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 13: “The New Covenant Life”
In this last lesson of the quarter, the first study begins with a sentence that reveals Adventism’s lack of “covenant understanding”. The author says, “This quarter has been a study on the covenant, which (to pare it down to its simplest, purest form) is, basically, God saying, This is how I will save you from sin, period.”
As we have said before, there are several biblical covenants, and they are not essentially the same. The have different promises and conditional aspects. All the covenants are unconditional except the Mosaic which is clearly conditional, and the Mosaic is not eternal as the others are. The unconditional covenants have God making promises, covenanting to do what He says He will do without any participation from man.
Further, while all the covenants are reflective of Yahweh’s interactions with humanity that lead to our redemption and reconciliation with Him, God makes other promises in various covenants. For example, He promised Noah (and us) that He would never destroy the world with a flood again. He promised Abraham that He would make him a great nation and give him land, offspring, and blessing. He promised David that a descendant of his would have an eternal dynasty, throne, and kingdom.
All of these promises involved God’s salvation of humanity in one aspect or another, but they were not all directly addressing sin even though the promises dealt with His ultimate solution for sin.
New Heart
As this quarter ends, we must counter again the lesson’s point that Adventists need to keep the law in order to stay saved and to please God.
Tuesday’s lesson deals with a New Heart. In the questions at the end of the day’s lesson, though, it becomes obvious that the author doesn’t understand the new birth. The promises of the new heart are connected to believing in the Lord Jesus being born again as a consequence of believing in Him and His finished work. Yet the lesson ends with these questions: “Look at the texts we have studied today. What can you do that will allow the promises of these texts to be fulfilled in you? Are there things you need to change, things that are perhaps hampering you from experiencing the “fullness of God” (Eph. 3:19)? Make a list of what changes you need to make in your life. Make one for yourself and, if you are comfortable, make one that you could share with the class. How can you help each other make necessary changes?”
We do not make changes in order to enable God to fulfill His promises. The “fullness of God” (Eph. 3:19), for example, is not something that depends upon anything we do. When we are born again and baptized into the one body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:12), we are adopted by God (Rom. 8:14–17), and we pass at that moment out of death into life (Jn. 5:24). We have the fullness of God! We can’t make deals of behavior and loyalty with God to increase that reality.
We grow in the Spirit and learn to trust Jesus more and more, but we have the fullness of God because He brings us to life, and He gives us Himself. We receive all of Him! He is not divisible into parts.
In Wednesday’s lesson there is a discussion of the new covenant and eternal life. The author makes clear that there is a present and a future dimension of eternal life, and they briefly discuss the resurrection of the body. In fact, the author says, “Immortality begins at that time for God’s people.”
The Bible, however, is clear that believers have eternal life the moment they believe, and they “never die” (Jn. 11:25, 26). The lesson even uses John 11:25, 26 as the text for the day.
Adventists see this promise of Jesus as a metaphor, as a promise for a future reality. Yet Scripture teaches that those who believe NEVER DIE. We learn the reality of this promise in the epistles more clearly. 2 Corinthians 5:1–9 explains that “we” live in mortal tents, and when we leave these tents, we become absent from the body but present with the Lord. Furthermore, whether away or present, we make it our aim to please Him.
How can we please God if we cease to exist? This verse says that believers will please Him even after they die. Furthermore, Paul tells us that to be with the Lord is “very much better” than remaining here in the body.
The resurrection will occur when Jesus returns, and people will be raised from death, and their spirits will be reconnected with their bodies (1 Thessalonians 4:14–18).
Eternal life is uninterrupted once we believe and receive our new spirits and new hearts through Jesus. Even when our bodies die, our own identities will go to Jesus, and nothing will ever separate us from Him.
Adventism teaches a falsehood about death!
New Covenant Life
The lesson ends with an appeal for the readers to go and convert people to Adventism. Of course, they don’t say it quite like that, but they do end Thursday’s lesson with these questions: “As new covenant Christians, we have been given a clear mandate by the Lord Himself. Whoever we are, whatever our station in life, whatever our limits, we can all play a role. Have you been doing anything? Can you do more? What can your class do, together, to have a greater role in this work?”
The summary statement for this week’s lesson and for the quarter is this: “The covenant is not just some deep theological concept; instead, it defines the parameters of our saving relationship with Christ, a relationship that reaps us wonderful benefits now and at His return.”
