Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Sabbath School Insights No. 1, Qtr 2-06

Special Insights No. 1

Second Quarter Adult Sabbath School Lessons

“The Holy Spirit”

(Produced by the Editorial Board of the 1888 Message Study Committee)

“The Personality and Divinity of the Holy Spirit”

 

 

Our Lesson is much needed when there is so much being published that denies the personality of the Holy Spirit! Confusion has entered when so many advocate a view seriously tainted by the Arian idea that the Holy Spirit is not the Third Person of the Godhead, but rather is an “it” or “influence” devoid of personality. Paul begs us not to “grieve” the Holy Spirit of God (Eph. 4:30), and Stephen rebuked the Jewish leaders for always “resisting” the Holy Spirit (Acts 7:51)—evidence that the Holy Spirit is a Person, not an impersonal influence. This second quarter’s set of lessons is needed!

 

Part of the problem which has confused many is the word “Trinity.” It comes as a shock to many that during her lifetime when Ellen G. White wrote some 25 million words, she never took her pen to write that word. Neither is the word in the Bible. Is there a reason hiding in the background for this strange omission?

 

Further, neither E. J. Waggoner nor A. T. Jones ever felt free to include the word in their sermons or their writings.

 

The Roman Catholic Church claims that “the doctrine of the Trinity” is the core doctrine of their church. When we as a denomination embrace “the doctrine of the Trinity,” are we somehow inviting confusion?

 

There is no question: the Bible teaches clearly that “the Lord our God is one LORD,” there is “one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all,” the “one baptism” being “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Deut. 6:4; 1 Cor. 12:3-13; Eph. 4:4-6; Matt. 28:19).

 

But the Roman Catholic “doctrine of the Trinity” is not that! There are serious differences between Roman Catholicism and the truth of the Bible regarding “the Godhead.” Neither Ellen G. White nor Jones and Waggoner should be blamed in the least for never speaking or writing the word “Trinity.” They had a very good reason. The true Holy Spirit was guiding them. The lesson is clear: we must be very careful how we speak or write.

 

Ellen White’s statement is clear as sunlight: “The Father is all the fullness of the Godhead bodily,.... invisible to mortal sight. The Son is all the fullness of the Godhead manifested..... ‘the express image of His person.’.... The Comforter.... is the Spirit in all the fullness of the Godhead, making manifest the power of divine grace to all who receive and believe in Christ as a personal Saviour” (Sunday’s Lesson, Evangelism, p. 614; emphasis ours).

 

The original author of these 13 Lessons is (or was) Dr. Arnold Wallenkampf, once a member of the Biblical Research Institute of the General Conference. He opposed many of his colleagues in the views he expressed publicly regarding what happened at the 1888 General Conference Session. He authored a book published 1988 by the Review and Herald entitled, What Every Adventist Should Know about 1888, an overview of events and issues that made the Minneapolis General Conference session so important in church history.

 

His chapter 6 is entitled, “The Holy Spirit Shamefully Treated.” He minces no words in telling the truth about the deep heart-enmity against Christ’s righteousness that prevailed there. For example, he lets Ellen White tell how she felt about the spirit at that Session, “The suspicion and jealousy, the evil surmisings, the resistance of the Spirit of God.... was appealing to them..... I stated that the course that had been pursued at Minneapolis was cruelty to the Spirit of God” (p. 37, from MS. 30, 1889). “The scenes which took place at this meeting made the God of heaven ashamed to call those who took part in them His brethren” (p. 39; from Letter May 31, 1896). Speaking of the leading delegates to the Session, she said, “The same spirit that actuated the rejecters of Christ, rankles in their hearts, and had they lived in the days of Christ, they would have acted toward Him in a manner similar to that of the godless and unbelieving Jews” (from the same letter to the General Conference President).

 

Dr. Wallenkampf’s chapter 7 is entitled, “Why This Betrayal and Crucifixion of Jesus?” He says, “It staggers one’s imagination that delegates to a Seventh-day Adventist General Conference session could treat the Holy Spirit shamefully, insult and injure Him, and even figuratively crucify Jesus in the person of the Holy Spirit. How is that possible?” (p. 43). Serious question!

