Participants:
Series Code: IIWSS
Program Code: IIWSS025020S
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00:00 [uplifting music]
00:10 ♪♪♪ 00:14 >>Eric Flickinger: Welcome to "Sabbath School," 00:15 brought to you by It Is Written. 00:17 We're glad that you are here today. 00:19 We are taking a look at how to study Bible prophecy 00:22 and this week, "The Foundations of Prophecy." 00:25 What is prophecy founded upon? 00:29 That's where we're going to go today, but not without prayer. 00:32 So let's begin there. 00:33 Father, thank You for being with us today 00:35 and through our journey so far. 00:37 We anticipate that You're going to bless us once again 00:39 as we look today at the foundations of prophecy. 00:42 We thank You, in Jesus' name, amen. 00:44 >>Shawn Boonstra: Amen. 00:45 >>Eric: And here to guide us through our study 00:47 is the author of this quarter's "Sabbath School" study, 00:50 Pastor Shawn Boonstra. 00:51 >>Shawn: Either guide you or leave you more confused 00:53 than when you first arrived. 00:55 >>Eric: One of the two, but we will be on a journey. 00:56 There's no question about that. No question. [Shawn laughs] 00:58 >>Shawn: Last week we barely got through 01:00 the first week's--day's lesson. 01:02 >>Eric: We didn't, but we covered some significant ground. 01:04 >>Shawn: It was really foundational. 01:06 >>Eric: Very significant. So, 01:07 this week, "The Foundations of Prophecy." 01:09 So last week we were kind of-- at least the quarterly 01:12 was going through Revelation 4, Revelation 5. 01:14 We touched on it a little bit. 01:16 Why two weeks on this section of the Bible? 01:20 >>Shawn: Well, okay, a couple of reasons. 01:22 Number one, the atonement clearly is very central. 01:26 Without the atonement, there is no plan of salvation. 01:29 Without the plan of salvation, there is no prophecy. 01:31 And at the end of the day, prophecy is about God 01:33 achieving His promises or keeping them. 01:37 And that involves the cross. But then Revelation 4 and 5, 01:40 everybody's got favorite passages of the Bible. 01:42 This is one of those ones that brings me back 01:44 over and over and over and over again. And I could probably-- 01:48 we could probably take the entire half-hour 01:50 with what I think is happening in Revelation 4 and 5 01:52 and what day it happens, 01:54 but that might be for another show. 01:56 Maybe we'll come back to it, I don't know, 01:58 but it's content rich; 01:59 4 and 5 are one of those sections in Revelation if you-- 02:03 when I'm teaching prophecy publicly, I say that night 02:06 that we're gonna do 4 and 5, 02:08 "If you don't get this, you'll never get the rest." 02:10 This is that important. This is that important. 02:14 >>Eric: So we're spending some time in here and looking at, 02:18 well, looking at justification and sanctification. 02:21 That's kind of where we want to sink our teeth into right now. 02:25 Is there a paradox between justification 02:28 and sanctification, or is there an apparent paradox? 02:31 How does this work? >>Shawn: Yeah, there is. 02:33 There is a bit of a--you know, this is why 02:35 you've got to build your reason 02:37 and your empirical observations on what the Word of God says, 02:40 or you're going to go astray. 02:42 And last week we touched on this idea 02:44 that sometimes we want to downplay sin 02:46 when we begin to realize how awful it really is 02:49 and why it requires our removal from God's perfect 02:51 and loving universe. 02:53 And then there's this idea you said last week-- 02:58 look, you come to Christ, and He forgives you, 03:01 and He cleanses you from all unrighteousness. 03:03 That's the beginning of the story. 03:04 From there on in, I like the way one preacher described it: 03:08 If you're walking with Christ consistently, 03:12 then you begin to hate the things you used to love 03:14 and love the things you used to hate. 03:16 And I know that from experience. 03:18 I was--I'm still a recovering heathen. 03:21 There's still things that I wish didn't still pop into my mind. 03:24 I'm still in recovery. 03:25 But I did notice certain things disappear. 03:28 And I don't want to disappoint people. 03:29 But, you know, for example, man, at one point in my life-- 03:34 I want to put this gingerly-- 03:35 and if you're young people watching, 03:36 don't think you'll get away with this. 03:37 There's no such thing as getting away with anything. 03:39 But I used to cuss like a sailor. 03:41 And then one day, I noticed I'm not doing that anymore. 03:45 Not that I've achieved anything, it just disappeared. 03:48 Not because I tried to make it go away, 03:50 but because in a relationship with Christ, 03:52 He's like, "Yeah, clean it up." So here's the paradox. 