Sabbath: Getting Ready for the Harvest
Read for This Week’s Study: James 5:7-12, Rom. 13:11, 1 Cor. 3:13, Luke 7:39-50, Col. 4:6.
Memory Text: You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand
(James 5:8, NKJV).
In Greco-Roman times (as in some places still today), a flurry of activity preceded the coming of a visiting dignitary. Streets were cleared, shop windows cleaned, flowers planted, and crime prevention increased. Every effort was directed at making sure the place looked perfect when the official arrived.
The Greek word parousia, which is used throughout the New Testament for Christ’s coming
as well as in James 5:7-8, is a technical expression for the arrival of a king or dignitary. If such preparations preceded the arrival of earthly rulers, should we not make every effort to make our hearts ready for the coming of our Lord and Savior?
But how do we make such a preparation when we do not know of that day or hour
(Matt. 24:36)? What does it mean to be patient
and to establish
our hearts? How does this relate to the idea of the early and latter rain
(James 5:7)? Though in the texts for this week the context appears to be the end of time, the basic message is so relevant to believers at any time. Throughout our history and even in our own lives now, we face trials and suffering that call for us to stand firm in the faith, as did the prophets of old.
*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, December 13.
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In Matthew 24:44 Christ essentially said, be ready 'today'. Several months ago a very dear doctor in our area went off the road, flipped over and died, he was either ready or not. We know not the hour or day, we are privileged to know the year when it comes, if we have a close connection with Christ and study the Bible, SS lessons, and Spirit of Prophecy. My favorite is 'Last Day Events' a compilation of quotes from the Spirit of Prophecy's books, periodicals, and manuscripts. The last chapter of the Bible with Daniel and Revelation by Uriah Smith also helps.
Please explain what you mean by "we are privileged to know the year when it comes"
John Hersher;
you indicate in your comment that "we are privileged to know the year," of Jesus second coming, though not the day or the hour.
Our SDA Church got started over a mistake of claiming to know the very day in 1844. Is not saying that we are privileged to know the year similar to that same idea of claiming to know the day and hour of which Jesus was clear that only His Father knows that fact?
Blessings in Jesus.
Iwas also of the same idea and maybe some clarification is needed on this.
To me i think what he is trying to say is that, since we had an opportunity to know that the time is at hand even though is not yet time! if you believe and amend your ways today. that day will not be unaware to you because you heard it and also believe. But the fact still remain that biblicaly nobody know the day nor the hour only the father.
About 1844,i guest what brought that suspicious was that,we learn that 2000 years after the creation, God during the time of Nuar destroy the earth with flood, and after another 2000 years Jesus Christ was burn,Then in 1844 what happen was that Jesus Christ left the holy place to the most holy place.and He is there interceding for our sing.that was what happen in 1844.that is all i can contribute on above matter
It was really a mistake and wrong prediction.
God is able.
Dear John Herscher, What do you mean by: "... we are privileged to know the year when it comes."
Do we know the year but not the day and hour? Could you expand on that thought, please?
Praise the Lord. John is very clear that "we are privileged to know the year when it comes", which simply means that it was a privilege to know the year 2014 when it came; otherwise we would have never known it if we had passed away before it came! This tells us to always be prepared to know the day of our Lord's coming when He comes.
John, when Christ says of His Coming, "concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only." (Matt 24:36 ESV) He is not saying that we do know the year and the month, or even the year.
The expressions used simply mean that we will not know the time of His coming. It will take everyone by surprise, including the "wise virgins," - those who are filled with the Holy Spirit.
Any other teaching is speculation.
According to James 5:12, we are not supposed to swear [...] neither by oath. I am mesmerized by the the statement that reads "neither by oath". In my country for you to be issued with the passport, the application forms have to be signed by the commission of oath who is either a lawyer or religious leader. Once he/she has appended the signature or date stamp on the forms (commission of oath section), you are sure of getting the passport. Is it wrong to make an oath accordance to the government requirement for me to get a passport? What oath was being referred to by James? Brethren I need help!
Regarding James 5:12. I looked up the definition of oath on e-sword and looked at other verses in Matthew regarding swearing an oath. It seems to me that the significance of the
"not swearing an oath" is the added significance of swearing by something. i.e. the Temple, God, the earth etc. When James says let your yes be yes and your no no he is saying don't add to it, just live in accordance with your promises.
With regards specifically to passports, in the US the "oath" is that the information you are providing to get the passport is accurate. I'm not sure what the oath is for yours. So in that case the oath would simply be your "yes" but you are not swearing the oath by heaven or earth you are just promising that you are being honest. So, I would thing that that is a promise you can make.
We can always ask God to help us keep all our promises and we need to make them with care because God takes every promise seriously. I think that is James' ultimate point. Culturally, then and now, people were making promises and then not keeping them. So when it was an important promise they would swear by something to show their sincerity. James is simply trying to get everyone to realize that any and all promises are important in the eyes of God and if you are a man/woman of your word you will not need to add emphasis by swearing your oath or promise by something more.
And to add on that, what is required of us is a life of HONESTY AND TRUST( let your yes be yes and your no be no.)
