Lesson 13 *June 21-27 Christs Kingdom and the Law Sabbath Afternoon Read for This Weeks Study: Mat. 4:8-9; Dan. 2:44; 1 Pet. 2:11; 1 Cor. 6:9-11; Rev. 22:14-15; 1 Cor. 15:26. Memory Text: But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people (Jeremiah 31:33, NKJV) . In 2011 Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, died. He was 56. Years earlier, after a bout with cancer, Jobs called death the single best invention of life because it forced us to achieve the best we could here. In other words, because our time is so limited, we must try to be as successful as we can now. Jobs, though, got it backward. What pushed him to seek a greater stake in this world, death (or at least the inevitably of it) , should have been what revealed the futility of putting down roots too permanently here, in whats always shallow ground. Sure, Jobs accomplished a lot, but in contrast to a million years or to eternity, what does it matter? Indeed, we have been promised that this world and all thats in it will be destroyed, and God will establish a new and eternal world where sin and death (all the result of the violation of Gods law) will never exist. This week well look at the question of Gods eternal kingdom and the role of the law in relation to it. *Study this weeks lesson to prepare for Sabbath, June 28. Sunday June 22 The Kingdom of God When God created the first human beings, He gave them dominion over all things. Adam was to rule the world. However, through violating Gods law, he forfeited his right to earthly sovereignty, and ownership went to the archenemy, Satan. When the representatives from the other worlds gathered before God during the time of the patriarchs, it was Satan who appeared as the delegate from earth (Job 1:6). Read Ephesians 2:2; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Matthew 4:8-9. What do these verses tell us about Satans power in this world? What happened during the wilderness temptations is very revealing. Satan offered to give Jesus rulership over all the earthly kingdoms if Jesus would fall down and worship him (Matt. 4:8-9; see also Luke 4:5-7). Jesus came to take the world back from Satan, but He could do so only at the cost of His life. How strong, then, the temptation must have been when Satan stood there and offered to give the world to Him! However, in bowing to Satan, He would have fallen into the same trap as had Adam and, consequently, would also have been guilty of violating His Fathers law. Had He done so, the plan of salvation would have been aborted, and wed be dead in our sins. Of course, we know that Jesus stayed victorious and, in His victory, we have the assurance and promise of our own, which is life in Gods everlasting kingdom, the one depicted in Daniel 2, when the stone cut out without hands destroys all kingdoms of this world. And then, afterwards, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever (Dan. 2:44, NKJV). All the kingdoms depicted in Daniel 2 did everything predicted about them, including the continued disunity in Europe, symbolized by the iron and clay in the toes of the statue. Why should these incredible facts help us trust in the promise of the last kingdom, the one that will stand forever? Monday June 23 Citizens of the Kingdom In many nations, those who move there from other countries have to surrender all allegiances to their land of birth if they want citizenship in their new country. However, some countries allow a person to hold dual citizenship; that is, they can pledge allegiance to both places. Theres no such thing as dual citizenship, however, in the great controversy. We are on one side or the other. The kingdom of evil has been battling the kingdom of righteousness for millennia, and it is impossible for a person to be faithful to both at the same time. We all have to make a choice about whose kingdom will have our allegiance. Read 1 Peter 2:11, Hebrews 11:13, Ephesians 2:12, Colossians 1:13, Deuteronomy 30:19, and Matthew 6:24. What do these texts tell us about the impossibility of dual citizenship in the great controversy between Christ and Satan? What role does keeping the law have in helping to show where our citizenship truly resides? See Rev. 14:12. Once people make a decision to follow Christ, they have chosen to turn their back on the devils kingdom. He or she is now part of another commonwealth, that of the Lord Jesus Christ, and as a result the person now obeys His rules, His law, His commandments, not those of the devil. The persons obedience, however, isnt universally appreciated—certainly not by the devil, who is anxious to get these people back, and often not by other people as well, who tend to distrust the strangers and pilgrims among them. Despite these obstacles, God has a people whose first allegiance is to Him, not to the ruler of this world (John 12:31, NKJV). So often foreigners in a country stand out because they are different. How should we, as Seventh-day Adventists, as strangers and pilgrims here, stand out, as well? Or do we? Tuesday June 24 Faith and the Law The dominant theme in Scripture is simple: God is love. Gods love is most potently demonstrated in His grace. With His unlimited power, He could easily have wiped humanity from the face of the earth, but instead He chose to exercise patience and give all a chance to experience the fullness of life in His eternal kingdom. Even more so, His love is revealed in the price that He Himself paid at the Cross. Gods love is also directly related to His justice. Having provided countless opportunities for people to choose their own destiny, the God of love will not force them into a kingdom that they have rejected. When the wicked stand before Gods throne in the judgment, they are condemned by their own testimony. No one who stands before the throne can truthfully say that he was unaware of Gods requirements. Whether through written or natural revelation, all have been exposed to the basic principles of the law of God (Rom. 1:19-20; 2:12-16). Read 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 and Revelation 22:14-15. Who gets into Gods kingdom, who stays out, and why? What role does Gods law play here? Also, notice the stark contrast between the two groups! Whats fascinating is that if you put 1 Corinthians 6:11 together with Revelation 22:14, you get faithful Christians who are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ; that is, they are justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law (Rom. 3:28, NKJV); yet, they also keep that law. It is no arbitrary decree on the part of God that excludes the wicked from heaven: they are shut out by their own unfitness for its companionship. The glory of God would be to them a consuming fire. They would welcome destruction, that they might be hidden from the face of Him who died to redeem them.-Ellen G. White, Steps to Christ, p. 18. How do these words better help us to understand the painful topic about the fate of the lost? Wednesday June 25 The Everlasting Kingdom God created a perfect world. Sin entered, and that perfect world became severely marred. The story of redemption tells us that Jesus entered human history so that, among other things, the original perfection will be restored. The redeemed will live in a perfect world where love reigns supreme. As we have seen, love can exist only in a moral universe, only in a universe with moral beings, and to be moral they must also be free. This prompts the question: could evil arise again? How do Daniel 7:27, John 3:16, and Revelation 21:4 help to answer the question about whether evil will arise again? What is the significance of the term everlasting? When God created the universe, there were conditions attached to its stability. This is most evident in Genesis 2:17, where Adam was warned that violation of Gods expressed command would result in death. The very mention of death indicates that the concept of eternity from a human perspective was conditional. Adam would have experienced eternal life only if he maintained loyalty to God. However, in the recreated earth, death will no longer be a reality, which means that we will live forever, a fulfillment of the many promises of Scripture. Whether rebellion could occur is really a moot point. The fact is, it wont. Read Jeremiah 31:31-34. What principle do we see here that helps us to understand why evil wont rise again? The Messianic kingdom will be comprised of people who maintained loyalty to God throughout their religious experience. In the face of persecution and personal struggles, they chose the path of obedience and demonstrated their willingness to live lives of divine service. God promises to inscribe His law in their hearts so tha
Posted on: Fri, 27 Jun 2014 17:55:10 +0000
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