Daily Lesson for Sunday 23rd of November 2025

At Creation, God placed Adam and Eve in a perfect environment that embodied abundance and beauty. The first human couple met their Creator in the setting of a lovely living space that could provide for all their physical needs. In addition to the spoken word of God, the Garden of Eden served as a learning center where Adam and Eve gained significant insight into God’s character and the life He intended for them.

Image © Review & Herald Publishing at Goodsalt.com

Therefore, when they broke the trusting relationship with their Creator, their relationship with the Garden of Eden changed as well, and as a sign of the broken relationship, they had to leave the garden. They lost the territory that God had given to them. Thus, the Garden of Eden became the symbol of abundant life, and we will rediscover its motifs in the theme of the Promised Land.

As Abraham entered the land God had shown him, by faith that land became the Land of Promise to him and his descendants. It remained the Land of Promise for 400 years. The patriarchs did not really own the land; it was not theirs in such a way that they were able to give it to their children as an inheritance. Rather, it belonged to God, as the Garden of Eden had belonged to Him. As Adam and Eve did not do anything that entitled them to the Garden of Eden, Israel had not contributed anything to deserve the land either. The Promised Land was a gift of God based on His initiative. Israel had no inherent right or claim to own the land (Deuteronomy 9:4-6); it was only by God’s grace that the Israelites could possess it.

The patriarchs were heirs of the promises until they were fulfilled. We, as Christ’s followers, have inherited even better promises (Hebrews 8:6) that will be fulfilled if we become “imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises” (Hebrews 6:12, RSV).

<–Sabbath Monday–>

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25d-09-eden-and-canaan/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=25d-09-eden-and-canaan

Daily Lesson for Sabbath 22nd of November 2025

Image © Pacific Press

Read for This Week’s Study: Genesis 3:17-24; Deuteronomy 6:3; Joshua 13:1-7; Hebrews 12:28; Leviticus 25:1-5,8-13; Ezekiel 37:14,25.

Memory Text: “Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double” (Zechariah 9:12, ESV).

Joshua 13:1-33; Joshua 14:1-15; Joshua 15:1-63; Joshua 16:1-10; Joshua 17:1-18; Joshua 18:1-28; Joshua 19:1-51; Joshua 20:1-9; Joshua 21:1-45 contains long lists of geographical boundary markers that delineate portions of land allocated to the tribes of Israel. For the modern reader, these lists might seem irrelevant, but they are based on a theological understanding of the Promised Land that is significant for us today. Through these concrete lists, God wanted to teach the Israelites that the land was not a dream. It was promised to them in a very tangible, measurable way. But they had to make that promise a reality by acting on it.

That is, yes, God was going to give land to them as an inheritance; it was going to be a gift, made in fulfillment of what He promised their fathers. “ ‘ “See, I have set the land before you; go in and possess the land which the Lord swore to your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—to give to them and their descendants after them” ’ ” (Deuteronomy 1:8, NKJV). But yes, they too had their part to play.

This week we will look at some theological concepts related to the Promised Land and their spiritual implications for those who claim all the promises found in Jesus.

*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, November 29.

Sunday–>

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Our Sabbath School program has always been linked to the support of the Seventh-day Adventist Mission program. This video provides a little insight into this important work.

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/mission-spotlight-for-novemeber-22/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=mission-spotlight-for-novemeber-22

Inside Story for Friday 21st of November 2025

Kim Sun is associate director of the 1000 Missionary Movement, whose headquarters in Silang, Philippines, were constructed with the help of a 1996 Thirteenth Sabbath Offering. Read more next week.

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Kim Sun couldn’t believe that the man slammed the door in his face.

The 19-year-old student from South Korea was going door-to-door to invite people to evangelistic meetings in the Philippines. Many people responded kindly when he and his friends knocked. But at this particular house, the 25-year-old man reacted rudely to the visitors. He didn’t reply when one asked if they could enter to visit. He just slammed the door shut.

Image © Pacific Press

Sun felt embarrassed and upset. The other students, however, weren’t bothered. Sun couldn’t understand why. He suggested that they return the next day. It was Monday, and the evangelistic meetings ran through Sabbath.

On Tuesday, the students knocked on the door again. The same man came to the door and immediately recognized the visitors. He looked ashamed and invited them in. “I’m sorry that I closed the door yesterday,” he said.

The students spoke about the love of Jesus and invited him to the meetings. They met with him again on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. On Saturday, the man decided to give his heart to Jesus in baptism.

“I love Jesus Christ,” he said. “I want to live a new life.”

Sun was amazed. As he watched the baptism, he thought, This man has changed so much. He is a completely different person compared to Monday. Is it possible for someone to change so much?

Sun was an accidental missionary. He didn’t come to the Philippines to seek baptisms. He had been living his own life in South Korea when his parents had intervened. They sent him to the Philippines to learn English and to become a nurse, and then they wanted him to work in the United States.

Arriving at his parents’ chosen school, the Adventist University of the Philippines, Sun was surprised to see that his classmates went to church on Saturday. He had thought that all Christians worshiped on Sunday. But he was required to go to church, so he attended a Korean-speaking church on campus. Young people from the church organized evangelistic meetings with the 1000 Missionary Movement, an organization that is part of the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s Southern Asia-Pacific Division. Sun didn’t speak much English, and he didn’t know much about the Bible. But he joined the students in going door-to-door to invite people to the meetings. In seeking after the man who had slammed the door, he became an accidental missionary.

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25d-08-inside-story-accidental-missionary/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=25d-08-inside-story-accidental-missionary

Daily Lesson for Friday 21st of November 2025

Further Thought: “Caleb’s faith now was just what it was when his testimony had contradicted the evil report of the spies.

Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com

He had believed God’s promise that He would put His people in possession of Canaan, and in this he had followed the Lord fully. He had endured with his people the long wandering in the wilderness, thus sharing the disappointments and burdens of the guilty; yet he made no complaint of this, but exalted the mercy of God that had preserved him in the wilderness when his brethren were cut off. Amid all the hardships, perils, and plagues of the desert wanderings, and during the years of warfare since entering Canaan, the Lord had preserved him; and now at upwards of fourscore his vigor was unabated. He did not ask for himself a land already conquered, but the place which above all others the spies had thought it impossible to subdue. By the help of God he would wrest his stronghold from the very giants whose power had staggered the faith of Israel. It was no desire for honor or aggrandizement that prompted Caleb’s request. The brave old warrior was desirous of giving to the people an example that would honor God, and encourage the tribes fully to subdue the land which their fathers had deemed unconquerable.”—Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, Pages 512, 513.

“It was Caleb’s faith in God that gave him courage, that kept him from the fear of man, and enabled him to stand boldly and unflinchingly in the defense of the right. Through reliance on the same power, the mighty General of the armies of heaven, every true soldier of the cross may receive strength and courage to overcome the obstacles that seem insurmountable.”—Ellen G. White, Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, May 30, 1912.

Discussion Questions

<–Thursday

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