What were the reactions of the disciples to Jesus’ predictions of His own sufferings and death, and what should their reactions teach us about the dangers of misunderstanding Scripture? Matthew 16:21-23 Matthew 17:22-23; Mark 9:30-32; Luke 9:44-45, Luke 18:31-34 Jesus was born to die, and He lived to die. Every step that He took brought Him closer to … Continue reading –>
Read Revelation 13:8, Acts 2:23, and 1 Peter 1:19-20. How could Christ be considered as “slain from the foundation of the world” (NKJV)? “All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8, NKJV). What’s crucial here … Continue reading –>
Sabbath Afternoon Read for This Week’s Study: Revelation 13:8; Matthew 17:22-23; Mark 9:30-32; John 19:1-30; Romans 6:23; 1 Corinthians 1:18-24. Memory Text: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:14-15, , NKJV). It has been said that we … Continue reading –>
Christ’s Ambassador By Benjie Leach One of my goals as chaplain of Forest Lake Academy in Orlando, Florida, was to become acquainted with each student. It was a challenge in a school with 450 students in the mid-1970s. At the beginning of the school year, a student came up to me and said, “Have you … Continue reading –>
Further Thought: Read Ellen G. White, “The Death of Moses,” Pages 469-480, in Patriarchs and Prophets; “The Voice of Stern Rebuke,” Pages 129-142; “A Prophet of Peace,” Pages 237-243, in Prophets and Kings; “The Centurion,” Pages 318, 319; “The Touch of Faith,” Pages 342, 343; “Lazarus, Come Forth,” Pages 524-536, in The Desire of Ages. “In Christ is life, original, unborrowed, underived. ‘He that … Continue reading –>
Read John 11:1-44. In what sense was Jesus “glorified” by the sickness and death of Lazarus (John 11:4)? Here, too, Jesus uses the metaphor for sleep in talking about death. “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up” (John 11:11, NIV). When some thought He was talking about literal sleep (John 11:11-13), … Continue reading –>
The resurrections prior to Jesus’ own death and resurrection were not limited to any specific ethnic group or social class. Moses was perhaps the greatest human leader of God’s people ever (Deuteronomy 34:10-12). By contrast, the poor Phoenician widow was not even an Israelite (1 Kings 17:9). The Shunammite woman was prominent in her community (2 Kings 4:8). … Continue reading –>
The Bible says that Jesus “went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him” (Acts 10:38, NASB). Indeed, all the Gospels are full of accounts of Jesus ministering to many needy and hurting souls, which is why later many Jews came to believe that Jesus was the … Continue reading –>
Read 1 Kings 17:8-24 and 2 Kings 4:18-37. What similarities and differences do you see in these two resurrections? In Hebrews 11:1-40, we read that by faith “women received back their dead by resurrection” (Hebrews 11:35, NASB). This was the case in the two resurrections depicted in the texts for today. The first one (see 1 Kings 17:8-24) occurred during the great … Continue reading –>
Some Greek Church Fathers from Alexandria argued that, when Moses died, two Moseses were seen: one alive in the spirit, another dead in the body; one Moses ascending to heaven with angels, the other buried in the earth. (See Origen, Homilies on Joshua 2.1; Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 6.15.) This distinction between the assumption of the soul and the … Continue reading –>
