Participants:
Series Code: IIWSS
Program Code: IIWSS025016S
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00:00 [inspiring music]
00:12 [inspiring music] 00:14 >>Eric Flickinger: Welcome to "Sabbath School," 00:16 brought to you by It Is Written. 00:18 Glad that you are with us today, and we are going to continue 00:21 our study of how to study Bible prophecy, 00:24 how can we make sense of Bible prophecy 00:27 in an authentic, a genuine, and accurate way. 00:31 That's what we are digging into in this week, lesson number 3. 00:34 We are looking at "Images From Marriage," 00:36 what role do the images from marriage play 00:38 in us rightly understanding the prophecies of the Bible. 00:41 Let's begin with prayer. 00:43 Father, thank You for bringing us together again, 00:45 and we ask that You will bless us once again, 00:47 as You have in the past, with a deeper understanding 00:50 of Your Word and Your character 00:53 as we study through the pages of Scripture. 00:55 We thank You for hearing and answering our prayer today. 00:57 In Jesus' name, amen. 01:00 We're grateful once again to have with us the author 01:02 of this quarter's "Sabbath School" lesson, 01:03 Pastor Shawn Boonstra, Shawn, welcome back once again. 01:07 >>Shawn Boonstra: Hey, thanks for having me back. 01:08 >>Eric: So this is an exciting week. 01:10 We're looking at "Images From Marriage," 01:12 and throughout the Bible you see these images 01:14 of marriage, and we want to see how they can help us 01:16 better understand the prophecies of the Bible. 01:19 So the metaphor of marriage in Bible prophecy-- 01:23 we look at marriage today, and it's not what God 01:27 originally intended for it to be. 01:29 In fact, it's very different. 01:31 One might use the word "degraded" 01:34 from the original intent. What do we make of this? 01:39 >>Shawn: Yeah, I think that what's going on 01:42 with marriage is by design. 01:44 I'm not going to pretend that life was easier 01:46 in the '50s and people didn't have messed-up marriages 01:49 in the '30s, '40s, and '50s. 01:51 As a pastor, I've heard too many stories to believe that. 01:53 However, there does seem to be a consistent deterioration, 01:58 and that should concern us because it's one 02:00 of the biggest object lessons God has to help us understand 02:03 His relationship to us, 02:04 and the very consummation of history is a marriage. 02:08 It's the wedding supper of the Lamb. 02:09 It's the New Jerusalem coming down from heaven 02:11 as a bride. 02:12 And if we get removed from the experience of marriage 02:16 as God designed, we're going to have a hard time 02:18 wrapping our minds around what God's intent is 02:21 for us in the long haul or even in the short haul. 02:25 I find it interesting. You know, last week we were talking 02:28 about Genesis as the foundation of all things. 02:30 Marriage shows up for the first time there. 02:32 It opens the Bible. It also closes the Bible. 02:35 You'll find that a lot. 02:36 Revelation is anchored in Genesis. 02:38 It's also anchored in Daniel and Ezekiel and Jeremiah, 02:41 but Genesis is a big one. 02:43 And there are two gifts that come out of Eden, two, right? 02:47 We've got the Sabbath. That shows up right away. 02:49 That's under attack. That's been under attack 02:51 in the Western world for a long time. 02:53 Even Christians are saying, "Fourth commandment? 02:55 "I'm good with nine. 02:56 I don't know about that fourth one." 02:58 And they actually call it a curse and a burden 03:03 and an obligation, and I'm convinced in that case 03:06 you just don't understand what it is. 03:08 It's like, I'm not trying to earn anything on the Sabbath. 03:11 I'm not trying to earn my salvation, 03:12 get brownie points with God. It's the opposite. 03:14 I stop doing, and I'm just God's child that day. 03:17 That's pretty nice. That's one gift. 03:19 The other one was marriage, right? 03:23 Male and female, He created them in His image. 