SECOND QUARTER 2022
SABBATH SCHOOL INSIGHT #9
MAY 28, 2022
“JACOB THE SUPPLANTER”

 

The life of Jacob is certainly a case study with a lot of application to our day. When one stops thinking he can wrestle God into giving himself salvation and receives the gift by living faith, then the first fruits of the spirit can come, which are peace through God through justification by faith. Romans 5:1. There are three concepts that I saw in this week’s lesson that especially drew my attention to my understanding of the gospel emphasis given to this church in and around the year of 1888.

Jacob and Esau in the womb.
W.W. Prescott does a masterful job in the book, “The Divine Human Family”, of tracing the history of humanity, both in its origins in Adam and in Christ. This understanding of corporate solidarity, especially as it relates to the nature of Christ, is pivotal in our understanding and experience of salvation and our assurance thereof. Acts 17:25 assures us that God has made all nations of men from one, that is Adam (or of one blood). This corporate solidarity is reflected in Genesis 25 and especially verse 23. When Rebecca inquired of the Lord, He answered her; ‘two nations are in your womb.’ Two nations – Jacob and Esau. In Jacob, God saw all the descendants of Jacob; in Esau, God saw all the descendants of Esau; and so, as He viewed it, there were two nations struggling together.

The same thought is further emphasized in Hebrews 7:9, 10, “And as I may so say, Levi also, who received tithes, paid tithes in Abraham. For he was yet in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him.” The Scriptures are sufficient to bring out the principle that in Adam were all the descendants of Adam, as he was the common father of the human family. But Adam the first failed in his work, and so there came Adam the second. Amazingly, Levi got credit for paying tithes to Melchizedek when he was not even thought of at this point!

Christ as the second Adam would not only become one of us but truly become us. In the gospel of Leviticus (as A.T. Jones calls it), we see the story of Boaz needing to be not just near, but the nearest of kin in order to be the redeemer. Christ also would come to be the nearest of kin by taking human nature upon Him and yet winning the victory in every point. And that victory is ours for the asking and the believing. Our fight then is not so much against sin, as it is the good fight of faith. When the faith of Jesus is held supreme, then grace reigns like a king on our hearts and sin has no chance for the mastery. Praise the Lord for the victory that we have in Him!

Birthright
Here is another blessed thought that comes to us from the pen of E.J. Waggoner.

 

“That which God has promised, He is able also to perform. He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think (Ephesians 3:20). He is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy (Jude 24). He gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us, and He did not die in vain. Deliverance is ours! Christ was sent to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house (Isaiah 42:7). Accordingly, He cries out to the captives, “liberty!”  To them that are bound He proclaims that the prison doors are open (Isaiah 61:1). To all the prisoners, He says “go forth” (Isaiah 49:9). Each soul may say, if he will, oh Lord, truly I am Thy servant; I am Thy servant and the son of thine handmaid; You have loosed my bonds (Psalm 116:16).

The thing is true whether we believe it or not. We are the Lord’s servants, even though we stubbornly refuse to serve; for He has bought us; and having bought us He has broken every bond that hindered us from serving Him. If we believe, we have the victory that has overcome the world (1 John 5:4). … all this deliverance is according to the will of our God and Father. The will of God is our sanctification (1 Thessalonians 4:3). His will is that all men should be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4). And He works all things after the council of His own will (Ephesians 1:11). What! Do you mean to teach universal salvation? We mean to teach just with the word of God teaches – that the grace of God has appeared bringing salvation to all men (Titus 2:11 R.V.). God has wrought out salvation for every man and has given it to him; but the majority spurn it, and throw it away. The judgment will reveal the fact that full and complete salvation was given to every man, and the lost have deliberately thrown away their birthright possession. Thus, every mouth will be stopped (Glad Tidings, pgs. 22, 23). All this is true in Christ! May it be true in us!

Jacob’s Ladder
Lastly, I wanted to look a little bit at Jacob’s ladder. Ellen White has some tremendous insights regarding this subject.

