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Sabbath Bible Lessons

“God With Us”

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Lesson 12 Sabbath, September 17, 2011

Two Different Ministrations of the Law

“If the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righ­teousness exceeds much more in glory” (2 Corinthians 3:9, NKJV).

“To Moses was unfolded the significance of the types and shadows pointing to Christ. He saw to the end of that which was to be done away when, at the death of Christ, type met antitype.”—The Review and Herald, April 22, 1902.

Suggested Reading:   Selected Messages, bk. 1, pp. 236-241

Sunday September 11

1. THE LEVITICAL MINISTRY AND THE MINISTRATION OF DEATH

a. How did the Levitical ministry apply to God’s law—as a dispensation of life or as a dispensation of death? 2 Corinthians 3:7.

“The ministration of the law, written and engraved in stone, was a ministration of death. Without Christ, the transgressor was left under its curse, with no hope of pardon.”—Selected Messages, bk. 1, p. 237.

b. How did the daily ministration of the priests show that the sinner was under the death penalty of the law? Since the “letter” of the law “killeth” the transgressor, what provision did the ceremonial law (Galatians 3:19) make for a substitute? Leviticus 5:17–19; Hebrews 10:11 (compare 2 Corinthians 3:6, last part).

“The law of God, spoken in awful grandeur from Sinai, is the utterance of condemnation to the sinner. It is the province of the law to condemn, but there is in it no power to pardon or to redeem.”—Ibid., pp. 236, 237.


Monday September 12

2. TWO PRIESTHOODS: EARTHLY FOLLOWED BY HEAVENLY

a. What was done away at the cross—God’s law or the glory of the Levitical ministry with the ministration of the death penalty in symbols? 2 Corinthians 3:7, 11; Hebrews 10:1–3.

“After Christ died on the cross as a sin offering, the ceremonial law could have no force. Yet it was connected with the moral law and was glorious. The whole bore the stamp of divinity and expressed the holiness, justice, and righteousness of God. And if the ministration of the dispensation to be done away was glorious, how much more must the reality be glorious, when Christ was revealed, giving His life-giving, sanctifying Spirit to all who believe?”—Selected Messages, bk. 1, p. 238.

b. To whom and to whose descendants had the priesthood been restricted? Exodus 28:1; Numbers 16:40. How were Aaron and his sons inaugurated? Exodus 40:12–15.

c. Since Christ was not a descendant of Aaron, and since He did not even belong to the tribe of Levi, what had to be done with the law concerning the priesthood? Hebrews 7:28, 19, 12.

d. After whose order was Christ made our High Priest? Hebrews 7:14–17, 21–26.

“God has never left Himself without witness on the earth. At one time Melchisedek represented the Lord Jesus Christ in person to reveal the truth of heaven and perpetuate the law of God.

“It was Christ that spoke through Melchisedek, the priest of the most high God. Melchisedek was not Christ, but he was the voice of God in the world, the representative of the Father.”—The SDA Bible Commentary [E. G. White Comments], vol. 1, pp. 1092, 1093.

e. In the Hebrew genealogical records, is anything found about Melchisedek’s ancestors or about his descendants? Hebrews 7:3.


Tuesday September 13

3. THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY AND THE MINISTRATION OF LIFE

a. Where do we as believers (ministers of the new covenant) carry the “epistle of Christ” (the Ten-Commandment law)—on tables of stone or on the tables of the heart? 2 Corinthians 3:2, 3; Jeremiah 31:33.

b. How does the ministration of righteousness (2 Corinthians 3:9) lead to life? 2 Corinthians 5:17–21; Romans 8:1–7, 13.

“The law and the gospel are in perfect harmony. Each upholds the other. In all its majesty the law confronts the conscience, causing the sinner to feel his need of Christ as the propitiation for sin. The gospel recognizes the power and immutability of the law. ‘I had not known sin, but by the law,’ Paul declares (Romans 7:7). The sense of sin, urged home by the law, drives the sinner to the Saviour. In his need man may present the mighty arguments furnished by the cross of Calvary. He may claim the righteousness of Christ; for it is imparted to every repentant sinner.”—Selected Messages, bk. 1, pp. 240, 241.

c. To whom have the doors of the house of Christ been opened? Hebrews 3:6; Malachi 1:11; Romans 9:24–26.

