What Happened?

In 1588, a young English woman (seven-months pregnant) looked out over the sea, and what she saw — the Spanish Armada, with 130 heavily armed ships planning to invade the island — so frightened her that she went into premature labor, the midwife being fear.

Fear, in fact, was an apt image for her child, Thomas Hobbes, who became one of Europe’s greatest political theorists. Living at a time when England had been wracked by civil war and endless religious violence, Hobbes wrote that humankind, without a strong, all-encompassing government, existed in a state of perpetual fear — fear of instability, fear of conquest, and, most of all, fear of death. People lived in what he called “the war of all against all” and that unless something radical was done, human life would be, he warned, nothing but “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”

What was the solution? Hobbes said that there was only one: the people must place themselves under a single power that would reduce all their wills to a single will and that would exercise complete authority over them. This power, this sovereign — be it a single man or an assembly of men — though wielding absolute hegemony over the nation, would end the terrible conditions that made their lives so fearful and unstable. In other words, in exchange for all their rights, the people got peace and security instead. This transfer of power, from the people to the sovereign, is what Hobbes called the “covenant.”

The covenant idea, however, did not originate with Hobbes. On the contrary, thousands of years earlier, God made a covenant with Israel, a covenant whose roots, in fact, went back even further in time. Unlike Hobbes’s covenant, which was initiated and promulgated by the people, this covenant was initiated and promulgated by the true Sovereign, the Creator of heaven and earth. Also, though Hobbes’s covenant was motivated solely by fear, God’s covenant is motivated by love, His love for the fallen race, a love that led Him to the Cross.

Thus, because of what Christ has done for us, we love God back, and just as in the Hobbesian covenant, where the subjects had to surrender to the sovereign, we surrender, too — our sinful ways, our fears, our twisted notions of right and wrong. We do this not to gain something in return but because we already have been given the best that the Sovereign can give — Jesus Christ and the redemption found only in Him.

How does it all work? It is as simple as an exchange: Christ takes our sins and gives us His righteousness so that, through Him, we are accounted as righteous as God Himself. In this way, sin is no longer attributed to us; it no longer has to keep us separated from Him. Murderers, adulterers, bigots, liars, thieves, and even the incestuous can all be viewed as righteous as God Himself. And this wonderful gift, this accounting of righteousness, comes to them by faith, and faith alone. Hence the phrase, “righteousness by faith.”

But it does not end there, either. Murderers, adulterers, bigots, liars, thieves, and even the incestuous can, through Jesus, enter into a relationship with God, because Jesus’ blood brings not only forgiveness but cleansing, healing, and restoration. We are, through Christ, born again, and through this experience God writes His holy law upon the fleshy tables of our hearts. Thus murderers, adulterers, bigots, liars, thieves, and the incestuous no longer do the things they used to do. From and by this inward law, all of life is shaped for the believer. These people desire to work out what God puts within them, and that desire is matched with the promise of Divine power. Here is the essence of what it means to live in covenant relationship with God.

This quarter, then we look more closely at what God’s covenant is, what it offers, even what it demands. Though drawn from many sources, the lessons rely heavily on work of the late Dr. Gerhard Hasel, whose insights into the Word (where the covenant promises are revealed) will give encouragement, hope, and understanding in order that we can learn something which, perhaps, Hobbes never did: “ There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear” (1 John 4:18).

Gerhard F. Hasel (PhD, Vanderbilt University) was John Nevins Andrews Professor of Old Testament and Biblical Theology at the SDA Theological Seminary at Andrews University. From 1981-88 he served as the dean of the seminary and for 27 years as director of the ThD/PhD programs.

What Happened?

Memory Text: “Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; …’ So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:26-27, NRSV).

The biblical account of the Creation of humanity is one filled with hope, happiness, and perfection. Each day of Creation ended with the divine pronouncement that it was “good.” Certainly that didn’t include typhoons, earthquakes, famine, and diseases.

