Closer To Heaven
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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=drcTND9axP4&w=560&h=315]
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Read Ellen G. White, pages 968-970, in The SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 7; “The Observance of the Sabbath,” pages 349-351, in Testimonies for the Church, vol. 6; “From the Red Sea to Sinai,” pages 295-297, in Patriarchs and Prophets.
The Ten Commandments define comprehensively and fundamentally the divine-human and human-human relationships.
Image @ Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com
The commandment at the center of the Decalogue is the Sabbath commandment. It identifies the Lord of the Sabbath in a special way and indicates His sphere of authority and ownership. Note these two aspects: 1. the identity of the Deity: Yahweh (LORD), who is the Creator (Exodus 20:11, Exodus 31:17), and who thus holds a unique place; 2. the sphere of His ownership and authority — “the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them” (Exodus 20:11; compare Exodus 31:17). In these two aspects, the Sabbath commandment has the characteristics that are typical of seals of international, ancient Near-Eastern treaty documents. These seals are typically in the center of the treaty documents and also contain 1. the identity of deity (usually a pagan god) and 2. the sphere of ownership and authority (usually a limited geographical area).
“The sanctification of the Spirit signalizes the difference between those who have the seal of God and those who keep a spurious rest day.
When the test comes, it will be clearly shown what the mark of the beast is. It is the keeping of Sunday …
God has designated the seventh day as His Sabbath [Exodus 31:13, Exodus 31:17-16 quoted].
Thus the distinction is drawn between the loyal and the disloyal. Those who desire to have the seal of God in their foreheads must keep the Sabbath of the fourth commandment.” — Ellen G. White, The SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 7, pages 980, 981.
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The Sabbath is a covenant sign that reaches forward to the time when the plan of salvation will be consummated. It points back to Creation and, as a sign of the covenant of grace, it points us to the final re-creation, when God makes all things new.
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Dr. Hernando Díaz was assisting a patient at the Adventist Medical Center in Medellin, Colombia, when a shadowy figure at his office door startled him. It was a shaven-headed man covered with explicit tattoos. Tattoos formed a black-and-blue web over his head. Tattoos covered his arms and hands.
Image © Pacific Press
“It’s my turn to see you,” the man declared.
“Please wait for your turn,” Hernando said.
Several minutes later, the man entered the office and immediately broke into tears. The big burly bloke was bawling like a baby. Hernando looked at the man’s paperwork. It said he was HIV positive. “I don’t want to have HIV,” the man said, tears streaming down his tattooed cheeks.
“What happened?” Hernando asked. “What do you do?”
“I’m a tattoo artist, and the body is my canvass,” the man said.
“How did you contract HIV? Are you promiscuous or a homosexual?”
The man said he was neither and had contracted HIV through his work.
“But I don’t want HIV,” he said. “I don’t want to die.”
“There is Someone who can heal you,” Hernando said. “I know you may not believe in God, but He can help you.”
The man acknowledged being an atheist. But he was willing to reconsider.
“Do you want me to pray for you?” Hernando said. “Do you want to accept Jesus as your Savior?”
“Yes,” the man said, weeping.
Hernando led the man through the sinner’s prayer. When the man said Jesus’ name at the end, he fell to the floor.
Hernando sent the tattoo artist away for a second HIV test. The next week, the man returned with a happy grin on his face. “I don’t have HIV,” he said. “I want to give thanks to God and you because God has healed me.”
Follow-up testing had given him a clean bill of health. He considered his HIV-negative status to be a miracle from God.
Months later, Hernando and his wife, Monica, were shopping at a mall when they heard someone screaming, “Doctor! Doctor!” The tattoo artist ran over to Hernando and picked him off the ground in an enormous bear hug. He praised God for working a miracle in his life.
The tattoo artist is one of dozens of people led to Jesus by Hernando, a 60-year-old Seventh-day Adventist physician serving at the Adventist Medical Center on the campus of Colombia Adventist University in Medellin.
Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. Find more mission stories at adventistmission[dot]org
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Many take Romans 9 to say that God has chosen some people to be saved and others to be lost without any will or choice of their own. They call this predestination. So let’s take a deeper look at this chapter and see for ourselves. We will let the Bible explain itself.
With Christ as my witness, I speak with utter truthfulness. My conscience and the Holy Spirit confirm it. My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief for my people, my Jewish brothers and sisters. I would be willing to be forever cursed—cut off from Christ!—if that would save them. Romans 9:1-3 NLT
Wow! This is amazing. Paul would rather be eternally lost rather than see his community perish. This reminds me of Moses’ prayer in Exodus 32:32. It reminds me of Jesus being willing to die the second death in order to save the world. I have to ask myself if I love those I give Bible studies to this much? I can only imagine that such love must really change lives. By is Paul so concerned about his fellow Jews?
