5: Revelation and Inspiration-Sabbath School Lesson Teaching Plan
Prepared for Sabbath School class on October 31.
Photograph by William Earnhardt
Key Text: “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things he saw” (Revelation 1:1-2, NKJV).
Read in Class: Hebrews 1:1-2.
Study: Why is God so interested in speaking to us? What is He telling us through Jesus and the prophets?
Apply: Though nature surely points to the reality of the Creator’s power and love, why do we still so desperately need the Written Word as well? What does the Word tell us that nature, by itself, doesn’t?
Share: Your friend asks if you have ever heard God speak to you other than through the Bible. What do you tell your friend?
Read in Class: 2 Timothy 3:15-17 and 2 Peter 1:18-21.
Study: What important message should we take from these verses? What assurance do we have that God’s prophets’ oral messages were as inspired and reliable as the written ones? Does the Bible teach that everyone with the prophetic gift wrote something in the Bible?
Apply: How can you tell whether someone is truly inspired by the Holy Spirit when they speak? Have you ever read or heard anything outside of the Bible that you felt was inspired? How about some of the hymns in our hymnals?
Share: Since humans wrote Scripture and put it all together in the Bible, your friend asks how you know the Bible is inspired and trustworthy. What do you tell your friend?
Read in Class: Exodus 17:14; John 20:30-31; 1 Corinthians 10:11; and Revelation 1:19.
Study: What are some of the reasons God asked His prophets to write down the messages that He gave them?
Apply: In passages like Acts 17:28, 1 Cor. 15:33, Titus 1:12, the prophets quoted non-inspired sources. How do you know these prophets were really inspired and not just plagiarizing?
Share: Your friend points out that every Bible translation, including the KJV (Like the comma in Luke 23:43), has mistakes. Your friend asks how you know the message is infallible when mistakes were made putting the Bible together? What do you tell your friend?
Read in Class: Ezekiel 4:1-8.
Study: Why do you think God not only spoke verbally but also dramatized some of His messages?
Apply: What kind of dramatization might someone use today to illustrate the Good Samaritan story in Luke 10:25-37?
Share: Your friend asks, where in the Bible do we get a day for a year in the prophecies? What do you tell your friend?
Mission: Can you reenact the Good Samaritan principle for someone in real life this week? That would be an inspiring way to help someone see a revelation of God’s character.
