Family

Family
BibleStudies
Bible Studies
Bible lessons to bring us back home to God
and obedience to His Word

A Set of thirty-one Bible lessons

plus additional helps

Harvestime Books
 S

What you have been looking for !

And at the lowest cost !

• 31 Bible Lessons, plus helps

• Complete coverage, yet simply presented
• Opportunity for student activity in each lesson
• Solidly historic teachings
• Helpful charts and quotations
• Arranged so you can give a complete study or a
very brief one
• Section in back on how to win souls
• After giving the study, leave them a copy of the
study so so they can become more fully grounded
• In boxful quantities, the lowest possible cost per
set of lessons
• Available in two formats:
- As a bound book
- As a packet of separate sheets

Pray for divine help—and go to work !

There is much to be done, and time is short !
Just as God has a work for you in heaven, He
has work for you right now !

Family
Bible
Studies
HB–384
Family Bible Studies
Published by Harvestime Books
Box 300, Altamont, TN 37301 USA
Printed in the United States of America
Cover and Text Copyright © 2000
by Harvestime Books
This outstanding book can help many precious souls come to Christ and learn the
important Bible truths for our time in history.
Therefore we are making these books available, in boxful quantities, at below printing
house costs. This material (as a book or individual lessons) needs to be widely distributed!
This material can be purchased either in bound book format or with the backs cut off—
so you can hand out the lessons, one at a time. For more information, see pp. 5-8.
If you wish to send the books overseas, we will heavily subsidize the book cost.

Family Bible Studies, 5½ x 8½, 384 pages, quality book paper

For your information: Each book costs us $1.1605 to print, including shipping to us.

This book in softcover, bound form (if desired, the back can later be cut off) —
Single Copy: $3.00 ppd. (no certificate)
Boxful Quantities: ($1.083 per copy, in the box) (no certificates)
24 to a case, $26.00 + $12.00 p&h = $38.00 (weight: 27# per box)

This book in loose-leaf format (spine cut off; each book wrapped separately) —
Single Copy: $3.20 ppd. (no certificate)
Boxful Quantities: ($1.083 per copy, in the box) (no certificates)
24 to a case, $26.00 + $12.00 p&h = $38.00 (weight: 27# per box)

Certificates of Scholarship (mailed flat; see pp. 5-6 for description) —

Single copy: $2.00, plus $1.50 p&h, mailed flat
10 copies: $2.10, plus $1.50 p&h, mailed flat
24 copies: $2.25, plus $1.50 p&h, mailed flat

Life Only in Christ (lessons with much more information on Lessons 21-22) —
Single copy: $3.50 each, plus $1.50 p&h, mailed flat
10 copies: $4.50 each, plus $5.00 p&h, mailed flat

In Tennessee, add 8.25% of cost of books / Foreign: add 20% of cost of books

Prices subject to change without notice, due to price increases during future print runs.
For further information on many paperback-size missionary books which are now available, at
the lowest cost, see pp. 383-384. Write to the publisher for a current list of lowest-cost
missionary and colporteur books. Working with you to save souls for Jesus.
HARVESTIME BOOKS - BOX 300 - ALTAMONT, TN 37305 USA
CREDIT CARD ORDERS: 931-692-2777
- or - [email protected]
 Contents
How to Use this Book 5

What the Bible Says about —

1 - God’s Special Book 9
The Importance of Bible Study 17-18

2 - Ten Facts about Jesus 21

Prophecies about Christ 29-30

3 - Daniel Two 33
The Great Image 35

4 - The Plan of Salvation 43

5 - Christ’s Second Coming 53
6 - Signs of the End 63
On the Edge of the End 71-72

7 - The Millennium 75
The Millennium 78-79

8 - Bible Views of Heaven 87

9 - Daniel Eight and Nine 97
The 70 Weeks and 2300 Years 98-99

10 - The Sanctuary in Heaven 107

The Earthly Tabernacle 112-113

11 - The Eternal Law of God 121

The Foundation of Christendom 129-130

12 - Obedience through Christ 133

13 - Your Special Day with God 143
The Weekly Cycle 151-52

14 - The Prophecy of Daniel Seven 155

15 - How Sundaykeeping Began 165
The Law of God 174 / The Law of God as Changed by
Man 175 / A Sabbath Time line from Eden to Eden 176 /
A Sunday Time line from Eden to Eden 177 / Catholicism
Speaks 178-179 / Protestantism Speaks 180-181 / The
Law of God in the New Testament 182
3
 16 - Sunday in the New Testament 185
A Letter from the Roman Catholic Church 192-198

17 - Questions Answered 201

How Sabbath Was Changed to Sunday 208-212

18 - Can We Go Too Far in Sin? 215

19 - Sin and Satan 225
20 - The Pathway to God’s Throne 235
21 - The Other Side of Death 245
22 - Eternal Life in Christ 255
23 - The Bible and Better Health 265
24 - Living in Christ 275
25 - Satan’s War against the Church 285
26 - The Mark of the Beast 295
The Number and the Mark 302-304 /
The Mark of the Beast and the Seal of God 304

27 - Following in Jesus’ Steps 307

28 - The Gift of Prophecy 317
29 - Taking God as a Partner 327
30 - The Remnant 337
31 - Daily Victory in Christ 345
Appendix -
How to Mark Your Bible 356
Lesson First Texts and Codes 359
For Further Study (Study Guide) 360
How to Locate Bible Study Interests 363
How to Prepare a Lesson 367
When Giving Bible Studies 368
Reaching the Heart and Obtaining Decisions 369
Additional Resources 383
4
Family Bible Studies - Introduction page 1

How to Use tthis

How his Book
LESSONS WHICH GROUND IN THE TRUTH—About a decade
ago, a returned missionary informed the present writer that, at least
up to the early 1980s, our workers in India always thoroughly grounded
people in Bible truths. The present set of thirty-one Bible lessons is
designed to do just that. Every major doctrine is presented, and in
an easy-to-understand but complete way. These are not shallow, sur-
face studies.
• The lessons agree with our historic Bible beliefs. They do not
teach new or peculiar ideas or theories. For a simplified study, while
conducting a lesson, read only the key Bible verses which are quoted.
However, the other (non-quoted) verses provide a treasure-house for
further study. All in all, well over a thousand Bible verses are either
quoted or referred to in these easily understood studies.
• A number of very helpful charts are included (see pp. 78-79
for an example). Most are noted in the table of contents. Many have
been copied from the charts in our editions of Great Controversy, and
several new ones have been prepared.
• Most chapters have at least one page of “supplementary mate-
rial.” Consisting of outstanding Spirit of Prophecy comments on
the particular subject presented in each lesson, this feature helps the
reader gradually discover the value of those remarkable writings. This
is a very helpful feature; and the quoted material is always extremely
pertinent to the lesson topic (see page 16 for an example).
• A few simple, summary questions have been added at the
close of each lesson (see page 15). Because some students may be
apprehensive about their ability to answer questions, these few ques-
tions are never complicated.
• A large envelope of several, unfolded 8½ x 11 inch Certificates
of Scholarship, printed on nice paper, are also available separately
(see page 2). Upon completion of the Bible study program, the date
and name of the graduate can filled in, and the Certificate handed
or mailed to him.
WAYS IN WHICH THE BOOK CAN BE USED—These lessons are
simply presented, solidly Biblical, and in full accordance with his-
toric beliefs, They are an invaluable help in personal and group study
and missionary work, and can be used in several different ways:
• The earnest Bible student will gain a far deeper understand-
ing of basic Bible truths, as he carefully reads through these lessons
5
Family Bible Studies - Introduction page 2
and compares each point with the open Bible beside him.
• The lessons can be utilized as the basis of an ongoing series of
family worship and missionary Bible studies.
• They can be used as part of a home school curriculum. When
this is done, the student’s life will be enriched as he acquires a clearer
knowledge of basic Bible beliefs.
• The two-page lessons can be used as the basis for an excellent
Bible marking plan. (More on the two-page lessons, below.)
• This entire book, containing, as it does, such a solid Biblical
foundation of truth, can easily be given to a friend or loved one. To
share these lessons is to share a blessing.
• Boxfuls of the books can be mailed to missionaries, mission
stations, and nationals in distant lands. Books can also be sent to
prisoners. There are many souls crying out for the truths contained
in this book. We here regularly send them, along with other books, in
response to requests for literature from prisoners, as well as nation-
als in Africa and elsewhere. You cannot send too many! (When send-
ing books to prisoners or overseas locations, it is best to mail only
bound books, not loose-leaf format—since those receiving them may
not have access to ring binders. An alternative is to send prisoners
individual lessons, one at a time.) (More on the two formats, below.)
• With these lessons, you can establish your own Bible corre-
spondence school and mail out individual lessons. You may want to
include a cover letter, with the first (or each) lesson, which will person-
alize them.
TWO STUDY FORMATS AVAILABLE—These Family Bible Stud-
ies are available from us either as a soft-cover book, in its own bind-
ing, or in a separate-sheet, loose-leaf format. (See page 2 for prices.)
• The bound book is outstanding for personal reading. It is the
best format to send to prisoners, overseas mission stations, and na-
tional workers.
• The loose-leaf format is ideal for an ongoing series of Bible
studies. The book has been sliced into separate sheets. The sheets
can be punched and placed in a standard three-ring binder. The con-
tents have been arranged so each lesson begins on the right-hand
page of each page opening, thus separating the lessons. Because of
this, individual lessons can be handed out, one by one, during a
course of Bible studies. This gradual distribution can be done during
an evangelistic effort, a home Bible-study group, or in some kind of
correspondence mailing program.
(In order not to interfere with the separate structure of each indi-
6
Family Bible Studies - Introduction page 3
vidual lesson, the sequential page numbers of the entire book are listed in
small print at the bottom of each page.)
DOUBLE LESSON ARRANGEMENT—Each Bible lesson is actually
two studies in one.
• The complete lesson comes first. It is arranged so its key Bible
verses stand out (see pages 9-15 for an example). It is concluded by a very
few, simple questions and Spirit of Prophecy comments.
• After the supplementary material, next comes a two-page brief les-
son which has only the main headings and the key Bible verses of the
lesson (see pages 19-20). (Occasionally some verses had to be omitted to
fit the space.) These two-page Bible verses have blanks, for certain words,
to be filled in by the student as he locates them in his Bible. We call them
“Brief Bible Studies.”
ADVANTAGES OF THE TWO-PAGE LESSONS—The Brief Bible
Studies greatly strengthen the impact of the entire study series.
• After studying the main lesson, each brief lesson can be used as a
review to help the student remember what he has just learned. This
review can be done alone, with the instructor, or in a group.
• Or, instead, the brief lesson can be studied first, before reading
the main lesson. The brief lesson can be given to the student to study with
his Bible, and then the instructor can hand him (or go over with him) the
complete lesson. Each method has advantages, yet the first method may
be the best. (Of course, the two-page lesson can be ignored and not filled
in. At least, it is there if the student wants to increase his grasp of Scrip-
ture.)
• Using the two-page lessons, an excellent Bible marking plan
can be started: When filling in the blanks in the two-page lessons, it
is best if the student looks up each verse in his own Bible instead of
locating it in the main lesson. By doing this, he will, of course, strengthen
his use of God’s Word. But there is an outstanding advantage in doing
this. As he finds each verse in his Bible, he can underline it. Then,
using the marking code given at the top-right of each page of the two-
page lessons, the student can gradually complete his own Bible mark-
ing program! For example, in the margin in his Bible by the first verse of
Lesson One (Luke 24:44-45), he would write “B-1.” (See page 19 of this
book; for a complete list of lesson codes, see p. 359.) This encouraging
goal, of completing the marking system, will help maintain a strong inter-
est in continuing the lessons. (So you can best use the Bible marking
chains, the two-page lessons are sometimes slightly different than the more
complete lessons. This was necessitated by duplicate verses, space limita-
tions, and the logical pattern of the lesson study.)
APPENDIX—At the back of this book, you will find more helpful
7
Family Bible Studies - Introduction page 4
information: (1) how to mark your Bible, using this marking system; (2)
how to locate Bible study interests; (3) how to prepare a Bible lesson and
give studies; and, very important, (4) how to reach the heart and obtain
decisions,—which is an invaluable help in carrying on personal evangelism
with Bible studies (pages 356-380)!
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION—Here is further information which will
help you in your use of these lessons:
• If you purchase them in boxful quantities, these books are avail-
able at our printing house cost. We make nothing on them. Because of
this extremely low cost, these lessons can be widely used and shared.
They are in full agreement with our historic beliefs.
• You have our permission to photocopy as many of these lessons,
and as often, as you want. If you live outside of the U.S., shipping costs are
expensive, so you have our permission to reprint the entire book and put
your name on it. Let us get the message out; that is what our Master wants
us to do!
IF EXTRA HELP IS NEEDED—If the student is having difficulty with
a topic, we urge you to obtain additional study material, so he can under-
stand the topic better, as you share these with him.
Bible Sabbath - Obtain a copy of our book, Beyond Pitcairn. It is the
most complete book available on this important subject. In boxful quantities,
it is very inexpensive.
State of the Dead and/or End of the Wicked - Purchase a copy of our
book, Life Only in Christ. It has detailed Bible studies as well as detailed
answers to objections. A study on spiritualism is also included.
Spirit of Prophecy - Order a copy of our book, Prophet of the End. It
is the most complete book available on this vital topic. Very low price in
boxful amounts.
See pages 2 and 383-384 for more information on these, and other,
worthwhile books.
FREE BOOK PLAN—It would be a very good idea to give free books
to Bible study interests at certain intervals in the lesson series. This not
only provides encouragement to continue, but also provides the student
with extremely worthwhile books. (Do remember that Prophet of the
End is a very important book for introducing the Spirit of Prophecy. Bible
Readings and Great Controversy are also very important.) (See pp. 260-
362, for a guide to readings in our Bible Readings which correlate
with these lessons.)
Here is a suggested plan for the possible sharing of free books at
the completion of the following lessons:
Lesson 1 - Steps to Christ or Shelter in the Storm Lesson 17 - Great Controversy
Lesson 5 - Desire of Ages Lesson 23 - Ministry of Healing
Lesson 9 - Patriarchs and Prophets Lesson 28 - Prophet of the End
Lesson 13 - Beyond Pitcairn Lesson 31 - Bible Readings
8
Family Bible Studies - 1 page 1

What tthe
he Bible says about –

God’s Special Book

SCRIPTURE READING:
PSALM 119:6-9; 10:4-12
There is something fascinating about exploring the unknown. Because
of this, men seek to uncover the secrets of the ocean floor, to search the
deep recesses of caves, and to penetrate the densest jungle. As man
searches out these secrets he unconsciously comes into contact with
God, the Author of all creation. For this reason it is sometimes said that
God has revealed Himself through the book of nature.
There is another book of God that is even more interesting to explore.
That book is the Bible. Some of the great principles which it contains
are commonly known; since they underlie our whole social structure,
generally speaking, ignorance of many of its truths is appalling. In a test
of high school students, 8 out of 9 could not name 3 prophets of the Old
Testament and 10 out of 18 could not name 3 of Jesus’ disciples. In a New
York grammar school, 351 out of 1,373 had never heard of the Ten Com-
mandments. In a university test, 7 percent could not name one book of
the Old Testament. This lesson leads us into a preliminary exploration
of our textbook. Here we learn only a few facts about the most wonder-
ful book in the world, our Bible. As you study these lessons, each will
unfold challenging secrets of the Word of God.
1 - WHAT ARE THE SCRIPTURES,
AND WHAT IS INCLUDED IN THEM?
1. The Sacred Writings in the time of Christ included the writ-
ings of Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms.
Luke 24:44-45—“These are the words which I spake unto you,
while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which
were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the
psalms, concerning Me. Then opened He their understanding,
that they might understand the Scriptures.”
Jesus here points out the three divisions of the Old Testament and
speaks of them as making up the Scriptures. The word, “Bible,” means
merely “the book” and is not found in the Bible. The 66 books in the
Bible were written over a period of 1,500 years, by 35 to 40 different
writers. These books are called the Word of God or the Scriptures. The
word, “Scriptures,” means “writings.” Thus “Sacred Scriptures” means “Sa-
cred Writings.”
9
Family Bible Studies - 1 page 2
2. The writings of the apostles also were recognized as part of the
Scriptures.
2 Peter 3:15-16—“Even as our beloved brother Paul also accord-
ing to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; as also
in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are
some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned
and unstable wrest, as they do also the other Scriptures, unto their own
destruction.”
Peter here considers the apostle Paul’s writings as part of the Scrip-
tures, and doubtless he felt the same about the writings of the other
apostles. Much of the beauty and depth of divine truth is lost to those
who read only the New Testament. Jesus and His disciples preached
and quoted from the Old Testament entirely since they were the only
Scriptures in their day. The references in the New Testament to the
word, “Scriptures,” refer to the Old Testament. There is complete har-
mony between the Old and New Testaments. They are a unit, standing
or falling together. The Old is the foundation for the New. There are
more than 250 direct quotations from the Old Testament in the New
Testament. Professor Milligan says that the book of Revelation is “abso-
lutely steeped in the memories, incidents, thoughts, and language of the
church’s past . . It is a perfect mosaic of passages from the Old Testa-
ment.”
Another has likened the Bible to a Damascus blade made of woven wire
which was heated, forged, and tempered in such a manner that the
edges were irresistible. So the Old and New Testaments are interwoven,
heated, and welded in the fire of divine inspiration until they come to us
as “the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God” (Ephesians 6:17).
2 - HOW WERE
THE SCRIPTURES GIVEN?
1. Although men did the writing, God was responsible for the
inspiration and content of the Sacred Scriptures.
2 Timothy 3:16—“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God.”
2. God used the Holy Spirit to convey His messages to His
chosen men.
2 Peter 1:21—“The prophecy came not in old time by the will of
man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the
Holy Ghost.”
Hastings wrote: “Here are words written by kings, emperors, princes,
poets, sages, philosophers, by fishermen and statesmen, by men learned
in the wisdom of Egypt, educated in the schools of Babylon, and trained
at the feet of the rabbis in Jerusalem. It was written by men in exile, in
the desert, in shepherds’ tents, in green pastures, and beside still wa-
ters. Among its authors we find the taxgatherer, the herdsman, the gath-
10
Family Bible Studies - 1 page 3
erer of sycamore fruit; we find poor men, rich men, statesmen, preach-
ers, exiles, captains, legislators, judges, men of every grade and class . .
This wonderful volume . . is in reality a library, filled with history, gene-
alogy, ethnology, law, ethics, prophecy, poetry, eloquence, medicine, sani-
tary science, political economy, and perfect rules for the conduct of per-
sonal and social life. It contains all kinds of writing, but what a jumble
it would be if 66 books were written in this way by ordinary men. Sup-
pose, for instance, that we get 66 medical books written by 35 or 40
different doctors, bind them all together, and attempt to doctor a man
according to the book. Or suppose you get 35 ministers to write a book
on theology and then see if you find leather strong enough to hold the
books together.”
Voltaire said the Bible is an exploded book. He has been dead more than
150 years. His theory was what exploded. Ingersoll said the Bible would
not be read in ten years’ time. He died many years ago. Today the Bible
outsells any other one hundred books put together. The Bible is like a
cube of granite. You may turn it as you please, and it is always right side
up. It is like the Irishman’s fence, three feet high and three feet thick.
3 - WHY WERE
THE SCRIPTURES GIVEN?
1. A knowledge of the Scriptures is profitable for this life and
the next.
2 Timothy 3:15-17—“From a child thou hast known the Holy
Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation
through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by
inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof,
for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of
God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works”
(Romans 15:4; John 17:17).
Doctrine—The “doctrine” means “teaching,” “guide,” “rule.” The Scrip-
tures can give us the rules for living the perfect life. Unless in our Chris-
tian living we stand for something, it is spineless and ineffective. The
guides to right living given as doctrines in the Scriptures are basically
spiritual and are as important to the Christian life as the skeleton is to
the muscle, flesh, sinew, and organs of our own bodies.
Reproof—The Scriptures reprove us. This we can prove any day by
reading them. They will say, “Thou art the man.”
Correction—Thank God, the Scriptures not only reprove, but tell us the
correct way and lead us to the power able to help us. “The Word of God
is quick, and powerful” (Hebrews 4:12). “Thy Word have I hid in mine
heart, that I might not sin against Thee” (Psalm 119:11).
A young man newly come to the city was having a hard time. His com-
panion said, “Let’s stage a holdup. The world owes us a living some-
way.” They started out. Suddenly the young man stopped. Like letters of
11
Family Bible Studies - 1 page 4
fire there flashed on his conscience the words, “Thou shalt not steal.” He
refused to go further. The words of God saved him from beginning a life
of crime.
Instruction and Learning—One verse of Scripture is worth a whole
book of man’s words. “The entrance of Thy words giveth light; it giveth
understanding unto the simple” (Psalm 119:130). “What is the chaff to
the wheat? saith the Lord” (Jeremiah 23:28). Why take less when we may
choose the wheat?
Comfort and Hope—It was in the mountains of the West. A man and his
nephew had lost their way. Since they were strangers and had consider-
able money, they were somewhat fearful with the coming of night. They
stopped at a rude cabin. As they prepared for bed they heard low mum-
bling words in the adjoining room, where they had left the family of
husband, wife, and grown son. Presently there was movement of chairs
and low mumbling again. Could some plot be on foot to rob and kill the
visitors? The nephew crept to the door, and peered through the key-
hole. He quickly stepped back and said, “Everything is all right.” Why
did he say that? He had seen this family kneeling in prayer. They had read
from the Bible, pushed back their chairs, and knelt for prayer. The
strangers felt perfectly safe and soon were peacefully sleeping.
2. Christ is revealed as the central figure in the Sacred Writ-
ings.
John 5:39—“Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have
eternal life: and they are they which testify of Me.”
Jesus was here telling the people of His day that though they were search-
ing the Scriptures diligently in quest of eternal life, they had misunder-
stood the prophecies they had read about the Messiah and did not recog-
nize the Giver of life, Jesus Christ Himself, who was even then standing
among them.
4 - HOW CAN WE UNDERSTAND
THE SCRIPTURES?
1. The Bereans of New Testament times were commended be-
cause they studied the Scriptures every day.
Acts 17:11—“These [the Bereans] were more noble than those in
Thessalonica, in that they received the Word with all readiness of
mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were
so.”
Studying every day and willingly receiving the truths brought to their
minds by that study is the example of nobility left us by the Bereans
(Proverbs 2:1-7; Isaiah 28:10; John 7:17).
2. We must receive the Spirit’s guidance to understand the Scrip-
tures rightly.

12
Family Bible Studies - 1 page 5
1 Corinthians 2:10, 12—“God hath revealed them unto us by His
Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of
God . . Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the
spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are
freely given to us of God.”
The Spirit must teach us. “The world by wisdom knew not God” (1
Corinthians 1:21). It matters not how much man studies if he has not
the Spirit of God to guide, for he will not learn God’s way. He will often
reach wrong conclusions (John 16:13; Proverbs 1:23).
3. We may be assisted in our study of the Bible by good men
whom Christ has called to teach His Word.
Matthew 28:19-20—“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of
the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever
I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto
the end of the world.”
The gospel commission envisions the teaching of God’s truth by every
believer, but we have been warned against false teachers and given a
standard by which we may judge the teaching of every man. “To the law
and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this Word, it is
because there is no light in them” (Isaiah 8:20). The Bible, then, is the
standard, and we may be guided in our study and understanding of it
by the Holy Spirit.
5 - HOW MAY WE HAVE
THE HOLY SPIRIT TO GUIDE US?
1. In order to receive the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we must
pray for His presence when we study the Bible.
Luke 11:13—“If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts
unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father
give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?”
Ask for Him. Yes, we must pray for Him. No prayer, no Spirit to guide
us.
2. To have the Spirit’s guidance, we must be willing to obey God.
Romans 8:14—“As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are
the sons of God.”
Acts 5:32—“We are His witnesses of these things; and so is also
the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey Him”
(John7:17; Psalm 119:100).
Are we willing to be led and to obey? At this point comes the real battle.
Here is the struggle with stubborn wills and rebellious hearts. Many
homes are unhappy because of argument over who is going to lead.
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Family Bible Studies - 1 page 6
Man and wife are one, but sometimes they have a hard time deciding
which is to lead. The human heart wants its own way. Nations want
their own way. With God there is only one way. That is His way, and it is
for our good. He will lead us if we will follow. But He will not drive us.
“The meek will He guide in judgment: and the meek will He teach His
way” (Psalm 25:9). “I understand more than the ancients, because I
keep Thy precepts” (Psalm 119:100).
Some five hundred of us entered the opening into the world-famous
Carlsbad Caverns, first explored by the now-famous cowboy Jim White,
of Carlsbad, New Mexico. Down narrow stairs; through great hallways
and mammoth rooms; into natural cathedrals with ceilings three hun-
dred feet high, winding in and out among the giant stalagmite and sta-
lactite formations, we made our way. We visited the fantastically beauti-
ful King’s Palace and the Queen’s Chamber, the Hall of Giants, the
Papoose’s Chamber, and finally reached the lunchroom, seven hundred
feet below the surface.
Then we visited the famous Rock of Ages. While we were seated before
this giant formation, all lights were extinguished. There was not a sound.
The darkness was black as Egypt’s night. Though in the company of
more than five hundred other human beings, one felt absolutely alone. It
seemed as though in semiconsciousness one was entombed in the grave
itself, with no possible means of extrication.
Suddenly from afar came the sound of music. It was the voice of a male
quartet singing, “Rock of Ages, cleft for me! let me hide myself in Thee
. . While I draw this fleeting breath, when mine eyes shall close in
death . . Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee.”
The music ended. It was still as death and as dark as a thousand dun-
geons. Then yonder, in the distance, there was a faint glow of light. The
radiance grew. Faces and forms became vaguely visible, and presently it
was light again.
How glad we were that we had guides who knew the way, and who had
lights for us. Following them and the lights, which were switched on as
we proceeded, we made our way back, up and up; until, after six hours
in the cave and seven miles of walking, we were above ground again.
Jesus Christ, the Bible, and the Spirit of God are the guides and lights
for the Christian. How thrilling is the thought that the Bible is a letter from
God that He has placed in our hands to lead us into a richer, happier
life. If an earthly monarch wrote to you, his letter would be highly prized
and would receive your most careful attention. Nothing can be more
important than learning to know and follow the guiding light of the
Word of God. In it may be found the answer to all baffling problems of
life.
But you will discover that the Bible is even more than a textbook and
guide. It is a living power that imparts new life to you. Here is a book
that has wrought effectually in the lives of thousands, delivering from
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Family Bible Studies - 1 page 7
evil habits, fortifying against temptations, inspiring to noble deeds and
right living. Its vitalizing power is available to you.
In this lesson, you have merely studied a few facts about the Bible. As
the course of this study continues, you will explore broad fields of Bible
knowledge and make new discoveries of Bible truth. Your interest and
enjoyment will progressively increase with each lesson.
Your next lesson is about Jesus: It is called “Ten Facts about Jesus,”
and is an important study. Have you ever wondered why He came to the
earth and how He could live a sinless life? The Bible will answer these
questions for you as you study the next lesson.
———————————————————————————
Brief Review Questions —

What are the “Scriptures”?

Are both the Old and New Testaments included in

them?

How were the Scriptures given?

Why were the Scriptures given to us?

What is the best way to study the Scriptures?

What must we do in order to have the Holy Spirit to

guide us in our study of the Scriptures?

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Family Bible Studies - 1 page 8

GOD’S SPECIAL BOOK: THE BIBLE

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL—
“The central theme of the Bible, the theme about which every other in
the whole book clusters, is the redemption plan, the restoration in the
human soul of the image of God. From the first intimation of hope in the
sentence pronounced in Eden to that last glorious promise of the Revela-
tion, ‘They shall see His face; and His name shall be in their foreheads’
(Revelation 22:4), the burden of every book and every passage of the
Bible is the unfolding of this wondrous theme—man's uplifting—the power
of God, ‘which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ’ (1
Corinthians 15:57). He who grasps this thought has before him an infi-
nite field for study. He has the key that will unlock to him the whole
treasure house of God's Word.
“The science of redemption is the science of all sciences; the science
that is the study of the angels and of all the intelligences of the unfallen
worlds; the science that engages the attention of our Lord and Saviour;
the science that enters into the purpose brooded in the mind of the Infi-
nite—’kept secret since the world began’ (Romans 16:25); the science
that will be the study of God’s redeemed throughout endless ages. This
is the highest study in which it is possible for man to engage. As no other
study can, it will quicken the mind and uplift the soul . .
“The creative energy that called the worlds into existence is in the
Word of God. This Word imparts power; it begets life. Every command is
a promise; accepted by the will, received into the soul, it brings with it
the life of the Infinite One. It transforms the nature and re-creates the
soul in the image of God.
“The life thus imparted is in like manner sustained. ‘By every word
that proceedeth out of the mouth of God’ (Matthew 4:4) shall man live.
“The mind, the soul, is built up by that upon which it feeds; and it
rests with us to determine upon what it shall be fed. It is within the
power of everyone to choose the topics that shall occupy the thoughts
and shape the character. Of every human being privileged with access to
the Scriptures, God says, ‘I have written to him the great things of My
law.’ ‘Call unto Me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and
mighty things, which thou knowest not’ (Hosea 8:12; Jeremiah 33:3).
“With the Word of God in his hands, every human being, wherever his
lot in life may be cast, may have such companionship as he shall choose.
In its pages he may hold converse with the noblest and best of the human
race, and may listen to the voice of the Eternal as He speaks with men.
As he studies and meditates upon the themes into which ‘the angels
desire to look’ (1 Peter 1:12), he may have their companionship. He may
follow the steps of the heavenly Teacher, and listen to His words as when
He taught on mountain and plain and sea. He may dwell in this world in
the atmosphere of heaven.”
—Education, 125-127
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Family Bible Studies - 1 page 9

THE IMPORTANCE OF BIBLE STUDY

There was an old Scotchman who said of the Bible, “It is a good thing in
a good place for a good purpose.” It is a good thing to remember that the
Bible in the head won’t do. The Bible in the hand won’t do. The Bible in
the pocket won’t do. The Bible on the shelf won’t do. But the Bible, the
Word of God, in the heart, accepted, through faith and full surrender,
will bring a new life. He that hath the Word hath life, and “He that hath
the Son hath life” (1 John 5:12).
John Wesley said: “I want to know one thing: the way to heaven,
how to land on that happy shore. God Himself has condescended to
teach the way; for this very end He came from heaven. He hath written it
down in a book! O give me that book! At any price give me that book of
God! Here is knowledge enough for me. Let me be a man of the book.”
“The grass withereth, the flower fadeth; but the Word of our God
shall stand for ever.” Isaiah 40:8. “Heaven and earth shall pass away,
but My words shall not pass away.” Matthew 24:35. In those two verses,
the voice of Jesus joins with Isaiah of old in asserting that the Word of
God is forever. “And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he
that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” 1 John 2:17.
A skeptic in London, in speaking of the Bible, said that it was
quite impossible in these days to believe in any book whose authority
was unknown. A Christian asked if the compiler of the multiplication
table was known. “No!” he answered. “Then, of course, you do not be-
lieve in it.” “Oh yes,” was the skeptic’s reply, “I believe in it because it
works well.” “So does the Bible,” was the Christian’s reply. The skeptic
had no answer to that.
Martin Luther said, “I study my Bible as I gather apples. First, I
shake the whole tree that the ripest might fall. Then I shake each limb;
and when I have shaken each limb, I shake each branch and every twig.
Then I look under every leaf.”
It takes 70 hours and 40 minutes to read the Bible at pulpit rate.
It takes 52 hours and 20 minutes to read the Old Testament. It takes 18
hours and 20 minutes to read the New Testament. In the Old Testament,
the Psalms take the longest to read: 4 hours and 28 minutes. In the New
Testament, the Gospel of Luke: 2 hours and 43 minutes.
The seven wonders of the Word: The wonder of its formation—the
way in which it grew is one of the mysteries of time. The wonder of its
unification—a library of 66 books, yet one book in total unity of truth.
The wonder of its age—the most ancient of all books. The wonder of its
sale—the best seller of all time and of all books. The wonder of its inter-
est—the only book in the world read by all classes of people. The won-
der of its language—written largely by uneducated men, yet the best
book from a literary and scientific standpoint. The wonder of its preser-
vation—the most hated of all books, yet it continues to exist.

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Family Bible Studies - 1 page 10

Old Testament books: 39. New Testament books: 27. Total num-
ber of books: 66. Old Testament chapters: 929. New Testament chap-
ters: 260. Total number of chapters: 1,189. Old Testament verses: 33,214.
New Testament verses: 7,959. Total number of verses: 41,173. Old Tes-
tament words: 593,393. New Testament words: 181,253. Total number
of words: 774,646. Old Testament letters: 2,738,100. New Testament
letters: 838,380. Total number of letters: 3,576,480.
The shortest chapter is Psalm 117. Ezra 7:21 contains all the
letters of the alphabet except “f” and “j.” Esther 8:9 is the longest verse.
John 11:35 is the shortest verse. No word has more than six syllables.
Over 150 years ago, Sir William Ramsey went to the Near East, to
prove that the history given in the Bible was inaccurate. His professors
had told him the Book could not be right. Ramsey began to dig in the
ancient ruins. To his amazement, he found that the Old and New Testa-
ment Scriptures were accurate to the tiniest detail. So convincing was
the evidence that Ramsey became a Christian.
Dr. J. O. Kinnaman said: “Of the hundreds of thousands of arti-
facts found by the archaeologists, not one has ever been discovered that
contradicts or denies one word, phrase, clause, or sentence of the Bible;
but that always confirms and verifies the facts of the Biblical record.”
George Washington said: “It is impossible to rightly govern the
world without God and the Bible.” John Quincy Adams said: “So great
is my veneration of the Bible, that the earlier my children begin to read
it the more confident will be my hope that they will prove useful citizens
of their country and respectable members of society.” Andrew Jackson
said: “That Book, sir, is the rock on which our republic rests.” Abraham
Lincoln said: “I believe the Bible is the best gift God has ever given to
man. All the good from the Saviour of the world is communicated to us
through this Book.” Woodrow Wilson said: “I ask every man and woman
in this audience that from this day on they will realize that part of the
destiny of America lies in their daily reading of this great Book.”
Martin Luther warned: “I am afraid the universities will prove to
be the great gates to hell, unless they diligently labor to explain the holy
Scriptures and engrave them upon the hearts of youths. I advise no one
to place his child where the Scriptures do not reign paramount. Every
institution where men are not unceasingly occupied with the Word of
God must become corrupt.” “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse
his way? By taking heed thereto according to Thy Word.” Psalm 119:9.
“For ever, O Lord, Thy Word is settled in heaven.” Psalm 119:89.
Long ago God gave ten rules: the Ten Commandments. They are spiritu-
ally and morally changeless and their keeping is obligatory for the chil-
dren of God from generation to generation. Isaac Watts said: “I believe
God’s promises so surely that I stake my eternal destiny on them!” The
Bible says: “He is faithful that promised.” Hebrews 10:23.

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Brief Bible Study - Lesson 1 BIBLE - CODE: B
BIBLE BASICS—These two-page reviews, at the end of each lesson, will help
you grasp the basics of these studies. Looking up each of these verses in your own Bible
will strengthen your use of God’s Word. As you do so, underline each verse in your
Bible, using the marking code given at the top-right of each Review page. For example, in
the margin by the first verse (Luke 24:44-45), you will write “B-1.”

God’s Special Book

1 - WHAT ARE THE SCRIPTURES,
AND WHAT IS INCLUDED IN THEM?
1. The Sacred Writings in the time of Christ included the writings
of Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms.
Luke 24:44-45—“These are the words which I spake unto you, while
I was yet with you, that all things must be __________, which
were __________ in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in
the psalms, concerning Me. Then opened He their understanding,
that they might understand the Scriptures.”
2. The writings of the apostles also were recognized as part of the
Scriptures.
2 Peter 3:15-16—“Even as our beloved brother Paul also accord-
ing to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; as also
in all his epistles, ___________ in them of these things; in which
are some things hard to be understood, which they that are un-
learned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other Scriptures, unto
their own destruction.”
2 - HOW WERE
THE SCRIPTURES GIVEN?
1. God used the Holy Spirit to convey His messages to His chosen
men.
2 Peter 1:21—“The prophecy came not in old time by the will of
man: but _________ men of God spake as they were moved by the
Holy Ghost.”
2. Although men did the writing, God was responsible for the
inspiration and content of the Sacred Scriptures.
2 Timothy 3:16—“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God.”
3 - WHY WERE
THE SCRIPTURES GIVEN?
1. A knowledge of the Scriptures is profitable for this life and
the next.
2 Timothy 3:15-17—“From a child thou hast known the Holy
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Bible Study Review - Lesson 1 BIBLE - CODE: B

Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto ______________

through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by
inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for
correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God
may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works” (Ro-
mans 15:4; John 17:17).
2. Christ is revealed as the central figure in the Sacred Writ-
ings.
John 5:39—“Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye
have __________ life: and they are they which testify of Me.”
4 - HOW CAN WE UNDERSTAND
THE SCRIPTURES?
1. The Bereans of New Testament times were commended be-
cause they studied the Scriptures every day.
Acts 17:11—“These [the Bereans] were more _________ than
those in Thessalonica, in that they received the Word with all
readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those
things were so.”
2. We must receive the Spirit’s guidance to understand the
Scriptures rightly.
1 Corinthians 2:10, 12—“God hath revealed them unto us by
His Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep
things of God . . Now we have received, not the spirit of the
___________, but the spirit which is of God; that we might
known the things that are _______ given to us of God” (also
Matthew 28:19-20).
5 - HOW MAY WE HAVE
THE HOLY SPIRIT TO GUIDE US?
1. In order to receive the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we
must pray for His presence when we study the Bible.
Luke 11:13—“If ye then, being evil, know how to give _________
gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly
Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?”
2. To have the Spirit’s guidance, we must be willing to obey God.
Romans 8:14—“As ________ as are led by the Spirit of God, they
are the sons of God.”
Acts 5:32—“We are His witnesses of these things; and so is also
the Holy Ghost, whom God hath _________ to them that obey
Him.”
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Family Bible Studies - 2 page 1

What tthe
he Bible says about –

Ten Facts about Jesus

SCRIPTURE READING:
JOHN 1:1-14
COLOSSIANS 1:12-22
HEBREWS 1:1-14

1 - WAS JESUS THE SON OF GOD?

Matthew 16:13-14—“Jesus . . asked His disciples, “Whom do
men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that
Thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias,
or one of the prophets.”
You see, the people were willing to believe that Jesus was some prophet
raised from the dead or Elijah returned from heaven or just anyone ex-
cept the Son of God, the Saviour of men. But notice what Jesus said
concerning His relationship to God:
John 3:16—“God so loved the world, that He gave His only be-
gotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish,
but have everlasting life.”
It is related that a lawyer once told a judge he had a number of reasons
why his client was not present in court. The first was that he was dead.
The judge told him he need not state the others, because his first rea-
son was sufficient. The evidence of the sonship of Christ could be set
forth under seven headings, and proof for any one of these would be
sufficient to settle the question:
1. The testimony of the prophets
2. Jesus’ power to heal the sick and raise the dead
3. His peerless teaching
4. His own resurrection
5. The testimony of His friends
6. The admission of His enemies
7. The lives transformed by His power
We cannot here give further consideration to these evidences, except to
say that God testified, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased” (Matthew 3:17).
Thus it is clear that the Scriptures teach that Jesus is the Son of God.

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2 - WHAT WAS THE RELATIONSHIP
OF JESUS TO GOD?
John 10:30—“I and My Father are one,” said Christ.
John 1:1, 14—“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God . . And the Word was made flesh,
and dwelt among us,” the Apostle John declares (Hebrews 1:8;
Isaiah 9:6).
People frequently ask, How can God and Christ be one? A simple an-
swer is that they are one in purpose and in planning, one in love and
action, in mind and character; yet each is a distinct personality.
We need have no anxiety over the Godship of Jesus Christ. God shares
His throne with the Son. God has given to all morally responsible be-
ings some authority and dominion. He gave dominion to Adam and He
gives great responsibility to the angels, but none occupies the place of
the Son. “Let all the angels of God worship Him” (Hebrews 1:6).
God, the Father, always holds His proper place.
1 Corinthians 15:28—“When all things shall be subdued unto
Him [Christ], then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto
Him [the Father] that put all things under Him [Christ], that
God may be all in all.”
The Scriptures make plain that Christ is one with God and is called God.
3 - DID CHRIST LIVE
BEFORE COMING TO THIS WORLD?
John 17:5—“Now, O Father, glorify thou Me with Thine own self
with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was.”
Micah 5:2—“But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be
little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He
come forth unto Me that is to be ruler of in Israel; Whose goings
forth have been from of old, from everlasting.”
The pre-existence of Christ is a doctrine that was most definitely taught
by Jesus and mentioned by Him in His last prayer before Gethsemane.
“I came down from heaven,” He said in John 6:38.
“From the days of eternity,” said one writer, “the Lord Jesus Christ was
one with the Father; He was ‘the image of His greatness and majesty,
‘the outshining of His glory.’ It was to manifest this glory that He came
to our world.”
According to the Scriptures, Christ existed with God before the cre-
ation of the world.

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Family Bible Studies - 2 page 3
4 - WHAT PART DID CHRIST HAVE
IN THE WORK OF CREATION?
Hebrews 1:1-2—“God . . hath in these last days spoken unto us
by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom
also He made the worlds” (Ephesians 3:9).
John said:
John 1:1-3—“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the begin-
ning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him
was not any thing made that was made.”
This “Word” who created all things, was Christ, as verse 10 clearly
shows. This mighty Creator is our Saviour. And He has power to cre-
ate a new life in us. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature [or
creation]” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
The Bible record indicates that Christ cooperated with God, the Father,
in the work of creation.
5 - IN WHAT WAY WAS THE BIRTH
OF JESUS SUPERNATURAL?
Isaiah 7:14—“Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign;
Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call
His name Immanuel.”
Matthew 1:18, 22-23—“Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on
this wise: When as His mother Mary was espoused to Joseph,
before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy
Ghost . . Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which
was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin
shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son.”
This is known as the incarnation. Christ was not a new being, but He
appeared in human form. “The Word was made flesh” (John 1:14). “Who
being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a
servant, and was made in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:6-7). “They
shall call His name Emmanuel . . God with us” (Matthew 1:23).
So, you see, the Scriptures teach that Jesus was conceived by the Holy
Spirit and born in the flesh of a virgin.
6 - WHAT EXAMPLE DID JESUS SET FOR US
IN HIS STRUGGLE WITH TEMPTATION?
1 Peter 2:21-22—“Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an
example, that ye should follow His steps: who did no sin, nei-
ther was guile found in His mouth.”
John 15:10—“I have kept My Father’s commandments.”
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Family Bible Studies - 2 page 4
Hebrews 4:15—“[Jesus] was in all points tempted like as we
are, yet without sin.”
Because the Son of God lived a sinless life in the flesh, He accom-
plished five things:
(1) He demonstrated that, by the indwelling power of God, the law of
God could be kept by converted man; (2) His righteous life in the flesh
is now available to cover man’s past sins; (3) He is able to sympathize
with man in his struggle against sin; (4) He has successfully revealed God
to man; (5) He is in a position to impart overcoming power to all who
are tempted.
Here are Paul’s words:
Romans 8:3-4—“What the law could not do, in that it was weak
through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of
sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the
righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not
after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
So the Son of God overcame in the flesh, demonstrating that God’s law can
be kept, and He is ready to dwell in us by His Spirit and fulfill His will
in us. As we yield to the Spirit, we receive power to obey God (Romans
8:6-9).
The Scriptures declare that Jesus overcame temptation and lived a sinless
life.
7- WHAT WAS ACCOMPLISHED
BY THE DEATH OF JESUS?
Romans 5:8—“God commendeth His love toward us, in that,
while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
A stranger was seen reading names on tombstones in a Civil War cem-
etery. He stopped before a forsaken grave, removed his hat, and stood a
long time gazing silently. Finally he took out his pocketknife, whittled a
small board to a sharp point, and cut something on the face of it. Down
on his knees, he placed the sharp end of the board at the head of the
grave and, bearing down his weight on the other end, he forced it solidly
into the ground. Again he quietly gazed downward. Brushing the tears
from his eyes and face, he rose, slowly turned, placed his hat upon his
head; and, with reverent steps, he moved quietly away.
On the small board he had cut the words, “He died for me.” In war days
of years gone by, that stranger—a man with wife and children—had been
called to the army. When he was just ready to leave, a young man came
to him and pleaded that he might go in his stead, so that the wife and
children might be spared their loved ones and their provider. The man
finally yielded. The fortunes of war were cruel. The young man was killed.
So, years later, the stranger came and stood by the grave; something kept
saying, deep down inside, he died for you—he died for you.” And so he
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Family Bible Studies - 2 page 5
did. And so did Jesus die for us.
Matthew 26:27-28—“He took the cup, and gave thanks, and
gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of It; for this is My blood
of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission
[forgiveness] of sins.”
One writer has said that “Christ was treated as we deserve, that we
might be treated as He deserves . . He suffered the death which was
ours, that we might receive the life which was His. ‘With His stripes we
are healed.’ ”
You see, since the holy law of God is as sacred as God Himself, only one
equal with God could make atonement for its transgression. That some-
one was Jesus, wonderful Jesus.
The human mind may never fully fathom the science, philosophy, or
theology of the atonement, but we can accept it; and all who will accept
the sacrifice of Calvary will have the joy of a changed heart.
The Bible very plainly teaches that Jesus died to make possible the for-
giveness of our sins.
8 - WHY IS THE RESURRECTION
OF JESUS SO IMPORTANT TO US?
Revelation 1:17-18—“I am the first and the last: I am He that
liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen;
and have the keys of hell and of death.”
Romans 5:10—“If, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to
God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall
be saved by His life” (1 John 5:12).
The resurrection of Jesus from the dead is a doctrine that distinguishes
Christianity from all other world religions. Buddha, Confucius, Moham-
med, and the founders of other religious movements are dead. Jesus
alone points to an empty tomb as evidence of divine power and of con-
quest over death. No fact connected with the life of Christ is so firmly
supported as the fact of the resurrection.
A group of infidels in England, during the eighteenth century, became
convinced that all efforts to overthrow the Christian religion would fail
as long as people generally believed in the resurrection of Christ and in
the conversion of the Apostle Paul. One of their number, Dr. Gilbert
West, a brilliant lawyer, was asked to publish a tract upon the alleged
resurrection of Christ while another, Lord Lyttelton, was to write a pam-
phlet exposing the conversion of Paul as a myth. Sometime later these
two men met. West inquired of Lyttelton whether he had completed his
assignment. Lyttelton replied in the affirmative; but he stated that, in
examining the evidence, he had himself become convinced of the con-
version of Paul and was writing to support it. Then Lyttelton asked if
West had finished his work on the resurrection. In reply, West con-
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Family Bible Studies - 2 page 6
fessed to a similar experience. In weighing all the facts, according to
the recognized laws of legal evidence, Dr. West became satisfied that
Jesus Christ really rose from the dead. The result was his celebrated
book, Observations on the History and Evidence of the Resurrection
of Jesus Christ.
Paul goes so far as to say:
1 Corinthians 15:17-18—“If Christ be not raised, your faith is
vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen
asleep in Christ are perished.”
The resurrected Christ is a living Christ. It is only the power of the living
Christ, the power of the resurrection, that can change the life of man
and save him. Paul sought to know the power of His resurrection as a
daily experience, that he might at last be raised in the resurrection of
the dead (Philippians 3:10-11). The resurrection of Christ is thus a
sample and pledge of ours. “Christ the first fruits; afterward they that
are Christ’s at His coming” (1 Corinthians 15:23).
The Scriptures teach that Jesus rose a victor over death, to save us
by His life and to assure us of our resurrection from the grave.
9 - WHERE IS JESUS NOW
AND WHAT IS HE DOING?
Forty days after the resurrection Jesus ascended to heaven and His
disciples were left behind. Here is a vivid picture of the scene:
Acts 1:9-11—“While they beheld, He was taken up; and a cloud
received Him out of their sight. And while they looked stedfastly
toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them
in white apparel; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand
ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up
from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have
seen Him go into heaven.”
Christ ascended to heaven, to become our mediator and high priest.
Said Paul:
1 Timothy 2:5—“There is one God, and one mediator between
God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (Hebrews 8:1; 7:25).
We need a representative in heaven who understands our problems.
Jesus does. “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched
with the feeling of our infirmities” (Hebrews 4:15).
Hebrews 2:17—He was “made like unto His brethren, that He
might be a merciful . . high priest.”
We may come in reverent boldness to the throne of mercy, grace, and
power (Hebrews 4:16).
According to the Bible, Jesus ascended to heaven and is now medi-
ating in our behalf.
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10 - WILL JESUS COME AGAIN?
John 14:2-3—“In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it
were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for
you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again,
and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be
also” (Revelation 19:11-16).
Hebrews 9:28—“So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of
many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the
second time without sin unto salvation.”
The second coming of Christ is the climax of the gospel. It is the time of
reward. Without it the cross loses its meaning. The cross is the seed
sowing of God’s love, the second coming is the harvesttime. It is the
homecoming of God’s people.
The Scriptures testify that Jesus will come again. Let us be ready to
meet Him.
THE CONVERSION OF AN INFIDEL
The following testimony of an unbelieving man who finally yielded to
the claims of Christ will stir your heart:
“I was reared an infidel . . I was nourished on the vaunting skeptics of
the ages. But I observed with futile amazement with which every skep-
tic, from Celsus to Wells, stood around the cradle of the Christ. I won-
dered why this helpless Babe was thrust into the world at a time when
Roman greed, Jewish hate, and Greek subtlety would combine to crush
Him. And yet this most powerful devastating combination ever known
in history served only to advance the cause of the Infant who was born
in a stable.
“I marveled that this poverty-stricken uneducated plebeian who exer-
cised no authority, commanded no army, held no office, received no
honors, wrote no books, and who died in early manhood the most con-
temptible of deaths, a malefactor on a cross between two criminals—I
marveled that His name is yet the most esteemed name on earth, even
among the skeptics themselves.
“No unbeliever could tell me why His words are as charged with power
today as they were nineteen hundred years ago. Nor could scoffers ex-
plain how those pierced hands pulled human monsters with gnarled
souls out of a hell of iniquity and overnight transformed them into stead-
fast, glorious heroes who died in tortures.
“No doubter could tell me how this isolated Jew could utter words so
simple that a child could understand them and so deep that the greatest
thinkers cannot plumb their shining depths. The life, the words, the
character of this strange Man are the enigma of history. Any natural
explanation makes Him a more puzzling paradox, a fathomless mys-
tery.
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Family Bible Studies - 2 page 8
“But I learned that the paradox was plain and the mystery solved when
I accepted Him for what He claimed to be—the Son of God, come from
heaven and Saviour of men, but above all, my own Saviour.”
This testimony, by a man who learned to know Jesus, appears in a
remarkable little book written by Earle Albert Rowell, himself a con-
verted infidel. The book gives an account of Mr. Rowell’s experiences in
speaking to large gatherings of skeptics, agnostics, and infidels through-
out North America.
The next lesson is about an amazing Bible prophecy. It is called “Daniel
Two.”
———————————————————————————
Brief Review Questions —

Was Jesus the Son of God?

Did Christ live before coming to this world?

Did the Father and the Son share in the work of

Creation?

What is meant by the word, “Incarnation”?

How was Jesus our example, while on earth?

Why did Christ have to die?

Why is His resurrection so important?

What is Jesus doing now?

Is Jesus coming back for His people?

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PROPHECIES ABOUT CHRIST

Read and believe: Predicted centuries before His birth, Jesus
came and fulfilled hundreds of predictions. Here are a few of the
prophecies. Yes, read and believe: Jesus is your Saviour, your Lord
and your God. He is your hope for this life and for the life to come.

THE SEED OF THE WOMAN– WOMAN–Gen 3:15; Gal 4:4; 1 Tim 2:15;
Rev 12:5. BORN OF A VIRGIN
VIRGIN–Psalms 22:10; 86:16; 116:16;
Isa 7:14; 49:1; Jer 31:22: Micah 5:3; Matt 1:23; Luke 1:26-35. OF
THE F AMIL
FAMIL
AMILY Y OF SHEM
SHEM–Gen 9:26. OF THE RACE OF THE
HEBREWS
HEBREWS–John 4:9; 18:35. OF THE SEED OF ABRAHAM ABRAHAM–
Gen 12:3; 18:18; 22:18; Matt 1:1; John 8:58; Acts 3:25; Heb 2:16.
OF THE LINE OF ISAACISAAC–Gen 17:19; 21:12; 26:4; Rom 9:7; Gal
4:23-28; Heb 11:18. OF JACOB (ISRAEL)
(ISRAEL)–Gen 28:4-14; Ex 4:22;
Num 24:7-17; Psalm 135:4, etc.; Isa 41:8; 49:6; Jer 14:8; Luke
1:68; 2:32; Acts 28:20. OF THE TRIBE OF JUDAH JUDAH–Gen 49:10;
1 Chron 5:2; Micah 5:2; Matt 2:6; Heb 7:14; Rev 5:5. OF THE
HOUSE OF DAVID
DAVID–2 Sam 7:12-15; 1 Chron 17:11-14; 2 Chron
6:42; Psalms 89:4, 36; 132:10-17; Isa 9:7; 11:1; 55:3-4; Jer 23:5-
6; Amos 9:11; Matt 1:1; Luke 1:69; 2:4; John 7:42; Acts 2:29-30;
13:23; Rom 1:3; 2 Tim 2:8; Rev 22:16. BORN A T BETHLEHEM,
AT
THE CITY OF DAVID
DAVID–Micah 5:2; Matt 2:6; Luke 2:4; John 7:42.
HIS SUFFERINGS
SUFFERINGS–Gen 3:15; Psalms 22:1-18; 31:13; 89:38-45;
Isa 53:1-12; Dan 9:26; Zech 13:6-7; Matt 26:31; Luke 24:26; John
1:29; 26:23. HIS DEA
DEATHTH ON THE CROS
CROSS S–Num 21:9; Psalms
16:10; 22:16; 31:22; Isa 53:8-9; Dan 9:26; Matt 20:19; 26:2; John
3:14; 8:28; 12:32-33; 1 Cor 15:3; Col 2:14; Phil 2:8. HIS EN-
TOMBMENT AND EMBALMMENT
EMBALMMENT–Isa 53:9; Matt 26:12; Mark
14:8; John 12:7; 19:40; 1 Cor 15:4. HIS RESURRECTION ON
THE THIRD DA DAYY–Psalms 16:10; 17:15; 49:15; 73:24; John 1:17;
Matt 12:40; 16:4; 27:63; John 2:19; Acts 2:27-31; 13:35; 1 Cor
15:4. HIS ASCENSION INTO HEAVEN HEAVEN–Psalms 8:5-6; 47:5;
68:18; 110:1; Acts 1:9; 2:33; John 20:17; Eph 4:8-10; Heb 1:3;
2:9; Rev 12:5. HIS SECOND ADVENT ADVENT–Isa 40:10; 62:11; Jer
23:5-6; Psalm 50:1-6; Job 19:25-29; Matt 24:3-30; 25:31-34; 26:64;
John 5:25, 28-30; Acts 17:31; 24:25; Heb 9:28; Rev 14:14; 19:11-
17.

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PROPHECIES ABOUT CHRIST

THE SON OF GOD–2 GOD Sam 7:14; 1 Chron 17:13; Psalms 2:7;
72:1; Prov 30:4; Dan 3:25; Mark 1:1; Luke 1:35; Matt 3:17; 17:5;
John 1:34-50; 3:16-18; 20:31; Heb 1:1-5; Rom 1:4; 1 John 4:14-15;
Rev 1:5-6. THE SON OF MAN–Psalm
MAN 8:4-5; Dan 7:13; John 1:51;
3:13; 5:17; Matt 16:13-16; 26:63; Heb 2:7; Rev 1:13; 14:14. THE
HOL
HOLY Y ONE
ONE–Deut 33:8; Psalms 16:10; 89:19; Isa 10:17; 29:23;
49:7; Hos 11:9; Hab 1:12; 3:3; Mark 1:24; Luke 1:35; 4:34; 1 John
2:20. THE RIGHTEOUS ONE ONE–Isaiah 41:2; Jer 23:5; Zech 9:9;
Psalm 34:19, 21; Luke 1:17; Matt 27:19-24; Luke 23:47; Acts 3:14;
7:52; 22:14; 1 John 2:1, 29; James 5:6. THE WISDOM OF GOD GOD–
Prov 8:22-30; Matt 11:19; Luke 11:49; 1 Cor 1:24. THE WORD
OF GOD
GOD–Gen 15:1-4; 1 Sam 3:1-21; 2 Sam 7:4, 1 Kings 17:8-24;
Psalm 33:6; Isa 40:8; Jer 25:3; Micah 4:2; John 1:1-14; 3:34; Luke
1:2; Heb 4:12; 11:3; 1 Pet 1:23; 2 Pet 3:5; Rev 19:13. THE RE-
DEEMER OR SAVIOUR
SAVIOUR–Gen 48:16; Job 19:25-27; Psalm 19:14;
Isa 41:14; 44:6; 47:4; 59:20; 62:11; 63:1; Jer 50:34; Matt 1:21; Luke
2:11; John 1:29; Acts 5:31; Rom 11:26; Rev 5:9. THE LAMB OF
GOD
GOD–Gen 22:8; Isa 53:7; John 1:29; Acts 8:32-35; 1 Pet 1:19;
Rev 5:6; 13:8; 15:3; 21:22; 22:1. THE MEDIA TOR, INTERCES-
MEDIATOR,
SOR AND ADVOCA
ADVOCATE TE
TE–Job 33:23: Isa 53:12; 59:16; Luke 23:34;
1 Tim 2:5; Heb 9:15; 1 John 2:1; Rev 5:9. SHIL OH, THE
SHILOH,
APOSTLE
APOSTLE–Gen 49:10; Ex 4:13; Matt 15:24; Luke 4:18; John 9:7;
17:3; 20:21; Heb 3:1. THE HIGH PRIEST
PRIEST–Psalm 110:4; Isa 59:16;
Heb 3:1; 4:14; 5:10; 9:11. THE PROPHET LIKE MOSES MOSES–Deut
18:15-19; Mark 6:15; Luke 24:19; John 1:17-21; 6:14; Acts 3:22-
23. THE LEADER OR CHIEF CAPT CAPTAI AI
AIN–Josh 5:14; 1 Chron
5:2; Isa 55:4; Micah 5:2; Dan 9:25; Matt 2:6; Heb 2:10. THE MES-
SIAH, CHRIST
CHRIST,, KING OF ISRAEL
ISRAEL–1 Sam 2:10; 2 Sam 7:12;
Psalms 2:2, 6; 45:1, 6; 72:1; 89:38; Isa 61:1; Dan 9:26; Matt 2:2-4;
16:16; Luke 23:2; John 1:41-49; 6:69; Acts 4:26-27; 10:38. THE
GOD OF ISRAEL
ISRAEL–Ex 24:10-11; Judges 11:23; 1 Sam 5:11; 1
Chron 17:24; Psalm 41:13; Isa 45:3; Ezek 8:4; Matt 15:31; 22:37;
John 20:38. KING OF KINGS, AND L ORD OF L
LORD ORDS
LORDS
ORDS–Psalms
89:27; 110:1; Dan 7:13-14; Matt 28:18; John 3:35; 13:3; 1 Cor 15:25;
Eph 1:20-22; Col 3:1; Rev 19:16.
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Brief Bible Study - Lesson 2 JESUS - CODE: J

Ten Facts about Jesus

1 - WAS JESUS THE SON OF GOD?
John 3:16—“God so loved the world, that He _________ His
only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should
not perish, but have everlasting life.”
2 - WHAT WAS THE RELATIONSHIP
OF JESUS TO GOD?
John 10:30—“I and My Father are one.”
John 1:1, 14—“In the beginning was the ___________, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God . . And the Word
was made flesh, and dwelt among us” (Hebrews 1:8; Isaiah 9:6).
1 Corinthians 15:28—“When all things shall be subdued unto
Him [Christ], then shall the ___________ also Himself be subject
unto Him [the Father] that put all things under Him [Christ], that
God may be all in all.”
3 - DID CHRIST LIVE
BEFORE COMING TO THIS WORLD?
John 17:5—“Now, O Father, glorify thou Me with Thine _________
self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was”
(also Micah 5:2).
4 - WHAT PART DID CHRIST HAVE
IN THE WORK OF CREATION?
Hebrews 1:1-2—“God . . hath in these last days _________ unto us
by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom
also He made the worlds” (also John 1:1-3).
5 - IN WHAT WAY WAS THE BIRTH
OF JESUS SUPERNATURAL?
Isaiah 7:14—“Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign;
Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a __________, and
shall call His name Immanuel” (Matthew 1:18, 22-23).
6 - WHAT EXAMPLE DID JESUS SET FOR US
IN HIS STRUGGLE WITH TEMPTATION?
1 Peter 2:21-22—“Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an ex-
ample, that ye should follow His steps: who did no __________,
neither was guile found in His mouth.”
John 15:10—“I have kept My Father’s commandments.”
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Brief Bible Study - Lesson 2 JESUS - CODE: J

Hebrews 4:15—“[Jesus] was in all points ___________ like

as we are, yet without sin” (also Romans 8:3-4).
7- WHAT WAS ACCOMPLISHED
BY THE DEATH OF JESUS?
Romans 5:8—“God commendeth His love _________ us, in
that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Matthew 26:27-
28).
8 - WHY IS THE RESURRECTION
OF JESUS SO IMPORTANT TO US?
Romans 5:10—“If, when we were enemies, we ________ recon-
ciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled,
we shall be saved by His life” (1 John 5:12).
Revelation 1:17-18—“I am the first and the last: I am He
that liveth, and was _________; and, behold, I am alive for ever-
more, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.”
1 Corinthians 15:17-18—“If Christ be not __________, your
faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are
fallen asleep in Christ are perished.”
9 - WHERE IS JESUS NOW
AND WHAT IS HE DOING?
Acts 1:9-11—“While they beheld, He was _________ up; and a
cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked
stedfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood
by them in white apparel; which also said, Ye men of Galilee,
why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same _________,
which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like
manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven.”
1 Timothy 2:5—“There is one God, and one _____________
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (also Hebrews 2:17;
8:1; 7:25).
10 - WILL JESUS COME AGAIN?
John 14:2-3—“In my Father’s house are many ____________:
if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place
for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come
again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye
may be also” (also Hebrews 9:28; Revelation 19:11-16).
Hebrews 9:28—“So Christ was once offered to _________ the
sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He ap-
pear the second time without sin unto salvation.”
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Family Bible Studies - 3 page 1

What tthe
he Bible says about –

Daniel Two
Two
SCRIPTURE READING:
DANIEL 2
Nebuchadnezzar, ruler of the Babylonian Empire, was one of the great-
est of ancient kings. During his reign, he extended the boundaries of
Babylon to include much of the territory we know today as the Middle
East and Egypt. In the course of his conquests, many smaller countries
fell. Members of the royal families of these subdued nations were made
captives at the Babylonian court. Thus we find Daniel and his friends,
princes from Palestine, land of the Hebrews, captive in Babylon at the
time when God gave King Nebuchadnezzar the remarkable dream re-
corded here. Because of Daniel’s faithfulness, God used him to inter-
pret the dream. Let us turn now to the details of the prophecy.
1 - WHO ALONE KNOWS
THE SECRETS OF THE FUTURE?
Isaiah 46:9-10—“Remember the former things of old: for I am
God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like
Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times
the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand,
and I will do all My pleasure.”
When the Babylonian king was perplexed about the future of his king-
dom and the meaning of his dream, Daniel encouraged him with these
words:
Daniel 2:28—“There is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets,
and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be
in the latter days.”
During the first world war, the Prince of Wales visited a hospital filled
with hundreds of war-mangled men. As the prince walked slowly from
bed to bed a stabbing cry quieted the faint rumble of conversation. “O
God! Is there a God?” The probing question came from a youth lying
upon a bed. He had eyes, but they did not see. He was blind. His chest
was deep, his shoulders broad, but his sleeves dangled limp and empty
on the pillows. He had no arms. He had a powerful form; but, from his
trunk to the foot of the bed, the covers lay perfectly flat upon the mat-
tress. He had no legs, no sight, no arms! This youth was destined to a
life of unutterable anguish unless he had faith in God; and, from his
aching heart, burst the bitter words, “Is there a God?” The Prince of
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Family Bible Studies - 3 page 2
Wales, his heart filled with pity, stooping over, kissed the youth upon
his forehead.
Is there a God? A young Hebrew prince spoke for God before the mighty
Nebuchadnezzar some 2,500 years ago. Down the long corridor of time
his words of faith come echoing back to us: “There is a God in heaven.”
However gloomy the day, dark the night, or rough the way, remember,
“There is a God in heaven.” And He knows the future and reveals it to
men.
2 - WHY WAS THE DREAM
GIVEN TO NEBUCHADNEZZAR?
Daniel 2:28—“There is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets,
and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be
in the latter days.”
Daniel 2:29—“He that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee
what shall come to pass” (verse 45).
3 - WHAT PART DOES GOD PLAY
IN THE AFFAIRS OF NATIONS?
Daniel 2:20-21—“Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever:
for wisdom and might are His: and He changeth the times and
the seasons: He removeth kings, and setteth up kings: He giveth
wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know under-
standing.”
The God of the universe presented to Nebuchadnezzar a picture of events
to come in order to show him that a power greater than himself was at
work in the world. This fact is still true today. Indeed, all rulers are
subject to God’s decrees.
One writer has said: “The power exercised by every ruler on earth is
Heaven imparted; and, upon his use of the power thus bestowed, his
success depends. To each the word of the divine Watcher is, ‘I girded
thee, though thou hast not known Me . . Break off thy sins by righteous-
ness, and thine iniquities by showing mercy to the poor; if it may be a
lengthening of thy tranquillity.” The divine Watcher said to Nebuchadnezzar,
“That the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of
men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will” (Daniel 4:17).
The great image which King Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream, which
Daniel then interpreted, is pictured on the preceding page. The stone,
cut out without hands, will strike the image on its feet.
BABYLON — 605 B.C. - 538 B.C.
PERSIA — 538 B.C. - 331 B.C.
GREECE — 331 B.C. -168 B.C.
ROME — 168 B.C. - A.D. 476
DIVIDED — A.D. 476 - NOW
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Family Bible Studies - 3 page 3
4 - HOW DID DANIEL DESCRIBE
NEBUCHADNEZZAR’S DREAM?
Daniel 2:31—“Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image.
This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before
thee; and the form thereof was terrible” (verses 31-35).
This great image of a man, made of metal and clay with the great stone
striking the feet, represented the rise and fall of empires from Nebuchad-
nezzar’s day down through the centuries of the past to our own day and
on into the future. Let us trace the scenes in this vivid prophetic pic-
ture.
5 - WHAT KINGDOM WAS REPRESENTED
BY THE HEAD OF GOLD?
Daniel 2:37-38—“Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God
of heaven hath given thee a kingdom . . Thou art this head of
gold.”

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Family Bible Studies - 3 page 4
The head of gold was a symbol of Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom, Babylon.
He was the “head of gold.”
God had spoken of Babylon as a golden city a hundred years before (Isaiah
14:4).
Through Jeremiah, a prophet contemporary with Daniel, God spoke of
the nation as a golden cup (Jeremiah 51:7). Historians refer to Babylon
as the “Golden City of a Golden Age.” Nebuchadnezzar could not but be
impressed (and not a little pleased) with the fitness of the symbol, “head
of gold.”
6 - HOW WERE THE WORLD EMPIRES
FOLLOWING BABYLON REPRESENTED?
Daniel 2:39-41—“After thee shall arise another kingdom infe-
rior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall
bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be
strong as iron . . And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes,
part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be di-
vided.”
Each of the four empires of this prophecy was to fall and be succeeded
by another ruling power. The head of gold represented Babylon; the
breast and arms of silver, Persia; the thighs of brass, Greece; and the
legs of iron, Rome. Let us take a quick glance at each of the passing
empires.
1. The gold kingdom of Babylon.
Babylon was the first of what history knows as the Four Great Monar-
chies: Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome.
By contact with the Hebrew nation, Babylon had opportunity to become
familiar with the Word of God and His will as revealed in it. Then as
now, God was “not willing that any should perish,” but that all should
have eternal life. Jeremiah says, “We would have healed Babylon, but
she is not healed” (Jeremiah 51:9). As a nation, Babylon turned away
from God. Because of this, all through succeeding Scriptures the term,
“Babylon,” is used in a symbolic way to refer to those who willfully turn
away from God.
In Chapter five of the book of Daniel, the account of the fall of Babylon
is given. A century before this, the man, Cyrus, leader of the Medes and
Persians, was pointed out as the one who would overthrow Babylon.
This he did in 538 B.C. After establishing his government, he put in
action the legal processes that freed the Jews and led to the rebuilding
of Jerusalem (Isaiah 45).
2. The silver kingdom of Persia.
Silver was a fitting symbol of Persia; for it was used by the Persians as
a medium of exchange and in decorations, even more than the gold of
the Babylonians. See Cambridge Ancient History on “Persia.”
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Family Bible Studies - 3 page 5
Persia, like Babylon, turned aside from the worship of the true God. The
wickedness of their later leaders undermined their strength and led to
their decisive defeat by Alexander the Great at Arbela in 331 B.C. The
reins of power thus passed into the hands of the rising empire of the
Greeks.
3. The brass kingdom of Greece.
The brazen armor and brass breastplates worn by the Grecian soldiers
are reflected in the brass thighs of the image.
Again another great nation had opportunity to know its Creator as a
Saviour; but, like the nations before it, Grecia turned away to the false
philosophies of its own devising. After the death of Alexander the Great,
the nation began to lose its power and unity. The growing strength of
the Romans finally became too great for the Greeks who, formerly, had
so nobly defended themselves at Thermopylae and Salamis. The defeat
in Macedonia, at Pydna in 168 B.C. was the first of many, until the
entire territory in the Middle East, formerly held by the Greeks, was
under the iron monarchy of Rome.
4. The iron monarchy of Rome.
The iron monarchy of Rome broke in pieces, bruised, and subdued
kingdoms for nearly six hundred years. Jesus was born in this era and
was crucified under Rome’s authority.
Hippolytus, a great theologian who died about A.D. 236, wrote, refer-
ring to Rome: “Rejoice, blessed Daniel! thou hast not been in error . .
Already the iron rules.” Gibbon wrote: “The arms of the republic, al-
ways victorious in war, advanced and the images of gold, or silver, or
brass, that might serve to represent the nations and their kings, were
successively broken by the iron monarchy of Rome” (The History of the
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. 3, p. 365).
7 - WHAT PICTURE IS GIVEN
OF THE DIVISION OF ROME?
Daniel 2:43—“Whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they
shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not
cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.”
Barbarian invasions divided the territory of Western Rome. These divi-
sions—ten in number, represented by the feet and toes of iron and clay—
formed the foundations of the many nations that are now located in
Europe. For instance, some of the territory once conquered by the Franks
is now France, territory taken by the Alamanni is now Germany, etc.
The efforts of rulers such as Charlemagne, Charles V, Louis XIV, Napo-
leon, Kaiser Wilhelm, and Hitler who attempted to unite these European
nations under one head have all failed. The prophecy indicates that these
countries will never be permanently united—“They shall not cleave one to
another.”

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Family Bible Studies - 3 page 6
8 - HOW DOES GOD PICTURE
THE FINAL CRISIS OF THE NATIONS?
Daniel 2:34-35—“Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out with-
out hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of
iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the
clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces to-
gether, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors;
and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for
them.”
9 - WHAT GREAT KINGDOM
IS REPRESENTED BY THE STONE
THAT STRUCK THE IMAGE?
Daniel 2:44—“And in the days of these kings shall the God of
heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed.”
Daniel 2:35—“The stone that smote the image became a great
mountain, and filled the whole earth.”
10 - WHERE ARE WE TODAY?
The kingdoms of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome have passed
from the scene of action. We are now living in the last division, repre-
sented by the feet and toes of the image. The course of history is almost
run. The next act, according to the prophecy, will be the coming of Christ
as King of kings and Lord of lords.
“Down in the feet of iron and of clay, weak and divided, soon to pass
away. What will the next great, glorious drama be? Christ and His com-
ing, and eternity!”
Consideration of this prophecy brings us face to face with the most vital
issue of our lives. Are we ready to enter Christ’s everlasting kingdom
and prepared to meet Jesus Christ, the coming King? There is nothing
more important to us than to make sure of that eternal home in Christ’s
kingdom. Every person may have the assurance that he will be part of
that kingdom if he cares to be. “For God so loved the world, that He
gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not
perish, but have everlasting life.” “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved.” Surrender your heart and life to the Saviour
and let Him live in you a life of obedience.
You will recall the account of the thief on the cross who, when he was
face to face with death, turned to Jesus and said, “Lord, remember me
when Thou comest into Thy kingdom.”
That very moment Jesus assured the penitent thief of a place in His
coming kingdom. God can do that for you and me today!
The next lesson is very important; it is called: “The Plan of Salvation.”

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———————————————————————————
Brief Review Questions —

Who is the only one who can know the future?

Who is more powerful than all the nations of earth?

In the vision of the great image, what was the first, or

gold, kingdom?

What was the second, or silver, kingdom?

What was the third, or brass, kingdom?

What was the fourth, or iron, kingdom?

What is the meaning of the feet and toes?

What is the meaning of the great Stone?

Where are we today?

What is just ahead of us?

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Family Bible Studies - 3 page 8
DANIEL TWO
SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL—
“In the annals of human history, the growth of nations, the rise and
fall of empires, appear as if dependent on the will and prowess of man;
the shaping of events seems, to a great degree, to be determined by his
power, ambition, or caprice. But in the Word of God the curtain is drawn
aside and we behold, above, behind, and through all the play and
counterplay of human interest and power and passions, the agencies of
the All-merciful One, silently, patiently working out the counsels of His
own will . .
“God has made plain that whosoever will, may come ‘into the bond
of the covenant’ (Ezekiel 20:37). In the creation it was His purpose that
the earth should be inhabited by beings whose existence would be a
blessing to themselves and to one another, and an honor to their Creator.
All who will may identify themselves with this purpose. Of them it is
spoken, ‘This people have I formed for Myself; they shall show forth My
praise’ (Isaiah 43:21).
“In His law God has made known the principles that underlie all true
prosperity, both of nations and of individuals. To the Israelites Moses
declared of this law: "This is your wisdom and your understanding." "It
is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life." Deuteronomy 4:6;
32:47. The blessings thus assured to Israel are, on the same conditions
and in the same degree, assured to every nation and to every individual
under the broad heavens.
“Hundreds of years before certain nations came upon the stage of
action, the Omniscient One looked down the ages and predicted the rise
and fall of the universal kingdoms. God declared to Nebuchadnezzar
that the kingdom of Babylon should fall, and a second kingdom would
arise, which also would have its period of trial. Failing to exalt the true
God, its glory would fade, and a third kingdom would occupy its place.
This also would pass away; and a fourth, strong as iron, would subdue
the nations of the world . .
“In the history of nations the student of God’s Word may behold the
literal fulfillment of divine prophecy. Babylon, shattered and broken at
last, passed away because in prosperity its rulers had regarded them-
selves as independent of God, and had ascribed the glory of their king-
dom to human achievement. The Medo-Persian realm was visited by the
wrath of Heaven because in it God’s law had been trampled underfoot.
The fear of the Lord had found no place in the hearts of the vast majority
of the people. Wickedness, blasphemy, and corruption prevailed. The
kingdoms that followed were even more base and corrupt; and these
sank lower and still lower in the scale of moral worth.
“The power exercised by every ruler on the earth is Heaven-imparted;
and upon his use of the power thus bestowed, his success depends.”
—Prophets and Kings, 499-502
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Brief Bible Study - Lesson 3 DANIEL 2 - CODE: D2

Daniel Two
1 - WHO ALONE KNOWS
THE SECRETS OF THE FUTURE?
Isaiah 46:9-10—“Remember the ___________ things of old:
for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is
none like Me, declaring the end from the _____________, and
from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My
counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure.”
Daniel 2:28—“There is a God in heaven that ___________
secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what
shall be in the latter days.”
2 - WHY WAS THE DREAM
GIVEN TO NEBUCHADNEZZAR?
Daniel 2:28—“There is a God in heaven that revealeth se-
crets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what
shall be in the latter days.”
Daniel 2:29—“He that revealeth secrets maketh _________ to
thee what shall come to pass” (verse 45).
3 - WHAT PART DOES GOD PLAY
IN THE AFFAIRS OF NATIONS?
Daniel 2:20-21—“___________ be the name of God for ever
and ever: for wisdom and might are His: and He changeth the
times and the seasons: He removeth kings, and setteth up
kings: He giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them
that know understanding.”
4 - HOW DID DANIEL DESCRIBE
NEBUCHADNEZZAR’S DREAM?
Daniel 2:31—“Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image.
This great image, whose brightness was ___________, stood
before thee; and the form thereof was terrible” (verses 31-35).
5 - WHAT KINGDOM WAS REPRESENTED
BY THE HEAD OF GOLD?
Daniel 2:37-38—“Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the
God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom . . Thou art this
head of gold.”

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Brief Bible Study - Lesson 3 DANIEL 2 - CODE: D2

6 - HOW WERE THE WORLD EMPIRES

FOLLOWING BABYLON REPRESENTED?
Daniel 2:39-41—“After thee shall arise another _____________
inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which
shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom
shall be strong as __________ . . And whereas thou sawest the
feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, the kingdom
shall be divided.”

1. The gold kingdom of Babylon — 605 B.C. - 538 B.C.

2. The silver kingdom of Persia — 538 B.C. - 331 B.C.
3. The brass kingdom of Greece — 331 B.C. -168 B.C.
4. The iron monarchy of Rome — 168 B.C. - A.D. 476
Divided — A.D. 476 - NOW

7 - WHAT PICTURE IS GIVEN

OF THE DIVISION OF ROME?
Daniel 2:43—“Whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry
____________, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men:
but they shall not ____________ one to another, even as iron is not
mixed with clay.”
8 - HOW DOES GOD PICTURE
THE FINAL CRISIS OF THE NATIONS?
Daniel 2:34-35—“Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out
without hands, which smote the image upon his ____________
that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then
was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, bro-
ken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the sum-
mer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, that
no place was found for them.”
9 - WHAT GREAT KINGDOM
IS REPRESENTED BY THE STONE
THAT STRUCK THE IMAGE?
Daniel 2:44 “And in the days of these ____________ shall the
God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed.”
Daniel 2:35—“The stone that smote the image became a great
mountain, and ____________ the whole earth.”

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What tthe
he Bible says about –

The Plan of Salvation

Salvation
SCRIPTURE READING:
JOHN 3:1-21
EPHESIANS 2:1-10; 5:10-18

WHAT IS SIN?
The answer to this question is found in the words of John:
1 John 3:4—“Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the
law.”
This is the most comprehensive definition of sin in the Scriptures. God
has a fundamental, unchangeable, everlasting law (Psalm 111:7-8), and
the violation of that law is sin. The unchanging God will never set aside
that holy law in any plan for saving man. This would destroy the very
foundation of His government. And, remember, God’s fundamental law
is the Ten Commandments.
“Whatsoever is not of faith is sin” (Romans 14:23). If a man violates his
conscience, to him it is sin. To be sure, his conscience must be open to
enlightenment and education, but he should sacredly guard it. If he
does not, it will become seared as with a hot iron (1 Timothy 4:2). “To
him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin” (James
4:17).
The only man who will not be held accountable for his wrongdoing is
the man who does not know that he is sinning (Romans 2:12). Said
Jesus, “If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see;
therefore your sin remaineth” (John 9:41).
If we close our eyes that we may not see, our ears that we may not hear,
then we shall be responsible for what we have known (Matthew 13:15).
“All unrighteousness is sin.” This is the way John sums it all up. The
line of demarcation between sin and righteousness should be sharply
drawn in our minds.
Is there a more important question man can ask than What must I do to
be saved from sin? A skeptical mathematics student found a note on
his table, reading: “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole
world, and lose his own soul?” He could not figure out any profit, so he
gave his heart to God. After a man has found out what to do to be saved,
then he ought to act on this vital information and seek salvation for
himself and his dear ones.

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Family Bible Studies - 4 page 2
1 - FROM WHAT THREE THINGS
DOES MAN NEED TO BE SAVED?
1. The penalty of sin.
Since “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God,” all men are
sinners. And “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). This death
penalty is not the first death. “In Adam all die,” saints and sinners alike
(1 Corinthians 15:22). The wages of sin is the second death. This is the
death that is eternal, the penalty we should all seek to escape. God has
given the promise: “Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous
man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have
mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon” (Isaiah
55:7).
2. The power of sin.
Romans 8:7—“The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is
not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.”
If God pardoned a man for the sins of the past and did not save him
from the power of sin, and then allowed the man to live forever, He
would have an everlasting sinner, wouldn’t He? This is just what God
will not permit. Sinful man was driven from the tree of life lest he should
eat and live forever (Genesis 3:22-23). It is not enough merely to have
a boat to keep from sinking. We must have strength to row upstream
lest we drift until we plunge over sin’s great Niagara to eternal destruc-
tion. The whole current of our thinking and the swift-moving stream of
our restless souls need to be changed to flow Godward. Do you not,
even now, sense a great need of more power in your life? God will sup-
ply you with this much-needed power.
3. The presence of sin.
Romans 16:20—“The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your
feet shortly.”
This test means that sin and its originator, Satan, shall be put down
forever. And death shall be “destroyed” (1 Corinthians 15:26). There
shall be no more sin or suffering. God saves us from the presence of sin
and creates a new world of righteousness for us (2 Peter 3:13). This is
God’s final act of salvation.
2 - CAN MAN SAVE HIMSELF FROM SIN?
Man is unable to atone for the sins of the past.
Romans 3:20—“By the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be
justified in His sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”
Man is like a criminal who has violated the law and is doomed to die,
and there is nothing he can do for himself. “By the deeds of the law
there shall no flesh be justified.”
His promises to do good cannot save him. And, even if he could live
without sin in the future, he still has upon him the guilt of all the sins
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Family Bible Studies - 4 page 3
he has committed in the past. He is like a person who owes a huge
grocery bill. He promises to pay cash from now on. But this will not pay
the back debt, will it? So far as human prospects go, man is hopelessly
in debt and hopelessly lost.
Jeremiah 13:23—“Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the
leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accus-
tomed to do evil.”
Sinfulness is a part of our very nature, like the Ethiopian’s skin or the
spots of a leopard. Paul said:
Romans 7:18-19—“I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwell-
eth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to
perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would
I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.”
An eagle swooped down in a field and flew away with something wrig-
gling in its claws. It rose higher and higher. A farmer was watching.
After a while the eagle seemed to grow weary. Its great wings moved
slower and slower as it came nearer and nearer to the earth. Finally, its
wings collapsed and it plummeted to the ground. The farmer went to
investigate. There he saw a serpent slithering its way through the grass.
It had bitten the great bird and poisoned its blood stream. Even so the
serpent of sin brings us down from every attempt to be good; and, as
the delinquent little boys said, “We just can’t help it.” But God has a way to
help us, as we shall see.
3 - WHAT IS GOD’S PART
IN SAVING MAN FROM SIN?
1. God provides the pardon for sins that are past.
John 3:16—“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not per-
ish, but have everlasting life.”
Christ came to earth to pay the price of our transgressions. “When we
were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly” (Ro-
mans 5:6). “God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were
yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Isaiah declares: “He was
wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the
chastisement of our peace was upon him” (Isaiah 53:5).
No man who accepts Christ as his Saviour and follows Him need suffer
the wages of sin—the second, eternal death—for Christ, God’s sacrificial
Lamb, died in his place. “Christ was treated as we deserve, that we might
be treated as He deserves. He was condemned for our sins, in which He
had no share, that we might be justified by His righteousness, in which
we had no share. He suffered the death which was ours, that we might
receive the life which was His” (Desire of Ages, p. 25). But eternal sepa-
ration from God is to be the sad end of all who reject the gospel of
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Family Bible Studies - 4 page 4
salvation (Matthew 25:41).
This can be illustrated by comparing the sinner to a condemned man
standing before a firing squad. Only the slightest touch of a trigger is
needed to send him into eternity. But a messenger suddenly appears
and command is given to lower the guns. Some higher authority has
intervened. The condemned man is led away and set free. God has pro-
vided for us a way of escape from certain and everlasting death. That
way is through Christ (John 3:16).
2. God gives man the victory over sin in his life.
Through the new-birth experience God gives the power of a new life.
Says John, we “were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor
of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13; John 3:5; 1 Peter 1:23). To
be born again means that God fulfills His law in us. As Paul tells us,
“What the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God
sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, con-
demned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be
fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Ro-
mans 8:3-4; Hebrews 8-10).
The process of sin was reversed when God created a “new creature” in
Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:17). Not only does He recreate the sin-
ner, but He has made other wonderful provisions for all who believe.
a. He gives repentance for our sins (Acts 5:31).
b. He sends His Spirit to dwell in our hearts (1 John 3:24).
c. He provides the Bible to comfort, strengthen, and keep us
(Romans 15:4; Psalm 119:105; Ephesians 6:17).
d. He opens heaven to our prayers (Hebrews 4:16).
Romans 8:32—“He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him
up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?”
And if there is anything else that God can do to save us He will do it!
4 - WHAT IS MAN’S PART
IN SALVATION?
TO OBTAIN PARDON FOR SIN, THE FOLLOWING SIMPLE STEPS
MUST BE TAKEN:
1. Look to God.
Isaiah 45:22—“Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of
the earth: for I am God, and there is none else” (John 5:40; Mat-
thew 11:28-30).
2. Believe on Jesus Christ.
Acts 16:31—“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be
saved, and thy house.”

