Insights to Lesson 7 - 4th Qtr :Jonah : “Second Chances”

Dear Readers of Sabbath School “Insights”:

The experience of Jonah demonstrates in a miraculous manner that
the goodness of God leads to repentance. Yes, God’s goodness was
chasing after the Ninevites to bring them to repentance, but He went to
extreme lengths to draw Jonah to the foot of the cross in the whole
process. Jonah was given a second chance. But his second chance was
derived from the second chance given to the father of his race. The
prime evil second chance was conceived from eternity past when the
Father and the Son covenanted together to execute a plan, should it
become necessary, which would reveal the height and depth and length
and width of divine love.
“Before the foundations of the earth were laid, the Father and
the
Son had united in a covenant to redeem man if he should be overcome by
Satan. They had clasped Their hands in a solemn pledge that Christ
should become the surety for the human race. This pledge Christ has
fulfilled. When upon the cross He cried out, ‘It is finished,’ He
addressed the Father. The compact had been fully carried out. Now He
declares: Father, it is finished.” [1] The blood of the everlasting
covenant ratified this pledge at the cross and by so doing guaranteed a
second chance to all mankind. In effect Christ saved the world from the
second death and gratuitously granted a probationary life to all. [2]
As a result of that pledge from eternity not only Jonah but the
whole world lives in panoply of grace. [3] The goodness of God was
teaching Jonah that there was much more power in His amazing grace than
in all the power that human effort can muster. God’s amazing grace
ordained both the fateful storm at sea and the great fish that
swallowed Jonah alive. But it was not until Jonah was deep inside the
belly of that fish that Jonah began to realize that where sin abounds,
grace much more abounds. And now Jonah began to partake of that grace,
something he had uniformly frustrated until this monumental crisis. “I
cried out to the Lord because of my affliction, and He answered” and
Jonah acknowledged the grace of God, “You brought up my life from the
pit. … Salvation is of the Lord” (Jonah 2:2, 6-10).
But the moment of truth came after God’s amazing grace caused the
fish to vomit Jonah and plant him on dry land. There is only one way to
partake of the grace that much more abounds. Grace and truth come
through Jesus Christ and Jesus is the Word that was made flesh. It is
only through the Word, and the Word alone, that grace becomes all
powerful. It is submission to and acting upon the authority of God’s
word that conveys power to the life of those who profess faith in the
Lord God of heaven and earth. Again God spoke the word to Jonah,
“Arise, go to Nineveh that great city, and preach to it the message
that I tell you” (Jonah 3:2).
Jonah came face to face with grace of God with that command. The
grace of God was in the command to carry out the command. Jonah was not
so foolish to frustrate the grace of God on this “second chance.” He
acted on the Word and in the Word itself there was power to carry out
the command. Through the grace of God that much more abounds, Jonah
accomplished what no prophet of God ever accomplished. An entire nation
responded to goodness of God which leads to repentance. Jonah still had
much more to learn about God’s abounding grace, and we too like Jonah
have much to learn when He commands that message be given to the world.
At the time of end recorded in the book of Daniel when hour of
God’s judgment on the Day of Atonement arrived, God has commanded a
message to be given to the world. Within that command there is power to
carry out the command. There is power to deliver a message that has
power within itself to lighten the earth with glory of His changeless
love and much more abounding grace. May our hearts be stirred as we
meditate and act upon the command.
“The Lord in His great mercy sent a most precious message to His
people through Elders Waggoner and Jones. This message was to bring
more prominently before the world the uplifted Saviour, the sacrifice
for the sins of the whole world. It presented justification through
faith in the Surety; it invited the people to receive the righteousness
of Christ, which is made manifest in obedience to all the commandments
of God. Many had lost sight of Jesus. They needed to have their eyes
directed to His divine person, His merits, and His changeless love for
the human family. All power is given into His hands, that He may
dispense rich gifts unto men, imparting the priceless gift of His own
righteousness to the helpless human agent. This is the message that God
commanded to be given to the world. It is the third angel's message,
which is to be proclaimed with a loud voice, and attended with the
outpouring of His Spirit in a large measure.” [4]
--John W. Peters