“Had Israel been true to her trust, all the nations of earth would have shared in her blessings. But the hearts of those to whom had been entrusted a knowledge of saving truth, were untouched by the needs of those around them. As God’s purpose was lost sight of, the heathen came to be looked upon as beyond the pale of His mercy. The light of truth was withheld, and darkness prevailed. The nations were overspread with a veil of ignorance; the love of God was little known; error and superstition flourished.

“Such was the prospect that greeted Isaiah when he was called to the prophetic mission; yet he was not discouraged, for ringing in his ears was the triumphal chorus of the angels surrounding the throne of God, ‘The whole earth is full of his glory’ (Isaiah 6:3).”—Prophets and Kings, p. 371.


Wednesday September 14

4. CHRIST’S HOUSE, A HOUSE FOR ALL PEOPLE

a. What has always been God’s plan for every human being He has so tenderly created? 2 Chronicles 6:32, 33; Isaiah 56:3–7.

“No distinction on account of nationality, race, or caste, is recognized by God. He is the Maker of all mankind. All men are of one family by creation, and all are one through redemption. Christ came to demolish every wall of partition, to throw open every compartment of the temple courts, that every soul may have free access to God.”—Prophets and Kings, pp. 369, 370.

b. What does the Bible say about the believers who constitute the New Testament priesthood? Isaiah 61:1–6; 1 Peter 2:5, 9.

“The Jewish temple was built of hewn stones quarried out of the mountains; and every stone was fitted for its place in the temple, hewed, polished, and tested before it was brought to Jerusalem. And when all were brought to the ground, the building went together without the sound of ax or hammer. This building represents God’s spiritual temple, which is composed of material gathered out of every nation, and tongue, and people, of all grades, high and low, rich and poor, learned and unlearned. These are not dead substances to be fitted by hammer and chisel. They are living stones, quarried out from the world by the truth; and the great Master Builder, the Lord of the temple, is now hewing and polishing them, and fitting them for their respective places in the spiritual temple. When completed, this temple will be perfect in all its parts.”—Testimonies, vol. 9, p. 180.

c. How is the spiritual temple of God’s heritage built up? Ephesians 2:19–22. What is to reveal our success in this grand project?

“Those who, in the spirit and love of Jesus, will become one with Him, will be in close fellowship one with another, bound together by the silken cords of love. Then the ties of human brotherhood will not be always on the strain, ready at any provocation to snap asunder. ‘All ye are brethren,’ will be the sentiment of every child of faith. When the followers of Christ are one with Him, there will be no first and last, no less respected or less important ones. A blessed brotherly fellowship will bind all to Christ in a firm loyalty that cannot be broken.”—The Review and Herald, October 5, 1897.


Thursday September 15

5. AN INGATHERING PROPHESIED

a. What prophecy is soon to be fulfilled in great measure? John 10:16.

“When the storm of persecution really breaks upon us, the true sheep will hear the true Shepherd’s voice. Self–denying efforts will be put forth to save the lost, and many who have strayed from the fold will come back to follow the great Shepherd.”—Christian Service, p. 166.

b. What will awaken Christ’s faithful sheep who are in other folds? Revelation 18:1, 2, 4. What is our duty in view of God’s heartfelt desire for repentance to come to every individual lost in confusion? 1 Peter 2:9.

“Among the members of our churches there should be more house-to-house labor in giving Bible readings and distributing literature. A Christian character can be symmetrically and completely formed only when the human agent regards it as a privilege to work disinterestedly in the proclamation of the truth and to sustain the cause of God with means. We must sow beside all waters, keeping our souls in the love of God, working while it is day, and using the means the Lord has given us to do whatever duty comes next.”—Lift Him Up, p. 312.


Friday September 16

PERSONAL REVIEW QUESTIONS

1. Explain why or how the Levitical ministry was a ministry of death.

2. Why did the law of the priesthood have to be changed?

3. What is significant about the Melchisedek priesthood?

4. Why or how is the Christian life a ministry of righteousness and reconciliation?

5. What is our duty in view of Christ’s “other sheep” who are lost in Babylon?

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