Special Insights No. 3
First Quarter 2006
Adult Sabbath School Lessons
“Families in the Family of God”
(Produced by the Editorial Board of the 1888 Message Study Committee)
Restoration
This week’s lesson focuses on marriage as a model that God uses to
teach His people about restoration, and uses the covenant as an example
of God’s union with His people. The Quarterly author states:
“In biblical thinking, close relationships are bound together by covenants.
The predominant covenant is one between God and His people. Human covenants
are binding commitments that include promises, privileges, and obligations
—key factors in any marriage.”
Common marriage vows include the phrase, “I promise to love, honor,
and obey....,” or similar phraseology. These words are solemnly articulated
at the wedding ceremony before God and witnesses. The participants in
the ceremony are (at the time) certain that they can fulfill these promises
because of their mutual affection and strong attraction for each other.
For erring humans it is easy to say the words, “I promise such and
such.” However, most of the time, and for a variety of reasons,
it is difficult to follow these simple words with corresponding actions.
Our Quarterly goes on to give examples of adulterous Israel’s
repeated failure in keeping her promises of obedience to God (for context
see Ex. 19:8; 32:1-6; 33:1-7; 2 Chron. 30:7-8). The Lord is forced to
call His bride a harlot and an adulteress because of her continued transgressions
against Him (Jer. 3:6-11; 13:27; Eze.20:27-32; 23:7-9). The book of
Hosea is an enacted lesson for all people and all times regarding the
whoredom of God’s bride, but it also reveals His heartbrokenness and
great love for His wayward and unfaithful wife (Hosea 11:7-9).
Fortunately, the Gospel is not dependant upon our promises of faithfulness
to God, but rather upon His faithfulness to us. God knows the condition
of our heart; it is desperately wicked and as unstable as water. If
the eternal covenant marriage to God depended upon our promises to Him,
we would fail as surely as did ancient Israel. This is a prominent 1888
message concept.
Let’s review what God promised the children of Israel as He attempted
to bring them into His covenant marriage: “Ye have seen what I did unto
the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagle’s wings, and brought you
unto Myself” (Ex. 19:4). What a magnificent declaration of love for
His bride! He says, Look at all that I have already done to show you
how much I love you.
The Lord continues: “Now therefore, if ye will obey [Heb. shama
literally means hear, perceive with understanding, discern] My voice
indeed, and keep [Heb. shamar literally means protect, preserve,
guard, or cherish; cf. Gen. 2:15] My covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar
treasure unto Me above all people; for the earth is Mine” (vs. 5). The
first thing to observe is that God already has a covenant in place to
which He is referring the children of Israel. It is the everlasting
covenant He made with Abraham (Gen. 15:7-21). If they would cherish
His promise to Abraham, and discern the deep meaning of that
covenant, then they would indeed be a “peculiar treasure” unto the Lord.
They would be “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (vs. 6).
God did not ask the people to DO anything. He only asked them
to believe in and appreciate the promise which He
had already given to Abraham. Their response in verse 8 was completely
unwarranted, and showed an absolute misunderstanding of what God was
telling them.
“The people of Israel were full of self-confidence and of unbelief
in God, as is shown by their murmuring against God’s leading and by
their assumption of the ability to do anything that God required, to
fulfill His promises. They had the same spirit as their descendants,
who asked: ‘What must we do, to be doing the work of God?’
John 6:28. They were so ignorant of God’s righteousness that they thought
that they could establish their own righteousness as an equivalent”
(E. J. Waggoner, The Glad Tidings, p. 74).
How does this correlate to the lesson’s discussion of human marriage?
How will a correct understanding of the everlasting covenant deepen
and strengthen our human marriage relationship? How will it restore
the “tragic loss of physical, emotional, and spiritual oneness” that
was lost due to the fall of our first parents?
As we learned in last quarter’s studies on Ephesians, submission is
the key to a happy marriage (Eph. 5:22, 25). This is a two-way submission,
each giving their all to the other, just as Christ gave His all to save
us from sin. Christ put the human race first and was willing to be lost
eternally if He could save His people from their sin by dying
as them on the cross. This is the essence of agape;
totally devoid of any self-centeredness or selfishness.
Our lesson tells us that when “Adam and Eve fell for Satan’s deceptions,
not only was their relationship with God damaged, so was their relationship
with each other.” It is the work of the Gospel to remove these barriers
between us and our divine Lover. “Ever since that first sin in the Garden,
mankind have been repeating the tragic pattern. Unless man has faith
in a divine Saviour who bears the full burden of his guilt, a full realization
of guilt kills him” (Robert J. Wieland, The Knocking At the Door,
p. 11).
Just as a willing and total submission to each other in a marriage
removes the fear and shame of complete exposure, just so we must learn
to stand before our divine Lover naked and unashamed. We must learn
the full depth of our sin, conscious and unconscious, before there can
be a final reconciliation between God and His people. This is the work
of the cleansing of the sanctuary in the antitypical Day of Atonement
that reaches down to the depths and purifies our characters.
When this is accomplished in God’s people, then it can be said that
“the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready”
(Rev. 19:7). Then, standing in unabashed nakedness, fully exposed before
her divine Lover, making no pretense of covering herself (as did Adam
and Eve), Christ will place upon His bride the garment He has been longing
to give her—the garment of His own righteousness—that she will wear
forever in His presence (vs. 8).
Restoration of the whole human race in Christ is a reality; reconciliation
is accomplished (2 Cor. 5:14-19). When God’s people fully appreciate
what He has done to save us from sin, then the Lord can come to claim
His bride and take us home. May that day be hastened, is our prayer.
—Ann Walper
[If you would like a copy of Knocking at the Door, contact
the Message Study Committee, (269) 473-1888.]
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