Crisis of Identity
(All Bible texts are in the NKJV Bible unless otherwise indicated)
Sabbath Afternoon
Memory Text: Isaiah 1:18
18 “Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins
are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like
crimson, They shall be as wool.
Isaiah 1:2, 3
The Wickedness of Judah
2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth! For the Lord has spoken: “I have
nourished and brought up children, And they have rebelled against Me; 3 The
ox knows its owner And the donkey its master’s crib; But Israel does not
know, My people do not consider.”
Sunday – Hear, O Heavens! (Isa. 1:1–9)
Isaiah 1:1-9
Judah Called to Repentance
1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and
Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
The Wickedness of Judah
2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth! For the Lord has spoken: “I have
nourished and brought up children, And they have rebelled against Me; 3 The
ox knows its owner And the donkey its master’s crib; But Israel does not
know, My people do not consider.” 4 Alas, sinful nation, A people laden with
iniquity, A brood of evildoers, Children who are corrupters! They have
forsaken the Lord, They have provoked to anger The Holy One of Israel, They
have turned away backward. 5 Why should you be stricken again? You will
revolt more and more. The whole head is sick, And the whole heart faints. 6
From the sole of the foot even to the head, There is no soundness in it, But
wounds and bruises and putrefying sores; They have not been closed or bound
up, Or soothed with ointment. 7 Your country is desolate, Your cities are
burned with fire; Strangers devour your land in your presence; And it is
desolate, as overthrown by strangers. 8 So the daughter of Zion is left as a
booth in a vineyard, As a hut in a garden of cucumbers, As a besieged city.
9 Unless the Lord of hosts Had left to us a very small remnant, We would
have become like Sodom, We would have been made like Gomorrah.
Read 2 Kings 15–20
Read 2 Chronicles 26–32
Deuteronomy 30:19
19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set
before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that
both you and your descendants may live;
Deuteronomy 31:28
28 Gather to me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may
speak these words in their hearing and call heaven and earth to witness
against them.
Deuteronomy 4:26
26 I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that you will
soon utterly perish from the land which you cross over the Jordan to
possess; you will not prolong your days in it, but will be utterly
destroyed.
Monday - Rotten Ritualism (Isa. 1:10–17)
Isaiah 1:10-17
10 Hear the word of the Lord, You rulers of Sodom; Give ear to the law of
our God, You people of Gomorrah: 11 “To what purpose is the multitude of
your sacrifices to Me?” Says the Lord. “I have had enough of burnt offerings
of rams And the fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
Or of lambs or goats. 12 “When you come to appear before Me, Who has
required this from your hand, To trample My courts? 13 Bring no more futile
sacrifices; Incense is an abomination to Me. The New Moons, the Sabbaths,
and the calling of assemblies— I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred
meeting. 14 Your New Moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; They are
a trouble to Me, I am weary of bearing them. 15 When you spread out your
hands, I will hide My eyes from you; Even though you make many prayers, I
will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. 16 “Wash yourselves, make
yourselves clean; Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes.
Cease to do evil, 17 Learn to do good; Seek justice, Rebuke the oppressor;
Defend the fatherless, Plead for the widow.
Isaiah 58:3, 4
3 ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and You have not seen? Why have we
afflicted our souls, and You take no notice?’ “In fact, in the day of your
fast you find pleasure, And exploit all your laborers. 4 Indeed you fast for
strife and debate, And to strike with the fist of wickedness. You will not
fast as you do this day, To make your voice heard on high.
Read Leviticus 1–16
1 Kings 8:10, 11
10 And it came to pass, when the priests came out of the holy place, that
the cloud filled the house of the Lord, 11 so that the priests could not
continue ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled
the house of the Lord.
Matthew 23:23-28
23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint
and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law:
justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving
the others undone. 24 Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a
camel! 25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse
the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and
self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and
dish, that the outside of them may be clean also. 27 “Woe to you, scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed
appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all
uncleanness. 28 Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but
inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
Tuesday – The Argument of Forgiveness (Isa. 1:18)
Isaiah 1:18
18 “Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins
are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like
crimson, They shall be as wool.
Isaiah 1:2-15
The Wickedness of Judah
2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth! For the Lord has spoken: “I have
nourished and brought up children, And they have rebelled against Me; 3 The
ox knows its owner And the donkey its master’s crib; But Israel does not
know, My people do not consider.” 4 Alas, sinful nation, A people laden with
iniquity, A brood of evildoers, Children who are corrupters! They have
forsaken the Lord, They have provoked to anger The Holy One of Israel, They
have turned away backward. 5 Why should you be stricken again? You will
revolt more and more. The whole head is sick, And the whole heart faints. 6
From the sole of the foot even to the head, There is no soundness in it, But
wounds and bruises and putrefying sores; They have not been closed or bound
up, Or soothed with ointment. 7 Your country is desolate, Your cities are
burned with fire; Strangers devour your land in your presence; And it is
desolate, as overthrown by strangers. 8 So the daughter of Zion is left as a
booth in a vineyard, As a hut in a garden of cucumbers, As a besieged city.
