Sabbath Afternoon May 17
Memory Text:
“And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.” KJV — Revelation 14:1
“The psalmist declares, “When Thou saidst, Seek ye My face; my heart said unto Thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.” Psalm 27:8. The whole of this psalm should find a place in the reading and spelling lessons of the school. The twenty-eighth, twenty-ninth, and seventy-eighth psalms tell of the rich blessings bestowed by God upon His people and of their poor returns for all His benefits. The eighty-first psalm explains why Israel was scattered—they forgot God, as the churches in our land are forgetting Him today. Consider also the eighty-ninth, ninetieth, ninety-first, ninety-second, and ninety-third psalms. CT 457.2
“These things were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come; and should they not be studied in our schools? The word of God contains instructive lessons, given in reproof, in warning, in encouragement, and in rich promises. Would not such food as this be meat in due season to the youth?” CT 457.3
Sunday, May 18
Our High Priest
Read Hebrews 9:11–15, about Christ as our High Priest in heaven’s sanctuary. What does this teach about what He is doing for us?
“Those who would share the benefits of the Saviour's mediation should permit nothing to interfere with their duty to perfect holiness in the fear of God. The precious hours, instead of being given to pleasure, to display, or to gain seeking, should be devoted to an earnest, prayerful study of the word of truth. The subject of the sanctuary and the investigative judgment should be clearly understood by the people of God. All need a knowledge for themselves of the position and work of their great High Priest. Otherwise it will be impossible for them to exercise the faith which is essential at this time or to occupy the position which God designs them to fill. Every individual has a soul to save or to lose. Each has a case pending at the bar of God. Each must meet the great Judge face to face. How important, then, that every mind contemplate often the solemn scene when the judgment shall sit and the books shall be opened, when, with Daniel, every individual must stand in his lot, at the end of the days. GC 488.2
“All who have received the light upon these subjects are to bear testimony of the great truths which God has committed to them. The sanctuary in heaven is the very center of Christ's work in behalf of men. It concerns every soul living upon the earth. It opens to view the plan of redemption, bringing us down to the very close of time and revealing the triumphant issue of the contest between righteousness and sin. It is of the utmost importance that all should thoroughly investigate these subjects and be able to give an answer to everyone that asketh them a reason of the hope that is in them.” GC 488.3
“Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary: who is so great a God as our God?” KJV — Psalm 77:13
Monday, May 19
On Mount Zion
Read Psalm 15 and Psalm 24, in which David asks an all-important question: “Who shall dwell in thy holy hill?” Compare his reply in these psalms with the description of the people standing on Zion in Revelation 14:1–5. What parallels do you find? How does one join this group? What is the significance of the fact that the Father’s name is inscribed in their foreheads? (Revelation 14:1).
And as John saw the 144,000 standing on Mount Sion with the Lamb after the judgment was set and before it was closed, the event consequently comes neither before nor after the judgment, but during it.
And now remember that John’s vision of the “Lamb standing on Mount Sion” (Revelation 14:1) reveals Christ as a Saviour, whereas his vision of “the Lion of the tribe of Judah” standing before the judgment reveals Him as a King. Correlated, they show that while He is then the Saviour, He is at the same time the King of kings.
Its now being clear as to when the 144,000 emerge, increased interest follows as to who they are. Seeing that they are followers of the Lamb (Christians), also “sons of Jacob,” they are therefore---Israelites Indeed–Not Gentiles.
The 144,000 being the “firstfruits,” there must therefore be second fruits, for where there is first, there must also be second. And as the first fruits are the “servants of God,” they must subsequently be sent to all nations to gather the second fruits (Isaiah 66:19, 20) – the great multitude (Revelation 7:9) which John saw after viewing the sealing of the 144,000.
The fact that “in their mouth was found no guile” (Revelation 14:5), plainly goes to show that they are to proclaim nothing but pure gospel truth, and makes their words as authoritative and as mandatory as the written words of the prophets and of the apostles.
But being far, very far, from such high and holy estate, ---The Church Must be Purified.
No Christian of any faith can honestly deny the church’s need of purification. And as the Lord never does anything without forewarning His church, He is now sending to her the message of purification, in order to give her a foretaste of future glory, so that as heaven’s clarion call to reformation continues sounding forth among His people, they may have a keen relish for its truth, and may give themselves wholeheartedly to the work of reform, right now while He is clearly laying before them His plan for the setting up of His kingdom with consequent results to the sinners. Those who give implicit heed to the call, shall have an irresistible desire to come fully into line and to have the Lord separate them from sin and sinners. They alone shall receive the seal of God and as the first fruits of the kingdom, 144,000 strong, stand with the Lamb on “Mount Zion”!
Such a state of holiness will today, just as in the past, cause the dragon to be wroth with the woman, also now to make war with her remnant (Revelation 12:17).