 

A profound key statement is on Friday’s page of our Lesson: “The prince of the power of evil can only be held in check by the power of God in the third person of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit” (Evangelism, p. 617). “Held in check”!

 

Evil is running rampant in our world in 2006 A.D., directed by its “prince of evil.” Revelation 6:1-4 makes clear that the proclamation by the remnant church of the sealing message will make possible for the four angels to “hold, hold, hold, hold” “the four winds” of satanic fury until the sealing work can be finished. And “the Son of God gazed in pity on the remnant” and cries four times, “My blood,.... (cf. Early Writings, p. 38). The “sealing message” was presented in the 1888 message, but Ellen White declares that “we” have “in a great degree kept [it] away from the world” (Selected Messages, book 1, pp. 234, 235). This is why evil runs rampant almost everywhere!

Robert J. Wieland


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Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Sabbath School Insights No. 12, Qtr 1-06

Special Insights No. 12

First Quarter 2006 Adult Sabbath School Lessons

“Families in the Family of God”

(Produced by the Editorial Board of the 1888 Message Study Committee)

“Turning Hearts in the End Time”

 

 

Our Lesson for this Sabbath is fascinating! This great Lesson is about the special message that is on God’s agenda for our immediate future.

 

Just as the Jews in the days of John the Baptist were all excited about the coming of their long-awaited Messiah, so we today are awaiting the coming of our long-awaited “Elijah” who will minister reconciliation of alienated hearts, and prepare people to meet Jesus when He returns.

 

In 6000 long years of human history only two people have escaped death and been translated—Enoch (before the flood of Noah) and Elijah. Why has God chosen to send us Elijah “before the great and terrible day of the Lord” rather than Enoch? The reason is clear: Elijah had to meet the terrible national apostasy of Baal-worship; and Ellen White tells us that again Baal-worship has become a great problem in the “remnant church,” the church of Laodicea. Just as ancient Israel did not recognize what had happened in their very midst, so we today may have not been aware of the Baal-worship that has invaded our ranks.

 

As a consequence of “our” rejecting “in a great degree” and “in a great measure” the glorious “beginning” of the Loud Cry of Revelation 18:1-4 (cf. Selected Messages, book 1, pp. 234, 235; 1896), the Lord’s messenger was given the view of Baal-worship entering in among us:

 

“The prejudices and opinions that prevailed at Minneapolis [1888] are not dead by any means; the seeds sown there in some hearts are ready to spring into life and bear a like harvest. The tops have been cut down, but the roots have never been eradicated, and they still bear their unholy fruit to poison the judgment, pervert the perceptions, and blind the understanding of those with whom you connect, in regard to the message and the messengers..... With many the cry of the heart has been, ‘We will not have this man [Jesus] to reign over us.’ Baal, Baal, is the choice. The religion of many among us will be the religion of apostate Israel, because they love their own way, and forsake the way of the Lord. The true religion, the only religion of the Bible, that teaches forgiveness only through the merits of a crucified and risen Saviour, that advocates righteousness by the faith of the Son of God, has been slighted, spoken against, ridiculed, and rejected” (Testimonies to Ministers, pp. 467, 468; 1890).

 

Since Elijah had to meet this same crisis in the days of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel, it’s understandable that God will “send” him to help us in our crisis.

 

But please note: as our excellent Lesson makes clear, the coming Elijah will not specialize in chopping off the heads of the modern “prophets of Baal.” In the great “shaking” so soon to take place, they will “rise up against the straight testimony” and will leave on their own initiative. No need to replay a modern “Brook Kishon” (cf. 1 Kings 18:40). Elijah’s message will be one of “turning hearts,” that is, reconciliation of alienated hearts. And reconciliation is “atonement” that makes two alienated hearts to be one again. It’s the central message of this great antitypical Day of Atonement.

