Jëan Ross: Good morning, friends. Welcome again to Sabbath School Study Hour, coming to you here from the Amazing Facts offices in Sacramento, California. I'd like to welcome those who are joining us live across the country and around the world, as well as those who are viewing us on the various networks. We'd like to remind you that we're in our Lesson Quarterly dealing with the subject of education. And it's not too late. If you don't have a Lesson Quarterly, we would encourage you to get one. You can get one at an Adventist church nearby or you can download today's lesson from the Amazing Facts website.
Today, we're on lesson number 6. It's entitled "More Lessons From the Master Teacher." And I also want to remind you that this week our lesson study, if you're watching live, it's 9 a.m. Pacific Time but next week we're going to start Sabbath School one hour later. So it'll actually be 10 a.m. Pacific Time. So those of you who are watching live, just take note of that.
Well, before we get to our lesson, let's start with a word of prayer. Dear Father in heaven, we thank You that we're able to open up Your Word and study together in such an important lesson, looking at the example of Jesus and learning from Him. So we ask Your blessing upon our time together in Jesus' name, amen.
Doug Batchelor: Amen.
Jëan: Well, Pastor Doug, we have an important lesson, talking about Jesus, the master teacher and, maybe just before we get to our lesson, we'd like to let folks know about our free offer that we have. It's a book entitled "Down From His Glory," and this is our free offer. If you're in North America, we'll be happy to send this to you. The number to call for that is just simply 866-788-3966 or, if you'd like, you'll be able to get a digital download of this book. To do so, you'll want to text the code "SH139" to the number "40544," and you'll be able to get a digital copy of the book, "Down From His Glory." Pastor Doug, this coming Friday evening, for those who are watching this live, we've got something very special that is going to begin at 7 p.m. Pacific Time on Friday.
Doug: Yeah, I was excited when I just pulled into the church parking lot that I saw on either side of the entrance, it's got an advertisement, "Revelation Now!" And we're going to be presenting a global evangelistic program. It'll be global because it will be on both satellite television and on the Internet, Facebook, YouTube, every viable means we can think of, to share this evangelistic series that's talking about some of the major prophecies in Revelation and how it relates to what's going on in the world today and how people can be ready for that.
And you can participate, it's free, in your home, in your church for those that have churches that are meeting in the various stages, and simply go to the website called revelationnow and you'll see all the advertising materials, things you can do to invite your neighbors.
Send the link on to your friends, encourage them to tune in, because people are more interested in prophecy now with everything happening with the pandemic and the social unrest and the political polarization and the fires and the floods and the economy. People are wondering what in the world is going on. And so this is a great time to share the gospel. We won't always have the freedom we have now. Invite your friends to go to revelationnow. It'll also be on 3ABN and AFTV as well as streaming through the Internet.
Jëan: Okay, so that's Friday, October 23, is when that begins. Well, Pastor Doug, should we take a look at our lesson? It's an important one. We do have a memory verse and the memory verse comes from Mark chapter 10, verse 52, and the words of Jesus: "Then Jesus said to him, 'Go your way; your faith has made you well.' And immediately he received his sight and he followed Jesus on the road."
Doug: Now that story's going to come up a little later in the lesson. It's where Jesus heals Bartimaeus but, in the first section here, and we're learning, of course, lessons about the Master. Now, we'll be going to Genesis because we believe Jesus does not appear really for the first time in the New Testament; you find Christ even in the Old Testament. These are called Christophanies where God, the Son, was speaking to man in the Old Testament. And, you know, all things that were made were made by Him, being Jesus, and that would include Adam and Eve.
But you see right at the beginning when Adam and Eve sinned, the response of what they did, or I should say Jesus' response to sin was one of compassion. Their response was shame and blame and they ran. And you can see here in Genesis chapter 3 and I'll read verses 8 through 10: "And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord among the trees in the garden. And then the Lord called to Adam and said, 'Where are you?' And he said, 'Well, I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.'"
Now, when God asks Adam, "Where are you?" it's not that God really didn't know. You can read, I think it's Psalm 137, you know, "Where shall I flee from Your presence?" We can't hide from God. Reminds me of when I play hide-and-seek with the kids in the house when they were little and, you know, I'd say, "Here I come," and you'd go and I'd see their feet sticking out from behind the curtains and say, "Where are you?" You know, I knew where they were.
But, you know, God sometimes asks these rhetorical questions. You've disobeyed, where has it brought you? is really what He's asking. And it's interesting that the first question that God asks in the Bible is "Where are you?" And--because man ran from God. When you get to the New Testament the first question that is asked in the Gospel is the wise men looking for Jesus, they say, "Where is He?" And the first question in the Bible is when the devil questions God's Word: "Hath God said?" And so when we doubt God's Word, it can lead to sin and it separates us from God.
Jëan: You know, Pastor Doug, just those three little interesting facts that you brought up about the first questions in the Bible, the Bible begins by describing a problem but then we find a solution in the New Testament, and the solution to the problem is Jesus. He's the solution to the problem. Now, Isaiah chapter 59, verse 2, emphasizes why sin is such a problem. We read there, "But your iniquities have separated you from your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He will not hear." So part of the problem with sin is it separates us from God. God is a holy God, sin cannot dwell in the presence of God and so we find Adam and Eve running, hiding from God, and yet despite their sin, God comes to look for them. God is the one who initiates this reunion. He's the one coming to look for them, and that's the way it's been throughout human history. God has been reaching out, calling us to come back to Him.
