Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Lesson 9: Trials, Tribulations, and Lists

Lesson 9: Trials, Tribulations, and Lists

 

Unfortunately, God's people have an age-old problem of forgetting what He has previously done, what He is doing now, and what He will do in the future. The Levites lamented the disregard of God's interventions and guidance, leading to the downfall of the people. They declared, "They refused to listen and failed to remember the miracles you performed among them" (Neh. 9:17, New International Version).

Forgetting God's leading in the past is a sure path to sin. The people of God forgot how kind He was to them. Their faulty memory was not filled with His mighty acts, and they rebelled against Him. This is why Nehemiah admonished the people to not fear the enemy: "Don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight" (Neh. 4:14, NIV).

Why do we need to go back in history to 1888 and devote time to what happened there? Is it not sufficient that we simply face the future?

Willing ignorance or even unwitting misunderstanding of sacred history is terribly dangerous. George Santayana wisely said, "A nation that does not know history is fated to repeat it."

Ellen White put it even more strongly: "The Lord has declared that the history of the past shall be rehearsed as we enter upon the closing work." [1] "We have nothing to fear for the future, except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us, and His teaching in our past history." [2]

Two complimentary dates in Adventist history demand special attention: 1844 and 1888. The first marks the prophetic beginning of the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary, the Day of Atonement and the beginning of the sounding of the seventh angel's trumpet (Daniel 8:14; Revelation 11:15-19).

The second date marks the beginning of the long-awaited outpouring of the latter rain and the loud cry. History and inspiration are clear that the latter rain and loud cry were in a large measure resisted and rejected. [3]

This is the primaryreason for the long delay in the finishing of our gospel commission. The Lord has not delayed His return; wehave delayed it. There is no problem facing this worldwide church as serious as our relationship to the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Godhead. The Lord's inspired messenger said of the 1888 experience: "I know that at that time the Spirit of God was insulted." [4]

Again, "All the universe of heaven witnessed the disgraceful treatment of Jesus Christ, represented by the Holy Spirit. Had Christ been before them they would have treated him in a manner similar to that in which the Jews treated Christ." [5]

True, but what difference does this make to us in 2019? Does this terrible sin of 1888 have any appreciable effect on us now?

Yes, this sin does have a serious effect on our relationship to the Holy Spirit today. It has delayed the preparation of God's people for the coming of the Lord for nearly 130 years.

Sin and guilt are not passed on from our fathers genetically (Eze. 18:19-30). None of us were personally present in 1888 to join in that sin, but sin is passed on from generation to generation by the influence of mind on mind unless repentance takes place. For example, the sin of crucifying Christ involves a guilt that includes the "whole world ... all classes and sects who reveal the same spirit ... manifested by those who put to death the Son of God [6] unless they experience genuine repentance.

By nature we are not better than they. By nature we are not better than our fathers who insulted the Holy Spirit and showed enmity against Christ through His delegated messengers.

Until full understanding and full repentance bring full healing and reconciliation, the spiritual alienation will continue. The hard hearts and mind set of our forefathers are passed on to us through the influence of mind on mind. The Bible declares that this was also the experience of the ancient Jews: "… ye do always resist the Holy Ghost; as your fathers did, so do ye" (Acts 7:51).

Practically without exception, Seventh-day Adventists recognize our need of the Holy Spirit. Since Ellen White recognized in the 1888 message the beginning of the latter rain, there has been no further authenticated manifestation of the latter rain. The latter rain prepares the grain for the harvest; large numerical increases to the church do not necessarily indicate the reception of the latter rain.

Yes, God cares about His children. He cares about the details of their lives. He longs to be close. The joy of God's leading was the strength of Israel--and "the joy of the LORD is your strength" today (Neh. 8:10).

--Paul E. Penno

Endnotes:
[1] Ellen G. White, Selected Messages, book 2, p. 390.
[2] Ellen G. White, Life Sketches, p. 196.
[3] The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, p. 1043.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid, p. 1479.
[6] Ellen G. White, Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, p. 38.

Notes:
Pastor Paul Penno's video of this lesson is on the Internet at: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3o21VNDr3o

"Sabbath School Today" is on the Internet at: http://1888message.org/sst.htm


Thursday, November 21, 2019

Lesson 8: God and the Covenant

Ezra and Nehemiah
Lesson 8: God and the Covenant

 

There are three types of covenant in the Bible: parity agreement, suzerain treaty, and the everlasting covenant. The everlasting covenant was also known as a land grant covenant because it conveys land from the king to the beloved recipient.

