Participants:
Series Code: IIWSS
Program Code: IIWSS025015S
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00:11 [uplifting music] 00:14 >>Eric Flickinger: Welcome to "Sabbath School," 00:15 brought to you by It Is Written. 00:17 We are glad that you are joining us again this week 00:20 as we continue our journey through a fascinating subject: 00:23 how to study Bible prophecy. 00:26 We laid down some foundations last week. 00:28 We're going to continue this week in lesson number 2, 00:30 looking at "The Genesis Foundation." 00:33 How can we better understand the prophecies of the Bible 00:36 later in the story by going back to the book of Genesis? 00:41 We're going to begin with prayer. 00:43 Father, we thank You for giving us an opportunity once again 00:46 to learn more about You through our study of Your Word 00:49 and, specifically, the prophecies in Your Word. 00:52 We ask that You would help us to gain 00:53 a clearer understanding of You and Your plan 00:56 for all of our lives through the book of Genesis today. 00:59 We thank You, in Jesus' name, amen. 01:03 Well, we're happy to have back with us, once again, this week 01:05 the author of this quarter's "Sabbath School" lesson, 01:08 Pastor Shawn Boonstra. 01:09 He is the speaker/director of the Voice of Prophecy ministry. 01:13 Shawn, welcome back. 01:14 >>Shawn Boonstra: I'm surprised I got a return invitation 01:16 for a second week. [laughing] >>Eric: Here we go. 01:18 Let's see if you get a third-week invitation. 01:20 >>Shawn: Let's see what I can do today to get myself disinvited. 01:23 >>Eric: It all depends on where we go from here. 01:25 But knowing what this quarter's lesson is about, 01:28 and this week especially, 01:29 I think you'd better make some room in your schedule 01:31 for episode number three. 01:33 That's my feeling. The Genesis Foundation-- 01:35 you refer to the book of Genesis as kind of a survey course 01:39 in Sunday's lesson, 01:41 kind of a Bible Prophecy 101 or Understanding the Bible 101. 01:46 What's the significance of the book of Genesis 01:47 as we are trying to understand Bible prophecy? 01:50 >>Shawn: Yeah, I'm completely enraptured with-- 01:53 even when I was a brand-new believer, 01:54 or even pre-believer, the first 11 chapters of Genesis 01:57 in particular always held my attention. 02:00 Now, we've given these first five books, 02:03 the Torah, we've given the Pentateuch Latin names-- 02:09 Genesis, Exodus. The Hebrews didn't do that. 02:11 They just lifted a phrase out of the first verse: 02:13 "in the beginning," "bereshit," "in the beginning." 02:16 And it's the beginning of everything. 02:18 I'm convinced that especially us, 02:20 Seventh-day Adventist Christians in particular, 02:23 everything we teach and believe can be found 02:25 in the first 11 chapters of Genesis. 02:27 It's in embryonic form, 02:29 and you have to do a little bit of homework, 02:31 but it is all there. 02:34 There's a lot of first-mentions. 02:35 And I'm a big fan of the-- the rule is too-- 02:39 law, people say the law of first mention. 02:40 That's too strict. It's not a law. It's not a rule. 02:43 It's a general principle or pattern. 02:45 The first time something shows up in the Bible, 02:47 pay very careful attention 02:48 because God's laying the foundation 02:50 for how you should understand that concept 02:52 throughout the rest of the Bible. 02:53 So, think about what's in the first 11 chapters of Genesis: 02:56 creation, obviously, the big one right there. 02:58 God is the Creator. The Sabbath shows up. 03:01 It's Genesis, chapter 2. It's right out of the gate. 03:04 The origin of sin and suffering, it's there. 03:06 And that's a big, big question, even for secular minds. 03:09 "Why do I have to be suffering in this world?" 03:11 Plan of salvation is there right away. 03:13 You know, the seed of the woman shows up in Genesis, chapter 3. 03:16 The state of the dead is there. 