Doug: Yeah, and sin actually separates not just us from God. Sin separates from each other. I know you've done some marriage counseling. In almost every case the friction is caused by sin and selfishness, typically pride, which is the sort of the mother of all sins, and sin not only separates us from God, sin separates us from each other. Sin separates us from us.
You know, a lot of people have shame and guilt. They, you know, try to run away from themselves because they don't want to live with themselves. And--but Jesus, His love is reconciling. It does the opposite of sin. It reconnects us with God which is the beginning to reconnecting with each other and even finally feeling joy and peace that we are forgiven, we're new creatures. We're united with ourselves, you might say.
Jëan: So the Bible gives us this hope. It talks about the first Adam which, of course, is the father of all and through his disobedience, through his sin, death comes because all have sinned and then we get to the New Testament. We read about a second Adam and Paul, in particular, illustrates this for us, how that through the second Adam, Christ, we find forgiveness. So the first Adam brings death, but the second Adam brings life and peace.
Doug: Why don't you look up--I didn't have it in my notes. You know, the first prophecy in the Bible, it talks about that reconciliation. Genesis 3:15, I believe it's Genesis 3:15, where He talks about, you know, the curse and the enmity.
Jëan: And it's God talking to the devil in the form of the serpent. He says, "I'll put enmity between you and the woman," the woman being the church, "and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise His heel."
Doug: So here you've got the first prophecy that the seed of the woman, this promised seed, that woman that brings forth the man-child there in Revelation, He is going to be the solution for the problem began by the first Adam. Christ is going to be the second Adam, you know, in the same way that children often come in the image of their parents, Jesus, in a sense, was a type of Adam but He's the second Adam. And maybe I'll read Romans 5 and this is a lengthy passage but it's very important, a lot of good theology in here.
Romans chapter 5, verse 12 to 19, Paul is writing here: "Therefore just as through one man," Adam, "sin entered the world, and death came through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned--(For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed where there's no law.)" In other words, the law had to exist if sin existed, so, all the way back at the beginning when God said to Cain, you know, "Sin lies at your door," must have been a sin to murder way back there in the beginning. "(Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type,)" here Paul says Adam is a type, "(of Him who was to come,)" meaning Christ.
It's interesting that Adam fell in the Garden, Jesus overcame in the desert. Just, I mean, Adam fell into sin surrounded by every good thing to eat. He didn't need to eat the forbidden fruit. Jesus resisted when He was surrounded by rocks and dirt and the hunger and the thirst and fasting. "(But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by one man's offense many died,)" the sin of Adam, "(much more the grace of God and the gift of God--and the gift by grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many.)"
And, you know, I just love this truth that if anybody out there knows that because of the sin of Adam we've got problems, as real as that is, it is just as real because of the holiness of Jesus we can have victory. And so he's saying, "Look, if you believe that because of Adam's sin, it's caused a problem, then don't disbelieve that because of Jesus' victory, we can have victory." In the same way, "(Christ abounded to many. And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. For if by one man's offense,)" that of Adam, "(death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)
Therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man's righteousness--through his righteous act the free gift came to all, resulting in justification in life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many may be made righteous." And I love that verse because I think--I have no doubt, I fully believe, because of Adam's sin I've got a problem. I ought to have the same faith because of Jesus' righteousness I can have the victory.
Jëan: You know, Pastor Doug, it's interesting, the defeat begins in a garden, when Adam and Eve sinned. The victory begins in a garden when Jesus prayed, "Not my will; thy will be done." And of course, the cross, the eternal home of the redeemed, puts us back in a garden but a garden restored in the New Jerusalem.
Doug: Yeah, and it was on the sixth day that Adam goes to sleep, his side is opened up and God takes out a rib and, as a result of that, then the church--His bride is born, I should say. And then Christ on the sixth day of the week, His side is opened up. A flow of blood and water come out, and the church is born, His bride. And so there's a lot of interesting parallels between the first and the second Adam that you can find in the Bible.
Jëan: Now, Pastor Doug, you mentioned a little earlier how that Jesus gained the victory when He was tempted by the devil in the wilderness. And there are some parallels between that and how Adam fell and how Christ overcame in the three areas of temptation.
Doug: Yeah, and you know, there's that verse in 1 John chapter 2, verse 16, starting with verse 15: "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father's not in him. For all that's in the world," here's verse 16, "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is of the world. And the world passes away, and the lust thereof: but he that does the word of God abides forever."
So those three things, sin is divided in three principal categories here: lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, those are the same--those are the areas where Adam fell, it says--and Eve: "The tree was good for food," you get the lust of the flesh, "pleasant to the eyes," you get the lust of the eyes, "it'll be desirable to make you wise. You'll be like God," the pride of life. It's, you know, worship, you'll be like God.
Then Jesus in the desert, He overcomes in those same areas and you can read this, of course, in Luke 4 and in Matthew chapter 3. It says: "Command these stones to become bread," and there's the lust of the flesh, and He had victory. The devil showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in their glory, the beauty of it, lust of the eyes. Jesus resisted, he had victory. "Throw Yourself down from here," the pride of life, "You'll be," you know, "demonstrating Your power." He resisted that temptation. He had victory. So in all the categories where Adam and Eve fell, Jesus overcame so that we could be overcomers.
