FIRST QUARTER 2021
SABBATH SCHOOL INSIGHT #3
JANUARY 16, 2021
“WHEN YOUR WORLD IS FALLING APART” - REVISED

 

Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. 1 Corinthians 10:11.

Is our world falling apart? In the age of COVID disease and lockdowns, church shutdowns, political upheaval, and social strife it is tempting for the church and its members to look for help and comfort in somewhere other than the righteousness of Christ. We might engage in some personal and corporate introspection as we review this week’s lesson.

For Ahaz, who was the grandson of Uzziah (the king who managed respectable kingdom growth but willfully forgot God’s ordained order in worship), it was fear of a conspiracy (Isiah 8:12) between the godless pagans (Syria) and the compromised apostate idolaters (Samaria).

In his fear, he spent precious kingdom resources investing in and cultivating a relationship with none other than the king of Assyria, Tiglath-Pileser. Applying these worldly methods had apparently salutary short-term benefits, but with destructive long-term consequences. Remarkably, after his subsequent interview with Tiglath-Pileser in Damascus, when the immediate threat was removed, he decided to incorporate worship styles back home based on what he saw there. 2 Kings 2:10-12.

God had already promised, through Ezekiel’s acted out prophecy, that the northern kingdom of Israel was reaching the end of its probation. Ezekiel 4:1-5. There were still 65 more years for the end of that prophecy (Isaiah 7:8), but God promised to remove the immediate threat from the north. Judah still had time, 40 more years than Israel. Ezekiel 4:6.

Even with judgment looming for both kingdoms, the promise was embodied in the name of the prophet’s own progeny, Shear-Jashub, “A Remnant Shall Return.”  It was up to Ahaz to believe this promise. God even condescended to offer a sign, as he later did for Ahaz’s son Hezekiah as evidence for restoration of personal health and rescue from Assyria.

But Ahaz stubbornly refused the reassurance, in essence denying the “Faith of Jesus” of his day. It was the God who was already with His people who promised to do the work, but if Ahaz would not believe, he would “not be established” in his kingdom. Ezekiel 7:9. The sin of unbelief would be his undoing.

Nevertheless, God would show Himself faithful in the face of man’s unfaithfulness. The fulfillment of the promise of the Messiah would be foreshadowed in the birth of a contemporary (see SDA BC on Ezekiel 7:14) Immanuel, reminding Ahaz that whether he believed it or not, God was there, faithfully bringing about His divine purposes for His people. God’s ultimate sign is the revealing of Himself for who He is. No doubt this gave Hezekiah courage when he later faced his own crisis.

Ok, what about the state of the “Great Advent Movement” in today’s world? As a percentage of the world’s population, we have been falling behind. We have been losing church members out the back door. Sadly, we have spent valuable resources using the world’s methods attempting to stem the tide. We have forgotten or doubted the “most precious message” of the righteousness of Christ and thus lacked the power of the Latter Rain and Loud Cry. Most tragically, we have by and large rejected the indwelling of Christ, “God with us,” His presence in us, for formal religion.

We are facing a desperate confederacy today as both the religious right and the left promote their own brands of law-breaking (emphasis supplied):

“When the children of God manifest mercy, kindness, and love toward all men, and especially toward those of the household of faith, they bear testimony to the fact that 'the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.’ It is because the law of God is trampled underfoot, transgressed, and made void, that the world is becoming like Sodom, and like the world before the flood. In the midst of an apostate world, there must be those who represent loyalty to the law of God. A desperate confederacy will be formed among those who are breaking the law of God, and who are teaching others to transgress its precepts. They will make decrees to oppose God's commandment-keeping people. ‘And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame; and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day; and shall consume the glory of his forest; and of his fruitful field, both soul and body; and they shall be as when a standard-bearer fainteth. And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a child may write them. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that smote them; but shall stay upon the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob unto the mighty God. For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return; the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness.... Therefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts, O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian; he shall smite thee with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee, after the manner of Egypt. For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction.’” (Isaiah 10:17-22, 24-25) RH Aug 20, 1895, par. 1.

To meet this challenge, we must have faith in God’s promise to fulfill His word to us and in us, claiming the living faith that only Immanuel brings. May he restore the remnant to this experience is my prayer.

~Todd Guthrie

 

A.T. Jones

 January 14, 1895

 “Living Faith” The Bible Echo 10, 2, pp. 9, 10.