03:17 "If you eat from that tree, you will surely die." 03:21 It's weird how God doesn't say, 03:23 float away to exist in, you know, the Elysium Fields. 03:26 But the state of the dead-- health message is there. 03:29 We see God's original plan for humanity-- 03:31 every herb of the field, every-- 03:32 so we know the best-- the health message's there. 03:35 The prophecy--the gift of prophecy's on display-- 03:38 God communicating directly with Noah, for example. 03:41 The Incarnation is there. I mean, everything, 03:44 everything that's important to believe shows up 03:46 in those opening chapters of the book of Genesis, 03:49 absolutely everything. So if you can master 03:51 those first 11 chapters, 03:52 you're well on your way to understanding 03:54 the rest of Scripture-- and prophecy in particular. 03:57 >>Eric: And that's very important for us 03:58 to understand today and to make sense of 04:01 the many and varied interpretations 04:03 that are out there, 04:04 to sift through them and find what's accurate, 04:06 what's right. 04:08 One thing that's very important for us to understand 04:10 is God's love. >>Shawn: Right. 04:11 >>Eric: And in Monday's lesson you talk about God's love 04:14 and how God's love is different 04:17 from what maybe we understand love to be. 04:20 We put our own somewhat twisted spin-- 04:24 maybe I'm speaking over myself-- 04:26 but a twisted spin on what love is. 04:29 But God gives us a clearer picture in the Bible. 04:32 What is--how do we understand the love of God? 04:34 >>Shawn: Do you know what I find interesting? 04:35 Obviously, the love of God is huge. 04:37 God's character is defined by John as love, right? 04:41 And Christians know this instinctively. 04:43 God is love. That's the biggest part of who He is. 04:47 Understanding what that love is, 04:50 that's a little more complicated. 04:51 What I find fascinating-- 04:53 it's such a big part of who God is, 04:54 but it doesn't show up for 22 chapters. 04:56 The concept of love doesn't show up 04:59 until we get to the story of Abraham and Isaac 05:02 in Genesis, chapter 22. 05:04 I think it's Genesis 22 and verse 2 05:07 is the first actual mention of love in the Old Testament. 05:12 "Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love." 05:17 And when you start to dig into this story, 05:18 you start to understand what God understands by love. 05:21 Now, Christians are familiar-- this has been done to death 05:24 in almost every Bible study you've ever gone to: 05:26 "There's three words for 'love' in Greek." 05:28 There's actually four, I think, but we've got "eros," 05:30 erotic love--it's where... you know, husband and wife-- 05:34 "phileo," brotherly love-- 05:35 "Philadelphia," the "city of brotherly love," 05:38 And "agape"-- we still sometimes, 05:40 some churches will refer to the Communion service 05:42 as an "agape feast." 05:43 That is the self-giving, selfless love. 05:47 And what do we find when love first shows up 05:49 in Genesis? "Here's your son that you love. 05:52 I'm asking you to put him on an altar." 05:55 And what I find fascinating about this 05:57 is that they go to the mountains of Moriah for this. 06:02 You'll notice Isaac carries the wood for his own sacrifice. 06:07 And mountains of Moriah, that's where Golgotha-- 06:10 that's where Calvary is. 06:12 Thousands of years in advance, they're going to the very spot 06:15 where God would put His Son on the altar. 06:18 And Jesus is introduced in the Bible, 06:20 "This is my beloved Son, in whom I'm well pleased. 06:23 I love this Son of mine." 06:25 What kind of love is this? The kind that would sacrifice. 06:29 God loves His Son because He was willing 06:31 to suspend everything. The book of Hebrews gets into detail. 06:34 "I will follow Your will. We will save humanity." 06:37 "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son." 06:43 What's really fascinating-- you know, first mention 06:45 is going to come up in this quarterly-- 06:47 this is also the first mention of a lamb anywhere in the Bible. 