Sunday
October 31
1. GOD’S ORIGINAL PLAN
a. What was God’s original plan in creating humanity? Genesis 1:26–28.
b. What was the original diet given to preserve human health? Genesis 1:29. What should it make us consider? Jeremiah 6:16.
“As far as possible we are to come back to God’s original plan.”—Counsels on Diet and Foods, p. 488.
c. After the Fall, what else did God add to the diet prescribed for humanity? Genesis 3:18.
“The grains, with fruits, nuts, and vegetables, contain all the nutritive properties necessary to make good blood. These elements are not so well or so fully supplied by a flesh diet. Had the use of flesh been essential to health and strength, animal food would have been included in the diet appointed man in the beginning.”—Child Guidance, p. 384.
Monday
November 1
2. THE APPETITE IS TESTED
a. To what test were Adam’s and Eve submitted? Genesis 2:16, 17.
“When Adam and Eve were placed in the garden of Eden, everything contributed to their enjoyment.”—The Signs of the Times, February 24, 1898.
“Adam and Eve were placed upon trial, that it might be demonstrated as to whether they would obey the word of their Creator, or disobey His requirements. The Creator of man was his Father and had an entire right to the service he could render. Body, soul, and spirit, man was the sole property of God. . . . He made it plain to them that by obedience to His holy law they would retain happiness and finally be blessed with immortality. Eternal life should be theirs if they regulated their conduct according to the principles of the law of God. . . . Every provision was made whereby blessings might be secured to the human race, and but one mild restriction was placed upon the sinless pair to test their loyalty to God.”—Ibid., October 8, 1894.
b. After being put to the test, how did our first parents fall—and what legacy has followed? Genesis 3:1–6; 1 John 3:4.
“Eve had everything to make her happy. She was surrounded by fruit of every variety. Yet the fruit of the forbidden tree appeared more desirable to her than the fruit of all the other trees in the garden of which she could freely eat. She was intemperate in her desires. She ate, and through her influence, her husband ate also, and a curse rested upon them both.”—Counsels on Diet and Foods, p. 145.
c. What happened as a result of the bad decision made by Adam and Eve? Romans 5:12.
“The earth also was cursed because of their sin. And since the fall, intemperance in almost every form has existed. The appetite has controlled reason.”—Ibid.
Tuesday
November 2
3. PROVISIONAL CHANGE
a. What was the long-term result of Adam’s and Eve’s decision to disobey on the point of appetite? Genesis 6:11–13, 17.
b. How is history repeated? Matthew 24:37–39.
“The same sins that brought judgments upon the world in the days of Noah exist in our day. Men and women now carry their eating and drinking so far that it ends in gluttony and drunkenness.”—Counsels on Diet and Foods, p. 146.
c. What were the changes in man’s diet after the Flood? Compare Genesis 1:29; 3:18 with Genesis 9:3, 4.
d. Why was a meat diet permitted after 1,500 years without it? Psalm 90:9, 10.
“God provided fruit in its natural state for our first parents. He gave Adam charge of the garden to dress it, and to care for it, saying, ‘To you it shall be for meat.’ One animal shall not destroy another for food. After the fall, the eating of flesh was suffered, in order to shorten the period of the existence of the long-lived race. It was allowed because of the hardness of the hearts of men.”—Testimony Studies on Diet and Foods, p. 68.
e. What diet restrictions given to Noah and his descendants were also given to the Israelites? Genesis 7:2, 3, 8, 9; Leviticus 11:46, 47.
“Before [the Flood] God had given man no permission to eat animal food; He intended that the race should subsist wholly upon the productions of the earth; but now that every green thing had been destroyed, He allowed them to eat the flesh of the clean beasts that had been preserved in the ark.”—Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 107.
Wednesday
November 3
4. TRYING TO REESTABLISH THE ORIGINAL PLAN
a. What diet did God give the children of Israel after they left Egypt? Exodus 16:14, 15, 31, 35.
“When God led the children of Israel out of Egypt, it was His purpose to establish them in the land of Canaan a pure, happy, healthy people. Let us look at the means by which He would accomplish this. He subjected them to a course of discipline, which, had it been cheerfully followed, would have resulted in good, both to themselves and to their posterity. He removed flesh food from them in a great measure. . . . God might have provided flesh as easily as manna, but a restriction was placed upon the people for their good. It was His purpose to supply them with food better suited to their wants than the feverish diet to which many of them had been accustomed in Egypt. The perverted appetite was to be brought into a more healthy state, that they might enjoy the food originally provided for man—the fruits of the earth, which God gave to Adam and Eve in Eden.”—Counsels on Diet and Foods, pp. 377, 378.
b. What was the attitude of many Israelites with respect to the food, and how did God respond? Numbers 11:4–6, 18–20; Psalms 78:18–32; 106:14, 15.
“[The children of Israel] murmured at God’s restrictions, and lusted after the fleshpots of Egypt. God let them have flesh, but it proved a curse to them.”—Ibid., p. 378.
c. What should we learn from this event in the desert? Hebrews 3:12–19; Psalm 78:18; 1 Corinthians 10:5, 6, 9–11.
“The travels of the children of Israel are faithfully described. . . . This faithful picture is hung up before us as a warning lest we follow their example of disobedience and fall like them.”—Gospel Workers (1892), pp. 159, 160.
Thursday
November 4
5. RETURNING TOWARD THE ORIGINAL PLAN
a. How did Elijah’s diet progress? 1 Kings 17:4–6, 12–16; 19:6.
b. Describe John the Baptist’s diet and work—and ours. Matthew 3:1–4.
“John separated himself from friends and from the luxuries of life. . . . His diet, purely vegetable, of locusts and wild honey, was a rebuke to the indulgence of appetite and the gluttony that everywhere prevailed. . . . Those who are to prepare the way for the second coming of Christ are represented by faithful Elijah, as John came in the spirit of Elijah to prepare the way for Christ’s first advent.”—Testimonies, vol. 3, p. 62.
c. What is God’s plan for His people before Christ’s return? 1 Thessalonians 5:23. Explain the warning given in Isaiah 22:12–14.
“God is trying to lead us back, step by step, to His original design—that man should subsist upon the natural products of the earth.”—Counsels on Health, p. 450.
d. What will be our diet in heaven and in the new earth? Revelation 21:1, 4; 22:2; Psalm 78:24.
“I saw the fruit of the tree of life, the manna, almonds, figs, pomegranates, grapes, and many other kinds of fruit.”—Early Writings, p. 19.
Friday
November 5
REVIEW AND THOUGHT QUESTIONS
a. Why did God supply only plant-based food for our first parents?
b. Why were they tested on appetite?
c. How do we answer those who show cases of flesh-eating in Scripture?
d. What warning should we take from the Israelites in the wilderness?
e. How is our experience regarding diet in these last days to be distinct?