Daily Lesson for Wednesday 4th of September 2024

Mark 13:14, regarding the abomination of desolation, is the fulcrum around which the chapter pivots (see Tuesday’s study). Mark 13:19 marks a transition point, as well. It refers to a great tribulation that does not have an equal since the creation of the world. This portends a greater or more extensive persecution than had occurred at the fall of Jerusalem. Mark 13:19 also shifts to the future tense, pointing toward events more distant from Jesus’ time.

Image © Lars Justinen at Goodsalt.com

Just as Mark 13:14 echoes the prophecy of Daniel 9:1-27, the great persecution described here in Mark 13:19-23 echoes the prophecies of Daniel 7:1-28 and 8:1-27, where the little-horn power persecutes the people of God for “a time and times and half a time” (Daniel 7:25, NKJV). This prophetic period of 1,260 days is equal to 1,260 literal years (Numbers 14:34, Ezekiel 4:6). This time extended from A.D. 538 to A.D. 1798. In A.D. 1798, Napoleon sent his general to take the pope captive. During this time period of 1,260 years, the little-horn power persecuted and killed those who did not agree with its system of church governance.

Mark 13:20 speaks of persecution being shortened for the sake of God’s people. Historically, the fires of persecution did lessen after the rise of the Protestant Reformation, shortening the time of distress. As the little horn’s power waned, more people joined the reforms. But the little horn would rise in power again, as the prophecy of Revelation 13:1-18 indicates.

In Mark 13:21-23, Jesus warns of another threat: that of false prophets and false christs, who will arise before He comes back. Jesus warns His followers to beware of them.

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/24c-10-the-great-tribulation/

Join It Is Written Sabbath School host Eric Flickinger and this quarter’s author, Dr. Thomas R. Shepherd, as they provide additional insights into this week’s Sabbath School lesson, “The Beginning of the Gospel.”

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/10-the-last-days-it-is-written-discussions-with-the-author/

View an in-depth discussion of The Last Days 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/10-the-last-days-hope-sabbath-school-video-discussion/

Daily Lesson for Tuesday 3rd of September 2024

Jesus comes to the central point about the fall of Jerusalem in Mark 13:14. He refers to “_the abomination of desolation._” The Lord says that the reader should understand. With these words, Jesus is pointing the disciples to the book of Daniel. This terminology appears in Daniel 9:27, Daniel 11:31, and Daniel 12:11, with a parallel in Daniel 8:13.

Image © Review & Herald Publishing at Goodsalt.com

The “anointed one” in Daniel 9:26 (ESV) is the Hebrew word māšiaḥ, in English, Messiah. In a careful study of Daniel 9:24-27, it is clear that this anointed one refers to the coming of Jesus Christ.

But who is “the prince who is to come,” who brings the desolation of the city of Jerusalem? The city was destroyed by the Roman general Titus. Thus, it seems logical that he is “the prince who is to come” referred to in Daniel 9:26-27. The two individuals are linked because the way that the Messiah was treated spelled the doom of the city.

What, though, is this “abomination of desolation” that Jesus, referring to Daniel, talks about? Unfortunately, many scholars believe that this abomination refers to Antiochus Epiphanes’s desecration of the temple in the second century B.C. That doesn’t work though. Jesus describes the “abomination of desolation” as something that occurs after His own time here, so it hardly could refer to something that happened two centuries before Christ’s earthly ministry.

Instead, the abomination likely refers to the planting of the Roman pagan standards in Israel during the siege of Jerusalem in the late A.D. 60s. This was the sign for the Christians to flee, which they did.

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/24c-10-the-abomination-of-desolation/

After more than 175 years of preaching the Second Coming, one important question comes to mind for Seventh-day Adventists. Is Jesus still going to come again? Are we still planning on it? Is it still a part of who we are?

Image © Pacific Press from GoodSalt.com

Growing up as a Seventh-day Adventist I heard people talk about how Jesus was surely coming in the next five years. We thought for sure that the oil crisis in the 70’s was the beginning of the end of the world. I remember looking at the form the Tulsa Roughnecks Soccer team sent me when I was a teen, asking me to renew my season tickets for the 1980 season. You may laugh at me, but I stared at that form in disbelief that I actually saw the year 1980 in print. There is no way the world will last that long I thought. Well that was over 40 years ago and we are in a new century. So what happened to the Second Coming? Is it still on?