 

First of all must come reconciliation with God Himself. Our natural state of heart is “enmity against God” (Rom. 8:7). A ministry of atonement will be the message of “Christ and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:1, 2). Therefore it follows that Elijah’s message to the church and to the world will be what Christ accomplished on His cross. The world will be “lightened” with the glory of that final truth. Elijah’s message will be Revelation 18:1-4, and every one who will be “shaken” out because of unrepented Baal-worship will be replaced by honest multitudes who will crowd in as they respond to the call from heaven. The last paragraph of the chapter entitled “The Final Warning” in The Great Controversy describes the wonders of this message.

 

Just as Elijah differentiated between the true religion of ancient Israel and the clever counterfeit of the surrounding nations (Baal-worship), so our coming Elijah will differentiate between the pure true message of justification by faith that “the Lord in His great mercy sent” us in 1888 and that of the popular churches of Babylon today. To superficial minds, Babylon’s “justification by faith” looks the same but it is vastly different. The new “Elijah” may already be working today.

 

This Quarter’s Lessons have been excellent. The Lord has not been asleep; neither should we be asleep! The time has come for far less time to be spent in the amusements of this world and in seeking its wealth and luxuries. Beg the Lord earnestly to give you a “hunger and thirst after righteousness” (Matt. 5:6). It’s a sin not to be hungry! (Why? There’s a personal choice involved somewhere, a choice to reject the Holy Spirit.)

 

Now comes a new Quarter of lessons that directs our minds to the foundation truths that separated us from the popular churches (“the rock whence we were hewn,” Isa. 51:1). May the Lord give us all that hunger that will motivate us to study clearly what these truths are, to mark our Bibles, and let Him create in our inmost souls those “rivers of living water” that will make us a refreshment to all we shall meet from now until the coming of the Lord in the clouds of heaven.

 

But please don’t discard this Quarter’s Lesson book! It is a permanent volume for our libraries; it will be timeless. It may be (and I believe that it is) an evidence that “Elijah” has already begun his final work of “turning hearts.”

Robert J. Wieland



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Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Sabbath School Insights No. 11, Qtr 1-06

Special Insights No. 11

First Quarter 2006 Adult Sabbath School Lessons

“Families in the Family of God”

(Produced by the Editorial Board of the 1888 Message Study Committee)

“What Have They Seen in Your House?”

 

 

This week’s lesson begins with the story of King Hezekiah, when Isaiah asked him the question that is the subject of the lesson: “What have they seen in your house?” (Isa. 39:4).

 

Ellen White tells us about a lady who had guests in her house for a few days. After they had left, the lady opened her Bible to this very question, and she wondered what it meant. As she studied she realized that she had missed an opportunity, and that her friends had “left [her], having seen nothing better than the visitors from Babylon saw in the house of Hezekiah.” And like the king, she had been “sick unto death,” and had “earnestly entreated God to give [her] back [her] health, that [she] might tell [her] friends of Christ’s love and righteousness, and of the wonderful riches of His grace.”* How soon we forget the mercies God heaps upon us!

 

It’s painful to reflect on the times when we have missed similar opportunities. In that same article Ellen White asks, “What have your friends and acquaintances seen in your house? Are you, instead of revealing the treasures of the grace of Christ, displaying those things that will perish with the using? Or do you, to those with whom you are brought in contact, communicate some new thought of Christ’s character and work? Have you always some fresh revelation of His pitying love to impart to those who know Him not?” (emphasis mine). New thoughts, fresh revelations? How do we acquire these? The obvious answer is through the study of His Word. But don’t we also have daily experiences that show how God works in our lives, in every detail? If we pay attention and are aware (“tuned in” so to speak), these are “fresh revelations,” personal testimonies that may be shared. These “revelations” will (dare I say 100 percent) be examples of how near our Savior is to us—that He experienced the same dilemmas and problems during His earthly journey in “flesh and blood,” therefore can sympathize with our weaknesses (Heb. 4:15). But we must be careful not to become arrogant, that God has done such and such for me. We should share in a way that other people may see that God will do the same for them—if we, and they, will believe how good this Good News is. As Wednesday’s lesson says, “The idea is that individuals will grasp Christian faith as they see it demonstrated in the lives of others who are as human and fallible as they are.”

