Further Study: Read Ellen G. White, “Growing Up Into Christ”, pages 67–75, in Steps to Christ.

“The cross of Christ will be the science and the song of the redeemed through all eternity. In Christ glorified they will behold Christ crucified. Never will it be forgotten that He whose power created and upheld the unnumbered worlds through the vast realms of space, the Beloved of God, the Majesty of heaven, He whom cherub and shining seraph delighted to adore — humbled Himself to uplift fallen man;

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that He bore the guilt and shame of sin, and the hiding of His Father’s face, till the woes of a lost world broke His heart and crushed out His life on Calvary’s cross. That the Maker of all worlds, the Arbiter of all destinies, should lay aside His glory and humiliate Himself from love to man will ever excite the wonder and adoration of the universe. As the nations of the saved look upon their Redeemer and behold the eternal glory of the Father shining in His countenance; as they behold His throne, which is from everlasting to everlasting, and know that His kingdom is to have no end, they break forth in rapturous song: “Worthy, worthy is the Lamb that was slain, and hath redeemed us to God by His own most precious blood!” – Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, pages 651, 652.

Discussion Questions:

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Key Thought: No matter how far away we are from God he can bring us back to Him. 

November 30, 2019

1. Have Volunteers to read Daniel 1:1-2 and Ezra 1:9-11.

   

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1.  Ask the class what seems to be the theme of these passages.
2. What is the significance of the returned items?
3. Personal Application: If God had the Jews keep an accurate track of items, what assurance does that give that God will keep an accurate track on you and your life? See John 17:10-12 and Deuteronomy 3:3. 
4. Case Study: Your skeptical neighbor who has trouble believing the accuracy of the Bible points out that if you add up the items in Ezra 1:9-10 it only adds up to 2,499. That is 2,901 items short of the ,5400 total. How do you explain this? Hint: Some scholars believe the 2,499 total is only what Sheshbazzar returned adding to what others returned making the 5,400 total. Some scholars believe there is a translation error. While many scholars agree with the former explanation, suppose such a translation error did exist. Should that make us distrust the Bible? Consider: ““I saw that God had especially guarded the Bible, yet when copies of it were few, learned men had in some instances changed the words, thinking that they were making it more plain, when in reality they were mystifying that which was plain, by causing it to lean to their established views, which were governed by tradition. But I saw that the Word of God, as a whole, is a perfect chain, one portion linking into and explaining another. True seekers for truth need not err; for not only is the Word of God plain and simple in declaring the way of life, but the Holy Spirit is given as a guide in understanding the way to life therein revealed.”—Ellen White, Early Writings, Pages 220, 221

2. Have a volunteer(s) read Daniel 5:1-31.

1. Ask the class what is the main point of this passage.
2. What lesson should Belshazzar have learned from his predecessor Nebuchadnezzar?  
3. Personal Application: What lessons do we have to learn from Belshazzar? We often draw comfort from passages that describe God’s love and acceptance of all humanity, but should we also heed passages like Daniel 5:26-27? See also Revelation 3:17. 
4. Case Study: A member of your Bible study group points out in Daniel 5:13-14 it appears Belshazzar gives Daniel a backhanded compliment. He refers to him as an exile instead of one of the kings royals servants. Does Daniel seem phased by this insult? Why or why not? What example does Daniel give us when we appear to be underappreciated or belittled? 

3. Have a volunteer read Deuteronomy 30:1-6.  

1. Ask what is the main idea in this passage?
2. What was the prerequisite for having their fortunes restored? 
3. Personal Application: What hope does verse 4 give us when we stray far from God? 
4. Case Study: Another friend from your Bible study group says he sees some similarities between the Jews returning to Jerusalem and the story of the prodigal son. What parallels do you find in the parables in Luke 15:1-31 with the Jews returning home ?

4. Have a volunteer read Nehemiah 11:1-2. 

1. Ask what is the main idea of this passage? 
2. What do “sacred lots” (NLT) tell us about how carefully God chooses where we live?
3. Personal Application: How much influence does your home environment have on your personal walk with God? Does God take into account where we were born and what influences we had where we lived?  See Psalm 87:6.
4. Case Study: Your Adventist friend, who lives in an Adventist university community, tells you he is moving to a town where there are no Adventist churches. He hopes to start a small home study group that may grow into a church. He feels he will be needed more where there are not already a bunch of Adventists. Another Adventist friend tells you he  wants to move to an Adventist community because he feels more comfortable being where everyone believes the same way.  Which friend do you encourage the most and why? 

Conclusion: Encourage your class to share this message with someone this week. Remember, “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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Read Deuteronomy 30:1-6. What promise was given here to the Hebrew people? What must this promise, among others like it, mean to men like Ezra and Nehemiah?

Ezra and Nehemiah knew the prophecies. They knew that God was going to bring the people back from captivity. We saw in Nehemiah 9 that they understood their history and the reasons for their troubles. At the same time, too, they knew God’s graciousness and leading, despite their sins.