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Family Bible Studies - 4 page 5
3. Repent of every sin.
Luke 13:3—“Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.”
Acts 3:19—“Repent ye therefore and be converted, that your
sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come
from the presence of the Lord.”
4. Confess every sin known to you.
1 John 1:9—“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to
forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
5. Make things right with your brother.
Ezekiel 33:15-16—“If the wicked restore the pledge, give again
that he had robbed, walk in the statutes of life, without commit-
ting iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die. None of his
sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him: he
hath done that which is lawful and right; he shall surely live.”
One never tires of the story of Reuben Johnson, of Andersonville prison.
He had served many years of his long sentence. At assembly one morn-
ing, announcement of a pardon was to be made. There was an uneasy
expectancy. With the pardon in his hand, the prison official rose and
read the name of Reuben Johnson, and asked him to come forward.
There was no response. Reuben supposed it must be some other Reuben
Johnson. The officer read again, “Reuben Johnson!” Reuben looked all
around, turned and looked behind him, expecting to see Reuben Johnson
get up somewhere. This movement caught the official’s eye; and, point-
ing to Reuben, he shouted, “Reuben Johnson, I mean you!” It finally dawned
on poor old Reuben that he was to be set free. He had been a prisoner
so long that it was difficult for him to believe it. Down the aisle he made
his way, reached out a big, rough, trembling hand, and took the paper
that meant freedom from the gray prison walls. The tears of mingled
gratitude and repentance made their way down the lines that time had
chiseled in his great face. Reuben was free.
Thank God, He has a pardon for every man who will reach out and
accept it. He will “bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them
that sit in darkness out of the prison house” (Isaiah 42:7). But we must
come to God, believe on Jesus Christ, confess our sins, and take the
pardon. We must “Lay hold on eternal life” (1 Timothy 6:12; Isaiah
1:18-20).
TO OBTAIN VICTORY OVER THE POWER OF SIN, MAN HAS
AN IMPORTANT PART HE MUST PLAY.
Notice the following steps carefully and pray that God will give you grace
to move forward. Here are the steps:
1. Be willing to forsake every sin.
Proverbs 28:13—“He that covereth his sins shall not prosper:
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Family Bible Studies - 4 page 6
but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.”
2. Let the Holy Spirit lead you.
Romans 8:14—“As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they
are the sons of God.”
3. Be willing to obey God’s law.
Proverbs 28:9—“He that turneth away his ear from hearing
the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.” “Let not sin
(law breaking, 1 John 3:4) therefore reign in your mortal body that
ye should obey it in the lusts thereof” (Romans 6:12).
4. Be willing to witness for God.
Acts 1:8—“Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is
come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusa-
lem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost
part of the earth.”
5. Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus.
Hebrews 12:1-2—“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed
about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every
weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run
with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus
the author and finisher of our faith.”
Yes, man needs not only pardon from sin but power over sin. If Reuben
Johnson had left the prison and said, “Now I am a free man, free to
break the law,” how long do you think he would have been free? Not
long. No. Reuben must not be a repeater. He was freed that he might
obey the laws, not break them.
Reuben must be willing to have a change of heart, and obey. He needs to
watch his step and pray. He needs to bear witness to the goodness of his
government and show he now loves the laws he once violated. He needs
to keep company with those who are law abiding. He needs to study the
laws of his government, know its plans, and live for its honor. Reuben
was freed in order that he might become a law-abiding citizen.
If Reuben was freed for that purpose, what of the man whom God has
pardoned through the grace of the crucified Christ, who died that the
man might be free? Yes, a thousand times more should he seek power
to obey God’s commandments and do right!
5 - WILL CHRIST TURN AWAY
FROM ANY SINCERE SEEKER?
No indeed! Christ will not turn away from any true worshiper. He came
to seek the lost, to help the weak, to reach the lowest man. “Him that
cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37). Remember the
man with the palsy. His friends let him down through a roof and placed
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him right in front of Jesus who said, “Son, be of good cheer; thy sins
be forgiven thee” (Matthew 9:2). And He healed him of the physical and
spiritual disease that afflicted him (Matthew 9:6-8).
6 - HOW SHALL WE ESCAPE
IF WE NEGLECT SO GREAT SALVATION?
There is no escape. Let these solemn words burn their way into every
heart:
Hebrews 2:1-3—“Therefore we ought to give the more earnest
heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we
should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was
stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a
just recompence of reward; how shall we escape, if we neglect
so great salvation?”
If angels of God who rebelled against His laws are to be punished, and
everlasting destruction awaits them (Matthew 25:41), how shall we es-
cape if we ignore the call of mercy and refuse to enter the open door to
pardon and obedience through the power and grace of God? Let us
pray that every student taking these lessons will make the right deci-
sion. The next lesson will be on the greatest event just ahead of us:
“Christ’s Second Coming.”
———————————————————————————
Brief Review Questions —

Sin is the transgression of what?

What three things does man need to be saved from?

Can we save ourselves from sin?

How does God provide us pardon from our past sins?

What is our part in cooperating with Him in the plan

of salvation?

Will Christ refuse us if we plead with Him for help?

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Family Bible Studies - 4 page 8
THE PLAN OF SALVATION
SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL—
“ ‘God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself ’ (2 Corin-
thians 5:19). God suffered with His Son. In the agony of Gethsemane,
the death of Calvary, the heart of Infinite Love paid the price of our re-
demption . .
None but the Son of God could accomplish our redemption; for only
He who was in the bosom of the Father could declare Him. Only He who
knew the height and depth of the love of God could make it manifest.
Nothing less than the infinite sacrifice made by Christ in behalf of fallen
man could express the Father’s love to lost humanity.
“ ‘God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son.’ He
gave Him not only to live among men, to bear their sins, and die their
sacrifice. He gave Him to the fallen race. Christ was to identify Himself
with the interests and needs of humanity. He who was one with God has
linked Himself with the children of men by ties that are never to be bro-
ken. Jesus is ‘not ashamed to call them brethren’ (Hebrews 2:11); He is
our Sacrifice, our Advocate, our Brother, bearing our human form be-
fore the Father’s throne, and through eternal ages one with the race He
has redeemed—the Son of man. And all this that man might be uplifted
from the ruin and degradation of sin that he might reflect the love of God
and share the joy of holiness.
“The price paid for our redemption, the infinite sacrifice of our heav-
enly Father in giving His Son to die for us, should give us exalted concep-
tions of what we may become through Christ. As the inspired apostle
John beheld the height, the depth, the breadth of the Father’s love to-
ward the perishing race, he was filled with adoration and reverence;
and, failing to find suitable language in which to express the greatness
and tenderness of this love, he called upon the world to behold it. ‘Be-
hold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we
should be called the sons of God’ (1 John 3:1). What a value this places
upon man! Through transgression the sons of man become subjects of
Satan. Through faith in the atoning sacrifice of Christ the sons of Adam
may become the sons of God. By assuming human nature, Christ el-
evates humanity. Fallen men are placed where, through connection with
Christ, they may indeed become worthy of the name ‘sons of God.’
“Such love is without a parallel. Children of the heavenly King! Pre-
cious promise! Theme for the most profound meditation! The matchless
love of God for a world that did not love Him! The thought has a subdu-
ing power upon the soul and brings the mind into captivity to the will of
God. The more we study the divine character in the light of the cross, the
more we see mercy, tenderness, and forgiveness blended with equity and
justice, and the more clearly we discern innumerable evidences of a love
that is infinite and a tender pity surpassing a mother’s yearning sympa-
thy for her wayward child.” —Steps to Christ, 13-15

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Brief Bible Study - Lesson 4 PLAN OF SALV - CODE: PS

The Plan of Salvation

1 John 3:4—“Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also
the law.”
1 - CAN MAN SAVE HIMSELF FROM SIN?

1. Man is unable to atone for the sins of the past.

Romans 3:20—“By the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh
be justified in His sight: for by the law is the _________________
of sin” (also Jeremiah 13:23; Romans 7:18-19).
2 - WHAT IS GOD’S PART
IN SAVING MAN FROM SIN?
1. God provides the pardon for sins that are past.
John 3:16—“For God so loved the world, that He __________
His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should
not perish, but have everlasting life.”
2. God gives man the victory over sin in his life. He gives
repentance for our sins (Acts 5:31). He sends His Spirit to
dwell in our hearts (1 John 3:24). He provides the Bible to
comfort, strengthen, and keep us (Romans 15:4; Psalm
119:105; Ephesians 6:17). He opens heaven to our prayers
(Hebrews 4:16).
Romans 8:32—“He that ____________ not His own Son, but deliv-
ered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all
things?”
3 - WHAT IS MAN’S PART
IN SALVATION?
TO OBTAIN PARDON FOR SIN, THE FOLLOWING SIMPLE STEPS
MUST BE TAKEN:
1. Look to God.
Isaiah 45:22—“Look unto Me, and be ye ____________, all the
ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else” (John 5:40;
Matthew 11:28-30).
2. Believe on Jesus Christ.
Acts 16:31—“____________ on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou
shalt be saved, and thy house.”
3. Repent of every sin.

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Brief Bible Study - Lesson 4 PLAN OF SALV - CODE: PS

Luke 13:3—“Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise ________.”

Acts 3:19—“Repent ye therefore and be converted, that your sins
may be ____________ out, when the times of refreshing shall come
from the presence of the Lord.”
4. Confess every sin known to you.
1 John 1:9—“If we confess our sins, He is ____________ and
just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrigh-
teousness.”
5. Make things right with your brother.
Ezekiel 33:15-16—“If the wicked ____________ the pledge, give
again that he had robbed, walk in the statutes of life, without
committing iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die. None
of his sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto
him: he hath done that which is lawful and ____________; he
shall surely live.”
TO OBTAIN VICTORY OVER THE POWER OF SIN, MAN HAS
AN IMPORTANT PART HE MUST PLAY.
1. Be willing to forsake every sin.
Proverbs 28:13—“He that covereth his _________ shall not
prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have
mercy.”
2. Let the Holy Spirit lead you.
Romans 8:14—“As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they
are the _________ of God.”
3. Be willing to obey God’s law.
Proverbs 28:9—“He that turneth away his ear from hearing
the law, even his ___________ shall be abomination.” “Let not
sin (law breaking, 1 John 3:4) therefore reign in your mortal body
that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof” (Romans 6:12).
4. Be willing to witness for God.
Acts 1:8—“Ye shall ____________ power, after that the Holy
Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto Me
both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and
unto the uttermost part of the earth.”
5. Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus.
Hebrews 12:1-2—“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed
about with so great a ____________ of witnesses, let us lay
aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us,
and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
52 looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.”
Family Bible Studies - 5 page 1

What tthe
he Bible says about –

Christ’s Second Coming

SCRIPTURE READING:
1 THESSALONIANS 4:13; 5:11
The return of Jesus is mentioned more than three hundred times in the
260 chapters of the New Testament, an average of one verse in every
twenty-five, according to Dr. M. E. Dodd, in his book, Jesus Is Com-
ing to Earth Again. In the Bible, there are eight times as many refer-
ences to the second coming of Jesus as to the first. Patriarchs, in the Old
Testament, looked forward to it (Jude 14; Job 19:25-27); and it has also
been the blessed hope of the church in the New Testament (Titus 2:13;
Acts 3:19-21).
This great truth has been embraced by prominent Christian leaders through-
out recent centuries, and many have given voice to their belief in the
second advent.
Martin Luther wrote, “I ardently hope that, amidst these internal dis-
sensions on the earth, Jesus Christ will hasten the day of His coming.”
John Calvin said, “We must hunger after Christ till the dawning of that
great day.”
John Knox wrote, “We know that He shall return, and that with expedi-
tion.”
John Wesley, commenting on the closing verses of Revelation, said, “The
spirit of adoption in the bride, in the heart of every true believer, says
. . ‘Come and accomplish all the words of this prophecy.’ ”
John Milton sublimely wrote, “Come forth out of thy royal chambers, O
Prince of all the kings of the earth . . take up that unlimited scepter . .
For now the voice of Thy bride calls thee, and all creatures sigh to be
renewed.”
Moody said, “The church has had very little to say about it [the second
advent]. Now, I can see a reason for this; the devil does not want us to
see this truth, for nothing would wake up the church so much.”
A deep and abiding faith in the second coming of Christ has a tremen-
dous purifying and uplifting power.
1 - WILL CHRIST COME AGAIN?
John 14:2-3—“In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it
were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for
you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again,
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and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be
also.”
We can rely upon the word of Christ. Our eternal future is secure when
it rests upon the promises of His Word. Jesus said, “I will come again,”
and He surely will. Nothing in heaven or earth can be more certain than
His Word and, therefore, His coming.
For centuries the people of God awaited the fulfillment of the promises
concerning Christ’s first coming as the Messiah. Then came the won-
derful day when heavenly messengers made the announcement: “Unto
you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the
Lord” (Luke 2:11).
Just as surely as the promises of God were fulfilled in the first advent
of Jesus to this world, just so surely will be those that pertain to His
second advent. The day of His return will be the most wonderful day in
all history.
When Jesus was put under oath by the high priest at His trial, as He
stood a prisoner flanked by guards at the foot of Caiaphas’ throne, He
said, “Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of
power, and coming in the clouds of heaven” (Matthew 26:64). This prom-
ise, made under the oath, and can be depended upon—He will come
again.
2 - HOW WILL HE COME?
1. So we can see Him.
Revelation 1:7—“Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye
shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him.”
Matthew 24:30—“Then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn,
and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven
with power and great glory” (Acts 1:9-11; Matthew 24:23-27).
2. So we can hear Him.
Matthew 24:31—“He shall send His angels with a great sound
of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the
four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”
1 Thessalonians 4:16—“The Lord Himself shall descend from
heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with
the trump of God.”
3. He will come in glory.
Matthew 25:31—“When the Son of man shall come in His glory,
and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of
His glory.”
The effect of this glory upon the inhabitants of earth we can only faintly
imagine. If, at the time of Christ’s resurrection, the appearance of one
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angel prostrated the Roman guards as dead men (Matthew 28:2-4), it
is no wonder that many will try to hide from the glory of Christ, praying
for the rocks and mountains to fall on them (Revelation 6:14-17) when
He appears in the glory of all the holy angels.
4. He will come unexpectedly.
Matthew 24:44—“Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an
hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.”
Matthew 24:36—“Of that day and hour knoweth no man,
no, not the angels of heaven, but My Father only.”
In the clearest language, Jesus Christ taught that His coming would be
open, announced, personal, literal, visible, and that good and bad alike
would see Him come. He was to come as a “thief in the night” only in the
sense that none would know the “day and hour,” and multitudes would
be unprepared.
Sometimes we find, in certain commentaries or in Bible footnotes, refer-
ences to a secret coming of our Lord. These are only expressions of man;
and, although well-meaning, they are not the inspired Word of God. If
we are led into delusions about secret comings of Christ, we shall be
open to other deceptions. Eve was “deceived,” but God held her respon-
sible. Before she could believe the deceiver she had to disbelieve God.
Jesus warned, “Take heed that no man deceive you” (Matthew 24:4).
A woman came up to a preacher and asked, “Are you the man who
talks over the radio?”
“Yes,” he said, “I am one such man.”
“Do you believe Christ is coming literally?” she queried.
“Yes,” answered the man.
Said she, “I wish you would come over to my town. My minister has a
private seance. I will get you in for nothing. A mighty power comes. A
glorious being appears. This is Jesus Christ.”
“Well,” said the preacher, “I will not be there.”
Said he, “I have an old Book that explains all that.”
He took out his Bible and read Matthew 24:26-27: “Wherefore if they
shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he
is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out
of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of
the Son of man be.”
Then he said, “Madam, I don’t deny that somebody comes there to that
private seance, but it is not my Saviour, and it is not my Lord, and I will
not be there to meet the one who comes there.”
Friend, if some glorious being, or any other kind of being, should ap-
pear to you and even perform some miracles of healing or work a thou-
sand wonders, it is not Jesus Christ. He is not coming that way. Fantas-
tic delusive teachings are sweeping millions into a river of deception.
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When Christ comes back, He will be “this same Jesus” who went away
(Acts 1:9-11). “This same Jesus” who rose from the dead had flesh and
bones (Luke 24:39-43). He ascended to heaven as the Son of man to be
our Mediator (1 Timothy 2:5). He is coming back literally and physi-
cally as the Son of man (Matthew 26:64). There will be nothing secre-
tive or ghostly about it.
3 - WHY WILL HE COME?
1. To raise the righteous dead.
1 Thessalonians 4:16—“The Lord Himself shall descend from
heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with
the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first.”
2. To catch up the righteous living with the resurrected dead.
1 Thessalonians 4:17—“Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the
Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
3. To change their vile bodies.
Philippians 3:20-21—“Our conversation is in heaven; from whence
also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall
change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His
glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able even
to subdue all things unto Himself.”
4. To take the righteous to heaven.
John 14:2-3—“I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and
prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto
Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”
He comes for His people. With intense longing has He desired that “they
also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am (John 17:24).”
The One who was rejected, crucified, exalted, and glorified is “coming
again in like manner as He ascended; to raise the dead, to judge the
world, to save His people, to be glorified in His saints, to crush the
usurper, to destroy His foes, and to reign forever as the Lord of all” (H.
L. Hastings).
5. To destroy the living wicked.
2 Thessalonians 1:7-9—“The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from
Heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance
on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our
Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thessalonians 2:8, about those whom He
will “destroy with the brightness of His coming”).
4 - HOW MAY WE BE READY?
1. We can come to Him.
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Family Bible Studies - 5 page 5
John 6:37—“All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me;
and Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.”
If we are to be accepted by Christ when He comes, He must be accepted
by us now. One great reason He has not already come is that there are
still honest souls to be saved.
2. We can live for Him as did Paul.
2 Timothy 4:7-8—“I have fought a good fight, I finished my
course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a
crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge,
shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them
also that love His appearing.”
Mere profession of Christianity or church membership will not avail. “For
me to live is Christ,” said Paul (Philippians 1:21).
3. We can seek to be like Him.
1 John 3:2-3—“We know that, when He shall appear, we shall be
like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. And every man that hath
this hope in Him purifieth himself, even as He is pure.”
A man visited an art gallery to see a famous painting. Rules limited all
visits to five minutes. The man came day after day and gazed upon the
picture, then hastened away to sketch what he could remember. After a
long time he invited friends to see his completed work. They marveled
at his exquisite workmanship. “We did not know you were such an art-
ist!” Then he told them the secret, that this was only a copy of a great
masterpiece. Then they all exclaimed, “If that is only a copy, we must
see the original.”
Shall we not gaze upon Christ until we ourselves are so like Him that
others will want to see Him and prepare to meet Him?
4. We can look for Him.
Hebrews 9:28—“Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many;
and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second
time without sin unto salvation.”
If we look for Him, it will affect our preparation for His coming. In the
parable given by Christ, one servant said, “ ‘My lord delayeth His com-
ing,’ ” and he began “to smite his fellow servants and to eat and drink
with the drunken. The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he
looketh not for Him, and in an hour that he is not aware of. And shall
cut him asunder and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites” (Mat-
thew 24:48-51).
5. We can love His appearing.
2 Timothy 4:8—“Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of
righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give
me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that
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love His appearing.”
Yes, those who love His appearing will be ready.
A minister preached on the second coming. After the service a woman
came up to him and said, “Young man, I am just as good a Christian as
you are.” He said, “I don’t doubt that at all.” She said, “I love the Lord as
much as you do, and I’m old enough to be your mother.”
“I can’t deny it,” said he.
“I know the Bible as well as you do,” she continued.
“I do not doubt that either,” he replied.
“Well,” she said, “I love the Lord, but I don’t want Him to come in my
day.”
“Now, Mother,” said the preacher, “suppose a young man and a young
woman should fall in love and marry, and he should say, ‘Dear, I must
go off to Europe. I am to have a great job over there. When I have started
to work and built a home, I am going to come back for you.’ He prom-
ises to write her letters, and the letters begin to come. She reads them,
and takes them to her friends, and reads them over and over. She says,
‘Oh, isn’t it wonderful? Isn’t he a wonderful husband? Isn’t it wonder-
ful? I love him; he is the grandest man in all the world, but I hope he
doesn’t come back in my day.’ Don’t you think there would be something
wrong with a person like that?”
The woman saw the point. She said, “I’m wrong.”
“If Jesus should come at this moment
“To catch up with Him in the air
“All those who love His appearing,
“Forever to be with Him there,
“How would He find you? I wonder—
“Watching, waiting, faithful, true?
“Dearly beloved, consider—
“How is it be with you?”
To be among those for whom Jesus comes—this is the supreme hope of
the human heart. God grant that when Jesus comes He will come for
you.
This time He is not coming to lie on a cross, but to end sin and death.
He is mindful of your sufferings; and, in the great day of His appearing,
He will take them all away. He knows what to do for every trouble and
how to make all things right. He will establish His kingdom of righ-
teousness and banish all cares which weigh down the heart with sorrow.
War, tyranny over the weak, oppression of the poor, and weapons of de-
struction with their constant threat of death will all be removed.
How much it means to be ready when Jesus comes! What a thrill to see
Him face to face and to feel His arm around you thrown! How will it be
to meet Him in peace and hear Jesus speak your name? What joy
awaits you, living with Him through the endless ages of eternity! When

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Jesus comes for you—That is the most satisfying experience that can
ever come to any human being. May that experience be yours.
The next lesson reveals what the Bible says the world will be like when
Jesus is about to return. Entitled, “Signs of the End,” it is a study you
will want to carefully consider.
———————————————————————————
Brief Review Questions —

How can we be sure that Christ is going to return for

His people?

In what four ways will He return?

What five things will He do when He returns?

What five things should we do, in order to be ready

for His coming?

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CHRIST’S SECOND COMING
SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL—
“One of the most solemn and yet most glorious truths revealed in the
Bible is that of Christ’s second coming to complete the great work of
redemption. To God’s pilgrim people, so long left to sojourn in ‘the re-
gion and shadow of death,’ a precious, joy-inspiring hope is given in the
promise of His appearing, who is ‘the resurrection and the life,’ to ‘bring
home again His banished.’
“The doctrine of the second advent is the very keynote of the Sacred
Scriptures. From the day when the first pair turned their sorrowing steps
from Eden, the children of faith have waited the coming of the Promised
One to break the destroyer’s power and bring them again to the lost
Paradise. Holy men of old looked forward to the advent of the Messiah in
glory, as the consummation of their hope. Enoch, only the seventh in
descent from them that dwelt in Eden, he who for three centuries on
earth walked with his God, was permitted to behold from afar the com-
ing of the Deliverer. ‘Behold,’ he declared, ‘the Lord cometh with ten
thousands of His saints, to execute judgment upon all’ (Jude 14, 15).
“The coming of Christ to usher in the reign of righteousness has in-
spired the most sublime and impassioned utterances of the sacred writ-
ers. The poets and prophets of the Bible have dwelt upon it in words
glowing with celestial fire. The psalmist sang of the power and majesty of
Israel’s King: ‘Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined.
Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence. . . . He shall call to the
heavens from above, and to the earth, that He may judge His people.’
(Psalm 50:2-4). ‘Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad . . .
before the Lord: for He cometh, for He cometh to judge the earth: He
shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with His truth.’
(Psalm 96:11-13) . .
“When the Saviour was about to be separated from His disciples, He
comforted them in their sorrow with the assurance that He would come
again: ‘Let not your heart be troubled . . In My Father’s house are many
mansions . . I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a
place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself ’ (John 14:1-
3). ‘The Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with
Him.’ ‘Then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory: and before Him
shall be gathered all nations’ (Matthew 25:31, 32).
“The angels who lingered upon Olivet after Christ’s ascension repeated
to the disciples the promise of His return: ‘This same Jesus, which is
taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have
seen Him go into heaven’ (Acts 1:11). And the apostle Paul, speaking by
the Spirit of Inspiration, testified: ‘The Lord Himself shall descend from
heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump
of God’ (1 Thessalonians 4:16). Says the prophet of Patmos: ‘Behold, He
cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him’ (Revelation 1:7).”
—Great Controversy, 299-301
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Brief Bible Study - Lesson 5 SEC COMING - CODE: SC

Christ’s Second Coming

1 - WILL CHRIST COME AGAIN?
John 14:2-3—“In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it
were not so, I would have told you. I go to ____________ a
place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will
come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there
ye may be also.”
2 - HOW WILL HE COME?
1. So we can see Him.
Revelation 1:7—“Behold, He ____________ with clouds; and
every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him”
(also Matthew 24:30; Acts 1:9-11; Matthew 24:23-27).
2. So we can hear Him.
Matthew 24:31—“He shall send His angels with a great sound
of a trumpet, and they shall ____________ together His elect
from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (also
1 Thessalonians 4:16).
3. He will come in glory.
Matthew 25:31—“When the Son of man shall come in His glory,
and all the holy ____________ with Him, then shall He sit upon
the throne of His glory.”
4. He will come unexpectedly.
Matthew 24:44—“Therefore be ye also ____________: for in such
an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh” (also Matthew
24:36).
3 - WHY WILL HE COME?
1. To raise the righteous dead.
1 Thessalonians 4:16—“The Lord Himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the _________ of the archan-
gel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall
rise first.”
2. To catch up the righteous living with the resurrected dead.
1 Thessalonians 4:17—“Then we which are _______ and re-
main shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to
meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”

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Brief Bible Study - Lesson 5 SEC COMING - CODE: SC

3. To change their vile bodies.

Philippians 3:20-21—“Our conversation is in heaven; from
whence also we look for the ____________, the Lord Jesus
Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it may be fash-
ioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working
whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself.”
4. To take the righteous to heaven.
John 14:2-3—“I go to ____________ a place for you. And if I
go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive
you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”
5. To destroy the living wicked.
2 Thessalonians 1:7-9—“The Lord Jesus shall be revealed
from Heaven with His mighty angels, in ____________ fire tak-
ing vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not
the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thessalonians 2:8).
4 - HOW MAY WE BE READY?
1. We can come to Him.
John 6:37—“All that the Father ____________ Me shall come
to Me; and Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.”
2. We can live for Him as did Paul.
2 Timothy 4:7-8—“I have ____________ a good fight, I fin-
ished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid
up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righ-
teous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but
unto all them also that love His appearing.”
3. We can seek to be like Him.
1 John 3:2-3—“We know that, when He shall appear, we shall
be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. And every man that
hath this hope in Him __________ himself, even as He is pure.”
4. We can look for Him.
Hebrews 9:28—“Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many;
and unto them that look for Him shall He ____________ the
second time without sin unto salvation.”
5. We can love His appearing.
2 Timothy 4:8—“Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown
of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall
give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also
that love His ____________.”

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What tthe
he Bible says about –

Signs of tthe
he End
SCRIPTURE READING:
MATTHEW 24
Every Hebrew felt an understandable pride in the Temple at Jerusalem.
This feeling was shared by Christ’s disciples who, one day, pointed out
its beauties to the Master. Instead of expressing wonder at the magnifi-
cence of the Temple, however, Jesus took the opportunity to say, “See ye
not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here
one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down. And as He sat
upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto Him privately, say-
ing, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of
Thy coming and of the end of the world?”
From this question it seems apparent that the disciples thought the
destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the world would take place at
the same time. Hence, in His answer, Christ outlined the parallel condi-
tions that would prevail before both of these events. In this lesson, we
will study only those things that are a primary application to the second
coming of Christ.
1 - WHAT THREE GREAT SIGNS DID CHRIST SAY
WOULD APPEAR IN THE POLITICAL WORLD?
1. Fear and perplexity.
Luke 21:25-27—“There shall be signs in the sun, and in the
moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations,
with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts
failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which
are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with
power and great glory.”
Winston Churchill expressed the concern felt by millions when he stated:
“We seem to be moving, drifting steadily against our will, against the will
of every race, and every people, and every class, toward some hideous catas-
trophe. Everybody wishes to stop it, but they do not know how.”
When others are looking to the future with despair, the Christian whose
faith rests on the “sure word of prophecy” (2 Peter 1:19) will be filled
with hope as he recognizes the promised signs of Christ’s soon return.
2. Spirit of war.
Matthew 24:6-7—“Ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars:
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see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to
pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation,
and kingdom against kingdom” (Revelation 11:18; Joel 3:9-14).
The cost of World War I has been estimated at 400 billion dollars. The
cost of World War II is beyond accurate computation. During the decade
that followed that holocaust, the U.S. alone spent $327 billion for de-
fense.
It is not too much to say that war—preparation for war, payment for
past wars, and trying to prevent future wars—has become the chief con-
cern of mankind.
3. Great efforts for peace.
1 Thessalonians 5:2-3—“The day of the Lord so cometh as a
thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then
sudden destruction cometh upon them.”
Jeremiah 6:14—“They have healed also My people slightly say-
ing, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.”
The accuracy of Bible prophecy is here demonstrated by predicting that,
in the very midst of unprecedented preparation for war, there would be
widespread talk of peace. The historian, Hazen, has confirmed this by
saying, “The contemporary world, to a degree altogether unprecedented
in history, has been dominated by the thought of war, by extraordinary
preparations for war, and by zealous and concerted efforts for peace.”
We have already seen illustrations of this on a small scale. In 1914, at
the very time that ambassadors and statesmen were gathered to dedi-
cate the Peace Palace of the Hague, Archduke Ferdinand and his wife
were murdered in the streets of Sarajevo, and the fuse to World War I
was lighted.
More recently, we recall that bombs were rained on Pearl Harbor at the
very time when representatives from both nations concerned were meet-
ing to discuss steps toward peaceful relations. Today’s earnest confer-
ences among the world’s leading powers aim to secure lasting world
peace; but, even if apparently successful, they are only signs of Christ’s
coming and the overwhelming destruction that will accompany that great
event. “For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruc-
tion cometh upon them” (1 Thessalonians 5:3).
2 - WHAT CONDITIONS WILL PREVAIL
IN THE SOCIAL WORLD IN THE LAST DAYS?
2 Timothy 3:1-5—“This know also, that in the last days peril-
ous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of there own selves,
covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents,
unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false
accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers
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of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof:
from such turn away.”
The horrible crimes recorded each day in the newspaper testify that
society has reached the low ebb of morality pictured in these verses.
3 - IN THE ECONOMIC WORLD,
WHAT CONDITIONS POINT TO CHRIST’S RETURN?
James 5:1-8—“Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your
miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted,
and your garments are motheaten. Your gold and silver is can-
kered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and
shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure to-
gether for the last days. Behold, the hire of the labourers, who
have reaped down your field, which is of you kept back by fraud,
crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into
the ears of the Lord sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on earth,
and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of
slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth
not resist you. Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming
of the Lord. Behold the husbandman waiteth for the precious
fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive
the early and the latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts:
for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.”
As “the coming of the Lord draweth nigh,” the agelong conflict between
employer and employee is destined to assume larger proportions. Now
it is no longer one individual bargaining with another. Instead great
corporations negotiate with the organized forces of labor, representing
millions of workers. Since the dispute between management and labor
will not end until Jesus comes, the Christian is urged to be patient until
that time” (James 5:8).
4 - WHAT TWO GREAT CHANGES WERE TO APPEAR
IN “THE TIME OF THE END”?
Daniel 12:4—“But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal
the book, even to the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro,
and knowledge shall be increased.”
The past 150 years stand apart from all previous history by reason of
the sudden increase of knowledge in science, general learning, and in-
vention. The patriarch, Abraham, who lived four thousand years ago,
would hardly be more startled by the tremendous changes than would
George Washington, who died just before the nineteenth century began.
The great increase of knowledge concerning God’s Word has been as
extraordinary as advances in the world of science. Whereas the Bible was

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available only to a comparatively few two centuries ago, today it is
being circulated on a worldwide scale, by hundreds of millions of cop-
ies. This has largely been accomplished since the great Bible societies
were organized after 1798. Truly we are living in “the time of the end.”
Daniel’s prediction that “many shall run to and fro” has likewise re-
ceived most striking fulfillment. Many commentators believe that this
expression refers primarily to the increased activity in searching the
Bible and its prophecies that has been evident during the past century.
Although we recognize this as its first application, beyond a doubt it
also forecasts the tremendous increase of travel on a global scale that
has characterized the past fifty years. The restless populations of the
world are on the move by foot, automobile, rail, ship, and airplane. No
longer do the great oceans isolate continents and nations; for air travel
has shrunk distances until statesmen transact business today in foreign
capitals across the seas, and tomorrow they can be back in their own
offices.
5 - WHAT SIX OUTSTANDING SIGNS
ARE IN THE RELIGIOUS WORLD?
1. Scoffers.
2 Peter 3:3-4—“Know this first, that there shall come in the
last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, saying, Where
is the promise of His coming? for since the fathers fell asleep,
all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.”
The theory of uniformity (“all things continue as they were”), with its
inevitable repudiation of the Biblical account of the Flood, has encour-
aged many, even Christians, to scoff at the doctrines of Christ’s second
coming.
2. Form of godliness - mere profession.
2 Timothy 3:1, 2, 5—“In the last days perilous times shall
come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves . . having a
form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.”
Today it is difficult to tell the difference between most professed Chris-
tians and the ungodly. They look alike, eat and drink alike, go to the
same places, and do the same things.
3. Lovers of pleasures.
2 Timothy 3:4—“Lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.”
The prayer room has become the supper room. Dancing is more popu-
lar than praying. Television, horse racing, and theatergoing are pre-
ferred by millions, above a knowledge of God.
4. Lack of faith.
Luke 18:8—“When the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith on
the earth?”
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The parable of Luke 18:1-8 indicates that the prayer of faith will be
almost nonexistent “when the Son of man cometh.” This is understand-
able, for modernistic teaching has undermined belief in God as a real
being.
5. Lack of love.
Matthew 24:12—“Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many
shall wax cold.”
Many, seeing hypocrisy even in some church members and almost uni-
versal corruption elsewhere in the world, lose courage and love grows
cold.
6. The gospel shall be preached in all the world.
Matthew 24:14—“This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached
in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the
end come.”
The message of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross and His soon second
coming is being sounded in about eight hundred language and dialect
areas of the world.
6 - WHAT THREE UNUSUAL SIGHTS IN THE HEAVENS
WERE FORETOLD AS SIGNS OF THE END?
Matthew 24:29-30—“Immediately after the tribulation of those
days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her
light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the
heavens shall be shaken: and then shall appear the sign of the
Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth
morn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of
heaven with power and great glory” (Joel 3:15; Revelation 6:12-
13).
The great period of tribulation mentioned in connection with these un-
usual sights in the heavens is known in history as the Dark Ages. As
you will learn, God had revealed, through Daniel, the prophet (Daniel
7:25), that this time of papal supremacy would commence in A.D. 538 and
last until A.D. 1798 Public persecution ceased, however, about 25 years
before the full 1,260 years had elapsed, due to the combined influence
of the Protestant Reformation and the opportunities for religious free-
dom in America.
Now note the accuracy of Christ’s prediction in Mark 13:24, where He
says, “In those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened,
and the moon shall not give her light.” The first of these signs appeared
after persecution ended, “in those days,” or shortly before 1798. God’s
Word never fails; hence on May 19, 1780, the sun was darkened. Early
in the day the birds disappeared, domestic fowl went to roost, and graz-
ing cattle in the pasture wended their way toward the barnyard. That

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same night the moon was darkened and gave the appearance of blood
(Revelation 6:12).
“The stars shall fall from heaven.” These, of necessity, would be shoot-
ing stars. As predicted, the greatest meteoric shower ever recorded
seemed to set the very heavens ablaze on the night of November 13,
1833. The minds of men were made sober at the time, and contempo-
rary writings indicate that many feared the final day of judgment had
come.
7 - IN THE PHYSICAL WORLD,
WHAT CONDITIONS POINT
TO OUR LORD’S RETURN?
Matthew 24:7—“And there shall be famines, and pestilences,
and earthquakes, in divers places.”
Famine and pestilences often accompany or follow great wars. After
world War I, famine in China numbered fifteen million starving and
three million dead. Russia’s famine, according to the explorer, Nansen,
was the “most appalling in the recorded history of man.” The world’s
influenza epidemic took 18,000,000 lives. World War II had its own
grim story of hunger and disease.
Earthquakes are another sign of Christ’s return. Scientists estimate that
as many as one million quakes a year may be taking place in the world,
only about 8,000 of which are severe enough to be recorded. Of the
more disastrous ones of comparatively recent times, we might list the
following: 1920—China, 180,000 killed; 1923—Japan, 143,000 lives lost;
1939—Central Turkey, 23,000 dead; 1950—Tibet, India, and Burma,
5,000 casualties.
8 - HOW NEAR IS CHRIST’S COMING
WHEN WE SEE ALL THESE SIGNS?
Matthew 24:32-34—“Now learn a parable of the fig tree. When
his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that
summer is nigh: so likewise ye, when ye shall sees all these
things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto
you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be ful-
filled.”
Naturally the last generation to live on this earth will be, as Jesus said,
the one that sees “all these things.” Surely we see them today, and may
know that the coming of the Lord is “even at the doors.”
9 - WHAT ATTITUDE OF LIFE SHOULD WE MAINTAIN
IN THESE DAYS OF EXPECTATION?
Matthew 24:36-42—“Of that day and hour knoweth no man,
no not the angels of heaven, but My Father only. As the days of
Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as
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in the days that were before the flood they were eating and
drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that
Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came,
and took them all away; so also the coming of the Son of man
be . . Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord
doth come.”
The people of Noah’s day had received adequate warning of the coming
Flood, but they were afflicted with the same sins that beset modern
man—unbelief, preoccupation with pleasure seeking, and procrastina-
tion.
Some years ago, during the great Mississippi flood, many personal trag-
edies testified to the dangerous results of doing this.
Acting on the bulletins of warning, one man packed up his goods to
move, but his neighbor said there was no danger. He unpacked, and
then saw the water mock him.
A woman said, “I don’t see any water.” Soon she did see it, and was
frantic with fear. Unbelief had caused her plight.
A young man went out to bring in a family, but the farmer was not
concerned and said, “Come back this afternoon.” Later in the day, when
the man returned, the farmer said, “Come back in the morning.” The
next morning the family still had not packed, so suggested that he come
again the next day. He did; but, from a distance, he could see that the
house was already flooded and no one was in sight.
To the people of His day Jesus said, “O fools, and slow of heart to
believe all that the prophets have spoken” (Luke 24:25).
They were content to let others search the Scriptures for them, and
were satisfied with their creeds and traditions; and, as a result, they
turned aside from the Saviour of the world. But is not human nature
much the same today? Is not unbelief just as tragic now as in Noah’s day
or in the time of Christ?
In His great love, God has given us many signs that show Christ’s com-
ing to be near. These signs have been given that we and our dear ones
may be ready when He comes. Are you not grateful for the evidences all
about us that indicate that soon we shall see Jesus face to face? The
world around us may be in perplexity and strife, but we can rejoice that
soon all this will pass away and an eternity with Christ will stretch out
before us. There is no doubt about it. If we follow the advice of Jesus to
“watch therefore,” we will be ready.
———————————————————————————
Brief Review Questions —

Over twenty signs, which tell us Christ’s coming is

near, are discussed or quoted in this lesson. On the
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next page, list at least ten of them.

SIGNS OF THE END

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL—
“Looking down through the ages to the close of time, Peter was in-
spired to outline conditions that would exist in the world just prior to
the second coming of Christ. ‘There shall come in the last days scoffers,’
he wrote, ‘walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the prom-
ise of His coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as
they were from the beginning of the creation.’ But ‘when they shall say,
Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them’ (1 Thes-
salonians 5:3). Not all, however, would be ensnared by the enemy’s de-
vices. As the end of all things earthly should approach, there would be
faithful ones able to discern the signs of the times. While a large number
of professing believers would deny their faith by their works, there would
be a remnant who would endure to the end.
“Peter kept alive in his heart the hope of Christ’s return, and he as-
sured the church of the certain fulfillment of the Saviour’s promise, ‘If I
go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto
Myself ’ (John 14:3). To the tried and faithful ones the coming might
seem long delayed, but the apostle assured them: ‘The Lord is not slack
concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suf-
fering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should
come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the
night’ (2 Peter 3:9-10).”
—Acts of the Apostles, 535-536
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ON THE EDGE OF THE END

Only the most shallow-minded dare ignore the times in which we
live. We are on the edge of the end. The destructive weapons of modern
technology are such that our only safety is in God. Only in Him and in
His Holy Bible can we find a safe refuge, the security we need.
Over 50 years ago, our planet was on the verge of destruction
when that infernal device, the nuclear bomb, was invented. We are even
closer to it today,—for now there are ways to deliver that bomb and
more advanced weapons halfway across the world within half an hour.
Let us briefly turn our eyes back to a time when men still had
enough sense to be worried. Think not that the crisis they faced was any
less than the one in which we now find ourselves. At the present time,
there are over 70,000 nuclear bombs stored in the world; and, starting
a few years ago, many bombs are being regularly sold to rogue nations
with crazed military leaders. When the following words were written,
there were less than 10 nuclear bombs in existence!
“If men and nations would but live by the precepts of the ancient
prophets and the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount, problems which
now seem so difficult would soon disappear . . Unless this is done, we
are headed for the disaster we deserve.”—President Harry S. Truman,
Biennial Report for 1946, p. 109.
“I am a frightened man, myself. All the scientists I know are fright-
ened—frightened for their lives—and frightened for your life.”—Harold
C. Urey, atomic scientist, “I’m a Frightened Man,” Saturday Review of
Literature, August 7, 1948.
“Today the world is sick with . . a many-dimensional fear . . Against
the atomic bomb there is no defense. Just below the surface lurks the
diplomat’s fear: If we give away the atomic power secret, we will lose our
bargaining power. But there is no atomic power secret. It can easily be
recreated by scientists elsewhere . . This new power is a discovery at
least as great as man’s discovery of fire. Who can predict what will come
of it?”—H. M. Davis, editorial in Chemistry magazine, November, 1945.
“A new era is upon us . . We have had our last chance. If we do not
now devise some greater and more equitable system, Armageddon will
be at our door.”—General Douglas MacArthur, spoken on the day Ja-
pan surrendered, New York Times, September 2, 1945.
“When the scientist has emerged from his laboratory to prophesy
our extinction, unless we mend our incorrigible ways, and science edi-
tors have turned into Jeremiahs, how can any man . . contemplate his
children’s or others’ future with any satisfaction?”—Harrison Smith, edi-
torial, Saturday Review of Literature, August 21, 1948.
“If the world is long to survive, the gigantic power which man has
acquired through atomic energy must be matched by spiritual strength

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of greater magnitude. All mankind now stands in the doorway to de-

struction.”—President Harry S. Truman, March 6, 1946, Biennial Re-
port, 1946.
“The devastation that could be wrought by an Atomic Age war is
too appalling to be fully realized. The vision stuns our imagination. But
if present trends continue it is only a question of time before such a war
will come.”—Charles A. Lindbergh, Reader’s Digest, September, 1948.
“The inexorable ‘either-or’ of the atomic bomb, upon which hangs
the fate of life on this planet, leaves the pride of man no means by which
to save itself. The only alternative to Armageddon is repentance and
regeneration . . The conversion of man has suddenly become a life-and-
death issue, not merely for individuals, but for the race.”—Richard M.
Fagley, secretary of the Peace Commission, November, 1945.
“Scientists themselves now proclaim that their science has reached
the point in its development where it becomes imperative to do some-
thing about man. They prophesy doomsday unless their warning is
heeded . . With one voice they declare that the future is precarious, and
with one voice they declare that it is precarious because of man . . [The
problem is] man’s nature which science now gravely fears may cause his
destruction and the destruction of the earth with him. Science and Chris-
tianity are now looking at the same thing in man. Science has no word
for it, but Christianity has. That word is sin.”—Charles Clayton Morrison,
Christian Century, March 13, 1946.
“We are on our way towards removing the last barrier that pre-
vents man from converting the earth into a planetary crematorium.”—
Norman Cousins, editorial, Saturday Review of Literature, August 7,
1948.
“The end of human existence on earth was regarded by the early
Christians as near at hand; by modern Christians as far in the future . .
What is new in the present situation is not the possibility of a last gen-
eration, but the possibility . . that ours may be the last generation!”—
Ernest Fremont Tittle, Christian Century, May 1, 1946.
“The plain fact is that we’re worse off as a world than we were
three years ago. Worse off because we’ve stopped thinking about the
whole problem . . Some people are beginning to say this man-made
earthquake isn’t so bad after all. Believe me, it is.”—David Lilienthal,
Chairman U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, quoted in Life, September
27, 1948.
“Since all these things are thus on the verge of dissolution, what sort of
men ought you to be in all holy living and godly conduct, expecting and
helping to hasten the coming of the day of God, by reason of which the
heavens, all ablaze, will be dissolved, and the elements will burn and
melt?”—2 Peter 3:11-12, Weymouth (cf. verse 13-14).

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Brief Bible Study - Lesson 6 SIGNS - CODE: SE

Signs of the End

1 - WHAT THREE GREAT SIGNS DID CHRIST SAY
WOULD APPEAR IN THE POLITICAL WORLD?
1. Fear and perplexity.
Luke 21:25-27—“There shall be ________ in the sun, and in
the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of
nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men’s
hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things
which are coming on the __________: for the powers of heaven
shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man com-
ing in a cloud with power and great glory.”
2. Spirit of war.
Matthew 24:6-7—“Ye shall hear of _________ and rumours of
wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come
to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against na-
tion, and kingdom against kingdom” (Revelation 11:18; Joel 3:9-14).
3. Great efforts for peace.
1 Thessalonians 5:2-3—“The day of the Lord so cometh as
a thief in the night. For when they shall say, _________ and
safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them.”
Jeremiah 6:14—“They have healed also My people slightly
saying, Peace, _________; when there is no peace.”
2 - WHAT TWO GREAT CHANGES WERE TO APPEAR
IN “THE TIME OF THE END”?
Daniel 12:4—“But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and
seal the book, even to the time of the _________. Many shall
run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.”
3 - WHAT SIX OUTSTANDING SIGNS
ARE IN THE RELIGIOUS WORLD?
1. Scoffers.
2 Peter 3:3-4—“Know this first, that there shall come in the
last days ________, walking after their own lusts, saying, Where
is the promise of His coming? for since the fathers fell asleep,
all things continue as they were from the beginning of cre-
ation.”

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2. Social problems.
2 Timothy 3:1-5—“This know also, that in the _________ days
perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of there own
selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to par-
ents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers,
false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of
God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof:
from such turn away.”
3. Form of godliness - mere profession.
2 Timothy 3:1, 2, 5—“In the last days ____________ times
shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves . .
having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.”
4. Lovers of pleasures.
2 Timothy 3:4—“Lovers of ________ more than lovers of God.”
5. Lack of faith.
Luke 18:8—“When the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith
on the earth?”
6. Lack of love.
Matthew 24:12—“Because ____________ shall abound, the
love of many shall wax cold.”
7. The gospel shall be preached in all the world.
Matthew 24:14—“This gospel of the kingdom shall be
____________ in all the world for a witness unto all nations;
and then shall the end come.”
4 - IN THE PHYSICAL WORLD,
WHAT CONDITIONS POINT
TO OUR LORD’S RETURN?
Matthew 24:7—“And there shall be famines, and pestilences,
and ____________, in divers places.”
5 - HOW NEAR IS CHRIST’S COMING
WHEN WE SEE ALL THESE SIGNS?
Matthew 24:32-34—“Now learn a ____________ of the fig tree.
When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye
know that summer is nigh: so likewise ye, when ye shall sees
all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I
say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these
things be fulfilled” (also Matthew 24:36-42).

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What tthe
he Bible says about –

The Millennium
SCRIPTURE READING:
REVELATION 16:12-16; 20:1-9
Armageddon is a war involving the belligerent forces of all nations. The
world has known many conflicts, but Armageddon baffles the imagina-
tion. There are many causes of war, such as racial pride, colonial ambi-
tions, desire for raw materials and markets, etc.; but the great underly-
ing cause is the Spirit of evil and selfishness in the hearts of men. In
this final conflict, the leaders and their armies are spurred on to the
battle by the very spirit of devils.
Since Armageddon is to be fought during “the day of the Lord” and just
prior to the return of Jesus (Joel 3:9-13), let us study the subject in its
proper setting. What events precede it, prepare the way for it, and fol-
low after it? The answer: a whole cluster of breathtaking, world-shak-
ing, and awe-inspiring happenings—all associated with the thousand-
year period of Revelation 20:1-9, called the millennium.
The word, “millennium,” does not occur in the Bible. It comes from two
Latin Words—mille, meaning “a thousand,” and annus, meaning “a year”;
thus we have millennium, or one thousand years.
Some people think of the millennium as a thousand years of peace and
prosperity here upon earth. This is quite different from the true Bibli-
cal idea.
Never forget that Satan’s business is deception. He tries to get a man to
believe that what is wrong is right. He does not tell a man to believe
falsehood. He poses as an “angel of light,” and he has some ministers
who help him (2 Corinthians 11:14-15).
There are five current teachings about the millennium. In substance,
these teachings declare:
1. That Christ will not come the second time until the end of the millen-
nium. This is post-millennialism. Those who believe this put Christ’s
coming at least one thousand years in the future. Satan is pleased thus
to remove the thought and event far, far away.
2. That the millennium will be preceded by a secret coming of Christ.
This is one of the most clever deceptions Satan has ever spread among
honest people. The enemy has certainly stolen a march upon men. Think
of it! Although Jesus did everything, that words could do, to tell us that
His coming would be open and public before saints and sinners, we
find a widespread interdenominational teaching directly to the contrary.
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This is the “resurrection of life” to which Jesus referred (John 5:29).
Only the “blessed and holy” come forth to life eternal in this—the first
resurrection.
3. Wicked living slain.
2 Thessalonians 1:7-8—“The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from
heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on
them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord
Jesus Christ” (2 Thessalonians 2:8; Jeremiah 25:31-33).
The angry nations at war with one another receive of the wrath of God
as Christ, the “King of kings and Lord of lords,” comes to “destroy them
which destroy the earth” (Revelation 11:18). As Sovereign Lord of the
world, Christ uses His arsenal of weapons, which are much more potent
than any thermonuclear devices and atomic bombs that are likely to be
used in the war of Armageddon.
2 Peter 3:10—“The heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and
the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works
that are therein shall be burned up.”
The spirits of devils inspire the Armageddon conflict. Satan rejoices in
war and in the death of God’s creatures. All nations from east, west,
south, and north plunge into the terrible slaughter. Then God arises to
punish the transgressors of His law of love.
Jeremiah 25:30-32—“The Lord shall roar from on high, and
utter His voice from his Holy habitation . . For the Lord hath a
controversy with the nations . . Evil shall go forth from nation to
nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts
of the earth.”
“The kings of the earth and of the Whole world” (Revelation 16:14) are
destroyed as Christ, the great warrior of heaven, rides forth to put down
the forces of rebellion (Revelation 19:11-16). All the wicked die and the
earth is depopulated.
4. All the righteous taken to heaven.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17—“The dead in Christ shall rise first:
then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together
with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall
we ever be with the Lord” (John 14:1-3).
The resurrected saints and the living righteous are taken out of this
world to heaven. Please remember that the hour is coming when mercy’s
voice will be hushed (Revelation 22:11). Then the seven last plagues
will be poured out upon an unrepentant world. Armageddon, coming
during the sixth plague, follows after man’s probation has closed. Those
who wait for the time of that battle to get ready for heaven will be disap-
pointed; it will be too late then.
Many who have long put off the day of salvation, secretly plan to make a
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3. That the millennium is to be preceded by a seven-year reign of Anti-
christ. This also is a deception. A great host of people today, with all the
glorious light of prophecy shining upon world history, do not see the
real Antichrist and are looking for one to appear after Christ has come.
The truth of the matter is that this false idea came as a part of the
Counter-Reformation, and was introduced to offset the mighty work of
such men as Luther, Calvin, Knox, Wesley, and all the other great Re-
formers.
4. That the gospel will still be preached during the millennium, after
the second coming of Christ. This lesson will clear up such a miscon-
ception.
5. That Christ has already come; and the dead will be raised from time
to time during the millennium and given a second chance to accept the
gospel while the devil is chained up.
If men can be led to believe any of the above five deceptions, Satan has
a better chance to lead them to procrastinate. He says that Christ will
not be here for at least one thousand years; so you can get ready after
the secret coming of Christ. You can take a firm and glorious stand
against Antichrist when he comes or, if you die unprepared, you will
have a second chance. And the pity of it all is none of these statements
is true.
Dear friend, let the love of God and His holy truth be in your soul as you
study this lesson. You will see the simple, clear, and beautiful Bible
truth on the coming millennium.
1 - WHAT FIVE EVENTS
MARK THE BEGINNING
OF THE MILLENNIUM?
1. Second coming of Christ.
1 Thessalonians 4:15-16—“For this we say unto you by the
word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the
coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For
the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with
the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the
dead in Christ shall rise first.”
Jesus’ advent is preceded by the seven last plagues—most fearful
scourges to strike mankind in the long history of our race. The war of
Armageddon is the sixth of these plagues.
2. Righteous dead resurrected (the first resurrection).
Revelation 20:6—“Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the
first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but
they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with
Him a thousand years.”
1 Thessalonians 4:16—“The dead in Christ shall rise first.”
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THE BIBLICAL MILLENNIUM

We live in the last days of history. The end of life as men now know it is
nearly ended. Soon Jesus will return. We only have one period of probation—
and that is during our present life. The millennium will not be a thousand years
of glory and peace here on earth. And it will not be an age of technological
progress or a “second chance” for the wicked. All mankind will not be con-
verted before it, during it, or after it. And neither Christ nor His redeemed ones
will be on the earth during the thousand years.
Here is the truth about the millennium and the events that mark its beginning
and end:
1 - Jesus is going to return for His people: He promised us that He would
(John 14:1-3), and so we can know that He will.
2 - There are four identifying marks of His second advent that cannot be
counterfeited by false christs: (1) He will come so that all alive on the earth at
that time can see Him return (Rev 1:7; Acts 1:9-11; Matt 24:30, 23-27). (2) He
will come so all can hear Him as He returns (Matt 24:31; 1 Thess 4:16). (3) He
will come in immense glory—that of His own and the millions of angels that
will come with Him (Lk 9:26; Matt 28:2-4; Matt 25:31; Rev 6:14-17). (4) He will
come unexpectedly (Matt 24:44, 36).
3 - His second coming will mark the beginning of the millennium. Six events
will take place: (1) He will raise the righteous dead (1 Thess 4:16). (2) He will
catch up the righteous living together with the righteous dead—to meet Him in
the clouds (1 Thess 4:17). (3) He will change their vile bodies to be like unto
His glorious body (Phil 3:20-21) and translate them (1 Cor 15:51-55; Isa 25:9).
(4) Having gathered all the righteous (1 Thess 4:17-18; Matt 25:34-40; 24:30-
31), He will take His redeemed ones to heaven (Jn 14:1-3; 17:24; 1 Thess
4:16-18). (5) He will destroy the living wicked with the brightness of His com-
ing (Lk 17:26-30; 2 Thess 2:8). (6) He will bind Satan to this earth (Rev 20:2-
3).
4 - During the millennium, the earth will be desolate (Rev 20:3; Jer 4:23-26;
Isa 24:1, 3). The wicked are dead (2 Thess 2:8), and there is no man left (Isa
24:20-22; Jer 4:25-26; 25:31-33). Satan is bound on a desolate earth (Rev
20:1-3), and the righteous are in heaven (Rev 20:4, 6; Dan 7:22), engaged in a
work of judgment (Rev 20:4; 1 Cor 6:1-3; Acts 24:25; Jude 6).
5 - At the close of the millennium, the Holy City descends from heaven (Rev
20:9; 21:1-5; Zech 14: 4, 9), the wicked are raised—the “second resurrection”
(Rev 20:5, first part), and Satan is thus loosed to deceive them again (Rev
20:7-8). Satan and the wicked surround the City to take it (Rev 20:8-9). All of
the wicked are destroyed (Rev 20:9), and this earth is made new (Rev 21:1-5;
2 Pet 3:10-14). How we long for the second coming of Christ!

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grand rush for heaven when the opening gun of Armageddon is fired.
This attitude is itself unworthy, and the plan is doomed to disappoint-
ment. Today is the day of salvation.
5. Satan is bound.
Revelation 20:2-3—“And He laid hold on the dragon, that
old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, and bound him a
thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and
shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive
the nations no more, till the thousand years should be ful-
filled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.”
Since the blessed and holy come up in the first resurrection, at the
beginning of the millennium, at Christ’s second coming, we see that
Christ’s second coming is at the beginning of the millennium. This is
what is known as the pre-millennial teaching of Christ’s second com-
ing, as opposed to the post-millennial, or after-millennial teaching.
Jesus said that He would return and take His people to the mansions
He went to prepare. That settles it for you, doesn’t it? He will take all the
righteous to heaven. The wicked living will perish. The wicked dead
who are already in their graves will remain there. Satan will be left
alone in the ruined earth, his work of deception ended for 1,000 years.
Satan is sentenced to a one-thousand-year term of imprisonment in
this world—the very pit of destruction. He is truly bound, “that he should
deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled.”
When the wicked are raised at the end of the 1,000 years, he will have a
chance to deceive again. He will be loosed. Remember, the righteous
dead will be raised at the beginning of the 1,000 years, the wicked at
the close.
2 - WHAT FOUR FACTS
MARK THE 1,000 YEAR PERIOD?
1. The earth is desolate—a bottomless pit.
Jeremiah 4:23—“I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without
form, and void.”
The desolation of the earth is brought on by a series of tragic events: (1)
the awful plagues, including the general carnage and devastation of Ar-
mageddon; (2) the awesome advent of Christ in glory, at which time the
wicked are destroyed by fire and the earth is broken up by a great
earthquake (Revelation 16:17-21).
Jeremiah 4:23-27—“I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without
form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. I beheld
the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved
lightly. I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of
the heavens were fled. I beheld and, lo, the fruitful place was a
wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the
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presence of the Lord, and by His fierce anger. For thus hath
the Lord said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not
make a full end.”
The expression, “bottomless pit,” means a place of chaos, darkness, or
desolation, and is translated from the Greek word from which we get
“abyss.” The same Greek word is used in the Septuagint Version of the
Old Testament in Jeremiah 4:23-25, where the earth is pictured as “with-
out form and void.” The cities are broken down by an earthquake; ev-
erything is in a state of chaos. The birds have fled, and darkness covers
the ugly scene of ruin.
2. The wicked are all dead (see question 1, point 3).
Said Jeremiah, “I beheld, and, lo, there was no man.” The people are in
heaven; the bad people are in the graves. The whole earth is as desolate
as a ghost city.
3. Satan is thus “bound” on a desolate earth.
On this earth, Satan is “bound,” for there is no living person on earth to
deceive. He will have a thousand years’ vacation from deception, a mil-
lennium to meditate on his long career of rebellion and the pitiful con-
dition to which it has brought him. He will have plenty of time to lay
plans to make a final assault against God at the end of the long, long
darkness when the wicked dead shall come forth to their final brief
season of life.
4. The righteous are engaged in a work of judgment in heaven.
Revelation 20:4—“I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and
judgement was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them
that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the Word of
God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his im-
age, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in
their hands: and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand
years” (1 Corinthians 6:1-3).
The Bible teaches that the saved will have a part in the judgment. But
why have a judgment after all cases have been decided?
When Christ comes, He brings His reward with Him and takes His people
to heaven. But the wicked are to raised from the dead at the end of the
1,000 years, to receive the punishment of the second death. Just how
will God deal with these cases? Who will be beaten with many stripes
and who with few?
Suppose you had a very dear friend on earth, but in heaven he was not
to be found. Well, during the millennium you will find out just how God
has dealt with his case and the cases of all others. God takes a thou-
sand years for this work. He will run no risk of having one single doubt
in any mind about His work for fallen man. When the wicked finally
have sentence pronounced upon them, it will be clear to all that they
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deserve the punishment.
During this period God allows the saved to sit, as it were, beside Him
and learn how hard He tried to save every person. I think we shall
understand Him better and love Him more after we have learned from
the Saviour, Himself, His story of salvation. Don’t you? When it is all
over we shall say, “True and righteous are Thy judgments.” There will
be no soil in our hearts for the growth of seeds of doubt. “God shall wipe
away all tears from their eyes.”
3 - WHAT SIX EVENTS
MARK THE CLOSE
OF THE MILLENNIUM?
1. The wicked are raised.
Revelation 20:5—“But the rest of the dead lived not again until
the thousand years were finished.”
Since the righteous dead were raised one thousand years earlier, the
expression, “the rest of the dead,” must refer to the wicked.
2. Satan is thus loosed to deceive.
Revelation 20:7—“And when the thousand years are expired,
Satan shall be loosed out of his prison.”
Now that the wicked have come forth to life again, the devil is free to
pursue his evil work of deception.
3. The Holy City descends from heaven.
Revelation 21:2—“And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusa-
lem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride
adorned for her husband.”
4. Satan gathers the wicked about the city.
Revelation 20:8-9—“And shall go out to deceive the nations
which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to
gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the
sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth,
and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved
city.”
5. The wicked are destroyed.
Revelation 20:9—“And fire came down from God out of Heaven,
and devoured them.”
This fire purifies the earth and burns up sinners and the last traces of
sin.
6. A new earth is created.
2 Peter 3:13-14—“We, according to His promise, look for new
heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Where-
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fore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent
that ye may be found of Him in peace, without spot, and blame-
less” (Revelation 21:1-5).
Here is the sequence of events: The wicked dead are raised; the Holy
City descends to earth with the saints; Satan mobilizes the vast multi-
tude of the wicked against the Holy City and the saints; God destroys sin,
sinners, death, and hell in that last, final destruction. This is the second
death. Then He creates a new earth with all the marks and tracings of
sin erased, and He will dwell with His people forever. O what a wonder-
ful future will be ours.
4 - WHO WILL INHERIT A PLACE
IN THE NEW EARTH?
Galatians 3:29—“If ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed,
and heirs according to the promise.”
If we are Christ’s, we are heirs and shall inherit a place in the new
earth. This means complete surrender to Him. It means not merely to
profess Christ, but to possess Christ—to believe in Him, to build on His
words, and to walk in His steps. Then, at last, we shall inherit and
come into possession of the realities of eternity. We shall actually be
there in person.
Revelation 21:7—“He that overcometh shall inherit all things;
and I will be his God, and he shall be My son.”
Whether we are to be among God’s people in the Holy City depends
upon whether we are overcomers now. Whether we have our names on the
roll of that city depends upon whether we get them in the book of life
now, and keep them there. Whether we serve God over there depends
upon whether we obey Him now.
The next lesson is entitled “Bible Views of Heaven.” It is a sweet study
that will show you some of the beauties of our eternal home. How very
important it is that we meet there! Be faithful, my friend, be faithful!
Trust in Jesus and obey His inspired Word.
———————————————————————————
Brief Review Questions —

What five events occur at the beginning of the Mil-

lennium?

What four events occur during the Millennium?

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What six events occur at the close of the Millennium?

THE MILLENNIUM
SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL—
“For six thousand years, Satan’s work of rebellion has ‘made the
earth to tremble.’ He had ‘made the world as a wilderness, and de-
stroyed the cities thereof.’ And he ‘opened not the house of his prison-
ers.’ For six thousand years his prison house has received God's people,
and he would have held them captive forever; but Christ had broken his
bonds and set the prisoners free.
“Even the wicked are now placed beyond the power of Satan, and
alone with his evil angels he remains to realize the effect of the curse
which sin has brought. ‘The kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in
glory, everyone in his own house [the grave]. But thou art cast out of thy
grave like an abominable branch . . Thou shalt not be joined with them
in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people’ ”
(Isaiah 14:18-20).
“For a thousand years, Satan will wander to and fro in the desolate
earth to behold the results of his rebellion against the law of God. During
this time his sufferings are intense. Since his fall his life of unceasing
activity has banished reflection; but he is now deprived of his power and
left to contemplate the part which he has acted since first he rebelled
against the government of heaven, and to look forward with trembling
and terror to the dreadful future when he must suffer for all the evil that
he has done and be punished for the sins that he has caused to be com-
mitted . .
“During the thousand years between the first and the second resur-
rection the judgment of the wicked takes place. The apostle Paul points
to this judgment as an event that follows the second advent. ‘Judge noth-
ing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the
hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the
hearts’ (1 Corinthians 4:5) . . At the close of the thousand years the
second resurrection will take place. Then the wicked will be raised from
the dead and appear before God for the execution of “the judgment writ-
ten.” Thus the revelator, after describing the resurrection of the righ-
teous, says: ‘The rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years
were finished (Revelation 20:5).”
—Great Controversy, 659-661
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Brief Bible Study - Lesson 7 MILLENNIUM - CODE: M

The Millennium
1 - WHAT FIVE EVENTS
MARK THE BEGINNING OF THE MILLENNIUM?
1. Second coming of Christ.
1 Thessalonians 4:15-16—“For this we say unto you by the
word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the
____________ of the Lord shall not prevent [go ahead of, marg.]
them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and
with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first.”
2. Righteous dead resurrected (the first resurrection).
Revelation 20:6—“Blessed and holy is he that hath part in
the first resurrection: on such the ____________ death hath
no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and
shall reign with Him a thousand years.”
1 Thessalonians 4:16—“The dead in Christ shall rise first.”
3. Wicked living slain.
2 Thessalonians 1:7-8—“The __________ Jesus shall be re-
vealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire tak-
ing vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the
gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thessalonians 2:8; Jer-
emiah 25:31-33; 2 Peter 3:10).
4. All the righteous taken to heaven.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17—“The dead in Christ shall rise
first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up
together with them in the ___________, to meet the Lord in the
air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (John 14:1-3).
5. Satan is bound.
Revelation 20:2-3—“And He laid hold on the dragon, that
old serpent, which is the __________ and Satan, and bound
him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit,
and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should
deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should
be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.”
2 - WHAT FOUR FACTS
MARK THE 1,000 YEAR PERIOD?
1. The earth is desolate—a bottomless pit.
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Jeremiah 4:23—“I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without

form, and void” (also Jeremiah 4:24-27).
2. The wicked are all dead (see question 1, point 3).
3. Satan is thus “bound” on a desolate earth.
4. The righteous are engaged in a work of judgment in heaven.
Revelation 20:4—“I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and
____________ was given unto them: and I saw the souls of
them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the
Word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, nei-
ther his image, neither had received his __________ upon their
foreheads, or in their hands: and they lived and reigned with
Christ a thousand years” (1 Corinthians 6:1-3).
3 - WHAT SIX EVENTS
MARK THE CLOSE OF THE MILLENNIUM?
1. The wicked are raised.
Revelation 20:5—“But the rest of the dead lived not again
until the thousand years were finished.”
2. Satan is thus loosed to deceive.
Revelation 20:7—“And when the thousand years are expired,
Satan shall be ___________ out of his prison.”
3. The Holy City descends from heaven.
Revelation 21:2—“And I John saw the holy _________, new
Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared
as a bride adorned for her husband.”
4. Satan gathers the wicked about the city.
Revelation 20:8-9—“And shall go out to ___________ the na-
tions which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog,
to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the
sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth,
and compassed the camp of the __________ about, and the be-
loved city.”
5. The wicked are destroyed.
Revelation 20:9—“And ________ came down from God out of
Heaven, and devoured them.”
6. A new earth is created.
2 Peter 3:13-14—“We, according to His promise, look for
new heavens and a new _________, wherein dwelleth righteous-
ness” (Revelation 21:1-5; Galatians 3:29; Revelation 21:7).

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What tthe
he Bible says about –

Bible Vie
Views of Heaven
iews
SCRIPTURE READING:
REVELATION 21 AND 22
God has a plan to restore “all things” to their Edenic perfection. This
hope has been held out to the human race—lost in sin and insecurity—
by “all His holy prophets since the world began” (Acts 3:21). Yes, from
Moses right down through John, the promise of a better world has
brought cheer to man—like a bright morning star burning on the gray
horizon. At the center of that plan of restoration is a divine person,
Jesus. He is called, by Peter, “the day star” of hope (2 Peter 1:19). When
He came to earth He said that the “Son of man is come to seek and to
save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). Let us see:
1 - WHAT FOUR TREASURES
DID GOD GIVE TO MAN AT CREATION?
1. Life.
Genesis 2:7—“The Lord God formed man of the dust of the
ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life: and
man became a living soul.”
In the beginning man was given life. He was created from the dust of the
ground. God breathed into his nostril the breath of life. He became “a
living soul” (Genesis 2:7). Man had not existed before. He did not cre-
ated himself. For his very existence he was indebted to God—only to
God.
2. A righteous nature.
Genesis 1:26—“God said, Let us make man in Our image, af-
ter Our likeness.”
Ecclesiastes 7:29—“God hath made man upright.”
God gave Adam, the first man, a righteous nature. Surely a good, wise,
and all-powerful God would do no less than that. A good God would
desire to make a good man. And this is exactly what He did. Adam and
Eve, our first ancestors (Luke 3:38), were innocent and pure when they
came forth from the hand of their Creator.
3. A home in a beautiful world.
Genesis 2:8-9—“The Lord God planted a garden eastward in
Eden; and there He put the man whom he had formed. And out
of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is
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pleasant to the sight and good for food.”
Genesis 1:31—“God saw every thing He had made, and, behold,
it was very good.”
Yes, God gave man a home, in a garden, in a lovely primeval world.
This is no more and no less than we would expect God to do. He is the
author of the home and marriage, of beauty and happiness. Security
was to be bound up with the home and family life.
4. Dominion of the earth.
Genesis 1:28—“God blessed them, and God said unto them,
Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue
it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl
of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”
God gave man dominion. Although man was made “a little lower than the
angels,” yet he was equipped with intelligence and management, that he
might be in charge of God’s creation here (Psalm 8:5-6).
What an outlook! Life with abundant health; a righteous character; a
home in a beautiful, sinless world; and dominion over the created works
of God! What more could man desire? Just one thing—that this happy
state might last forever!
And that depended upon man. For God placed him under obedience to
law as an indispensable condition of his very existence.
Furthermore, God gave to man the power and freedom of choice. Only in
this way could man be a morally responsible being. Only thus could he
develop character. “Obedience, perfect and perpetual, was the condi-
tion of eternal happiness.” In God’s order, obedience springs from love
and is rendered by choice. But it is, nevertheless, imperative.
A special test was arranged. A certain tree was to be left strictly alone
(Genesis 2:8-9, 15-17). What an easy test! No great deed, work, or sac-
rifice was required. There could be no possible reason for transgres-
sion. The very lightness of the prohibition would make the sin great. If
man sinned, it would be deliberate. God could not be blamed, for He
had told them to leave the tree alone. They must have understood this
to be a simple test of their faith—nothing more. But we all know what
happened (Genesis 3).
2 - HOW DID MAN LOSE
THESE FOUR TREASURES?
By sin. And what reason can be given for man’s sin? None. To give a
reason would be to justify the deed. Only excuses and explanations can
be offered. A little neighbor boy sat on the front steps finishing up a cry
with slowly subsiding sniffles. “What’s the matter, sonny?” I asked.
“Daddy whipped me,” he meekly replied. “And why did he do that? ”I
inquired. “ ’Cause I was naughty,” he answered. “But why were you naughty?”
His reply was typically human, “My brother, Kenneth, made me naughty.”
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Yes, that is the way it is. Adam blamed God for giving him Eve. Eve
blamed the serpent for everything. She had listened to his story about
getting on a higher plane, about being like gods. Many today are being
lured by the ancient sophistries of the devil, streamlined for moderns.
1 Timothy 2:14—“Adam was not deceived, but the woman being
deceived was in the transgression.”
There was no need for Eve to be deceived. She had to reject God’s
truth first, before she could accept the devil’s deception. Had God not
given her truth the situation would have been different. Adam was not
deceived. He walked into sin with his eyes open, taking the risk and
hoping God would be merciful. He made an excuse of Eve. He loved her
more than he did God. And what tragedy resulted! It is always disas-
trous to disobey God. Adam gambled and lost. And what did he lose?
all that God gave him.
1. Man lost life.
Genesis 3:19—“In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till
thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for
dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return” (Romans 6:23).
As the result of his sin he was removed from access to the tree of life,
lest he should “eat, and live for ever” (Genesis 3:22). Man was not im-
mortal by nature or creation. Sin, God warned, would bring death, not
life. “All the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years:
and he died” (Genesis 5:5). Sin is real; and death is real. God says so.
The devil disputed God’s Word. Man found God’s Word is right.
2. Man lost his righteous nature.
Romans 5:12—“By one man sin entered into the world, and death
by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.”
1 John 5:17—“All unrighteousness is sin.”
The unnumbered volumes of history record the deeds of man’s sinful
career for long millenniums. No words need be added here. Adam lost
his righteous nature.
3. Man lost his Eden home.
Genesis 3:23-24—“Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from
the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
So He drove out the man; and He placed at the east of the gar-
den cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to
keep the way of the tree of life.”
4. Man lost his dominion.
2 Peter 2:19—“Of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he
brought in bondage.”
2 Corinthians 4:4—“The god of this world hath blinded the minds
of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of
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Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”
Having cast off the dominion God had over him, man lost the dominion
God had placed under him. He was now in a world fallen to the domin-
ion of Satan.
A curse was also pronounced upon the earth for man’s sake. “Cursed is
the ground for thy sake: in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy
life” (Genesis 3:17). Sinful man in a sinful world needed the discipline
of toil and care. No civilization has yet been able to endure ease and
luxury. Our civilization today is no exception. And yet the tired and
weary heart of man longs for the time of restoration to come when the
dominion lost through sin will be his once more.
3 - HOW WILL CHRIST RESTORE
THE FOUR TREASURES?
The Saviour came to earth “to seek and to save that which was lost”
(Luke 19:10). He purchased our salvation by shedding His “precious
blood” (1 Peter 1:19). Then He returned to heaven, “having obtained
eternal redemption for us” (Hebrews 9:12).
Though every man is born in sin, no man has a right to place a low
estimate upon himself. God so valued man that He gave heaven’s greatest
gift for his redemption. He could not have given more. Think now of the
treasures that will be restored to us through the gospel.
1. Life restored.
No matter how a man dies, God can raise him up. His ashes may be
strewn on the moving bosom of a river and carried to the bounds of
seven seas, but God can raise him up to everlasting life. Here are the
promises of life restored by the Lifegiver, Jesus Christ:
John 3:16—“God so loved the world, that He gave His only begot-
ten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but
have everlasting life.”
Romans 6:23—“The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus
Christ our Lord.”
2. Righteousness restored.
A sinner comes to God. His sins are confessed, forsaken, and forgiven.
Love is awakened in his soul, and the process of restoration begins.
Sanctification is another name for it. The work is done by the Spirit of
God, and the Word of God has a part. “Sanctify them through Thy truth:
Thy word is truth” (John 17:17). Cooperation with God is paramount
in this process. Here are the promises:
2 Corinthians 5:17—“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is
a new creature: old things have passed away; behold, all things
are become new.”
2 Corinthians 3:18—“We all, with open face beholding as in a
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glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image
from glory to glory, even as the Spirit of the Lord.”
3. Man’s beautiful home restored.
Many an infidel, millions of skeptics, and some Christians have asked,
“Why doesn’t a good and mighty God put an end to this cruel, suffering
world?” The answer is, “He is planning to do that very soon.” The first
step will be Christ’s second coming. The next and the last step will be
taken at the end of the 1,000 years, as you have studied. New heavens
and a new earth will be created, and God will dwell here with His people
forever. Here are the promises:
Acts 3:20-21—“He shall send Jesus Christ, which before was
preached unto you: whom the heaven must receive until the times
of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth
of His holy prophets since the world began.”
Isaiah 65:17—“Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth:
and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.”
4. Dominion restored.
We do not propose to speculate on the details of the future life. Its love-
liness will surpass our fondest dreams, its beauty will exceed the great-
est flight of our imagination, and its joys soar beyond our highest hopes.
There, man’s lost mastery of himself and his dominion of the earth
shall be restored as God has promised.
Revelation 3:21—“To him that overcometh will I grant to sit
with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down
with My Father in His throne.”
Matthew 25:21—“I will make thee ruler over many things: en-
ter thou into the joy of thy lord.”
4 - A PICTURE
OF THE BETTER WORLD
It is a glorious prospect, dear friend, almost too good to be true. But it
is real! Thank God, it is real; and it is coming soon, God’s better world.
Here are six facts about the earth made new, where there will be free-
dom from fear, want, worry, pain, and every evil. And there will be secu-
rity over there—eternal security.
1. The New Jerusalem, the capital city, comes down to earth.
Revelation 21:2—“I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem,
coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned
for her husband.”
2. God dwells with men in this city.
Revelation 21:3—“I heard a great voice out of heaven saying,

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Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell
with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall
be with them, and be their God.”
3. There will be country life and useful labor.
Isaiah 65:21—“They shall build houses, and inhabit them; and
they shall plant vineyards, and eat of the fruit of them.”
4. There will be no pain, sorrow, crying, or death.
Revelation 21:4—“God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes;
and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying,
neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are
passed away” (Isaiah 33:24).
5. There will be life and beauty and song everywhere.
Isaiah 35:1, 6, 9-10—“The wilderness and the solitary place
shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom
as the rose . . Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the
tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break
out, and streams in the desert . . No lion shall be there, nor any
ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but
the redeemed shall walk there: and the ransomed of the Lord shall
return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their
heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sigh-
ing shall flee away” (Isaiah 11:6-9).
6. The restoration will be perfect and complete.
1 Corinthians 2:9—“Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither
have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath
prepared for them that love Him.”
Nahum 1:9—“Affliction shall not rise up the second time.”
With such promises soon to be realized, how earnestly should we seek
to do the will of God!
5 - HOW SHALL WE MAKE SURE
OF A PLACE OVER THERE?
There are three important guideposts to help direct your feet as you
journey heavenward. Here they are:
1. Confess Christ before men.
Matthew 10:32—“Whosoever therefore shall confess Me before
men, him will I confess also before My Father which is in heaven”
(Luke 9:26).
2. Obey God’s commands and instructions.

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John 14:15—“If ye love Me, keep My commandments.”
3. Keep an eye of faith on the better world.
Hebrews 11:13-14—“These all died in faith, not having re-
ceived the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were
persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that
they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that
say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.”
Wendell Phillips delivered a lecture in Boston one cold November night.
Afterward he found that he had missed the train to his home, some
twelve miles away. He hired a carriage. His friends urged him to remain
until the next day. He said simply, “Ann Phillips is at the other end. I’ll
go home tonight, thank you!” He would not disappoint his wife. We
must not disappoint God nor our loved ones and friends. They will be
looking for us when that happy hour comes.
The Bible tells us about three heavens. The first is the atmospheric
heavens (Genesis 1:6-8). The second is the starry heavens (Psalm 19:1-
6). The third heaven is paradise to this earth. If God dwells in us now by
faith, we may dwell with Him forever then. It is a glorious future that
God has planned for you and me. Shall we meet over there and enjoy
eternal security? It will be the answer to a million dreams and hopes
that life in this present evil world can never afford!
The next study, “Two Important Bible Prophecies,” is about two impor-
tant prophecies of Daniel. This is a fascinating study, which you will not
want to miss.
———————————————————————————
Brief Review Questions —

What are the four things which mankind lost because

of sin, which, by accepting the sacrifice of Christ,
mankind can regain?

Name five of the promised blessings, you will receive

in heaven, which you especially desire?

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 BIBLE VIEWS OF HEAVEN
SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL—
“There the redeemed shall know, even as also they are known. The
loves and sympathies which God Himself has planted in the soul shall
there find truest and sweetest exercise . . There, immortal minds will
contemplate with never-failing delight the wonders of creative power, the
mysteries of redeeming love. There will be no cruel, deceiving foe to tempt
to forgetfulness of God. Every faculty will be developed, every capacity
increased. The acquirement of knowledge will not weary the mind or
exhaust the energies. There the grandest enterprises may be carried for-
ward, the loftiest aspirations reached, the highest ambitions realized;
and still there will arise new heights to surmount, new wonders to ad-
mire, new truths to comprehend, fresh objects to call forth the powers of
mind and soul and body.
“All the treasures of the universe will be open to the study of God’s
redeemed. Unfettered by mortality, they wing their tireless flight to worlds
afar—worlds that thrilled with sorrow at the spectacle of human woe
and rang with songs of gladness at the tidings of a ransomed soul. With
unutterable delight the children of earth enter into the joy and the wis-
dom of unfallen beings. They share the treasures of knowledge and un-
derstanding gained through ages upon ages in contemplation of God’s
handiwork. With undimmed vision they gaze upon the glory of creation—
suns and stars and systems, all in their appointed order circling the
throne of Deity. Upon all things, from the least to the greatest, the Creator’s
name is written, and in all are the riches of His power displayed.
“And the years of eternity, as they roll, will bring richer and still more
glorious revelations of God and of Christ. As knowledge is progressive,
so will love, reverence, and happiness increase. The more men learn of
God, the greater will be their admiration of His character. As Jesus opens
before them the riches of redemption and the amazing achievements in
the great controversy with Satan, the hearts of the ransomed thrill with
more fervent devotion, and with more rapturous joy they sweep the harps
of gold; and ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thou-
sands of voices unite to swell the mighty chorus of praise.
“ ‘And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under
the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I
saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that
sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever’ (Revelation
5:13).
“The great controversy is ended. Sin and sinners are no more. The
entire universe is clean. One pulse of harmony and gladness beats through
the vast creation. From Him who created all, flow life and light and glad-
ness, throughout the realms of illimitable space. From the minutest atom
to the greatest world, all things, animate and inanimate, in their
unshadowed beauty and perfect joy, declare that God is love.”

—Great Controversy, 677-678

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Brief Bible Study - Lesson 8 HEAVEN - CODE: Hv

Bible Views of Heaven

1 - WHAT FOUR TREASURES
DID GOD GIVE TO MAN AT CREATION?
1. Life. Genesis 2:7. 2. A righteous nature. Genesis 1:26. 3. A
home in a beautiful world. Genesis 2:8-9. 4. Dominion of the earth.
Genesis 1:28.
2 - HOW DID MAN LOSE
THESE FOUR TREASURES?
1. Man lost life. Genesis 3:19; Romans 6:23. 2. Man lost his righ-
teous nature. Romans 5:12; 1 John 5:17—“All unrighteousness is sin.”
3. Man lost his Eden home. Genesis 3:23-24. 4. Man lost his
dominion. 2 Peter 2:19; 2 Corinthians 4:4.
3 - HOW WILL CHRIST RESTORE
THE FOUR TREASURES?
1. Life restored.
John 3:16—“God so loved the world, that He gave His only be-
gotten Son, that whosoever ____________ in Him should not
perish, but have everlasting life.”
Romans 6:23—“The gift of God is __________ life through
Jesus Christ our Lord.”
2. Righteousness restored.
2 Corinthians 5:17—“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he
is a new creature: old things have passed away; behold, all
things are become ________.”
2 Corinthians 3:18—“We all, with open face beholding as in
a glass the _________ of the Lord, are changed into the same
image from glory to glory, even as the Spirit of the Lord.”
3. Man’s beautiful home restored. Acts 3:20-21; Isaiah 65:17. 4.
Dominion restored. Revelation 3:21; Matthew 25:21.
4 - A PICTURE
OF THE BETTER WORLD
1. The New Jerusalem, the capital city, comes down to earth.
Revelation 21:2—“I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem,
coming _________ from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride
adorned for her husband.”
2. God dwells with men in this city.
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Brief Bible Study - Lesson 8 HEAVEN - CODE: Hv

Revelation 21:3—“I heard a great ___________ out of heaven say-

ing, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell
with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall
be with them, and be their God.”
3. There will be country life and useful labor.
Isaiah 65:21—“They shall build __________, and inhabit
them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat of the fruit of
them.”
4. There will be no pain, sorrow, crying, or death.
Revelation 21:4—“God shall wipe away all __________ from
their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow,
nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former
things are passed away” (Isaiah 33:24).
5. There will be life and beauty and song everywhere.
Isaiah 35:1, 6, 9-10—“The wilderness and the solitary place
shall be glad for them; and the ____________ shall rejoice,
and blossom as the rose . . Then shall the lame man leap as
an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilder-
ness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert . . No
lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon,
it shall not be found there; but the ____________ shall walk there:
and the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with
songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy
and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away” (Isaiah
11:6-9).
6. The restoration will be perfect and complete.
1 Corinthians 2:9—“Eye hath not seen, nor _______ heard,
neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which
God hath prepared for them that love Him.”
Nahum 1:9—“Affliction shall not rise up the second time.”
5 - HOW SHALL WE MAKE SURE
OF A PLACE OVER THERE?
1. Confess Christ before men.
Matthew 10:32—“Whosoever therefore shall ___________ Me
before men, him will I confess also before My Father which is in
heaven” (Luke 9:26).
2. Obey God’s commands and instructions.
John 14:15—“If ye love Me, keep My commandments.”
3. Keep an eye of faith on the better world. Hebrews 11:13-14.
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What tthe
he Bible says about –

Daniel Eight and Nine

SCRIPTURE READING:
DANIEL 8 AND 9
The Bible speaks of a judgment in which men shall be called to give an
account to God for their deeds. Christ warned His hearers that for “ev-
ery idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in
the day of judgment” (Matthew 12:36). Paul preached the judgment
before Felix (Acts 24:25), and Daniel in vision saw the judgment in ses-
sion (Daniel 7:9-10). A subject of so great importance, which involves
every living being, deserves the closest study. The prophecy of Daniel
that is presented in this lesson points to the exact time for the begin-
ning of the judgment. Let us now open our Bibles to Daniel, chapter
eight, and observe that the prophet is given a clear-cut view of the pe-
riod in history when the judgment convenes in heaven.
THE VISION OF DANIEL 8
We are now back with Daniel in the palace of an ancient empire where
he received a dramatic vision from God. A few questions will help us get
our bearings. Remember, please, these questions will not help you much
unless you have read Daniel eight and nine!
1. Who is represented by the ram and its two horns?
Daniel 8:20—“The ram which thou sawest having two horns
are the kings of Media and Persia.”
Little explanation is needed. The Bible is perfectly plain. One of the
ram’s horns was higher than the other, indicating that one of the pow-
ers of this dual monarchy, Medo-Persia, was to be stronger than the
other. Daniel 8 adds the point that the higher came up last. “The Medes
were at first the leading people” (Phillip V. Meyers, General History, p.
59 [Daniel 5:30-31; Jeremiah 51:11]). Later the Persians were in the
ascendancy. Alexander the Great, of Grecia, about 200 years after
Babylon’s fall, overcame the Persians under Darius III, at the battle of
Arbela in 331 B.C.
2. Who is represented by the goat?
Daniel 8:21—“The rough goat is the king of Grecia.”
The goat represents Grecia, or Greece. This is clearly stated. The leop-
ard, with four wings, in Daniel 7, indicated swiftness. The goat “touched
not the ground,” so rapid was his movement. Both these symbols for
Grecia are fitting. Medo-Persia was to become “great.” Grecia was to be
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THE 2300 YEAR PROPHECY

“Unto 2300 days (years), then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.”—Daniel 8:14.