Because Adventism does not acknowledge that Jesus’ atonement was completed at the cross, because they say that He is continuing the “second phase” of the atonement in heaven, they cannot teach or understand the reality of the new covenant. They try to use the words, but they make sure that their members are mired in law-keeping (especially the Sabbath) and that they have no idea that they literally can enter the eternal life now and find all their sins—past, present, and future—because they forgiven by Jesus’ atoning, propitiating blood when they trust and believe in Him!
As we end our commentary on this (frustrating) quarter’s lesson on “the covenant” without any understanding of the reality of the New Covenant in Jesus’ blood, I appeal to everyone who reads this: if you don’t know that you are forgiven and saved, deal with Jesus. The details about His life and His New Testament commands for believers will not save you.
Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross is what pays for your sins, and His resurrection is what brings you His eternal life, your new birth, and your new spirit! When you see what He has done for you, when you repent of your sins and acknowledge that He has taken your curse, you will pass from death to life, and He will seal you with His Holy Spirit of promise (Ephesians 1:13–14).
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Adventism see’s all the covenants as one , with each new covenant being an addition to the previous one . They don’t see the covenants as separate , as either conditional or unconditional . The lady who led out in the lesson last week at Jane Brook Adventist church , Perth , Western Australia , said she did not understand the difference between conditional and unconditional .
The one word that is emphasized in every lesson , is the word obedience . That Adventist need to obey the law , in order to receive God’s blessings . The people God made covenants with were obedient . Abraham obeyed God , so God made a covenant with Abraham . But Paul in Romans 4 says the opposite . ” Abraham believed God , and God counted him as righteous because of his faith ” Rom 4 : 3. And Paul again in Romans 4 : 13 – 17 :
” CLEARLY , God’s promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was based not on his obedience to God’s law , but on a right relationship with God that comes by faith . If God’s promise is only for those who obey the law , then faith is not necessary and the promise is pointless . For the law always brings punishment on those who try to obey it .The only way to avoid breaking the law is to have no law to break .
So the promise is received by faith . It is given as a free gift . And we are all certain to receive it , whether or not we live according to the law of Moses , if we have faith like Abraham’s . For Abraham is the father of all who believe . That is what the Scriptures mean when God told him , ” I have made you the farther of many nations “. This happened because Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing ” .
You need to read Romans 4 , 10 times , and let every word sink into your heart and mind . Verse 13 starts with the word CLEARLY . No explanation is needed from any one . God is making the New Covenant crystal clear . The covenant with Abraham was a shadow of the New Covenant .
The covenant with Abraham , was not based on his obedience . ” For the law ALWAYS brings punishment on those who try to obey it ” . Those who preach the law , like the SDA’s , condemn their members and make them feel guilty .Satan knows that when we break the law , the result is condemnation ,shame , guilt and fear . Satan has Adventist living under the Mosaic covenant which is obsolete , out of date and has expired .
The New Covenant is about faith and not obedience . ” So the promise is received by faith . It is given as a free gift . And we are all certain to receive it , WHETHER OR NOT we live according to the law of Moses “. Romans 4 : 16 . ” God will also count us as righteous if we believe in him , who was handed over to die because of our sins and he was raised to make us right with God ” . Romans 4 : 23 , 24 .
John, you are absolutely right about their emphasis on obedience. Notice that they change what the Bible says about each of the covenants. 1. Noah-they say that the covenant was made when God told him to build the ark and he OBEYED. The Bible says that the covenant didn’t even involve mankind-it was God’s unilateral promise to never again flood the whole earth. 2. Abraham-they said that that covenant was made when God first told Abraham to leave his home and he OBEYED. But the Bible says that covenant came after Abraham believed God; and, in fact, was made after he obeyed God and was in the Promised Land.
3. Moses. At least they got that one right but that is because that is the only covenant that depended on right behavior. And all of that was specifically so that they could say that the New Covenant is just like the others and also depends entirely on our behavior.
John, I agree. Adventists deliberately misinterpret the covenants and deliver a message of bondage and fear, putting their people back under the law which condemns every single person on earth who tries to please God by keeping it. Jesus is our hope and righteousness and salvation! We are saved by HIM alone, not on the basis of our obedience but on the basis of our faith/belief in Him!