God that they
  were not created a slave, a Gentile, or a woman. Greek and Roman soci-
  ety sometimes treated women even worse. Roman culture developed its
  permissiveness to an almost unlimited licentiousness. A man often had
  a wife only in order to produce legitimate children who would inherit
  his property, and he had concubines for his own sinful pleasures.
    Against such a backdrop of women being treated so badly, Jesus
  brought the good news that women are, indeed, daughters of Abraham
  (see Luke 13:16). How happy the women of those days must have been
  to hear that, in Jesus, they are children of God and of equal worth with
  men in the sight of God. The message today for women of all nations
  remains the same: we are all, men and women, one in Christ Jesus.

 Women Who Welcomed Jesus’ Advent
   Only Luke records the reaction of these women to the wonder of
 cosmic history: that the Son of God took human flesh in order to com-
 plete the redemptive mission of the Father and to fulfill the Messianic
 hopes of His people. Though these women didn’t fully understand what
 was happening, their words and reactions to these astonishing events
 revealed their faith and wonder at the works of God.

 _________________________________________________________

   After Elizabeth spoke, Mary then followed with her own words (Luke
 1:46–55). Often understood to be a song, these words are full of frag-
 ments from the Old Testament, attesting that Mary was a devoted stu-
 dent of Scripture and thus a fit mother for Jesus. Mary’s song is rooted
 not only in Scripture but deep down in her relationship with God. An
 identity emerges between her soul and her Lord, and between her faith
 and Abraham’s hope.

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

   Expectant hope finds its radical fulfillment in Jesus. An old widow
 recognizes the miracle, and from then on she made it her compulsive
 mission to proclaim the Savior to all those who came to the temple. She
 became the first woman evangelist of the gospel.

  Try to imagine the wonder and astonishment of these women at
  the events unfolding around them. What can we do to help keep
  alive in our own hearts the wonder and astonishment of the great
  truths that we have been called to proclaim?




                                                                      47

 Women and Jesus’ Healing Ministry
    Read Luke 7:11–17, the story about the miracle at Nain. This
 woman, impoverished and widowed, now faced another trial, the death
 of her only son. A large crowd of mourners was with her in the funeral
 procession, expressing public grief and sympathy. The loss of her only
 son coupled with the uncertain future of life alone turned the widow
 into a picture of absolute sorrow and hopelessness.
    But the funeral procession going out of the city met with another
 procession entering into it. At the head of the outgoing procession was
 death in a casket; at the head of the incoming procession was life in the
 majesty of the Creator. As the processions met, Jesus saw the widow,
 hopeless and full of grief. “When the Lord saw her, his heart went out
 to her and he said, ‘Don’t cry’ ” (Luke 7:13, NIV). The plea not to cry
 would have been meaningless had it not come from Jesus, the Lord of
 life. For behind the command “Don’t cry!” was the power to remove the
 reason for her crying: Jesus reached forward, touched the coffin, and
 ordered the young man to arise. The touch was considered a ceremo-
 nial defilement (Num. 19:11–13), but to Jesus, compassion was more
 important than ceremonies. Meeting human needs was more urgent
 than adhering to mere rituals.
    The village of Nain not only witnessed a great miracle but also
 received a marvelous message: in Jesus there is no difference between
 the emotional pangs of men and those of women. And His presence
 confronts and confounds the power of death.
    Read also Luke 8:41, 42, 49–56. Jairus was an influential person—a
 ruler of the synagogue, an officer in charge of the care and services of
 the synagogue. Each Sabbath he would choose the person who would
 lead in prayer, Scripture reading, and preaching. He was a person not
 only of eminence and influence but also of wealth and power. He loved
 his daughter and did not hesitate to approach Jesus for the healing of
 his child.

  In these stories, it was the power of Jesus’ words that brought a
  dead son back to his mother and a dead daughter back to her
  father. Think about how incredible these acts must have been
  to those who saw them, especially to the parents. What do these
  accounts tell us about the power of God? What do they tell us
  about just how limited we are in understanding that power?
  (After all, science at present doesn’t have a clue about how this
  could happen.) Most important, though, what must we do in
  order to learn to trust in this power and the goodness of the God
  who wields it, regardless of our present circumstances?

 Women of Gratitude and Faith
   In Luke 7:36–50, Jesus turned a meal into an event of spiritual mag-
 nitude that offered dignity to a sinful woman. Simon, a leading citizen,
 a Pharisee, invited Jesus for a meal. Invitees seated, there was a sudden
 disruption: “a woman in the city who was a sinner” (vs. 37, NKJV)
 rushed straight to Jesus, broke an alabaster box of very expensive
 perfume, poured the ointment on Him, bowed down to His feet, and
 washed them with her tears.

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

    “When to human eyes her case appeared hopeless, Christ saw in
 Mary capabilities for good. He saw the better traits of her character.
 The plan of redemption has invested humanity with great possibilities,
 and in Mary these possibilities were to be realized. Through His grace
 she became a partaker of the divine nature. . . . Mary was first at the
 tomb after His resurrection. It was Mary who first proclaimed a risen
 Saviour.”—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 568.
    In Luke 8:43–48, a case of supreme wretchedness becomes the object
 of the Savior’s supreme regard. For so long, this woman had an incur-
 able disease that ravaged her body and soul. Yet, in this 12-year tragedy,
 a flicker of hope suddenly burst on the scene: “She heard about Jesus”
 (Mark 5:27, NKJV).
    What did she hear? A little or a lot, we do not know. But she knew that
 Jesus cared for the poor; He embraced social outcasts; He touched lepers;
 He turned water into wine; and above all, He cared for desperate people,
 of which she was one. But hearing was not enough; hearing must lead
 to faith (Rom. 10:17). And that faith led her to a simple act of touching
 the edge of His garment. That touch was faith-driven, purposeful, effica-
 cious, and Christ-focused. Only such a faith can receive the benediction
 of the Life-Giver: “ ‘your faith has made you well’ ” (Luke 8:48, NKJV).

  It’s so easy to look at people and judge them, isn’t it? Even if we
  often don’t verbalize it, in our hearts we judge them, which is still
  so wrong. How can we learn to stop judging others, even in our
  thoughts, when who knows what we’d do were we in their situations?




                                                                       49

  Some Women Who Followed Jesus Read Luke 10:38–42. What important spiritual truths can we take
  from this story (see also Luke 8:14) for ourselves?
  _________________________________________________________

  _________________________________________________________

     As the hostess, Martha “was distracted with much serving” (Luke
  10:40, NKJV) and was busy in getting the best for the guests. But Mary
  “sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word” (vs. 39, NKJV). So much so
  that Martha complained to Jesus that she alone was left to do the hard
  work. While Jesus did not rebuke Martha for her preoccupation with
  service, He pointed out the need for right priorities in life. Fellowship
  with Jesus is the first essential in discipleship; potluck can come later.
     “The cause of Christ needs careful, energetic workers. There is a
  wide field for the Marthas, with their zeal in active religious work. But
  let them first sit with Mary at the feet of Jesus. Let diligence, prompt-
  ness, and energy be sanctified by the grace of Christ; then the life will
  be an unconquerable power for good.”—Ellen G. White, The Desire of
  Ages, p. 525.

  _________________________________________________________

  _________________________________________________________

    As His ministry expanded, Jesus “went through every city and vil-
  lage, preaching” and teaching (Luke 8:1, NKJV), with the 12 disciples
  accompanying Him. Luke also records the powerful testimonies of
  certain women whom Jesus had healed, who were touched by His
  preaching, and who were of wealth, also followed Him in His enlarged
  ministry. Here are some whom Luke mentions: (1) certain women
  healed of evil spirits, including Mary Magdalene; (2) Joanna, wife of
  Chuza, business manager of Herod; (3) Susanna; and (4) “many others
  who provided for Him” (vs. 3, NKJV).

   When we understand that Jesus died for every human being, we can
   better grasp the true equality of every person before God. How well
   do we reflect this truth in our attitude toward others? That is, how
   can you root out, if necessary, any attitude in which you might tend
   to look down upon others as somehow less worthy than yourself?

                                                                    51

   In a society that didn’t always recognize the dignity of women,
  Jesus recognized the status that belongs to them in God’s creative
  order as children of God. Women as well as men are made in
  God’s image and equal in His sight. At the same time, however
  equal before God, men and women are not the same. How can we
  affirm the equality of men and women before God and yet, at the
  same time, affirm and acknowledge the differences?

            ©2014 Pacific Press®
            Publishing Association
            Please contact your ABC
            for pricing in Canada. 0-8163-3940-6   45590739

  Jesus, the Holy Spirit,
  and Prayer




  Sabbath Afternoon Read for This Week’s Study: Luke 2:25–32, John 16:5–7,
  Luke 23:46, Luke 11:1–4, Matt. 7:21–23, Luke 11:9–13.

  O
          f the three synoptic Gospels, Luke speaks more often than do
          the others about Jesus’ relationship to the Holy Spirit. While
          Matthew refers to the Spirit 12 times and Mark does so 6
  times, Luke has 17 references in his Gospel and 57 in the book of
  Acts. From the conception of Jesus into humanity (Luke 1:35) to the
  directive establishing His global mission (Luke 24:44–49), Luke sees
  an operational link between Jesus and the Holy Spirit. The link is basic
  to understanding the ministry of our Savior. Likewise, Luke shows the
  importance of prayer in Jesus’ life and mission. Fully divine, equal with
  the Father and the Spirit, Jesus in His humanity left us an example in
  regard to prayer.
    If Jesus saw the need for prayer, how much more must we need it?
    “Without unceasing prayer and diligent watching we are in danger of
  growing careless and of deviating from the right path. The adversary
  seeks continually to obstruct the way to the mercy seat, that we may
  not by earnest supplication and faith obtain grace and power to resist
  temptation.”—Ellen G. White, Steps to Christ, p. 95.

  Jesus and the Holy Spirit
     As a Gentile convert and a missionary companion of the apostle Paul,
  Luke viewed the entire Christological entrance into history—from
  Jesus’ incarnation to His ascension and to the spread of the church—as
  a divine wonder brought about and guided by the Holy Spirit. In Jesus’
  life we see the whole Godhead at work in our redemption (Luke 3:21,
  22); and, through his constant references to the Holy Spirit, Luke
  emphasizes this point.

