Ablaze With God’s Glory (lesson)

Sabbath Afternoon

Read for This Week’s Study: 1 Thess. 5:1-6; John 8:32; Rev. 18:1; Rev. 4:11; Exod. 33:18, 19; Rev. 5:6, 12; Rev. 13:8.

Memory Text: “After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illuminated with his glory”

Revelation 18:1

Sooner or later, final events will unfold. Exactly when, exactly how — we have not been told. But we have been told enough.

Some kind of legislation enforcing Sunday-keeping, in contrast to Sabbath keeping, will occur.

We don't know the day and hour but we are to know an approximate time of the end.

To proclaim the three angel message, we need, ourselves, to be converted to the truth as it is in Jesus, and to be transformed and made new by the “everlasting gospel” of Revelation 14:6, which is centered on Christ’s death for us, the assurance of our salvation in Him.

1Cor 2:2

Dietrich Bonhoeffer – one of the 20th century’s greatest theologians, member of the German Resistance and true German patriot, who smuggled himself back into Nazi Germany as everyone else was fleeing it. Just before the end of World War Two, he was imprisoned and eventually hanged by Gestapo for the failed plot against Hitler. The following beautiful quote comes from his book Life Together:

“When God calls you, he calls you to die… God’s Son took on our nature, ourselves. Now we are in him. Where he is, there we are too, in the incarnation, on the Cross, and in His resurrection. We belong to him because we are in him. That is why the Scriptures call us the Body of Christ.”

Sunday   June 18

Preparing for the Final Crisis

Read 1 Thessalonians 5:1-6

What admonition does the apostle Paul give us regarding the last days of human history?

The apostle Paul urged the believers at Thessaloniki to “watch” and “be sober” in the context of the second coming of Christ.

Ellen G. White adds: “We who know the truth should be preparing for what is soon to break upon the world as an overwhelming surprise.” — Testimonies for the Church, vol. 8, p. 28.

How to prepare?

Longer fervent unselfish prayers

Surrendering all to God

And while it might be a surprise to the world, it should not be a surprise for us. Though we don’t know when it will happen, we can see enough to know that it is coming, and that now, today, is the day to be ready.

Ellen White, “The Spirit of Prophecy”, Volume 4 (Chapter 33—The Loud Cry)

“As the storm approaches, a large class who have professed faith in the third message, but have not been sanctified through it, abandon their position, and take refuge under the banner of the powers of darkness.

By uniting with the world and partaking of its spirit, ... and when the test is brought, they are prepared to choose the easy, popular side.

Men of talent and pleasing address (menners, behavious, speaking), who once rejoiced in the truth, employ their powers to deceive and mislead souls.

They become the most bitter enemies of their former brethren.

When Sabbath-keepers are brought before the courts to answer for their faith, these apostates are the most efficient agents of Satan to misrepresent and accuse them, and by false reports and insinuations to stir up the rulers against them.”

Review Daniel 2, and note the sequence of kingdoms that came and went, exactly as predicted.

What should this teach us about how we can trust that what God says will indeed happen?

Christ has given us these last-day messages so that, knowing what is coming, we can prepare for it.

The prophecies of Daniel and Revelation, combined with the modern gift of prophecy, give us divine insight into what is coming upon this world. The prophetic Word of God outlines salvation history in advance, and Daniel 2 provides powerful, rational evidence that we can trust God.

Monday       June 19

Knowing Truth

Read John 8:32, John 7:17, and John 17:17.

What promises does Jesus give regarding knowing truth, and where is it found?

John 8:32 NKJV

And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

What is truth that gives freedom?

Ephesians 1:13 NKJV

In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,

Truth sets us free from what?

We are slaves of what?

sin

sinning

condemnation

eternal death

fear of death - Heb 2:15

How the truth saves us?

By faith

...

“Through the two great errors, the immortality of the soul and Sunday sacredness, Satan will bring the people under his deceptions.

While the former lays the foundation of spiritualism, the latter creates a bond of sympathy with Rome.

The Protestants of the United States will be foremost in stretching their hands across the gulf to grasp the hand of spiritualism; they will reach over the abyss to clasp hands with the Roman power; and under the influence of this threefold union, this country will follow in the steps of Rome in trampling on the rights of conscience.”

— Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 588.

These messages conclude with an urgent appeal for Christ’s faithful followers to keep the commandments of God through the living faith of Jesus dwelling in their hearts (Rev. 14:12).

Tuesday   June 20

The Reformation Continues

The three angels’ messages gave birth to this last-day movement to complete the Reformation and to participate with Christ in finishing His work on earth.