Jëan: Absolutely, for those of you who are joining us live, I know there are folks who are watching on Facebook and you might have a Bible question, maybe related to the subject that we're talking about. If you would like to go ahead and just type in your Bible question there on Facebook and we have Santiago that'll be sending the questions to me and we'll try and get some of these questions in between our study. And Pastor Doug, we have Jordan who is actually asking, his question is: "Why are there so many religions in the world?"
Doug: Well, good. A good question. You know, of all the different religions, you get, you know, major religions are Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, you've got, you know, Sikhism and, oh, the religion in China, Confucism* but I'm thinking of Anitism and—
Jëan: Buddhism.
Doug: Buddhism, yeah. No religion is more divided than Christianity. And I think the reason is that you try to hide a diamond in broken glass, and the devil has surrounded the diamond of truth in Christianity with a lot of broken glass to just camouflage it. And people, how many times do we know of people that will say, "Well, look at if--why would I be a Christian? Look at what the Christians do? You know, if you look at them evangelists on television that are begging for everyone's money and brandishing their, you know, golden Rolexes and, you know, everything's gilded on their set and they're wanting us to buy them a new jet." And so there's so much hypocrisy in Christianity and there's so much scandal in Christianity and there are so many confusing bizarre doctrines in Christianity, people look at all the broken glass and they say, "Who wants to be a Christian?" because they're not looking at the diamond, they're not looking at the real thing. And so I think that's one reason is the devil's trying to create division.
I think another reason: Jesus said to the disciples, "All men will know you're My disciples by your love for one another." So Christ said, "The world will know that you are Mine by your love for one another." The devil heard that and he thought, "Well, if they're going to know that Christ is true by their love for one another, I need to frustrate that plan by having them all divided and fighting." So instead of the church being united and people seeing that, the devil sought to fragment Christianity more than any religion to turn people away from it.
Jëan: Okay, we have another question that's come from Shawnda and she writes: "Why is Jesus called an angel in the Old Testament if He is God?"
Doug: Well, when we say the word "angel," some people automatically think of one of these seraphim-like, cherubim-like creatures with wings and that are messengers and they're ministering servants. The word "angel" actually means messenger and Christ is called the Archangel and that just means the greatest messenger or the chief of the angels. It doesn't mean He isn't God. And so in the Old Testament, sometimes Christ appeared as the Angel of God or the messenger of God, and the reason you know He's God, when He appears to Joshua, Joshua sees this majestic-like warrior standing with His sword drawn and he says, "Are You for our enemies or are You for us?" And He says, "But neither. I'm coming as the General of God's Armies." And He says, "Put your shoes off your feet for the place you're standing is holy ground."
And Joshua gets down to worship and so you don't worship anyone but God. That's what the commandments say. And so, this messenger who is sometimes called Michael, the Archangel, He has the--He comes as a messenger of God. Jesus brought the greatest message to our world.
Jëan: Okay, maybe one more question before we get back to the lesson. Vaughn is asking-- Devaughn: "Is the time of probation now?"
Doug: Are we now living in the time of, well, yes, when you say "probation," not close of probation. Everybody in your life has a probationary period, that's the time you're alive. As long as your probation personally hasn't closed, this is your time to know and accept Jesus. Has the close if probation happened? No, when that happens you're going to start seeing the seven last plagues fall. So, no, there is still time but you don't know when your probation might close, you know.
There are people who lived a little while after their probation closed, after Judas went out and Jesus washed his feet, it says he went out and Satan entered him. His probation had closed at that point. When Saul went to the witch and he grieved away the spirit, his probation had closed. And so, there's a time when you can even still be alive, like the people outside the ark. For seven days the sun kept shining, but the door had shut, before the flood came. Their probation had closed. So, you know, I don't--you don't want to push God's mercy. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart.
Jëan: Okay, well then, moving on with our quarterly, with our lesson for today, Monday's lesson is entitled "On the Run," and we have the story of Jacob who, after he deceived his father, how that he had to flee because of the threats of his brother, and he's wandering there in the wilderness and it's nighttime and you can just imagine how he must feel. Here he has not only, you know, made his brother mad, but he has deceived his father whom he respected and now he's separated from his mother whom he loved and he's all alone. He's got nothing, and he realizes all of this is because of my sin. Now, probably, he had been repenting, you know, as he was leaving home, asking for forgiveness, he had a humble heart, but then God shows in a very special way His grace and His forgiveness that night when Jacob lies down and goes to sleep in a place called Beersheba.
Doug: Yeah, Jacob, he deceived his father and he stole his brother's birthright and then they knew that Esau was saying to his friends, "As soon as my father's dead, I'm going to kill him," and they thought, "You know--" Isaac actually thought he was going to die much sooner than he did. He blessed his sons. He says, you know, "The day of my departure's come," and he blessed his sons. Well, he lived another 40 years. He didn't--no, he outlived his wife, actually. But--so Jacob's leaving home under pretense of, you know, going to marry a girl and he actually was going to find a girl who believed in Jehovah. His parents were so grieved that Esau had married the local Canaanite pagan girls that going across the country to a relative sort of, he's looking for refuge from his brother's wrath, he feels isolated.
Now, we can read about it here in Genesis chapter 28, verse 10: "And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and he went towards Haran." That's on the other side of the Euphrates. "And he came to a certain place, and he stayed there all night," we later know this is Bethel, "because the sun had set; and he took one of the stones of that place, and put it at his head and he lay down at that place to sleep. And then he dreamed, and behold a ladder was set up on earth, and its top reached to heaven: and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac: the land on which you lie, I will give to you and your descendants.
