October 2–9

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.

 

BY JEANIE JURA

Lesson 2: “Moses’ History Lesson”

This week’s lesson gives a history of the first part of Moses’ address to the people as he recounts their journey. For the most part, it accurately follows the Biblical account with some good explanations of events during the 40 years they were in the desert.

The author does seem to struggle with the concept that God commanded Israel to totally annihilate some people, but he rightly falls back on the omnipotence of God and His right to do what He wishes with His creation, even when we do not understand all the reasons. The nations Israel were told to destroy were full of evil and had reached the end of God’s patience with them. And their destruction was not only for the punishment of evil but even for the protection for Israel. In Joshua 23, when he was old, Joshua reminded the people that God Himself drove out many of the people so that they would not infect Israel with their evil ways. 

The author also does well to point out that God will be glorified in all that happens, even in things that we don’t understand:

“In other words, what we see here is a theme found all through the Bible: the idea that God is to be glorified in His people—that the glory and goodness and love and power of God are to be revealed in His church, through what He does through His people. Of course, His people don’t always make it easy for Him to do this, but ultimately God will be glorified through His people’s actions on earth.”

And:

“Faith isn’t just about loving God on a beautiful day in a pretty forest full of wonderful sights and sounds. It’s also about trusting in Him despite what we don’t fully understand.”

How true it is that we don’t always “make it easy” for God to bring glory out of what we do, but that is no problem for God. He is above all, and we have no power at all to thwart His plans.

God has said in many places in the Bible how He will be glorified. For example, He will be glorified in judgment, just as He was in His judgment on the evil nations in the Promised Land:

But the Lord of hosts will be exalted in judgment, And the holy God will show Himself holy in righteousness (Isaiah 5:16),

We, the Church (and it’s important to remember that when Adventism speaks of “the church”, they are not speaking of the biblical church but of themselves), are to live in a way that our very lives will bring glory to God:

To this end also we pray for you always, that our God will count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith with power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Thessalonians 1:1).

Peter urges our very speech and acts of service be that which will bring glory to God:

“Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen” (1 Peter 4:11).

The Psalmist, after reminding us that God is our refuge and strength and listing ways in which the world around us seems to be in chaos, quotes God and His reassurance that we must trust Him and the fact that He will be glorified (exalted) in everything: 

“Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth” (Psalm 46:10).

The author refers us to Hebrews 7:24, 25 to remind us that Moses’ intercession for the people was an example of what Jesus will do for us:

“[B]ut Jesus, on the other hand, because He continues forever, holds His priesthood permanently. Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”

However, While using Hebrews 7 to make that point, the author does not seem to realize that that same chapter completely destroys two of the most cherished doctrines of Adventism—the Old Covenant Law as still binding on us and the claim that the final generation will have to become perfect and sinless so that they can stand “in the sight of a holy God without an intercessor” (EW 280).

On the contrary, verse 25 says very plainly that Jesus will never cease to be our High Priest:

“Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”

As to the Law, the change of the priestly order from the Levitical to the order of Melchizadek necessitates a change of Law (verse 12).

In the questions at the end of the week, there is a question that just assumes another cherished belief that is actually without any Biblical support at all—that of the Adventist Millennium:

“Think about our understanding of the millennium, in which we will have a thousand years to have all our questions answered. How can this understanding help us to learn to trust in God despite whatever hard questions we have now?”

Adventist dogma insists that we will spend that 1,000 years in heaven doing an internal audit of God’s bookkeeping to make sure that God made the correct determination in the case of everyone—saved or lost. But that human-centered idea has no Biblical support and, in fact, it does great damage to God’s reputation. 

It assumes that either He does not know for sure if He judged correctly, or else He is subservient to us and has to get our approval for His decisions. Both represent an inferior, weak God, and it removes His omnipotence and omniscience. This God is fearful that we might not agree with Him and is anxious to prove Himself to us, presumably so that we can love and trust Him and never doubt and fall into sin again in eternity.

This Adventist teaching also means that our need to have our questions answered is a requirement God cannot escape. And, in fact, it assumes that when we “have all our questions answered” we will know and understand all. But that would mean we would know a much as God, an idea that He firmly countered in Isaiah 55:9:

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.”

God does not hold Himself accountable to our approval and understanding, nor does He tell us anyone else’s story. He deals with us about ourselves, convicting us and forgiving us, but He doesn’t owe us any explanations. He, not we, has the final word. He is the sovereign; we are the creatures. 

Overall, this week’s lesson appears benign, but it is built on the assumption of Adventist’s pet doctrines which are not explained. They have no Biblical basis, but their unacknowledged presence under the lesson’s statements make even this history lesson a minefield of hidden problems. †