06:52 "Father, here's the wood for the fire. 06:53 Where is the lamb?" 06:55 God provides the ram caught in the thicket. 06:57 First time lamb shows up in John's Gospel 07:00 is John the Baptist answering Isaac's question. 07:03 "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away 07:05 the sin of the world!" 07:06 This is a picture of God's self-sacrificing love: 07:10 not willing to spare Himself if it means saving you. 07:15 That's God's love. 07:17 >>Eric: So that gives us a clear picture. 07:18 And as you mentioned, that lamb is right there, 07:20 just--the parallels are incredible. 07:22 One might say, "What are the chances?" 07:24 Well...zero, exactly. >>Shawn: Zero. 07:27 >>Eric: But God did this for a reason, for us to be able 07:30 to find it and learn more about Him and the sacrificial-- 07:33 well, let me go on to my next question, 07:35 which is about the sacrificial system. 07:37 What about the sanctuary service? 07:39 Where do we find this, or at least allusions to it 07:44 or connections to the sacrificial system? 07:46 >>Shawn: All right, this-- you're gonna have to get 07:48 your Bible out for this one. 07:50 This is gonna take a little bit of thinking, but we know that, 07:54 you know, the sanctuary was designed by God. 07:56 The book of Hebrews says God told Moses, 07:58 "Look, build according to the pattern 08:00 that I'm gonna to show you." There was no creative leeway 08:02 in the sanctuary because everything in there was pointing 08:05 to the ministry of Christ in our behalf. 08:08 And the most obvious element would be the sacrificial lamb. 08:12 Now, that sanctuary, as you study it, 08:15 it had an outer courtyard where the lamb is sacrificed. 08:17 The priest would carry the blood inside the holy place 08:20 and sprinkle it against the veil. 08:21 Behind the veil is the most holy place, 08:24 which is God's throne room. He literally took up residence. 08:28 The cloud would come down during the Exodus 08:30 and occupy the most holy place. 08:32 Same thing happened when Solomon dedicated the temple. 08:34 We read the glory of God filled the most holy place. 08:37 There was only one article of furniture inside there, 08:39 and it was the ark of the covenant, 08:41 this acacia wood chest covered with gold--two natures. 08:46 There are angels, cherubim specifically, on top. 08:49 Six times the Old Testament describes God as 08:51 "the One who dwells between the cherubim." 08:54 And above that mercy seat-- in German, the "Gnadenstuhl"-- 08:57 I don't know why-- that's just a fun word. 09:00 In Genesis, chapter 3, it shows up-- 09:03 and people say it's not there. Yeah, it is. 09:06 Genesis 3, verse 24: 09:08 "He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden 09:12 of Eden He placed the cherubim." 09:14 Cherubim are only in association with the most holy place 09:17 in God's throne. So there's cherubim. 09:19 "A flaming sword that turned every way to guard 09:22 the way to the tree of life." What do we have? 09:24 We have a flaming presence and cherubim at the gates of Eden. 09:31 Now, I think if you look at different commentaries 09:35 like "Patriarchs and Prophets," page 84, we know-- 09:39 and Hugh Martin, Calvinist commentator from the 1800s, 09:44 Hugh Martin in 1866 writes, 09:45 look, it's pretty obvious everybody gathered 09:47 at the gates of Eden, and they had 09:49 the first sanctuary service there. 09:50 Why would they say that? 09:52 Well, that word, "He placed" the cherubim, 09:53 in Hebrew is "shakan." 09:55 It's the root word for "shekinah." 09:58 It literally means "tabernacled." 10:01 God tabernacled two cherubim, 10:03 and there was a brilliant presence, 10:05 the sword of the-- right between them. 10:08 This is the earliest sanctuary service, 10:10 and it's right here in Genesis, chapter 3. 