03:27 There is more in that sentence in Scripture than we could 03:32 possibly unpack in today's show. 03:35 But I think the fallen angels have gone after marriage 03:40 very deliberately because it's going to obscure 03:43 the nature of our relationship with God every bit as much 03:46 as obscuring the Sabbath takes something away 03:48 from our understanding. 03:50 >>Eric: So we've distorted this institution of marriage 03:53 in the 21st century. 03:54 You've touched on some of the challenges that we face. 03:57 How else does that manifest itself 03:59 in our misunderstanding of God and who He is 04:02 and His desire for our lives? 04:05 >>Shawn: We've already touched on the idea that marriage 04:07 is in trouble. 04:09 The good news is that divorce rates in America 04:11 are actually dropping. 04:13 At least that looks like good news 04:15 until you realize not as many people are getting married. 04:17 And so the marriage rate is down, so, 04:19 naturally, the divorce rate is down. 04:22 Marriage has gotten to the point where a lot of young men, 04:26 in particular, as I hear for them, don't see the point. 04:28 "Why would I get married? There's nothing there for me." 04:30 And women doing the same thing, and I think what happens there-- 04:35 we know statistically, for example-- 04:37 and listen carefully. 04:38 If you're in this boat, I do want you to hear me. 04:42 I'm not condemning choices you've made. 04:44 I just want to point out that God actually has something 04:47 a little bit better. 04:49 People who live together first have a higher divorce rate 04:52 than people who don't, people who do it God's way 04:56 and confine intimacy into the bonds 04:59 of that permanent relationship, 05:01 and "permanent" is the operative word here. 05:04 In marriage, there's a seal. It's finished. 05:07 When Gina and I got married we said, "No matter what comes-- 05:10 "look, life is hard-- it doesn't matter what comes; 05:13 "divorce never ends up on the table. 05:14 It doesn't matter if that day--" and Gina and I fight. 05:17 We're pretty good at it. Everybody does. 05:21 If you're a young couple and you think that your marriage 05:23 is in trouble 'cause you argue with your spouse, 05:25 welcome to the club. 05:26 I've been arguing with my spouse for 30 years. 05:28 I'm just better at it than you are. 05:29 That's--you know, you learn how to do it. 05:32 But here you learn how two different personalities 05:35 can live with each other and honor the other above self. 05:38 That says something about God. It's the permanence. 05:41 When God makes a covenant, He doesn't change His mind. 05:43 "I will send my Son. He will give His life for the world. 05:47 "I will take this planet back. Jesus will be King. 05:49 You will be coheirs with Him." That's all bankable, right? 05:53 "Write these words, for they are true and faithful," 05:55 God says in Revelation 21. 05:57 He doesn't break His covenants. We break them all the time. 06:01 A good marriage has no backdoor. 06:03 When you shack up first, you leave the backdoor open. 06:06 "I can always leave if this doesn't play out." 06:10 You'll never learn what God is like 06:11 if the backdoor is hanging open. 06:13 It's a permanent, permanent commitment, 06:16 and everything seems to be stacked against marriages. 06:19 I think it's by design. 06:21 Hollywood's stacked against your marriage. 06:24 Popular culture's stacked against your marriage. 06:26 The rock 'n' roll industry, trust me, 06:28 stacked against your marriage. 06:30 Unfortunately, I was raised on some of that, 06:33 and that messaging is horrible. 06:35 There's a reason that so many people struggle. 06:38 Somebody's trying to undermine this institution. 06:40 Even something as seemingly innocent 06:42 as the rom-com is against your marriage. 06:45 What's the rom-com? Guy meets girl. 06:47 They're an odd match. They learn to get along. 06:49 One of them has a secret. The secret gets betrayed. 