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Lesson 10: Messages of the Prophets *

Introduction: If someone asked me to teach a class about the messages from my wife, I would have to do some thinking. My wife gives me all sorts of messages. Is there a theme in the messages from your spouse or your best friend? In general, my wife's messages are positive and not critical. They are fun and not harassing. I love to hear from her. What about messages from God? Does He have a theme? Are they fun or harassing messages? Is there a way to summarize all that He says through the prophets? Let's dive into the Bible and explore this possibility together!

  1. Abraham the Prophet


    1. Read Genesis 22:1-2. Tell me all the reasons why, if you were Abraham, you would not believe this is a message from God?


      1. What kind of a god would remind Abraham that he loved his only son as part of a message to kill and burn his son?


      2. Read Leviticus 20:1-3. Is God giving mixed messages?


    2. Read Genesis 22:9-12. We can see that God did not intend that Abraham kill his son. What do you think was God's intent? Did He have a message? (This was a terrible test of loyalty.)


      1. Is the message about selfishness? God talks about "withholding" the son. (God speaks as if it were also a test of selfishness.)


      2. Would this show that the parents who sacrificed their children to Molech were unselfish? (Read Hebrews 11:17-19. The parents giving their children to Molech did it to gain blessings. It was a selfish act. If Abraham sacrificed his son it would deny him the promised blessing. Abraham concluded that God would raise his son to life. This shows that Abraham never thought he would be blessed by sacrificing Isaac. He was just obedient.)


    3. Read Genesis 22:15-18. What does God promise Abraham? (Abraham was not in this for the blessings, but God promises blessings and many descendants who are themselves blessed. God also promised Abraham's descendants will be the means by which all nations on earth are blessed.)


      1. Why is Abraham being promised so much? ("Because you have obeyed me.")


    4. This is contemplation time: What message is God giving through the angel and through Abraham? (That He wants loyalty and obedience.)


      1. Is the message deeper than that? Why would God chose such a terrible, mixed-message test? Why use such an awful and illogical context?


  2. The Son and the Sanctuary


    1. Read Acts 3:24-26. To what event does this text link Abraham's experience? (Jesus coming to earth.)


    2. Read Galatians 3:6-9. To what theology does Galatians link Abraham's experience?(Righteousness by faith.)


    3. The story of Abraham and the sacrifice of Isaac seem completely illogical on the surface. They smell of Molech and pagan child sacrifice. Let's go through the ways in which the details of Abraham's experience relate to the message God was (and is) giving us:


      1. First detail: an innocent son. How does that relate to God's message? (Jesus is the innocent Son of God. Compare Luke 1:46-55.)


      2. Second detail: a loved son. How does that relate to God's message? (God shows His incredible love and loyalty to us because He was willing to give His loved Son - He was willing to give Himself.)


      3. Third detail: an altar of sacrifice. How does that relate to God's message? (God has taken away our sin by the gift of His Son. Compare Luke 1:67-77.)


      4. Fourth detail: God intervenes with another sacrifice in place of the beloved son Isaac. How does that relate to God's message? (Righteousness by faith. God died in our place - which we accept by faith. God died to save our loved ones from eternal death!)


  3. The Rest


    1. Read Genesis 2:1-2. What message is God giving us here? (That He is the Creator and that Sabbath rest is part of His creation.)


    2. Read Exodus 20:8-11. What is God's message here? (This makes explicit what is implicit in Genesis: God wants us to celebrate His creation through the weekly Sabbath of rest.)


    3. Read Deuteronomy 5:12-15. What is God's message here? (This is another view of Sabbath rest. God wants us to celebrate our rescue from evil through the weekly Sabbath.)


    4. Read Hebrews 3:18-4:2. What kind of rest is God speaking about here? (The rest that comes from the gospel - that is the story of Abraham and Isaac as a prophecy of Jesus' death on our behalf.)


    5. Read Hebrews 4:3-6. This is contemplation time again. What do the gospel and Sabbath rest have in common? (They are victory points. When we read an obituary composed by the family, it generally consists of all of the "high" (victory) points of the person's life. God created us and He made the Sabbath rest to celebrate and memorialize this victory of His authority. God snatched His people from the slavery of Egypt. He reminded the people that the Sabbath rest was a memorial of His creative authority and His authority over Egypt (evil). The phrase "His work has been finished since the creation of the world" suggests that God's plan of salvation was in place at the creation. The Sabbath also memorializes that.)


    6. Read Hebrews 4:7-11. What Sabbath rest do we find here, and what does it have to do with what we just contemplated? (Jesus came, died and rose to eternal life on our behalf. Just as God created us, just as He snatched His people from Egyptian slavery, so He has now snatched us from the slavery of sin and eternal death. We celebrate all of that weekly by entering into the Sabbath rest.)