  _________________________________________________________

  _________________________________________________________

     Jesus’ mission began with several references to the Holy Spirit.
  According to Luke, John the Baptist predicted that although he bap-
  tized with water, the One who would follow him would baptize with
  the Spirit (Luke 3:16). At Jesus’ baptism, both the Father and the Holy
  Spirit affirmed the authenticity of His redemptive mission. God the
  Father declared from above that Christ is His beloved Son sent to
  redeem humankind, while the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in the
  form of a dove (vss. 21, 22). From then on Jesus was “filled with the
  Holy Spirit” (Luke 4:1, NKJV) and ready to take on the foe in the des-
  ert, as well as to begin His ministry (vs. 14).
     The opening words of His Nazareth sermon were an application of
  Isaiah’s Messianic prophecy to Himself: “ ‘The Spirit of the Lord is
  upon Me’ ” (vs. 18, NKJV). The Spirit was His constant companion,
  His affirming strength, and His abiding presence among His follow-
  ers when Jesus would no longer be in their midst (John 16:5–7). Not
  only that, Jesus promised that God would give the gift of the Spirit to
  those who ask for it (Luke 11:13). The Spirit that ever linked Christ to
  His Father and the redemptive mission is the same Spirit that would
  strengthen the disciples in their journey of faith. Hence, the crucial
  importance of the Spirit in Christian life: indeed, blasphemy against the
  Holy Spirit is the gravest of all sins (Luke 12:10).

   What are concrete, practical ways we can open ourselves to the
   leading of the Holy Spirit? That is, how can we be careful that
   our choices are not in any way hardening us to His voice?




                                                                        57

 The Prayer Life of Jesus
    Among the many times that Jesus prayed, some are recorded only
 in Luke. Note the following incidents that show Jesus in prayer during
 great moments in His life.
    1. Jesus prayed at His baptism (Luke 3:21). “A new and important
 era was opening before Him. He was now, upon a wider stage, entering
 on the conflict of His life.”—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p.
 111. He dared not begin that wider stage of His public ministry—which
 would take Him eventually to Calvary’s cross—without prayer.
    2. Jesus prayed before choosing His 12 disciples (Luke 6:12, 13).
 No leader chooses his followers haphazardly. But Jesus was not just
 selecting followers but choosing those who would understand and iden-
 tify completely with His Person and His mission. “Their office was the
 most important to which human beings had ever been called, and was
 second only to that of Christ Himself.”—Ellen G. White, The Desire of
 Ages, p. 291.
    3. Jesus prayed for His disciples (Luke 9:18). Discipleship demands
 absolute commitment to Jesus and an understanding of His identity. In
 order that the Twelve might know who He was, Jesus “was alone pray-
 ing,” and then after that He challenged them with the crucial question:
 “ ‘Who do you say that I am?’ ” (Luke 9:20, NKJV).
    4. Jesus prayed before His transfiguration (Luke 9:28–36) and
 obtained for Himself Heaven’s second endorsement that He is God’s
 “beloved Son.” Trials thus far, and trials to come, could not change the
 closest affinity between the Father and the Son. The prayer also resulted in
 the disciples becoming “eyewitnesses of His majesty” (2 Pet. 1:16, NKJV).
    5. Jesus prayed in Gethsemane (Luke 22:39–46). This is perhaps
 the most important prayer in the history of salvation. Here we have the
 Savior linking heaven and earth, and by so doing He establishes three
 crucial principles: the primacy of God’s will and purpose; the commit-
 ment to fulfill that primacy even at the risk of blood and death; and the
 strength to overcome every temptation along the way toward fulfilling
 God’s purpose.
    6. Jesus prayed, committing His life into God’s hands (Luke
 23:46). In His final words on the cross, “ ‘Father, into Your hands I
 commit My spirit’ ” (NKJV), Jesus gives us the ultimate purpose of
 prayer. At birth or at death, before enemies or friends, while asleep or
 awake, prayer must keep us in permanent linkage with God.

  What do these examples from Jesus’ prayer life tell you about
  your own prayer life?

 The Model Prayer: Part 1 Read Luke 11:1–4. How do these verses help us to understand how
 prayer works?
 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

    “Father” is Christ’s favorite way of describing God and is so recorded
 at least one hundred seventy times in the four Gospels. In addressing
 God as our Father, we acknowledge that God is a Person, capable of
 the most intimate relationship with humans. God is as personal, as
 real, as loving, and as caring as a human father. But He is the Father in
 heaven. He is different from our earthly father, for He is omnipotent,
 omniscient, omnipresent, and perfectly holy.
    The phrase “Father in heaven” forever reminds us that God is holy
 and personal and that Christianity is neither a mere philosophic idea
 nor a pantheistic notion of a god who is everything.
    “ ‘Hallowed be Your name’ ” (Luke 11:2, NKJV). Here we have
 another reminder of the holiness and sacredness of God. Those who
 claim to follow the Lord must sanctify His name in word and deed. To
 claim to follow Him and yet to sin against Him is to defile that name.
 The words of Jesus in Matthew 7:21–23 can help us better to under-
 stand what it means to hallow God’s name.
    “ ‘Your kingdom come’ ” (Luke 11:2, NKJV). The Gospels refer to
 the kingdom of God more than one hundred times: nearly forty in Luke,
 nearly fifty in Matthew, 16 in Mark, and 3 in John. It is what Jesus
 came to reveal and establish, both in the present reality of the kingdom
 of grace and in the future promise of the kingdom of glory. Without
 entering the first kingdom, there would be no entry into the second, and
 it is the Savior’s wish that His disciples should experience the first in
 anticipation of the second.
    “ ‘Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven’ ” (Luke 11:2, NKJV).
 The will of God is recognized and obeyed in heaven. Jesus takes that fact
 and converts it into a hope that such will be the case on earth, as well.
 “On earth” suggests not generality but particularity. Let the will of God
 be done on earth, but let it begin with us, with each one of us personally.

  Do you know the Lord, or just about Him? In what ways can your
  prayer life draw you closer to Him?




                                                                         59

  The Model Prayer: Part 2
     “ ‘Give us day by day our daily bread’ ” (Luke 11:3, NKJV). The
  petition begins with the word give. Whether the word comes from the
  lips of a millionaire or an orphan in perpetual want, the prayer is at
  once an expression of dependence and acknowledgment of trust. We
  are all dependent on God, and the imperative plea, “Give,” forces us to
  recognize that God is the source of all gifts. He is the Creator. In Him
  we live, move, and have our being. “It is He who has made us, and not
  we ourselves” (Ps. 100:3, NKJV).

  _________________________________________________________

  _________________________________________________________

     “ ‘Forgive us our sins’ ” (Luke 11:4, NKJV). The prayer to forgive as
  “ ‘we also forgive’ ” (vs. 4, NKJV) emphasizes the fact that if we truly
  have accepted God’s forgiveness into our hearts, we will be ready and
  willing to forgive others also. Logically, it also follows that if we do
  not forgive others, then we have not really accepted God’s forgiveness
  (Matt. 6:14). “God’s forgiveness is not merely a judicial act by which
  He sets us free from condemnaton. It is not only forgiveness for sin, but
  reclaiming from sin. It is the outflow of redeeming love that transforms
  the heart.”—Ellen G. White, Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing,
  p. 114. Therefore, as disciples of Christ, we have the joy of living within
  the widening circle of divine grace—receiving God’s benevolence on
  the one hand as well as extending His love and forgiveness to others
  who may have offended us.
     “ ‘Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us’ ” (Luke 11:4,
  NKJV). Two facts need to be noted. First, temptation is not sin. The
  Greek word for “temptation” is peirasmos. Greek nouns that end in
  -asmos normally describe a process, not a product. The Scriptures do
  not look at temptation as a finished product; it is a method, a process
  used to achieve a particular product. Although temptation is not sin,
  yielding to it is. Second, God is not the author of temptation (James
  1:13). God may allow tempta­tions to come, but He never tempts in the
  sense of alluring one to sin. The prayer, therefore, is recognition that
  God is the source of ultimate strength to resist the evil one.

   Review Luke 11:1–4. Think about all the issues it covers. In what
   ways can your experience with each of these issues be enriched
   and deepened through prayer?

 More Lessons on Prayer
    Immediately after giving His disciples a model prayer, Jesus taught
 them, through the parable of a friend at midnight (Luke 11:5–13), the
 need for persistent prayer. Then, as He neared the end of His ministry,
 He reminded His followers of the need for penitence and humility in
 prayer (Luke 18:9–14). Both of these parables show that prayer is not
 just a religious routine but also a persistent walking, talking, and living
 with the Father.
    Read Luke 11:5–8. Jesus told this parable to encourage perseverance
 in prayer. Prayer should not become a routine. Instead, prayer should
 be the foundation of a relationship—of absolute, persistent, and con-
 tinual reliance on God. Prayer is the breath of the soul: without it, we
 are spiritually dead. Jesus tells the parable of a neighbor who refuses to
 be neighborly. The continuous pleas of his friend for a loaf of bread to
 meet a midnight emergency go in vain. But finally, even such a neigh-
 bor gives up and yields to the persistence of the continuous midnight
 knocks. How much more responsive would God be toward someone
 persistent in prayer? Such persistence is not to change God’s mind but
 to strengthen our trust.

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

   The Pharisee expected God to endorse him on the basis of what he
 had done, his works of righteousness. The publican threw himself at
 God’s mercy and pleaded for acceptance on the basis of God’s grace.
 God’s acceptance comes to us not on the basis of who or what we are
 but through His grace alone. Only those who are penitent, humble, and
 broken in spirit can receive that grace.
   “Meekness and lowliness are the conditions of success and victory. A
 crown of glory awaits those who bow at the foot of the cross.”—Ellen
 G. White, Prophets and Kings, p. 590.

  People who have not known the Lord tend to compare themselves
  to those who are, supposedly, worse than they are, all in order to
  convince themselves that they are not so bad. Why is that such a
  spiritual deception? What does it matter if others are worse than
  we are?


                                                                         61

   In what ways is the very act of prayer itself an acknowledgment
  of our dependence on and need of God? Read Luke 18:9. What
  deep spiritual problem was Jesus addressing with the parable that
  followed?

  The Mission of                           Jesus



  Sabbath Afternoon Read for This Week’s Study: Luke 15:4–7, 11–32; 16:19–31;
  18:35–43; 19:1–10.