06:52 Now they're mad at each other, it almost breaks up, 06:54 and then he realizes, "I can't live without you." 06:56 He goes to the airport in a taxi, 06:58 has to run the last 20 blocks 'cause there's traffic, 07:00 gets to the gate, closing scene, a marriage, credits roll. 07:05 Like, the wedding is the end of the story. 07:08 It's not, and that's where you're being lied to. 07:11 The wedding is the beginning of the story. 07:14 Eden is the beginning of the story. 07:15 Eternity with Christ will be the beginning of the story. 07:18 I know we say it's the consummation of history. 07:21 I think when we arrive and the heavenly groom 07:23 takes his bride, that's the beginning of the story. 07:25 That's not where the credits roll. 07:26 That's where the opening credits roll. 07:29 Anyway, I could go on for days, but marriage is under attack, 07:33 and I think it's by design. You're being 07:34 cheated of something. 07:35 >>Eric: So God desired for it to be something 07:38 that we experience, and through that experience 07:41 we get to know Him better. 07:43 We recognize that in the world we live in today, 07:46 it's been this way for a long, long time; divorce is a reality. 07:48 If people bother to get married, to begin with, 07:52 then you've got to deal with divorce. 07:54 And the Bible does permit divorce in certain situations. 07:59 What can we learn about our relationship with God 08:01 through the idea of divorce? 08:05 >>Shawn: Right. 08:06 Here's what's fascinating. It's a bit lopsided. 08:11 The marriage with God is not--is a lot like 08:14 our human relationships, and then again it's not. 08:17 In a human relationship-- my wife and I, 08:20 we got two sinners in one house, and everybody's wrong, 08:22 and everybody's right, and in God's case, 08:25 you're married to Somebody who's never wrong. 08:28 He's never wrong, and He's never the one 08:29 who backs out of His commitment. 08:31 Nothing can remove you, the book of Romans says, 08:33 from the love of God, but God allows us to walk. 08:38 He allows us to walk. 08:40 Divorce was permitted. This is in Matthew, chapter 19. 08:43 They're trying to trick Jesus. 08:45 This is verse 7: "They said to Him, 08:46 "'Why then did Moses command one 08:48 to give a certificate of divorce and...send her away?'" 08:50 In other words, "Moses is your prophet, 08:53 and he allowed a divorce." 08:56 "He said to them, 'Because of [the] hardness 08:58 of [your] heart Moses allowed you'"-- 09:00 He's pointing out that when it fails, 09:03 that's because of who we are as sinners. 09:06 And, again, if your marriage failed, 09:09 I'm not trying to throw a heavy on you. 09:11 You've been through enough. 09:14 But I think we all can realize 09:15 that it happens because we're all sinners. 09:17 There are very few innocent parties, 09:18 completely innocent parties, in a failed marriage. 09:22 It's the reality. 09:24 And when we become disassociated with God's Word, 09:27 it becomes all that much harder to do it. 09:29 In that case, Jesus said sexual immorality 09:32 is one of those cases. 09:34 Now, here's where we can learn by a contrast. 09:37 If your spouse is unfaithful, God says you have the right-- 09:40 they broke the covenant, the covenant is finished-- 09:42 you have the right to move on guilt-free. 09:45 What's fascinating to me is God doesn't move on 09:47 from that point. Jeremiah says we are prostitutes. 09:50 We've gone out and slept around 09:52 with every other god under the face of the earth. 09:54 The book of Hosea, his wife goes out, 09:56 deliberately unfaithful, and he goes down 09:58 to the auction block and buys her back-- 10:00 not as a slave-- she's for sale as a slave-- 10:03 takes her in as his spouse again. 10:06 There we can learn from the contrast. 10:08 We've been the unfaithful parties. 10:09 God will take us back anyway at this stage. 10:11 One day He'll say, "That's enough. 