The sixth day of Creation ended with the divine pronouncement that it was “very good.” That is because that day the Lord created beings in His own image: humans. Something He had not done with anything else in the Genesis account. These beings were, of course, perfect in every way; they’d have to be. After all, they were made in the image of God. Thus, of sheer necessity, they did not include murderers, thieves, liars, swindlers, and the vile in their ranks. What happened?

This week’s lesson looks at the Creation, at what God had first made, and then at what happened to that perfect Creation. Finally, it touches on the quarter’s theme: what God is doing to make things right again.

The Week at a Glance: What does the Bible teach about origins? What kind of relationship did God want with humanity? What was the purpose of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? What hope was given to Adam and Eve immediately after they fell?

Turtles All the Way Down …

A scientist had just lectured on the orbits of the planets around the sun, and the orbit of the sun around the center of the galaxy, when an old lady in black tennis shoes rose and said that the earth was a flat disc sitting on the back of a turtle. The scientist, jesting, asked what the turtle sat on, and she responded that it sat on another turtle. “Ma’am,” the scientist continued joking, “what then does that turtle sit on?” She answered, “Another turtle,” but before he could ask what that turtle sat on, she wagged her finger in his face and snapped, “Save your breath, sonny, it’s turtles all the way down.”

However cute, that story deals with the most crucial issue of human existence — the nature of the universe itself. What is this world that we find ourselves in by no choice of our own? Why are we here? How did we get here? And where are we all finally going?

These are the most basic and fundamental questions people could ask, because our understanding of who we are and how we got here will impact our understanding of how we live and how we act while we are here.

What is interesting about Genesis 1:1 (or even the other texts) is that the Lord does not attempt to prove that He is the Creator. There are no elaborate arguments to make the point. Instead, it is simply and clearly stated, with no attempt to justify, explain, or prove it. Either we accept it on faith, or we do not. In fact, faith is the only way that we can accept it, for one simple reason: none of us were here to see the Creation process itself. It would, indeed, have been a logical impossibility for us to have been there at our own creation. Even secularists, whatever view of origins they hold, have to take that view on faith for the same reason that we as creationists have to: none of us were there to view the event.

Nevertheless, even if God has asked us to believe in Him as Creator, He does not ask us to believe without giving us good reasons to believe. Realizing that there is a certain amount of faith required in almost anything we believe, write down reasons why it makes sense to have faith that we are here because a Creator purposely put us here, as opposed to our origins being rooted in nothing but pure chance.

In the Image of the Maker (Gen. 1:27)

The Bible states that God created humankind — male and female — “in His own image” (Gen. 1:27, NKJV). Based on this idea, answer the following questions:

Although we must speak of God in human terminology, we must not forget that He is a spiritual Being (John 4:24), possessing divine characteristics. All we can say is that in our physical, mental, and spiritual natures, we reflect in some way our divine Creator, however much there remains about Him that is still, at least for us, shrouded in mystery. The Bible emphasizes, however, the spiritual and mental aspects of our mind. These aspects we can develop and improve. It is the uniqueness of the human mind that makes possible a nourishing relationship with God, something the rest of anything in God’s earthly creation seem unable to do.

Notice, too, the unique account of how God made woman. Both men and women share the incredible privilege of being made in the image of God. In their creation, there is no hint of inferiority of one to the other. God Himself made them both from the same material. God made both equal from the start and placed them together in a special relationship with Him. Both had the same opportunity to develop their God-given characters in a way that would bring glory to Him.

“God Himself gave Adam a companion. He provided ‘an help meet for him’ — a helper corresponding to him — one who was fitted to be his companion, and who could be one with him in love and sympathy. Eve was created from a rib taken from the side of Adam, signifying that she was not to control him as the head, nor to be trampled under his feet as an inferior, but to stand by his side as an equal, to be loved and protected by him.” — Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 46.

God and Humankind Together (Gen. 1:28-29)

Notice God’s first spoken words to humankind, at least as they appear in Scripture. He points them to their ability to procreate, to reproduce more of their own kind. He also points them to the earth itself, to the creation, and He tells them to replenish it, to subdue it, and to have mastery over it. He also points them to the plants they can eat. In short, according to the Bible, God’s first words to man and woman deal specifically with their interaction and relationship to the physical world.

