Thursday: Cheered by Hope
Daily Lesson for Thursday 25th of April 2024
Read Hebrews 2:14-15. How did believers in the Middle Ages experience the reality of the great controversy?
What was it that cheered the faithful Waldenses during the horrible persecutions they faced? What gave Huss and Jerome, Tyndale, Latimer, and the martyrs of the Middle Ages courage to face the flames and the sword?
Image © Darrel Tank at Goodsalt.com
Faith in the promises of God. They believed Christ’s promise: “Because I live, you will live also” (John 14:19). They found His strength sufficient for life’s greatest trials. They even found joy through fellowship with Christ in His sufferings. And their faithfulness was a powerful witness to the world.
They looked beyond what was to what will be. They knew that, through the resurrection of Christ, death was a defeated foe. For these courageous men and women, the stranglehold of death was broken. They clung to the promises of God’s Word and came away victorious.
Read John 5:24, John 11:25-26, and 1 John 5:11-13. What assurances do these promises give you personally? How do they help us in the trials of life?
John Huss would not falter in the face of imprisonment, injustice, and death itself. He languished in prison for months. The cold, damp conditions brought on a fever that nearly ended his life. Nevertheless, “the grace of God sustained him. During the weeks of suffering that passed before his final sentence, heaven’s peace filled his soul. ‘I write this letter,’ he said to a friend, ‘in my prison, and with my fettered hand, expecting my sentence of death tomorrow. . . . When, with the assistance of Jesus Christ, we shall again meet in the delicious peace of the future life, you will learn how merciful God has shown Himself toward me, how effectually He has supported me in the midst of my temptations and trials.’—Bonnechose, vol. 2, p. 67. In the gloom of his dungeon he foresaw the triumph of the true faith.”—Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, pp. 107, 108.
The apostle Paul’s admonition speaks to us with increasing relevance today. “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23, NKJV). As the promises of God sustained His people in ages past, so they sustain us today.
What might it mean to lose everything for Christ? What, in the end, do you really lose? (See Mark 8:36.) What lessons can we learn from the Waldenses and the Reformers that can sustain us in earth’s final conflict?
As I read the great controversy I was overwhelmed with the purity of the faith of the waldenes.
As Jerome was facing the flames of fire, his last words, uttered as the flames rose about him, were a prayer. “Lord, Almighty Father,” he cried, “have pity on me, and pardon me my sins; for Thou knowest that I have always loved Thy truth. His voice ceased, but his lips continued to move in prayer. When the fire had done its work, the ashes of the martyr, with the earth upon which they rested, were gathered up, and like those of Huss, were thrown into the Rhine. GC 115.1
As I read this it brought tears in my eyes and I made me realize that there are people who lost their life following in the steps of their master for the Gospel which we now sometimes take for granted. I thought to myself maybe what am going through now is nothing compared to what the matyres went through.
My prayer is that may God increase my faith. I really don’t have words to utter but to ask God to help me.
Thank you all for your comments, even thought at times we don’t comment but I do read your comments daily.
Thank you Inge for reminding us to read “Love under fire” like you have said the contemporary version of the great controversy is love under fire
I learned that, GOD, had kept his promise ages ago, and he will keep his promise to us today, once we have faith in him and be faithful to him. And that he will give us strength through our trails and bring us though victorious.
What a testimony and encouragement is the history of the reformers who suffered and stood firm for the gospel is to us today. They looked for the city that “has foundations”. They knew in Whom they believed. Oh that we may give true witness to our faith today.
How did the believers in middle ages experience the reality of the Great Controversy ?
Oh that my faith may be unwavering and unfaltering like these men of old! I don’t understand the dynamics of faith and at times when I think I’m exercising faith, it turns out I’m second guessing myself. I love Jesus but I find that I’m not growing as I ought to. I cried out to Him but most times He’s so quiet, it’s deafening. I continue to push on despite my shortcomings and hope that I’ll eventually understand His will specifically for me. Please pray for me that God will transform me. Thanks for the inspiring comments. I Sometimes used them in my Sabbath school. 🙏
What do I place first in my life? Relationship, wife, daughter, work, material possessions, social status, or God? Sometimes, God can send me situations or people as answers to my (not even whispered) prayers, and I cannot see that because my physical surroundings block me; I can only see my problems. I need to trust in God entirely and read His signs as my mind opens to Him through His Word.
What a mighty God we serve.These men knew God for themselves, They trusted in His promises that He made to us..They knew death was comming yet these faithful servants of God still stood for God.
Oh for a faith as of these men of old!