THIRD QUARTER 2022
SABBATH SCHOOL INSIGHT #1
JULY 2, 2022
“THE SHEPHERD’S CRUCIBLE”

 

Surely, He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He [was] wounded for our transgressions, [He was] bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace [was] upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth. Isaiah 53:4-7, NKJV.

 

First a word about the word crucible. It has a very interesting etymology, or origin. Evidently it is forged from the medieval Latin word crucibulum, an earthen pot used to melt metals. Porcelain is a very hard earthen material itself heated to very high temperatures, in the process becoming heat resistant. It can thus be used to purify other substances such as metals, which require high heat to remove impurities and gain strength and value.

“The humanity of the Son of God is everything to us.”  YI, October 13, 1898 par. 6.

It was in the crucible of affliction that His righteousness was tested and tried in our fallen earthly humanity in order to create the perfect solution for the purification of His people. Before He was our Shepherd, He was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Who better to shepherd the sheep than One Who was tempted in all points as they were and are, yet without sin.

 

Interestingly, a closely related word to crucibulum is thuribulum, which means a censer, where fragrances are released by burning. The sacrifice of Christ releases a wealth of sweetness as to the character of God, into which experience we enter as we offer up ourselves in love to Him and for His other sheep. “And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.” Ephesians 5:2.

“Like Jesus, we must be made perfect through suffering.” 1 SM pp. 28-29.

 

“The gold that Jesus would have us buy of Him is gold tried in the fire; it is the gold of faith and love, that has no defiling substance mingled with it. The white raiment is the righteousness of Christ, the wedding garment which Christ alone can give. The eye-salve is the true spiritual discernment that is so wanting among us, for spiritual things must be spiritually discerned.” RH, April 1, 1890 par. 10.

 

“The Lord is soon to come; there must be a refining, winnowing process in every church, for there are among us wicked men who do not love the truth. There is need of a transformation of character. Will the church arise and put on her beautiful garments, the righteousness of Christ? It is soon to be seen who are vessels unto honor. ‘And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.’ ‘Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not. For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in His wings.’”

 

“Here are brought plainly to view those who will be vessels unto honor; for they will receive the latter rain. Every soul that continues in sin in the face of the light now shining upon our pathway, will be blinded and accept the delusions of Satan. We are now nearing the close of this world's history. Where are the faithful watchmen on the walls of Zion, who will not slumber, but faithfully declare the time of night? Christ is coming to be admired in all them that believe. How painful it is to contemplate the fact that the Lord Jesus is being kept in the background. How few magnify His grace and exalt His infinite compassion and love. There will be no envy, no jealousy, in the hearts of those who seek to be like Jesus in character.

 

“The gospel is now resolutely opposed on every hand. Never was the confederacy of evil greater than at the present time. The spirits of darkness are combining with human agencies to set them firmly against the commandments of God. Traditions and falsehoods are exalted above the Scriptures: reason and science above revelation; human talent above the teachings of the Spirit; forms and ceremonies above the vital power of godliness. We need the divine touch.” RH, March 19, 1895 par. 5-7.

 

Ah, yes! Truly we need the divine touch of the Shepherd. How else can we face the crucible of foreboding future events! How fitting that our first lesson of this quarter gives us the assurance that we are not alone in our journey. We have a divine Guide Who according to Psalm 23 provides relaxation and rest, restoration and righteousness, comfort and courage, security and sanctification, and loves us for all of our lives on this earth with a love that pursues us all the way to His palace.

 

Whether we as sheep go astray into the “valley of the shadow of death,” or whether the divine Shepherd leads us there, or allows us to go there, He never leaves nor forsakes us, for He has preceded us in that crucible by bearing our own sins in his body on the tree.

 

His table is prepared before us in the presence of our enemies. But Christ, the bread from heaven, was placed on the table of shewbread in the presence of His enemies, in order to feed them and make them His friends. He was the anointed One, anointed with divine oil to then heal the wounds of His enemies, which we were. Our cup overflows with blessings because He drank it dry of the curse.

 

We could picture this table that He prepares as the one at which He desires to “sup” with us Laodiceans, if we will just open the door to His gracious knock.

 

As we study this quarter’s lessons, it would be good to keep two titles in mind, representing the objective and subjective aspects of the gospel:

Christ In The Crucible for Us (As Us), and In The Crucible With Christ.

 

If we will only believe and experience how good God really is, that His goodness and unfailing love are preceding and pursuing us all the way to His home, we will be prepared to dwell in His house forever. Look up, look up, my friends, wherever you are on the journey!

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“Jesus Christ is the good Shepherd. He is ‘the Chief Shepherd.’ 1 Peter 5:4. He came to earth for the purpose of seeking His lost sheep, and He seeks them out, and saves them by giving His life for theirs. On the cross He suffered all the agonies of the lost. Matthew 27:46. He endured everything that men would have been obliged to endure if He had not come, and that the rejecters of Him will have to endure at the last. He took all on Himself, in order to save men. The terrors of the last day, the day of Judgment, were present in full on Calvary. Even so the blessedness and joy of Calvary will be present at the coming of the Lord the second time, in glory.

 

“It is only by the power of the cross that Jesus will come again. He will be seen coming in the clouds of heaven "with power and great glory" (Matthew 24:30), but that will be but the power and glory of the cross. The fire that devours before Him will come from the pierced side. From the side whence flowed the healing stream of life, comes the power to render to the wicked according to their deeds. The power manifested at the coming of the Lord is the power of salvation; it is the power by which Jesus now saves His people from the hand of the enemy.

 

 

“‘His mercy endureth forever.’ In wrath He remembers mercy. Habakkuk 3:2. The waters that will overflow the hiding place of the wicked, will be the waters of salvation that flow from the wounded side of Jesus. ‘He will swallow up death in victory,’ and then those who have made a covenant with death, seeking to hide in its shadow, must necessarily be swallowed up with it. Isaiah 28:16-18. So, although the last day will be the most terrible, it will contain nothing but joy for those who have accepted the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Do not the righteous joy in the cross of Christ? Is it not the one thing in which to glory? Yet the crucifixion of Christ was a most terrible event, and all the terrors of the wrath of God raged round the cross where Christ died. But for His death on the cross, the Son of man would not have the power to sit in judgment and to execute judgment on the ungodly.

 

"From Bethlehem comes the Governor that is to be the Shepherd of Israel. He rules His people as a shepherd rules his flock. He feeds them, and the food that He gives them is Himself. He gives Himself for the sheep. When the Lord comes, it will be at a time when the wicked will have gathered to make an end of the righteous ones on the earth. A decree will have gone forth that whosoever will not worship the beast or his image, shall be killed. Revelation 13:15. Just at the moment when Satan has stirred up all the forces of evil against the just, and to all human sight it looks as though the righteous were to be cut off from the earth, Christ will appear to save them. It will be but the crowning act in the great drama of the cross. It will be the demonstration to the whole earth that Christ is the Savior. Then those who have rejected Him, and have mocked at His offers of salvation, will be forced to acknowledge that Jesus saves.

 

But the present comfort to the people of God lies in the fact that all that great power to salvation is theirs now. It is all in the cross.” September 14, 1899 EJW, PTUK p. 581.

 

~Todd Guthrie