Image © Pacific Press

Sabbath Afternoon

Read for This Week’s Study: 1 Corinthians 15:12-19, John 14:1-3, John 6:26-51, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, 1 Corinthians 15:51-55.

Memory Text: “And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:11-12, , NKJV).

Though writing in Greek, all the New Testament writers (except Luke) were Jews, and they of course approached the nature of human beings from the Hebrew wholistic perspective, not from the Greek pagan one.

Thus, for Christ and the apostles, the Christian hope was not a new hope but, rather, the unfolding of the ancient hope already nurtured by the patriarchs and prophets. For example, Christ mentioned that Abraham foresaw and rejoiced to see His day (John 8:56). Jude stated that Enoch prophesied about the Second Coming (Jude 14, Jude 15). And the book of Hebrews speaks of the heroes of faith as having expected a heavenly reward that they would not receive until we receive ours (Hebrews 11:39-40). This statement would be meaningless if their souls were already with the Lord in heaven.

By stressing that only those who are in Christ have eternal life (1 John 5:11-12), John disproves the theory of the natural immortality of the soul. Truly, there is no eternal life apart from a saving relationship with Christ. The New Testament hope, then, is a Christ-centered hope, and the only hope that this mortal existence will one day become an immortal one.

Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, November 19.

Sunday–>

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Support for the mission activities of the Seventh-day Adventist church has always been part of the Sabbath School program. This video is Mission Spotlight for this week.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tXVijpoqc0&w=560&h=315]

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The post Mission Spotlight for November 12 first appeared on Sabbath School Net.

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/mission-spotlight-for-november-12/

Accepting the Word, Part 1

By Andrew McChesney

Eulalia Rashid ran out of beer and headed to the store to buy more in the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. commonwealth in the Pacific Ocean.

It was Christmas Eve. She was lonely and had no one with whom to celebrate the holiday. An alcoholic for 37 years, she had all but abandoned her four children and 13 grandchildren. She also was ill with colon cancer.

Image © Pacific Press

As Eulalia walked, a small wooden box caught her eye on the ground on the darkened street. She picked it up and shook it, thinking some money might be inside. Sure enough, a penny was inside, and she placed the box in her pocket. Minutes later, standing in the light of the store, she pulled out the box and saw words written on the top, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105, NKJV).

The next morning, on Christmas Day, Eulalia read and re-read the words on the box. “What is this word?” she wondered. “What is this lamp that is to light my path?” Eulalia had always believed in Jesus, but she had never had a relationship with Him. Now she tried to translate Psalm 119:105 into her native Tomoro and Palau languages. She looked up the verse in several Bible translations. Still not understanding the words, she decided to read through the entire Bible. Maybe she would find an explanation somewhere.

One day, she reached John 1:1, which says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Her eyes lit up with joy. She read on, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). “Here is the answer!” she thought. “The word is Jesus! Jesus is the Lamp that lights my path!”

By now she loved reading the Bible. She kept on reading, and she started to pray regularly. As she read and prayed, her life changed. She read that God had set aside the seventh day as Sabbath in Exodus 20:1-26, and she began to keep the Sabbath in her home. She read about clean and unclean foods in 11 and modified her diet. When she saw that God gave Adam and Eve a plant-based diet, she cultivated a garden of sweet potatoes, spinach, string beans, eggplant, tomatoes, tapioca, papaya, mangoes, lemons, dragon fruit, soursop, mulberries, and coconuts.

Her family did not understand what was going on. They were astonished to see that she had stopped drinking. She told them that one day she had simply decided not to drink, and Jesus had taken away her desire for alcohol in the twinkling of an eye.

Eulalia didn’t know it, but she was already becoming a missionary to her family by her example.

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

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/inside-story-accepting-the-word-part-1/

Further Thought: Read Ellen G. White, “In Joseph’s Tomb,” Pages 769-778; “The Lord Is Risen,” Pages 779-787; “Why Weepest Thou?

Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com

”, Pages 788-794; “The Walk to Emmaus,” Pages 795-801; “Peace Be Unto You,” Pages 802-808; in The Desire of Ages.

Modern sentiment doesn’t believe in something like the resurrection of Jesus. However, the historical evidence is so strong that even those who can’t accept the reality of the resurrection are forced to admit that many people believed that they had seen the resurrected Jesus. Thus, much anti-resurrection apologetics is the attempt to explain what could have caused all these different people to believe that they had seen the risen Christ.

Some have argued that all the disciples hallucinated the resurrected Jesus; others that Jesus hadn’t really died but only had swooned and then come back to life after He had been brought down from the cross, and when He had reappeared, His followers thought that He had been raised from the dead. And (believe it or not) some have argued that Jesus had a twin brother whom the disciples mistook for the risen Christ. In other words, the historical evidence is so strong for Christ’s resurrection that these are the kinds of arguments people concoct in order to try to dismiss it. With the resurrection itself so important, we should not be surprised by all the good reasons we have been given to believe it.