10:13 You've made up your mind for good." 10:16 But right now, I know I've been unfaithful to You. 10:18 I could point to three things last week for sure, 10:20 probably every day, that I did and were like, 10:22 "Oh, that wasn't entirely in the will of God." 10:24 But God doesn't break the marriage covenant 10:26 He has with us, ever. 10:29 >>Eric: So God keeps His end of the deal. 10:32 >>Shawn: Yeah, He does. >>Eric: But it's up to us 10:34 if we want to uphold our end. 10:37 There's an interesting passage that you spend some time 10:39 digging into here in this week's lesson. 10:41 That's Ezekiel 16. Walk us through Ezekiel 16. 10:44 >>Shawn: This one's an eye-opener. Just in case-- 10:47 you know, we talk a lot about the remnant church. 10:50 It's a big, big theme in Bible prophecy, 10:55 and sometimes we get a little puffed up: 10:57 "Wow, I'm one of the chosen." 10:59 It's like--well, Ezekiel 16 reminds us 11:03 of who we were and how we ended up 11:05 as the bride of Christ. 11:07 This is Ezekiel 16, verse 4. 11:10 God reminds us where He found us: 11:12 "As for your birth, on the day you were born 11:15 your cord was not cut"-- 11:17 in other words, nobody cared about you; 11:19 no, nobody even cut your umbilical cord-- 11:22 "nor were you washed with water to cleanse you, 11:24 "nor rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in swaddling [clothes]. 11:26 "No eye pitied you, to do any of [those] things... 11:28 "out of compassion for you, but you were cast out 11:30 "[in] the open field, for you were abhorred, 11:32 on the day...you were born." 11:34 That was pagan birth control. 11:36 The Romans were famous for this. "Well, I didn't want a baby." 11:38 Stick it on a rock and let the sun get it 11:40 or the coyotes or--no coyotes in Italy, I don't think-- 11:42 but the wolves get it, that kind of thing. 11:45 God says, "I found you in that condition. 11:46 Nobody wanted you, but I loved you." 11:50 "Your renown went forth among the nations 11:52 because of your beauty," down in verse 14. 11:54 Once God takes us in, it's different. 11:56 But we become beautiful not because we were naturally so; 12:00 we become beautiful because God says, 12:02 "That baby, that's mine." 12:05 And then when she grows up, she's real pretty, 12:08 and we become the bride of Christ. 12:12 But then the story turns the-- then it talks about 12:15 how we cheated on God and how we destroyed 12:17 that marriage covenant, but what I'm especially drawn to 12:20 in this story is, like, God took me when I was nobody. 12:25 "Your origin and your birth are ...the land of the Canaanites; 12:27 your father was an Amorite... your mother a Hittite." 12:29 Those aren't compliments. Those aren't compliments. 12:32 God says, "I took you"-- what does it say in Deuteronomy? 12:35 "You were the least among all nations. 12:38 "And I found you. You were messed up. 12:40 "I took you home, and I cleaned you up, 12:42 and you are mine." 12:44 That gives me great hope. That's the nature 12:45 of God's relationship with me. He knew how filthy I was. 12:48 He knew that I was unwanted in this universe, and He says, 12:51 "Now you belong to me." 12:54 I just hit my mic on live TV. I hope you heard that. 12:57 >>Eric: [laughs] So marriage is a powerful illustration 13:00 that God uses to help us to understand our relationship 13:04 with Him, the relationship that He wants to have with us 13:06 and us with Him. 13:08 The study guide is thin. >>Shawn: Yeah, it is. 13:11 >>Eric: And in here-- again, in marriage 13:13 you're touching on things here, 13:14 but there's more in the companion book. 13:16 What else would we find in the companion book 13:18 that would deepen our understanding of this subject? 13:21 >>Shawn: A few more anecdotes, 13:23 you'll see how this plays out in my own life, 13:27 and a few of the thoughts that couldn't make it 13:28 into the quarterly, and some, maybe, prompts 13:31 to help you examine your marriage and what 13:33 that might teach you about God. 13:35 >>Eric: So if that sounds like something 13:36 you might like to pick up, I would encourage you to do so. 13:39 You can find the companion book 13:41 to this quarter's "Sabbath School" lesson 13:42 at itiswritten.shop. 13:44 Again, itiswritten.shop. 13:47 We're going to come back in just a moment and continue 13:48 looking at some of these images of marriage that help us 13:51 understand how to study the prophecies of the Bible. 