Besides the examples we’ve already looked at, this idea of types and symbols can apply to the biblical concept of rest, as well. To see this, we go to the New Testament book of Hebrews.

Read Hebrews 4:1-11. What is the remaining promise of entering His rest referring to? How does Israel’s experience during the Exodus and the wilderness wanderings offer additional insights into the idea of entering into God’s rest?

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The theme of perseverance and faithfulness is very important here. Though talking about the seventh-day Sabbath, the main focus of these verses (and what came before; see Hebrews 3:7-19) is really a call for God’s people to be persevering in faith; that is, to remain faithful to the Lord and the gospel.

These passages remind the reader to take the lessons learned from God’s leading in the past seriously, “so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience” (Hebrews 4:11). Pay attention, this is an opportunity! Israel did hear the gospel, the text continues, but the word did not profit them. Instead of having their faith strengthened by trust and obedience, they chose rebellion (compare with Hebrews 3:7-15), and thus, they never experienced the rest that God wanted for them.

Hebrews 4:3 points to the close relationship between faith and rest. We can enter into His rest only when we believe and trust the One who promised rest and who can deliver on this promise, and that is, of course, Jesus Christ.

Read Hebrews 4:3 again. What was the main problem with the people referred to? What lesson can we take from this for ourselves, we who have had the “gospel … preached to us as well as to them” (Hebrews 4:2)?

The early Christian community accepted God’s prior revelation (what we call the “Old Testament”) and believed that Jesus Christ was the Lamb of God, the sacrifice for their sins. And by faith in the sacrifice, they could experience salvation in Jesus and the rest that we are offered in Him.

<–Monday Wednesday–>

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Key Thought: The weekly Sabbath is a symbol or model of the heavenly rest Jesus will give us.
.September 11, 2021

1. Have a volunteer read Hebrews 4:4-7.

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the most important point is in this passage.
2. What is the remaining promise of entering His rest referring to?
3. Personal Application: What was the problem with the people referred to in this passage? How can we learn not to get caught up in the same problem? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your relatives states, “Why didn’t the Israelites enter into God’s rest? How can we not make the same mistake? What does it mean to have unbelief?” How would you respond to your friend?

2. Have a volunteer read Hebrews 4:8-11.

1. a. Ask class members to share a thought on what the most important point in this text is.
   b. What is the link between not entering rest and disobedience?
   c. Personal Application: How do we harden our hearts today? Is hardening our hearts a form of disobedience? Share your thoughts
   d. Case Study: One of your friends states, “I don’t think Jesus can forgive my sins. He can’t change my heart; I think there is no hope for me.”?” How would you respond to your friend?

3. Have a volunteer read Galatians 3:26-29.

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the main idea of this text is.
2. What are the characteristics of God’s post-cross covenant people?
3. Personal Application: Do we tend to major in minors too often? How can we keep our focus on the big picture and not get lost in the trees of the forest? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your relatives states: “Can we be reconciled to God if we are not reconciled to each other? Is there any place for hatred, prejudice, or racism in God’s kingdom or in His church on earth?“ How would you respond to your relative?

4. Have a volunteer read I Corinthians 10:1-11.

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the main idea of this text is.
2. What examples do we have from the Israelites in the desert? What makes you think we wouldn’t have acted the same way? Why or why not?
3. Personal Application: How do we focus on the heavenly, when we are deluged with the earthly daily struggles and worries of living? How can we increase our faith?” 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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The Old Testament system of ritual and sacrifices, such as found in Leviticus, offers more examples of what we saw yesterday — Old Testament symbols pointing to New Testament truths. Though modern readers of the Bible often pass over these rituals, they do contain many important spiritual truths that can be of great value to those who study them.

Read the instructions for the sin offering for a regular Israelite in Leviticus 4:32-35. What can we learn from this ritual, even though we don’t have a sanctuary or temple with an altar where we can offer sacrifices for our sins? Connect this ritual with John 1:29 and 1 Peter 1:18-21.

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A ritual is an excellent communicator of important values and information, and it needs to be understood in its context. It usually requires a specific time, a particular location, and a predetermined sequence of actions to be efficacious. Indeed, when we read through the biblical injunctions in the Old Testament regarding sacrifice, it becomes clear that God gave very specific details about what could be sacrificed, and when, where, and what ritual and procedure to follow.

Central to many of the rituals, of course, was blood and the spilling and the sprinkling of blood. This is not pretty, nor was it supposed to be, because it is dealing with the ugliest thing in the universe, and that is sin.

