Receiving an Unshakable Kingdom
Lesson 12, 1st Quarter March 12-18, 2022
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Sabbath Afternoon - March 12
Memory Text:
“Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:” KJV — Hebrews 12:28
“Those who accept Christ, and in their first confidence say, I am saved, are in danger of trusting to themselves. They lose sight of their own weakness and their constant need of divine strength. They are unprepared for Satan's devices, and under temptation many, like Peter, fall into the very depths of sin. We are admonished, “Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall.” 1 Corinthians 10:12. Our only safety is in constant distrust of self, and dependence on Christ.” COL 155.2
Sunday - March 13
You have come to Mount Zion
Hebrews 12:22-24
What does Paul Describe here?
“All heaven was waiting to welcome the Saviour to the celestial courts. As He ascended, He led the way, and the multitude of captives set free at His resurrection followed. The heavenly host, with shouts and acclamations of praise and celestial song, attended the joyous train.” DA 833.2
“Then the portals of the city of God are opened wide, and the angelic throng sweep through the gates amid a burst of rapturous music. DA 833.11
“There is the throne, and around it the rainbow of promise. There are cherubim and seraphim. The commanders of the angel hosts, the sons of God, the representatives of the unfallen worlds, are assembled. The heavenly council before which Lucifer had accused God and His Son, the representatives of those sinless realms over which Satan had thought to establish his dominion,—all are there to welcome the Redeemer. They are eager to celebrate His triumph and to glorify their King.” DA 834.1
Monday - March 14
You have come to God, the Judge of All
Hebrews 12:23
If this is a celebration, why is God described as a judge? How can a judge be part of or a reason for a celebration? Read also, Daniel 7:9, 10, 13–22.
Then from a comparison of Daniel 7:9, 10, 13, with Revelation 4:2 and 5:1, 11, the fact is clear that both visions are of the same event – the judgment. The one reveals it occurring in the period of the non-descript beast’s second stage, after its horn which had the eyes of a man and a mouth speaking great things had blasphemed (after the reign of Ecclesiastical Rome), and before the beast was slain and his body given to the burning flame (Dan. 7:11) before Rome’s destruction. And the other vision reveals it taking place sometime in the Christian period, and within probationary time.
Daniel saw thrones cast down, and the “Ancient of days,” the Judge, sit, showing that neither He nor the thrones were there beforehand. Evidently on the rest of the thrones, “seats,” sat the twenty-four elders. And finally, he saw the “Son of man,” Christ, the Advocate, brought before the “Ancient of days.” Accordingly, both Daniel and John saw “the judgment…set, and the books…opened.
Tuesday - March 15
Shake the Heavens and the Earth
Haggai 2:6-9, 20-22
What is the purpose of God shaking the heavens and the earth? What does this mean?
Haggai 2:6-8—"For thus saith the Lord of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; and I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts. The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine, saith the Lord of hosts."
That the prophecy in these verses is yet to be fulfilled, is very obvious, for in the day this temple is built God is to shake the heavens, the earth, and the nations; that their expectation is then to come, and that the temple is to be filled with glory; that the builders are not to worry about finances.
It is true that men control and use the silver and the gold, but it must not be forgotten that it all belongs to God, and that if He has need of it, He is well able to take it and do what He will with it, that the builders need not fear a shortage of it if they use it as God would have them use it.
Since it is plain that the ancient temple was typical of a temple to be built in the day God shakes the heavens, the earth, and the nations, the subject becomes absolutely clear that Inspiration is here speaking of an antitypical temple.
Haggai 2:9—"The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts."
The promise is that the glory which attended Solomon's temple, shall be far exceeded by the antitypical one, which is to be built by the church purified, the church during the harvest time, the time in which God shakes the heaven, the earth, and the nations—during the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
Since these promises were not fulfilled in the day of Zerubbabel's temple, the subject becomes crystal clear: that they are now to be fulfilled, and since these latter-day truths are now revealed to us, we must be the builders of it, the glory of which is to exceed all the glory of the past. Moreover, the place where this antitypical temple is to be situated is to have peace, and the way that peace is completely to be achieved is told in—
Haggai 2:21,22—"Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I will shake the heavens and the earth; and I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, everyone by the sword of his brother.
Again, is seen that in the day the Lord shakes the heavens and the earth, He also, destroys the kingdoms of the earth by allowing them to kill one another. No wonder then that the nations are now engaged in an armament race, and the whole world is on the verge of plunging into the bloodiest conflict ever known. It is difficult for anyone to come to any other conclusion than that the great and dreadful day of the Lord is at hand.
Wednesday - March 16
An Unshakable Kingdom
Hebrews 12:27
What are the things that will not be shaken?