10:14 In the original languages in way back when, 10:16 nobody was surprised when they got to Leviticus 10:18 and they were building something that looked like this 10:21 because they already knew about it. 10:23 >>Eric: So they were familiar. As you've said, God's laid the-- 10:25 He's placed these seeds all the way through the book of Genesis 10:29 that are then going to germinate through the rest of the Bible, 10:32 and God wants us to be able to trace these things back. 10:35 >>Shawn: Right, where have I heard this before, right? 10:38 And it says in Genesis, chapter 4, Cain, 10:43 when he gets kicked out, he leaves the presence of the Lord. 10:46 Well, how can you do that? Psalm 139 is pretty clear. 10:49 And I think we're going to look at this again 10:50 when we get to Jonah in a later lesson. 10:52 But you--there's--you can't hide from God. 10:56 Psalm 139, "Whither shall I flee?" 10:57 You know, you can't hide from God. 10:59 Cain didn't know a magical place on earth 11:01 where God couldn't find him. 11:02 He was literally leaving the presence of God 11:04 at the gates of the Garden of Eden, 11:06 walking away from that sanctuary service, 11:08 which foreshadowed Christ's salvation of us 11:11 as the Lamb of God. 11:12 >>Eric: You know, you mentioned Cain, which kind of draws us 11:15 to another subject that you cover in this week's lesson, 11:19 and that is the subject of death. 11:21 And we wanna dig into that subject 11:23 because understanding death, again, 11:25 comes all the way back here to Genesis, 11:27 and the subject is expanded, expounded upon, 11:31 throughout the rest of Scripture. 11:33 And it's something that we still deal with today 11:35 in a very real way. It's a painful subject. 11:40 But before we dig into that-- 11:42 we're gonna take a break here in just a second. 11:45 As we mentioned last week, 11:46 you've crammed as much as you can 11:47 into the little study guide book itself. 11:50 But there's more. 11:52 >>Shawn: I think you get 300 words per page 11:53 or something like that. 11:55 And I don't have a lot of things about me that-- 11:58 you know, but I'm wordy. 12:00 You know, like, 300 didn't seem like enough. 12:01 So some of the stuff that didn't end up in the quarterly 12:04 ended up in a companion book. 12:06 And some of it will show up sitting here with you in studio. 12:09 >>Eric: Yes, so the companion book is gonna be more. 12:13 It's going to dig deeper. 12:14 It's going to give some different perspectives 12:16 or additional facets of what we are looking at. 12:20 And so if you are interested in learning more about 12:23 how to accurately, rightly divide the word of truth, 12:26 if you're wanting to understand more the significance of Genesis 12:29 and this law of first mention, 12:31 or this principle of first mention, 12:34 that Shawn is talking about, 12:35 make sure you pick up that companion book 12:38 to this quarter's Sabbath school lesson. 12:41 You will be glad that you have done so 12:43 because not only are you going to learn 12:45 more about these subjects for yourself; 12:48 you're going to be able to share these concepts, these ideas, 12:52 more effectively, more efficiently with others 12:55 so that they can have more hope and more encouragement 12:58 in this life as well. 13:00 So you can go and find that book. 13:02 That is the companion book to this quarter's 13:03 "Sabbath School" lesson at itiswritten.shop. 13:06 Again, that's at itiswritten.shop. 13:09 Just scroll down. You'll find it very quickly. 13:12 The author, of course, is Pastor Shawn Boonstra. 13:14 So, easy to find, 13:15 easy to pick up, and fun and enjoyable 13:19 and eye-opening to read. 13:22 We're going to be back in just a moment as we continue looking 13:25 at the significance of the book of Genesis here 13:28 as we understand Bible prophecy. 13:30 We'll be right back. 13:31 [uplifting music] 13:35 >>John Bradshaw: More and more people are watching 13:37 It Is Written TV. 13:39 They're watching their favorite It Is Written programs, 13:42 listening to inspiring sermon series, and much more. 13:47 They're watching them here, here, and even here. 13:51 See for yourself why people are turning to It Is Written TV 13:54 to watch their favorite Christian programs 13:56 live and on demand. 