Sabbath School Today
Lesson 12: To Love Mercy
There are many Scripture texts regarding mercy. Our lesson quotes Micah 6:8: "He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice; to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God." The word "kindness" is used for "mercy." James has this to say: "For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy, mercy triumphs over judgment" (James 2:13, New American Standard Bible). "But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy" (James 3:17, NASB).
There are many attributes that comprise mercy. Our lesson this week describes many ways to show that one loves mercy. We should be open and receptive to any circumstance God brings into our lives to care for others, but there is an irony to all this activity. Like the condition of Israel during the reign of King Ahab, all this "religious" activity can become infected with pride and legalism.
Most Christians know that we can't earn our way to heaven, but the counterfeit of Baal worship, like with Israel, is exceedingly clever. Whenever a church is fighting about howto worship, rather than the spirituality of worship, they probably have a pride problem. There are churches that have split over the color of the carpet. That's not a spiritual issue.
A simple definition of Baal-worship, both ancient and contemporary, is this: the worship of self disguised as the worship of Christ. It's the assimilation of the thinking of "nations" around us in modern "Babylon," thus Baal worship is subtly combined with the true worship of the Lord. This problem is unwittingly promoted in churches by calling for constant activity. The apostasy is unconscious. Like a frog in warm water that gradually gets hot until he is boiled, we are unconscious of the falling away (see 2 Thess. 2:3, 4). Laodicea is described as being so blind they don't see they are naked (Rev. 3:17). How can a people in this condition be expected to love and show mercy?
This was ancient Israel's condition when Elijah was sent to King Ahab to announce that God was sending a three-year famine. Like the loving but wise parent of a stubborn child, God sent the famine in His great mercy in order to get Israel to wake up to its true condition.
It is important to understand that "Elijah" did come as a real person, but he is also a symbol. God honored the faith of the honest Jews of Christ's day and sent them "Elijah" in fulfillment of Malachi's promise because they sincerely expected that the coming of their Messiah would be "the great and dreadful day of the Lord" (Mal. 4:3). Even the disciples of Jesus wondered "who" and "where" their "Elijah" was. Jesus told them not to look into the future, but that "Elijah" for their day had already come in the person of John the Baptist (see Matt. 11:7-14).
But John's day was not "the great and dreadful day of the Lord." That day is now, in the time of Laodicea. Therefore we may expect "Elijah" to come as a message in the same way that John's message was the fulfillment of Malachi's promise. This message was to come as a shaking message that will "slay" the modern prophets of Baal.
"I asked the meaning of the shaking I had seen, and was shown that it would be caused by the straight testimony called forth by the counsel of the True Witness to the Laodiceans [Rev. 3:14-21]. This will have its effect upon the heart of the receiver, and will lead him to exalt the standard and pour forth the straight truth. Some will not bear this straight testimony. They will rise up against it, and this will cause a shaking among God's people." [1]
Is it possible that when "Elijah" is sent via a "most precious message," the church will be so involved in "do good" works that she does not recognize what God is trying to tell us? The last two verses of the Old Testament tell us of the only hope this strife-torn human race has: the coming of Elijah. God says, "I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers" (Mal. 4:5, 6).
These are not idle words, God said this promise. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ on His cross is the only reconciling agency in existence; therefore it follows that the coming of Elijah must be proclaiming the message of Jesus Christ in all His reconciling power. It will be what unbelieving hearts find almost inconceivable: a proclamation of what the Bible calls "the atonement" that will work miracles of grace worldwide. The mention of "fathers" and "children" means the entire human race in all our multi-ethnic, multi-cultural alienations. A blessed unity will be realized as people kneel together at the cross of the Son of God, at last "beholding" or perceiving its full significance.
Reconciliation is the same as "atonement." The prophecy of Daniel 8:14 tells us we are living in the great antitypical Day of Atonement which precedes the "great and dreadful day of the Lord." Therefore it becomes clear that Elijah's work and message will be found in the unique remnant church truth of the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary.
That raises the question: has our neglect of that truth (as a people) forced "Elijah's" message to take refuge with what we call "outsiders" like the "widow of Zarephath"? Or hidden as Obadiah hid some prophets of the Lord from Jezebel? We know that the bulk of God's true people are still in "Babylon."
"Infidelity has been making its inroads into our ranks; for it is the fashion to depart from Christ, and give place to skepticism. With many the cry of the heart has been 'We will not have this Man to reign over us' [Luke 19:14]. Baal, Baal, is the choice. The religion of many among us will be the religion of apostate Israel, because they love their own way and forsake the way of the Lord. The true religion, the only religion of the Bible, that teaches forgiveness only through the merits of a crucified and risen Saviour, that advocates righteousness by the faith of the Son of God, has been slighted, spoken against, ridiculed, and rejected." [2]
If we call ourselves lovers of mercy, it means more than feeding the homeless, and all the other good things that are needed in the world. Lovers of mercy love the message God sent to His church in His "great mercy."
When Ellen White came to her 60s she eagerly welcomed the message brought by two young men to the General Conference Session in 1888 that conveyed a more clear understanding of justification by faith, the beginning of the Loud Cry of Revelation 18. She exclaimed with enthusiasm, it's initial "showers from heaven of the latter rain" (her words). [3] She wrote:
"The Lord in His great mercy sent a most precious message to His people through Elders [E. J.] Waggoner and [A. T.] Jones. This message was to bring more prominently before the world the uplifted Saviour, the sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. ... For years the church has been looking to man, and expecting much from man, but not looking to Jesus, in whom our hopes of eternal life are centered. Therefore God gave to His servants a testimony that presented the truth as it is in Jesus, which is the third angel's message, in clear, distinct lines." [4]
Activities of mercy to others are important, but our mission as a people is to give the third angel's message clearly as no other church has. Are we hiding this precious message by ignoring it, or have we perverted it with subtle concepts of works woven into our truth? Fortunately, God is merciful and patient. He will bring His church through to the end.
--Arlene Hill
Endnotes:
[1] Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. one, p. 181.
[2] Ellen G. White, Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, pp. 467, 468.
[3] The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, p. 1478.
[4] Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, pp. 91-93.
Notes:
Pastor Paul Penno's video of this lesson is on the Internet at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbhMncI2w9M
"Sabbath School Today" is on the Internet at: http://1888message.org/sst.htm
| RR |