13:54 We'll be right back here again on "Sabbath School," 13:56 brought to you by It Is Written. 13:58 [inspiring music] 14:03 >>John Bradshaw: Captive in a foreign land, 14:05 faithful to the God of heaven, four young men find themselves 14:10 facing death through no fault of their own. 14:13 What they did in the face of crisis 14:15 not only demonstrated bravery but revealed the faithfulness 14:19 of the God who is with you in times of need. 14:23 Join me as we look at Daniel, chapter 2 14:25 in our continuing series on the book of Daniel. 14:29 "Unfolding the Future" reveals the master key 14:32 to Bible prophecy, the great prophecy 14:35 on which Daniel and the book of Revelation stand. 14:39 Understanding this powerful chapter 14:41 opens up a treasury of prophetic wisdom and insight 14:45 as God reveals in great detail 14:47 major developments on Planet Earth 14:49 over the next 2,500 years and beyond. 14:53 Don't miss "Unfolding the Future," 14:56 Daniel, chapter 2, 14:58 brought to you by It Is Written TV. 15:03 [inspiring music] 15:07 >>Eric: Welcome back to "Sabbath School," 15:08 brought to you by It Is Written. 15:10 We're looking at images of marriage that help us 15:12 understand how to study the prophecies of the Bible. 15:16 On Monday, Shawn, you talk about wayward Israel 15:21 and the connection with Lucifer and so forth. 15:26 Walk us through this. 15:27 >>Shawn: All right. It's fascinating. 15:30 I mean, we're in Ezekiel, and so we're going to operate 15:33 inside the same book. In Ezekiel 16, 15:35 we see God finding His bride. 15:37 She's abandoned. He raises her. 15:39 He makes her beautiful. He marries her. 15:42 But then she falls in love with her beauty. 15:43 Here it is in verse 15: 15:46 "You trusted in your beauty." 15:47 God is now saying, "Here's where you went wrong, Israel." 15:50 "You trusted in your beauty and played the whore 15:54 "because of your renown and lavished your whorings 15:56 on any passerby; your beauty became his." 15:59 In other words, Israel started to fall in love with herself. 16:01 "Wow, we are the privileged people. 16:03 "Look at us. Our crops do well. 16:05 "We've got-- we're at the crossroads 16:07 of the world; everybody passes through here." 16:09 And they stop paying attention to the fact that God 16:12 put them there for a purpose, 16:13 to convey the message of the gospel. 16:15 There's a reason they're in the crossroads of the world, 16:17 and there's a reason that they prosper so well. 16:20 And they fall in love with themselves. 16:21 Why? They trust in their own beauty. 16:23 And wouldn't you know it, 12 chapters later 16:26 in the book of Ezekiel we find the same problem described, 16:31 but this time it's Lucifer. 16:33 "You were in Eden"-- this is Ezekiel 28, verse 13-- 16:37 "the garden of God; every precious stone 16:39 was your covering." He's beautiful. 16:42 "You were [the] anointed"-- verse 14--"guardian cherub. 16:45 I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God." 16:47 Verse 15: "You were blameless in your ways from the day 16:51 "you were created, till unrighteousness 16:52 was found in you." 16:54 So, perfectly beautiful 16:57 because of his association with God--he's the covering cherub. 17:00 He's right next to the throne of God. 17:02 The cherub--and we'll look at this in the coming lesson-- 17:04 the cherub's job is to reflect the glory of God 17:06 to the universe. They're like the marketing agency 17:09 for the throne of God-- look how great God is. 17:12 Verse 17: "Your heart was proud because of your beauty; 17:17 you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor." 17:21 Israel was doing exactly the same thing 17:24 that Lucifer did in the beginning. 17:27 It was pride, right? 17:28 He catches a reflection of himself, and it's like, 17:30 "Ah, man, am I ever good-looking!" 17:33 And there's nothing quite as ugly as somebody 17:35 who's in love with themselves, right? 