THIRD QUARTER 2024
SABBATH SCHOOL INSIGHT #10
SEPTEMBER 7, 2024
"THE LAST DAYS."

 

“ ‘Then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. And then He will send His angels, and gather His elect from the four winds, from the farthest part of earth to the farthest part of heaven’ ” (Mark 13:26, 27, NKJV).

The lesson this week encompasses Mark 12:41-44 (the story of the widow who gave the two mites) and Mark 13:1-32 (an overview of the  then-yet-future destruction of Jerusalem and the more extensive persecution and destruction to follow that event over the next 2,000 years). In this Insight we will look at the story of the generous widow, then we will move on to the parable of the fig tree as found in Mark 13.

 Lessons from the Widow Who Gave Two Mites

Tithing is a big issue in the Seventh-day Adventist Church today. On every hand we hear of or read stories about sincere church members who no longer return tithe to the organized Seventh-day Adventist church. Reasons vary, but usually reflect discontent with church leadership or church policies and standards, or a desire to manipulate leadership via financial boycott.

From the Bible, the 1888 messengers and the Spirit of Prophecy we learn that Abraham illustrated the Old Covenant when he tried to fulfill God’s promise of a son in his own strength instead of believing that the Word itself would accomplish what had been promised. 

Today, like Abraham of old, many of us are tempted to circumvent God’s tithing plan for one of our own devising.. 

“Faith is the expecting of the word of God to do what it says, and the depending on that word to do what it says” —A.T. Jones, Review and Herald, December 27, 1898.

The story of the widow’s gift of faith is an affirmation of God’s call to His church. Despite the corruption that existed in the church of her day, this woman was commended by Jesus for her offering. In 31 A.D. the Jewish church had not yet crossed the boundary of her probation. Hope was still extended to this church, a plant of the Lord’s own choosing. 

Unlike the Jews, who rejected their election as God’s chosen people in 34 A.D., the Seventh-day Adventist church “may appear as about to fall, but it does not fall. It remains, while the sinners in Zion will be sifted out—the chaff separated from the precious wheat. This is a terrible ordeal, but nevertheless it must take place”—Ellen G. White, Maranatha, p. 32.

“The church, enfeebled and defective though it be, is the only object on earth on which Christ bestows His supreme regard. He is constantly watching it with solicitude, and is strengthening it by His Holy Spirit. Will we, as members of His church, allow Him to impress our minds and to work through us to His glory?”—Ellen G. White,  23 Manuscript 155, 1902.

A New Covenant response to the crisis currently facing our church is to believe God’s word and return tithe and offerings to the organized Seventh-day Adventist Church. Though we may come to the point of abhorring ourselves, the church will at last heed the call of the True Witness, repent, and receive the remedies for her condition by exercising faith in the New Covenant blood of Jesus Christ. “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit,” saith the Lord of hosts” (Zechariah 4:6). The Word will accomplish what is promised!

The Fig Tree

In Mark 11:12-14, 20-24, we find the story of the fig tree that was cursed. In Mark 13,  Jesus again referenced the fig tree. He said, “Now learn this parable from the fig tree; When its branch has already become tender, and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see these things happening, know that it is near—at the doors!” (Mark 13:28,29).

The Spirit of Prophecy expands on Jesus’ illustration of the fig tree as follows:

“The generation to whom the Saviour had come were represented by the fig tree in the Lord’s vineyard—within the circle of His special care and blessing.”—Ellen G. White, Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 214.

Similarly, the last day remnant church is also foreshadowed in the story of the fig tree.

“The people of Christ’s day made a greater show of piety than did the Jews of earlier ages, but they were even more destitute of the sweet graces of the Spirit of God. The precious fruits of character that made the life of Joseph so fragrant and beautiful, were not manifest in the Jewish nation. —Ibid., p. 215.

“God in His Son had been seeking fruit, and had found none. Israel was a cumberer of the ground. Its very existence was a curse; for it filled the place in the vineyard that filled that a fruitful tree might fill. It robbed the world of the blessings that God designed to give. The Israelites had misrepresented God among the nations. They were not merely useless, but a decided hindrance. To a great degree their religion was misleading, and wrought ruin instead of salvation.” —Ibid.

“The owner and the dresser of the vineyard are one in their interest in the fig tree. So the Father and the Son were one in their love for the chosen people. Christ was saying to His hearers that increased opportunities would be given them. Every means that the love God God could devise would be put in operation that they might become trees of righteousness, bringing forth fruit fro the blessing of the world.”—Ibid., p. 216.

God has also taken special care to prepare us for His soon return: “The Lord has raised up [Jones and Waggoner] to give to the world a message to the people to prepare them to stand in the great day of God.”—E.G. White, 1888 Materials, p. 1140.

“Jesus did not in the parable tell the result of the gardener’s work. At that point His story was cut short. Its conclusion rested with the generation that heard His words. To them the solemn warning was given. ‘If not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.’ Upon them it depended whether the irrevocable words should be spoken. The day of wrath was near. In the calamities that had already befallen Israel, the owner of the vineyard was mercifully forewarning them of the destruction of the unfruitful tree.”—Ellen G. White,Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 216.

“The warning sounds down along the line to us in this generation. Are you, O careless heart, a fruitless tree in the Lord’s vineyard? Shall the words of doom erelong be spoken of you? How long have you received His gifts? How long has He watched and waited for a return of love? Planted in His vineyard, under the watchful care of the gardener, what privileges are yours? How often has the tender gospel message thrilled your heart? You have taken the name of Christ, you are outwardly a member of the church which is His body, and yet you are conscious of no living connection with the great heart of love. The tide of His life does not flow through you. The sweet graces of His character, ‘the fruits of the Spirit,’ are not seen in your life.”—Ibid..

“With what unwearied love did Christ minister to Israel during the period of added probation. Upon the cross He prayed, ‘Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.’ Luke 23:34. After His ascension the gospel was preached first at Jerusalem. There the Holy Spirit was poured out. There the first gospel church revealed the power of the risen Saviour. There Stephen—‘his face as it had been the face of any angel’ (Acts 6:15)—bore his testimony and laid down his life. All that heaven itself could give was bestowed.—Ibid., p. 218.

Like Israel of old, we have also been granted an added probation.

“The heart that does not respond to divine agencies becomes hardened until it is no longer susceptible to the influence of the Holy Spirit. Then it is that the word is spoken, ‘Cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?’” —Ibid.

 While the church will go through to the end, it is up to each of us individually to choose whether we will abide in Christ or ultimately be cumberers of the ground.

“I know that the Lord loves His church. It is not to be disorganized or broken up into independent atoms. There is not the least consistency in this; there is not the least evidence that such a thing will be. Those who shall heed this false message and try to leaven others will be deceived and prepared to receive advanced delusions, and they will come to nought.

“I am encouraged and blessed as I realize that the God of Israel is still guiding His people, and that He will continue to be with them, even to the end.

“We cannot now step off the foundation that God has established. We cannot now enter into any new organization; for this would mean apostasy from the truth.

“The church, soon to enter upon her most severe conflict, will be the object most dear to God upon earth. The confederacy of evil will be stirred with power from beneath, and Satan will cast all the reproach possible upon the chosen ones whom he cannot deceive and delude with his satanic inventions and falsehoods. But exalted ‘to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and remission of sins,’ will Christ, our representative and head, close His heart, or withdraw His hand, or falsify His promise? No; never, never.”—Ellen G. White, Maranatha, p. 203.

 

~ Patti Guthrie