Also, your descendants will be as the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and the north, and the south: and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth will be blessed." Meaning, the Messiah would come through the line of Jacob. "Behold, I am with you and I will keep you wherever you go and I'll bring you back to this land," and he did keep him and bring him back, "for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken for you.
Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, Surely," now this is a very vivid dream and he knows it's a vision from God. "Surely, the Lord is in this place and I did not know it. And he was afraid and said, How awesome is this place. And it is none other than the house of God." That's where we get the word "Bethel." "And this is the gate of heaven." And it's interesting that the word "Babylon" means gate of heaven, which is the counterfeit of Bethel being the gate of heaven. But, of course, Babylon is, I think that's the Chaldean or a different language for it.
So he thinks that God's abandoned him, and God comes to him and says, "Because you've humbled yourself and you've turned to Me and you've repented of your sin, I'm not abandoning you but you wanted the blessing. You wanted the blessing of the firstborn. I told your mother that you were going--the youngest was going to get it. You didn't need to deceive your brother to get it. You should have trusted Me." But He still forgives him and He says, "I'm going to bless you. The Messiah will come through your line."
Jëan: And of course, if you look at that story, like all the stories in the Bible, you get an illustration of the gospel. Here, you have Jacob sinning against his father and yet his father still blesses him. And he needed to repent in order to receive that blessing. So we have sinned against our heavenly Father and yet He still blesses us and, in order for us to receive the inheritance that He wants to give us, we have to repent, as Jacob did. So, you know, there are so many stories in the Bible that illustrate the grace of God and His love for us, for people.
Doug: And even, you know, even when he did that dastardly thing of stealing his brother's blessing, there is a great analogy there of the gospel. The way that he gets the blessing from the father, he puts on the robes of the elder brother and he covers himself with a sacrifice, it's a lamb, and he's got the lamb on his hands and on his neck, and his brother's clothes, and basically the father, who is blind, gives him the brother's blessing based on the brother's robe and the smell of the brother. And, you know, we, because we put on Christ's robe of righteousness and because of the sacrifice of the Lamb, the Father closes His eyes to our sin and He blesses us. So, even though he shouldn't have done what he did, there's still an analogy in there.
Jëan: And we get the blessing of our older brother, Christ.
Doug: Yeah, exactly, he's the elder brother that gives us that blessing.
Jëan: Great analogy. Somebody sent in a question, Pastor Doug. It's a good question. Jeremy's asking: "Do you think that all religions focus on the same God but just have different beliefs?"
Doug: No, you know, I believe that God is good to many people in many religions. I don't want anyone to think that, you know, God does not hear the prayers of anybody but one particular church, because Jesus said, "The Lord sends His sunshine in the rain on the just and the unjust," and even one of the apostles, I forget the verse that it tells us that people everywhere who do what's right and they call unto Him, that He hears them. And so, you know, God is a loving God but there is only one true God and a lot of religions in the world have a very distorted picture of God. You think about some of those terrible pagan religions that would even offer their children in the fire and so they had a very corrupted picture of God and that's--they're not worshiping the same God when they're worshiping a God like that.
Jëan: And you probably wonder why the devil has been trying to misrepresent God, so there is something about worshiping a God that is being misrepresented. The devil's trying to misrepresent the character and the qualities of God so there must be something about knowing what the God is like. The Bible tells us to know God is to love Him. And you're not going to love a God that, you know, hates you or tortures you. And even in Christianity, there are many who believe that God is going to torture the wicked throughout endless ages and it creates a false picture of what God's like. Totally different than the God of the Bible.
Doug: Even in the time of Christ, when Jesus came, He came to show them what the Father is like and He said He came unto His own and His own received Him not. They didn't know Him. And so they didn't, even the Jews. Jesus said, "Look, if you were God's children, then you would believe Me because I've been sent by God." And He said, "You have a whole different picture of God than the truth. I came to show you what He's really like."
Jëan: That reminds me of a statement that I think both of us got in a email yesterday which illustrates the love of God, and it's just a beautiful statement that comes from "Testimonies," Volume 5. Maybe I'll just read it, Pastor Doug, because it is encouraging. "Testimonies," Volume page--" Testimonies," Volume 5, page 740. It says: "All of the paternal love which has come down from generation to generation through the channel of human hearts, all of the springs of tenderness, which have opened to the souls of men, are but as a tiny rill to the boundless ocean when compared to the infinite and exhaustless love of God. Tongue cannot utter it, pain cannot portray it. You may meditate upon it every day of your life. You may search the Scriptures diligently in order to understand it. You may summon every power and capability that God has given you in the endeavor to comprehend the love and the compassion of the heavenly Father. And yet," it says, "there is an infinity beyond.
You may study that love for ages and you can never be fully--you can never fully comprehend the length and the breadth, the depth and the height of the love of God in giving His Son to die for the world. Eternity itself can never fully reveal it, yet as we study the Bible and meditate upon the life of Christ and the plan of redemption, these great themes will open to our understanding more and more."
Doug: We'll spend eternity trying to comprehend the love of God and we'll never plumb the depths.
Jëan: It reminds me of that song where it says: "If every person was an author, and all of the--"
Doug: The love of God, yeah.
