Welcome to the fourth quarter’s studies for 2021.

Flipping through the new quarterly, there are a number of titles that have the word ‘love’ in them – Love, to Be Loved; To Love God; He First Loved Us; To Love the Lord Your God; to name just a few. Hence, I believe a wonderful hymn to devote to as a theme will be
Hymn 349 – God Is Love. Our first Memory Text says “for God is Love”, 1 John 4:8. As the book of Deuteronomy is the book of the covenant, it would also be good to add
Hymn 347 – Built On the Rock as verse four tells us of God ‘Making with us His covenant”.

Abraham’s (Abram’s) story on Tuesday will give us
Hymn 11 – The God of Abraham Praise and
Hymn 264 – O for That Flame of Living Fire in verse 2.

God gave to the nation of Israel the choices He gives to each of us today – to follow Him. This story unfolds in
Hymn 606 – Once to Every Man and Nation. Continuing on in Wednesday’s study we find God’s grace abounds to His nation:
Hymn 108 – Amazing Grace,
Hymn 109 – Marvelous Grace and
Hymn 607 – God of Grace and God of Glory.

The question of “What if?” comes along on Thursday, as Israel repeatedly says “All that the LORD has spoke we will do” Exodus 19:8, but as with all humans, we fail in our promises to God. What if we were to follow through and trust God’s leading?
Hymn 279 – Only Trust Him,
Hymn 510 – If You Trust in God to Guide You,
Hymn 590 – Trust and Obey, and then through Jesus:
Hymn 524 – ‘Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus and
Hymn 535 – I Am Trusting Thee, Lord Jesus.

Oh, how wonderful it will be to step forward and go into the Land that God has promised us:
Hymn 382 – O Day of Rest and Gladness. Meantime, we wait to reach the promised land in
Hymn 532 – Day By Day in verse 3 and
Hymn 520 – On Jordan’s Stormy Banks.

We are bound for The Promised Land! Hallelujah!! Come, Lord Jesus come – very soon.

Blessings for a wonderful week ahead.

To learn unknown hymns, you will find the accompaniment music for each one at: https://sdahymnals.com/Hymnal/

Another great resource is for when there is a hymn you wish to sing, but can’t find it in your hymnal. Go to https://www.sdahymnal.org and in the search bar type a special word in that is in the hymn. I am sure you will be amazed at the help you will be given.

2 Timothy 2:15 KJV – “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

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1 John 4:8 says, “God is love.” However simple those three words (four in Greek), the idea behind them is so deep, so profound, that we can barely grasp their implications. They don’t say that God loves, or that God reveals love, or that God is a manifestation of love but that God is love. Is love — as if love is the essence of God’s identity Himself. As fallen human beings, with only a few pounds of tissue and chemicals in our heads with which to grasp reality, we just aren’t able to fully comprehend what “God is love” fully means.

Image © Lars Justinen from GoodSalt.com

But we can, certainly, understand enough to know that it’s very good news. If, instead of “God is love,” it said “God is hate” or “God is vindictive” or “God is indifferent,” this revelation about Him could have been something to worry about.

And the truth that “God is love” helps us better understand the idea that God’s government, how He rules all the creation, is reflective of that love. Love permeates the cosmos, perhaps even more than gravity does. God loves us; and we, too, are to love God back, in return (see Deuteronomy 6:5, Mark 12:30).

Love, though, to be love, must be freely given. God cannot force love; the moment He does it’s no longer love. Hence, when God created intelligent and rational beings in heaven and on earth with the ability to love, the risk always existed that they might not love Him back. Some didn’t — and, hence, the origins of what we know as the great controversy.

Why do the following texts make sense only in the context of the freedom, and the risk, involved with love? (Isaiah 14:12-14, Ezekiel 28:12-17, Revelation 12:7).

Especially insightful is Ezekiel 28:15, which shows that though this angel, Lucifer, was a perfect being created by a perfect God, iniquity was found in him. It was not because He had been created with that iniquity to begin with. Instead, created with the ability to love, Lucifer had true moral freedom, and despite all that he had been given (“Every precious stone was your covering”), this angel wanted more. One thing led to another until, well, there was “war in heaven.”

<–Sabbath Monday–>

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Image © Pacific Press

Sabbath Afternoon

Read for This Week’s Study: Isaiah 14:12-14, Ezekiel 28:12-17, Genesis 3:1-7, Genesis 12:1-3, Acts 7:20-36, Exodus 19:4-8.

Memory Text: “He who does not love does not know God, for God is love” (1 John 4:8).

The book of Deuteronomy, of course, did not arise in a vacuum. As with everything in life, Deuteronomy exists in a context; and, as with everything in life, that context plays an important role in understanding what the book means and what its purpose is.

A lot of history came before it — a history that explained the circumstances, not only of the book itself but of the world and environment that created its context. Just as it would be hard to understand the purpose and function of a windshield wiper outside the context of a car, it would be hard to understand Deuteronomy, especially in light of our theme (Deuteronomy and present truth), outside the context in which it arose.

Someone had read Russian Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace — about 1,500 pages in just three days. When asked what the book was about, the reader replied: “It’s about Russia.”

To cover in one week’s lesson the thousands of years of history before we come to Deuteronomy is to do somewhat the same thing. But by focusing on the highlights, we can see the context needed to best understand this book, so rich with “present truth.”

Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, October 2.

Sunday–>

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