 

In assuming humanity, Christ planted the ladder firmly upon the earth. The ladder reaches unto the highest heaven, and God’s glory shines from its summit and illuminates its whole length, while the angels pass to and fro with messages from God to man, with petition and praise from man to God.... In the vision of Jacob was represented the union of the human and the divine in Christ. As the angels pass to and fro on the ladder, God is represented as looking down with favor upon the children of men because of the merit of His Son.... – {TMK 21.4}

Christ is the ladder that Jacob saw, with its base resting on the earth and the topmost rung reaching heaven. If that ladder had failed to reach the earth by even a single step, we would have been lost. But Christ reaches us where we are. He took our nature and overcame, so that we, through taking His nature, may overcome. Made “in the likeness of sinful flesh” (Romans 8:3), He lived a sinless life. Now He asks us, by faith in Him, to come up to the glory of God’s character. – {HH 139.3}

He gives us power to climb every round of the ladder into the portals of glory. – {BEcho November 19, 1894 Par. 2}

When Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life," He uttered a truth of wonderful significance. The transgression of man had separated earth from heaven, and finite man from the infinite God. As an island is separated from a continent, so earth was cut off from heaven, and a wide channel intervened between man and God. Jesus bridged this gulf, and made a way for man to come to God. He who has no spiritual light sees no way, has no hope; and men have originated theories of their own regarding the way to life. The Romanist points the sinner to the Virgin Mary, to penances, indulgences, and the absolution of the priest; and to this theory come those who would be saved in their sins, and those who would be saved by their own merit. But the only name given among men whereby they can be saved is Jesus. Across the gulf that sin has made come His words, "I am the way, the truth, and the life."… Christ only is the way, the truth, the life; and man can be justified alone through the imputation of Christ's righteousness. Man is justified freely by God's grace through faith, and not by works, lest any man should boast. Salvation is the gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Many have felt their hopeless condition, and have asked in perplexity, “How shall we gain admission to the world to come? Earth lies under the curse, and is doomed to destruction; how shall we be able to enter the city of God?” We would point you to Christ, the way, the truth, the life--the mystic ladder between heaven and earth.  {RH, November 11, 1890 par. 6}

After the enemy had betrayed Adam and Eve into sin, the connection between heaven and earth was severed; and had it not been for Christ, the way to heaven would never have been known by the fallen race. But “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Christ is the mystic ladder, the base of which rests upon the earth, and whose topmost round reaches to the throne of the Infinite. The children of Adam are not left desolate and alienated from God; for through Christ's righteousness, we have access unto the Father. "By Me," said Christ, “if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.” Let earth be glad, let the inhabitants of the world rejoice, that Christ has bridged the gulf which sin had made, and has bound earth and heaven together. A highway has been cast up for the ransomed of the Lord. The weary and heavy laden may come unto Him, and find rest to their souls. The pilgrim may journey toward the mansions that He has gone to prepare for those who love Him.  {RH, November 11, 1890 par. 7}

In assuming humanity, Christ planted the ladder firmly upon the earth. …Through the divine nature, Christ was one with the Father; and by assuming humanity, he identified himself with man. He, “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.” In the vision of Jacob was represented the union of the human and the divine in Christ. As the angels pass to and fro on the ladder, God is represented as looking down with favor upon the children of men because of the merit of His Son.  {RH, November 11, 1890 par. 9}

Every minister should learn the lessons which Christ taught, that he may be able to instruct sinners in the way of salvation. Christ said, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me.” The sinner cannot take one step unless the Spirit draws him; he must cling to Christ if he would be saved. If he ascends to heaven, it must be by mounting up step by step the whole height of Christ's work, so that Christ shall be his wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.  {RH, November 11, 1890 par. 10}

The gaining of eternal life is no easy thing. By living faith, we are to keep on reaching forward, ascending the ladder round by round, seeing and taking the necessary steps; and yet we must understand that not one holy thought, not one unselfish act, can be originated in self. It is only through Christ that there can be any virtue in humanity. Without Christ we can do no good thing, but with Him we may do all things. It is at this point that many stumble, to their ruin. They think that they must struggle in their own strength to grow into goodness, before they can receive a new heart. But such effort is in vain. All warfare is useless unless Christ's power is combined with human effort. But while we can do nothing without Him, we have something to do in connection with Him. At no time must we relax our spiritual vigilance; for we are hanging, as it were, between heaven and earth. We must cling to Christ, climb up by Christ, become laborers together with Him in the saving of our souls.  {RH, November 11, 1890 par. 11}

We are not merely to see a way by which to cross the gulf of sin, but we are to appreciate the value of the ransom paid for our souls; we are to realize something of what has been suffered that we might be forgiven, and rescued from destruction. We are to rejoice that the atonement is complete; and believing in Christ as our complete Saviour, we may know that the Father loves us, even as He loves His Son.  {RH, November 11, 1890 par. 12}