70 WEEKS (OF YEARS)

= 490 YEARS

69 WEEKS (OF YEARS)

= 483 YEARS

3½ 3½
YRS YRS 1810 YEARS

457 B.C. 27 A.D. 31 A.D. 34 A.D. 1844 A.D.

Jesus Baptized Crucifixion Stephen Judgment
Stoned Begins

DANIEL’S AMAZING PROPHECIES

The master prophecy of the Bible is given in Daniel 8. This chapter closely
connects with Daniel 7 and 9, and should be studied with them.
DANIEL 7 (written in 553-552 B.C.) reveals world history from Daniel’s
time down to the second advent of Christ. In vision, Daniel sees four world
empires symbolized as beasts, followed by a little horn power (Dan 7:1-8,
15-21, 23-25). The Investigative Judgment then convenes in heaven (Dan
7:9-10, 13, 22, 26). And, after that, history ends with the second advent of
Christ (Dan 7:14, 27-28).
The animals in Daniel 7 parallel the parts of the metal image of Daniel 2.
The lion in chapter 7 is Babylon (605-539 B.C.). The bear is Medo-Persia
(538-331 B.C.). The leopard beast is Grecia (331-168 B.C.), at which time
it becomes divided into four kingdoms which continue on until around 168
B.C.). The terrible beast is Pagan Rome (168 B.C. to the 5th Century A.D.,
when it becomes broken into ten kingdoms). The little horn is Papal Rome,
which gained full power by A.D. 538, after uprooting three kingdoms (the
Heruli, Vandals, and Ostrogoths).
DANIEL 8 is composed of two major parts. The first is an EVENT proph-
ecy that closely parallels the prophecy of Daniel 7. This prophecy is about
two beasts and a little horn that follows them (Dan 8:1-12, 20-25). The first
beast, a ram, is Medo-Persia (538-331 B.C.), and the he-goat which struck
it down was Grecia (334-168 B.C.). The “notable horn” was Alexander the
Great who, before his death in 323, carved out the largest empire in history
up to that time—in only ten years. When he was broken off in the prime of
life, the empire divided into four sections. The little horn is Pagan Rome
which, historians tell us, was taken over by Papal Rome. Much of Daniel 7
and 8 (7:8, 19-26, and 8:9-12, 23-25) is given to a concern over this power.

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It would speak blasphemies (7:8, 20; 8:11), seek to kill God’s people
(7:21, 25; 8:10, 24-25), cast down the truth (8:12, 25), tear God’s Sanctuary
down from heaven (8:11), and even try to change the law of God (7:25).
Revelation 13 (read verses 6-7, for example) deals with the same little horn
power—the papacy.
But there is a second part to Daniel 8: This is a TIME prophecy (Dan 8:13-
14, 26). The prophecy itself is given in Daniel 8:14. “Unto two thousand and
three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.” Careful reading
of this chapter reveals that, while the angel Gabriel was told to explain the
vision of Daniel 8 to the prophet (8:16), only the event prophecy was ex-
plained (8:17-25) while the time prophecy was only referred to (8:26). Daniel
nearly fainted under the burden (8:27), and the prayer of Daniel 9 is the
result.
DANIEL 9 begins with the prophet’s prayer for guidance and help for his
people (Dan 9:1-19). Gabriel, the one whom he had seen in his earlier vision
(9:21), is then sent in answer to his prayer (9:20), in order to complete the
explanation (9:22-23).
THE LONGEST PROPHECY BEGINS. The 70 week prophecy (Dan 9:24-
27) is the first part of the 2300 day prophecy. Seventy weeks are “deter-
mined” (“cut off” in Hebrew—cut off from the larger 2300 day [year] proph-
ecy) for the Jews. Therefore, the first part of the 2300 day prophecy of Daniel
8:14 is time allocated to the Jews, to conclude their probation as God’s spe-
cially favored nation.
In Bible prophecy, a day equals a year (Num 14:34; Ezek 4:6). The decree
of Artaxerxes, given in his seventh year as king, in 457 B.C. (Dan 9:25; Ezra
6:14; 7:6-8), restoring the Jewish government, begins this vast time proph-
ecy of 2300 years. The first 70 weeks (Dan 9:24-27) of this prophecy, cut off
or allotted to the Jews, equals 490 years. The walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt
in 7 weeks, or 49 years (408 B.C.). Another 62 weeks brings us to the anointing
of Christ for His mission in A.D. 27. Now 423 years are past; only 1 week
remains of the 70. In the midst of this week (Dan 9:26-27), A.D. 31, the Messiah
is cut off, crucified. A second half-week of 3½ years brings us to A.D. 34, when
at the stoning of Stephen the gospel is taken to the Gentiles.
THE LONGEST PROPHECY ENDS. In A.D. 34 the 70 weeks, or 490 years, is
completed. There remains 410 years of this longest Bible prophecy, of Daniel
8:14, to be fulfilled. At its termination, in A.D. 1844, began the “cleansing of the
sanctuary” predicted in this important passage of Daniel 8:14.
Jesus is our High Priest in the heavenly Sanctuary (the pattern of the
earthly). In 1844, He began His final work in it, prior to His second advent to
the earth for His people.

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Family Bible Studies - 9 page 4
“very great.”
3. Who is symbolized by the great horn between his eyes?
Daniel 8:21—“The great horn that is between his eyes is the first
king.”
Alexander the Great, the first king, was to be broken when Grecia was
strong. Alexander led Grecia to world leadership, then died of a fever
following a drunken spree, at the age of thirty-two, in 323 B.C. Grecia
was strong when Alexander was at the height of its glorious conquests.
4. What do the four horns of the goat represent?
Daniel 8:22—“Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it,
four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his
power.”
The four horns represent the four divisions of Alexander’s realm. The
historian, Rawlinson, says, “A quadripartite [fourfold] division of
Alexander’s dominion was recognized.” This took place twenty-two years
after Alexander’s death; when, after the Battle of Ipsus, his warring
generals divided the kingdom into four parts—east, west, north, south—
“toward the four winds of heaven.” The four horns correspond to the
four heads of the leopard of Daniel 7.
The accompanying chart and explanation will clarify the events which
are set forth in the prophecies of the 70 weeks and the 2300 days. The
Bible clearly shows that, often in prophecy, God uses a day to represent
a year (Numbers 14:34; Ezekiel 4:6). This prophecy, in Daniel 9, dem-
onstrates the principle and sets the seal to the whole prophecy of the
2300 years. The decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem was com-
pleted when Artaxerxes restored civil government to the Jewish nation
in 457 B.C. In A.D. 27, 483 years later, Christ was baptized in the Jor-
dan River and was anointed by the Holy Spirit descending upon Him in
the form of a dove. In A.D. 31, three and a half years later, “in the midst
of the week,” He was crucified. The stoning of Stephen marked the final
rejection of Christ’s mission by the Jewish nation. Henceforth the mes-
sage of salvation was to be preached to the Gentiles. These historical events
definitely establish the 2300-day prophecy and fix the termination of this
long period in the year 1844.
5. What empire is represented by the little horn that grew out of
one of the four horns?
Daniel 8:23—“In the latter time of their kingdom, when trans-
gressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and under-
standing dark sentences, shall stand up.”
Bible prophecy did not name specifically the successor of the Grecian
kingdom. Daniel’s previous prophecies (Daniel 2 and 6) follow the pat-
tern of the four world empires seen in history—Babylon, Medo-Persia,
Greece, and Rome. The prophecy of Daniel 8 begins with the second,
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Medo-Persia, and presents three empires. This last kingdom was the
one that was to “stand up against the Prince of princes” (Daniel 8:25).
Jesus Christ was that prince, and the Roman power put Him to death.
So the little horn was Rome. The little horn came forth from one of the
four horns. The Romans defeated the Macedonians in 168 B.C. This was
the western division of Greece. From this beginning, Rome went on to
conquer all. Pagan Rome became “exceeding great. And since pagan Rome
was followed by papal Rome, it can be said that papal Rome also became
“exceeding great” (see the lesson on a prophetic study of Daniel 7 and the
papacy). Finally all earthly powers will be “broken without hand,” at the
second coming of Christ, which is represented in Daniel 2 as the “stone
. . cut out of the mountain without hands” (Daniel 2:45) and destroys
the kingdoms of earth.
6. What long time period is introduced into the prophecy at this
point?
Daniel 8:14—“And He said unto me, unto two thousand and three
hundred days; then shall the Sanctuary be cleansed.”
7. To what period of earth’s history does the vision point?
Daniel 8:17—“So he came near where I stood: and when he came,
I was afraid, and fell upon my face: but he said unto me, Under-
stand, O son of man: for at the time of the end shall be the vi-
sion.”
A part of this prophecy is to reach to the “time of the end.” Since we are
living in that time, we should prayerfully study to know the meaning of
that portion of the prophecy which applies in our day.
8. What happened to Daniel when the angel had proceeded thus
far in his explanation of the vision?
Daniel 8:26-27—“The vision of the evening and the morning
which was told is true: wherefore shut thou up the vision; for it
shall be for many days. And I Daniel fainted, and was sick cer-
tain days.”
Daniel fainted and was sick as he saw the host of God and the Sanctuary
trodden underfoot (Daniel 8:13, 27). He did not fully understand how
this would take place, nor the meaning of the long period of 2300 days.
The words rang in his ears, “Unto two thousand and three hundred
days; then shall the Sanctuary be cleansed.” What could they mean?
Daniel was deeply concerned about the 2300 days, but no explanation
had been given to him.
2 - THE VISION OF DANIEL 9
As chapter nine opens, we find Daniel still in distress over the unex-
plained portion of the vision, the 2300 days. Let us notice what hap-
pened. First of all: Daniel prayed for light on the Sanctuary.

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Daniel 9:1-4—“In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus,
of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm
of the Chaldeans; in the first year of his reign I Daniel under-
stood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of
the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accom-
plish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. And I set
my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplica-
tion, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes: and I prayed unto
the Lord my God.”
Daniel 9:17—“Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of
Thy servant, and His supplications, and cause Thy face to shine
upon Thy Sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord’s sake.”
He began to study the prophecies diligently (Daniel 9:1-2). He prayed ear-
nestly and confessed his sins and the sins of his people (Daniel 9:4-5,
20). This is a good way to get light from God.
Then, Gabriel came from God to give him understanding on the 2300
days.
Daniel 9:21-22—“Whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man
Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused
to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation.
And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I
am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding.”
Gabriel introduced his explanation as follows:
Daniel 9:23—“I am come to shew thee; for thou art greatly be-
loved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision.”
The angel Gabriel (Daniel 9:21) came in order that Daniel might “under-
stand the matter, and consider the vision” (Daniel 9:21-23). The only
vision under consideration was the vision of Daniel 8. And the unex-
plained portion of that vision was the 2300 days and the Sanctuary. This
was the part of the prophecy that Gabriel came to unfold to the prophet.
He called Daniel’s attention to the time element which had been left unex-
plained. “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people,” he said (Daniel
9:24).
Please turn now to your Bible and read again Daniel 9:24-27. Remember
that the 70 weeks and the 2,300 days, or years, are associated. Remem-
ber, too, that, in prophecy, a day stands for a year (Numbers 14:34;
Ezekiel 4:6).
Note the following seven points based on Daniel 9:24-27. Read these
verses carefully.
1. Seventy weeks of seven days each would be 490 days, or literal years.
2. The 490 years are “determined,” or cut off, especially for the Jews

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(Daniel 9:24). They are cut off from the 2,300 years, leaving 1,810
years.
3. The period was to begin with the date the Persians gave command to
restore Jerusalem. This was 457 B.C. (Daniel 9:25; Ezra 7:11-26). The
Babylonians had conquered the Jews. The Persians were to restore
Jerusalem. God raised up Cyrus to perform His work (Isaiah 44:28).
4. The first 7 weeks (7 x 7 = 49 years) were for the rebuilding of Jerusa-
lem.
5. The next 62 weeks (7 x 62 = 434 years) were to reach to the Messiah, or
the Anointed One. Jesus was anointed at His baptism, A.D. 27 (Matthew
3:13-17; Acts 10:38). When the clock of eternity struck the hour, Jesus
was there on the bank of the Jordan River, to be baptized by John. “When
the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son” (Galatians
4:4).
6. The 70th week of 7 years would reach from A.D. 27 to A.D. 34. In the
midst of this week, A.D. 31, the Messiah was to be “cut off, but not for
Himself” (Daniel 9:26). This was fulfilled when Christ was crucified.
The Messiah was also to “cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease”
(Daniel 9:27). When Christ died on the cross, the veil of the Temple of
Jerusalem was torn from top to bottom by an unseen hand (Matthew
27:51). A human hand would have torn it from the bottom to the top.
God thus signified that the sacrificial service of animals was over. The
“Lamb of God” had been slain. The remaining years of the 70th week, or
the 490 years, reached to A.D. 34. Stephen was stoned to death by the
Jews, and the great persecution of the church at Jerusalem followed
(Acts 7:59; 8:1). The Jewish people as a nation had rejected the Messiah,
and now He left their house desolated. The 490 years allotted to the
Jewish nation were finished.
7. The 70 weeks, or 490 years, were part of the 2,300 years. Since the
490 years reach to A.D. 34, the remaining 1,810 years of the 2,300 years
would reach to 1844. If you have difficulty in figuring the date, 1844, and
get 1843 instead (2300 minus 457 is 1843), just remember that it takes
457 full years before Christ and 1,843 full years after Christ to make
2,300. Since the decree went forth after a part of the year 457 B.C. had
passed, the end of the 2,300 full years would fall after the close of A.D.
1843, well-over into the year of 1844.
At this time, the Sanctuary was to be cleansed. Many interpreters of
prophecy living at that time thought the cleansing of the Sanctuary meant
the end of the world. But the expression, “cleansing of the Sanctuary,”
had a different meaning. We shall seek to find the full truth of this impor-
tant matter in the next lesson. But we can say this much now: The cleans-
ing of the Sanctuary and the judgment of the world are closely related.
When this subject is understood clearly, you will thrill with a new sense
of love and respect for the great God who has revealed such mysteries to
men.

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The history of the Jews and their rejection of Christ is on record for our
admonition. They did not understand the true nature, character, and
purpose of Jesus’ mission to the world nor the time of the visitation of
their judgment. Yet the prophecies were clear on these points. Israel need
not have rejected Christ and brought such calamities upon their nation.
Let us with earnest purpose and prayer determine to know God’s plan
for us today, that we may cooperate with Him and accept fully the saving
light of prophetic truth.
The next lesson is closely linked to this present lesson. You will want to
begin that fascinating study as soon as you can, while the vision of Daniel
8 and 9 are still fresh in your mind.
———————————————————————————
Brief Review Questions —

What is represented by the ram and its two horns?

What does the great horn between the ram’s two

eyes symbolize?

What is the meaning of the four horns of the goat?

What empire is indicated by the little horn, which

grew out of one of the four horns?

What dates mark the beginning and ending of the 70

weeks?

What happened during the last of the 70 weeks?

When did the 2300 years end?

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Brief Bible Study - Lesson 9 DANIEL 8 & 9 - CODE: D8-9

Daniel Eight and Nine

1 - THE VISION OF DANIEL 8
1. Who is represented by the ram and its two horns?
Daniel 8:20—“The ram which thou __________ having two
horns are the kings of Media and Persia.”
2. Who is represented by the goat?
Daniel 8:21—“The rough goat is the king of Grecia.”
3. Who is symbolized by the great horn between his eyes?
Daniel 8:21—“The great _________ that is between his eyes is
the first king.”
4. What do the four horns of the goat represent?
Daniel 8:22—“Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for
it, _________ kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but
not in his power.”
5. What empire is represented by the little horn that grew out
of one of the four horns?
Daniel 8:23—“In the latter time of their kingdom, when trans-
gressors are come to the full, a king of __________ countenance,
and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up.”
6. What long time period is introduced into the prophecy at this
point?
Daniel 8:14—“And He said unto me, unto two thousand and
three ____________ days; then shall the Sanctuary be cleansed.”
7. To what period of earth’s history does the vision point?
Daniel 8:17—“So he came near where I stood: and when he
came, I was afraid, and fell upon my face: but he said unto me,
Understand, O son of man: for at the ________ of the end
shall be the vision.”
8. What happened to Daniel when the angel had proceeded thus
far in his explanation of the vision?
Daniel 8:26-27—“The vision of the evening and the morning
which was told is true: wherefore shut thou up the vision; for
it shall be for many days. And I Daniel ___________, and was
sick certain days.”
2 - THE VISION OF DANIEL 9
Daniel 9:1-4—“In the first year of ____________ the son of
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Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king

over the realm of the Chaldeans; in the first year of his reign I
Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof
the word of the Lord came to ____________ the prophet, that
he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusa-
lem. And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer
and supplication, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes: and
I prayed unto the Lord my God.”
Daniel 9:17—“Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of
Thy servant, and His supplications, and cause Thy face to shine
upon Thy ____________ that is desolate, for the Lord’s sake.”
Daniel 9:21-22—“Whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the
man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the _________ at the begin-
ning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of
the evening oblation. And he informed me, and talked with
me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill
and understanding.”
Daniel 9:23—“I am come to shew thee; for thou art greatly
beloved: therefore ______________ the matter, and consider
the vision.”
————————————————————————————
THE LONGEST PROPHECY BEGINS. The 70 week prophecy (Dan 9:24-27) is the
first part of the 2300 day prophecy. Seventy weeks are “determined” (“cut off” in
Hebrew—cut off from the larger 2300 day [year] prophecy) for the Jews. Therefore,
the first part of the 2300 day prophecy of Daniel 8:14 is time allocated to the Jews, to
conclude their probation as God’s specially favored nation.
In Bible prophecy, a day equals a year (Num 14:34; Ezek 4:6). The decree of
Artaxerxes, given in his seventh year as king, in 457 B.C. (Dan 9:25; Ezra 6:14; 7:6-
8), restoring the Jewish government, begins this vast time prophecy of 2300 years.
The first 70 weeks (Dan 9:24-27) of this prophecy, cut off or allotted to the Jews,
equals 490 years. The walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt in 7 weeks, or 49 years (408
B.C.). Another 62 weeks brings us to the anointing of Christ for His mission in A.D. 27.
Now 423 years are past; only 1 week remains of the 70. In the midst of this week (Dan
9:26-27), A.D. 31, the Messiah is cut off, crucified. A second half-week of 3½ years
brings us to A.D. 34, when at the stoning of Stephen the gospel is taken to the Gentiles.
THE LONGEST PROPHECY ENDS. In A.D. 34 the 70 weeks, or 490 years, is com-
pleted. There remains 410 years of this longest Bible prophecy, of Daniel 8:14, to be
fulfilled. At its termination, in A.D. 1844, began the “cleansing of the sanctuary” pre-
dicted in this important passage of Daniel 8:14. Jesus is our High Priest in the heav-
enly Sanctuary (the pattern of the earthly). In 1844, He began His final work in it,
prior to His second advent to the earth for His people.

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What tthe
he Bible says about –
The Sanctuary in Heaven
SCRIPTURE READING:
HEBREWS 9; LEVITICUS 16

1 - HOW IS SALVATION MADE POSSIBLE TO US?

Without the shedding of blood there is no remission, or forgive-
ness, of sin.
Hebrews 9:22—“Almost all things are by the law purged with
blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission” (Leviticus
17:11).
Years ago a young Brahman called to see a missionary in Culcutta. They
talked together about Christianity and the Hindu religions. During the
visit the youthful Brahman said, “Many things which Christianity con-
tains I find in Hinduism. But there is one thing Christianity has and
Hinduism has not.” “What is that?” asked the missionary. “A Saviour” was
his reply.
Christ is the world’s Saviour because He paid the penalty for our sins
by shedding His blood in sacrifice. He was the divine-human substitute
who laid down His life, to save the human race from the penalty of
God’s broken law. All through human history, the coming of Jesus, as
the Lamb of God who would give His life blood as the offering for sin,
was the great hope of the world. The animal sacrifices offered by Abel,
Noah, Abraham, and other Old Testament characters represented Christ
who would come into the world and shed His blood in sacrifice for our
sins. And the blood of these slain animals typified the blood of Christ.
Notice two texts carefully:
Hebrews 9:12—“Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but
by His own blood He . . obtained eternal redemption for us”
(Matthew 26:28; Isaiah 53:5-7).
John 1:29—“John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Be-
hold the Lamb of God.”
Christ is the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation
13:8). He stood in readiness to make the sacrifice before the world (1
Peter 1:18-20). He came from heaven to this earth to accomplish this.
None but Christ, one equal to God, whose law had been broken, could
redeem man from its curse. The blood of bulls and goats could not do
this (Hebrews 10:4). This blood could serve only as a type of Christ’s
blood.
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2 - HOW DID THE OLD TESTAMENT
SACRIFICES REVEAL THE SAVIOUR?
Abel, Noah, and Abraham offered blood sacrifices because they had faith
in the salvation promised through the coming Saviour. These Old Tes-
tament sacrifices were symbolic of Jesus and intended to keep fresh in
mind the true Lamb of God who would come to earth and shed His
blood for our redemption..(Hebrews 9:3-5, 8, 13, 20, 22).
From the time of Adam’s sin to Moses, some 2,500 years, the offering
of sacrifices was made by the head of the family.
From Moses’ time till the advent of Christ, animal sacrifices were of-
fered in a special building, or sanctuary, constructed for this purpose.
In this beautiful building, God promised to meet with Israel. Here is the
record:
Exodus 25:8—“Let them make Me a sanctuary; that I may dwell
among them.”
These sacrifices were a temporary arrangement, “a figure for the time
then present” until the true Lamb of God would come.
Hebrews 9:9—“Which was a figure for the time then present, in
which were offered both gifts and sacrifices.”
The entire sacrificial work was organized in, and about, the sanctuary
that Moses was instructed to build. Later, Solomon’s Temple housed
this service. It was built upon the very spot where Abraham brought his
son, Isaac, to be sacrificed on Mount Moriah.
3 - HOW MANY ROOMS
WERE IN THE SANCTUARY?
Exodus 26:33—“Thou shalt hang the veil . . and the veil shall
divide unto you between the holy place and the most holy.”
The sanctuary proper had two rooms and was situated inside an open-
air court some 75 by 150 feet. The walls of the court were made of linen
screens suspended from upright brass pillars. The entrance was at the
eastern end. In the court were the altar of burnt offering and the brass
laver, where the priests washed their hands and feet before entering the
sanctuary.
1. The first, or holy, apartment was for daily use.
Hebrews 9:6—“Now when these things were thus ordained, the
priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the
service of God.”
The first, or holy, apartment had three articles of furniture: the golden
candlestick with seven lamps (Exodus 25:37), the table of shewbread,
and the altar of incense. The service here was daily. On the altar of in-
cense, the priest burned incense morning and evening. A magnificent veil
separated this apartment from the second.
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For a description of the furniture of the first apartment, turn to Exodus
25:23-40; 30:1-6; 40:22-27.
2. The second, or most holy, apartment was entered only once a
year.
Hebrews 9:7—“Into the second went the high priest alone once
every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for
the errors of the people.”
In the second, or most holy, apartment was the ark, the central figure of
the entire sanctuary. In the ark were the Ten Commandments engraved
on tablets of stone. All services centered in the fact that men had trans-
gressed this holy, unchangeable law. All men needed mercy. So, above
the law, as a covering of the ark, was the mercy seat, made of pure gold.
On either end of the mercy seat were cherubim made of beaten gold.
Their faces looked downward in reference to the holy law.
Above the mercy seat was the Shekinah, or the manifestation of the
divine presence. The law decreed death upon the transgressor, but above
the law was the mercy seat, overshadowed by the presence of God. Mercy
and pardon were granted by virtue of the atoning blood.
For a description of the second apartment and its furniture, turn to
Exodus 40:20-21; 25:10-22; Hebrews 9:3-4; Deuteronomy 10:4-5.
4 - WHAT WAS REPRESENTED
BY THE EARTHLY SANCTUARY?
Hebrews 8:5—“Who served unto the example and shadow of heav-
enly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about
to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all
things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount” (He-
brews 9:24).
Keep in mind that in Old Testament times, Christ, the Saviour, had not
yet come to earth; and God was seeking, by the sanctuary service, to fix
the faith of the people upon Jesus by illustrating His work (through the
different services of the earthly sanctuary) of the original, which is in
heaven. It represented the work of Christ as man’s Saviour.
Since the time of His ascension, Christ has been our high priest in the
heavenly Sanctuary.
Hebrews 8:1-2—“We have such an high priest, who is set on
the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens: a
minister of the Sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the
Lord pitched, and not man” (Hebrews 9:24).
In vision, John, the Revelator, saw the articles of the heavenly Sanctu-
ary. He saw the golden candlesticks (Revelation 1:12-13; 4:5). He saw
the golden altar of incense (Revelation 8:3-4). And, as he viewed the
future, he saw the “ark of His testament” in the temple of heaven (Revela-
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tion 11:18-19).
5 - HOW OFTEN WAS
THE EARTHLY SANCTUARY CLEANSED?
Let us now come back to the earthly sanctuary. This building was cleansed
once a year by a blood sacrifice.
Leviticus 16:19—“He shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with
his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and hollow it from the un-
cleanness of the children of Israel.”
This yearly service was a service of atonement and judgment.
Leviticus 16:30—“On that day shall the priest make an atone-
ment for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your
sins before the Lord.” (Read all of Leviticus 16 for the complete
service of this Day of Atonement, as it is called.)
As the people confessed their sins day by day and sacrifices were of-
fered, blood was placed on the horns of the altar and the sins, in sym-
bol, were transferred to the sanctuary. Then, once a year, on the tenth
day of the seventh month, final opportunity was given for full disposi-
tion of sin. It was a solemn day indeed! It was now or never. It was the
annual day of judgment.
The noted Dean Farrar wrote: “So awful was the Day of Atonement that
we are told in a Jewish book of ritual that the very angels run to and fro
in fear and trembling, saying, ‘Lo, the day of judgment has come!’ ” (The
Early Days of Christianity, p. 238).
So the yearly cleansing of the earthly sanctuary on the Day of Atone-
ment was a day of judgment for the people.
6 - WAS THE HEAVENLY SANCTUARY
ALSO TO BE CLEANSED?
The answer to this question brings us to the key point in this lesson.
Remember that the prophecy of Daniel 8:14 pointed forward to the
cleansing of the heavenly Sanctuary. Here are the words of the proph-
ecy:
Daniel 8:14—“Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then
shall the Sanctuary be cleansed.”
When Jesus died on the cross, the old, or earthly, sacrificial system
which pointed to His life and death was no longer necessary. As far as
God was concerned, the earthly sanctuary service ended. Then, after
His death, Christ rose from the dead and ascended to heaven to begin
His work as our high priest in the heavenly Sanctuary.
At the close of the 2300 days (1844), the Sanctuary was to be cleansed.
This was not the earthly Sanctuary, because its work ended at the cross.
Therefore it must have been the heavenly Sanctuary. In 1844, the hour
struck for the beginning of that cleansing. At the time appointed, the
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great antitypical cleansing, or judgment, in the most holy place of the
Sanctuary in heaven began.
In 1844, Jesus entered the most holy apartment of the heavenly Sanctu-
ary and began that work. There is no sin in heaven, but a work of
judgment is being done in connection with the records of sin
(Ecclesiastes 12:14; Revelation 20:12).
Consider that “when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth
His Son” (Galatians 4:4). At the end of the 483 years of Daniel 9, Jesus
was baptized and anointed by the Holy Ghost, just as predicted. That
was in A.D. 27 He was also crucified at the stroke of the prophetic
clock. Just as the first part of the 2300-day prophecy was fulfilled at
the time appointed, so the judgment hour began in 1844, at the end of
the 2300-day prophetic period.
As the cleansing of the sanctuary was a day of judgment, the final day to
get right with God, so the cleansing of the heavenly Sanctuary is God’s
appointed time for judgment. “Because He hath appointed a day, in the
which He will judge the world” (Acts 17:31).
This judgment was future in Paul’s day (Acts 24:25). It was “judgment to
come.”
This is an investigative judgment, in which all cases must be decided
before Christ comes, since He brings His reward with Him. During the
millennium a study will be made of the cases of the wicked, with the
redeemed saints assisting. The final sentences will be pronounced upon
the wicked. Then the execution of the sentences will be carried out at
the end of the 1,000 years, after the wicked are resurrected. So we have
the three regular phases of judgment—the investigation now, the deter-
mining of the sentences during the 1,000 years, and the execution of
the sentences at the end of that period.
Christ will come soon after the judgment ends. Here are the words of
God, indicating that, when the judgment ends, Jesus’ coming follows
quickly:
Revelation 22:11-12—“He that is unjust, let him be unjust still:
and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righ-
teous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be
holy still. And, behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with
Me, to give every man according as His work shall be” (Revela-
tion 14:6-7, for the judgment message).
7 - WHAT JUDGMENT SCENE
DID DANIEL SEE IN VISION?
Daniel 7:9-10—“I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the
Ancient of Days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and
the hair of His head like the pure wool: His throne was like the
fiery flame, and His wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued
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THE EARTHLY TABERNACLE

The sanctuary in the wilderness was constructed under the direction of
Moses, in accordance with the pattern shown him in the mount (Ex 25:7-8, 40;
Heb 8:5).
Enclosing this wilderness tabernacle was an OUTER COURT which was made
of white curtains attached to poles (Ex 27:9-18), and was about 75 feet wide by
150 feet long (based on an 18-inch cubit). Within the Court was the ALTAR OF
BURNT OFFERING, the Laver, and the Tabernacle. This altar was also called the
Brazen Altar since there was a second altar (the Golden Altar) inside the Taber-
nacle. This outside (Ex 27:1-9) altar was hollow inside, overlaid with brass, and
was 5 feet high and 7½ feet square. Upon this altar were placed the animals
that were offered as burnt sacrifice. Just beyond, stood the brass LAVER (Ex
30:18-21), where the priests washed before entering the Tabernacle.
The TABERNACLE (the sanctuary) (Ex 26:1-37) was a tent with wooden
walls, four layers as a roof covering, with gold and beautiful curtains inside.
About 15 by 45 feet in size, this Tabernacle was portable, so it could be taken
apart and moved from place to place during the journeys of Israel through the
wilderness. Divided by an inner veil into two rooms (apartments), it was the
holiest place on earth.
The priest entered the FIRST APARTMENT everyday with the blood, and
went past the seven-branched Golden Candlestick, with its seven lamps of fire
(Ex 25:31-40); past the Table of Shewbread, containing the dedicated bread,
that stood before the Presence of the Lord (Ex 25:23-30); and on to the Altar of
Incense, or Golden Altar (Ex 30:1-10), from whence the smoke of a specially
prepared incense wafted up, over the top of the dividing veil (which did not
reach to the ceiling) and into the Holy of Holies beyond. Upon the Golden Altar
and dividing veil, the priest sprinkled some of the sacrificial blood (Lev 4-5). A
partial description of this may be found in Hebrews 9:1-7. All of the furniture
within the First and Second Apartments was of solid gold, or covered with gold.
The SECOND APARTMENT, or Most Holy Place (Ex 26:33), contained the
Ark of the Covenant (Ex 26:17-22). Between two CHERUBIM was the glory of
the SHIKINAH—the Presence of God (Ex 26:22; 40:34). Beneath it was the
MERCY SEAT, a solid gold slab that covered the top of the ARK, wherein lay the
foundation of God’s government: the MORAL LAW OF TEN COMMANDMENTS
(Ex 20:3-17) which was written by the finger of God on stone (Ex 24:12) and
then placed in the Ark (Ex 40:20). All of mankind is to be governed by those holy
precepts, even down to the end of time (Rev 12:17; 14:12) and beyond (Rev
22:14; Isa 66:22-23). The DAILY SERVICE continued all year; but, once a year
on the DAY OF ATONEMENT, the high priest entered the Second Apartment—to
cleanse the sanctuary and the people of sin (Lev 16:30, 33-34 and all of the
chapter; Dan 8:14).

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and came forth from before Him: thousand thousands ministered
unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before
Him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.”
The scene becomes very vivid as Christ comes to the judgment room.
Daniel 7:13—“I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like
the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the
Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him.”
Jesus appears before God, the Father, as our advocate.
1 John 2:1—“If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Fa-
ther, Jesus Christ the righteous” (Acts 17:31).
The Ancient of Days is God, the Father (Daniel 7:9, 13). He is the
great, unchanging, merciful, but holy God. Myriads of angels attend the
heavenly court. Jesus is our advocate. God created all things by Jesus
Christ (Ephesians 3:9). He reconciled the world to Himself by Jesus
Christ (2 Corinthians 5:18). And He will judge the world by Jesus
Christ (Acts 17:31). Jesus is our Creator, our Redeemer, and our Friend
at the judgment bar of God. He will plead our case and win it if we will
let Him.
8 - WHAT SHOULD
WE UNDERSTAND
ABOUT THE JUDGMENT?
1. Heaven’s court will take into consideration not only what a
man did, but why he did it.
There will be complete understanding of all factors and therefore com-
plete justice. There will be no mistakes as in earthly courts, where in-
nocent men have sometimes paid the penalty for other mens’ crimes.
Were you ever accused of something you did not do? It will not be so
there. Were you ever given credit for a good deed you did not do? It will
not be so there.
Jeremiah 2:22—“Though thou wash thee with nitre, and take
thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before Me, saith
the Lord.”
Ecclesiastes 12:14—“God shall bring every work into judgment,
with every secret thing.”
This is possible because there is a record of every man’s life. God knows
all. “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the
good” (Proverbs 15:3).
2. We will be judged from the books of record in heaven.
Revelation 20:12—“The dead were judged out of those things
which were written in the books.”
One of these is the book of life (Revelation 13:8; Daniel 12:1;
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Philippians 4:3). And there is a book of remembrance (Malachi 3:16).
And there is one, and only one, remedy. That is the blood of Jesus
Christ. This precious lifeblood of Jesus is available to all who will
freely confess all sin and walk in the light of truth (1 John 1:7-9). The
blood reveals God’s merciful plan to forgive our sins. His justice and
mercy together declare the breadth of His love. Friend, let His love
warm and win your heart. He wants only your allegiance of love. Jesus
is ready to be your advocate before God and present His blood for you.
9 - WHAT IS THE STANDARD
IN THE JUDGMENT?
The holy, eternal, immutable, unchangeable Ten Commandments will be
the standard in the judgment. The law that says, “Thou shalt not kill,”
etc. (James 2:10-12), will judge us; so Solomon concluded, “Fear God,
and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For
God shall bring every work into judgment” (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14). And
we read again:
James 2:10-12—“Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet
offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not
commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no
adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the
law. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the
law of liberty” (James 1:22-25; Ecclesiastes 12:13-14).
And now, dear student, we must come to a personal question—How
shall we stand in the judgment? We all have a case pending there, for all
must appear in the judgment (2 Corinthians 5:10). All have sinned (Ro-
mans 3:23). The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). But Christ died
for us. His blood atones for sin. So now is the time to confess our sins
to Him (1 John 1:9) and send them beforehand to judgment (1 Timothy
5:24).
We must also forsake sin (Proverbs 28:13); for sin is the transgression
of God’s law, which is the standard of the judgment (1 John 3:4). Jesus
Christ came to save sinners (1 Timothy 1:15), and God will judge us by
Christ (Acts 17:31). His Word will settle our cases. “There is none other
name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts
4:12). Turn to Jesus with all your heart. He will forgive you—gloriously
forgive you and make you acceptable to God. Will you not accept Him
now?
The next lesson is entitled “The Christian’s Standard.” In it you will
find an overview of some of the basic Bible principles.
———————————————————————————
Brief Review Questions —

What was in the first apartment?

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What was in the second apartment?

What great building was the earthly tabernacle pat-

terned after?
What is the standard of the judgment?

THE SANCTUARY IN HEAVEN

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL—
“We are now living in the great day of atonement. In the typical ser-
vice, while the high priest was making the atonement for Israel, all were
required to afflict their souls by repentance of sin and humiliation be-
fore the Lord, lest they be cut off from among the people. In like manner,
all who would have their names retained in the book of life should now,
in the few remaining days of their probation, afflict their souls before
God by sorrow for sin and true repentance. There must be deep, faithful
searching of heart. The light, frivolous spirit indulged by so many pro-
fessed Christians must be put away. There is earnest warfare before all
who would subdue the evil tendencies that strive for the mastery. The
work of preparation is an individual work. We are not saved in groups.
The purity and devotion of one will not offset the want of these qualities
in another. Though all nations are to pass in judgment before God, yet
He will examine the case of each individual with as close and searching
scrutiny as if there were not another being upon the earth. Everyone
must be tested and found without spot or wrinkle or any such thing.
“Solemn are the scenes connected with the closing work of the atone-
ment. Momentous are the interests involved therein. The judgment is
now passing in the sanctuary above. For many years this work has been
in progress. Soon—none know how soon—it will pass to the cases of the
living. In the awful presence of God our lives are to come up in review. At
this time above all others it behooves every soul to heed the Saviour’s
admonition: ‘Watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is’ (Mark
13:33). ‘If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief,
and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee’ (Revelation
3:3).
“When the work of the investigative judgment closes, the destiny of all
will have been decided for life or death. Probation is ended a short time
before the appearing of the Lord in the clouds of heaven . . While the man
of business is absorbed in the pursuit of gain, while the pleasure lover is
seeking indulgence, while the daughter of fashion is arranging her adorn-
ments—it may be in that hour the Judge of all the earth will pronounce
the sentence: ‘Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting’
(Daniel 5:27).” —Great Controversy, 489-491

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THE SANCTUARY IN HEAVEN
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION—
“The sanctuary in heaven, in which Jesus ministers in our behalf, is
the great original, of which the sanctuary built by Moses was a copy. God
placed His Spirit upon the builders of the earthly sanctuary. The artistic
skill displayed in its construction was a manifestation of divine wisdom.
The walls had the appearance of massive gold, reflecting in every direc-
tion the light of the seven lamps of the golden candlestick. The table of
shewbread and the altar of incense glittered like burnished gold. The
gorgeous curtain which formed the ceiling, inwrought with figures of angels
in blue and purple and scarlet, added to the beauty of the scene. And
beyond the second veil was the holy Shekinah, the visible manifestation
of God’s glory, before which none but the high priest could enter and
live.
“The matchless splendor of the earthly tabernacle reflected to human
vision the glories of that heavenly temple where Christ our forerunner
ministers for us before the throne of God. The abiding place of the King
of kings, where thousand thousands minister unto Him, and ten thou-
sand times ten thousand stand before Him (Daniel 7:10); that temple,
filled with the glory of the eternal throne, where seraphim, its shining
guardians, veil their faces in adoration, could find, in the most magnifi-
cent structure ever reared by human hands, but a faint reflection of its
vastness and glory . .
“The holy places of the sanctuary in heaven are represented by the
two apartments in the sanctuary on earth. As in vision the apostle John
was granted a view of the temple of God in heaven, he beheld there ‘seven
lamps of fire burning before the throne’ (Revelation 4:5). He saw an an-
gel ‘having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense,
that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar
which was before the throne’ (Revelation 8:3). Here the prophet was per-
mitted to behold the first apartment of the sanctuary in heaven; and he
saw there the ‘seven lamps of fire’ and ‘the golden altar,’ represented by
the golden candlestick and the altar of incense in the sanctuary on earth.
Again, ‘the temple of God was opened’ (Revelation 11:19), and he looked
within the inner veil, upon the holy of holies. Here he beheld ‘the ark of
His testament,’ represented by the sacred chest constructed by Moses to
contain the law of God . .
“Moses made the earthly sanctuary after a pattern which was shown
him. Paul teaches that that pattern was the true sanctuary which is in
heaven. And John testifies that he saw it in heaven.
“In the temple in heaven, the dwelling place of God, His throne is
established in righteousness and judgment. In the most holy place is His
law, the great rule of right by which all mankind are tested. The ark that
enshrines the tables of the law is covered with the mercy seat, before
which Christ pleads His blood in the sinner’s behalf. Thus is represented

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the union of justice and mercy in the plan of human redemption. This
union infinite wisdom alone could devise and infinite power accomplish;
it is a union that fills all heaven with wonder and adoration. The cheru-
bim of the earthly sanctuary, looking reverently down upon the mercy
seat, represent the interest with which the heavenly host contemplate the
work of redemption. This is the mystery of mercy into which angels de-
sire to look—that God can be just while He justifies the repenting sinner
and renews His intercourse with the fallen race; that Christ could stoop
to raise unnumbered multitudes from the abyss of ruin and clothe them
with the spotless garments of His own righteousness to unite with angels
who have never fallen and to dwell forever in the presence of God.
“The work of Christ as man’s intercessor is presented in that beauti-
ful prophecy of Zechariah concerning Him ‘whose name is the Branch.’
Says the prophet: ‘He shall build the temple of the Lord; and He shall
bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon His [the Father’s] throne; and
He shall be a priest upon His throne: and the counsel of peace shall be
between Them both’ (Zechariah 6:12, 13) . .
“ ‘He shall bear the glory.’ To Christ belongs the glory of redemption
for the fallen race. Through the eternal ages, the song of the ransomed
ones will be: ‘Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in
His own blood, . . to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever’ (Rev-
elation 1:5, 6).
“He ‘shall sit and rule upon His throne; and He shall be a priest upon
His throne.’ Not now ‘upon the throne of His glory’; the kingdom of glory
has not yet been ushered in. Not until His work as a mediator shall be
ended will God ‘give unto Him the throne of His father David,’ a kingdom
of which ‘there shall be no end’ (Luke 1:32, 33). As a priest, Christ is
now set down with the Father in His throne (Revelation 3:21). Upon the
throne with the eternal, self-existent One is He who ‘hath borne our griefs,
and carried our sorrows,’ who ‘was in all points tempted like as we are,
yet without sin,’ that He might be ‘able to succor them that are tempted.’
‘If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father’ (Isaiah 53:4; He-
brews 4:15; 2:18; 1 John 2:1). His intercession is that of a pierced and
broken body, of a spotless life. The wounded hands, the pierced side, the
marred feet, plead for fallen man, whose redemption was purchased at
such infinite cost.
“ ‘And the counsel of peace shall be between Them both.’ The love of
the Father, no less than of the Son, is the fountain of salvation for the lost
race. Said Jesus to His disciples before He went away: ‘I say not unto
you, that I will pray the Father for you: for the Father Himself loveth you’
John 16:26, 27. God was ‘in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself ’
(2 Corinthians 5:19). And in the ministration in the sanctuary above,
‘the counsel of peace shall be between Them both.’ ‘God so loved the
world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in
Him should not perish, but have everlasting life’ (John 3:16).”

Great Controversy, 414-417

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The Sanctuary in Heaven

1 - HOW IS SALVATION MADE POSSIBLE TO US?
Without the shedding of blood there is no remission, or forgive-
ness, of sin.
Hebrews 9:22—“Almost all things are by the law purged with
___________; and without shedding of blood is no remission”
(Leviticus 17:11).
Hebrews 9:12—“Neither by the blood of goats and calves,
but by His own blood He . . obtained eternal ________________
for us” (Matthew 26:28; Isaiah 53:5-7).
John 1:29—“John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith,
Behold the Lamb of God.”
2 - HOW DID THE OLD TESTAMENT
SACRIFICES REVEAL THE SAVIOUR?
Exodus 25:8—“Let them make Me a _____________; that I
may dwell among them” (also Hebrews 9:9).
3 - HOW MANY ROOMS
WERE IN THE SANCTUARY?
1. The first, or holy, apartment was for daily use. Hebrews 9:6.
2. The second, or most holy, apartment was entered only once
a year. Hebrews 9:7.
4 - WHAT WAS REPRESENTED
BY THE EARTHLY SANCTUARY?
Hebrews 8:5—“Who served unto the ____________ and shadow
of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when
he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that
thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee
in the mount” (Hebrews 9:24).
Hebrews 8:1-2—“We have such an high priest, who is set on
the right hand of the ____________ of the Majesty in the heav-
ens: a minister of the Sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle,
which the Lord pitched, and not man” (Hebrews 9:24).
5 - HOW OFTEN WAS THE
EARTHLY SANCTUARY CLEANSED?
Leviticus 16:19—“He shall ____________ of the blood upon it with
his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and hollow it from the un-
cleanness of the children of Israel.”
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Leviticus 16:30—“On that day shall the priest make an atone-

ment for you, to ____________ you, that ye may be clean from
all your sins before the Lord.” (Read all of Leviticus 16 for the
complete service of this Day of Atonement, as it is called.)
6 - WAS THE HEAVENLY SANCTUARY
ALSO TO BE CLEANSED?
Daniel 8:14—“Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then
shall the Sanctuary be cleansed” (also Revelation 22:11-12; Revela-
tion 14:6-7, for the judgment message).
7 - WHAT JUDGMENT SCENE DID DANIEL SEE IN VISION?
Daniel 7:9-10—“I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the
Ancient of Days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and
the hair of His head like the pure wool: His ____________ was
like the fiery flame, and His wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream
issued and came forth from before Him: thousand thousands min-
istered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood
before Him: the _____________ was set, and the books were
opened.”
Daniel 7:13—“I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like
the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the
Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him.”
1 John 2:1—“If any man sin, we have an ____________ with
the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (Acts 17:31).
8 - WHAT SHOULD WE UNDERSTAND
ABOUT THE JUDGMENT?
1. Heaven’s court will take into consideration not only what a
man did, but why he did it.
Jeremiah 2:22—“Though thou wash thee with nitre, and take
thee much soap, yet thine ____________ is marked before Me,
saith the Lord.”
Ecclesiastes 12:14—“God shall bring every work into judg-
ment, with every ____________ thing.”
2. We will be judged from the books of record in heaven.
Revelation 20:12—“The dead were judged out of those things
which were written in the books.”
9 - WHAT IS THE STANDARD
IN THE JUDGMENT?
(James 2:10-12; James 1:22-25; Ecclesiastes 12:13-14).

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What tthe
he Bible says about –

The Eternal Law of God

SCRIPTURE READING:
EXODUS 19:10-24; 20:1-21
ROMANS 13:6-10

I - DOES GOD
HAVE A GOVERNMENT?
Psalm 103:19—“The Lord hath prepared His throne in the heav-
ens; and His kingdom ruleth over all.”
Our heavenly Father is the king and ruler of the universe (Jeremiah
10:6-7). The Father shares the rulership of the whole creation with
Christ, His Son. Christ, the Word, is called “King of kings and Lord of
lords” (Revelation 19:11-16). Jesus is the active agent in all divine-
human relations (1 Corinthians 8:6).
2 - CAN THERE BE
ANY GOVERNMENT
WITHOUT LAW?
Intelligent human beings cannot live together in peace without mutually
accepted law. Belief in, and united, practice of good laws are the foun-
dation of human society, the warp and woof of a happy and orderly
society. If every man did as he pleased without respect to law, what
would happen to peace, to morality, to public safety and decency?
3 - UPON WHAT PRINCIPLE
ARE THE LAWS OF GOD’S GOVERNMENT BASED?
Psalm 89:14—“Justice and judgment are the habitation of Thy
throne: mercy and truth shall go before Thy face.”
Since the law is an expression of God’s loving character, we would ex-
pect the Bible to describe the law in similar language. Here is Paul’s
New Testament appraisal of the Ten Commandments:
Romans 7:12—“The law is holy, and the commandment holy,
and just, and good.”
Romans 7:14—“For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am
carnal, sold under sin.”
The book of Revelation gives us a picture of the redeemed saints prais-
ing God. Here are their words: “Just and true are Thy ways, Thou King
of saints” (Revelation 15:3). Those who understand the character of
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God can testify that He is just and true in all His ways.
Since God is still “the governor among the nations” as well as of the
unfallen universe, His laws are still binding upon all rational creatures.
He it is who issues these laws (Isaiah 33:22). These laws are laws of
love. And they are just. The law of God is for the happiness and well-
being of His creatures. Those who really love God desire to keep His
laws (1 John 5:3).
4 - WHAT CONSTITUTES
THE FUNDAMENTAL LAW
OF GOD’S GOVERNMENT?
1. The law of Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:3-17) is the un-
changing, eternal, and moral law of God.
Dwight L. Moody wrote in his book:
“Now men may cavil as much as they like about other parts of the Bible,
but I have never met an honest man that found fault with the Ten Com-
mandments. Infidels may mock the Lawgiver and reject Him who has
delivered us from the curse of the law, but they can’t help admitting that
the commandments are right . . The people must be made to under-
stand that the Ten Commandments are still binding, and that there is a
penalty attached to their violation” (Weighed and Wanting, pp. 11, 16).
2. God’s law is eternal in its nature.
Psalm 111:7-8—“The works of His hands are verity and judg-
ment; all His commandments are sure. They stand fast for ever
and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness.”
Concerning the fundamental law of the Ten Commandments, church
leaders have said:
“The moral law is summarily comprehended in the Ten Commandments”
(Presbyterian Confession of Faith, “Shorter Catechism,” question 41).
“The moral law doth forever bind all, as well justified persons as oth-
ers, to the obedience thereof ” (In the Westminster Confession, chapter
19, article 5).
John Calvin: “We must not imagine that the coming of Christ has freed
us from the authority of the law; for it is the eternal rule of a devout and
holy life, and must, therefore, be as unchangeable as the justice of God”
(Commentaries on the Gospels, Vol. 1, p. 277).
“We believe that the law of God is the eternal and unchangeable rule of
His moral government” (Baptist Manual, article 12).
3. The moral law was written on two tables of stone.
On the first were the first four commandments, showing our duty to
God. On the second were the last six commandments, showing our
duty to our fellowman. Spurgeon said: “If you love God with all your
heart, you must keep the first table; and if you love your neighbor as
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yourself, you must keep the second table” (The Perpetuity of the Law,
p. 5).
5 - ARE THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
FOR ALL MEN IN ALL AGES?
1. The law was for man, from Adam to Moses.
The Ten Commandments were in force from Adam’s time down through
the millenniums of time. This can be proved by the New Testament.
Sin existed from the time of the fall of man, and sin is described by
John as “the transgression of the law.” Said the apostle:
1 John 3:4—“Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the
law: for sin is the transgression of the law.”
Now there must have been law at the time of the Fall, because there was
sin at the Fall. Says Paul, “Where no law is, there is no transgression”
(Romans 4:15).
Adam could not have sinned if he had no knowledge of the moral law.
Yet Adam did sin; for, as Paul said, “By one man sin entered into the
world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all
have sinned” (Romans 5:12).
Not only did Adam sin by breaking the law, but Cain, his son, sinned
too.
Genesis 4:6-7—“And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou
wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well,
shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth
at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt
rule over him.”
Abraham, long before Moses, knew God’s law. Moses himself wrote:
Genesis 26:5—“Because that Abraham obeyed My voice, and kept
My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”
However, it is true that the law of God did not exist in written form until
Moses’ time. Indeed, the written law was not necessary before Moses.
Never forget that the race of people who lived immediately before and
after the Flood were long-lived people. Adam lived 930 years. Methuselah
lived 969 years and died just before the Flood. Noah could learn from
Methuselah all that Adam had told him because Methuselah was more
than 200 years old when Adam died. There was no need for written
laws then.
God does not hold men accountable for sin when there is no law. “Sin is
not imputed when there is no law” (Romans 5:13). It is not charged to
man. But sin was charged to man from Adam to Moses even though
there was no written law. “Death reigned from Adam to Moses” (Ro-
mans 5:14). So they knew of the law. The expression in Romans 5:13,
“Until the law sin was in the world,” means until the written law.

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2. It was for men, from Moses to Christ.
In Moses’ time, the law of God was written by the Lord Himself upon
two tables of stone and delivered to Moses, who gave them to Israel.
Deuteronomy 5:22—“These words the Lord spake unto all your
assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and
of the thick darkness, with a great voice: and He added no more.
And He wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them
unto me.”
The written law was then placed by Moses in the holy ark, which was
housed in the most holy place of the sanctuary.
Deuteronomy 10:4-5—“He wrote on the tables, according to the
first writing, the Ten Commandments, which the Lord spake
unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of
the assembly: and the Lord gave them unto me. And 1 turned
myself and came down from the mount and put the tables in the
ark which I had made” (Hebrews 9:3-4).
To this day, the Ten Commandment law is held in sacred regard by
Jews and Christians alike. The 119th psalm is a great song of praise to
God for the law of love. “O how love I Thy law!” said the psalmist; “It is
my meditation all the day” (Psalm 119:97).
Isaiah regarded the law as basic in testing all religious teaching. “To the
law and to the testimony,” he said, “if they speak not according to this
Word, it is because there is no light in them (Isaiah 8:20).
Solomon knew that it was not possible to please God while despising
the law, so He wrote:
Proverbs 28:9—“He that turneth away his ear from hearing the
law, even his prayer shall be abomination.”
3. It was for Jesus, as the Son of man, and for men of His gen-
eration.
Isaiah the gospel prophet declared that, when Christ came into the world,
He would honor the law of God. Here are his words: “He will magnify
the law, and make it honourable” (Isaiah 42:21).
The psalmist had predicted that Christ’s attitude toward the law would
be one of honor, love, and respect.
Psalm 40:7-8—“Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is writ-
ten of Me, I delight to do Thy will, O my God: yea, Thy law is
within my heart” (Hebrews 10:7).
Openly Christ declared to the people, “I have kept My Father’s com-
mandments” (John 15:10). And He said, “If ye keep My commandments,
ye shall abide in My love; even as I have kept My Father’s command-
ments, and abide in His love” (John 15:10). Knowing that He was under
suspicion as a teacher of new doctrines, Christ declared in His Sermon
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on the Mount, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law” (Matthew
5:17-19). Christ made it plain that He did not come to abolish the Ten
Commandments, but to teach men how to keep them.
4. It was for men in the time of the apostles.
We have already referred to Paul’s appraisal of the law. It is holy, just,
and good, he said. Moreover, Paul declared that faith established the
law. It did not abolish it. The following text deals a deathblow to the
doctrine of antinomianism (the doctrine that no moral law is neces-
sary). It also shows that faith establishes the law.
Romans 3:31—“Do we then make void the law through faith?
God forbid: yea, we establish the law.”
The New Testament writers understood that the law was to be the stan-
dard in the judgment. Said James:
James 2:10-12—“For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and
yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not
commit adultery, said also Do not kill. Now if thou commit no
adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the
law. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the
law of liberty.”
John was even more emphatic than James. He said:
1 John 2:4—“He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His
commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”
Many sincere Christians are opposed to the law because they say that it
frustrates the grace of God. They refer to Paul in order to support their
views. But Peter said that Paul wrote “some things hard to be under-
stood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do
also the other Scriptures, unto their own destruction” (2 Peter 3:16).
Paul had no more right than any other human being to change or abol-
ish the law of the living God. He testified publicly, in court, that he
believed “all things which are written in the law” (Acts 24:14). “We es-
tablish the law,” said the apostle (Romans 3:31). That doesn’t sound
like destroying the law, does it? Paul was a great theologian. Only those
who misunderstand him misrepresent and misinterpret his words.
5. It is for God’s remnant people of the last days.
Nothing is more clearly revealed in all the pages of Holy Writ than the
solemn truth that God will have a people on earth, just before the sec-
ond coming of Christ, who will uphold and obey His holy law. In spite of
persecution and difficulties, they will stand in defense of God’s truth.
Revelation 12:17—“And the dragon was wroth with the woman,
and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep
the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus
Christ.”
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These people not only believe in the practice of the law of love, which is
the law of Ten Commandments, but they also believe the gospel and
have the faith of Jesus.
Revelation 14:12—“Here is the patience of the saints: here are
they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus”
(verses 13-15).
The question for each of us to ask is, Am I one of God’s remnant people?
If not, why not?
6 - WHY IS THERE
GENERAL REBELLION
AGAINST GOD’S HOLY LAW?
Romans 8:7—“The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is
not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.”
Only by the new birth can the carnal mind and heart of man be changed.
According to the new covenant promise (Ezekiel 36:26-27), God will
write His law in our hearts (Hebrews 8:10). But we must be willing. Are
we?
Society today lives in rebellion against God’s law. Everyone acknowl-
edges that it is a good law, but few people want to obey it. In America,
thousands of homes break up every year in the divorce courts. Crime
costs billions of dollars annually. Hundreds of murders take place ev-
ery month. And many of these dastardly crimes are committed by youth.
According to a committee of prominent jurists and statesmen, crime
will carry the nation on to anarchy unless it is checked soon.
Some ministers and professed Christians oppose the law of God. If
they fight the Ten Commandments, what can we expect of the people?
Jesus said that if a man broke one of God’s commandments and then
taught others to do the same, he would be called least in the kingdom
(Matthew 5:19). It is serious enough to disobey God, but nothing is
more displeasing to the Lawgiver than leading others into rebellion.
The false doctrine that men are not obligated to obey the Ten Com-
mandments has weakened the forces of morality in the world and opened
the floodgates of vice and crime. When rebellion reaches its limit, God
will intervene.
Psalm 119:126—“It is time for thee, Lord, to work: for they
have made void Thy law.”
Those who have despised God’s law have miscalculated His character.
They will discover, in the final day of judgment, that He is a God of
justice as well as mercy. Here are the words that He speaks to the de-
spisers of His kingdom and His law:
Matthew 7:21-23—“Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord,
Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth
the will of My Father which is in heaven. Many will say to Me in
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that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name? and
in Thy name have cast out devils? and in Thy name done many
wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew
you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity.”
7 - WHAT PROMISE IS HELD
OUT TO THOSE WHO ARE OBEDIENT?
Psalm 119:165—“Great peace have they which love Thy law: and
nothing shall offend them.”
The Christian who has a correct knowledge of God will love Him and His
law. He will find peace in loving obedience. Isaiah declares that this
peace and righteousness that all obedient followers of Jehovah enjoy is
like “the waves of the sea.”
Isaiah 48:18—“O that thou hadst hearkened to My command-
ments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness
as the waves of the sea.”
The test of discipleship is in obedience. The greatest honor and tribute
we can pay to Christ is to willingly consent to the writing of His law of
love upon the fleshly tablets of our hearts. Will you consent to this work
of grace? Remember, Christ saves us from sin, and “sin is the trans-
gression of the law” (1 John 3:4). Salvation then means deliverance
from lawbreaking and the restoration of the human heart to the moral
likeness of God. Jesus will do this for you if you consent. Will you not
say with Christ, “I delight to do Thy will, O my God: yea, Thy law is within
my heart” (Psalm 40:8)?
The next chapter reveals how grace makes possible obedience to God’s
commandments. It is a source of great encouragement. In it we will see
the power of the grace of Christ and what it can do for our lives.
———————————————————————————
Brief Review Questions —

Can there be any government without law?

What is the basic moral law which God gave to man-

kind?

Why do people dislike God’s law?

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THE ETERNAL LAW OF GOD

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL—
“Professor Edwards A. Park, in setting forth the current religious per-
ils, ably says: ‘One source of danger is the neglect of the pulpit to enforce
the divine law. In former days the pulpit was an echo of the voice of
conscience . . Our most illustrious preachers gave a wonderful majesty
to their discourses by following the example of the Master, and giving
prominence to the law, its precepts, and its threatenings. They repeated
the two great maxims, that the law is a transcript of the divine perfec-
tions, and that a man who does not love the law does not love the gospel;
for the law, as well as the gospel, is a mirror reflecting the true character
of God. This peril leads to another, that of underrating the evil of sin, the
extent of it, the demerit of it. In proportion to the rightfulness of the
commandment is the wrongfulness of disobeying it . .
“ ‘Affiliated to the dangers already named is the danger of underesti-
mating the justice of God. The tendency of the modern pulpit is to strain
out the divine justice from the divine benevolence, to sink benevolence
into a sentiment rather than exalt it into a principle. The new theological
prism puts asunder what God has joined together. Is the divine law a
good or an evil? It is a good. Then justice is good; for it is a disposition to
execute the law. From the habit of underrating the divine law and justice,
the extent and demerit of human disobedience, men easily slide into the
habit of underestimating the grace which has provided an atonement for
sin.’ Thus the gospel loses its value and importance in the minds of men,
and soon they are ready practically to cast aside the Bible itself.
“Many religious teachers assert that Christ by His death abolished the
law, and men are henceforth free from its requirements. There are some
who represent it as a grievous yoke, and in contrast to the bondage of the
law they present the liberty to be enjoyed under the gospel.
“But not so did prophets and apostles regard the holy law of God . .
“The claim that Christ by His death abolished His Father’s law is with-
out foundation. Had it been possible for the law to be changed or set
aside, then Christ need not have died to save man from the penalty of
sin. The death of Christ, so far from abolishing the law, proves that it is
immutable. The Son of God came to ‘magnify the law, and make it honor-
able’ (Isaiah 42:21). He said: ‘Think not that I am come to destroy the
law’; ‘till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass
from the law’ (Matthew 5;17, 18). And concerning Himself He declares: ‘I
delight to do Thy will, O my God: yea, Thy law is within My heart’ (Psalm
40:8). The law of God, from its very nature, is unchangeable. It is a
revelation of the will and the character of its Author.”

—Great Controversy, 465-467

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THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTENDOM

The foundation of every Christian religion is the Ten Commandments.
This is shown in the writings and doctrinal statements of the churches
and their founders. No denomination would dare deny the authority of
this moral law. Anarchy and crime would reign if they did so. Here are
but a few of many statements which could be cited:
Southern Baptist—“We cannot conceive of an age when the moral
government of the universe shall be changed, because we cannot con-
ceive of God becoming different morally from what He is now and ever
has been . . This Law of God is holy as He Himself is holy . . It is a
universal law . . The Law of God is just and cannot be unjust—its justice
is universal . . It is more than just; it is gracious . . It results in welfare,
in happiness, in blessedness . . The Law of God is full of the love of
God.”—O. C. S. Wallace, What Baptists Believe, Southern Baptist Sun-
day School Workers’ Training Course, pp. 80-83, 1934, Southern Bap-
tists Convention.
Methodist—“The moral law, contained in the Ten Commandments,
and enforced by the Prophets, He [Christ] did not take away. It was not
the design of His coming to revoke any part of this . . Every part of this
law must remain in force upon all mankind, and in all ages; as not
depending either on time or place, or any other circumstances liable to
change, but on the nature of God, and the nature of man, and their
unchangeable relation to each other.”—John Wesley, founder of the Meth-
odist Church, “Upon Our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount,” Discourse 5, in
Works of John Wesley, Vol. 5, pp. 311-312.
Lutheran—“God threatens to punish all who transgress these com-
mandments. We should, therefore, fear His anger, and do nothing against
such commandments. But He promises grace and every blessing to all
who keep them. We should, therefore, love and trust in Him, and gladly
obey His commandments.”—Martin Luther, founder of the Lutheran
Church, Luther’s Small Catechism, in Phillip Schaff, Creeds of
Christendom, Vol. 3, p. 77.
Reformed—“We must not imagine that the coming of Christ has
freed us from the authority of the law: for it is the eternal rule of a
devout and holy life, and must, therefore, be as unchangeable, as the
justice of God, which it embraced, is constant and uniform.”—John
Calvin, founder of the Reformed Church, Commentary on a Harmony
of the Evangelists, 1949 ed., Vol. 1, p. 277, comment on Matthew 5:17,
Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Congregationist—“Through the atonement of Christ more honor
is done to the law, and consequently the law is more established, than if
the law had been literally executed, and all mankind had been con-
demned.”—Jonathan Edwards (Congregationalist), Works [writings]
of Jonathan Edwards, 1842 ed., Vol. 3, p. 369.
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Presbyterian—“The moral law doth forever bind all, as well jus-

tified persons as others, to the obedience thereof; and that not only in
regard of the matter contained in it, but also in respect of the authority
of God the Creator who gave it. Neither doth Christ in the gospel in any
way dissolve, but much strengthen, this obligation.”—Westminster Con-
fession of Faith, chap. 21, “Of the Law of God,” secs. 5,6.
Episcopalian—“We must understand that the Ten Command-
ments are just as binding upon Christian people as they were upon the
Children of Israel. The moral law is a part of the natural law of the
universe . . Just as a natural law broken in the material world brings it
inevitable consequences, so the moral law broken brings its inevitable
consequences in the spiritual and mental worlds.
“The Lord Jesus knew this. He knew it much better than anyone
else who ever lived. Therefore He built His Gospel upon a firm founda-
tion of moral law, knowing that such a foundation can never be upset . .
“Christ’s teaching goes beyond the Ten Commandments, but does
not thereby make the commandments of non-effect. Quite the contrary!
Christianity strengthens the authority of the commandments.”—The Epis-
copal Church Sunday School Magazine, June-July, 1943, Vol. 105,
No. 6, pp. 183-184.
Moody Bible Institute—“We have already seen that, unlike the
ceremonial and civil codes which were given to Israel as the chosen
people and holy nation, the moral law is intended for all mankind, and
it has never been abrogated nor repealed.”—William C. Procter, Moody
Bible Institute Monthly, December, 1933.
Interdenominational—“The basic laws of morality, and particu-
larly the Ten Commandments, remain until the end of time as the moral
and spiritual foundation upon which the New Testament religion is
built.”—The Snowden-Douglass Sunday School Lessons for 1946, p.
279.
“These laws are what we might call universal . . These Ten Com-
mandments are the codification of what governs man’s moral nature;
and they are right, and true, and abiding in every age for every race.”—
Peloubet’s Select Notes, for the International Sunday School Lesson
for January 20, 1946, p. 35.
“While God remains God, His moral law will be binding upon all
who would have any part in His life. God’s moral law is eternal; it is an
expression of His very being. As such it can no more be abrogated than
can God Himself.”—Editorial, “Are Christians to Keep the Law?” The
Sunday School Times.
“The law shows me what God demands of me, but what I cannot
do by myself. It shows me what I am and that I am lost. It points me to
Christ in order that by grace I can be what I cannot be under law.”—
Alan Redpath, “Law and Gospel,” The New Century Leader, July 1958.
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Brief Bible Study - Lesson 11 LAW - CODE: L

The Eternal Law of God

I - DOES GOD
HAVE A GOVERNMENT?
Psalm 103:19—“The Lord hath prepared His throne in the heav-
ens; and His ____________ ruleth over all.”
2 - CAN THERE BE ANY GOVERNMENT
WITHOUT LAW?

3 - UPON WHAT PRINCIPLE

ARE THE LAWS OF GOD’S GOVERNMENT BASED?
Psalm 89:14—“____________ and judgment are the habita-
tion of Thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before Thy face.”
Romans 7:12—“The law is holy, and the commandment holy,
and just, and good” (also Romans 7:14).
4 - WHAT CONSTITUTES THE FUNDAMENTAL LAW
OF GOD’S GOVERNMENT?
1. The law of Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:3-17) is the
unchanging, eternal, and moral law of God.
2. God’s law is eternal in its nature.
Psalm 111:7-8—“The works of His hands are verity and judg-
ment; all His __________________ are sure. They stand fast
for ever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness.”
5 - ARE THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
FOR ALL MEN IN ALL AGES?
1. The law was for man, from Adam to Moses.
1 John 3:4—“Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also
the law: for ______ is the transgression of the law” (Cain: Gen-
esis 4:6-7).
Genesis 26:5—“Because that Abraham obeyed My voice, and
kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”
2. It was for men, from Moses to Christ.
Proverbs 28:9—“He that ____________ away his ear from hear-
ing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination” (also
Deuteronomy 5:22; 10:4-5).
3. It was for Jesus, as the Son of man, and for men of His
generation.

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Brief Bible Study - Lesson 11 LAW - CODE: L

Psalm 40:7-8—“Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written

of Me, I ____________ to do Thy will, O my God: yea, Thy law is
within my heart” (Hebrews 10:7).
4. It was for men in the time of the apostles.
Romans 3:31—“Do we then make void the law through faith?
God forbid: yea, we establish the law.”
James 2:10-12—“For whosoever shall ___________ the whole
law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that
said, Do not commit adultery, said also Do not kill. Now if
thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a
transgressor of the law. So speak ye, and so do, as they that
shall be judged by the law of liberty.”
1 John 2:4—“He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His
commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”
5. It is for God’s remnant people of the last days.
Revelation 12:17—“And the dragon was wroth with the woman,
and went to make war with the _____________ of her seed,
which keep the commandments of God, and have the testi-
mony of Jesus Christ.”
Revelation 14:12—“Here is the patience of the saints: here
are they that ___________ the commandments of God, and
the faith of Jesus” (verses 13-15).
6 - WHY IS THERE GENERAL REBELLION
AGAINST GOD’S HOLY LAW?
Romans 8:7—“The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it
is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.”
Psalm 119:126—“It is ________ for thee, Lord, to work: for
they have made void Thy law.”
Matthew 7:21-23—“Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord,
Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth
the ______ of My Father which is in heaven. Many will say to
Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy
name? and in Thy name have cast out devils? and in Thy
name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess
unto them, I never knew you: __________ from Me, ye that
work iniquity.”
7 - WHAT PROMISE IS HELD
OUT TO THOSE WHO ARE OBEDIENT?
Psalm 119:165—“Great peace have they which love Thy law:
and nothing shall offend them” (also Isaiah 48:18).
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What tthe
he Bible says about –

Obedience tthr
hrough Christ
hrough
SCRIPTURE READING:
ROMANS 5:20; 7:7, 12, 14; 8:34
COLOSSIANS 2:6, 20
EPHESIANS 2:8-10

INTRODUCTION
Law and grace are closely associated in the plan of redemption. To
understand the operation of grace, we must know something about the
operation of both law and grace.
In the beginning, Jesus Christ created man. Man was upright (Genesis
1:26; Ecclesiastes 7:29). He was sinless, amenable to God’s holy laws.
But the devil deceived humanity, and succeeded in alienating man from
the Creator and His law. The result of such disunion has been, is, and
ever will be discord, unhappiness, and eternal ruin.
A human being cannot separate himself from his Creator’s laws with-
out separating from his Creator. Also, the one who accepts God as His
Creator will want to obey His laws. Through Christ, he is enabled to
obey God’s holy law.
Before studying this vitally important lesson, let us clearly understand
the place of God’s eternal law in distinction to temporary laws;—for we
do not want to “wrest” or twist the Sacred Writings to our own destruc-
tion, as Peter said many did in his day (2 Peter 3:15, 16).
There are three types of laws in the Holy Scriptures. Here they are:
1. The civil laws of the Jewish nation.
The civil laws regulated a multitude of matters in connection with the
operation of the nation of Israel. God gave these laws to meet the situa-
tion in their day. They covered such problems as health, sanitation,
disease, crime, court procedure, etc. In their details they are not bind-
ing as civil obligations today, though many wise and fundamental prin-
ciples are revealed therein, which would still be applicable.
2. The ceremonial, or sanctuary, laws were abolished at the cross.
The ceremonial, or sanctuary, laws governed the religious services of
Israel and were symbols of the Messiah to come. They were for the Jews
and all converts to the faith of Israel. These civil laws were written in a
book (Deuteronomy 31:24-26) by Moses and placed in the ark of the
Testament. It should be remembered that the ceremonial and civil laws
were not written on the tables of stone, as were the Ten Commandments.
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So the ceremonial laws were temporary in nature and no longer neces-
sary after the life and death of Christ to which they pointed. Here are
Paul’s words:
Colossians 2:14—“Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances
that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out
of the way, nailing it to His cross.”
Colossians 2:17—“Which are a shadow of things to come;
but the body is of Christ.”
3. The moral Ten Commandment law (Exodus 20:1-17).
The law of God was proclaimed from Mount Sinai, written on tables of
stone, and preserved by Israel as the universal law of mankind.
Deuteronomy 10:4—“He wrote on the tables, according to the
first writing, the Ten Commandments, which the Lord spake unto
you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the
assembly” (Deuteronomy 5:22).
The Ten Commandment law was then placed inside the ark.
Deuteronomy 10:5—“And I turned myself and came down from
the mount, and put the tables in the ark which I had made.”
The moral Ten Commandment law is eternal. It is God’s own
covenant, and it is as everlasting as God Himself. God made
another covenant, or agreement, with Israel concerning all His
laws (Exodus 24:7-8). Israel promised obedience, and God said
He would recognize them as His peculiar people on this condi-
tion (Exodus 19:5-8). This old covenant, or first covenant, was
weak because the people’s promises were weak. So God made
another covenant—a new and better covenant, established on
better promises, even His own. He promised to write His law in
their hearts and to forgive their past sins (Hebrews 8:6-12). God’s
holy law of Ten Commandments was the same in the old and the
new covenants. The Ten Commandment law is as unchangeable
as is the character of God.
Now we shall see how great Bible students have always recognized these
different types of laws in the Bible.
The noted Dr. Ezekiel Hopkins penned these words:
“The ceremonial law is . . properly abrogated, and its obligation and
authority utterly taken away and repealed: for so the apostle is to be
understood, when, in his epistles, he so often speaks of the abrogation
and disannulling of the law: he speaks, I say, of the ceremonial law and
Aaronical observances” (An Exposition of the Ten Commandments, p.
21).
According to the Methodist Episcopal Church (1896):

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“Although the law given from God by Moses as touching ceremonies
and rites doth not bind Christians, nor ought the civil precepts thereof
of necessity be received in any commonwealth; yet, notwithstanding, no
Christian whatsoever is free from the obedience of the command-
ments which are called moral” (emphasis ours) (The Doctrines and
Discipline of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 1896, article 6, p. 21).
The ceremonial laws are like the scaffolding of a building—to be re-
moved when they have served their purpose. The moral law is like the
immovable foundation of the building.
In the New Testament, baptism and the Lord’s Supper, or Holy Com-
munion, are the ceremonies, or ordinances, of the church that replaced
the Old Testament ceremonies after the sanctuary service of Moses was
abolished. But the moral law was not replaced because it had not been
rescinded.
Neither will it ever be changed or canceled in any way.
I - HOW DOES THE BIBLE
DESCRIBE THE TEN COMMANDMENT LAW?
1. It is perfect.
Psalm 19:7—“The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the
soul.”
2. It is holy, just, good, and spiritual.
Romans 7:12, 14—“Wherefore the law is holy, and the com-
mandment holy, and just, and good . . For we know that the law
is spiritual.”
3. It is righteous.
Psalm 119:172—“All Thy commandments are righteousness.”
4. It is truth.
John 17:17—“Thy Word is truth.”
5. It is eternal.
Psalm 119:152—“Concerning Thy testimonies, I have known
of old that Thou hast founded them for ever.”
Joseph Cooke, D.D., wrote, “While God remains God, and man remains
man, the Decalogue must stand.”
And we might add a sixth characteristic of the law. It is love. Since “God
is love” and His law expresses His character, the law is love too. Said
John, “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments:
and His commandments are not grievous” (1 John 5:3). The law is an
expression of God’s loving care for mankind.
2. WHAT DOES THE LAW DO
FOR THE SINNER?
God uses the law to do for the sinner just what needs to be done. The
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sinner must realize that he is a sinner. The heavy hand of the law must
be laid upon him, and he must be arrested in his course. Notice the
following carefully:
1. It gives a knowledge of sin.
Romans 3:20—“By the law is the knowledge of sin” (Romans
7:7).
2. It brings guilt and condemnation.
Romans 3:19—“Now we know that what things soever the law
saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth
may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before
God.”
3. It acts as a spiritual mirror.
James 1:23-25—“If any be a hearer of the Word, and not a
doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:
for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway
forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into
the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a
forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed
in his deed” (James 2:9-12).
Without the law, the sinner is like a man who is afflicted with a deadly
disease, that he doesn’t know he has. Paul said, “I had not known sin,
but by the law” (Romans 7:7).
Evangelist John Brown once said:
“The human heart cannot receive the healing thread of the gospel un-
less it is first pierced by the needle of the law.”
3 - WHAT IS THE LAW UNABLE TO DO
FOR THE SINNER?
The law cannot forgive. Law does not possess the power to forgive those
who transgress its precepts. Only the Lawgiver can do that. Jesus died
to redeem us from the curse of the law (Galatians 3:13). The law can-
not keep the sinner from sinning because “the carnal mind is enmity
against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can
be” (Romans 8:7).
The law only shows the sinner where he needs to change; but the law,
itself, cannot change him. And so let us get three facts about the law
very clear.
1. It cannot forgive or justify.
Romans 3:20—“By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be
justified in His sight.”
2. It cannot keep from sin or sanctify.
Galatians 3:21—“Is the law then against the promises of God?
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God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given
life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.”
3. It cannot cleanse or keep the heart clean (Romans 9:3, 7-8).
The law is limited in its ability to do all that needs to be done for the
sinner. A wound cannot be sewed up with only a needle. The thread of
the gospel must do that.
4 - WHAT DOES THE GRACE OF CHRIST DO
FOR THE SINNER?
When the law of God and the Spirit of God have made the sinner con-
scious of his sin, he will then feel his need of Christ and go to the
Saviour for pardon. The publican found it so (Luke 18:13-14). The
woman taken in adultery felt condemned and ashamed. She needed
sympathy and forgiveness, and Christ was ready to grant these to her.
Then He said, “Sin no more.”
If we confess and put away sin, He will forgive (1 John 1:9). This is
grace, or unmerited favor. This gracious love of Christ awakens love in
the heart of the sinner, and he then desires to serve and obey God. Here
are four elements of the saving grace of Christ:
1. It forgives and justifies.
Acts 13:38-39—“Be it known unto you therefore, men and breth-
ren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness
of sins: and by him all that believe are justified from all things,
from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses” (Luke
18:13-14).
2. It saves from sin, or sanctifies.
Matthew 1:21—“She shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt
call His name Jesus: for He shall save His people from their
sins.”
1 Corinthians 1:30—“But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who
of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sancti-
fication, and redemption.”
3. It inspires faith.
Ephesians 2:8-10—“By grace are ye saved through faith; and
that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any
man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we
should walk in them.”
4. It brings God’s power.
Romans 1:16—“I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it
is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to
the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”
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Forgiveness of sin and power over sin comes through the exercise of
simple faith in God’s promises and a full surrender of the heart to Him.
5 - WHAT IS THE RELATION
OF A SINNER SAVED BY GRACE
TO THE LAW?
1. The law becomes the standard of his life.
1 John 5:3—“This is the love of God, that we keep His com-
mandments.”
2. He permits Christ to fulfill in him the righteousness of the
law.
Romans 8:3-4—“God sending His own Son in the likeness of
sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the
righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not
after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
3. Christ writes the law in his heart.
Hebrews 8:10—“This is the covenant that I will make with the
house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put My
laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will
be to them a God, and they shall be to Me a people” (Psalm
119:11).
To the surrendered, believing soul the law of God holds no terror. He is
now free from its condemnation through Christ. In this sense he is “not
under the law, but under grace” (Romans 6:15). He is not under the
bondage of condemnation by the law.
He is now in a position to exercise that “faith which worketh by love”
and purifies the soul (Galatians 5:6). This means a transformed life in
harmony with the moral law of God.
6 - WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP
OF GRACE, FAITH, LOVE,
AND THE LAW?
John Wesley wrote in his Sermons:
“I cannot spare [to be apart from] the law one moment, no more than I
can spare Christ . . Each is continually sending me to the other,—the
law to Christ, and Christ to the law. On the one hand, the height and
depth of the law constrain me to fly to the love of God in Christ; on the
other, the love of God in Christ endears the law to me ‘above gold and
precious stones’ . . This is perfect freedom; thus to keep His law, and to
walk in all His commandments blameless” (The Works of John Wesley,
A.M. [3d. American ed.], Vol. 1, pp. 314-315).
From Wesley’s statement, we can see that there is a close relationship
not only between the law and grace but between the law and faith, love,
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and obedience too. Let us see how this works out.
Now let us consider that which forgives our past and enables us to obey
God’s law:
1. Grace is unmerited favor. But grace does not sanction contin-
ued transgression.
Romans 6:15—“What then? shall we sin, because we are not un-
der the law, but under grace? God forbid” (verses 1, 2).
2. Faith does not make void, but establishes, the law.
Romans 3:31—“Do we then make void the law through faith?
God forbid: yea, we establish the law.”
3. Faith brings overcoming power.
1 John 5:4—“Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world:
and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.”
4. Love is the fulfilling of the law.
Romans 13:10—“Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: there-
fore love is the fulfilling of the law.”
5. True love keeps the commandments.
1 John 5:3—“This is the love of God, that we keep His com-
mandments: and His commandments are not grievous.”
So we can see that the doctrine of grace without obedience to God’s law
is a doctrine of disgrace.
To bring this lesson home to our hearts, consider these facts: (1) the
foolish man seeks salvation by his own works in keeping the law (Galatians
3:1-3). (2) The vain man thinks he does not need any good works (James
2:20). (3) The blessed man has his sins forgiven (Psalm 1-2).
There surely is no position on earth more enviable than that of the
blessed man who loves God and keeps His commandments. It is the
grace of God that makes it all possible—the wonderful grace of God!
Have you permitted God to make of you a person so greatly blessed?
The next lesson is entitled “Your Special Day with God.” It will reveal
how to draw closer to your heavenly Father.
———————————————————————————
Brief Review Questions —

Do we need to obey the ceremonial laws today (such

as sacrificing animals)?

Do we need to obey the moral law of Ten Command-

ments today?

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Will Jesus empower us by His grace to obey the
standards given in the Bible?

OBEDIENCE THROUGH CHRIST

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL—
“The apostle Paul declares: ‘The law is holy, and the commandment
holy, and just, and good’ (Romans 7:12). Such a law, being an expression
of the mind and will of God, must be as enduring as its Author. It is the
work of conversion and sanctification to reconcile men to God by bring-
ing them into accord with the principles of His law. In the beginning, man
was created in the image of God. He was in perfect harmony with the
nature and the law of God; the principles of righteousness were written
upon his heart. But sin alienated him from his Maker. He no longer
reflected the divine image. His heart was at war with the principles of
God’s law. ‘The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to
the law of God, neither indeed can be.’ Romans 8:7. But ‘God so loved
the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son,’ that man might be recon-
ciled to God. Through the merits of Christ he can be restored to har-
mony with his Maker. His heart must be renewed by divine grace; he
must have a new life from above . .
“The first step in reconciliation to God is the conviction of sin. ‘Sin is
the transgression of the law.’ ‘By the law is the knowledge of sin’ (1 John
3:4; Romans 3:20). In order to see his guilt, the sinner must test his
character by God's great standard of righteousness. It is a mirror which
shows the perfection of a righteous character and enables him to discern
the defects in his own.
“The law reveals to man his sins, but it provides no remedy. While it
promises life to the obedient, it declares that death is the portion of the
transgressor. The gospel of Christ alone can free him from the condem-
nation or the defilement of sin. He must exercise repentance toward God,
whose law has been transgressed; and faith in Christ, his atoning sacri-
fice. Thus he obtains ‘remission of sins that are past’ and becomes a
partaker of the divine nature . .
“Is he now free to transgress God's law? Says Paul: ‘Do we then make
void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.’ ‘How
shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?’ And John de-
clares: ‘This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments: and
His commandments are not grievous’ (Romans 3:31; 6:2; 1 John 5:3).”
—Great Controversy, 467-468
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Obedience through Christ

INTRODUCTION
1. There were the civil laws of the Jewish nation.
2. The ceremonial (or sanctuary) laws were abolished at the
cross.
Colossians 2:14—“Blotting out the ________________ of or-
dinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and
took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross.”
Colossians 2:17—“Which are a _____________ of things to come;
but the body is of Christ.”
3. There was the moral Ten Commandment law (Exodus 20:1-
17).
Deuteronomy 10:4—“He wrote on the _________, according to
the first writing, the Ten Commandments, which the Lord spake
unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the
assembly” (Deuteronomy 5:22).
I - HOW DOES THE BIBLE
DESCRIBE THE TEN COMMANDMENT LAW?
1. It is perfect. Psalm 19:7—“The law of the Lord is perfect,
converting the soul.” 2. It is holy, just, good, and spiritual.
Romans 7:12, 14—“Wherefore the law is ________, and the com-
mandment holy, and just, and good . . For we know that the law is
spiritual.” 3. It is righteous. Psalm 119:172—“All Thy command-
ments are righteousness.” 4. It is truth. John 17:17—“Thy Word
is truth.” 5. It is eternal. Psalm 119:152—“Concerning Thy
testimonies, I have known of old that Thou hast founded them
_____ ___________.”
2 - WHAT DOES THE LAW DO FOR THE SINNER?
1. It gives a knowledge of sin. Romans 3:20—“By the law is the
knowledge of sin” (Romans 7:7). 2. It brings guilt and condem-
nation. Romans 3:19—“Now we know that what things soever
the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every
mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty be-
fore God.” 3. It acts as a spiritual mirror. James 1:23-25—“If
any be a hearer of the Word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man
beholding his natural face in a glass: for he ____________ himself,
and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of
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man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and
continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the
work, this man shall be ____________ in his deed” (James 2:9-12).
3 - WHAT IS THE LAW UNABLE TO DO
FOR THE SINNER?
1. It cannot forgive or justify. Romans 3:20—“By the deeds of the
law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight.” 2. It cannot keep
from sin or sanctify. Galatians 3:21—“Is the law then against the
promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which
could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the
law” (Romans 9:3, 7-8).
4 - WHAT DOES THE GRACE OF CHRIST DO
FOR THE SINNER?
1. It forgives and justifies.
Acts 13:38-39—“Be it known unto you therefore, men and
brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the
forgiveness of sins: and by him all that believe are ____________
from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law
of Moses” (Luke 18:13-14).
2. It saves from sin, or sanctifies.
Matthew 1:21—“She shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt
call His name Jesus: for He shall _________ His people from
their sins” (also 1 Corinthians 1:30; Ephesians 2:8-10; Romans
1:16).
5 - WHAT IS THE RELATION OF A SINNER
SAVED BY GRACE TO THE LAW?
1. The law becomes the standard of his life.
1 John 5:3—“This is the _________ of God, that we keep His
commandments” (also Romans 8:3-4).
2. Christ writes the law in his heart (Hebrews 8:10).
6 - WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP
OF GRACE, FAITH, LOVE, AND THE LAW?
Grace does not sanction continued transgression (Romans 6:15).
Faith establishes the law (Romans 3:31). Faith brings overcoming
power (1 John 5:4). Love is the fulfilling of the law (Romans 13:10).
True love keeps the commandments (1 John 5:3).

