Sabbath School Lesson Begins
The Book of Luke
Lesson 3 April 11-17
Sabbath Afternoon
Read for This Week's Study: Luke 4:16-30,6:5, Eph. 1:3-5, Luke 9:18-27,2 Pet. 1:16-18.
Memory
Text: He said to them,
(Luke 9:20, NKJV). But
who do you say that I am?
Peter answered and said, The Christ of God
Who is Jesus Christ?
The question is not a philosophical or a sociological gimmick. It gets to the heart of who humans are and, even more important, what eternity will hold for them.
People can admire the works of Jesus, honor His words, extol His patience, advocate His nonviolence, acclaim His decisiveness, praise His selflessness, and stand speechless at the cruel end of His life. Many may even be ready to accept Jesus as a good man who tried to set things right-to infuse fairness where there was injustice, to offer healing where there was sickness, and to bring comfort where there was only misery.
Yes, Jesus could well earn the name of the best teacher, a revolutionary, a leader par excellence, and a psychologist who can probe into the depths of one's soul. He was all these and so much more.
None of these things, however, comes near to answering the
all-important question that Jesus Himself raised: Who do you
say that I am?
(Luke 9:20,
NKJV).
It is a question that demands an answer, and on that answer the destiny of humanity hinges.
Study this week's lesson to prepare for Sabbath, April 18.
Read the Gospels; read the New Testament. All through these books incredible claims are made about not only what Jesus did but, even more important, about who Jesus was. (Of course, what Jesus did powerfully attested to who He was.) These claims-that He is God, that He is our Redeemer, that He alone is the way to eternal life-demand our attention because they are full of implications that have eternal consequences for every human being.
Read Luke 4:16-30. What caused the people to react as they did? See also John 3:19.
His hometown audience was at first thrilled to see Jesus, who,
after performing many miracles and wonders, returned to Nazareth, and
they marveled at the gracious words
He spoke (Luke 4:22, NKJV). But their
reaction to His rebuke showed what spirit truly animated them.
Read Luke 7:17-22. What was John's question about Jesus, and why would he have asked it?
Even John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus and the one who
announced Jesus as the Lamb of God,
had doubts
creeping into the depths of his soul. He wanted to know: Are
You the Coming One, or do we look for another?
(Luke 7:19, NKJV).
Notice, too, that Jesus does not answer John's question
directly; instead, He points to acts that cry out in witness: the
lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised,
the poor have the gospel preached to them
(Luke 7:22, NKJV). One could argue
that Jesus didn't need to answer John's question directly; His deeds
and actions gave ample testimony of who He was.
In a sense, the answer that Jesus gave might have caused John even a bit more consternation. After all, if Jesus has the power to do all these incredible things, why am I languishing here in jail? Who hasn't, amid their own personal tragedies, wondered something similar: if God has all this power, why is this happening to me? Why is the Cross, and all it represents and promises, our only answer?
Son of Man
and Son of God
are two names used in the Gospels to describe who Jesus is. The first
indicates God incarnate; the second points to His divinity as the
second Person of the Godhead. Together, the two phrases invite us to
ponder the miracle of Jesus Christ: God who is both divine and human.
It's a hard concept to grasp, but that difficulty does not in any way
take away from this amazing truth and the great hope that it offers us.
Read Luke 1:31-32,35; 2:11. What do these verses tell us about who Jesus really is?
In Luke 1:31-32, the angel links the name Jesus
with the Son of the Highest
to whom the Lord
God will give
the throne of David (NKJV). Jesus is the Son of
God. He is also the Christ, the Messiah, who shall restore David's
throne, not as an earthly deliverer but in the eschatological sense in
that He will ultimately defeat Satan's attempt to usurp the throne of
God Himself. To the shepherds the angel announced that the babe in the
manger is the Savior, who is Christ the Lord
(Luke 2:11, NKJV).
At the same time, the title Son of God
not
only affirms Christ's position in the Godhead, but also reveals the
close and intimate relationship that Jesus had with God the Father
while Jesus was on earth.
Yet, the relationship between the Father and the Son is not the same as the relationship that we have with God. While our relationship is a result of the work of Christ both as Creator and Redeemer, His relationship to the Father as the Son is as of one of three equal, eternal partners. Through His divinity Jesus maintained the closest possible ties to the Father.
Jesus says,
-Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 442.My Father
which is in heaven,
as reminding His disciples that while by
His humanity He is linked with them, a sharer in their trials, and
sympathizing with them in their sufferings, by His divinity He is
connected with the throne of the Infinite.
What does it mean to us that Jesus was, in the fullest sense, God? Though this truth is filled with many implications, one of the most amazing is that, though God, Jesus condescended to not only take upon Himself our humanity but to offer Himself as a sacrifice in that humanity for us. We are talking about God here! What wonderful hope does this truth have for us because of what it tells us about what God is really like?