9 Unless the Lord of hosts Had left to us a very small remnant, We would
have become like Sodom, We would have been made like Gomorrah. 10 Hear the
word of the Lord, You rulers of Sodom; Give ear to the law of our God, You
people of Gomorrah: 11 “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices
to Me?” Says the Lord. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams And the
fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls, Or of lambs or
goats. 12 “When you come to appear before Me, Who has required this from
your hand, To trample My courts? 13 Bring no more futile sacrifices; Incense
is an abomination to Me. The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of
assemblies— I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting. 14 Your New
Moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; They are a trouble to Me, I
am weary of bearing them. 15 When you spread out your hands, I will hide My
eyes from you; Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your
hands are full of blood.
Isaiah 1:16, 17
16 “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Put away the evil of your doings
from before My eyes. Cease to do evil, 17 Learn to do good; Seek justice,
Rebuke the oppressor; Defend the fatherless, Plead for the widow.
Psalm 51:7
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter
than snow.
Read Isaiah 1:18 to Isaiah 44:22
Psalm 51:14
14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, The God of my salvation,
And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness.
Jeremiah 31:31-34
A New Covenant
31 “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new
covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— 32 not
according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I
took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant
which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. 33 But this
is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,
says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their
hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 No more
shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know
the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the
greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and
their sin I will remember no more.”
Wednesday - To Eat or Be Eaten (Isa. 1:19–31)
Isaiah 1:19-31
19 If you are willing and obedient, You shall eat the good of the land; 20
But if you refuse and rebel, You shall be devoured by the sword”; For the
mouth of the Lord has spoken.
The Degenerate City
21 How the faithful city has become a harlot! It was full of justice;
Righteousness lodged in it, But now murderers. 22 Your silver has become
dross, Your wine mixed with water. 23 Your princes are rebellious, And
companions of thieves; Everyone loves bribes, And follows after rewards.
They do not defend the fatherless, Nor does the cause of the widow come
before them. 24 Therefore the Lord says, The Lord of hosts, the Mighty One
of Israel, “Ah, I will rid Myself of My adversaries, And take vengeance on
My enemies. 25 I will turn My hand against you, And thoroughly purge away
your dross, And take away all your alloy. 26 I will restore your judges as
at the first, And your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you shall
be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city.” 27 Zion shall be
redeemed with justice, And her penitents with righteousness. 28 The
destruction of transgressors and of sinners shall be together, And those who
forsake the Lord shall be consumed. 29 For they shall be ashamed of the
terebinth trees Which you have desired; And you shall be embarrassed because
of the gardens Which you have chosen. 30 For you shall be as a terebinth
whose leaf fades, And as a garden that has no water. 31 The strong shall be
as tinder, And the work of it as a spark; Both will burn together, And no
one shall quench them.
Deuteronomy 30:19, 20
19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set
before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that
both you and your descendants may live; 20 that you may love the Lord your
God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is
your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land
which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give
them.”
Read Deuteronomy 27–30
Read Leviticus 26
Thursday - Ominous Love Song (Isa. 5:1–7)
2 Samuel 12:1-13
Nathan’s Parable and David’s Confession
1 Then the Lord sent Nathan to David. And he came to him, and said to him:
“There were two men in one city, one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man
had exceedingly many flocks and herds. 3 But the poor man had nothing,
except one little ewe lamb which he had bought and nourished; and it grew up
together with him and with his children. It ate of his own food and drank
from his own cup and lay in his bosom; and it was like a daughter to him. 4
And a traveler came to the rich man, who refused to take from his own flock
and from his own herd to prepare one for the wayfaring man who had come to
him; but he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had
come to him.” 5 So David’s anger was greatly aroused against the man, and he
said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this shall surely
die! 6 And he shall restore fourfold for the lamb, because he did this thing
and because he had no pity.” 7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man!
Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I
delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave you your master’s house and
your master’s wives into your keeping, and gave you the house of Israel and
Judah. And if that had been too little, I also would have given you much
more! 9 Why have you despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in His
sight? You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword; you have taken his
wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the people of
Ammon. 10 Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house,
because you have despised Me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite
to be your wife.’ 11 Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will raise up adversity
against you from your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes
and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the
sight of this sun. 12 For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing
before all Israel, before the sun.’ ” 13 So David said to Nathan, “I have
sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put
away your sin; you shall not die.