 

The lesson focus is on what goes on in our individual houses, but can we expand these thoughts to our houses of worship, our churches? Shouldn’t the same apply there? Thursday’s lesson distinguishes between “hospitality” and “entertaining.” Hospitality is defined as “a tangible expression of self-giving love..... [It] springs from the hearts of those who have been touched by God’s love and want to express their love in words and actions.” Love that “springs from the heart” can only mean a love [agape] that is a true heart-appreciation for what Christ has sacrificed for us on His cross. This is not a “works”-oriented, self-centered “love,” but our believing response that Christ has paid the penalty for our sins, and for the sins of the world. When members and guests walk through the doors of our churches what do they see and hear? Are our churches (as well as our homes) “centers of contagious friendliness”?

 

At the 1888 General Conference Session in Minneapolis, Minnesota, two young men, A. T. Jones and E. J. Waggoner, presented to the delegates God’s message of righteousness by faith. Two years later (Feb. 6, 1890) Ellen White gave a morning talk at Battle Creek, Michigan. She said, “The Sabbath-school teacher needs to know it, and every Sabbath-school scholar ought to understand it. We are all under obligation to God to know what he sends to us. He has given directions by which we may test every doctrine,--‘To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.’ But if it is according to this test, do not be so full of prejudice that you cannot acknowledge a point when it is proved to you, simply because it does not agree with your ideas. Do not catch at every objection, however small, and make it as large as possible, and preserve it for future use. No one has said that we shall find perfection in any man’s investigations, but this I do know, that our churches are dying for the want of teaching on the subject of righteousness by faith in Christ, and for kindred truths” (The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, March 25, 1890; The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, p. 548; emphasis added).

 

A dying church cannot be a “center of contagious friendliness.” The solution has been clearly set forth in the words of the prophet.

 

I encourage you to read her article cited in the following footnote.

 

May our Sabbath School classes receive the Lord’s blessings as we continue our studies on “Families in the Family of God.”

Carol Kawamoto

 

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* The Signs of the Times, Sept. 1, 1902, “What Have They Seen in Thine House?” You may find the complete article on the web site: www.1888msc.org, in the Sabbath School “Insights” section. If you would like the Microsoft Word file of the Ellen White article, please write to me at: sabbathschool@1888message.org
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Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Sabbath School Insights No. 10, Qtr 1-06

Special Insights No. 10

First Quarter 2006 Adult Sabbath School Lessons

“Families in the Family of God”

(Produced by the Editorial Board of the 1888 Message Study Committee)

“Families of Faith”

 

Families in the family of God are families of faith. God’s family plan was to be perpetuated as seen in the promise to Abraham, “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 12: 3).

 

Everywhere Abraham  traveled, he built an altar to worship the Lord. The promise that all nations should be blessed in Abraham, specified families. The religion of Abraham was a family religion, a family of faith. The “family altar” was never neglected by him in his family. This was the practice of the father of the faithful to whom the promise was made, and of which we are partakers if we are of his faith and practice.

 

Jesus used a family term to illustrate entrance into the family of God. He told Nicodemus that a person must be “born again” or “from above” as a prerequisite for becoming a member of God’s family of faith (John 3:3). As one responds in appreciation to Christ, as He is lifted up, a change occurs in a person’s heart and mind (John 3:14-15).

 

Families of faith are created by believing the gospel of Christ (Rom. 10:17; Rev. 14:6, 12). These families appreciate God and every other member of His family. Regardless of national origin or culture, a family of faith centers its life in Jesus, the Author of faith.

 

The Gospel and Culture

The existence and use of culture depends upon an ability possessed by humans alone. Culture is a complex whole, which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society. Culture can be good or evil.

 

In the not too distant past, Christian missionaries tended to teach and some to even force western culture on other segments of society in a given region of the world. However, today Christianity is being penetrated by other religions with their cultures from the Far and Middle East. Christianity, in general, seems to have lost the power of the gospel.