    7. Read Hebrews 4:14-16. This brings us back in a complete circle to Abraham and Isaac. What temptation did Abraham and Isaac face that Jesus faced? (To give in to selfishness. To take the easy way out. To avoid the pain of sacrifice.)


      1. What is God's message to us through His work as "a Great High Priest," through the Abraham story and through the Sabbath celebration of God's victories? (That from the beginning He has put everything in place to allow us victory.)


      2. Can you see now why the Abraham sacrificing Isaac story is not some weird, mixed-message event, but rather a summary of God's messages to humans?


  4. The Ultimate Victory


    1. Read Isaiah 25:6-8. What message is Isaiah the prophet sharing with us? (The victory feast when we get to heaven! Vegetarians may have to put in a special advance order.)


    2. Read 1 Corinthians 15:50-57. What victory point do we see here? (Death is swallowed up in Jesus' victory over sin. Isaiah 25:8 tells us that death is swallowed up and 1 Corinthians 15:54-55 quotes this prophetic message to reinforce it.)


      1. For those vegetarians who are suffering from my joke about Isaiah 25:6, ask the carnivores in the class where they are getting the meat if death is over?


    3. Friend, can you see a consistent message from God through His prophets? I can. He is our Creator, He is our Rescuer from evil, sin and death. He offers us a Sabbath rest now to celebrate His Creation, plan of salvation and victory over sin. That Sabbath rest anticipates the ultimate Sabbath rest in Heaven and the earth made new. Will you accept the prophets' messages today? Will you enter into God's Sabbath rest?


  5. Next week: Interpreting the Prophetic Writings.


* Copr. 2009, Bruce N. Cameron, J.D. All scripture references are to the New International Version (NIV), copr. 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society, unless otherwise noted. Quotations from the NIV are used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers. Suggested answers are found within parentheses. The lesson assumes the teacher uses a blackboard or some other visual aid.

Discussion

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The comments below are the opinions of our readers and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bruce N. Cameron or SabbathSchoolLessons.com.

well it is quite evident that as Isaiah says Christ doesn't change through out the ages. It would have been very unfortunate if he changed all that he had communicated to the prophets but he clearly established one of his core character that He is consistent in his saying. we ought to follow His own example and live consistently. living exemplary lives is what is required of us.
Posted by Samuel Mwenda on Monday, March 2, 2009 at 02:43 AM
how can you seriously do a lesson on the prophetic gifts as was manifested in the life of ellen white and be scared to declare that she is indeed had the prophetic gift.if she is a blessing to this church then why dont you say it.
Posted by anthony saunders on Friday, March 6, 2009 at 08:50 AM
Dear Anthony,

You have every right to be unhappy. You are exactly right that I cannot write a lesson on the prophetic gift of Ellen White and not mention Ellen White!

The explanation is this: I have been writing Internet Bible lessons to aid SS teachers (and students) every week for more than 10 years. These lessons are found at GoBible.org. GoBible has subscribers from many denominations. A student does not need the Adventist quarterly to follow my lessons. My view was that it was great to have the whole world studying what the Adventists are studying. The lessons have been a blessing to many Adventists looking for help in teaching their SS class.

The lessons have introduced thousands (maybe tens of thousands) to Adventist views on the Bible.

All those years I never directly disputed any Adventist doctrine in my lesson, but I did not focus the study on anything that did not have a solid Biblical base. I almost never mentioned Ellen White for reasons explained on this web site (See "What about Ellen White?" -- above, extreme right hand column.)

Only recently has my son started this web site (SabbathSchoolLessons.com) so that I could write Adventist specific material. However, both web sites carry the same lesson. So, imagine my problem when the quarterly started running lessons specifically about Ellen White? How could I run those on GoBible? What I chose to do was to study the topic, refer in general to charges raised against Ellen White, but not specifically mention her. In one week this quarter I actually wrote separate lessons for both web sites so that I could specifically made the application to EGW on this web site.

I struggled with this decision- did I do the right thing? If Ellen White is a person who should be accepted by every Christian as a true prophet, then I did the wrong thing.

My goal from day one with GoBible has been to lead people to study their Bibles. My goal has never been to lead them to study Ellen White. (If people knew their Bibles, I would have a different view.) As I conclude in my article (What about Ellen White?), I think she is a true prophet. However, the matter is not without doubt. Very serious charges have been raised against her. Some of the factual grounds for these charges I believe are true. For these reasons I decided that in my lessons I would simply teach what the Bible says about the prophetic gift and let those concerned about Ellen White apply those principles to her ministry. At this point in my ministry I decided that I would not carry the torch to prove to the world that Ellen White is a true prophet.

I can well understand why Adventists wonder how I can write these lessons and not refer to her. My hope is that this helps to make the matter clear.

Blessings,

Bruce
Posted by Bruce N. Cameron on Friday, March 13, 2009 at 07:38 PM

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