Key Thought: The call to fear God is the final message to choose Him as their almighty God. This fear for believers is not terror and trembling, but in loving submission and dedication.
April 22, 2023

1. Have a volunteer read Revelation 14:7.

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the most important point is in this passage.
2. Why doesn’t fearing God mean to be afraid of Him? Doesn’t warning people about judgment and hell help keep them from doing things they otherwise wouldn’t do?
3. Personal Application: How is the message of the three angels both a call to obedience and a call to Godly living in this time of earth’s history? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your relatives states, “Why would anyone fear God today? People steal, kill, lie, commit all kinds of sexual immorality, and nobody sees any kind of retribution, and human laws seem to lean more to accepting and excusing crimes and immorality? How would you respond to your relative?

2. Have a volunteer read Deuteronomy 6:2, Eccl 12:13,14, Psalm 119:73.74..

1. Ask class members to share a thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. What do these texts show about fearing God?
3. Personal Application: I understand that fearing God is honoring His commandments, but how does that relate to the judgment Solomon speaks about? Share your thoughts
4. Case Study: One of your friends states, “Why does Revelation 21:7,8 say that the fearful will have part in the lake of fire which is the second death? I thought we were supposed to fear God?” How would you respond to your friend?

3. Have a volunteer read I Corinthians 3:16,17; Romans 12:1,2; I Corinthians 6:19,20..

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. What do these texts tell us about glorifying God?
   (Note: see also Philippians 3:18,19 – Whose God is his belly, whose glory is in his shame, who mind earthly things.)
3. Personal Application: How do we keep our minds and bodies under control? Pleasure, sports, music, entertainment all bombard us daily. How can we overcome our own selves? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your neighbors states: “I thought in the New Testament it says we can eat anything we want if we pray over it. And what is eating too much? How does anyone determine that?” How would you respond to your relative?

4. Have a volunteer read Hebrews 4:14-16, Hebrews 7:2-5..

1. Ask class members to share a thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. How does knowing Jesus is our High Priest and that we can come to Him boldly to find mercy and grace to help us in our walk in this world?
3. Personal Application: Are there things in your life you desire to overcome? How do we translate out desires into action? 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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What else does the Bible teach us about what it means to fear God?

Read Deuteronomy 6:2; Psalm 119:73-74; and Ecclesiastes 12:13-14. What do these texts reveal is the result of “fearing God”?

Image © Steve Creitz from GoodSalt.com

These passages reveal a linkage between fearing God and keeping His commandments. Fearing God is an attitude of reverential respect that leads us to obedience. Heaven’s urgent appeal is for those saved by grace to be obedient to God’s commands (Ephesians 2:8-10). Grace does not free us from obeying the commands of God. The gospel sets us free from the law’s condemnation, not from our responsibility to obey it.

Grace not only delivers us from the guilt of our past, but it empowers us to live godly obedient lives in the present. The apostle Paul declares that “we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations” (Romans 1:5, NKJV).

There are some people who have the strange idea that salvation by grace somehow negates the law of God or minimizes the necessity for obedience. They believe that any talk about obedience is legalism. They have declared, All I want is Jesus. The question is, “Which Jesus?” A Jesus of our own making, or the Jesus of Scripture? The Christ of Scripture never leads us to downplay His law, which is the transcript of His character. The Christ of Scripture never leads us to minimize the doctrines of the Bible, which reveal more clearly who He is and His plan for this world. The Christ of Scripture never leads us to reduce His teaching to pious platitudes that are nonessential. Christ is the embodiment of all doctrinal truth. Jesus is truth incarnated. He is doctrine lived out.

Revelation’s final appeal calls us through faith in Jesus to accept the fullness of everything He offers. It calls us to “fear God,” which is expressed by faith in His redeeming power to empower us to live godly, obedient lives.

<–Sunday Tuesday–>

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The purpose of the book of Revelation for our generation is to prepare a people to be ready for Jesus’ soon return and to unite with Him in giving His last-day message to the world. Revelation reveals the plans of God and unmasks the plans of Satan. It presents God’s final appeal, His urgent, eternal, universal message for all humanity.

Read the apostle John’s urgent end-time appeal in Revelation 14:7. (See also Genesis 22:12; Psalm 89:7; Proverbs 2:5; Ecclesiastes 12:13-14; Ephesians 5:21.) What specific instruction does he give us?

