FOURTH QUARTER 2022
SABBATH SCHOOL INSIGHT #12
DECEMBER 17, 2022
“THE BIBLICAL WORLDVIEW”

 

Our lesson this week entitled “The Biblical Worldview” gives a practical picture of those who live such a worldview. It starts with Jesus Christ’s life, growth, and ministry as the model of a biblical worldview. It calls us to “let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,” and further exhorts us to a daily surrender to God, a daily death to self which includes our bodies as temples of the living God, and an openness to the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. Thursday’s lesson ends with the truth that this world will culminate in the Second Coming of Christ, an event we all eagerly await. This all seems obvious to us, but to the world it seems a fanciful fable. It does not fit their “worldview.” There is no question, if we are living and breathing and have observed the events of the last decade, that we see an erosion of anything that was previously unequivocal truth. Stuff like what is a man or what is a woman is now up for grabs, and that marriage is between one man and one woman seems unreasonable. Who would have thought that foundational realities like these simple truths would be a source of tremendous confusion. How has this happened? Worldviews!

 

I believe ultimately there are only two world views — a biblical worldview and a non-biblical worldview. In Sabbath afternoon’s lesson the quarterly tells us that “the book of Revelation speaks of two major ‘globalizations' prior to the second coming of Christ…. Revelation 13 describes the globalization of error …. Revelation 14 highlights the globalization of truth, when the ‘everlasting gospel’ will be preached to ‘every nation, tribe, tongue, and people.’” What we see is that there is a biblical worldview truth vs a non-biblical worldview error, and at the heart of these conflicting worldviews is the Great Controversy.

 

A worldview is a view of the world. It is a mental model of reality, a system of beliefs, a framework of ideas about the world, about us, about life. The essential questions of life come into play: Who are we? Where did we come from? Why are we here, and do we have purpose? Where are we going? What can we know, and how do we know? Can we be certain of anything?

 

We believe that the Bible contains the answers to these essential questions. All verses will be from the New King James Version (NKJV, emphases supplied). John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” This text is key to the Biblical worldview because it identifies the fact that there is a God. In Psalm 90, Moses further characterizes this God by saying in verses 1 and 2, “Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.” Note that the text assures us that God is from everlasting, — He has no origin. And not only is He everlasting. The Conflict of the Ages series by Ellen White begins and ends with a simple but profound truth, “God is love.”That same God appears to us in Genesis 1:1-3, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said….” These three words, “Then God said,” are important as they tell us how things came to be. The creative voice of the Everlasting God, who is love, spoke our world into existence with one exception. “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being” (Gen. 2:7). But not just any being. “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So, God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Gen. 1:26,27). We have the unique gift of being made in the image of God and according to His likeness. This means something. Image and likeness are character. These verses describe who we are, and some of the purpose for which we were created. Verse 28 continues, “Then God blessed them, and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’” This command makes sense only within the bounds of marriage between one man and one woman. Genesis chapter 2:18, 21-23 continues, “And the LORD God said, ‘It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him’…. And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. And Adam said: 'This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.’” How did we get sideways?

 

In Genesis 2:16-17, God established a test of loyalty and obedience to Him. “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.’” Chapter 3 of Genesis gives us the step-by-step process of how the great controversy began resulting in a non-Biblical worldview. “You shall not surely die” and “God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good from evil” (Gen. 3:4,5). What we see in the world today is the result of the second statement, which was also what led to Lucifer’s fall — the desire to be God and to be the arbiter of truth. What we see today is the world making up its own truth, changing the word of God and making it subject to their opinions. I have my truth and you have yours even if they are incongruous. “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables” (2 Tim. 4:3,4).

 

The first lie that the serpent likewise spoke is the non-biblical idea that the soul has natural immortality. This is where the church espouses a non-biblical worldview. The quarterly on Sabbath’s study pointed us to a statement by Ellen White, which is as follows: “Through the two great errors, the immortality of the soul and Sunday sacredness, Satan will bring the people under his deceptions.” GC 588.

 

Significant problems with this view include a weakening of the power of the Cross of Jesus Christ and falsifying the character of God. If indeed the punishment for sin is eternal physical suffering, then Christ only suffered 6 hours. This is not fair that someone should be tormented in an eternally burning hell forever for 70 years of sin while friends and family look on. After all, God promises to wipe all tears from our eyes. How could this be when we watch those dear to us suffer so. However, we understand that the wages of sin is an eternal separation from the life-giving Source, and that death is the wages of sin.

 

“The Saviour could not see through the portals of the tomb. Hope did not present to Him His coming forth from the grave a conqueror, or tell Him of the Father's acceptance of the sacrifice. He feared that sin was so offensive to God that Their separation was to be eternal. Christ felt the anguish which the sinner will feel when mercy shall no longer plead for the guilty race. It was the sense of sin, bringing the Father's wrath upon Him as man's substitute, that made the cup He drank so bitter, and broke the heart of the Son of God.” DA 753.

