Lesson 2: “Restless and Rebellious”
This week’s lesson looks at Israel’s rebellion that led to their 40 years of wilderness wandering. The lesson focusses on the people’s restlessness and forgetfulness of the horrors of their past. It pictures them being discontented in the wilderness, desiring meat, grumbling about Moses, and believing the ten unfaithful spies who returned from their Canaan reconnaissance and said the giants in the land were too much for Israel to tackle.
The lesson goes on to make much of the difference between faith and presumption. Using the account of God’s discipline of the nation to staying put in the wilderness for 40 years because of their lack of faith in His ability to take the land from the giants for them, the lesson attempts to contrast faith with presumption.
When the Israelites saw that God was changing His immediate orders and telling them they would stay put and not enter the land until their generation had died, they regretted their negativity and attempted to organize themselves to enter Canaan. They failed utterly; the Amalekites and Canaanites came against them “and struck them and beat them down as far as Hormah” (Num 14:45).
Presumption and faith
It’s interesting that the authors focus on the contrast between faith and presumption. Significantly, one of Ellen White’s most impacting declarations to the Seventh-day Adventist organization is that people should never be taught to say or to feel that they are saved. To believe one is saved, she said, is presumption, and it will lead people to be careless and to fall away.
EGW’s emphasis on the evils of “presumption” reveals her own lack of understanding of belief in God. First, in the case of Israel, their rebellious attempt to take the land after God had declared they would not enter for another 40 years was not so much presumption as regret for having lost their expected inheritance. The same rebellion that caused them to grumble and complain about everything from the daily manna to the leadership of Moses caused them to disbelieve God’s declaration that they would die in the wilderness, and their sons would take the land.
Israel had experienced nothing but miraculous provision from God as they left Egypt, crossed the Red Sea, received daily manna in the desert, drank water from a rock, and received the evidence that the land to which God was bringing them was unbelievably prosperous. They were ungrateful and self-centered.
In fact, Israel’s experience was so significant that Paul spent most of a chapter in 1 Corinthians reminding that young congregation of believers what had happened to Israel:
For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. Consider the people of Israel: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar? What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he? (1 Corinthians 10:1–22).
Israel’s problem was failure to believe God and to be grateful. All of them had been led out of Egypt miraculously and had crossed to the other side of the Red Sea by the grace of God. He had provided for them in ways none of them had ever experienced, yet they were ungrateful and rebellious.
Instead of thanking God (as Paul explained one must do in order not to have a foolish and hardened heart in Romans 1:18–21), they demanded more and indulged their flesh. In fact, their hard hearts and rebellion were so significant that, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:11, their stories were written down for our instruction.
To call Israel’s attempt to take Canaan merely presumption after their habituated grumbling and immorality and idolatry is to negate the impact of this entire account. They didn’t merely fail to have faith; they actively disrespected and defied God’s leadership and provision. They tried to take their situation into their own hands IN SPITE OF GOD.
The lesson’s characterization of their attitude as “restless and rebellious” minimizes their unfaithfulness. They essentially disregarded God’s care of them, seeing themselves as the center of their own universe and ignoring the fact that God was the center of reality.
Ellen White’s great controversy worldview creates this same distortion. Adventism is the center of reality; God, she teaches, comes to the aid of the obedient and longs for us to help Jesus vindicate God’s good name and uphold the law.
This man-centered view of salvation—that Adventists are the remnant with the one true last-day message for the world—KEEP SABBATH and honor the health message in order to get ready for the second coming—means that Adventists have no concept of the fact that their salvation is not dependent upon their obedience or their Sabbath-keeping in any sense.
Scripture teaches that there is only ONE way to be saved: to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and the gospel of His salvation: Jesus died for our sins according to Scripture; He was buried, and He was raised from the dead on the third day according to Scripture (1 Cor. 15:3-4). This is the ONLY WAY a person can be saved, and when one realizes his true nature—dead in sin and by nature a child of wrath (Eph. 2:1–3), he can only be saved by believing in Jesus’ completed atonement and being born again.
When a person DOES believe the gospel of his salvation, the Holy Spirit indwells him and seals him (Eph. 1:13-14), and that person at that moment passes out of death into life (Jn. 5:24)!
Furthermore, Paul tells us that when we are saved, born again and adopted by the Father we KNOW we are saved:
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him (Romans 8:15–17).
God Himself indwells us and bears witness with our spirits that ARE children of God and heirs of God! We are supposed to know we are saved when we have trusted in Jesus’ finished work!
Ellen White obviously did not understand the new birth. She had a man-centered view of salvation, and she taught that only the obedient, only those dedicated to the Ten Commandments (especially the Sabbath) and to her own writings which she called the “spirit of prophecy”, were those who would be saved. Furthermore, she taught that no one could know they were saved until Jesus came again and revealed each person’s final state.