A parity agreement was made between two parties of equal stature in their society, such as two kings or two wealthy men. They were "on par" with each other, on equal footing in the society in which they lived, one not having any more power than the other. It was a mutual cooperation contract based on respect between the parties. When a parity covenant was made, both parties were promising each other that if they should fail in any particular to uphold their end of the bargain, then they expected to be punished for breaking their promise.

The suzerain treaty/covenant was a political agreement that was historically made prominent by the Hittites, and other powerful empires in the ancient Middle East. The noted Bible scholar George Mendenhall, did extensive studies on the suzerain covenant found in Hittite archeological records, and wrote The Law and Covenant in Israel and the Ancient Near East(1955). In his study he showed the elements necessary for the making of a suzerain, or peace, treaty between nations, where one nation was considerably stronger and more wealthy than the second covenanting party.

When the second party followed the stipulations of the suzerain treaty, peace was ensured between the nations. Under the suzerain treaty, the lesser, more vulnerable, party was held strictly to their end of the bargain. If any violation was made, it was guaranteed that the mightier king would initiate a covenant lawsuit (i.e., war) and bring the promised consequences and punishments upon the weaker party (destruction or captivity).

The everlasting covenant is unique. There is only one "everlasting covenant," and it was instigated by God Himself as soon as Adam fell in the Garden. It has never been modified, though it has been mostly misunderstood and ignored by mankind for more than 6000 years. It is the underpinning of the third angel's message that is to be given to the world with a loud voice.

The everlasting covenant is God's promise to the whole human race that He will reverse the enmity that Satan implanted into the minds of Adam and Eve when they chose to believe his lie about God's character (Gen. 3:4, 5). We all have inherited this brokenness through our fallen flesh and estranged minds. But God will turn that enmity (hatred) for Him into unconditional appreciation for His gift of salvation in Christ alone. The battle is for our mind. We're to "let" God put the mind of His dear Son into us (Phil. 2:5), so that we can think the thoughts and do the will of our heavenly Father. "All true obedience comes from the heart. It was a heart work with Christ. And if we consent, He will so identify Himself with our thoughts and aims, so blend our hearts and minds into conformity to His will, that when obeying Him we shall be but carrying out our own impulses." [1]

In the Garden and speaking prophetically directly to Satan, that "old serpent" (Rev. 12:9, 20:2), God announced, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel" (Gen. 3:15, New King James Version). In the everlasting promise, the Seed that would come through Abraham's descendants and crush Satan's head, was Christ (see Gal. 3:16). Though Satan would attack the fallen humanity that Christ assumed in His incarnation, tempting Him "in all points like as we are," yet Satan could not induce Jesus to sin, not even by a thought. [2] As the mind of Jesus was fully in tune with His Father, so our minds are to His that we may receive His power to overcome all sin.

The first time we find a parity covenant is in Genesis 15:17 and 18, in which God the Father and God the Son, blazing out of that awful darkness like "a smoking furnace and a burning pot," passed between and consumed the animals that Abraham had prepared (Gen. 15:9, 10). This method of covenant-making was well known among the Canaanites. They divided an animal down the spine, laid the halves out on the ground with a separation between the pieces, allowing room for the two parties to walk between them. Then both parties together would walk between the animal parts while promising each other that they would keep their end of the bargain, on pain of death, saying, "Let it be to me as to this animal if I should violate my promise to you."

Since the parity covenant was made between two parties of equal stature, Abraham could not have participated in this covenant-making ceremony except as a witness sitting on the sidelines. He was not "on par" or equal to God, and would not have attempted to participate. Furthermore, Abraham knew that it required both parties to "pass between the parts" at the same time in order to seal the covenant.

The parity covenant appears two more times in the Genesis narrative, once between Abraham and Abimelech, and another time between Isaac and Abimelech (Gen. 21:22-32; 26:26-31). The parties in these stories are on equal footing, both being "kings" or leaders of their separate clans. Later, in 1 Kings 21:31-34, King Ahab made a parity covenant with King Ben-hadad, to secure peace between their nations.