Jëan: The love of God, yeah. "All of the reeds in the world were a pen, and the sky was your parchment."
Doug: "If we with ink the ocean--"
Jëan: "Drain."
Doug: "--drain and were every stalk on earth a quill, and were the heavens a scroll, man would still not be able to write the love of God." I also forgot the words too.
Jëan: Yeah, it's a beautiful, beautiful hymn. All right, well, moving right along, we've got quite a bit to cover here. Tuesday's lesson is entitled: "Rabbi Jesus," and we have a parallel between Genesis chapter 1 where it says: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth," and of course, John chapter 1 that says: "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him and without Him was not anything made that was made." And then verse 4 is interesting. It says: "In Him was life and the life was the light of men." Well, the first thing that God created was light. Here we have that parallel in John where Jesus is described as the light and all life is dependent upon light, the light of the sun. All spiritual life is dependent upon Jesus.
Doug: Yeah, and if you go on and you jump to verse 9 in that same passage, it says: "And that was the true light that gives light to every man that comes into the world." Then go to verse 14: "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."
I went through the Gospel of John. John is definitely the most visual of the apostles. And just in the first chapter of John, there are, like, 32 references to light and sight. I mean, words like behold, light, see. "We saw Him, come and see." I mean, he's a very, very visual disciple and so when Jesus said, "I am the light of the world," and we come to Christ and we see. Now, the reason Jesus is qualified to be Rabbi Jesus is because he came from the presence of God. He is the fountainhead of all knowledge and wisdom and so who in the universe could be more qualified to teach us than Jesus who knows everything?
Jëan: The disciples said to Jesus, "Lord, show us the Father, and it suffices us," and Jesus said, "Have I been so long time with you, Philip, he who has seen Me has seen the Father." That is a--you know, when you stop and think about that for a minute, the kindness and the love and the healing and the blessings that were illustrated and displayed in the life of Jesus, that's not somehow standing in opposition to what God is like. That is what God the Father is like. He is a God of love and compassion, forgiveness. Not to say that there isn't a God of justice because we do see in the life of Christ moments where justice is displayed, in particular, the cleansing of the sanctuary, that even astounded the disciples when Jesus cleansed the sanctuary. So, yup, we see this beautiful blend of love and compassion, mercy and justice in the life of Christ.
Doug: Yeah, and so, you know, He is, of course, knowledge incarnate. He is wisdom incarnate. Matter of fact, I think we have a couple of verses. If you want, you can read 1 Corinthians 1:24, then I'll read Colossians 2, verses 2 and 3.
Jëan: It says: "But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God," that's 1 Corinthians 1:24.
Doug: Yeah, so Christ is the wisdom of God, is--He wanted to show His wisdom in everything He said. They came back--they were supposed to rest and when the guards came back and said, "Never a man spake like this man." And, boy, I wish I could have been on earth back then and seen that. Colossians 2, verses 2 and 3: "That their hearts might be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding," and notice here, "to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both the Father, and of Christ; in whom are hidden," now, he says, God the Father, and Christ are God. "In whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."
And so Jesus had in Him--I mean, you know, it's fun sometimes now when you just go to Google. I don't know how we ever lived without it. You go to Google and you type in anything and all of the wisdom of the world is at your fingertips in the flash of a, you know, of a moment, and I'm getting spoiled now. Where I used to search my Bible software, I'm finding Google, the search engine for the Bible in Google, is actually pretty good and it gives you a lot of options. But, you know, everything you might know that can be known, Christ had all of that in Him, all that wisdom. And so, He is, of course, the most qualified rabbi and teacher.
Jëan: Pastor Doug, we have a question that's coming in from Jessimi. She asks, "What is true repentance?"
Doug: You know, true repentance is a sorrow for sin, not just sorry that you're in trouble because the Pharaoh repented and then he went right back to it. He just was sorry about the judgment. Judas repented; he went and hung himself. That's not the right kind of repentance. But it's a sorrow for sin, sorry that we've hurt God, and a willingness to turn away from it. And so someone said, "You--repentance is when you perform a U-turn on the road of life and it means you turn." And so whenever the Bible says: "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand," it's talking about, you know, humbling ourselves before God, confessing our sins, and then asking for his power to turn from those sins, and walking in newness of life.
Jëan: The Bible says that it's God that gives us repentance so as we turn to Him and we grow closer to Him, our repentance will grow. It'll be deeper and fuller. Here's another question that Jasmine has. It's a great question. I don't think I've seen this one before. It says: "Is there a correlation between the dove Noah sent out, and the Holy Spirit descending upon Jesus like a dove?"
Doug: Yeah, a great question. You know, historically, the dove has been a symbol of peace. Not too many people are attacked by doves. They're sort of gentle birds. They coo and they're a bird that is a bird of sacrifice, kind of like, you know, in the mammals you've got the lamb was a sacrifice. For the poor people, the dove was a sacrifice. And Joseph and Mary had no money so they brought turtledoves as a sacrifice. And so, the dove, when Noah sent it out and it came back with an olive leaf in its mouth, around the world that's sort of been--I think even the United Nations uses that as an emblem of peace. And that God, you know, that the judgment is over now. Man is at peace with God. You get the rainbow in the heavens. And so, when the Holy Spirit came into Christ's life, I believe God sends peace into the person's life when they're baptized and there's--it's a symbol of reconciliation as well.
