Join It Is Written Sabbath School host Eric Flickinger and this quarter’s author, Shawn Boonstra, as they provide additional insights into this week’s Sabbath School lesson.”

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/4-the-nations-part-1-it-is-written-discussions-with-the-author/

View an in-depth discussion of The Nations: Part 1 in the Hope Sabbath School class led by Pastor Derek Morris.
Click on the image below to view the video:

With thanks to Hope Channel – Television that will change your life.

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/4-the-nations-part-1-hope-sabbath-school-video-discussion/

Key Thought : One of the key issues in Daniel and Revelation in worldly government; human attempts to control a planet that belongs to God.
April 26, 2025

1. Have a volunteer read Genesis 12:1-9.

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the most important point is in this passage.
2. Why did God call Abram out from his country of origin?
3. Personal Application: Why is the sin of rebellion against God more subtle than we might realize? Does it really matter where we are living? Can we be in Babylon as long as Babylon is not in us? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your relatives states, “I don’t understand. God called Abraham out of Babylon, and years later his descendants end up captives back in Babylon, and eventually sent Cyrus to deliver Israel out of Babylon again..” How would you respond to your relative?

2. Have a volunteer read I Samuel 8:4-18.

1. Ask class members to share a thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. Why do you think the people found the idea of a king appealing?
3. Personal Application: Has God used people outside God’s people to help them before? Why would you think God might or might not use people outside His church to help them in some way to fulfil His purposes? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your friends states, “What was wrong with the people wanting a king? Don’t most countries have a king or president as a figurehead for their country and people? Didn’t God appoint Moses to lead them before?.” How would you respond to your friend?

3. Have a volunteer read Matthew 20:25-28.

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. What error did Jesus warn His disciples to avoid in establishing the work of the Christian church?
3. Personal Application: In your society, what are ways in which temptations can justice imperil the integrity of our faith? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your neighbors states: “Does God ever use people outside the church to further the gospel and accomplish His goals?” How would you respond to your neighbor?

4. Have a volunteer read Numbers 14:17-21; Isaiah 42:6; 49:6; 60:3; Rev 18:1-4.

1. Ask class members to share a thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. What do these texts teach us about God’s role for His people in the world?
3. Personal Application: How can we be used as a church to call out God’s people who are still in Babylon? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: Think of one person who needs to hear a message from this week’s lesson. Tell the class what you plan to do this week to share with them.

(Truth that is not lived, that is not imparted, loses its life-giving power, its healing virtue. Its blessings can be retained only as it is shared. ”Ministry of Healing, p. 148).

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/4-the-nations-part-1-teaching-plan/

Daily Lesson for Tuesday 22nd of April 2025

As originally established, Israel was not to have a human monarch, the way that other nations did. In time, however, the people’s faith faltered, and they found themselves pining for the things that “the nations,” the Gentiles, had.

Image © Lifeway Collection at Goodsalt.com

It is important to notice that the request for a king was a rejection of God’s reign over His people. As established, the nation was to answer directly to the Creator, and their relationship to Him was put on display through the sanctuary and its services, among other things. By requesting a king, they would bring the same kinds of suffering on themselves that the Gentile kingdoms experienced: military conscription in the king’s wars, confiscation, taxation, and other ills. They would discover that human potentates tend to rule in their own favor instead of benevolently, as God does.

Also, the new arrangement would be permanent: Israel would be given what they asked for, but when they realized that it was a downgrade, they would be stuck with it. “ ‘And you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, and the Lord will not hear you in that day’ ” (1 Samuel 8:18, NKJV).

God knows the weakness of His people, and He predicted early on that Israel would request a human king. They did, and so much of sacred history is the story of the consequences of that choice.

Read Deuteronomy 17:14-20. Notice that God does not say, “I will give them a king,” but rather, His people decide that they want one. God put safeguards in place to protect His people from some of the evils of human government—though, as the history of the nation and its kings showed, the safeguards often were ignored.

One simply has to look at the history of Israel after they decided to have a king in order to see just how badly things went for them under these kings. Though some kings were better than others, even the “good” ones had done wrong (think of David and Bathsheba). In many cases, the nation lived under the rule of one king after another who did “evil in the sight of the Lord” (see 1 Kings 11:6, 1 Kings 15:26, 1 Kings 16:2,30 King 3:2, etc.).

Back then, or even today, all human governments share one thing in common: sinners governing other sinners. What possibly could go wrong?

<–Monday Wednesday–>

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25b-04-given-what-you-asked-for/

Daily Lesson for Monday 21st of April 2025

In the tenth chapter of Genesis, we see the birth of various nations. The word usually translated “nations” is goyim, which also can refer to Gentiles. Genesis 10:1-32 tells us that the human race divided up into lands, languages, families, and “nations” (Genesis 10:5; see also Revelation 14:6).

Almost immediately after the introduction of this concept, God calls Abraham out of one of those nations to be different from them and from what they represent.

Image © Lifeway Collection at Goodsalt.com

God intended to use Abraham to establish a nation that would stand in contrast to human kingdoms. They were not to have a king other than God Himself. The people were to show what would happen if the human race returned to their Creator. Israel was established to be a blessing to “ ‘all the families of the earth’ ” (Genesis 12:3, NKJV). God had poured out upon the Israelites light and privileges that had not been seen in the world since, perhaps, before the Flood.

This was not a single individual bearing witness in a single com­munity; this was an entire nation that, by working together and in cooperation with God, could exhibit the glory of His character. Notice, too, in the words spoken to them that it wasn’t just “statutes and judgments” that God had given them that made them so special, but their adherence to them that would cause the other nations to say, “ ‘ “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people” ’ ” (Deuteronomy 4:6, NKJV). However wonderful the truths given to the people, their failure to live up to them, to obey them, would bring curses instead of blessing and death instead of life.

<–Sunday Tuesday–>

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25b-04-abrahams-call/