1 John 4:8
8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
2 Peter 3:9
9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but
is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all
should come to repentance.
Revelation 22:11
11 He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be
filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is
holy, let him be holy still.”
Matthew 12:31, 32
The Unpardonable Sin
31 “Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men,
but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. 32 Anyone who
speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever
speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this
age or in the age to come.
Hebrews 6:4-6
4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted
the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have
tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 if they
fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for
themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.
Friday: Further Study
Isaiah 1:4
4 Alas, sinful nation, A people laden with iniquity, A brood of evildoers,
Children who are corrupters! They have forsaken the Lord, They have provoked
to anger The Holy One of Israel, They have turned away backward.
The SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 4, p. 1137, quoting Ellen G. White, Review and Herald, August 6, 1895.
Christ, the Teacher of Righteousness
“And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write: These things saith he
that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars: I know thy works,
that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. Be watchful, and
strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die; for I have not
found thy works perfect before God. Remember therefore how thou hast
received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not
watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I
will come upon thee.” The ministers of the gospel of Christ, who are to
watch for souls as they that must give account, will diligently study the
Scriptures, and will often be found upon their knees asking for heavenly
wisdom, in order that they may know how to “strengthen the things which
remain, that are ready to die.” Jesus says, “Learn of me; for I am meek and
lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” Jesus was the
greatest Teacher the world ever knew. He presented truth in clear, forcible
statements, and the illustrations he used were of the purest and highest
order. He never mingled cheap symbols and figures with his divine
instruction, or sought to pander to curiosity or to gratify the class that
will listen simply to be amused. He did not bring sacred truth down the
level of the common, and the comical illustrations that some ministers of
the gospel use were never uttered by his divine lips. Christ did not employ
illustrations that would create amusement and excite laughter. Many writers
and ministers keep their hold upon the people by dwelling upon science
falsely so-called, and by making much of common side-issues; and they forget
the fact that the mind, with all its capacities, is to be used as the talent
intrusted of God to glorify and exalt sacred things, and to lift up before
the world the holy standard of righteousness. At times ministers who have
dwelt upon themes of minor importance, who have lived below the gospel
standard, through the grace of Christ grasp the sacred, solemn, elevated
truths of God's word, and use illustrations that to a large degree are of an
elevating and instructive character; but the hearers remember their former
teachings, the shortcomings of their daily life force themselves upon them,
and the spell is broken; and the most solemn appeals lose their point, the
edge of the sword of truth is blunted, and the heart remains untouched. In
the instruction of the divine Teacher, there was no illustration used that
would leave the least shadow upon the tablets of the soul. His words were of
the purest and most elevated character. He never stooped to utter that which
was comical, in order that he might attract an audience. Of him it was
written, “Lo, I come; in the volume of the book it is written of me, I
delight to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy law is within my heart.” Christ
is our example in all things. “Let this mind be in you, which was also in
Christ Jesus; who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be
equal with God; but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the
form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men; and being found in
fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross.” He did not humble the truth to meet man in his
fallen condition, and lower the standard of righteousness to suit his
degradation; but he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross, in order that he might save the race that had been
degraded by transgression. It was not his purpose to abolish by his death
the law of God, but rather to show the immutability of its sacred claims. It
was his purpose to “magnify the law, and make it honorable,” so that every
one who should look upon the cross of Calvary with its uplifted Victim,
should see the unanswerable argument of the perfect truth of the law. In his
sermon on the mount, Jesus revealed his attitude to the law in unmistakable
language. He said: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the
prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto
you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass
from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of
these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the
least in the kingdom of heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach them, the
same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” There are some who
presume to think that they may disregard the plain commandments of God, and
yet find an entrance into the kingdom of heaven; but this is not the true
interpretation of the Saviour's words, “They shall be called the least in
the kingdom of heaven.” If these who have had light in regard to the
immutable nature of the law of Jehovah, and who have heard messages of
warning from the servants whom God has sent, like the inhabitants of the Old
World, choose their own inventions, and refuse to receive the counsels and
warnings of God, they will be called the least by the Lord Jesus Christ and
by the intelligences of heaven. They may make high professions and may stand
as watchmen on the walls of Zion, and yet they are counted in heaven as
transgressors of the law of God; and should God permit a transgressor of his
law to enter into the portals of bliss, rebellion would be immortalized, and