  I
      f we were to write a mission statement for Jesus, we could not do
      any better than to repeat His own words: “ ‘To seek and to save that
      which was lost.’ ”
     What was lost? It was humanity itself, which was alienated from
  God, subject to death, and filled with fear, disappointment, and despair.
  If nothing were done in our behalf, all would be lost.
     Thanks to Jesus, though, we all have great reasons to be hopeful.
     “In the apostasy, man alienated himself from God; earth was cut off
  from heaven. Across the gulf that lay between, there could be no com-
  munion. But through Christ, earth is again linked with heaven. With
  His own merits, Christ has bridged the gulf which sin had made. . . .
  Christ connects fallen man in his weakness and helplessness with the
  Source of infinite power.”—Ellen G. White, Steps to Christ, p. 20.
     From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible is a story of God seeking after
  lost humanity. Luke illustrates this truth by using three important par-
  ables: the lost sheep (Luke 15:4–7), the lost coin (vss. 8–10), and the
  lost son (vss. 11–32).

  The Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin Read Luke 15:4–7. What does this tell us about God’s love for us? Why
  is it so important to understand that it was the shepherd who went
  looking for the lost sheep?

  _________________________________________________________

  _________________________________________________________

     In a world that can appear uncaring and indifferent to us, this parable
  reveals a startling truth: God loves us so much that He Himself will
  come after us, in order to bring us to Him. We often talk about people
  seeking God; in reality, God is seeking us.
     “The soul that has given himself to Christ is more precious in His sight
  than the whole world. The Saviour would have passed through the agony
  of Calvary that one might be saved in His kingdom. He will never abandon
  one for whom He has died. Unless His followers choose to leave Him, He
  will hold them fast.”—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 483.
     Read Luke 15:8, 9. This parable is found only in Luke. The lost coin
  could have one of two meanings. First, Judea during the time of Jesus
  was full of poor people, and in most homes one coin (drachma) could
  have been more than a day’s wage, barely enough to keep the family
  from starving. Second, as a mark of being married, some women wore
  a headdress made up of ten coins—a huge sum, saved over a long time
  in the case of poor families.
     In either case, the loss was a serious matter. So, the woman, utterly
  broken and in deep grief, lights a lamp (the house perhaps had no win-
  dows or perhaps only a small window), picks up a broom, and turns
  the house upside down until she finds that coin. Her soul is filled with
  overflowing joy, and the overflow floods to all her friends.
     “The coin, though lying among dust and rubbish, is a piece of silver or
  gold still. Its owner seeks it because it is of value. So, every soul, however
  degraded by sin, is in God’s sight accounted precious. As the coin bears
  the image and superscription of the reigning power, so man at his cre-
  ation bore the image and superscription of God; and though now marred
  and dim through the influence of sin, the traces of this inscription remain
  upon every soul.”—Ellen G. White, Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 194.

   So much of modern science and philosophy tells us that we are
   nothing but chance creations in a meaningless universe that does
   not care at all about our fate or us. What completely different
   worldview is presented in these two parables?



                                                                            65

 The Parable of the Lost Son: Part 1
    Hailed in history as the most beautiful short story ever told on the
 forgiving nature of love, the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11–
 32), narrated only by Luke, may well be called the parable of the loving
 father and two lost sons. One son chose the lawlessness of the distant
 land over the love of the father. The other son chose to stay in the home
 but did not fully know the love of the father or the meaning of a brother.
 The parable may be studied in seven parts, four dealing with the prod-
 igal, two with the Father, and one with the elder brother.
    1. “Give me” (Luke 15:12). The younger son’s decision to demand
 of his father his portion of the property was no sudden, impulsive urge.
 Sin often results after a long time of brooding over misplaced priorities.
 The younger son must have heard from friends about the glitter and
 glamour of distant lands. Life at home was too rigid. Love was there,
 but it had its own boundaries; the distant land offered him life without
 restrictions. The father was too protective, his love too embracing. The
 son wanted freedom, and in the quest for unhindered freedom was the
 seed of rebellion.
    2. “Why me?” (Luke 15:13–16). The son cashed in his entire share
 and set off to the “far country.” The far country is a place far away from
 the father’s home. Love’s caring eyes, law’s protective fence, grace’s
 ever-present embrace are foreign to the far country. It is a distant land
 of “riotous living” (vs. 13). The Greek word for “riotous” (asotos)
 appears three other times as a noun in the New Testament: for drunk-
 enness (Eph. 5:18), rebelliousness (Titus 1:6), and debauchery that
 includes “lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and
 abominable idolatries” (1 Pet. 4:3, 4, NKJV). Such pleasures of godless
 living wasted away his health and wealth, and soon he became money-
 less, friendless, and foodless. His glittering life wound up in a gutter.
 Starved to the point of being in perpetual want, he found employment
 in caring for the pigs, a harsh fate for a Jew.
    3. “Make me” (Luke 15:17–19). But even the prodigal is still a
 son, with the power of choice to turn around. So, the son “ ‘came to
 his senses’ ” and remembered a place called home, a person known
 as father, a relational bond called love. He walked back home, with
 a speech in his hand, to plead with the father: “ ‘Make me.’ ” That
 is, make me whatever you want, but let me be within your watchful
 eyes, within the care of your love. What better home is there but the
 Father’s heart.

  The world can appear very alluring. What specific things of the
  world do you find yourself particularly tempted by, that you find
  yourself thinking, “Oh, that’s not so bad,” when deep down you
  know it is?

 Lost Opportunities
   Although Jesus came to seek and save those lost in sin, He never
 forces anyone to accept the salvation He offers. Salvation is free and
 available to all, but one must accept the free offer in faith, which results
 in a life in conformity with God’s will. The only time we have for such
 an experience is while we live on earth; no other opportunity exists.

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

    The parable is recorded only in Luke, and it teaches two great truths
 with respect to salvation: the importance of “today” in the process of
 salvation and the absence of another opportunity for salvation after death.
    Today is the day of salvation. The parable does not teach that there
 is something inherently evil in riches or something inescapably good in
 being poor. What it does teach is that the opportunity of being saved and
 living saved must not be missed while we are on this earth. Rich or poor,
 educated or illiterate, powerful or powerless, we have no second chance.
 All are saved and judged by their attitude today, now, to Jesus. “Behold,
 now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2).
    The parable also teaches that eternal reward has nothing to do with
 material possessions. The rich man was “ ‘clothed in purple and fine
 linen and fared sumptuously every day’ ” (Luke 16:19, NKJV) but
 missed the essential of life: God. Where God is not recognized, fellow
 human beings are not noticed. The rich man’s sin was not in his rich-
 ness but in his failure to recognize that God’s family is broader than he
 was prepared to accept.
     There is no second chance for salvation after death. The second
 inescapable truth that Jesus teaches here is that there is no second
 chance for salvation after death. “It is appointed for men to die once,
 but after this the judgment” (Heb. 9:27, NKJV). Another point of this
 parable is to show people that we have been given enough evidence
 now, in this life, to make a conscious choice for or against God. Any
 theology that teaches some kind of “second chance” after death is a
 great deception.

  We love to talk about how much God loves us and all that He
  has done and is doing to save us. What should this parable teach
  us, though, about the danger of taking God’s love and offer of
  salvation for granted?

 Was Blind but Now I See
    The mission statement of Jesus that He came to seek and save that
 which was lost is an affirmation of a holistic ministry. He came to make
 men and women whole, to transform them physically, mentally, spiritu-
 ally, and socially. Luke gives us two instances that illustrate how Jesus
 restored two broken men into wholeness. One was blind physically, the
 other spiritually; both were outcasts—one a beggar and the other a tax
 collector. But both men were candidates for Christ’s saving mission,
 and neither was beyond His heart or reach.

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

   Mark names the man as Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46). He was a beggar
 outside of Jericho. Physically challenged, socially of no consequence,
 and poverty stricken, he suddenly found himself in the sweep of heav-
 en’s wonder: “Jesus of Nazareth was passing by” (Luke 18:37, NKJV),
 and his faith surged upward to cry out, “ ‘Son of David, have mercy on
 me!’ ” (vs. 39, NKJV). Faith requires neither eyes nor ears, neither feet
 nor hands, but only a heart that connects to the Creator of the world.

   Only Luke records the story of Zacchaeus, the last of Jesus’ many
 encounters with outcasts. Christ’s mission, to seek and save that which
 was lost, was gloriously fulfilled in this encounter with Zacchaeus.
 Zacchaeus was Jericho’s chief tax collector, a chief sinner in the judg-
 ment of the city’s Pharisees, but a chief sinner sought and saved by the
 Savior. What strange places and methods Jesus used to accomplish His
 mission: a sycamore tree, a curious man seeking to see who Jesus was,
 and a loving Lord commanding the man to come down, for He had a
 self-invited lunch appointment with him. But more important, Jesus
 had a delivery to make: “ ‘Today salvation has come to this house’ ”
 (Luke 19:9, NKJV), but not before Zacchaeus made things right (vs. 8).

  It’s easy to see other people’s faults and shortcomings, isn’t it?
  But we can so often be blind to our own. What are some areas in
  your life that you need to face up to, confess, and get the victory
  over which you have been putting off for way too long?
                                                                       69

    Look again at the final question at the end of Tuesday’s study.
   What was the fatal mistake that the older son made? What spir-
   itual defects were revealed in his attitude? Why is it easier to
   have that same attitude than we might think? See also Matthew
   20:1–16.

    In the story of the rich man and Lazarus, Jesus said that even
   if someone were to come back from the dead, there would be those
   who would not believe. In what ways did this parable foretell the
   reaction of some to the resurrection of Jesus, in which some still
   didn’t believe despite the powerful evidence for His resurrection?

    One of the most impressive aspects of Jesus’ saving ministry is
   the equality with which He treated all people, such as the blind
   beggar and Zacchaeus, or Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman.
   The Cross, more than anything else, shows the equality of all peo-
   ple before God. How should this crucial truth impact how we treat
   others, even those toward whom—because of politics, culture, eth-
   nicity, whatever—we might have previously held ill feelings? Why
   is that attitude so anti-Jesus?

    Compare the story of the prodigal son with the story of the rich
   man and Lazarus. How do the two balance each other out?

        Master
  Jesus, the
  Teacher


  Sabbath Afternoon Read for This Week’s Study: Luke 8:22–25, 4:31–37, 6:20–49,
  8:19–21, 10:25–37, Deut. 6:5.