Endnotes:
[1] The Desire of Ages, p. 834.
[2] Christ was tempted by Satan in a hundredfold severer manner than
was Adam, and under circumstances in every way more trying. The
deceiver presented himself as an angel of light, but Christ withstood
his temptations. He redeemed Adam's disgraceful fall, and saved the
world. With his human arm, Christ encircled the race, while with his
divine arm, he grasped the throne of the Infinite, uniting finite man
with the infinite God. He bridged the gulf that sin had made, and
connected earth with heaven. In his human nature he maintained the
purity of his divine character. He lived the law of God, and honored it
in a world of transgression, revealing to the heavenly universe, to
Satan, and to all the fallen sons and daughters of Adam, that through
his grace, humanity can keep the law of God. He came to impart his own
divine nature, his own image, to the repentant, believing soul (The
Youth’s Instructor, June 2, 1898).
[3] “[He] hath saved us, and called [us] with an holy calling, not
according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace,
which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, but is now
made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath
abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through
the gospel” (2 Tim. 1:9-10).
[4] Testimonies to Ministers, pp. 91-92. The uplifted Saviour is to
appear in His efficacious work as the Lamb slain, sitting upon the
throne, to dispense the priceless covenant blessings, the benefits He
died to purchase for every soul who should believe on Him. John could
not express that love in words; it was too deep, too broad; he calls
upon the human family to behold it. Christ is pleading for the church
in the heavenly courts above, pleading for those for whom He paid the
redemption price of His own lifeblood. Centuries, ages, can never
diminish the efficacy of this atoning sacrifice. The message of the
gospel of His grace was to be given to the church in clear and distinct
lines, that the world should no longer say that Seventh-day Adventists
talk the law, the law, but do not teach or believe Christ. The
efficacy of the blood of Christ was to be presented to the people with
freshness and power, that their faith might lay hold upon its merits.

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Insights to Lesson 6 - Qtr "Jonah": “Salvation Is of the Lord

Dear Readers of Sabbath School “Insights”:

As this Quarter began we wondered how Jonah could hold our
interest for 13 weeks. But now we can see how its message is present
truth. One serious question looms over all that we have studied thus
far:
Why was Jonah as an inspired prophet of the Lord so confused in
his heart-attitude toward the people of Nineveh? Why was he so
reluctant to preach the message to them? Hadn’t Christ given His blood
for them? Why did he run away and why was he so unhappy when they
finally repented and God forgave them?
Was his heart right with the Lord--he an ordained prophet?
Probably our Sabbath School attendees will agree that there was
something wrong in Jonah’s thinking about the Gentiles, especially the
Assyrians. (And if we really knew what the Assyrians were like--could
they be as bad as al-Qaida?--we might find ourselves sympathizing with
Jonah in his petulance.)
Jonah was very likely the best man the Lord could choose from all
of Israel for this mission. His heart-attitude was not unique to him.
It was like Israel’s attitude toward the Gentiles. It was a national
mind-set.
But how did it originate? Their “father” Abraham had no such
heart-attitude, for the Lord had promised him that his descendants
would be a “blessing” to all people, including the Gentiles: “In you
[that is, Israel] all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen.
12:3). The promise was at last fulfilled in Christ; but God’s plan was
for Israel to “bless” all those “families of the earth,” not just their