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What tthe
he Bible says about –
Your Special Day wit
withh God
SCRIPTURE READING:
EZEKIEL 20:1-24

1 - WHAT IS THE BIBLE TEACHING

ABOUT CREATION?
Psalm 33:6, 9—“By the word of the Lord were the heavens made;
and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth . . For He
spake, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.”
Psalm 104:5—He “laid the foundations of the earth, that it should
not be removed for ever.”
This is the teaching of the Scriptures. And it sounds glorious, doesn’t
it? Let us now open our Bibles for further light on this subject. The
complete Godhead was involved in creation. This is made clear in the
following passages.
Genesis 1:1-2—“In the beginning God created the heaven and
the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and dark-
ness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved
upon the face of the waters.”
Ephesians 3:9—“To make all men see what is the fellowship of
the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been
hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ” (Genesis 1:26;
John 1:1-3).
The Bible account of creation, in which the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit participated, is the only safeguard against erroneous con-
cepts of the beginning of human life on our planet. And this must be
accepted by faith. Listen to these words:
Hebrews 11:3—“Through faith we understand that the worlds
were framed by the Word of God, so that things which are seen
were not made of things which do appear.”
Psalm 33:9—“For He spake, and it was done; He commanded,
and it stood fast.”
Faith in the Creator and the fact of the creation solves many knotty
problems of life’s origin and human destiny.
2 - WHAT IS THE BASIS

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OF GOD’S RIGHT TO RULE?
Revelation 4:11—“Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and
honour and power: for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy
pleasure they are and were created” (Psalm 95:6).
Since God created all things from nothing (Hebrews 11:3), He hung the
earth upon nothing (Job 26:7), upholds all things (Hebrews 1:3), and
sustains life (Acts 17:28). He therefore has undisputed final and abso-
lute right to ownership and rulership.
3 - WHAT IS THE SIGN
OF GOD’S CREATORSHIP?
Exodus 31:16-17—“Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep
the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their genera-
tions for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the
children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven
and earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed.”
This statement about the Sabbath is clear. God is the speaker in this
text. The Sabbath is God’s sign because God is the Creator. And He
created the world and the different forms of life upon it in six days and
rested on the seventh day. This is God’s own stated reason for making
the Sabbath a sign. And He intended that all men should observe the
Sabbath and recognize Him, on the seventh day in particular, as the
Creator. All the inhabitants of the world, and all their church councils,
cannot not erase these facts.
On God’s part, the Sabbath is the sign of His creatorship, with all the
obligations toward us that devolve upon Him because of this fact of
creation. It is the sign of His right to rule over us, the symbol of His
gracious and timeless sovereignty. On our part, it is the sign that we
gratefully acknowledge Him as our Creator and accept His right of title
to, and rulership over, us and all things. It is a sign that, as His crea-
tures, we assume the obligations that naturally come to us in this rela-
tionship. The Sabbath is a matter of holy duty and a thing of infinite
beauty.
4 - WAS THE SABBATH MADE
BEFORE MAN SINNED?
We should remember, first of all, that the Sabbath was made. It was not
an institution springing from an idea merely. The Sabbath was made on
the seventh day and out of the seventh day of creation week. Notice the
following facts:
1. The Sabbath was made on the seventh day, out of the seventh
day.
Genesis 2:2-3—“On the seventh day God ended His work which
He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work
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which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanc-
tified it: because that in it He had rested from all His work which
God created and made.”
2. The seventh day is therefore God’s blessed, sanctified rest day.
Exodus 20:10—“The seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy
God.”
God rested. He was not weary because “the Creator of the ends of the
earth fainteth not, neither is weary” (Isaiah 40:28). But He was refreshed.
“On the seventh day He rested and was refreshed” (Exodus 31:17). God
rested because He was creating a day of rest thereby and was setting us
an example. He was refreshed because He “saw everything that He had
made, and, behold, it was very good” (Genesis 1:31). It gave Him plea-
sure (Revelation 4:11).
God blessed and sanctified the seventh day. He rested on the seventh
day and made it His rest day; then “God blessed the seventh day and
sanctified it: because that in it He had rested.” Since the seventh day is
the day on which He rested, and since He blessed and sanctified it, it
follows that upon no other day except the one on which He rested has
He placed His blessing and sanctification, making it “the Sabbath of the
Lord thy God.”
It is this unchangeable fact of God’s resting on the seventh day, and
then blessing and sanctifying it, that settles for time and eternity God’s
holy Sabbath day.
The six-day creation of our planet would have to be done all over a
second time—in order to change the Sabbath day!
Exodus 20:11—“In six days the Lord made heaven and earth
. . and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the
Sabbath day, and hallowed it.”
1 Chronicles 17:27—“Thou blessest, O Lord, and it shall be
blessed for ever.”
Numbers 23:19-20—“God is not a man, that He should lie;
neither the son of man, that He should repent . . He hath blessed;
and I cannot reverse it.”
5 - WAS THE SABBATH SIGN
TO BE FOR ALL MEN FOR ALL TIME?
One writer has said, “God saw that a Sabbath was essential for man,
even in Paradise . . He needed a Sabbath to remind Him more vividly of
God and to awaken gratitude because all that he enjoyed and possessed
came from the beneficent hand of the Creator.” Here are ten facts, most
of them historical, about the true Sabbath:
1. The Sabbath was made for man—all men.
Mark 2:27—“The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for
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the Sabbath.”
This does not mean for Jews only. Woman was created for man (1
Corinthians 11:9). Gentile men would not agree that women were made
only for Jews. Neither would Jewish women agree to that. The Sabbath
is universal.
2. Noah had a knowledge of a week of seven days.
Genesis 8:12—“And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent
forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more”
(Read also verses 8-11).
Why is the Sabbath not spoken of for hundreds of years after it is men-
tioned in Genesis 2:1-3? Consider this:
Genesis 3 gives us the story of the temptation and the Fall. The fourth
chapter tells of Cain and Abel. Chapter five gives genealogy. And—think
of it!—chapter six brings us to Noah’s time, more than 1,500 years after
creation. In an ordinary Bible, you need to turn but one leaf to cover
this period of 1,500 years. Naturally the Sabbath would not be repeat-
edly mentioned. In Exodus, the second book of the Bible, the Sabbath
is set forth in its primeval and everlasting importance (Exodus 20:8-
11).
3. Abraham knew and obeyed God’s laws.
Genesis 26:5—“Abraham obeyed My voice, and kept My charge,
My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”
Abraham, though he had not the written law, knew God’s laws and
sought to obey them.
4. In Moses’ time, the Sabbath was known and observed.
God delivered Israel from Egypt that they might obey Him and keep His
laws.
Psalm 105:43-45—“He brought forth His people with joy and
His chosen with gladness . . that they might observe His stat-
utes, and keep His laws.”
God spoke and wrote His holy law, with the Sabbath commandment in
the very heart of it.
Deuteronomy 5:22—“These words the Lord spake unto all your
assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud,
and of the thick darkness, with a great voice: and He added no
more. And He wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered
them unto me” (verses 7-21).
The sanctuary was the center of Israel’s worship and life (Exodus 25:40).
The most holy place was the heart of the sanctuary. The Ten Command-
ments were in the ark, the objective to which the whole sanctuary ser-
vice points to. The Sabbath was in the center of the law as the sign of the
Creator God, from whom goes forth light and glory to the limitless
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reaches of infinity.
5. The Sabbath was for men in Isaiah’s time.
Isaiah 58:13-14—“If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath,
from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a
delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour Him,
not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor
speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight thyself in the
Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the
earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the
mouth of the Lord hath spoken it” (Isaiah 56:1-7).
Isaiah is sometimes called the gospel prophet. His beautiful and stir-
ring passages on the universal place of Sabbathkeeping qualify him to
be called the Sabbath prophet as well.
6. It was for men in Jeremiah’s time.
Jeremiah 17:21-22—“Thus saith the Lord; Take heed to your-
selves, and bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in
by the gates of Jerusalem; neither carry forth a burden out of
your houses on the Sabbath day, neither do ye any work, but
hallow the Sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers” (Jeremiah
17:23-27; 52:12-14; Nehemiah 13:15-18).
Jeremiah’s words need no comment.
7. It was for Jesus, the Son of man, and for men in His time.
Since Jesus was the Creator, He made the world and the Sabbath too
(John 1:1-3, 14). It was His custom while in this world to keep it.
Luke 4:16—“He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought
up: and as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the
Sabbath day, and stood up for to read.”
Jesus kept all His Father’s commandments. He did not come to destroy
them, but to show how they should be kept.
John 15:10—“If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in
My love; even as I have kept My Father’s commandments, and
abide in His love.”
He rested in the tomb on the Sabbath. Read Luke 23:52-54. His follow-
ers sacredly observed the same day.
Luke 23:55-56—“The women also, which came with Him from
Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how His
body was laid. And they returned, and prepared spices and oint-
ments; and rested the Sabbath day according to the command-
ment.”
His followers honored the Sabbath forty years after His death.

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Matthew 24:20—“Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter,
neither on the Sabbath day.”
Looking forward about forty years into the future, Jesus admonished
His followers to pray that their flight from the besieged city of Jerusa-
lem, in A.D. 70, might not be on the Sabbath day. Jesus, as a carpenter,
closed shop and went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day as a regular
custom. He found that the church had heaped up a great stack of tradi-
tional rules about Sabbath observance, laws not found in the Bible.
These Jesus ignored or deliberately disobeyed, but He kept and hon-
ored the Sabbath which He had made at creation. Sin is “the transgres-
sion of the law” (1 John 3:4), and Jesus did not sin (1 Peter 2:22).
8. It was for Paul and men of his time.
Sabbath observance was an accepted custom in Paul’s time (Acts 17:1-
2; 18:1-4, 11). The apostle spoke to both Jews and Gentiles on the
Sabbath.
Acts 13:14, 42, 44—“When they departed from Perga, they came
to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the Sab-
bath day, and sat down . . And when the Jews were gone out of
the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be
preached to them the next Sabbath . . And the next Sabbath day
came almost the whole city tcgether to hear the Word of God.”
Paul, a servant of God, would have no more right than you or I
to dishonor God and His sign of creatorship. He was a loyal ob-
server of the Bible Sabbath. Said he:
Acts 24:14—“This I confess unto thee, that after the way which
they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all
things which are written in the law and in the prophets” (Acts
25:8).
9. Thank the Lord! The true Sabbath will also be for the saved
in the new earth.
Isaiah 66:22-23—“As the new heavens and the new earth, which
I will make, shall remain before Me, saith the Lord, so shall
your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass,
that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to
another; shall all flesh come to worship before Me, saith the
Lord” (Revelation 22:14).
In the new earth, the Sabbath will be forever honored.
6 - HOW IS THE SABBATH
RELATED TO THE WORK
OF REDEMPTION?

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1. Redemption involves a work of creation.
Since it takes creative power to redeem, God used the Sabbath as a
sign of sanctification, or redemption. When He creates the new earth,
the Sabbath will continue on its eternal way—the sign of God’s peace and
power. Throughout all eternity, it will carry the double significance of a
sign of power to create and to redeem.
2 Corinthians 5:17—“If any man be in Christ, he is a new crea-
ture: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become
new.”
Psalms 51:10—“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew
a right spirit within me.”
2. The Sabbath is a sign of this sanctifying power.
Exodus 31:13—“Verily My Sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a
sign between Me and you throughout your generations; that ye
may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you” (Ezekiel
20:12, 20).
The Sabbath is God’s flag, the symbol of His sovereignty, woven in the
loom of heaven out of that intangible and precious something we call
time, and raised over His fair earthly dominion in the freshness of
creation’s morning. And today, after the passing of the long years, it still
remains the symbol of His right to rule as Creator and Redeemer.
Dear friend, do you wish to recognize your Creator and serve Him un-
der the gentle folds of His flag? Indeed, you do! You would not for all the
world lower it to earth and trample it under your feet, miss the benign
blessings it vouchsafes to you, or deny the God who made you.
But now, there is more to this vital Sabbath question than we can en-
compass in one lesson, so watch for more interesting facts on the sub-
ject in a coming lesson. One thing—remember, please, Christ is supreme
in the Christian life, and His Sabbath is a sign of loyalty to Him as Lord
and Saviour.
The next lesson explains a very important Bible prophecy. It is entitled
“The Prophecy of Daniel Seven.”
———————————————————————————
Brief Review Questions —

Who is the Creator of all things?

When was the Bible Sabbath given to mankind?

Was it kept by God’s people in Bible times?

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Will it be kept in the New Earth?

YOUR SPECIAL DAY WITH GOD

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL—
“The Sabbath was hallowed at the creation. As ordained for man, it
had its origin when ‘the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of
God shouted for joy’ (Job 38:7). Peace brooded over the world; for earth
was in harmony with heaven. ‘God saw everything that He had made,
and, behold, it was very good’; and He rested in the joy of His completed
work (Genesis 1:31).
“Because He had rested upon the Sabbath, ‘God blessed the seventh
day, and sanctified it,’—set it apart to a holy use. He gave it to Adam as a
day of rest. It was a memorial of the work of creation, and thus a sign of
God’s power and His love. The Scripture says, "He hath made His won-
derful works to be remembered.’ ‘The things that are made,’ declare ‘the
invisible things of Him since the creation of the world,’ ‘even His everlast-
ing power and divinity’ (Genesis 2:3; Psalm 111:4; Romans 1:20, R. V.)
“All things were created by the Son of God. ‘In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God . . All things were made by Him; and
without Him was not anything made that was made’ (John 1: 1-3). And
since the Sabbath is a memorial of the work of creation, it is a token of
the love and power of Christ.
“The Sabbath calls our thoughts to nature, and brings us into com-
munion with the Creator. In the song of the bird, the sighing of the trees,
and the music of the sea, we still may hear His voice who talked with
Adam in Eden in the cool of the day. And as we behold His power in
nature we find comfort, for the Word that created all things is that which
speaks life to the soul. He ‘who commanded the light to shine out of
darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ’ (2 Corinthians 4:6) . .
“The Sabbath was embodied in the law given from Sinai; but it was
not then first made known as a day of rest. The people of Israel had a
knowledge of it before they came to Sinai. On the way thither the Sab-
bath was kept. When some profaned it, the Lord reproved them, saying,
‘How long refuse ye to keep My commandments and My laws’ (Exodus
16:28)?
“The Sabbath was not for Israel merely, but for the world. It had been
made known to man in Eden, and, like the other precepts of the Decalogue,
it is of imperishable obligation.” —Desire of Ages, 281-283
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THE WEEKLY CYCLE

The writings of historians, the records of chronographers, the
languages of earth, the calendars of time, and the existence of the
Jewish race—all testify to the fact that the weekly cycle on our
calendars today is the same as in earlier centuries—going back to
the time of Christ, to Moses, and beyond.
In the beginning, God gave us the weekly seven-day cycle, with the
Sabbath as the last day. That pattern has never changed. The seventh
day of the week today is the true Bible Sabbath. Our seventh day is the
Sabbath which Jesus kept; it was the Sabbath in the time of Moses
when the Ten Commandments were written down. Historians and sci-
entists all agree that this is true.
If there had been any change in the weekly cycle, between the time
of Creation and the time of Moses, a correction would have been made
when the Ten Commandments were given to the Hebrews. From that
time, on down to the present, there have always been Jews to testify
as to the true Sabbath. It is the same seventh day of the week which is
on our calendars. While all the other ancient races are now intermingled,
the Jews have been kept separate so they could testify to the fact that
our seventh day is the Bible Sabbath!
The yearly cycle has been changed. In 1582, the length of the year
was changed to include the leap year. This changeover resulted in
October 1582 having only 21 days! But each week remained the same
seven days in length. Thursday, October 4, was followed by Friday,
October 15. God has divinely protected the weekly cycle down through
the ages. If He had not done this, it would be impossible to keep the
Sabbath holy, as He has commanded. But, because He has, we have
no excuse not to. The seventh day is a holy day, made holy by the
command of God. All calendars agree: The seventh day is the Sab-
bath. Sunday is the first day; the day called “Saturday” in the En-
glish language is the Sabbath.
However, in 108 of the 160 languages of mankind, the seventh day
is called “the Sabbath”! Did you know that? Dr. William Mead Jones of
London prepared a chart proving this. (A copy of this chart can be
obtained free of charge from the publisher of this book: Ask for “The
Chart of the Week” [BS–28-29]. English is one of the few major lan-

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guages in which the seventh day is not called “the Sabbath.”

Here are ten examples: Hebrew: Shabbath / Greek: Sabbaton / Latin:
Sabbatum / Arabic: Assabit / Persian: Shambin / Russian: Subbota /
Hindustani: Shamba / French: Samedi / Italian: Sabbato / Spanish:
Sabado.
“By calculating the eclipses, it can be proven that no time has been
lost and the creation days were seven, divided into 24 hours each.”—
Dr. Hinkley, The Watchman, July 1926 [Hinkley was a well-known as-
tronomer].
“The human race never lost the septenary [seven day] sequence of
week days and that the Sabbath of these latter times comes down to
us from Adam, though the ages, without a single lapse.”—Dr. Totten,
professor of astronomy at Yale University.
“Seven has been the ancient and honored number among the na-
tions of the earth. They have measured their time by weeks from the
beginning. The origin of this was the Sabbath of God, as Moses has
given the reasons for it in his writings.”—Dr. Lyman Coleman.
“There has been no change in our calendar in past centuries that
has affected in any way the cycle of the week.”—James Robertson,
Director American Ephemeris, Navy Department, U.S. Naval Observa-
tory, Washington, D.C., March 12, 1932.
“It can be said with assurance that not a day has been lost since
Creation, and all the calendar changes notwithstanding, there has been
no break in the weekly cycle.”—Dr. Frank Jeffries, Fellow of the Royal
Astronomical Society and Research Director of the Royal Observa-
tory, Greenwich, England.
It is remarkable how complete is the Biblical and historical evidence
corroborating the fact that the Bible Sabbath was given to us by the
God of heaven. Let us keep the Sabbath that Jesus kept! He worshiped
on the Bible Sabbath, and never told us to stop keeping it. No one else
in the Bible said to either. The seventh day is the Sabbath, for God
never changed it.
How very thankful we can be that our God is so reliable. He does
not change this way or that. He has a holy law which we must obey.
But He sent His only begotten Son to die in order to enable us to do it.
Soon we will be in heaven, and praise Him for His great Gift.

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Brief Bible Study - Lesson 13 SABBATH - CODE: S

Your Special Day with God

1 - WHAT IS THE SIGN OF GOD’S CREATORSHIP?
Exodus 31:16-17—“Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep
the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their genera-
tions for a ______________ covenant. It is a sign between Me
and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord
made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and
was refreshed.”
2 - WAS THE SABBATH MADE BEFORE MAN SINNED?
1. The Sabbath was made on the seventh day, out of the seventh
day.
Genesis 2:2-3—“On the ____________ day God ended His
work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day
from all His work which He had made. And God ____________
the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it He had
rested from all His work which God created and made.”
2. The seventh day is therefore God’s blessed, sanctified rest
day.
Exodus 20:10, 11—“The seventh day is the ____________ of the
Lord thy God . . In six days the Lord made heaven and earth . .
and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sab-
bath day, and hallowed it” (also 1 Chronicles 17:27; Numbers
23:19-20).
3 - WAS THE SABBATH SIGN
TO BE FOR ALL MEN FOR ALL TIME?
1. The Sabbath was made for man—all men.
Mark 2:27—“The Sabbath was made for man, and not man
for the Sabbath.”
2. Noah had a knowledge of a week of seven days. Genesis 8:8-
12. Abraham knew and obeyed God’s laws. Genesis 26:5—“Abraham
obeyed My voice, and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes,
and My laws.” In Moses’ time, the Sabbath was known and observed.
Psalm 105:43-45—“He brought forth His people with joy and His
chosen with gladness . . that they might observe His statutes, and keep
His laws.” Deuteronomy 5:7-22.
3. The Sabbath was for men in Isaiah’s time.
Isaiah 58:13-14—“If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath,
from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a
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delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour Him,
not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor
speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight thyself in the
Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the
earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the
____________ of the Lord hath spoken it” (Isaiah 56:1-7).
4. It was for men in Jeremiah’s time. Jeremiah 17:21-22 (Jeremiah
17:23-27; 52:12-14; Nehemiah 13:15-18).
5. It was for Jesus, the Son of man, and for men in His time.
Luke 4:16—“He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought
up: and as His ____________ was, He went into the synagogue
on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read.”
John 15:10—“If ye keep My commandments, ye shall ____________
in My love; even as I have kept My Father’s commandments, and
abide in His love.”
Luke 23:55-56—“The women also, which came with Him from
Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how His
body was laid. And they returned, and prepared spices and
ointments; and rested the Sabbath day ____________ to the
commandment.”
Matthew 24:20—“Pray ye that your flight be not in the win-
ter, neither on the ____________ day.”
6. It was for Paul and men of his time (Acts 13:14, 42, 44; Acts
24:14; Acts 25:8).
7. Thank the Lord! The true Sabbath will also be for the saved in
the new earth.
Isaiah 66:22-23—“As the new heavens and the new earth, which
I will make, shall remain before Me, saith the Lord, so shall
your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass,
that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to
another; shall all flesh come to ____________ before Me, saith
the Lord” (Revelation 22:14).
4 - HOW IS THE SABBATH RELATED
TO THE WORK OF REDEMPTION?
1. Redemption involves a work of creation. 2 Corinthians 5:17;
Psalms 51:10. 2. The Sabbath is a sign of this sanctifying power.
Exodus 31:13—“Verily My Sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign
between Me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know
that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you” (Ezekiel 20:12, 20).

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What tthe
he Bible says about –
The Prophecy of Daniel Se
Prophecy ven
Seven
SCRIPTURE READING:
DANIEL 7

INTRODUCTION
Daniel was but a youth when God gave him the interpretation of the
king’s dream about the great image of Daniel 2. In the seventh chapter,
Daniel was given another vision. He was now an old man, past eighty
years of age. The kingdom of Babylon had also grown old, and was
soon to be conquered by the Medo-Persians. The prophecies of Daniel
were written to be understood and to reveal the future to men. Jesus
Himself referred to “Daniel the prophet” and said concerning his writ-
ings, “Whoso readeth, let him understand” (Matthew 24:15).
God knows the future (Isaiah 46:9-10), and He reveals important hap-
penings of coming years through His prophets (Amos 3:7). You will agree,
after studying this lesson, that Daniel’s vision of the seventh chapter is
one of the most important in the Scriptures.
1 - WHAT SYMBOLS
ARE INTRODUCED EARLY IN THIS CHAPTER?
Daniel 7:2—“Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night,
and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great
sea.”
First, keep in mind that winds mean strife and war. This is symbolic
language. Notice these two texts from Jeremiah:
Jeremiah 49:36-37—“And upon Elam will I bring the four winds
from the four quarters of heaven, and will scatter them toward
all those winds: and there shall be no nation whither the out-
casts of Elam shall not come. For I will cause Elam to be dis-
mayed before their enemies, and before them that seek their
life.”
Jeremiah 25:32—“Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Behold, evil
shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall
be raised up from the coasts of the earth.”
Second, we learn that, in Bible prophecy, the sea, or waters, represent
peoples.
Revelation 17:15—“And he saith unto me, The waters which
thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multi-
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tudes, and nations, and tongues.”
Thus winds on the sea denote war and strife among the peoples of
earth. The symbolic language here used is perfectly plain. The picture
is one familiar on the pages of history—the picture of war and conflict,
of battle and blood, of strife and confusion, with one nation coming up
and another going down. How wonderful it will be when the bugle of
war shall be blown no more, and our ears shall hear only the sweet
sounds of peace and harmony. That day will be ushered in only by the
second coming of our Saviour.
2 - WHAT DO THE FOUR BEASTS REPRESENT?
Daniel 7:17—“These great beasts, which are four, are four kings,
which shall arise out of the earth.”
Daniel 7:23—“The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon
earth.”
It is very clear that the history of the world, from Babylon to Christ’s
second coming, is given in Daniel 7 as in Daniel 2. There were to be but
four universal kingdoms until the setting up of God’s kingdom, accord-
ing to Daniel 2; history has confirmed this story. Since Daniel 7 also
gives us four and they are presented as succeeding one another (Daniel
7:4-7, 23), it is evident that we are dealing with Babylon, Medo-Persia,
Greece, and Rome.
The fact that the kingdom of God is set up at the end of this line of
prophecy is further proof that the same period and kingdoms are set
forth in Daniel 7 as in Daniel 2. However, in Daniel 7, certain details
bring in two new and important features—the little horn and the judg-
ment.
The lion with eagle’s wings represented Babylon, corresponding to the
head of gold in Daniel 2. It is common knowledge that the winged lion
was one of Babylon’s outstanding symbols.
The bear symbolized Medo-Persia. It raised itself on one side. It was a
dual monarchy of the Medes and Persians. One power became stronger
than the other. This power was Persia (Daniel 8:3, 20).
The leopard with four heads and four wings was Greece. The extra
wings indicated the almost unparalleled rapidity of Alexander’s con-
quests. He conquered Medo-Persia in five years; and, in eight years, he
marched his soldiers more than 5,100 miles. The four heads of the
leopard stand for the four divisions of the empire, made after Alexander’s
death following a drunken debauch. His empire was soon divided among
his four leading generals. The dreadful beast represented Rome. The
iron kingdom of Daniel 2 is here represented as a beast with great iron
teeth (Daniel 2:40; Daniel 7:7, 19, 23).

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3 - WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE
OF THE TEN HORNS
OF THE FOURTH BEAST?
The ten horns represent ten kings. The king stands for a kingdom
(Daniel 7: 24). So ten main kingdoms were to arise out of Rome’s
empire. Some of the modern nations of Europe are the outgrowth of
these divisions. They can never be permanently united by men, as we
have studied (Daniel 2:43).
4 - WHO IS REPRESENTED
BY THE LITTLE HORN?
Daniel 7:8—“I considered the horns, and, behold, there came
up among them another little horn before whom there were three
of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold: in this
horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great
things.”
All students of history know that Rome had two phases: pagan (heathen)
Rome and papal Rome. When Rome fell under the invasion of the bar-
barian tribes, the bishop of Rome picked up the scepter. Christianity
was nominally accepted by the barbarians in general, and the pope be-
came the chief power in Europe. No history of this period is complete
without that important chapter, The Rise of the Papacy. The papacy is
the government of the “papa,” or pope. For more than 1,200 years, the
threads of European history were interwoven with those of the papacy.
James P. Conroy said:
“Long ages ago, when Rome through the neglect of the Western emperors
was left to the mercy of the barbarous hordes, the Romans turned to one
figure for aid and protection, and asked him to rule them . . and thus
. . commenced the temporal sovereignty of the popes. And meekly
stepping to the throne of Caesar, the vicar of Christ took up the scepter
to which the emperors and kings of Europe were to bow in reverence
through so many ages.” Catholics, Protestants, and all historians know
that, after the breakup of pagan Rome, the papacy, or papal Rome, be-
came the outstanding force among the ten kingdoms of Europe. There
simply is no other power that answers to the ten points set forth by
Daniel concerning the little horn. We shall briefly touch each point” (Ameri-
can Catholic Quarterly Review, April, 1911).
1. It came up among the ten horns.
Daniel 7:8—“I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among
them another little horn.”
The little horn was to come up among the ten horns. This power must
come up in Europe, or at least in that region. The papacy arose with its
seat at Rome itself.
2. It came up after them.
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Daniel 7:24—“And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings
that shall arise: and another shall rise after them.”
It was evident that the little horn was to come up after the ten horns, as
the papacy did so. The roots of the papacy were there, but it rose to
power and prominence after Rome’s division.
3. It was to uproot three horns.
Daniel 7:8—“Before whom there were three of the first horns plucked
up by the roots.”
Daniel 7:24—“And he shall be diverse from the first, and he
shall subdue three kings.”
The little horn was to uproot three horns, or kingdoms. These three
powers are generally recognized as the Heruli, the Ostrogoths, and the
Vandals. They were opposed to some of the teachings and claims of the
papal hierarchy. The papacy triumphed over them.
4. It was to be different from the others.
Daniel 7:24—“And he shall be diverse from the first.”
The little horn was to be different from the others. It was a religious-
political power, persecuting Christians who refused to recognize its de-
crees. It was a mixture of religion and politics; it was also a mixture of
Christianity and paganism—of Christian and pagan rites and ceremo-
nies and philosophy. The simplicity of Christ’s teaching and the power of
His gospel were lost in the maze of this apostate teaching.
One need only to read the Holy Scriptures to know, beyond any doubt,
that many teachings and practices of the papacy are not supported by
the teachings of the holy Bible.
5. It was to be the leading power.
Daniel 7:20—“And of the ten horns that were in his head, and of
the other which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that
horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose
look was more stout than his fellows.”
The little horn was to be the leading power. Emperors, princes, and rul-
ers were crowned by the pope. They kissed his feet and held his saddle
stirrup. Said Henry E. Manning (Roman Catholic cardinal):
“The Vicar of the incarnate Son of God, anointed high priest, and su-
preme temporal ruler [the pope], sat in his tribunal, impartially to judge
between nation and nation, between people and prince, between sover-
eign and subject” (The Temporal Power of the Vicar of Jesus Christ
[1862], p. 46).
6. It was to speak great words against God.
Daniel 7:25—“And he shall speak great words against the Most High.”
The little horn was to speak great words against the Most High. The pope
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is given titles that belong only to the Godhead. The Council of Trent
defines papal power thus: “We define that the Holy Apostolic See and the
Roman Pontiff holds the primacy over the whole world” (Labbe and
Cossart [R.C.], The Most Holy Councils, Vol. XIII, col. 1, 167).
Pope Leo XIII wrote, “We hold upon this earth the place of God Almighty”
(Encyclical letter, June 20, 1894, in The Great Encyclical Letters of
Pope Leo XIII, p. 304).
The Catholic Encyclopedia says, “This judicial authority will even in-
clude the power to pardon sin” (Volume XII, art. “Pope,” p. 265).
The papacy makes claims belonging only to the Godhead. The papacy is
either what it claims to be or the real Antichrist; both Catholics and
Protestants admit this.
7. It was to make war on God’s saints.
Daniel 7:25—“And shall wear out the saints of the Most High.”
The little horn was to make war on the saints. It was to persecute dis-
senters. The noted Catholic, Thomas Aquinas, said that convicted heretics
should be put to death just as surely as other criminals. His philosophy
was put into practice for hundreds of years.
8. It would “think to change” God’s times and laws.
Daniel 7:25—“And think to change times and laws.”
Lucius Ferraris (Roman Catholic) says:
“The Pope can modify divine law” (Prompta Bibliotheca, “Papa,” art. 2,
translated).
If you will read the Ten Commandments in almost any Catholic catechism,
you will note that the second commandment is removed entirely. The
tenth is made into two, and the fourth is changed. This power was to
“think to change” God’s law (2 Thessalonians 2:3). A power that changes
God’s law exalts itself above God. This matter is of such urgent impor-
tance to the destiny of millions of souls living today that we will carefully
discuss it in the next study.
9. It was to be in supremacy for 1,260 years (A.D. 538-A.D. 1798).
Daniel 7:25—“And they shall be given into his hand until a time
and times and the dividing of time.”
The little horn was to be in supremacy for 1,260 years. Read Revelation
12, verses 6 and 14, and note that “time, and times, and half a time” are
1,260 days. In prophetic time, a day stands for a year (Numbers 14:34;
Ezekiel 4:6). This method of interpretation is Biblical, and proves itself
in practice.
The legally recognized supremacy of the pope began in A.D. 538, when
there went into effect a decree of Emperor Justinian, making the bishop
of Rome head over all the churches, the definer of doctrine, and the
corrector of heretics. Twelve hundred and sixty years later would reach

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to the year A.D. 1798.
10. Its dominion was to be taken away.
Daniel 7:26—“But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away
his dominion, to consume and destroy it unto the end.”
The little horn’s dominion was to be taken away. In 1798, just 1,260
years from A.D. 538, the French general, Berthier, took the pope pris-
oner, and he died in French exile some eighteen months later. The pa-
pacy received a “deadly wound” (Revelation 13:3). This was later to be
healed. Therefore, the papacy will come back into power again for a
short time, according to prophecies in the Revelation. No other power of
history remotely approaches the point of meeting the ten requirements
listed by Daniel. A great host of Bible commentators believe the papacy is
the little horn. We agree with them.
5 - WHOM DID DANIEL SEE
SITTING IN JUDGMENT?
Daniel 7:9-10—“I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and
the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow,
and the hair of His head like the pure wool: His throne was like
the fiery flame, and His wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream
issued and came forth from before Him: thousand thousands
ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood
before Him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.”
Sometime between A.D. 1798 and the setting up of God’s kingdom, God
sits in judgment in heaven. Christ will bring His reward with Him when
He returns. So all cases must be decided beforehand.
This judgment began, as we have already seen, in 1844.
6 - WHAT GREAT EVENT
FOLLOWS THE JUDGMENT?
Daniel’s prophecy pictures Christ receiving His kingdom, at last, and the
saints entering into their eternal rest with Him.
Daniel 7:13-14—“I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one
like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to
the Ancient of days, and they brought Him near before Him. And
there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that
all people, nations, and languages, should serve Him: His do-
minion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away,
and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.”
Daniel 7:18—“But the saints of the Most High shall take the king-
dom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever”
(verse 27).
This prophecy ends the same as does that of Daniel 2. The definite truth
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is set forth, that the “Son of man” is to rule and the saints are to inherit
the kingdom with Him. As we shall see in later lessons, the time for
Christ to give the kingdom to His saints is very near at hand!
The Bible picture of saints and the popular concept of saints are two
different things entirely. Here is the Bible definition of saints. Be sure to
look up each text:
1. Those in Christ (Philippians 1:1).
2. Those who love the Lord (Psalm 31:23).
3. Those who pray (Revelation 5:8).
4. Those willing to suffer persecution (Revelation 16:6).
5. Those who keep the faith of Jesus (Revelation 14:12).
6. Those who keep the commandments of God (Revelation 14:12).
Sin is almost a forgotten word today, and a saint is ridiculed. Neverthe-
less, Christ Jesus came to save sinners and transform them into saints
for His kingdom. We are “called to be saints” (1 Corinthians 1:2). And
you, friend, may be numbered among them.
———————————————————————————
Brief Review Questions —

What does the lion represent?

What is the meaning of the bear?

What is symbolized by the leopard?

What is the dreadful beast?

Who is represented by the little horn power?

List five of the ten distinguishing features of this little

horn:

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Family Bible Studies - 14 page 8
THE PROPHECY OF DANIEL SEVEN
SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL—
“Honored by men with the responsibilities of state and with the se-
crets of kingdoms bearing universal sway, Daniel was honored by God
as His ambassador, and was given many revelations of the mysteries of
ages to come. His wonderful prophecies, as recorded by him in chapters
7 to 12 of the book bearing his name, were not fully understood even by
the prophet himself; but before his life labors closed, he was given the
blessed assurance that ‘at the end of the days’—in the closing period of
this world’s history—he would again be permitted to stand in his lot and
place. It was not given him to understand all that God had revealed of the
divine purpose. ‘Shut up the words, and seal the book,’ he was directed
concerning his prophetic writings; these were to be sealed ‘even to the
time of the end’ (Daniel 12:4) . .
“As we near the close of this world’s history, the prophecies recorded
by Daniel demand our special attention, as they relate to the very time in
which we are living. With them should be linked the teachings of the last
book of the New Testament Scriptures. Satan has led many to believe
that the prophetic portions of the writings of Daniel and of John the
revelator cannot be understood. But the promise is plain that special
blessing will accompany the study of these prophecies. ‘The wise shall
understand’ (verse 10), was spoken of the visions of Daniel that were to
be unsealed in the latter days; and of the revelation that Christ gave to
His servant John for the guidance of God’s people all through the centu-
ries, the promise is, ‘Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the
words of this prophecy’ (Revelation 1:3) . .
“From the rise and fall of nations as made plain in the books of Daniel
and the Revelation, we need to learn how worthless is mere outward and
worldly glory. Babylon, with all its power and magnificence, the like of
which our world has never since beheld,—power and magnificence which
to the people of that day seemed so stable and enduring,—how com-
pletely has it passed away! As ‘the flower of the grass,’ it has perished
(James 1:10). So perished the Medo-Persian kingdom, and the king-
doms of Grecia and Rome. And so perishes all that has not God for its
foundation. Only that which is bound up with His purpose, and expresses
His character, can endure. His principles are the only steadfast things
our world knows.
“A careful study of the working out of God’s purpose in the history of
nations and in the revelation of things to come, will help us to estimate at
their true value things seen and things unseen, and to learn what is the
true aim of life. Thus, viewing the things of time in the light of eternity, we
may, like Daniel and his fellows, live for that which is true and noble and
enduring. And learning in this life the principles of the kingdom of our
Lord and Saviour, that blessed kingdom which is to endure for ever and
ever, we may be prepared at His coming to enter with Him into its pos-
session.” —Prophets and Kings, 547-548
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Brief Bible Study - Lesson 14 DANIEL 7 - CODE: D7

The Prophecy of Daniel Seven

INTRODUCTION

1 - WHAT SYMBOLS
ARE INTRODUCED EARLY IN THIS CHAPTER?
Daniel 7:2—“Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by
night, and, behold, the _________ winds of the heaven strove
upon the great sea.”
Jeremiah 49:36-37—“And upon Elam will I bring the four
winds from the four quarters of heaven, and will scatter them
toward all those winds: and there shall be no nation whither
the outcasts of Elam shall not come. For I will cause Elam to
be dismayed before their enemies, and before them that seek
their life” (also Jeremiah 25:32).
Revelation 17:15—“And he saith unto me, The ____________
which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and
multitudes, and nations, and tongues.”
2 - WHAT DO THE FOUR BEASTS REPRESENT?
Daniel 7:17—“These great beasts, which are four, are four kings,
which shall arise out of the earth.”
Daniel 7:23—“The fourth beast shall be the fourth ____________
upon earth.”
3 - WHO IS REPRESENTED BY THE LITTLE HORN
OF THE FOURTH BEAST?
Daniel 7:8—“I considered the horns, and, behold, there came
up among them another little horn before whom there were
three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold:
in this horn were eyes like the eyes of __________, and a mouth
speaking great things.”
1. It came up among the ten horns.
Daniel 7:8—“I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up
among them another little horn.”
2. It came up after them.
Daniel 7:24—“And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten
kings that shall arise: and another shall rise _______ them.”
3. It was to uproot three horns.
Daniel 7:8—“Before whom there were _______ of the first horns
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plucked up by the roots.”

Daniel 7:24—“And he shall be diverse from the first, and he
shall ___________ three kings.”
4. It was to be different from the others.
Daniel 7:24—“And he shall be diverse from the first.”
5. It was to be the leading power.
Daniel 7:20—“And of the ten horns that were in his head, and of
the other which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that
horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose
look was more _________ than his fellows.”
6. It was to speak great words against God.
Daniel 7:25—“And he shall speak ________ words against the Most
High.”
7. It was to make war on God’s saints.
Daniel 7:25—“And shall wear out the saints of the Most High.”
8. It would “think to change” God’s times and laws.
Daniel 7:25—“And think to change times and laws.”
9. It was to be in supremacy for 1,260 years (A.D. 538-A.D. 1798).
Daniel 7:25—“And they shall be given into his hand until a time
and times and the ____________ of time.”
10. Its dominion was to be taken away.
Daniel 7:26—“But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take
away his ____________, to consume and destroy it unto the end.”
4 - WHOM DID DANIEL SEE SITTING IN JUDGMENT?
Daniel 7:9-10—“I beheld till the _________ were cast down, and
the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow,
and the hair of His head like the pure wool: His throne was like
the fiery flame, and His wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream
issued and came forth from before Him: thousand thousands min-
istered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood
before Him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.”
5 - WHAT GREAT EVENT FOLLOWS THE JUDGMENT?
Daniel 7:13-14, 18, 27.

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What the Bible says about –

How Sundaykeeping Began
How
SCRIPTURE READING:
MATTHEW 5:17-48
Sunday is the first day of the week. Saturday is the seventh day of the
week. The question in this lesson is Who changed the Sabbath from
Saturday to Sunday? This is important because the observance of the
seventh-day Sabbath is commanded by God in the fourth command-
ment of the Decalogue (Exodus 20:8-11). Did God give His sanction for
the change from the seventh to the first day of the week?
1 - IF THE CHANGE IS VALID,
WHO AUTHORIZED IT?
Authority for the change should be found in the Bible. Since we are
Bible Christians, this goes without saying that it is more authoritative
with us than a dictionary is for spelling and definitions. Dictionaries
change, but “the Word of our God shall stand for ever” (Isaiah 40:8).
Shall we build on the early Church Fathers? These are such men as
Clement, Polycarp, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and Tertullian. Some of
them lived in the second century and some later. Some theologians try
to prove doctrine by quoting these early Church Fathers.
Dr. Adam Clarke says in his commentary:
“But of these [the Fathers] we may safely state, that there is not a truth
in the most orthodox creed that cannot be proved by their authority,
nor a heresy that has disgraced the Romish Church, that may not chal-
lenge them as its authors. In points of doctrine their authority is, with
me, nothing. The Word of God alone contains my creed” (Comment on
Proverbs 8).
If the Bible gives no testimony, there is no light.
Isaiah 8:20—“To the law and to the testimony: if they speak
not according to this Word, it is because there is no light in
them.”
2 - COULD GOD CHANGE
HIS OWN LAW?
The law of God is as sacred as the Lawgiver Himself. It is a revelation
of His gracious will, a transcript of His character, the expression of
His infinite love and wisdom. The death of Christ on Calvary to redeem
us from the curse, or penalty, of the law forever proves that God could
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not change His law, not even to save His Son. The following facts prove
that this is true:
1. God does not change.
Malachi 3:6—“I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye Sons
of Jacob are not consumed” (James 1:17).
2. The Ten Commandments are God’s own covenant.
Deuteronomy 4:13—“He declared unto you His covenant,
which He commanded you to perform, even Ten Command-
ments; and He wrote them upon two tables of stone.”
3. God will not break His covenant or alter His words.
Psalm 89:34—“My covenant will I not break, nor alter the
thing that is gone out of My lips.”
4. He keeps His covenant for a thousand generations.
Deuteronomy 7:9—“Know therefore that the Lord thy God, He
is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with
them that love Him and keep His commandments to a thousand
generations.”
5. God’s acts stand forever.
Ecclesiastes 3:14—“I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it
shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken
from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before Him.”
3 - DID JESUS CHANGE
THE LAW AND THE SABBATH?
Since Jesus and His Father are one (John 10:30), and since Jesus
came to do the will of His Father (John 6:38), it follows that He would
do nothing of which His Father would not approve. So He could not
have come to change God’s eternal law. Christ is the active agent in
God’s plans, by whom God created all things.
Ephesians 3:9—“And to make all men see what is the fellow-
ship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world
hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ”
(1 Corinthians 8:6).
Christ, as Creator, made the Sabbath in the beginning. So He would not
have come to earth to destroy it.
John 1:1-3—“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word
was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the
beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and with-
out Him was not any thing made that was made.”
John 1:14—“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among

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us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father) full of grace and truth.”
Genesis 2:1-3—“Thus the heavens and the earth were fin-
ished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God
ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the
seventh day from all his work which He had made. And God
blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it He
had rested from all His work which God created and made.”
Keep in mind that it was Christ who gave the law at Mount Sinai. This
is taught by the following two Scripture texts, when placed together:
Nehemiah 9:12-13—“Moreover thou leddest them in the day
by a cloudy pillar, and in the night by a pillar of fire, to give
them light in the way wherein they should go. Thou camest
down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from
heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good
statutes and commandments.”
1 Corinthians 10:4—“And did all drink the same spiritual
drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them:
and that Rock was Christ.”
And, while He was on earth, Jesus walked in harmony with God’s laws.
Note these six vital facts:
1. He kept His Father’s commandments.
John 15:10—“If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide
in My love; even as I have kept My Father’s commandments, and
abide in His love.”
Jesus did no sin (1 Peter 2:22). “Sin is the transgression of the law” (1
John 3:4). Therefore, He could not have broken the Sabbath command-
ment, as some profanely say.
2. He came to fulfill (keep) the law, not to destroy it.
Matthew 5:17-19—“Think not that I am come to destroy the
law, or the prophets: l am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot
or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be ful-
filled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least com-
mandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the
least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and
teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of
heaven.”
3. He came to magnify the law.
Isaiah 42:21—“The Lord is well pleased for His righteous-
ness’ sake; He will magnify the law, and make it honourable.”
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(Read Matthew 5:21-22, 27-28.)
4. He Himself kept the Sabbath.
Luke 4:16—“He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought
up: and, as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on
the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read.”
5. He openly ignored the Jewish Sabbath laws not found in the
Bible. Read Luke 6:1-11.
6. He indicated that the Sabbath would be sacred forty years
after the cross.
Matthew 24:20—“But pray ye that your flight be not in the
winter, neither on the Sabbath day.”
Jesus admonished His followers to pray that their flight from Jerusa-
lem should not be on the Sabbath day (Matthew 24:20). Jesus knew
that this flight (A.D. 70) would occur some forty years after His return
to heaven.
It is completely conclusive that the unholy deed of attempting to change
God’s everlasting, holy law cannot be charged to His holy Son, Jesus.
4 - DID PAUL CHANGE GOD’S LAW OR SABBATH?
Said the great apostle:
Romans 3:31—“Do we then make void the law through faith?
God forbid: yea, we establish the law.”
We find Paul exclaiming about the established law. This he could not
have done had it been abolished. The thought of abrogating the law was
repulsive to the apostle. “God forbid!” he says.
The yearly sabbaths of Colossians 2:16 will be explained in the next
study.
5 - DO MEN CLAIM THERE IS BIBLE PROOF
FOR THE CHANGE?
1. Catholics say there is absolutely no Bible proof.
Cardinal Gibbons declared:
“You may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not
find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scrip-
tures enforce the religious observance of Saturday.”—The Faith of Our
Fathers (110th ed.), p. 89.
“Sunday is a Catholic institution, and its claims to observance can be
defended only on Catholic principles . . From the beginning to end of
Scripture, there is not a single passage that warrants the transfer of
weekly public worship from the last day of the week to the first” (Catholic
Press [Sydney, Australia], August 25, 1900).
2. Protestants say there is no Bible text.
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In an article about the Sabbath, Smith and Cheetham say:
“The notion of a formal substitution [of the first for the seventh day]
and the transference to it, perhaps in a spiritualized form, of the sab-
batical obligation established by . . the fourth commandment, has no
basis whatever, either in Holy Scripture or in Christian antiquity” (Smith
and Cheetham’s Dictionary of Christian Antiquities).
Dr. R. W. Dale (Congregationalist) says:
“It is quite clear that however rigidly or devoutly we spend Sunday, we
are not keeping the Sabbath . . The Sabbath was founded on a specific
Divine command. We can plead no such command for the obligation to
observe Sunday . . There is not a single sentence in the New Testament
to suggest that we incur any penalty by violating the supposed sanctity
of Sunday” (The Ten Commandments, pages 100-101).
Dr. Edward T. Hiscox, author of The Baptist Manual:
“There was and is a commandment to keep holy the Sabbath day, but
that Sabbath day was not Sunday. It will be said, however, and with
some show of triumph, that the Sabbath was transferred from the
seventh to the first day of the week . . Where can the record of such a
transaction be found? Not in the New Testament, absolutely not” (in a
paper read before a New York Ministers’ Conference held November
13, 1893).
3. Historians testify likewise.
Article regarding the Sabbath, Chamber’s Encyclopedia (1880): “Un-
questionably the first law, either ecclesiastical or civil, by which the
sabbatical observance of that day is known to have been ordained, is
the edict of Constantine, A.D. 321.” This Roman emperor had not yet
professed Christianity at the time of this edict, and he speaks of Sun-
day as “the venerable day of the sun.”
Augustus Neander, celebrated historian:
“The festival of Sunday, like all other festivals, was always only a hu-
man ordinance, and it was far from the intentions of the apostles to
establish a divine command in this respect, far from them and from
the early apostolic Church to transfer the laws of the Sabbath to Sun-
day” (The History of the Christian Religion and Church, Rose’s transla-
tion, p. 186).
If the Sabbath had been changed by God, surely the record of the change
would be found in His Word.
6 - DOES THE CHURCH OF ROME ADMIT
SHE MADE THE CHANGE?
We return now to the prophecy of Daniel 7 where the little horn, or the
papacy, was to “think to change” God’s laws.
Daniel 7:25—“He shall speak great words against the Most High,
and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change
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times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time
and times and the dividing of time.”
Through the prophet Daniel, God foretold the 1,260-year reign of the
papacy and its determination to change times and laws. The change has
been attempted. That we all know. Does the papacy acknowledge the
act? First of all, we turn to the Catholic Mirror of September 23, 1893:
“The Catholic Church, for over one thousand years before the existence
of a Protestant, by virtue of her divine mission, changed the day from
Saturday to Sunday.”
Next we quote Peter Geiermann, from Catholicism’s Catechism:
“Q. Which is the Sabbath day?
“A. Saturday is the Sabbath day.
“Q. Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?
“A. We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church,
in the Council of Laodicea (A.D. 336), transferred the solemnity from
Saturday to Sunday” (The Convert’s Catechism of Catholic Doctrine, p.
50).
The American Sentinel (N.Y.), June 1, 1893, page 173, quotes Tho-
mas Enright, C.S.S.R., of Redemptorist College: “The Bible says, Re-
member that thou keep holy the Sabbath day. The Catholic Church
says, No! By my divine power I abolish the Sabbath day, and command
you to keep holy the first day of the week.”
The above remarkable statement is an accurate statement of the atti-
tude and objective of Rome toward the Bible Sabbath over the past
1,800 years.
Four facts now stand out in bold relief: (1) The change from Sabbath to
Sunday is not authorized in the Bible. (2) God predicted that the pa-
pacy would “think to change” God’s law. (3) The papacy openly declares
that it has changed God’s law. (4) The papacy thus exalts itself above
God, as foretold by the apostle Paul (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4).
The worship of Mithra, the Persian sun god, was widespread in the
Roman Empire in the early centuries after Christ. It had become the
leading non-Christian religion; and Christian church leaders in Rome
wanted to change the holy day to Sunday, so they could win more
Mithraites to the faith.
The influence of Mithraism (sun worship), the existence of the heathen
Sunday festival, the rising anti-Jewish sentiment among Christians,
the fact that Christians had a tendency to think of the resurrection of
Christ with a certain holy joy, the interest of Roman rulers in binding
together all religious elements of the empire, and the gradual apostasy
of the church, all combined to bring about a gradual change from the
observance of God’s holy Sabbath to the observance of Sunday.
Thus the Roman emperor, Constantine, passed the first known Sunday
law in A.D. 321.
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A number of years later, the apostatizing church at the Council of Lao-
dicea (A.D. 336) voted to transfer the solemnity from Sabbath to Sun-
day as noted above. That council in Canon 29 decreed: “Christians
shall not Judaize and be idle on Saturday [the Sabbath], but shall work
on that day.” This definitely indicates that Christians were still keeping
the Sabbath more than three hundred years after Christ’s ascension, as
scholars have always known.
7 - DO THE SCRIPTURES FORETELL
A RESTORATION OF THE SABBATH?
The Creator of the universe, who made the seventh-day Sabbath a sign
of His power and right to rule, certainly would not leave His Sabbath
and to be trampled underfoot forever and His holy law to be mutilated
by the mind and hand of man. Isaiah foretold a great call to Sabbath
observance. And the teachers of the true Sabbath he called “The re-
pairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.” Here are his
words:
Isaiah 58:12-14—“And they that shall be of thee shall build the
old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many
generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach,
The restorer of paths to dwell in. If thou turn away thy foot
from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day;
and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable;
and shalt honour Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding
thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then shalt
thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon
the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of
Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.”
As Israel came out of Egypt in the Exodus movement and Christ espe-
cially emphasized the Sabbath, so in these last days, after the long
dark ages of apostasy, Christ has a Christian movement reaching to the
ends of the earth, gathering those who keep all His commandments
(Revelation 12:17; 14:6-15).
We must here squarely face the issue. God’s law is eternal. Even if it
were a changeable law, only God, the Lawgiver, could change it, and His
Word affords no such record or permission. A power professing to
“hold on this earth the place of God Almighty” asserts that it has the
power to change God’s law; but Jesus said, “Howbeit in vain do they
worship Me, teaching, for doctrines the commandments of men (Mark
7:7). Would you not rather be on the side of God and Christ and the
eternal law that God has promised to write in the heart of every be-
liever?
This question comes into clearer focus as we study all the texts in the
New Testament that refer to the first day of the week, the day commonly
called Sunday and observed by many as the Christian’s rest day. The
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next lesson is entitled “Sunday in the New Testament.”
———————————————————————————
Brief Review Questions —

Did God change His own law?

Did Jesus change the law and the Sabbath?

Did Paul change God’s law?

Do men agree there is no Bible proof for the at-

tempted change?

Does the Church of Rome admit it made the change?

HOW SUNDAYKEEPING BEGAN

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL—
“ ‘The importance of the Sabbath as the memorial of creation is that it
keeps ever present the true reason why worship is due to God’—because
He is the Creator, and we are His creatures. ‘The Sabbath therefore lies
at the very foundation of divine worship, for it teaches this great truth in
the most impressive manner, and no other institution does this. The
true ground of divine worship, not of that on the seventh day merely, but
of all worship, is found in the distinction between the Creator and His
creatures. This great fact can never become obsolete, and must never be
forgotten.”—J. N. Andrews, History of the Sabbath, chapter 27.
“It was to keep this truth ever before the minds of men, that God insti-
tuted the Sabbath in Eden; and so long as the fact that He is our Creator
continues to be a reason why we should worship Him, so long the Sab-
bath will continue as its sign and memorial. Had the Sabbath been
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universally kept, man's thoughts and affections would have been led to
the Creator as the object of reverence and worship, and there would
never have been an idolater, an atheist, or an infidel. The keeping of the
Sabbath is a sign of loyalty to the true God, ‘Him that made heaven, and
earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.’ It follows that the
message which commands men to worship God and keep His com-
mandments will especially call upon them to keep the fourth command-
ment . .
“It is a fact generally admitted by Protestants that the Scriptures give
no authority for the change of the Sabbath. This is plainly stated in
publications issued by the American Tract Society and the American
Sunday School Union. One of these works acknowledges ‘the complete
silence of the New Testament so far as any explicit command for the
Sabbath [Sunday, the first day of the week] or definite rules for its
observance are concerned.’ ”—George Elliott, The Abiding Sabbath,
page 184.
“Another says: ‘Up to the time of Christ’s death, no change had been
made in the day’; and, ‘so far as the record shows, they [the apostles]
did not . . give any explicit command enjoining the abandonment of the
seventh-day Sabbath, and its observance on the first day of the week.’ ”—
A. E. Waffle, The Lord’s Day, pages 186-188.
“Roman Catholics acknowledge that the change of the Sabbath was
made by their church, and declare that Protestants by observing the
Sunday are recognizing her power. In the Catholic Catechism of Chris-
tian Religion, in answer to a question as to the day to be observed in
obedience to the fourth commandment, this statement is made: ‘During
the old law, Saturday was the day sanctified; but the church, instructed
by Jesus Christ, and directed by the Spirit of God, has substituted
Sunday for Saturday; so now we sanctify the first, not the seventh day.
Sunday means, and now is, the day of the Lord.’
“As the sign of the authority of the Catholic Church, papal writers
cite ‘the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which Protestants
allow of . . because by keeping Sunday, they acknowledge the church’s
power to ordain feasts, and to command them under sin.’ ”—Henry
Tuberville, An Abridgment of the Christian Doctrine, page 58.
“The Roman Church has not relinquished her claim to supremacy;
and when the world and the Protestant churches accept a sabbath of her
creating, while they reject the Bible Sabbath, they virtually admit this
assumption. They may claim the authority of tradition and of the Fa-
thers for the change; but in so doing they ignore the very principle
which separates them from Rome—that ‘the Bible, and the Bible only,
is the religion of Protestants’ . . Romanists declare that ‘the observance
of Sunday by the Protestants is an homage they pay, in spite of them-
selves, to the authority of the [Catholic] Church.’ ”—Mgr. Segur, Plain
Talk About the Protestantism of Today, page 213.
—Great Controversy, 437-438, 447-448
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THE LAW OF GOD

l
Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.
II
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any
likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the
earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou
shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the
Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the
fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation
of them that hate Me; and showing mercy unto the thousands
of them that love Me,
and keep My commandments.
III
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for
the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain.
IV
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt
thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the
Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt not do any work,
thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy
maidservant nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy
gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the
sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day:
wherefore the Lord blessed
the Sabbath day, and hollowed it.
V
Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long
upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
VI
Thou shalt not kill.
VII
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
VIII
Thou shalt not steal.
IX
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
X
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house; thou shalt not
covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidser-
vant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy
neighbor’s.
—Exodus 20:3-17

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THE LAW OF GOD AS CHANGED BY MAN

I
I am the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not have strange gods
before Me.
[The Second Commandment has been left out.]
II [actually III]
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
III [actually IV]
Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day.
[The Sabbath Commandment has been changed.]
IV [actually V]
Honor thy father and thy mother.
V [actually VI]
Thou shalt not kill.
VI [actually VII]
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
VII (actually VIII)
Thou shalt not steal.
VIII [actually IX - First Part]
Thou shalt not covert thy neighbor’s wife.
X [X - Second Part]
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s goods.
—The General Catholic Catechism

“Q.—Have you any other way of proving that the

[Catholic] Church has power to institute festivals of pre-
cept?
“A.—Had she not such power . . she could not have
substituted the observance of Sunday, the first day of
the week for Saturday, the seventh day, a change for
which there is no scriptural authority.”—Doctrinal Cat-
echism, p. 174 [Roman Catholic].
“Prove to me from the Bible alone that I am bound to
keep Sunday holy. There is no such law in the Bible. It is
a law of the holy Catholic Church alone. The Bible says
‘Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.’ The Catho-
lic Church says, No. By my divine power I abolish the
Sabbath day and command you to keep holy the first day
of the week. And lo! The entire civilized world bows down
in reverent obedience to the command of the Holy Ro-
man Catholic Church.”—Thomas Enright, CSSR, Presi-
dent, Redemptorist College, Kansas City, Missouri, Feb-
ruary 18, 1884 [Roman Catholic].

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A SABBATH TIME LINE

FROM EDEN TO EDEN
In twelve links
A chain of Truth Linking God to His people in
the Holy Sabbath
At the Creation: The Sabbath was given to mankind
(Genesis 2:1-3; Exodus 31:16-17).
Before Sinai: The Sabbath existed for 2,500 years
(Exodus 16:4, 26, 28, 30).
At Sinai: The Sabbath was written down (Exodus
20:8-11).
After Sinai: The Sabbath was kept in the Old Testa-
ment (Numbers 15:32-35; Jeremiah 17:21-27; fulfilled:
Jeremiah 52:7-15; 2 Chronicles 36:19-21).
Jesus Our Example: Jesus kept the Bible Sabbath
(Luke 4:16; 1 Peter 2:21; Mark 2:28; Isaiah 42:21; Mark
1:21; 1 John 2:6-7).
The Disciples: Christ’s disciples kept the Sabbath
(Luke 23:56-24:1).
Paul: The apostles kept the Sabbath (Acts 17:2;
13:14, 42, 44; 16:13).
After the time of Christ: God’s people were still to
be keeping the Bible Sabbath when Jerusalem was
destroyed 40 years after Calvary (Matthew 24:1-3, 20).
The Dark Ages and the Last Days: God’s people
were to keep the Bible Sabbath in the Christian Era, on
down to the end of time (Matthew 24:1-3, 20; Revelation
12:17).
An end-time revival in Sabbathkeeping was
predicted: The Sabbath is to be kept in our time (Isaiah
58:12-14; Revelation 12:17, 14:12).
In heaven and the earth made new: The Sabbath
will be kept through all eternity to come (Revelation
22:14; Isaiah 66:22-23).
The Sabbath is your special day with God: This is
because it is founded on Scripture (Genesis 2:1-3; Exo-
dus 31:13, 17; Isaiah 56:2, 4, 6; Ezekiel 20:12, 20).

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A SUNDAY TIME LINE

FROM EDEN TO EDEN
In twelve links
A chain of Fact disproving a man-made error:
The Sunday-sacredness error.
At the Creation: Sunday sacredness not known.
Bible texts vindicating Sunday: None.
Before Sinai: Sunday sacredness never found. Bible
texts vindicating Sunday: None.
At Sinai: Sunday sacredness totally missing. Bible
texts vindicating Sunday: None.
After Sinai: Sunday sacredness completely absent.
Bible texts vindicating Sunday: None.
Jesus, our Example: Sunday sacredness totally
ignored. Bible texts vindicating Sunday: None.
The Disciples: Sunday sacredness not mentioned.
Bible texts vindicating Sunday: None.
Paul: Sunday sacredness never spoken of. Bible texts
vindicating Sunday: None.
After the time of Christ: Sunday sacredness entirely
missing. Bible texts vindicating Sunday: None.
The Dark Ages: The error of Sunday sacredness
predicted: Daniel 7:25, 8:10-12; Revelation 13:6-7; 17:5-
6. Bible texts vindicating Sunday: None.
The last days: Bible prophecy predicted a return to
the Bible Sabbath by a remnant few: Isaiah 58:12-14;
Revelation 12:17, 14:12. Bible texts vindicating Sunday:
None.
In heaven and the earth made new: Sunday
sacredness totally missing. It will continue to be just
another common work day, as, in the estimation of God,
it always has been (Genesis 2:1-3; Exodus 20:8-11). Bible
text vindicating Sunday: None.
Sunday is not a special day with God: Sunday
sacredness is nowhere in Scripture. Bible texts vindicat-
ing Sunday: None.

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CATHOLICISM SPEAKS

“Sunday is a Catholic institution, and its claim to observance can be

defended only on Catholic principles . . From beginning to end of Scrip-
ture there is not a single passage that warrants the transfer of weekly pub-
lic worship from the last day of the week to the first.”—Catholic Press,
Sydney, Australia, August, 1900.
“Protestantism, in discarding the authority of the [Roman Catholic]
Church, has no good reason for its Sunday theory, and ought logically to
keep Saturday as the Sabbath.”—John Gilmary Shea, in the American
Catholic Quarterly Review, January 1883.
“It is well to remind the Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, and all
other Christians that the Bible does not support them anywhere in their
observance of Sunday. Sunday is an institution of the Roman Catholic
Church, and those who observe the day observe a commandment of the
Catholic Church.”—Priest Brady, in an address, reported in the Elizabeth,
N.J. News of March 18, 1903.
“Ques.—Have you any other way of proving that the [Catholic] Church
has power to institute festivals of precept [to command holy days]?
“Ans.—Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which
all modern religionists agree with her: She could not have substituted the
observance of Sunday, the first day of the week, for the observance of
Saturday, the seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural au-
thority.”—Stephen Keenan, Doctrinal Catechism, p. 176.
“Reason and common sense demand the acceptance of one or the
other of these two alternatives: either Protestantism and the keeping holy
of Saturday or Catholicity and the keeping holy of Sunday. Compromise
is impossible.”—The Catholic Mirror, December 23, 1893.
“God simply gave His [Catholic] Church the power to set aside what-
ever day or days she would deem suitable as Holy Days. The Church
chose Sunday, the first day of the week, and in the course of time added
other days, as holy days.”—Vincent J. Kelly, Forbidden Sunday and Feast-
Day Occupations, p. 2.
“Protestants . . accept Sunday rather than Saturday as the day for pub-
lic worship after the Catholic Church made the change . . But the Protes-
tant mind does not seem to realize that in accepting the Bible, in observ-
ing the Sunday, they are accepting the authority of the spokesman for the
church, the Pope.”—Our Sunday Visitor, February 5, 1950.

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“We hold upon this earth the place of God Almighty.”—Pope Leo XIII,
in an Encyclical Letter, dated June 20, 1894.
“Not the Creator of Universe, in Genesis 2:1-3,—but the Catholic Church
“can claim the honor of having granted man a pause to his work every
seven days.”—S. C. Mosna, Storia della Domenica, 1969, pp. 366-367.
“The Pope is not only the representative of Jesus Christ, but he is Jesus
Christ, hidden under veil of flesh.”—The Catholic National, July 1895.
“If Protestants would follow the Bible, they should worship God on the
Sabbath Day. In keeping the Sunday they are following a law of the Catho-
lic Church.”—Albert Smith, Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Baltimore,
replying for the Cardinal, in a letter dated February 10, 1920.
“We define that the Holy Apostolic See (the Vatican) and the Roman
Pontiff hold the primacy over the whole world.”—A Decree of the Council
of Trent, quoted in Philippe Labbe and Gabriel Cossart, “The Most Holy
Councils,” col. 1167.
“It was the Catholic Church which, by the authority of Jesus Christ, has
transferred this rest [from the Bible Sabbath] to the Sunday . . Thus the
observance of Sunday by the Protestants is an homage they pay, in spite
of themselves, to the authority of the [Catholic] Church.”—Monsignor
Louis Segur, Plain Talk About the Protestantism of Today, p. 213.
“We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church
transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday.”—Peter Geiermann,
CSSR, A Doctrinal Catechism, 1957 edition, p. 50.
“We Catholics, then, have precisely the same authority for keeping Sun-
day holy instead of Saturday as we have for every other article of our
creed, namely, the authority of the Church . . whereas you who are Protes-
tants have really no authority for it whatever; for there is no authority for it
[Sunday sacredness] in the Bible, and you will not allow that there can be
authority for it anywhere else.”—The Brotherhood of St. Paul, “The Clifton
tracts,” Volume 4, tract 4, p. 15.
“The Church changed the observance of the Sabbath to Sunday by
right of the divine, infallible authority given to her by her founder, Jesus
Christ. The Protestant, claiming the Bible to be the only guide of faith, has
no warrant for observing Sunday. In this matter the Seventh-day Adventist
is the only consistent Protestant.”—The Catholic Universe Bulletin, Au-
gust 14, 1942, p. 4.
The Bible is your only safe guide. Jesus can help you obey it. Trust
God’s Word more than man’s traditions.

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PROTESTANTISM SPEAKS

BAPTIST: “There was and is a command to keep holy the Sabbath day,
but that Sabbath day was not Sunday. It will however be readily said, and
with some show of triumph, that the Sabbath was transferred from the
seventh to the first day of the week, with all its duties, privileges and sanc-
tions. Earnestly desiring information on this subject, which I have studied
for many years, I ask, where can the record of such a transaction be found?
Not in the New Testament—absolutely not. There is no Scriptural evidence
of the change of the Sabbath institution from the seventh to the first day of
the week.”—Dr. E. T. Hiscox, author of the Baptist Manual.
CONGREGATIONALIST: “It is quite clear that however rigidly or devot-
edly we may spend Sunday, we are not keeping the Sabbath . . The Sab-
bath was founded on a specific divine command. We can plead no such
command for the observance of Sunday . . There is not a single line in the
New Testament to suggest that we incur any penalty by violating the sup-
posed sanctity of Sunday.”—Dr. R. W. Dale, The Ten Commandments, pp.
106-107.
PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL: “The day is now changed from the sev-
enth to the first day . . but as we meet with no Scriptural direction for the
change, we may conclude it was done by the authority of the church.”—
“The Protestant Episcopal Explanation of the Catechism.
BAPTIST: “The Scriptures nowhere call the first day of the week the
Sabbath . . There is no Scriptural authority for so doing, nor of course, any
Scriptural obligation.”—The Watchman.
PRESBYTERIAN: “There is no word, no hint in the New Testament about
abstaining from work on Sunday. The observance of Ash Wednesday, or
Lent, stands exactly on the same footing as the observance of Sunday.
Into the rest of Sunday no Divine Law enters.”—Canon Eyton, Ten Com-
mandments.
ANGLICAN: “And where are we told in the Scriptures that we are to
keep the first day at all? We are commanded to keep the seventh; but we
are nowhere commanded to keep the first day.”—Isaac Williams, Plain
Sermons on the Catechism, pp. 334, 336.
METHODIST: “It is true that there is no positive command for infant
baptism. Nor is there any for keeping holy the first day of the week. Many
believe that Christ changed the Sabbath. But, from His own words, we
see that He came for no such purpose. Those who believe that Jesus

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changed the Sabbath base it only on a supposition.”—Amos Binney, Theo-

logical Compendium, pp. 180-181.
EPISCOPALIAN: “We have made the change from the seventh to the
first day, from Saturday to Sunday, on the authority of the one holy, catho-
lic, apostolic church of Christ.”—Bishop Seymour, Why We Keep Sunday.
SOUTHERN BAPTIST: “The sacred name of the seventh day is Sab-
bath. This fact is too clear to require argument [Exodus 20:10, quoted] . .
On this point the plain teaching of the Word has been admitted in all ages
. . Not once did the disciples apply the Sabbath law to the first day of the
week,—that folly was left for a later age, nor did they pretend that the first
day supplanted the seventh.”—Joseph Judson Taylor, The Sabbatic Ques-
tion, pp. 14-17, 41.
AMERICAN CONGREGATIONALIST: “The current notion, that Christ and
His apostles authoritatively substituted the first day for the seventh, is ab-
solutely without any authority in the New Testament.”—Dr. Lyman Abbot,
Christian Union, June 26, 1890.
CHRISTIAN CHURCH: “Now there is no testimony in all the oracles of
heaven that the Sabbath is changed, or that the Lord’s Day came in the
room of it.”—Alexander Campbell, Reporter, October 8, 1921.
DISCIPLES OF CHRIST: “There is no direct Scriptural authority for des-
ignating the first day ‘the Lord’s Day.’ ”—Dr. D. H. Lucas, Christian Oracle,
January 23, 1890.
BAPTIST: “To me it seems unaccountable that Jesus, during three years’
discussion with His disciples, often conversing upon the Sabbath ques-
tion, discussing it in some of its various aspects, freeing it from its false
[Jewish traditional] glosses, never alluded to any transference of the day;
also, no such thing was intimated. Nor, so far as we know, did the Spirit,
which was given to bring to their remembrance all things whatsoever that
He had said unto them, deal with this question. Nor yet did the inspired
apostles, in preaching the gospel, founding churches, counseling and in-
structing those founded, discuss or approach the subject.
“Of course I quite well know that Sunday did come into use in early
Christian history as a religious day, as we learn from the Christian Fathers
and other sources. But what a pity that it comes branded with the mark of
paganism, and christened with the name of the sun god, then adopted and
sanctified by the Papal apostasy, and bequeathed as a sacred legacy to
Protestantism.”—Dr. E. T. Hiscox, report of his sermon at the Baptist Minister’s
Convention, New York Examiner, November 16, 1893.

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THE LAW OF GOD IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

I
“Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt
thou serve.”—Matthew 4:10.
II
“Little children, keep yourselves from idols.” “Forasmuch
then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that
the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by
art and man’s devices.”—1 John 5:21; Acts 17:29.
III
“That the name of God and His doctrine be not blasphemed.”
—1 Timothy 6:1.
IV
“Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the
Sabbath day.” “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man
for the Sabbath: therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the
Sabbath.” “For He spake in the certain place of the seventh
day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all
His works.” “There remaineth therefore a rest [keeping of a
Sabbath] to the people of God. For he that is entered into His
rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did
from His.” “For by Him were all things created that are in
heaven, and that are in earth.”—Matthew 24:20; Mark 2:27-
28; Hebrews 4:4, 9, 10; Colossians 1:16.
V
“Honor thy father and thy mother.”—Matthew 19:19.
VI
“Thou shalt not kill.”—Romans 13:9.
VII
“Thou shalt not commit adultery.”—Matthew 19:18.
VIII
“Thou shalt not steal.”—Romans 13:9.
IX
“Thou shalt not bear false witness.”—Romans 13:9.
X
“Thou shalt not covet.”—Romans 7:7.

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Brief Bible Study - Lesson 15 SABB CHANGE - CODE: CS

How Sundaykeeping Began

1 - IF THE CHANGE IS VALID,
WHO AUTHORIZED IT?
Isaiah 8:20—“To the law and to the testimony: if they speak
not according to this Word, it is because there is no light in
them.”
2 - COULD GOD CHANGE
HIS OWN LAW?
1. God does not change.
Malachi 3:6—“I am the Lord, I __________ _____; therefore ye
Sons of Jacob are not consumed” (James 1:17).
2. The Ten Commandments are God’s own covenant. Deuteronomy
4:13.
3. God will not break His covenant or alter His words. Psalm 89:34.
4. He keeps His covenant for a thousand generations.
Deuteronomy 7:9—“Know therefore that the Lord thy God, He is
God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them
that love Him and ________ His commandments to a thousand gen-
erations.”
5. God’s acts stand forever.
Ecclesiastes 3:14—“I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall
be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it:
and God doeth it, that ________ should fear before Him.”
3 - DID JESUS CHANGE
THE LAW AND THE SABBATH?
1. He created the Sabbath. John 1:1-3; Ephesians 3:9; 1
Corinthians 8:6.
2. He kept His Father’s commandments.
John 15:10—“If ye keep My commandments, ye shall __________
in My love; even as I have kept My Father’s commandments, and abide
in His love.”
3. He came to fulfill (keep) the law, not to destroy it.
Matthew 5:17-19—“Think not that I am come to ____________
the law, or the prophets: l am not come to destroy, but to
fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass,
one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all

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be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least

commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called
the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and
teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of
heaven.”
4. He came to magnify the law. Isaiah 42:21 (Matthew 5:21-22,
27-28). 4. He Himself kept the Sabbath. Luke 4:16.
5. He indicated that the Sabbath would be sacred forty years
after the cross.
Matthew 24:20—“But pray ye that your flight be not in the
winter, neither on the ____________ day.”
4 - DID PAUL CHANGE GOD’S LAW OR SABBATH?
Romans 3:31—“Do we then make void the law through faith?
God forbid: yea, we ______________ the law.”
5 - DO MEN CLAIM THERE IS BIBLE PROOF
FOR THE CHANGE?
Catholics, Protestants, and Historians say there is absolutely
no Bible proof.
6 - DOES THE CHURCH OF ROME ADMIT
SHE MADE THE CHANGE?
Daniel 7:25—“He shall speak great ___________ against the
Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and
think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into
his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.”
7 - DO THE SCRIPTURES FORETELL
A RESTORATION OF THE SABBATH?
Isaiah 58:12-14—“And they that shall be of thee shall build the
old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many
generations; and thou shalt be called, The ____________ of the
breach, The ____________ of paths to dwell in. If thou turn
away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on
My holy day; and call the Sabbath a ____________, the holy of the
Lord, honourable; and shalt honour Him, not doing thine own
ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own
words: then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause
thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with
the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath
spoken it” (Revelation 12:17; 14:6-15).

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What the Bible says about –

Sunday in tthe
he NewT
New estament
Testament
SCRIPTURE READING:
LUKE 24:1-47
Jesus came to earth that man might have an accurate knowledge of God
(John 1:18). He made it clear that to know Him, our Lord and Saviour,
was to know the Father (John 14:7).
By the advent of Christ in human flesh, the character and the law of
God were magnified and the will of God was interpreted to men. Isaiah
said of Christ, “He will magnify the law, and make it honourable” (Isaiah
42:21). Looking through the life and teachings of the Holy Saviour, we
see God more clearly, and the beauty and application of His sacred law
are made wonderfully clear and plain.
Through Christ we gaze into the depths of God’s law as illustrated in
Matthew 5:21-22, 27-28. Here we see that the law of God takes into
account not only what we do but what we think or would do if we could.
The law, rightly interpreted, has to do with the heart as well as with the
outward conduct.
Yes, Jesus came to make the law honorable. The way to make the fourth,
or Sabbath, commandment honorable is found in Isaiah 58:13. We are
to “call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and
shalt honour Him.” This, Jesus did while He was here on earth. But at
that time the Jews had made the Sabbath a burden with their exagger-
ated ideas of Sabbath observance. They had added so many man-made
laws to the Sabbath commandment that it no longer was a “delight,” but
became more and more a yoke of bondage. As such, it misrepresented
the God whom Jesus came to reveal to men.
For example, no one was permitted to eat an egg that was laid on the
Sabbath because the hen had violated the fourth commandment in do-
ing work on the Sabbath. People were prohibited from walking on the
grass for fear they might thresh out a few seeds. If they wore shoes with
nails, it was considered as bearing a burden. They were permitted to
write one letter of the alphabet, but not two letters. They could not
carry a mouthful of food two steps on the Sabbath without bearing a
burden.
It was such laws that Jesus ignored. But He did not ignore the Sabbath
law itself as given in the Scriptures. Rather, He kept the Sabbath as a
“delight,” so that He might give an example in true Sabbathkeeping.
In the light of these facts, we ask questions. Was there any need for
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abolishing the Sabbath of God? No! The real need was to abolish the
Sabbath regulations of the Jews. And this Jesus did.
But Christ never made any change in God’s Ten Commandment law.
Would He who came to “magnify the law, and make it honourable,” or
change it instead? How about the Sabbath commandment? Did He give
any instruction about another day, telling us which day it is, what it
commemorates, and how to keep it? If Jesus had changed the Sabbath,
He would most certainly have made it known, and the record would be
found in His New Testament, which contains the story of His life. Let
us now turn to the record itself for the answer.
The first day of the week is mentioned eight times in the New Testa-
ment. This day we call Sunday. Did Christ intend that this day should
replace the Bible Sabbath?
I - THE TESTIMONY
OF MATTHEW
Matthew mentions the first day of the week but once.
Matthew 28:1—“In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to
dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene
and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.”
This is a simple statement in connection with the story of the resurrec-
tion. It clearly sets forth the Sabbath as distinct from the first day of
the week. The original Greek of Matthew 28:1 has been misused in an
effort to prove that the Sabbath was changed to the first day of the week,
but only the uninformed, or those who wish to mislead the uninformed,
would ever try to erect a Sabbath change on Matthew 28:1.
The Revised Standard Version renders this verse in this way:
Matthew 28:1 (RSV)—“Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn
of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other
Mary went to see the sepulchre.”
So we see that Matthew is silent on the sanctity of the first day, or
Sunday. And Jesus said nothing about the day at all, according to Mat-
thew.
2 - THE TESTIMONY OF MARK
Mark mentions the first day of the week two times.
Mark 16:1-2—“And when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magda-
lene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had brought
sweet spices, that they might come and anoint Him. And very
early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto
the sepulchre at the rising of the sun.”
Mark 16:9—“Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of
the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom
He had cast seven devils.”
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Now let us look at these verses closely:
1. The Sabbath is “past” before the first day of the week begins.
Mark 16:1-2—“When the Sabbath was past . . very early in the
morning the first day of the week.”
2. Jesus was buried on the day before the Sabbath.
Mark 15:42-46—“And now when the even was come, because it was
the preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of
Arimathaea, an honourable counsellor, which also waited for the
kingdom of God, came, and went in boldly unto Pilate and craved
the body of Jesus. And Pilate marvelled if He were already dead:
and calling unto him the centurion, he asked him whether he had
been any while dead. And when he knew it of the centurion, he
gave the body to Joseph. And he bought fine linen, and took Him
down, and wrapped Him in the linen, and laid Him in a sepulchre
which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of
the sepulchre.”
3. Christ rested in the tomb during the Sabbath.
4. He rose from the dead the first day of the week.
Mark 16:9—“Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the
week.”
5. He appeared first unto Mary.
Mark 16:9—“He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom
He had cast seven devils.”
6. She told others who believed not.
Mark 16:10-11—“She went and told them that had been with Him,
as they mourned and wept. And they, when they had heard that He
was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not.”
7. He appeared unto two followers.
Mark 16:12—“After that He appeared in another form unto two of
them, as they walked, and went into the country.”
8. They reported to the disciples, who believed not.
Mark 16:13—“And they went and told it unto the residue: neither
believed they them.”
9. Jesus appeared and upbraided the disciples for unbelief.
Mark 16:14—“Afterward He appeared unto the eleven as they sat
at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of
heart, because they believed not them which had seen Him after
He was risen.”
Jesus never mentioned the first day of the week as far as Mark’s record
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is concerned. If Jesus did say anything about the matter, Mark did not
consider it important enough to record. Mark does say that the Sabbath
“was past”; therefore it is the day before the first day of the week. Ten
years after Christ’s death, resurrection, and ascension, Mark knew noth-
ing whatever of any change, and incidentally mentions the first day of the
week twice.
Both Mark and Christ are silent on the sanctity of Sunday.
3 - THE TESTIMONY OF LUKE
Luke mentions the first day of the week but once.
Luke 24:1—“Now upon the first day of the week, very early in
the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices
which they had prepared, and certain others with them.”
According to Luke, Jesus’ followers kept the Sabbath day before the first
day came.
Luke 23:55-56—“And the women also, which came with Him
from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how
His body was laid. And they returned, and prepared spices
and ointments; and rested the Sabbath day according to the
commandment.”
The day before the Sabbath was the preparation day which we commonly
call Friday.
Luke 23:54—“And that day was the preparation, and the Sab-
bath drew on” (Mark 15:42).
Luke, like Mark, tells us of Jesus’ appearance to two followers on the
first day.
Luke 24:13-16—“And, behold, two of them went that same
day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about
threescore furlongs. And they talked together of all these things
which had happened. And it came to pass that, while they
communed together and reasoned, Jesus Himself drew near,
and went with them. But their eyes were holden that they should
not know Him.” (Read the rest of the story in verses 17-32.)
Christ appeared to the terrified disciples on the first day. Read Luke
24:33-43.
Luke gives no record that Jesus ever referred to the first day of the week.
He does point out that some of Jesus’ followers “rested the Sabbath day
according to the commandment.” Naturally, this was according to the
fourth commandment, but these close friends of Jesus never heard of
any Sabbath change to Sunday. Both Mark and Luke give testimony that
the disciples, on that resurrection Sunday, did not believe that Jesus
had risen.

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Luke and the Christ of his Gospel are silent on the sanctity of Sunday.
4 - THE TESTIMONY OF JOHN
John mentions the first day of the week twice.
John 20:1—“The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene
early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the
stone taken away from the sepulchre.”
John 20:19—“The same day at evening, being the first day of
the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were
assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the
midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.”
Now let us get the picture here:
Mary Magdalene came to the sepulcher early the first day.
John 20:1—“The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene
early.”
Later Jesus appeared to her (John 20:11-17).
Jesus appeared later that day to the disciples (John 20:19).
But they were not celebrating His resurrection that day, for they did not
yet believe He had been raised from the dead.
To some degree, it seems that John had a deeper understanding of Jesus
than his fellow disciples. However, John gives no record that Jesus ever
mentioned the first day of the week. John and Christ are silent on the
sanctity of Sunday. So the four Gospel writers who give us the record of
Jesus’ life are absolutely silent on any change of the Sabbath or any
sanctity of Sunday.
5 - THE TESTIMONY OF THE BOOK OF ACTS
The first day of the week is mentioned only once in the book of Acts.
Acts 20:7—“And upon the first day of the week, when the
disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto
them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech
until midnight.”
The book of Acts records eighty-four Sabbath services and only one
first-day service. This latter service is recorded in Acts 20:7-14. Paul
spent a week at Troas. The evening after the Sabbath (Saturday night) he
held a farewell meeting. It was night; there were lights, and he preached
till midnight. The only way that it could be night and also be the “first
day of the week” would be that this meeting at Troas was held on what
we today call Saturday night. Bible days begin at sundown. When the sun
goes down on Saturday, the first day of the week begins. Thus Paul’s
meeting was on Saturday night. The next day, Sunday morning, Paul
walked nineteen miles to Assos to meet his fellow workers who had
departed by ship and sailed thence. There is no Sunday sacredness here.
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Family Bible Studies - 16 page 6
Conybeare and Howson: “It was the evening which succeeded the Jewish
Sabbath” (The Life and Epistles of the Apostle, 520).
Now they broke bread, but the disciples broke bread daily (Acts 2:46). If
this “bread breaking” was the Lord’s Supper, it still would have no bear-
ing upon Sunday sacredness; for it commemorates Christ’s death that
took place on Friday, but not His resurrection, because that took place
on Sunday. The Lord’s Supper may be celebrated on any day (1 Corinthians
11:26, for positive evidence).
So we see the book of Acts is silent on Sunday sanctity.
6 - THE TESTIMONY OF PAUL
Paul’s epistles mention the first day of the week just once.
1 Corinthians 16:1-3—“Now concerning the collection for the
saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so
do ye. Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him
in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings
when I come. And when I come, whomsoever ye shall approve by
your letters, them will I send to bring your liberality unto Jerusa-
lem.”
Many have honestly supposed that this text indicated a weekly gathering.
However, it teaches just the contrary—“Let every one of you lay by him in
store,” which means privately or at home. Greek scholars testify to this.
The believers would normally keep the Sabbath; and, after it was past,
they figured their earnings of the week and set aside a gift portion for the
poor.
Weymouth’s translation (3d ed.) reads, “Let each of you put on one side
and store up at his home.” Translation after translation could be given
to support what your own Bible clearly teaches. There is no evidence for a
Sunday gathering of any kind. This was a collection that Paul desired to
see accumulating in the homes of the Corinthian believers over a period
of time, and that he wished to take to Jerusalem for poor believers. And
so it is clear that Paul mentions the first day but once. And in that text he
is utterly silent on first-day sanctity.
7 - FACING THE ISSUE SQUARELY
Jesus, our Creator and gracious Redeemer, gave us His holy Sabbath as
a sign of creation and redemption. He gave it to us to be a delight. The
Sabbath hours were given to afford time to reflect on the character of
God, to attend divine worship, and to perform acts of love and mercy.
He who is our example kept the Sabbath. He did not keep Sunday. In all
the New Testament, there is no record that He personally ever once men-
tioned the first day of the week.
The custom of Sundaykeeping is a purely human invention, though mil-
lions of sincere Christians have kept the first day of the week with no

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knowledge of their responsibility to the true Sabbath. God has accepted
the worship of these dear children of His. But when light comes, respon-
sibility to walk in that light comes with it (1 John 1:7).
God is seeking to restore His Sabbath to its rightful place in the plan of
redemption. And in your life, He is watching for that token of loyalty to
truth that will lead you to honor Him fully. You will not disappoint
Jesus, will you?
The next lesson will give you answers to important questions.
———————————————————————————
Brief Review Questions —

There are only eight New Testament verses which

mention the first day of the week. Is Sunday sa-
credness in Matthew 28:1?

Is Sunday sacredness given to us in Mark 16:1-2;

Mark 16:9; Luke 23:55-56; Luke 24:1; or John 20:1?

In the above passages, the women would not bring spices to the tomb on
the Sabbath, yet they were willing to do it on the first day, a common
working day

Is Sunday sacredness shown us in Luke 24:13-16 or

John 20:19?

In the above passages, Jesus appeared to the disciples after His resurrec-
tion. The disciples were gathered together, so they could more easily
hide from the Jews.

Is Sunday sacredness presented in Acts 20:7 or 1

Corinthians 16:1-3?

Regarding Acts 20:7: In his travels, Paul held meetings day after day. After
the night meeting on the first day in Troas (Acts 20:7), Paul held a
meeting on Tuesday in Miletus (Acts 20:17-38). But no one considers
that meeting sacred.
Regarding 1 Corinthians 16:1-3, Paul told them to do their finances at
home at the start of each work week, and get their donations ready,
since he did not want to hold any meetings when he passed through
town on his way to Jerusalem.

