Sabbath: Must the Whole World Hear?
Read for This Week’s Study: Acts 4:12, Ps. 87:4-6, John 10:16, Rom. 2:12-16, John 14:6, Rom. 1:18.
Memory Text: Now to him who is able to establish you in accordance with my gospel, the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ, in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all the Gentiles might come to the obedience that comes from faith—to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen
(Romans 16:25-27 NIV).
As we have seen, the Lord uses people to bring the message of the gospel to others.
Image © Lars Justinen Goosalt.com
However, throughout the ages, millions have died without knowing the biblical plan of salvation. The fact is that a majority of those who have ever lived have not heard the story of redemption or known about the good news of God’s grace as revealed in Jesus Christ. This leads to two persistent questions. First, on the day of judgment, how is God going to deal with these billions who have not known Him? Second, is there salvation outside of someone’s knowing the plan of salvation as it is in Jesus?
Some would answer that there is salvation in a single Christian denomination only; in contrast, others believe that all religions are equally valid guides to God and eternal life.
In the end, the crucial point to remember is that Jesus has revealed to us the character of God, and this tells us a lot about His love for all humanity and His desire for as many as possible to be saved. God is a God of justice, and however He works it out, the shout will be heard across heaven:
(Rev. 15:3, NKJV).Just and true are Your ways, O King of the saints!
Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, September 26.
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I love Romans 2 in which it allows to have a glimpse of Abba Father's just mercy and justice in which those that have not the chance to know the gospel would be judged by the still small voice and if they had learnt to listen to Him then they are saved, but for those who ignore it would be condemned. My biggest worry is what SOP stated that we are going to be answerable to the death of people whom we cross path and live together, How scary is this thought that our arrogance in not discipleship call to die for others so they would accept Christ. We are saved to save others by uplifting Christ and leading them to Christ.
An awkward reality it is that the whole world has not heard and many have not understood the gospel. Failing to come up with good answers to difficult questions like how Jehovah will handle the cases of slaves kept in ignorance and whipped into submission or those who are mentally incompetent, including young ones, some have turned to worldly reason.
Some have sought to mix the knowledge of the ungodly with a little Bible, supposedly to be balanced, subscribing to ideas like theistic evolution and denying God’s decisive acts of intervention and judgment outlined in the Word of God.
Nevertheless throughout scripture the Creator has made a distinction between the holy and profane and makes no provision for any unholy mixture (Ezekiel 44:23). Worldly wisdom and wisdom from above are to be separate (James 3:17).
Surely there are tough questions believers will not have definite answers for and challenging situations lacking clear explanations. However it is not in God’s plan that all things should be made plain in this life.
The Savior does not wish to make men and women self-sufficient in knowledge, but desires to build a relationship of faith and trust, which is necessary both now and in the hereafter. Those who fail to take the Bible as it reads, but instead create their own theories to fill the vacuum of information cheat themselves out of growth in faith and stifle their relationship with the Lord.
Of course there may be uncertainties, but given what has been revealed, and much has, is there a better alternative to faith in God? Has humanism, secularism or atheism provided greater hope, inner peace or lasting joy? If all we have is this broken life it is all vanity and grasping the wind (Ecclesiastes 1:14; 1 Corinthians 15:19).
The Redeemer has something better in store. Only trust Him. The judge of all the earth will act righteously (Genesis 18:25). Stay on the narrow way (Matthew 7:14). If you have come this far by faith, you can carry on (Luke 9:62).
This thought from Desire of Ages interests me :
"Among the heathen are those who worship God ignorantly, those to whom the light is NEVER brought by human instrumentality, yet they will not perish... Their works are evidence that the Holy Spirit has touched their hearts, and they are recognized as the children of God.
How surprised and gladdened will be the lowly among the nations, and among the heathen, to hear from the lips of the Saviour, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me”! How glad will be the heart of Infinite Love as His followers look up with surprise and joy at His words of approval!" (DA 638)
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It seems that it is possible for the Gospel to go to people who NEVER hear it through "human instrumentality". Obviously this shouldn't be understood to absolve the Christian from their duty, but still, there will definitely be people in heaven that have never heard the name of Jesus.