Tuesday, May 20
Law in our Hearts
Read Exodus 33:18–23, Exodus 34:1–7, and Psalm 119:55. When Moses asked to see God’s glory, what did God promise to show him? Then when God proclaimed His name to Moses (Exod. 34:5), what followed?
“The 144,000 were all sealed and perfectly united. On their foreheads was written, God, New Jerusalem, and a glorious star containing Jesus’ new name.” EW 15.1
“But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.” KJV — Jeremiah 31:33
Here is a promise of a new contract, a new covenant. It is not the kind God made with our predecessors in the day they came up out of Egypt, the day He wrote the commandments on tables of stone and thus to keep them. Instead He makes a new covenant, a covenant to write them on our very hearts. Then every one of us will consequently know Him without having to be taught.
Take notice, though, He is not to make a new law, but a new covenant, a new contract for keeping the law. The difference is that rather than His writing the law on tables of stone, He will write it on the fleshly tables of the heart, the seat which the law of sin now occupies.
This covenant, you see, is to be made with both the house of Israel and the house of Judah, – with all God’s people.
The scripture, remember, does not say that we cannot keep the law while it is written on the tables of stone, but it definitely says that we can, for those who broke the law are reproved for so doing. We can, therefore, even now inconveniently keep the commandments though they be still written on stones. For convenience sake most Christians wish the law were abolished, and some make themselves believe that it has been abolished, although the only law that has been abolished is the ceremonial, sacrificial law, the shadow of the Lamb of God.
What difference would there be whether the law be written on stone, or on our hearts? – The experience of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon reveals the answer.
Had the king by force been made to live with the cattle, in a stable or in a field, he would have committed suicide if possible. But as soon as God took his human heart away from him, and put the heart of an ox in him, the king was perfectly contented to be with the cattle, and altogether discontented to live in his palace.
Were the same thing done to anyone of us, our desires would be the same as the king’s. In like manner, when the stony heart is taken away from us, and the heart of flesh with the law of God written on it put in us, we shall then find it altogether too inconvenient to sin, and most delightful to keep the commandments of God. And so you need not fear having to struggle to keep the law of God in the Kingdom, as you do here. You will then be perfectly contented to live a sinless life. In fact you will want to sin no more than you would now want to die.
Wonderful indeed! but when may we expect this miracle to take place? To find the answer to this question, we need connect Jeremiah’s prophecy with Ezekiel’s prophecy of the same event:
Ezekiel 36:24-28 – “For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments, and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be My people, and I will be your God.”
The records from both prophets clearly point out the time in which this miracle will be performed on the hearts of all God’s people. Both prophets make it as clear as can be made, that this change of heart takes place in the Holy Land, Palestine, at the beginning of the kingdom which God promises to set up “in the days of these kings” (Daniel 2:44), not after their days. He moreover says that He will take us from among the heathen and gather us from all countries and take us into our own land (Ezekiel 36:24), the land in which our fathers dwelt (Ezekiel 36:28). “Then,” at that time, says Inspiration, not before, will He sprinkle clean water upon us, cleanse us from all filthiness, and from all idols. Also, a new heart will He then put in us (Ezekiel 36:26). He will give us His Spirit and cause us to comply with His statutes, and to keep His judgments (Ezekiel 36:27).
Wednesday, May 21
Psalm 5
Read Psalm 5. In this work, David draws sharp contrasts between those who are lost and those who have been redeemed. Compare this psalm with the language of Revelation 14:1–12. What similarities do you find, and how does this inform your understanding of what it means to be a part of God’s last-day remnant movement?
“It is God’s purpose that the glory of Christ shall appear in His people. In all His teaching the Saviour presented pure, uncorrupted principles. He did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth. Constantly there flowed from His lips holy, ennobling truths. He spoke as never man spoke, with a pathos that touched the heart. He was filled with holy wrath as He saw the religious leaders teaching for doctrine the commandments of men, and then He spoke with the authority of greatness. With terrible power He denounced all artful intrigue, all dishonest practices. He cleansed the temple of its pollution as He desires to cleanse our institutions of everything bearing any resemblance to fraud.” 14LtMs, Lt 34, 1899, par. 7
“Whatever is done to the glory of God is to be done with cheerfulness, not with sadness and gloom. There is nothing gloomy in the religion of Jesus. If Christians give the impression by a mournful attitude that they have been disappointed in their Lord, they misrepresent His character and put arguments into the mouth of His enemies. Though in words they may claim God as their Father, yet in gloom and sorrow they present to the world the aspect of orphans. MB 88.1
“Christ desires us to make His service appear attractive, as it really is. Let the self-denials and the secret heart trials be revealed to the compassionate Saviour. Let the burdens be left at the foot of the cross, and go on your way rejoicing in His love who first loved you. Men may never know of the work going on secretly between the soul and God, but the result of the Spirit's work upon the heart will be manifest to all, for He “which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.” MB 88.2
Thursday, May 22
Teach Transgressors Your Way
Read Psalm 51:7–15. What does David promise to do after he has been pardoned and purged from his sin?