13:58 Watch It Is Written TV for free anytime on Roku, 14:02 Apple TV, and at itiswritten.tv. 14:05 [uplifting music] 14:10 >>Eric: Welcome back to "Sabbath School," 14:11 brought to you by It Is Written. 14:13 We're taking a look at how to study Bible prophecy, 14:16 specifically the significance of the book of Genesis. 14:20 Shawn, we left off talking about, of all subjects, 14:23 the subject of death. But it's an important one. 14:25 It's something that everybody deals with, 14:27 and it's something that the vast majority of people 14:30 completely understand. 14:33 What's the significance of understanding it correctly, 14:35 and how does Genesis help us with this? 14:37 >>Shawn: It's really our biggest problem, 14:38 isn't it, death? 14:39 I don't care how secular somebody is. 14:41 Death bothers them. 14:43 And I find it fascinating that even-- 14:47 oh, you go to a secular funeral. 14:48 What's his name, the guy who wrote 14:50 "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"? 14:51 Douglas Adams died, and they had a funeral for him, 14:54 and Dawkins is the speaker, 14:56 and Dawkins is like, "We've been cheated. 14:59 He died too young." 15:01 Wait a minute. Push the pause button. 15:03 You've been cheated? 15:04 So this feels wrong to you that he died. 15:07 Is he not just a living organism? 15:08 I mean, we all die. 15:10 It's just a matter of when and how that we die. 15:13 And you feel cheated? 15:15 Do you feel that there's been a moral wrong 15:17 that somebody went young? I mean, give your hand away. 15:20 It's the thing that bothers us the most. 15:22 And Ecclesiastes 3, verse 11, is very pointed: 15:25 God "has put eternity" in the heart. 15:27 So you can stand by a grave, 15:29 and I don't care how reasonable you are, 15:32 I don't care how many biology courses you've taken-- 15:35 something inside of you screams, 15:36 "This is not how it's supposed to be." 15:40 Why? Why? 15:42 So we're wired to fight against it. 15:44 We all instinctively know that it's not the way 15:47 it's supposed to be. And of course when we get to Genesis, 15:49 we find the explanation for why it ended up this way, 15:54 and it's such a big subject. 15:55 I don't know how we'll conquer this in the time 15:58 that we've got, folks, but it's your biggest problem. 16:01 It really is your biggest problem. 16:02 Why study? Why think? Why work on yourself? 16:06 Why develop yourself for 80 years to do, what, 16:09 rot in a casket? 16:10 Pardon me, but that's exactly what happens. 16:13 It's that blunt. 16:14 Why? Why are you driven to do anything 16:18 if you're just going to punch the clock till it's over, 16:20 and then you just evaporate into the universe? 16:23 And it's in Genesis that we get the answer, right? 16:26 Genesis 2, verse 17: "The tree of the knowledge of good 16:30 "and evil you shall not eat, 16:33 for in [that] day...you eat of it you shall surely die." 16:37 You're going to die, and then we get in Genesis 16:40 the first death, and it's backwards 16:42 from what you'd expect. You'd expect for Adam and Eve 16:44 to get old and die, but the first death is a murder. 16:49 It's a fratricide, right? It's Cain murdering his brother. 16:52 It is our very worst on open display. 16:56 He goes and kills his brother, and then we have God saying, 17:02 "Look, the seed of the woman's going to come 17:04 and crush the serpent's head." 17:06 We get the promise that this is all going to be reversed. 17:09 So we find the gospel in its infancy, 17:12 in embryonic form, 17:13 in these same chapters where we find death 17:16 coming into being in the first murder. 17:18 And, of course, Paul tells us later, in 1 Corinthians 15, 17:21 Christ rose from the dead. 17:23 "If He didn't," Paul says, "then you are lost." 17:28 It's all--he uses the word "futile." 