17:37 You know, I had a good friend in college 17:39 wanted to meet this girl. 17:40 He was desperate to meet her, and he was trying to figure out 17:43 a way to talk to her, and you know how nerve-racking 17:45 that can be for you guys, like, 17:47 just working up the courage. And he thought, 17:49 "I know which way she goes to class every morning. 17:50 "I'll stand in the path. She'll have to stop 17:52 right in front of me." It worked like a charm. 17:54 She stopped, and now he can't think of something smart to say, 17:57 and he just says, "You're the prettiest girl I've ever seen." 18:02 And she said, "I know it." And [laughs] he said, 18:05 "You know, she didn't seem so beautiful after that." 18:07 Pride is hideous. 18:09 Now, you transport that to some of the major themes 18:12 you find in the book of Revelation. 18:14 You get to chapters 17 and 18 and there's a harlot, 18:19 and what's fascinating to me-- and we may touch on this 18:21 in other weeks; it's for sure 18:23 in the quarterly and in the companion book. 18:27 We often look, in this day and age, 18:28 all over the place. Who is the antichrist? 18:30 We play pin-the-tail on the antichrist. 18:32 "It's going to be some dictator in Europe. 18:35 It's going to be this. It's going to be a Muslim imam." 18:37 And we're always looking to the outside. 18:39 That's not the message here. 18:41 The church in the New Testament era 18:43 repeats the mistakes that Israel made in the past. 18:46 And when you find a harlot in the book of Revelation, 18:50 it's the same problem we found in Ezekiel. 18:52 It's the same problem you find in Jeremiah. 18:54 It's God's people falling in love with themselves 18:57 and assuming that they are the reason 19:00 they are who they are, and it's described as harlotry, 19:04 and it's following in the footsteps 19:06 of the dragon, who gives the final beast its throne 19:09 and its authority. 19:11 It's inspired by the one who fell in love 19:12 with his beauty first. 19:14 >>Eric: So we end up--well, the greater Christian world 19:17 ends up looking outside. >>Shawn: Always. 19:19 >>Eric: God's saying, "No, no, no. I'm trying to tell you, 19:21 look inside. It's coming from inside." 19:24 >>Shawn: This book-- I know what we're like. 19:27 We like to hold this book up in church, and we like to look 19:30 and like I could check out Eric compared to what this is-- 19:33 I'll find stuff. And you could do the same thing. 19:35 You'll find stuff where I don't line up with this, 19:38 and that's a misuse of the book. 19:40 Does it describe general trends in the world? Yes, it does. 19:43 But the primary problem in the Bible is not an outsider. 19:47 It's us. It's us. 19:49 It's telling us what we're doing wrong. 19:51 It's addressed to God's people. 19:53 >>Eric: Very good, important for us to understand that. 19:55 On Tuesday you talk about Revelation being anchored 19:58 in the stories of the Old Testament. 19:59 These are some examples of that. 20:01 Just--we end up looking in the wrong places sometimes. 20:06 Wednesday, you mention-- rather interesting 20:08 that Abraham's servant went to find a distant relative 20:11 as a suitable wife. 20:13 That doesn't make a whole lot of sense to us-- 20:16 >>Shawn: No, no. >>Eric: ...but God had a reason. 20:18 >>Shawn: Yeah, my number one problem 20:19 with that story is, like, I don't really want someone 20:21 going out and picking a wife for me. 20:23 I'm really happy I was born in the 20th century 20:26 and got to pick my own. 20:29 But it is a relative. 20:31 Abraham's in a strange land, in a strange place 20:34 with pagan cultures. "Pagan" is a much later word. 20:36 I'm just using it as a catch-all, but-- 20:39 and he needs somebody from within the same family, 20:43 and they go to a distant relative. 20:46 Now, think about God's relationship to us. 20:48 What are we to God? 20:49 Made in His image, but that's been corrupted. 20:52 And we handed the keys to this planet to a fallen angel. 