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LETTER FROM
THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH—
We all like to receive mail. Here is a letter from the Roman Catholic
Church, originally published in America in 1869. The message
was written to Protestants and is forceful and to the point, with
lots of Scriptural proofs for its position.
———————————
I am going to propose a very plain and serious question
to those who follow ‘the Bible and the Bible only’ to give
their most earnest attention. It is this: Why do you not keep
holy the Sabbath Day?
The command of Almighty God stands clearly written in
the Bible in these words: ‘Remember the Sabbath day, to
keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work;
but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in
it thou shalt not do any work’ (Exodus xx. 8-10). And again,
“Six days shall work be done; but on the seventh day there
shall be unto you an holy day, a Sabbath of rest to the Lord;
whosover doeth work therein shall be put to death (Exodus
xxxv. 2, 3).
How strict and precise is God’s commandment upon
this head! [in this matter!] No work whatever was to be
done on the day which He had chosen to set apart for Him-
self and to make holy. And, accordingly, when the children of
Israel “found a man that gathered sticks upon the Sabbath
day,” “the Lord said unto Moses, The man shall surely be put
to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones with-
out the camp” (Numbers xv. 32, 35). Such being God’s com-
mand, then I ask again: Why do you not obey it? Why do
you not keep holy the Sabbath day?
You will answer me, perhaps, that you do keep holy the
Sabbath day; for that you abstain from all worldly business
and diligently go to church, and say your prayers, and read
your Bible at home, every Sunday of your lives.
But Sunday is not the Sabbath day. Sunday is the first
day of the week; the Sabbath day is the seventh day of the
week. Almighty God did not give a commandment that men
should keep holy one day in seven; but He named His own
day, and said distinctly: ‘Thou shalt keep holy the sev-
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enth day,’ and He assigned a reason for choosing this day

rather than any other—a reason which belongs only to
the seventh day of the week, and cannot be applied to
the rest. He says ‘For in six days the Lord made heaven and
earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested the seventh
day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hal-
lowed it’ [Exodus xx. 11].
Almighty God ordered that all men should rest from
their labor on the seventh day, because He too had rested
on that day; He did not rest on Sunday, but on Saturday. On
Sunday, which is the first day of the week, He began the work
of creation, He did not finish it [then]; it was on Saturday that
He ‘ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the
seventh day from all His work which He had made’ (Genesis ii.
2). Nothing can be more plain and easy to understand than
all this; and there is nobody who attempts to deny it; it is
acknowledged by everybody that the day which Almighty
God appointed to be kept holy was Saturday, not Sunday.
Why do you then keep holy the Sunday, and not Satur-
day?
You will tell me that Saturday was the Jewish Sabbath [God
gave the Bible Sabbath to mankind 2,000 years before the first
Jew, Abraham, existed], but that the Christian Sabbath has
been changed to Sunday; Changed! but by whom? Who has
authority to change an express commandment of Almighty
God? When God has spoken and said, Thou shalt keep holy
the seventh day, who shall dare to say, Nay, thou mayest
work and do all manner of worldly business on the seventh
day; but thou shalt keep holy the first day in its stead? This
is a most important question, which I know not how you can
answer.
You are a Protestant, and you profess to go by the Bible
and Bible only; and yet in so important a matter as the
observance of one day in seven as a holy day, you go against
the plain letter of the Bible, and put another day in the
place of that day which the Bible has commanded. The
command to keep holy the seventh day is one of the Ten
Commandments; you believe that the other nine are still
binding; but who gave you authority to tamper with the
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fourth? If you are consistent with your own principles, if you

really follow the Bible and the Bible only, you ought to
be able to produce some portion of the New Testament in
which this fourth commandment is expressly altered.
Let us see whether any such passages can be found. I
will look for them in the writings of your own [Protestant]
champions, who have attempted to defend your practice in
this matter.
1. The first text which I find quoted upon the subject is
this: “Let no man judge you in respect of an holy day, or of the
new moon, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days”
(Colossians ii. 16). [That refers to the ceremonial—sacrificial—
yearly sabbaths of Leviticus 23, which were done away at the
cross.] I could understand a Bible Christian imagining from
this passage, that we ought to make no difference between Sat-
urday, Sunday, and every other day of the week. But not one
syllable does it say about the obligation of the Sabbath
being transferred from one day to another.
2. Secondly, the words of St. John are quoted, “I was in the
Spirit on the Lord’s day (Apocalypse [Revelation] i. 10). Is it
possible that anybody can for a moment imagine that here is a
safe and clear rule for changing the weekly day of worship from
the seventh to the first day? This passage is utterly silent
upon such a subject; it only give Scriptural authority for call-
ing some one day in particular (it does not even say which day)
“the Lord’s day.”
3. Next we are reminded that St. Paul bade his Corinthian
converts, “upon the first day of the week, lay by them in store,
that there might be no gatherings” when he himself came (1
Corinthians xvi. 2). How is this supposed to affect the law of
the Sabbath? It commands a certain act of almsgiving [doing
one’s finances at home] to be done on the first day of the week.
It says absolutely nothing about not doing certain other
acts of prayer and public worship on the seventh day.
4. But, you will say, it was “on the first day of the week”
when the disciples were assembled within closed doors for fear
of the Jews, and Jesus stood in the midst of them” (John xx.
19). What is there in these facts to do away with the
obligation of keeping holy the seventh day? Our Lord
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rose from the dead on the first day of the week, and on the
same day at evening He appears to many of His disciples. Let
Protestants, if they will [in obedience to Catholic tradition],
keep holy the first day of the week in grateful commemora-
tion of that stupendous mystery, the Resurrection of Christ,
and of the evidences which He vouchsafed to give of it to His
doubting disciples; but this is no Scriptural authority for
ceasing to keep holy another day of the week which God
had expressly commanded to be kept holy for another
and altogether different reason.
5. But lastly, we have the example of the Apostles them-
selves. “Upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came
together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to
depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until mid-
night” (Acts xx. 7). Here we have clear proof that the disciples
heard a sermon on a Sunday. But is that not proof they had
done the same on the Saturdays also? [Acts xiii. 14, 42-44;
xvi. 12-13; xvii. 1-2; xviiii. 1-4, 11]. [After the night meeting on
the first day in Troas (Acts xx. 7), Paul held a meeting on Tues-
day in Miletus (Acts xx. 17-38). But no one considers that meet-
ing sacred.]
You will say, is it not expressly written concerning those
early Christians, that they “continued daily with one accord in
the temple, and breaking bread from house to house?” (Acts ii.
46). As a matter of fact, do we not know from other sources
that, in many parts of the church, the ancient Christians were
in the habit of meeting together for public worship, and to
perform the other [religious] offices, on Saturdays? Again
then, I say, [in obedience to our command] let Protestants keep
holy, if they will their first day of the week; but let them re-
member that this cannot possible release them from the
obligation of keeping holy another day which Almighty God
has ordered to be kept holy, because on that day He “rested
from all His work.” [The Troas meeting was held on Sunday
in Acts 20:7, just prior to a Miletus meeting on Tuesday in Acts
20:17-38, although no one today keeps Tuesday sacred because
of that meeting].
I do not know of any other passages of holy Scripture
which Protestants are in the habit of quoting to defend
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their practice of keeping holy the first day of the week,

instead of the seventh; yet, surely those which I have
quoted are not such as should satisfy any reasonable
man, who looks upon the written Word of God as they [the
Protestants] profess to look upon it, namely, as the only ap-
pointed means of learning God’s will, and who really desires
to learn and to obey that will in all things with humbleness
and simplicity of heart. For in spite of all that anyone might
say to the contrary, it is fully and absolutely impossible
that a reasonable and thoughtful person should be satis-
fied, by the texts that I have quoted, that Almighty God
intended the obligation of Saturday to be transferred to
Sunday. And yet Protestants do so transfer it, and never seem
to have the slightest misgivings lest, in doing so, they should
be guilty of breaking one of God’s commandments.
Why is this? Because, although they talk so largely
about following the Bible and Bible only, they are really
guided in this matter by the voice of [Roman Catholic]
tradition. Yes, much as they may hate and denounce the
word [tradition], they have in fact no other authority to
allege for this most important change.
The present generation of Protestants keep Sunday holy
instead of Saturday, because they received it as part of the Chris-
tian religion from the last generation, and that generation re-
ceived it from the generation before, and so on backwards from
one generation to another, by a continual succession, until we
come to the time of the so-called “Reformation,” when it so
happened that those who conducted the change of religion [from
Catholicism to Protestantism] left this particular portion of
Catholic faith and practice untouched.
But, had it happened otherwise,—had some one or other
of the “Reformers” taken it into his head to denounce the ob-
servance of Sunday as a Popish corruption and superstition,
and to insist upon it that Saturday was the day which God had
appointed to be kept holy, and that He had never authorized
the observance of any other,—all Protestants would have been
obliged, in obedience to their professed principle of following
“the Bible and the Bible only,” either to acknowledge this teach-
ing as true, and to return to the observance of the ancient
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Sabbath, or else to deny that there is any Sabbath at all. And

so, in like manner, any one at the present day who should set
about, honestly and without prejudice, to draw up for him-
self a form of religious belief and practice out of the written
Word of God, must needs come to the same conclusion: He
must either believe that the seventh-day Sabbath is still bind-
ing upon men’s consciences, because of the Divine command,
‘Thou shalt keep holy the seventh day,’ or he must believe
that no Sabbath at all is binding upon them. [Paul would
have no right to abolish any of the Ten Commandments.] Ei-
ther one of these conclusions he might come to;—but he would
know nothing whatever of a “Christian Sabbath” distinct
from the Biblical Sabbath, [that is] celebrated on a dif-
ferent day, and observed in a different manner,—simply
because Holy Scripture itself nowhere speaks of such a
thing.
Now, mind, in all this you would greatly misunderstand
me if you supposed I was quarrelling with you for acting in
this matter on a true and right principle,—in other words, a
Catholic principle (viz., the acceptance, without hesitation, of
that which has been handed down to you by an unbroken tra-
dition). I would not tear from you a single one of those shreds
and fragments of Divine truth [Catholic truth] which you have
retained. God forbid! They are the most precious things you
possess, and by God’s blessing may serve as clues to bring you
out of that labyrinth of [Protestant] error in which you find
yourselves involved, far more by the fault of your forefathers
three centuries ago [when they left Rome during the sixteenth-
century Reformation] than by your own.
What I do quarrel with you for, is not your inconsistency in
occasionally acting on a true principle [such as Roman Catho-
lic Sundaykeeping], but your adoption, as a general rule of a
false one [your Protestant refusal to accept the rest of Roman
traditional teachings; such as the Mass and the veneration of
saints]. You keep the Sunday, and not the Saturday; and you
do so rightly, for this was the practice of all Christians when
Protestantism began [Catholic leaders erroneously say there
were no Protestants prior to the sixteenth century]; but you
have abandoned other Catholic observances which were
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equally universal at that day, preferring the novelties intro-

duced by the men who invented Protestantism, to the un-
varying tradition of above 1500 years [of Catholic teaching].
We blame you not for making Sunday your weekly holyday
instead of Saturday, but for rejecting tradition [the say-
ings of the popes and councils of Rome], which is the
only safe and clear rule by which this observance [of
Sunday] can be justified.
In outward act we do the same as yourselves in this mat-
ter; we too no longer observe the Sabbath, but Sunday in its
stead; but there is this important difference between us,
that we do not pretend—as you do—to derive our authority
for so doing from a book [the Bible], but we [Catholics]
derive it from a living teacher, and that teacher is the [Ro-
man Catholic] Church. Moreover, we believe that not every-
thing which God would have us to know and to do is written
in the Bible, but that there is also an unwritten word of God
[the sayings of popes and councils and canonized saints], which
we are bound to believe and to obey . .
We Catholics, then, have precisely the same authority
for keeping Sunday holy instead of Saturday as we have for
every other article of our creed, namely, the authority of “the
Church of the living God, and ground of truth” (1 Timothy iii.
15); whereas you who are Protestants have really no author-
ity for it [Sunday sacredness] whatever; for there is no au-
thority for it in the Bible, and you will not allow that there
can be authority for it anywhere else. Both you and we do, in
fact, follow [Catholic] tradition in this matter; but we fol-
low it, believing it to be a part of God’s word, and the
[Catholic] Church to be its divinely appointed guardian
and interpreter. You follow it [Catholicism], denouncing it
all the time as a fallible and treacherous guide which often
“makes the commandment of God of none effect” (Matthew
xv. 6).
—“Why Don’t You Keep Holy the Sabbath Day?” pages 3-15, in The Clifton
Tracts, Vol. 4, published by the Roman Catholic Church. Originally released in
North America in 1869 through the T. W. Strong Publishing Company of New
York City, so that those outside the papal fold might return to the not partial,
but full, authority of the Mother Church of the Vatican.

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Brief Bible Study - Lesson 16 SABBATH IN NT - CODE: SNT

Sunday in the New Testament

1 - THE TESTIMONY OF MATTHEW
Matthew 28:1—“In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to
dawn toward the _________ day of the week, came Mary
Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.”
Matthew 28:1 (RSV)—“Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn
of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other
Mary went to see the sepulchre.”
2 - THE TESTIMONY OF MARK
Mark 16:1-2—“And when the Sabbath was _______, Mary Magda-
lene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had brought sweet
spices, that they might come and anoint Him. And very early in
the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepul-
chre at the rising of the sun.”
Mark 16:9—“Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the
week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had
cast seven devils.”
1. The Sabbath is “past” before the first day of the week begins.
Mark 16:1-2—“When the Sabbath was past . . very early in the
morning the first day of the week.”
2. Jesus was buried on the day before the Sabbath. Mark 15:42-46.
3. Christ rested in the tomb during the Sabbath.
4. He rose from the dead the first day of the week.
Mark 16:9—“Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the
week.”
5. He appeared first unto Mary. Mark 16:9. 6. She told others who
believed not. Mark 16:10-11. 7. He appeared unto two followers.
Mark 16:12. 8. They reported to the disciples, who believed not.
Mark 16:13.
6. Jesus appeared and upbraided the disciples for unbelief.
Mark 16:14—“Afterward He ____________ unto the eleven as
they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and
hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had
seen Him after He was risen.”
3 - THE TESTIMONY OF LUKE
Luke 24:1—“Now upon the first day of the week, very early in
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the morning, they _________ unto the sepulchre, bringing the

spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.”
Luke 23:55-56—“And the women also, which came with Him from
Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how His body
was laid. And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments;
and ___________ the Sabbath day according to the commandment.”
Luke 23:54—“And that day was the preparation, and the Sab-
bath drew on” (Mark 15:42).
Luke 24:13-16—“And, behold, two of them went that ___________
day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about
threescore furlongs. And . . Jesus Himself drew near” (verses
17-32).
4 - THE TESTIMONY OF JOHN
John 20:1—“The first _________ of the week cometh Mary
Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and
seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.”
John 20:19—“The same day at ____________, being the first day
of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were
assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst,
and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.”
5 - THE TESTIMONY OF THE BOOK OF ACTS
Acts 20:7—“And upon the first day of the week, when the dis-
ciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them,
ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until
____________.”
6 - THE TESTIMONY OF PAUL
1 Corinthians 16:1-3—“Now concerning the collection for the
saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so
do ye. Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him
in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no
________________ when I come. And when I come, whomso-
ever ye shall approve by your letters, them will I send to bring
your liberality unto Jerusalem.”

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What the Bible says about –

Questions Answered
Answered
SCRIPTURE READING:
LUKE 14:1-35
In the prophecies of Isaiah, we see the prophet answering questions for
those who are puzzled. “Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what
of the night?” is the anxious inquiry. To this Isaiah replies, “The morn-
ing cometh, and also the night: if ye will inquire, inquire ye: return, come”
(Isaiah 21:12).
Isaiah did not discourage honest questions. “If ye will inquire, inquire
ye,” he said. Any “watchman” who has been set to guard the spiritual
interests of the people should welcome sincere questions.

When the rich young ruler came to Jesus asking about the way of life,
Christ answered him without hesitation. But insincere quibblers Jesus
silenced with His penetrating questions and answers (Matthew 22:23-
33, 41-46).
In this lesson, we want to answer questions that are often raised about
the Sabbath-Sunday issue. These matters are of great importance to
us; for the midnight of sin is coming upon the world, and the law here
is our first question, a very important one:
1 - HAS THE SABBATH
BEEN LOST
DOWN THROUGH THE AGES?
Some have asked, “Has time been lost?” “Has the Sabbath been lost?”
We reply No. The Sabbath has never been lost. If the Sabbath had been
lost between creation (that is, Adam’s time) and Moses’ day when God
gave the written law with the Sabbath as the fourth commandment, this
loss of time would have been rectified. Note the following:

Forty years, or 2,080 weeks, God worked a number of miracles every

week, thereby pointing out the identical seventh day 2,080 times (Exo-
dus 16). In the wilderness before the children of Israel reached Mount
Sinai, the manna (food from heaven) fell on each of the first five days of
the week. That was one miracle. Any portion kept over one day would
spoil. Then on the sixth day a double portion fell. This was another
miracle. The unused portion kept over to the seventh day did not spoil.
This was a third miracle. To this we might add the fact that on the
seventh, or Sabbath, day no manna fell. And this could be called a
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fourth miracle. God thus emphasized the sacredness of the Sabbath
and clearly marked the seventh day.
If the Sabbath had been lost between Moses’ time and Jesus’ day, the
Saviour would not have made it His custom to observe the Sabbath
(Luke 4:16). But we have the example of the Saviour, which is indeed
sufficient. “He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to
walk, even as He walked” (1 John 2:6).
Has the Sabbath been lost since Jesus’ day? And what about the calen-
dar? The calender has been changed, but there has been no loss of time
or change in the rotation of the days of the week.
The Julian calendar was in use when Jesus was on the earth. Its origi-
nator, Julius Caesar, died about 40 years before Christ was born. The
week in use in the East at that time was precisely the same as the week
of our calendar today, which is the Gregorian. The days of the month
are different, but the days of the week were never changed.
The change from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar occurred in this
way: The Julian calendar used for sixteen centuries was not accurate in
the length of its year, being about eleven minutes too long. By A.D.
1582, the vernal equinox of March 21 had receded to March 11 and was
ten days off schedule.
Scientists in the time of Gregory XIII led out in the change, and the
Gregorian calendar began to function at Rome on Friday, the 5th of
October, 1582. Friday the 5th was changed to Friday the 15th. The week
remained untouched, and the days of the week were undisturbed.
Some nations began the use of the new calendar at once. Others began
later. England waited 170 years, until 1752. Yet—all that time—these
different states and nations with different calendars had the same week!
Just remember that the seventh day of the week today is the same as
when Christ was here, and the calendar changes have not affected it.
The Jews, scattered over the earth, have kept strict account of time; and
wherever you find the orthodox Jew you find the seventh-day Sabbath.
God has protected the Jewish people over the centuries, so they could
testify as to which day of our week is the true Sabbath—the Bible
Sabbath, the only Sabbath ever given to mankind by the God of heaven.
So it is clear that the Sabbath has not been lost in our calendar.
2 - DID THE RESURRECTED CHRIST
ALWAYS APPEAR ON THE FIRST DAY?
The answer is No. The record of Scripture does not support such a view.
As a matter of fact, there are only three such meetings where the time is
indicated.
1. The resurrection day (which was, of course, Sunday, in John 20:19),
when Jesus met with His disciples who were “assembling for fear of
the Jews.”

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2. A meeting “after eight days,” when the doubting Thomas met Christ
(John 20:26).
3. The day of the ascension, which occurred “forty days” after the resur-
rection (Acts 1:3, 9). A glance at the calendar will quickly reveal to you
that if the resurrection was on Sunday, the ascension, which was forty
days later, could not possibly have occurred on Sunday.
It is interesting to note that those who claim that, after the resurrection,
Christ always met with His disciples on Sunday do not cite John 21:1-
6 as an example. If this meeting was on a Sunday, then evidently the
disciples considered fishing a proper occupation for that day. Nor did
Jesus reprove them. Instead, He instructed them how to catch fish, and
He cooked fish for them.
Christ appeared to His disciples at other times, but we are not told the
day of the week. The time of Christ’s appearance to His disciples has
no bearing on the question of a weekly day of worship. The identity of
God’s holy day does not rest on such irregularities as meetings. A
specific command points it out (Exodus 20:8-11). How much we need
to study our Bibles in order to know what God would have us do!
3 - IS NOT ONE DAY
JUST AS HOLY AS ANOTHER?
Christ Himself made the Sabbath at creation and repeated the Sabbath
command from Sinai. And He never made any other day holy (John
1:1-3, 14; Mark 2:27-28).
We should remember that no one man or even all men together can
make a single day holy. Only God can make a day holy. Only God can
make men holy. It is God’s special presence that makes any place or
day or thing holy (Exodus 3:1-5).
The following Bible text is often quoted to support the claim that each
man may choose his own day of worship:
Romans 14:5-6—“One man esteemeth one day above another:
another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully per-
suaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth
it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the
Lord he doth not regard it.”
Paul had no authority to create new holy days. In the text quoted, Paul
was speaking of yearly ceremonial days. He was seeking to divorce the
Jewish Christian from continuing to regard with holiness the feast
days of the ceremonial system (Leviticus 23:1-2, 4-37, 39-44). Note
that verse 3 and verse 38 indicate that the weekly Sabbath is distinct
from the ceremonial, or yearly, sabbaths.) He also sought to lead them
not to judge one another on the matter of observing these ceremonial
laws.
The “every day” of Romans 14:5-6 sometimes means the “six working

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days” (Exodus 16:4). Let us remember also that Christ is the one who
esteems the seventh day above the other weekly days. He places His
special blessing on it. If you invite me to a dinner at your home on
Saturday and I come on Sunday, I simply miss the occasion. If a man
has seven sons, he cannot make the firstborn the lastborn—and no one
else can. Neither can any mere human transfer the sacredness that God
placed on the seventh day to the first day.
Let us keep in mind five facts: (1) On the seventh day God rested. (2)
The seventh day is the only weekly day to which God gave a sacred
name. (3) It is the only one He blessed. (4) It is the only one He hal-
lowed. (5) It is the only one He has commanded us to keep (Genesis
2:1-3; Exodus 20:8-11).
You need not fear that you will sin by not keeping Sunday—for there is
no Biblical law demanding Sunday observance. There is no instruction
whatever about keeping it. According to Exodus 20:9, the first day is
just another working day.
4 - WAS THE SEVENTH-DAY
SABBATH NAILED TO THE CROSS?
The apostle Paul would answer, “God forbid!” But Paul does make it
clear that the Jewish ceremonial sabbaths were nailed to the cross.
Here are his words:
Colossians 2:14-17—“Blotting out the handwriting of ordi-
nances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and
took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross; and having spoiled
principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly,
triumphing over them in it. Let no man therefore judge you in
meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new
moon, or of the sabbath days: which are a shadow of things
to come; but the body is of Christ.”
It is plain that these sabbaths are “shadow” sabbaths. A reading of
Leviticus 23 will show that they came only once a year, and on different
days of the week. They belonged to the system of “ordinances” given to
the Jews. Read Ephesians 2:15.
Dr. Adam Clarke says:
“The apostle speaks here in reference to some particulars of the hand-
writing of ordinances, which had been taken away, viz., the distinction
of meats and drinks . . and the necessity of observing certain holydays
or festivals, such as new moons and particular sabbaths. There is no
intimation here that the Sabbath was done away with or that its moral
use was superseded by the introduction of Christianity.”
On Colossians 2:16, Dr. Albert Barnes writes:
“But the use of the term in the plural number [sabbaths], and the
connection, show that he [Paul] had his eye on the great number of days
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which were observed by the Hebrews as festivals, as a part of their
ceremonial and typical law, and not on the moral law, or the Ten Com-
mandments. No part of the moral law—no one of the Ten Command-
ments—could be spoken of as a shadow of good things to come.”
All informed students agree with these correct statements. The yearly,
shadow, or ceremonial sabbaths were nailed to the cross.
5 - ARE NOT CHRISTIANS TOLD
TO ASSEMBLE ON THE FIRST DAY?
No. But here is the text quoted to support this idea:
Hebrews 10:25—“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves
together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another:
and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”
Many honest persons have thought that Hebrews 10:25 speaks of the
first day of the week, but a reading of the passage will settle the ques-
tion conclusively (2 Peter 3:10 on “the day approaching”).
6 - IS NOT SUNDAY
THE LORD’S DAY?
No. John does not say that Sunday is the Lord’s day when he says, “I
was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day” (Revelation 1:10). Sunday is just
not in Revelation 1:10!
You may read the Bible from cover to cover, and nowhere is it remotely
intimated that the first day of the week is the Lord’s day. The Sabbath
is the Lord’s day. Christ said, “The Son of man is Lord also of the
Sabbath” (Mark 2:28). God Himself, speaking from Sinai, said, “The
seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” Here the Lord claims
the Sabbath as His day; therefore it is the Lord’s day. And speaking
through the prophet Isaiah, He calls the Sabbath “My holy day” (Isaiah
58:13). Words cannot be plainer. The Lord’s day is the Sabbath, the
seventh day of the week.
7 - WHAT EXCUSES ARE SOMETIMES OFFERED
FOR NOT OBSERVING THE SABBATH?
1. “I don’t believe in that old Jewish Sabbath.”
The Bible never calls the Sabbath Jewish. It is the “Sabbath of the Lord
thy God” (Exodus 20:10). It was “made for man,” not for any special race
(Mark 2:27-28). When you stop to think of it, it is actually blasphe-
mous to say that the seventh-day Sabbath—the memorial of the Cre-
ation of our world (Genesis 2:1-3)—is “just for the Jews.”
And here is a word for those who don’t believe in “those old laws.”
Jeremiah 6:16—“Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways,
and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and
walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls” (Isaiah
58:12-14).
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2. “I am afraid of new doctrines.”
The Sabbath dates from creation. Read again Genesis 2:1-3.
3. “My mother and father kept Sunday.”
God will hold them accountable only for the light they had. “Jesus said
unto them, If ye were blind ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We
see; therefore your sin remaineth” (John 9:41). Obedience is of more
importance than earthly relatives. Read Matthew 12:47-50.
We are to walk in the light while we have the light.
John 12:35—“Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is
the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness
come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not
whither he goeth.”
4. “Many scholarly men keep Sunday.”
Listen to these words of Hosea:
Hosea 10:13—“Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped
iniquity; ye have eaten the fruit of lies: because thou didst
trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men.”
1 Corinthians 1:26—“Not many wise men after the flesh, not
many mighty, not many noble are called” (Proverbs 19:27).
5. “Almost everyone keeps Sunday.”
Matthew 7:13-14—“Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is
the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and
many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate
and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there
be that find it.”
6. “The Sabbath can’t be kept on a round world.”
The God of heaven, who made the world round, commanded us to keep
the Bible Sabbath. “In the beginning God created the heaven and the
earth” (Genesis 1:1; Exodus 20:8-11).
7. “It is inconvenient to keep the Sabbath.”
Matthew 16:24—“Then said Jesus unto His disciples, If any
man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his
cross, and follow Me.”
The privileges and blessings of following Jesus outweigh all trials and
inconveniences.
8. “Sabbathkeeping interferes with my business and family
support.”
Matthew 6:33—“Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His
righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

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Mark 8:36—“What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the
whole world, and lose his own soul?”
9. “The Sabbath brings trouble and division.”
A man’s foes, said Jesus, may be those of his own household. Read
Matthew 10:34-38. It may also bring persecution, but the Saviour said:
Matthew 5:11—“Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you,
and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against
you falsely, for My sake” (John 12:42-43).
Acts 5:29—“We ought to obey God rather than men,” said
Peter (Acts 4:18-20; 5:28).
Thank God, all do not make excuses. They have learned that the Sab-
bath is a “delight,” and that it brings great blessings! Yes, there is some
scorn, but they are happy to bear reproach in order to follow in the
footsteps of the Man of Calvary and be part of the great movement that
belts the globe in these closing hours of the judgment. May God be very
near to you, dear friend, as you search to know His way for you. The
Sabbath truth is being proclaimed in more than 800 language and dia-
lect areas. Hundreds of thousands are keeping the Sabbath the world
over, and thousands more are taking their stand as the days go by.
———————————————————————————
Brief Review Questions —

The Sabbath was never lost, because the seven-day

week has continued on since the beginning of time.
Christ appeared to His disciples on different days
of the week. Does the Bible teach that one day is
as holy as another?

The Bible Sabbath is part of the Ten Commandments,

so it could not be destroyed by Christ’s death.
Does Revelation 1:10 name Sunday as being the
“Lord’s Day”?

According to Genesis 2:1-3, is the Sabbath “Jewish”?

Does the fact that so many keep Sunday, make it the

right day? Or should we go by what the Bible says?

Is it inconvenient to obey God? Will God reward us in

heaven for obeying Him—in spite of hardships that
obedience might bring us?
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HOW THE SABBATH WAS CHANGED TO SUNDAY

“There is scarcely anything which strikes the mind of the careful student of
ancient ecclesiastical history with greater surprise than the comparatively early
period at which many of the corruptions of Christianity, which are embodied in the
Roman system, took their rise; yet it is not to be supposed that when the first
originators of many of these unscriptural notions and practices planted those germs
of corruption, they anticipated or even imagined they would ever grow into such a
vast and hideous system of superstition and error as is that of popery.”—John
Dowling, History of Romanism, 13th Edition, p. 65.
“It would be an error to attribute [‘the sanctification of Sunday’] to a definite
decision of the Apostles. There is no such decision mentioned the Apostolic docu-
ments [that is, the New Testament].”—Antoine Villien, A History of the Command-
ments of the Church, 1915, p. 23.
“It must be confessed that there is no law in the New Testament concerning the
first day.”—McClintock and Strong, Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Eccle-
siastical Literature, Vol. 9, p. 196.
“Rites and ceremonies, of which neither Paul nor Peter ever heard, crept si-
lently into use, and then claimed the rank of divine institutions. [Church] officers
for whom the primitive disciples could have found no place, and titles which to
them would have been altogether unintelligible, began to challenge attention, and
to be named apostolic.”—William D. Killen, The Ancient Church, p. xvi.
“Until well into the second century [a hundred years after Christ] we do not
find the slightest indication in our sources that Christians marked Sunday by any
kind of abstention from work.”—W. Rordorf, Sunday, p. 157.
“The ancient Sabbath did remain and was observed . . by the Christians of the
Eastern Church [in the area near Palestine] above three hundred years after our
Saviour’s death.”—A Learned Treatise of the Sabbath, p. 77.
“Modern Christians who talk of keeping Sunday as a ‘holy’ day, as in the still
extant ‘Blue Laws,’ of colonial America, should know that as a ‘holy’ day of rest
and cessation from labor and amusements Sunday was unknown to Jesus . . It
formed no tenant [teaching] of the primitive Church and became ‘sacred’ only in
the course of time. Outside the church its observance was legalized for the Roman
Empire through a series of decrees starting with the famous one of Contantine in
321, an edict due to his political and social ideas.”—W. W. Hyde, Paganism to
Christianity in the Roman Empire, 1946, p. 257.
“The festival of Sunday, like all other festivals was always only a human ordi-
nance, and it was far from the intentions of the apostles to establish a Divine
command in this respect, far from them, and from the early apostolic church, to
transfer the laws of the Sabbath to Sunday.”—Augustus Neander, The History of
the Christian Religion and Church, 1843, p. 186.
“The [Catholic] Church took the pagan buckler of faith against the heathen.
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She took the pagan Roman Pantheon [the Roman], temple to all the gods, and
made it sacred to all the martyrs; so it stands to this day. She took the pagan
Sunday and made it the Christian Sunday . . The Sun was a foremost god with
heathendom. Balder the beautiful: the White God, the old Scandinavians called
him. The sun has worshipers at this very hour in Persia and other lands . . Hence
the Church would seem to have said, ‘Keep that old pagan name. It shall remain
consecrated, sanctified.’ And thus the pagan Sunday, dedicated to Balder, became
the Christian Sunday, sacred to Jesus. The sun is a fitting emblem of Jesus. The
Fathers often compared Jesus to the sun; as they compared Mary to the moon.”—
William L. Gildea, “Paschale Gaudium,” in The Catholic World, p. 58, March 1894.
“The Church made a sacred day of Sunday . . largely because it was the weekly
festival of the sun;—for it was a definite Christian policy to take over the pagan
festivals endeared to the people by tradition, and give them a Christian signifi-
cance.”—Authur Weigall, The Paganism in Our Christianity, 1928, p. 145.
“Remains of the struggle [between the religion of Christianity and the religion
of Mithraism] are found in two institutions adopted from its rival by Christianity in
the fourth century, the two Mithraic sacred days: December 25, ‘dies natalis solis’
[birthday of the sun], as the birthday of Jesus,—and Sunday, ‘the venerable day
of the Sun,’ as Constantine called it in his edict of 321.”—Walter Woodburn Hyde,
Paganism to Christianity in the Roman Empire, p. 60.
“It is not strange that Sunday is almost universally observed when the Sacred
Writings do not endorse it? Satan, the great counterfeiter, worked through the
‘mystery of iniquity’ to introduce a counterfeit Sabbath to take the place of the true
Sabbath. Sunday stands side by side with Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, Holy (or
Maundy) Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Whitsunday, Corpus Christi, As-
sumption Day, All Soul’s Day, Christmas Day, and a host of other ecclesiastical
feast days too numerous to mention. This array of Roman Catholic feasts and fast
days are all man made. None of them bears the divine credentials of the Author of
the Inspired Word.”—M. E. Walsh.
“Sun worship was the earliest idolatry.”—Fausset Bible Dictionary, p. 666.
“Sun worship was “one of the oldest components of the Roman religion.”—
Gaston H. Halsberge, The Cult of Sol Invictus, 1972, p. 26.
“ ‘Babylon, the mother of harlots,’ derived much of her teaching from pagan
Rome and thence from Babylon. Sun worship—that led her to Sundaykeeping,—
was one of those choice bits of paganism that sprang originally from the heathen
lore of ancient Babylon: The solar theology of the ‘Chaldeans’ had a decisive effect
upon the final development of Semitic paganism . . [It led to their] seeing the sun
the directing power of the cosmic system. All the Baals were thence forward turned
into suns; the sun itself being the mover of the other stars—like it eternal and
‘unconquerable’ . . Such was the final form reached by the religion of the pagan
Semites, and following them, by that of the Romans . . when they raised ‘Sol

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Invictus’ [the Invincible Sun] to the rank of supreme divinity in the empire.”—Franz
F. V. M. Cummont, Astrology and Religion Among the Greeks and Romans, p. 55.
“When Christianity conquered Rome, the ecclesiastical structure of the pagan
church, the title and the vestments of the ‘pontifex maximus,’ the worship to the
‘Great Mother’ goddess and a multitude of comforting divinities, . . the joy or so-
lemnity of old festivals, and the pageantry of immemorial ceremony, passed like
material blood into the new religion,—and captive Rome conquered her conqueror.
The reins and skills of government were handed down by a dying empire to a virile
papacy.”—Will Durant, Caesar and Christ, p. 672.
“The power of the Ceasars lived again in the universal dominion of the popes.”—
H.G. Guiness, Romanism and the Reformation.
“Like two sacred rivers flowing from paradise, the Bible and divine Tradition
contain the Word of God, the precious gems of revealed truth. Though these two
divine streams are in themselves, on account of their divine origin, of equal sacred-
ness, and are both full of revealed truths, still, of the two, Tradition [the sayings of
popes and councils] is to us more clear and safe.”—Di Bruno, Catholic Belief, p.
33.
“Unquestionably the first law, either ecclesiastical or civil, by which the Sabbati-
cal observance of that day is known to have been ordained, is the edict of
Constantine, A.D. 321.”—Chamber’s Encyclopedia, article, “Sabbath.”
Here is the first Sunday law in history, a legal enactment by Constantine I (reigned
306-337): “On the Venerable Day of the Sun [“Venerable die Solis”—the sacred
day of the Sun] let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all
workshops be closed. In the country, however, persons engaged in agriculture
may freely and lawfully continue their pursuits; because it often happens that an-
other day is not so suitable for grain-sowing or for vine-planting; lest by neglecting
the proper moment for such operations the bounty of heaven should by lost—
given the 7th day of March [A.D. 321], Crispus and Constanstine being consuls
each of them for the second time.”—The First Sunday Law of Constantine I, in
“Codex Justianianus,” lib. 3, tit. 12,3; trans. in Phillip Schaff, History of the Chris-
tian Church, Vol. 3, p. 380.
“This [Constantine’s Sunday decree of March 321] is the ‘parent’ Sunday law
making it a day of rest and release from labor. For from that time to the present
there have been decrees about the observance of Sunday which have profoundly
influenced European and American society. When the Church became a part of
State under the Christian emperors, Sunday observance was enforced by civil
statutes, and later when the Empire was past, the Church in the hands of the
papacy enforced it by ecclesiastical and also by civil enactments.”—Walter W. Hyde,
Paganism to Christianity in the Roman Empire, 1946, p. 261.
“Constantine’s decree marked the beginning of a long, though intermittent se-
ries of imperial decrees in support of Sunday rest.”—Vincent J. Kelly, Forbidden
Sunday and Feast-Day Occupations, 1943, p. 29.
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“Constantine labored at this time untiringly to unite the worshipers of the old and
the new into one religion. All his laws and contrivances aimed at promoting this
amalgamation of means melt together a purified heathenism and a moderated
Christianity . . Of all his blending and melting together of Christianity and heathen-
ism, none is more easy to see through than this making of his Sunday law: The
Christians worshiped their Christ, the heathen their sun-god [so they should now
be combined].”—H. G. Heggtveit, Illustreret Kirkehistorie, 1895, p. 202.
“If every Sunday is to be observed by Christians on account of the resurrection,
then every Sabbath on account of the burial is to be regarded in execration [curs-
ing] of the Jews.”—Pope Sylvester, quoted by S. R. E. Humbert, “Adversus Graecorum
Calumnias,” in J. P. Migne, Patrologie, p. 143 [Sylvester (A.D. 314-337) was the
pope at the time Constantine I was Emperor].
“All things whatsoever that were prescribed for the [Bible] Sabbath, we have
transferred them to the Lord’s day, as being more authoratative and more highly
regarded and first in rank, and more honorable than the Jewish Sabbath.”—Bishop
Eusebius, quoted in J. P. Migne, “Patrologie,” p. 23, 1169-1172 [Eusebius of
Caesarea was a high-ranking Catholic leader during Constantine’s lifetime].
“As we have already noted, excepting for the Roman and Alexandrian Chris-
tians, the majority of Christians were observing the seventh-day Sabbath at least
as late as the middle of the fifth century [A.D. 450]. The Roman and Alexandrian
Christians were among those converted from heathenism. They began observing
Sunday as a merry religious festival in honor of the Lord’s resurrection, about the
latter half of the second century A.D. However, they did not try to teach that the
Lord or His apostles commanded it. In fact, no ecclesiastical writer before Eusebius
of Caesarea in the fourth century even suggested that either Christ or His apostles
instituted the observance of the first day of the week.
“These Gentile Christians of Rome and Alexandria began calling the first day of
the week ‘the Lord’s day.’ This was not difficult for the pagans of the Roman Em-
pire who were steeped in sun worship to accept, because they [the pagans] re-
ferred to their sun-god as their ‘Lord.’ ”—E. M. Chalmers, How Sunday Came into
the Christian Church, p. 3.
The following statement was made 100 years after Constantine’s Sunday Law
was passed: “Although almost all churches throughout the world celebrate the
sacred mysteries on the Sabbath every week, yet the Christians of Alexandria and
at Rome, on account of some ancient tradition, have ceased to do this.”—Socrates
Scholasticus, quoted in Ecclesiastical History, Book 5, chap. 22 [written shortly
after A.D. 439].
“The people of Constantinople, and almost everywhere, assemble together on
the Sabbath, as well as on the first day of the week, which custom is never ob-
served at Rome or at Alexandria.”—Hermias Sozomen, quoted in Ecclesiastical
History, vii, 19, in A Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 2nd Series,
Vol. 2, p. 390 [written soon after A.D. 415].
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“Down even to the fifth century the observance of the Jewish Sabbath was
continued in the Christian church, but with a rigor and solemnity gradually dimin-
ishing until it was wholly discontinued.”—Lyman Coleman, Ancient Christianity
Exemplified, chap. 26, sec. 2, p. 527.
“Contantine’s [five Sunday Laws] decrees marked the beginning of a long though
intermittent series of imperial decrees in support of Sunday rest.”—A History of
the Councils of the Church, Vol. 2, p. 316.
“What began, however, as a pagan ordinance, ended as a Christian regulation;
and a long series of imperial decrees, during the fourth, fifth, and sixth, centuries,
enjoined with increasing stringency abstinence from labor on Sunday.”—Hutton
Webster, Rest Days, pp. 122-123, 270.
Here is the first Sunday Law decree of a Christian council, given about 16 years
after Constantine’s first Sunday Law of A.D. 321: “Christians shall not Judaize and
be idle on Saturday [in the original: ‘sabbato’—shall not be idle on the Sabbath],
but shall work on that day; but the Lord’s day they shall especially honour, and as
being Christians, shall, if possible, do no work on that day. If, however, they are
found Judaizing, they shall by shut out [‘anathema,’ excommunicated] from
Christ.”—Council of Laodicea, c. A.D. 337, Canon 29, quoted in C.J. Hefele, A
History of the Councils of the Church, Vol. 2, p. 316.
“The keeping of the Sunday rest arose from the custom of the people and the
constitution of the [Catholic] Church . . Tertullian was probably the first to refer to
a cessation of affairs on the Sun day; the Council of Laodicea issued the first
counciliar legislation for that day; Constantine I issued the first civil legislation.”—
Priest Vincent J. Kelly, Forbidden Sunday and Feast-Day Occupations, p. 203 [a
thesis presented to the Catholic University of America].
“About 590, Pope Gregory, in a letter to the Roman people, denounced as the
prophets of Antichrist those who maintained that work ought not to be done on
the seventh day.”—James T. Ringgold, The Law of Sunday, p. 267.
In the later centuries, persecution against believers in the Bible Sabbath intensi-
fied until very few were left alive. When the Reformation began, the true Sabbath
was almost unknown.
“Now the [Catholic] Church . . instituted, by God’s authority, Sunday as the day
of worship. The same Church, by the same divine authority, taught the doctrine of
Purgatory . . We have, therefore, the same authority for Purgatory as we have for
Sunday.”—Martin J. Scott, Things Catholics Are Asked About, 1927, p. 236.
“Of course the Catholic Church claims that the change [of the Sabbath to Sun-
day] was her act . . AND THE ACT IS A MARK of her ecclesiastical power.”—From
the office of Cardinal Gibbons, through Chancellor H.F. Thomas, Nov 11, 1895.

Our only safety in these last days is to cling to God and to His holy Word, our
precious Bible. We dare not trust our souls to the whims of erring church councils.

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Questions Answered
WHAT EXCUSES ARE SOMETIMES OFFERED
FOR NOT OBSERVING THE SABBATH?
1. “I don’t believe in that old Jewish Sabbath.”
Jeremiah 6:16—“Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and
see, and ask for the ______ __________ , where is the good way,
and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls” (Isaiah
58:12-14).
2. “I am afraid of new doctrines.”
The Sabbath dates from creation. Read again Genesis 2:1-3.
3. “My mother and father kept Sunday.”
God will hold them accountable only for the light they had. “Jesus
said unto them, If ye were blind ye should have no sin: but now ye say,
We see; therefore your sin remaineth” (John 9:41). Obedience is of
more importance than earthly relatives. Read Matthew 12:47-50.
John 12:35—“Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the
light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest ______________
come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not
whither he goeth.”
4. “Many scholarly men keep Sunday.”
Hosea 10:13—“Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniq-
uity; ye have eaten the fruit of lies: because thou didst trust in
________ way, in the multitude of thy mighty men.”
1 Corinthians 1:26—“Not many ________ men after the flesh, not
many mighty, not many noble are called” (Proverbs 19:27).
5. “Almost everyone keeps Sunday.”
Matthew 7:13-14—“Enter ye in at the strait gate: for ___________
is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and
many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate and
narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that
find it.”
6. “The Sabbath can’t be kept on a round world.”
The God of heaven, who made the world round, commanded us to
keep the Bible Sabbath. “In the beginning God created the heaven
and the earth” (Genesis 1:1; Exodus 20:8-11).
7. “It is inconvenient to keep the Sabbath.”
Matthew 16:24—“Then said Jesus unto His disciples, If any man
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Brief Bible Study - Lesson 17 SABB QUES - CODE: SQ

will come after Me, let him _______ ____________, and take up
his cross, and follow Me.”
8. “Sabbathkeeping interferes with my business and family
support.”
Matthew 6:33—“Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His
righteousness; and _____ these things shall be added unto you.”
Mark 8:36—“What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the
___________ ___________, and lose his own soul?”
9. “The Sabbath brings trouble and division.”
Matthew 5:11—“Blessed are ye, when men shall ___________ you,
and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you
falsely, for My sake” (John 12:42-43).
Acts 5:29—“We ought to obey _______ rather than men,” said
Peter (Acts 4:18-20; 5:28).
———————————————————————————
“The great Jehovah had laid the foundations of the earth; He had
dressed the whole world in the garb of beauty and had filled it with
things useful to man; He had created all the wonders of the land and
of the sea. In six days the great work of creation had been accom-
plished. And God ‘rested on the seventh day from all His work which
He had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it:
because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created
and made.’ God looked with satisfaction upon the work of His hands.
All was perfect, worthy of its divine Author, and He rested, not as one
weary, but as well pleased with the fruits of His wisdom and goodness
and the manifestations of His glory.
“After resting upon the seventh day, God sanctified it, or set it
apart, as a day of rest for man. Following the example of the Creator,
man was to rest upon this sacred day, that as he should look upon
the heavens and the earth, he might reflect upon God's great work of
creation; and that as he should behold the evidences of God's wisdom
and goodness, his heart might be filled with love and reverence for his
Maker.
“In Eden, God set up the memorial of His work of creation, in
placing His blessing upon the seventh day. The Sabbath was commit-
ted to Adam, the father and representative of the whole human fam-
ily. Its observance was to be an act of grateful acknowledgment, on
the part of all who should dwell upon the earth, that God was their
Creator and their rightful Sovereign; that they were the work of His
hands and the subjects of His authority. Thus the institution was
wholly commemorative, and given to all mankind. There was nothing
in it shadowy or of restricted application to any people.”
—Patriarchs and Prophets, 47-48
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What the Bible says about –

Can W
Wee Go Too Far in Sin?
Too
SCRIPTURE READING:
GENESIS 25:29-34; 27:30-40
HEBREWS 12:16-17

1 - WHO IS THE HOLY SPIRIT?

Let us notice four facts about the Holy Spirit:
1. He is closely associated with God and Christ.
The Holy Spirit is a divine person, a member of the Godhead (1 John
5:7).
Matthew 28:19—“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, bap-
tizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of
the Holy Ghost.”
2. He took part in creation.
Genesis 1:1-2—“In the beginning God created the heaven and
the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and dark-
ness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God
moved upon the face of the waters.”
3. He descended upon Christ at His baptism.
Matthew 3:16-17—“And Jesus, when He was baptized, went
up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were
opened unto Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending
like a dove, and lighting upon Him.”
4. He represents Christ on earth.
John 14:26—“But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost,
whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all
things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever
I have said unto you” (John 16:7).
Here we are on holy ground, for the Holy Ghost is the representative of
Christ on earth. He is here with us, so let us tread softly. Some things
about the Spirit will always be a mystery. One writer has well said:
“The nature of the Holy Spirit is a mystery. Men cannot explain it,
because the Lord has not revealed it to them. Men having fanciful views
may bring together passages of Scripture and put a human construc-
tion on them: but the acceptance of these views will not strengthen the
church. Regarding such mysteries, which are too deep for human un-
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derstanding, silence is golden.”
Jesus, as the Son of man, was in only one place at a time. He sends the
Spirit to be everywhere. “It is expedient for you that I go away,” He said
(John 16:7). It was better for Him to go away and send the Spirit in
special power to be with His children in all parts of the world at all
times.
2 - WHAT IS THE WORK
OF THE HOLY SPIRIT?
The Spirit’s work for man may be divided into ten areas of ministry.
1. He convinces men of sin.
John 16:8—“When He is come, He will reprove [“convince,”
margin] the world of sin, and of righteousness and of judg-
ment.”
“Of sin,” said Jesus, “because they believe not on Me” (John 16:9). It is
sin to reject Christ, the remedy for sin. The Holy Spirit, reproves, or
convinces, men of sin and “sin is the transgression of the law.” Be-
cause Christ came to save us from our sins, from which we could not
save ourselves, we doubly commit sin when we refuse His help. Sup-
pose a man develops blood poisoning. His wife calls a doctor who is
equipped to save her husband and who is eager to administer aid. But
the man refuses all help. He dies. He is fully and undeniably respon-
sible for his own death.
2. He convinces men of righteousness (John 16:8).
Paul says: First of all, He convinces of the righteousness of the law.
Romans 8:3-4—“For what the law could not do, in that it
was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the
flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in
us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
Since the Holy Spirit convinces of sin, and since “sin is the transgres-
sion of the law,” the Spirit must of necessity uphold the righteous and
unchangeable character of the law; and, second, the righteousness of
Christ. Said the Saviour: “Of righteousness, because I go to My Father,
and ye see Me no more” (John 16:10).
The Spirit rallied to support the righteousness of Christ. Jesus was
accused of being what He was not, and of not being what He was. He
was accused of teaching what He did not teach, and of doing what He
did not do. Though guiltless, He was put to death on the cross like the
vilest sinner. Yet the Spirit upheld His righteousness.
The Spirit descended upon Him after His baptism, thus signifying that
Jesus was the Messiah, or Anointed One. The Spirit led Him into the
wilderness of temptation, and led Him always. The Spirit was at the

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tomb of Jesus when the angel rolled away the stone. Jesus was “quick-
ened [made alive] by the Spirit” (1 Peter 3:18).
Jesus appeared to His disciples that night and breathed upon them,
saying, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost” (John 20:22).
Luke 24:49—Then He said, “Behold, I send the promise of
My Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until
ye be endued with power from on high” (Acts 1:4). The power
was the power of the Holy Spirit.
When Christ ascended to heaven and was accepted at His Father’s side,
the Holy Spirit descended upon His followers as a token of this exalta-
tion (Acts 2:33).
The Spirit glorifies Christ and His sacred law. To reject these is to
reject the work of the Holy Spirit.
3. He convinces men of judgment (John 16:8).
John 16:11—“Of judgment because the prince of this world
is judged.”
The Spirit of God impresses every responsible being on earth, that he
must give account to God. The law of God is the standard of the judg-
ment, and God will judge us by Jesus Christ. As long as we live, any-
time, anywhere, we can never escape the issue of God’s law and God’s
Son. In the judgment we shall meet them. It is the work of God’s Spirit
to impress upon men this unavoidable truth and to lead them to salva-
tion. Listen to these words:
James 2:12—“So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be
judged by the law of liberty” (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14).
Acts 17:31—“He hath appointed a day, in the which He will
judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath
ordained.”
If all the world is to be judged, if Satan is to be judged, and if the fallen
angels (Jude 6; Hebrews 2:2) are to be judged, “how shall we escape, if
we neglect so great salvation” (Hebrews 2:3)?
4. He does the work of a comforter.
John 14:16—“I will pray the Father, and He shall give you
another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever” (Rev-
elation 22:17).
If we will throw ourselves upon God’s mercy and utterly abandon our-
selves to the doing of His will, His Holy Spirit will comfort our troubled
hearts through all our days in this sinful world.
5. He brings about the new birth.
John 3:5—“Jesus answered, Verily, verily, 1 say unto thee,
Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot
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enter into the kingdom of God.”
To those who receive Christ as a personal Saviour the promise is
given:
John 1:12-13—“As many as received Him, to them gave He
power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe
on His name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of
the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
To be born of the Spirit means to have a new life altogether:
“The Christian’s life is not a modification or improvement of the old,
but a transformation of nature. There is a death to self and sin, and a
new life altogether. This change can be brought about only by the effectual
working of the Holy Spirit” (Desire of Ages, p. 172).
6. He dwells in men.
John 14:17—“Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world can-
not receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him:
but ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in
you.”
Yes, it is through the Spirit that Christ dwells in us.
Colossians 1:27—“To whom God would make known what is
the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which
is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
And the Spirit writes God’s law in our hearts (2 Corinthians 3:3; He-
brews 8:10; Romans 8:10).
Here again we find Christ and the law together. Christ dwells in us by
the Spirit, and the Spirit writes the law in our hearts.
7. He intercedes for men.
Romans 8:26—“The Spirit itself maketh intercession for us
with groanings which cannot be uttered.”
Since the Spirit dwells in us, He knows all our needs. And being one of
the Godhead, He knows just how to present our problems in heaven. If
we permit Him to lead us, He will deliver us from fear and sin (Ro-
mans 8:15).
8. He gives men power to witness.
Acts 1:8—“Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is
come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto Me.”
We should be willing to witness for Christ. A man bore his testimony
telling how he had been “on the mountaintop” for five years. Mr. Moody
asked him how many souls he had won to Christ. The man confessed
that he had not won any. Said Moody, “That is not the kind of mountaintop
experience we need—Christians should be soul winners.”

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9. He guides men.
Romans 8:14—“As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they
are the sons of God.”
John 16:13—“When He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will
guide you into all truth” (John 17:17).
We do not receive all truth at one time (John 16:12). The forward
movements of true religion have been given their momentum by great
characters who dared to study, to believe, to teach, to practice, and even
to die for unpopular truths. The names of Wycliffe, Huss, Jerome, Luther,
Knox, Calvin, Wesley, and many others shine with luster on the pages
recording the eradication of error and the advancement of truth. Unfor-
tunately, too many stop right in the tracks of these great men and go no
further.
God does not hold us responsible for light we do not have, but He does
hold us responsible for that which we do have or might have if we
improved the opportunities we have (John 9:41; Matthew 13:15).
10. He seals men unto the day of redemption.
Ephesians 4:30—“Grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby
ye are sealed unto the day of redemption” (Ephesians 1:13;
Revelation 7:3).
The Spirit is not the seal. He is the agent who seals us with the seal of
God. In another lesson, we shall touch upon the seal of God and the
mark of the beast.
3 - WHAT IS
PRESUMPTUOUS SIN?
Presumptuous sin is deliberate sin against light.
Psalm 19:13—“Keep back thy servant also from presumptu-
ous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be
upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.”
The presumptuous sin is choosing our own way instead of God’s and
presuming that God will always forgive. It leads to the unpardonable
sin. Noah’s message was rejected, and a whole generation was lost. It is
dangerous business to presume that a good God will forgive all sins
under all conditions and, therefore, to sin deliberately on this basis.
The following experiences in the Bible illustrate this:
1. Nadab and Abihu (Leviticus 10:1).
2. Esau and the birthright (Genesis 25:29-34; Hebrews 12:16-17).
3. Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11).
4. People in Noah’s day and our own day (Genesis 6:3-7; Luke 17:26-
27).

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Our prayer should be the prayer of David: “Keep back thy servant also
from presumptuous sins” (Psalm 19:13).
4 - WHAT IS THE SIN
AGAINST THE HOLY GHOST?
It is the rejection of the Spirit’s call (Matthew 12:24-32).
From the statements of Jesus in Matthew 12:24-32, it is clearly evident
that the sin against the Holy Ghost is final rejection of Christ and His
teachings, and attributing His work to an evil power. It is persistently
rejecting the Spirit’s call to repentance. It is the sin we do not forsake.
If we do not shield our conscience, it will become hard and callous,
and we will tread the paths of sin with utter abandon, giving no heed to
the promptings of the Spirit of God. Remember, no sin is too great for
God to forgive if it is confessed and put away. The sin against the Holy
Ghost is the failure to confess or put away sin and unbelief in Christ,
our Saviour.
5 - CAN A MAN KNOW WHEN
HE HAS COMMITTED
THE UNPARDONABLE SIN?
Many will commit this sin and think that all is well. Jesus said:
Matthew 7:21-23—“Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord,
Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth
the will of My Father which is in heaven. Many will say to Me in
that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name? and
in Thy name have cast out devils? and in Thy name done many
wonderful works? And then I will profess unto them, I never
knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity.”
When human probation closes, many will seek for the Word of God,
but it will be too late. Probationary time will be over.
Amos 8:11-12—“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God,
that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread,
nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord:
and they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north
even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the Word of
the Lord, and shall not find it” (Jeremiah 8:20).
But, thank God, He will accept all who come in sincerity to Jesus.
John 6:37—“Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast
out.”
If a man will come to Christ and accept Him as Lord and Saviour, in
faith confess his sins and fully surrender to do God’s will, He may
know that he has not committed this sin. If he does not come, He may
know that he is in danger of committing it. If he professes Christ, yet
rejects truth and continues in his own way, he may commit it and still
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think he is acceptable with God.
Jesus tasted “death for every man” (Hebrews 2:9). Yet most men will
never benefit by Christ’s death because they will not heed the gentle
calls, the persistent movings of the Holy Spirit.
Let us pray with David, “Cast me not away from Thy presence; and take
not Thy Holy Spirit from me” (Psalm 51:11)? Let us “grieve not the holy
Spirit of God” (Ephesians 4:30), who alone can seal us for the day of
redemption.
Be of good courage, dear student, and put away every sin. God will help
you to be victorious. But beware of delay. Continue with these lessons.
In the very next Bible study you will learn how to outwit your greatest
enemy, the devil, and fully overcome through faith in Christ. One more
word: Do not think that you have sinned against the Holy Ghost if you
have a desire to follow Jesus. This very desire is the work of God’s
Spirit on your heart.
Our next lesson is also an important one: “Sin and Satan.” It is the
story of how sin began in heaven. You will not want to miss it.
———————————————————————————
Brief Review Questions —

Name five of the ten things the Holy Spirit does in the
lives of people here on earth?

What is the sin against the Holy Spirit?

On the next page, we will give some additional defini-

tions of the sin against the Holy Spirit. 221
Family Bible Studies - 18 page 8

THE SIN AGAINST THE HOLY SPIRIT

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL—
“When the soul surrenders itself to Christ, a new power takes
possession of the new heart. A change is wrought which man can
never accomplish for himself. It is a supernatural work, bringing a
supernatural element into human nature. The soul that is yielded to
Christ becomes His own fortress, which He holds in a revolted world,
and He intends that no authority shall be known in it but His own. A
soul thus kept in possession by the heavenly agencies is impregnable
to the assaults of Satan.
“But unless we do yield ourselves to the control of Christ, we
shall be dominated by the wicked one. We must inevitably be under
the control of the one or the other of the two great powers that are
contending for the supremacy of the world. It is not necessary for us
deliberately to choose the service of the kingdom of darkness in
order to come under its dominion. We have only to neglect to ally
ourselves with the kingdom of light. If we do not co-operate with the
heavenly agencies, Satan will take possession of the heart, and will
make it his abiding place.
“The only defense against evil is the indwelling of Christ in the
heart through faith in His righteousness. Unless we become vitally
connected with God, we can never resist the unhallowed effects of
self-love, self-indulgence, and temptation to sin. We may leave off
many bad habits, for the time we may part company with Satan; but
without a vital connection with God, through the surrender of our-
selves to Him moment by moment, we shall be overcome. Without a
personal acquaintance with Christ, and a continual communion, we
are at the mercy of the enemy, and shall do his bidding in the end.
“ ‘The last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so,’ said
Jesus, ‘shall it be also unto this wicked generation’ [Matthew 12:45].
There are none so hardened as those who have slighted the invitation
of mercy, and done despite to the Spirit of grace. The most common
manifestation of the sin against the Holy Spirit is in persistently
slighting Heaven’s invitation to repent. Every step in the rejection of
Christ is a step toward the rejection of salvation, and toward the sin
against the Holy Spirit.
“In rejecting Christ the . . people committed the unpardonable
sin; and by refusing the invitation of mercy, we may commit the same
error. We offer insult to the Prince of life, and put Him to shame
before the synagogue of Satan and before the heavenly universe when
we refuse to listen to His delegated messengers, and instead listen to
the agents of Satan, who would draw the soul away from Christ. So
long as one does this, he can find no hope or pardon, and he will
finally lose all desire to be reconciled to God.”—Desire of Ages, 324

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Can We Go Too Far in Sin?

1 - WHO IS THE HOLY SPIRIT?
1. He is closely associated with God and Christ.
Matthew 28:19—“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, bap-
tizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of
the Holy Ghost.”
2. He took part in creation. Genesis 1:1-2. 3. He descended
upon Christ at His baptism. Matthew 3:16-17. 4. He repre-
sents Christ on earth. John 14:26 (John 16:7).
2 - WHAT IS THE WORK
OF THE HOLY SPIRIT?
1. He convinces men of sin.
John 16:8—“When He is come, He will reprove [“convince,”
margin] the world of ________, and of righteousness and of
judgment.”
2. He convinces men of righteousness (John 16:8). Romans
8:3-4; Luke 24:49 (Acts 1:4).
3. He convinces men of judgment (John 16:8).
John 16:11—“Of judgment because the prince of this world
is judged.” James 2:12—“So speak ye, and so do, as they that
shall be judged by the _______ of liberty” (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14;
Acts 17:31).
4. He does the work of a comforter.
John 14:16—“I will pray the Father, and He shall give you
another Comforter, that He may _________ with you for ever.”
5. He brings about the new birth.
John 3:5—“Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Ex-
cept a man be born of water and of the __________, he cannot
enter into the kingdom of God.”
John 1:12-13—“As many as received Him, to them gave He
____________ to become the sons of God, even to them that
believe on His name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the
will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
6. He dwells in men. John 14:17; Colossians 1:27.
7. He intercedes for men. Romans 8:26.
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8. He gives men power to witness.

Acts 1:8—“Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is
come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto Me.”
9. He guides men.
Romans 8:14—“As many as are _______ by the Spirit of God,
they are the sons of God.”
John 16:13—“When He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will
___________ you into all truth” (John 17:17).
10. He seals men unto the day of redemption.
Ephesians 4:30—“Grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby
ye are ____________ unto the day of redemption” (Ephesians
1:13; Revelation 7:3).
3 - WHAT IS
PRESUMPTUOUS SIN?
Psalm 19:13—“Keep back thy servant also from presumptu-
ous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be
upright, and I shall be innocent from the ___________ trans-
gression.”
4 - WHAT IS THE SIN
AGAINST THE HOLY GHOST?
It is the rejection of the Spirit’s call (Matthew 12:24-32).
5 - CAN A MAN KNOW WHEN
HE HAS COMMITTED
THE UNPARDONABLE SIN?
Matthew 7:21-23—“Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord,
Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that
___________ the will of My Father which is in heaven. Many will
say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy
name? and in Thy name have cast out devils? and in Thy name
done many wonderful works? And then I will profess unto them,
I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity.”
Amos 8:11-12—“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God,
that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread,
nor a thirst for water, but of ____________ the words of the
Lord: and they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the
north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the
Word of the Lord, and shall not find it” (Jeremiah 8:20).
John 6:37—“Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast
out.”
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What the Bible says about –

Sin and Satan

SCRIPTURE READING:
EZEKIEL 28:12-17
REVELATION 12
Optimistic as any man may be, he still must concede to himself that
this is not the kind of world he would make if he had the power to
create one after his own desire. With all our churches and social organi-
zations, we still have sin, sorrow, poverty, and woe. Despite modern
medical science and innumerable hospitals, the world is a vast lazar
house of sickness, suffering, and death. Fear, hatred, and distrust within
the hearts of men bring forth crime, war, and bloodshed. Storms, earth-
quakes, famines, and disasters multiply in these last hours of time. And
so we raise our first question in this lesson about the relationship of
God, sin, and suffering.
1 - DID GOD CREATE
AN EVIL WORLD?
The age-old, insistent, persistent question of the skeptic has always
been, “Why would God create a world like this and let it continue?” This
question has doubtless come to every thinking man and woman at some
time. The Bible answer is that “God saw every thing that He had made,
and, behold, it was very good” (Genesis 1:31). “God is love” (1 John 4:8).
His law is love. All His dealings with all His creatures, when properly
understood, are a demonstration of unchanging love. He did not create
an evil world.
2 - WHAT IS THE CAUSE
OF ALL OUR SUFFERING?
Sin is the obvious cause of all our ills (Genesis 4:7; Isaiah 24:5).
Adam sinned in the beginning of our world, and the curse came upon
the human race (Genesis 3). “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).
In recent decades millions have been listening to spiritual deceptions.
They have been told that there is nothing but God and good, that noth-
ing is evil except as one thinks it is evil, that sin is something to be
eliminated simply by believing that there is no sin, that the only real
sin is believing in sin.
Modern men with ideas of inevitable progress stand aghast at the devel-
opments of these latter days and the utter inadequacy of their puny
notions. The Spirit of God is doing His utmost to call them back to
His Word, which says, “Sin is the transgression of the law,” and “The
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wages of sin is death.” There is right, and there is wrong. This we must
never forget!
Harry Emerson Fosdick, noted liberal thinker, says in his book, Liv-
ing under Tension: “Today we and our hopes and all our efforts after
goodness are up against a powerful antagonism, something demonic,
tragic, terrific in human nature, that turns our loveliest qualities to evil
and our finest endeavors into failure. Our fathers called it sin.” It is time
that modern men, above the din of their own conflicts, should hear the
voice of God speaking forth His holy Ten Commandments, the transgres-
sion of which is sin.
No preaching of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, no
social schemes or church meddling in politics, no giant federations of
religious organizations can ever save a people or a world when the
sense of sin is gone. When the spiritual sensory nerves are dead to the
touch of sin, we shall burn and sear our very souls and never know it.
Our God-given protection is gone.
3 - WHAT IS THE BIBLE
DEFINITION OF SIN?
1 John 3:4—“Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the
law: for sin is the transgression of the law.”
Disobedience to God’s laws and will is sin. Men may deny it, but they
cannot refute its results. In God’s collection of spiritual facts, sin is
the transgression of the law, and the transgression of the law is sin.
And this truth is timeless.
4 - WHEN, AND WITH WHOM,
DID SIN ORIGINATE?
It was the devil who sinned from the beginning.
1 John 3:8—“He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil
sinneth from the beginning.”
He it was who abode not in the truth.
John 8:44—“Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of
your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning,
and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him.”
There can be no sin without a sinner. Sin is not an evil God created and
sent forth as a foul miasma. Sin is connected with the conscience—the
will of rational beings. Somebody, sometime, willed to sin. Who is he?
The Bible says that Lucifer, who was chief of all the angels, sinned. He
was one of the covering cherubs right at the throne of God, and doubt-
less held a position next to the Son of God. Yet he became a rebel. He
“abode not in the truth.” This indicates that he was in the truth and
then left it. He was perfect in his ways till iniquity was found in him.

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5 - HOW DID SIN AND SATAN ORIGINATE?
Sin originated with Satan, a created being, whose original name was
Lucifer and whose original home was heaven. He was cast out into this
world, and he is here on earth today. Turn to your Bible and read about
Him in Isaiah 14:12-14; Ezekiel 28:12-17.
The following is the New Testament record about Satan and the origin
of sin:
Revelation 12:7-9—“There was war in heaven: Michael and
His angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought
and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found
any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old
serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole
world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast
out with him” (Luke 10:18).
Lucifer was created as one of God’s most glorious creatures. Ezekial
represents him as the symbol of the king of Tyre. Isaiah speaks of him
as symbolized by the king of Babylon. Full of wisdom and perfect in
beauty, he became proud and dissatisfied. He wanted a higher position.
He aspired to be like God, with all His divine prerogatives. Envy and
jealousy and pride, the most subtle of all evils, took root in his soul.
And why did Lucifer sin? To give a reason would be to justify the evil
deed. To offer an excuse would be inexcusable. Lucifer had everything
that God could give except divinity itself. This God could not share
with him; so Lucifer became Satan, the adversary. He set out to exalt
himself above the Godhead. The long conflict between Christ and Satan
was on. In this conflict, many angels followed Satan. They did not keep
their first estate (Jude 6). They transgressed (Hebrews 2:2). They were
cast out to this world with him (Revelation 12:9). And so will sin make
us all outcasts, unless we confess and forsake it and humbly acknowl-
edge the sovereignty of God.
6 - WHAT POSITION
DOES SATAN OCCUPY ON EARTH?
1. He took over man’s dominion when Adam sinned.
2 Peter 2:19—“Of whom a man is overcome, of the same is
he brought in bondage.”
Romans 6:16—“Know ye not, that to whom ye yield your-
selves servants to obey, his servants ye are?”
2. He is the god of this world.
2 Corinthians 4:4—“In whom the god of this world hath
blinded the minds of them which believe not.”
3. He is the prince of this world (John 12:31; 14:30) and the

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prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:2).
4. He is also called the prince of devils (Matthew 9:34; 12:24).
By overcoming man, Satan took his place of dominion over this earth—
under God, of course, who, as Creator, is still sovereign Lord. Satan
claimed this dominion when he showed Christ the kingdoms of this
world, saying, “All this power will I give Thee, and the glory of them: for
that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it” (Luke 4:6).
Jesus did not dispute the claim, neither did He acknowledge it; for
three and one-half years later He died on Calvary, to purchase the do-
minion back with His own precious blood.
7 - HOW DOES SATAN
OCCUPY HIS TIME?
1. By going to and fro in the earth.
Job 1:7—“The Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then
Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in
the earth, and from walking up and down in it.”
2. By seeking whom he may devour.
1 Peter 5:8—“Your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walk-
eth about, seeking whom he may devour.”
He is a restless worker intent upon gathering as many souls as he can
for his kingdom of darkness.
8 - WHAT METHODS
DOES HE USE?
There are four principal avenues of approach by which the enemy works.
1. He works by deception.
In the Garden of Eden he took the form of a serpent and deceived Eve
(Genesis 3:1).
1 Timothy 2:14—“Adam was not deceived, but the woman
being deceived was in the transgression.”
2. He transforms himself into an angel of light.
“Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light” (2 Corinthians
11:14). He works through sinful men, some of whom profess to be
God’s servants.
2 Corinthians 11:13-15—“Such are false apostles, deceitful
workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an an-
gel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also
be transformed as the ministers of righteousness.”
3. He works through some organizations.

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Ephesians 6:12—“We wrestle not against flesh and blood,
but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers
of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high
places.”
4. He deceives by miracles.
Revelation 16:14—“They are the spirits of devils, working
miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the
whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of
God Almighty” (2 Thessalonians 2:8-9).
Deception is the devil’s main method—first, last, and always. He will
deceive every person who does not love God and the truth supremely (2
Thessalonians 2:1-12). To be deceived means to think you are right
when you are wrong. We should not blame the devil for our own doings,
however. We may deceive ourselves (1 Corinthians 3:18; 1 John 1:8).
Satan wanted to control Peter (Luke 22:31-33). He did capture Judas
(Luke 22:33). He got into Ananias’ heart and led him to lie to the Holy
Ghost (Acts 5:1-5). Jesus warned, “Take heed that no man deceive you”
(Matthew 24:4). These are the very days when we are to beware, lest
any man or any miracle lead us to disbelieve or disobey God (Matthew
24:24; 2 Timothy 3:13).
Paul warned of the great falling away of the church, finally to be headed
by the “man of sin.” This man would claim that he was another God.
Satan did not like God’s laws, and he wished to exalt his own throne
above God. On earth he has deceived millions with a religious system
by exalting man as a god, leading him to tamper with the Ten Com-
mandments, and trying to change them; thus he seeks to prove his claim
to godship. We must not continue to be deceived by Satan, by man, by
organizations, or by ourselves.
5. He works by accusation.
Revelation 12:10—“Now is come salvation, and strength, and
the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the
accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them
before our God day and night.”
Satan accused God to Eve (Genesis 3:4-5). He accused Job to God (Job
1:8-11; 2:4-5). He accused, or resisted, Joshua the high priest (Zechariah
3:1-2). And he will accuse, condemn, and trouble you with many evil
condemnations.
He will come to you and tell you that you are unworthy to be saved, that
you have failed too many times, or that you are too great a sinner.
He will hold up your past sins to discourage you.
An old man was riding along in his buggy one rainy day. As he thought
about his past life, the devil reminded him of his sins, and he began to

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feel discouraged. But he sat up straight and told the devil to go see Jesus
Christ about those sins because he had turned them over to Him. Then
he had peace.
6. He works by affliction.
He afflicted Job.
Job 2:7—“So went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord,
and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto
his crown.”
He bound a woman for eighteen years.
Luke 13:16—“This woman, being a daughter of Abraham . .
Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years.”
He buffeted Paul’s flesh (2 Corinthians 12:7-10). Satan afflicts many
people, both saints and sinners. We shall touch the subject of affliction
and suffering in a later study.
7. He works by persecution.
When the devil cannot bring people to believe through deception, he will
seek to drive them into persecution. He is a mean and ugly master, and
stirs up evil against God’s people. He persecutes the church. Read
Revelation 12. He makes war on commandment keepers (Revelation
12:17).
John 8:44—“He was a murderer from the beginning.”
In these last days he will make war upon the church, which keep the
commandments of God (Revelation 12:17). “He was a murderer from
the beginning.” He sought to destroy man’s love for, and obedience to,
his Creator; and he has, through the ages, incited false religion to
persecute the saints of God even unto death. Christ died that He might
“destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Hebrews
2:14).
9 - WHY DID GOD MAKE LUCIFER,
AND WHY DOES HE NOT DESTROY HIM?
Remember, God made Lucifer, not Satan. The change from the righ-
teous Lucifer to the sinful Satan was made by Satan himself.
God could make His creatures in either of two ways with the power of
choice or without it. He created them with the power of choice. It is the
only intelligent, satisfying way. His beings thus serve Him because they
love Him and choose to obey.
As long as God gave the power of choice, evil might be chosen, which is
the opposite of God’s way. Of all God’s creatures, Lucifer had the least
excuse to sin because he was highest. But he deliberately chose jeal-
ousy.
Had God destroyed him at once without giving him a chance to demon-
strate his program, fear and doubt would have crept into the hearts of
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HOW SIN BEGAN
SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL—
“To many minds the origin of sin and the reason for its existence are
a source of great perplexity. They see the work of evil, with its terrible
results of woe and desolation, and they question how all this can exist
under the sovereignty of One who is infinite in wisdom, in power, and in
love. Here is a mystery of which they find no explanation. And in their
uncertainty and doubt they are blinded to truths plainly revealed in God’s
Word and essential to salvation. There are those who, in their inquiries
concerning the existence of sin, endeavor to search into that which God
has never revealed; hence they find no solution of their difficulties; and
such as are actuated by a disposition to doubt and cavil seize upon this
as an excuse for rejecting the words of Holy Writ. Others, however, fail
of a satisfactory understanding of the great problem of evil, from the fact
that tradition and misinterpretation have obscured the teaching of the
Bible concerning the character of God, the nature of His government,
and the principles of His dealing with sin.
“It is impossible to explain the origin of sin so as to give a reason
for its existence. Yet enough may be understood concerning both the
origin and the final disposition of sin to make fully manifest the justice
and benevolence of God in all His dealings with evil. Nothing is more
plainly taught in Scripture than that God was in no wise responsible for
the entrance of sin; that there was no arbitrary withdrawal of divine
grace, no deficiency in the divine government, that gave occasion for the
uprising of rebellion. Sin is an intruder, for whose presence no reason
can be given. It is mysterious, unaccountable; to excuse it is to defend it.
Could excuse for it be found, or cause be shown for its existence, it
would cease to be sin. Our only definition of sin is that given in the
Word of God; it is “the transgression of the law”; it is the outworking of
a principle at war with the great law of love which is the foundation of
the divine government.
“Before the entrance of evil there was peace and joy throughout the
universe. All was in perfect harmony with the Creator’s will . . By Christ
the Father wrought in the creation of all heavenly beings . . To Christ,
equally with the Father, all heaven gave allegiance.
“The law of love being the foundation of the government of God, the
happiness of all created beings depended upon their perfect accord with
its great principles of righteousness. God desires from all His creatures
the service of love . . and to all He grants freedom of will, that they may
render Him voluntary service.
“But there was one that chose to pervert this freedom. Sin originated
with him who, next to Christ, had been most honored of God and who
stood highest in power and glory among the inhabitants of heaven. Be-
fore his fall, Lucifer was first of the covering cherubs, holy and unde-
filed.” —Great Controversy, 492-494

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Brief Bible Study - Lesson 19 SIN AND SATAN - CODE: SS

Sin and Satan

1 - WHAT IS THE BIBLE
DEFINITION OF SIN?
1 John 3:4—“Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the
law: for _________ _____ the transgression of the law.”
2 - WHEN, AND WITH WHOM,
DID SIN ORIGINATE?
1 John 3:8—“He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil
sinneth from the beginning.”
John 8:44—“Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of
your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning,
and abode not in the truth, because there is ___ truth in him.”
3 - HOW DID SIN AND SATAN ORIGINATE?
Revelation 12:7-9—“There was ________ in heaven: Michael
and His angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought
and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found
any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old
serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which ____________ the
whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were
cast out with him” (Luke 10:18).
4 - WHAT POSITION
DOES SATAN OCCUPY ON EARTH?
1. He took over man’s dominion when Adam sinned.
2 Peter 2:19—“Of whom a man is overcome, of the same is
he brought in bondage.“
Romans 6:16—“Know ye not, that to whom ye yield your-
selves servants to ________, his servants ye are?”
2. He is the god of this world.
2 Corinthians 4:4—“In whom the god of this world hath blinded
the minds of them which believe not.”
3. He is the prince of this world (John 12:31; 14:30) and the prince
of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:2).
4. He is also called the prince of devils (Matthew 9:34; 12:24).
5 - HOW DOES SATAN
OCCUPY HIS TIME?
1. By going to and fro in the earth. Job 1:7.
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2. By seeking whom he may devour.

1 Peter 5:8—“Your adversary the devil, as a ____________ . .”
6 - WHAT METHODS
DOES HE USE?
1. He works by deception. 1 Timothy 2:14.
2. He transforms himself into an angel of light.
2 Corinthians 11:13-15—“Such are false apostles, deceitful
workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an
____________ of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his min-
isters also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness.”
3. He works through some organizations.
Ephesians 6:12—“We wrestle not against flesh and blood,
but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers
of the ___________ of this world, against spiritual wickedness in
high places.”
4. He deceives by miracles.
Revelation 16:14—“They are the spirits of ____________, work-
ing miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of
the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of
God Almighty” (2 Thessalonians 2:8-9).
5. He works by accusation.
Revelation 12:10—“Now is come salvation, and strength, and
the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the
____________ of our brethren is cast down, which accused
them before our God day and night.”
6. He works by affliction.
Job 2:7—“So went ____________ forth from the presence of
the Lord, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his
foot unto his crown” (Luke 13:16).
7. He works by persecution.
John 8:44—“He was a ____________ from the beginning.”
7 - HOW CAN WE
OVERCOME SATAN?
Revelation 12:11—“They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb,
and by the word of their testimony” (James 4:7).

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What the Bible says about –

The Pat hw
Pathw ay to God’s Thr
hway one
Throne
SCRIPTURE READING:
MATTHEW 6:5-15; 18:21-35
Luke 18:1-14
Napoleon once asked, “Do you wish to find out the really sublime?” He
answered his own question by saying, “Repeat the Lord’s Prayer.” And
apparently repeating it was all he did. But those who live that prayer
have spiritual power.
It would be well for all of us to memorize the Lord’s prayer (Matthew
6:9-13) and pray this prayer from the heart every day.
All our prayers need not be memorized, however. Prayer is really com-
munion with God and therefore a personal and intimate experience
with the Lord. Let us see if we cannot find the secret to this great
power.
1 - WHAT IS PRAYER?
One well-known Christian described prayer as “the key in the hand of
faith to unlock heaven’s storehouse.” This is true. Think of it in two
ways:
1. The cry of a soul in need.
Psalm 31:9—“Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am in
trouble: mine eye is consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my
belly.”
Psalm 46:1—“God is our refuge and strength, a very present
help in trouble.”
A lifeguard on a bathing beach was asked how he could determine the
cry of one really in distress, when there was so much babel and confu-
sion. He said, “I can always tell that distinctive cry of real distress.”
God can also.
Many years ago, Sir John Gayre, Lord Mayor of London, was ship-
wrecked. Finding himself on a dangerous shore, he knelt in prayer.
Then a lion approached him. Fervently the Christian prayed for help.
The lion sniffed at him and then walked off. God had saved the mayor.
However, such prayers, after the danger passes, generally fade away,
and men forget God. Prayer is the cry of a soul in need, but it is much
more than that.
2. The opening of the heart to God.
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Real prayer is “the opening of the heart to God as to a friend.” It is not
just asking for things. It isn’t all talking on man’s part or on God’s
part. It is some of each, and more. It may be communion in utter silence
at times—just a sacred sense of His holy, presence. “Be still, and know
that I am God” (Psalm 46:10).
“As a boy,” relates a minister, “I worked side by side with my father—my
friend. I used to walk long distances with him. There were no words,
but just the silent symphony of the souls of a man and a boy, timed by
the tramp of feet and the kindly swish of trouser legs. The man, mayhap,
was thinking of what the boy one day might be; the boy was holding the
man a hero for what he already was. Silent prayer, I think, is some-
thing like that.” God asks us to call Him Father; therefore we may
freely come to Him with our problems and our joys.
Luke 11:2—“He said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father
which art in heaven.”
And since Jesus is the friend of sinners, He invites the most sinful to
come to God through Him.
Matthew 11:19—“The Son of man came eating and drinking,
and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a
friend of publicans and sinners.”
Hebrews 4:15-16—“For we have not an high priest which can-
not be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all
points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore
come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy,
and find grace to help in time of need.”
2 - WHAT PRAYER IS NOT
Prayer is not an act of merit that earns God’s favor. Jesus said:
Matthew 5:45— “He . . sendeth rain on the just and on the
unjust.”
If the Christian farmer always had good crops and his atheist neighbor
poor crops, the atheist would probably join the church, but that would
make him a hypocrite. If the Christian never got sick, the churches
would be crowded—the whole world would profess Christianity.
If prayer would get us anything we wanted, we probably would pray not
so much for holiness as for temporal benefits which would not be used
to our good or God’s glory. Many are already like the little boy who
failed to say grace at the table one morning. His father asked why. The
answer came, “We don’t need to pray for bread today. I looked in the
bread box and there is enough for three days.”
Prayer is not ostentation and show (Matthew 6:1-8). It is not a set
form of words for a set occasion recited to the accompaniment of
spinning prayer wheels or moving beads, though many who pray thus
are sincere and true. Prayer is communion with God, and may take
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place whenever and wherever the soul of man reaches out sincerely for
his Creator.
3 - WHY DO WE PRAY?
Four questions will help to find the answer:
1. Is it to give God information?
Psalm 139:1-4—“O Lord, Thou hast searched me, and known
me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, Thou
understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path
and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For
there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest
it altogether.”
Does God need information? No! “Your Father knowest what things ye
have need of, before ye ask Him” (Matthew 6:8). Still He never wearies
of our coming to Him in sincere prayer. Unburden your heart. Take all
the time you need. Don’t rush. Think when you pray. It you were talking
to the president of the United States, you would be alert, wouldn’t you?
Be alert and reverent when you talk to God, and your prayers will be
heard in heaven.
2. Is it to make God willing?
Luke 11:13—“If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts
unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father
give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?”
Prayer is not overcoming God’s reluctance; it is taking hold of God’s
willingness: Prayer does not make Him willing, for He is always willing
to help us.
3. Is it to change God?
Malachi 3:6—“I am the Lord, I change not.”
Do we pray to change God? No! With Him “is no variableness, neither
shadow of turning” (James 1:17). God’s promises are conditional;
therefore answers vary. But God never changes. Jesus Christ is the
same yesterday, and today, and for ever (Hebrews 13:8). His invitation
is, “Come now, and let us reason together” (Isaiah 1:18).
4. Is it to change us?
Prayer is the greatest unused force in the universe to change what most
needs to be changed—men. We pray “in order to enable us to receive
Him. Prayer does not bring God down to us, but brings us up to Him.”
Read Paul’s experience in Acts 9:10-18.
4 - WHAT IS OUR PART
IN GETTING OUR PRAYERS ANSWERED?
Before you go one step further, read the story of the pharisee and the
publican in the Temple (Luke 18:10-14). This will help you to see that
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sincerity of purpose means much with God. Now go and note carefully
these eight points:
1. Recognize your need of God.
Isaiah 44:3—“I will pour water upon him that is thirsty.”
Matthew 5:6—“Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst
after righteousness: for they shall be filled.”
We must recognize our need. That’s what the publican did and what the
pharisee did not do. A French nobleman said, “God would think twice
before damning a person of my quality.” Such conceit short-circuits prayer.
2. Recognize God as your indispensable helper.
John 15:5—“I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth
in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for
without Me ye can do nothing.”
James 1:17—“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from
above, and cometh down from the Father of lights.”
As a man sentenced to death by the highest court looks to the governor
as his only hope, so should we in all things look to God. It is only at
the altar of God that we can kindle our tapers with divine fire (Isaiah
50:10-11).
3. Pray in faith.
James 1:5-6—“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God,
that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall
be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering” (verses
7-8).
To pray without faith is like plugging up a water pipe and then opening
up the faucet. Nothing happens. Prayer without faith is like a key with
no hand to turn it in the lock. “Ask in faith” (Hebrews 11:6).
4. Confess and forsake all your sins.
Proverbs 28:13—“He that covereth his sins shall not prosper:
but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.”
Psalm 66:18—“If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will
not hear me” (Proverbs 28:9).
Confess and forsake. We must not wait for feeling. We must act. Be
specific with God. Israel found peace only when they said, “We have
added unto all our sins this evil, to ask us a king” (1 Samuel 12:19).
“Sin is the transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4). We must forsake sin,
which is lawlessness. Obedience must be the rule of our lives. It is the
fruit of true faith. “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:20).
5. Pray according to God’s will.
Matthew 26:39—“He went a little farther, and fell on his face,
and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup
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pass from Me: nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt”
(verse 42).
“We know not what we should pray for as we ought” (Romans 8:26). If
it was fitting for Jesus to pray, Thy will be done,” how much more
appropriate for us. No wise parent will give a child everything he asks
for. The answer sometimes is No; sometimes it is a substitute, as a
rubber ball instead of scissors. And sometimes the answer may be,
Not now; this is a postponement. Thus we must trust God.
6. Persevere with God.
Read Luke 18:1-8—the story of the importunate widow.
So many times we rush through the circle of prayer and scarcely re-
member what we prayed for. We are like a boy who can’t stop to eat his
breakfast on Christmas morning. Perseverance in prayer is not so much
urging our wills upon God as it is being “instant in prayer”—keeping an
attitude of prayer. Yet it does mean earnestness, as in the case of Elijah’s
praying for rain and sending his servant seven times to the hilltop to
look for signs of rain.
7. Pray in Jesus’ name.
John 14:13—“Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I
do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”
To pray in the name of Jesus is to pray in the mind and spirit of Jesus
while we believe His promises, rely upon His grace, and work His
works.
8. Listen as well as talk.
Habakkuk 2:1—“I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon
the tower, and will watch to see what He will say unto me, and
what I shall answer when I am reproved.”
Some preacher has said, “The prayer room is not so much the oratory
room as the observatory room. Waiting for God to speak in prayer
sometimes provides the only answer we need to our petitions.”
5 - WHY ARE SOME PRAYERS
NOT ANSWERED?
In order to have our prayers answered, we should remove all the ob-
stacles that block the prayer channel. Think of these four things:
1. We must forgive others.
Matthew 6:14-15—“If ye forgive men their trespasses, your
heavenly Father will also forgive you: but if ye forgive not men
their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your tres-
passes” (Matthew 18:21-35).
2. We must pray for others.
Job 42:10—“The Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed
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for his friends” (Matthew 5:44).
A man whose prayer is always, “O Lord bless me,” can never become
like God in character. We must have not only the inward look, but the
outlook. John Knox prayed, “Lord, give me Scotland or I die.” He
prayed for his enemies.
If we do not pray for those who despitefully use us, we shall surely
despise them. Sincere prayer for them is essential for our own sakes.
3. We must confess our faults one to another.
James 5:16—“Confess your faults one to another, and pray for
one another, that ye may be healed” (Matthew 5:23-24).
We must confess faults to others we have injured. This is simple de-
cency. If you break a man’s leg, do your best to fix it. If you break his
heart, you are the only human being who can help patch it up. Do this
now with kindness and words of sincerity.
4. We must restore anything taken by fraud or robbery.
Ezekiel 33:15—“If the wicked restore the pledge, give again that
he had robbed, walk in the statutes of life, without committing
iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die” (the example of
Zacchaeus, in Luke 19:1-9).
Billy Sunday worked as a fourteen-year-old janitor boy for $25 a month.
With check in hand, he stood in line. At the bank window he received,
by mistake, $40 instead of the $25. With the extra $15 he bought a suit of
clothes. When he became a Christian, according to his story, the Lord
said, “Bill, you owe the Farmers Bank of Nevada County, Iowa, $15
with interest.” He paid it, and found peace. So should we make restitu-
tion to all whom we have defrauded.
6 - WHAT EXAMPLE OF PRAYER
DID JESUS GIVE?
Mark 1:35—“In the morning, rising up a great while before day,
He went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed”
(Luke 6:12).
Jesus prayed early in the morning. He prayed in the evening and, at
times, all night. He doubtless prayed almost incessantly during the
forty days in the wilderness of temptation. He prayed in public; He
prayed in private—mostly the latter. He prayed for Peter. He prayed for
His disciples. He prayed for His enemies. He prayed for all who would
ever believe. He prayed for you and me. He prayed through to victory in
Gethsemane; and, in heaven, He “ever liveth to make intercession” for
us. Shall weak mortals neglect to pray when we have available to us,
through Christ, our divine Mediator, all power in heaven and earth
(Matthew 28:18)?