17:30 It's all futile. Our faith is in vain. 17:33 There's nothing to hope for. 17:34 And Paul has just described what should happen in our brains 17:38 if death is the end. 17:40 If that's it, it's like, "Okay, life is futile." 17:43 That was the philosophy of the 19th century. 17:46 They came to the conclusion, "I guess, live for the present." 17:48 I mean, Camus said, don't live in the past. That's depressing. 17:51 The future--who knows what that's going to bring? 17:53 So just live in this moment right now. 17:55 And then when it happens, it happens. 17:58 We have something more. 18:00 Revelation, chapter 1, opens this way, 18:02 and it opens with death. 18:03 It's Jesus introducing Himself in verse 18. 18:08 He describes it-- well, it's verse 17: 18:10 "Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. 18:13 "I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, 18:17 and I have the keys of Death and Hades." 18:20 Hades, a reference in the Greek there, 18:22 just, to the grave. 18:25 This is our biggest problem. It bothers everybody. 18:28 And Genesis has got the answers to it. 18:30 And you start here understanding, you know, 18:33 what death is, why it happened. And why it happened-- 18:36 you know, there's another question we could probe 18:38 if we had the time. Why death? 18:40 Doesn't that seem a little severe for what we've done? 18:44 And what God's solution is, 18:45 it's all there in the opening, you know, verses. 18:48 >>Eric: So we see that there is a solution 18:50 to the problem of death. 18:52 And like you said, it's something that everybody, 18:55 regardless of your theological or philosophical bent, 18:58 it's a reality. >>Shawn: Yep. 19:00 >>Eric: Unless we happen to get translated, 19:02 which, for the vast majority of us, 19:03 that's probably not going to be the case. 19:05 And most people are going to die. 19:06 >>Shawn: Yeah, I'm getting closer and closer. 19:08 >>Eric: We're getting closer and closer by the moment. 19:10 >>Shawn: You too, folks. You're on a conveyor belt 19:13 that ends with a casket. [makes splat sound] 19:14 You know, if the Lord doesn't come-- 19:16 it's not if; it is when. 19:19 And this is something that everybody-- 19:21 it's one of our biggest sources of existential angst is 19:24 "I'm going to die," you know. 19:27 And we struggle to even think of the universe 19:29 that existed before we did. How did that go down? 19:32 You know, people were living and doing stuff, 19:34 and I wasn't around? And it's going to happen again. 19:37 You die again, and that drives us nuts, 19:39 unless you can find an answer to it. 19:41 And there's a reason it bothers you. 19:42 God wants it to bother you. 19:45 >>Eric: And we're finding that there is a reason. 19:48 And through the Bible, we get hope, 19:50 which a lot of people, sadly, today don't have. 19:52 Another big subject that you've hit on 19:55 in this week's lesson is that of worship. 19:58 Worship is going to play a massive role 20:00 at the very end of time. It plays a huge role today. 20:02 I don't wanna diminish the importance of it today. 20:05 But as we get closer to the end of time, 20:07 some of the issues that are going to come to surface-- 20:12 worship is a big deal. 20:13 Back in Genesis, it was a big deal. 20:14 Walk us through the connection here. 20:16 >>Shawn: Yeah, in Genesis, you know, it's interesting that, 20:20 as we get to Genesis 2, 20:21 many people read the six days of creation, stop. 20:24 No, it continues into chapter 2. 20:26 You know, the chapters and verses 20:27 were a late addition to the Bible, 20:29 Stephen Langton, 1200s. 20:31 I mean, for 1,200 years-- in the New Testament period, 20:34 we didn't have chapters and verses. 20:36 So we often stop at the end of a chapter, 20:37 but that creation story, that first creation account, 20:40 really ends in the first part of chapter 2. 20:44 And God blesses the seventh day, makes it holy. 20:47 It--here's what's fascinating. 