Special Insights No. 1
Second Quarter 2007
Adult Sabbath School Lessons
“Thy Word Is a Lamp Unto My Feet”
(Produced by the Editorial Board of the 1888 Message Study Committee)
The Voice From Heaven
Welcome to a new 13 weeks of
lessons, this time, “The Bible for Today.” No more repeated
idle “speculation” in our Lesson Book as to what our Bible
writer could have meant. No more sad weeping and wailing “gospel”
of “don’t do like I did!” Now we will study what “holy
men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit” during
their lives of fidelity to God’s truth (cf. 2 Peter 1:21). The
Word will be clear.
In his early life Solomon quoted the Lord saying, “I will make
known My words unto you” (Prov. 1:23). Now you can claim that
promise for 13 weeks straight! The Holy Spirit awaits your invitation.
(Incidentally, the 3rd Quarter of 2007 also has at least 12 weeks of
Bible study awaiting us on 12 Bible marriages “for better or for
worse.” So we have 6 months before us of blessed biblical growth
in grace.)
Our 13 coming weeks will be a “University 101 class” in
Bible truth; you can “grow” wonderfully in 13 dedicated
weeks; take them seriously.
You may say, “But I am so busy working night and day at two or
three jobs to support my family (as they want to be supported!) and
I have little or no time for study.” Well, you have 13 Sabbath
days (actually, if it’s true that “six days shalt thou labour
and do all thy work,” the seventh day ought not to be spent in
exhausted sacking out so you can’t hear the voice of the Lord
speaking in His word, the Bible). And though we have our lovely spring
in the Northern hemisphere, and we want to enjoy God’s beautiful
out-of-doors, we can reserve a good time for study of the Word each
Sabbath afternoon. Jesus was our Example; He was busy, too, but He took
time for study of the Old Testament, all He had.
May we suggest: get a g-o-o-d leather-bound Bible with cross-references
and hopefully a concordance included (a lifetime investment, costs less
than a pair of shoes). Get a fine-pointed pen or pencil for writing
little notes in your margins—the Book will become your personal
biblos “friend” for your entire life. Your underlining of
a word or phrase is not to color your Bible like a child’s color
book; no point in blocking everything for emphasis. You just want to
mark a little so as to help you find it again, as you surely will want
to do.
An occasional thought or quote in our Lesson Book that strikes you
can be carefully cut out and pasted in the back of your Bible (don’t
go to excess on this); you won’t want to go anywhere this summer
without taking that Bible “friend” with you; you won’t
want to be separated from it even for a day! You’ll never know
when the Holy Spirit will be calling you to “come to class”
to learn some more (cf, Isa. 50:4, 5). “Thine eyes shall see thy
teachers: and thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This
is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when
ye turn to the left” (30:20, 21). Your “Teacher” for
this “101 class” will never take a vacation; and when you
get to know Him you’ll never want to be away from Him. He joins
Himself to the Word, the Bible. You want to love Him? You will love
Him no more no less than you love His Book, the Bible. They go together.
No university degree can make you as happy as a genuine knowledge of
God’s Holy Bible. Everywhere you go in life from now on you will
be a blessing to others (cf. Gen. 12:2, 3), because New Covenant living
will coincide with a constantly growing, personal knowledge of the Bible.
You will know Jesus Christ intimately as your divine Elder Brother,
and you will know His Father as your Father; you will never feel alone.
Thank Him for His gift to you—the Bible. “Abide with Him”
therein.
Lesson One
Our authors, Jonathan and Kathleen Kuntaraf, have done excellent work
in writing this Lesson book for us. We rejoice that in this first lesson
we have a clear recognition of one of the most encouraging elements
of the 1888 message of Christ’s righteousness: instead of our
long-held and widespread belief that it’s our job to seek and
find Him, the truth reveals Him as seeking us “until He find [us]”
(cf. Luke 15:4). The atonement (reconciliation with God) is not the
result of our diligent search for Him as of our heart being melted with
appreciation for what it cost Him to find us.
So, we begin with the truth of Christ and Him crucified. May we end
the quarter there also!
—Robert J. Wieland
(Note: A series of CDs on these lessons recorded
by this Robert J. Wieland is available from the office of the 1888 Message
Study Committee: 269-473-1888.)
Listen to the audio recording for Lesson 1 now in MP3 format.
Read Special Insights 2 |