In fact, Adventism does not teach the biblical gospel. It’s “three angels’ messages” and her interpretation of those hapless three which John wrote about in Revelation 14:14–16 is not an articulation of the gospel. It calls people back to worship God and to leave the deceptive world system, but the way EGW interpreted those messages was to insert her view of the Sabbath, the investigative judgment, and Sunday as the mark of the beast into those end-time calls to worship God.
Ellen twisted Scripture and had no idea what those verses really meant. She did not understand the gospel, and she had no solution for the very restlessness and rebellion which is the subject of this week’s lesson.
It is no surprise that she calls the security of the believer “presumption”; she had no idea of the power of the God in the gospel of the Lord Jesus. Furthermore, it is even less surprising that she uses the same word—presumption—to minimize the account of Israel which was written for our instruction.
When Israel acted out of harmony with God’s directions, they were not “presumptive”. They were utterly disbelieving. They were self-serving and thought they could sway God’s will and His approval of them by changing their behavior—a situation very much like the way EGW teaches Adventists to please God.
Neither Israel’s taking the land of Canaan nor our eternal salvation is based in any way upon our behavior. Not even our acts of obedience affect our salvation. Only belief in God and in His word shapes our eternal future.
Israel’s disobedience in the wilderness did not change God’s mind about Israel as His chosen people. It did not cause Him to decide not to take Israel into Canaan in His own time. Similarly, our obedience to the law is not what guarantees our entrance into eternal life.
Belief in God is what makes the difference. Jesus did not come to show us how to keep the law and to vindicate God. No! He came to become sin for us and to pay for human sin by taking God’s wrath against sin in Himself on the cross.
He did not come to make bad people good; He came to make dead people alive.
The original Israelites failed to enter the land of promise because they did not believe God. Unlike Abraham, who believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness (Gen. 15:6), Israel disbelieved God and gave way to fear and self-protection.
Today we are asked to believe God as well. We are to believe in the One whom He has sent (Jn. 6:29); this belief IS the WORK OF GOD!
We will not understand that God is the ultimate value in all the universe until we let go of Ellen White’s pious words. She was not a prophet God raised up; she contradicts both Scripture and herself within her writings.
We must give up our reliance on Ellen White’s interpretations and trust the Bible alone, asking its Author, God Himself, to teach us truth and reality from its pages.
Do you believe God, or are you hanging onto your Sabbath just in case Ellen was right? Jesus is enough, and He asks us to believe that He has done everything necessary for our life and godliness. †
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SHADOW AND REALITY
” Don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink , or for not celebrating holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths . For these rules are only shadows of the reality to come . And Christ himself is that reality ” . [ Colossians 2 : 16 NLT ]
I am a SDA of 45 years and have never heard Colossians 2 : 16 in a sermon , nor have I seen the verse in a Sabbath School Bible Study Guide . When I was preparing for baptism in 1976 , Chris Jager in his first year of ministry under Pastor John Hackwell at Bankstown SDA church , Sydney NSW Australia , told me to ignore Col0ssians 2 : 16 . His advice was to stay with the many Bible texts that supported the Sabbath .
The current lesson guide ” Rest in Christ ” does not mention Colossians 2 : 16 . I have flicked through every page of the lesson guide and there is no Colossians 2 : 16 .
Paul has much to say about the Sabbath , which is ignored by the SDA’s . Paul said ” God has given me the responsibility of serving his church by proclaiming his ENTIRE message to you ” . [ Colossians 1:25] ” I received my message from no human source , and no one taught me . Instead , I received it by direct revelation from Jesus Christ . ” [ Galatians 1 : 12 ]
In Galatia false teachers were saying to the Galatian church , ignore Paul . ” Those false teachers are so eager to win your favor , but their intentions are not good . They are trying to shut you off from me so that you will pay attention only to them . ” [ Galatians 4 : 17 ] . This is exactly what the SDA’s are doing . Ignore Paul , but listen to us . We are the Remnant Church , we have Ellen G White , we have more knowledge than the other churches ,the Sabbath will be earth’s last conflict .
Paul has the ENTIRE message , listen to Paul . SDA’s are false teachers , there intentions are not good .
Don’t let anyone condemn you , judge you or pass judgment on you . SDA’s do all three . To become a member of the Remnant Church , the baptismal vow says , you agree to not drink coffee and other harmful beverages . Don’t eat unclean meats and keep the Sabbath . But Paul says ” For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come . And Christ himself is that reality ”
The Sabbath in the Old Testament was a day . The Sabbath in the New Covenant is no longer a day , but is Christ . We find our rest in Christ . The Sabbath day has to do with the shadow – world , not with reality . Now that the reality is come , there is no point in clinging to the shadows . And the reality belongs to Christ .
Because SDA’s ignore Paul ,they honour the shadow and dishonour the reality . They honour the Sabbath and DISHONOUR Christ .” Happy Sabbath ” is the welcome at the door , at the Sabbath School , at the church service . Happy Sabbath is Satan’s mantra . Sabbath observance is an open door for Satan to run amok in the SDA church . Satan hates Christ . His aim is to bring Christ down and he succeeds every Sabbath in the SDA church .