They are the people of Israel, chosen to be God’s adopted children. God revealed his glory to them. He made covenants with them and gave them his law. He gave them the privilege of worshiping him and receiving his wonderful promises. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are their ancestors, and Christ himself was an Israelite as far as his human nature is concerned. And he is God, the one who rules over everything and is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. Well then, has God failed to fulfill his promise to Israel? No, for not all who are born into the nation of Israel are truly members of God’s people! Being descendants of Abraham doesn’t make them truly Abraham’s children. For the Scriptures say, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted,” though Abraham had other children, too. This means that Abraham’s physical descendants are not necessarily children of God. Only the children of the promise are considered to be Abraham’s children. For God had promised, “I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” This son was our ancestor Isaac. When he married Rebekah, she gave birth to twins. But before they were born, before they had done anything good or bad, she received a message from God. (This message shows that God chooses people according to his own purposes; he calls people, but not according to their good or bad works.) She was told, “Your older son will serve your younger son.” Romans 9:4-12 NLT
Paul is concerned because not all of his fellow Jews have accepted Christ. Yet they think they are God’s special people just because they are Jews and Abraham is their father. In John 8:31-59 Jesus told the Pharisees that the real children of Abraham are the ones who believe in Him as the Messiah. There was nothing special about being a Jew or a descendant of Abraham apart from the promised Messiah. Paul shares a similar message with the Galatians in Galatians 4:21-31. In this passage Paul tells us that Hagar represents bondage to legalism and works while the child of promise, Isaac, represents those who believe in God’s promise and accept salvation by believing in the promised Messiah. The entire book of Romans assures us that while the promised Messiah came from Abraham’s Jewish blood line, salvation is offered to the entire world.
After all, is God the God of the Jews only? Isn’t he also the God of the Gentiles? Of course he is. There is only one God, and he makes people right with himself only by faith, whether they are Jews or Gentiles. Romans 3:29-30 NLT
Yes, Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone. Romans 5:18 NLT
It is important that we keep in mind that the entire book of Romans is clear that salvation is offered to everyone regardless of whether they are Jew or Gentile. Romans 9 is not grappling with who is chosen to be saved, but rather who was chosen to be ancestors of the promised Messiah who would bring salvation to the entire world.
In the words of the Scriptures, “I loved Jacob, but I rejected Esau.” Romans 9:13 NLT
This does not mean that God rejected Esau for salvation. It only means that God rejected Esau from having the birthright and being the ancestor of the promised Messiah. Jacob was preferred to be the ancestor of the promised Messiah. In the KJV it says, Jacob have I loved but Esau have I hated.” It is important for us to see how the KJV uses the word hate and even more important how Jesus uses the word hate.
If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:26 KJV
Of course Jesus did not mean we must hate our families the way we think of hate today. Love and hate show our preferences. To love means to put another first and to hate means to put another last. The NLT helps clarify this idea.
If you want to be my disciple, you must, by comparison, hate everyone else—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:26 NLT
So the NLT also helps clarify how the KJV is using the word hate when God says He loves Jacob but hated Esau. Eternal salvation is not the issue. God simple preferred Jacob to have the blessing of being the promised Messiah’s ancestor over Esau.
Are we saying, then, that God was unfair? Of course not! For God said to Moses, “I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose.” So it is God who decides to show mercy. We can neither choose it nor work for it. For the Scriptures say that God told Pharaoh, “I have appointed you for the very purpose of displaying my power in you and to spread my fame throughout the earth.” So you see, God chooses to show mercy to some, and he chooses to harden the hearts of others so they refuse to listen. Well then, you might say, “Why does God blame people for not responding? Haven’t they simply done what he makes them do?” No, don’t say that. Who are you, a mere human being, to argue with God? Should the thing that was created say to the one who created it, “Why have you made me like this?” When a potter makes jars out of clay, doesn’t he have a right to use the same lump of clay to make one jar for decoration and another to throw garbage into? In the same way, even though God has the right to show his anger and his power, he is very patient with those on whom his anger falls, who are destined for destruction. He does this to make the riches of his glory shine even brighter on those to whom he shows mercy, who were prepared in advance for glory. And we are among those whom he selected, both from the Jews and from the Gentiles. Romans 9:14-24 NLT
Some take these words to mean that God chooses some people to be lost without any choice of their own, but this clearly is not idea of this passage. After all, none of us deserve salvation in the first place. God is not defending His right to not save people. We all have sinned and deserve death. In this passage God is only defending His right to be merciful. You may not believe what I am saying, but stay with me! In a moment the Bible is going to explain this passage itself.