  W
             hen Christ came to the earth, humanity seemed to be fast
             reaching its lowest point. The very foundations of society
             were undermined. Life had become false and artificial. . . .
  Disgusted with fable and falsehood, seeking to drown thought, men
  turned to infidelity and materialism. Leaving eternity out of their reck-
  oning, they lived for the present.
    “As they ceased to recognize the Divine, they ceased to regard the
  human. Truth, honor, integrity, confidence, compassion, were depart-
  ing from the earth. Relentless greed and absorbing ambition gave birth
  to universal distrust. The idea of duty, of the obligation of strength
  to weakness, of human dignity and human rights, was cast aside as
  a dream or a fable. The common people were regarded as beasts of
  burden or as the tools and the steppingstones for ambition. Wealth
  and power, ease and self-indulgence, were sought as the highest good.
  Physical degeneracy, mental stupor, spiritual death, characterized the
  age.”—Ellen G. White, Education, pp. 74, 75.
    Against such a background we can better understand why Jesus
  taught the things that He did.

 The Authority of Jesus
    As a physician and scholar, Luke was acquainted with the role of author-
 ity. He was familiar with the authority of philosophy in Greek scholarship
 and education. He knew the authority of the Roman law in civil matters
 and government function. As Paul’s traveling companion he knew the
 ecclesiastic authority that the apostle commanded with the churches he
 founded. Thus, Luke understood that authority is at the core of a person’s
 position, an institution’s role, a state’s function, and a teacher’s relationship
 to his or her followers. Having rubbed shoulders with all kinds of authority
 at all levels of power, Luke shared with his readers that there was some-
 thing matchless about Jesus and His authority. Born in a carpenter’s home,
 brought up for 30 years in the little Galilean town of Nazareth, known for
 nothing great by worldly standards, Jesus confronted everyone—Roman
 rulers, Jewish scholars, rabbis, ordinary people, secular and religious pow-
 ers—with His teaching and ministry. His fellow townspeople “marveled at
 the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth” (Luke 4:22, NKJV).
 He once brought hope to a widow in Nain by raising her dead son to life
 (Luke 7:11–17). The entire town went into a shiver of fear and exclaimed:
 “ ‘God has visited His people’ ” (vs. 16, NKJV). The authority of Jesus over
 life and death electrified not just Nain but “Judea and all the surrounding
 region” (vss. 16, 17, NKJV).

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

    Luke took time to record, not only for his friend Theophilus but also
 for generations to come, that Jesus, through His ministry, had estab-
 lished the uniqueness of His authority. As God in the flesh, He indeed
 had authority as no one else ever did.

  Lots of people do things in the name of God, which would then
  of course give their actions a lot of authority. How can we be sure
  that when we say, “God led me to do this,” He really did? Discuss
  answers in class on Sabbath.




                                                                              73

 Christ’s Greatest Sermon
   The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7) is often hailed in literature
 as “the essence of Christianity.” Luke provides selections of the ser-
 mon in Luke 6:20–49 and elsewhere. Because Luke placed the sermon
 immediately after the “official” choosing of the disciples (Luke 6:13),
 some scholars have called it the “Ordination Charge to the Twelve.”
   As presented in Luke 6:20–49, the sermon begins with four bless-
 ings and four woes and outlines other essential characteristics of the
 Christian way.

 1. The Christian blessedness (Luke 6:20–22). How can poverty, hun-
 ger, weeping, and being hated lead to blessedness?

 2. The Christian’s reason for rejoicing in the midst of rejection
 (Luke 6:22, 23).

 3. Woes to guard against (Luke 6:24–26). Review each of the four
 woes. Why should a Christian guard against these?

 4. The Christian imperative (Luke 6:27–31). No command of Jesus is
 more debated and is considered more difficult to keep than the golden
 rule of love. The Christian ethic is fundamentally positive, not negative.
 It does not consist of what not to do but what to do. Instead of saying
 “Don’t hate” your enemy, it insists, “Love your enemy.” Instead of the
 law of reciprocity (“tooth for a tooth”), the golden rule demands the
 ethic of pure goodness (“turn the other cheek also”). Mahatma Gandhi
 developed out of the golden rule an entire political philosophy of
 resisting evil through good and eventually used this principle to win
 independence for India from British colonialism. Likewise, Martin
 Luther King Jr. employed the ethic of the golden rule to break the evil
 of segregation in the United States. Where love reigns, blessedness
 ascends the throne.

 5. The Christian way (Luke 6:37–42). Note Christ’s insistence on for-
 giveness, liberal giving, exemplary living, and tolerance.

 6. The Christian fruit-bearing (Luke 6:43–45).

 7. The Christian builder (Luke 6:48, 49).

 A New Family
    Great teachers before and since Jesus have taught about unity and
 love, but usually it is about love within the parameters of a single
 group; a family defined by the exclusivity of caste, color, language,
 tribe, or religion. But Jesus broke down the barriers that divide
 humans and ushered in a new family, one that made no distinction
 between the usual things that divide people. Under the banner of
 agape love—unmerited, nonexclusive, universal, and sacrificial—
 Christ created a new family. This family reflects the original, univer-
 sal, and ideal concept enshrined in the Genesis creation, which attests
 that every human being is created in the image of God (Gen. 1:26, 27)
 and, therefore, equal before Him.
    Read Luke 8:19–21. Without in any way minimizing the ties and
 obligations that bind parents and children, brothers and sisters within
 a family, Jesus looked beyond flesh and blood and placed both of
 them at the altar of God as members of the “whole family in heaven
 and earth” (Eph. 3:15, NKJV). The family of Christian discipleship
 ought to be no less close and binding than the ties of having common
 parents. To Jesus the true test of “family” is not blood relationships
 but doing the will of God.

   Luke 5:27–32 ___________________________________________

   Luke 7:1–10 ____________________________________________

   Luke 14:15–24 __________________________________________

   Luke 17:11–19 __________________________________________

   The mission and the ministry of Jesus, His forgiving heart and
 embracing grace, did not exclude anyone but included all who would
 accept His call. His everlasting love brought Him in touch with the
 entire spectrum of society.

  What are ways that, as a church, we can better follow this crucial
  principle?




                                                                     75

 Love Defined: The Parable
 of the Good Samaritan: Part 1
   Of the four Gospels, only Luke records the parables of the prodigal
 son and the good Samaritan (Luke 10:25–37). The first one illustrates
 the vertical dimension of love, the extraordinary love of the Father
 toward sinners; the second one shows us the horizontal dimension—the
 kind of love that should characterize human life, refusing to acknowl-
 edge any barrier between humans but living instead within Jesus’ defi-
 nition of a “neighbor”: that all human beings are children of God and
 deserve to be loved and treated equally.

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

 1. “ ‘Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’ ” (vs. 25, NKJV).
    Note that the lawyer sought for a way to inherit eternal life. To be saved
 from sin and to enter into God’s kingdom is indeed the noblest of all aspi-
 rations one can have, but the lawyer, like so many, had grown up with the
 false notion that eternal life is something one can earn by good works.
 Evidently he had no knowledge that “the wages of sin is death, but the
 gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:23, NKJV).

 2. “ ‘What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?’ ” (vs.
 26, NKJV).
    During the time of Jesus, it was the custom of prominent Jews,
 such as this lawyer, to wear a phylactery on the wrist. It was a little
 leather pouch in which were written some great portions of the torah,
 including the one that would answer Jesus’ question. Jesus directed the
 lawyer to what was written in Deuteronomy (Deut. 6:5) and Leviticus
 (Lev. 19:18)—the very thing that he might have been carrying in his
 phylactery. He had on his wrist, but not in his heart, the answer to His
 question. Jesus directed the lawyer to a great truth: eternal life is not a
 matter of keeping rules but calls for loving God absolutely and unre-
 servedly and likewise all God’s creation—“the neighbor,” to be precise.
 However, either out of ignorance or out of arrogance, the lawyer pur-
 sued the dialogue with another query: “Who is my neighbor?”

  What outward evidence reveals that you have truly been saved
  by grace? That is, what is it about your life that shows you are
  justified by faith? 76

 Love Defined: The Parable
 of the Good Samaritan: Part 2
    “But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, ‘And who is my
 neighbor?’ ” (Luke 10:29, NKJV).
    An expert in the Jewish law, the lawyer must have known the answer
 to the question. Leviticus 19:18, where the second great commandment
 is spelled out, defines “neighbors” as “children of your people” (NKJV).
 Hence, instead of providing an immediate answer to the lawyer’s ques-
 tion or getting into a theological dispute with him and those observing
 the episode, Jesus lifts the lawyer and His audience to a higher plane.

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

    Notice that Jesus said that “a certain man” (vs. 30) fell among
 thieves. Why did Jesus not identify the man’s race or status? Given the
 whole purpose of the story, why did it matter?
    The priest and the Levite saw the wounded man but passed him by.
 Whatever their reasons for not helping, for us the questions are: what
 is true religion, and how should it be expressed (Deut. 10:12, 13; Mic.
 6:8; James 1:27)?
    Hatred and animosity marked the relationship between Jews and
 Samaritans, and by the time of Jesus the enmity between the two
 had only worsened (Luke 9:51–54, John 4:9). Hence, by making a
 Samaritan the “hero” of the story, Jesus brought home His point,
 in this case to the Jews, even stronger than it otherwise might have
 been.
    Jesus described the Samaritan’s ministry in great detail: he took pity,
 he went to him, bandaged his wounds, poured oil and wine, carried him
 to an inn, paid in advance for his stay, and promised to care for any
 balance on his way back. All these parts of the Samaritan’s ministry
 together define the limitlessness of true love. The fact, too, that he did
 all these for a man who was possibly a Jew reveals that true love knows
 no frontier.

  The priest and the Levite asked themselves the question: What
  would happen to us if we stopped and helped this man? The
  Samaritan asked: What would happen to this man if I didn’t help
  him? What is the difference between the two?


                                                                        77

    Go back over the “four woes” in Luke 6:24–26. How are we to
   understand what Jesus is saying there? What is He really warning
   us to be careful of in this life?

    Think about the whole question of authority. What is author-
   ity? What are different kinds of authority? What kinds of author-
   ity trump other kinds? How should we relate to different kinds of
   authority in our life? What happens when the authorities over us
   clash?