20:49 When they dedicated the temple-- 20:51 I believe the temple in Solomon's time 20:53 took seven years to build 20:56 and then seven days of dedication. 20:57 And on the seventh day the presence of God 20:59 fills that sanctuary. 21:01 On the seventh day, it's almost as if God is taking His seat 21:04 at the head of creation and moving into the garden. 21:08 "I am now enthroned as King." 21:10 Revelation 4, verse 11 tells us the very reason 21:13 we worship God is because He's Creator. 21:15 "For You are holy, for You have made all things. 21:18 By Your will they were created." 21:20 Worship shows up here at the very beginning. 21:23 God is identified as the one in whom we have our being. 21:27 He is the reason we exist. 21:28 God's existence depends on nobody. 21:31 He's self-existent. We are dependent on Him. 21:35 That's the reason for this worship relationship. 21:40 Six times, if you get to the center 21:42 of the book of Revelation, the very heart of it-- 21:44 chapters 12, 13, and 14-- worship is mentioned six times. 21:49 And only one of those, I believe, 21:51 is actually in the right sense. 21:53 It's in Revelation 14: "Worship Him who made"-- 21:56 it's a reference back to the creation story. 21:59 The other references are the earth bowing 22:02 before an inappropriate power, 22:04 the summation of all human ambition 22:07 in the beast that comes out of the sea, 22:09 and there's someone else commanding human worship. 22:12 And it falls into two camps at the end. 22:14 And we can find that right away in Genesis, 22:17 where those two camps emerge; 22:19 and in Revelation, how they wrap up. 22:21 It's like a sandwich board. 22:22 Genesis sets the table for understanding 22:24 what's wrong with us. 22:26 Revelation shows how God is going to wind that all down. 22:29 >>Eric: So, again, we're seeing samples in Genesis. 22:32 It's the 101 course, but we expound on it as we go through. 22:37 You mentioned something very significant, 22:39 I think, in this week's lesson. It's about cultures. 22:42 Cultures change, but the core issues don't change. 22:46 How are the big issues that we're looking at 22:49 right now relevant today? 22:52 >>Shawn: Yeah, who you are-- I mean, yeah, culture changes, 22:55 and I know that we have a tendency 22:57 to make fun of our grandparents. 22:58 In my day, we were making fun of our grand-- 23:00 "They can't program a VCR." 23:02 Yeah, but they went through the Great Depression, 23:05 and they went through a world war, 23:07 and they understood the deep existential issues 23:10 that human beings face in very tangible ways. 23:12 Those don't change. 23:15 "Who am I? What does my life mean?" 23:17 None of that changes. "Why do I have to die? 23:20 "Why is there suffering in this world? 23:23 What's keeping chaos from taking over the world?" 23:26 You know, "who's gonna hold the future for us?" 23:30 Those don't change at all. 23:34 And one of the biggest issues that you find 23:36 in the book of Genesis-- 23:38 we'll only have time for half a second to look at this, 23:41 but maybe you can take this ball and run with it. 23:44 If you look at the temptation of the devil 23:46 in Genesis, chapter 3, where it says, you know-- 23:51 this is verse 1: "Did God actually say, 23:53 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?" 23:57 I was reading a Hebrew rabbi and some of the medieval rabbis 24:01 a while ago, and they are in concurrence 24:05 that that's not the best translation in the English. 24:07 The best translation is "Even if," 24:09 not "Did God actually say?" 24:11 Yeah, he's raising questions. It's the devil's tactic. 24:15 But a literal translation of what the devil says 24:17 would be, "Even if God said, 24:18 'Do not eat from the trees of the garden'"--that's it. 24:22 Dot, dot, dot, and it trails off. 24:23 "Even if God said that." 24:25 In other words, God said, "Do not eat from the tree." 24:30 So what? And the devil's looking around. 24:32 It's like, "Look, animals are eating from the tree." 24:35 Remember, we just had a scene where Adam is saying-- 24:39 God says to Adam, "Go find a spouse." 