In the mid ‘80s I joined a new Adventist church in the suburbs. I had just started dating a girl who went to that church; so I switched from the larger Adventist church where I was a member to her church. We had just started dating when she dumped me. I still stayed at this new church because I did not want people to think I changed churches just for her. Besides, this church seemed to be really on fire. The weekly prayer meetings were very spiritual, and everyone was praying for the power of the Holy Spirit to prepare them for the Second Coming. We had about as many people attending prayer meeting as attended our Sabbath worship services. We were sure Jesus was coming soon, and we were getting ready.

Then something sad happened. People stopped coming to prayer meeting. Some decided “Growing Pains” was just too funny of a show to miss for prayer meeting. People stopped coming to church altogether. This was not supposed to happen! Discouraged, I asked God why He did not come back when our church was at its spiritual peak, when we had it all together. He waited too long, and now look what happened!

I believe the Holy Spirit revealed to me why Jesus did not return when the church was on top of its game. Our church was on a spiritual roller coaster. Jesus is not coming back for a church on a spiritual roller coaster. He is not coming back for a people who walk with him off and on. A groom does not want to marry a bride whose love and devotion goes in cycles. Neither does Jesus.

Enoch walked with God many years before being translated. God will come back for a church who will consistently walk with Him year after year after year, and not on some roller coaster. The church is like a woman. For centuries God’s church has loved to flirt with Him, but it also loves to flirt with the world. God’s church likes to date Jesus, but it also likes to date others too. Jesus is not returning for a date; He is returning for a wedding. When God’s church decides to stop dating and flirting with Jesus and decides to get married, He will return.

During this same time period our suburban church was also asking the Holy Spirit to get sin out of our lives so we could be ready for Jesus to come. We did not – or at least I did not – realize how legalistic that was. Jesus is not coming back for a legalistic group who get their act together so they can have some great reward like heaven. Jesus is coming back for a people who love Him because He first loved them. Today I ask the Holy Spirit to remove sin from my life, not because Jesus is coming back, but because my sin breaks God’s heart. I do not want to break His heart any more, regardless if He is coming back tomorrow or a hundred years from now.

Now that I am older I don’t hear people talking about Jesus coming back in the next five years. So is the whole thing off?

Some of Satan’s best weapons are over-zealous religious fanatics. They tell people Jesus is coming back during a certain time table, and then when their “prophecy” fails, people doubt that Jesus is coming back at all. However this is all Satan’s plan. To get us to give up right before it happens. Concentration camp survivors say they survived because they never set a date for their rescue. Some wanted to be rescued by Christmas, and then when that came and went, they wanted to be rescued by Easter, and then when Easter came and went, they gave up hope. Others just knew that they would be rescued some day, and they survived.

As Seventh-day Adventists we must believe Jesus is returning, without setting dates. Some have gone to the other extreme now and don’t even preach the Second Coming at all. They preach social sermons which they find more practical in everyday living. While we must be practical, we must also realize that God formed our church over 150 years ago for a specific reason.

Are we embarrassed by our message? I am sure the disciples were embarrassed when Jesus was crucified, but there was no reason for them to be embarrassed. Are we afraid people will not believe our message, so we just preach things we know the world will accept? If so, shame on us! We are doing our Savior and neighbor no justice by hiding our special message.

The Seventh-day Adventist church has a message that will do more than prepare people to live nice little lives in this world. We have a gospel that will prepare people for the world to come! We must let everyone know the Second Coming is still on!

There are twice as many prophecies about the Second Coming than there were about Jesus’ first advent. He came the first time, so we know beyond a shadow of a doubt He is coming the second time. Jesus warns against setting times for His return when He tells us, “ in the hour you think not, the Son of man cometh.” Satan has been using religious fanatics for years to get us all excited and then disappointed that He has not returned. Satan wants us to give up and think Jesus is not returning at all. There is great danger in what I was always hearing growing up – about Jesus coming in the next five years – because it does two things: It makes us give up hope when He does not return in those five years, and it also makes us think we have five years to prepare. One day we won’t have five years to prepare. We won’t have one year to prepare. In the hour we think not, He will come!

Don’t get ready, be ready! Be ready, not because He is coming back but because we love Him because He first loved us! The Adventist church – the church that believes the Bible prophecies about the Second Coming – has a reason to exist! If we just preach social day-by-day sermons that you can hear anywhere else, then we are not fulfilling our purpose for coming into existence over 150 years ago. A true Adventist more than believes Jesus is coming. We love His appearing! We have a message to give to world and the people of the world are hungry for our message. We need to tell them that Jesus is coming back. Jesus loves them and wants to be with them forever!

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/is-jesus-still-coming-again/