  Following Jesus in Everyday
  Life


  Sabbath Afternoon Read for This Week’s Study: Luke 11:37–54; 12:4–21, 35–53;
  Amos 6:1; Luke 8:4–15; 22:24–27.

  T
          hough a great teacher, Jesus did not establish a school of the-
          ology or philosophy. His purpose was “to seek and to save that
          which was lost” (Luke 19:10). He came to reveal the character
  of God, a revelation that culminated in the Cross, where He not only
  showed humanity and unfallen worlds what God was really like, but He
  also paid the penalty for sin so that human beings, despite their fallen
  nature, could be redeemed.
     In doing this, He also created a redeemed community, a community
  of those who, having been saved by His death, have chosen to model
  His life and teachings.
     The call to be part of this redeemed community is a call, not to a
  preferred status in life but to an absolute allegiance to the One who
  calls, to Christ Himself. What He says becomes the disciple’s law of
  life. What He desires becomes the disciple’s sole purpose in life. No
  amount of outward goodness or doctrinal perfection can take the place
  of total allegiance to Christ and His will.
     Discipleship, which we owe exclusively to the indwelling Christ,
  makes certain imperative requirements. No competition and no substi-
  tute are permitted.

 Flee Pharisaism
   Of the more than 80 references to Pharisees in the Gospels, approxi-
 mately 25 percent of them are found in Luke. Pharisees were noted for
 their doctrinal conservatism, as opposed to Sadducees, who were known
 for their liberal ideas. Pharisees were often legalists who, while profess-
 ing to believe in grace, taught salvation by the keeping of the law.

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

    A review of the woes (Luke 11:42–54) pronounced on the Pharisees
 and the scribes shows how much the call to true religion crosses every
 generation, including our own.
    For example, while tithing is a joyful acknowledgment of God’s pro-
 vision, it can never be a substitute for the basic demands of love and
 justice in human relations (vs. 42).
    These same ones who “ ‘neglect justice and the love of God’ ” love,
 instead, the “ ‘most important seats in the synagogues’ ” (vss. 42, 43,
 NIV). Talk about missing the point of true faith!
    Jesus warned, too, that those who equate true religion with outward
 rituals alone are really unclean, somewhat like those who come in
 contact with the dead (Luke 11:44; see also Num. 19:16). How easy to
 confuse what’s trivial with what’s sacred in the eyes of God.
    Also, Jesus pronounced a woe on the experts in the law who used
 their education and experience to place intolerable religious burdens
 on others while they themselves “ ‘do not touch the burdens with one
 of [their] fingers’ ” (Luke 11:46, NKJV).
    Meanwhile, the Pharisees honored the prophets no longer alive but
 worked against the living ones. Even as Jesus spoke, some were plotting
 to kill the Son of God. What is important is not the honoring of prophets
 but the heeding of their prophetic message of love, mercy, and judgment.
    The last woe is a terrible one. Some who had been entrusted with the
 key to God’s kingdom had failed in their trusteeship. Instead of using
 the key wisely and letting God’s people come into the kingdom, they
 had locked them out and thrown away the key.
                                                                         81

 Fear God
   “ ‘Fear God and give glory to Him’ ” (Rev. 14:7, NKJV) is the first of
 the three angels’ messages, so central to Seventh-day Adventists’ life and
 faith. Fearing God is not being afraid, as it is often thought to be. It is
 realizing just who God is and what His claims on us are. It is an act of
 faith that involves total allegiance to Him. God becomes the sole definer
 and arbiter of our life—our thoughts, actions, relationships, and destiny.
 Discipleship based on that kind of “fear” stands on unshakable ground.

 _________________________________________________________

   The passage shows us whom to fear and whom not to fear. We need
 not fear forces that can affect only our body in the present world.
 Instead, we must fear and obey God because in His hands is our eternal
 destiny. But our God—whose eyes are on the sparrow (Luke 12:6) and
 who has numbered the hairs on our heads (vs. 7)—is loving and caring;
 hence, each one of us is infinitely precious in His sight. If we truly
 believed that, how many earthly fears would vanish?

 _________________________________________________________

   While Jesus refuses to intervene between two brothers quarreling
 over the division of property, He does emphasize the relevance of the
 tenth commandment (Exod. 20:17) against the evil of covetousness and
 points out a significant truth for all time: life is not made up of things
 (Luke 12:15). The rich foolish man lived in a little world restricted to
 himself. Nothing else mattered to him. How careful we need to be not
 to fall into this same trap; this is especially crucial for those who have
 been blessed with an abundance of material goods.

  Though we all enjoy material things, think how little ultimate
  satisfaction they can really give you, especially in light of eter-
  nity. Why, then, is it still so easy to make the mistake that Jesus
  warned about in Luke 12:16–21?

 Be Prepared and Watchful
   “Vigilance and fidelity have been required of Christ’s followers in
 every age; but now that we are standing upon the very verge of the eter-
 nal world, holding the truths we do, having so great light, so important
 a work, we must double our diligence.”—Ellen G. White, Testimonies
 for the Church, vol. 5, pp. 460, 461.

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

    Christians cannot afford to be lax or lethargic. The context of His
 sure return, and the unknown hour thereof, should drive us to have our
 robes girded and our lamps trimmed and burning. The eschatological
 hope must be the driving force of our life and work, our readiness and
 faithfulness. It is this faithfulness to do His will on earth and readiness
 to meet Him in peace that distinguish between good and evil servants.
    Any neglect of faithfulness on the pretext that “ ‘My master is delay-
 ing his coming’ ” (Luke 12:45, NKJV) is placing oneself under the
 severest form of God’s judgment (vss. 45–48). The more the privilege,
 the greater the responsibility, and hence, from those who are given
 much, much will be expected (vs. 48).
    The ancient prophet’s judgment “Woe to you who are at ease in Zion”
 (Amos 6:1, NKJV) seems reflected in Christ’s warning that Christian
 discipleship is not a state of ease. Paul explains the Christian life as one
 of spiritual warfare (Eph. 6:12). The focal point is that every Christian
 is involved in the cosmic conflict between Christ and Satan, and the
 Cross draws a clear line between the two. Only by continual faith in the
 Christ of the cross can one win the final victory.

  “ ‘For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be
  required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they
  will ask the more’ ” (Luke 12:48, NKJV). What should this text
  mean to us as Seventh-day Adventists?




                                                                         83

 Be a Fruitful Witness
     The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, in their eternal council
 “before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1:4), laid the plan of salva-
 tion. That is, even before the first human was created and, of course,
 before the first humans sinned, God had a plan in place to rescue the
 world. The plan is rooted in the cross, and the good news of the cross
 must be told to everyone in the world. The responsibility of that witness
 is placed on every Christian.
    “ ‘You shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and
 Samaria, and to the end of the earth’ ” (Acts 1:8, NKJV). The final
 charge of Jesus underscores the importance the Lord placed on the
 witnessing role of His followers.

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

   In each of these texts, and others, the dangers, the responsibilities,
 and the rewards of witnessing and faith are revealed. We have been
 charged with a solemn responsibility; but considering what we have
 been given, how little is really asked of us? 84

  Be a Servant Leader Read Luke 22:24–27. Even as the disciples were preparing for the Last
  Supper, they were arguing about who among them would be the
  greatest in the kingdom. How does Jesus respond to their foolish-
  ness, and what is so revolutionary about His reply?
  _________________________________________________________

  _________________________________________________________

     Jesus’ answer is unique in the history of leadership. Pharaoh,
  Nebuchadnezzar, Alexander, Julius Caesar, Napoleon, and Genghis
  Khan all saw leadership in terms of power and authority over others.
  That’s pretty much how the world has always worked in regard to
  power.
     “ ‘But not so among you; on the contrary,’ ” said Jesus, “ ‘he who
  is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs
  as he who serves’ ” (Luke 22:26, NKJV). In so saying, the Lord of the
  universe reversed the definition of leadership: “ ‘Whoever wants to
  become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to
  be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to
  be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many’ ”
  (Matt. 20:26–28, NIV).
     In so defining servanthood and self-denial as the core principles
  of His way and His leadership, Jesus introduced a new dynamic to
  human relations: fulfillment comes not from power but from service;
  leadership derives its authority not from position but from servant-
  hood; transformation begins not with the throne but with the cross.
  To live is to die (John 12:24).
     In Luke 9:46–48 something similar arose among Jesus’ disciples
  about who would be the greatest. The principles of the world were
  still firmly entrenched in His disciples’ minds.
     The Master’s answer gets to the heart of the problem and poses one
  of the most difficult challenges in life in general and in the Christian
  life in particular. Jesus’ words, especially the part about being the
  “ ‘least among you’ ” (vs. 48, NKJV), show how completely backward
  the world’s priorities are.
   With the principles of the world so utterly opposite of what Jesus
   taught here, how are we to survive if we implement His principles
   in our own lives?




                                                                       85

   In some of our churches, we see two groups: first, the profes-
  sionals, business executives, church and community leaders, and
  the influential, all who get respect, notice, and regard; second, the
  silent and the insignificant ones who just come and go without
  anyone taking note of them. What can you do to make the latter
  feel just as important as the first group?

   Though it’s easy today to deride the Pharisees for the way that
  they perverted the faith, how can we be sure that we, who are
  zealous for the faith, are not in danger of making the same mis-
  takes? How do we stand firm for what is right without becoming
  a Pharisee? Or, even more important, how do we determine what
  is right and what is worth fighting for, as opposed to “straining
  at gnats”?

   How do we maintain an attitude of vigilance and readiness for
  the return of Jesus when, with each passing year, it gets easier and
  easier to become less vigilant?

  The Kingdom of                               God



  Sabbath Afternoon Read for This Week’s Study: Luke 11:2; Luke 1:32, 33;
  18:16–30; Luke 17:23, 24; Rev. 21:1–3; Luke 21:34–36.

  T
          he kingdom of God is a major theme and a significant priority
          in the teachings of Jesus. The phrase occurs nearly fifty times
          in Matthew, 16 times in Mark, about forty times in Luke, and 3
  times in John. Wherever it appears—be it in the Lord’s Prayer, or in the
  Sermon on the Mount, or in Jesus’ other preaching and parables—the
  kingdom of God is an expression of what God had done in history for
  the human race as He deals with the problem of sin and brings the great
  controversy with Satan to an ultimate and decisive end. The kingdom
  of God is unlike any kingdom the world has ever known, and that’s
  because it’s not a worldly kingdom.
     “The kingdom of God comes not with outward show. It comes
  through the gentleness of the inspiration of His word, through the
  inward working of His Spirit, the fellowship of the soul with Him who
  is its life. The greatest manifestation of its power is seen in human
  nature brought to the perfection of the character of Christ.”—Ellen G.
  White, The Ministry of Healing, p. 36.
     This week we’ll focus on this theme, especially as it appears in Luke.

