SECOND QUARTER 2025
SABBATH SCHOOL INSIGHT #4
APRIL 26, 2025

 

“‘Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should seek Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed’” (Daniel 7:14, NKJV).

The lesson for this week traces the history of the nations since the beginning of the world. A. T. Jones provides fascinating commentary and a gospel-centric perspective on this topic in his book, The Empires of Bible Prophecy, the first in a series of  books expounding on Bible and world history through the lens of the everlasting gospel. These books are well worth reading and can also be listened to on ellenwhiteaudio.org.

He notes that the tenth chapter of Genesis describes the true origin of every people and nation of the world.

Excerpts from his commentary follow.

“In the first peopling of the earth, the government was that of the individual. The associations were those of the family, or the enlarged family—tribes; and the government was of the individual—self-government. There was Society, but no State. The earth was free to all; there were no territorial lines. But apostasy grew and prevailed. And as apostasy grew, despotism in man inevitably grew and asserted dominion over others. This culminated in Nimrod’s ambition—the ambition not only for kingship, but for empire; not only the establishment of a kingdom or single government, but also the expansion of single government into widespread dominion. Thus arose the State: territorialism, and imperialism. Men were made subject to power merely because they happened to be in the territory claimed by the would-be monarch. This meant conquest and oppression; because God had created mankind free, and to be free: and even in his apostasy the love of freedom is in him. But in the presence of monarchism and imperialism, this freedom of many never could be recognized or have any place; it must be ruthlessly crushed out in order that monarchy and empire, the one-man power of the world, might prevail and be duly honored. This is how it is that Nimrod was a mighty hunter before the Lord: not merely a hunter of wild beasts, but more a pursuer and crusher of men; and, therefore, a more exact translation of the original expression reads, ‘He was an over-bearing tyrant in Jehovah’s sight.’

“Nimrod’s ambition was continued by others in that day, and has been continued even to the present hour” (A. T. Jones, The Empires of Bible Prophecy, introduction). 

Jones goes on to note that in early world history, the innate desire for freedom in every human heart pushed back against tyrannical rule, such that each succeeding monarch when coming to the throne would have to recapture the people previously won—even by his father—in order to continue his reign. From the time of the Assyrian kingdom, which began after Babel, it took 800 years until the world was united under a single reigning power, that of Babylon.

“Then began the second phase of history. The ambition for empire had now triumphed; and now it was to be demonstrated just what empire in full and undisputed sway would do” (ibid., introduction). Yet luxury and vice, dissipation and gluttony proved Babylon’s ruin only 23 years after the death of Nebuchadnezzar, with the succeeding powers of Media and Persia, Greece and Rome, all tending to the same end—annihilating ruin.

Instead of learning from history, the papal Roman power continued in the same line as the secular kingdoms that proceeded her, by “exalting herself in the same old sinful ambition of imperial world power” (ibid., introduction). 

The thought was, “‘Only let us, the good people, have the power. Let the men of God—the bishops—have dominion. Recognize their authority. Let them, with the dictates of the church, have full sway. Then the government and empire will be but the Kingdom of God itself’ and 'the capital city of the church, being the capital city of the Kingdom of God, will be the very city of God—the eternal city.’

“Thus, ecclesiastical empire is the third phase of history. And the result of this reign of the so-called ‘best people’ of the earth was simply the worst oppression, the fiercest despotism, and the most terrible hammering that was ever put upon any people by any power on earth” (ibid., introduction). 

Bringing this operating principle of self exaltation down to the present hour of earth’s history, Jones ominously notes, “And as that first great apostasy from the truth of Christianity develops ‘the beast,’ which is Rome in its worst phase; so this second great apostasy from the truth of Christianity develops ‘the image of the beast,’ which under the eye of the beast causes ‘the earth and them that dwell therein to worship the first beast.’”

Thus, “the world ends with the united powers of the beast and his image in full sway; for when the Lord comes in the fulness of His glory, ‘these both’ are overtaken ‘alive,’ and are destroyed in the consuming power of the overwhelming brightness of His glory. Thus ecclesiastical empire, culminating in the united sway of the beast and his image, is the final phase of empire and of the world’s history” (ibid., introduction).

This historic overview gives context to the story of God’s call to Abraham in Genesis 12, to remove himself and his family from under the influence of the developing ancient Babylonian empire to a place where God could establish His beneficent rule over a people governed by His divine law of love. In God’s plan, this people, having nothing in particular to commend themselves, would become the light of the world (to the “nations,” Hebrew for Gentiles), as the superiority of a nation under God’s rule would become a self evident wonder to surrounding nations and the universe. All this might have been, even on our sinful planet.

Tragically, the Hebrew people were persistently lured into idolatry. The wealth, ostentation, and the pleasures of sin enjoyed for a season by their irreverent neighbors proved an overwhelming temptation. Through the mindless repetition of ceremonies that were intended to be a poignant looking-forward to Jesus the Lamb, the Savior of the world, the people came to believe that they were worshiping God while in truth these very ceremonies became the means of forgetting the One who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all things therein.

The Jewish nation, set apart among the nations to reveal Christ’s self-sacrificing love, became a persecuting power to those who believed, ultimately rejecting and crucifying the very One who, “in his love and in his pity (he) redeemed them, and (he) bare them, and carried them all the days of old” (Isaiah 63:9).

The truth hits close to home, as indicated by the question raised in Friday’s lesson for this week: “Are we not all in danger, especially the longer we are here, of setting ‘aside the humble simplicity of Christ and his apostles’ for the pomp, power, accolades, and temptations of the world? If we think we are not, we are fooling ourselves.”

 

~ Patti Guthrie