24:41 Here's a hippo. Here's a zebra. 24:42 Here's a--that makes no sense, that story, 24:44 except for the fact that God has Adam realize, 24:48 "There's no partner for me here. 24:50 I am not like the animals. We function differently." 24:54 And the devil shows up as an animal and says, 24:55 "Well, even if God said, 'Don't eat from the tree,' 24:57 "look at these animals. They'd eat from it. 24:59 Their passions say, 'Do that.' Didn't God also make them?" 25:03 Yeah, but human beings stand apart from the animals. 25:05 They get to operate by instinct. 25:07 They don't have to plan for the future. They don't have 25:09 to operate within the confines of God's moral law. 25:11 God says, "Yeah, you also get to operate by passion." 25:15 And I'm glad because, you know, I'd probably starve to death 25:18 and never have children if passion wasn't a part 25:20 of who I am. 25:21 But God expects human beings to temper it with what He said. 25:25 We don't operate on our gut. 25:28 We don't operate just on our reason, 25:29 just on our gathered data through our senses. 25:32 God says, "Don't eat from that tree. 25:35 My word trumps your passions." 25:37 There is nothing wrong with an animal eating from that. 25:39 It wasn't poisonous. 25:41 God is setting the table, saying, "You're not an animal." 25:44 Now, look at the world we live in today. 25:45 That suddenly makes a lot of sense. 25:46 What do we do? We're entirely driven by passion. 25:49 "I am what I feel like I am." No, you're not. 25:52 You are what God says you are. You were made in His image. 25:56 "My gut tells me to do this, and I find my own truth. 25:59 I have my own narrative"-- the postmodern anthem. 26:02 No, you don't. No, you don't. 26:04 Your reason is important, but it needs to be tempered 26:07 by what God has revealed, 26:08 and you build your experience of this world on what He has said. 26:13 That issue has not only not changed; 26:16 it's become more obvious as we get down 26:18 into the 21st century. 26:19 We're driven entirely by our passions. 26:21 >>Eric: And we're seeing the results of that. 26:23 And it's frightening, to say the very least. 26:27 We don't have much time at all. >>Shawn: No, we don't. 26:29 >>Eric: But touch very quickly on this idea 26:32 of we look for things new and exciting and so forth, 26:35 but how do we stay excited 26:37 without abandoning what's tried and true? 26:40 >>Shawn: Yeah, and we only have seconds, 26:42 but some people might remember "The Bible Code." 26:44 You know, the book came out-- 26:45 hey, equidistant lettering, and they're digging in, 26:48 like, "If you just take every 13th letter, 26:50 you get a special message from God"-- 26:52 except that you can do that with "Moby Dick." 26:54 Somebody ran that book through a computer, 26:56 and it also generated results. 26:58 There's plenty in here that is new and exciting 27:01 if you get a good foundation first. 27:03 Get the good foundation. 27:04 Then what's new and exciting agrees with what is old. 27:07 If you're after just what is novel and exciting, 27:10 trying to turn heads, 27:12 then you're not much better than the addict 27:14 who needs something new and exciting every day 27:16 to get, you know, the serotonin and the-- 27:19 and all the other hormones spiking. 27:21 No, no, stick with what is tried and true, and there's plenty. 27:25 You will not finish, I promise you, 27:27 You will not finish exploring who God is. 27:29 >>Eric: Shawn, thank you for helping lead us 27:31 through today's lesson, and thank you for joining us. 27:33 We look forward to seeing you again as we continue 27:35 this journey through how to understand and study 27:38 the prophecies of the Bible next time we come together 27:41 here on "Sabbath School," brought to you by It Is Written. 27:44 [uplifting music] 28:24 [uplifting music] 28:26 [Captions provided by Aberdeen Captioning www.abercap.com] |
Revised 2025-04-03