Special Insights No. 13
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 Word of God Endures
The memory text for this lesson
contains the 1888 message that will prepare a people to be translated
at the second coming of Jesus. “Being born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth
for ever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the
flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth
away: but the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word
which by the gospel is preached unto you” (1 Peter 1:23-25). Peter
is talking about being born again. Our birth into this world of a mother
and father is of corruptible seed. It will not endure, but pass away
like the grass withers on a hot, windy day. What will endure the heated
blast of the fiery crisis ahead?
It is the word of God that endures forever. It is the gospel which
is the power of God unto salvation in Christ Jesus. This word is of
an incorruptible seed. Being born again of this word, the planting of
God will become a redwood tree in God’s forest, which will endure
the fiery inferno.
Peter takes his text from Isaiah 40, which is a wonderful forecast
of the gospel message which will lighten the earth with His glory, but
it begins with a message for God’s people. “Comfort ye,
comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem,
and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity
is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for
all her sins” (Isa. 40:1, 2). The expression “double for
all her sins” means the punishment fits the crime. Jerusalem had
been unfaithful to God and thus had been permitted the Assyrian and
yet future Babylonian invasions. But the comforting word from God is
that He loves Jerusalem and pardons her iniquity.
God is going to send a voice, a message, to prepare His way. “The
voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the
Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God” (Isa.
40:3). Of course, John the Baptist is recognized as the fulfillment
of this prophecy. It was his work to announce: “Every valley shall
be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked
shall be made straight, and the rough places plain” (Isa. 40:4).
The heart that is humbled before the Lord shall be lifted up. The haughty
and boastful spirit will be brought down. The devious and winding pathways
of life will be straightened. And the bumpy, rocky roads will be graded.
Truly, John the Baptist was a sign to his generation of the Messiah’s
first advent.
Now Isaiah’s prophecy takes a turn which far transcends John’s
ministry. “And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all
flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it”
(Isa. 40:5). This global revelation of God’s character of love
is the loud cry of the third angel’s message which is blessed
with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the latter rain. John the
Revelator spoke of this: “And after these things I saw another
angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened
with His glory” (Rev. 18:1). The beginning of this message came
to His people in 1888.
God has given His people a unique message and experience of justification
by faith not comprehended by the churches and religions of the world.
The forgiveness of sins is accompanied by cleansing from sin. The restoration
work of Christ as our High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary is absolutely
essential, as is the sacrifice on His cross, to fit His people for the
second coming. Hence, justification by faith and the sanctuary message
are present truth.
John the Baptist’s message is to be magnified tenfold in the
days before Christ’s second coming. The voice announces a message
from God to His people. “The voice said, Cry. And he said, What
shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as
the flower of the field: the grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because
the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass.
The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall
stand for ever” (Isa. 40:6-8). God compares humanity to the grass
of the field and the flowers that adorn the hillsides. The summer heat
causes them to dry out and turn to tinder.
What are man’s expressions of doubt and higher criticism of the
Bible, when in but a few days he passes to the grave and turns to dust,
but the word of God endures forever? What is the churchman’s pride
in great institutions and worldwide acquisitions, when man is grass?
But the word of the Lord endures forever.
The last message which God brings before His people and the world humbles
the glory of man in the dust before the cross of Jesus Christ. This
is the word of our God which shall stand forever.
When the people of God truly appreciate that Jesus died the curse of
their second death, then they will be born again of incorruptible seed.
They will humble all their pride. There will be the repentance of the
ages and a turning away from sin. God will demonstrate the power of
His gospel through them. The Holy Spirit will accompany the message
of the gospel with power in latter rain proportions as it did upon the
disciples at Pentecost.
It will be truly said of them in that day: “O Zion, that bringest
good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that
bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up,
be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!”
(Isa. 40:9). God has yet to set His church upon the mountain for the
world to see. When He does set them in the spotlight, they will no longer
proclaim the gospel of self, but “Behold your God!”
—Paul E. Penno
(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 13 now in MP3 format.
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