From "Thoughts from the Mount of Blessings", pages 67-68, this paragraph may be helpful:
"Jesus condemned their practices, declaring that their custom in oath taking was a transgression of the commandment of God. Our Saviour did not, however, forbid the use of the judicial oath, in which God is solemnly called to witness that what is said is truth and nothing but the truth. Jesus Himself, at His trial before the Sanhedrin, did not refuse to testify under oath. The high priest said unto Him, "I adjure Thee by the living God, that Thou tell us whether Thou be the Christ, the Son of God." Jesus answered, "Thou hast said." Matthew 26:63, 64. Had Christ in the Sermon on the Mount condemned the judicial oath, He would at His trial have reproved the high priest and thus, for the benefit of His followers, have enforced His own teaching."
I see the context of James 5:7 (waiting for the rain) to be that of patience with those who are unjust to us ie considering the previous and subsequent verses. Our reaction to unjust people today has a place in our life here after or eternity. Therefore our patience in the current issues draws it's motivation to the coming of the Lord.
The duration of this patience is as long as the farmer waits for both the early and latter rain. For me, God has made provision for our escape from sinning even through reactions to the unjust except we ought to be patient to receive that capability to escape.
We may not have to wait for end of time to obtain strength to handle injustice we face today but patience "slow to speak" will save us from sinning thru reacting badly. Patience for latter rain which the farmer does not even know wen it comes teaches us patience even to stand the horrible injustice while committing it to prayer.
"We know not the hour or day, we are privileged to know the year when it comes." The last part of the statement "we are privileged to know the year when it comes" is mind-boggling. I therefore request John Herscher to provide a profound explanation which will help me appreciate his line of thought. Thanks
Concerning the knowing of the day or hour or year, I believe the bible is clear that it is not known to us.
Some people have shown some writings of Sr Ellen G. White showing that the actual time will be known by some. For me (I don't join the other extreme that refute the validity of Sr White being a prophet) where there is a difference between bible and SoP, I take the bible, the greater light.
See excerpts from Pulpit commentary on the fact that we don't know the day or hour of Christ's return:
Pulpit commentary
Matt 24 Verse 36. - The apostles had asked (ver. 3), "When shall these things be?"
Christ does not now expressly answer this question; he puts forth strongly the uncertainty in the knowledge of these great events, and how this ignorance is disciplinary.
Of that day (de die illa, Vulgate) and hour, viz. when Christ shall appear in judgment, The expression plainly, implies that a definite day and moment are fixed for this great appearing, but known only to God.
Knoweth no man, no, not (οὐδὲ, not even) the angels of heaven. A kind of climax. Man is naturally excluded from the knowledge; but even to the angels it has not been revealed.
A further climax is added in St. Mark, and from that Gospel has been introduced by some very good manuscripts into this place, neither the Son (the Revised Version admits the clause).
The words have given occasion to some erroneous statements. It is said by Arians and semi-Arians, and modern disputants who have followed in their steps, that the Son cannot be equal to the Father, if he knows not what the Father knows. Alford says boldly, "This matter was hidden from him."
But when we consider such passages as "I and my Father are one;" "I am in the Father, and the Father in me" (John 10:30; John 14:11, etc.), we cannot believe that the time of the great consummation was unknown to him. What is meant, then, by this assertion? How is it true? Doubtless it is to be explained (if capable of explanation) by the hypostatic union of two natures in the Person of Christ, whereby the properties of the two natures are interchangeably predicated. From danger of error on this mysterious subject we are preserved by the precise terms of the Athanasian Creed, according to which we affirm that Christ is "equal to the Father, as touching his Godhead; and inferior to the Father, as touching his manhood ... one altogether; not by confusion of substance, but by unity of Person," etc. If, then, Christ asserts that he is ignorant of anything, it must be that in his human nature he hath, willed not to know that which in his Divine nature he was cognizant cf. This is a part of that voluntary self-surrender and self-limitation of which the apostle speaks when he says that Christ "emptied himself" (Philippians 2:7). He condescended to assume all the conditions of humanity, even willing to share the imperfection of our knowledge in some particulars. How the two natures thus interworked we know not, and need not conjecture; nor can we always divine why prominence at one time is given to the Divine, at another to the human. It is enough for us to know that, for reasons which seemed good unto him, he imposed restriction on his omniscience in this matter, and, to enhance the mysteriousness and awfulness of the great day, announced to his disciples his ignorance of the precise moment of its occurrence. This is a safer exposition than to say, with some, that Christ knew not the day so as to reveal it to us, that it was no part of his mission from the Father to divulge it to men, and therefore that he could truly say he knew it not. This seems rather an evasion than an explanation of the difficulty. But my Father only. The best manuscripts have "the Father." "But" is εἰ μὴ, except. So Christ said to his inquiring apostles, "It is not for you to know the times or seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power" (Acts 1:7). These words do not exclude the Son's participation in the knowledge, though he willed that it should not extend to his human nature. With this and such-like texts in view, how futile, presumptuous, and indeed profane, it is to attempt to settle the exact date and hour when the present age shall end!"
Shimaponda´s exegesis makes more sense. If the year is known, it will make people relax. People will opt to start preparation at the 11th hours.
I made a mistake, forgive me. I will not be able to say that He will come in one, two, or five years, neither do I say I will put off His coming by stating that it may not be for ten or twenty years.