Thus, they trusted in the Lord, that He would make the return from captivity successful. Those promises, however, didn’t mean that they would not face many challenges along the way. In much of this quarter so far, we have looked at the trials and tribulations that they faced, even amid the promises of God.

Read Ezra 8:16-23. What was the challenge here, and how did they respond to it?

Despite the promises, Ezra knew just how dangerous the journey was. Thus, the fasting and the humbling before God were ways of acknowledging just how dependent they were upon the Lord for their success. At this time, with so many dangers ahead of them, the idea of asking the king for help and protection had at least occurred to Ezra. But in the end, he chose not to do that, in contrast to Nehemiah (Neh. 2:9), who did have an escort to protect him. Ezra obviously felt that if he had asked, it would have brought dishonor to the Lord, for he had already said to the king, “The hand of our God is upon all those for good who seek Him, but His power and His wrath are against all those who forsake Him” (Ezra 8:22, NKJV). In this case, it worked out well for them, for he later wrote (Ezra 8:31) that the Lord had protected them, and they made it to their destination safely.

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No question — as we saw yesterday, it was an amazing fulfillment of prophecy that brought the Jews back from Babylon.

But as with anything that involves humans, problems existed. And one of the big problems was that, despite all the wonderful promises of restoration after the exile, many of the Jews did not want to return to the land of their ancestors. That is, they preferred to stay in Babylon.

Why would that be?

Read Ezra 8:1-15. Focus specifically on verse 15. What was the big concern here, and why would it be a concern for someone who wanted to re-establish the nation of Israel in its former homeland?

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The fact is, not all the Jews in Babylon, including some Levites, wanted to return. Several factors could have been involved. Many of them had been born and brought up in the new land, and that was all they knew. Many might not have wanted to make the long and unquestionably dangerous trip back to a land that they had never known to begin with. Eventually, though, we know that they brought along enough Levites to minister in the Temple (see Thursday’s lesson), despite the challenges.

“By now, the Jews who remained in the land of exile had been there for almost a century and a half. Excavations of Nippur have brought to light numerous documents that show that many wealthy Jews lived in that region of Mesopotamia during the reign of Artaxerxes I. Hence, it may have been a difficult task for Ezra and his fellow leaders to convince as many to return as did accompany him. These returning colonists could expect only a hard pioneering life in the old homeland, with far fewer comforts than in Babylonia. In view of these considerations it is surprising to find that Ezra succeeded in persuading almost 2,000 families to cast in their lot with their brethren in the old homeland” – The SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 3, p. 376.

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1. Lists and so forth. Be honest. Did you cringe just a bit when you saw “lists” as one of the topics for this week’s lesson? Do you remember memorizing long and painful lists of various kinds in classes you took? How often in your work and home life do you come across lists that make you groan? Or that excite you with joy? Our lesson reminds us that our God is a ruler of infinite details and gives us a fair number of lists to help us keep track of the most important ones. For example, what practical value does the listing of genealogies have for us modern-day Christians?
2. The God of history. Which of our Bible writers for this quarter, Ezra or Nehemiah, paid more attention to details? Consider Belteshazzar, the king of Babylon until his empire fell in one crash. Why the sudden fall of power? Was it because of Belteshazzar’s failure or because of the strength and power of the defeating Medo-Persian forces? Imagine seeing a huge human hand appearing in a room for celebrating, writing of the sure end of Belteshazzar. What was Daniel’s view of the event?
3. In their cities. We see in Ezra 2 and Nehemiah 7 a list of people who came with Zerubbabel and Joshua from Babylonian captivity to Jerusalem. Was this list boring to the survivors of the years in servitude in Babylon? What was its purpose? Imagine you are coming with fellow Israelites to the city of your heritage. Then imagine what it is like when that venerable monument to God’s glory, the second temple, is not only built, but remodeled, and made to be beautiful. Why were they so successful in accomplishing all of this?
4. Where are the priests? How easy is it to conclude that everybody came back to Jerusalem from Babylon? Why wouldn’t they all rejoice and come back? What about Levites, who served as priests in various ceremonial services? Why did they decide not to come back? Or was just it a minority of priests who did not return? What were some of the main reasons that many Israelites decided not to make the journey “back home”? What do you think would have been your choice if you’d been in that group of God’s children?
5. Humbled before God.  Yes, God did promise to bring His children back home from captivity. Did He also promise that it would be a pleasant journey? No trials or problems? Why didn’t Ezra beg God for an escort or an armed guard to protect him on the journey? Should he have? Why do you think that Nehemiah’s choice for assuring a safe journey was dramatically different? Is it a sign of indifference or disloyalty to depend on anyone except God and His people to help us when we’re in trouble?
6. In the Holy City. “Free at last, free at last, praise God almighty, I’m free at last.” Was that the cheer of those settling in Jerusalem and the surrounding area? Why were so many immigrants to Jerusalem eager to settle in the pleasant countryside rather than in the city? Can you blame them? What was the challenge about city life that God wanted His people to take on? Do you think that as last-day believers in the second coming, we should at least consider assuming a larger role in the highly populated areas of our countries so that we could lead more people to follow Jesus?  

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