03:55 There's a tendency in some corners of Christianity: 03:57 "I gotta focus on me. 03:59 And I gotta get all the sin out of my life." 04:01 Now, does God want sin out of your--of course, 04:04 what kind of loving God would want it to stay there? 04:07 But we can become obsessive about it. 04:09 And here's the problem with it. 04:11 The closer you get to Christ, the worse your sin seems. 04:15 I always say I'm not worried about the ones 04:18 who are under conviction when I'm holding a public meeting. 04:21 They're writhing in their-- in agony, or they're mad at me. 04:24 I could live with that. 04:25 That's born of conviction. There's something going on. 04:27 It's the apathetic that worry me. They don't care. 04:31 So, as you're coming to-- 04:33 the story I put in the quarterly is this. 04:35 I was a member of a church, and we were going to renovate 04:38 the basement, and we were so excited. 04:39 It looked awful down there. 04:41 The first thing we did was put in new lights. 04:43 Oh, this is going to look so great. 04:44 Put in brand-new lights, and we went down there, 04:46 and we're really eager, we flick them on, 04:48 and now the basement looks worse than it ever did. 04:51 Why? Because we can see every flaw. 04:54 And the closer you get to Christ, 04:56 the more obvious your flaws are going to get. 04:59 I'm 30-some years into a Christian experience, 05:02 and from where I sit, I look worse today 05:05 than I did 35 years ago. I just seem worse. 05:09 To the outside observer, it's like, "Oh, you go to church, 05:11 and, you know, you have a family, and"-- 05:13 yeah, but I know me. 05:15 Focusing on self is a futile pursuit. 05:19 And when I see people saying, "I got this checklist of sins, 05:22 "and if I--think God will take me if I check all these off? 05:25 I gotta get these all out of my life." 05:26 You're barely getting started. 05:28 The problem that you've got is that your focus is you. 05:32 That's the problem, and that's the original problem. 05:34 Lucifer fell in love with his beauty. 05:36 Let's say you do achieve a few things. 05:37 "Wow, I speak in church, I teach Sabbath school, 05:40 I do this, I do that," 05:41 and you start to fall in love with your own beauty, 05:44 the beauty that was only yours by virtue of Christ. 05:46 You have the same problem we saw in an earlier lesson 05:49 with both Israel in Ezekiel 16 and Lucifer in Ezekiel 28. 05:53 The closer you get-- 05:54 so, what does God give us to do? 05:57 Search through the Bible and you'll find one thing 05:59 and one thing only God ever gave the church to do, 06:02 and that's win souls to Christ. 06:04 That's a topic, you know, we could get into how that works, 06:06 but here's a comment. This is "Steps to Christ," page 80. 06:10 It's one of my favorite summary books on the plan of salvation 06:13 and the love of Jesus. 06:15 "If you will go to work as Christ designs 06:17 "that His disciples shall, 06:18 "and win souls for Him, you will feel the need 06:20 "of a deeper experience and a greater knowledge 06:22 "in divine things, and...hunger and thirst after righteousness. 06:25 "You will plead with God,... your faith will be strengthened, 06:27 "...your soul will drink deeper drafts 06:29 at the well of salvation." 06:31 It goes on for a full page. 06:32 "The spirit of unselfish labor for others gives depth, 06:34 stability, and Christlike loveliness." 06:36 What does God give us to do? 06:38 Here, how about you focus on other people? 06:40 Why? Well, my eyes aren't on me. 06:43 And they're going to bring challenges I can't answer. 06:44 It's going to drive me back to the Bible. 06:46 I've been in evangelism for 30-some years, 06:48 and I can tell you every single time 06:50 somebody asks me something, "I don't know." 06:52 They've got a situation in their life--"I don't know." 06:55 I'm up half the night in this book, 06:56 and I'm growing as a Christian because I'm focused on others. 06:59 And God says, "Oh, good. So your focus is off of you now. 07:02 "Maybe I can do something with your sorry self 07:05 while you're busy working for me." 07:08 The solution is eyes off of self. That's the solution. 07:12 And if you're wrapped up in your prayer closet-- 07:15 you should be in your prayer closet. 07:16 I don't mean to dismiss this at all. Don't write angry letters. 07:19 And if you do, address them to Eric. 07:21 But Bible study, you should be doing it. 07:23 Prayer, you should be doing it. 07:25 But the path to growing in Jesus is not locking yourself away 07:28 from the rest of the world and praying and studying. 07:31 You should do it. You know, you should do this, 07:34 don't leave this undone, but also do the other. 