Unequally Yoked By Chang Zeng-Mei I didn’t want to marry my husband because I was raised a Seventh-day Adventist and he belonged to another Christian denomination in southern Taiwan. But our parents wanted us to get married, and we had to obey them. So, I told my future husband, Wu Ming-Huang, “We can get married, … Continue reading –>
Further Study: “No one can practice real benevolence without self-denial. Only by a life of simplicity, self-denial, and close economy, is it possible for us to accomplish the work appointed us as Christ’s representatives. Pride and worldly ambition must be put out of our hearts. In all our work, the principle of unselfishness revealed in … Continue reading –>
Isaiah 58.13-14 Why does Isaiah discuss the Sabbath in Isaiah 58.13-14? What connection does this have with the Day of Atonement setting of the earlier verses? The yearly Day of Atonement was a Sabbath day. This special ceremonial Sabbath was like the weekly Sabbath in that all work of any kind was prohibited (Lev: 23:27-32). Therefore, as recognized by … Continue reading –>
Isa: 58:1-12 Ten days after trumpet blasts have reminded God’s people that the Lord is acclaimed as their King on the very Day of Atonement when their humility through self-denial is to affirm their loyalty to Him as King, the prophet lifts up his voice like a trumpet to declare that they are rebelling against … Continue reading –>
Isaiah 58:1-8 What is the “fast” referred to in Isaiah 58:3? This must be the fast of the Day of Atonement, the only fast commanded by God (Lev: 16:29, Leviticus 16:31; Lev: 23:27-32). This is confirmed in Isaiah 58:3 by the parallel expression “humble ourselves” (NRSV), which follows the terminology of Leviticus. Humbling/afflicting oneself referred to various forms of self-denial, including fasting (compare Ps: 35:13; … Continue reading –>
Isaiah 55:6-13 Why does God say His thoughts and ways are higher than ours, “as the heavens are higher than the earth” ( Isaiah 55.8-9, NRSV)? What do you think that means? There’s no question that the God who created a universe in which even some of the simplest things contain mysteries that our minds cannot begin … Continue reading –>
Isa: 55:1-7 Read this text: “Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat!” (Isa: 55:1, NRSV). What contradiction do you see there? Suppose you took food and stood on the street in a big city and announced to the hungry and homeless there: “Yo, you who have … Continue reading –>
Sabbath Afternoon Read for This Week’s Study: Isa: 55:1-7; Isa: 55:6-13; Isa: 58:1-12; Isaiah 58.13-14. Memory Text: “If you extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light shall dawn in the darkness, and your darkness shall be as the noonday” (Isaiah 58:10). A Jewish cantor (worship leader) and his wife who lived in Lincoln, … Continue reading –>
Vodka for Easter By Andrew Mcchesney, Adventist Mission Sergei Sokol, chief engineer at a beverage company in northern Kazakhstan, was pleased when a coworker declared during lunch break that people should celebrate Easter with a shot of vodka, painted eggs, and kulich, a traditional Easter bread in the Orthodox Christian faith. Many people in Kazakhstan … Continue reading –>
Further Study: “Christ bore our sins in His own body on the tree. … What must sin be, if no finite being could make atonement? What must its curse be if Deity alone could exhaust it? The cross of Christ testifies to every man that the penalty of sin is death. … Oh, must there … Continue reading –>
