The Bible’s last book, Revelation, focuses on the culmination of the age-long controversy between good and evil. Lucifer, a rebel angel, challenged the justice, fairness, and wisdom of God. He claimed that God was unfair and unjust in the way that He administered the universe. Revelation’s final judgment is at the very center of this conflict over the character of God.

Revelation 14:7, reads: “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water” (NKJV). Why is it significant that right after we are told about the “everlasting gospel,” the first angel’s message talks about God’s judgment? What does the “everlasting gospel” have to do with God’s judgment?

Image © Lars Justinen from GoodSalt.com

The gospel and the judgment, both parts of the first angel’s message, are inseparably intertwined. Were it not for the “everlasting gospel,” we would have no hope in the judgment. In fact, as we will see, the “everlasting gospel” is, indeed, our only hope in the judgment. There is no question that part of the content of the gospel is the announcement of judgment.

During this judgment, the unfallen worlds will see that God has done everything He can to save every human being. This judgment reveals God’s justice and mercy. It says something about His love and law. It speaks of His grace to save and His power to deliver.

The judgment is part of God’s ultimate solution to the sin problem. In the great controversy between good and evil in the universe, God answered Satan’s charges on the cross, but in the judgment, He reveals that He has done everything possible to save us and to lead us to the cross.

Heaven’s infinite, minute, exact, detailed records will be opened (see Daniel 7:10). We are so precious to God that the entire universe pauses to consider the choices we have made in light of the wooing of the Holy Spirit and the redemption so freely provided by Christ on Calvary’s cross.

<–Sabbath Monday–>

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Image © Pacific Press

Sabbath Afternoon

Read for This Week’s Study: Revelation 14:7; Psalm 51:1-4; Revelation 20:12; Daniel 7:9, Daniel 7:14, Daniel 7:26; Revelation 4:2-4; Revelation 5:1-12.

Memory Text: “Saying with a loud voice, ’Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water’ ” (Revelation 14:7, NKJV).

If the Bible was ever clear about anything, it’s clear that God is a God of judgment, and that sooner or later, in one way or another, judgment — the judgment so lacking here and now — is going to come and be administered by God Himself, “the Judge of all the earth” (Genesis 18:25; see also Psalm 58:11, Psalm 94:2, Psalm 98:9). Or, as Paul Himself had written: “So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God” (Romans 14:12).

Scary thought, isn’t it? Having to give an account of ourselves before God, the God who knows the deepest things, the God who will “bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.” (Ecclesiastes 12:14, NKJV)?

Yet, ultimately the judgment reveals the goodness and the grace of God and that He is both just and merciful in how He deals with the saved, and even with the lost.

This week we will explore the deeper themes of the judgment in relation to the great controversy raging in the universe, and we will look especially about what happens when God’s faithful people themselves face the inevitable “judgment to come” (Acts 24:25).

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

Sunday–>

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The Mission program of the Seventh-day Adventist Church is an opportunity for us to understand the needs of others and share in supporting them. Please click on the image below to watch the Mission Spotlight presentation for this week:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oO7WRtz6Ysg&w=560&h=315]

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/mission-spotlight-for-april-22/

Praying for New Friends

By Dmitry Bagal

Elena Bagal felt lonely in Kochel, Germany. Born in Siberia, she knew no one when they arrived, and her German was weak. As the days passed, she missed the life that she had enjoyed in Russia. One day, she cried out to the Lord for a new friend. “I really need a friend to spend time with,” she prayed.

Image © Pacific Press

Little did she realize that she was not the only Russian-speaking mother praying for friends. Snezhana had moved to the town a year earlier amid difficult family circumstances. On the same day that Elena prayed for a friend, Snezhana cried out to God, “Lord, I have no more strength! How can I go on living? Help me to meet someone to share my difficulties with.”

Snezhana had two children, ages 7 and 9, but they rarely went to the children’s playground. On that day, however, they went to the playground.

Elena, who had just prayed for a friend, took her baby girl to the same playground. She greeted Snezhana in German, but soon she realized that they both spoke Russian. She couldn’t believe it! She thought that the mother and children were visiting tourists, but it turned out that they lived in the town and were looking for new friends. The families have become close friends. “God let me meet you so that I would have a friend,” Snezhana told Elena recently. Elena sends encouraging songs and uplifting sermons to Snezhana. She is praying that Snezhana will agree to Bible studies.

After the meeting, Elena kept praying for new friends. One day she met Natasha, a Russian speaker in need of encouragement. The women became friends, and today Elena regularly sends Bible promises to Natasha.

Elena kept praying for new friends. While shopping, she met Irina, another Russian speaker, and invited her home for a visit. The two woman now meet every other week. Sometimes, Elena gives Irina massages and, each time, she prays. The last time she gave a massage, Irina prayed for the first time. Elena has learned that Irina sometimes visited an Adventist church before moving to Kochel. “God’s ways are wonderful!” Elena said.

She prays that Irina will want to study the Bible together and that she can start a small group for Russian speakers in her home. In the meantime, she keeps praying for new friends. Do you pray for new friends?

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

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Further Thought:

 Think about the amazing words of Paul in Hebrews 7:25, which, talking about Jesus as our High Priest, says that “He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him” (NKJV). Save to the uttermost. The Greek word for “uttermost” means “full, complete, total.” It is Jesus who saves us; our job is to surrender to Him, claiming His victory for us.

Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com

Our trust must be in Him, not in ourselves.

“We can summarize the force of the expression ’fear God‘ in Revelation as God’s final call to humanity to choose Him as their glorious and majestic God, … who will be victorious over the forces of evil that oppose Him and His plan for the human race (cf. [Rev.] 14:9-11). This fear does not manifest itself, at least not for now (cf., [Rev.] 6:14-17), in terror and trembling, but in joyous and loving submission to God’s law and to His exclusive worship. No other power should be acknowledged as worthy of such devotion and loyalty. In fact, there are no other options, because what shows itself on the horizon of the cosmic conflict as possibilities are actions of demonic powers destined to extinction (Revelation 16:13-14; Revelation 17:14; Revelation 20:11-15). The fear of the Lord is therefore a positive divine invitation … to take God’s side in the cosmic conflict in order to stand before His most glorious presence, filled with joy in eternal fellowship with Him (Revelation 21:3-4; Revelation 22:3-5).” — Ángel Manuel Rodríguez, The Closing of the Cosmic Conflict: Role of the Three Angels’ Messages, unpublished manuscript, p. 27.

Discussion Questions:

<–Thursday

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