Special Insights No. 2
First Quarter 2006
Adult Sabbath School Lessons
“Families in the Family of God”
(Produced by the Editorial Board of the 1888 Message Study Committee)
God's Word on Family Living
“Family Living” is living out the truths of genuine righteousness by
faith. The emphasis in the lesson is on things that we must DO in order
to have happy homes. The Bible emphasis is on things that we must BELIEVE
in order to have happy homes, because it is what we BELIEVE that transforms
us in character from being the ornery, self-centered people that we
are by nature into people in whom self has been crucified with Christ
and He is permitted to live out His life within us (Gal. 2:20). Self-centered
people are bound to have friction at home; the real, ultimate, powerful
change in family relationships comes through the pure truth of the gospel
of Jesus Christ, which is what Ellen White described as “the third angel’s
message in verity.”
Through this means actual, dynamic love is created within cold
hearts.
Our Lesson Book is good; let us look up all the texts that are listed
for us in Sunday’s and Tuesday’s lessons, but not to read them with
a mind half asleep or focused on something else. There is no merit in
the amount of time we spend in “reading the Bible” if our mind is far
away. Read the texts with a prayer that the Holy Spirit may “feed” you
therein; take your time; He will hear you and respond. If you
are having family problems, be sure that the Holy Spirit will find in
those Bible texts some “bread” to feed your hungry soul, some water
of life to refresh your thirst.
We are told that “three of the Ten Commandments deal with family life;
it’s the violation of these three (in some way) that usually is the
source of family unhappiness. Let us not misunderstand the Ten Commandments.
Rightly understood, they are not Ten Rules; they are ten promises
that God is making to us. The Preamble to the Ten must never be
omitted—believe that “the Lord thy God.... have brought thee out of
the land of Egypt, [that is] out of the house of bondage,” that He has
done it past tense, which means that Christ on His cross has delivered
you from the bondage of sin (Ex. 20:1, 2). Then, He promises, you will
never fall into any sin that consciously or unconsciously can poison
the joyous spirit in your family.
The author is to be commended for pointing us to the thrilling “love
story” of Boaz and Ruth. Even if you have been married many years read
it again and again. It will do two things: (1) enrich your memory and
that of your spouse, and if perchance you are now lonely, (2) it will
enrich your understanding of other people to whom you can be a real
blessing.
The story of Ruth (Monday) brings the tenderness, the humility, the
purity, of true love into our naturally cold hearts. When God has promised
to “send [us] Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and
terrible day of the Lord” (Mal. 4:5, 6), what’s back of the promise
is that marvelous work of “heart-reconciliation.” Notice the actual
words of the promise: “He will turn.... hearts.”
Many people have said to me, “My heart is cold; I don’t know how to
shed a tear of appreciation for the love of Christ! Is there no hope
for me?” Cold-heartedness is the greatest problem God has had to deal
with in His 6000 years of sacred history; it’s the problem of Laodicea.
“Elijah” is coming to deal with it! Don’t resist his ministry, for it
will be what our Lesson points us to in 2 Corinthians 5:18, 19 where
Paul pleads, “We implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God”!
That’s the very essence of the Elijah message! It’s not calling down
thunderbolts of God’s hot wrath on His people, which many of us have
thought Elijah did on Mt. Carmel (1 Kings 18:10-40)—it’s melting of
hard human hearts and reconciliation first, with God, then with each
other.
Then, thank God! the entire world church will be studying the Song
of Solomon! This must be because somehow “Elijah” has touched the hearts
of our Lesson Book writers and editors! Did you know that the Laodicean
message, which is present truth to the remnant church, is related to
this Song? Jesus actually quotes word for word from S.S. 5:2 when He
says, “I stand at the door and knock,” but it’s not our Hebrew Masoretic
text—it’s the Greek LXX (Septuagint translation) that He quotes! Thus
He tells us that the Laodicean message is actually a love letter from
Christ to His Bride-to-be! “She” has treated Him exactly like the lady
in Solomon’s poem treated Him—she was so wrapped up in herself that
she didn’t want to bother to get up and let Him in when He “knocked”
(S. S. 5:2-6). The Song of Solomon is directly related both to the Laodicean
message and to that of Revelation 19:7, 8, where the identical problem
is divulged as the “Bride-to-be” delaying to make herself ready” for
the marriage of the Lamb!
That’s the reason why after all these many years since 1844 when Jesus
said that it was His will that “this generation will by no means pass
away till all these things are fulfilled” (Matt. 24:34). Yes, Jesus
intended all along that the generation which went through the Great
Disappointment should live to see Him come the second time. But through
our resisting His call to the wedding of 1888, the time has been greatly
prolonged. God bless your study of this precious Sabbath School Lesson!
May His reconciliation be our experience!
—Robert J. Wieland
Read Special Insights #3
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