The great prophecies of the Bible’s last book reveal a divine movement of destiny arising out of disappointment to proclaim God’s final message to the world. Revelation 14 describes a worldwide church spanning the globe with the good news of the eternal gospel.

The three angels of Revelation 14 are joined by a fourth angel in Revelation 18. This angel gives power to the proclamation of the three angels so that the “earth [is] lightened with [God’s] glory” (Rev. 18:1). Chapter 18 focuses on the major events leading up to the climax of human history and the final, ultimate triumph of the gospel.

Read Revelation 18:1

What three things does John tell us about this angel?

(See also Hab. 2:14)

Wednesday       June 21

God’s Glory Fills the Earth

Read Revelation 4:11, Revelation 5:12, and Revelation 19:1.

What words are associated with the glory of God that fills the earth as described in Revelation 18:1?

The great controversy between good and evil in the universe is also about God’s honor or reputation. Satan, a rebel angel, has declared that God is unjust, that He demands worship but gives little in return. The evil one declares that God’s law restricts our freedom and limits our joy.

Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection exploded that myth. The One who created us plunged into this snake pit of this world to redeem us. On the cross, He answered Satan’s charges and demonstrated that God is both loving and just.

Charmed by His love, concerned about His honor, His end-time people reveal His glory — His loving, self-sacrificing character to a self-centered, godless world, and the earth is illuminated by the character of God.

Read Exodus 33:18, 19

How does God reveal His glory to Moses? What is God’s glory?

God’s glory is His character.

The earth will be filled with the glory of God when we are filled with the love of God and our characters are changed by redeeming love.

Revealing His love in our personal lives reveals His glory, His character, to the world. The last message to be proclaimed to a world engulfed in spiritual darkness carried by three angels in the midst of heaven is “Fear God and give glory to Him” (Rev. 14:7, NKJV).

How to reveal Gods love?

Romans 5:5

Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

There is no glory for ourselves in our good works, or our righteousness, or our goodness. “The message of Christ’s righteousness is to sound from one end of the earth to the other. … This is the glory of God which closes the work of the third angel.” — Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 6, p. 19. Ellen G. White also writes: “What is justification by faith? It is the work of God in laying the glory of man in the dust, and doing for man that which it is not in his power to do for himself.” — Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, p. 456.

No glory for ourselves but, yes, glory to God instead.

Thursday  June 22

The Lamb, the Slain Lamb

There are many symbols in Revelation, biblical symbols of importance; that is, a dragon in heaven (Rev. 12:3, 4, 7), angels flying in the midst of heaven (Rev. 14:6), a woman riding a scarlet beast (Rev. 17:3), and so forth. They are in the Word of God; the Holy Spirit inspired John to put them there, and they have important roles in revealing truth to those who read the words of this book and do them, for, as it says, “Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near” (Rev. 1:3, NKJV).

There is, however, another image that appears, over and over, all through the book of Revelation. What is the image, and what does it represent?

Read Revelation 5:6, 8, 12; Revelation 7:17; Revelation 14:1; Revelation 15:3; Revelation 19:7; Revelation 21:22, 23; and Revelation 22:1, 3

What is the meaning of the symbolism of the lamb, and why would it appear so many times in the book of Revelation?

Why we are presented in the Bible as sheep?

Sheep are the animals that are week and defenceless and completely dependent on the shepherd

We are lost lost and powerless like sheep ...

But why Jesus is shown as a lamb?

Was He also like us, like sheep?

Hebrews 2:17

Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

Of course, as the opening words of the book say, this is a revelation “of Jesus Christ.” And not only a Lamb, but a Lamb “slain” (Rev. 5:6, 12; Rev. 13:8). That is, Jesus Christ crucified.

Here is the heart and soul, not only of all the Bible, but of the book of Revelation and of the three angels’ messages.

We cannot be faithful to our calling, we cannot do the work that God has raised up this church to do, unless we have the Lamb, the slain Lamb, Jesus crucified, a sacrifice for our sins, as the focal point of our message.

“We must intentionally place the Lamb that was slain at the very center of our doctrines and mission and at the heart of every sermon we preach, every article we write, every prayer we make, every song we sing, every Bible study we give, and in everything we do. Let the love revealed by the Lamb on the cross transform the way we treat each other and move us to also care for the world.” — Ángel Manuel Rodríguez,

“The Closing of the Cosmic Conflict: Role of the Three Angels’ Messages,” unpublished manuscript, p. 70.