Although Jesus was fully conscious that He was both the Son of
Man and the Son of God (Luke 22:67-70),
Son of Man
was our Savior's favorite way of
self-designation. The only other instances that the title appears are
in Daniel 7:13, in Stephen's speech (Acts
7:56) and in Revelation 1:13 and 14:14. The term appears
more than 80 times in the Gospels and 25 in Luke. Luke's usage shows
the author's deep interest in the humanity of Jesus as the universal
man who was sent by God to proclaim the good news of salvation.
The humanity of the Son of God is everything to us.
It is the golden chain that binds our souls to Christ, and through
Christ to God. This is to be our study. Christ was a real man; He gave
proof of His humility in becoming a man. Yet He was God in the flesh.
-Ellen
G. White, Selected Messages,
book 1, p. 244.
The use of Son of Man
in Luke provides
various insights into the nature, mission, and destiny of the Incarnate
Jesus.
First, the title identifies Him as a human (Luke 7:34), with no worldly address or security (Luke 9:58).
Second, Luke uses the title to assert Christ's divine nature
and status: for the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath
(Luke 6:5, NKJV).
Therefore, He is also the Creator, with the power to forgive sins (Luke 5:24).
Third, to accomplish this redemptive mission ordained by the
Godhead before the foundations of the world (Eph.
1:3-5), the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost (Luke 9:56,19:10). But redemption
itself cannot be completed until the Son of Man must suffer
many things, and be rejected . . . and be killed, and be raised the
third day
(Luke 9:22, NKJV).
This self-awareness of the Son of Man about the path He had to trod,
and the price He had to pay for the Redemption of humankind from sin,
reveals not only the divine origin of the plan of Redemption but also
Christ's submission in His humanity to that plan.
Fourth, note how complete a picture of the suffering Messiah Luke portrays in the following passages: His foreknowledge of the Cross (Luke 18:31-33), betrayal (Luke 9:44), His death as a fulfillment of prophecy (Luke 22:22), His Crucifixion and Resurrection (Luke 24:7; compare with Luke 11:30), and His role as the Mediator before the Father (Luke 12:8).
Fifth, Luke sees the Son of Man in last-day terms as the One who returns to earth to reward His saints and to wrap up the great controversy (Luke 9:26; 12:4; 17:24,26,30; 21:36; 22:69).
In short, the title Son of Man
incorporates the multifaceted aspect not only of who Christ was but of
what He came to do and what He has accomplished and will accomplish for
us in the plan of salvation.
The Christ of God
Read Luke 9:18-27. Why would Jesus have asked the disciples a question whose answer He already knew? What lesson was He seeking to teach them not only about Himself but about what it means to follow Him?
Who do you say that I am?
(Luke 9:20, NKJV). The question
that Jesus asked 2,000 years ago still haunts history. People have
given many different answers. A great teacher. A profound ethicist. An
embodiment of truth. An edifice of self-sacrifice. A fearless prophet.
A social reformer. A great model of everything a human being should be.
But no answer short of the confession that the original question drew
from the lips of Peter will do.
After revealing His authority over nature (Luke 8:22-25), His power over demons (Luke 8:26-35), His might over diseases (Luke 5:12-15,8:43-48), His ability to feed the 5,000 out of almost nothing (Luke 9:13-17), His power over death itself (Luke 8:51-56)-Jesus confronts His disciples with, really, two questions: first, what others thought of Him; next, what the disciples themselves thought. He didn't ask in order to learn something that He didn't already know. Rather, He asked in order to help them understand that who He was would, in fact, demand from them a commitment that would cost everything.
Our knowledge of Jesus must never be at second hand.
We might know every verdict ever passed on Jesus; we might know every
Christology that human minds have ever thought out; we might be able to
give a competent summary of the teaching about Jesus of every great
thinker and theologian-and still not be Christians. Christianity never
consists in knowing about Jesus; it always consists in knowing Jesus.
Jesus Christ demands a personal verdict. He did not ask only Peter, he
asks every one of us:
-William Barclay, The Gospel of
Matthew, (Bangalore: Theological Publications in India, 2009), vol. 2,
p. 161.You-what do you
think of me?
Our response to the question Jesus asked cannot be anything
short of Peter's confession: Jesus is the Christ of God
(Luke 9:20, NKJV). Christ
means the Anointed One,
the Messiah, whose mission
is not that of a political liberator but the Savior who will free
humanity from the grip of Satan and sin and inaugurate the kingdom of
righteousness.
It's not enough simply knowing who Jesus was. Rather, we need to know Him for ourselves. If, then, you claim to know Jesus-what, in fact, do you know about Him? That is, what has your own personal knowledge of Jesus taught you about Him and about what He is like?
Read all three Gospel accounts of the Transfiguration (Luke 9:27-36, Matt. 17:1-9, Mark 9:2-8). (Read also Peter's firsthand account of the incident, and note the truth the apostle establishes from his eyewitness experience; see 2 Peter 1:16-18). What additional information does Luke provide, and why is it important?