 

Nevertheless, the “everlasting gospel” will be preached in every nation, language and culture of earth, as a witness to all nations before the Second Coming of Jesus (Rev. 14:6; Matt. 24:14). The gospel of Christ is like the sunshine; it belongs to every culture, every language, every nation in the world. It must be clearly presented within every culture among the various racial groups of this world. There is no nation where the gospel shall not be heard. Regardless of the culture, of which persons are traditionally accustomed, the gospel believed will wonderfully change hearts and bring people into the family of God. The portrayal of the gentleness of Jesus will reach across the cultures of the world and create families of faith.

 

A Healing Message

In the fourth chapter of Malachi we have a healing message, especially for families of faith, in the last days of earths history. “The Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in his wings” (Mal. 4:2). Healing and restoration will be as obvious and undeniable as the bright light of the rising sun. Malachi joins this figure with another restoration message—of Elijah, in verses 5 and 6: “Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to the fathers.”

 

This message encourages reconciliation of conflicts within families of faith. This experience will come as the reconciliation of God to the world, in Christ, is accepted. God will send Elijah’s message for a very special purpose, to heal and restore fractured families in the family of God. This will bring revival and reformation to His people and will spread throughout the world. A glimpse of Eden will be seen in the families of faith in the family of God.

 

God’s Promise to All Families of Earth

Originally God’s intention was to have one family of faith on earth. This intention was shattered after sin entered the family. Division within the human family produced fighting and finally the flood. After the flood, the families of Noah’s sons were further divided although they spoke the same language.  Separation following God’s interruption of the building of the tower of Babel completed the division by families and nations according to language differences followed by cultural differences (Gen. 10:32-11:9).

 

God did not abandon any of the divided families of earth. He especially blessed them when He promised His blessing upon Abraham. In the account given by Moses in Gen. 12:1-3 we learn of an individual blessing to Abraham and a corporate blessing to all families of earth. When God blessed Abraham, He said Abraham would be blessed and be a blessing. God promised that in him “all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 12:3). This expression shows that the promise was not merely a local affair. It extends to the whole world.

 

The blessing of Abraham, which comes on all the families of the earth, comes only through the cursed cross of Christ. Paul made this clear in his letter to the churches in Galatia: “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is every one who hangs on a tree; that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith” (Gal. 3:13, 14).

 

The Cross and Families of Faith

Every family of earth has been blessed because of the cross of Christ, which is the heart of the 1888 message. The blessing of Abraham comes on the Gentiles, or all the families of the earth, through Jesus Christ and His cross. Christ was made to be the “curse” that the “blessing of Abraham” would come to every family and to every individual. The promise of God to Abraham and to his seed, extended to Christ and it continues to extend even to us, “I will be their God.” “I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendents after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you, and to your descendents after you” (Gen. 17:7, 8).

 

“The cross stands alone, a great center in the world. It does not find friends, but it makes them” (Review and Herald, Sept. 29, 1891). As Christ the Crucified is lifted up and families of earth are thereby made friends they enter into the great family of God, regardless of national origin or culture.

Gerald L. Finneman

 

[For an expanded version of this “Insight,” please go to: www.1888msc.org]

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Thursday, March 02, 2006

Sabbath School Insights No. 9, Qtr 1-06

Special Insights No. 9

First Quarter 2006 Adult Sabbath School Lessons

“Families in the Family of God”

(Produced by the Editorial Board of the 1888 Message Study Committee)

“Homes of Peace and Healing”

 

Our memory verse (John 14:27) is in itself a sermon of healing for wounded hearts:

 

(1) “Peace I leave with you,” says Jesus. The joy of this rare blessing of peace is His dying bequest to every one who believes in Him. He said these words on the eve of His own terrible, crushing experience of crucifixion; how could He as the Son of God, yet still “the Son of man” incarnate in our fallen human nature, experience “peace” in such an awful hour?

 

(2) “My peace I give you.” He didn’t say “I’d like to give it to you IF, IF,....” leaving it all to us, when we know that peace is the very thing we don’t have of ourselves! It’s the present active tense of the verb. If we don’t have the “peace,” what’s the reason? He goes on to tell us.....

 

(3) “Do not let your hearts be troubled....” Your heart cannot be “troubled,” according to Jesus, unless you give your permission for Satan to trouble it!