The suzerain treaty also appears in Scripture. When God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt "with a strong hand" and bare them "on eagle's wings" to bring them to Himself (Ex. 13:9, 19:4), He intended to initiate a marriage with His people at Sinai. But the people refused to understand His intentions. Their slavery to Pharaoh had left them with a twisted understanding of God's character. In Egypt they had been forced to serve Pharaoh or suffer terrible consequences. When they arrived at Sinai, they mistook God's marriage proposal, believing that He was offering them a suzerain treaty, and therefore they readily agreed to the terms. "All the LORD has said, we will do!" (Ex. 19:8; 24:3, 7). Knowing their hearts were unconverted, God acquiesced and the "blood of the covenant" was "sprinkled upon the people" (vs. 8), showing that they had accepted full responsibility for fulfilling their side of the treaty. Their promise of fidelity lasted about six weeks (Ex. 32:1-10).

Forty years later, the suzerain treaty was codified in Deuteronomy chapters 28, 29 and 30, in which the "blessings and curses" of the suzerain treaty are clearly laid out. The suzerain covenant was by its very nature, an "if/then" conditional covenant. If the lesser party would abide by the treaty stipulations, then no curses would befall them, but if they did not abide by the stipulations, then curses would be poured out upon them. The covenant curse, "therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the LORD shall send against thee," was carried out under the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities (Deut. 28:47, 48), and the final destruction of Judah and Jerusalem under the Romans in A.D. 70 (vss. 49-57).

God condemned the Israelites because they "served other gods of wood and stone" (Deut. 28:36, 37), and forsook the God of heaven. Later, He condemned them because they would not abide by the terms of the suzerain treaty that Nebuchadnezzar put them under. It was because they would not stand to their side of the treaty that "the king of Babylon" came to Jerusalem and took "the princes thereof, and led them with him to Babylon" (Eze. 17:11-16; 18-21). And thus Daniel and his three companions ended up in Nebuchadnezzar's palace (Dan. 1:1, 2).

The controversy over the covenants that took place at the 1888 General Conference session concerned the definition of the "old" and the "new" covenants. Because of the misunderstanding of the Sinai covenant, many people were led to believe that the Ten Commandments were part of the "old covenant" that was "nailed to the cross" and "taken out of the way." For many Christian denominations, except primarily Seventh-day Adventists, this "taking away" meant that the Sabbath was replaced with Sunday. The seventh-day Sabbath was defined as a burden that "was against us" because it was assumed to be part of the "old covenant" that had been done away with at the cross.

Our pioneers were strong in their convictions concerning the Bible, that it is entirely the Word of God given to us, and all of it contains truth we should follow. No part can be safely ignored or set aside as unimportant. In their defense of the seventh-day Sabbath, the leaders and evangelists of the church taught that the law in Galatians chapter 3 was the ceremonial law that concerned the feast days and sacrificing of animals.Thatlaw was assumed to be "against us" and was "nailed to the cross," and was no longer binding on Christians.

The dispute arose in 1886 when E. J. Waggoner wrote that the law in Galatians was primarily the moral law, not the ceremonial law. It was the moral law raised up before the sinner that condemned him and brought him to the foot of the cross in repentance for his sins that took the life of the Son of God.

"That verse reads, 'For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.' The ceremonial law never had power to slay anyone. But even allowing that it did once have that power, it had itself died, having been nailed to the cross at least three years before Paul was converted. Now I ask, How could Paul be slain by a law that for three years had had no existence? This verse shows upon the face of it that the moral law is referred to." [3]

Many of the leaders of the church were afraid that if they accepted Waggoner's position on the law in Galatians, that it would undermine the Adventist position that the Sabbath is a part of the moral law and is therefore binding and imperishable. Between 1886 and 1888 the dispute caused a division between the leadership of the church and E. J. Waggoner and A. T. Jones. The argument and misunderstanding concerning the covenants has continued from that time until the present day.

