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2nd Quarter Sabbath School 2023: Three Cosmic Messages

Mark Finley

01 Jesus Wins- Satan Loses

Seventh-day Adventist churches around the world are united through the Sabbath school.

Each week, believers study the same Sabbath school lesson, whether they're in Europe or Asia or into South America or Africa or North America, Australia, wherever we are in the world, if we're studying the same lesson.

This quarter, our lesson title is 3 cosmic messages.

I've had the privilege of writing these lessons and often a person people will say to me well how long does it take you to write a lesson?

Usually it takes about 10 hours for each week which would mean a hundred and 30 hours for the 13 lessons And that doesn't count the teacher's guide, neither does it count the companion book that goes along with the Sabbath school lessons.

So I estimate you probably have 200 to 250 hours of study and research.

The very name implies a cosmic conflict, a Star Wars conflict, an intergalactic struggle between good and evil.

That's what the 3 angels' messages of Revelation 14 are all about.

They're about a struggle that began ages ago in heaven, and that will climax with the second coming of Christ, the millennium, the descent of the holy city, and a new heavens and a new earth.

We look at, particularly in these lessons, Revelation chapter 14, verse 6 to 12.

But yet, Our first lesson in this quarter is titled, Jesus Wins and Satan Loses.

And what I'd like to do with you in these brief videos is take 8 to 10 minutes and give you the highlights of each lesson.

So that if you're a teacher, you can look at the highlights and know some things that I considered as the author very important in the lesson.

If you are a Bible student and you're studying the lessons, you'll know some things to look at.

And if you've never studied the lesson before, and it's a Friday night, and you look at the 8 to 10 minutes, you'll have an idea of what is gonna be discussed in Sabbath school.

So let's jump right into our first lesson.

Now, why would we go into the first lesson and focus on Revelation chapter 12?

Why not jump right into Revelation chapter 14?

Revelation chapter 12 is really the hinge upon which the rest of the book of Revelation, from chapters 12 to 22, swings on.

Chapter 1 in Revelation gives you a idea of the intent of the entire book to present the living Christ.

Jesus is presented in the first chapter of Revelation as the Lamb of God, the 1 that died for us.

He's presented there as our high priest, the 1 who intercedes for us.

He's presented there as the coming king, the 1 who returns for us.

So Revelation 1 gives you a picture of Jesus.

Revelation chapters 2 and 3 take you down the 7 churches from the beginning of the first century to the last century.

And the 7 churches really reveal the internal spiritual condition of the church.

Then we go to the 7 seals that reveal the impact of the church on society and society on the church.

Then we go to the 7 trumpets, the judgments of God.

The first 11 chapters of Revelation are specifically designed to show God's people in the midst of a conflict between good and evil, between Christ and Satan.

In Revelation chapter 12, which I've entitled, Jesus Wins, Satan Loses, the First Lesson, you have 4 basic episodes.

It's like 4 snapshots, like 4 video scenes.

Episode number 1 is a battle between Christ and Satan in heaven, and Satan is cast out of heaven.

Jesus wins in that battle and Satan loses.

The second episode, we go Down the stream of time, hundreds, thousands of years, we come to the birth of Christ, and Satan tries to destroy him.

He works through a pagan Roman governor, Herod, and all the babies under 2 years old and under are to be killed.

Joseph and Mary and Jesus, after Christ's birth, flee to Egypt.

In the third episode, we have church and state unite in the Middle Ages.

And Satan tries to destroy the church, but God preserves it.

And then we come to Revelation chapter 12, verse 17, which really launches us into the rest of the book of Revelation.

In Revelation 12, 17, it talks about a people that remain faithful, loyal, and true to God.

It says the dragon is angry with the woman.

The church goes to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God and of the testimony of Jesus Christ.

The devil is angry with the Church of God, focuses all his vindictive wrath upon God's Church to destroy it.

A battle between Christ and Satan in heaven.

A battle to destroy Christ on earth where Satan focuses on Jesus.

A battle in the Middle Ages, Satan loses.

Now, what are some of the things that we want to focus on in this lesson?

Now, according to Psalm 2 and throughout the Bible, a rod of iron is a symbol of dominion or rulership.