20:55 "Okay, we have dominion over this place, but here you go. 20:57 "Here are the keys. You run the show. 21:00 We'll listen to you from now on." 21:02 God is our-- still our distant relative. 21:05 It has not been entirely removed from us, the image of God. 21:09 And so our spouse, Christ, you know, He's looking 21:13 for a bride. He's going to relatives. 21:15 And not only that, Jesus actually--quite literally, 21:18 the second person of the Godhead-- 21:20 becomes one of us, identifies so closely 21:23 that He actually becomes fully human 21:24 while remaining fully God. 21:27 We are saved by a relative. 21:30 You'll find Boaz appearing in this week's lesson as well, 21:33 also a relative, that saves Ruth by the end of the story. 21:39 It's a reminder of the one who is saving us 21:43 is not some distant alien from a planet 21:45 that can't identify with us. 21:47 We're made in His image. 21:48 We are a relative, and He's saving a relative. 21:51 >>Eric: We have so little time and so much to cover. 21:54 It's the struggle we always face. 21:56 On Thursday you talk about this concept, 21:58 this balance that we try to find, 22:01 or need to find, between God's love and mercy. 22:03 In fact, we just spent an entire quarter 22:05 looking at that, last quarter-- >>Shawn: Yeah, that's right. 22:06 >>Eric: ...13 weeks of that. 22:08 But maybe God wants us to understand this better 22:11 if we're seeing it again this quarter. 22:13 Perhaps He wants to catch our attention. 22:14 >>Shawn: It wasn't coordinated. 22:16 >>Eric: God's love and justice, how can we--how is it 22:20 that God can be consistent being a God of love 22:24 and also punishing the wicked? What does that look like? 22:26 >>Shawn: Yeah, and, again, we got to unpack that 22:28 in about 5 minutes, which isn't going to do it justice, 22:31 but maybe I'll give you something to study. 22:33 Go back to your Bible and see if this is so. Be a Berean. 22:37 Real love does not permit suffering to endure forever. 22:44 Horrible illustration, maybe, 22:47 but they read us "Old Yeller" in third grade, right? 22:52 "Old Yeller." And like every other 8-year-old in the class-- 22:56 "It's awful dusty in here"-- we wouldn't admit 22:58 we were crying by the end of that 22:59 when they have to shoot Old Yeller. 23:00 Why do they have to shoot Old Yeller? 23:02 He's rabid. He's dangerous. 23:05 There's no hope of a cure. 23:07 And what are you going to do? Let him loose in the farmyard 23:09 to bite the other animals and the children? 23:11 And eventually the owner has to step up to the plate 23:14 and put that dog down because there's no future for it. 23:17 And this is a much bigger subject 23:20 than we can tackle responsibly, but some people hate the idea 23:24 that God pun--I've seen people say, "No, no, no. 23:26 God just steps out of the way, and we reap the consequences 23:30 of our"--well, is there a moral difference 23:33 between me pushing you off the tracks to save you 23:37 from the oncoming train, or me just saying nothing, 23:40 knowing the train is coming? What's the moral difference? 23:43 There isn't one. 23:44 I think it raises my respect for God that, even though 23:48 He is not responsible for the problem, He is not 23:50 the author of sin, at the end of the day He says, 23:53 "I am so involved with you, so identified with you, 23:56 I will step up to the plate and do the hard thing here." 23:59 I think it's in Isaiah 28. I could be wrong. 24:02 Somewhere it is written God says, "I'm going to hide 24:05 all of you for a moment while I have to do the hard thing." 24:09 And so with tears in His eyes, He brings an end to it, 24:12 and it's fascinating to me that in the end, 24:15 God raises the wicked in prophecy 24:18 for just half a moment because we've just gone through 24:22 the books, and I know what I'm like. 24:23 "Okay, you know, my best friend Steve isn't here. 24:29 Lord, maybe You made a mistake," just this lingering doubt, 24:31 and God says, "Let me show you something," 24:34 raises the dead, and they're still following Lucifer, 24:36 they're still storming the city, and it's like I'll have a chance 24:39 to say, "All right, enough. 