 Characteristics of the Kingdom
 of God: Part 1
   The Gospels are replete with references to the kingdom of God, all
 cumulatively testifying that a new order has been inaugurated in and
 through Jesus.

  How can we live in a way that reflects the reality of the kingdom
  of God? Most important, how can we reflect that reality in our
  own lives? What should be different about how we, as citizens of
  God’s kingdom, live now?




                                                                        89

 Characteristics of the Kingdom
 of God: Part 2 What do the following texts teach us about what citizenship in the
 kingdom of God is about?

   Luke 18:16–30___________________________________________

   _______________________________________________________

   Luke 12:31–33___________________________________________

   _______________________________________________________

   Luke 9:59–62____________________________________________

   _______________________________________________________

    Entry into the kingdom of God is not dependent on one’s status
 or position, or one’s riches or the lack thereof. Luke, along with
 other Gospel writers, points out that one must come to Jesus with
 an attitude of uncompromised surrender, absolute dependency, and
 childlike trust; these are traits of those who have entered the king-
 dom of God. They must be willing to give up everything, if need be;
 for whatever they would not want to give up would be something
 that, in a sense, not only competes with Jesus but, in fact, wins.
 Jesus, and His claim on our life, on every aspect of our life, takes
 top priority. This makes sense, because, after all, it’s only through
 Him that we exist to begin with. Thus, of course, He should have
 our complete allegiance.
    Read again Luke 18:29, 30. What is Jesus saying to us, and what
 is He promising? To have to leave parents, spouse, even children
 for the kingdom of God? That’s a demanding commitment, is it not?
 Jesus is not saying that these actions are required of all believers
 but that if one were called to leave these things for the sake of the
 kingdom of God, the kingdom of God would be worth it.

  Dwell on Jesus’ words about letting the dead bury the dead. What
  important truth is He expressing here about not making excuses
  to keep from following Him when the call comes, no matter how
  valid those excuses might seem?

 The Kingdom of God: Already, Not Yet
    Jesus came proclaiming the kingdom of God. In His first public
 proclamation at Nazareth (Luke 4:16–21), Jesus affirmed that, through
 Him that day, Isaiah’s Messianic prophecy of the kingdom and its
 redeeming ministry had been inaugurated.
    Luke records another saying that attests the kingdom’s present reality.
 Asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom would come, Jesus answered
 them that the “ ‘kingdom of God is within you’ ” (Luke 17:21, NKJV).
 Other translations suggest that the kingdom is in your midst. That is
 to say, with the arrival of Jesus, the kingdom has already come, with
 its components to include healing the sick (Luke 9:11), preaching the
 gospel (Luke 4:16–19), forgiving sins (Luke 7:48–50; 19:9, 10), and
 crushing the forces of evil (Luke 11:20). Thus, Jesus made the king-
 dom a present reality within the individual, transforming the person to
 be like Him. The kingdom of God is also seen amid the community
 of believers, a revelation of righteousness and salvation. This present
 aspect is also known as “the kingdom of God’s grace [that] is now being
 established, as day by day hearts that have been full of sin and rebellion
 yield to the sovereignty of His love.”—Ellen G. White, Thoughts From
 the Mount of Blessing, p. 108.
    While the “already” aspect has settled the finality of the kingdom—
 that is, the defeat of sin and Satan and Jesus’ victory in the great con-
 troversy—the “not yet” aspect looks forward to the physical end of evil
 and the establishment of the new earth: “The full establishment of the
 kingdom of His glory will not take place until the second coming of
 Christ to this world.”—Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, p. 108.

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

   Our world, and the state of our world—the turmoil, sorrow, and trou-
 ble in it—certainly reflect the words that Jesus expressed here. Though
 some argue that the pain and suffering in this world mean God doesn’t
 exist, we could reply that, given what Jesus warned us about almost two
 thousand years ago, the state of our world helps prove not only God’s
 existence but the truth of the Bible itself. (If the world were paradise
 now, Jesus’ words would be false.) Only at the end will the kingdom of
 God, in all its fullness, be established. Until then, we have to endure.

                                                                        91

 The Kingdom and
 the Second Coming of Christ
    When Jesus spoke of the kingdom of God, He spoke of two cer-
 tainties: (1) God’s activity through Christ in history to save humanity
 from sin and (2) God’s closure of history by restoring the saved to His
 original plan—to live with Him forever in the earth made new (Rev.
 21:1–3). The first, as already noted, has arrived in the mission and
 ministry of Christ. In Him we are already in the kingdom of grace
 (Eph. 1:4–9). The second part, the gathering of the saved in the king-
 dom of glory, is the future hope that those in Christ await (Eph. 1:10,
 Titus 2:13). Jesus and the rest of the New Testament link that historical
 moment when the faithful will inherit the kingdom of glory to the sec-
 ond coming of Christ.
    The second coming of Christ is the final culmination of the good
 news that Jesus came to proclaim when He came the first time. The
 same Jesus who defeated sin and Satan on Calvary is soon to return to
 begin the process that will eradicate evil and purify this earth from the
 tragedy that Satan inflicted on God’s creation.

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

   As we await the return of Jesus, we are called to “ ‘watch . . . and pray
 always that you may be counted worthy . . . to stand before the Son of
 Man’ ” (vs. 36, NKJV).
   Those who have experienced the kingdom of grace must wait, watch,
 and pray for the kingdom of glory. Between the one and the other,
 between the already and the not yet, the believers are to be occupied
 with ministry and mission, with living and hoping, with nurture and
 witness. The anticipation of the Second Coming demands the sanctifi-
 cation of our lives now and here. 92

 Witnesses Read Acts 1:1–8. What important truths about the kingdom of God
 are being expressed here?
 _________________________________________________________
 _________________________________________________________

    The kingdom of God was foremost in the mind of Luke as he wrote a
 sequel to his Gospel, in the form of a brief history of the early church.
 In the opening lines of that historical account, the book of Acts, Luke
 states three fundamental truths regarding the kingdom of God.
    First, be sure that Jesus will come again. For 40 days between His
 resurrection and ascension, the Lord continued to teach what He had
 taught the disciples before His crucifixion: “things pertaining to the
 kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3, NKJV). The mighty events of the Cross and
 the Resurrection had not changed anything in the teaching of Jesus in
 regard to the kingdom; if anything, for 40 days the risen Jesus contin-
 ued to impress on the disciples the reality of the kingdom.
    Second, be waiting for Jesus to come again in God’s own time.
 After His resurrection, Jesus’ disciples asked a serious and anxious
 question: “ ‘Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?’ ”
 (vs. 6, NKJV). Jesus did not answer the question but corrected the
 disciples’ perspective: God must always be God; to probe His mind, to
 predict the preciseness of His plans, to penetrate His secrets is not the
 task of flesh and blood. He knows when the kingdom of glory should
 come, and He will bring it to pass in His own time (Acts 1:7, Matt.
 24:36), just as “when the fullness of the time had come” (Gal. 4:4) He
 sent His Son to inaugurate the kingdom of grace.
    Third, be witnesses to the gospel of Jesus. Christ redirected the dis-
 ciples from speculation about what is not known—when the kingdom
 of glory will come—to what is known and must be done. The time of
 the Second Coming is not revealed, but we are called upon to wait for
 that glorious day and to “occupy” till then (Luke 19:13). This means
 that we should be involved in taking the gospel of Jesus Christ to “ ‘the
 end of the earth’ ” (Acts 1:8, NKJV). That is our responsibility—not in
 our own strength but by the power of the Holy Spirit, promised to be
 poured out on all those who shall be witnesses to what they have seen
 and heard (vss. 4–8).
  These faithful followers of Jesus still had some big misconcep-
  tions about the nature of Christ’s work. And yet, the Lord was
  using them anyway. What message might there be for us about
  not needing to fully understand everything in order to still be
  used by God?


                                                                       93

    Every generation of Christians has expected Jesus to return
   in their time, and some pastors and evangelists have set specific
   dates. But each has failed. What is wrong with time setting?

  Jesus in              Jerusalem



  Sabbath Afternoon Read for This Week’s Study: Luke 19:28–40, Zech. 9:9, Luke
  19:45–48, Matt. 21:12–17, Luke 20:9–26.

  T
         he last week of Jesus’ earthly life unfolded in Jerusalem. What
         tumultuous events marked that week too: the triumphal entry;
         Jesus weeping over the indifferent city; the cleansing of the
  temple; the scheming and the plotting against Him; the pathos of the
  Last Supper and the agony of Gethsemane; the mockery of a trial; the
  Crucifixion; and, finally, the Resurrection. Never before and never
  since has any city witnessed so critical a progression of history, one
  that brought the cosmic conflict between good and evil to its climax,
  even though no one but Jesus understood the significance of what was
  unfolding.
    Jesus had passed through Jerusalem several times in His life. Matthew,
  Mark, Luke, and John all record Jesus as an adult visiting Jerusalem,
  though mostly during the Passion Week. Although other appearances of
  Jesus in Jerusalem are well-known—the infant Jesus being brought to the
  temple (Luke 2:22–38), the debate of the 12-year-old in the temple (vss.
  41–50), the tempter taking Jesus to the highest point of the temple (Luke
  4:9–13)—it is the closing week of Jesus’ ministry in Jerusalem that occu-
  pies the special attention of the Gospel writers.

 The Triumphal Entry
   He was born in Bethlehem. He grew up in Nazareth. He taught,
 preached, and healed throughout Galilee, Samaria, Judea, and Perea.
 But one city held His constant focus: Jerusalem. Jesus “steadfastly set
 His face to go to” the city (Luke 9:51, NKJV). His entry into the city
 marked the most dramatic and crucial week in world history. The week
 began with Christ’s kingly march into the city and saw His death on the
 cross, by which we who were enemies “were reconciled to God through
 the death of His Son” (Rom. 5:10, NKJV).