What exact role did the blood play, and why did it have to be put on the horns of the altar? While most of the rituals associated with the sanctuary appear in prescriptive forms (i.e., they give instructions on how to do it), they do not always include all the explanations. Perhaps that’s because the people already understood what it all meant. After all, people in Israel understood the significance of blood (Leviticus 17:11).

The example taken from Leviticus 4:32-35, however, contains an important explanation in Leviticus 4:35: “So the priest shall make atonement for his sin that he has committed, and it shall be forgiven him” (NKJV). Thus, blood was key to the whole process of atonement, the means by which we sinners can be made right with a Holy God. What we see with these sacrifices, then, is a type, a model, of Christ’s death and ministry in our behalf.

<–Sunday Tuesday–>

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Rest. The word used most frequently in our Sabbath School Lesson pamphlet this quarter. “Thou shalt rest, Thou shalt rest!” These are words repeated each verse of 
Hymn 387 – Come, O Sabbath Day, our theme hymn for this quarter.We could add to the theme 
Hymn 529 – Under His Wings. Each week of study this quarter, gives more and more of showing God’s deepest care for us, His children. As God’s children we find out about the Biblical family growing pains, and this still happens today. Yet, we are still “under His wings”.

As we are “all baptized into a new life of freedom from slavery” (Sunday) of this world, we are able to sing
Hymn 258 – Baptize Us Anew.

The Rituals and Sacrifices studied on Monday conjure up a number of hymns:
Hymn 343 – I Will Sing of My Redeemer,
Hymn 402 – By Christ Redeemed,
Hymn 179 – The Wonders of Redeeming Love,
Hymn 177 – Jesus, Your Blood and Righteousness, and
Hymn 294 – Power in the Blood.

Hebrews 3:7-19 “is really a call for God’s people to be persevering in faith” – 
Hymn 602 – O Brother, Be Faithful.

We then see “the lessons learned from God’s leading in the past seriously” –
Hymn 537 – He Leadeth Me,
Hymn 619 – Lead On, O King Eternal,
Hymn 653 – Lead Them, My God, to Thee, and
Hymn 691 – Lead Me, Lord, with Hebrews 4:3 pointing “to the close relationship between faith and rest” – 
Hymn 523 – My Faith Has Found a Resting Place.

Thursday finalises with “resting in Jesus and trusting that His grace is sufficient to save and transform us”, is sung in 
Hymn 529 – Under His Wings (verse 3).

Blessings for a wonderful week ahead.

To learn unknown hymns, you will find the accompaniment music for each one at: https://sdahymnals.com/Hymnal/

Another great resource is for when there is a hymn you wish to sing, but can’t find it in your hymnal. Go to https://www.sdahymnal.org and in the search bar type a special word in that is in the hymn. I am sure you will be amazed at the help you will be given.

2 Timothy 2:15 KJV – “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

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Read 1 Corinthians 10:1-11. What did Paul want to communicate to his readers in Corinth when he referred to “examples”?

The Greek term used in 1 Corinthians 10:6 (and also adapted in a similar form in 1 Corinthians 10:11), translated as “example” in most English translations, is typos. In English the word type is based on this Greek noun.

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A type (or example) is never the original but some kind of symbol or representation of it. It is a model of something else.

Hebrews 8:5 offers a good example of this kind of relationship: “They [the priests of the Old Testament temple service] serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, ‘See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain’” (ESV).

This passage in Hebrews highlights the direct link between heavenly and earthly realities, and then it quotes Exodus 25:9, where God told Moses to build the wilderness sanctuary “according to … the pattern” that he had seen on the mountain. The point is that the earthly sanctuary, with all its rituals and procedures, were “examples,” symbols, models of what is going on in heaven, with Jesus as our High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary.

With this in mind, we can better understand what Paul was talking about in 1 Corinthians 10. In these verses Paul revisits some of the key experiences of God’s people in the wilderness on their way to the Promised Land. “Our fathers” refers to their Jewish ancestors who left Egypt, were under the cloud, passed through the sea, and, thus, were all baptized into a new life of freedom from slavery.

Paul considers these important stations of the wilderness journey as a type, or an example, of individual baptism. In the footsteps of Paul’s logic, the reference to “spiritual food” must refer to manna (compare with Exodus 16:31-35). Israel drank from the rock, which Paul identifies as Christ (1 Corinthians 10:4). Think of Jesus, for example, as the “bread of life” (John 6:48) and as the “living water” (John 4:10), and this all makes perfect sense. Thus, what we see here is Paul’s use of Old Testament history as an example of revealing spiritual truths that can be applied to individual Christians today.

<–Sabbath Monday–>

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