It's really a symbol of unbreakable or powerful authority.

So Jesus triumphed over the principalities and powers of hell because he has unbreakable authority.

The devil's attacks may be vicious, but Jesus is stronger and more powerful.

We keep that in mind in our own lives as well.

As we go into Tuesday's lesson, it talks about accepting Jesus' victory as ours.

In Revelation 12, verse 11, it says, they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.

Through Jesus Christ, we can be victorious.

The devil may be mighty, but Jesus is almighty.

The devil may be deceptive, but Jesus is all-wise.

Through Christ, because of Christ, we can be victorious.

This lesson, the first lesson in this series, focuses on this single fact.

Jesus will win in the conflict between good and evil, and Satan will lose.

There is something that I don't want you to miss if you're teaching or if you are studying the lesson in your class, and that's this.

You remember it talks about the woman in the wilderness for 1260 years, the church during the Middle Ages.

But there are 2 expressions that are used.

It says that there's a place prepared for her by God, and then it says she's nourished in the wilderness.

When you go through trials in your life, difficulties in your life, heartaches in your life, there's always a place prepared by God.

When you are in the wilderness of your life, God will nourish you there and you'll grow and your faith will grow.

I want you to take note too of the last few discussion questions, particularly the last 1.

It says, there are some who believe that our actions are largely determined by our heredity and our environment.

02 A Moment of Destiny

Welcome back to our summary of the Sabbath School lessons for here for the second quarter of 2023.

The title of our lessons this quarter is 3 Cosmic Messages.

Because cosmics gives the idea of an intergalactic, a struggle between good and evil, a battle for the throne of the universe.

Because in the book of Revelation, chapter 14, verse 6 to 12, it talks about 3 angels flying in midheaven with a last day message for humanity.

When there is a climactic event that impacts the globe that particularly relates to God's people, God sends a message to prepare for that event.

We find that in Noah's day, the world was going to be destroyed by a flood.

And God sent Noah to prepare the world for that flood.

Those that accepted Noah's message were saved.

Those that rejected it were lost in the floodwaters.

When you look at the days of John the Baptist, Jesus was going to come the first time.

And he raised up a prophet in John the Baptist to prepare for his first coming.

So the question we have to ask is this, is there a message that is as important for our day as Noah's message was for his day, as John the Baptist's message was for his day, is there a message of extreme vital importance?

What event does this message prepare us for?

That's the subject of our lesson this week.

I've titled the lesson, A Moment of Destiny.

The event that the message of the 3 angels prepares us for is the second coming of Christ.

Now, Revelation 14 is divided into 3 parts.

Revelation 14, 1 to 5, picture a people redeemed, saved, standing with Christ in heaven.

Revelation 14, 6 to 12, reveals the message that prepares the people for that event.

And Revelation 14, verse 13 to 20, describes the event, the second coming of Christ.

So you have a people redeemed, a message that prepares the people, and an event for which they are prepared.

In Revelation chapter 14, When it describes this last day event, the second coming of Christ, it speaks about eternal choices in the symbolism of 2 harvests, the harvest of golden grain and the harvest of gory grapes.

1 thing that we've tried to emphasize in the lesson is the importance of choice, that every human being will either be part of the harvest of God, golden grain, or the harvest of evil, gory grapes, to be tread out in the winepress of God's judgment.

The choices that we make determine our eternal destiny.

Christ has done every single thing possible to save us, but it's only our choice that can cause us to be eternally lost.

We look at this lesson in Revelation chapter 14, emphasizing particularly verse 14, where it says, And I looked, and behold, a white cloud.

And upon the cloud 1 sat like unto the Son of Man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.

This pictures Christ coming in the clouds of heaven, but it pictures him coming as the Son of Man.

The Christ that walked the dusty streets of Galilee, the Jesus that walked the cobblestone streets of Jerusalem, the Christ that touched the eyes of the blind, and they were opened, and the ears of the deaf, and they were unstopped, and the withered man's arm, and it was healed.

He knows what temptation is like, because as the Son of Man, as the Divine 1 tabernacling in human flesh.

