FIRST QUARTER 2025
SABBATH SCHOOL INSIGHT #1
JANUARY 4, 2025
"GOD LOVES FREELY".

 

In this quarter we strive to take a dive deep into the sacred realm of “God’s Love and Justice.”  How does God, because of His great love, save sinners and at the same time maintain His integrity toward His holy law?  In other words, how can God forgive transgression without compromising His justice?

God’s disposition toward His creation, fallen or unfallen, has always been one of infinite love.  The everlasting covenant between the Godhead, extended to all creation, is one of love.  This eternal covenant of love has never been dependent on the behavior or performance of those God created to be included in it.  The covenant of love is independent of the creature’s response.  It “loves freely.”

Lucifer did not become the devil because of his failures (hyperlink to additional resources here and onward) but because he rejected the everlasting covenant of love.  In doing so he necessarily became self-centered, an enemy of the covenant.  This could only result in a self-inflicted death sentence.

Objectively, the everlasting covenant cannot be withdrawn of forfeited by negative behavior any more than God’s love can be withdrawn or forfeited by negative behavior.  It can, however, be subjectively rejected and therefore create an environment where the covenant benefits are not experienced by those who have been included in it.

God’s response to the failures of the people is not to withdraw the covenant promise but to double down on it.  This appears to be expressed in the lesson regarding the story recorded in John 21.  Peter has three times denied, with cursing and swearing (to a Jew, an unpardonable sin), that he does not know Jesus.  If there was ever a serious case of backsliding, and at the most crucial of times, it was Peter.  Later, at the shore, Jesus asks him three times, “Do you love me…?”  or “Have you kept the covenant?”.

Earlier, Peter boasted that he would never deny or betray Jesus, insisting that he was a covenant keeper and that he would die for Him.  Now, at the shore, Jesus begins to ask difficult questions of Peter, not to insult him, but to bring healing.  Peter had a great task before him and Christ needed him prepared.  

The question is, “Peter, do you love me with agape?”.  The former self-confident, sword wielding disciple now confesses, “Lord, you know I only love you with phileo!”  When Jesus asks the third time, “Do you only love me with this unreliable, changeable, conditional phileo?”,  John records that Peter was “grieved” at this, saying, “Lord you know all things; you know all I have to offer is phileo.”  The principles of the everlasting covenant of love (1Peter 1:6-12, 22-25; Galatians 2:17-21; Colossians 1:24-27;1Corinthians 1:26-31) had gotten a hold on Peter and he is ready to “feed My sheep.”

It was only through Peter’s confession of this juxtaposition, shared by Christ at the shore, that he was now free to respond by speaking boldly in defense of the gospel and working for the salvation of souls.  It is reasonable to assume that, at least in part, Peter’s experience could be summed up in this passage from E. J. Waggoner’s The Glad Tidings, p. 131.  I share in part here:

“God promises us everything that we need, and more than we can ask or think, as a gift. We give Him ourselves, that is, nothing, and He gives us Himself, that is, everything. That which makes all the trouble is that even when men are willing to recognize the Lord at all, they want to make bargains with Him. They want it to be a “mutual” affair—a transaction in which they will be considered as on a par with God. But whoever deals with God must deal with Him on His own terms, that is, on a basis of fact—that we have nothing and are nothing, and He has everything and is everything, and gives everything.”

The Hebrew word hesed appears numerous times in the Old Testament, five times in the book of Hosea, being a major theme throughout the Hebrew Bible.  It is a difficult word to translate with precision and conveys a range of meanings, including loyalty, love, mercy, kindness, steadfast love, and covenant faithfulness.

In Hosea, hesed is used to describe God's lovingkindness and covenant love for humanity.  For example, in Hosea 2, amid betrayal, God says that his hesed is so strong that he will not forsake the guilty but will “allure… and speak comfort” to them, to faithfully love, “I will betroth you to Me” forever.   Much of Hosea, and the Old Testament, present the God of Heaven as a broken hearted lover: “I drew them with gentle cords, with bands of love… My heart churns within Me; My sympathy is stirred.”