Jëan: Maybe one of the signs of the Holy Spirit dwelling within the heart of a person is a peace. The Bible speaks of a peace that passes all understanding, and there's a joy, especially at baptism, when somebody was baptized and they give their life to Christ, the Holy Spirit gives them peace and joy, and, of course, we see that symbolized in the dove. Symbolized by the Holy Spirit. Our next part of our lesson then goes to Wednesday where we're talking about--it's got an interesting title. It says: "A Woman Talks Back."
And we have the story here of Matthew chapter 15:21-28 and maybe I'll just read this and, Pastor Doug, you just interrupt as you want to add. It says: "Then Jesus went out from there and departed to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him, saying, 'Have mercy upon me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed.' But He answered her not a word. And His disciples came and urged Him, saying, 'Send her away, for she cries out after us.' But Jesus answered and said, and He said, 'I am not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.' Then she came and she worshiped Him, saying, 'Lord, help me!' But He answered again and said, 'It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs.' She said, 'Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from the master's table.' Then Jesus answered her and said, 'O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.' And her daughter was healed from that very hour."
Doug: Yeah, this is a--it's a very interesting story because people are shocked to hear Jesus say to someone who's praying for healing for their child--refer to them as a dog. And that it's not right to take the children's food and I'm only sent to the lost house of the children of Israel, and they think, "Wow, everybody else in the Bible that comes to Jesus and prays, He answers their prayer." But in our lesson today we've got a couple of examples where God--one doesn't answer at first. He says no at first but then He says yes, and with Bartimaeus He doesn't answer right away. He has to continue crying but then the answer comes. And we'll get to that in a moment.
But first, I think, it's interesting to note Christ is like--He comes with a ministry like Elijah's to bring revival. And Elijah went and stayed with a woman of Sidon and performed a miracle, and raised her son. Here, Jesus, this is the only time that it records that Jesus leaves the territory of Israel. And this woman comes and she says, you know, "Have mercy on me, have mercy on me," and she's speaking to Him and the disciples say, "Oh, it's a Gentile. Send her away." Jesus answers her the way the typical rabbi would have done back then. But He knows as soon as He knows the woman's there, matter of fact, the only miracle He does up north is to heal that woman's daughter because He went to do it.
It's like when He crosses the sea and He heals the demoniac, the only thing He did across that sea was heal the demoniac. He went to do that job. He went to heal her daughter, but He tests her faith. He answers her, though, kind of a harsh answer, the way that the Jews would normally look upon the Gentiles as dogs. But she says, "Even the little dogs get the crumbs."
Now, keep in mind, Jesus later tells a parable about the rich man and Lazarus where He said, poor Lazarus who's the type of the Gentile, only comfort he gets is the dogs lick his sores and he's wanting the crumbs that fall from the rich man's table. And the Bible tells us that Lazarus ends up in Abraham's bosom, and the rich man, a symbol of the Jewish nation, is outside. Meaning, just because you're born in a particular faith doesn't save you, and so Jesus was using this and He's hoping the disciples will put these things together.
Of course, He heals her and He says, "Woman--" He answers her with the respect--and by the way, the word "woman" there is, you know, He said to His mother, "Woman." The word "woman" there is madam. It's a term of respect, believe it or not. And "'Great is your faith. Let it be to you as you desire,' and her daughter was healed that very hour." So He answers her prayer. But He tries to illustrate this is the first miracle He really does for a Gentile like this. I think He also heals the Centurion's servant but it stands out.
Jëan: You know, what impresses me about the verses, Jesus says to her, "I was sent except--I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel," and then it says, "She came and she worshiped Him." So here is a Gentile recognizing the divinity of Christ. She's worshiping Jesus, even though she has not yet received what she was asking for.
Doug: When He stops and talks to her, she sees an opening. I just read through this in "The Desire of Ages" and she saw that--you know, sometimes you read the words, you go, "Well that was a harsh thing to say." You have to see His face, you have to see His body language. She understood there was mercy and an opening in the way He said that. He basically said, "Well, you know how the Jews are. We're not supposed to take the children's food and give it to the dogs," but He's smiling at her and she felt welcome enough to come.
Jëan: And you know, partly why this happened this way is, I think, Jesus was giving His disciples an opportunity. It was sort of a test. Were they listening? Were they looking at the life of Christ? And unfortunately, in this case, they seemed to fail the test because they say, "Send her away. She cries after us."
Doug: Yeah, she's making a spectacle.
Jëan: Yeah, so, of course, eventually the disciples had to learn that Jesus was for everyone, not just for the Jews.
Doug: Yeah.
Jëan: That brings us to Thursday's lesson and this is a great story too. It talks about a student who gets it and Mark chapter 8, verse 31, 33, we have Jesus actually telling His disciples that He would die and yet Peter says, "Lord, far be it from You. This will not happen to You." And Jesus has to say, "Get thee behind Me, Satan." It's rather remarkable that here, the devil uses Peter who just a little while earlier had said, "You are the Christ," to try and tempt Jesus to not follow through with what He knew was God's will.
Doug: Yeah, I think there's about eight times in the Bible, seven or eight in the Gospels, where Jesus said what His mission was, to go and to die, and it tells us in Luke: "They understood," this is Luke 18:34: "They understood none of those things but this saying was hidden from them, and they did not know the things that were spoken." So here, He's got His apostles. They're students and they're just not getting it. But Mary Magdalene got it when she brought her gift. He said, "She's anointed Me for My burial." He understood He's going to die for my sin. And He said, "She anointed Me in advance." And Bartimaeus called Him the Son of David. He understood who He was and I think maybe you want to read that, Mark 10, verse 46.
