Read Ezra 1:9-11 and Daniel 1:1-2. How do the texts in Daniel help us understand what Ezra was referring to?

Notice how in Ezra details are given, while in Daniel the big picture was presented. Together, though, these texts show that the Lord is in control.

“The history of nations speaks to us today.

To every nation and to every individual God has assigned a place in His great plan. Today men and nations are being tested by the plummet in the hand of Him who makes no mistake. All are by their own choice deciding their destiny, and God is overruling all for the accomplishment of His purposes” – Ellen G. White, Prophets and Kings, p. 536.

Read Daniel 5:1-30. What do these texts teach us about the judgment upon Belshazzar?

Babylon fell in October, 539 B.C., when Cyrus, king of the Medo-Persian army, conquered it. Belshazzar, falsely relying on his successes, luxury, and fame, was so arrogant that he had organized a wild banquet on the night that would end up with his being killed. The divine hand wrote on the palace wall that his days were counted and coming to an end. Even though he knew the fate and conversion story of the mighty King Nebuchadnezzar, he did not learn his lesson. It is always tragic when we do not listen to God’s warnings and do not follow His instruction.

The prophet Daniel was always there, but he had been ignored. When we lose the sense of God’s holiness and His presence in life, we tread a path accompanied with complications, problems, and tragedies, which ultimately ends in death.

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Read for This Week’s Study: Ezra 1:9-11; Dan. 1:1-2; Dan. 5:1-30; Deut. 30:1-6; Ezra 8:1-23; Neh. 11:1-2; Neh. 12:1-26.

Memory Text: “These joined with their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse and an oath to walk in God’s Law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the LORD our Lord, and His ordinances and His statutes” (Nehemiah 10:29, NKJV).

We usually skip genealogies and long lists of items in the Bible. But the Lord has them included there for a reason. The biblical Lord is the God of details. He notices the particulars, and this assures us that we are never forgotten by Him.

These few examples of genealogies proclaim that God knows all about our families, and the lists of things tell us that God cares even for what others might deem “insignificant”. Jesus stated that God takes care of sparrows and even counts our hairs: “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows” (Luke 12:6, 7, NIV). The God who cares about these details cares about us as well, and He knows even the details of all the things that trouble us.

Thus, we can have full confidence, cultivate trust, and rest in assurance that the Lord cares about every area of our lives. While that’s comforting, as it should be, it should also tell us that we need to care about every area, as well.

Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, November 30.

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Volleyball Evangelism

By Wilson Measapogu

Man Bahadur Rai and his family believed that six spirits inhabited their home in a rural village near Nepal’s border with China.

Six clay pots were placed around the home for the spirits to live in. Whenever Mother cooked a meal, she placed food into each pot for the spirits to eat. She feared that if even one spirit were forgotten, the whole family would suffer indigestion – or worse.

The parents wielded great influence in the village as the local spiritual leaders, and they hated Christianity, the belief in an unseen God. They preferred their visible gods of metal and wood.

One evening, 18-year-old Man was walking home after work and heard a male voice speaking about a virgin who had a child. Man wondered who was making such an illogical statement. He followed the voice to a building and saw a man reading from a black book.

After the meeting, Man fiercely argued with the man over his teachings. The man, a visiting Seventh-day Adventist pastor, simply smiled and invited the teen to return the next evening.

After a week of meetings, Man obtained a Bible and determined to prove it wrong. The more he read, however, the more he felt convinced that Jesus is the living God. He gave his heart to Jesus.

Father was furious when Man announced that he had become a Christian. He badly beat the teen and chased him from the village.

Mother wept all night. In the morning, she asked a friend to find her son and give him a lamb.

Man accepted the lamb with joy and, after praying, felt a strong impression to sell it – and buy a volleyball ball and net. Finding a piece of unused land between five villages, Man set up the new volleyball net and started to play.

Soon several young people passed by and asked if they could join him. “Sure”, Man said. “But you have to memorize one Bible verse”.

The young people eagerly memorized a verse and began to play. As they played, other young people stopped and memorized verses to join in. When the match ended, the young people pleaded to play again.

“OK”, Man said. “But first you have to learn a song about my God”.

Before long, many young people had memorized whole Bible chapters and many Christian songs.

Then Man heard that I would conduct a Bible school, and he shared his story on the first day. He introduced three young men seated nearby. “This is the result of my volleyball evangelism”, he said. “These men have accepted Jesus and want to become Bible workers, too”.

Man, left, who has been disowned by his family, is no theologian. He is a frontline worker building a new family who will live forever in God’s kingdom.

Wilson Measapogu is executive secretary of the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s Southern Asia Division.

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.

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Further Thought: Read Ellen G. White, “Consecration”, pages 43–48, in Steps to Christ.

“The ministration of the earthly sanctuary consisted of two divisions; the priests ministered daily in the holy place, while once a year the high priest performed a special work of atonement in the most holy, for the cleansing of the sanctuary.

Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com

Day by day the repentant sinner brought his offering to the door of the tabernacle and, placing his hand upon the victim’s head, confessed his sins, thus in figure transferring them from himself to the innocent sacrifice. The animal was then slain. ‘Without shedding of blood’, says the apostle, there is no remission of sin. ‘The life of the flesh is in the blood’. Leviticus 17:11. The broken law of God demanded the life of the transgressor. The blood, representing the forfeited life of the sinner, whose guilt the victim bore, was carried by the priest into the holy place and sprinkled before the veil, behind which was the ark containing the law that the sinner had transgressed. By this ceremony the sin was, through the blood, transferred in figure to the sanctuary. In some cases the blood was not taken into the holy place; but the flesh was then to be eaten by the priest, as Moses directed the sons of Aaron, saying, ‘God hath given it you to bear the iniquity of the congregation’. Leviticus 10:17. Both ceremonies alike symbolized the transfer of the sin from the penitent to the sanctuary” – Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 418.

Discussion Questions:

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Look at Nehemiah 10:32-39 again. Why were the temple’s practices essential for the Israelites, as shown by “we will not neglect the house of our God” (Neh. 10:39, NKJV)? Why was the Temple so important for the faith as a whole? (See also Heb. 8:1-7).

The Israelites pledged to take care of the temple. Even though they were a small group financially oppressed by the kings, they decided they needed to give from the little they had in order for the temple to thrive and not just survive. Therefore, they chose to give a third of a shekel for the temple service every year, instead of just when the census happened, as the law commanded. The nation saw a need to go beyond what was required. Additionally, they allotted the responsibility for burning firewood on the altar to specific families, as they recognized that without organization the practice would wane.

Firstfruits, firstborns, and tithes and offerings were aspects of the temple service that provided for the ministry of the priests and Levites. A tenth of everything was to go to the Levites. Also, firstborns were redeemed by money, adding to the amount the Levites received. However, a tenth of the Levites’ tenth went to the priests.

The temple served as the heartbeat of the Israelite nation. It was so central to their faith that the greatest tragedy occurred when Nebuchadnezzar tore down the temple and carried away the sacred objects.

When the temple was properly managed, it gave the nation a vibrant spiritual life because it pointed the people to the ultimate solution to the sin problem, which was through the death of a lamb. When Jesus died on the cross, that solution was provided (Rom. 5:5-10). Moreover, through the yearly service of the Day of Atonement, the people learned that ultimately God has a plan to get rid of evil and sin for good. In other words, the temple served as the setting for revealing to the people the entire plan of salvation. The lessons we can gain through looking at the temple services are immense and necessary to give us a bigger picture of God’s character and to illuminate the plan of salvation.

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