“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Gen: 1:1). A scientist had just lectured on the orbits of the planets around the sun, and the orbit of the sun around the center of the galaxy, when an old lady in black tennis shoes rose and said that the earth was a flat disc … Continue reading –>
Sabbath Afternoon Read for This Week’s Study: Ps: 100:3; Acts 17:26; Gen: 2:7, Genesis 2:18-25; Gen: 1:28-29; Gen: 3:15. Memory Text: “Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; …’ So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:26-27, NRSV). The biblical account … Continue reading –>
God’s Everlasting Covenant In 1588, a young English woman (seven-months pregnant) looked out over the sea, and what she saw — the Spanish Armada, with 130 heavily armed ships planning to invade the island — so frightened her that she went into premature labor, the midwife being fear. Fear, in fact, was an apt image … Continue reading –>
Tire Trouble By Andrew Mcchesney, Adventist Mission Ilya Koltuk, a pastor and men’s dean at Zaoksky Adventist University in Russia, climbed into the car with his wife to go on a Black Sea vacation. After about ten hours, the car started having tire trouble. Pop! Pop! Pop! Ilya wasn’t sure what was wrong. Pop! Pop! … Continue reading –>
Further Study: On the final cleansing of Planet Earth from sin, read Ellen G. White, “The Controversy Ended,” in The Great Controversy, pages 662-678. “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 … Continue reading –>
Isaiah 66:22-24 Read Isaiah 66:22. What is the text saying to us? What hope can we find there? One of the most wonderful promises in Isaiah is found in Isaiah 66:22. Read it carefully. In the new heavens and the new earth, our seed and our name shall remain—forever. No more blotting out, cutting off, grafting in, … Continue reading –>
Isa: 66:21 The Israelites were “a priestly kingdom and a holy nation” (Exod: 19:6, NRSV), with special priests set apart to represent them as worship leaders. But in the future, some Gentiles would become worship leaders (Isa: 66:21). How would this change affect the renewed community of faith? See Matt: 28:19, Acts 26:20, Gal: 3:28, Col: 3:11, 1 Tim: 3:16. In God’s “new … Continue reading –>
Isa: 66:19-21 What is the meaning of survivors bringing people from the nations as an offering to the Lord? Isaiah 66.19-20. God sends survivors of His destruction out to the ends of the earth, to people who do not know about God, “and they shall declare my glory among the nations” (Isa: 66:19, NRSV). This is one … Continue reading –>
Read Isaiah 66:1-19. Keeping in mind the time in which Isaiah wrote, what is the basic message he is giving here? Through the prophet, God reiterates the appeal and warning that permeates the book: God will save and restore the humble, who tremble at His word (Isa: 66:2, Isaiah 66:5). As in Isaiah 40:1, He will comfort them (Isa: 66:13). … Continue reading –>
Read Isaiah 65:17-25. What kind of restoration does the Lord promise here? God promises a new creation, beginning with the words: “For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind” ( Isaiah 65.17-18, NRSV). In the city there will be no more weeping ( … Continue reading –>