On March 8, 1890, Ellen White composed a letter to Uriah Smith who, with G. I. Butler, had been foremost in the opposition against Waggoner over the covenants, and the message of Christ and His righteousness. In that letter she wrote, "Do not labor so hard to do the very work Satan is doing. This work was done in Minneapolis. Satan triumphed. This work has been done here. Night before last I was shown that evidences in regard to the covenants were clear and convincing. Yourself [Uriah Smith], Brother Dan Jones, Brother Porter and others are spending your investigative powers for naught to produce a position on the covenants to vary from the position that Brother Waggoner has presented ... The covenant question is a clear question and would be received by every candid, unprejudiced mind." [4]

What was Waggoner's position on the covenants? "The covenant and the promise of God are one and the same thing. This is clearly seen from Galatians 3:17, where Paul asserts that to disannul the covenant would be to make void the promise. In Genesis 17 we read that God made a covenantwith Abraham to give him the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession. Galatians 3:18 says that God gave it to him by promise. God's covenants with men can be nothing else than promises to them." [5]

"The earth fresh and new from the hand of God, perfect in every respect, was given to man for a possession. Genesis 1:27, 28, 31. Man sinned and brought the curse upon himself. Christ has taken the whole curse, both of man and of all creation, upon Himself. He redeems the earth from the curse, that it may be the everlasting possession that God originally designed it to be; and He also redeems man from the curse, that he may be fitted for the possession of such an inheritance. This is the sum of the gospel." [6]

Thus Waggoner summarizes the whole of the everlasting covenant in this one paragraph. Christ assumed fallen human flesh, that in that flesh He might perform the duty of the nearest of kin in redeeming what was lost in the Fall. Then Christ restores not only the earth, but repentant men and women, giving us the necessary righteousness so that we may inherit the whole earth made new. The everlasting covenant is God's promise to us that He will restore all things and give us the promised land to have and to hold forever as His righteous redeemed family.

"... this is indeed the promise that Abraham and his seed [all who have the same faith that Abraham exhibited, see Gal. 3:28, 29] should be heirs of the world. We must study the details of this promise. And first let us note the fact that the inheritance promised is an everlasting inheritance. ... But the only way in which Abraham and his seed may have everlasting possession of an inheritance is by having everlasting life. Therefore we see that in this promise to Abraham we have the assurance of everlasting life in which to enjoy the possession." [7]

The eternal purpose of the everlasting covenant is salvation from sin through the work of the Son of God, who would be born through a descendant of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The whole matter hinges on faith, whether for Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, or us living today. Romans 4:16 tells us that "the promise was sure to all the seed ... which are of the faith of Abraham; who is father of us all." Righteousness was "imputed" to Abraham because he believed the word of God to him (see Gen. 15:6), and that same righteousness is "for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead" (Rom. 4:24).

--Ann Walper

Endnotes:
[1] Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 668.[2] Hebrews 4:15;The Desire of Ages, pp. 24, 123.
[3] E. J. Waggoner,The Gospel in Galatians, p. 16, [p. 52 of the PDF]; please read pages 16 through 18 for the full context of Waggoner's argument; document found at: http://www.gospel-herald.com/e_j_waggoner/two_books_on_galatians.htm
[4] The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, vol. 2, pp. 604, 605.
[5] E. J. Waggoner, The Glad Tidings, p.71, CFI Book Division (2016).
[6] Ibid., p. 70.
[7] E. J. Waggoner, Romans: The Greatest Treatise Ever Written, p. 86ff; CFI Book Division (2019).

Notes:
Pastor Paul Penno's video of this lesson is on the Internet at: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zwu43B4VwNE

"Sabbath School Today" is on the Internet at: http://1888message.org/sst.htm


Thursday, November 14, 2019

Lesson 7: Our Forgiving God

Sabbath School Today
With the 1888 Message Dynamic

Ezra and Nehemiah
Lesson 7: Our Forgiving God

 

At the 1888 Minneapolis General Conference, Jesus came knocking at the door of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He in effect said, "Because I came and took your sinful flesh upon myself, I already know you and I want to marry you. I have already given Myself to you for eternity, but because you don't know Me well enough yet to surrender yourself fully to Me, I'm going to give your leaders a 'most precious message' that reveals Me as I truly am. Based on this 'light' that reveals My character--the 'beginning' of the loud cry--I'm going to let your leaders decide whether or not you will open the door and surrender yourself to Me. If you open the door we will be intimate. I will come inside and sup with you and you with Me."

The beautiful biblical description of the relationship between Christ and His church as that of a Groom and His Bride has never been more vividly illustrated than in the 1888 experience. The advances of the Groom were rejected at Minneapolis and at our insistence He has remained outside the door knocking. "We" did not appreciate what "we" heard and what "we" saw. By rejecting this light, we insulted His Spirit and treated Jesus in a manner similar to that in which the Jews treated Him. [1]

This is a brief and true history of the 1888 message as revealed in the Bible (Song of Solomon) and in the Spirit of Prophecy. Tragically the centennial year of this "insult" to the Holy Spirit and the rejection of the "beginning" of the loud cry is what "we" as a corporate body chose to celebrate at Minneapolis.