Jëan: It says: "Now when they came to Jericho, as He went out of Jericho with His disciples, a great multitude--with a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, 'Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!' Then many warned him to be quiet; but he cried out all the more, 'Son of David, have mercy on me!' So Jesus stood still," kind of like what Jesus did with that woman that had the demon-possessed daughter. "So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called. Then they called the blind man, saying to him, 'Be of good cheer. Rise, He's calling you.' And throwing aside his garment, he rose and he came to Jesus. So Jesus asked him, said, 'What do you want Me to do for you?' The blind man said to Him, 'Rabboni, that I might receive my sight.' Then Jesus said to him, 'Go. Go your way; your faith has made you well.' And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road."
Doug: It's interesting, He told the rich young ruler, "Follow Me and you'll have treasure in heaven," and he walks away. He tells the blind man, "Go," and he follows Him. And so the blind man has nothing but rags and he throws aside his garment when he comes to Christ which is a symbol of us, you know, a blind man's garments probably aren't very pretty. And he throws his garments aside and we cast aside our righteousness, our self-righteousness when we come to Christ. And--but the rich man, he walks away with his royal robes. He doesn't follow Him.
And it's just--it's such an incredible contrast and you have both stories that aren't very far from each other in the gospel. And it's also similar to that lady where it says they told Him he was crying out, "Be quiet." He's saying, "Son of David, have mercy on me. Son of David." He calls all the louder. Now, I think in one of the Gospels it actually says that there's two blind men and outside of Jericho and it's probably the same story, just that one was more--Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, was more outspoken, and he follows Jesus down the road. He's got nothing but his vision but he's happy. And you know, they say that you can give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. You can teach him to fish, and you can feed him for a lifetime. And Jesus said, "Look, I could give you a donation because you're a beggar on the roadside or I can give you your sight and then you can work." And so, you know, He gave him what he really needed, so he's rejoicing. Said, "I'm not worried about a donation. I'm interested in now I've got my sight."
Jëan: Yeah, I think it also teaches us that sometimes in order for us to realize the gift that Christ wants to give us, we have to sort of reach rock bottom. You have the rich man who walked away sorrowful. He didn't follow Jesus. He had all these riches, whereas Bartimaeus had nothing and the little bit that he did have, he was willing to cast aside for Jesus.
Doug: Another important point in this story is when he was calling out, "Son of David, have mercy on me," the crowd told him to be quiet but it said "Many" told him to be quiet. They said, "You're making a spectacle," just like the disciples said about that woman, "She's crying after us." So one of the things we learn about Jesus is that Jesus is patient with people and something else is He doesn't always answer the first time we ask. With Bartimaeus and with that woman, they kept crying after Him.
Sometimes people--I know our friends who are listening may be praying about an issue, praying for victory, praying your eyes are opened, praying for someone else you love, and you may have to pray for a while. Because God doesn't answer right away does not mean He's not going to answer and it doesn't mean He doesn't love you. God honors persistence, is a very important lesson here.
Jëan: So when we look at Jesus the Master Teacher, we can see different qualities and characteristics and these qualities are the qualities of God the Father because Jesus came to reveal what God is like, and just as Jesus came to reveal the truth about God, so Jesus wants His followers to reveal the truth. And in Hebrews we find Paul speaking to the church and he says, "You ought to be teachers by now, but you need somebody to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God." This is Hebrews chapter 5, verse 12. So the real goal of the Christian is not just to stay on the milk which is being unskilled in the Word, but as Paul says, he wants us to have solid food and grow up into the full stature of what Christ wants us to be.
Doug: Yeah, absolutely. And so--and not only does Paul say this here, I think Peter also said, you know, we should desire the sincere milk of the Word, but we shouldn't be just eating baby pabulum all the time. Now, there's a time for that and, you know, the challenge for a pastor is if you've got, you know, several people in your congregation, you're going to have some people that are children, babies, in their faith, they've just come to Christ, and then you're going to have some that may be all their lives and they want the meat, and you've got to kind of mix up a little bit of something for everybody when you're preaching.
But--and Jesus did that. He would do parables that had incredible depth and yet the kids would sit there and go, "I get it," you know? There was something real simple in it that they something much deeper that had meat in, in the parable as well. And He modeled that teaching for us that we should follow.
Jëan: We'd like to remind those who are joining us about our free offer. It is a book entitled, "Down From His Glory," and we'll be happy to send this to anyone in North America. Just call the number 866-788-3966 and you can ask for free offer number 154. You can also get a digital download of this book. If you text the code "SH139" to the number "40544," we'll send you an email with a link and you'll be able to download the book. It's called "Down From His Glory."
And Pastor Doug, as we mentioned at the beginning of the program, we're very excited about our upcoming online Bible prophecy seminar. It's called "Revelation Now!" The tag line is "Everything is About to Change." And this is something that anyone can participate in. Just simply go to the website, revelationnow.com. It begins at 7 p.m. on Friday, October 23.
