FIRST QUARTER 2025
SABBATH SCHOOL INSIGHT #5
FEBRUARY 1, 2025
"THE WRATH OF DIVINE LOVE".

 

“But He, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity,

And did not destroy them.

Yes, many a time He turned His anger away,

And did not stir up all His wrath” (Psalm 78:38).

The universe would have never known there was such a thing as “the wrath of divine love” had Lucifer remained faithful and our first parents not succumbed to Satan’s temptation. The wrath of God should be understood in the context of God’s boundless love for man, and His fervent desire that none should perish but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). 

Psalm 78 is one of the key passages in this week’s lesson. In this Psalm the history of God’s faithfulness in contrast to Israel’s rebellion is reviewed in order that “they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments: And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God” (Psalm 78:7,8, KJV).

Sadly, generation after generation “kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law; and forgot his works, and his wonders that he had showed them” (vs. 10, 11).

God did marvelous things for them in their deliverance from Egypt, yet they “believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation” (vs. 22). “Their heart was not right with him” (vs. 37). 

“But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath” (vs. 38).

Like Israel of old, the Lord has been long suffering with His last day church. 

God raised up Israel to lift up Jesus, the Savior to come, as a beacon of hope to the world. Yet despite all the advantages and the light that had shown upon this chosen people, how often did the fleeting pleasures of sin distract them from their mission.

When Christ, the long looked for Messiah and Savior of the world, came to His own, His own “received him not” (John 1:11). Heartbreaking! Disrespectful! Insulting! The world’s Redeemer was despised and rejected of men. Do we love Him now more than they did then?

Like Israel of old, we have been given a special commission:  “In a special sense Seventh-day Adventists have been set in the world as watchmen and light bearers. To them has been entrusted the last warning for a perishing world. On them is shining wonderful light from the Word of God. They have been given a work of the most solemn import—the proclamation of the first, second, and third angels’ messages. There is no other work of so great importance. They are to allow nothing else to absorb their attention.

“The most solemn truths ever entrusted to mortals have been given us to proclaim to the world. The proclamation of these truths is to be our work. The world is to be warned, and God's people are to be true to the trust committed to them. They are not to engage in speculation, neither are they to enter into business enterprises with unbelievers; for this would hinder them in their God-given work” (Ellen G. White, Lift Him Up, p. 357).

To equip us for this special task, the Lord in His mercy sent a most precious message through Brothers Waggoner and Jones (Ellen G. White, Testimonies to Ministers, p. 91). 

Bringing this week’s lesson closer to home, we ask, What is our record? What is our Psalm 78? When Christ came to us in the form of a most precious message, how did we treat Him?

“God has given Brother Jones and Brother Waggoner a message for the people. You do not believe that God has upheld them, but He has given them precious light, and their message has fed the people of God. When you reject the message borne by these men, you reject Christ, the Giver of the message” (The Ellen G. White, 1888 Materials, p. 1353).

When the Lord set a rich table for us, He intended to nourish our souls with the necessary nutrients to carry us through the closing scenes of earth’s history. By resisting this delicious offering, we find ourselves ill-equipped to meet the time of trouble such was. The Lord in His mercy has delayed His coming.

Jesus asked, “When the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8, NKJV).

“I would speak in warning to those who have stood for years resisting light and cherishing the spirit of opposition. How long will you hate and despise the messengers of God’s righteousness? [Elders Waggoner and Jones.] God has given them His message. They bear the word of the Lord. There is salvation for you, but only through the merits of Jesus Christ. The grace of the Holy Spirit has been offered you again and again. Light and power from on high have been shed abundantly in the midst of you. Here was evidence, that all might discern whom the Lord recognized as His servants. But there are those who despised the men and the message they bore. They have taunted them with being fanatics, extremists, and enthusiasts. Let me prophesy unto you: Unless you speedily humble your hearts before God, and confess your sins, which are many, you will, when it is too late, see that you have been fighting against God. Through the conviction of the Holy Spirit, no longer unto reformation and pardon, you will see that these men whom you have spoken against have been as signs in the world, as witnesses for God. Then you would give the whole world if you could redeem the past, and be just such zealous men, moved by the Spirit of God to lift your voice in solemn warning to the world; and, like them, to be in principle firm as a rock. Your turning things upside down is known of the Lord. Go on a little longer as you have gone, in rejection of the light from heaven, and you are lost” (Ellen G. White, Testimonies to Ministers, pp. 97, 98).

Where does that leave us today? 

“[Jeremiah 36] is a record of historical events that will be repeated. Let all who desire to receive warning, read carefully. In the incidents of the closing scenes of the Lord's ministry is embraced much that very many claiming to be Bible Christians do not study. They do not see that in their experience they are passing over the very same ground. They do not seem to care to learn lessons from the history of ancient Israel that have been written for their admonition.  

[1 Corinthians 10:1-12, quoted.]  

“As God's church, we cannot tread the same path of unbelief as did ancient Israel, refusing to be admonished and discarding the messages He had given, and escape the sure result of our course of action. 

“The one great burden and grief of Jesus was that He, with omniscient eye, was viewing the destruction of Jerusalem. He wept not for Himself. He wept not on account of His betrayal, His trial, His rejection, His deliverance into the hands of His enemies. The most cruel death was appointed to a Man who could not be condemned, a Man concerning whom Pilate declared, ‘I find in Him no fault at all’ [John 18:38]. His tears were for those who were placing themselves beyond the reach of the long-suffering, long-forbearing mercy of a sin-hating God.  

“The crucifixion of Christ was the last action that caused the nation's downfall. ‘Last of all He sent unto them His Son, saying, They will reverence My Son. But when the husbandmen saw the Son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill Him, and let us seize on His inheritance. And they caught Him, and cast Him out of the vineyard, and slew Him’ ” [Matthew 21:37-39].  

“The fig tree represented the kingdom of Israel. Standing out in proud superiority as a religious nation, the Jewish people were as a fig tree clothed with pretentious leaves. They had their religious ceremonies, their traditions, their rich temple, with its mitered priests to officiate in the morning and the evening sacrifices. The outward evidences of religious life were abundant. The tree was covered with leaves. They were consumers, but not producers. They bore no fruit to repay the Lord for all the love and care and gracious mercy that He bestowed upon them.  

There were leaves enough, but what did these pretentious leaves hide? Pride, vain-glory, selfishness. While there was an abundance of ceremonies and instrumental music, the people, as it were, flaunted their green foliage in the face of an offended God; for they bore no fruit to His glory. . .”  (Ellen G. White, Sermons and Talks, vol. 2, pp. 331, 332).

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (Romans 1:18, NKJV). 

Suppressing the truth is like stuffing these unwelcome reproofs into a closet in our hearts and slamming the door shut. 

In Jeremiah 36, Zedekiah resisted the warnings with such force that he cut up the inspired record with a scribe’s knife then burned the shreds! The Bible states that neither the king, “nor his servants nor the people of the land gave heed to the words of the Lord which He spoke by the prophet Jeremiah” (Jeremiah 37:2, NKJV).

The wrath of God will be revealed when God opens that closet door of conviction and we are forced to face our rejection of Jesus. Someday it will be too late to repent. 

Jesus said, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent” (Revelation 3:19, KJV).

“The sinner’s own thoughts are his accusers and there can be no torture keener that the stings of a guilty conscience” (Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 223).

While mercy still lingers, let us pray for the Lord to do a thorough, cleansing work in our hearts, including the hidden closet of unbelief.

 

~Patti Guthrie