January 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 5: “Noble Prince of Peace”

Let’s begin this week’s comments with a powerful statement found in Thursday’s lesson:

“In other words, that redemption that was in Him can become ours by faith, and not by works, because no works we do are good enough to redeem us. Only the works that Christ did, which He credits to us by faith, can bring redemption.”

This is a wonderful statement of salvation by faith, not works, and if it is allowed to stand alone, it is very true and very reassuring. But it is followed by a question that shows the deceptive idea behind the author’s idea of salvation by faith and neatly cancels the glorious, Biblical truth.

“How does this truth give you hope and assurance of salvation, especially when you feel overwhelmed by your own sense of unworthiness?” the lesson asks. 

Simply put, if you truly believe that basic tenet of faith, there is no reason to have doubt or to “feel overwhelmed by your own sense of unworthiness”. Although we will, at times, remember our utter lack of worth without Christ, that does not need to lead to feelings of hopelessness or of being overwhelmed. Only if we are relying on our behavior after the point of salvation, on our effort to keep ourselves saved, should we become “overwhelmed” by our own unworthiness.

We know that our righteousness is that of Christ, not from ourselves, and we trust Him entirely to save us and to hold us safely (John 10:29, 29).

In Wednesday’s lesson, there is another statement that is a cause for concern. It can be taken two different ways; one way that is Biblically true, and one that calls Jesus a liar:

“The plan of salvation, to be completed, requires both comings: the First, which already happened; and the Second, which we await as the consummation of all our hopes as Christians.”

The question is, just what does the author mean by “to be completed”?

On the cross, Jesus’ last recorded words were the profound statement, “It is finished” (John 19:30). His whole purpose in coming was to pay for our sin and redeem us from its power by dying on the cross. So, when He gave up His Spirit (John 10:18 and 19:30), He was literally finishing the plan. There was no more to be done, so to say that it is still “to be completed” is to say that He lied and only partly finished it. On the cross, He completed the plan of salvation and conquered sin and the devil. When He rose from the grave, He conquered death for us.

Yes, the second coming will be the consummation of our hope, as faith will become sight (Hebrews 11); but the plan of salvation itself is completed. All we need to do is accept it by faith.

If you don’t see it as completed, how would you answer this question in the lesson with any degree of hope?

“If someone were to ask you, What has Jesus delivered you from, what would you answer?”

The Biblical answer is that He delivered you from sin, death, the kingdom of darkness, and eternal separation from Him. You are now, in God’s sight, sinless (the penalty has been paid 1 John 2:2, Galatians 1:4) and are alive and in His Kingdom (Colossians 1:13). All of those promises of eternal life are stated in past tense—they have been completed already, and you are safe in His hands (John 10:28, 29). 

Yes, we do look forward to the consummation of our hope—to spend eternity in His very presence; but our salvation is already completed.

The lesson refers to Isaiah 9:6 and to the names that are given to Jesus, but some of them were left out, and the rest were not discussed well. 

So first, here are the names He is given: “His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.”

In our culture, we don’t put as much meaning into names as they did when Isaiah wrote those words. To us, they tend to be nothing more than the way to identify a person to others. In Isaiah’s time, and particularly in the case of God’s names that He uses to describe Himself in the person of Jesus, they had great meaning. So let’s look at just the simple definitions of them found in Strong’s Concordance. Keep in mind that they are describing Jesus.

• Wonderful—6381 and 6382: hidden things too high; marvelous; separate; wondrous
• Counsellor—3289:advise, consultant, guide
• Mighty—1368: valiant, champion, strong
• God—410: the Almighty, mighty one, strong
• Eternal—5703: eternally, perpetually
• Father—1: father, patrimony, principal
• Prince—8269: head person, general, ruler, steward
• Peace—7965: safe, well, happy

Jesus is “the things hidden from all the ages”, too high for us to fully grasp. He is our infallible Guide; our Champion; the Almighty One. He is eternal—never ending as well as having no beginning. He is our eternal Father. He is the Head Person, our Ruler. He is our source of safety and true happiness.

Of all of those wondrous descriptions of Him, the one most often ignored and glossed over is “Eternal Father”. Jesus, the one to come as foretold in Isaiah 9, is also called the Eternal Father. The fact that He is called that clearly shows that He and God the Father are one in essence, not two separate, distinct beings that work well together.

It would be well worth the time to do a study of the names of God to understand, as best we can, the various attributes that He describes in those names.

After this wonderful, if abbreviated, discussion of some of the names given to the coming Messiah, the lesson then falls back on a tired and very un-Biblical claim that, if true, would actually lower God to the role of a subservient god who must defend himself against spurious accusations:

“Satan had accused God of requiring self-denial of the angels, when He knew nothing of what it meant Himself, and when He would not Himself make any self-sacrifice for others. This was the accusation that Satan made against God in heaven; and after the evil one was expelled from heaven, he continually charged the Lord with exacting service which He would not render Himself. Christ came to the world to meet these false accusations, and to reveal the Father.” SM 1 406, 407

There is absolutely nothing in the Bible that supports, or even hints at, that silly idea. It is simply a way to elevate Lucifer and even man while lowering God to an inferior, precarious position where He could supposedly lose it all to His created being.

It is so sad to see this diminishing of God after a wonderful section on some of the names of God which attempt to describe some of His attributes in ways that our fallen minds can grasp. †