 

This was the mysterious cup that trembled in the Saviour’s hands.

 

Regarding that second great error of Sunday sacredness — the commandments of God were given to us as a gift of ten promises to keep us healthy and happy. “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). That’s what the ten promises are all about, including the Sabbath. God was the one who invited us to rest in His accomplished work. The day after the creation of man, the Sabbath day, was the greatest of all days. God understood what the angel’s but dimly understood, and what man understood not at all — the meaning and cost of creation. He knew of the future. He knew of sin, but He also knew that the supreme step had been taken in the vindication of God, the salvation of mankind and the final cleansing of the universe from sin. Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27). It was the sign that He is the God who sanctifies, and we need a weekly reminder of that reality.

 

In the harmonious Word of God, we see history, prophecy, and science. History and prophecy tell us why we are here and where we are ultimately going, and science is in harmony with the revelation of Scripture.

 

“Since the book of nature and the book of revelation bear the impress of the same master mind, they cannot but speak in harmony. By different methods, and in different languages, they witness to the same great truths. Science is ever discovering new wonders; but she brings from her research nothing that, rightly understood, conflicts with divine revelation. The book of nature and the written word shed light upon each other. They make us acquainted with God by teaching us something of the laws through which He works.” Ellen White, Ed 128.

 

The following quote, also from the book Education, tells of a personal God intimately involved with our lives, working on our behalf, sustaining all things.

 

“God is a spirit; yet He is a personal being, for man was made in His image. As a personal being, God has revealed Himself in His Son. Jesus, the outshining of the Father's glory, 'and the express image of His person' (Hebrews 1:3), was on earth found in fashion as a man. As a personal Saviour He came to the world. As a personal Saviour He ascended on high. As a personal Saviour He intercedes in the heavenly courts. Before the throne of God in our behalf ministers 'One like the Son of man.’” Daniel 7:13.

 

“The apostle Paul, writing by the Holy Spirit, declares of Christ that ‘all things have been created through Him, and unto Him; and He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together’ (Colossians 1:16,17, R.V., margin). The hand that sustains the worlds in space, the hand that holds in their orderly arrangement and tireless activity all things throughout the universe of God, is the hand that was nailed to the cross for us.” Ed 131.

 

One more quote related to history from God’s viewpoint is profound.

 

“The history which the great I AM has marked out in His word, uniting link after link in the prophetic chain, from eternity in the past to eternity in the future, tells us where we are today in the procession of the ages, and what may be expected in the time to come. All that prophecy has foretold as coming to pass, until the present time, has been traced on the pages of history, and we may be assured that all which is yet to come will be fulfilled in its order.” Ed 178.

 

This is a true biblical worldview.

 

The quarterly gave us several texts from Sunday to Thursday as examples of the biblical worldview: Luke 2:52; Matt 4:23; 1 Cor 3:16,17; 3 John 1:2; 1 Cor 6:19,20; Rom 12:2; Phil 2:5; 2 Peter 3:14; 1 John 3:1-3, and several others. As we close this insight we note that these practical texts call us to “let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,” and further exhorts us to a daily surrender to God, a daily death to self which includes our bodies as temples of the living God. They call us to an openness to the Holy Spirit’s leading in our lives. This is important not merely for our own salvation but most importantly to demonstrate the goodness of God to an onlooking universe. The quarterly described two major globalizations — one is a globalization  of error and the other a globalization of truth. I have never heard this terminology before but the idea is that a message needs to be preached to the world. Error is overcome only by truth, not just preached but lived. Revelation 14:6,7 tells us what the truth is for this time that counteracts error. “Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth—to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people—saying with a loud voice, ‘Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.’” The focus of the message is the preaching of the gospel, and the result is worship of the Creator God.

 

“It is the darkness of misapprehension of God that is enshrouding the world. Men are losing their knowledge of His character. It has been misunderstood and misinterpreted. At this time a message from God is to be proclaimed, a message illuminating in its influence and saving in its power. … Into the darkness of the world is to be shed the light of His glory, the light of His goodness, mercy, and truth.”

 

“…. The last rays of merciful light, the last message of mercy to be given to the world, is a revelation of His character of love. The children of God are to manifest His glory. In their own life and character they are to reveal what the grace of God has done for them. COL 415.

 

In 1888 at the Minneapolis General Conference session just such a message was presented. “This is the message that God commanded to be given to the world. It is the third angel's message, which is to be proclaimed with a loud voice, and attended with the outpouring of His Spirit in a large measure.” TM 91. May we proclaim these truths to a world confused about truth both within the Christian church in general and amongst those who are of the world. The issues are different but the remedy for both is the same — The Biblical Worldview.

 

May God grant us wisdom to do His work.

 

~Lyndi Schwartz