“Who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time” (1 Tim. 2:4–6, NKJV). How do these verses help us to understand just what Christ is doing for us in heaven?
Christ is called the one Mediator between God and man. There is no one else [...]
Read Romans 8:31–34. What great hope and promise is offered us here?
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The background of verses 31-24 is a courtroom scene in which we should visualize ourselves on trial. Questions are asked: Who is against us? Who will bring a charge against us? Who condemns us? Such a situation could easily send shivers down our spines. After all, are we not well aware of our human imperfection and sinfulness?
However, we do not need to fear. [...]
The New Testament book that speaks the most about Christ as Priest is Hebrews.
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The Old Testament backbone of Hebrews consists of two verses quoted from Psalm 110. Verse 1 is cited to confirm that Christ is exalted above all because He sat down at the right hand of God. This is a recurring theme in Hebrews, one that emphasizes Jesus’ divinity and Messiahship (Heb. 1:3, 4:14, 7:26, 8:1, 12:2). Psalm 110:4 is used to [...]
Read for This Week’s Study: Ps. 110:1–5; Gen. 14:18–20; Heb. 7:1–3; Rom. 8:31–34; 1 Tim. 2:4–6; Heb. 8:6; Heb. 2:17-18; Heb. 3:6; Heb. 10:1–14.
Memory Text: “Now the main point in what has been said is this: we have such a high priest, who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a minister in the sanctuary and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man” (Hebrews 8:1, 2, NASB).
After [...]
Further Study: “The Atonement, Part I—Atoning Sacrifice,” pp. 661-680, in Appendix C of The SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 7A.
What Martin Luther frequently called a “wonderful exchange” or “joyous exchange” of Christ’s righteousness for human sin, Ellen G. White describes in a classic statement as follows: “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 [...]
When my parents died, my grandmother took me in. Her priest hoped I would follow in his footsteps, so he paid my school fees. One day he gave me a sermon and told me to preach it the following Sunday. I didn’t understand it, and the priest wasn’t there to explain it. So I asked an Adventist neighbor to explain it to me. He read the sermon and said the sermon wasn’t biblical. Then he read several Bible texts that [...]
Since we installed satellite TV earlier this year, Pastor Derek Morris’s Sabbath School Class on the HopeTV channel has been one of our favorites which we try not to miss. It is “an in-depth, inter-active study of the Word of God.” If you don’t have satellite TV, you can download the video or audio files and the lesson outlines to your computer from the site. And you may send in comments via email.
Pastor Derek Morris on HopeTV
Each week’s lesson [...]
Professor Martin Pröbstle’s commentary on Lesson 7 is now available through the SanctuaryLesson.org domain on Vimeo. In his warm, engaging manner this young professor from Schloss Bogenhofen in Austria shares what he sees as the key thoughts of this lesson in just under 7 minutes. (If you haven’t seen the previous videos, we suggest you check them out too through the link above.)
Direct link to Lesson 7: “Christ, Our Sacrifice,” (downloadable) or click on the video below, if you can [...]
In the book of Hebrews, Paul not only focuses on the theological understanding of Christ’s sacrifice, he also explains some of its practical implications.
Image © Janet Hyun from GoodSalt.com
At several places he shows what happens if someone ignores this sacrifice.
Read Hebrews 6:4-6 and 10:26-31. About what is Paul warning us? What kinds of attitudes does he describe?
In the book of Hebrews, Paul demonstrates how magnificent God’s salvation is, how God has revealed Himself, and what He has done and [...]
Which criteria does a sacrificial animal need to meet? Read Exod. 12:5, Lev. 3:1, 4:3.
Image © Phil McKay from GoodSalt.com
The selection of a sacrificial animal required great care. A person could not just take any animal for an offering; the animal needed to fulfill several criteria, depending on the kind of offering.
However, there is one criterion that all offerings had to meet. They had to be “unblemished.” The Hebrew word (tamim) could also be rendered as “complete,” “unscathed,” “without [...]
The concept of redemptive blood pervades the entire Bible.
Image © Steve Creitz from GoodSalt.com
Starting from the earliest sacrifices after Adam and Eve sinned, blood was always present when animal sacrifices occurred. Blood rituals characterized the Israelite sacrificial system in order to illustrate the crucial truth that, without blood, we would not have any chance to be forgiven our sins and to enter into the presence of God. Blood was the only way to receive God’s mercy and to have [...]
Read Hebrews 2:9.
Image © Janet Hyun from GoodSalt.com
What does it mean that Jesus “taste[d] death for everyone?” See also Heb. 2:17, Heb. 9:26-28, Heb. 10:12. Jesus died for sinners. He was without sin (Heb. 4:15) so that when He gave His life as a sacrifice He would not die for His own sin. On the contrary, He was “to bear the sins of many” (Heb. 9:28, NKJV), to “make propitiation for the sins of the people” (Heb. 2:17, [...]
Read Isaiah 53:2-12. What do these verses teach about what Christ did for us?
Image © Kevin Carden from GoodSalt.com
Isaiah 52:13-53:12 is a powerful description of Christ’s death for the sins of the world. Several aspects in this passage provide clear evidence that Jesus’ death is atonement in the form of penal substitution, which means that He took the penalty that others deserved and, in fact, died as a Substitute for them. Here are some of the implications of this [...]
Read for This Week’s Study: Isa. 53:2-12, Heb.2:9, Heb. 9:26-28, Heb. 9:12, Exod. 12:5,Heb.4:15.
Memory Text: “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed” (1 Peter 2:24, NASB).
Catholic Priest Maximilian Kolbe was imprisoned in Auschwitz for providing shelter to refugees from Greater Poland, including 2,000 Jews. When a prisoner in his barracks vanished (perhaps he escaped), the SS picked 10 prisoners [...]
Further Study: “Now the event takes place foreshadowed in the last solemn service of the Day of Atonement. When the ministration in the holy of holies had been completed, and the sins of Israel had been removed from the sanctuary by virtue of the blood of the sin offering, then the scapegoat was presented alive before the Lord; and in the presence of the congregation the high priest confessed over him ‘all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and [...]