Image © Lars Justinen from GoodSalt.com

The Greek New Testament word for “fear” in Revelation 14:7 is phobeo. It is used here not in the sense of being afraid of God but in the sense of reverence, awe, and respect. It conveys the thought of absolute loyalty to God and full surrender to His will. It is an attitude of mind that is God-centered rather than self-centered. It is the opposite of Lucifer’s attitude in Isaiah 14:13-14, when he says in his heart, “I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High“ (NKJV).

Instead, it is the attitude of Christ, who, though “being in the form of God … humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:6, Philippians 2:8, NKJV).

The essence of the great controversy revolves around submission to God. Lucifer was self-centered. He refused to submit to any authority except his own. Rather than submit to the One upon the throne, Lucifer desired to rule from the throne. Put simply, to fear God is to place Him first in our thinking. It is to renounce our self-centeredness and pride and to live a life wholly for Him.

And it obviously must be important because it’s the first words out of the mouth of the first angel of the three.

Hence, we must take heed.

<–Sabbath Monday–>

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Image © Pacific Press

Sabbath Afternoon

Read for This Week’s Study: Revelation 14:1-20; Genesis 22:12; Ecclesiastes 12:13-14; Colossians 3:1-2; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 3:16-17.

Memory Text: “Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus” (Revelation 14:12, NKJV).

Danish author Søren Kierkegaard told a parable about the end time. It went something like this:

A fire broke out backstage in a big theater. A clown, who had been part of the performance, came out to warn the audience: Get out; the place is on fire! The audience thought it was just a big joke, part of the show, that’s all, and just applauded. He repeated the warning: Get out! Get out! But the more emphatically he warned them, the greater the applause. For Kierkegaard, that was how the world is going to end; that is, to the general applause of wits who believe it’s a joke.

The end of the world, and events leading up to it, are, as we know, no joke. The world faces the most serious crisis since the Flood. In fact, Peter himself uses the story of the Flood as a symbol of the end, warning that just as the world of old perished by water, in the end times, “the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up” (2 Peter 3:10, NKJV). Having been warned about what is coming, we now need to be prepared for it, as well.

Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, April 22.

Sunday–>

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Pink Hair and God

By Andrew McChesney

Days before the start of the school year, a mother called the principal of a Seventh-day Adventist elementary school for help in Ukraine.

“I don’t understand anything about religion, and I don’t know anything about religious denominations,“ the mother said. ”I just saw the sign outside your school reading, ‘Christian school,’ and I’m absolutely certain that this is what I have been looking for.”

Image © Pacific Press

The principal was intrigued by the call and asked for more information. She learned that the caller was the mother of a little girl named Natasha.

The mother said that when she had been pregnant with Natasha, she had often thought about sending her child to a church school one day. The persistent idea puzzled her because she was an atheist. When Natasha reached school age, the mother enrolled her in a private school that promised to nurture creativity in an atmosphere of complete freedom and no discipline. Natasha’s mother became alarmed when the girl announced in the second grade that she wanted to dye her hair pink. That summer, she worried that the lack of discipline might hurt her daughter’s future. Then she saw the sign for the Adventist school, remembered her thoughts when she was pregnant, and thought, “I want my child to go to this school.”

On the first day of school, Natasha started third grade in a class with five other children, all from Adventist families. She struggled at first to catch up with the other children, but she quickly gained ground. Reading the Bible and participating in morning devotions were new experiences for her. Wide-eyed, she eagerly absorbed everything she learned about God.

Several weeks into the school year, her mother called the principal to say she was delighted with the changes that had come over her daughter.

“She loves your Bible lessons, and she has fallen in love with the school,“ she said. ”She tells us everything that goes on there and has us pray before meals. I am so happy I brought her to your school!”

Not long ago, the mother contacted the principal to ask for information about Adventist beliefs. “Natasha wants to become an Adventist, and I would like to know what changes need to be made in our lives,” she said. “I also want to become an Adventist.”

The family’s story has not ended. “Their path with God is just beginning,” said Ivan Riapolov (pictured), education director of the Euro-Asia Division, whose territory includes Ukraine.

Thank you for your mission offerings that support Adventist education around the world.

Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. Find more mission stories at adventistmission[dot]org

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