own selfish selves. The Lord wanted Jonah to be a “blessing” to the
greatest city in the world--an evangelistic campaign that would have
been the grandest of all history, more so even than ours in London,
Moscow, or Los Angeles. The entire city was to be “blessed” with
repentance-results that should extend through all the rest of Assyrian
history.
These world/blessing promises that the Lord had made to Abraham
were the essence of God’s New Covenant. At Mount Sinai, the Lord
proposed to renew it to Israel, but they chose as a nation to carry on
under the Old Covenant.
Jonah was a creature of his Israelite milieu. He could preach the
law, the law, until he was “as dry as the hills of Gilboa,” as Ellen
White said “we” were prior to 1888. [1] And the Lord blessed--He has
always blessed Old Covenant ministry. The Old Covenant was good; the
laws that govern our civilization are good and necessary--based on fear
of penalty. But the New Covenant is based on “better promises.” [2] It
is yet to be fully realized by God’s people. The wonderful “Loud Cry”
message that is yet to “lighten the earth with glory” will be a
beautiful New Covenant message of how the grace of Christ is much more
abounding than all the sin the devil can invent. The “most precious
message” which “the Lord in His great mercy sent to” us in 1888 was
pure New Covenant truth--refreshing, heart-moving, motivating. For
example, in the initial months when the people gladly received it
before opposition confused them, Ellen White says the results were
phenomenal. Tithe flowed in, for instance, as never before. [3] The
youth were motivated as never since the Midnight Cry of 1844. [4] Ellen
White confessed that the “latter rain” had begun--for the first time
ever.
What would a New Covenant presentation of the gospel have done
for
ancient Nineveh? We don’t know of course; but it would have depended on
a New Covenant nation of Israel to back it up, else those who “came out
of Babylon” could not have known where to go, and would have become
confused by Israel’s backslidden condition. (Which may illuminate our
evangelism work today. Ellen White says the Lord would bring many more
from “Nineveh” into the church today if we would proclaim the New
Covenant message and we were ready to receive them.)
Another question that arises in this week’s Sabbath School
Lesson:
When Jonah prayed in the fish’s “belly” did he taste a tiny bit of what
the second death will be like? As our Quarterly emphasizes, he went
“down, down, down.” But not just physically, his soul went “down.” He
was in “hell” (Sheol; 2:2). The language of his prayer in this chapter
suggests that death “encompassed . . . [his] soul.” He felt “cast out”
“forever.” But unlike Christ on His cross who cried, “Why have You
forsaken Me?” the Lord responded to Jonah’s cry before he actually
could die the second death.
But why did Jonah need to go to “hell” (Sheol) before he could
repent and accept his mission?
Thus chastened and enlightened, and with a heart-felt gratitude for
being saved from the second death, he chose to consecrate himself to
the Lord’s service. When Paul said, “I am crucified with Christ,” he
must have had much the same experience. He also did not die the second
death (only one Man has ever done so!), but his whole soul appreciated
that Christ had died that death for him. That’s how “the love [agape]
of Christ constraineth us” to live “henceforth” not for self, but unto
Him. [5]
Would you like to sense that “constraint” that realizes the “much
more abounding grace of Christ” (Rom. 5:20), the “power” that is in the
gospel (1:16) to set you free from all paralyzing egocentric concern?
Join with Christ on His cross as the repentant thief did; understand,
appreciate, “comprehend,” [6] how He died your second death. Spend a
“thoughtful hour with Him” there. [7] The results of simply “beholding”
will be wonderful.
--Robert J. Wieland

