November 23–29

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 9: “Trials, Tribulations, and Lists”

I found most of this week’s lesson full of good information about trusting in God. From the story of the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple, we see God’s protecting hand and intervention when the work was threatened. The author illustrates how we can trust God to look out for even the smallest aspects of our lives.

Jesus said that a God who notices when even a sparrow falls will certainly look out for us. He said this in the context of not worrying about temporal things.

Let’s read His words in Matthew 10:28–31:

Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 

So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.

He said this to His disciples just before He sent them out two by two to cast out devils, raise the dead, and heal the sick. He told them of the troubles they would face but then, in verses 28-31, He assured them of the Father’s love and care for them and the fact that He would watch over them. They were not even to take a sword for protection or extra provisions because their entire trust was to be in God not themselves.

What wonderful words of encouragement that we must take to heart as well!

By the way, it is interesting to see in verse 28, that the evil one can kill the body but not the soul. Jesus’ words are clear that they are separate and are not the same thing. This was followed by the assurance that the one to ‘fear’ is the One who can destroy both in hell. 

Contrary to Adventist theology, Jesus Himself says that hell is a real place. I have heard it said that Jesus talked about hell more times than He talked about heaven; He wouldn’t have done that if hell does not really exist.

This theme of trust is further handled in the section titled “Trials, Tribulations, and Lists” where we find this in the lesson:

Thus, we can have full confidence, cultivate trust, and rest in assurance that the Lord cares about every area of our lives.

Once again, the author is exactly right in pointing out God’s care for us in every part of our lives. It is this assurance, along with His assurance that He will never let us go—“be snatched out of His hand” (John 10:28, 29), and His promise that He will not lose anyone that comes to Him (John 6:38-40)—that is the basis for this faith we have in Him.

With these promises in Jesus’ own words, how can we ever doubt that we are safe with Him? Our trust in His ability to keep us and His absolute promise to never lose us assures us that we can trust Him. He said so and He never lies! (Numbers 23:19)

Those promises and others that give us this assurance are sadly denied in the next section of the lesson titled “The God of History” where we see this:

When we lose the sense of God’s holiness and His presence in life, we tread a path accompanied with complications, problems, and tragedies, which ultimately ends in death.”

 Once again I will point out that when the author of a so-called Christian study says ‘we’ and ‘us’, he is talking to others who, he assumes, are saved and are part of the body of Christ. So to warn them that they can then walk a path that “ultimately ends in death” is to directly contradict what Jesus said in the quotes above. 

Once we—the saved—became part of the body of Christ, He holds us in His hand and no one can remove us (John 10:28). You might not walk with Him as you should, and you will certainly lose out on the rewards you would otherwise have (1 Cor. 3:10-15), but that path will not end in death. And by ‘death’ the author is talking about the ‘second death’ which is eternal separation from God. (Rev. 2:11, 20:14 and others).

I sometimes wonder at the mindset of someone who can openly contradict himself from one paragraph to the next and not even see the conflict.

How much better to take God’s word for it that we are safe with Him!

In the next section, “In Their Cities” there are reminders that God is in charge and is intimately concerned with every part of our lives. 

It is correctly pointed out that the victory in the rebuilding was the victory of God’s power and not that of the people. This is often His method of showing us that He is supremely in charge and we can do nothing without Him. He seems to delight in using the weak to accomplish the great to bring glory to Himself.

This attention to detail in the genealogies illustrates His complete knowledge of us and His care for us.

In the section titled “Where Are the Priests?” there is another summary of the story and an explanation of the fact that not all the Jews wished to return to a largely undeveloped country. They had become used to the good life in the cities where they grew up and many didn’t want to become settlers in what amounted to a wild frontier.

 

Humbled Before God

There is a thought here that I think needs to be addressed. First, from the lesson:

Read Deuteronomy 30:1–6. What promise was given here to the Hebrew people? What must this promise, among others like it, mean to men such as Ezra and Nehemiah?

Ezra and Nehemiah knew the prophecies. They knew that God was going to bring the people back from captivity. 

As the author correctly pointed out, they had read the prophecies of restoration and they believed them. To do that, they had to take the promises literally. So that brings up a question for us to consider.

As the Bible shows us prophecies of literal events which were fulfilled literally in the past, why do some people treat prophecies of things still in our future as only figurative or allegorical? 

Jesus’s first incarnation fulfilled over 300 prophecies literally and exactly. Why should the prophecies of His dealings with the sinful, Christ-rejecting during the Tribulation world not be taken with the same faith? Or why turn the promise of His rule over the world for 1,000 years from the throne of David in Jerusalem into some supposed audit of God to make sure He made the right decisions regarding who was saved or lost?

Books of the Bible such as Daniel, Ezekiel, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Revelation all deal in part with the “last days” which are still in the future for us. While they use some figures of speech and symbolic language, there is no reason whatsoever to disbelieve in a literal fulfillment of what is predicted.