Ultimately, this passion lead Him to assume the full weight of our humanity, taking it to the cross in the most glorious demonstration of giving of Oneself in love that the universe has ever witnessed.

When the Promise of the everlasting covenant of love, expressed and confirmed, transitioned from Promise to Reality it did not merely present humanity with the possibility of salvation.  “Love freely given” created a new historical authenticity.  Unlike the “covenants” we make with each other, the treasure house of God’s love in Christ did not merely make an offer to humanity, as if we were willing or capable to follow a set of instructions.  God’s love is given, not because of some pre-qualification, but despite the lack thereof.

This Good News is repeated as the apostles attempt to find ways to express the depths of what Christ accomplished at the cross.  John simply invites us to “behold.” Prophetically the  Psalmist exclaimed, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain it.”

One of the biggest swings-and-misses the Christian world has made is making texts like Ephesians 1 exclusive and applicable only to believers.  This has had a diminishing effect on the human heart regarding the finished work of Christ and the application, by the Holy Spirit, of His atonement upon it.

Yet Paul clearly states that the everlasting covenant, fully executed at Calvary, has overwhelmed the devil and sin. and “has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”

What did God’s choice accomplish when He loved us freely in the person of Christ and Him crucified?  Paul, in Ephesians 1, could not make it plainer: 

 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will” (vs 3-11).

Then Paul tells us the appropriate response:

“¹² that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. ¹³ In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, ¹⁴ who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.” (vs 12-14)

“As the sinner sees Jesus as He is, an all compassionate Saviour, hope and assurance take possession of his soul. The helpless soul is cast without any reservation upon Jesus Christ. None can bear away from the vision of Christ crucified a lingering doubt. Unbelief is gone.”—Ellen G. White, Manuscript Releases 21, p. 37.

“Enfeebled and defective, needing constantly to be warned and counseled, the church is nevertheless the object of Christ's supreme regard. He is making experiments of grace on human hearts and is effecting such transformations of character that angels are amazed and express their joy in songs of praise. They rejoice to think that sinful, erring human beings can be so transformed.

 “As the third angel's message swells into a loud cry, great power and glory will attend its proclamation. The faces of God's people will shine with the light of heaven.

The Lord will fit men and women—yes, and children, as He did Samuel—for His work, making them His messengers.

"He who never slumbers or sleeps watches over each worker, choosing his sphere of labor. All heaven is watching the warfare which, under apparently discouraging circumstances, God's servants are carrying on. 

New conquests are being achieved, new honors won, as the Lord's servants, rallying round the banner of their Redeemer, go forth to fight the good fight of faith. All the heavenly angels are at the service of the humble, believing people of God; and as the Lord's army of workers here below sing their songs of praise, the choir above join with them in thanksgiving, ascribing praise to God and to His Son.

“Nothing is apparently more helpless, yet really more invincible, than the soul that feels its nothingness and relies wholly on the merits of the Saviour. God would send every angel in heaven to the aid of such a one, rather than allow him to be overcome.”—Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 7, pp. 16,17.

Our lesson concludes on Friday by sharing a passage from the last chapter in Christ Object Lessons:

“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. His character is to be made known. Into the darkness of the world is to be shed the light of His glory, the light of His goodness, mercy, and truth.”

God, in His mercy, has not left us guessing as to the specificity of this “message from God.”   The Servant of the Lord states this message will, among other things:

“bring more prominently before the world the uplifted Saviour”

“present… justification through faith in the Surety”

“invite… the people to receive the righteousness of Christ, which is made manifest in obedience to all the commandments of God”

have “eyes directed to [Jesus’] divine person, His merits, and His changeless love for the human family”

“dispense rich gifts unto men, imparting the priceless gift of His own righteousness”

And then the Lord’s servant concludes with this remarkable statement, that indeed, this 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.”

Who is willing to proclaim this message?  What are your thoughts on Wednesday’s contribution to the study?  How would it thus apply?

“Many are called, but few are chosen”  (Matthew 22:14).

 

~Mike Clendenning