We believe our history needs to be repented of--not "celebrated." It is our conviction that celebrations of the Minneapolis meeting are a modern day re-enactment and endorsement of what took place 100 years ago.

God's faith in His people is on trial at this time. Does He have a plan for how we should remember our history in the light of the 1888 message? The Bible provides the answer.

As Nehemiah studied the prophecies of Daniel and Jeremiah and realized that the time for the end of the Jewish captivity was at hand, he did something for the release of their bondage through prayer and fasting (Daniel 9). Even though there is no written record that Nehemiah individually contributed to the sins of Israel which caused their punishment, in his prayer he identified himself as part of the problem. In effect he led Israel to say, "We have sinned, ... neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets," ... "but unto us confusion of faces," ... "we have rebelled against Him," "... neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord."

In his plea for corporate forgiveness, He wrote, "And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers" (Neh. 9:2).

Like Israel of old, we have been in bondage. Their captivity lasted 70 years; so far ours has continued over 130 years. It is time for our release. But the Lord can't release us unless we want to be freed.

Unlike Nehemiah, through the sin of continued lukewarmness each one of us has entered into the same rebellion against the Holy Spirit which was manifest in the 1888 episode. If the record books of heaven record sins that would have been committed had there been opportunity [2], and if the guilt of the crucifixion of Christ rests upon every sinner [3], then each one of us was represented by Peter denying his Lord, by the crowd at Jesus' trial choosing Barabbas over Christ, by the soldier nailing Jesus to the cross and by our brethren at the 1888 Minneapolis Conference, and the Holy Spirit's "beginning" of the Loud Cry has been rejected.

Repentance is not a ritual we go through for personal gain or to escape punishment. It is a gift from Christ to His church given through the Holy Spirit. No one should feel worthy of this deep repentance. In fact, some may feel this call to fasting and prayer is unnecessary. But as Nehemiah led the people anciently and fasted and prayed, we repent not because we are worthy but because we know Christ is worthy. Our repentance is for the glory of God that He might be justified when He speaks and be cleared when He is judged (Psalm 51:4; Isa. 5:16).

Like Nehemiah of old, we have an opportunity to place ourselves where the Lord can choose if this is the time to grant us the beginning of His gift of repentance. Only He can turn a seeming defeat into a glorious victory!

--Paul E. Penno

Endnotes:
[1] The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, vol. 4, p. 1479.
[2] Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 5, p.1085.
[3] Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 745.

Notes:
Pastor Paul Penno's video of this lesson is on the Internet at: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXRIrnRUfXs

 

 

"Sabbath School Today" is on the Internet at: http://1888message.org/sst.htm



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Thursday, November 7, 2019

Lesson 6: The Reading of the Word

Sabbath School Today
With the 1888 Message Dynamic

Ezra and Nehemiah
Lesson 6: The Reading of the Word

 

We can take a lesson from the experience of Israel after they finished the wall. The neighboring people knew how much trouble they caused Israel during the construction process. In spite of that, the wall was finished and the troublemakers saw this as a sign of the strength of Jehovah, the God Israel. Often when we have trouble in this world, we wonder why God doesn't intervene to smooth our way. We tend to forget that He always has the greater picture in mind, so we can be grateful that He uses us to carry out His plans. Israel could review her past history with God and have confidence He would accomplish what He promised. The Lord was gracious and gave the struggling workers two prophets to reinforce the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah.

We can review the history of our church and have the same confidence regardless of how bleak things might look. God has given the Seventh-day Adventist Church the solemn responsibility of preaching the messages of the three angels in Revelation 14. Some are confused as to just what that message is. The Spirit of Prophecy made it clear in a statement printed in the Review and Herald, in 1890:

"Some of our brethren have expressed fears that we shall dwell too much upon the subject of justification by faith, but I hope and pray that none will be needlessly alarmed; for there is no danger in presenting this doctrine as it is set forth in the Scriptures. If there had not been a remissness [sic] in the past to properly instruct the people of God, there would not now be a necessity of calling especial attention to it. Some of our brethren are not receiving the message from God upon this subject. They appear to be anxious that none of our ministers shall depart from their former manner of teaching the good old doctrines. We inquire, is it not time that fresh light should come to the people of God, to awaken them to greater earnestness and zeal? Several have written to me, inquiring if the message of justification by faith is the third angel's message, and I have answered, 'It is the third angel's message in verity.'" [1]

Our Sabbath School lessons this quarter focus on the brave faith demonstrated by Ezra and Nehemiah. Regardless of the opposition from within and without Israel, they knew they were doing a "great work" for God and they remained true to it. The resolve of these leaders restored the people's confidence and after returning to work, they completed the wall in 52 days.