Endnotes:
[1] “As a people we have preached the law until we are as dry as the
hills of Gilboa, that had neither dew nor rain.” Review and Herald,
March 11, 1890; January 31, 1893.
[2] Hebrews 8:6.
[3] MS. 22, 1890 (Feb. 3). quoted in L. H. Christian, The Fruitage of
Spiritual Gifts, p. 238.
[4] Review and Herald, March 5, 1889, “Meetings at South Lancaster”
[academy].
[5] 2 Corinthians 5:14, 15, KJV.
[6] Ephesians 3:18, KJV.
[7] The Desire of Ages, p. 83.

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Insights to Lesson 5 - Qtr 4 "Jonah": “A Hebrew Prophet and Heathen Mariners”

Dear Readers of Sabbath School “Insights”:

Have you ever been in a situation in which you were pointed out
as
the cause of a big problem? How did you feel at that moment? Did you
feel like saying “Pick me up and throw me into the sea. . . .”? (Jonah
1:12). Embarrassment can make us wish to be dead, and the sense of
responsibility for the mess that we’ve caused others is a weighty
burden indeed. This week we see Jonah in this very predicament! Could
we, too, be in the same?
In this week’s passage from Jonah (1:4-13), we look in on the
prophet of God aboard ship and bound for Tarshish. What will God do?
Will He let the Ninevites perish without hearing a last message of
mercy? Will He find another messenger and write Jonah off, leaving him
as a casualty to the worldly influences in Tarshish? Absolutely not! So
the Lord does the most merciful thing that could be done in the
situation. He decides to get Jonah’s attention. “The Lord sent out a
great wind on the sea” (1:4)--so great that the experienced, salty
sailors on board Jonah’s little boat were shaken up enough to pray to
their various gods. Not only this, but they were willing to part with
worldly wealth in order to save their lives--they “threw the cargo that
was in the ship into the sea to lighten the load” (1:5).
Question: Where was Jonah during this impromptu prayer meeting?
What was he doing while these stout men’s hearts were melting, while
they were throwing away dollars as it were? Why he was asleep!! As the
lesson quarterly points out, the Hebrew word used here means a
death-like stupor. The same word is used for the complacent, exhausted
sleep of Sisera in Judges 4:21. Jonah probably felt a bit like
Sisera--a man on the run who had finally found what he thought was a
safe place, out of the reach of God. That is, until he was rudely
awakened by the captain of the ship! How ironic that the prophet who
should have been leading the prayer meeting had to be exhorted to pray
by a man who did not know the Lord.
From here, things go downhill even further, because when the lots
are cast to determine who is responsible for all this, lo and
behold--the lot falls upon Jonah. Jonah explains more about who he is.
“I am a Hebrew, and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the
sea and the dry land” (1:9). Then the question: “Why have you done
this?” (1:10). A fair question indeed! One for which he did not have a
good answer. In the end, at his own request, Jonah is thrown into the
angry waves by the reluctant seamen, who were so desirous of sparing
the life of God’s prophet. What a shame that the prophet did not feel
the same way about those to whom he had been called to preach! And yet,
observe how God used this situation for good, in spite of Jonah. God
got the message through to the mariners by putting Jonah in a situation
where he had to give it. And apparently these heathen sailors accepted
it and “feared the Lord,” “offered a sacrifice to the Lord, and took
vows” (1:16).
What an encouragement to Seventh-day Adventists to see that God
still uses messengers who are headed the wrong direction. How thankful
I am that we are studying Jonah this quarter. As a pastor, it’s
encouragement that I needed! After all, do we not find ourselves in a
Jonah situation today? As others have pointed out this quarter, God
gave to us a “most precious message” to give to the world. That work
could have been finished in a few short years in the 1888 era had we
gone straight to work with the light from heaven. Ellen White said in
1898, “If God’s people had the love of Christ in the heart; if every
church member were thoroughly imbued with the spirit of self-denial; if
all manifested thorough earnestness, there would be no lack of funds
for home and foreign missions; our resources would be multiplied; a
thousand doors of usefulness would be opened, and we would be invited
to enter. Had the purpose of God been carried out by His people in
giving the message of mercy to the world, Christ would have come to the
earth, and the saints would ere this have received their welcome into
the city of God.”(Selected Messages, book 1, p. 82; italics supplied).
So, what happened as a result of our resistance to the message
given us from heaven at Minneapolis and in the years following? Could
it be that the Lord has sent out another “great wind on the sea”? The
twentieth century, which followed on the heels of our lost opportunity
has been the bloodiest, most disastrous ever recorded, and the
twenty-first has taken up right where the twentieth left off. Indeed,
the storm is getting worse. And where is God’s church today? Are we not
asleep? Aren’t we generally unconcerned that “men’s hearts [are]
failing them from fear, and the expectation of those things which are
coming upon the earth?” (Luke 21:26).
The time is coming when we will be rudely awakened, and the
uncomfortable questions will be asked--“For whose cause is this trouble
upon us?” “WHY HAVE YOU DONE THIS?” The ease that we thought to enjoy
in the Tarshishes of this world will be taken away--indeed, we will
loathe ourselves for what we have done and rather choose persecution
and death. “The work which the church has failed to do in a time of
peace and prosperity, she will have to do in a terrible crisis, under
most discouraging, forbidding, circumstances.” (Testimonies for the
Church, vol. 5, p. 463). Will God go looking for another movement to
carry His message? Nope! Wouldn’t it be better for us to awaken now and
embrace the message which God has given us!?
As you study Jonah this week, prayerfully consider our
responsibility in the unnecessary lengthening of earth’s history, and
let it bring you to your knees to ask Jesus for understanding of and
submission to the light that he has sent to us in his mercy. May God
bless your Sabbath School with a prayerful, thoughtful class this week!
--Skip Dodson

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Insights to Lesson 4 - Qtr 4 : "The 'Dove' Flees"