Luke begins the narrative with a detail that Matthew and Mark
do not mention: Jesus took Peter, John, and James up the mountain to
pray. Jesus set His eyes and mind toward Jerusalem and predicted the
path of suffering that lay before Him. Jesus wanted to be certain that
what He was doing was what God wanted Him to do. At such moments,
prayer is the only way for finding certainty and assurance. The process
of prayer instantly poured out divine glory on the person of Jesus: His
face was altered, and His robe became white and glistening
(Luke 9:29, NKJV).
The transfigured Jesus was in conversation with Moses and
Elijah about His decease which He was about to accomplish at
Jerusalem
(Luke 9:31, NKJV).
The word decease can be understood in two ways: His upcoming death in
Jerusalem, although the Greek used here, exodus, is not often used for
death; hence, decease
can also mean the great exodus
Jesus was about to accomplish in Jerusalem, the mighty redemptive
exodus that would bring about deliverance from sin.
The conference of the three concluded with a voice of approval
from heaven, This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!
(Luke 9:35, NKJV). The
Transfiguration anoints Jesus with glory, assures His Sonship once
again, and announces that Redemption will cost the Son's life.
Therefore, the heavenly command to the disciples: listen to Him.
Without obedience and exclusive loyalty to Him, there is no
discipleship.
Ellen G. White wrote that these men,
meaning Moses and Elijah, who had been chosen above every
angel around the throne, had come to commune with Jesus concerning the
scenes of His suffering, and to comfort Him with the assurance of the
sympathy of heaven. The hope of the world, the salvation of every human
being, was the burden of their interview.
-The Desire of Ages, p. 425. Thus,
even Jesus Himself, who had comforted so many others, sought solace and
comfort for Himself. What should that tell us about how even the
strongest spiritually among us, even our leaders, teachers, and guides,
can at times need solace, encouragement, and help from others? In fact,
whom do you know right now who could use solace, comfort, and
encouragement?
Avoid every question in relation to the humanity of Christ which is liable to be misunderstood. Truth lies close to the track of presumption. In treating upon the humanity of Christ, you need to guard strenuously every assertion, lest your words be taken to mean more than they imply, and thus you lose or dim the clear perceptions of His humanity as combined with divinity. His birth was a miracle of God. . . . Never, in any way, leave the slightest impression upon human minds that a taint of, or inclination to, corruption rested upon Christ, or that He in any way yielded to corruption. He was tempted in all points like as man is tempted, yet He is called-Ellen G. White Comments, The SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 5, pp. 1128,1129.that holy thing.It is a mystery that is left unexplained to mortals that Christ could be tempted in all points like as we are, and yet be without sin. The incarnation of Christ has ever been, and will ever remain, a mystery.
The incarnation of Christ has ever been, and will ever remain, a mystery.Why, then, must we be very careful about making harsh judgments on those who don't necessarily understand this
mysterythe same way that we do?
Inside Story~ NSD China Pastor Wang Weo
Under-the-GroundBible
During the time of China’s cultural revolution, it was very dangerous to own a Bible. Someone we knew, however, was able to obtain one. Since it was such a rare and precious book, he wanted to share it with as many people as possible, so he carefully took the Bible apart and gave one or two books to various Seventh-day Adventist families. Our family received the books of 1 and 2 Samuel and we read them over and over again, treasuring every word. As I child, I enjoyed the many exciting stories co
ntained in those two books! My older brother could write, so he copied the books by hand to share with others.A few years later another Adventist found a very small Bible that had been put in a plastic bag and buried in the ground. Because of poor eyesight, the man wasn’t able to read the small print, so he gave the Bible to me when I was 18. I was so excited! Here was a complete Bible that I was holding in my hands for the very first time!
This under-the-ground
Bible became very precious to me, and I
read it from the first chapter to the last more than ten times. I spent
a lot of time with it, marking important passages, and writing down
some of my thoughts. I remembered when I was very young my
great-grandmother telling me about Noah, but here I was at 18, reading
about the flood for the first time.
As I read the Bible, I started to understand what this book is about. I learned more about Jesus and His teachings. I discovered the truth in the Bible that can help us to have a better life. The more I read, the more interested I became.
When I was 20, I visited an area where most people knew nothing about the Bible. I was invited to speak to groups in various homes. I showed them my little Bible and shared what I had learned from it. As word spread, I was invited to speak in many other homes as well.
While sharing, I noticed that the young people-those in their mid-teens-were especially interested. They were so eager to learn that I wrote out 1,000 Bible texts and gave them to the young people, who memorized the texts. I found this was an excellent way for them to learn the Bible!
Pastor Wang Weo shares more from China in the next Inside Story.Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. email: info@adventistmission.org website: www.adventistmission.org
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