For example, they contain numerous promises of a literal restoration of Israel to their land. These were believed to be impossible and therefore symbolic until 1948 when, against all (human) odds, the Jews were returned to Israel and became a nation. After that, there was no excuse to call those prophecies symbolic and say that it represents the Church. That event alone should have lit up the eyes and hearts of those who were looking for fulfilled promises from God.

The same goes for Revelation’s descriptions of what will happen during the Tribulation. Although there is some symbolic language, the message is clear—terrible things are going to fall on this world and those who reject Jesus—and even extra punishment for those who would harm God’s special people, the Jews.

And what about Revelation 12. While it uses symbolic language in talking about the woman, the male child, the dragon etc. they are clearly meant to be understood as Israel (the woman), the male child (Jesus, who came out of Israel), and the devil (the dragon who wanted to destroy the child.

Granted, Revelation is harder to understand than most of the other books of the Bible, but if you take things literally, while understanding which parts are meant to be symbolic, it is quite clear and actually reads like a narrative of what will come. There is no reason to make it all allegorical and historical until the last 2-3 chapters, and then suddenly call them literal and future. There is nothing in the text or anywhere else in the Bible that would validate such an abrupt change.

But, back to the lesson. There is much good in this day’s lesson regarding the faith the people had that God would restore them and the fact that their faith in God humbled them before Him. The leaders trusted God to do what He said rather than rely on themselves or any earthly government.

The section ‘In the Holy City” starts out well. It describes how they drew lots to decide who would live in the city and brings out the difference between life in a city vs that in the country. 

But this good narrative is spoiled by turning to a largely irrelevant quote from Ellen White which roundly scolds the workers of her time for not doing enough in the cities.

This quote is out of place and not relevant to the discussion in the lesson. The only connection I can see is that fact that the lesson and the Ellen White quote both mention the word ‘city’. And it’s only purpose seems to be to beat the church workers of her day over the head for not doing enough. 

When you have a church leader who you trust as a mouthpiece for God, and she turns on you and berates you in this way, I can just imagine how it would be very difficult to not become discouraged.

Friday’s lesson starts out by directing you to read a chapter in Steps To Christ. I’ll deal with some of that, but first I want to discuss the first question for discussion at the end of the lesson.

It goes back to what was discussed earlier in the week about the accurate fulfillment of prophecy.

From the lesson:

Think about Daniel 2 and how Daniel, thousands of years ago, so accurately predicted the rise and fall of empires, even depicting (very accurately) the disunity of modern Europe today.

 If Daniel’s prophecies (God’s prophecies) are so accurate and believed to be literal, why discount the ones that predict the regathering of Israel in the last days? What excuse would anyone have to make those allegorical?

Now to the chapter in Steps To Christ. Here are some quotes from that chapter:

“There are two errors against which the children of God—particularly those who have just come to trust in His grace—especially need to guard. The first, already dwelt upon, is that of looking to their own works, trusting to anything they can do, to bring themselves into harmony with God. He who is trying to become holy by his own works in keeping the law, is attempting an impossibility. All that man can do without Christ is polluted with selfishness and sin. It is the grace of Christ alone, through faith, that can make us holy. 

The opposite and no less dangerous error is that belief in Christ releases men from keeping the law of God; that since by faith alone we become partakers of the grace of Christ, our works have nothing to do with our redemption.” pages 59, 60

First of all, after growing up Adventist and reading Ellen White (more than the Bible), it is easy to fall back into the flow of the lyrical, beautiful language you find in her writings. There is no denying that it can be lovely to read and her descriptions of “the lovely Jesus” are quite lyrical.

Unfortunately, that tends to hide the flaws and contradictions in what she wrote (and stole from other authors). 

Look at the highlighted part of that last sentence of the quote. She says that we cannot become holy, by definition meaning become saved, by the works of the law and yet she immediately directs you back to the law after you are saved.

That makes no sense logically or theologically!

Think of the law as a sign telling me how to get to Los Angeles on Interstate 5. At first it may be several hundred miles, then less and less, but I won’t exit the freeway until I get to the sign that points to the correct exit. 

When I get to that spot, what should I do? Should I follow the sign so that I find myself in Los Angeles where I was heading? Or do I camp out under that sign because it shows me where to go? Or do I get off the freeway there, then turn around and dig up the sign to take with me to keep me on the right road?

Only one of those options make any sense to anyone who has ever driven on Interstate 5 (or any other road for that matter). 

No, once you see the sign for your exit, and you take that exit, the sign has done its work for you. You no longer need the sign. By following it’s instructions, you haven’t invalidated the sign but have, in fact, validated the truthfulness of it. But you leave it where it was so it can guide other to their destination.

That is the purpose of the Law. It points out the way—we are utterly sinful and lost and cannot be saved by any effort of our own.