24:41 "I get it, I get it. There is no other option 24:44 but for You to do this." 24:46 So God has mercy. 24:49 Praise the Lord that He does because we all deserve 24:51 to be on the outside of the city. 24:53 We all deserve to be in the second resurrection. 24:56 But He loves us. God so loved the world. 24:58 "I can't lose my near relative. I can't lose you. Here's a door. 25:03 "Here's a way back for you with Christ, who is now 25:05 "the new head of the human race. 25:07 "You can be in Adam, or you can be in Christ. 25:09 "But if you're in Adam, am I supposed 25:11 to let this go on forever?" 25:13 Right? In Genesis, we find that foundation there. 25:16 "Don't let them eat from the tree, 25:17 or they'll live forever." 25:19 He's not scared of competition. We're not competition for God. 25:23 No, imagine the wickedness we'd get up to 25:26 with a 1,000-year lifespan or 5,000-year lifespan 25:29 or a 10,000-year lifespan. 25:32 We do enough damage in 80 years. God says, "Enough. 25:35 I can't handle the suffering," and He's the one 25:37 who blows the whistle. His justice is mercy. 25:41 You want to live without God, forever outside of His presence? 25:44 No, His justice is His mercy, and that is a subject 25:49 we could spend an entire quarter on, and you just did. 25:52 >>Eric: Yeah, it was a fanta-- very timely, very timely, 25:54 and here we are revisiting it again right now. 25:57 Shawn, let's say that there's somebody out here 25:59 watching this program right now who is struggling. 26:02 They're struggling to see-- to understand God's love. 26:08 What would you tell them about God's love 26:11 that would give them some encouragement, 26:13 some hope as they're facing some struggles right now? 26:17 >>Shawn: The Bible says, if you take a look 26:19 at Romans 5 and verse 8, that "while we were yet sinners, 26:22 Christ died for us." 26:24 And I know that you've got this instinct 26:26 to get yourself ready to meet God. 26:28 "If I just dust off my resume, He will love me. 26:31 If I were just more impressive, He would love me." 26:33 Let me assure you God is not after 26:36 your intellectual abilities. 26:37 He is not after your eloquence. He's not after your good looks. 26:41 He's not after any of that. He already knows what you are. 26:43 "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." 26:47 He didn't wait for you to get good enough to save. 26:50 Here's the fact. He just--He loves you, 26:53 kind of like you love your kids. 26:54 Your kids could write on the sofa 26:57 with a permanent marker, and you'll be a little upset 27:00 with what happened. It's not supposed to be that way. 27:02 You'll teach your child that's not the way 27:04 you handle a marker, but you never stop loving them. 27:07 If you're waiting to be good enough to love, relax. 27:10 It's done. He loves you. 27:13 He died while you were yet a sinner. It's handled. 27:17 "But I'm not good enough." No, that's the whole point. 27:19 You're not. You can just take that one to the bank now. 27:22 Just relax in the fact that you're not good enough. 27:24 You aren't. Jesus is good enough, 27:26 and He says, "I got you covered. "I've got you covered. 27:28 "I love you because you are my relative, 27:32 and I can't think of the kingdom without you." 27:34 >>Eric: Shawn, thanks for giving us some encouragement 27:36 and some hope today. We're glad you're here. 27:37 >>Shawn: Thanks for having me. 27:39 >>Eric: And thank you for joining us as well. 27:40 We're going to continue looking at how to study 27:42 the prophecies of the Bible when we come back again 27:45 next week, and we're going to learn more 27:47 about God's character and His love for us as we do. 27:51 We look forward to seeing you again next time 27:52 here on "Sabbath School," brought to you by It Is Written. 27:56 [inspiring music] 28:23 [inspiring music] 28:26 [Captions provided by Aberdeen Captioning www.abercap.com] |
Revised 2025-04-09