Image © Pacific Press

Read for This Week’s Study: Daniel 8:1-27, Dan. 2:38, Gen. 11:4, Leviticus 16:1-34, Dan. 2:38, Heb. 9:23-28.

Memory Text: “And he said to me, ‘For two thousand three hundred days; then the sanctuary shall be cleansed’” (Daniel 8:14, NKJV).

The vision reported in Daniel chapter 8 was given to the prophet in 548/547 B.C., and it provides some significant clarifications about the judgment referred to in Daniel 7. Unlike the visions of Daniel chapters 2 and 7, the vision of Daniel chapter 8 leaves out Babylon and starts with Media-Persia, because at this time Babylon was in decline and the Persians were about to replace Babylon as the next world power. The vision of Daniel chapter 8 parallels that of Daniel chapter 7. The language and the symbols change in Daniel chapter 8 because it brings into sharp focus the purification of the heavenly sanctuary in connection with the heavenly Day of Atonement. Thus the distinctive contribution of Daniel chapter 8 lies in its focus on aspects of the heavenly sanctuary. Whereas Daniel chapter 7 shows the heavenly tribunal and the Son of man receiving the kingdom, Daniel chapter 8 shows the purification of the heavenly sanctuary. So as the parallels between these two chapters indicate, the purification of the heavenly sanctuary depicted in Daniel 8 corresponds to the judgment scene of Daniel chapter 7.

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

Sunday–>

Amen!(0)

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SabbathSchoolNet/~3/JGaFHhhzopA/

Miracle in Egypt

By Andrew McChesney, Adventist Mission

The plan seemed perfect: Transform an aging Seventh-day Adventist church in the heart of Egypt’s capital into a vibrant community center.

Image © Pacific Press

But construction companies dismissed the idea of completely rebuilding Cairo’s Center Church. “There is no way that you can get a permit”, said a top engineer at one construction company.

Church leaders prayed and decided to move forward in faith. They contacted one more construction company and inquired about the process of securing a permit to renovate the building.

“It’s true that it is difficult”, a senior engineer replied. “But we think that we can obtain the permit in one to three months”.

A month later, the engineer called back to announce that the building permit was ready.

The quick progress astounded Akram Khan, treasurer of the Adventist Church’s Egypt-Sudan Field. “One month!” he said in an interview. “That was the first sign that God really wanted us to do something with the building”.

More miracles followed in rapid succession, church leaders said. Center Church’s premises underwent a complete renovation in a year and reopened its doors as the Ramses Cultural Center in 2018. Adventist Church president Ted N.C. Wilson rededicated the four-story complex and reminded church members that a key part of the church’s mission is helping people in big cities. “Cairo is a city with almost 20 million people — people who are broken-hearted, people who are captured by evil things, people who are blind to their own needs, people who are spiritually hungry”, Wilson said in a speech in the refurnished hall of the Center Church. “That is why the Ramses Cultural Center exists”.

The Center Church, whose 750 seats once filled the building, now occupies a corner and has seating for up to 280 people. The renovated building also has a preschool, a dental clinic, a fitness center, a massage room, a kitchen for cooking lessons, and seven classrooms for wellness lectures and English classes.

The Adventist Church has 200 members in Cairo and 800 in all of Egypt, an African country with a population of about 100 million.

Wilson and other church leaders praised God for the speed with which the Ramses Cultural Center was completed, starting with the crucial step of obtaining the building permit. Khan, pictured, said the miracles didn’t end there. “Everything that we are doing with this building is a miracle”, said Khan, a Pakistani native who has served in Egypt for eight years.

Pray for more mission miracles in Egypt and beyond. Thank you for your mission offering that make miracles possible.

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

All Rights Reserved. No part of the Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide may be edited, altered, modified, adapted, translated, reproduced, or published by any person or entity without prior written authorization from the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.

Amen!(0)

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SabbathSchoolNet/~3/h8pXDRpb9Y4/

Further Thought: 

A cursory look at history reveals that after the collapse of the Roman Empire, which came about by attacks from barbarians from the north, the bishop of Rome took advantage of the overthrow of three barbarian tribes and established himself as the sole power in Rome as of A.D. 538. In this process, he adopted several institutional and political functions of the Roman emperor.

Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com

From this emerged the papacy, invested with temporal and religious power until it was deposed by Napoleon in 1798. This did not bring an end to Rome, but only to that specified phase of persecution. The pope not only claimed to be the vicar of Christ but also introduced several doctrines and practices contrary to the Bible. Purgatory, penance, auricular confession, and the change of the Sabbath commandment to Sunday are among many other changes of the “times and law” introduced by the papacy.

“In his own strength, man cannot meet the charges of the enemy. In sin-stained garments, confessing his guilt, he stands before God. But Jesus, our Advocate, presents an effectual plea in behalf of all who by repentance and faith have committed the keeping of their souls to Him. He pleads their cause, and by the mighty arguments of Calvary, vanquishes their accuser. His perfect obedience to God’s law has given Him all power in heaven and in earth, and He claims from His Father mercy and reconciliation for guilty man. To the accuser of His people He declares: ‘The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan. These are the purchase of My blood, brands plucked from the burning’. And to those who rely on Him in faith, He gives the assurance, ‘Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment’. Zechariah 3:4”. — Ellen G. White, Prophets and Kings, pages 586, 587.

Discussion Questions:

<–Thursday

Amen!(0)

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SabbathSchoolNet/~3/59jwvIx8P_o/

What happens to God’s people according to the following texts? Dan. 7:18, Dan. 7:21-22, Dan. 7:25, Dan. 7:27.

