Sabbath Afternoon - November 19
Memory Text:
“No man, woman, or youth can attain to Christian perfection and neglect the study of the word of God. By carefully and closely searching His word we shall obey the injunction of Christ, “Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of Me.” This search enables the student to observe closely the divine Model, for they testify of Christ. The Pattern must be inspected often and closely in order to imitate it. As one becomes acquainted with the history of the Redeemer, he discovers in himself defects of character; his unlikeness to Christ is so great that he sees he cannot be a follower without a very great change in his life. Still he studies, with a desire to be like his great Exemplar; he catches the looks, the spirit, of his beloved Master; by beholding he becomes changed. ‘Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.’ ...” CSW 17.1
Sunday - November 20
The Rich Man and Lazarus
Luke 16:19-31
Why is this story not a literal description of the afterlife?
“In this parable Christ was meeting the people on their own ground. The doctrine of a conscious state of existence between death and the resurrection was held by many of those who were listening to Christ's words. The Saviour knew of their ideas, and He framed His parable so as to inculcate important truths through these preconceived opinions. He held up before His hearers a mirror wherein they might see themselves in their true relation to God. He used the prevailing opinion to convey the idea He wished to make prominent to all—that no man is valued for his possessions; for all he has belongs to him only as lent by the Lord. A misuse of these gifts will place him below the poorest and most afflicted man who loves God and trusts in Him.” COL 263.2
Still further, the Lord makes it exceedingly plain in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus that after death there is no chance at all for one’s salvation, – no, not even for a drop of cold water, – for the rich man’s plea in death was denied him, and he was told: “Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.” Luke 16:25, 26.
This parable teaches that the only way any of us can be saved from hell’s torment is to “hear Moses and the prophets” while we are yet alive, and that if we hear them not, then the Lord cannot help us after death. It also teaches that if we are not persuaded by them, neither will we “be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.” Luke 16:29-31.Hence, as there is no chance for salvation after death, then if any, while living, have failed to hear “Moses and the prophets,” why should Christ preach to them after they die? “God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” Matt. 22:32.
Monday - November 21
“Today…With Me in Paradise”
Luke 23:43
How should the promise to the repentant thief be understood?
“I say unto thee today, Thou shalt be with Me in Paradise. Christ did not promise that the thief should be with Him in Paradise that day. He Himself did not go that day to Paradise. He slept in the tomb, and on the morning of the resurrection He said, “I am not yet ascended to My Father.” John 20:17. But on the day of the crucifixion, the day of apparent defeat and darkness, the promise was given. “Today” while dying upon the cross as a malefactor, Christ assures the poor sinner, Thou shalt be with Me in Paradise.” DA 751.3
“When he heard the sneering words of his companion in crime, he “rebuked him, saying, Dost thou not fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this man hath done nothing amiss.” Then, as his heart went out to Christ, heavenly illumination flooded his mind. In Jesus, bruised, mocked, and hanging upon the cross, he saw his Redeemer, his only hope, and appealed to him in humble faith: ‘Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom! And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee today, [By placing the comma after the word today, instead of after the word thee, as in the common versions, the true meaning of the text is more apparent.] shalt thou be with me in Paradise.’” 3SP 157.1
Would not the Lord’s people realize that God is not a man? “The words that I speak unto you they are spirit, and they are life.” (John 6:63). “Every word of God is pure.” (Prov. 30:5). “He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life.” (John 5:24). “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away.” (Matt.24:35). “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.” (Luke 4:4). “If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book,…it shall come to pass, that as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you; so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to naught.” (Deut. 28:58, 63).
Tuesday - November 22
“To Depart and Be With Christ”
Philippians 1:21-24; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
When did Paul expect to be with Christ?
“No path is safe, save that which grows clearer and firmer the farther it is pursued. The foot may sometimes slip upon the safest path. In order to walk without fear, you must know that your hand is firmly held by the hand of Christ. You must not for a moment think there is no danger for you. The wisest make mistakes. The strongest sometimes falter. The foolish, self-confident, heady, and high-minded, who press heedlessly on upon forbidden paths, flattering themselves that they can change their course when they please, are walking upon a path of pitfalls. They may recover a fall, a mistake they make, but how many make one misstep which will prove their eternal ruin.” 2SM 169.2
“God forbid that you should make shipwreck of faith here. Look at Paul; listen to his words sounding along the line to our time: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing” (2 Timothy 4:7, 8). Here is the battle shout of victory from Paul. What will be yours? 2SM 169.4
Thus, at Christ’s second appearing, both all the righteous and all the wicked receive their rewards: the righteous dead are raised to life everlasting, and the righteous living are changed to immortality in the twinkling of an eye, and are then with the resurrected taken to heaven (1 Cor. 15:52, 53; 1 Thess. 4:15-17) while the wicked living go into their graves (2 Thess. 2:8; Isa. 11:4; Heb. 10:27; Luke 19:27). And since from the resurrection of all the righteous to the resurrection of all the wicked (Rev. 20:5), there stretch a thousand years (the millennium), this period, obviously, then, cannot be a time of receiving rewards, but rather must be a time in which the righteous enjoy in heaven the rewards already received, and in which the wicked rest in their graves.
