February 27–March 5

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 10: Doing the Unthinkable

Once again, the author of the lesson deviated from a powerful statement of salvation as laid out in Isaiah 53 at the end of the lesson by offering a confused scope of God’s forgiveness. Here is his summary statement: 

Having told about the birth, identity, and career of God’s Deliverer, Isaiah finally reveals the supreme tragedy that gives us hope: To reach, save, and heal lost people, including us, God’s Servant voluntarily bears our suffering and punishment.

That statement sums up the fact that God initiated the plan of salvation before creation because He knew that sin would enter. And He knew who would accept the free gift (Ephesians 1:4; 1 Peter 1:20).

It’s too bad he didn’t stop there; but he seems to be confused as to the scope of this forgiveness provided by God:

“Look carefully at Isaiah 53:6. What is the specific message there? What is that text saying to you, personally, that should give you hope despite your past sins and failures?”

It is easy to put Isaiah 53 and the hope it offers us into our own time frame. As the author says, there is forgiveness for our past sins, but what about the sins we will commit in the future? 

Remember that when Jesus paid the price to redeem us, it was before any of us were even born or had committed any sin. He paid for all sin—past, present and future—and when we accept that amazing gift, we are forgiven, redeemed and made perfect in God’s eyes with the perfection of our Redeemer. And it was more than just covering our sins. It was making our dead spirit alive in Him. (Colossians 2:13)

Hebrews 9 puts it into perspective and makes a number of points regarding our salvation: 

For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us (Heb. 9:24).

Note that at the time this was written, Jesus was already appearing before God to intercede for us. He was not waiting around for 1844 to go in before God on our behalf.

nor was it that He would offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the holy place year by year with blood that is not his own (v. 25).

He offered up His own blood in a one-time payment for our sin. The blood of animals merely set aside the sins of the one who believed but did nothing to provide payment for them (Romans 3:25).

Otherwise, He would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself (v. 26). 

If Jesus’ blood covered only past sins, what happens when we sin again after accepting His sacrifice for us? Verse 26 makes it clear that His blood covers ALL sin, even what had not yet been committed.

And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, 28 so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him (v. 27).

Notice that when He comes again, there will be no reference to our sin. It has been paid for and removed as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12). 

As has been pointed out many times, if you go north, eventually you will pass the north pole and will be going south. But if you go east, you will never reach a point where you will be going west. That is how far our sin has been removed—it is totally, permanently gone, and it no longer comes into God’s consideration of our worth. And, since our sin has been put away, we no longer have to worry about being good enough to deserve salvation. 

The lesson’s author acknowledges this truth in Thursday’s lesson where we are asked to compare several verses to the message of Isaiah 53.

How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered! How blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit (Psalm 32:1, 2)!

Notice that God does not impute iniquity to us when we are in Christ. Ironically, the author also refers us to Galatians 2:16:

“nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.”

Too bad he didn’t include the rest of Galatians 2 because the last verse is very clear:

I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly (Gal 2:21).

If we could be righteous—right with God—through the Law, Jesus would not have needed to die. So if the Law could not save us it also has no power to keep us saved, as it’s only purpose is to condemn.

Look at Romans 3:19–22:

Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.

But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; 

See the transition between verses 20 and 21? The Law does not make us right with God, it merely shows us our sin and pointed forward to the solution to our sin—Jesus’ blood which He shed on the cross in payment for us.

Then we are referred to Philippians 3:9: 

“and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,”

Notice that our righteousness does not come from the Law; it comes from our faith in Christ.

After a week of a (mostly) good, Biblically sound message of salvation, it all falls apart in Friday’s lesson when the author reverts back to an un-Biblical “authority” who completely destroys the simple truth of salvation:

“Christ triumphed in man’s behalf in thus bearing the justice of punishment. He secured eternal life to men, while He exalted the law, and made it honorable.”—Ellen G. White, Selected Messages, book 1, p. 302.

This EGW quote is followed by the question at the end:

“Look at the last quote above by Ellen G. White about Christ’s death magnifying the law. What does she mean by that? How do we understand His death as proof of the perpetuity of the law?”

First of all, Romans is quite clear that while the Law is good, we have died to the Law through Jesus and are no longer bound to it. Romans 7 starts out by comparing the reality of being bound in marriage, only as long as the spouse is alive, to no longer being bound to the Law once Jesus died. The point of that chapter is that to try to combine the Law (our old ‘spouse’) and Grace (our new ‘spouse’) is the equivalent of committing adultery.

In verses 12 and 16, Paul points out that the Law is “good” and “holy and righteous and good”; but that is not the point. He is also quite clear that when we are in Christ, we are no longer under the Law.

In chapter 1 of Paul’s first letter to Timothy, he expands on this idea in verses 8, 9:

But we know that the Law is good, if one uses it lawfully, realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers…

Just as he pointed out in Galatians, the Law points out our sin but does nothing to fix our sin. He told Timothy that the Law was intended for evil people, not for the righteous. The Law was already “honorable” and every time that Jesus “exalted” the Law, He was pointing out how we are utterly unable to keep the Law. He was here to pay for our failure and while He did keep it perfectly, He did that in our place, not as an example for us to follow. 

Now that we are in Christ, His perfection, His righteousness, is imputed to us to cover our failure. In his letter to the believers in Galatia, Paul let his frustration show in chapter 4 when he cries out in verse 21:

Tell me, you who want to be under law, do you not listen to the law?

He follows this question with a comparison of the slave Hagar, her son, the Law, and Mt. Sinai with the free woman Sarah, her son, grace, and the heavenly city which is our home. His frustration was with the Christians who thought they wanted to revert to the Law, just to be safe, but were actually putting themselves back under the words that brings only death, not life.

In verse 30 he sums it up by pointing out that the slave woman and her son (the Law) will be cast out, while the free woman and her son (Grace) will inherit. And the summation of the flow of his frustrated thought is the last verse:

So then, brethren, we are not children of a bondwoman, but of the free woman (Gal. 4:31).

This text clearly refutes the lesson’s claim of the perpetuity of the Law, meaning its claim on us and our obligation to it. Yes, the Law is perpetual, and it has always been there to point out sinners’ need of the Savior, much as a road sign stays in place to guide others even after you have followed it to your destination, but it is quite separate from Grace, and there is no way to combine the two.†