The “holy ones of the Most High” (NKJV) is a designation of God’s people. They are attacked by the power represented by the little horn. Because they insist on remaining faithful to God’s Word, they are persecuted during the times of papal rule. Christians were persecuted during the time of the pagan Roman Empire, too (the fourth beast itself), but the persecution mentioned in Dan. 7:25 is a persecution of the saints by the little horn, which arises only after the pagan phase of Rome ends.

Image © Lars Justinen at Goodsalt.com

However, God’s people won’t be subjected to oppression by worldly power forever. The kingdom of God will replace the kingdoms of the world. Interestingly, in the actual vision, to the Son of man “was given dominion and glory and a kingdom” (Dan. 7:14, NKJV). But in the interpretation offered by the angel, it is the “holy ones” who receive the kingdom (Dan. 7:18, NRSV). There is no contradiction here. Because the Son of Man is related to God and humanity, His victory is the victory of those He represents.

When the high priest asks if Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, Jesus points back to Psalm 110:1 and Dan. 7:13-14 and says: “I am. And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven” (Mark 14:62, NKJV). Therefore, Jesus is the One who represents us in the heavenly tribunal. He has already defeated the powers of darkness and shares His triumph with those who come close to Him. Therefore, there is no reason to fear. As the apostle Paul so aptly states: “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:37-39, NKJV).

<–Wednesday Friday–>

Amen!(0)

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SabbathSchoolNet/~3/ivHL1IE-kSg/

As Adventists we understand from the book of Revelation that  the anti-Christ is the papacy putting itself in the place of God. Of course any system putting itself in the place of God is an anti-Christ. I was surprised a while back to learn that John the Revelator wrote his epistles after writing Revelation.  in 1 John 2:18, John writes,  “even now are there many anti-Christs; whereby we know that it is the last time.” So was John implying their were more anti-Christs besides just the papacy? If so could you or I have anti-Christ characteristics? 

Image © Steve Creitz at Goodsalt.com

To answer this question, let’s back up a little. In studying the Three Angels Message, we see that a so-called religious system, Babylon, falls. Again we know from studying Revelation that this is a specific system. However, we also see that this system has an attitude. That attitude is legalism. Man-made laws and a man-made day of worship combine to make a man-made way of salvation, outside of trusting in the merits of Jesus. While Revelation pinpoints this system, it is clear that this attitude can be found in other systems as well, and history has demonstrated it. Were not the Sadducees and Pharisees making their own laws and trusting their own works for salvation? Yet they were not Babylon. So could it be that if I am not careful to crucify self and die daily, that this same attitude of Babylon could be found in my heart too?

So, if it is possible for me to have the attitude of Babylon, would it also be possible for me to have the same attitude as the anti-Christ, thus making me one of many anti-Christs? An anti-Christ is someone who sets himself up as Christ, just as the man of sin mentioned in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4: “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” Here we see that the man of sin, or anti-Christ sits in the place of God. So how could I possibly be an anti-Christ, sitting in the place of God? Isaiah 33:22 tells us; “For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver.” Our Lord God is our lawgiver and judge. So, when I set myself up as judge of other people’s motives, or think that I can interpret the law for everybody, I am usurping the seat of God and setting myself up as God, and thus becoming an anti-Christ!

Like Babylon, Anti-Christ is more than a system. It is an attitude. Ellen White explains, that while the pilgrims came to the new world, to escape the anti-Christ, that they carried the attitude of anti-Christ with them to the New World:

“It was the desire for liberty of conscience that inspired the Pilgrims to brave the perils of the long journey across the sea, to endure the hardships and dangers of the wilderness, and with God’s blessing to lay, on the shores of America, the foundation of a mighty nation. Yet honest and God-fearing as they were, the Pilgrims did not yet comprehend the great principle of religious liberty. The freedom which they sacrificed so much to secure for themselves, they were not equally ready to grant to others. “Very few, even of the foremost thinkers and moralists of the seventeenth century, had any just conception of that grand principle, the outgrowth of the New Testament, which acknowledges God as the sole judge of human faith.” (W. Carlos Martyn, The Life and Times of Luther, Vol. 5, p. 297.) The doctrine that God has committed to the church the right to control the conscience and to define and punish heresy, is one of the most deeply rooted of papal errors.-Ellen White, The Great Controversy, pp. 292-3

2 Timothy 3:16 tells us that the Scriptures are profitable for doctrine and correction. I can only define God’s law by what is in the Scriptures , but not by my personal opinions or traditions, like the Pharisees in Christ’s time and religious leaders in the Dark Ages did. I am not the interpreter of the Law for the whole world, nor, can I think to change times and laws to meet with my own opinions or inclinations. Since I am not the Lawgiver, I cannot judge people by my own standards.

While open sin must be dealt with by the community of believers, according to 1 Corinthians 6, I as an individual cannot judge inward motives. In judging outward actions we must still be careful. Joseph almost put poor Mary away thinking he had all the evidence of an affair. Even with his overwhelming evidence, he was wrong! Even with all his evidence, he tried to put her away privately, without any public embarrassment. What a great example for us to imitate. Even with his incontrovertible evidence, Joseph was not going to judge Mary’s heart.

In 1 Corinthians 6, Paul teaches that churches, not individuals, to judge open and outward actions very carefully. He teaches no one to judge the heart and inward motives. 2 Timothy 3:16 tells us God and the Scriptures alone tell us what is right and wrong. I am not the Lawgiver or the interpreter of the law for the rest of the world.

Only the Lord our God is our Lawgiver and Judge, and when we judge people according to our own standards, opinions and understanding, we usurp the throne of God and become an anti-Christ.

Amen!(8)

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SabbathSchoolNet/~3/5trSfm-KN1o/