heaven would be no better than the earth. Jesus added to the statement as to
how the transgressor would be regarded, and said, “For I say unto you, That
except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and
Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus
showed the far-reaching claims of the law of God, and made it evident that
though the Jewish nation claimed to be the only nation under heaven that
knew the true and living God, and professed to be keeping his law, yet they
did not understand its sacred character, and were teaching for doctrines the
commandments of men. Truth suffered at their hands; for they had mixed with
it spurious maxims, human inventions, and the traditions of men. They had
loaded down the plainest precepts of God's law with the rubbish of
tradition, until minds were confused and were fast losing their
comprehension of the character of God, and of the nature of his law, which
is holy, just, and good. In his sermon on the mount, Christ gave the true
interpretation to the Old Testament Scriptures, expounding the truth that
had been perverted by the rulers, the scribes, and the Pharisees. What a
vast meaning does he give to the law of God! He himself had given the law
when the morning-stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for
joy. Christ himself was the foundation of the whole Jewish economy, the end
of types, symbols, and sacrifices. Enshrouded in the pillar of cloud, he
himself had given specific directions to Moses for the Jewish nation, and he
was the only one who could disperse the multitude of errors that through the
maxims and traditions of men had accumulated about the truth. He only could
present the high and infallible standard of the law of God in all its
original purity; but through him heaven-born truth was presented to the
world, and the misconceptions of men and the false representations of the
prince of evil were swept away. He rescued truth, eternal truth, from the
base companionship of error, and commanded it to shine forth in all its
brightness and heavenly luster. He set the truth on high, in order that like
a light it might illuminate the moral darkness of the world. He rescued
every gem of truth from the rubbish of men's maxims and traditions, and
exalted the truth to the throne of God from whence it had issued. Jesus
restored truth that had been cast out, to its royal order, and invested it
with its true importance and dignity. Christ himself was the truth and the
life. When Christ came into the world, darkness covered the earth and gross
darkness the people. The living oracles of God were fast becoming a dead
letter. The still, small voice of God was heard only at times by the most
devout worshiper; for it had become overpowered and silenced by the dogmas,
maxims, and traditions of men. The long, intricate explanations of the
priests made that which was the plainest and most simple, mysterious,
indistinct, and uncertain. The clamors of rival sects confused the
understanding, and their doctrines were widely apart from the correct theory
of truth. It was at a crisis of this kind that the Word, the Truth, became
flesh, and dwelt among us. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All
things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was
made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light
shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not.... He was in the
world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came
unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to
them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on
his name; which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor
of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among
us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the
Father,) full of grace and truth.” Truth looked down from heaven upon the
children of men, but found no reflection of itself; for darkness covered the
earth, and gross darkness the people. If the darkness of error that hid the
glory of God from the view of men, was to be dispelled, the light of truth
must shine amid the moral darkness of the world. It was decreed in the
councils of God that the only begotten Son of God must leave his high
command in heaven, and clothe his divinity with humanity, and come to the
world. No outward splendor must attend his steps, save that of virtue,
mercy, goodness, and truth; for he was to represent to the world the
attributes of God's character; but the world, unaccustomed to gaze upon
truth, turned from the light to the darkness of error; for error was more to
their perverted taste than truth. The Jews were looking for a Messiah who
would establish them in their arrogance and pride, and lead them on to
victory over their enemies. Christ possessed every qualification of
character that should have induced them to accept of him; but his very
righteousness stood in the way of their acceptance; for his habits,
character, and life were all at variance with the habits and practices of
the Jews. He condemned evil wherever he found it, and the untainted purity
of his life and character put to shame the wrong-doers. His course was in
such marked contrast to the course of the scribes and Pharisees and the
religious teachers of that day, that they were made manifest as whited
sepulchers, hypocritical pretenders to religion, who sought to exalt
themselves by a profession of holiness, while within they were full of
ravening and all uncleanness. They could not tolerate true holiness, true
zeal for God, which was the distinguishing feature of the character of
Christ; for true religion cast a reflection upon their spirit and practices.
They could not comprehend a character of such matchless loveliness as that
of Christ's. In the heart of Jesus there was hatred of nothing save sin.
They could have received him as the Messiah had he simply manifested his
miracle-working power, and refrained from denouncing sin, from condemning
their corrupt passions, and from pronouncing the curse of God upon their
idolatry; but since he would give no license to evil, though he healed the
sick, opened the eyes of the blind, and raised the dead, they had nothing
for the divine Teacher but bitter abuse, jealousy, envy, evil-surmising, and
hatred. They hunted him from place to place, in order that they might
destroy the Son of God. The professed people of God had
separated from God, and had lost their wisdom and perverted their
understanding. They could not see afar off; for they had forgotten that
they had been purged from their old sins. They moved restlessly and
uncertainly under darkness, seeking to obliterate from their minds the
memory of the freedom, assurance, and happiness of their former estate.