It then points you to Christ who is perfect and perfectly kept the Law on our behalf.

If you accept that by faith, you no longer need to be pointed to Christ as you are now in Christ. The sign—the law—is no longer needed or relevant to you.

Jesus promises to hold you and not let you go. You don’t have to take the sign—in this case the law—with you to make sure you are safe in Him.

Once you are in Christ, the Holy Spirit dwells in you and you are sealed—permanently—within. The Spirit, not the law, then becomes your guide to living in Christ. He, the Spirit, will direct you to how you should behave and think. The Spirit will correct you and re-direct you if you get off course. And this is the answer to those who are afraid to let go of the Law because to do so, they think, would lead to lawless behavior with nothing to guide us.

Going on to the next paragraph we were directed to read in Steps To Christ:

The condition of eternal life is now just what it always has been,—just what it was in Paradise before the fall of our first parents,—perfect obedience to the law of God, perfect righteousness. If eternal life were granted on any condition short of this, then the happiness of the whole universe would be imperiled. The way would be open for sin, with all its train of woe and misery, to be immortalized. Steps To Christ p. 62

That’s true but think for a minute—whose perfect obedience will suffice? Have you perfectly obeyed the law of God since you were saved? If not, according to the quote, you cannot have eternal life. 

So, whose perfect obedience will save us? 

That’s right—Jesus’ perfect obedience. The chapter in Steps To Christ continues on to get that part right. It ends with a beautiful description of how Jesus did for us what we cannot do for ourselves.

So how do you reconcile that truth with other things written by the same author?

Things like this:

Everyone who by faith obeys God’s commandments, will reach the condition of sinlessness in which Adam lived before his transgression. They testify to their love of Christ by obeying all His precepts. SDA Bible Commentary, vol 6, p 1118. , {HP 146.5}

Or this one which puts the full burden back on us to meet the requirement of perfection:

“What God promises He is able at any time to perform, and the work which He gives His people to do He is able to accomplish by them. If they will live according to every word He has spoken, every good word and promise will be fulfilled unto them. But if they come short of perfect obedience, the great and precious promises are afar off and they cannot reach the fulfillment.” CH 378

Or this lengthy one which not only demands our perfection but insists that we must achieve that before God will save us:

God requires perfection of His children. His law is a transcript of His own character, and it is the standard of all character. This infinite standard is presented to all that there may be no mistake in regard to the kind of people whom God will have to compose His kingdom. The life of Christ on earth was a perfect expression of God’s law, and when those who claim to be children of God become Christlike in character, they will be obedient to God’s commandments. Then the Lord can trust them to be of the number who shall compose the family of heaven. Clothed in the glorious apparel of Christ’s righteousness, they have a place at the King’s feast. They have a right to join the blood-washed throng. {COL 315.1}

According to that one, even after we are saved, we have to earn the right to go to heaven by our perfect behavior! It’s as if being saved and be accepted in heaven are two separate things.

And one more. This one says we cannot be sealed by God until we are cleansed of every defect:

Not one of us will ever receive the seal of God while our characters have one spot or stain upon them. It is left with us to remedy the defects in our characters, to cleanse the soul temple of every defilement. Testimonies, vol 5, p 214.

But, the perfect sinlessness of Jesus is not credited to us until we are saved and sealed by the Holy Spirit. This ends in a deadly and hopeless cycle of results having to come before the cause; but the cause can’t even occur until the effect is in place!

And this final nail in the coffin of hope:

He who has not sufficient faith in Christ to believe that He can keep him from sinning has not the faith that will give him entrance into the kingdom of God. Selected Messages, book 3, p 360.

That one sounds suspiciously like the false faith healers who say that if you only have enough faith, you will be healed. But, when you aren’t healed it is because you didn’t have enough faith.

I could go on and on quoting Ellen White’s demands for perfection before salvation is possible, but you get the picture. Can anyone seriously believe she spoke for God after reading her contradictions to what He said in His word?

Let’s end with some encouragement from Romans 6 which is a beautiful answer to those who would have us believe that if we aren’t under the Law, which they define as the 10 Commandments, we must be trying to live without any law at all:

Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 

Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? 

But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. 

Wonderful words of hope! It does call us slaves, but the choice is ours—will we continue as slaves of sin or make ourselves slaves of God?

Moving from the law to grace in no way gives us the freedom to “do as we please” and live without any restraint. Rather, it rescues us from our slavery to the law which can only point out our sin, and puts us safely under Grace which covers our sin. This allows the Holy Spirit to be our guide to the way we should live.

As Jesus pointed out in the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 5–7, outwardly living to a code of behavior misses the mark while living in the Spirit changes us from the inside out. This is the only true change that is of value in the Kingdom of God. Not that it gets us into the Kingdom, but it pleases the King for us to live this way and bring Him the glory.