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I wonder too about Jesus' warning regarding the "dogs" and "pigs", and how the precious Gospel truths should not be put before them... because they will only trample them in the dirt. But the Gospel [in some form] must still go to them. The Gospel must go to them, I would suggest, NOT in explicit, 'religious' frameworks (which they hate), but in words and works that manifest the love of God. These people must "read" the Gospel in our words and actions without "casting" Jesus name before them.
I love the Word of the LORD, He assures us that He cares and calls everyone and knows their hearts. For those of us who do know Him, He gives us a mission to go into the whole world to share the good news.
In Rev 14 we have the image of 3 angels flying in the sky, I believe it is possible that this is showing how the message can go to the whole world via satellites and the internet. I can sit at home and share the good news with people all over the world via social media.
I Have recently returned from Ghana where the number of different denominations is astounding. I was so happy to see that Adventism is growing so rapidly in that part of the world. Truly God's Word is being taught to every kindred, tongue , and people.
I was blessed to be able to attend Sabbath School at Valley View University and a few days later have a wonderful discussion with one of the professors where we talked about people in remote places learning about Christ. What he told me shows that God's Spirit makes God known even if the people have yet to learn the name of Christ. The Twi word for Saturday means, 'I am that I am's Day'. Before the missionaries arrived, the Spirit of God made people aware of the Sabbath and to Whom it pointed. Praise God! Sometimes people who are in the most remote situations have a greater connection with the Almighty than many of their more 'civilized' brethren.
My comment is that' must every body in the world hear about the sabbath worship before the second coming of Jesus Christ?
Is the sabbath so important to Christians as Jesus has die for us?
Best regard.
The Sabbath should not be viewed as a requirement for salvation, but rather as a response to God's love. Those who observe the Sabbath believe that God loves them so much that He set aside a specific day to fellowship with them and to help them recuperate from the hassles of the week. Remember, it is God who established the Sabbath. So in affirmation of His generosity to humanity, believers do well to respond to His provision. I believe it is not a necessity that all in the world should hear about the Sabbath before Jesus comes. God's timing is different from human timing. At a divinely appointed time, Jesus will come but the world need not be surprised at His appearance. That is why it is relevant to proclaim the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ, which I suppose, includes the message of the second coming of Christ.
I am sure there were plenty of kids or infants that died during Noah's time. The same also happened is Sodom and Gomorah. Kids and even those who were mentally disabled without capacity to discern the truth also died in those fires and water.
There are many verses where God is said to judge the sins of the fathers to the whole generation.
I am only Glad that God chose me to know about him and about his truths and would want to glorify his name to everyone that I come across, that is my sole purpose, to be his witness and preach the 3 Angels message.
am humbled to have this chance to comment on the lesson about must all the world here. well, i may not satisfy your expectations fully but what i would like to say is that,the LORD of missions,in HIS wisdom, chose to work through humans to bring the message of forgiveness and salvation to the world. GOD chose men and women, despite their weaknesses, to work together with the HOLY SPIRIT and the ANGELS to give light to the whole world,but many keep the light given under the table.i would like to say that each has been given a duty, that cannot be transferred to anyone, unless we make use of it, someone must be left in darkness.forget not that already some have died without hearing the Good News, but that one should not discourage us and say after all, many have missed the light, but its mearnt to challenge us that are we the one who are keeping quite when souls are perishing?blessed moments brethren
I believe what must be heard by the whole world includes God's commandments, yes we might talk of no salvation earned or favoured but it is important also to know His character which is His law, so do not miss out on this when spreading the gospel.
I will like to comment briefly that let all the inhabitants of the earth hear the three angles message of revelation.
happy sabbath brethren.i believe everybody will have to know about the sabbath before the second coming because God says we should keep His commandments amongst which is the sabbath-Exod 20 vs 8-11.One accepts Jesus Christ as they Lord and personal Saviour and then they are oblidged to keep the commandments of God thereafter.For those that died before hearing the mesge, Acts 17 vs 30 tackles that and God the greatest judge that looks at the true repented hearts is the only one to judge.At the close of time when the sunday law will be enacted to fullfil the 3rd angel's mesge and Rev 13 everybody will have to chose whether to accept the mark of the beast(sunday observance) or to accept the seal of God:the sabbath observance.