“The voice that cried from the cross, ‘It is finished,’ was heard among the dead. It pierced the walls of sepulchers, and summoned the sleepers to arise. Thus will it be when the voice of Christ shall be heard from heaven. That voice will penetrate the graves and unbar the tombs, and the dead in Christ shall arise. At the Saviour’s resurrection a few graves were opened, but at His second coming all the precious dead shall hear His voice, and shall come forth to glorious, immortal life. The same power that raised Christ from the dead will raise His church, and glorify it with Him, above all principalities, above all powers, above every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in the world to come.” — Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 787.

Discussion Questions:

<–Thursday

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I don’t think anyone doubts that a man named Jesus actually existed. The question is if He was really the Messiah, and if He was really resurrected. How do we know Jesus really died, and did not just fake His own death and then made it look like He was resurrected? If He did indeed die, how do we know the disciples did not actually steal His body from the tomb to make it look like He was resurrected? Let’s take a look.

 Was Jesus Actually Dead?

Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with Him.  But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs.  But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.  And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may believe. For these things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled, “Not one of His bones shall be broken.” And again another Scripture says, “They shall look on Him whom they pierced.”  John 19:32-37 NKJV

Conspiracy theories could have started circulating, that Jesus did not really die on the cross, but merely fainted and woke up later. Remember how prisoners escaped from Alcatraz by placing phony bodies in their beds to make it look like they were still in bed, while they escaped? How do we even know it was really Christ’s body placed in the tomb, and was not just a phony body to make it look like He died?

The testimony of the Roman soldiers themselves disproves any notion of such conspiracy theories. They pierced his side causing the blood to flow out. He was already dead, but if He wasn’t, the wound would have caused His death for sure. 

Did Disciples Steal His Body?

Now while they were going, behold, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all the things that had happened. When they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, saying, “Tell them, ‘His disciples came at night and stole Him away while we slept.’ And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will appease him and make you secure.” So they took the money and did as they were instructed; and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day. Matthew 28:11-15 NKJV

This is not logical. How can the soldiers document what happened while they were asleep? If they were asleep, how would they know that the disciples stole the body? There is no court in the world that would accept this testimony. No one can testify exactly who did what while they were not looking. You have to be looking in order to be a witness. Their own testimony, “while we were sleeping,” proves they did not see the disciples take Jesus’ body. Add to this the fact that the disciples themselves had a hard time believing that He was resurrected. If they had staged it, they would have been gloating about His resurrection at the very start, instead of being confused and amazed.

If the priests really thought the disciples stole Christ’s body, why were the disciples never charged or even accused of such a crime? They were later arrested for preaching about the resurrection, but they were never arrested for stealing a body. It is also highly unlikely the guards actually fell asleep while guarding the tomb,  because falling asleep while on such a guard was an offense punishable by death.  If the leaders truly thought the guards had fallen asleep, the guards would not have lived to tell the tale. They would have been executed. But they were not executed. Instead, they were given money. 

Would the Disciples Have Died for a Lie?

Now about that time Herod the king stretched out his hand to harass some from the church. Then he killed James the brother of John with the sword. And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to seize Peter also. Acts 12:2-3 NKJV

Scripture testifies how James was martyred and the other disciples were persecuted. And Foxe’s Book of Martyrs documents how all the disciples except John were martyred for preaching Christ and Him crucified and resurrected. Poor John was thrown into boiling oil. Now, suppose the disciples made the story up about the resurrection and had stolen the body to make it look like Jesus was no longer dead. How many of those disciples would be willing to die for this made-up story? After a few of them were killed for making up the story, wouldn’t at least one of them come forward and show where they hid the body, to save his life? What are the chances of everyone in on the conspiracy dying for a lie?

I can tell you why they all died. I can tell you why none of them finally came forward and showed where they hid the body. It’s because they did not hide the body. They could not recant their story, because what they were saying was the truth. A truth worth dying for! Why do you think God allowed them all to be killed and for John to be boiled in oil? I believe it’s so that we would know, beyond the shadow of a doubt that their story was true. 

Jesus Still Lives in our Hearts

One last thought. When I was in my early twenties, I heard a song on a Christian radio station. I heard it once, and never heard it again, so I can’t tell you who sang it or wrote it, but I remember the gist of the song. In the song, a little boy was crying because his little friend told him Jesus wasn’t real. The boy pleads with his friend not to tell his daddy that Jesus isn’t real because, “I don’t want him to start living like he used to.” The song showed how Jesus changed the daddy’s heart, and this is how we know He is real. 

But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. Romans 8:11 NKJV

Like the old hymn says,

He lives (He lives), He lives (He lives), Salvation to impart! You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart.-Alfred Ackley

No doubt Jesus lives. Because He lives, we are not afraid to die. 

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/how-do-we-know-the-disciples-didnt-just-make-everything-up/