Prophesying, as did Jeremiah, of the desolation of the earth, Isaiah says: “Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof…. The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish. The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned and few men left. … The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.” Isa. 24:1, 4-6, 19, 20.
These verses, carrying the continuity of thought, describe what the Lord is to do to the earth whereas those omitted (Isa. 24:2, 3, and 7 to 18 inclusive), as indicated by the omission marks, contain parenthetical thoughts describing how He is to do it, and declaring that He will bestow upon one class of people all the blessings, and bring upon another class all the curses. Verses 2 and 3 unveil the earth emptied of all its inhabitants, irrespective of anyone’s position, whether of honor or of dishonor – from the pious priest down to the lowly slave. And verses 4 to 12 disclose that all the joy will be taken away from the people; that great calamities will overtake them just before the earth is made empty; and that “when thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the people, there shall be as the shaking of an olive tree, and as the gleaning grapes when the vintage is done.” Isa. 24:13. In brief, these verses reveal that just prior to the emptying of the earth, there shall be a great shaking among the people, with the result that all who are not found steadfast in Christ, – the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6), – shall fall; whereas those who are found steadfast, shall be the “left,” and thus being---The Purified–They Shall Stand Forever.
Thursday - March 17
Let Us Be Grateful
Hebrews 12:28; 13:15
How do we offer God acceptable worship?
“They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the majesty of the Lord, they shall cry aloud from the sea.” Isa. 24:14. “Wherefore,” admonishes the prophet in view of this prospect, “glorify ye the Lord in the fires, even the name of the Lord God of Israel in the isles of the sea.” Isa. 24:15.
By rejoicing in the Lord while they are passing through “the fires” (trials – 1 Pet. 4:12), the faithful “shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.” Dan. 12:10.
“But who,” asks the prophet Malachi, speaking of this time and event, “may abide the day of His coming? and who shall stand when He appeareth? for He is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap: and He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and He shall purify the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.” Mal. 3:2, 3.
This purified class who stand steadfast during the shaking in the midst of the land (the church – Isa. 19:24), is also brought into focus in Isaiah’s prophecy, chapter 24, verse 14: “…they shall sing for the majesty of the Lord”; whereas in verse 16 is projected a subsequent purified class who are gathered “from the uttermost part of the earth,” and from whom are “heard songs, even glory to the righteous.” The shaking, in other words, garners first and second fruits of saints – the one from the church, “the midst of the land,” and the other from the world, “the uttermost part of the earth.” And while those from the church “sing for the majesty of the Lord,” those from the world sing “glory to the righteous.”
Thus, we see plainly that the redeemed from the church – the servants of God (the first fruits, or first-born – the Biblical term for the priesthood or the ministry) – stand firmly during the shaking “in the midst of the land,” with the result that they carry the truth to all nations during the “shaking” in the world, thereby taking salvation to many. These two classes of the living are necessarily, therefore, the only redeemed who are left after the shaking. They are spared, “delivered,” from the destruction, because their names are “found written in the book.” Dan. 12:1. And that they are not “left” on the earth while it lies in a state all broken, desolate, and void, but rather are “left” from the destruction, Isaiah, himself, makes plain when he says “the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left” Isa. 24:6. These words do not even imply that the redeemed are left on the earth during the time of its desolation, but are “left,” spared, from the destruction.
Consolidating the facts before us, we find that the millennium is ushered in by a six-fold series of events occurring in the order in which they are named: (1) God’s destroying the hypocrites in the church; (2) calling His Own out of the nations, and then bringing them into the purified church – the Kingdom; (3) closing probation; (4) destroying the wicked; (5) resurrecting the righteous dead and translating the righteous living; (6) and finally, making void the earth.
With the culmination of these six end-events, the time of which the Bible calls the end of the world, the curtain falls forever on the ages-long drama of sin and redemption. Aforetime, though, “this gospel of the kingdom [the signs of the end (Matt. 24)] shall,” said Christ, “be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations [now existent]; and then shall the end come” (Matt. 24:14), and it shall have come to pass, as written: “…the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.” Rev. 6:14. “For thus hath the Lord said, The whole land shall be desolate;” adding though: “yet will not make a full end” (Jer. 4 :27) – leaving a promise for---The Renewal of the Earth.
Friday - March 18
Further Study
“We are living in the time of the end. The fast-fulfilling signs of the times declare that the coming of Christ is near at hand. The days in which we live are solemn and important. The Spirit of God is gradually but surely being withdrawn from the earth. Plagues and judgments are already falling upon the despisers of the grace of God. The calamities by land and sea, the unsettled state of society, the alarms of war, are portentous. They forecast approaching events of the greatest magnitude. 9T 11.1
“The agencies of evil are combining their forces and consolidating. They are strengthening for the last great crisis. Great changes are soon to take place in our world, and the final movements will be rapid ones.” 9T 11.2