Doug: And it goes on through November 14 because of the time--see, some people watch this program live but then it's rebroadcast three weeks later. After all the subtitles and so forth are attached, it's sent off to the satellite networks and so, programs should still be in progress even when this airs and it won't be too late to at least take in some of the final broadcasts so you can just go to the "Revelation Now!" website. You'll see the schedule there. And it's a great way for you to bring others to Christ and, with everything happening in the world right now, I can't imagine a better opportunity when people are going to be more open to the things of the gospel.
Jëan: You know, Pastor Doug, we're looking forward to this so we just want to encourage those of you, be a part of this "Revelation Now!" seminar.
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Announcer: The statistics are grim. Millions have been infected by coronavirus, thousands have died. Race riots have broken out on streets, political tensions are at an all-time high. Does the Bible have anything to say about the times in which we are living?
Doug Batchelor: Hi, friends. This is Pastor Doug Batchelor. Many people are wondering if the world's about to implode. Some are fearful that global events point to a coming crisis unlike anything we've ever witnessed. Did you know the Bible book of Revelation actually speaks about the days in which we're living now? And it contains a message of hope, if we would only listen. That's why I'd like to invite you to "Revelation Now! Decoding the Bible's Greatest Prophecies." In this multi-part series, I'll be sharing relevant truths for our time from the last book in the Bible. announcer: Coming October 23. To learn more, visit revelationnow.com.
Male: I grew up in a church-going family. I mean, we were at every meeting. I sang in four of the choirs there, I directed three. Very involved, very active. It almost seemed like busy work sometimes, you know? I went to Sunday school, I knew about God, I knew about Jesus. But I didn't have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
My senior year in high school I got the news that my father had been murdered. Now, I played it off well. No one really saw that I was struggling with it. It just really felt like there was a hole that needed to be filled and I tried to fill it with drugs, with alcohol, with partying. After college, I just stopped going to church altogether.
One day, on a Sunday, because I didn't feel like going to church with my mom, I thought, you know, "I should get a little bit of Word." She had the satellite system hooked up and I'm flipping through channels. And then the logo pops across, "Amazing Facts Presents." I've listened to a lot of different ministers but this was the first time that he's actually saying something where I had to grab my Bible and actually pick it up and I've never heard this before. Let me look through and find this.
I went through all the Storacles, I went through all the study guides and I just couldn't get enough. And then the Sabbath came up and he's going through the appeal and I'm just going, "Lord, I hear You. I have to go to church." So I show up. It was funny, I didn't feel like I was going to be judged, anything judgmental, anything. And I walked in the door, and I just felt at home. But there's still a problem. I'm still partying. I was still going out to the bars. At this time, I was selling cocaine to pay my rent.
Sixteen days later, I find myself in a life or death situation. I had just came back from a liquor store and I grabbed a bottle of vodka. And there I am, high off cocaine, with my Bible in hand, trying to do a Bible study. And I heard an audible voice, "Just look at yourself." And I did, and I was, like, "What am I doing?" And I got on my knees and I said, "Lord, if You do not take this away from me now, I'm going to kill myself." I was going to continue this lifestyle and I was going to end up overdosing, having a heart attack, whatever it was. "You have to take this away, all of it." And that day, He lift it all up and away from me. It was all gone. When God does something in your life, He does it complete.
Doug: Every now and then, in the panorama of history we hear about individuals that go from the lowest depths to the highest pinnacles. They emerge from the shackles of prison to lead and inspire a nation. Take Joseph, for instance. He's sold by his brothers as a slave, then falsely accused and thrust into prison. Yet, through a series of divine circumstances, he miraculously goes from the prison to the palace, ruling the ones who once imprisoned him.
Sound far-fetched? It's happened in history more than you think. South Africa is the home of just such a leader. Nelson Mandela worked tirelessly to establish peace and freedom in his country and his influence was felt around the world. Before freedom, there must be forgiveness. Like Joseph, who was unjustly accused for a crime he did not commit, Nelson Mandela was accused of terrorism and sentenced to life in prison on Robben Island. He was often exposed to cruel punishment and abuse, but even in the midst of apparent failure and discouragement, he never lost heart, he never gave up.
After years in prison, a growing number of supporters rallied for his release and, eventually, it took place. And God used him so that he was instrumental in helping to abolish racial segregation in the country of South Africa. Incredibly, he now was virtually the absolute leader in the country that had imprisoned him. He had all of the tools and the power at his disposal to get even with the prison guards and others that had mistreated him. Instead, Mandela chose forgiveness.
It reminds me of that verse in the Bible in Ephesians chapter 4, verse 32: "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and railing be put away from you, with all malice: and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, even as God also in Christ forgave you." I'm so thankful that Nelson Mandela, like Joseph, chose to forgive those who were once his enemies and to serve his nation with love and courage.
You can find a number of examples of this happening in the Bible. You have Daniel who was a captive from the land of Judah and yet God arranged things where he becomes the prime minister in the kingdom of Babylon. You have Esther who was a poor orphan girl in Persia. And yet, God worked things out where she becomes the queen of that country.
The book of Jeremiah ends with an incredible story of a young king named Jehoiakim who is in the Babylonian dungeon for 37 years and then King Evil-Merodach has mercy on him and he has a new status, going from the prison to the palace.
This is what the Lord wants to do for you and me, friends. He gives you the bread of life, He gives you the robe of Jesus' righteousness. He gives you a seat at His table. If you accept His forgiveness and you're willing to pass it on, you and I can live and reign with Christ. Wouldn't you like that experience?