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7 - WHY ARE WE ESPECIALLY ADMONISHED
TO PRAY NOW?
We are in the last days, dear friend, and Jesus is coming soon. Said
Peter:
1 Peter 4:7—“The end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore
sober, and watch unto prayer.”
If we are to stand in the time of trouble that is just ahead, we must get
the daily prayer habit, and pray always. Morning, noon, and night we
should lift our souls to God. Jesus said:
Luke 21:34, 36—“Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time
your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness,
and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you un-
awares . . Watch ye therefore and pray always, that ye may be
accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to
pass, and to stand before the Son of man.”
In our next lesson, we will discuss a matter of deep importance to
every soul who is seeking God. Entitled “The Other Side of Death,” it
will explain what the Bible teaches about this important subject, which
is of deep interest to us all.
———————————————————————————
Brief Review Questions —

Why do we pray?

Name some of the things we must do in order to

better receive answers to our prayers.

How important is it that we earnestly pray now?

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PATHWAY TO GOD’S THRONE
SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL—
“Prayer is the opening of the heart to God as to a friend. Not that it is
necessary in order to make known to God what we are, but in order to
enable us to receive Him. Prayer does not bring God down to us, but
brings us up to Him.
“When Jesus was upon the earth, He taught His disciples how to
pray. He directed them to present their daily needs before God, and to
cast all their care upon Him. And the assurance He gave them that their
petitions should be heard, is assurance also to us.
“Jesus Himself, while He dwelt among men, was often in prayer. Our
Saviour identified Himself with our needs and weakness, in that He
became a suppliant, a petitioner, seeking from His Father fresh supplies
of strength, that He might come forth braced for duty and trial. He is our
example in all things. He is a brother in our infirmities, ‘in all points
tempted like as we are’; but as the sinless one His nature recoiled from
evil; He endured struggles and torture of soul in a world of sin. His
humanity made prayer a necessity and a privilege. He found comfort and
joy in communion with His Father. And if the Saviour of men, the Son of
God, felt the need of prayer, how much more should feeble, sinful mor-
tals feel the necessity of fervent, constant prayer.
“Our heavenly Father waits to bestow upon us the fullness of His
blessing. It is our privilege to drink largely at the fountain of boundless
love. What a wonder it is that we pray so little! God is ready and willing
to hear the sincere prayer of the humblest of His children, and yet there
is much manifest reluctance on our part to make known our wants to
God. What can the angels of heaven think of poor helpless human be-
ings, who are subject to temptation, when God’s heart of infinite love
yearns toward them, ready to give them more than they can ask or think,
and yet they pray so little and have so little faith? The angels love to bow
before God; they love to be near Him. They regard communion with God
as their highest joy; and yet the children of earth, who need so much the
help that God only can give, seem satisfied to walk without the light of
His Spirit, the companionship of His presence.
“The darkness of the evil one encloses those who neglect to pray.
The whispered temptations of the enemy entice them to sin; and it is all
because they do not make use of the privileges that God has given them
in the divine appointment of prayer. Why should the sons and daughters
of God be reluctant to pray, when prayer is the key in the hand of faith to
unlock heaven’s storehouse, where are treasured the boundless resources
of Omnipotence? Without unceasing prayer and diligent watching we are
in danger of growing careless and of deviating from the right path . .
“There are certain conditions upon which we may expect that God
will hear and answer our prayers. One of the first of these is that we feel
our need of help from Him.” —Steps to Christ, 93-95
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Brief Bible Study - Lesson 20 PRAYER - CODE: P

The Pathway to God’s Throne

1 - WHAT IS PRAYER?
1. The cry of a soul in need.
Psalm 31:9—“Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am in trouble:
mine eye is consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly.”
Psalm 46:1—“God is our ____________ and strength, a very present
help in trouble.”
2. The opening of the heart to God.
Luke 11:2—“He said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which
art in heaven.”
Hebrews 4:15-16—“For we have not an high priest which cannot be
touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points
tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come
____________ unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy,
and find grace to help in time of ____________.”
2 - WHAT IS OUR PART
IN GETTING OUR PRAYERS ANSWERED?
1. Recognize your need of God.
Isaiah 44:3—“I will pour water upon him that is thirsty.”
Matthew 5:6—“Blessed are they which do ____________ and thirst
after righteousness: for they shall be filled.”
2. Recognize God as your indispensable helper.
John 15:5—“I am the vine, ye are the ____________: He that abideth
in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for with-
out Me ye can do nothing” (James 1:17).
3. Pray in faith.
James 1:5-6—“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God,
that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall
be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering” (verses
7-8).
4. Confess and forsake all your sins.
Proverbs 28:13—“He that ____________ his sins shall not pros-
per: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.”
Psalm 66:18—“If I regard ____________ in my heart, the Lord
will not hear me” (Proverbs 28:9).

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5. Pray according to God’s will. Matthew 26:39.

6. Persevere with God. Ephesians 6:18; Hebrews 4:16.
7. Pray in Jesus’ name. John 14:13.
8. Listen as well as talk. Habakkuk 2:1.
3 - WHY ARE SOME PRAYERS
NOT ANSWERED?
1. We must forgive others.
Matthew 6:14-15—“If ye ____________ men their trespasses, your
heavenly Father will also forgive you: but if ye forgive not men
their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses”
(Matthew 18:21-35).
2. We must pray for others.
Job 42:10—“The Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he ____________
for his friends” (Matthew 5:44).
3. We must confess our faults one to another.
James 5:16—“Confess your faults one to another, and pray for one
another, that ye may be healed” (Matthew 5:23-24).
4. We must restore anything taken by fraud or robbery.
Ezekiel 33:15—“If the wicked ____________ the pledge, give again
that he had robbed, walk in the statutes of life, without commit-
ting iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die” (the example
of Zacchaeus, in Luke 19:1-9).
4 - WHAT EXAMPLE OF PRAYER
DID JESUS GIVE?
Mark 1:35—“In the morning, rising up a great while __________
day, He went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there
prayed” (Luke 6:12).
5 - WHY ARE WE ESPECIALLY ADMONISHED
TO PRAY NOW?
1 Peter 4:7—“The end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore
sober, and watch unto prayer.”
Luke 21:34, 36—“Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time
your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness,
and _________ of this life, and so that day come upon you
unawares . . Watch ye therefore and pray always, that ye may
be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come
to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.”

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What the Bible says about –

The Ot her Side of Deat

Other Deathh
SCRIPTURE READING:
1 CORINTHIANS 15
If we properly approach the Bible, we will see that all its great doc-
trines run parallel to one another, and that there is no contradiction or
confusion. This is accomplished by studying all Bible teaching on a
given subject and then comparing subject with subject. Paul calls it
“comparing spiritual things with spiritual” (1 Corinthians 2:13). We will
do just that in this most important lesson. Remember, it was Christ
who in the beginning created all things (Ephesians 3:9), and man is
therefore dependent upon Christ for life (1 John 5:12). When man sinned
he forfeited his right to life, “for the wages of sin is death” (Romans
6:23). And it is “our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death,
and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2
Timothy 1:10). Thus, there is hope of everlasting life only in Christ
(John 3:16).
1 - WHO IS THE POSSESSOR
OF IMMORTALITY?
The word, “immortal,” occurs only once in the Bible, and refers to
God.
1 Timothy 1:17—“Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invis-
ible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever.”
The word, “immortality,” is used only five times in the Bible. You will
find it in 1 Timothy 6:15-16; Romans 2:7; 2 Timothy 1:10; and 1
Corinthians 15:51-54.
The saints of God receive immortality at the hour of resurrection, from
the great Fountainhead of life, the divine Source of immortality. Said
Paul:
1 Corinthians 15:22-23—“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ
shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ
the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at His coming.”
1 Corinthians 15:52-55—“In a moment, in the twinkling of an
eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead
shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this
corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must
put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on
incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality,
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then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is
swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave,
where is thy victory?”
As you think back over your life and recall with what frequency the
word, “immortality,” has been used in funeral sermons and in religious
conversation, is it not surprising to discover that this word is found
but five times in the Bible. It never refers to man or any part of man’s
nature; but the clear, emphatic declaration is made that God “only hath
immortality.” We do not have it naturally or inherently. We are to seek
for it, discover it in the gospel, and receive it as a reality at the second
coming of Christ. It is only through Christ that any sinner has hope of
immortality.
From the foregoing it is clear, then, that man is dependent utterly upon
the Life-giver for an endless life, even as in the beginning he was depen-
dent upon the Life-giver for life. Man is mortal, and “mortal” means
“subject to death.” Only God is immortal (1 Timothy 1:17; 1 Timothy
6:15-16); that is, “not subject to death.”
Eternal life and immortality are not for those who neglect or reject
Christ. Immortality is the crowning gift of the gospel, and is reserved
only for sincere ones, who, as Paul said, “by patient continuance in
well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life”
(Romans 2:7).
2 - IS MAN ENDOWED WITH
AN ETERNALLY CONSCIOUS SOUL?
In the beginning God made Adam, the first man, from the dust of the
ground and gave him the breath of life. Then he became a living soul.
Genesis 2:7—“The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground,
and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a
living soul” (Job 33:4).
The substantial part of man’s body is composed of dust, as the Bible
says. The simple statement is made that God breathed into his nostrils
the “breath of life.” Job said:
Job 27:3—“All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God
[“breath which God gave,” margin] is in my nostrils.”
Then man became “a living soul.” Note carefully that God did not breathe
into man a living soul or endow him with a living soul, but He breathed
into his nostrils the breath of life, and man become a living soul. An
electric light bulb, of itself, gives no light. But when an electric current
is sent through its wiring, light is produced. Thus Adam’s body, perfect
as it was, could not perform any function or fulfill any purpose. So
God switched on the current of life, and Adam then became a living,
active, functioning soul. The living soul did not exist before Adam was
made. And it was not breathed into Adam, but came as a result of the
union of his body and the breath of life, or “the breath of the spirit of
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life,” as it is called in one place, which we shall note in a moment.
Now, did the first man become an immortal or a mortal soul when his
life began? The Hebrew and Greek words from which we translate our
English words, “soul” and “spirit,” are found some 1,700 times in the
Bible. The word “soul,” as used in the Bible, does not always have
exactly the same meaning. The same holds true for the word, “spirit.”
We should therefore avoid being dogmatic on any one definition.
Not one of the 1,700 appearances of these original words for “soul”
and “Spirit” are said to be immortal, never dying, imperishable, inde-
structible, everlasting, eternal, or in possession of immortality.
Nor are the dead ever represented as being capable of a conscious
existence apart from the body. Even the animals became living souls
when the breath of life entered their bodies at creation. In Genesis
1:30, we read: “To every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air,
and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life.”
The marginal rendering of “life” is “a living soul.” In Revelation 16:3,
the animals of the sea are called living souls. The original expression
for “living soul” is nephesh chaiyah. This expression is used in Gen-
esis 1:20-21, 24, in referring to the animals as “the moving creature
that hath life,” “every living creature,” and “the living creature.” Thus
animals are called “living souls,” or nephesh chaiyah. This is the
identical expression used in Genesis 2:7, when man became a ‘living
soul,” or nephesh chaiyah. At death, this breath leaves man. These
words from Genesis, describing the destruction at the Flood, are illus-
trative:
Genesis 7:21-22—“All flesh died that moved upon the earth,
both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping
thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: all in whose
nostrils was the breath of life.”
The marginal reading of Genesis 7:22 is “The breath of the spirit of
life.”
The question arises: Is man then a mere animal? No, indeed! Such a
conclusion is entirely unwarranted. In your garden is a green-leafed
bud bearing beautiful, blushing roses. Close by is an ugly weed. They
are both of the vegetable kingdom, receive the same kind of sunshine
and rain, and grow in identical soil. But no one calls a rose a weed or a
weed a rose. The difference does not lie in the sunshine, soil, or rain,
but in the plant organism. When God put life into Adam’s organism He
produced different results than when He put life into animal organ-
isms.
As we have already suggested, an electric current passes into a light-
bulb filament, and we get light. It passes into the heavy coils of an
electric heater, and heat is the chief product. The current is connected
with an electric meter, and a revolving motion is the result. We get power.
Whether we get light, heat, or power depends on what the current goes
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into. But it is the same current.
So when God breathed life into Adam, He was putting that life into the
masterpiece of earthly creation. Said the psalmist, “I am fearfully and
wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14). Man was made only a “little lower
than the angels” (Psalm 8:5). As poetically expressed by one writer,
“What a piece of work is a man! how noble in reason, how infinite in
faculty! in form and movement, how expressive and admirable in ac-
tion, how like an angel in apprehension, how like a god!”
3 - WHAT TWO THINGS
HAPPEN WHEN MAN DIES?
1. The body turns to dust again.
Genesis 3:19—“Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou re-
turn” (Ecclesiastes 3:20).
2. The spirit (breath of life) returns to God.
Ecclesiastes 12:7—“Then shall the dust return to the earth as
it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.”
All living creatures die the same way as man. Said the wise man:
Ecclesiastes 3:19—“That which befalleth the sons of men
befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth,
so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man
hath no preeminence above a beast” (Psalm 104:26-29).
When man was created, his body was first formed of dust. Then God
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living,
thinking, feeling, active being. God called him a living soul. He did not
exist before.
When man dies, the simple opposite of the creative process takes place.
Says the Bible, “His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that
very day his thoughts perish” (Psalm 146:4). The breath of the spirit of
life of all men, good and bad, returns to God. God also takes back the
breath of life from animals, as you have read. Solomon rejects the
theory that man’s spirit goes upward and a beast’s spirit downward
(Ecclesiastes 3:19-21).
4 - IS MAN CONSCIOUS
IN DEATH?
The Scripture is very clear on this question. Notice five points:
1. In that very day his thoughts perish.
Psalm 146:4—“His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth;
in that very day his thoughts perish.”
2. The dead know not anything.
Ecclesiastes 9:5—“The dead know not any thing.”

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3. Their feelings perish.
Ecclesiastes 9:6—“Also their love, and their hatred, and their
envy, is now perished.”
4. The dead praise not the Lord.
Psalm 115:17—“The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that
go down into silence.”
5. Death is like a sleep, Jesus said. Read John 11:11-14.
Yes, the Scriptures are plain. When death comes, all thinking and feeling
end. If they do not, the Bible is false and unreliable. Thinking and
feeling did not exist before God breathed life into man, and they stop
entirely when the man dies. When the electric current is turned off, the
bulb is there, but light is gone. Thinking and feeling come as a result of
the operation of the current of life in conjunction with the body and
brain of man. When the body gets too much out of order or the current
of life is turned off, or both, all thinking and feeling cease.
Who started the theory of the natural immortality of man, his soul,
etc.? The Egyptians believed in the immortality of the soul, and passed
the doctrine onto the Greeks and Romans, who in turn gave it to Christian
churches. However, this belief in natural immortality did not originate
with the Egyptians, but with the devil himself. God said, “Thou shaft
surely die” (Genesis 2:17). The devil said, “Ye shall not surely die”
(Genesis 3:4). The devil deceived Eve and nearly the entire world. Count-
less millions live in fear, dread, superstition, and under religious tyr-
anny because of the devil’s lie and the multiplied horrible theories that
have been built upon this original falsehood.
After man sinned, God removed him from the tree of life, lest he live
forever (Genesis 3:22-23). God did not propose to have everlasting
sinners.
In death there is no consciousness of the passing of time. When David
is resurrected, it will seem but the next instant after he died—“the
twinkling of an eye,” as it were. In the Bible, death is called “sleep” fifty-
four times.
5 - WHAT IS THE GATEWAY
TO ETERNAL LIFE?
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17—“The Lord Himself shall descend from
heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the
trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we
which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them
in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be
with the Lord” (2 Timothy 4:8; Acts 2:29-34).
According to the Scriptures, all the righteous go to heaven at one time.
The voice of Jesus, at His second coming, will open the tomb of every

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saint, and with the righteous living they will be rewarded together. For
the sleeping saints, then, the resurrection is the gateway to eternal life.
But if, as some believe, death ushers one immediately into heaven or
hell, why is there to be a resurrection? If, through the ages, the good
have gone to heaven at death and the bad to hell, of what value would
the resurrection be? If a man is already in hell, why liberate him and
then thrust him back? There is no reason for the resurrection if people
are rewarded at death.
Christ said He would receive His disciples unto Himself at His second
coming (John 14:1-3). If they and all other good people who have died
are already with Christ in heaven, then His teaching about His second
coming becomes a farce. Are the saints coming from heaven back to
their graves to rise and go to heaven again?
All the righteous will be rewarded at once. The living will not prevent
(precede) the righteous dead (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17), and the righ-
teous dead will not be rewarded before the righteous living (Hebrews
11:13, 39-40).
There are two resurrections: one at the beginning, the other at the close,
of the millennium—the first, “the resurrection of life”; the second, “the
resurrection of damnation” (John 5:29). We must decide in this life in
which of these two resurrections we shall have a part. And our decision
must be made before death.
2 Corinthians 6:2—“Behold, now is the accepted time; behold,
now is the day of salvation.”
It is too late after death to decide. “They that go down into the pit cannot
hope for Thy truth” (Isaiah 38:18). The punishment of the wicked will
be discussed in our next lesson. God created man with the intention
that he should live forever. However, immortality was the possession
he could have only after being tested. Man failed in the test. He accepted
the words of Satan in preference to the words of God, and was led
thereby into disobedience. Eve believed that she would not die, but
rather would enter upon a higher plane of experience and become as the
gods. How many millions have since been misled as she was, believing
that death is not real at all, but just the gateway of release into a higher
realm!
6 - CAN THE DEAD COMMUNICATE
WITH THE LIVING?
Here are three Bible facts that are so important as to be a matter of life
and death!
1. The dead know nothing about their own children.
Job 14:21—“His sons come to honour, and he knoweth it
not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them.”
2. The dead have no part in any earthly affairs whatever.
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Ecclesiastes 9:6—“Neither have they any more a portion for ever
in any thing that is done under the sun.”
3. God condemns attempts to communicate with the dead.
Read Deuteronomy 18:9-12 carefully and prayerfully.
The Bible says No to the question before us. Attempts to communicate
with the dead are considered by God as delving into “abomination!”
According to Bible prophecy, spiritism is to have a great revival in
these last days, but it is not of God (1 Timothy 4:1).
7 - WHAT IS OUR ONLY HOPE?
Our only hope is in the resurrection and the coming of our Lord, for if
the dead rise not, all who have died in Christ are perished. This is the
studied conclusion of Paul:
1 Corinthians 15:16-19—“For if the dead rise not, then is
not Christ raised: and if Christ be not raised, your faith is
vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen
asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope
in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.”
If it were God’s plan to renew the life of the sleeping saints in any other
way except the resurrection, Paul would not say that “then they . . which
are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.” But Paul knew that the resur-
rection was the only gateway into eternity for all who had fallen under
the cruel hand of death—so he concluded that the saints would either
come forth in the resurrection or perish!
And so, dear friend, the resurrection at the return of Jesus is our only
hope. And it is Christ who makes the resurrection to eternal life pos-
sible. He possesses immortality. Christ is the fountain of eternal life.
If we are to live with those who have died victoriously, we must anchor
our faith in Him—yes, in Him. There is no other way to heaven.
The next lesson is really part of this one: “Eternal Life in Christ.” It is
a topic you will want to carefully study.
———————————————————————————
Brief Review Questions —

Does anyone besides God automatically have immor-

tality?

What happens when a man dies?

Is man conscious in death?

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THE OTHER SIDE OF DEATH
SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL—
“In the midst of Eden grew the tree of life, whose fruit had the power
of perpetuating life. Had Adam remained obedient to God, he would
have continued to enjoy free access to this tree and would have lived
forever. But when he sinned he was cut off from partaking of the tree of
life, and he became subject to death. The divine sentence, ‘Dust thou art,
and unto dust shalt thou return,’ points to the utter extinction of life.
“Immortality, promised to man on condition of obedience, had been
forfeited by transgression. Adam could not transmit to his posterity that
which he did not possess; and there could have been no hope for the
fallen race had not God, by the sacrifice of His Son, brought immortal-
ity within their reach. While ‘death passed upon all men, for that all have
sinned,’ Christ ‘hath brought life and immortality to light through the
gospel’ (Romans 5:12; 2 Timothy 1:10). And only through Christ can
immortality be obtained. Said Jesus: ‘He that believeth on the Son hath
everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life’ (John
3:36). Every man may come into possession of this priceless blessing if
he will comply with the conditions. All ‘who by patient continuance in
well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality,’ will receive ‘eter-
nal life’ (Romans 2:7).
“The only one who promised Adam life in disobedience was the great
deceiver. And the declaration of the serpent to Eve in Eden—‘Ye shall not
surely die’—was the first sermon ever preached upon the immortality of
the soul. Yet this declaration, resting solely upon the authority of Satan,
is echoed from the pulpits of Christendom and is received by the major-
ity of mankind as readily as it was received by our first parents. The
divine sentence, ‘The soul that sinneth, it shall die’ (Ezekiel 18:20), is
made to mean: The soul that sinneth, it shall not die, but live eternally.
We cannot but wonder at the strange infatuation which renders men so
credulous concerning the words of Satan and so unbelieving in regard to
the words of God.
“Had man after his fall been allowed free access to the tree of life, he
would have lived forever, and thus sin would have been immortalized.
But cherubim and a flaming sword kept ‘the way of the tree of life’
(Genesis 3:24), and not one of the family of Adam has been permitted to
pass that barrier and partake of the life-giving fruit. Therefore there is
not an immortal sinner.
“But after the Fall, Satan bade his angels make a special effort to
inculcate the belief in man’s natural immortality; and having induced the
people to receive this error, they were to lead them on to conclude that
the sinner would live in eternal misery . . Thus the archfiend clothes
with his own attributes the Creator and Benefactor of mankind . . Satan
is seeking to overcome men today . . by shaking their confidence in their
Creator and leading them to doubt the wisdom of His government and
the justice of His laws.” —Great Controversy, 532-534
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The Other Side of Death

1 - WHO IS THE POSSESSOR
OF IMMORTALITY?
1 Timothy 1:17—“Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible,
the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever.”
1 Corinthians 15:22-23—“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ
shall all be made _______. But every man in his own order: Christ
the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at His coming.”
1 Corinthians 15:52-55—“In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,
at the last trump: for the trumpet shall _________, and the dead shall
be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corrupt-
ible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immor-
tality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and
this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to
pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in
____________. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy
victory?”
2 - IS MAN ENDOWED WITH
AN ETERNALLY CONSCIOUS SOUL?
Genesis 2:7—“The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground,
and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a
____________ _________” (Job 33:4).
Job 27:3—“All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God
[“breath which God gave,” margin] is in my nostrils.”
Genesis 7:21-22—“All flesh died that moved _________ the earth,
both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing
that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: all in whose nostrils
was the ___________ of life.”
3 - WHAT TWO THINGS
HAPPEN WHEN MAN DIES?
1. The body turns to dust again.
Genesis 3:19—“Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return”
(Ecclesiastes 3:20).
2. The spirit (breath of life) returns to God.
Ecclesiastes 12:7—“Then shall the ________ return to the earth
as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.”

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Ecclesiastes 3:19—“That which befalleth the sons of men befalleth

beasts; even _____ _______ befalleth them: as the one dieth, so
dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath
no preeminence above a beast” (Ps. 104:26-29).
4 - IS MAN CONSCIOUS
IN DEATH?
1. In that very day his thoughts perish.
Psalm 146:4—“His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in
that very day his ____________ perish.”
2. The dead know not anything.
Ecclesiastes 9:5—“The dead know not ______ _________.”
3. Their feelings perish.
Ecclesiastes 9:6—“Also their love, and their hatred, and their
envy, is now ____________.”
4. The dead praise not the Lord.
Psalm 115:17—“The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that
go down into ____________.”
5. Death is like a sleep, Jesus said. Read John 11:11-14.
5 - WHAT IS THE GATEWAY
TO ETERNAL LIFE?
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17— “The Lord Himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and
with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up to-
gether _______ them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air:
and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (2 Timothy 4:8; Acts
2:29-34).
2 Corinthians 6:2—“Behold, now is the accepted time; behold,
now is the day of salvation” (1 Corinthians 15:16-19).
6 - CAN THE DEAD COMMUNICATE
WITH THE LIVING?
1. The dead know nothing about their own children.
Job 14:21—“His sons come to honour, and he knoweth it
______; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of
them.”
2. The dead have no part in any earthly affairs whatever.
Ecclesiastes 9:6—“Neither have they any more a portion for
ever in any thing that is done under the sun.”
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What the Bible says about –

Eternal Life in Christ

SCRIPTURE READING:
REVELATION 20:14-15; 21
MALACHI 4:1, 3
The doctrine of an eternally burning hell in which lost sinners suffer
endlessly in the awful pain of “hellfire” is still held by millions of
serious-minded Christians. This belief is an outgrowth of the “natural
immortality” idea. That is, if the sinner, as well as the saint, were
immortal, neither would ever really die, but would live on forever in a
place of ghastly torment or of unrivaled bliss.
In the light of our last lesson, you yourself must decide whether this
doctrine is Scriptural. Using sanctified reason, you must decide, too,
whether a just God would permit the wicked to suffer throughout eter-
nity for the sins they committed in a few brief years. One writer has
said:
“If eternal hell is real, love is eternally frustrated and heaven is a place
of mourning and concern for the lost. Such joy and such grief cannot
go together. There can be no split personality for the real lovers of God
and surely not for God Himself. God cannot be faithless to Himself no
matter how faithless we are” (A Reader’s Notebook by Gerald Kennedy.
Copyright 1953, Harper & Brothers).
However, the fact that a just God will not punish sinners throughout
eternity in hellfire does not remove the prospect that a just God will
punish sinners with fire and destroy them. “The wages of sin is death,”
said Paul. Fire is the best means of destruction. And death is destruc-
tion—simply the cessation of life. This is the reward of the wicked. So
the Bible teaches, as we shall now see.
1 - WHAT IS THE BIBLE MEANING
OF THE WORD, “HELL”?
There are three meanings. Let us look at them, one at a time:
1. Hell sometimes means the “grave.” The Hebrew word widely used
for “grave” is sheol. In Psalm 16:10, we have it rendered “hell,” refer-
ring to the grave. “Thou wilt not leave My soul in hell; neither wilt Thou
suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption.” In Acts 2:27, this Scripture
is quoted by Peter. In this verse, the Greek word for “hell” is hades. Its
meaning is “grave,” the same as sheol in the Hebrew. As you know, the
New Testament was originally written in Greek. In Acts 2:31, Peter
definitely says that Psalm 16:10, the verse we speak of, refers to Christ’s
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resurrection. Christ was not left in “hell,” that is, not in the grave, but
was raised from the dead. The word, hades, is used eleven times in the
New Testament. In 1 Corinthians 15:55, it is translated “grave.” Other-
wise it is translated “hell,” signifying the grave or “state in the grave.”
2. Hell also signifies a “place of burning.” In the New Testament the
word is Gehenna, or the “Valley of Hinnom,” described as “a deep,
narrow glen, south of Jerusalem, where, after the introduction of the
fire gods of Ahaz, the idolatrous Jews offered their children to Moloch.”
In this Valley of Hinnom, the bodies of dead animals and the refuse of
the city were cast. Fires burned continuously, and worms infested the
carcasses of animals. What the fire did not destroy, the worms con-
sumed. It thus was a type of complete annihilation. Gehenna, the place
of burning, is used twelve times, being translated “hell.”
3. Hell sometimes represents darkness and the third meaning of the
word, “hell,” is found in 2 Peter 2:4. “God spared not the angels that
sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of
darkness, to be reserved unto judgment.” The Greek word here is
Tartarus, not Gehenna or hades. In this text, hell represents the dark-
ness that enshrouded Satan and his angels, when they were separated
from God, and heaven and the darkness that has come to earth because
of the presence of the prince of darkness (Isaiah 60:2).
2 - WHERE DO ALL MEN GO
AT DEATH?
Surprisingly, the Scriptures declare that all men go to hell (or the grave)
when they die. Here are five facts about death:
1. The dead go into the house of death, appointed to all living.
Job 30:23—“For I know that thou wilt bring me to death,
and to the house appointed for all living.”
2. This house is the grave (sheol).
Job 17:13—“If I wait, the grave is mine house: l have made
my bed in the darkness.”
3. This grave is hades in the Greek New Testament.
1 Corinthians 15:55—“O death, where is thy sting? O grave,
where is thy victory?” (See margin.)
4. Hades is translated “hell” in Acts 2:27, 31, meaning the
“grave.”
Acts 2:27, 31—“Because Thou wilt not leave My soul in hell,
neither wilt Thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.”
“He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that
His soul was not left in hell, neither His flesh did see corrup-
tion.”
Hades is translated as “hell” ten times in the New Testament.
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5. The spirit (breath of life) of all men goes to God at death.
Ecclesiastes 12:7—“Then shall the dust return to the earth as it
was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.”
Hell, or the grave, is an impartial place. “There is one event to the
righteous, and to the wicked” (Ecclesiastes 9:2). “What man is he that
liveth, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand
of the grave [sheol]” (Psalm 89:48)? The rich and poor, the high and
low, the righteous and the wicked—all meet in that abode. Into the grave
have gone the vilest characters that have ever lived, and its portals have
opened to receive the loveliest and sweetest mortals whose gentle foot-
steps ever graced the earth.
Yes, death is an “enemy” (1 Corinthians 15:26) and the grave is not a
comforting consolation, but we thank God that “blessed are the dead
which die in the Lord” (Revelation 14:13). They have the hope of the
resurrection. And we may also rejoice that the wicked are now slumber-
ing in silence rather than screaming in torture and agony.
3 - WHEN WILL THE DEAD
COME OUT OF THE GRAVE?
The righteous come out of the grave, or hades, at the sound of the “last
trump” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52, 55). This trump sounds at Christ’s
second coming (1 Thessalonians 4:16). And this is at the beginning of
the millennium (Revelation 20:6). Christ’s promise of His glorious
return, to gather His chosen ones unto Himself (John 14:1-3), will some-
day be fulfilled. At the sound of the “trump of God,” the saints who
have slept in silence, unconscious of the passing of time, will suddenly
be awakened. Some have slumbered for thousands of years; others
have had only a brief period in the grave. To all, the time will seem the
same—as just a moment. They will come forth with their faces glowing
with joy, health, and immortality.
The living righteous will be caught up with these resurrected saints,
and they will go to be with Christ and reign with Him a thousand years.
What a glad and glorious reunion this will be.
But when will the wicked dead come out of the grave? They will be
raised from their graves a thousand years later (Revelation 20:5). “But
the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were fin-
ished.” This is the Bible teaching.
Hell (hades, or the grave) gives up its dead (Revelation 20:13). This
occurs at the end of the millennium, when the saints and the New
Jerusalem descend from heaven to earth. The untold millions of the
wicked dead are raised from the grave, or hades. Satan goes out to
deceive them. He then leads them in assault against the city of God, the
home of the saints (Revelation 20:5-9). Notice carefully what happens
next.

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4 - WHERE WILL THE WICKED
AND HELL (THE GRAVE) BE CAST?
They will be cast into the lake of fire.
Revelation 20:14-15—“And death and hell were cast into the lake
of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found
written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”
Yes, they will be cast into a literal lake of fire. Nine times does Jesus
give warning concerning this “hell” of fire.
This is the “place of burning,” the final Gehenna of Scripture. This Gehenna
is mentioned twelve times in the New Testament.
5 - WILL THE WHOLE MAN
BE CAST INTO THIS FIRE?
The answer is clear: all of him—“both soul and body in hell” (Gehenna).
Matthew 10:28—“And fear not them which kill the body, but
are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to
destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 5:30; 18:8-9).
Since there is no fire in the grave, this consignment to a place of burn-
ing could not take place at death. The burning hell Jesus is speaking of
is not one into which some ghostlike spirit or soul is cast, but one into
which men are cast bodily. Since at death the body goes into the grave,
where there is no burning, this hell that Jesus here speaks of has no
connection with ordinary death. It refers to the second and final death
by fire, when the wicked are destroyed at the close of the millennium.
6 - HOW LONG WILL
THE WICKED BURN?
1. Until body and soul are destroyed.
Matthew 10:28—“But rather fear him which is able to de-
stroy both soul and body in hell.”
2. Until neither root nor branch is left.
Malachi 4:1—“For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn
as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly,
shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up,
saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root
nor branch.”
3. Until they are devoured—the “second death.”
Revelation 20:9, 14—“And they went up on the breadth of the
earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the
beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and
devoured them . . And death and hell were cast into the lake
of fire. This is the second death.”
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The wicked will burn forever, as long as life lasts.
Revelation 20:10—“And the devil that deceived them was cast into
the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet
are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”
If you will read Exodus 21:6, you will find that “for ever” may mean
only as long as a man lives. Jonah said that he was shut up in the great
fish and “the earth with her bars was about me for ever” (Jonah 2:6).
Yet he was in this strange abode only three short days.
It is perfectly plain that the wicked are going to be completely destroyed.
This will be the second death. At the first death, the wicked went into
the grave. The second death marks the end of the sinner, the end of
death, and the end of the grave. God is forever through with sin, sin-
ners, death, and the grave. Those who suffer the second death will be
destroyed by eternal fire. Jesus declared, “These shall go away into
everlasting punishment” (Matthew 25:46). Notice it does not say “pun-
ishing,” but “punishment” and has reference to the result rather than to
the method.
7 - WHAT IS THE MEANING
OF “EVERLASTING” FIRE?
Everlasting, or eternal, fire is fire that God uses to destroy everlast-
ingly the enemies of His truth.
Matthew 25:41—“Then shall He say also unto them on the
left hand, Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, pre-
pared for the devil and his angels.”
Sodom and Gomorrah are given in the Scriptures as an example of this
fire.
“Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like
manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange
flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal
fire” (Jude 7).
Don’t forget that these cities were burned to ashes.
2 Peter 2:6—“And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha
into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them
an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly.”
This is the kind of “everlasting punishment” the wicked receive.
Matthew 25:46—“And these shall go away into everlasting
punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.”
This fire is also called “unquenchable fire.”
Mark 9:43-44—“And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is
better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands
to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: where
their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.”
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Jerusalem was destroyed by such a fire.
Jeremiah 17:27—“But if ye will not hearken unto Me to hal-
low the Sabbath day, and not to bear a burden, even entering
in at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day; then will I
kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the pal-
aces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched” (Jeremiah
52:12-13).
This fire is called unquenchable. This word simply indicates that no
power will quench the fire until it has consumed everything, just as you
have read in your lesson. Jerusalem is not burning today. Yet God said
it would be destroyed by a fire, “and it shall not be quenched.” It was
not quenched, but burned everything up and burned out. So shall the
wicked be destroyed.
The “worm” is a symbol of complete and final destruction. In the Valley
of Hinnom, the worms consumed what the fire did not destroy.
8 - WHEN AND WHERE
WILL THE WICKED BURN IN HELL?
Peter tells us the wicked are reserved to the day of judgment to be
punished.
2 Peter 2:9—“The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out
of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judg-
ment to be punished” (Proverbs 11:31).
The earth will become, temporarily, a fiery hell.
2 Peter 3:7—“But the heavens and the earth, which are now,
by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against
the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.”
Keep in mind that this happens at the end of the millennium, after the
wicked dead are raised.
Revelation 20:5—“But the rest of the dead lived not again
until the thousand years were finished.”
Revelation 20:9—“Fire came down from God out of heaven,
and devoured them.”
So complete will be the destruction, that the wicked will be as though
they had not been.
Obadiah 16—“For as ye have drunk upon My holy mountain,
so shall all the heathen drink continually, yea, they shall drink,
and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though
they had not been.”
Psalm 37:10—“For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not
be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shalt
not be.”
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Then God will make a glorious new earth.
2 Peter 3:13—“Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look
for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.”
9 - HOW CAN WE ESCAPE DESTRUCTION
AND HAVE ETERNAL LIFE?
Let us fully accept Christ and be diligent to be without spot of sin.
2 Peter 3:14—“Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such
things, be diligent that ye may be found of Him in peace, without
spot, and blameless.”
God will write our names in His book. And no one whose name is
retained there after the judgment will be destroyed by fire (Revelation
21:8; 22:15).
Revelation 20:15—“And whosoever was not found written in
the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”
God never intended that any man should ever suffer in hell. It is “pre-
pared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41). God wishes us to
have a home with Him forever and ever. Christ died that we might
inherit a home with Him. It is by His mercies that we receive this rich
reward. His second coming will soon open the literal gates of heaven to
receive the redeemed. Is it not all wonderful? Let us praise God for the
glorious plan of salvation!
The next lesson deals with a topic of special importance in our daily
lives: “The Bible and Better Health.” This is subject you will want to
carefully study. All of us want better health.
———————————————————————————
Brief Review Questions —

Where do all men go at death?

When will the dead come out of the grave?

Where will the incorrigibly wicked finally be cast?

How long do the wicked suffer in hellfire, before

they no longer exist?

How can we escape destruction and live forever

with Christ?

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ETERNAL LIFE IN CHRIST
SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL—
“ ‘The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through
Jesus Christ our Lord’ (Romans 6:23). While life is the inheritance of
the righteous, death is the portion of the wicked. Moses declared to
Israel: ‘I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil’
(Deuteronomy 30:15). The death referred to in these Scriptures is not
that pronounced upon Adam, for all mankind suffer the penalty of his
transgression. It is ‘the second death’ that is placed in contrast with
everlasting life.
“In consequence of Adam’s sin, death passed upon the whole human
race. All alike go down into the grave. And through the provisions of the
plan of salvation, all are to be brought forth from their graves. ‘There
shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust’; ‘for as in
Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive’ (Acts 24:15; 1
Corinthians 15:22). But a distinction is made between the two classes
that are brought forth. ‘All that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and
shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life;
and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation’ (John
5:28, 29). They who have been ‘accounted worthy’ of the resurrection of
life are ‘blessed and holy.’ ‘On such the second death hath no power’
Revelation 20:6). But those who have not, through repentance and faith,
secured pardon, must receive the penalty of transgression—‘the wages of
sin.’ They suffer punishment varying in duration and intensity, ‘accord-
ing to their works,’ but finally ending in the second death. Since it is
impossible for God, consistently with His justice and mercy, to save the
sinner in his sins, He deprives him of the existence which his transgres-
sions have forfeited and of which he has proved himself unworthy. Says
an inspired writer: ‘Yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea,
thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.’ And another
declares: ‘They shall be as thoughthey had not been’ (Psalm 37:10; Obadiah
16). Covered with infamy, they sink into hopeless, eternal oblivion.
“Thus will be made an end of sin, with all the woe and ruin which
have resulted from it. Says the psalmist: ‘Thou hast destroyed the wicked,
Thou hast put out their name forever and ever. O thou enemy, destruc-
tions are come to a perpetual end’ (Psalm 9:5, 6). John, in the Revela-
tion, looking forward to the eternal state, hears a universal anthem of
praise undisturbed by one note of discord. Every creature in heaven and
earth was heard ascribing glory to God (Revelation 5:13). There will
then be no lost souls to blaspheme God as they writhe in never-ending
torment; no wretched beings in hell will mingle their shrieks with the
songs of the saved.
“Upon the fundamental error of natural immortality rests the doc-
trine of consciousness in death—a doctrine, like eternal torment, op-
posed to the teachings of the Scriptures, to the dictates of reason, and to
our feelings of humanity.” —Great Controversy, 544-545
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Eternal Life in Christ

1 - WHERE DO ALL MEN GO AT DEATH?
1. The dead go into the house of death, appointed to all living.
Job 30:23—“For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and
to the house appointed for ______ living.”
2. This house is the grave (sheol).
Job 17:13—“If I wait, the ________ is mine house: l have made
my bed in the darkness.”
3. This grave is hades in the Greek New Testament.
1 Corinthians 15:55—“O death, where is thy sting? O grave,
where is thy victory?” (See margin.)
4. Hades is translated “hell” in Acts 2:27, 31, meaning the “grave.”
Acts 2:27, 31—“Because Thou wilt not leave My soul in hell,
neither wilt Thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.”
“He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that
His soul was not left in hell, neither His flesh did see corruption.”
5. The spirit (breath of life) of all men goes to God at death.
Ecclesiastes 12:7—“Then shall the dust _________ to the earth
as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.”
2 - WHERE WILL THE WICKED
AND HELL (THE GRAVE) BE CAST?
Revelation 20:14-15—“And death and hell were cast into the
lake of fire. This is the _________ death. And whosoever was
not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”
3 - WILL THE WHOLE MAN BE CAST INTO THIS FIRE?
Matthew 10:28—“And fear not them which kill the body, but are
not able to kill the soul: but rather ___________ him which is able
to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
4 - HOW LONG WILL THE WICKED BURN?
1. Until body and soul are destroyed.
Matthew 10:28—“But rather fear him which is able to destroy
________ soul and body in hell.”
2. Until neither root nor branch is left.
Malachi 4:1—“For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as
an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall
be stubble: and the day that cometh shall ________ _______ ____,
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saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root
nor branch.”
3. Until they are devoured—the “second death.”
Revelation 20:9, 14—“And they went up on the breadth of the
earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the
beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven,
and ____________ them . . And death and hell were cast into
the lake of fire. This is the second death.”
Revelation 20:10—“And the devil that ____________ them was
cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the
false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever
and ever.”
5 - WHAT IS THE MEANING OF “EVERLASTING” FIRE?
Matthew 25:41—“Then shall He say also unto them on the
_______ hand, Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire,
prepared for the devil and his angels.”
2 Peter 2:6—“And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha
into ______ condemned them with an overthrow, making them
an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly.”
Matthew 25:46—“And these shall go away into everlasting
punishment: but the ____________into life eternal.”
Mark 9:43-44—“And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better
for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go
into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: where their
worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.”
Jeremiah 17:27—“But if ye will not hearken unto Me to
____________ the Sabbath day, and not to bear a burden, even
entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day;
then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall de-
vour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched”
(Jeremiah 52:12-13).
6 - WHEN AND WHERE WILL THE WICKED BURN IN HELL?
2 Peter 2:9 (Proverbs 11:31); 2 Peter 3:7; Revelation 20:5;
Revelation 20:9; Obadiah 16; Psalm 37:10; 2 Peter 3:13.
7 - HOW CAN WE ESCAPE DESTRUCTION
AND HAVE ETERNAL LIFE?
2 Peter 3:14; Revelation 20:15.

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What the Bible says about –

The Bible and Better Health
SCRIPTURE READING:
JOHN 5:1-16
2 CORINTHIANS 12:7-10
God created man with good health. It was never His intention that any
man, woman, or child should be sick, languish in pain, suffer, or die.
Doubting God’s love and disbelieving His word led Eve to reject God’s
authority. Death was the result. Let no man be deceived into thinking
that sin, sickness, sorrow, suffering, and death are but the figments of
human imagination. They are very real and should be faced realisti-
cally. Only the remedy provided by God can cure permanently! Let us
look now at God’s cure for (1) sin, (2) death, and (3) sickness.
1 - WHAT IS GOD’S PROVISION FOR SIN AND DEATH?
Christ redeems us from the curse (Galatians 3:13) by giving us grace to
walk in the newness of life (Romans 6:4). When Jesus took the sinner’s
place, His blood atoned for man’s sin, but man “must be born again”
and grow up “unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ”
(Ephesians 4:13). Christians must be “Christianized.” This is the func-
tion of the Spirit working within the Christian. God also provides a
way of escape from death. Since Christ died for us (Romans 5:8), we
need not perish in the final conflagration. Although the gospel does not
save us from the first death, Christ does save us from the second death
(Revelation 20:6).
Ezekiel 33:11—“As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no plea-
sure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from
his way and live.”
John 3:16—“For God so loved the world, that He gave His
only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should
not perish, but have everlasting life.”
It is the privilege of every reader of these lines to escape the second
death. If you have not yet made this surrender, will you not kneel right
now and offer this simple prayer to God?
Psalm 51:10—“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and re-
new a right spirit within me.”
2 - WHAT PROVISION IS MADE FOR SICKNESS?
Remember, now, God wants us to enjoy good health. He is not the
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cause of sickness or death, and should not be blamed for either.
3 John 2—“Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest pros-
per and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.”
Lamentations 3:33—“He doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the
children of men.”
He does bring good out of our afflictions if we let Him.
Hebrews 12:11—“Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be
joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peace-
able fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.”
We must always remember that Satan often afflicts men. Men also bring
suffering upon themselves by sinning against the laws of the body. “What-
soever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Galatians 6:7). We need
also to be reminded that some are born with a richer heritage of health
than others. The sins of our forefathers are felt by us—as the law of
God says, “visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto
the third and fourth generation” (Exodus 20:5).
Remember, too, that God has the power to heal our diseases. We read
in Psalm 103:3: “Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy
diseases.” Sickness, suffering, and death are the common lot of all.
Our own violation of God’s moral and physical laws increases our
difficulties and hastens death. Yet, in mercy, God heals us. At times God
heals supernaturally. When Jesus was on earth He often left an entire
village without one sick person, one body wracked with pain, one blind
eye, one deaf ear, one stammering tongue, or one lone cripple in it. He
has the same healing power today. We will discuss this more fully later.
The healing processes of nature are also of God. And the more we learn
of the intricate workings of the infinite God as revealed in these human
bodies of ours, the more fully do we understand that we are “fearfully
and wonderfully made,” and that within us are the forces of God com-
bining to fight against disease (Psalm 139:13-18).
3 - DOES GOD HEAL
ALL THE SICK?
To the question “Does God heal all the sick?” we must answer, No.” We
know that He could (Psalm 103:3), but we know also that He does not
always deem it best. In fact, only those true Christians who live to see
Christ come and who are translated to heaven will escape the first
death. Remember the following: Jesus can heal. He healed Peter’s mother-
in-law (Matthew 8:14-15). But Paul was not healed (2 Corinthians 12:7-
9). Therefore, continued sickness need not be a sign of weak faith or a
lack of Christian experience. It is more important for the sick to trust
God than to be healed. He who makes bodily healing the first of all
desires may be deceived. Satan is on the alert to catch in his snare
those who will do anything but make the will of God first in their lives.
There are many false cures wrought for those who go to charlatans and
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false healers for the benefits they seek.
4 - ARE MIRACLES A TEST
OF TRUE RELIGION?
We repeat, Jesus worked many miracles while here on earth (see Mat-
thew 9 for several examples), but He warned us against wonder workers.
Listen to these words:
Matthew 24:24—“There shall arise false christs, and false
prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch
that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.”
The Word of God is the only standard by which all religions should be
tested.
Isaiah 8:20—“To the law and to the testimony: If they speak not
according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them.”
There are three reasons why it is wholly unsafe to make miracles a test
of true religion. First: The miracle worker himself may be false. Satan
is a miracle worker. He transforms himself into an angel of light. “There-
fore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the
ministers of righteousness” (2 Corinthians 11:15). Jesus said there
would be many in the last days. Second: There may be healing without
salvation, as in the case of the ten lepers cleansed by Jesus (Luke
17:12-19). Only one returned to give glory to God. To him Jesus said,
“Thy faith hath made thee whole.” He received soul healing also, but the
other nine did not.
Third: There may be salvation without healing, as witnessed in the case
of Paul, already mentioned. God knew that in the last days people
would judge truth by miracles, and that they would be deceived thereby.
Therefore, Jesus gave His urgent warning. But notice carefully—there is
a plan for all to follow who seek healing.
5 - WHAT PLAN SHOULD BE FOLLOWED
IN PRAYER FOR THE SICK?
1. Confess all faults and sins, and call for the elders to pray
and anoint the sick one.
James 5:14-16—“Is any sick among you? let him call for the
elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing
him with oil in the name of the Lord: and the prayer of faith
shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he
have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your
faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye be
healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth
much.”
2. Have faith to submit the will to God’s will, whatever His will
may be (Matthew 26:42).
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This is simple and clear. We confess faults one to another, pray one for
another, and are anointed. We confess our sins to God. The results we
leave with Him, saying, “All things work together for good to them that
love God” (Romans 8:28). It is perfectly proper and consistent to seek
sound medical advice from a good physician after such prayers have
been offered. But there is another step, as we shall see.
6 - WHY SHOULD WE OBEY
PHYSICAL LAWS?
In answer to this question, note these four points:
1. We owe it to ourselves.
A man may drive his car hard. But he gives it good care. He has it
greased regularly; he keeps the oil at the proper level and changed when
necessary. He uses the best gas and oil he can afford to buy, and keeps
the tires inflated. He accepts the fact that the builders of the car per-
haps know more about the care of the car than he does, and so he
follows the manufacturer’s instructions. We owe it to ourselves to treat
our bodies with equal intelligence. Cars can have new parts put in, but
with our bodies this is not always true. Remember the words of Henry
Ford, “When a man dies a part wears out.” Take care of your body, and
it will take care of you.
2. We owe it to our families and to society.
Every man and woman owes it to his home and to his children who are
dependent upon him to live just as long and as well as possible. The
possession of the gift of life carries with it the high responsibility to
live and contribute of our talents to the good of the race.
3. We owe it to God, who made our bodies the temple of His
Spirit.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20—“Know ye not that your body is the
temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God,
and ye are not your own? for ye are bought with a price: there-
fore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are
God’s” (Romans 12:1).
To God, the Creator, in whom “we live and have our being” (Acts 17:28),
we shall render an account of the use made of life and its countless
blessings and opportunities. And our bodies are the temples of His
Spirit. All His laws are for our good. Obedience to them brings the
greatest good to us and to others, and brings honor to God.
4. If we defile our bodies, God will destroy us.
1 Corinthians 3:17—“If any man defile the temple of God, him
shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye
are.”
We really destroy ourselves. “O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself, but
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in Me is thine help” (Hosea 13:9). If we have been defiling our bodies,
God will forgive us and help us to get the victory. As a captive in ancient
Babylon, “Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself
with the portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank”
(Daniel 1:8). We should also purpose to abstain from vice and intem-
perance of all kinds.
7 - WHAT ARE THE MAIN ESSENTIALS
OF GOOD HEALTH?
This question may be answered as follows:
“Pure air, sunlight, abstemiousness, rest, exercise, proper diet, the use
of water, trust in divine power—these are the true remedies” (Ministry
of Healing, 127).
Outdoor life in the sunshine, fresh air, exercising every day is the best
life. This means rural living, of course. But if this is not possible, city
living may be improved healthwise by following these simple rules:
1. Trust in God and keep a cheerful spirit.
2. Get outdoors for at least an hour every day, for a good walk.
3. Breathe deeply and naturally, filling the lungs with pure, fresh air.
4. Don’t be afraid of a moderate amount of sunshine.
5. Eat regularly, not between meals, of fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains,
and wholesome protein foods. Avoid rich desserts.
6. Bathe daily and drink a couple of glasses of water early in the morn-
ing, with one or two between meals.
7. Sleep seven to nine hours, every night, on a good bed.
8. Be moderate. Never indulge your appetite.
Following simple rules like these is just as much a part of good reli-
gion as is going to prayer meeting.
8 - WHAT SPECIAL INSTRUCTION IS GIVEN
ON EATING AND DRINKING?
In the beginning God gave Adam fruits, nuts, grains, and vegetables to
eat.
Genesis 1:29—“God said, Behold, I have given you every herb
bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every
tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall
be for meat.”
Genesis 3:18—“Thou shalt eat the herb of the field.”
God, who made man, originally gave him what we would call a vegetar-
ian diet. Man’s intestinal tract is built for that kind of diet. Up until the
time of the Flood, no permission was granted for flesh eating. Men
lived as long as 969 years (Genesis 5:27).

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After the Flood, Noah was permitted to eat flesh (Genesis 9:3-5). But
he knew the difference between clean and unclean meats. Read Genesis
7:2; 8:20. In Moses’ day, this distinction was put into writing (Leviticus
11). When, after the Flood, meat eating was permitted, man’s life span
rapidly declined; so that, by the time we reach the time of Abraham, we
find that patriarch passed away at the age of 175 (Genesis 25:7). But
unclean meats were never permitted.
The distinction between clean and unclean meats was not of Jewish
origin. God gave the commandments covering it, and Noah knew of
God’s instruction centuries before Abraham was born.
Pork eating is a prolific cause of the disease, trichinosis. Tiny parasites
enter the human system and infest the body until death results. Dr.
Maurice Hall says that about one in every seven Americans probably
has it. There are at least forty diseases one may think he has which
may be mistaken for the real disease, trichinosis. Don’t let anybody
lead you to believe that Jesus Christ made hogs clean. The swine is not
ceremonially unclean, but physically unclean and unfit for food.
Strong drink should not be used by the Christian.
Proverbs 20:1—“Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging:
and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise” (Proverbs 23:29-
32).
Fermented wines and strong drink are certainly condemned in God’s
Word. Alcohol deceives. It makes a man think he is wise when he is
foolish, sober when he is drunk, strong when he is weak. Alcohol is a
poison. We should eat for strength, not drunkenness (Ecclesiastes
10:17). Coffee contains a poison, caffeine. Tea has caffeine and tannic
acid. One physician said, “We are a nation of tea and coffee drunk-
ards.” The Christian should study carefully the matter of his eating and
drinking.
All filthy habits should be discarded by the followers of Jesus.
2 Corinthians 7:1—“Having therefore these promises, dearly
beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh
and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”
Tobacco contains a narcotic poison, nicotine. The cigarette is the worst
form in which to use tobacco—though all forms are harmful. The rela-
tionship between cigarette smoking and cancer of the lungs has now
been established. Tobacco, injurious to the body and mind, is a waste
of money and a filthy, breath-fouling, enslaving habit. God commands
us to be separate from the world and “touch not the unclean thing” (2
Corinthians 6:17). “Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the
flesh” (2 Corinthians 7:1).
The amount of money spent for tobacco and liquor is about ten times
the amount of contributions for religious work. This fact alone should
cause every Christian to lay aside these two evils. “Wherefore do ye
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spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that
which satisfieth not” (Isaiah 55:2)? Let us glorify God in our body.
This is one sure way to build a highway to health and happiness.
9 - HOW CAN ONE LIVE
A TRULY TEMPERATE LIFE?
Evil habits may be broken off and right habits established to take their
place. This can be done by the grace of Christ and the exercise of our
own will. We should come to Him, lay all our evil practices at His feet,
and cooperate with Him in a new and abundant way of living. All God’s
biddings are enablings. Here are the words of Paul:
1 Corinthians 9:25-27—“Every man that striveth for the mas-
tery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a cor-
ruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run,
not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:
but I keep under my body and bring it into subjection: lest that by
any means, when I have preached, to others, I myself should be a
castaway.”
Philippians 4:13—“I can do all things through Christ which
strengtheneth me.”
Philippians 3:13:14—“Brethren, I count not myself to have
apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things
which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which
are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high
calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
If you wish special reading matter on the subjects of alcohol, tobacco,
or on the topic of diet, we shall be glad to refer you to inexpensive
helps.
God bless you, dear friend, as you now plant your feet upon this beau-
tiful highway to good health and happiness.
The next lesson, “Living in Christ,” is a topic which will encourage you
in the pathway of Christian life and growth.
———————————————————————————
Brief Review Questions —

Does our kind heavenly Father want us to be healthy?

Has He told us in the Bible how we can live healthier

lives?

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THE BIBLE AND BETTER HEALTH
SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL—
“The sanctification set forth in the Scriptures embraces the entire be-
ing—spirit, soul, and body. Paul prayed for the Thessalonians that their
‘whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ’ (1 Thessalonians 5:23). Again he writes to
believers: ‘I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that
ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God’ (Ro-
mans 12:1). In the time of ancient Israel every offering brought as a
sacrifice to God was carefully examined. If any defect was discovered in
the animal presented, it was refused; for God had commanded that the
offering be ‘without blemish.’ So Christians are bidden to present their
bodies, ‘a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God.’ In order to do
this, all their powers must be preserved in the best possible condition.
Every practice that weakens physical or mental strength unfits man for
the service of his Creator. And will God be pleased with anything less
than the best we can offer? Said Christ: ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart.’ Those who do love God with all the heart will
desire to give Him the best service of their life, and they will be con-
stantly seeking to bring every power of their being into harmony with the
laws that will promote their ability to do His will. They will not, by the
indulgence of appetite or passion, enfeeble or defile the offering which
they present to their heavenly Father.
“Peter says: ‘Abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul’ (1
Peter 2:11). Every sinful gratification tends to benumb the faculties and
deaden the mental and spiritual perceptions, and the Word or the Spirit of
God can make but a feeble impression upon the heart. Paul writes to the
Corinthians: ‘Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and
spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God’ (2 Corinthians 7:1). And with
the fruits of the Spirit—“love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, good-
ness, faith, meekness"—he classes ‘temperance’ (Galatians 5:22, 23) . .
“ ‘Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which
is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? for ye are
bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your
spirit, which are God’s’ (1 Corinthians 6:19, 20). He whose body is the
temple of the Holy Spirit will not be enslaved by a pernicious habit. His
powers belong to Christ, who has bought him with the price of blood. His
property is the Lord’s. How could he be guiltless in squandering this
entrusted capital? Professed Christians yearly expend an immense sum
upon useless and pernicious indulgences, while souls are perishing for
the Word of life . .
“To those who comply with the conditions, ‘Come out from among
them, and be ye separate . . and touch not the unclean,’ God’s promise
is, ‘I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be My
sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty’ (2 Corinthians 6:17, 18).”
—Great Controversy, 473-475
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The Bible and Better Health

1 - WHAT IS GOD’S PROVISION FOR SIN AND DEATH?
Ezekiel 33:11—“As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure
in the _________ of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his
way and live” (John 3:16; Psalm 51:10).
2 - WHAT PROVISION IS MADE FOR SICKNESS?
3 John 2—“Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest pros-
per and be in __________, even as thy soul prospereth.”
Lamentations 3:33—“He doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the
children of men.”
Hebrews 12:11—“Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be
joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peace-
able fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.”
3 - ARE MIRACLES A TEST OF TRUE RELIGION?
Matthew 24:24—“There shall arise false __________, and false
prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that,
if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.”
Isaiah 8:20—“To the law and to the testimony: If they speak not
according to this Word, it is because there is _____ light in them.”
4 - WHAT PLAN SHOULD BE FOLLOWED
IN PRAYER FOR THE SICK?
1. Confess all faults and sins, and call for the elders to pray and
anoint the sick one.
James 5:14-16—“Is any sick among you? let him call for the el-
ders of the church; and let them ____________ over him, anoint-
ing him with oil in the name of the Lord: and the prayer of faith
shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he
have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your
faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye be healed.
The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”
2. Have faith to submit the will to God’s will, whatever His will
may be (Matthew 26:42).
5 - WHY SHOULD WE OBEY PHYSICAL LAWS?
1. We owe it to ourselves and our families, but especially to God, who
made our bodies the temple of His Spirit.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20—“Know ye not that your body is the tem-
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ple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye
are not your own? for ye are ____________ with a price: therefore
glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s”
(Romans 12:1).
2. If we defile our bodies, God will destroy us.
1 Corinthians 3:17—“If any man defile the temple of God, him
shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye
are.”
6 - WHAT SPECIAL INSTRUCTION IS GIVEN
ON EATING AND DRINKING?
Genesis 1:29—“God said, Behold, I have given you every
____________ bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the
earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding
seed; to you it shall be for meat.” Genesis 3:18—“Thou shalt eat
the herb of the field.” Proverbs 20:1—“Wine is a mocker, strong
drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise”
(Proverbs 23:29-32). 2 Corinthians 7:1—“Having therefore these
promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthi-
ness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”
7 - HOW CAN ONE LIVE A TRULY TEMPERATE LIFE?
1 Corinthians 9:25-27—“Every man that striveth for the mas-
tery is ____________ in all things. Now they do it to obtain a
corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run,
not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:
but I keep under my body and bring it into subjection: lest that by
any means, when I have preached, to others, I myself should be a
castaway.”
Philippians 4:13—“I can do ______ things through Christ which
strengtheneth me.”
Philippians 3:13:14—“Brethren, I count not myself to have appre-
hended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are
behind, and ____________ forth unto those things which are be-
fore, I press toward the mark for the _________ of the high calling of
God in Christ Jesus.”

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What the Bible says about –

Living in Christ
SCRIPTURE READING:
JOHN 15:1-11
EPHESIANS 1:1-8
One evening a student asked Phillip Brooks a serious question: “Is
conscious personal fellowship with Jesus Christ a part of Christianity?”
The great preacher replied decisively: “It is Christianity—personal fel-
lowship with Jesus Christ is Christianity. That is what differentiates the
religion of the Bible from all others. A man is a Christian so far as he
knows Jesus Christ.”
This agrees with the words of Christ who said, “And this is life eternal,
that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom
Thou hast sent” (John 17:3).
When a person knows Christ and is truly converted—when he repents
of his sins, confesses them to God, and trusts in the merits of Christ
for salvation—something very definite happens in his life. He is a dif-
ferent man. The apostle Paul explains what happens to the one who
goes through this experience:
Galatians 2:20—“I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I
live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now
live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved
me, and gave Himself for me.”
By this figure, Paul wishes to teach that the old life has been crucified
and buried and that a new life has begun. And that life is Christ’s life—
“Christ liveth in me.” And of course the kind of life that Christ will live
in the new believer is quite different from the sinful life of the uncon-
verted man. In this lesson, we shall let the Scriptures answer many
pointed questions about the new life. So follow the questions and Bible
answers very closely.
1 - CHRIST LIVES IN US
BY HIS SPIRIT
1. What did Christ promise His disciples just before He returned
to heaven?
John 14:16-17—“I will pray the Father, and He shall give you
another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever; even
the Spirit of truth.”
2. What is to be the relationship of the Holy Spirit to the
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believer?
John 14:17—“Ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you, and shall
be in you.”
1 John 3:24—“He abideth in us, by the Spirit which He hath
given us.”
Here is the explanation of a great mystery. Christ dwells in us by His
Holy Spirit.
3. How will the Holy Spirit help us in the study of God’s
Word?
John 14:26—“The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom
the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things,
and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have
said unto you.”
John 16:13—“When He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will
guide you into all truth.”
John 17:17—“Thy Word is truth.”
4. How does the indwelling of the Spirit affect the character?
Ephesians 3:14, 16-19—“I bow my knees unto the Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ . . that He would grant you, according
to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His
Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts
by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be
able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and
length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ,
which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the
fulness of God.”
Our prayer should be, “Lord, fulfill Thy promise and send Thy Spirit
to dwell in my heart” (Acts 2:37-39).
2 - THE CLOSENESS
OF FELLOWSHIP WITH JESUS
1. With what plant did God compare His people in Old Testa-
ment times?
Psalm 80:8—“Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: thou
hast cast out the heathen, and planted it.”
Jeremiah 2:21—“I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right
seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange
vine unto Me?”
The figure of Israel as the vine of God, the planting of the Lord, was a
choice topic of meditation and study with the Jews.

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2. Whom did Christ say was the true vine?
John 15:1—“I am the true vine, and My Father is the husband-
man.”
3. What spiritual lesson did Christ draw from the vine?
John 15:4-5—“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot
bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye,
except ye abide in Me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that
abideth in Me, and I in Him, the same bringeth forth much fruit:
for without Me ye can do nothing.”
Our abiding in Christ and Christ’s abiding in us represent a close per-
sonal union between Christ and His followers, a union as close as a
branch merged in the parent stock of the vine.
One writer has said, “Do you ask, ‘How am I to abide in Christ?’—In the
same way as you received Him at first.”
Colossians 2:6—“As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the
Lord, so walk ye in Him.”
Hebrews 10:38—“The just shall live by faith.”
“You gave yourself to God, to be His wholly, to serve and obey Him; and
You took Christ as your Saviour. You could not yourself atone for your
sins or change your heart; but having given yourself to God, you be-
lieved that He, for Christ’s sake, did all this for you. By faith you
became Christ’s, and by faith you are to grow up in Him,—by giving and
taking. You are to give all,—your heart, your will, your service,—give
yourself to Him to obey all His requirements. You must take all—
Christ, the fullness of all blessing to abide in your heart, to be your
strength, your righteousness, your everlasting helper,—to give you power
to obey” (Steps to Christ, 69-70).
4. Since Christ dwells in us by His Holy Spirit, what fruit may
we expect in our lives?
Galatians 5:22-25—“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meakness, temper-
ance: against such there is no law . . If we live in the Spirit, let
us also walk in the Spirit.”
5. If we walk in the Spirit, what things will we not do?
Galatians 5:16, 19-21—“This I say then, Walk in the Spirit,
and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh . . Now the works of
the flesh are manifest, which are these; adultery, fornication,
uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, vari-
ance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, mur-
ders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell
you before as I have also told you in time past, that they which

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do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”
6. What other fruits, besides the graces of the Spirit, will be seen
in the lives of those who truly receive the Holy Spirit in their hearts?
Acts 1:8—“Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come
upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and
in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the
earth.”
The forgiveness of sins that are past and the entrance of the Holy Spirit
into the heart, to produce the blessed fruits of righteousness, are such
wonderful experiences that the true Christian cannot refrain from tell-
ing others of the salvation he enjoys. And the very telling of the story
produces new Christians, for the Word of God will not return unto
Him void. And so the Christian bears fruit in the precious souls who
are saved through the influence of his life and work.
3 - DAILY SPIRITUAL FOOD
FOR THE CHRISTIAN
1. What spiritual lesson did God seek to teach the Israelites
in the giving of the manna?
Deuteronomy 8:3—“He [God] humbled thee, and suffered
thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest
not, neither did thy fathers know; that He might make thee know
that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that
proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.”
2. How did the prophets amplify this figure of living by God’s
Word?
Jeremiah 15:16—“Thy words were found, and I did eat them;
and Thy Word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart”
(Ezekiel 2:8-10; 3:1-3).
That which is eaten becomes a part of the very being. Thus, when we eat
God’s Word, we make it a part of ourselves.
3. What application did Jesus make of the giving of the manna?
John 6:35—“I am the bread of life: he that cometh to Me shall
never hunger; and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst.”
John 6:48-51—“I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat
manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which
cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not
die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if
any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread
that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the
world.”

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4. When the Jews pretended to take His words literally, how did
Christ emphasize His teaching?
John 6:53, 55—“Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and
drink His blood, ye have no life in you . . For my flesh is meat
indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.”
“To eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ is to receive Him as a
personal Saviour, believing that He forgives our sins, and that we are
complete in Him. It is by beholding His love, by dwelling upon it, by
drinking it in that we are to become partakers of His nature. What food
is to the body, Christ must be to the soul” (Desire of Ages, 389).
5. How did Christ explain this to His disciples privately?
John 6:63—“It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth
nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and
they are life.”
The literary and cultural power of the words of Christ are tremendous,
but the real power of His Word is in the producing of a transformed life.
Speaking of the effect of the Bible upon the English people in a past
generation, J. R. Green said, “The whole temper of the nation felt the
change . . A new conception of life, a new moral and religious pulse,
spread through every class.” This transforming power is the power of
God, which operates through the life-giving Word (1 Peter 1:2-25).
6. In His model prayer, what did Christ teach us to ask?
“Give us this day our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11). In the light of His
later teaching, as recorded in John 6, it is evident that Christ intended
to include spiritual as well as physical food in this request. As we
must eat physical food every day in order to maintain health and strength,
so we must partake each day of the spiritual food, provided in God’s
Word, if we expect to maintain a living connection with Christ, who is
the living Word (John 1:1-3, 14).
4 - LIVING
THE LIFE OF VICTORY
1. In His prayer for the disciples just before His crucifixion,
how did Christ reveal the secret of victory?
John 17:17—“Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy Word is
truth.”
Knowledge of God and His truth is progressive. We are sanctified, or
made holy, as we daily trust God’s promises and obey the command-
ments of the Scriptures. The work of making us holy is God’s work.
But our business is to trust and obey the Lord! The limitations of the
human mind make it impossible for a man to grasp all truth at once.
He must learn day by day, here a little, there a little, line upon line,
precept upon precept (Isaiah 28:10, 13).

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When a man is converted he may know very little of the Christian life.
He knows the “first principles” “of the doctrine of Christ,” the “founda-
tion of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God” (He-
brews 5:12; 6:1), but he may know very little else. If he opens his heart
to the Holy Spirit and studies the Word, he will be led into all truth—
all truth that is necessary for his salvation and living of the Christian
life. And as Christ indicates in His prayer, the Christian will find this
truth in the Word of God. Peter makes this clear by saying:
1 Peter 2:2-3—“As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of
the Word, that ye may grow thereby: if so be ye have tasted
that the Lord is gracious.”
2. As the Christian partakes of God’s Word, in what should he
grow?
2 Peter 3:18—“Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”
Grace is the unmerited favor and love of God. It is His power at work
in the yielded life. We are to experience this transforming power every
day. And no other means of grace is more effective in changing the life
than the daily reading of God’s Word.
3. With what has God endowed every man?
Romans 12:3—“God hath dealt to every man the measure of
faith.”
Faith, wonderful faith. How much we all need it! “By grace are ye saved
through faith,” said Paul (Ephesians 2:8). Faith is simply trusting God,
believing that His way is best for us, accepting His Word when in temp-
tation we are inclined to doubt and hedge. Faith we shall need every
step of the journey from earth to our mansions in the waiting glory
land!
4. Beginning with this foundation, how does the Christian de-
velop character?
2 Peter 1:5-8—“Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue;
and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and
to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to god-
liness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that
ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of
our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Scriptures make the secret of victory clear. Sanctification, or the process
of making us Christlike, is a progressive work which starts when a
person accepts Christ and continues as long as life lasts. It takes time to
develop a Christian character—all the time there is. Each one is there-
fore challenged to use, to the full, every opportunity that is offered him

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to acquire the Christian graces—the study of God’s Word, prayer, asso-
ciation with other Christians, attendance at church. Sabbath observance,
morning and evening worship in the home, the reading of Christian
literature, and witnessing to others of what God has done for him. And
through it all, God’s work is to transform us. He it is who saves. Never
forget this!
5. What should be the attitude of the follower of Christ as he
walks the Christian pathway?
Philippians 3:8, 10-14—“I count all things but loss for the
excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord . . that I
may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the
fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His
death; if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of
the dead. Not as though I had already attained, either were
already perfect; but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that
for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I
count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do,
forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth
unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark
for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
The next lesson in this set of Bible lessons is “Satan’s War against the
Church.” It is a study in the history of the Christian church for over a
thousand years—and yet all is based on one special chapter in the
Bible.
———————————————————————————
Brief Review Questions —

Christ is the Vine, and what does He want us to be?

What does it mean to partake of Christ, the Bread of

Life?

Does the Bible teach that we can be overcomers, and

have victory in our lives?

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LIVING IN CHRIST
SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL—
“God does not require us to give up anything that it is for our best
interest to retain. In all that He does, He has the well-being of His
children in view. Would that all who have not chosen Christ might real-
ize that He has something vastly better to offer them than they are seek-
ing for themselves. Man is doing the greatest injury and injustice to his
own soul when he thinks and acts contrary to the will of God . .
“It is a mistake to entertain the thought that God is pleased to see
His children suffer. All heaven is interested in the happiness of man.
Our heavenly Father does not close the avenues of joy to any of His
creatures. The divine requirements call upon us to shun those indul-
gences that would bring suffering and disappointment, that would close
to us the door of happiness and heaven. The world’s Redeemer accepts
men as they are, with all their wants, imperfections, and weaknesses;
and He will not only cleanse from sin and grant redemption through His
blood, but will satisfy the heart-longing of all who consent to wear His
yoke, to bear His burden . .
“Many are inquiring, ‘How am I to make the surrender of myself to
God?’ You desire to give yourself to Him, but you are weak in moral
power, in slavery to doubt, and controlled by the habits of your life of
sin. Your promises and resolutions are like ropes of sand. You cannot
control your thoughts, your impulses, your affections. The knowledge of
your broken promises and forfeited pledges weakens your confidence in
your own sincerity, and causes you to feel that God cannot accept you;
but you need not despair. What you need to understand is the true force
of the will. This is the governing power in the nature of man, the power
of decision, or of choice. Everything depends on the right action of the
will. The power of choice God has given to men; it is theirs to exercise.
You cannot change your heart, you cannot of yourself give to God its
affections; but you can choose to serve Him. You can give Him your will;
He will then work in you to will and to do according to His good plea-
sure. Thus your whole nature will be brought under the control of the
Spirit of Christ; your affections will be centered upon Him, your thoughts
will be in harmony with Him.
“Desires for goodness and holiness are right as far as they go; but if
you stop here, they will avail nothing. Many will be lost while hoping and
desiring to be Christians. They do not come to the point of yielding the
will to God. They do not now choose to be Christians.
“Through the right exercise of the will, an entire change may be made
in your life. By yielding up your will to Christ, you ally yourself with the
power that is above all principalities and powers. You will have strength
from above to hold you steadfast, and thus through constant surrender
to God you will be enabled to live the new life, even the life of faith.”
—Steps to Christ, 46-48
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Living in Christ
1 - CHRIST LIVES IN US BY HIS SPIRIT
1. What did Christ promise His disciples just before He returned
to heaven?
John 14:16-17—“I will pray the Father, and He shall give you
another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever; even
the Spirit of __________.”
2. What is to be the relationship of the Holy Spirit to the be-
liever?
John 14:17—“Ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you, and shall
be in you.” 1 John 3:24—“He abideth in us, by the Spirit which
He hath given us.”
3. How will the Holy Spirit help us in the study of God’s Word?
John 14:26—“The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom
the Father will send in ______ name, He shall teach you all
things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever
I have said unto you.” John 16:13—“When He, the Spirit of
truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth.” John 17:17—
“Thy Word is truth.”
4. How does the indwelling of the Spirit affect the character?
Ephesians 3:14, 16-19.
2 - THE CLOSENESS OF FELLOWSHIP WITH JESUS
1. Whom did Christ say was the true vine?
John 15:1—“I am the true vine, and My Father is the husband-
man” (John 15:4-5). Colossians 2:6—“As ye have therefore received
Christ Jesus the Lord, so _______ ye in Him.”
2. Since Christ dwells in us by His Holy Spirit, what fruit may we
expect in our lives?
Galatians 5:22-25—“The _______ of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meakness, temperance:
against such there is no law . . If we live in the Spirit, let us also
walk in the Spirit.”
3. If we walk in the Spirit, what things will we not do?
Galatians 5:16, 19-21—“This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and
ye shall not fulfil the ________ of the flesh . .”

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3 - DAILY SPIRITUAL FOOD FOR THE CHRISTIAN

What spiritual lesson did God seek to teach the Israelites in the
giving of the manna? Deuteronomy 8:3; Jeremiah 15:16 (Ezekiel
2:8-10; 3:1-3); John 6:35; John 6:48-51.
4 - LIVING THE LIFE OF VICTORY
1. In His prayer for the disciples just before His crucifixion, how
did Christ reveal the secret of victory?
John 17:17—“Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy Word is truth”
(1 Peter 2:2-3).
2. As the Christian partakes of God’s Word, in what should he
grow?
2 Peter 3:18—“Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ.”
3. With what has God endowed every man?
Romans 12:3—“God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.”
4. Beginning with this foundation, how does the Christian develop
character?
2 Peter 1:5-8—“Giving all diligence, add to your faith __________;
and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to
temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness
brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these
things be in you, and ____________, they make you that ye shall
neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord
Jesus Christ.”
5. What should be the attitude of the follower of Christ as he
walks the Christian pathway?
Philippians 3:8, 10-14—“I count _____ things but loss for the
excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord . . that I
may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the
fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His
death; if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of
the dead. Not as though I had already attained, either were
already perfect; but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that
for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I
count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do,
forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth
unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark
for the ____________ of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

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What the Bible says about –

Satan’s War against tthe
War he Church
Church
SCRIPTURE READING:
REVELATION 12
In the prophecy of Daniel 7, we found pagan Rome represented by a
“dreadful and terrible” beast with ten horns. You will recall that, among
the ten horns there came up a “little horn,” which symbolized papal
Rome.
In the twelfth chapter of Revelation we find Satan working through both
pagan and papal Rome to make war against God’s Son, God’s people,
and God’s law. Let us familiarize ourselves with the characters of this
prophecy, for we are now living in the hour of final fulfillment!
1 - WHO IS REPRESENTED BY THE WOMAN
WITH THE SUN, MOON, AND TWELVE STARS?
Revelation 12:1—“There appeared a great wonder in heaven;
a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet,
and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.”
A number of times in the Bible God uses a woman to symbolize the
church.
Hosea 2:19—“I will betroth thee unto Me for ever; yea, I will
betroth thee unto Me in righteousness, and in judgment, and
in lovingkindness and in mercies.”
Isaiah 62:5—“As the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall
thy God rejoice over thee.”
This woman of Revelation is clothed with the sun-symbol of the gospel
light of the pure church.
Notice also that a corrupt woman symbolizes a corrupt church.
Ezekiel 23:2-4—“Son of man, there were two women, the daugh-
ters of one mother: and they committed whoredoms in Egypt;
they committed whoredorms in their youth: there were their
breasts pressed, and there they bruised the teats of their vir-
ginity. And the names of them were Aholah the elder, and Aho-
libah her sister: and they were Mine, and they bare sons and
daughters. Thus were their names; Samaria is Aholah, and
Jerusalem Abolibah” (Revelation 17:3, 6, 15-16).
Another text or two might be quoted to show that a pure woman sym-
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bolizes the true church:
Jeremiah 6:2—“I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely
and delicate woman.”
2 Corinthians 11:2—“I am jealous over you with godly jealousy:
for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as
a chaste virgin to Christ.”
So this woman, in Revelation 12:1, undoubtedly represents the true
church; whereas the sun aptly represents the gospel and the glory of the
church established by Christ.
The moon symbolizes the types and shadows of the Old Testament,
which passed away when the full gospel sun arose upon the earth. And
the twelve stars suggest the twelve tribes and the twelve apostles.
The Old Testament days had their glory of types and shadows and the
glory of the majesty of law. This glory of Judaism was as the shining of
the moon. But love and grace and the Spirit of God, as revealed in
Christ and the New Testament, are like the shining of the sun. Justice
is deep and abiding, but love and mercy are warm, kind, and gracious.
Their rays bring life and light, and warm the heart with an overwhelm-
ing desire to do the will of God and keep His commandments.
2 - WHO WAS THE MAN-CHILD
BORN TO THE WOMAN?
The man-child born to the woman was Christ. He it is who is destined
to rule with a rod of iron.
Revelation 12:5—“She brought forth a man-child, who was
to rule all nations with a rod of iron.”
Psalm 2:7-9—“The Lord hath said unto Me, Thou art My
Son; this day have I begotten Thee. Ask of Me, and I shall give
Thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts
of the earth for Thy possession. Thou shalt break them with
a rod of iron; Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s
vessel.”
The man-child was caught up to God’s throne. Even so, Jesus, after
His victory over sin and death, ascended to His Father’s throne.
Revelation 12:5—“And her child was caught up unto God,
and to His throne.”
Ephesians 1:20-21—“Which He wrought in Christ, when He
raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand
in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power,
and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not
only in this world, but also in that which is to come.”
That this child is Christ would seem to be no question. He is to rule

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with a rod of iron. Of Christ it is said:
Revelation 2:27—“He shall rule them with a rod of iron.”
He was to be caught up to God’s throne.
Hebrews 8:1—“We have such an high priest, who is set on the
right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens.”
3 - WHAT WAS MEANT BY
THE GREAT RED DRAGON?
Revelation 12:3-4—“There appeared another wonder in heaven; and
behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and
seven crowns upon his heads. And His tail drew the third part of
the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon
stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to
devour her child as soon as it was born.”
Satan, the “great dragon” and “that old serpent” (Revelation 12:9)
worked against Christ and the church through pagan, or heathen, Rome.
This was the legally constituted power that became the tool for the “de-
vouring” of the man-child. Of pagan Rome we read in Daniel 8:25, “He
shall also stand up against the Prince of princes.” As a general rule, we
find the nations of earth brought to view in the Bible when they have
some connection with God’s work and people. The “third part of the
stars of heaven” are the angels who were “cast . . to the earth” when
Lucifer was thrust out of heaven (Revelation 12:7-9). Observe carefully
the following points:
1. The dragon had ten horns, as did the dreadful beast of Daniel 7.
This represents the ten divisions of pagan Rome.
2. The dragon was a common symbol of old Roman ensigns.
3. Rome, under Augustus, brought Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem to
enroll for taxation, and there Jesus was born (Luke 2:1-5, 11).
4. Rome, through King Herod, tried to destroy Christ as a babe (Mat-
thew 2:3-18).
5. Rome, under Pilate, put Christ to death.
6. The tomb of Jesus was sealed with a Roman seal (Matthew 27:65-
66).
7. The tomb was guarded by a Roman watch, or guard.
8. Thus Satan worked by means of the great red dragon, which was
pagan Rome, against the Son of the woman.
4 - WHAT PICTURE IS GIVEN
OF WAR IN HEAVEN?
Revelation 12:7-10—“There was war in heaven: Michael and His
angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his
angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found anymore
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in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent,
called the Devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he
was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with
him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come sal-
vation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power
of His Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which
accused them before our God day and night.”
Michael signifies Christ. Notice these three Scriptures:
Jude 9—“Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the
devil, he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against
him a railing accusation.”
1 Thessalonians 4:16—“The Lord Himself shall descend from
heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the
trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first.”
John 5:28—“The hour is coming, in the which all that are in the
graves shall hear His voice.”
The voice of the archangel then is the voice of Christ, and Michael is the
archangel. Satan, of course, is the “great dragon,” “that old serpent.”
So here we have the picture of conflict between Christ and Satan—a
conflict that began in heaven and will continue until Satan is destroyed.
W. A. Spicer writes: “This picture of the original conflict in heaven is
evidently thrown in here to show the animus of Satan in his warfare
against the man-child, the Son of man. They had met before. Jesus was
not only Son of man, but He was the eternal Son of God. As Com-
mander of heaven’s hosts, He had expelled Satan and the rebellious
angels from heaven.”
When Christ came to earth, Satan assaulted Him. He sought to have
Him slain as a babe (Matthew 2:13-16). He tried in vain to conquer
Him in the wilderness of temptation (Matthew 4:1-11). He trailed the
Saviour day and night, seeking to lead Him to sin against God’s law or
to give up His plan of saving man. Satan did not rest until Jesus was
nailed to the cross.
But what seemed to be victory for Satan was actually defeat. Said John:
Revelation 12:10—“Now is come salvation, and strength, and
the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ: for the
accuser of our brethren is cast down.”
Christ’s death was a guarantee that Satan could no longer deceive the
inhabitants of heaven or earth. His malice and deceit were unmasked
before the universe. Jesus humbled Himself to the death of the cross,
but will be exalted “far above all principality, and power, and might,
and dominion, and every name that is named” (Ephesians 1:21). Satan
sought to exalt himself, and was cast down.
At the end of the millennium Satan and his hosts will perish in the lake
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of fire after seeking to make an assault on the camp of the saints, the
city of God, the New Jerusalem, which descends from heaven. This will
be Satan’s final defeat, his utter and complete end in ignominious fail-
ure. He will be annihilated, and never will he be anymore (Ezekiel
28:19).
5 - AGAINST WHOM
DOES SATAN DIRECT HIS ATTACKS?
Revelation 12:11-13—“They overcame him by the blood of
the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved
not their lives unto the death. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens,
and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth
and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having
great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short
time. And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the
earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man-
child.”
Satan, having failed to defeat Christ, sensed anew that, not only God,
but now time was against him. As John said, “He knoweth that he hath
but a short time.” Some four thousand years of battle against earth’s
inhabitants lay behind him, with every passing year bringing him nearer
to the day of awful retribution.
In fury Satan turned upon the church—the followers of Jesus. The
apostles drank of the cup of sacrifice and martyrdom, as Jesus had
predicted. Paganism, Satan’s carefully constructed system of error, was
now headed by the pagan Roman power. Under the emperors Nero,
Domitian, Tarjan, Marcus Aurelius, Septimius Severus, Maximinus,
Decius, Valerian, Aurelian, and Diocletian, the early church suffered the
tortures of persecution and the pangs of cruel death. Multitudes sealed
their testimony with their blood, “and they loved not their lives unto the
death.” Not the least of these was the great apostle Paul.
6 - WHAT LONG PERIOD OF TRIAL
COMES TO THE CHURCH?
Revelation 12:6—“The woman fled into the wilderness, where
she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her
there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.”
Revelation 12:14-16—“And to the woman were given two
wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness,
into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times,
and half a time, from the face of the serpent. And the serpent
cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that
he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth
helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swal-
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lowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.”
In an earlier study (on Daniel 7), we learned that a day stands for a year
in prophecy. So here we have 1,260 literal years. Read Revelation 12,
verses 6 and 14; and note that “time, and times, and half a time” are
1,260 days. In prophetic time, a day stands for a year (Numbers 14:34;
Ezekiel 4:6). This method of interpretation is clearly Biblical.
Numbers 14:34—“After the number of the days in which ye
searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye
bear your iniquities, even forty years.”
Ezekiel 4:6—“When thou hast accomplished them, lie again
on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house
of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.”
The following facts become apparent at once:
The “saints” were persecuted for a time, times, and dividing of time. A
time, times, and half a time is the same as 1,260 days, or years (Rev-
elation 12:14, 6). It is clear that the woman here represents the church
during the same period as the “saints” of Daniel 7:25. This period is
the 1,260 years (A.D. 538. to A.D. 1798) of papal Rome’s supremacy,
during which papal Rome persecuted the saints. Satan thus persecuted
the woman (Revelation 12:13) during these dark days. And Satan was
more or less successful in his assault on the early church. Persecution
is not easy to endure, and popularity is often preferred. When errors
began creeping in, the church began to take on the color and complex-
ion of heathen Rome.
James Wharey’s Sketches of Church History, Century II, sec. VII, reads:
“At the end of the second century, within a little more than one hundred
and fifty years after the first preaching of the gospel, it is obvious to
remark the changes already introduced into the Christian church. Chris-
tianity already began to wear the garb of heathenism.
“Out of this mixture of Judaism, Christianity, and paganism came the
papacy, or papal Rome, which persecuted the saints in the centuries
following pagan Rome. Satan, having filled the church itself with error,
brought about the exaltation of the ‘man of sin’ to rule over even the
kings and princes. The long, dismal night of the Dark Ages came and
dragged on for century after century. The noonday of the papacy was
indeed the midnight of the world.
“The persecution of this 1,260-year period has been touched upon ear-
lier. We shall refrain from discussing the horrors of the torture and the
death of its millions of victims. On the illustrious roster of martyrs
are such names as Huss, Jerome, Latimer, Cranmer, Tyndale, and many
others.
“But the earth helped the woman. She fled into ‘the wilderness’ regions
of Europe. In the mountain fastnesses, the Alpine retreats, and the Pied-
mont valleys, the faithful of God sought refuge.
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“Then the New World opened up as an asylum for the persecuted. To
this land of liberty, millions have flocked to live free from tyranny and
oppression. The power that came up out of the ‘earth’ helped the woman”
(Sketches of Church History, Century II, sec. VII).
7 - WHAT CONFLICT DEVELOPED
BETWEEN THE DRAGON
AND THE REMNANT OF THE WOMAN’S SEED?
Revelation 12:17—“The dragon was wroth with the woman,
and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which
keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus
Christ.”
At this point let us pause and summarize our lesson by making six
simple statements:
1. Satan persecuted Christ through pagan Rome.
2. Then he persecuted the early church through pagan Rome.
3. Next he persecuted the church for 1,260 years through papal Rome.
4. Finally, he “went to make war with the remnant of her seed.”
5. The “remnant” church is the “last” church, in these last days.
6. God’s remnant church may be identified by three characteristics
(Revelation 14:12).
Let us now concentrate on the meaning of this prophecy to us. As you
know, the Protestant Reformation took place during the 1,260-year pe-
riod (A.D. 538 to A.D. 1798), and it stirred the wrath of Satan deeply;
but, as time has gone by, apostasy has been making its inroads into the
great Protestant movement. Moreover, the Reformation was unable to
eradicate all the errors of the papal system. For example, the man-
made change in God’s law was not remedied (Exodus 20:8-11). So the
arrested reformation is still to be completed.
God has set His hand, in our day, to gather His remnant people. As the
remnant of cloth is the last piece from the bolt, so the remnant church
is the church of the last days. This church will have the true faith of
Jesus and keep God’s commandments—all of them. The hour of God’s
judgment has come. The law of God is the standard of that judgment.
God’s message of the judgment hour must go to every nation on earth
(Revelation 14:6-7). A people is being gathered who “keep the com-
mandments of God, and the faith of Jesus” (Revelation 14:12).
Satan, knowing that his time now is truly short, is stirred to “make
war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of
God, and have the testimony of Jesus” (Revelation 12:12). Yet “the
Lord knoweth them that are His” (2 Timothy 2:19). And “the Lord
knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations” (2 Peter 2:9).
The great lesson of Revelation 12 is that Satan, who was cast out
of heaven for his rebellion, wages continuous warfare against Christ,
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the Son of God; against God’s people; and against the divine law of
God. The keeping of the commandments of God will be one of the
things that will identify His remnant people, and Satan will seek to
discourage them by bringing reproach and trouble upon them. The is-
sue of God’s Son and God’s law is to become worldwide; and, upon
our relationship to this issue, our eternal destiny will be determined.
May God help us all to be on God’s side.
Your next lesson will make the issues in this controversy still clearer.
You will not want to miss it. Entitled “The Mark of the Beast,” it is a
special study based on the book of Revelation.
———————————————————————————
Brief Review Questions —

What does the pure woman represent?