 _________________________________________________________

    When Jesus was born, wise men from the East came knocking at the
 doors of Jerusalem, asking that poignant question: “ ‘Where is He who
 has been born King of the Jews?’ ” (Matt. 2:2, NKJV). And now, a few
 days before the Cross, as His disciples and the multitudes thronged the
 city, an acclaim burst across Jerusalem’s sky: “ ‘Blessed is the King
 who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ” (Luke 19:38, NKJV).
    This amazing scene fulfilled prophecy. “ ‘Rejoice greatly, O daugh-
 ter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is
 coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding
 on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey’ ” (Zech. 9:9, NKJV). Yet,
 Jesus knew that this march of history, which began with the shouts
 of Hosanna, would soon wind up on Golgotha, where He would utter
 those triumphant words, “ ‘It is finished.’ ”
    Though it was all according to God’s eternal plan, His disciples
 were so caught up in the traditions and teachings and expectations
 of their own time and culture that they completely missed His earlier
 warnings about what would take place and what it all meant.

  Christ spoke to them, but they didn’t listen. Or maybe they lis-
  tened, but what He said went so much against what they expected
  that they blocked it out. How can we make sure we aren’t doing
  the same thing when it comes to biblical truth?




                                                                     97

 Jerusalem: Cleansing the Temple
    “It is written, My house is the house of prayer: but ye have made
 it a den of thieves” (Luke 19:46).

   After the triumphal entry, during which Jesus wept over Jerusalem,
 the first thing He did was to go to the temple.

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

    All four Gospels mention the cleansing of the temple. While John
 speaks of the first cleansing (John 2:13–25) taking place during
 Jesus’ visit to the temple at the Passover of a.d. 28, others narrated
 the second cleansing at the end of Jesus’ ministry, this time at the
 Passover of a.d. 31. Thus, the two cleansings of the temple provided
 a parenthesis to the ministry of Jesus, showing how much He cared
 for the sanctity of the temple and its services, and how strategically
 He asserted His Messianic mission and authority.
    His actions in the temple, especially the second time, which came
 just before His death, present an interesting question: Knowing that
 He was soon to die, knowing that the temple and its services would
 soon become null and void, Jesus nevertheless drove out those who
 were profaning it with their wares. Why did He not simply leave
 it alone, in its own corruption, especially since it would not only
 become unnecessary but, within a generation, would be destroyed?
    Though we are not given an answer, it’s most likely because it was
 still God’s house, and it was still the place where the plan of salvation
 was revealed. In a sense one could argue that, with His upcoming
 death, the temple and its services served an important function in
 that they were the place to help faithful Jews come to understand just
 who Jesus was and what His death on the cross really meant. That is,
 the temple, which depicted the entire plan of salvation, could help
 many come to see in Jesus the “Lamb slain from the foundation of
 the world” (Rev. 13:8). 98

 The Unfaithful
   The parable of the wicked vinedressers (Luke 20:9–19) gives us a
 lesson in redemptive history. The center of that history is God and His
 continual love for erring sinners. Although the parable was specifically
 addressed to the Jewish leaders of His time (“they knew He had spoken
 this parable against them” [vs. 19, NKJV]), it is timeless in its reach. It
 applies to every generation, every congregation, and every person on
 whom God’s love and trust have been poured out and from whom God
 expects a faithful return. We are today’s tenants, and we can draw from
 this parable some lessons on history as God views it.

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

   Instead of giving to God the fruits of love and fidelity, the tenants of
 God’s vineyard forsook and failed God. But God, as the owner of the
 vineyard, sent servant after servant (vss. 10–12), prophet after prophet
 (Jer. 35:15) in persistent love to woo and win His people to their
 responsibility of stewardship. Each prophet, though, became a victim
 of rejection. “ ‘Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute?’ ”
 (Acts 7:52, NKJV).
   Divine history is a long love story. Tragedy will raise its head again
 and again, but glory will eventually triumph. Resurrection must follow
 the Cross. The stone that was rejected is now the cornerstone of a
 great temple that will house the commonwealth of God, where all the
 redeemed, the rich and the poor, the Jew and the Gentile, the male and
 the female, will live as one people. They shall walk in the eschatologi-
 cal vineyard and enjoy its fruit forever.

  We might not have living prophets today to persecute, but we are
  just as capable of rejecting God’s messengers as were people of
  old. How can we make sure that we, who have been called to give
  the Lord “the fruit of the vineyard,” do not reject these messen-
  gers and their messages?




                                                                         99

  God Versus Caesar Read Luke 20:20–26. How do we take what Jesus taught here and
  apply it to our own situation in whatever country we live?
  _________________________________________________________

  _________________________________________________________

     During the time of Jesus, taxation by Rome was a volatile issue.
  Around a.d. 6, according to Josephus, Judas the Galilean, a revolu-
  tionary leader, declared that paying taxes to Caesar was treason against
  God. The issue, along with several Messianic claims and aspirants, set
  off periodic anti-Roman revolts. Against such a sensitive background,
  the question put before Jesus about whether it was lawful to pay taxes
  revealed the ulterior motive of the interrogators: to answer that it was
  lawful would have placed Jesus on the side of Rome, showing that He
  could not be the king of the Jews as declared by the crowds at His entry
  into Jerusalem; to say No would have meant that Jesus was following
  the Galilean mood and declaring the Roman rule unlawful, opening
  Himself to the charge of treason. They had hoped to put Jesus in a bind
  from which He couldn’t escape.
     Jesus, though, saw right through them. He pointed to the image of
  Caesar on a coin and pronounced His verdict: “ ‘Render therefore to
  Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s’ ”
  (Luke 20:25, NKJV). Living under Caesar, whose currency is used for day-
  to-day necessities, has its obligation to Caesar. But then there is another
  obligation, a greater one, which rises from the fact that we are made in the
  image of God and that to Him we owe our ultimate allegiance.
     “Christ’s reply was no evasion, but a candid answer to the question. . . .
  He declared that since they were living under the protection of the
  Roman power, they should render to that power the support it claimed,
  so long as this did not conflict with a higher duty. But while peaceably
  subject to the laws of the land, they should at all times give their first
  allegiance to God.”—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 602.

   What are ways we can continue to be good citizens in whatever
   country we live, while at the same time knowing that our true
   citizenship exists in a city “whose builder and maker is God”
   (Heb. 11:10)?

 The Lord’s Supper Read Luke 22:13–20. What is the significance of the Lord’s Supper
 taking place at the Passover?
 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

    Jesus founded the Lord’s Supper against the historic context of the
 Passover feast. The Passover setting underscores human impotence in
 contrast to God’s great power. It was as impossible for Israel to free itself
 from Egyptian bondage as it is for us to free ourselves from the conse-
 quences of sin. Liberation came from God as a gift of His love and grace,
 and this is the lesson Israel was to teach its children from generation to
 generation (Exod. 12:26, 27). Just as the liberation of Israel was so rooted
 in history by the redeeming act of God, so the liberation of humanity
 from sin is grounded in the historic event of the Cross. Indeed, Jesus is
 our “paschal lamb” (see 1 Cor. 5:7), and His Last Supper is “a proclaim-
 ing act wherein the community in faith gives expression to the glorious
 and decisive significance of the death of Christ.”—G. C. Berkouwer, The
 Sacraments (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1969), p. 193.
    The Lord’s Supper is a reminder that “on the same night in which He
 was betrayed” (1 Cor. 11:23, NKJV), on the night before He was cruci-
 fied, Jesus gave a solemn message to His disciples that they needed to
 remember: the bread and the wine are symbols of His body, which was
 about to be broken, and of His blood, which was about to be shed for
 the remission of sins (see Matt. 26:28). The death of Jesus was God’s
 sole means for our Redemption from sin. Lest we forget that the death
 of Jesus is heaven’s provision for our salvation, Jesus ordained the
 Lord’s Supper and commanded that it be kept until He returns (1 Cor.
 11:24–26).
    Jesus’ assertion that His blood was to be “ ‘shed for many for the
 remission of sins’ ” (Matt. 26:28, NKJV) is to be remembered even to
 the end of history. To ignore this assertion and choose any other means
 of salvation is to deny God and His chosen method of salvation.
    Two crucial lessons (of many) stand out. “Christ died for us” is the first
 lesson to be remembered at the table of the Lord. The second lesson is that
 we sit as one body because of that death, which has brought us all into one
 fellowship. Even as we sit at the table, we sit as Christ’s redeemed commu-
 nity of the end time, awaiting the Lord’s return. Until then, the table of the
 Lord is a reminder that history has meaning and life has hope.
  Christ gave His body and blood in order to give you the promise
  of eternal life. How can you personalize this amazing truth in a
  way that will constantly give you hope and assurance?


                                                                          101

    Atheist writer Alex Rosenberg believes that all reality, all exis-
   tence, is purely materialistic. That is, everything can and must be
   explained through physical processes and only physical processes.
   These processes are, of course, without design, goals, purposes, or
   God. “What is the purpose of the universe?” he asks. “There is
   none. What purposes are at work in the universe? Same answer:
   none.” If, though, the meaninglessness and purposelessness of the
   universe make you depressed, Rosenberg warns against taking
   your “depression seriously.” Why? Because our emotions, includ-
   ing depression, are nothing but specific arrangements of neurons
   and chemicals, and what’s so serious about that? Rosenberg,
   however, does have an answer for those discouraged by the mean-
   inglessness of their lives. Because depression is merely a particular
   configuration of neurons, simply rearrange the neurons—and you
   can do this with pharmaceuticals. “If you don’t feel better in the
   morning . . . or three weeks from now, switch to another one. Three
   weeks is often how long it takes serotonin reuptake suppression
   drugs like Prozac, Wellbutrin, Paxil, Zoloft, Celexa, or Luvox to
   kick in. And if one doesn’t work, another one probably will.” The
   amazing thing about his answer is that he is serious: if depressed,
   take drugs. Contrast this view of life with what we believe regard-
   ing Jesus Christ and what He has done for us on the cross. Why,
   in a very real sense, is our participation in the Lord’s Supper an
   open and defiant refutation of the nihilism and meaninglessness
   presented by Rosenberg and his atheism?

  Crucified and                          Risen



  Sabbath Afternoon Read for This Week’s Study: Gen. 3:1–6, Luke 22:39–46,
  2 Cor. 13:8, Luke 22:53, Matt. 12:30, 1 Cor. 15:14.