Christ fellowshiped with us here on earth 2, 000 years ago.

And for 33 and a half years lived on earth.

Whatever you and I may go through, Jesus has gone through it.

And so when Revelation Chapter 14 pictures this final event of the second coming of Christ.

When it pictures Jesus as the Son of Man, it pictures Him as 1 who knows and understands our sorrows, our disappointments, our agony.

On Thursday's lesson, we point out that every seed produces a harvest.

The things that you and I sow as seeds, you remember what the Bible says in Revelation.

It says here that in Revelation chapter 14, It says, I saw another angel, verse 17, come out of the temple, which is in heaven, also having a sharp sickle.

And another angel came from the altar, which had power over fire, and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in your sickle, for the cluster of the grapes of the vine of the earth are fully ripe the angel thrust in his sickle to the earth he gathers the vine he cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God and the winepress was trodden without the city blood came out of the winepress golden grain the harvest of God the seeds you and I sow of prayer, of Bible study, of positive choices, Produce a harvest of character.

As we give Jesus time in our life, Christ works within us to make us more like him.

He's the author and the finisher of our faith.

Paul said, being confident, Philippians 1 verse 6, 7, being confident of this very thing that he that has begun a good work in you will finish it.

Christ wants to finish the harvest work in us.

We sow the seed, but he waters it with his spirit.

We sow it through Bible study, but his spirit waters that seed.

And he produces within us the fruits of the spirit.

But as we make negative choices, as our choices are not in harmony with his will, as we rebel against the promptings of the Spirit, we go further and further away from Jesus, our hearts become hardened.

We produce a seed of an unrighteous harvest.

And so the main issue of this chapter, Revelation 14, is to motivate people to make positive choices, to prepare them through the Spirit of God, by the grace of God, for the second coming of Christ.

The single thought you want to emphasize if you're teaching the lesson, or the single thought you want to come away with if you're studying the lesson, is that Jesus Christ is inviting us through his Holy Spirit to make positive choices.

And when we make those choices prompted by the Spirit, he will empower us to live godly, righteous lives so we can be part of the harvest of golden grain.

Father in heaven, thank you that there are eternal choices to make and that we can be part of the harvest of golden grain.

That by your grace, we can make choices that will lead us from here to eternity.

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03 The Everlasting Gospel

Welcome back to our summaries of the Sabbath School lessons for the second quarter of 2023, titled 3 Cosmic Messages.

We're studying about the battle between good and evil, the battle between Christ and Satan.

Our study this week focuses on the everlasting gospel.

We find that in Revelation chapter 14, verse 6.

There are some people when they think of the book of Revelation, think about mystic symbols, cryptic images, strange beasts, bizarre scenes.

Jesus is mentioned in the book of Revelation as the Lamb of God at least 28 times.

We read about the gospel in Revelation 14 verse 6.

It says, I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell on the earth, to every nation and kindred and tongue and people.

The first aspect of this eternal message that's so vitally important for all human beings is the everlasting gospel.

Now, there are 2 questions we need to ask.

The reason it's called everlasting is this, because deeply embedded within the heart of God is his love for the creatures he made.

And the gospel is everlasting because Christ's love is everlasting.

Now, there are a couple places in the Bible, in fact, more than 1, that talk about this idea of the everlasting gospel.

Revelation 13, verse 8, and all that dwell on the earth shall worship him whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

I thought Jesus was slain 2, 000 years ago on Calvary's cross.

But why does it say that he was slain from the foundation of the world?

Because when sin entered the world, it brought pain to Christ's heart.

And the plan of salvation, which the Father and Son had coveted should man fall, that plan was then put into action.

And every lamb sacrificed down through the Old Testament revealed or portrayed the sacrifice of Christ.

Now, but was the plan of salvation actually initiated before the fall of Adam?

You'll find that very clearly explained in Monday's lesson on the everlasting gospel.

You can look there, for example, in the book of Peter, the Bible describes the fact that the plan of salvation was initiated, not as an afterthought.

We see the everlasting gospel idea in Monday and Tuesday's lesson as well.

In Tuesday's lesson, Desire of Ages, page 22, says this, The plan for our redemption was not an afterthought, a plan formulated after the fall of Adam.