Who was the Man-child, born by the woman?

Who is Michael?

Who is symbolized by the great red dragon?

Who is Satan especially trying to attack and destroy?

SATAN’S WAR AGAINST THE CHURCH

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL—
“The very first effort of Satan to overthrow God’s law—undertaken among the
sinless inhabitants of heaven—seemed for a time to be crowned with success. A
vast number of the angels were seduced; but Satan’s apparent triumph resulted
in defeat and loss, separation from God, and banishment from heaven. When the
conflict was renewed upon the earth, Satan again won a seeming advantage. By
transgression, man became his captive, and man’s kingdom also was betrayed
into the hands of the archrebel. Now the way seemed open for Satan to establish
an independent kingdom, and to defy the authority of God and His Son. But the
plan of salvation made it possible for man again to be brought into harmony with
God, and to render obedience to His law, and for both man and the earth to be
finally redeemed from the power of the wicked one. Again Satan was defeated, and
again he resorted to deception, in the hope of converting his defeat into a victory.
To stir up rebellion in the fallen race, he now represented God as unjust in having
permitted man to transgress His law.” —Patriarchs and Prophets, 331

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Satan’s War against the Church

1 - WHO IS REPRESENTED BY THE WOMAN
WITH THE SUN, MOON, AND TWELVE STARS?
Revelation 12:1—“There appeared a great wonder in heaven; a
woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and
upon her head a crown of twelve stars.”
The woman represents a pure church. Hosea 2:19; Isaiah 62:5;
Jeremiah 6:2; 2 Corinthians 11:2.
2 - WHO WAS THE MAN-CHILD
BORN TO THE WOMAN?
Revelation 12:5—“She brought forth a man-child, who was
to rule all ____________ with a rod of iron” (Psalm 2:7-9). “And
her child was caught up unto God, and to His throne” (Ephe-
sians 1:20-21).
Hebrews 8:1—“We have such an high _________, who is set on
the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens.”
3 - WHAT WAS MEANT BY
THE GREAT RED DRAGON?
Revelation 12:3-4—“There appeared another wonder in heaven; and
behold a great red ____________, having seven heads and ten
horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And His tail drew the
third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth:
and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be
delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.”
4 - WHAT PICTURE IS GIVEN
OF WAR IN HEAVEN?
Revelation 12:7-10—“There was war in heaven: Michael and His
angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his
angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found anymore
in heaven. And the great dragon was _______ _____, that old
serpent, called the Devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole
world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast
out ______ him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is
come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and
the power of His Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast
down, which accused them before our God day and night” (Jude
9).
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1 Thessalonians 4:16—“The Lord Himself shall descend

from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and
with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise
first.”
Revelation 12:10—“Now is come salvation, and strength, and
the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ: for the
accuser of our brethren is cast down.”
5 - AGAINST WHOM
DOES SATAN DIRECT HIS ATTACKS?
Revelation 12:11-13—“They overcame him by the blood of the
Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not
their lives ________ the death. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and
ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of
the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great
__________, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.
And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he
persecuted the woman which brought forth the man-child.”
6 - WHAT LONG PERIOD OF TRIAL
COMES TO THE CHURCH?
Revelation 12:6—“The woman fled into the ______________,
where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should
feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.”
Revelation 12:14-16—“And to the woman were given two
wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness,
into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times,
and half a time, from the face of the serpent. And the serpent
cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that
he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the
_________ helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth,
and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his
mouth.”
7 - WHAT CONFLICT DEVELOPED
BETWEEN THE DRAGON
AND THE REMNANT OF THE WOMAN’S SEED?
Revelation 12:17—“The dragon was wroth with the woman, and
went to make war with the ____________ of her seed, which keep
the __________________ of God and have the testimony of Jesus
Christ.”

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What the Bible says about –

The Mark of tthe
he Beast
SCRIPTURE READING:
REVELATION 13 AND 14
In Revelation 13 and 14, an issue is sharply drawn between God and
the leopard beast. Religion and government will cooperate in forcing
the “mark” of the beast upon the world. God’s people, though small in
number, comparatively speaking, will stand out in definite distinction
from the world in general. It will be God’s last great test of loyalty, and
His remnant people will stand in the spirit and faith of Elijah and
John the Baptist. As the second coming of Christ approaches, no one
can escape the issue. Everyone must decide. Satan will make war on
God’s people; but God will be with them and will come in glory to
deliver them and reward them, along with the faithful of all ages.
1 - WHO IS THE LEOPARD BEAST
OF REVELATION 13?
The leopard beast represents the same power as the little horn of Daniel
7. And this power is papal Rome. The following will make this clear.
Please look up the following texts:
1. It came up out of the sea (Revelation 13:1) or among mul-
titudes (Revelation 17:15).
The little horn came up among the ten kingdoms of Europe. The leop-
ard beast came up “out of the sea,” which means that it arose among
many peoples. Thus the two correspond here.
2. Like the “great red dragon,” it had seven heads and ten
horns (Revelation 13:1; 12:3).
Both the leopard beast and the great red dragon of your last lesson
have seven heads and ten horns, identifying them both as Roman. The
leopard beast is papal Rome; the dragon represents Satan working
through pagan Rome. The terrible beast of Daniel 7 (pagan Rome) had
ten horns, and then the little horn arose. In Revelation the dragon
beast, or pagan Rome, is followed by the leopard beast, or papal Rome.
To make it crystal clear, the terrible beast of Daniel 7 is the same as the
great red dragon of Revelation 12—pagan Rome. The little horn, of
Daniel 7, is the same as the leopard beast of Revelation 13. Now, let us
continue the comparisons.
3. It had feet as a bear and a mouth as a lion (Revelation
13:2).
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The leopard beast had the feet of a bear and the mouth of a lion, thus
combining the symbols of Daniel 7, in which a lion stood for Babylon,
a bear for Medo-Persia, and a leopard for Greece. The leopard beast
had seven heads and ten horns, connecting it also with Rome. Thus
papal Rome is a composite of the systems of Babylon, Medo-Persia,
Greece, and pagan Rome.
4. The dragon (pagan Rome) gave its “seat,” or “see,” to the
leopard beast (Revelation 13:2).
Papal Rome took the rulership following pagan Rome. A Roman Catholic
writes:
“Long ages ago, when Rome through the neglect of the Western emper-
ors was left to the mercy of the barbarous hordes, the Romans turned
to one figure for aid and protection, and asked him to rule over them;
and thus . . commenced the temporal sovereignty of the popes. And
meekly stepping to the throne of Caesar, the vicar of Christ took up the
scepter to which the emperors and kings of Europe were to bow in
reverence through so many ages” (American Catholic Quarterly Re-
view, April, 1911):
The word, “seat,” means the “seat of government.” The word “see,” used
in the “Holy See,” means the same. There the pope sits today in the City
of Rome, the seat of the ancient pagan empire. Pagan Rome gave papal
Rome its seat, or see.
5. The world “wondered after” and “worshipped” the beast
(Revelation 13:3-4, 7-8).
The papacy is a world power. So the whole world wondered after the
beast.
6. The beast spoke “blasphemies” (Revelation 13:5-6; Daniel
7:25).
By claiming to be the vicar of Christ on earth, and by assuming pre-
rogatives that belong only to God, he “sitteth in the temple of God,
shewing himself that he is God” (2 Thessalonians 2:4). This is the very
same power as the “little horn” of Daniel 7:24-25.
7. It was to continue 42 months (1,260 days, or years [Revela-
tion 13:5; Daniel 7:25]).
The beast was to rule 42 months, or 1,260 days, or years. This again
corresponds to the “little horn” of Daniel 7:24-25.
8. It was “to make war with the saints” (Revelation 13:7;
Daniel 7:25).
Again we have a parallel with the little horn which was a persecuting
power.
9. One head was to be wounded and taken captive (Revelation
13:3, 10).
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This took place in 1798, when the French general, Berthier, took Pope
Pius VI prisoner, and hastened him as a captive from prison to prison.
He died in the French fortress of Valence eighteen months later. In
1870, the papacy received another blow, when Rome was seized by Italy.
The pope became a voluntary “prisoner of the Vatican.” Hence, in 1798,
he who sent others into captivity went himself into captivity.
But the deadly wound was to be healed. In 1929, the Italian Govern-
ment recognized Vatican City as an independent state. The pope was
again king. On March 9, 1929, the pope said, “The peoples of the entire
world are with us.”
Today the papacy is coming back into great power.
“Yet since then (A.D. 798), the papacy has been lifted to a pinnacle of
spiritual power unreached, it may be, since earliest Christian history”
(The Modern Papacy, p. 1).
10. The beast has a number—the number of a man’s name
(Revelation 13:17-18).
The man would naturally be the head of the papacy, or the pope. A
leading title for the pope is “Vicar of the Son of God.” In Latin this is
Vicarius Filii Dei. Adding up the numeral letters (Roman numbers) in
this title we have: V—5, I—1, C—100, (A and R, no value), I—1, V
(U)—5, (S and F, no value), I—1, L—50, I—1, I—1, D—500, (E, no
value), I—1. This totals 666, the number the Bible gives for the beast.
This follows the ancient custom of a person’s having a name and a
number also.
The Douay Bible (Catholic) gives this note on Revelation 13:18: “Six
hundred sixty-six. The numeral letters of his name shall make up this
number.”
We would give this word of caution: The beast is not identified exclu-
sively by the number 666. This is but the tenth point we have given. The
number 666 is just another point in favor of a position already proved.
2 - WHAT IS THE IMAGE TO THE BEAST?
(Revelation 13:14-15)
Someone has said that “the papacy was a church dominating the state.”
An “image” to the papacy would therefore be another religious power
functioning after the same order of things. The “image” power attempts
to force, by pressure of civil law, the mark of the beast upon man.
The papacy dominates the state so that its own plans may be forwarded
by civil law and government influence. Modern-day Protestantism is
organizing its forces to play a forceful role in political, social, eco-
nomic, and religious problems. By using civil law, it will someday
force the papal mark upon the people. This image will not be fully
formed until religious laws are enforced by state authority and pun-
ished by civil agencies of the government. These religious laws will
bring persecution, perplexity, and hardship upon those who conscien-
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tiously follow the Scriptures.
3 - WHAT IS THE SEAL OF GOD
AND THE COUNTERFEIT MARK?
God has a sign, or mark, of His power and authority, as we read in the
Scriptures:
Exodus 31:16-17—“Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep
the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their genera-
tions, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and
the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made
heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was
refreshed.”
God’s sign is the seventh-day Sabbath. It was made at the close of
creation to be a reminder of God’s creative power (Genesis 2:1-3; Exo-
dus 20:8-11). It was based on the unchangeable facts of God’s creation
(Exodus 31:17; 20:8-11). It will remain unchanged throughout all eter-
nity (Isaiah 66:22-23).
God’s authority is based on the fact that He is Creator. He Himself
states that the Sabbath is a sign because “in six days the Lord made
heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed”
(Exodus 31:17). All the universe might dispute God’s statement, but
they could not change the fact that the seventh day is God’s sign accord-
ing to His own Word.
God made the Sabbath the sign or seal of His law. Laws are authenti-
cated by the seal of the lawgiver. Now, a seal gives the name, title, and
territory of a ruler. The Sabbath command does this. No other com-
mandment does. God has “signed,” or set His seal to, this law.
The fourth commandment is the only one that identifies the giver of the
law, the source of authority, and the extent of the law’s application. The
lawgiver’s name is “the Lord thy God.” His title is Creator, or Maker, of
heaven and earth. His territory, or dominion, is “heaven and earth”
(Exodus 20:11).
You recall that God predicted that the papacy would think to change His
law.
Daniel 7:25—“He shall speak great words against the most High,
and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change
times and laws.”
The Sabbath commandment deals with time. It is also a part of the law.
The papacy claims that the change of the law in which she thought to
transfer the solemnity of the seventh-day Sabbath (Saturday) over to
Sunday is the mark of her power and authority. Yes, she put aside
God’s sign and put up her own, and claims the act of changing the
Sabbath as a mark, or proof, of her power. Note the following from a
recognized Catholic authority:
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“Q.—Have you any other way of proving that the church has power to
institute festivals of precept?”
“A.—Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all
modern religionists agree with her;—she could not have substituted the
observance of Sunday, the first day of the week, for the observance of
Saturday, the seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural
authority” (A Doctrinal Catechism, (3rd Amer. ed., rev.), Stephen Keenan,
p. 174).
From the office of Cardinal Gibbons, through Chancellor C. F. Thomas,
came this statement: “Of course the Catholic Church claims that the
change was her act . . and the act is a mark of her ecclesiastical
authority in religious things” (italics supplied). Thus God’s sign, or
mark, or symbol, or flag, was pulled down and the Sunday institution
was raised in its place; and the act was set forth as a proof and mark
of papal power by the papacy itself.
4 - WILL THE PAPAL MARK OF SUNDAYKEEPING
EVER BECOME LAW?
Revelation 13:15—“He had power to give life unto the image
of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak,
and cause that as many as would not worship the image of
the beast should be killed.”
Revelation 13:17—“That no man might buy or sell, save he
that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of
his name.”
Both the way of life and business will be affected. Most states already
have Sunday laws. Protestantism has been much more forward in seek-
ing to enforce the papal mark than has Catholicism. This is true to the
prophecy. The “image to the beast” is the one that is to press this
matter to the limit of death itself. Religious freedom will be sacrificed
on the altar of the “beast” by the “image of the beast” operating through
the civil power.
5 - WHAT WARNING DOES GOD GIVE
AGAINST THE PAPAL MARK?
Revelation 14:9-10—“If any man worship the beast and his
image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is
poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation;
and He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the pres-
ence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb.”
How could we expect God to remain silent on such an issue as chang-
ing the only commandment that gives His sign and seal as Creator and
Redeemer of the world? But God’s wrath could not justly be visited
upon men unless they had warning.
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6 - WHAT CHOICE MUST WE MAKE?
When we squarely face this issue, we choose between God and man.
Our worship is “in vain” if we choose the “commandments of men” in
place of the commandments of God (Mark 7:7). Each of us will be
responsible for the light he has (John 9:41).
Monsignor Segur (Catholic) writes:
“The observance of Sunday by the Protestants is an homage they pay, in
spite of themselves, to the authority of the Roman Catholic Church” (Plain
Talk About the Protestantism of Today, p. 213).
Thomas Enright, CSSR (Catholic), was quoted in the American Senti-
nel:
“The Bible says, Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day. The
Catholic Church says, No! By my divine power I abolish the Sabbath
day and command you to keep holy the first day of the week. And lo, the
entire civilized world bows down in reverent obedience to the command
of the holy Catholic Church” (American Sentinel N.Y., June 1,1893, p.
173).
As Elijah would say, “How long halt ye between two opinions? if the
Lord be God, follow Him: but if Baal, then follow him” (1 Kings 18:21).
Surely this question of allegiance to God is one that demands the atten-
tion of every judgment-bound soul!
7 - HOW ARE
GOD’S OBEDIENT CHILDREN IDENTIFIED?
1. They carry these messages of warning to the ends of the earth
(Revelation 14:6-10).
2. They keep all the commandments of God, and they have the true
“faith of Jesus.”
Revelation 14:12—“Here is the patience of the saints: here
are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of
Jesus.”
3. As God’s servants they are sealed.
Revelation 7:1-3—“After these things I saw four angels stand-
ing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of
the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on
the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending
from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried
with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to
hurt the earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither
the sea. nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our
God in their foreheads” (Romans 6:16).
4. Satan will make war with them.
Revelation 12:17—“The dragon was wroth with the woman,
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and went to make war with the remnant of her seed.”
5. They will be looking for the second coming of Christ.
Revelation 14:14-15—“And I looked, and behold a white
cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man,
having on His head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp
sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with
a loud voice to Him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in Thy sickle,
and reap: for the time is come for Thee to reap; for the har-
vest of the earth is ripe” (Isaiah 25:9).
The great issue discussed in this lesson will soon involve the whole
world. Men will try to save themselves from the evils that overwhelm
them by enforcing the papal rest day in order that proper attention may
be given to religion. Those who refuse the papal mark and choose
God’s sign will be persecuted, even as Jesus was.
On the side of the commandment keepers will be God and His angels.
Satan will lead the world to persecute them. But Christ will come again
in power and majesty, and gather unto Himself those who “keep the
commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” God’s Sabbath is His
sign, and it becomes a testing truth in these closing days of earth’s
history.
As God’s children hold fast to the Sabbath of “the commandments of
God,” they also cling to Jesus, the Man of Calvary. So it shall be, dear
friend. The mark of the beast will soon be enforced by law. No one will
be marked until it is enforced by law. Please get this point clear. There
is only one way to avoid the mark. Said the prophet:
Ezekiel 20:20—“Hallow My Sabbaths; and they shall be a
sign between Me and you, that ye may know that I am the
Lord your God.”
In other words, begin to observe the true seventh-day Sabbath of the
Bible, and there can be no mark of the beast in your life. Let me ask a
question: Is there room for the mark of apostasy when the seal of God
is in the life? of course not. So you see, the way to prevent disaster is
to prepare your heart to seek God and obey Him. I know you will make
the right decision.
The next lesson is entitled “Following in Jesus’ Steps” and is a fasci-
nating study in several Bible principles.
———————————————————————————
Brief Review Questions —

Name the leopard beast, the dragon, the second beast,

and the image to the beast.

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THE MARK OF THE BEAST
SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL—
“The most fearful threatening ever addressed to mortals is contained
in the third angel’s message. That must be a terrible sin which calls
down the wrath of God unmingled with mercy. Men are not to be left in
darkness concerning this important matter; the warning against this sin
is to be given to the world before the visitation of God’s judgments, that
all may know why they are to be inflicted, and have opportunity to escape
them . .
“In the issue of the contest all Christendom will be divided into two
great classes—those who keep the commandments of God and the faith
of Jesus, and those who worship the beast and his image and receive his
mark. Although church and state will unite their power to compel ‘all,
both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond’ (Revelation 13:16),
to receive ‘the mark of the beast,’ yet the people of God will not receive it.
The prophet of Patmos beholds ‘them that had gotten the victory over the
beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of
his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God’ and sing-
ing the song of Moses and the Lamb (Revelation 15:2, 3).”
—Great Controversy, 449-450

CHAPTER SUPPLEMENT: THE NUMBER AND THE MARK

“Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding COUNT THE NUMBER of
the Beast: for it is the NUMBER OF A MAN; and HIS NUMBER is SIX HUNDRED
THREESCORE AND SIX.” Revelation 13:18.
“And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the NAME of
the beast, or the NUMBER of HIS NAME.” Revelation 13:17.
“The number [is] indicated by the letters of HIS NAME.” The Twentieth Cen-
tury New Testament.
“Verse 18, Six Hundred Sixty Six. The numeral letters of HIS NAME shall make
up this number.” The Rheims Douay [Catholic] Bible, note on Revelation 13:18.
“The method of reading, generally adopted, is that known as the GHEMATRIA
of the Rabbins, which assigns each letter of a name its usual numerical value,
and gives the sum of such numbers as the equivalent of the NAME.” Marvin R.
Vincent, D.D., Word Studies in the New Testament, Comment on Revelation 13:18.
“And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever; and they have
no rest day nor night, who WORSHIP the BEAST and HIS IMAGE, and whosoever
receiveth the MARK OF HIS NAME.” Revelation 14:11.
“The beasts of Daniel and John are empires. The ten-horned beast [of Revela-
tion 13] is the Roman power . . The head is the governing power in the body.” H.
Grattan Guinness, Romanism and the Reformation, pp. 144-145.

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“The NUMBER IN THE MARK in Revelation 13 will be found in the title of the
leader of ‘Mystery, Babylon the Great.’ It is the number of the man of sin of 2
Thessalonians 2, the little horn of Daniel 7, the beast of Revelation 13. It is the
number of the one who led out through long centuries in killing the martyrs and
uniting Christianity with paganism.” Jean Delacroix.
“The pope is of such lofty and supreme dignity that, properly speaking, he has
not been established in any rank of dignity, but rather has been placed upon the
very summit of all ranks of dignities . . He is likewise the divine monarch and
supreme emperor and king of kings.
“Hence the pope is CROWNED with a TRIPLE CROWN, as king of heaven and
of earth and of the lower regions.” Lucius Ferraris, Prompta Bibliotheca, Vol. VI,
pp. 438, 442 [R.C. sourcebook].
“Q. What are the letters supposed to be in the pope’s crown, and what do they
signify, if anything?
“A. The letters inscribed in the Pope’s miter are these: VICARIUS FILII DEI,
which is the Latin for ‘VICAR OF THE SON OF GOD.’ Catholics hold that the church,
which is a visible society, must have a visible head. Christ, before His ascension
into heaven, appointed St. Peter to act as His representative . . Hence to the Bishop
of Rome, as head of the church, was given the title, Vicar of Christ.” Our Sunday
Visitor, “Bureau of Information,” Huntington, Indiana, April 18, 1915 [nationwide
R.C. weekly journal].

“Now we challenge the world to find another name in these languages: GREEK,
HEBREW, and LATIN (see John 19:20), which shall designate the same number.”
Joseph F. Berg, The Great Apostasy, pp. 156-158.
“Of course the Catholic Church claims that the change [of the Sabbath to
Sunday] was her act . . AND THE ACT IS A MARK of her ecclesiastical authority
in religious things.” From the office of Cardinal Gibbons, through Chancellor H. F.
Thomas, November 11, 1895.
“The observance of Sunday by the Protestants is an HOMAGE they pay in
spite of themselves to the AUTHORITY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.” Monsignor
Louis Segur, Plain Talk About the Protestantism of Today, p. 213.
“Q. How prove you that the church hath power to command feasts and holy
days?

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“A. By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which Protestants allow
of, and therefore they fondly contradict themselves by keeping Sunday strictly, and
breaking most other feasts commanded by the same church.
“Q. How prove you that?
“A. Because BY KEEPING SUNDAY they ACKNOWLEDGE THE CHURCH’S
POWER to ordain feasts, and to command them under sin.” The Douay Cat-
echism, p. 59.
“PROVE TO ME from the BIBLE ALONE that I am bound to keep Sunday holy.
THERE IS NO SUCH LAW IN THE BIBLE! It is a law of the holy Catholic Church
alone.
“The Bible says, ‘Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.’ THE CATHOLIC
CHURCH SAYS, NO. By my divine power, I ABOLISH THE SABBATH DAY and
command you to keep holy the first day of the week. And lo! The entire civilized
world bows down in reverent obedience to the command of the holy Catholic
Church!” Priest Thomas Enright, C.S.S.R, president Redemptorist College, Kan-
sas City, Mo., in a lecture at Hartford, Kansas, February 18, 1884, and published
in The American Sentinel [R.C. journal], June 1893, p. 173.
“All dogmatic decrees of the pope, made with or without his general council,
are infallible . . Once made, no pope or council can reverse them . . This is the
Catholic principle, that the church cannot err in faith.” The Catholic World, June
1871, pp. 422-423.
“We have no right to ask reasons of the church, any more than of Almighty
God, as a preliminary to our submission. We are to take with unquestioning
docility, whatever instruction the church gives us.” The Catholic World, August,
1871, p. 589.
“Nowhere is dogmatic intolerance so necessary a rule of life as in the domain
of religious belief . . There can be but a single true religion, which, by the very fact
of its existence, protests against all other religions as false.” Catholic Encyclope-
dia, Vol. 14, p. 765.

A LEGAL SEAL / THE MARK OF THE BEAST / THE SEAL OF GOD

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The Mark of the Beast

1 - WHO IS THE LEOPARD BEAST
OF REVELATION 13?
1. It came up out of the sea (Revelation 13:1) or among
multitudes (Revelation 17:15).
2. Like the “great red dragon,” it had seven heads and ten
horns (Revelation 13:1; 12:3).
3. It had feet as a bear and a mouth as a lion (Revelation
13:2).
4. The dragon (pagan Rome) gave its “seat,” or “see,” to the
leopard beast (Revelation 13:2).
5. The world “wondered after” and “worshipped” the beast
(Revelation 13:3-4, 7-8).
6. The beast spoke “blasphemies” (Revelation 13:5-6; Daniel
7:25).
7. It was to continue 42 months (1,260 days, or years [Revela-
tion 13:5; Daniel 7:25]).
8. It was “to make war with the saints” (Revelation 13:7; Daniel
7:25).
9. One head was to be wounded and taken captive (Revelation
13:3, 10).
10. The beast has a number—the number of a man’s name (Rev-
elation 13:17-18).
2 - WHAT IS THE IMAGE TO THE BEAST?
(Revelation 13:14-15)

3 - WHAT IS THE SEAL OF GOD

AND THE COUNTERFEIT MARK?
Exodus 31:16-17—“Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep
the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their genera-
tions, for a ____________ ____________. It is a sign between Me
and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made
heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was re-
freshed.”
4 - WILL THE PAPAL MARK OF SUNDAYKEEPING
EVER BECOME LAW?
Revelation 13:15—“He had power to give life unto the image of
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the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and
cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast
should be killed.”
Revelation 13:17—“That no man might ________ ___ _______,
save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the num-
ber of his name.”
5 - WHAT WARNING DOES GOD GIVE
AGAINST THE PAPAL MARK?
Revelation 14:9-10—“If any man worship the beast and his im-
age, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the
same shall drink of the wine of the ________ of God, which is
poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation; and
He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of
the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb.”
6 - HOW ARE GOD’S
OBEDIENT CHILDREN IDENTIFIED?
1. They carry these messages of warning to the ends of the earth
(Revelation 14:6-10).
2. They keep all the commandments of God, and they have the
true “faith of Jesus.”
Revelation 14:12—“Here is the patience of the saints: here are
they that ______ the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”
3. As God’s servants they are sealed (Revelation 7:1-3; Romans
6:16).
4. Satan will make war with them.
Revelation 12:17—“The dragon was wroth with the woman, and
went to make war with the ____________ of her seed.”
5. They will be looking for the second coming of Christ.
Revelation 14:14-15—“And I looked, and behold a white cloud,
and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on
His head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. And
another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to
Him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in Thy sickle, and reap: for the
time is come for Thee to reap; for the ____________ of the earth is
ripe” (Isaiah 25:9).
Ezekiel 20:20—“Hallow My Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign
between Me and you, that ye may __________ that I am the Lord
your God.”

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What the Bible says about –

Following in Jesus’ Steps

Following
SCRIPTURE READING:
MATTHEW 3:1-17
JOHN 13:1-17
1 CORINTHIANS 11:23-29
In this lesson, we will study the example of Jesus, to determine what
He would have His followers do today in matters of religious ceremony.
When the Saviour called the disciples to His service His invitation was,
“Follow me.” To Peter, Andrew, James, and John on the shores of the
Sea of Galilee; to Matthew at the receipt of customs; to the rich young
ruler who sought the way to life eternal; to Peter after the resurrec-
tion—to all who came to Him in sincerity He gave the same invitation,
“Follow me.” And to all who turn to Jesus for light and comfort and
salvation in every age He has the same call, “If any man serve Me, let
him follow Me” (John 12:26). Christ’s example is for the Christian a
sufficient reason for every rule of life, for every ordinance of the church.
I - WHAT EXAMPLE DID JESUS SET
FOR HIS CHURCH AT THE RIVER JORDAN?
He was baptized by John in the Jordan River.
Matthew 3:13—“Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto
John, to be baptized of him.”
He was baptized by John the Baptist (or Baptizer), not because He had
sinned, but as an example to us, and “to fulfil all righteousness” (Mat-
thew 3:15). Heaven was pleased, for we read, “Lo a voice from heaven,
saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew
3:17). He commanded His disciples to baptize converts among “all na-
tions.”
Matthew 28:19—“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptiz-
ing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost.”
Baptisms are to be conducted in “the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” The true Christian will obey the com-
mand of Christ that brings him into such a close relationship with
God. The baptized believer is actually adopted into the royal family of
God and takes the royal name of Christian.
2 - SPRINKLING OR IMMERSION, WHICH?
Baptism by water is God’s plan. This is made clear by Jesus’ words to
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Nicodemus:
John 3:5—“Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be
born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the king-
dom of God.”
John baptized at Aenon, “because there was much water there” (John
3:23).
Jesus is our example; He walked into the old Jordan River, and John
baptized Him. Jesus then “went up straightway out of the water” (Mat-
thew 3:16). To the candid mind there surely can be no doubt about the
method used by John. Had he used “sprinkling,” one pail of water
would have sufficed for a great host of people. But Jesus was immersed
in the Jordan.
Philip and the eunuch went into the water, and came out (Acts 8:36-39).
Philip baptized in the same manner as John the Baptist. He and his
candidate “went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch;
and he baptized him.” They then came “up out of the water.”
Here we have but one candidate. He could have been sprinkled with a
few drops of water or a cup of water might have been poured over his
head, but this would not have been baptism according to Jesus’ ex-
ample and commandment; hence Philip immersed the eunuch in a pool
of water by the side of the road.
The word “baptize,” in the Greek, means “to immerse,” “to dip under.” The
word “baptize” is from the Greek word, baptize, which comes from the
root bapto, signifying “to immerse,” “to dip,” “to cover with fluid,” “to
plunge,” etc., as material is dipped into a vat of dye, as the blacksmith
plunges hot metal into a tank of water. The meaning is definitely not
“sprinkle” or “pour.”
3 - IS THE METHOD OF BAPTISM IMPORTANT?
Yes, because the method is designed to illustrate the meaning and pur-
pose of baptism. Said Paul:
Romans 6:3-6—“Know ye not, that so many of us as were
baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? There-
fore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as
Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father,
even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been
planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in
the likeness of His resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man
is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed,
that henceforth we should not serve sin.”
Notice these four points:
1. Baptism commemorates Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection.
2. It symbolizes the death and burial of the “old man” of sin.
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3. It represents resurrection to “newness of life” in Christ Jesus.
4. It indicates the washing away of sin (Acts 22:16).
Since baptism commemorates the death, burial, and resurrection of
Christ, and Jesus died and rose but once, those who immerse the
individual three times instead of once miss the important point of
Jesus’ sacrifice “once” for all (1 Peter 3:18). Those who baptize the
candidate face down, depart from the regular mode of burial. The “old
man” of sin must die and be buried, and the “new man” (Ephesians
4:22, 24) be brought forth to “walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4).
This is symbolized by the candidate’s closing his eyes, holding his
breath, being buried under the water, being raised up, opening his eyes
and breathing again, then walking out of the watery grave. Sprinkling or
pouring simply cannot symbolize this spiritual work of grace in the
Christian. Baptism is first and foremost an outward symbol of the
change made by God’s grace in the sinner’s heart.
4 - WHAT STEPS SHOULD BE TAKEN
BEFORE BAPTISM?
1. The candidate should be carefully taught.
Matthew 28:19-20—“Teach all nations, baptizing them . .
teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have com-
manded you.”
The candidate should be taught “all things” that Jesus commanded.
This is really much more necessary today than in the apostles’ time,
for the following reasons:
There was a definite risk and sacrifice even in professing Christianity
in the days of the apostles. Baptism tended to eliminate a mere nominal
profession of His name. People do not relish scorn, reproach, division
in the family or martyrdom just to take up a new religion. But, today, it
is a matter of honor to be counted a church member. So every candi-
date for baptism should understand fully what it means to become a
follower of Christ.
In those days, Jesus Christ Himself was the issue. No one thought of
any Sabbath but the Bible Sabbath. So that was not an issue. But today
it is. Today, the teachings of Christ, as well as Christ Himself, is the
issue. What will the candidate do? Accept Christ and reject His teach-
ings? This is impossible. To receive Jesus as Lord and Saviour means
to accept “all things whatsoever” He commanded.
One may join a church that preaches Christ and yet deny almost every
fundamental doctrine of Bible religion. We have, in the churches today,
everything from fanaticism and playing with rattlesnakes, on the one
hand, to ethereal ideas that there is no sin or death, but only God and
life and good. Millions seek some mystic “higher plane” while evading
the eternal teaching of the Word of God and avoiding the everlasting

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truths that “sin is the transgression of the law” of God, that “the wages
of sin is death,” and that Jesus is the only Saviour from the transgres-
sion of the law. It is therefore clearly essential that candidates for
baptism be thoroughly taught “all things” that Jesus commanded, else
the profession of Christ may mean fatal delusion and dangerous her-
esy.
2. He must believe.
Mark 16:16—“He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.”
After being taught, the candidate should, in his heart, believe in Christ
as Lord, as a personal Saviour, and in His teaching. It is not enough to
say, “I believe in Christ.” Today that may mean almost anything. He
should believe His Word and teachings as recorded in the Bible; and,
by faith, follow his Saviour.
3. He must repent of his sins.
Acts 2:38—“Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized ev-
ery one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission
of sins.”
To repent means to turn away from sin. It means to turn to God and
righteousness. Man, of his own free will and choice, must make the
decision to turn to God and away from sin and error.
A vital element of true repentance is “godly sorrow,” which “worketh
repentance to salvation not to be repented of ” (2 Corinthians 7:9-10).
This repentance God will give us if we are willing to turn away from
every sin (Acts 5:31; Romans 2:4). God’s love melts the heart, and the
Holy Spirit makes us truly sorry for sin when we behold the precious
Saviour dying for the sins we have committed.
4. He must be willing to die to sin (Romans 6:3, 11-13).
As Jesus died for sin, man must die to sin. He will choose to lose a
hand, a foot, an eye, before he wills to use them to do evil (Mark 9:43-
47). His hands will not hold ill-gotten gain or lift to his lips the red and
stirring wine that bringeth forth “babbling” and “woe.” Nor will he stain
his fingers or foul his breath with the poisons of tobacco. His feet will
not cross the forbidden places of the world’s alluring and sinful plea-
sures. He will not yield his members as instruments of unrighteousness.
5. He must be ready to live for God (Romans 6:11, 13).
And Christ will dwell in him by His Holy Spirit. When Satan knocks at
his heart door, he will find the “old man” gone—dead. A little girl put it
this way: “When Satan comes to my door and calls for me, I tell him
that Jesus lives here, and then Satan goes away.” When God calls, we
yield our members as “instruments of righteousness unto God.” With
Isaiah we say, “Here am I; send me” (Isaiah 6:8). Such are “born again”
men and women. Candidates for baptism should learn, believe, repent,
die to sin, and surrender to God; therefore, infant baptism is not Bibli-

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cal. We may dedicate our children to God, but infant baptism is without
meaning in the light of these facts. There is no example for it in the New
Testament!
5 - WHAT IS THE DOOR
TO CHRIST’S CHURCH?
We are “baptized into Jesus Christ” (Romans 6:3). The church mem-
bers are called the members of Christ’s body, and we are baptized into
this body of Christ on earth. Christ calls Himself “the door,” but we
are baptized into Him. Thus baptism is an entrance. Notice three points:
1. Christ is the head of the Christian body (Ephesians 4:15-16).
2. We become members of Christ’s body, the church, at baptism (1
Corinthians 12:20, 27).
3. We are baptized “into one body” (1 Corinthians 12:13).
Some ask about being baptized more than once. In Acts 19:1-5 is the
record of believers who were baptized twice. Important new truth had
come to them, and they acted upon it and were rebaptized.

Some ask whether baptism of the Spirit is not sufficient (Acts 10:44, 47-
48). Here Peter commanded these sincere believers to be baptized “in
the name of the Lord.” They had already been baptized with the Holy
Ghost.
6 - WAS THE LORD’S SUPPER ESTABLISHED
AS A CHRISTIAN ORDINANCE?
Yes, the Lord’s Supper is an ordinance established by Christ. Said
Paul:
1 Corinthians 11:23-26—“For I have received of the Lord
that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the
same night in which He was betrayed took bread: and when
He had given thanks, He brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is
My body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of
Me. After the same manner also He took the cup, when He had
supped, saying, This cup is the New Testament in My blood: this
do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of Me. For as often as
ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death
till He come.”
Keep in mind five lessons about the Lord’s Supper:
1. It is to be celebrated in remembrance of Him.
2. It commemorates “the Lord’s death till He come.”
3. The bread represents His body, “which is broken for you.”
4. The wine symbolizes His blood shed for man.

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Matthew 26:28—“This is My blood of the New Testament, which is
shed for many for the remission of sins.”
5. It foreshadows Christ’s return. Baptism commemorates the death,
burial, and resurrection of Christ. The Lord’s Supper is held in re-
membrance of His death, “till He come.” It thus anticipates the second
coming of Christ. It links together the cross and the second coming.
This ordinance should be regularly observed by Christians.
7 - WHAT WORK OF PREPARATION
SHOULD PRECEDE
THE COMMUNION SERVICE?
1. Each member should examine himself.
1 Corinthians 11:28—“Let a man examine himself, and so
let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.”
Many are so occupied pulling the mote out of the eye of another that
they neglect the beam in their own eye. They miss the whole spirit of
Calvary.
2. A man may eat unworthily if he comes unprepared.
1 Corinthians 11:29—“He that eateth and drinketh unwor-
thily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discern-
ing the Lord’s body.”
We are guilty if we partake of communion in the spirit of a feast or if we
do not examine ourselves, sense our own unworthiness, and then re-
joice in the Saviour’s forgiving love and mercy. After sin is put away,
this service should not be a season of sorrowing. We stand, not in the
shadow, but in the saving light of His cross.
3. Jesus rebuked pride by washing the disciples’ feet.
John 13:4-5—“He riseth from supper, and laid aside His gar-
ments; and took a towel, and girded Himself. After that He pour-
eth water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet,
and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded.”
The washing of the disciples’ feet was in itself a ceremonial and mean-
ingful washing. Jesus said to Peter, “If I wash thee not, thou hast no
part with Me” (John 13:8). He also added that washing the feet would
clean them “every whit.” Then He added that one of them, though washed,
was not clean. None of this would make sense, unless the washing has
a symbolic meaning (John 13:1-17); so ponder it in your own heart.
4. He instructed us to follow His example in feet washing.
John 13:13-15—“Ye call Me Master and Lord: and ye say well;
for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your
feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given
you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.”
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You can see from Christ’s words that this service is as much a gospel
ordinance as the Lord’s Supper, which was ordained by Christ at the
same time.
8 - WHAT IS THE SPIRIT
OF THE TRUE CHRISTIAN?
Jesus did not wash the disciples’ feet merely to stage a show. He wanted
them to learn the spirit of heaven and to know that no service that
needs to be done is beneath the dignity of His followers. He humbled
Himself to do this task as He lifted every needful and lowly service to
the plane of Godlike ministry.
“The way to heaven is consecrated by His footprints.” And when we
reach heaven, we shall find the Saviour still manifesting this same
spirit of service that characterized His life on earth. In heaven He will
“gird Himself, and . . come forth and serve them” (Luke 12:37). This
will take place after His second coming (Luke 12:37, 40).
9 - HOW LONG
WILL JESUS’ SACRIFICE
BE REMEMBERED?
And Jesus promised, “But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of
this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in My
Father’s kingdom” (Matthew 26:29). That means that, throughout eter-
nity, we will be reminded of the price paid for our redemption by our
wonderful Lord. The last vestige of sin itself will be removed—only the
tokens of love, divine, incomprehensible love, will remain. May you,
dear student, be there to enjoy the endless pleasures of eternity with
your Saviour.
The next lesson, “Taking God as a Partner,” is an important study in a
Bible truth which many overlook today. You will agree it is one of the
most practical studies of the entire series.
———————————————————————————
Brief Review Questions —

Is Jesus our example in how to be baptized?

What preparation should we make for baptism?

Did Jesus give us the Lord’s Supper?

Did He give us the ordinance of foot washing?

Do we please Him when we follow His instructions?

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FOLLOWING IN JESUS’ STEPS
SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL—
“At the words, ‘If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me,’ Peter
surrendered his pride and self-will. He could not endure the thought of
separation from Christ; that would have been death to him. ‘Not my feet
only,’ he said, ‘but also my hands and my head. Jesus saith to him, He
that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit.’
“These words mean more than bodily cleanliness. Christ is still
speaking of the higher cleansing as illustrated by the lower. He who came
from the bath was clean, but the sandaled feet soon became dusty, and
again needed to be washed. So Peter and his brethren had been washed
in the great fountain opened for sin and uncleanness. Christ acknowl-
edged them as His. But temptation had led them into evil, and they still
needed His cleansing grace. When Jesus girded Himself with a towel to
wash the dust from their feet, He desired by that very act to wash the
alienation, jealousy, and pride from their hearts. This was of far more
consequence than the washing of their dusty feet.”—Desire of Ages, 646
——————————
“ ‘Whoso eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath eternal life.’ It
is by receiving the life for us poured out on Calvary’s cross, that we can
live the life of holiness. And this life we receive by receiving His Word, by
doing those things which He has commanded. Thus we become one with
Him. ‘He that eateth My flesh,’ He says, ‘and drinketh My blood, dwelleth
in Me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the
Father: so he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me’ (John 6:54, 56,
57). To the holy Communion this Scripture in a special sense applies.
As faith contemplates our Lord’s great sacrifice, the soul assimilates the
spiritual life of Christ. That soul will receive spiritual strength from
every Communion. The service forms a living connection by which the
believer is bound up with Christ, and thus bound up with the Father. In
a special sense it forms a connection between dependent human beings
and God.
“As we receive the bread and wine symbolizing Christ’s broken body
and spilled blood, we in imagination join in the scene of Communion in
the upper chamber. We seem to be passing through the garden conse-
crated by the agony of Him who bore the sins of the world. We witness
the struggle by which our reconciliation with God was obtained. Christ
is set forth crucified among us.
“Looking upon the crucified Redeemer, we more fully comprehend
the magnitude and meaning of the sacrifice made by the Majesty of heaven.
The plan of salvation is glorified before us, and the thought of Calvary
awakens living and sacred emotions in our hearts. Praise to God and
the Lamb will be in our hearts and on our lips; for pride and self-
worship cannot flourish in the soul that keeps fresh in memory the
scenes of Calvary.”
—Desire of Ages, 660-661

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Following in Jesus’ Steps

I - WHAT EXAMPLE DID JESUS SET
FOR HIS CHURCH AT THE RIVER JORDAN?
Matthew 3:13—“Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John,
to be ____________ of him.”
Matthew 28:19—“Go ye therefore, and ________ all nations, bap-
tizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Ghost.”
2 - SPRINKLING OR IMMERSION, WHICH?
John 3:5—“Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of
____________ and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of
God.”
3 - IS THE METHOD OF BAPTISM IMPORTANT?
Romans 6:3-6—“Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized
into Jesus Christ were baptized into His ____________ ? Therefore
we are ____________ with Him by baptism into death: that like as
Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father,
even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been
planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in
the likeness of His resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man
is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed,
that henceforth we should not serve sin.”
4 - WHAT STEPS SHOULD BE TAKEN
BEFORE BAPTISM?
1. The candidate should be carefully taught.
Matthew 28:19-20—“Teach all nations, _____________ them . .
teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded
you.”
2. He must believe.
Mark 16:16—“He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.”
3. He must repent of his sins.
Acts 2:38—“Peter said unto them, ____________, and be baptized
every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of
sins.”
4. He must be willing to die to sin (Romans 6:3, 11-13).
5. He must be ready to live for God (Romans 6:11, 13).
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5 - WAS THE LORD’S SUPPER ESTABLISHED

AS A CHRISTIAN ORDINANCE?
1 Corinthians 11:23-26—“For I have received of the Lord that
which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same
night in which He was betrayed took bread: and when He had
given thanks, He brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is My body,
which is broken for you: this do _____ ____________________ _____
______. After the same manner also He took the cup, when He had
supped, saying, This cup is the New Testament in My blood: this
do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of Me. For as often as
ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death
till He come.”
Matthew 26:28—“This is My blood of the New Testament, which
is shed for _________ for the remission of sins.”
6 - WHAT WORK OF PREPARATION
SHOULD PRECEDE
THE COMMUNION SERVICE?
1. Each member should examine himself.
1 Corinthians 11:28—“Let a man ____________ himself, and so
let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.”
2. A man may eat unworthily if he comes unprepared.
1 Corinthians 11:29—“He that eateth and drinketh unworthily,
eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the
Lord’s body.”
3. Jesus rebuked pride by washing the disciples’ feet.
John 13:4-5—“He riseth from supper, and laid aside His gar-
ments; and took a towel, and girded Himself. After that He pour-
eth water into a basin, and began to ________ the disciples’
feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded.”
4. He instructed us to follow His example in feet washing.
John 13:13-15—“Ye call Me Master and Lord: and ye say well;
for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your
feet; ye also ___________ _____ wash one another’s feet. For I have
given you an example, that ye should do as l have done to you.”

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What the Bible says about –

The Gift of Prophecy
Prophecy
SCRIPTURE READING:
2 CHRONICLES 20:20
REVELATION 12:17
Adam and Eve had the joy of talking face to face with their Maker. Sin
abruptly ended that privilege, but we can all have that privilege, when we
get to heaven, if now we will prepare our lives for eternal life with God
and Christ.
After Adam and Eve sinned and could no longer commune with God
face to face, God promised them a Saviour (Genesis 3:15) and deliver-
ance from the consequences that they had chosen.
But how were they, with the face-to-face communion broken, to learn of
God’s plans for them and find His will? This was a problem they could
not solve.
God chose to solve the problem of instructing mankind by giving them
inspired messages by inspired prophets—such as Moses, Daniel, Amos,
and the Apostles.
This special guidance is often called “the gift of prophecy,” or “prophetic
guidance
In this lesson, we will examine this important gift of God to man,
through which He seeks to lead all men to eternal life.
THE GIFT OF PROPHECY
The gift of prophecy is a blessing from God to mankind, and it will
remain in the church until the final unifying of the faith.
Ephesians 4:11-13—“And He gave some, apostles; and some,
prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teach-
ers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the minis-
try, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in
the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God,
unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the
fullness of Christ.”
Paul compares the church to the body; the various parts of which are
parts of the body.
1 Corinthians 12:1-17, 28—“Now concerning spiritual gifts,
brethren, I would not have you ignorant . . Now there are
diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit . . For to one is given by
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the Spirit the word of wisdom,—to another the word of know-
ledge by the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit;
to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit. To another
prophecy . . But all these worketh that one and the self-same
Spirit, dividing to every man severally as He will. For as the
body is one, and hath many members, and all the members
of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.
For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body . . For the
body is not one member, but many . . And God hath set some in
the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teach-
ers.”
The prophets are the eyes of this spiritual body.
1 Samuel 9:9—“Beforetime in Israel, when a man went to in-
quire of God, thus he spake, Come, and let us go to the seer; for
he that is now called a prophet [speaker for God] was beforetime
called a Seer” [see-er for God; compare Luke 11:34 and Prov-
erbs 29:18].
WILL THERE BE PROPHETS IN THE LAST DAYS?
The apostle Peter predicted that there would be prophets in the last
days.
Acts 2:17-18—“And it shall come to pass in the last days
saith God, I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh: and
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young
men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
And on My servants and on My handmaidens I will pour out
in those days of My Spirit; and they shall prophesy.”
The above statement by Peter is based on a prediction in the Old Testa-
ment by Joel (Joel 2:28).
The warning that Christ gave against false prophets indicates that there
will also be true ones. Satan will use counterfeits to divert attention
from the genuine.
Matthew 7:15—“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in
sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.”
God’s law and God’s prophets tend to be found together. If His people
do not obey His law, then they will not have the guidance of His prophet.
Lamentations 2:9—“The law is no more; her prophets also
find no vision from the Lord.”
Ezekiel 7:26—“Then shall they seek a vision of the prophet;
but the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from
the ancients” (compare 20:3, 12, 13, 16).
Jeremiah 26:4-6—“Thus saith the Lord: If ye will not hearken
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to Me, to walk in My law, which I have set before you, to hearken to
the words of My servants the prophets, whom I sent unto you,
both rising up early, and sending them, but ye have not hearkened;
Then will I make this house like Shiloh, and will make of this city
a curse to all the nations of the earth.”
Proverbs 29:18—“Where there is no vision, the people per-
ish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.”
The true church, just before Jesus returns, will again have the gift of
prophecy, because it keeps the law of God by faith in Christ.
Revelation 12:17—“And the dragon was wroth with the
woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed,
which keep the commandments of God, and have the testi-
mony of Jesus Christ.”
Revelation 19:1O—“For the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit
of Prophecy.”
Just before Christ’s return, His people will again be obeying His moral
law through His empowering grace.
Revelation 14:12, 14—“Here is the patience of the saints:
here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the
faith of Jesus . . And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and
upon the cloud One sat like unto the Son of man, having on
His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle.”
HOW DOES PROPHECY COME TO US?
It comes to us from God through His prophets.
2 Peter 1:21—“For the prophecy came not in old time by the
will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by
the Holy Ghost.”
Revelation 1:1-2—“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God
gave unto Him, to shew unto His servants things which must
shortly come to pass; and He sent and signified it by His angel
unto His servant John: Who bare record of the Word of God,
and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he
saw.”
WHAT ARE THE MARKS OF A TRUE PROPHET?
A true prophet will speak in harmony with the Bible.
Isaiah 8:20—“To the law and to the testimony: if they speak
not according to this Word, it is because there is no light in
them.”
Deuteronomy 13:1-3—“If there arise among you a prophet,
or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder,
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and the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake
unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast
not known and let us serve them; thou shalt not hearken unto
the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the
Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord
your God with alI your heart and with all your soul.”
A true prophet will exalt God and Christ rather than himself.
Jeremiah 1:4-9—“Then the word of the Lord came unto me,
saying, Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and be-
fore thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I
ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. Then said I, Ah,
Lord God! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child. But the
Lord said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to
all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou
shalt speak. Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to
deliver thee, saith the Lord. Then the Lord put forth his hand,
and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I
have put My words in thy mouth.”
2 Corinthians 10:5—“Casting down imaginations, and every
high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God,
and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of
Christ.”
A true prophet will reprove men of sin.
Ezekiel 3:17-19—“Son of man, I have made thee a watchman
unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at My mouth,
and give them warning from Me. When I say unto the wicked,
Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warn¡ng, nor
speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his
life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his
blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if you warn the wicked,
and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked
way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy
soul.”
A true prophet will emphasize the necessity of Jesus in the heart.
1 John 4:1-3—“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the
spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets
are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God:
Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the
flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus
Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is the spirit
of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and
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even now already is it in the world.”
A true prophet will live a godly life and will produce good fruit.
Matthew 7:15-18, 20—“Beware of false prophets, which come
to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of
thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth
forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A
good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt
tree bring forth good fruit . . Wherefore by their fruits ye shall
know them.”
The predictions of a true prophet will come to pass.
Deuteronomy 18:21-22—“And if thou say in thine heart, How
shall we know the word which the Lord hath spoken? When a
prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow
not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath
not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously:
thou shalt not be afraid of him.”
Jeremiah 28:9—“The prophet which prophesieth of peace,
when the word of the prophet shall come to pass, then shall
the prophet be known, that the Lord hath truly sent him.”
A true prophet will have visions and dreams.
Numbers 12:6—“And he said, Hear now My words: If there be
a prophet among you, I the Lord will make Myself known unto
him in a vision, and will speak to him in a dream.”
Both men and women can be called as prophets of God.
Examples of men who were called to be prophets: Enoch (Jude 14),
Moses (Exodus 3:9-10), Elijah (1 Kings 17:1-3), John the Baptist (Luke
1:13-17), John the Revelator (Revelation 1:10).
Examples of women who were called to be prophets: Miriam (Exodus
15.20), Deborah (Judges 4:4), Huldah (2 Kings 22:14), Anna (Luke 2.-
36). Philip’s daughters (Acts 21:9).
The weakest of the weak may be called to this work.
1 Corinthians 1:27-29—“But God hath chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath cho-
sen the weak things of the world to confound the things which
are mighty; That no flesh should glory in His presence.”
2 Corinthians 12:9—“And He said unto me, My grace is suf-
ficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness.
Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that
the power of Christ may rest upon me” (also 13:4).

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WHAT ARE THE TESTS OF A TRUE PROPHET?
We are commanded not to despise prophets, but to test them.
1 Thessalonians 5:20-21—“Despise not prophesyings. Prove
all things; hold fast that which is good” (1 John 4:1).
We must test them by the Word of God.
Isaiah 8:20—“To the law and to the testimony: if they speak
not according to this Word, it is because there is no light in
them.”
While in vision, a prophet has no breath, and his natural strength is
gone until the angel strengthens him.
Daniel 10:17-18—“As for me, straightway there remained no
strength in me, neither is there breath left in me. Then there
came again and touched me one like the appearance of a man,
and he strengthened me.”
While in Vision, a prophet can nevertheless speak.
Daniel 10:15-16—“And when he [the angel] had spoken such
words unto me, I set my face toward the ground, and I became
dumb [unable to speak]. And, behold, one like the similitude
of the sons of men touched my lips: then I opened my mouth,
and spake.”
While in vision, a prophet keeps his eyes open.
Numbers 24:16—“He hath said, which heard the words of
God, and knew the knowledge of the most High, which saw
the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his
eyes open.”
While in vision, a prophet is unconscious of his surroundings.
2 Corinthians 12:2, 4—“I knew a man in Christ above four-
teen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether
out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught
up to the third heaven . . How that He was caught up into
paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawfül
for a men to utter.”
HOW DOES THE GIFT OF PROPHECY HELP US?
The abiding gift of prophecy provides counsel and guidance before a
crisis.
Noah, was sent with warnings before the Flood came (Genesis 6:9-17).
Moses was sent to lead the people of God out of Egypt (Exodus 3:4-12;
4:10-16; Deuteronomy 4:10-12). Elijah called men back to obedience to
God and warned of judgments because they refused to render obedience
(1 Kings 17:1; 18:20-41; 2 Kings 2:11-13). John the Baptist called all

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men to repentance and announced the soon coming of Christ (Mark 1:2-
5; Luke 7:28).
The messages of the prophet bring comfort and encouragement to the
people of God.
2 Peter 1:19—“We have also a more sure word of prophecy;
whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that
shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star
arise in your hearts.”
1 Corinthians 14:3—“He that prophesieth speaketh unto men
to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.”
It is only as the people heed the words that God sends them through the
prophet that they can have truest success.
2 Chronicles 20:20—“Believe in the Lord your God, so shall
ye be established; believe His prophets, so shall ye prosper.”
The counsel of the true prophet protects from unBiblical errors and
enables the people of God to obey His Written Word.
Ephesians 4:11-16—“And He gave . . prophets . . for the per-
fecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edify-
ing of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the
faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect
man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.
That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro,
and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of
men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to de-
ceive.”
We may expect the prophetic gift among the remnant of the true church,
down in the time of the end:
Revelation 12:17—“And the dragon [Satan, through his own
agencies] was wroth with the woman [the true church], and
went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep
the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus
Christ.”
Revelation 19:10—“The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of
prophecy.”

———————————————————————————
Brief Review Questions —

Name several of the marks and tests of a true

prophet?

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FOLLOWING IN JESUS’ STEPS
SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL—
“Before the entrance of sin, Adam enjoyed open communion with his
Maker; but since man separated himself from God by transgression, the
human race has been cut off from this high privilege. By the plan of
redemption, however, a way has been opened whereby the inhabitants of
the earth may still have connection with heaven. God has communicated
with men by His Spirit, and divine light has been imparted to the world
by revelations to His chosen servants. “Holy men of God spake as they
were moved by the Holy Ghost” (2 Peter 1:21).
“During the first twenty-five hundred years of human history, there
was no written revelation. Those who had been taught of God, communi-
cated their knowledge to others, and it was handed down from father to
son, through successive generations. The preparation of the written Word
began in the time of Moses. Inspired revelations were then embodied in
an inspired book. This work continued during the long period of sixteen
hundred years—from Moses, the historian of creation and the law, to
John, the recorder of the most sublime truths of the gospel . .
“Written in different ages, by men who differed widely in rank and
occupation, and in mental and spiritual endowments, the books of the
Bible present a wide contrast in style, as well as a diversity in the nature
of the subjects unfolded. Different forms of expression are employed by
different writers; often the same truth is more strikingly presented by
one than by another. And as several writers present a subject under
varied aspects and relations, there may appear, to the superficial, care-
less, or prejudiced reader, to be discrepancy or contradiction, where the
thoughtful, reverent student, with clearer insight, discerns the underly-
ing harmony.
“As presented through different individuals, the truth is brought out
in its varied aspects. One writer is more strongly impressed with one
phase of the subject; he grasps those points that harmonize with his
experience or with his power of perception and appreciation; another
seizes upon a different phase; and each, under the guidance of the Holy
Spirit, presents what is most forcibly impressed upon his own mind—a
different aspect of the truth in each, but a perfect harmony through all.
And the truths thus revealed unite to form a perfect whole, adapted to
meet the wants of men in all the circumstances and experiences of life.
“God has been pleased to communicate His truth to the world by
human agencies, and He Himself, by His Holy Spirit, qualified men and
enabled them to do this work. He guided the mind in the selection of
what to speak and what to write. The treasure was entrusted to earthen
vessels, yet it is, nonetheless, from Heaven. The testimony is conveyed
through the imperfect expression of human language, yet it is the testi-
mony of God; and the obedient, believing child of God beholds in it the
glory of a divine power, full of grace and truth.”
—Great Controversy, 5-7
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The Gift of Prophecy

THE GIFT OF PROPHECY
Ephesians 4:11-13—“And He gave some, apostles; and some, proph-
ets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the
_____________ of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the
edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith,
and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the
measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (1 Corinthians 12:1-
17, 28; 1 Samuel 9:9).
WILL THERE BE PROPHETS IN THE LAST DAYS?
Acts 2:17-18—“And it shall come to pass in the ________ days saith
God, I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and
your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams: And on My servants and on
My handmaidens I will pour out in those days of My Spirit; and they
shall prophesy.”
Matthew 7:15—“Beware of _________ prophets, which come to you
in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.”
Proverbs 29:18—“Where there is no vision, the people perish: but
he that keepeth the _______, happy is he.” Lamentations 2:9—“The
law is no more; her prophets also find no vision from the Lord.”
Revelation 12:17—“And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and
went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the com-
mandments of God, and have the _____________ ____ ________
Christ.” Revelation 19:10—“For the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit
of Prophecy.”
Revelation 14:12, 14—“Here is the patience of the saints: here are
they that keep the _________________ of God, and the ____________
of Jesus . . And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the
cloud One sat like unto the Son of man, having on His head a golden
crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle.”
HOW DOES PROPHECY COME TO US?
2 Peter 1:21—“For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of
man: but holy men of God spake as they were ___________ by the
Holy Ghost” (Revelation 1:1-2).
WHAT ARE THE MARKS OF A TRUE PROPHET?
Isaiah 8:20; Deuteronomy 13:1-3; Ezekiel 3:17-19; 1 John 4:1-3;
Matthew 7:15-18, 20; 1 Corinthians 1:27-29; 2 Corinthians 12:9;
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13:4.
WHAT ARE THE TESTS OF A TRUE PROPHET?
1 Thessalonians 5:20-21—“Despise not prophesyings. Prove
all things; hold fast that which is good” (1 John 4:1).
Isaiah 8:20—“To the law and to the testimony: if they speak
not according to this Word, it is because there is no ________ in
them.”
Jeremiah 28:9—“The prophet which prophesieth of peace,
when the word of the prophet shall come to pass, then shall the
prophet be known, that the Lord hath _________ sent him”
(Deuteronomy 18:21-22).
Daniel 10:17-18—“As for me, straightway there remained no
strength in me, neither is there ___________ left in me. Then there
came again and touched me one like the appearance of a man, and
he strengthened me.”
Daniel 10:15-16—“And when he [the angel] had spoken such words
unto me, I set my face toward the ____________, and I became dumb
[unable to speak]. And, behold, one like the similitude of the sons
of men touched my lips: then I opened my mouth, and spake.”
Numbers 24:16—“He hath said, which heard the words of God,
and knew the knowledge of the Most High, which saw the vision of
the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his eyes _________”
(Numbers 12:6; 2 Corinthians 12:2, 4).
HOW DOES THE GIFT OF PROPHECY HELP US?
2 Peter 1:19—“We have also a more sure word of prophecy; where-
unto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a
dark place, ________ the day dawn, and the day star arise in your
hearts.”
2 Chronicles 20:20—“Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be
established; ____________ His prophets, so shall ye prosper”
(Ephesians 4:11-16).
Revelation 12:17—“And the dragon [Satan, through his own agen-
cies] was wroth with the woman [the true church], and went to
make war with the ____________ of her seed, which keep the com-
mandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”
Revelation 19:10—“The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of proph-
ecy.”

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What the Bible says about –

Taking God as a Partner

SCRIPTURE READING:
MALACHI 3

1- WHAT IS GOD’S CLAIM

CONCERNING THE EARTH?
The claim to ownership is one of the highest claims that the Lord can
make. These four statements assert God’s ownership of all:
1. He owns the earth.
Psalm 24:1—“The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof;
the world, and they that dwell therein.”
The king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, looked over his capital city and
said: “Is not this great Babylon that I have built . . by the might of my
power, and for the honour of my majesty?” He forgot that God is God,
and He is the owner and ruler of all. For seven years Nebuchadnezzar
wandered about, out of his mind and eating grass like an ox, until his
reason returned and he understood that power and wealth were only
lent to him by God.
2. He owns the vast creation.
Psalm 50:10-11—“For every beast of the forest is Mine, and
the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the
mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are Mine.”
3. He owns all the sliver and gold.
Haggai 2:8—“The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine, saith
the Lord of hosts.”
4. He owns us.
Psalm 100:3—“Know ye that the Lord He is God: it is He
that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people,
and the sheep of His pasture” (Isaiah 43:1).
Man himself is God’s possession, as is illustrated by the story of the
Vermont judge during the war between the states. He informed the at-
torney for a slaveholder who was trying to extradite a runaway slave,
that “his evidence of ownership” was not adequate. “Well, what does
your honor require?” asked the lawyer. “Nothing less than a bill of sale
from the Creator Himself,” the judge replied.

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2 - ON WHAT FOUR GROUNDS
CAN GOD CLAIM OWNERSHIP OF ALL?
1. He created all things.
Exodus 20:11—“For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: where-
fore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it” (Genesis
1:1; Psalm 95:5).
God made the earth out of nothing (Hebrews 11:3) and hung it upon
nothing (Job 26:7). He took of the dust of the earth and made man. He
made everything and furnished the material. He owns everything. Some
men think they own it or at least some part of it—or ought to. Some
say they are going to rule it. But the owner and ruler is God; and He is
very much alive today. How comforting is this thought in a day when the
world is threatened with atomic destruction. Said the psalmist: “[God]
laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever”
(Psalm 104:5).
2. He upholds and sustains all things.
Hebrews 1:3—“Who being the brightness of His glory, and
the express image of His person, and upholding all things by
the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our
sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.”
Acts 17:28—“For in Him we live, and move, and have our be-
ing.”
“Upholding all things by the word of His power. ‘Men call it gravitation.
What is gravitation? Oh, it is the power that makes the earth go round
the sun! Well, what is this power that makes the earth go round the
sun? Oh, that’s gravitation! And so we think in circles. What is that
power but the will and power of God? Yes, and our lives are sustained
by Him! Our hearts beat day and night, and our blood flows through its
channels. We eat and drink, work and play, think and love and wor-
ship, and we don’t understand it all; but in our hearts we know that “in
Him we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28).
3. He purchased all after it was lost.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20—“Ye are not your own . . ye are bought
with a price.”
Dear friend, God made you, and He bought you with the blood of Jesus
Christ. Shall any man withhold himself from this gracious God and
Saviour?
Every loaf of bread and every blessing comes marked with the cross of
Calvary. Had God’s plan not been carried out, there would be neither
man nor bread.
4. He gives power to get wealth.
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Deuteronomy 8:18—“But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God:
for it is He that giveth thee power to get wealth.”
Some are better managers than others. Some are sharp dealers. But
our talents are gifts of God. He gives us all some talent to earn a living
for ourselves and our families. We may use these talents, misuse them,
or half-use them.
3 - HOW IS MAN RELATED
TO THESE POSSESSIONS OF GOD?
He is the steward of God’s goods. And “a steward is a person entrusted
with the management of estates or affairs not his own. He administers
what belongs to another.” “As between me and my fellow men, what I
hold belongs to me, and I have a right to defend title to it; but as
between me and God, it belongs to Him” (R. L. Davidson).
Heaven’s goods are entrusted to the earthly steward.
Luke 12:42—“And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise
steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to
give them their portion of meat in due season?”
Matthew 25:14—“For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travel-
ing into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered
unto them his goods.”
Every man is entrusted by the Master with wealth, a little or a lot—with
most of us, it is a little. We will be judged, not by the amount we have,
but by what we do with it and how we handle it.
4 - WHAT IS REQUIRED
OF STEWARDS?
1. Faithfulness.
1 Corinthians 4:2—“Moreover it is required in stewards, that
a man be found faithful.”
Faithfulness—that is a grand word. “He that is faithful in that which is
least is faithful also in much” (Luke 16:10). Unfaithfulness works the
same way. To the faithful steward the owner of all will say, “Well done,
thou good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21).
2. Accountability.
Matthew 25:19—“After a long time the lord of those servants
cometh, and reckoneth with them” (Luke 16:1-2).
The Spirit of God reproves men of sin and judgment (John 16:8). Surely
every man who has not crushed out the thought knows that he must
render an account to God for life, health, wealth, time, and all things.

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5 - WHAT IS A CHRISTIAN STEWARD’S
FIRST RESPONSIBILITY?
The great duty of a steward is to make the best possible use of that
which is entrusted to him, not for himself, but for the owner. The sinful
steward will make himself first. The Christian steward will make God
first. Here are three texts to make it plain.
1. Psalm 116:12—“What shall I render unto the Lord for all His
benefits toward me?”
2. Proverbs 3:9—“Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with
the firstfruits of all thine increase.”
3. Matthew 6:33—“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His
righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”
6 - HOW DO GOD’S STEWARDS
FILL HIS EARTHLY STOREHOUSE?
There are two ways to keep God’s storehouse full.
1. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse.
Malachi 3:10—“Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse,
that there may be meat in Mine house, and prove Me now here-
with, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the win-
dows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall
not be room enough to receive it.”
What is the tithe? The tithe means one tenth. If a man earns $1, his
tithe is 10 cents. If he earns $100, it is $10. If he earns $1,000, his
tithe is $100. And that is when it may get hard. The more God blesses,
the harder it seems for some men to pay tithe, as the poet said:
“I was so poor, my purse so small,
“I hardly felt one tenth at all.
“I gladly gave from my poor store
“With but the wish I could give more.
“But now my purse, which was so small,
“Contains one million, all in all;
“And wonder I each passing day
“If I can give one tenth away!”
A man who inherits money for which he puts forth not an ounce of
effort is tempted not even to tithe it. But he should, and he will, if he is
a good steward. The tithe is not man’s plan, but the plan of God’s own
devising. It reveals man’s faithfulness and his recognition of God’s own-
ership of the entire ten tenths.
2. Bring offerings also.
Psalm 96:8—“Give unto the Lord the glory due unto His name:
bring an offering, and come into His courts.”

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God requires the tithe. What a man gives above that is his offering, or
gift. The offerings of two men drawing the same amount of salary might
vary depending upon their generosity or their ability to give.
7 - HOW FULLY WAS THIS PLAN
TO BE CARRIED OUT?
Land, trees, flocks, herds, salary—all are to be tithed.
Leviticus 27:30, 32—“And all the tithe of the land, whether
of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s:
it is holy unto the Lord . . And concerning the tithe of the
herd, or of the flock, even of whatsoever passeth under the
rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord.”
Jacob promised to pay tithe to God on the very necessities of life.
Genesis 28:20-22—“Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will
be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give
me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again
to my father’s house in peace; then shall the Lord be my God:
and this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God’s
house: and of all that Thou shalt give me I will surely give the
tenth unto Thee.”
In the New Testament, Jesus approved tithe even on a very small in-
come.
Matthew 23:23—“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypo-
crites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have
omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and
faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other
undone.”
Jesus reproached the pharisees for paying tithe on the small garden
vegetables and then neglecting to be just and honest in larger matters.
Yet He told them that their tithing on the little herbs of the garden was
right. If a man is honest in tithe and dishonest otherwise, his tithing
honesty will not cover the other dishonesty. The reverse is also true.
8 - FOR WHAT PURPOSE
WAS THE TITHE USED?
In Abraham’s day the tithe was paid to God’s priest.
Genesis 14:18-20—“Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth
bread and wine: and he was the priest of the Most High God. And he
blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the Most High God,
possessor of heaven and earth: and blessed be the Most High
God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And
he gave him tithes of all.”
The first mention of tithe in the Bible is in the days of Abraham, who
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paid tithe to Melchizedek. Up until that time the family was the unit of
organization in God’s work, and there was no centralized worship.
Just as soon as a priest appeared outside the family unit, then the tithe
appeared. It is simply God’s plan of supporting His organization. Israel
paid tithe to the Levites.
Numbers 18:21—“And, behold, I have given the children of
Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance, for their service
which they serve, even the service of the tabernacle of the con-
gregation.”
In the time of Moses, and thereafter, the tithe supported the Levites who
looked after the Temple services. Jesus approved the tithe in His day,
even though He rebuked the Jews for other shortcomings. Not until
God forsakes the church are we free to withdraw our support. And Paul
advises that the same plan be followed for the support of the gospel
ministry.
1 Corinthians 9:13-14—“Do ye not know that they which
minister about holy things live of the things of the temple?
and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar?
Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preached the
gospel should live of the gospel.”
Paul insisted that those who preached the gospel should live of it, just
as the Levites lived of their Temple work. Paul often declined help, but
later regretted that he had not required the people to do more. If the
Jews paid, what shall Christians, with the whole world to reach with
the gospel, do then?
9 - WHAT CURSE IS PRONOUNCED
ON UNFAITHFULNESS?
Malachi 3:8-9—“Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed Me.
But ye say, Wherein have we robbed Thee? In tithes and offer-
ings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed Me, even
this whole nation.”
Here is a curse against robbers. The selfish man reaps his own sowing.
The unprofitable servant, who merely receives but does not impart, will
be cast out.
Matthew 25:30—“And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer
darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
10 - WHAT BLESSING IS PRONOUNCED
ON FAITHFUL TITHE PAYERS?
God pours out upon them a great blessing.
Malachi 3:10-11—“Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse,
that there may be meat in Mine house, and prove Me now
herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the
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windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall
not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for
your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground;
neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field,
saith the Lord of hosts.”
Here are three promises for tithers:
1. Acts 20:35—“It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
2. Luke 6:38—“Give, and it shall be given unto you.”
3. 2 Corinthians 9:6-7—“He which soweth bountifully shall reap
also bountifully . . Every man according as he purposeth in his
heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth
a cheerful giver.”
The good and faithful servant will enter into the joy of the Lord at
Christ’s coming. What a wonderful assurance Jesus gave:
Matthew 25:21—“His lord said unto him, Well done, thou
good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few
things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou
into the joy of thy lord.”
Peter said, “Lo, we have left all, and followed thee.” Jesus said, “There
is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or
children, for the kingdom of God’s sake, who shall not receive mani-
fold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlast-
ing” (Luke 18:28-30).
On an English cathedral an inscription reads: “What I spent, I had.
What I saved, I lost. And what I gave, I have.”
“That man is no fool who parts with what he cannot keep, to get what
he cannot lose.” Dear friend, pay tithe for the support of the gospel. It
is God’s way to enrich your life and further the work of His kingdom.
He doesn’t need your money. But you need His presence and blessing in
this great partnership of life.
The next lesson will be especially helpful. The Bible will present ten
ways by which you may identify God’s true church. And that is the title of
the study.
———————————————————————————
Brief Review Questions —
How much of the earth does God own?

What does He ask us to give back to Him?

Should we do it?

What will happen if we do?

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TAKING GOD AS A PARTNER
SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL—
“The tithing system did not originate with the Hebrews. From the
earliest times the Lord claimed a tithe as His, and this claim was recog-
nized and honored. Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek, the priest of
the most high God (Genesis 14:20). Jacob, when at Bethel, an exile and
a wanderer, promised the Lord, ‘Of all that Thou shalt give me I will
surely give the tenth unto Thee’ (Genesis 28:22). As the Israelites were
about to be established as a nation, the law of tithing was reaffirmed as
one of the divinely ordained statutes upon obedience to which their pros-
perity depended.
“The system of tithes and offerings was intended to impress the
minds of men with a great truth—that God is the source of every bless-
ing to His creatures, and that to Him man’s gratitude is due for the good
gifts of His providence.
“ ‘He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things’ (Acts 17:25). The
Lord declares, ‘Every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle upon a
thousand hills’ (Psalm 50:10). ‘The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine’
(Haggai 2:8). And it is God who gives men power to get wealth
(Deuteronomy 8:18). As an acknowledgment that all things came from
Him, the Lord directed that a portion of His bounty should be returned
to Him in gifts and offerings to sustain His worship.
“ ‘The tithe . . is the Lord's.’ Here the same form of expression is
employed as in the law of the Sabbath. ‘The seventh day is the Sabbath
of the Lord thy God’ (Exodus 20:10). God reserved to Himself a speci-
fied portion of man’s time and of his means, and no man could, without
guilt, appropriate either for his own interests.
“The tithe was to be exclusively devoted to the use of the Levites, the
tribe that had been set apart for the service of the sanctuary. But this was
by no means the limit of the contributions for religious purposes. The
tabernacle, as afterward the temple, was erected wholly by freewill offer-
ings; and to provide for necessary repairs and other expenses,”
—Patriarchs and Prophets, pp. 525-526
“God has made men His stewards. The property which He has placed
in their hands is the means that He has provided for the spread of the
gospel. To those who prove themselves faithful stewards He will commit
greater trusts. Saith the Lord, ‘Them that honor Me I will honor’ (1
Samuel 2:30). ‘God loveth a cheerful giver,’ and when His people, with
grateful hearts, bring their gifts and offerings to Him, ‘not grudgingly, or
of necessity,’ His blessing will attend them, as He has promised. ‘Bring
ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine
house, and prove Me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not
open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there
shall not be room enough to receive it.’ Malachi 3:10.”
—Patriarchs and Prophets, 529
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Taking God as a Partner

1- WHAT IS GOD’S CLAIM CONCERNING THE EARTH?
He owns the earth. Psalm 24:1—“The ________ is the Lord’s and
the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.” Psalm
50:10-11—“For every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle upon
a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild
beasts of the field are Mine.” He owns all the sliver and gold. Haggai
2:8—“The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine, saith the Lord of hosts.”
He owns us. Psalm 100:3—“Know ye that the Lord He is God: it
is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are _____
_________, and the sheep of His pasture” (Isaiah 43:1).
2 - ON WHAT BASIS
CAN GOD CLAIM OWNERSHIP OF ALL?
1. He created all things. Exodus 20:11. He upholds and sus-
tains all things. Hebrews 1:3. Acts 17:28—“For in Him we live,
and move, and have our being.” 2. He purchased all after it was
lost. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20—“Ye are not your own . . ye are
bought with a ________.” 3. He gives power to get wealth.
Deuteronomy 8:18—“But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God:
for it is He that giveth thee power to get wealth.”
3 - WHAT IS REQUIRED OF STEWARDS?
Faithfulness. Luke 12:42; Matthew 25:14.
1 Corinthians 4:2—“Moreover it is required in stewards, that
a man be found ____________.” Matthew 25:19—“After a long
time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them”
(Luke 16:1-2).
4 - WHAT IS A CHRISTIAN STEWARD’S
FIRST RESPONSIBILITY?
Psalm 116:12—“What shall I render unto the Lord for all
His ____________ toward me?” Proverbs 3:9—“Honour the
Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine
increase.” Matthew 6:33—“But seek ye ________ the kingdom
of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be
added unto you.”
5 - HOW DO GOD’S STEWARDS
FILL HIS EARTHLY STOREHOUSE?
1. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse.
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Malachi 3:10—“Bring ye all the ________ into the storehouse,

that there may be meat in Mine house, and prove Me now here-
with, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of
heaven, and _________ ______ _______ a blessing, that there
shall not be room enough to receive it.”
2. Bring offerings also.
Psalm 96:8—“Give unto the Lord the glory due unto His name:
bring an __________, and come into His courts.”
6 - HOW FULLY WAS THIS PLAN TO BE CARRIED OUT?
Leviticus 27:30, 32—“And _____ the tithe of the land, whether
of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s:
it is ______ unto the Lord . . And concerning the tithe of the
herd, or of the flock, even of whatsoever passeth under the
rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord.”
Genesis 28:20-22—“Jacob ________ a vow, saying, If God will
be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give
me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again
to my father’s house in peace; then shall the Lord be my God:
and this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God’s
house: and of all that Thou shalt give me I will surely give the
tenth unto Thee.”
Matthew 23:23—“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypo-
crites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have
omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and
faith: these __________ _____ to have done, and not to leave
the other undone.”
7 - FOR WHAT PURPOSE WAS THE TITHE USED?
Numbers 18:21—“And, behold, I have ________ the children
of Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance, for their ser-
vice which they serve, even the service of the tabernacle of the con-
gregation” (also Genesis 14:18-20; 1 Corinthians 9:13-14).
8 - WHAT CURSE IS ON UNFAITHFULNESS?
Malachi 3:8-9—“Will a man rob God? Yet ye have __________ Me.
But ye say, Wherein have we robbed Thee? In tithes and offerings.
Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed Me, even this whole
nation.” Malachi 3:10-11—“Bring ye all the tithes into the store-
house . . and prove Me now” (Acts 20:35; 2 Corinthians 9:6-
7; Matthew 25:21).

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What the Bible says about –

The Remnant
SCRIPTURE READING:
REVELATION 14:6-15

1 - WHAT IS THE FIRST ANGEL’S MESSAGE?

