FOURTH QUARTER 2024
SABBATH SCHOOL INSIGHT #8
NOVEMBER 23, 2024
"FULFILLING OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECIES".

 

Our lesson continues to provide us with evidence of Christ’s Messiahship. The past three lessons all dealt with testimonies and witnesses to Jesus’ identity from a variety of backgrounds. This week the lesson calls our attention to how Jesus fulfilled so many Old Testament prophecies identifying the Messiah. 

Depending on who you read, anywhere from a few dozen to a few hundred verses in the Old Testament fit the narrative of Jesus life, although skeptics dispute all of them. And while any individual verse is always open to interpretation, and taken alone might not be very persuasive, the aggregate weight of all the Old Testament references that have a parallel in Christ’s life is extremely compelling to the unprejudiced mind.

As Ellen White has told us–and this is certainly true for Jesus’ identity as Savior and Son of God: “God never asks us to believe, without giving sufficient evidence upon which to base our faith. His existence, His character, the truthfulness of His word, are all established by testimony that appeals to our reason; and this testimony is abundant. Yet God has never removed the possibility of doubt. Our faith must rest upon evidence, not demonstration. Those who wish to doubt will have opportunity; while those who really desire to know the truth will find plenty of evidence on which to rest their faith.”—Steps to Christ, p. 105.

At the top of Sunday’s study, the lesson makes a vital point: “In addition to the specific miracles that John used to point to Jesus as the Messiah, he also recorded the broader discussion about the signs, works, and wonders that Jesus did. The signs and wonders, in and of themselves, were not proof of His Messiahship because many prophets, sometimes false ones, also performed miracles. John did not record the signs because they pointed to a great miracle worker only. The signs that John wrote about had the unique character of pointing to Jesus as the Messiah and to show that He, indeed, came from God the Father Himself” (emphasis supplied).

Repeatedly in Scripture and the Spirit of Prophecy we are reminded of the risks and danger of putting our trust in individuals merely based on the performance of miracles and “signs.”

- “For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect” (Matthew 24:24).

- “The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders” (2 Thessalonians 2:9).

- “If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a sign or wonder, and if the sign or wonder spoken of takes place, and the prophet says, ‘Let us follow other gods’ (gods you have not known) ‘and let us worship them,’ you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The Lord your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul” (Deuteronomy 13:1-3).

- “And (the land beast) performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people. Because of the signs it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived the inhabitants of the earth” (Revelation 13:13-4).

And this is just a sample of many other verses. Satan, his angels, and those who follow him are allowed to perform supernatural works–just as was Jesus!

How then can we tell the difference? If both sides are performing miracles and signs, how can we tell which side is the right side? Remember, in Elijah’s day, God’s side was the side that called down fire from heaven. But in the last days, it is Satan’s side that can call fire down from heaven. Can we tell the difference?

Notice Jesus’ words in the memory verse! “I have a greater witness than John’s; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish—the very works that I do—bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me” (John 5:36). What do we believe those works to be that are greater than John the Baptist’s works, and that clarify that Jesus came to represent the Father?

Well, it depends on your beliefs about God the Father! Can we identify God and those who represent Him primarily by the powerful miracles they perform? Is that the best test for whether someone speaks for God?

Or, does a sharper, purer, clearer, test have to do with the character represented by the one claiming to represent God? At the end of time, there will be two great religious movements calling for the worship of God. It’s not inconceivable that the weight of signs and miracles will be mostly, if almost exclusively, on the side of the religious power representing Satan, as we saw above in Revelation 13.

“God is love” (1 John 4:8,16).  And then immediately following in verse 17, “Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.” As God is, so we will be in this world! God is love and we will live in love in this world to the very end, and through eternity.

We can differentiate God’s side from Satan’s side in the end–not by who is religious, not by who calls to worship God, not by who has the most signs and miracles, not by who has the majority, not by who speaks sentimental words–but by who lives in love as God does.

Not a love that affirms sin, for “love does not rejoice in iniquity but rejoices in the truth” (1 Corinthians 13:6). Not a love that never rises above sentimentalism, as “It is not love but sentimentalism that palters with wrongdoing”—Ellen G. White, Education, p. 290. Not a love that can’t love its enemies, but a love that does love its enemies, those who disagree and oppose (Matthew 5:43-44).

So we can know God’s true side by who loves–who loves like God loves–not like man loves. 

“It is not Christ's follower that, with averted eyes, turns from the erring, leaving them unhindered to pursue their downward course. Those who are forward in accusing others, and zealous in bringing them to justice, are often in their own lives more guilty than they. Men hate the sinner, while they love the sin. Christ hates the sin, but loves the sinner. This will be the spirit of all who follow Him. Christian love is slow to censure, quick to discern penitence, ready to forgive, to encourage, to set the wanderer in the path of holiness, and to stay his feet therein.” —Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 462.

Those who love like Christ–who love like the Father–will have the true sign and work of being on God’s side. Christ obviously lived this evidence. God’s people will live this evidence in the end. More impressive and persuasive than any miracle or sign or wonder, will be a group of people who care and live and love like Jesus.

This is why “[t]he 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.”—Ellen G. White, Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 415.

While there will be a lot of power manifested in the end times by both sides of the controversy, only one side will manifest a character after the divine character. May we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, so that by beholding we can become changed, and discern and reveal that character in these end days.

 

~Robert Hunsaker