February 20–26

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 9: “To Serve and to Save”

This week’s lesson skips several chapters and parts of others, and there are some problematic statements slipped in this week. There is this statement in Wednesday’s lesson:

“Isaiah’s basic message is consistent throughout his book: Trust the true God, including His Messianic Deliverer, rather than other powers.”

And, once again, the summary at the end neatly sums up the whole message of these chapters:

“Summary: Deliverance requires a Deliverer. God’s servant nation would be delivered by two deliverers: Cyrus, who would set the captives free from Babylonian exile, and an unnamed Servant, whose identity as the Messiah is progressively revealed. This Servant would restore justice and bring the community of survivors back to God.”

If that was the extent of the lesson, it would be a wonderful, hopeful, faith-affirming message, not only to the people of Israel who had been warned of the coming punishment of God, but to us as well, who trust in the all-sufficient blood of Christ. One problematic statement is in this question at the end of Monday’s lesson:

“Think about some other Bible prophecies that have come to pass as predicted (such as all the kingdoms of Daniel 2 except the last, Daniel 7, or regarding the time of Christ in Daniel 9:24–27).”

To accept Daniel 7 as having come to pass, is to force the notion of the Investigative Judgment into the text, completely contrary to all Biblical, Gospel truth. Starting with verse 9, Daniel 7 has gone forward to the final Judgment at Jesus 2nd Coming. It is clearly not something happening now; for instance, verses 11 and 12 tell of the destruction of the beast; and verses 13 and 14 tell of the beginning of the kingdom being given to Jesus.

Then there is the problematic assumption that all of Daniel 9:24-27 was completely fulfilled during the time of Jesus’ first incarnation. Verse 26 transitions from Jesus to the coming evil one, and verse 27 tells about the (temporary) reign of that evil one. 

Those last two verses, often called “Daniel’s 70th week”, are still future to us and are described in painful detail in Revelation 6-18. 

Now, I recognize that there are different, and differing, interpretations of those verses in Daniel, but if you allow the Bible to interpret itself, without twisting it, adding to it, or taking away from it, it becomes quite clear. 

Having said that, understand that a correct grasp of endtimes is not a requirement for having salvation, so it is not good to be adamant about them. The whole point is that they are prophesied and therefore will certainly happen. And there is another reason for that truth.

Jesus said that the reason for prophecy—knowing ahead of time what will happen—is so that when it happens, we will know that He is God and from that knowledge, have faith in Him. 

John 13 begins with the institution of the Lord’s Supper, followed by Jesus’ final words to the disciples, extending through chapter 16. In 13:19 He clearly states the reason for telling them what will happen:

“From now on I am telling you before it comes to pass, so that when it does occur, you may believe that I am He.”

In Ezekiel 33, a chapter which starts out with a warning to the Watchman who must give warning or suffer the consequences, after being given the message for the people, the Lord sums up the message to Ezekiel in verses 32 and 33:

“Behold, you are to them like a sensual song by one who has a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument; for they hear your words but they do not practice them. So when it comes to pass—as surely it will—then they will know that a prophet has been in their midst.”

Prophecy not only shows clearly that God is all-knowing and sees the end from the beginning, but it comforts us who trust in Him who holds it all. In the questions at the end of the week, there is one that is worth considering:

Do you know a “bruised reed” or “dimly burning wick” (Isa. 42:3, NRSV)? How can you help this person without “breaking” or “quenching” him or her? In what ways can you point such people to the Lord? In a practical sense, what would you tell them to do in order to get healing and help?

To tell them something that would bring “healing and help” you must first understand what healing and help is needed. Loading them up with doctrines and a set of behaviors will not help at all; in fact it will contribute to the “breaking or quenching”. 

To help those in need of the Savior, you first have to realize that we were all dead in our sins before we came to Jesus. Colossians 2 starts off with that fact and repeats it in verse 5—we were dead in sin until Jesus made us alive in Him. Ephesians 2 also deals with our former death in sin in beautiful language:

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:2–6).

See that? We were “dead in trespasses and sins” even as we were “walking according to the course of this world”. Clearly it is not talking about physical life or death; it is talking about our spirit which is dead—disconnected from God, the only source of life—until we accepted Jesus’ payment for our sin. Then we became alive—again in spirit, not body.

If you cannot grasp that simple, Biblical fact, it is impossible to tell others of the life that is available in Jesus. And that life is the only true “healing and help” that will benefit the one who needs it. †