 

THE term “living faith” is strictly proper; because faith indeed is a living thing. The just live by faith, and no man can live by what has no life in it. As we can live only by that which brings life to us, and as we live by faith, it is plain that faith is a living thing.

Again, faith is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8) and He is a living God; Jesus is its Author (Hebrews 12:2), and in Him is life—He is the life. In the nature of things, that which comes from such a source must be of itself imbued with life. and as faith does come wholly from Him who only is the living God, from Him who alone is life, and not from ourselves (Ephesians 2:8), it is certainly imbued with life, and so brings life to men, by which we may live indeed.

Again, faith comes by hearing the word of God (Romans 10:17); that word is “the faith word” (Titus 1:9), that is, the word full of faith; and that word is “the word of life.” Philippians 2:16. Therefore as the word of God brings faith, and is full of faith; and as that word is the word of life, it is evident that faith is life, is a living this, and brings life from God to whom who exercises it.

What life is it, then, which faith brings to men? — Coming as it does from God, through Jesus Christ who is the “Author of life,” the only life with which it is imbued and which it could possibly bring to men is the life of God. The life of God is what men need and what we must have. And it is the life that God wants us to have; for it is written: “Walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God.” Ephesians 4:17, 18.

Jesus came that men might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. John 10:10. “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” 1 John 5:11, 12. And Christ is received by faith, and He dwells in the heart by faith. Ephesians 3:17. Therefore as the life of God only, eternal life, is in Jesus Christ, and as Christ dwells in the heart by faith, it is as plain as anything can be that faith brings the life of God to him who exercises it.

It is the life of Jesus Himself that is to be made manifest in our bodies: “For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.” 2 Corinthians 4:11. And the life of Jesus is manifested in us, by Christ himself living in us; for “Christ liveth in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God.” Galatians 2:20. This is living faith.

Again, He says, “I will dwell in them and walk in them;” “I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you;” and “because I live, ye shall live also.” John 14:18, 19. It is by the Holy Spirit that He dwells in us; for He desires you “to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts.” Ephesians 3:16, 17. And “at that day”—the day that ye receive the gift of the Holy Ghost — “ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you.” John 14:20. “And hereby we know that He abideth in us, by the Spirit which He hath given us.” 1 John 3:24. And we “receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” Galatians 3:14.

“Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” We must have the blessing of Abraham in order to receive the promise of the Spirit. The blessing of Abraham is righteousness by faith. See Romans 4:1-13. Having this, Abraham “received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had.” And we, having this, can freely receive the promise of the Spirit circumcising the heart unto holiness and the seal of the righteousness of the faith which we had. Having the blessing of Abraham, and so being sons of God, God sends forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts. Galatians 3:26; 4:4-6. Having the blessing of Abraham, that you may receive the promise of the Spirit through faith, then ask that ye may receive—yea, ask and ye shall receive. For the word of God has promised, and faith cometh by hearing the word of God. Therefore, ask in faith, nothing wavering, “for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”

Such is living faith—the faith that comes from the living God; the faith of which Christ is the Author; the faith which comes by the word of God; the faith which brings life and power from God to men, and which works the works of God in him who exercises it; the faith which receives the Holy Spirit that brings the living presence of Jesus Christ to dwell in the heart and manifest Himself still in mortal flesh. This and this alone is living faith. By this Christians live. This is life itself. This is everything. Without this, everything is simply nothing or worse; for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

With such faith as this, that is, with true faith, there never can arise any question as to works; for this faith itself works, and he who has it, necessarily works. It is impossible to have this faith and not have works. “For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love.” Galatians 5:6. This faith being a living thing, cannot exist without working. And coming from God, the only works that it can possibly work are the works of God.

Therefore, anything that professes to be faith which of itself does not work the salvation of the individual having it, and which then does not work the works of God in him who professes it, is not faith at all, but is a fraud that that individual is passing off upon himself, which brings no grace to the heart, and no power to the life. It is dead, and he is still dead in trespasses and sins, and all his service is only a form without power, and therefore is only a dead formalism.

But on the other hand, the faith which is of God, which comes by the word of God and brings Christ, the living word, to dwell in the heart and shine in the life—this is true faith which through Jesus Christ only lives and works in him who exercises it.

Christ Himself living in us; Christ in you the hope of glory; God with us; God manifest in the flesh now, today in our flesh, by the faith of Jesus Christ—this and this only is living faith. For “every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is not of God; and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.” 1 John 4:2-4.

Therefore, “Examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves.” Jesus said unto them and to us all: “Have the faith of God.” Mark 11:22, margin.