What do Genesis 1:28-29 tell us about how God views the material world? Do they imply that there is something bad in material things and our enjoyment of them? What lessons can we learn from these early scenes in human history about how we should relate to the creation itself?

Also, with these words, God takes the first steps toward a relationship with humankind. He speaks to them, gives them commands, tells them what to do. There’s a responsibility implicit in words too. God has asked them to be masters over this wonderful creation that He Himself has made.

Genesis 1:28 says that God blessed Adam and Eve. What does that mean? What kind of relationship does it imply between them and their Creator?

God addressed Adam and Eve as intelligent beings who could respond to His kindness and enter into communion and fellowship with Him. Also, as creature-children, Adam and Eve were dependent upon the blessing and care of their Creator-Father. He provided all they needed. They did nothing to deserve what He gave them. They were purely recipients of something they did not earn.

When we read about the creation of man and woman, we can see elements, before sin, of the kind of relationship God wants us to have with Him now, after sin. Review the day’s study and see what parallels you can find that help us understand how we can relate to Him even in our fallen condition.

At the Tree

“And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Gen. 2:16-17).

This test provided Adam and Eve with an opportunity to exercise their free will. It also challenged them to respond positively or negatively to their relationship with the Creator. It also shows that God had made them free, moral beings. After all, if they did not have the opportunity to disobey, why would the Lord have even bothered warning them, in the first place, against disobedience?

“Everything preceding in this chapter has paved the way for this climax [Gen. 2:16-17]. The future of the race centers upon this single prohibition. Man is not to be confused by a multiplicity of issues. Only one divine ordinance must be kept in mind. By thus limiting the number of injunctions to one, Yaweh gives tokens of his mercy. Besides, to indicate that this one commandment is not grievous, the Lord sets it against the background of a broad permission: ‘from any tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat.’ ” — H. C. Leupold, Exposition of Genesis (Columbus, OH: Wartburg Press, 1942), vol. 1, p. 127.

By calling Adam and Eve to obey His will, God was saying: I am your Creator, and I have made you in My image. Your life is sustained by Me, for by Me you live and move and have your being. I have provided all things for your well-being and happiness (sustenance, home, human companionship) and have established you as ruler of this world under Me. If you are willing to affirm this relationship with Me because you love Me, then I will be your God, and you will be My children. And you can affirm this relationship and the trust implicit in it by simply obeying this specific command.

In the end, our relationship with God can be effective and lasting only if we freely choose to accept His will. Rejecting His will is, in essence, to claim independence from Him. It indicates that we believe we do not need Him. That is a choice that results in the knowledge of evil, and evil leads to alienation, loneliness, frustration, and death.

The test God gave Adam and Eve was one of loyalty and faith. Would they be loyal to their Creator, who had given them everything they needed, plus a world of delights, or would they go their own way, independent of His will? Would they have enough faith in Him to take Him at His word? Their loyalty and faith were tested by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In what ways do we face similar tests every day? How does God’s law function as a parallel to the command given in Genesis 2:16-17?

Breaking the Relationship

We tend to believe people we know and instinctively distrust those whom we do not. Eve naturally would have distrusted Satan. Furthermore, any direct attack against God would have made her defensive. What steps, then, did Satan take to bypass Eve’s natural defenses? (Gen. 3:1-6).

“Deplorable as was Eve’s transgression and fraught as it was with potential woe for the human family, her choice did not necessarily involve the race in the penalty for her transgression. It was the deliberate choice of Adam, in the full understanding of an express command of God — rather than hers — that made sin and death the inevitable lot of mankind. Eve was deceived; Adam was not.” — The SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 1, p. 231.

As a result of this blatant transgression and disregard to God’s command, the relationship between God and humankind is now broken. It changed from open fellowship with God to fleeing in fear from His presence (Gen. 3:8-10). Alienation and separation replace fellowship and communion. Sin appeared, and all its ugly results followed. Unless something was done, humanity was heading for eternal ruin.

In the midst of this tragedy, what words of hope and promise did God speak? (See Gen. 3:15.)

