Foreword
Every Christian lives in the hope of spending eternity with our wonderful Saviour. As Seventh Day Adventists we know that our hope is soon to be fulfilled. The great controversy is taking place all around us. While the victory of Christ in this conflict is sure, each one of us is also fighting an individual battle. The Saviour wants each one of us to have victory, and with this goal in mind He has provided us with the secrets of victory.
During this quarter the focus of our study will be on the twelve tribes of Israel and their parallel to the 144,000 saints who receive the seal of the living God in the last days. This topic is very important because all believers in the Advent message who have accepted the Sabbath truth must fully overcome sin in all its forms in order to receive the seal of God in their foreheads–or be lost.
As the Scriptures teach in James 1:1, there are twelve tribes which constitute the spiritual Israel–the church–today. These various tribes are no longer based upon blood lineage, but upon natural personality traits or dispositions. The tribe of which you are a member is likely to be that tribe whose main weakness or sin is similar to the one which you also struggle the hardest to overcome.
Through persevering faith in God, Jacob was an overcomer. A remnant bearing the names of eleven of his sons and one of his grandsons will constitute the 144,000 sealed saints to stand on the sea of glass in the presence of Jesus. There is a deep insight to be gained by studying the experience of the twelve sons of Jacob.
As various members of the spiritual tribes aspiring for victory, we have differing natures. Individuals from one particular tribe may not readily be able to understand or relate to another tribe. While some may be tempted to become frustrated at this, we must realize that God’s plan is perfect in wisdom. “If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members, yet but one body” (1 Corinthians 12:17-20).
As we study the lessons for this quarter, let us keep in mind that “dangers beset every path, and he who comes off conqueror will indeed have a triumphant song to sing in the city of God” (Testimonies, vol. 4, p. 538). May the Lord strengthen each Sabbath school student to gain that precious victory!
