October 19–26

This weekly feature is dedicated to Adventists who are looking for biblical insights into the topics discussed in the Sabbath School lesson quarterly. We post articles which address each lesson as presented in the Sabbath School Bible Study Guide, including biblical commentary on them. We hope you find this material helpful and that you will come to know Jesus and His revelation of Himself in His word in profound biblical ways.

 

Lesson 4: “Facing Opposition”

This week’s lesson follows the continuing story fairly well and does a good job of pointing out that Zerubbabel had to refuse the offers of help from the surrounding people. He knew Israel’s history of falling into paganism by mixing with the local people, and he wanted to be sure to avoid that possibility here. 

Also, he knew the offers were probably not genuine but more of an effort by the local people to insinuate themselves into the city to disrupt the rebuilding efforts. But there is one issue that needs addressing again. Once again the author slips into the narrative one thought that is not found anywhere in the Bible.

From the lesson in day 1:

Ezra is mentioned for the first time by name in Ezra 7:1. With his arrival in 457 b.c., things changed, and the city of Jerusalem with its wall began to be spasmodically rebuilt. Thirteen years later Nehemiah arrived (sent by Artaxerxes in 444 b.c.), and the building of the wall was finally resumed. Although the opposition was intense, the work was completed in 52 days (Neh. 6:15).

In day 3 the author has you read from Haggai and from Ezra 4, so let’s look at those to see if the above claims about wall-building are correct.

Thus says the Lord of hosts, “This people says, “The time has not come, even the time for the house of the Lord to be rebuilt.” (Haggai 1:2).

Then as soon as the copy of King Artaxerxes’ document was read before Rehum and Shimshai the scribe and their colleagues, they went in haste to Jerusalem to the Jews and stopped them by force of arms.

Then work on the house of God in Jerusalem ceased, and it was stopped until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia (Ezra 4:23, 24).

If they were so concerned that the wall as being built, why does Ezra 4:24 say that the work on the HOUSE OF THE LORD is what was stopped? 

In the complaint to King Artaxerxes, the enemies of Israel included the claim that the Jews were building the wall. In that time and place, having a wall made a city safe and defensible, and with their history of rebellion, this would have been a serious threat to the authority of the king. 

However, all the Bible says, everywhere it is mentioned, is that it is the house of the Lord they were building. It wasn’t until Nehemiah came along, following the third decree in 445 BC, that the city and the wall were built. 

Apparently by slipping in that little alteration the author tries to support the idea that the decree in 457 BC was the starting point for the 2,300 days and the 483 years prophecies. By repeating it often enough, perhaps people will just assume it’s true. Or it will just reinforce their belief in that date because that is what they were taught.

Nehemiah Takes Action (444 b.c.)

From the lesson:

 What are ways that we, today, with no earthly sanctuary, can keep before us a sense of God’s holiness? How does the realiza­tion of God’s holiness, in contrast to our sinfulness, drive us to the cross?

On the surface, this question is quite benign, but there could be a serious underlying problem with it, depending on how it is interpreted.

First of all, in using the word “we”, the author is speaking to the Church, those who are saved. Once we are saved, once we have “gone to the cross”, there is no further need to be driven back to it. To do so would be to once again put the Savior back on the cross, something the author of Hebrews clearly refutes in chapter 6:

For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame (Heb. 6:4–6).

 By the way, this passage is often used to prove that a person can fall away—lose one’s salvation—but in reality, it says just the opposite. What it says is that if you could fall away, in that situation it would be impossible to renew you again to repentence—verse 6. If that were true, then “backsliders” could never come back to Jesus and be saved again.

This impossibility of becoming lost after being saved exactly agrees with what Jesus said in John 6:38-40 and in chapter 10:28 & 29 where He says that He will lose no one that comes to Him, and no one can snatch them out of His hands. This is so clear to me now that I wonder at people who think they can lose their salvation and who often worry that they may have done something, or perhaps have not done something, that would make that loss a reality.

So, the only reason you would have to return to the cross is if you believe that when you sin you have lost your salvation and have to return to the cross to be re-saved. 

On the other hand, those who are not yet saved do need to be “driven to the cross”. But in this lesson, the author is not talking to or about the lost; rather, he is addressing those already in the church.

One other point about that quote. What he says about the “earthly sanctuary” is partly true. We no longer have a physical building for a sanctuary; rather, because we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, we—the Church, the body of Christ—are in essence the sanctuary. 

Doing a “Great Work”

Very good comments about the “great work” being done by Nehemiah. If we look to the world for confirmation of doing well, we can miss out on earning God’s true affirmation. Doing good for God is so much better than doing good in the world’s eyes. And the fact that the world does not measure good by the same standard is the reason for much of the opposition to Christian ideals and works.

Friday

This is the question from the lesson:

As Adventists, how can we know when we should and should not collaborate with others not of our faith?

This question at the end of the lesson contains a rather ironic undertone. I’m sure the author meant well, but rather than include Adventist faith along with that of the rest of the body of Christ, I fear he meant to separate it out as if “our faith” is different and better than anyone else’s. 

Sadly, that probably was his intent, as if a particular denomination has a corner on true faith. This superior attitude is what usually separates the average Adventist from all other Christians. 

As Adventists, we often thought we had the corner on knowledge and salvation which led us to look down on “the others”. 

But those “others not of our faith” are simply others in God’s family. As long as they agree on the basics of salvation so wonderfully laid out in 1 Cor. 15:1-11, the rest of denominational differences are just that—differences of opinion. The church, the body of Christ, is made up of all those who believed in Jesus and who have accepted His offer of salvation. All the other little matters of eating, drinking or just living in general are not what matter.

What matters is believing in Jesus. In that way, all true believers in every church are truly “part of our faith” and must be accepted as brothers and sisters in Christ. To discount them is to show the pride that marked the Pharisees feeling of superiority over the people. Remember that Jesus said that if our righteousness does not surpass that of the Pharisees, we will not see the kingdom (Matt. 5:20). And He wasn’t talking about their actions but rather their faith. 

Our faith must be in Jesus, not in what we do—not the day we go to church or the kind of food we eat or any other outward behavior.

Our behavior cannot get us into the Kingdom—which is a very good thing! We are all sinners, and nothing we do can make us good enough to be saved. It is only relying on the Savior and His perfection in place of ours that gets us there.

So every effort to divide us into “us” and “them” does nothing to bring others into the Kingdom. Their faith may look a little different than ours, but if it is faith in Jesus, they are truly “of our faith”, and there is no danger in collaborating with them in the work of spreading the gospel.

That being said, Christians outside Adventism have some valid reasons for feeling Adventists have a “different gospel” from the Christian gospel. Adventism does require certain beliefs and practices (such as seventh-day Sabbath-keeping and the food laws) for those who desire salvation. Other Christians may have good reasons for not sharing ministry with Adventists. Nevertheless, it is the Adventists who traditionally have kept themselves “separate” from the “Sunday Christians”. 

Whichever side may be driving a potential separation, it ought to serve as a “marker” to Adventists that their beliefs are different from those of the evangelical Christian community. This separation ought to serve as a motivator for Adventists to go to Scripture and see what God’s word says. There is truth and reality in Scripture! †