God’s surprising word of prophetic hope speaks of a divinely ordained hostility between the serpent and the woman, between her Offspring and his offspring. This climaxes in the victorious appearance of a representative Offspring of the woman’s seed who delivers a deadly blow to the head of Satan, while he would only be able to bruise the Messiah’s heel.

In their utter helplessness, Adam and Eve were to gain hope from this Messianic promise, hope that would transform their existence, because this hope was God-given and God-supported. This promise of the Messiah and of final victory, however vaguely stated at that time, lifted the gloom into which sinning had placed them.

Read Genesis 3:9, where God says to Adam and Eve “Where are you?” (NKJV). God, of course, knew where they were. His words, instead of being filled with condemnation, were to draw guilt-ridden humankind back to Him. In short, God’s first words to fallen humanity came with the hope of His grace and mercy. In what ways do we find, even now, God seeking to call us to His mercy and grace?

“There was a gospel sermon, I think, in those three divine words as they penetrated the dense parts of the thicket, and reached the tingling ears of the fugitives — ‘Where art thou?’ Thy God is not willing to lose thee; He is come forth to seek thee, just as by-and-by He means to come forth in the Person of His Son, not only to seek but to save that which now is lost.” — Charles Haddon Spurgeon, The Treasury of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1962) Old Testament, vol. 1, p. 11.

Discussion Questions:

Summary: God created us in His own image so that a loving fellowship could exist between Him and us. Although the entrance of sin shattered the original union, God seeks to restore this relationship through the plan of redemption. As dependent creatures, life takes on true meaning and clarity only when we enter into union with our Creator.

Inside Story~ Mexico ↥

First Deaf Theology Student

By Jose Rodrigo Martinez Patron

My Seventh-day Adventist mother noticed that I, as a baby, did not respond in our home in Merida, Mexico. She would call my name, and I did not notice.

Mother sought help when I was about 2. She sent me to a special needs school that taught me sign language and how to speak. My teacher taught the sounds of letters and words. I put my hand to her throat when she spoke and then tried to replicate the sound with my own throat.

My mother cried because her son couldn’t hear her voice. “Don’t worry,” the teacher said. “Have patience. Everything will work out fine.”

I attended the special needs school for two hours every day. I also studied at an Adventist school for two hours daily. The church school taught me how to read and write and, most important, it taught me about God.

I attended the Adventist school up to the age of 8. But the school didn’t have teachers who knew sign language, so Mother ended up sending me to a public school with teachers who could communicate with me.

The first time that I met other Adventist young people with hearing impairments was at a church-organized conference at Linda Vista Adventist University. It was wonderful to mingle with other Adventist young people with the same needs as me. I was invited to attend the annual conference again the next two years. Then the Inter-America Division organized its first special needs conference and held the event at Montemorelos University in Monterrey, Mexico. At the conference, a desire grew in me to serve God as a pastor. But how? I could never afford the tuition.

As the conference concluded, university president Ismael Castillo made a surprising announcement. “Do any of you want to study here?” he asked.

He offered a full scholarship for the tuition. I understood then that God was calling me to be a pastor, and I stood up.

I am the first deaf theology student at Montemorelos University. This is my second year at the university. It is difficult because no one knows sign language. I concentrate hard and try to read the teachers’ lips. I failed several classes my first year, and I have to retake those classes.

I have led several evangelistic meetings for the hearing impaired, including in Mexico City. Churches with deaf people invite me to preach.

I have a huge desire in my heart to graduate and serve as a pastor. I dream about going to the mission field, perhaps to Spain as a missionary to the hearing impaired.

Please pray for the hearing impaired. We all have dreams. We are willing to do big things for the Lord.

This quarter’s Thirteenth Sabbath Offering will help open a missionary training center at Montemorelos University.

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The Promise

God’s Everlasting Covenant

Turtles All the Way Down …

In the Image of the Maker (Gen. 1:27)

God and Humankind Together (Gen. 1:28-29)

At the Tree

Breaking the Relationship

Discussion Questions:

First Deaf Theology Student