The "great work" our church has been given is to preach the three angels' messages, which Ellen White stated is the message of justification by faith. It is this gospel that Jesus directed His followers to take to the entire world before the end would come. It follows that if we are preaching another distorted gospel mixing a works program with faith in what Jesus accomplished on the cross, we are preaching the same error the Syrians had come to know, mixing pagan ideas with the worship of the true God.

One of the things that was especially damaging was the letter Rehum wrote to Artaxerxes against Jerusalem (cf. Ezra 4:8-24). The most serious accusation was that in the past, the Jews had risen up against the Babylonian kings, and Judah's kings had taken tribute, custom and toll that was rightfully due the foreign kings (vs. 19). Unfortunately, this was true and even though the then living Jews had not done these things, their forefathers had and they were stuck dealing with the reputation.

In a remarkably candid response, they wrote "But because our fathers had provoked the God of heaven to wrath, He gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar..." (Ezra 5:12). This is an example of what is meant by "corporate repentance." Even though the ancestors who created the Jews' reputation of resisting foreign kings were long passed away, the people who were then alive were the only ones who could do anything to correct the past.

The same is true of us living today. No, we weren't alive when our church forefathers rejected the message and messengers of 1888, but we are the only ones who can correct the situation today. In the 1890s many claim that the church leaders reversed their rejection of the 1888 message of righteousness by faith, but more thoughtful researchers found differently.

"The message of righteousness by faith was preached with power for more than ten years during which time the Minneapolis crisis was kept before the leaders. This message brought the beginning of the latter rain. 'The time of test is just upon us, for the loud cry of the third angel has already begun in the revelation of the righteousness of Christ, the sin-pardoning Redeemer. This is the beginning of the light of the angel whose glory shall fill the whole earth' (Ellen G. White, Review and Herald, Nov. 22, 1892). Why did not the latter rain continue to fall? Because the message that brought it ceased to be preached. It was rejected by many and it soon died out of the experience of the Advent people and the loud cry died with it. It can begin again only when the message that brought it then is revived and accepted. ...

'Just before the end the Advent people will review their past history and see it in a new light. ... We must acknowledge and confess the mistakes of our fathers and see to it that we do not repeat them and thus further delay the final triumph of the Advent Movement. The history of the past must be reviewed and studied in the light of these mistakes and their consequence in a long delay of the coming of Christ' (Taylor G. Bunch, The Exodus and Advent Movements in Type and Antitype, Privately Published Facsimile, cir. 1937, pp. 107, 168)." [2]

We can learn a lesson from Ezra. When the people gathered "as one man" (Nehemiah 8:1) they asked Ezra to bring the "book of the Law of Moses" to be read. Obviously, Ezra supported their request and all were blessed to hear the word of the Lord. If Ezra had opposed the request, pressure from the people might have compelled him to read God's words to them.

Like ancient Israel, our church has all but buried the original message that God gave us. We need to know our history, especially the important subject of righteousness by faith. Without an understanding of this process, the Seventh-day Adventist Church's unique concept of the cleansing of the sanctuary makes no sense. Without that, the bride will never "make herself ready" by clothing herself in "fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints" (Rev. 19:7, 8). We need to pray for the leadership of our church that they will come to embrace this message so the membership aren't afraid to study it. 

--Arlene Hill

Endnotes:
[1] Ellen G. White,Review and Herald, April 1, 1890.
[2] Ron Duffield, The Return of the Latter Rain, p. 13.

Notes:
Pastor Paul Penno's video of this lesson is on the Internet at: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OU0GBKUCoc4&list=PLsjY9Yfwx9Nx1uiXLl_c49fae41rrkgPO

"Sabbath School Today" is on the Internet at: http://1888message.org/sst.htm