Daily Lesson for Sunday 3rd of August 2025

On the night of Passover, divine judgment fell on those not covered by the blood (Exodus 12:1-12). No one escaped because of position, education, social status, or gender. Punishment struck all families, from Pharaoh to slaves, and even the firstborn of the animals. The pride of Egypt was in the dust.

How interesting that Pharaoh, in telling the Hebrews to go and worship, adds this request: “And bless me also.”

And bless me also?

Image © Educational Concepts Collection at Goodsalt.com

Why would he, the king of Egypt, a “god” on earth among his people, ask that? It sounds as if he’s finally catching on to the power of the Hebrew God and would like to benefit from it. However, how can God bless him while he is steeped in rebellion, stubbornness, sin, and pride? Sure, he finally gave his consent, but it wasn’t out of submission to the will of Yahweh. It was, instead, out of defeat. He wasn’t repentant—as his later actions will reveal. He simply wanted to stop the devastation that was destroying his kingdom.

Pharaoh was humiliated. And, given the tragic circumstances from the worst plague of all, he gives permission for Israel to leave Egypt. What he refused to grant all previous times, and no matter the suffering his actions brought upon his nation, he now permits.

And the Egyptian people, understandably, are eager for the Hebrews to go, as well. As they said, please leave, or else “we shall all be dead.”

God, meanwhile, made provision so that the Israelites did not leave Egypt empty-handed but with things they would need for what, in the end, would turn out to be a much longer sojourn than anticipated. The Egyptians gave the Jews these precious articles only to hurry the people out of the country, but the items were wages that were long denied the Israelites for centuries of slave labor. Surely for the Egyptians, the price of getting the Hebrews out of their land was cheap enough.

<–Sabbath Monday–>

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25c-06-go-and-worship-the-lord/

Daily Lesson for Sabbath 2nd of August 2025

Image © Pacific Press

Read for This Week’s Study: Exodus 12:31-36, James 2:17-20, Exodus 13:1-22; Exodus 14:1-31, Hebrews 11:22, Exodus 15:1-21, Revelation 15:2-4.

Memory Text:

“And Moses said to the people, ‘Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will ac­complish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace’ ” (Exodus 14:13-14, NKJV).

The Exodus is the most dramatic and glorious experience of God’s people in the Old Testament. This event is the divine model of how God defeated the Hebrews’ enemies and brought the Israelites victoriously into the Promised Land. It’s also a symbol of salvation and redemption in Christ.

From a human standpoint, the children of Israel were in a desperate, even impossible, situation—one that they, in and of themselves, could not save themselves from. If they were to be delivered, it would have to be by a divine act. It’s the same with us and sin: in and of ourselves, we are in a hopeless situation. We need something even more dramatic than the Exodus. And we’ve got it: the cross of Christ and what Christ did there for us all.

The events of Israel’s departure from the land of Goshen, mentioned in Exodus 12:1-51—until the song of Moses, joyously sung in Exodus 15:1-27—are breathtaking and incredible. God’s signs, wonders, and miraculous redeeming works are at their peak.

But even these do not compare to what Christ did for us at the cross, of which the drama of the Exodus was a mere foreshadowing.

*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, August 9.

Sunday–>

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25c-06-through-the-red-sea/

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-august-2/

Inside Story for Friday 1st of August 2025

By Andrew McChesney

Silva Langa, a high school student in Mozambique, loved soccer. The sport was his god, and he played whenever he could. He was a skillful player and dreamed about a big-league career.

Then a friend surprised him by saying, bluntly, “You have many good qualities, but you lack God.” Silva’s surprise grew when the friend, Hodes, invited him to church on Saturday. Silva had never heard of a church that worshiped on Saturdays. In addition, Saturday wasn’t a good day for him to go to church. It was the day he most often played soccer matches.

Hodes, however, was a good friend, and Silva accompanied him to church on the next Saturday that he was free. Silva was surprised again. Church members showered him with love and affection. The hymns touched his heart. He studied the Bible, and he gave his heart to Jesus in baptism.

Many of Silva’s relatives and friends couldn’t understand why he had stopped playing soccer on Saturdays.

“You have a crazy faith,” said one.

“Why would anyone go to church instead of a soccer game?” said another.

Silva explained his faith as best as he could.

His parents became worried when Silva skipped university entrance exams on a Saturday. They questioned his mental health, asking him why he was willing to risk his future for the Sabbath. It was a severe trial for Silva, but he decided to adopt the courage of Peter and other apostles and declare like them, “We ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29, NKJV).

The dismay of his parents grew when the school called to ask why he wasn’t going to Friday night classes. Several relatives pleaded with local Adventist leaders to tell Silva to study on Friday nights. The leaders did not offer a Bible study on the Sabbath. Instead, they offered assurances that God would not leave the teen and that he would graduate from high school.

Before long, Silva was able to transfer to an Adventist high school, where he no longer faced Sabbath conflicts. He graduated from the high school.

Today, Silva is an entrepreneur who has no regrets about giving up his god of soccer for the God of heaven. His life of faithfulness has led two of his sisters and other people to baptism.

“God has blessed my life,” Silva said. “I thank God that today my family respects my beliefs.”

Pray for the gospel to be proclaimed in Mozambique and other countries in the Southern Africa-Indian Ocean Division, which will receive this quarter’s Thirteenth Sabbath Offering.

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25c-05-inside-story-swapping-soccer-for-god/

Daily Lesson for Friday 1st of August 2025

Further Thought:

Read Ellen G. White, “The Passover,” Pages 273–280, in Patriarchs and Prophets.

Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com

“The Passover was to be both commemorative and typical, not only pointing back to the deliverance from Egypt, but forward to the greater deliverance which Christ was to accomplish in freeing His people from the bondage of sin. The sacrificial lamb represents ‘the Lamb of God,’ in whom is our only hope of salvation. Says the apostle, ‘Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.’ 1 Corinthians 5:7. It was not enough that the paschal lamb be slain; its blood must be sprinkled upon the doorposts; so the merits of Christ’s blood must be applied to the soul. We must believe, not only that He died for the world, but that He died for us individually. We must appropriate to ourselves the virtue of the atoning sacrifice.”—Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 277.

To this day, observant Jewish families around the world celebrate Passover, Pesach. They have what they call a “Passover Seder” (“Seder” means “order/arrangement”) during which they recount the Exodus and then enjoy a special meal as a family. Amazing that this has been kept since, literally, the time of the Exodus! Only the seventh-day Sabbath, which observant Jews keep as well, goes back even farther into antiquity.

Discussion Questions

<–Thursday

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25c-05-further-thought-passover/