Wednesday – November 23
Preaching to the Spirits in Prison
1 Peter 3:13-20
How did Christ preach to the spirits in prison…in the days of Noah? See Gen. 4:10
“How solemn is the thought! Day after day, passing into eternity, bears its burden of records for the books of heaven. Words once spoken, deeds once done, can never be recalled. Angels have registered both the good and the evil. The mightiest conqueror upon the earth cannot call back the record of even a single day. Our acts, our words, even our most secret motives, all have their weight in deciding our destiny for weal or woe. Though they may be forgotten by us, they will bear their testimony to justify or condemn. GC 486.3
“As the features of the countenance are reproduced with unerring accuracy on the polished plate of the artist, so the character is faithfully delineated in the books above. Yet how little solicitude is felt concerning that record which is to meet the gaze of heavenly beings. Could the veil which separates the visible from the invisible world be swept back, and the children of men behold an angel recording every word and deed, which they must meet again in the judgment, how many words that are daily uttered would remain unspoken, how many deeds would remain undone.” GC 487.1
Someone may ask, If the names of the dead who have not in Christ endured to the end of their lives, must be blotted out of the book of life, then why---DID CHRIST PREACH TO THE DEAD?
In the same scripture giving rise to this question, is also the answer: “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: by which also He went and preached unto the spirits in prison; which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.” 1 Pet. 3:18-20.
This scripture does not say that Christ in person, while His body lay in the tomb, preached to the spirits in prison, as is understood by some; instead, it says that He, through the medium of the Spirit by Whom He was resurrected, preached to them “in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing.” Nor does it say that Christ preached to the dead, but rather “unto the spirits in prison.” Hence, the concern as to whether “the spirits in prison” mean the dead or the living, is a matter of interpretation, and such an interpretation must come of divine authority.
Nowhere do we find in the Bible, when It is referring to the dead, that It calls them spirits, but It does thus designate the living. Moreover, the Word plainly says that “the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.” Eccl. 9:5, 6.
Thursday - November 24
Souls Under the Altar
Revelation 6:9-11
How can the “souls” of the dead martyrs cry “under the altar”?
“‘And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto him over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth. And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held; and they cried with a loud voice saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them:
Perhaps foremost among the multitudes who are snared while doing all they can to run away from inspired interpretation of the Scriptures are the extremists, of whom there are at least two classes: one with the tendency to literalize, the other with the tendency to spiritualize.
Take for example the Revelator’s statement: “…I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the Word of God,…and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood?” Rev. 6:9, 10.
The literalist on the one hand, would interpret this scripture to mean that the souls were conscious and actually crying out, though the Bible is very explicit that “the dead know not anything.” Eccles. 9:5. And, too, were the souls under the altar literally crying out for vengeance on their murderers, then, to be consistent, the Lord’s statement, “the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto Me from the ground” (Gen. 4:10), also the statement, “all the trees of the field shall clap their hands” (Isa. 55:12), likewise must be interpreted literally in spite of the fact that it is impossible physically for blood to cry out and for trees to clap hands.
If all, however, are obliged to admit that Abel’s blood could not literally cry out, and that trees can only figuratively clap hands, then, again to be consistent, the person given to extreme literalizing should easily take hold of the actuality that “the dead know not anything,” and that they are “asleep” – unconscious. He ought easily, too, to perceive that the souls of the martyrs crying for vengeance on their murderers, and that the blood of Abel crying for vengeance on his murderer, are cases virtually identical in circumstance and condition. Both of these find pointed illustration in the poetic utterance: “I hear a voice crying out, the voice of the withering field: O, Lord, pity Thou me. Let showers fall from heaven. Quench Thou my burning soul.”
For one’s soul to be imprisoned consciously under something for hundreds of years, with nothing to do but groaningly to languish in waiting for the resurrection morning, the while crying out for vengeance on them that spilled one’s blood, – what an inexpressibly unbearable state for one’s soul to be in!
The doctrine, though, of the unconscious state of the dead not only puts at peace the worried human mind but also ascribes to God mercy and love toward helpless human beings, thus being the only position on the subject that can lead the sinner rationally to love God and to trust in Him.
Friday - November 25
Further Study
“Already the doctrine that men are released from obedience to God's requirements has weakened the force of moral obligation and opened the floodgates of iniquity upon the world. Lawlessness, dissipation, and corruption are sweeping in upon us like an overwhelming tide. In the family, Satan is at work. His banner waves, even in professedly Christian households. There is envy, evil surmising, hypocrisy, estrangement, emulation, strife, betrayal of sacred trusts, indulgence of lust. The whole system of religious principles and doctrines, which should form the foundation and framework of social life, seems to be a tottering mass, ready to fall to ruin. The vilest of criminals, when thrown into prison for their offenses, are often made the recipients of gifts and attentions as if they had attained an enviable distinction. Great publicity is given to their character and crimes. The press publishes the revolting details of vice, thus initiating others into the practice of fraud, robbery, and murder; and Satan exults in the success of his hellish schemes. The infatuation of vice, the wanton taking of life, the terrible increase of intemperance and iniquity of every order and degree, should arouse all who fear God, to inquire what can be done to stay the tide of evil.” GC 585.2