“This is beginning right, at the very foundation of Christian character; for out of the heart are the issues of life. If all, ministers and people, would see to it that their hearts are right with God, we should see much larger results from the labor put forth. The more important and responsible your work, the greater the necessity that you have clean hearts. The needed grace is provided, and the power of the Holy Spirit will work with every effort you make in this direction. If every child of God would seek him earnestly and perseveringly, there would be a greater growth in grace. Dissensions would cease; believers would be of one heart and one mind; purity and love would prevail in the churches. By beholding, we become changed. The more you contemplate the character of Christ, the more you will become conformed to his image. Come to Jesus just as you are, and he will receive you, and put a new song in your mouth, even praise to God. GW92 451.5
“The nearer we live to God, the more we shall be able to accomplish for our fellow-men; for the Lord will work with our efforts. Your hearts are too cold and unimpressible; they should be all aglow with the love of Jesus. While hungering and thirsting after salvation yourselves, you will have a longing desire to aid in saving precious souls; and your humble, pathetic appeals to those out of Christ will move hearts. You should carry the truth to homes. Show those in error that you love them. Indifference here is sin. There should be fewer long sermons, and more time spent in visiting, in making personal effort for souls. Self-denying labor is needed, and will result in great good, but it has been sadly neglected. GW92 452.2
“God; we must secure the protecting care of Jesus and holy angels. In these days of peril, the Lord would have us walk before him in humility. Instead of trying to cover our sins, he would have us confess them, as Joshua confessed the sins of ancient Israel. We profess to be the depositaries of God's law. We profess to be building up “the old waste places,” and to be raising up “the foundations of many generations.” If this great and solemn work has indeed been committed to us, how important that we depart from all iniquity! RH November 19, 1908, Art. A, par. 8
“The third angel's message is to lighten the earth with its glory; but only those who have withstood temptation in the strength of the Mighty One will be permitted to act a part in proclaiming it when it shall have swelled into the loud cry.” RH November 19, 1908, Art. A, par. 9
Friday, May 23
Further Thought
“I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth [at the time of the sealing of the 144,000], holding the four winds of the earth that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.” Revelation 7:1-3.
Here are brought to view two hurtings about to take place: one by the winds, the other by the angels; and two commands to the angels: one that they restrain the winds, that the winds blow not “on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree” (Revelation 7:1); the other that the angels restrain themselves from hurting “the earth,… sea,” and “the trees,” till the servants of God are sealed. Revelation 7:2, 3). Since, therefore, as soon as the servants of God are sealed both the winds and the angels will begin to hurt the question arises as to what the work of the winds and the work of the angels represent – political strife or something else? As the nations have always been at war, this two-fold work of hurting could not represent political strife. And as Jesus says that at the time of the end “nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom” (Matthew 24:7), it is clear that the hurting by the winds, also the hurting by the angels both of which are kept back until the 144,000 are sealed, must be figurative of holding back the “time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation.” Daniel 12:1. Accordingly, God’s restraining of the four winds is His holding back the image of the beast’s activity (Revelation 13:15-17) against the saints, while His restraining the four angels that they hurt not is His holding back the executing of His vengeance (Isaiah 63:1-4; Jeremiah 51:18) upon the sinners who trouble the church, until after the sealing of the 144,000 is completed. Being coupled, these two hurtings bring the time of trouble such as never was.
Revelation 7:1-3, therefore, reveals a two-fold conflict: wicked men against God (the blowing of the winds) and God against them (the angels hurting them). But though the blowing of the winds and the hurting of the angels after the servants of God are sealed, will bring the “time of trouble,” yet “every one that shall be found written in the book” “shall be delivered.” Daniel 12:1.
From these facts we see that this time of trouble is held back in order to safeguard the sealing of the 144,000 servants, lest they, “the very elect,” be brought down to worship the image of the beast, or be killed for refusing.
Since “in the Revelation all the books of the Bible meet and end” (The Acts of the Apostles, p. 585), the sealing of the servants of God (Revelation 7) must necessarily be found also in the prophecies. In Ezekiel, chapter nine, is envisioned the marking of those who sigh and cry “for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof” (in Judah and in Israel), and the slaughter of those who do not thus sigh and cry. And the fact that God has at no time taken the sinners from among the righteous in Judah and in Israel, shows that this prophecy of purification by slaughter has never been fulfilled. So, therefore, as the marking is the same as the sealing, the angels’ slaying is the same as the angels’ hurting.
This hurting and sealing which John saw, and the slaughter and marking which Ezekiel saw are again identified as one and the same: “This sealing of the servants of God is the same that was shown to Ezekiel in vision.” – Testimonies to Ministers, p. 445; Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 211; Vol. 3, p. 267.