Revelation 14:6-7—“I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven,
having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell
on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue,
and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory
to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship
Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the foun-
tains of waters.”
This message has five characteristics:
1. It brings the gospel to every nation, kindred, tongue, and
people.
It is not an offshoot from some denomination, but a mighty, invincible,
worldwide movement, growing from a small beginning to envelop the
earth.
2. It calls men to “fear God.”
Surely such a message is needed today, for the world has lost God
from its thinking. Thus God is calling men away from sin to righteous-
ness, from transgression of His law to obedience. “Fear God, and keep
His commandments” (Ecclesiastes 12:13).
3. It calls men to “give glory” to God.
We give glory to God when we “make confession unto Him” (Joshua
7:19). We give glory for His truth’s sake. Christ is “glorified in His
saints” (2 Thessalonians 1:10). His saints “keep the commandments
of God, and the faith of Jesus” (Revelation 14:12).
4. It announces the hour of God’s judgment.
This could not be done unless the time of the judgment were known.
The investigative judgment, symbolized by the cleansing of the Sanctu-
ary, began in 1844, at the end of the 2,300-year period. “The hour of
His judgment is come.”
We are to “fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judg-
ment is come.” The judgment is a serious and solemn matter. The law
of God is the standard, and Jesus Christ is our advocate.
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5. It calls men to worship the Creator.
God is worthy of worship because He is the Creator. “Thou art worthy,
O Lord to receive glory and honour and power: for Thou hast created
all things” (Revelation 4:11). The seventh-day Sabbath, as taught in the
fourth commandment, is the sign of the Creator. “It is a sign . . for in
six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He
rested, and was refreshed” (Exodus 31:17). Since the Bible record of
creation is today denied by many and God’s Sabbath (the sign of
creatorship) has been set aside in the practice of mankind in general, it
is vital that all men everywhere be called to worship the true God and,
in doing so, to accept the sign of His creative power, which is the
Sabbath of the fourth commandment. A call to true worship and com-
mandment keeping would demand a teaching of all God’s command-
ments.
2 - WHAT MESSAGE IS GIVEN
BY THE SECOND ANGEL?
Revelation 14:8—“And there followed another angel, saying,
Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all
nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.”
1. This is mystic Babylon, who persecuted the saints (Revela-
tion 17:5-6).
Babylon is called both a “great city, which reigneth over the kings of the
earth” and also a woman, “mother of harlots” (Revelation 14:8; 17:5,
18). Mystic Babylon is the papacy, “drunken with the blood of the saints
and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.” In the creed of Pope Pius
IV we read: “I acknowledge the Holy Catholic Apostolic Church for the
mother and mistress of all churches” (article 10).
2. Rome’s false doctrines largely came from ancient Babylon.
The Church of Rome is called Babylon because its religion is a revival
of the religion of ancient Babylon. A careful examination of the ritual of
ancient Babylon will reveal that the papacy is largely an adaptation of
this ancient pagan system. It is not difficult to trace the connection
between the two in the political and religious history of Rome.
3. Babylon is the same power as the little horn of Daniel 7:25.
Like the little horn, she persecutes the saints and rules over the kings
of the earth.
4. She is the same as the leopard beast of Revelation 13.
This beast is the same as the little horn of Daniel 7:25.
5. All nations are made drunk with her wine.
Mystic Babylon holds a golden cup (Revelation 17:4) in her hand. An-
cient Babylon was likened to a golden cup (Jeremiah 51:7). “In 1825, on
the occasion of the jubilee, Pope Leo XII struck a medal, bearing on the
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one side his own image and, on the other, that of the Church of Rome,
symbolized as a ‘woman,’ holding in her left hand a cross and, in her
right hand, a cup with the legend around her, ‘Sedet super universum,’
‘The whole world is her seat’ ” (Alexander Hislop, p. 6).
Multitudes have been drinking the wine of her false doctrines. When
professed Protestant churches repudiate the fundamental principle of
Protestantism by setting aside the authority of God’s Word and accept-
ing tradition and man-made laws, they adopt the principles of modern
Babylon and may be regarded as the daughters of Babylon, deliberately
choosing to drink of her cup.
6. Practically all the world will worship her.
The world stands in awe and wonderment at the amazing revival of her
power. This has been especially true since the creation of Vatican City
in 1929. Said the pope, “This moment, so historic, so important, that
stands between the past and the future; which closes the past and opens
the future” (Address, June 27, 1929; America, January 4, 1930).
7. She is scheduled for a final fall.
Though she says, “I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no
sorrow, yet God says, “Therefore shall her plagues come in one day . .
for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her” (Revelation 18:7-8). Even
the powers of the earth finally shall forsake her, for she is “fallen”
(Revelation 17:16).
3 - WHAT WARNING IS SOUNDED
BY THE THIRD ANGEL?
Revelation 14:9-10—“And the third angel followed them, say-
ing with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his
image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is
poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation;
and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the pres-
ence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb.”
1. It warns against the worship of the beast.
The first angel’s message is a call to “worship Him that made heaven
and earth,” that is, the Creator. The third angel’s message warns against
the worship of the beast. There must be, and is, an essential difference.
If we accept the teachings and commandments of the great apostasy
above God’s Word and law, we worship the beast.
2. It warns against worship of the image of the beast.
If we yield to the pressure of apostate Protestantism as it joins hands
with civil power to enforce the mark of the beast, we cannot be judged
as true worshipers of the Creator.
3. It warns against receiving the mark of the beast.
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In the last hours of the crisis, the papal mark of Sundaykeeping will be
enforced by civil law. God’s warning is raised against this Mark; and,
as He calls men to worship the Creator, the Sabbath-Sunday issue will
be clearly drawn.
4. It warns of God’s wrath upon those who do not heed His
warning (Revelation 14:9-10; 15:1; 16).
Between the wrath of man and the wrath of God all must choose. Be-
tween obedience to man and obedience to God the decision must be
made. Seven fearful plagues are reserved against the awful day of reck-
oning.
4 - HOW MAY WE IDENTIFY
GOD’S REMNANT CHURCH?
1. It will preach a worldwide Judgment-hour message (Revela-
tion 14:6-7).
Heaven’s great investigative judgment began in 1844; and, at that time,
God had a people ready to preach that message. Their burden was to
reach the whole world, and that work is going forward with lightning
speed. This message is being proclaimed in more than seven hundred
languages and dialects, and is being printed in more than two hundred
languages.
2. It will deliver the message of mystic Babylon’s fall (Revela-
tion 14:8).
3. It will give the warning against the beast’s image and mark
(Revelation 14:9-10).
This unwavering warning has been given from the rise of this move-
ment. Religionists offer first one, then another, explanation of the mark
of the beast. But God’s remnant people bear the same consistent mes-
sage through the years.
It is too late now for a people to rise up to begin the preaching of these
three angels’ messages. When the time came, in 1844, the people of
prophecy arose, bearing the messages of warning.
4. It urges the worship of the Creator above the beast or image
(Revelation 14:7).
God foreknew the peculiar times to which His people would come. Not only
has the Sabbath sign of the Creator been set aside centuries before, but
in these closing days the theory of evolution is to become widespread,
denying creation as a series of specific acts of God in six days’ time.
The observance of the seventh-day Sabbath is therefore, in a special
sense, the sign of those who believe in, serve, and worship the Creator.
5. It keeps the commandments of God (Revelation 14:12).
The only way the keeping of God’s commandments could help to iden-
tify God’s people would be for the world and religion, in general, to be
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living contrary to His commandments. Any particular commandment
on which there would be a decided difference would tend to mark them
as commandment-keeping people. So, in answer to prophecy, such a
people arose in 1844 and 1845 keeping all God’s Ten Commandments,
including the Sabbath commandment (designating the seventh day).
6. It keeps and exalts the faith of Jesus (Revelation 14:12).
God knew that modernism would sweep through Christendom. When
men deny creation, they naturally deny the fall of man; and so the law
of God is also set aside. If man was not created and had no fall, he
would need no atoning blood of Jesus. God’s message today is calling
men to recognize creation, the law of God, the Sabbath, and the cross
of Christ. God’s remnant people proclaim these great doctrines and
cling by faith to Christ, the Creator; Christ, the Lawgiver; and Christ,
the Redeemer of Calvary.
7. It believes and holds to the Spirit of Prophecy.
Revelation 12:17—“The dragon was wroth with the woman,
and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which
keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of
Jesus.”
Revelation 19:10—“The testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of
prophecy.”
This is a church of fulfilling prophecy and believing in God’s special
direction of His people through a latter-day manifestation of the gift of
prophecy and the writings of the Spirit of Prophecy. This is a special
feature of this movement. (Write to the publisher for more information
about the Spirit of Prophecy.)
8. It will endure reproach, scorn, and persecution (Revelation
12:11).
He who keeps God’s commandments will meet ridicule at times, and
Satan will make war with him; but a new book of Acts is being written
as angels record the faithfulness of God’s people, as they endure what-
ever comes to them anywhere in the world. A great test awaits them, but
also a great reward.
9. It heeds God’s voice to come out of Babylon.
Revelation 18:1, 2, 4—“I saw another angel come down from
heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with
His glory. And He cried mightily with a strong voice, saying
Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habita-
tion of devils . . And I heard another voice from heaven, say-
ing, Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of
her sins and that ye receive not of her plagues.”
Out of the modern Babylon of apostasy—both in Rome and the apostate

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churches of Protestantism—out of confusion, false doctrines, and world-
liness, God is calling His people. Thousands of them are coming from
every part of the world. They come because God is calling them, and
His “sheep hear His voice.” They separate from the ways of the world (1
John 2:15-17), lay aside its pride and vanity (1 Timothy 2:9-10; 1 Peter
3:3-4), give up its evil ways (2 Corinthians 7:1), and turn to Jesus for
salvation. Then by His grace they “keep the commandments of God,
and the faith of Jesus” (Revelation 14:12). The true church, therefore,
as you can see, must come out and be separate.
10. It will work and wait for Christ’s return.
While preaching God’s message the world over, this church will con-
tinue to look for the coming of Jesus (Revelation 14:12-15).
There is only one worldwide group of people that even professes to
meet the above ten specifications of the prophecy of Revelation. It is the
Seventh-day Adventist people. This group did not arise from a split in
some denomination. It arose from a widespread movement over the
world that centered in the second advent of Christ. An Adventist is one
who believes in the personal, literal coming of Jesus. A Seventh-day
Adventist is one who keeps the seventh-day Sabbath and believes that,
in fulfillment of prophecy, this worldwide movement has come to gather
a people who keep (1) “the commandments of God” and (2) “the faith of
Jesus,” and who (3) “have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”
This is God’s true church, according to the prophecies of the Bible; but
the majority of His true followers, still in the churches of Babylon, are
living according to all the truth they have. Will you yourself not answer
the call, “Come out of her, My people?” Make your own decision; and,
by your example, help to gather others into the fold of Christ?
“Daily Victory in Christ” is a thrilling study in how to live closer to God
every day.
———————————————————————————
Brief Review Questions —

The first angel calls men to worship who?

The second angel calls them out of what?

The third angel calls them to obey what (Rev 14:12)?

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The Remnant
1 - WHAT IS THE FIRST ANGEL’S MESSAGE?
Revelation 14:6-7—“I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven,
having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell
on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue,
and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory
to Him; for the hour of His ____________ is come: and ____________
Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the foun-
tains of waters.”
1. It brings the gospel to every nation, kindred, tongue, and
people.
2. It calls men to “fear God.”
3. It calls men to “give glory” to God.
4. It announces the hour of God’s judgment.
5. It calls men to worship the Creator.
2 - WHAT MESSAGE IS GIVEN
BY THE SECOND ANGEL?
Revelation 14:8—“And there followed another angel, saying,
____________ is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she
made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornica-
tion.”
1. This is mystic Babylon, who persecuted the saints (Revela-
tion 17:5-6).
2. Rome’s false doctrines largely came from ancient Babylon.
3. Babylon is the same power as the little horn of Daniel 7:25.
4. She is the same as the leopard beast of Revelation 13.
5. All nations are made drunk with her wine.
6. Practically all the world will worship her.
7. She is scheduled for a final fall.
3 - WHAT WARNING IS SOUNDED
BY THE THIRD ANGEL?
Revelation 14:9-10—“And the _________ angel followed them,
saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his
image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is
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poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation;

and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the pres-
ence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb.”
1. It warns against the worship of the beast.
2. It warns against worship of the image of the beast.
3. It warns against receiving the mark of the beast.
4. It warns of God’s wrath upon those who do not heed His
warning (Revelation 14:9-10; 15:1; 16).
4 - HOW MAY WE IDENTIFY
GOD’S REMNANT CHURCH?
1. It will preach a worldwide Judgment-hour message (Rev-
elation 14:6-7).
2. It will deliver the message of mystic Babylon’s fall (Rev-
elation 14:8).
3. It will give the warning against the beast’s image and
mark (Revelation 14:9-10).
4. It urges the worship of the Creator above the beast or
image (Revelation 14:7).
5. It keeps the commandments of God (Revelation 14:12).
6. It keeps and exalts the faith of Jesus (Revelation 14:12).
7. It believes and holds to the Spirit of Prophecy.
Revelation 12:17—“The dragon was wroth with the woman,
and went to make war with the ____________ of her seed,
which keep the __________________ of God, and have the tes-
timony of Jesus.”
Revelation 19:10—“The testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of
prophecy.”
8. It will endure reproach, scorn, and persecution (Revela-
tion 12:11).
9. It heeds God’s voice to come out of Babylon.
Revelation 18:1, 2, 4—“I saw another angel come down from
heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with
His glory. And He cried mightily with a strong voice, saying
Babylon the great is _________, is fallen, and is become the habi-
tation of devils . . And I heard another voice from heaven, saying,
Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins
and that ye receive not of her plagues.”
10. It will work and wait for Christ’s return.
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What the Bible says about –

Daily Victory in Christ

Victory
SCRIPTURE READING:
HEBREWS 11
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto
the Father, but by Me” (John 14:6). And the apostle John wrote, “He
that hath the Son hath life” (1 John 5:12). Paul wrote, “For to me to live
is Christ” (Philippians 1:21). “Nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ
liveth in me” (Galatians 2:20). “I can do all things through Christ which
strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:13).
The active exercise of living faith in Christ is the one great essential to
obtaining and maintaining an experience in the Lord that will bring
increasing satisfaction in this life and ultimate deliverance from this
world when Christ comes. “Without faith it is impossible to please
Him” (Hebrews 11:6). “This is the victory that overcometh the world,
even our faith” (1 John 5:4). “God hath dealt to every man the measure
of faith” (Romans 12:3). Faith is a gift of God to every man—rich and
poor, high and low, free and bond, wise and simple. It is man’s duty to
nourish and exercise this faith. Though it be as small as a grain of
mustard seed, it can grow and be used to move mountains of evil and
build temples of righteousness.
However, it is not merely faith, but primarily the object of true faith
that counts most. Faith in God, in Christ, in the promises of the Holy
Scriptures, and in all God’s plans and agencies for the accomplish-
ment of His purposes is what we need. It is what we must have if we are
to be victorious. Let us now see how faith makes us righteous and holy
in God’s sight.
I - HOW MAY A SINNER
BECOME RIGHTEOUS?
Romans 5:1—“Being justified [forgiven and made righteous]
by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ.”
Acts 13:38-39—“Be it known unto you therefore, men and breth-
ren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness
of sins: and by Him all that believe are justified from all things,
from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.”
If you will read the story of the pharisee and the publican in Luke 18:9-
14, you will note that the publican sought forgiveness of sin. “God be
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merciful to me a sinner,” he cried. Jesus adds this comment, “I tell
you, this man went down to his house justified.” In other words, the
“forgiveness” that the publican sought, Jesus called “justification.” This
includes also the merciful gift of righteousness, which God counts to
the credit of the repentant sinner for the simple reason that he has no
acceptable righteousness of his own! The great store of righteousness
upon which God draws, when imputing (counting) this undeserved credit,
is the righteous life of our Lord Jesus Christ.
A man may have been unjust, but by faith he may be counted as just.
When an unjust man is thus accounted as a just man, he is “justified.”
He is forgiven all past sins. God gives him credit as a righteous person
(through Christ). Then he has peace. He is counted as though he had
never sinned at all.
This justification comes by faith in the blood of a righteous Christ.
Romans 3:24-25—“Being justified freely by His grace through
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set
forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to de-
clare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past,
through the forbearance of God.”
1 John 1:9—“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to
forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
The cleansing from unrighteousness is through the blood of Christ.
The sinner is condemned to eternal death for the violation of God’s
eternal law. The substitute death of another sinner would not atone. No
angel of glory could die to save man. Since the divine law is as sacred
as God Himself, only one equal with God could make atonement for its
transgression.
So Jesus came, lived a sinless life, and “died for our sins according to
the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3); and it is He “whom God hath set
forth to be a propitiation [satisfaction] through faith in His blood, to
declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through
the forbearance of God” (Romans 3:25). Thus do we exercise faith in
the blood of a righteous Christ whose righteous life answers for our
unrighteous and unjust past. “To declare, I say, at this time, His righ-
teousness: that He [God] might be just, and the justifier of him which
believeth in Jesus” (Romans 3:26).
John 6:37—“Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.”
Any man, who will, may come to Christ. Whosoever will, may come. And
no sincere seeker will be turned away.
Matthew 11:28—“Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest.”
At conversion, Christ satisfies the claims of the sacred, unchangeable law
by counting His righteousness to the sinner’s credit. The past is for-
given, not because the sinner has obeyed God’s law, but in spite of the
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fact that he has not obeyed. “Therefore we conclude that a man is justi-
fied by faith without the deeds of the law” (Romans 3:28)

The gracious gift of forgiveness God offers free. It is ours to exercise

faith to the point of taking the gift. “Lay hold on eternal life” (1 Timothy
6:12). This is a definite spiritual action and transaction. We give God
our sins and He gives us forgiveness. It is by faith that the just shall
live (Romans 1:17).
“Do we then make void the law through faith?” This is a very good ques-
tion. Paul answers, “God forbid: yea, we establish the law” (Romans
3:31). We are forgiven that we might from henceforth be obedient chil-
dren, walking blameless in all the commandments of the Lord. This
life of victory begins by faith in Christ’s righteousness. It continues by
faith in Christ’s righteousness. It ends by faith in Christ’s righteous-
ness. It is Christ—Christ—Christ—first, last, and always. He alone is
the Saviour—in the beginning, through life, and at death. And faith in
Him is the connecting link.
2 - WHAT NEW RELATIONSHIP
DOES THE CHRISTIAN ENJOY?
Without reservation the follower of Christ will say to Christ, as Tho-
mas did, “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28). Jesus has a perfect
righteousness to be honored. He said, “Ye call Me Master and Lord:
and ye say well; for so I am” (John 13:13). As our Lord and Master,
Jesus bids us follow Him.
Matthew 4:19-20—“He saith unto them, Follow Me . . And they
straightway . . followed Him.”
Luke 14:33—“Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all
that he hath, he cannot be My disciple.”
Too many hear the good news of escape from hell and of a way to
heaven, and “with joy” receive it. They want to escape trial and suffer-
ing; they have visions of beautiful mansions on high that they will
occupy by and by. But they are not concerned with relating themselves
to Christ as followers and disciples. They are not prepared to acknowl-
edge Jesus as “my Lord and my God.” Jesus gave up heaven, came
down here, and risked eternal loss that we might gain heaven. He who
would accept this sacrifice intelligently and wholeheartedly will give up
this world in order to follow the Saviour (Philippians 2:5). This means
sacrifice. But think—think of the promise:
Matthew 19:29—“Every one that hath forsaken houses, or
brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or
lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and
shall inherit everlasting life.”
For all that we give up, God will return a hundredfold. He takes away,
but only to give more and better in return.
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Matthew 7:24-25—“Whosoever heareth these sayings of Mine,
and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built
his house upon a rock: and the rain descended, and the floods
came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell
not: for it was founded upon a rock.”
If we hear and obey, we shall be built upon the solid rock, Christ
Jesus, not otherwise. Between these two extremes lie all the shades and
colors of professed Christianity.
3 - WHAT IS THE SECRET
OF SPIRITUAL POWER?
After the transaction has been made in which faith claims forgiveness
for past sins, and after the soul by faith makes a complete surrender of
all to Christ as Lord and Saviour, to do God’s will and obey all His
commandments, the next step is to have faith in Christ as a living
Saviour with power to deliver you and, yes, to keep you from the power
of sin. To learn this is to discover the secret of spiritual power. It is not
enough to believe in the death of Christ. It is not enough to surrender
to Christ. We must believe that Christ is a risen, all-powerful Saviour,
who can and will bring victory over sin into the life through His ind-
welling Spirit. All of this is made possible through His resurrection
victory. Paul said, “That I may know Him, and the power of His resur-
rection” (Philippians 3:10). Here are promises of power made by the
risen Saviour.
Matthew 28:18, 20—“Jesus came and spake unto them, say-
ing, All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth . . And,
lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.”
Luke 24:49—“Behold, I send the promise of My Father upon
you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with
power from on high.”
Acts 1:8—“Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is
come upon you.”
Hebrews 7:25—“He is able to save them to the uttermost that
come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make interces-
sion for them.”
Hebrews 12:1-2—“Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which
doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that
is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of
our faith.”
This power, as in the case of all other blessings, comes through active
faith. “This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith” (1
John 5:4). A living faith means a confiding trust, by which the soul
becomes a conquering power. And by all means, hold on! “Being confi-
dent of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you
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will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6). In this
way, dear friend, we enter upon the life of victory. In this way we receive
spiritual power for an abiding life of conquest in the Saviour!
4 - HOW DOES THE BIBLE
HELP OUR FAITH?
There is yet something important we must mention to help you. Faith,
to be strong, must be fed. The Word of God is the food of faith. The
Bible is heaven’s pantry; on the shelves are stored, in unlimited quan-
tity and almost infinite variety, the foods that nourish Christian faith
and experience, and abundant delicacies to delight the soul of the Chris-
tian (Jeremiah 15:16). “Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb”
(Psalm 19:10).
But it is so easy to keep on trying to live while neglecting to feed upon
this heavenly food. Often the cares and pleasures of this life consume
our time and energies to the neglect of God’s Word. Sometimes, even in
the work of God, it is possible to grow nervous and anxious, to work
in haste, if not in fury, to do God’s service while at the same time
neglecting to nourish the soul and the spirit with daily, regular feeding
on God’s Word. The importance of daily Bible reading may be seen by
the following:
1. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God.
Romans 10:17—“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hear-
ing by the Word of God.”
2. The Christian feeds upon, and lives by, the Word of God.
Matthew 4:4—“He answered and said, It is written, Man shall
not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out
of the mouth of God.”
3. His Word is a heavenly light.
Psalm 119:105—“Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a
light unto my path.”
4. It is powerful to resist evil.
Hebrews 4:12—“The Word of God is quick, and powerful,
and sharper than any two-edged sword.”
5. His Word is the sword of the Spirit.
Ephesians 6:17—“Take the helmet of salvation and the sword
of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.”
In the wilderness of temptation, Jesus wielded the “sword of the Spirit”
with swift and telling strokes—“It is written . . It is written.” “It is
written” (Matthew 4:4, 7, 10). “Then the devil leaveth Him, and, be-
hold, angels came and ministered unto Him” (Matthew 4:11). Oh friend,
know this Book. Know it well. Use it in temptation to conquer the world
and sin. Use it when overwhelmed with sorrow and fear and worry. Use
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it when doubt and unbelief assail you. Every promise has power;
every command, wisdom; every warning, deep meaning. Become known
as a Bible-believing, Bible-practicing Christian.
5 - WHY IS PRAYER
SO ESSENTIAL TO VICTORY?
“Ask, and it shall be given you,” said Jesus. “Every one that asketh
receiveth” (Matthew 7:7-8). So it is clear that God has made prayer the
means for receiving spiritual blessings that we would not otherwise
receive unless we asked. We may well-remember three things.
1. James 1:6—“Let him ask in faith.”
2. 1 John 3:22—“Whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him,
because we keep His commandments.”
3. Proverbs 28:9—“He that turneth away his ear from hearing
the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.”
The promise is made that “they that wait upon the Lord shall renew
their strength” (Isaiah 40:31). “He ever liveth to make intercession
for them” (Hebrews 7:25). So ask, friend, and receive. Pray morning,
noon, and night as David and Daniel did, and learn the sweetness of
communion with God in the secret place of power. Oh, yes, and don’t
forget to always pray in Jesus’ name.
6 - WHY IS EVERY CHRISTIAN CALLED
TO BE A WITNESS?
Christian service is necessary for soul prosperity. “Take My yoke upon
you,” said Jesus (Matthew 11:29). All life is action. We cannot be
ever receiving and never giving. By faith we receive forgiveness and
appropriate power. We feed on the Word of God and pray for this and
that, but we must surrender, not only to do the will of God as between
ourselves and Him, but to do His will toward others. Every soul is
born into God’s kingdom as a missionary. Every Christian should be
a soul winner. Moody said that if a man will read the Word of God
fifteen minutes a day, pray sincerely fifteen minutes a day, and spend
fifteen minutes a day talking definitely to help some soul to Christ, or
heavenward, he will enjoy a good experience. Not only the ministers
but the laymen should work to make others Christians. Think about
the following texts:
Mark 16:15—“Go ye into all the world, and preach the gos-
pel.”
God needs you to help spread abroad the story of the saving gospel
and the speedy return of Jesus. If you love Him, the saving truth
cannot be sealed up in your heart. It will overflow in blessing to
others.
James 1:27—“Pure religion and undefiled before God and
the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their
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affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.”
Only “faith which worketh by love” (Galatians 5:6) will purify the soul
and keep the channel of blessing open. The true Christian will have a
special care for the widows, the fatherless, and the poor (Matthew
25:34-40).
Matthew 25:21—“Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”
These words of commendation are spoken to servants—faithful ser-
vants—who have worked for Christ. These soul-winning Christians are
the ones whom He will take to heaven with Him when He comes again.
They have exercised the faculties of the soul and become strong even as
the muscles of the body become strong by exertion.
7 - WHY IS ACTIVE CHURCH FELLOWSHIP IMPORTANT?
He who by choice and without a justifiable reason habitually absents
himself from church services and fellowship will not maintain a warm,
glowing Christian experience. As a coal drawn from the fire onto the
hearth soon loses its heat and glow, so the Christian who loses heart
contact with other Christians is likely to lose his warmth of experience
and find his ardor and zeal growing cold. When one is regular in church
attendance, the fact that he may regard some of the members as hypo-
crites will not discourage him. He will do his best to elevate the per-
centage of true saints by being loyal himself. Jesus said:
“Where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I” (Matthew
18:20). “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together” (Hebrews
10:25), said the writer of Hebrews.
In these Bible lessons, we have prayerfully presented to you the Christ
of the church, who alone can save; the hope of the church, which is the
second advent of Jesus our Lord; the foundation of the church, which
is the Word of the living God. If you will build upon that Word, your
temple of faith will endure forever. If you build upon the shifting sands
of human tradition and desire, your house of faith will go down in
ruin. You are the builder, and you must decide on the foundation as
well as on the house itself. God bless you now and be with you always.
———————————————————————————
Brief Review Questions —

Does God, in the Bible, promise daily victory over

temptation and sin?

Through the enabling grace of Christ, will God help us

obey His Ten Commandment law?

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VICTORY IN CHRIST
SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL—
“It is not the will of God that His people should be weighed down
with care. But our Lord does not deceive us. He does not say to us, ‘Do
not fear; there are no dangers in your path.’ He knows there are trials
and dangers, and He deals with us plainly. He does not propose to take
His people out of a world of sin and evil, but He points them to a never-
failing refuge. His prayer for His disciples was, ‘I pray not that Thou
shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep
them from the evil.’ ‘In the world," He says, ‘ye shall have tribulation: but
be of good cheer; I have overcome the world’ (John 17:15, 16:33).
“In His Sermon on the Mount, Christ taught His disciples precious
lessons in regard to the necessity of trusting in God. These lessons were
designed to encourage the children of God through all ages, and they
have come down to our time full of instruction and comfort. The Sav-
iour pointed His followers to the birds of the air as they warbled their
carols of praise, unencumbered with thoughts of care, for ‘they sow not,
neither do they reap.’ And yet the great Father provides for their needs.
The Saviour asks, ‘Are ye not much better than they’ (Matthew 6:26)? The
great Provider for man and beast opens His hand and supplies all His
creatures. The birds of the air are not beneath His notice. He does not
drop the food into their bills, but He makes provision for their needs . .
Will not the Author of our being, the Preserver of our life, the One who
formed us in His own divine image, provide for our necessities if we but
trust in Him?
“Christ pointed His disciples to the flowers of the field, growing in
rich profusion and glowing in the simple beauty which the heavenly Fa-
ther had given them, as an expression of His love to man. He said,
‘Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow.’ The beauty and simplic-
ity of these natural flowers far outrival the splendor of Solomon . .
Jesus asks, ‘If God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and
tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall He not much more clothe you, O ye
of little faith’ (Matthew 6: 28, 30)? . . This lesson of Christ’s is a rebuke
to the anxious thought, the perplexity and doubt, of the faithless heart.
“The Lord would have all His sons and daughters happy, peaceful,
and obedient. Jesus says, ‘My peace I give unto you: not as the world
giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be
afraid.’ ‘These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain
in you, and that your joy might be full.’ John 14:27; 15:11.
“Happiness that is sought from selfish motives, outside of the path
of duty, is ill-balanced, fitful, and transitory; it passes away, and the
soul is filled with loneliness and sorrow; but there is joy and satisfac-
tion in the service of God; the Christian is not left to walk in uncertain
paths; he is not left to vain regrets and disappointments. If we do not
have the pleasures of this life we may still be joyful in looking to the life
beyond.
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“But even here Christians may have the joy of communion with Christ;
they may have the light of His love, the perpetual comfort of His pres-
ence. Every step in life may bring us closer to Jesus, may give us a
deeper experience of His love, and may bring us one step nearer to the
blessed home of peace. Then let us not cast away our confidence, but
have firm assurance, firmer than ever before. ‘Hitherto hath the Lord
helped us,’ and He will help us to the end (1 Samuel 7:12). Let us look
to the monumental pillars, reminders of what the Lord has done to
comfort us and to save us from the hand of the destroyer. Let us keep
fresh in our memory all the tender mercies that God has shown us,—the
tears He has wiped away, the pains He has soothed, the anxieties re-
moved, the fears dispelled, the wants supplied, the blessings bestowed,—
thus strengthening ourselves for all that is before us through the re-
mainder of our pilgrimage.
“We cannot but look forward to new perplexities in the coming con-
flict, but we may look on what is past as well as on what is to come, and
say, ‘Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.’ ‘As thy days, so shall thy strength
be.’ Deuteronomy 33:25. The trial will not exceed the strength that shall
be given us to bear it. Then let us take up our work just where we find it,
believing that whatever may come, strength proportionate to the trial will
be given.
“And by and by the gates of heaven will be thrown open to admit
God’s children, and from the lips of the King of glory the benediction
will fall on their ears like richest music, ‘Come, ye blessed of My Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world’
(Matthew 25:34).
“Then the redeemed will be welcomed to the home that Jesus is
preparing for them. There their companions will not be the vile of earth,
liars, idolaters, the impure, and unbelieving; but they will associate with
those who have overcome Satan and through divine grace have formed
perfect characters. Every sinful tendency, every imperfection, that afflicts
them here has been removed by the blood of Christ, and the excellence
and brightness of His glory, far exceeding the brightness of the sun, is
imparted to them. And the moral beauty, the perfection of His character,
shines through them, in worth far exceeding this outward splendor. They
are without fault before the great white throne, sharing the dignity and
the privileges of the angels.
“In view of the glorious inheritance that may be his, ‘what shall a
man give in exchange for his soul’ (Matthew 16:26)? He may be poor, yet
he possesses in himself a wealth and dignity that the world could never
bestow. The soul redeemed and cleansed from sin, with all its noble
powers dedicated to the service of God, is of surpassing worth; and
there is joy in heaven in the presence of God and the holy angels over one
soul redeemed, a joy that is expressed in songs of holy triumph.”
—Steps to Christ, 122-126

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Brief Bible Study - 31 CHRISTIAN LIVING-2 - CODE: CL2

Victory in Christ
I - HOW MAY A SINNER
BECOME RIGHTEOUS?
Romans 5:1—“Being justified [forgiven and made righteous] by
faith, we have ________ with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Acts 13:38-39—“Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren,
that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of
sins: and by Him all that believe are justified from all things,
from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.”
Romans 3:24-25—“Being justified freely by His __________
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath
set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to de-
clare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past,
through the forbearance of God.”
1 John 1:9—“If we _________ our sins, He is faithful and just to
____________ us our sins, and to ___________ us from all unrigh-
teousness.”
John 6:37—“Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.”
Matthew 11:28—“Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest.”
2 - WHAT NEW RELATIONSHIP
DOES THE CHRISTIAN ENJOY?
Matthew 4:19-20—“He saith unto them, Follow Me . . And they straight-
way . . followed Him.”
Luke 14:33—“Whosoever he be of you that ____________ not all
that he hath, he cannot be My disciple.”
Matthew 19:29—“Every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren,
or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for My
name’s sake, shall receive an _______________, and shall inherit
everlasting life.”
Matthew 7:24-25—“Whosoever heareth these sayings of Mine, and
____________ them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built
his house upon a rock: and the rain descended, and the floods came,
and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it
was founded upon a ___________.”
3 - WHAT IS THE SECRET
OF SPIRITUAL POWER?
Matthew 28:18, 20—“Jesus came and spake unto them, saying,
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Brief Bible Study - 31 CHRISTIAN LIVING-2 - CODE: CL2

All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth . . And, lo, I am

with you alway, even unto the end of the world.”
Luke 24:49—“Behold, I send the ____________ of My Father upon
you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with
power from on high.”
Hebrews 7:25—“He is able to save them to the uttermost that come
unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for
them.”
Hebrews 12:1-2—“Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which
doth so easily beset us, and let us run with ____________ the race
that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of
our faith.”
4 - HOW DOES THE BIBLE
HELP OUR FAITH?
1. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God.
Romans 10:17—“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing
by the _________ of God.”
2. The Christian feeds upon, and lives by, the Word of God.
Matthew 4:4—“He answered and said, It is written, Man shall
not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of
the mouth of God.” 3. His Word is a heavenly light. Psalm
119:105—“Thy Word is a _________ unto my feet, and a light
unto my path.” 4. It is powerful to resist evil. Hebrews 4:12—
“The Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any
two-edged sword.” 5. His Word is the sword of the Spirit.
Ephesians 6:17—“Take the helmet of salvation and the
____________ of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.”
5 - WHY IS PRAYER
S0 ESSENTIAL TO VICTORY?
1. James 1:6—“Let him ask in faith.” 2. 1 John 3:22—“What-
soever we ask, we ___________ of Him, because we keep His com-
mandments.” 3. Proverbs 28:9—“He that turneth away his ear from
hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.”
6 - WHY IS EVERY CHRISTIAN CALLED
TO BE A WITNESS?
Mark 16:15—“Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel.”
James 1:27—“Pure ____________ and undefiled before God and
the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their afflic-
tion, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.”
355
 HOW TO MARK YOUR BIBLE
Taking the time to mark key verses in your Bible will help fix
them in your mind. Done a little at a time, it is actually a very
encouraging and enjoyable project.
LESSON CODES—If you wish to mark the verses found in the
lessons in a chain, so you can go from one verse to another in
your Bible, then you will need a code for each lesson. Such a
code is found at the far right of the chart on page 359. Here is
an example of how it could be used to mark the first two texts in
Lesson One:
MARKING PATTERN—Next to the first text in Lesson One, for
example, you would write this: (“N” stands for “next text.”)
Luke 24:44-45 B-1
N: 2 Pet 3:15-16
Alongside the next verse, you would write this:
2 Pet 3:15-16 B-2
N: 2 Tim 3:16
FIRST TEXT LIST—You will want to keep a sheet in the back
of your Bible, which lists the first text in each lesson study. A
copy of this will be found on the chart on page 359.
COLOR MARKING SYSTEM—You may find it helpful to use
several colors when marking verses. In this way, you may be able
to more quickly locate and use them later. Sometimes you may
want to mark the entire verse, and sometimes only key words or
phrases.
Use only the finest of marking materials, preferably top-grade
pencils. Colored pens, with the exception of black, eventually
blur as oils, from the fingers, accumulate in the paper. If it is still
manufactured, the Eagle Verithin line of colored pencils is very
suitable.
For the color black, a fairly soft lead pencil will be found to
be superior to ink. This is because it never prints through to the
other side, and you can mark light, medium, or dark with it;
something you cannot do with a black pen.
It is best to use a ruler when you underline. A thin, six-inch
ruler can serve both as a bookmark and as a readily available
marking ruler.
Here is one suggestive arrangement of doctrines, using six
colors and black, as you mark these 31 Bible lessons in your
Bible:
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Family Bible Studies: How to Mark Your Bible page 2
Prophecy - Red
3 - Daniel 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D2
5 - Second Coming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SC
6 - Signs of the End . . . . . . . . . . . . . .SE
7 - Millennium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . M
8 - Heaven . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .H
9 - Daniel 8 and 9 . . . . . . . . . . . .D8 & 9
14 - Daniel 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D7
25 - Revelation 12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .R12
26 - Revelation 13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R13
30 - Revelation 14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R14
Christian experience - Blue
4 - Plan of Salvation . . . . . . . . . . . . . PS
2 - Jesus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .J
20 - Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .P
24 - Living in Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . CL1
31 - Victory in Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . CL2
Obedience - Green
1 - Bible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .B
11 - Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .L
12 - Law and Grace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . LG
13 - Sabbath . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . S
15 - Change of the Sabbath . . . . . . . . CS
16 - Sabbath in New Testament . . .. SNT
17 - Sabbath Questions . . . . . . . . . . . SQ
Sanctuary - Orange
10 - Sanctuary and Judgment . . . . . . HS
Death - Brown
18 - Unpardonable Sin . . . . . . . . . . . .US
19 - Sin and Satan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SS
21 - State of the Dead . . . . . . . . . . . . .SD
22 - Punishment of the Wicked . . . . . PW
Concluding doctrines - Violet
23 - Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H
27 - Baptism and Ordinances . . . . . B&O
29 - Tithes and Offerings . . . . . . . . .T&O
30 - Spirit of Prophecy . . . . . . . . . . . . SP
Miscellaneous - Black
Some topics could be marked by one or the other of two differ-
ent colors. One example would be Daniel 8:14; some could be red
357
Family Bible Studies: How to Mark Your Bible page 3
or orange.
As you study deeper in the Bible, you will find many passages
not mentioned in this 31-lesson set. For example, there is much
in the books of Hebrews, Exodus, Leviticus, and even Revelation
about the Sanctuary.
Feel free to consider other ways to mark your Bible. The present
writer has for years used underlining to emphasize various verses or
parts of verses. He has lightly colored through the print itself of verses
especially important to him. And (holding the pencil on the side and
shading lightly) he has lightly penciled through those verses or key
words which introduce new sections. Carefully done, this can help you
outline the major sections in your Bible.
Drawing a vertical line alongside one or more verses helps connect
them together and indicate their importance. You may wish to do this
on the side next to the center margin (where the marginal notes and
references are found).
WHICH TYPE OF PAPER?—Which would be better: a wide-mar-
gin India-paper Bible or a Bible paper that has a narrower margin?
That may seem like an odd question, yet there is more difference than
might at first appear.
An “India-paper” Bible is very thin, much more attractive appear-
ing and, of course, more expensive. Unfortunately, because the paper
is so thin, months later the ink markings may eventually pass on
through to the other side. Some colored pencils will also (but never
pencil). This can ruin a well-marked Bible. It has happened to the
present writer. In addition, because the paper tends to stick together
more, it is harder to turn quickly to one Bible verse and then another.
This makes the giving of sermons or Bible studies more difficult.
In contrast, less expensive Bibles with what is called “Bible
paper” may be a little thicker but you can more easily mark them
with ink and colored pencils, and you can much more quickly
turn to passages you are looking for.
The present writer would far rather have a Bible-paper Bible, with
its smaller margins, than to have an India-paper, even though it may
have wide-margins.

———————————————————————————————
“In comparison with the worth of one soul, the whole world sinks into insignifi-
cance.”—5 Testimonies, 614.
“The worth of a soul cannot be fully estimated by finite minds . . [In heaven] no
one will then regret his self-denying efforts and persevering labors . . for souls
that might have been lost had he neglected his duty or become weary in well-
doing.”—5 Testimonies, 620.
358
 Xerox this page and paste it into the back of your Bible. You will
then be able to quickly go to the beginning of your Bible chains.

LESSON FIRST TEXTS AND CODES

LESSON TOPIC FIRST TEXT CODE

1 - God’s Special Book (Bible) Luke 24:44-45 B-1
2 - Ten Facts about Jesus John 3:16 J-1
3 - Daniel Two Isaiah 46:9-10 D2-1
4 - The Plan of Salvation I John 3:4 PS-1
5 - Christ’s Second Coming John 14:2-3 SC-1
6 - Signs of the End Luke 21:25-27 SE-1
7 - The Millennium 1 Thess 4:15-16 M-1
8 - Bible Views of Heaven Genesis 2:7 Hv-1
9 - Daniel Eight and Nine Daniel 8:20 D8-9-1
10 - The Sanctuary in Heaven Hebrews 9:22 HS-1
11 - The Eternal Law of God Psalm 103:19 L-1
12 - Law and Grace Colossians 2:14 LG-1
13 - Sabbath Exodus 31:16-17 S-1
14 - The Prophecy of Daniel Seven Daniel 7:2 D7-1
15 - Change of the Sabbath Isaiah 8:20 CS-1
16 - Sunday in the New Testament Matthew 28:1 SNT-1
17 - Questions Answered Jeremiah 6:16 SQ-1
18 - Unpardonable Sin Matthew 28:19 US-1
19 - Sin and Satan 1 John 3:4 SS-1
20 - Prayer Psalm 31:9 P-1
21 - State of Dead 1 Timothy 1:17 SD-1
22 - End of the Wicked Job 30:23 PW-1
23 - The Bible and Better Health Ezekiel 33:11 H-1
24 - Christian Living-1 John 14:16-17 CL1-1
25 - Revelation 12 Revelation 12:1 R12-1
26 - Revelation 13 Revelation 13:1 R13-1
27 - Baptism and Ordinances Matthew 3:13 B&O-1
28 - The Spirit of Prophecy Ephesians 4:11-13 SP-1
29 - Taking God as a Partner Psalm 24:1 T&O-1
30 - Revelation 14 Revelation 14:6-7 R14-1
31 - Christian Living-2 Romans 5:1 CL2-1

359
 FOR FURTHER STUDY

The following brief study guide will help the careful teacher
and student to dig still deeper into the Biblical truths dealt with in
these lessons. (BR = Bible Readings. The paging is that of the
lowest-cost edition, which is published by Harvestime Books.)

1 - God’s Special Book 9 (p. 9 in this book)

Bible: BR 10-22 (pp. 10-22 in Bible Readings)
2 - Ten Facts about Jesus 21
Jesus: BR 20-22, 38-45, 104-115
3 - Daniel Two 33
Daniel 2: BR 129-138
4 - The Plan of Salvation 43
Redemption Plan: BR 30-38, 45-48, 50-63, 67-95
5 - Christ’s Second Coming 53
Second Advent: BR 227-238
6 - Signs of the End 63
Signs: BR 210-227
7 - The Millennium 75
Millennium: BR 238-245
8 - Bible Views of Heaven 87
Heaven: BR 583-596
9 - Daniel Eight and Nine 97
Daniel 8: BR 152-164
10 - The Sanctuary in Heaven 107
Sanctuary: BR 165-174
Judgment: BR 174-179
11 - The Eternal Law of God 121
Law: BR 253-285, 293-298
12 - Obedience through Christ 133
Ceremonial Law: BR 306-309
Law and Grace: BR 287-293

360
Family Bible Studies - Study Guide page 2
13 - Your Special Day with God 143
Sabbath: BR 300-315
14 - The Prophecy of Daniel Seven 155
Daniel 7: BR 142-152
15 - How Sundaykeeping Began 165
History of Change: BR 323-327, 339-343
16 - Sunday in the New Testament 185
Sunday in NT: BR 315-320
Sabbath in NT: BR 320-323
17 - Questions Answered 201
What Was Abolished? BR 285-287
18 - Can We Go Too Far in Sin? 215
Holy Spirit: BR 117-119, 124-127
19 - Sin and Satan 225
Sin: BR 26-29
Satan: BR 382-385
Good and Bad Angels: BR 414-421
20 - The Pathway to God’s Throne 235
Prayer: BR 475-482
21 - The Other Side of Death 245
State of Dead: BR 390-395
22 - Eternal Life in Christ 255
End of Wicked: BR 395-400
23 - The Bible and Better Health 265
Health: BR 570-572
Temperance: BR 574-581
Healing: 502-504
24 - Living in Christ 275
Holy Spirit: BR 117-119
Christian Living: BR 428-473
25 - Satan’s War against the Church 285
Revelation 12: BR 192-193

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Family Bible Studies - Study Guide page 3
26 - The Mark of the Beast 295
Revelation 13: BR 192-200
Mark of the Beast: BR 327-331
Revelation 14 (Seal): BR 331-336
27 - Following in Jesus’ Steps 307
Baptism: BR 63-67
Ordinances: 486-492
28 - The Gift of Prophecy 317
Spirit of Prophecy: BR 119-124
29 - Taking God as a Partner 327
Tithe: BR 505-507
Offerings: BR 505-512
30 - The Remnant 337
Revelation 14: BR 179-192
Persecution: 355-380
31 - Victory in Christ 345
Christian Living-2: BR 50-88
“Jesus did not consider heaven a place to be desired while we
were lost. He left the heavenly courts for a life of reproach and
insult, and a death of shame. He who was rich in heaven's price-
less treasure became poor, that through His poverty we might be
rich. We are to follow in the path He trod. He who becomes a child
of God should henceforth look upon himself as a link in the chain
let down to save the world, one with Christ in His plan of mercy,
going forth with Him to seek and save the lost.” —MH, 105
“The work for souls is the most delicate work in all the world.
It calls for skill and knowledge. It calls for a very sensitive touch,
love and understanding. We are told again and again that “the high-
est of all sciences is the science of soul saving. The greatest work
to which human beings can aspire is the work of winning men
from sin to holiness.” —Ministry of Healing, 398
“The conversion of souls to God is the greatest, the noblest
work in which human beings can have a part.”—7 Testimonies, 52
“All worldly enterprises are of trifling importance compared
with the work of saving souls. Earthly things are not enduring,
although they cost so much. But one soul saved will shine in the
kingdom of heaven throughout eternal ages.” —2 Testimonies, 336
362
H O W T O L O C AT E B I B L E S T U D
DYY INTERESTS

People want help. They want to understand the Word of God.

They want God! They want forgiveness of sin. They want help in
living better, clean lives.
Many are waiting for you to come to their door and offer to
give them Bible studies.
The question is how to find them.
There are many ways to locate Bible study interests. Here
is one method which has proven successful:

Take a clip board and write on it several questions:

Name
Address
etc.
Do not expect to ever come to the end of asking those ques-
tions. You will either be stopped or a Bible study will result. Now,
let us see how it works:
A key factor in your success will be the amount you have
pled with God, beforehand, for souls. Have you prayed so much
that it is changing your own life? Have you agonized enough that
you are weighted with a strong burden for souls? When you are
sufficiently armed with the presence of the Holy Spirit, you start
off. No longer do you care about yourself. Your sole concern is for
the people; they must be reached for Christ!
As you drive, pray for guidance as to where to begin. Parking
the car, you walk over to a home and knock on the door. Hold
the clipboard cradled in one arm, prepared to be written on.
The other hand has a pencil or pen ready for writing responses.
When someone opens it, you may say something like this:
“Our church is making a survey of the folk in our community.
May I ask you a few questions?
At this juncture, the hours of prayer will have produced in
you a person who looks sincere and trustworthy, the kind of good
person they wish they had for a friend. Note that you did not try
to enter the building. This greatly helped set the householder at
ease.
You may receive a negative response (“Not interested”; “No,
not today”).
If the reply is negative, you go to the next home. As you go,
your thoughts are not of yourself, for you are praying for those

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Family Bible Studies: Locating Bible Studies page 2
God is leading you to. You are concerned about other people!
This is a strong key to the indominatable spirit which God can
use, because the heart is surrendered to Him, working with Him,
and thinking like Him.
It really does not matter how many doors you knock on be-
fore you find someone to talk to. You are getting good outdoor
exercise and you are working with the angels. What a pleasant
experience to have!
Before long, you will encounter someone willing to speak with
you at the door.
As they open the door, you are relaxed with your hand hold-
ing a pen, with the cradled, angled clipboard in your other hand.
“Our church is making a survey of the folk in our community.
May I ask you a few questions?”
You are standing there pleasant, relaxed, easy going, warm,
and sunny dispositioned—the kind of person people like to be
around.
“Yes.”
Looking down at your clipboard, you prepare to write as you
say in a gentle, friendly way, “Your name?”
“Mrs. Mary Jones.”
“Address”
“1234 5th Street.”
“What church do you prefer?”
“Oh, uh, Christian; uh, Baptist.”
“How often do you attend?”
“Not very often.”
“Do you have a Bible?”
“I think so.”
Notice the direction these questions are taking you. Also no-
tice that they are all about religious things. This would be un-
derstandable; since, at the outset, you said you were doing a
survey for your church.
There are several different things you could have said, but
each question will be leading in the same direction.
A key factor here is that, as long as you can keep this conver-
sation in progress, and in a pleasant manner, you are moving
closer to an appointment to give Bible studies to this person.
Your humble, kindly, sincere bearing shines through all that
you do, and it moves on the hearts of those whom you converse
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Family Bible Studies: Locating Bible Studies page 3
with. If you are walking with Jesus, it shows, and the kind of
people who would want Bible studies, will like to talk with you.
They sense that you have a genuine concern for souls. And,
deep down, they know they have a soul which needs help.
At this juncture in the conversation, you can lead the conver-
sation along several different spiritual routes. But we will con-
tinue with a suggested one:
“Do you have a Bible?”
“I think so.”
“Do you read in it very often?”
“Not too often.”
“Would you like to understand it better?”
“Yes, I really would.”
At this point, you pause and say something like this,
“You know, crime and immorality are increasing so rapidly,
aren’t they?”
“Yes, they sure are.”
“Conditions in the world are steadily worsening. Surely, it
cannot be long before Christ returns.”
“Did you know that, in the Bible, Christ predicted the kind of
conditions we now have?”
“No, I didn’t.”
If the person seems to be continuing in agreement and
thoughtful interest, you will continue right on, in your conversa-
tion with him. Remember, as long as you can keep it in progress,
the closer you are nearing to an appointment for Bible studies.
“Here, if you don’t mind, let me show you.”
Taking out a small Bible from your suit pocket or purse, you
prepare to open it. At this point, the person may invite you into
the home, or you may delicately ask if you can come in. If not,
you can continue the conversation right there at the door. Do
know that, by this time, a trustful friendship is developing and it
likely that you may be invited in. Your attitude, bearing, and
prayers throughout the conversation up to this point greatly help.
Right here, you might ask, “Can you find your Bible, and I
will show you?”
This will tend to lead into an invitation to come inside—if the
person knows where that Bible is. So you may not want to ask
that. Either way, still at the door or now inside, you may con-
tinue:
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Family Bible Studies: Locating Bible Studies page 4
“Over here, in the book of Matthew. It is one of the four books
which tells about the life of Jesus. Here in Matthew 24, Jesus
predicted the future.”
Begin reading Matthew 24:1 and go a number of verses into it,
pausing to comment on it. There are many brief spiritual com-
ments you can make which will reach that person’s heart. But
guard yourself, that you do not become too wordy. Or, to say it
differently, speak slowly from the heart and make every word count.
You are not there to spout off your great knowledge. You are there
to reach a soul in its need.
From the very beginning of the conversation at the door, you
have been both speaking and praying (yes, both can be done at the
same time. It is done by being in a prayerful attitude while you are
speaking, and praying to God—as Nehemiah did—during every
pause).
You may get up to verse 13 or, perhaps, a little beyond. But at
some point, you pause, as though you are thinking, and then say,
“Would you like me to come back and study the Bible again
next week?”
“Yes, I would.”
“All right, should we make it this same time?”
“That would be fine.”
—Then be sure you come back next week at that time!
Some of these Bible study appointments will unravel rather
quickly, for Satan will catch away their thoughts to other imagined
duties and activities. But some of the appointments will continue
on, week after week. If at all possible, if you are a man and the
Bible study interest is a woman, bring a woman with you to the
studies; ideally, your wife, possibly one of your children.
Sometimes, within the first three or four studies, you may be
able to deftly switch the studies from yourself to a friend, who will
conduct them thereafter. But it must be a person who is also warm
and sincere, someone which the Bible study interest can identify
with.
As you continue to go from door to door, you will learn to
rather quickly recognize the type of people who are likely to be-
come good Bible study contacts.
It is very important that you pray for people, both before and
after you have met and spoken with them. There is great power in
this ongoing spirit of prayerful intercession for souls.
God will work through you to reach many souls, and you will
rejoice in heaven as you see the harvest which has resulted.
366
 HOW TO PREP
PAARE A LESSON

During the week preceding the presentation of a study, you

will have opportunity to study somewhat into the subject. For this
purpose, you may find the Study Guides on page 360-362 to be
helpful.
At the very least, you will want to carefully read over the lesson
in advance. As you do so, underline key points on your copy. Then
go through it a second time, making more forceful underlinings to
certain items.
In this way, you will not only become quite familiar with the
lesson content, but, during the study presentation, those mark-
ings will help you focus on the special Bible passages and key
comments you want to give special attention to.
Each time you later give that lesson again, go over it in ad-
vance—just as you did the first time.
Always, always—be in a spirit of prayer as you prepare a les-
son and as you give it. And always pray for those folk afterward!
Your dedication and concern is crucial to the deeper movings of
the Holy Spirit.
You will, of course, want to have additional copies of the les-
son with you to give to the person(s) you have just given the study
to. In this way they can review it. By giving the Bible study interest
a copy of the lesson, you have also given him a copy of the Supple-
mentary Materials for that lesson. Week after week, these Supple-
mentary Materials will help him more and more fully appreciate
and value the remarkable Bible commentary to be found in the
Spirit of Prophecy.
You would do well to encourage him to use the two-page les-
sons, at the end of each of the larger ones, as the basis for obtain-
ing a better grasp of the message. The incentive to start his own
Bible marking program is always encouraging.
He will be pleased with the Certificate of Scholarship, he will
receive when the lessons are completed. Hopefully, you have been
able to provide him with one or more free books as you proceeded
with the lessons. They were listed on page 8, but are reprinted
below:

Lesson 1 - Steps to Christ or Shelter in the Storm Lesson 17 - Great Controversy

Lesson 5 - Desire of Ages Lesson 23 - Ministry of Healing
Lesson 9 - Patriarchs and Prophets Lesson 28 - Prophet of the End
Lesson 13 - Beyond Pitcairn Lesson 31 - Bible Readings

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 WHEN GIVING BIBLE STUDIES

When giving Bible studies, here are several points which will
help you carry them on more efficiently:
Same time. It is well to give the Bible study at the same time
each week. This establishes a pattern of regularity.
Be prepared. Be acquainted with the lesson. At the very least,
try to have read it over ahead of time.
Dress appropriately. You may not need to arrive in go-to-meet-
ing clothes, but your clothes should be neat and clean.
Be on time. If you said you would be there at a certain time,
you should either be there then, call ahead, or have a good excuse.
Be courteous. Do not interrupt and do not argue.
Be a good friend. Be warm, relaxed, kindly, and helpful.
Help them get to church or other group meetings. Do not
wait until the lesson series is finished to begin doing that! This is
where many make a major mistake. They need to identify with
your local congregation, as well as with you.
Caution. A man should avoid giving Bible studies to a woman
alone and vice versa, especially if either one is married.
Humbleness. Do not be afraid to say, “I do not know the an-
swer to that.” They will respect you for not pretending to know
everything. Then add, “We will have to study into that.” Then go
home and study out the answer. Counsel with a pastor or friend.
Premature questions. When they prematurely ask about a sub-
ject you will come to later (mark of the beast, Sabbath, tithing,
diet, etc.), say, “That is a good question. We will study that later
on.”
Shepherd them. Continue to shepherd them, even after they
start coming to church or group meetings, at least until they be-
come integrated into the group and are making additional warm
friendships.
Keep studying. As you have opportunity, continue to study
more deeply into these Biblical teachings. An excellent opportu-
nity is yours when you know you have to give another lesson study
the next week. That gives you several days to do additional back-
ground study on the subject.
Most important of all: Pray, pray, pray. These are precious
souls who need Jesus and the special truths for this time in his-
tory. Satan will try to interfere and prevent the studies from being
successfully completed. Pray and work and pray.

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 REACHING THE HEART
AND OBT
TAAINING DECISIONS

You will find here an invaluable collection of helpful suggestions.

This is one of the most important sections in this entire book.

GRADUALLY LEAD THEM TO CHRIST AND THE MESSAGE

Five factors are involved in making a decision. What the soul needs
to do, in coming to Christ and making a firm decision to remain with Him:
• A complete surrender to Christ.
• Change of life’s habits and practices.
• The keeping of all God’s commandments.
• Dedication of whole life and service to God.
• Tests: husband or family opposition, the embarrassment to friends,
former church association strained, forsaken by some old associates and
separating from others, employment difficulties.
Labor under a deep conviction that you must keep pressing on in
your efforts to win souls. Teach a Christ-centered message (Zech 12:10;
John 12:32).
Teach the whole message, not just part of it. Teach the message with
conviction of heart (Isa 58:1; 1 Cor 14:8; 2 Cor 5:11).
“Every discourse should be given under a sense of the awful judg-
ments soon to fall on the world.”—3 Testimony Treasures, 220.
Bible teaching should not be bombastic, but positive and urgent. There
need be no “maybe” or “ifs” about it. God has given us a certain message
for the world.
“God will move upon men in humble positions to declare the message
of present truth . . The truth is as a fire in their bones, filling them with a
burning desire to enlighten those who sit in darkness.”—7 Testimonies,
26-27.
• “Go ye.” Matt 28:19.
• Our hearts burn within. Ps 39:3; Job 32:18; Micah 3:8.
• “Woe is unto me if I preach not.” 1 Cor 9:16.
• “I could not stay (keep quiet).” Jer 20:7-9.
• “l am debtor.” Rom 1:14.
• I “cannot but speak.” (Balaam) Num 22:18, 38; Christ, Deut 18:18;
(Micaiah) 2 Chron 18:13; Peter, Acts 4:20.
• “Before whom I stand.” 1 Kings 17:1.
• “Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah. Jonah 1:1.
• “Whether they will hear or whether they will forbear.” Eze. 2:5.
• “The hand of the Lord was strong upon me.” Eze 3:14.
Move forward, step by step. Before you come to the testing truths
(law, Sabbath, and beyond), gain progressive acknowledgment and assent
to the truth of the earlier Bible truths. 1 John 1:7.
Every discourse should be directed to the end of decision. Do not wait
until the testing truths to seek for decisions, but begin calling for assent, or
acknowledgment at the very first meeting.
Never present the truth with the attitude of “take it or leave it.” Con-

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sider each truth that is presented as a step leading upward to the beautiful
temple of truth.
The appeal at the close of each study should naturally develop out of
the subject presented. For example, at the close of the study on the “State of
the Dead” an appeal like this could be made:
“This is a subject which has been misunderstood all through the ages.
I am so glad the Bible makes it so plain, as we have seen in this study. Our
loved ones and all who have died in the past are asleep in the grave, await-
ing the resurrection morning. How much better God’s plan is than the false
theories of man! Was the subject made clear to you tonight?” (Then ask for
a show of hands. Do you have any questions?)
A definite surrender to Christ must precede the presentation of
the testing truths. Dwell on practical godliness. Little is accomplished in
teaching doctrine to a spiritually dead person. Christian life demands a
new birth experience. Help the individual to know the meaning of conver-
sion. Not all conversions are alike, but all conversions lead to obedience.
Conversion means not only separating from the world, but full dedication
to God.
Do not hesitate to ask the individual whether he has accepted Jesus as
his own personal Saviour. If he is a backslider, read Jer 3:12, 13, 22;
29:11-13; Luke 15:22. If he is weighed down with some past sin, read
Isaiah 43:25; Micah 7:7, 8, 18, 19; 1 John 1:9.
It is of paramount importance that we teach the simple steps to Christ
(read Steps to Christ) before we press home the importance of obeying the
fourth commandment of the Decalogue. When one understands the real
meaning of the cross of Christ, he will respond to the Saviour’s invitation:
“If ye love Me, keep My commandments.”
Here are the ABCs in becoming a Christian, in the words of the Bible:
• “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” • “Behold the
Lamb of God.” • “Come unto me.”
Here is how to live the Christian life:
• Read the Scriptures for strength: John 5:39; 2 Tim 2:15. • Com-
mune with God in prayer: 1 Thess 5:17. • Obey His will: 1 John 3:22.
Read the promises of God’s Word to them. Use the sword of the
Spirit (Heb 4:12) in pointing them to Christ who never fails. Help them to
believe that God’s promises are just as sure today as when they were first
given.
Use a “Thus Saith the Lord” in meeting excuses.
Inquire as to problems standing in the way of obedience to God’s Word.
Answer their questions, read the promises of God’s Word. Assure them
that, although the battle must be fought and the will surrendered, victory is
certain.
Use the following texts to give a brief Bible study on the filthy tobacco
habit: 1 Cor 3:16, 17; 2 Cor 6:17, 18; 7:1; Deut 29:18-20 (see margin); Rev
21:27.
Recognize the right moment to press for a decision. “Today, if you
will hear His voice.” Heb 4:7.
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Family Bible Studies: Obtaining Decisions page 3
“Many are convicted of sin, and feel their need of a sin-pardoning
Saviour . . if words are not spoken at the right moment, calling for deci-
sion from the weight of evidence already presented, the convicted ones
pass on without identifying themselves with Christ, the golden opportunity
passes, and they have not yielded, and they go farther and farther away
from the truth.”—Evangelism, 283.
How can we know when the right moment has come? The Holy
Spirit will impress your praying heart that the time has come to press for
a decision. Be alert to the soul signals that will help you to realize that the
right moment has come to make that decision. These signals are found in
expressions such as these:
• “Would I have to quit shows?“
• “I wish my husband were more agreeable to becoming an Adventist.”
• “I can’t seem to give up smoking.”
• “I wonder if I would lose my job if I asked for Sabbaths off.”
Ask for a favorable decision. If we expect decisions for God, we must
ask for them. Few people volunteer to become one with our people. Can
you recall anyone coming and requesting baptism before you made an ap-
peal?
How to ask. Use the “which” method to get a better percentage of favor-
able answers and never a flat refusal. Give a choice between something and
something, never between something and nothing. Expect an answer to be
in the affirmative.
What to ask.
• “We are planning a baptism on June 1 and another on July 15. Some
are preferring to be baptized on June 1 while others are choosing July 15.
On which of these two dates would you prefer to follow your Saviour’s
example—June 1 or July 15?”
• “You and the children have studied all the major doctrines of the
Bible. God has given you hearts eager for salvation. The baptism will be on
September 12. It will be a beautiful act for you and your precious children
to stand in the water together and be baptized as a family. Surely God will
be pleased for the family to be baptized together. Would you prefer to lead
the way into the water and the children follow or would you like to have the
children go first?”
What should you do if you do not receive a favorable response?
Take advantage of unfavorable responses by leaving the listener approach-
able (Evangelism, 283, 300). When people do not respond favorably we
should try to find out why. A simple question will bring out the reason for
unfavorable replies: “What do you have in mind?” Memorize and use that
question. It is very effective in getting to the bottom of the trouble. You are
in a position to be of further help to the person by meeting his excuses with
Bible promises and by citing your own experience in accepting the mes-
sage.
Make direct, personal appeals.
“The secret of our success and power as a people advocating advanced
truth will be found in making direct, personal appeals to those who are
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interested, having unwavering reliance upon the Most High.”—Review, Au-
gust 30, 1892.
“Many are in the valley of decision, where special, close, and pointed
appeals are necessary to move them to lay down the weapons of their war-
fare, and take their position on the Lord’s side.”—1 Testimonies, 646.
How can one put this counsel of special, close, pointed appeals into
practice? The three questions that one tactfully, yet pointedly, asks when
one comes to the time of final decisions are:
• “I am quite sure you believe that what you have been taught is the
truth of God?”
• “I notice how interested you have been, and one of these days you
plan to accept the truth. Is that not right? You are planning some day to
follow the footsteps of the Saviour?”
• “I know that you will rejoice, as others have, as they have followed
Jesus all of the way. Great joy will come to you when you keep the command-
ments of God. You have some problems that you will have to face, but what
great joy will come to your heart when you decide for Jesus. You tell me
you know the truth, and you also said that you are going to accept it some
day. Tell me, when are you going to follow Jesus fully? Let us kneel here
together and ask God for grace to do it now.”
Pray convicted soul over the line to a decision. Matt. 7:7, 8. Victo-
ries are won and decisions are made for eternity on one’s knees.
What if the person says, “But I have never prayed.”
Then you suggest that he say this prayer after you. “O God, I know this
is the truth. I know what I must do. Lord, give me the grace to do it right
now. I thank you for answering my prayers, for Jesus’ sake.” As you rise
from your knees say, “I thank God that you have made this great decision.”
Help to a Right Decision on uniting with the remnant. Mark 16:16.
He may be under conviction, but he is unwilling to obey on some point;
so he says: “I will live the truth without joining!”
In answering, note these points:
• In the days of Noah, only those who entered the ark were saved.
Assent to the teaching of Noah, if not accompanied by obedience in a very
definite way, did not save men or women from the deluge.
• The Third Angel’s Message constitutes a definite call out of a definite
place (see 2 Cor 6:17, 18; Rev 18:1-4).
• All who are saved when Jesus comes will be numbered with the
remnant (Rev 12:17) who “keep the commandments of God, and the faith
of Jesus.” Rev 14:12.
• Baptism is the ordinance uniting the individual member to Christ’s
body. Gal. 3:27.
Bring them to the group meetings. Hold a Sabbath vespers meeting
with the new believers. Instruction on proper Sabbath observance has been
given, but hearing and doing are different. Show them how to make the
Sabbath the happiest day of all the week. Usher in their first Sabbath.
Accompany them to the meeting hall and introduce them to members of
like interest and occupation.
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Counsel with the pastor and persevere. On his visit to the home with
you he may use some appeal to help the person decide to obey. Call on the
believers to pray. Do not let go of the arm of God too soon. Have faith in the
convicting and converting power of the Holy Spirit. Take hold of God’s
arm, hold on, and never let go.
HOW TO MAKE APPEALS
Four things keep people from making their decision for Christ and His
Word: negligence, the habit of postponing duties, indecision, and cher-
ished sin. Present their need of a Saviour who forgives sins. Convince them
of the program of God as outlined in His Word. When they listen to us we
have secured their attention and the atmosphere necessary to prepare them
for the decision.
What is needed to help them make prompt decisions?
• Present the message as a life or death issue. Matt 19:17; John 3:36.
• Picture the love of God and the sacrifice of Christ for the individual.
• Show the danger in delay (the door of probation may soon close).
Matt 25:10; 2 Cor 6:2; Rev 22:11.
• Emphasize the importance of the individual’s decision to assure sal-
vation.
• Stress the influence of a decision on loved ones and friends. Rom
14:7, 12.
• Impress the thought that there are only two classes at the end of the
world—the saved and the unsaved. Matt 7:14; 12:30; John 10:2. It matters
not where a person is on the social strata. He can be saved and he can be
lost. Jesus showed Nicodemus that “life at its best is not good enough.” In
this case, His dealing was with a man at the top of the social scale. The
woman of Samaria was a sinner at the bottom of the social scale. Matt
19:16, 17.
• Point out that Christ is our example. 1 Peter 2:21. What He did we are
to do. What He taught we are to obey.
• In love pointedly inquire, “Where are you planning to spend eter-
nity?” Prov 27:1.
• Point out that life is short at best,—it has already been partly lived.
Every person is also partly dead. Men are impressed with the mortality
tables of life insurance companies. The life span with its few remaining
years has a very sobering effect upon their thinking. They realize that life is
drawing to a close, and they cannot be sure of the hereafter except by
belonging to Christ.
• Bring to the individual’s mind the thought, “If God cared for you
when you were disobedient, will He forsake you now that you decide to
obey Him?”
• You want to live with Christ’s approval. Heb 5:9; James 4:17.
• His approval is not given to those that know to do well and doeth it
not. It is given only to those that obey.
• Relate your own experience in accepting truth. God leads and blesses
even though tests come. Did you lose your job? Did your family disown

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you? Did your friends turn against you? Did your former associates in the
church ridicule you? What has God done for you since you made your
decision? Your testimony to God’s guidance and help will do much to help
others to step over the line.
• Press home that it takes courage to be a Christian (Dan 3:16-18). The
disciples of Christ found that witnessing for Him was no easy thing. Suc-
cess in God’s work does not bring relief from suffering: Peter was thrown
in prison, Stephen was stoned to death, and great persecution arose against
the Jerusalem church with scattering of the members throughout Judea.
How was the opposition, danger and death met (Acts 4:13-20)?
Will we choose truth or tradition? Choose you this day—the com-
mandments of men or of God (Joshua 24:15; Matt 12:30). Note these two
statements from Roman Catholic sources:
“Practically everything that Protestants regard as essential or impor-
tant they have received from the Catholic Church. They accepted Sunday
rather than Saturday as the day for public worship after the Catholic Church
made the change. They accepted the Bible from the Catholic Church as
genuine, as authentic, as inspired, solely on the authority of the Catholic
Church. They observe Christmas on the day assigned to it by the Catholic
Church. They accept the date for Easter observance from the Church.
“They observe Advent and Lent, both institutions of the Catholic Church.
Their prayerbooks and liturgy follow the order of the Catholic Church’s
ecclesiastical year, and they use many prayers and Bible readings which
were in common use by Catholics throughout the world before new reli-
gions were formed.
“But the Protestant mind does not seem to realize that in accepting the
Bible, in observing the Sunday, in keeping Christmas and Easter, they are
accepting the authority of the spokesman for the Church, the Pope.”—Our
Sunday Visitor, February 5, 1950.
“There is no place in the New Testament where it is distinctly stated
that Christ changed the day of worship from Saturday to Sunday. Yet all
Protestants, except the Seventh-day Adventists, observe the Sunday. The
Catholic Church, made that change because it was necessary to emphasize
the fact that the Old Testament had come to an end; and the further fact that
our Divine Saviour chose Sunday for His Resurrection, and for the send-
ing of the Holy Ghost into the Church as its life principle. Protestants fol-
low Tradition in observing the Sunday.”—Our Sunday Visitor, 1, June 11,
1950.
Vividly portray the triumph of truth. How often we hear remarks
about the smallness and insignificance of our church. Impress upon the
hearts of the interested that when one decides for Bible truth he is arrayed
on the side of Christ, His disciples, the prophets, and heaven’s hosts.
Ofttimes the side of Christ has been the side of the minority, as during the
Flood when only eight were saved (Gen 7).
Picture the glories of heaven and the final scenes on the sea of glass
when Christ will present crowns of victory and the great hosts of the saved

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will sing the victory song of Moses and the Lamb. Eternal life is the reward
for their decision and for allowing Christ to live out His life in them.
Additional principles when appealing for decisions.
Make each Bible study contribute toward the final decision by planning
a series of progressive appeals.
Lead the people to decide for Christ before presenting the Sabbath
truth. “By accepting the cooperation of man in the great plan of redemp-
tion, He has placed a signal honor upon him.”—4 Testimonies, 464.
First lead them to Christ. “Christ crucified—talk it, pray it, sing it,
and it will break and win hearts.”—6 Testimonies, 67.
Seek to bring people to a decision as soon as possible after they are
under conviction. This can best be done by personal work. “When persons
who are under conviction are not brought to a decision at the earliest
period possible, there is danger that the conviction will gradually wear
away.”—Letter 31, 1892.
How to get responses from your audience.
• Word the first appeals, so all can respond. Appeals should grow
stronger as the series progresses.
• Appeal to the people to raise their hands for prayer at the close of the
meeting.
• Ask for a show of hands on some point of truth in the sermon,
• Avoid embarrassing or offensive questions.
• Near the close of the series, the use of special appeal sermons (such
as “The Unpardonable Sin,” “The Last Warning Message,” “How to Escape
the Seven Last Plagues,” etc.) is helpful.
Four life-revolutionizing decisions must be made by your hearers
before they become one with God’s remnant people. They must decide:
• To accept Christ as their personal Saviour, yielding full obedience to
His sovereign will.
• To observe all the commandments of God.
• To abstain from alcoholic drinks, tobacco, and harmful beverages.
• To come all the way out of Babylon and unite with the remnant
church of Christ in response to God’s last gathering call.
The following preparatory decisions will enable the hearer better
to take the final steps; therefore seek to:
• Arouse a desire to be saved on the part of your hearers. When the
desire becomes strong enough, the will will act.
• Seek to create a willingness to forsake everything and follow Christ.
• Establish the conviction that, to be saved, one must be willing to
walk in obedience to every Bible truth.
• Seek to convince your hearers that a true Christian will walk in the
light as fast as it is revealed to him and will desire to obey God above
anything else, whatever the cost.
• In the closing meetings, place your hearers under the conviction that
they are being given the opportunity to unite with God’s remnant church,
Pray that the divine Spirit will convict souls.

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HOW TO MEET EXCUSES
We must be prepared to meet a person’s objection or excuse with a
“Thus saith the Lord.” Here is a partial list of texts for meeting certain
common excuses:
• “I can’t leave my church.” Rev 18:4; John 10:26, 27; 12:42, 43; Matt
7:22, 23.
• “I can’t make a living if I keep the Sabbath.” Matt 6:33; Ps 37:3; Isa
65:13, 14.
• “I will lose my job if I keep the Sabbath.” Matt 16:25, 26; 1 Tim 4:8.
• “It is inconvenient to keep the seventh day and follow this doctrine.”
Matt 16:24; 10:38.
• “I am too great a sinner.” 1 Tim 1:15; Heb 7:25; Isa 1:18.
• “I am afraid I can’t hold out.” Jude 24.
• “I can’t live up to the truth.” 1 Cor 10:13; 2 Cor 12:8, 9; John 1:12.
• “I am not good enough.” 2 Cor 8:12.
• “People would talk about me.” John 17:14; Luke 6:22, 23, 26; Prov
29:25.
• “My friends would ridicule me.” John 15:19; Mark 8:34; James 4:4.
• “My husband, wife, father, mother, brothers, and sisters will oppose
me.” Matt 10:36, 37; Luke 14:26, 27.
• “My preacher and my friends advise me against this.” 1 Kings 13:1-
26; Acts 4:19; 5:29.
• “It will cause trouble and division in my home if I take my stand for
this teaching.” Luke 12:49-53; 1 Kings 18:17, 18.
• “There is one thing (movies, ring, tobacco, etc.) which I cannot give
up.” Matt 19:16-22; 6:24; Luke 14:33; Matt 13:45, 46.
• “No, not now.” Prov 27:1; 2 Cor 6:2; Heb 3:13; Isa 55:6; Gen 6:3.
• “I am waiting for my husband (or wife or a friend), so we can accept
it together.” Eze 14:20; 18:20; Rom 14:12.
• “I will wait until I have the right kind of feeling.” Isa 48:18; 1 John
2:3.
• “Too late, I have waited too long.” Eze 33:19; John 6:37; Rom 10:13.
• “I tried once, I am afraid to try again.” Dan 3:17; Rom 4:21; 2 Tim
1:12; Jude 24.
• “How may I know that my sins are forgiven?” 1 John 1:9; Prov
28:13.
• “Some things are not yet clear.” John 13:7; Acts 1:7.
• “I am not so bad.” John 3:18; Rom 3:23.
• “God is love; He will save me anyway.” Luke 13:3; 2 Peter 2:4.
• “There are too many hypocrites in the church.” Matt 7:1; Rom 14:12.
• “The step will cost me too much.” Luke 18:29, 30; 1 Peter 2:24.
• “My job may be at stake.” Isa 51:7; Job 13:14, 15; Ps 119:72, 127.
• “I cannot leave my friends and relatives.” Ex 23:3; Prov 13:20.
• “I believe it is not necessary to unite with a church.” Acts 2:47.
• “I am too old to change my ways of life.” Gen 6:3.
• “I will wait until the Spirit of God convinces me.” Matt 25:1-13.
—Note: The above list could be glued to the back sheet of the Bible.
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Here is another one you may want to put in your Bible:
“God is able.”
• Able to save—James 4:12.
• Able to save from the furnace heat—Daniel 3:13-18.
• Able to save from the lion’s mouth—Daniel 6:18-24.
• Able to save from all uncleanness—Ezekiel 36:29.
• Able to save from our sins—Matthew 1:21.
• Able to save from death—Hebrews 7:25.
• Able to succour the tempted—Hebrews 2:18.
• Able to make us stand—Romans 14:4.
• Able to build us up—Acts 20:32.
• Able to keep us from evil—2 Thessalonians 3:3.
• Able to keep us from falling—Jude 24.
• Able to keep that which we commit to Him—2 Timothy 1:12.
• Able to perform His promises—Romans 4:21.
• Able to do more than we ask—Ephesians 3:20.
• Able to make all grace abound—2 Corinthians 9:8.
• Able to subdue all things to Himself—Philippians 3:21.
• Able to raise us from the dead—Hebrews 11:19.
• Able to present us faultless—Jude 24.
ANSWERING QUESTIONS
Answering your own questions. This is what you do when you give a
Bible study, such as found in this book, Family Bible Studies. You ask a
question, and then look up the text and read it. The art of effective ques-
tioning is worthy of consideration. It is an important part in the correct
method of giving a Bible study. The questions stir up interest and stimulate
thinking. Every question should be clear and simple so the listener will be
curious to know the answer.
The advantage of the question and answer method is that it enables the
instructor to formulate questions in such a way as to cause the texts to give
a very decided and clear answer. This is “opening” the Word of God, allow-
ing the Bible to explain itself without human comment or interpretation.
People who have never found a satisfactory manner of studying the Bible,
and think it impossible or hard to be understood, are amazed to find that
the Bible is its own interpreter and that it talks in such a plain language
that even a child can comprehend.
When you answer your own questions, always use few words. Be brief
in all you present to your hearers. The power is in the Word of God. Use
just enough words to make the principles of truth shine out clearly; then
let the convicting power of the Holy Spirit do the rest.
Answering their questions. It is very helpful when the Bible study
student asks questions. You can ascertain his thinking by the questions he
asks. By thus knowing what is in his mind you can adjust your course to
meet his need (Gospel Workers, 190-191).
Premature questions should not be answered immediately. Simply
say, “That is a vital subject and it makes me happy to know that you are

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thinking along these lines. We will devote a whole study period to it.”
When a question on a later subject is asked one can smiling say, “Now
that question leads to a Bible study or theme of tremendous interest; and
we must study it sometime in the near future, but for tonight we must stay
by our planned topic.”
Some may want to know about the mark of the beast. Explain that this
is a topic that is associated with the beast and his image. It is therefore
necessary to first have studies on “Who is the beast?” and “What consti-
tutes the image?” When these two questions have been answered it will be
quite simple to understand what the mark of the beast is. Tell the student
you will be looking forward to going over these studies with him. It is most
essential for subjects to be given in their proper order, so as to really
understand the relation of the whole chain of Bible truth. For instance, if
you were to give the millennium before the second coming the pupil would
be unable to grasp the import of it all and its proper place, and confusion
would result.
Your attitude is important. • Never act disturbed over any question
asked. • Welcome all questions on any Biblical theme. • Assure an answer
at the earliest possible date.
When questions somewhat related to the topic are asked. When the
hour for the Bible study comes, you must be prepared with your subject
well in mind—a part of you, not just a theory, but a living reality, vital, all
important. Tactfully allow no questions or interruptions to sidetrack you
from the general theme of the planned study.
But be prepared to answer any questions on the subject presented.
This will increase the student’s confidence in your ability as a teacher, and
he will more readily accept the doctrines that you advocate.
It is proper to have notes in your Bible just in case you need them, but
do not become embarrassed if you have to turn to them. One can say,
“There is a text on this question so important that I jotted it down lest I
forget.”
Irrelevant questions. Allow nothing that would cause a breach in the
continuity of the subject.
• Respectfully defer such questions until the close of the study.
• Set aside a short period of time at the close of the meeting. This will
guard against any interruptions and will safeguard the feelings of the ques-
tioner who has been requested to wait for an answer until the end of the
study.
Sincere questions. Always answer sincere questions. Christ always
answered a sincere questioner. Outstanding highlights of the Saviour’s mes-
sage were introduced when He was asked questions. “Good Master, what
shall I do that I might inherit eternal life?” In response, Jesus clarified the
true relationship of Christian living to God’s law. The long array of signs
of Christ’s second coming was given in reply to a question by the disciples.
The Master used every question propounded to Him as a key to open the
mind of His listeners to new vistas of truth.
Controversial questions. We should avoid or postpone controversial
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Family Bible Studies: Obtaining Decisions page 11
questions. The Bible has very definite counsel on how to instruct new
believers. The lay instructor must ever recognize that he is a “teacher of
babes” (Romans 2:20). The great apostle Paul states his evangelistic method,
“I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able
to bear it, neither yet now are ye able” (1 Corinthians 3:2). At the heavenly
appointed time, solid food or meat may be given without fearing the conse-
quences.
Christ, the greatest of all teachers, left “many things” unsaid and
unrevealed to His hearers because, as He said, they were not able to bear
them (John 16:12).
The teacher of the three angels’ messages must ever be on the alert as
to when his hearers are able to “bear” what is being taught. The Holy Spirit
will give wisdom, as all heaven is interested in the salvation of every soul.
What should be done when controversial questions are asked in
the early part of the series?
• Silently pray. Ask God to take control so that nothing may be said
that will offend or confuse the mind of the listener. The greatest self-pos-
session and wisdom should be exercised.
• A postponement is in order. “We will discuss this matter later, but
not today, as we should consider another vital topic first. I will appreciate
your deferring this, as I would like to hold to a sequence of subjects. This
is a method I have found to be most helpful. I trust you don’t mind defer-
ring this topic to a later date.” When tactfully broached, the student is
usually willing to cooperate.
• Briefly answer. but only touching on a few high points. Occasionally
a person insists on having the answer immediately. Avoid as far as pos-
sible any lengthy discussion on the disputed point. Read a verse or two
from the Bible. While being firm, yet be kind in all you say. Never act
disturbed over any question that may be asked.
• Bypass disturbing subjects. If some student in the cottage meeting
becomes disturbed over some phase of truth you are advocating from the
Scriptures, do not continue the discussion. Drop that subject for the present,
for one less controversial. Later on in the series you can come back to the
same topic, approaching it from a different angle. Often hostility has ceased;
and the mind, once beclouded, is now clear and receptive,
HOW TO MEET OPPOSITION
In the experience of every Bible worker there comes a time when oppo-
sition from one source or another must be met. Possibly the pastor of the
one who is having the studies, or some other influential friend of the
family, unexpectedly appears at the time appointed for the study; and, while
he may courteously consent to be present and take part in the Bible study,
it will no doubt mean that perplexing questions will be presented and
various remarks made which will tend to discredit the truth the worker is
teaching.
Under such circumstances the worker does not need to manifest fear;
for he is standing on the firm basis of the sure Word of God, and should

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Family Bible Studies: Obtaining Decisions page 12
speak forth the truth in love, Recall the words of the Saviour to His dis-
ciples, “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye
therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” “Settle it therefore in
your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer: for I will give you
a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to
gainsay nor resist” (Matthew 10:16; Luke 21:14, 15).
—Excellent counsel on this matter is given in 9 Testimonies, 147-148.
The entire passage is good, but we did not have space to quote it here.
What to do when opposition arises.
• Exalt Christ. AA 31; 6T 67; GW 405.
“You will not try to reveal your smartness as theologians. You will be
careful not to arouse a combative spirit or excite prejudice by introducing
controverted points of doctrine.” “We need far less controversy and far
more presentation of Christ. Our Redeemer is the center of all our faith
and hope.”—Manual for Canvassers, 34, 37.
• Present truth logically and plainly. Be on the positive and affirmative
side. People usually oppose what they do not understand. ChS 62; Ev 302-
303.
• Be tactful and friendly: 1T 113; 9T 189. Claim the promise: Matt.
10:16; Luke 21:14-15.
• Do not condemn religious beliefs of others: Mark 9:39; 2 Timothy
2:24, 25; 9T 244. Find some good things to say about other churches.
Do not speak disparaging of other churches. Remember, we are not to
tear down someone’s shack of unbelief until we have built a palace of truth
for him to move into.
• Consider opposers as being honest. Treat them with respect. 6T
121-122; Ev 305-306.
Demonstrate a kindly Christian spirit—not a hostile attitude.
• Sidestep arguments: ChS 126; 9T 147-148.
Recall Philip’s proclamation when Nathanael unbelievingly responded,
“Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” There was no argument to
prove his claim, but simply, “Come and see.” This should ever be the
attitude of the Christian worker.
Use these two effective questions:
“You may be right, but have you considered it in the light of this text?”
“I see your point of view, and I am trying to agree with you; but before
I do there is a question or two that I would like for you to answer. Will you
please explain this text?”
———————————————————————————————
“Men are in peril. Multitudes are perishing. But how few of the pro-
fessed followers of Christ are burdened for these souls. The destiny of a
world hangs in the balance; but this hardly moves even those who claim to
believe the most far-reaching truth ever given to mortals . . There is a
stupor, a paralysis, upon the people of God, which prevents them from
understanding the duty of the hour . . The coldness of their zeal and
feebleneess of their efforts in God’s service, mark them as unfaithful.”
—Christ’s Object Lessons, 303
380
 “We are to be laborers together with the heavenly angels in presenting
Jesus to the world. With almost impatient eagerness the angels wait for
our co-operation; for man must be the channel to communicate with man.
And when we give ourselves to Christ in wholehearted devotion, angels
rejoice that they may speak through our voices to reveal God’s love.”
—Desire of Ages, 297
“Long has God waited for the spirit of service to take possession of the
whole church so that everyone shall be working for Him according to his
ability.”—Acts of the Apostles, 111
“It is the privilege of every Christian not only to look for but to hasten
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:12, margin).”
—Christ’s Object Lessons, 69
“All who engage in ministry are God’s helping hand. They are cowork-
ers with the angels; rather, they are the human agencies through whom the
angels accomplish their mission. Angels speak through their voices, and
work by their hands. And the human workers, co-operating with heavenly
agencies, have the benefit of their education and experience.”
—Education, 271
“Workers for Christ are never to think, much less to speak, of failure in
their work. The Lord Jesus is our efficiency in all things; His Spirit is to
be our inspiration; and as we place ourselves in His hands, to be channels
of light, our means of doing good will never be exhausted. We may draw
upon His fulness, and receive of that grace which has no limit.”
—Gospel Workers, 19
“When we give ourselves wholly to God, and in our work follow His
directions, He makes Himself responsible for its accomplishment. He would
not have us conjecture as to the success of our honest endeavors. Not once
should we even think of failure. We are to co-operate with One who knows
no failure.” —Christ’s Object Lessons, 363
“When God opens the way for the accomplishment of a certain work
and gives assurance of success, the chosen instrumentality must do all in
his power to bring about the promised result. In proportion to the enthusi-
asm and perseverance with which the work is carried forward will be the
success given.” —Prophets and Kings, 263
“The Lord is disappointed when His people place a low estimate upon
themselves. He desires His chosen heritage to value themselves according
to the price He has placed upon them . . He has a use for them, and He is
well pleased when they make the very highest demands upon Him, that they
may glorify His name. They may expect large things if they have faith in His
promises.” —The Desire of Ages, 668
“It is not the capabilities you now possess, or ever will have, that will
give you success. It is that which the Lord can do for you . . He can give tact
and skill. Put your talents into the work, ask God for wisdom, and it will
be given to you.” —Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 146
“Success depends not so much on talent as on energy and willingness . .
the conscientious performance of daily duties . . the unaffected, sincere
interest in the welfare of others.” —Prophets and Kings, 219
381
 “God will do the work if we will furnish Him the instruments.”
—9 Testimonies, p. 107
“God will accept the wholehearted service, and will Himself make up
the deficiencies.” —Ministry of Healing, 150
“If you are truly consecrated, God will, through your instrumentality,
bring into the truth others whom He can use as channels to convey light to
many that are groping in darkness.” —7 Testimonies, 63
“The truth is soon to triumph gloriously, and all who now choose to be
laborers together with God will triumph with it.” —9 Testimonies, 135
“When we labor diligently for the salvation of our fellow men, God will
prosper our very effort.” —9 Testimonies, 86
“To every one who offers himself to the Lord for service, withholding
nothing, is given power for the attainment of measureless results.”
—7 Testimonies, 30
“The Lord has a place for every one in His great plan. Talents that are
not needed are not bestowed. Supposing that the talent is small. God has a
place for it, and that one talent, if faithfully used, will do the very work
God designs that it should do.” —9 Testimonies, 37
“The humblest workers, in co-operation with Christ, may touch chords
whose vibrations shall ring to the ends of the earth and make melody
throughout eternal ages.” —Ministry of Healing, 159
“Remember that the Lord Jesus is the Master Worker. He waters the
seed sown. He puts into your minds words that will reach hearts.”
—9 Testimonies, 41
“Consecrate yourselves wholly to the work of God. He is your strength,
and He will be at your right hand, helping you to carry on His merciful
designs.” —9 Testimonies, 41
“The heavenly intelligences will work with the human agent who seeks
with determined faith that perfection of character which will reach out to
perfection in action. To every one engaged in this work Christ says, I am at
your right hand to help you.” —Christ’s Object Lessons, 332
“As the will of man co-operates with the will of God, it becomes om-
nipotent. Whatever is to be done at His command may be accomplished in
His strength. All His biddings are enablings.”
—Christ’s Object Lessons, 333
“In this work all the angels of heaven are ready to co-operate. All the
resources of heaven are at the command of those who are seeking to save
the lost. Angels will help you to reach the most careless and the most
hardened. And when one is brought back to God, all heaven is made glad;
seraphs and cherubs touch their golden harps, and sing praises to God
and to the Lamb.” —Christ’s Object Lessons, 197
“It is not a vain thing to serve God. There is a priceless reward for
those who devote their life to His service.” —4 Testimonies, 107
“Our reward for working with Christ in this world is the greater power
and wider privilege of working with Him in the world to come.”
—Christ’s Object Lessons, 361
382
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383
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