View an in-depth discussion of 9: Heirs of Promises: Prisoners of Hope 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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Daily Lesson for Tuesday 25th of November 2025

Given that for centuries the Israelites had been living as slaves, their military skills were inadequate to conquer the land. Not even their slave masters, the Egyptians, with their skilled and well-equipped armies, were able to occupy it permanently. The Egyptians never conquered Canaan completely because of the impregnability of the walled cities. Now a nation of former slaves is told to conquer a land that their former masters were unable to subdue. If they are ever to possess the land, it will be through God’s grace alone, not through their own effort.

Image © Steve Creitz from GoodSalt.com

Joshua 13:1-33 through 21 deals with the division of the land to the various tribes of Israel. This allotment tells the Israelites not only what has been apportioned to them but also what still must be occupied within that territory. The Israelites can securely live in the land that God has given to them as an inheritance. They are the rightful and legitimate tenants of the land under God’s ownership. Yet, God’s initiative must be matched by human response. The first half of the book shows how God gave the land by dispossessing the Canaanites; the second half reports on how Israel took the land by settling it.

This complexity of the conquest illustrates the dynamics of our salvation. Similar to Israel, we cannot do anything to earn our salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9). It is a gift, just as the land was God’s gift to the Israelites based on their covenantal relationship with Him. It certainly wasn’t based on their merits (see Deuteronomy 9:5).

However, for the Israelites to enjoy God’s gift, they had to assume all the responsibilities that came with living in the land, just as we have to go through the process of our sanctification in loving obedience to the requirements of being citizens of God’s kingdom. Though not the same thing, the parallel between their being given the land by grace and our being given salvation by grace are close enough. We have been given a wonderful gift, but it is something that we can forfeit if we are not careful.

<–Monday Wednesday–>

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As we work our way through the book of Joshua this quarter, we will see that he is ready to 
Fight The Good Fight – Hymn 613 and to move forward into the Promised Land. We may still use last quarter’s theme hymn as this will pop up throughout this quarter as well: 
Hymn 620 – On Jordan’s Stormy Banks I Stand. These two hymns will resound throughout the quarter.

Israel often slumbered and slept in all their travels to the Promised Land, which is what we find in the beginning of 
Hymn 594 – Heirs Of The Kingdom. May we all be awake to go to the New Earth when Jesus comes to take us to the Promised Land.

The land that the people travelled through “reminded the people of their constant dependence on God”, which reminds us that 
I Need Thee Every Hour – Hymn 483. Monday continues saying that “all humans are strangers and sojourners” as we find in 
Hymn 444 – I’m A Pilgrim and 
Hymn 445 – I’m But A Stranger Here.

As discussed on Tuesday and Wednesday, with all the un-Godly choices made by the travelers, we find 
Marvelous Grace – Hymn 109 is given to them, just as we are able to receive today.

Thursday gives us the great reminder that 
Jesus Is Coming Again – Hymn 213, which is “the ultimate fulfillment of all the promises”.

It is with great joy we find our Sister White encourages us that “the heavenly Shepherd leads His flock to fountains of living waters”: 
Hymn 545 – Saviour, Like A Shepherd, so that we can go to 
Jerusalem, My Happy Home – Hymn 420.

Please continue to search the scriptures this week to be blessed, and to bless others.

 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/Search 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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Key Thought:The land is important in the beginning with the promise to Israel and in the end when the meek shall inherit the earth. But to rest in the land is only through Jesus and spiritual rest.
November 29, 2025

1. Have a volunteer read Exodus 3:8, Leviticus 20:22, 25:23, Numbers 13:27.

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the most important point is in this passage.
2. What was the special relationship between God, Israel, and the Promised Land?
3. Personal Application: What do you think it means to Christians to be heirs of the promise? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your relatives states, “What is the relationship of a country and how you live your life within that country? How does one affect the other? How does this show what expectations and requirements are important for Christians to enter the Promised Land?” How would you respond to your relative?

2. Have a volunteer read Joshua 13:1-7.

1. Ask class members to share a thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. What were some of the challenges Israel had in possessing the land God had promised them?
3. Personal Application: How do Christians today encounter similar challenges related to occupying the Promised Land?
4. Case Study: One of your friends states, “I’ve been promised many things in my life, but not many of the promises were kept. Promises given, promises broken. Why should I trust God and His promises? How do I know He will keep His promises? How do I know the promises apply to me personally?.” How would you respond to your friend?

3. Have a volunteer read Leviticus 25:1-5, 8-13.

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. What is the purpose of the Sabbatical year and the year of Jubilee?
3. Personal Application: What can the principle of the land statement remind us that we are all equal in God’s eyes? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your neighbors states: “What is your application of this principle to how we treat refugees from dictatorial, war-torn, or impoverished countries? Is it okay for them to seek relief by breaking the laws of the land they are entering?” How would you respond to your neighbor?

4. Have a volunteer read Jeremiah 24:6, 31:16, Ezekiel 11:17, 28:25, 57:14,25.

1. Ask class members to share a thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. What was the promise of God concerning the return of Israel to the Promised Land, and how was it fulfilled?
3. Personal Application: What hope is found for Christians that God has promised and the death of Jesus has guaranteed? 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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Daily Lesson for Monday 24th of November 2025

At a very basic level, land offers physical identity to a nation. By locating the nation, it also determines the occupation and lifestyle of the nation. Slaves were rootless and belonged nowhere; someone else enjoyed the results of their work. Having land meant freedom. The identity of the chosen people was linked strongly to their dwelling in the land.

Image © Review & Herald Publishing at Goodsalt.com

There was a special relationship among God, Israel, and the land. Israel received the land from God as a gift, not as an inalienable right. The chosen people could own the land as long as they were in a covenantal relationship with Yahweh and respected the precepts of the covenant. In other words, they could not have the land and its blessings without the blessing of God.

At the same time, it is true that the land provided a lens through which the Israelites could better understand God. Living in the land would always remind them of a faithful, promise-keeping, and trustworthy God. Neither the land nor Israel would have existed without the initiative of God, who was the Source and foundation of their existence. While the Israelites were in Egypt, the Nile and the irrigation system, coupled with hard work, provided the crops that they needed for subsistence. Canaan was different. They depended on rain for the abundance of their harvests, and it was only God who could control the weather. Thus, the land reminded the people of their constant dependence on God.

Even if Israel received the land as a gift from Yahweh, in the ultimate sense, God Himself remained the owner. As the true owner of the whole earth (Psalms 24:1), Yahweh has the right to assign the land to Israel or to take it away. If God is the owner of the land, the Israelites and, by extension, all humans are strangers and sojourners, or in modern terminology, we are all God’s long-term guests on His land/earth.

<–Sunday Tuesday–>

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