Daily Lesson for Friday 22nd of November 2024

Read Ellen G. White, “ ‘Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled,’ ” Pages 662–680, in The Desire of Ages.

Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com

“As a golden treasure, truth had been intrusted to the Hebrew people. The Jewish economy, bearing the signature of Heaven, had been instituted by Christ Himself. In types and symbols the great truths of redemption were veiled. Yet when Christ came, the Jews did not recognize Him to whom all these symbols pointed. They had the word of God in their hands; but the traditions which had been handed down from generation to generation, and the human interpretation of the Scriptures, hid from them the truth as it is in Jesus. The spiritual import of the sacred writings was lost. The treasure house of all knowledge was open to them, but they knew it not.

“God does not conceal His truth from men. By their own course of action they make it obscure to themselves. Christ gave the Jewish people abundant evidence that He was the Messiah; but His teaching called for a decided change in their lives. They saw that if they received Christ, they must give up their cherished maxims and traditions, their selfish, ungodly practices. It required a sacrifice to receive changeless, eternal truth. Therefore they would not admit the most conclusive evidence that God could give to establish faith in Christ. They professed to believe the Old Testament Scriptures, yet they refused to accept the testimony contained therein concerning Christ’s life and character. They were afraid of being convinced lest they should be converted and be compelled to give up their preconceived opinions. The treasure of the gospel, the Way, the Truth, and the Life, was among them, but they rejected the greatest gift that Heaven could bestow.”—Ellen G. White, Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 105.

Discussion Questions

<–Thursday

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/24d-08-further-thought-fulfilling-old-testament-prophecies/

Join the Hit the Mark panel as they discuss Sabbath School Lesson 8 – Fulfilling Old Testament Prophecies.

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/fulfilling-old-testament-prophecies-hit-the-mark-sabbath-school/

Daily Lesson for Thursday 21st of November 2024

In our study of John so far, we’ve seen that John shows how Jesus, indeed, is the promised Messiah, the great hope that the Jewish people had been longing for.

And yet, many of the religious leaders, the spiritual guides of the people, were His biggest enemies instead.

Why?

Image © Jeff Preston Goodsalt.com

Jesus says that they know neither Him nor the Father (John 8:19). They should have known both, but these men were self-deceived. They were so caught up in their own traditions and philosophies that even with Jesus right before them, doing all the things that He did and saying the things that He said—all powerful revelations of the Father—they still rejected Him.

Second, Jesus says to them, “ ‘You are from beneath’ ” (John 8:23, NKJV). In other words, however religious they might be, these were not spiritual, godly men. They had a “form of godliness” (2 Timothy 3:5), but that was all. They had outward piety but inward disbelief.

This was nothing new: “ ‘Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but have removed their hearts far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men’ ” (Isaiah 29:13, NKJV). This very concept is echoed by Jesus centuries later, when He said, “ ‘And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men’ ” (Mark 7:7, NKJV). Their human teachings, their human commandments, were “of this world” (John 8:23) and, as Jesus then said, “I am not of this world” (John 8:23). It was bad enough that these men had been deceiving themselves; the tragedy was made worse because they also led others astray, even though, interestingly enough, John wrote that as a result of the exchange depicted in these verses, “many believed in Him” (John 8:30, NKJV).

Thus, even despite bad leadership, many Jews were able to get beyond it and see, for themselves, who Jesus was.

<–Wednesday Friday–>

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/24d-08-from-beneath/

Daily Lesson for Wednesday 20th of November 2024

Jesus said to the religious leaders: “ ‘You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me’ ” (John 5:39, NKJV). What an incredible claim to make about Himself!

Estimates vary, but some scholars argue that Jesus of Nazareth fulfilled hundreds of Old Testament prophecies. Whatever the amount, the odds against one man’s fulfilling even a few of them, much less them all, are staggering. Every now and then someone will use an image like this: imagine filling an area the size of Texas with coins two feet high and painting one coin pink and then mixing them all up.

Image © Lars Justinen at Goodsalt.com

Then give a blindfolded person one chance to pick the pink coin. What are the odds that, with one pick, he or she would get the pink one?

No question—Christ’s birth, life, and death were predicted by the Old Testament, stunning evidence of His identity as the expected Messiah. John points to these Old Testament texts again and again to make that very point about who Jesus was, and also, why we should believe in Him and accept the salvation He offers.

What do each of the following passages from John’s Gospel reveal about Jesus as a fulfillment of Messianic prophecy?

<–Tuesday Thursday–>

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/24d-08-old-testament-prophecies-of-jesus-part-ii/

Join It Is Written Sabbath School host Eric Flickinger and one of this quarter’s authors, Dr. Thomas R. Shepherd, as they provide additional insights into this week’s Sabbath School lesson, “The Beginning of the Gospel.”

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/8-fulfilling-old-testament-prophecies-it-is-written-discussions-with-the-author/