They plunged into all kinds of presumptuous, foolhardy madness, placed
themselves in opposition to the providences of God, and deepened the
guilt that was already upon them. They listened to the charges of Satan
against the divine character, and represented God as devoid of mercy and
forgiveness. The prophet writes of them, saying: “Ah
sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil-doers, children
that are corrupters; they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the
Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.” Yet for the
fallen world the Lord Jesus was willing to endure humiliation, reproach,
suffering, and death, in order that “whosoever believeth in him should not
perish, but have everlasting life.” “He is despised and rejected of men; a
man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and we hid as it were our faces
from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our
griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of
God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was
bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and
with his stripes we are healed.” Hopeless as the case appeared, the Lord
Jesus would undertake the ransom of the human race. O that every soul would
consider the fact that there is but one hope of salvation for him, and that
is perfect submission and unquestioning obedience to the will of God, who
created and who sustains every hour. I would entreat those who have
separated from Christ to consider their own eternal welfare. Let them
remember the words of Christ, “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain
the whole world, and lose his own soul?” Will you employ the very talents
that God has given you, as weapons to war against God? Will you walk
defiantly from the Lord who loves you, and who has died to save you? Will
you follow human inventions, and trample underfoot the law of Jehovah? The
Lord has borne long with you. He has given you a gift which is beyond all
human computation, even the gift of his well-beloved Son. When “he saw that
there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor,” “his arm
brought salvation;... and his righteousness, it sustained him.”
Philippians 2:12, 13
Light Bearers
12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence
only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear
and trembling; 13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for
His good pleasure.
Matthew 21:33-45
The Parable of the Wicked Vinedressers
33 “Hear another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a
vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower.
And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. 34 Now when
vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they
might receive its fruit. 35 And the vinedressers took his servants, beat
one, killed one, and stoned another. 36 Again he sent other servants, more
than the first, and they did likewise to them. 37 Then last of all he sent
his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38 But when the
vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir.
Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ 39 So they took him and
cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40 “Therefore, when the owner
of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?” 41 They said
to Him, “He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard
to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons.”
42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone
which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. This was the
Lord’s doing, And it is marvelous in our eyes’? 43 “Therefore I say to you,
the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the
fruits of it. 44 And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on
whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.” 45 Now when the chief
priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they perceived that He was
speaking of them.
Mark 12:1-12
The Parable of the Wicked Vinedressers
1 Then He began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard and
set a hedge around it, dug a place for the wine vat and built a tower. And
he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. 2 Now at
vintage-time he sent a servant to the vinedressers, that he might receive
some of the fruit of the vineyard from the vinedressers. 3 And they took him
and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4 Again he sent them another
servant, and at him they threw stones, wounded him in the head, and sent him
away shamefully treated. 5 And again he sent another, and him they killed;
and many others, beating some and killing some. 6 Therefore still having one
son, his beloved, he also sent him to them last, saying, ‘They will respect
my son.’ 7 But those vinedressers said among themselves, ‘This is the heir.
Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 So they took him
and killed him and cast him out of the vineyard. 9 “Therefore what will the
owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the vinedressers, and
give the vineyard to others. 10 Have you not even read this Scripture: ‘The
stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. 11 This
was the Lord’s doing, And it is marvelous in our eyes’?” 12 And they sought
to lay hands on Him, but feared the multitude, for they knew He had spoken
the parable against them. So they left Him and went away.
Luke 20:9-19
The Parable of the Wicked Vinedressers
9 Then He began to tell the people this parable: “A certain man planted a
vineyard, leased it to vinedressers, and went into a far country for a long
time. 10 Now at vintage-time he sent a servant to the vinedressers, that
they might give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the vinedressers
beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 11 Again he sent another servant;
and they beat him also, treated him shamefully, and sent him away
empty-handed. 12 And again he sent a third; and they wounded him also and
cast him out. 13 “Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I
will send my beloved son. Probably they will respect him when they see him.’
14 But when the vinedressers saw him, they reasoned among themselves,
saying, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may
be ours.’ 15 So they cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. Therefore
what will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16 He will come and destroy
those vinedressers and give the vineyard to others.” And when they heard it
they said, “Certainly not!” 17 Then He looked at them and said, “What then
is this that is written: ‘The stone which the builders rejected Has become
the chief cornerstone’? 18 Whoever falls on that stone will be broken; but
on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.” 19 And the chief priests
and the scribes that very hour sought to lay hands on Him, but they feared
the people—for they knew He had spoken this parable against them.