It was a revelation of the mystery, which has been kept in silence through times eternal.

It was an unfolding of the principles that from eternal ages have been the foundation of God's throne.

So the eternal gospel speaks not only of the past and present, but it speaks also of the future with hope.

See, the eternal gospel speaks of the past.

That is, God's love revealed in heaven that when the human race was going to be created, God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit met in a divine council meeting.

And giving human beings the power of choice, they knew the potentiality and the reality of the fall of sin.

So at that moment, they covenanted together that if indeed, and when indeed would be more accurate to say the human race sinned, that Christ would come as the divine sacrifice, the revelation of the Father's love and grace and goodness.

So the gospel is eternal because God's love is eternal.

The gospel is eternal because it's ever-present.

Like we've said, for example, in Monday's lesson, we are justified today freely by God's grace.

Grace is a declaration of God's righteousness.

God justifies those who by faith accept Jesus.

And God's love for us was demonstrated when we were yet sinners.

Through Christ, we are delivered from the condemnation of sin.

But the gospel is not only past and present, it's future.

Because it reminds us that 1 day we can live in eternity forever.

1 day the harmony that was broken by sin will be restored.

1 day the gulf that has been spanned, that is so wide because of sin, has been spanned by Jesus Christ.

So in Revelation 14, verse 6, we're emphasizing 2 aspects of that text.

Remember it says, and I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven with the everlasting gospel, to preach to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people.

So this gospel is to go to the ends of the earth.

It's to leap across geographical boundaries.

It's to go to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people.

How does this impact you and how does it impact me?

We're living for something bigger than ourselves.

We're living for something larger than ourselves.

We're living to proclaim a message that will go to the ends of the earth.

We along with millions of others are sharing Christ so the work of God can be finished so Jesus can come.

There's a quote that I came across not long ago by an author by the name of Paul David Tripp.

He wrote a book called The Quest for More, Living for Something Bigger than Yourself.

And it says this, "'Human beings were created to be part of something bigger than their own lives.

Sin causes us to shrink our lives down to the size of our lives.

The grace of Christ is given to rescue us from the claustrophobic confines of our own little self-focused kingdom, and frees us to live for the eternal purpose and satisfying delights of the kingdom of God, living for something bigger than yourself.

If you're teaching this lesson or you're studying it, there's 2 things I want you to go away with.

Through Jesus, your sins can be forgiven.

Through Jesus, your life can be transformed.

Through the good news of Christ, what is the gospel?

It's the good news that through Jesus, our sins can be forgiven.

It's the good news that there is no condemnation, that there is, that those in, that are in Christ.

It is the grace of God, received by faith into our lives, that cleanses us.

I want you to go away with a sense that God's love for you is never ending.

The second thing I want you to go away with is that God calls you and me to be the light of the world, to be ambassadors for Christ, to be the salt of the earth.

He calls us to something bigger than ourselves, to share his love, to share his goodness, to share his grace with every nation, kindred, tongue and people, but the people around us.

Let your heart rejoice that in Christ there is salvation and in Christ there's purpose in life.

Father in heaven, we thank you that through Jesus, there is purpose in life, that there's meaning in life, that through Jesus, we can live eternally, and through Jesus, we have a reason to live, to share your love and grace with others, in Christ's name, Amen.

04 Fear God and Give Glory to Him

We're traveling through the book of Revelation in this series in our Sabbath school called 3 Cosmic Messages.

Series

2nd Quarter Sabbath School 2023: Three Cosmic Messages

12 The Seal of God and Mark of the Beast: Part 2

Transcript

Parent Series

Sponsor

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Putting On the Armor of God

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Three Cosmic Messages: Earth's Final Conflict

12 Mark Of the Beast 2 | Everything You Need to Know Part 2

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17 The Judgment and 1844

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Why God Said Remember

Why God Said Remember, Part 3

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Sabbath School 2nd Quarter 2024: The Great Controversy

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1-Defending the Faith

Ellen White and Her End-Time Relevance

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Global Famine and the Sunday Law

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Certainty in Uncertain Times

6. Who is the Next Superpower?

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