Jonah’s name means “dove.” This week’s lesson focuses on the
flight of the “dove”. It’s a unique story in a dubious sort of way.
It’s the story of a prophet who fled “from the presence of the Lord”.
In all the Bible there is hardly a clearer example of rebellion on the
part of an entity that you would least expect to rebel.
Of course we can understand Jonah’s feelings. It’s his actions
that startle us. He has heard God’s audible voice speaking to him and
there is no doubt or question as to his duty. He knows it was the word
of the Lord. There are no questions of interpretation or
misunderstanding. Yet he purposes to go not only contrary to the
direction in which he has been commissioned, but to go exactly in the
opposite direction. He will go as far from the will of God as possible.
He will not deliver God’s message to the people who desperately need to
hear it. Why? Was he afraid of a fierce people with a reputation for
being cruel? If so, it does not come through in the narrative. Was he
so filled with prejudice that he did not want to help in the salvation
of Gentiles? If so, it is not the motive that he articulated. At the
end Jonah said, “I fled previously to Tarshish” because “I know that
You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in
lovingkindness” (Jonah 4:2). In other words, Jonah didn’t want to
preach the message that God had given him to preach because he was
concerned that if the people repented, he would be called a false
prophet. Jonah’s reputation was too important for him to preach the
message that God had sent. Therefore, the “dove” fled. Jonah, how could
you do it?!!
We are tempted to judge him harshly. We are tempted to forget,
that “all we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to
his own way . . .” Before we pronounce a severe verdict against Jonah
and throw down the gavel, perhaps we should remember our own history.
In 1888 “the Lord in His great mercy sent a most precious message.”.
[1] It was the message that God “commanded to be given to the world.”
[2] There should have been no issues of misunderstanding or questions
of interpretation. We were assured that the message is true “because
the Bible is true.” [3]
Yet, instead of receiving the message and giving it to the world,
we did the exact opposite. “Our own people opposed the work of God by
refusing the light on the righteousness of Christ by faith.”[4] “The
light that is to lighten the whole earth with its glory was resisted,
and by the action of our own brethren has been in a great degree kept
away from the world.”[5] In all of sacred history there is no clearer
case of rebellion than that which has resulted in the suppression of
the message which God “commanded to be given to the world.”[6] The
rebellion of God’s messengers in these last days is every bit as
shocking as the flight of the “dove.”
What is the Lord to do? Would he cancel the mission to Nineveh
and
let the people perish? Would He modify the message to make it more
acceptable to His messenger? Would he fire the prophet Jonah and find
another messenger to go to Nineveh? No. No. No. None of these options
would meet the mind of our compassionate God. He loved the Ninevites
too much to cancel the mission. The message was perfect, essential and
unalterable, therefore He could not change the message. And He loved
and respected His messenger too much to let him go. It seems “the gifts
and calling of God are irrevocable” (Rom. 11:29, NKJV). Therefore, God
did what He has been doing since the beginning of sin, since the
beginning of the wandering of His wayward children. He began to pursue
the lost wayward messenger, just as He searched for Adam asking, “Adam
where are you?” (Gen. 3:9). He sought after Jonah just as He came to
“seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). The Good Shepherd
leaves “the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains [and if need
be the ocean], and seeketh that which is gone astray” (Matt. 18:12).
“There is none that seeketh after God” (Rom. 3:11). But I am glad
there is a God seeking after man. He sought Jonah through the storm and
through the water and through the great fish. He was seeking him
through putrid digestive juices and slimy seaweeds and the frightful
motion of the fish’s belly. He was seeking Jonah through the awful
darkness and the terrible experience of his cruise into the depths of
“hell” (Jonah 2:2). And He was seeking Jonah through his miraculous
regurgitation from the mouth of the fish onto the seashore.
Now He is seeking us. He cannot cancel the gospel commission. He
cannot change the message He has given us to share. He cannot fire the
messenger and call someone else. Therefore, He must pursue. He has been
seeking us through all of our long flight, from 1888 until now. He was
seeking us in the fifties and the seventies, when we were more
concerned about our reputation among the churches of the world than we
were about sharing the message they need to hear. He is still seeking
us today. How long will He have to pursue? How far will we fly? Will
the ocean have to engulf us and the fish swallow us and the seaweeds
wrap about our neck before we understand that “the gifts and calling of
God are without repentance”? Will we have to be taken into the depths
of “hell” and brought back again before we truly begin to appreciate
the depths to which He has gone to save us and are willing to share the
message? How far will we fly?
In the Song of Solomon the Beloved refers to His lady as a
“dove.”
Ironically, or perhaps appropriately, we even find the expression in
the passage were she is too self-absorbed to respond to His pursuit. “I
sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that
knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove . . .” (Song
of Solomon 5:2). Can this be the voice of the True Witness knocking at
the door, the voice of the Beloved pursuing His bride-to-be? Can it be
that the story of Jonah is the story of Laodicea, and the bride is the
“dove”? If so, then the whole universe wants to know: How long will the
dove flee?
—Mark Duncan

Notes: [1)] Testimonies to Ministers, p. 91; [2] Ibid., p. 92; [3] The
Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, p. 1025; [4] Ibid., p. 1643; [5] Ibid.,
p. 1575; [6] Testimonies to Ministers, p. 92.

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