 

How could Jesus be at peace at the most critical hour of His life? The salvation of a world lay in the balance—yes, as we learned last Sabbath, of the universe itself. But He was calm. The only possible answer is that He had “poured out His soul unto death,” the second (Isa. 53:12), in a total commitment of Himself in the love which is agape. John says that “agape casts out fear” (1 John 4:18); it is sinful fear which always robs us of our peace.

 

Does the “most precious message” of 1888 which was the beginning of the latter rain make any contribution to our “peace” of soul? Yes! It transfers our thought from our own egocentric concern for our personal salvation to a different motivation of concern for the honor and reward of Christ. It makes it possible for us to receive the peace that Christ is already trying to give us, not merely to offer to us. The prevailing motivation that has engrossed the church ever since the 1888 rejection of truth has been “what must I do so as to be sure I get through the pearly gates?” Our prayer has been, “Lord, please be sure that I and my loved ones are saved!” The greater love which is agape is a love that dares to relinquish personal salvation as Moses pleaded with God to blot his name out of the book of life if his love for Israel could not save them (Ex. 32:31, 32). That was agape!

 

Granted, such love is unnatural for us self-centered humans and it is impossible for us to achieve—of ourselves. Therefore the secret of receiving the peace of Christ is to “comprehend” the grand dimensions of the love of Christ revealed at His cross and thus to be “rooted and grounded in agape” and to be “filled with all the fullness of God” which is a preparation for translation at the second coming of Jesus.

 

We can be sure that at the present time the Lord Jesus feels agony in behalf of those who suffer torment from “abusers” in their homes. We have two goals of soul-winning here—first in behalf of the abusers themselves that they find deliverance from their horrible captivity of hatred which makes them (even against their will!) torture their so-called “loved ones.” The case of such “abusers” is totally hopeless unless they “fall on the Rock and are broken” in genuine crucifixion of self “with Christ” (Gal. 2:20; 6:14).

 

But our second goal is to save the abused, the meek and gentle souls who are crushed by constantly being trampled on. As our Lesson says, “home” can become a hell on earth when the sweetness of “love” sours. Often this is the result of fornication indulged before marriage; it’s a direct violation of God’s seventh commandment. Repentance is possible and yes, is already given in Christ [1]; but it cannot be received until we repent of breaking all the commandments which are broken in the breaking of the seventh. In other words, we can’t repent of breaking the seventh commandment until we repent of breaking the first six which have preceded. Babylon’s false “gospel” of “justification” locks multitudes in the concrete of impenitence. Let the abused repent of resentment against the abusers, and let’s all repent together at the cross in the crucifixion of self! Jesus must bear the burden.

 

One of the Board members of the 1888 Message Study Committee has coined a new phrase: “the repentance of the ages.” That is the repentance of the seventh church known as “Laodicea” (Rev. 3:17-19). It is the same experience as “the wife” of “the Lamb” making “herself ready” for His “marriage” (Rev. 19:7, 8). A grand experience!

 

Our Lesson makes clear that anger per se is not sin; incapacity for anger at injustice makes us a floppy wimp. The problem is selfish, uncontrolled anger. In Ellen White’s The Great Controversy she tells how it will not be God’s arbitrary decision that slams the gates of the New Jerusalem against “saints” who have never overcome such explosive anger; rather, it will be their own incapacity to enjoy the peace of heaven. They will be shut out by their own unfitness for it’s companionship (cf. pp. 28, 36, 627, 628, etc.).

 

Usually the problem of angry hatred cannot be understood except in the light of the cross. It is that precisely which crucified the Son of God! All such anger is participation in His murder, and it is also the murder of our fellow men (1 John 3:15).

 

Thank God from the bottom of our hearts today that the final probation has not yet ended! The heavenly High Priest has not yet closed the door of the second apartment of His heavenly sanctuary!

 

May “peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord” (2 Peter 1:2).

Robert J. Wieland

 

[1] Thursday’s Lesson differentiates between forgiveness already legally given in Christ and that which is received by faith, as is justification legally given, and that received by faith.

 
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