  F
        rom childhood Jesus was conscious that He had come to this
        earth to fulfill His Father’s will (Luke 2:41–50). He taught,
        healed, and ministered with an unwavering commitment to obey
  the Father. Now the time had come, after celebrating the Last Supper, to
  walk alone, to affirm God’s will, to be betrayed and denied, to be tried
  and crucified, and to rise victorious over death.
    Throughout His life Jesus knew about the inevitability of the cross.
  Many times in the Gospels, the word must is used in relationship to the
  sufferings and death of Jesus (Luke 17:25, 22:37, 24:7, Matt. 16:21,
  Mark 8:31, 9:12, John 3:14). He must go to Jerusalem. He must suffer.
  He must be rejected. He must be lifted up, and so on. Nothing would
  deter the Son of God from going to Golgotha. He denounced, as com-
  ing from Satan (Matt. 16:22, 23), any suggestion to reject the cross. He
  was convinced that He “must go . . . suffer . . . be killed, and be raised”
  (vs. 21, NKJV). To Jesus, the journey to the cross was not an option; it
  was a “must” (Luke 24:25, 26, 46), a part of the divine “mystery . . .
  kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s
  people” (Col. 1:26, NIV).

 Gethsemane: The Fearsome Struggle
   At the dawn of history, God created Adam and Eve and placed them
 in a beautiful garden blessed with all that they needed for a life of joy.
 Soon something extraordinary happened: Satan appeared (Genesis 3).
 He tempted the first couple and then plunged the young earth into a
 mighty controversy between good and evil, between God and Satan.
   Now, in God’s own time, another garden (Luke 22:39–46) became
 a mighty battleground where the war between truth and falsehood,
 between righteousness and sin, and between God’s plan for human
 salvation and Satan’s goal for human destruction raged.
   In Eden the world was plunged into the disaster of sin; in Gethsemane
 the world’s ultimate victory was assured. Eden saw the tragic triumph
 of self asserting itself against God; Gethsemane showed self surrender-
 ing itself to God and revealing the victory over sin.

 _________________________________________________________

    Gethsemane stands for two crucial things: first, for a most vicious
 attempt of Satan to derail Jesus from God’s mission and purpose;
 next, for the noblest example of reliance on God’s strength to
 accomplish His will and purpose. Gethsemane shows that, however
 strong the battle is and however weak the self is, victory is certain
 to those who have experienced the strength of prayer. As Jesus so
 famously prayed: “ ‘Nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done’ ”
 (Luke 22:42, NKJV).
    All the hosts of Satan were arraigned against Jesus; the disciples,
 whom He loved so much, were numb to His suffering. Drops of blood
 were falling drop by drop; the betrayer’s kiss was just a breath away;
 and the priests and the temple guards were about to pounce. Yet, Jesus
 showed us that prayer and submission to God’s will give the needed
 strength to the soul to bear life’s great burdens.

  Next time you are severely tempted, how can you have the kind of
  experience Jesus had in Gethsemane as opposed to what Adam
  and Eve had in Eden? What is the crucial factor that makes all
  the difference between them?




                                                                      105

  Judas
    “Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve”
  (Luke 22:3, NIV). No doubt Satan worked hard to get all the disci-
  ples. What was it about Judas, though, that enabled the adversary
  to succeed so well with him, in contrast to the others?
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    Luke tells how Jesus prayed alone all night in the mountains before
  He chose His disciples (Luke 6:12–16). And Jesus believed that the
  Twelve were God’s gift to Him (John 17:6–9). Was Judas really an
  answer to prayer? How are we to understand what is going on here other
  than that even in Judas’s betrayal and apostasy, God’s purpose was to be
  fulfilled? (See 2 Cor. 13:8.)
    Judas, who had so much potential, who could have been another Paul,
  instead went in a completely wrong direction. What could have been
  a Gethsemane experience for him was, instead, like the Fall in Eden.
    “He had fostered the evil spirit of avarice until it had become the
  ruling motive of his life. The love of mammon overbalanced his love
  for Christ.”—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 716.
    When Jesus fed the 5,000 with five loaves and two fish (Luke 9:10–
  17), Judas was the first to grasp the political value of the miracle and
  “set on foot the project to take Christ by force and make Him king.”—
  The Desire of Ages, p. 719. But Jesus denounced the attempt, and there
  began Judas’s disenchantment: “His hopes were high. His disappointment
  was bitter.”—The Desire of Ages, p. 719. Obviously Judas, as did others,
  believed that Jesus would use His extraordinary powers to establish a
  worldly kingdom, and Judas clearly had wanted a place in that kingdom.
  How tragic: his desire for a place in a temporal kingdom that never came
  caused him to lose a place in an eternal kingdom that was sure to come.
    Another time, when a devout follower of Jesus chose to anoint His
  feet with a costly ointment, Judas decried her act as an economic waste
  (John 12:1–8). All Judas could see was money, and his love of money
  overshadowed his love of Jesus. This fixation with money and power
  led Judas to put a price tag on the priceless gift of heaven (Matt. 26:15).
  From then on, “Satan entered Judas” (Luke 22:3, NKJV). And Judas
  became a lost soul.

   There is nothing wrong with status, power, or money. The prob-
   lem comes when these things (or anything) overshadow our
   faithfulness to God. Why is it always important to take stock of
   ourselves so that we don’t become as self-deceived as was Judas?

  Either for Him or Against Him
     For all else that it entails, the Cross is also the great divider of
  history: the divider between faith and unbelief, between betrayal and
  acceptance, and between eternal life and death. There is no middle
  ground for any human being concerning the Cross. In the end, we are
  either on one side or the other.
     “ ‘He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather
  with Me scatters abroad’ ” (Matt. 12:30, NKJV). Strong words, and
  they can make us a bit uncomfortable, but Jesus is simply expressing
  what is real and what the truth entails for those who are immersed in
  the great controversy between Christ and Satan. We are with Jesus or
  with Satan.
     Yes, it’s that stark.

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  _________________________________________________________

 Sanhedrin (Luke 22:53). What mistakes did these people make, why
 did they make them, and how can we protect ourselves from doing
 something similar concerning how they viewed Jesus?

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  Pilate (Luke 23:1–7, 13–25). What led Pilate to say, “ ‘I find no fault
  in Him’ ” (John 19:4, NKJV) and at the same time sentence Him to
  be crucified? What can we learn from his mistake in failing to do
  what he knew was right?

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  Herod (Luke 23:6–12). What was his big mistake, and what can we
  learn from it?

  _________________________________________________________

  The two thieves (Luke 23:39–43). Two sinners look at the same cross
  and have two different reactions. How does this scene reveal the
  either-or aspect of salvation—that is, we are either on one side of
  the great controversy or on the other?

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                                                                    107

  He Is Risen
    Early Sunday morning the women went to the tomb with a single
  purpose—to complete the burial ritual. Despite the time they had spent
  with Jesus, they had not truly understood what was to happen. They
  were certainly not expecting an empty tomb, or to be told by heavenly
  messengers: “He is not here, but is risen” (Luke 24:6).

  _________________________________________________________

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  _________________________________________________________

  _________________________________________________________

     The women were firsthand eyewitnesses to the resurrection of Jesus.
  They rushed to share this good news with others, but no one believed
  them (Luke 24:11). Instead, the apostles dismissed the greatest story
  in redemptive history as “idle tales” of exhausted and grieving women
  (vss. 10, 11).
     How soon they were to learn just how wrong they were!
     The resurrection of Christ is foundational to God’s redemptive act
  and to the totality of Christian faith and existence. The apostle Paul
  makes that very clear: “If Christ is not risen, then our preaching is
  empty and your faith is also empty” (1 Cor. 15:14, NKJV). It is empty,
  or vain, because only in Christ’s resurrection can we find the hope that
  is ours. Without that hope, our lives here end, and they end for eternity.
  Christ’s life didn’t end in a tomb, and the great promise is that ours
  won’t either.
     “If Christ is not risen from the dead, the long course of God’s
  redemptive acts to save his people ends in a dead-end street, in a tomb.
  If the resurrection of Christ is not reality, then we have no assurance
  that God is the living God, for death has the last word. Faith is futile
  because the object of that faith has not vindicated himself as the Lord
  of life. Christian faith is then incarcerated in the tomb along with the
  final and highest self-revelation of God in Christ—if Christ is indeed
  dead.”—George Eldon Ladd, A Theology of the New Testament (Grand
  Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1974), p. 318.

 “All Things Must Be Fulfilled” Read Luke 24:13–49, which tells us about events immediately after
 Christ’s resurrection. In the various encounters, what does Jesus
 point to in order to help these people understand what happened to
 Him, and why is that so important, even for us today in our witness
 to the world?

 _________________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________________

    The resurrection of Jesus should have been enough evidence to
 establish the Messiahship of Jesus. Beaten and brutalized before being
 crucified and eventually pierced, Jesus was then wrapped and placed in
 a tomb. Even if, as some have ridiculously suggested, He had survived
 both the cross and the burial, a bloodied and battered and weakened
 Jesus, somehow staggering from the tomb, would not have been any-
 one’s idea of a victorious Messiah.
    Nevertheless, there Jesus was, alive and well. He walked several miles
 with the two men on the road to Emmaus. And yet even then, before
 revealing who He was, Jesus pointed them to the Scriptures, giving them
 a firm biblical foundation for their faith in Him.
    Then, when He appeared to the disciples, showed them His flesh, and
 ate with them, Jesus did more: He pointed them to the Word of God:
 “ ‘Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and
 to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of
 sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
 And you are witnesses of these things’ ” (Luke 24:46–48, NKJV).
    Here, too, Jesus not only pointed to the Scriptures (besides the evi-
 dence that He was actually alive and among them), but He used the
 Scriptures to help them understand exactly what had happened to Him.
 Also, He directly linked His resurrection with the mission to preach the
 gospel to all nations.
    So, even with all the powerful evidence proving who Jesus was,
 He always pointed His followers back to the Word of God. After all,
 without the Word of God among us today, how would we know of our
 calling and mission to preach the gospel to the world? How would we
 even know what the gospel was? The Bible is, then, as central to us
 today as it was to Jesus and His disciples.

  How much time do you spend with the Bible? How does it impact
  how you live, the choices you make, and how you treat others?




                                                                         109

    Dwell on the Ellen G. White passage above. How does this help
   us to understand just how universal the issues of sin really are?
   Even the angels are not secure except by looking to Jesus. What
   does this mean?