Meanwhile let’s understand what God is talking about when he says the potter makes one jar for decoration and another for holding garbage. Again this is not talking about eternal salvation. It simply means, once again, that some were chosen to be a part of the promised Messiah’s bloodline while others were not. Paul also tells us that God uses some of us to glorify God by being honored and He uses some of us to glorify God through our suffering. For example, Elijah honored God by being taken into heaven in a chariot of fire. John the Baptist honored God by being beheaded in a lonely prison cell. Did God love Elijah more than John the Baptist? No way! Is Elijah the only one of the two who are eternally saved? Not at all! Both are saved, but one the Potter used as a jar for decoration, while the other was used as a garbage jar. Both have their part in the big picture of salvation. Both are dearly loved by God. Romans 9:14-24 is making the point that God honors some and dishonors others in order to save the entire world.
Concerning the Gentiles, God says in the prophecy of Hosea, “Those who were not my people, I will now call my people. And I will love those whom I did not love before.” And, “Then, at the place where they were told, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘children of the living God. And concerning Israel, Isaiah the prophet cried out, “Though the people of Israel are as numerous as the sand of the seashore, only a remnant will be saved. For the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth quickly and with finality.” And Isaiah said the same thing in another place: “If the Lord of Heaven’s Armies had not spared a few of our children, we would have been wiped out like Sodom, destroyed like Gomorrah.” Romans 9:25-29 NLT
Instead of saying that God only wants Jews to be saved this passage is telling us God plans to save Gentiles as well as Jews. Romans 9 is not about God having the right to deny anyone salvation. It is about His right to save the entire world. Now so there will not be any confusion on this point Paul is about to sum it up. The Bible is about to explain itself as I promised.
What does all this mean? Romans 9:30 NLT
Okay here is our cue to pay close attention. To avoid all confusion about the meaning of Romans 9 Paul is getting ready to tell us exactly what it all means.
What does all this mean? Even though the Gentiles were not trying to follow God’s standards, they were made right with God. And it was by faith that this took place. But the people of Israel, who tried so hard to get right with God by keeping the law, never succeeded. Why not? Because they were trying to get right with God by keeping the law instead of by trusting in him. They stumbled over the great rock in their path. God warned them of this in the Scriptures when he said, “I am placing a stone in Jerusalem that makes people stumble, a rock that makes them fall. But anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.” Romans 9:30-33 NLT
Does Paul tell us that everything we just read in Romans 9 is about predestination? No! It is about how we are all saved, Jews and Gentiles alike – not by our national heritage, works or legalism. We are all saved, Jews and Gentiles alike, by believing in the promised Messiah who came through Abraham’s ancestry. As God told Abraham, “All the families on earth will be blessed through you.” See Genesis 12:3. The Jews were not preferred above the Gentiles for salvation. The Jews were only preferred to be the ones who would give birth to the Messiah Who was promised to every nation.
I will shake all the nations, and the treasures of all the nations will be brought to this Temple. I will fill this place with glory, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. Haggai 2:7 NLT
Let’s not make the same mistake many Jews made in the days of Jesus and the days of Paul. Let’s not trust our national or even our religious affiliations to save us. Let’s not trust our works or legalism to save us. Let’s put all our hope in our only hope- the Promised Messiah.
As the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.” Jew and Gentile are the same in this respect. They have the same Lord, who gives generously to all who call on him. For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Romans 10:11-13 NLT
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“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8).
The Sabbath was and is a sign for man to “remember.” The use of the word remember can serve various functions. First, to remember something implies looking backward, looking to the past. In this case, the Sabbath points us to the fiat Creation, which climaxed in the institution of the Sabbath as a weekly day of rest and special communion with God.
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The injunction to remember has implications also for the present. We are not only to “remember” the Sabbath (Exodus 20:8); we are to “observe” and “keep” it (see Deuteronomy 5:12, RSV). Thus, the Sabbath has important implications for us now, in the present.
Finally, remembering the Sabbath also points us forward. The person who remembers the keeping of the Sabbath has a promising, rich, and meaningful future with the Lord of the Sabbath. He or she remains in the covenant relationship, because he or she remains in the Lord. Again, when we understand the covenant to be a relationship between God and humankind, the Sabbath, which can greatly help strengthen that relationship, comes into specific prominence.
Indeed, in remembering Creation and its Creator, God’s people also remember God’s gracious acts of salvation (see Deuteronomy 5:14, where the Sabbath is seen, in this context, as a sign of deliverance from Egypt, a symbol of the ultimate salvation found in God). Creation and re-creation belong together. The former makes the latter possible. The Sabbath is a sign that communicates that God is the Creator of the world and the Creator of our salvation.
“By keeping His Sabbath holy we are to show that we are His people. His Word declares the Sabbath to be a sign by which to distinguish the commandment-keeping people … Those who keep the law of God will be one with Him in the great controversy commenced in heaven between Satan and God.” — Ellen G. White, Selected Messages, book 2, p. 160.
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