07:36 Focus on others. Then you're out of the way. 07:40 >>Eric: It's that old illustration 07:42 of the three-legged stool. 07:44 In order for a Christian experience to be strong 07:47 and solid, it's like a stool with three legs: 07:49 prayer, Bible study, and sharing your faith. 07:52 And if one of those three is missing, 07:54 then, well, it leads to an unstable stool 07:57 to begin with, but an unstable Christian life, 07:59 if you stop and think about it. 08:01 And that--let me not chase too many rabbits here-- 08:03 >>Shawn: No. >>Eric: ...if you stop 08:05 and ask yourself how many Christians are actively, 08:10 actually sharing their faith with others intentionally, 08:14 the statistics are not real encouraging. 08:16 >>Shawn: In North America, it's fewer than 2% of believers. 08:19 It's fewer than 2%. And isn't it strange? 08:22 Because that's the program God, in the Scriptures-- 08:25 I think this is in the quarterly--it's pretty clear. 08:29 Psalm 51 is ground zero. I believe that's in the quarterly. 08:32 I think I put it in there. Otherwise, it's 08:33 in the companion book. But Psalm 51 is-- 08:38 David has been busted. He has committed adultery. 08:42 He murdered the husband 08:43 when he couldn't hide what he did. 08:46 Nathan confronts him. 08:47 And in Psalm 51, he comes clean: "Have mercy on me, O God, 08:52 according to Your steadfast love." 08:54 It goes on for verse-- it's heart-rending. 08:57 And you should be able to see yourself in Psalm 51 09:01 because maybe it's not adultery and murder, 09:03 but I promise you, you're in the same category as David. 09:06 And then it comes to this, after 13 verses of repenting 09:10 and describing how his sin is-- it's not like God doesn't know. 09:14 You need to repent and confess so that you begin to be aware 09:18 of how far short of the glory of God you fall. 09:21 God already knows. He doesn't need you to inform Him. 09:24 He needs you to recognize it. 09:25 Then verse 13: "Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, 09:30 "and sinners will return to You. 09:31 "Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, 09:33 "O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud 09:36 of Your righteousness." 09:38 Same thing happens in Isaiah 6. 09:40 He sees the throne of God. 09:41 "Woe is me! I'm a man of unclean lips." 09:43 You would feel condemned if you were dropped 09:45 right in front of God's throne right now. 09:47 And they touch his lips with the coal from of the altar, 09:52 and they say, "Your sins are atoned for. 09:54 Your guilt is taken away." 09:56 That was our theme last week. 09:57 There is guilt that needs to be removed. It's a big deal. 10:02 And then He said, "Who will I send?" 10:04 "Here I am. Send me." 10:06 The natural outgrowth, the gratitude that we express 10:09 is you can't keep this to yourself. 10:11 Your neighbors, your friends, 10:13 everybody is also writhing in agony quietly. 10:16 I don't care how perfect they seem on the outside. 10:18 They wake up at 2:00 in the morning, 10:19 and they know they're guilty before God. 10:20 Whether they know who God is or not, 10:22 they still live with this. 10:24 And so God says, "I've got the perfect assignment for you. 10:27 "I've got the perfect assignment for you. 10:28 Help somebody else." 10:30 >>Eric: I like the term you use there. 10:32 That's the "natural outgrowth" of recognizing 10:36 what Christ has done for you. 10:37 The natural outgrowth of that is to share with somebody else, 10:41 which might cause us to ask an uncomfortable question. 10:45 If that's the natural outgrowth of us understanding 10:49 what Christ has done for us, and we're not actively doing that, 10:53 maybe we don't really understand the magnitude, 10:56 the gravity of what Christ has done for us. 11:00 >>Shawn: Right, how expensive was the cross? 11:03 And that's the thing we have trouble 11:04 wrapping our mind around. 11:05 Last week we talked a little bit about those 11:07 who want to downplay it: "Ah, it's just a nice gesture." 11:10 No, it's not. It cost Him everything. 11:13 We're told that He couldn't see through the portals of the tomb. 11:15 He was willing to not come back from that if it meant 11:17 that you could be saved. 11:20 The magnitude of that--I see people get off on tangents. 11:24 And I get off on tangents, too-- watch me run the clock down. 11:26 But I see people get off on tangents, 11:29 and they've got this idea in their head, whatever it is, 11:32 and they'll approach me when I'm somewhere, 11:33 and it's like--and they'll run down this theory that has 11:35 nothing to do with anything, and they're really obsessed by it. 11:38 And I remember one guy saying-- I said to one guy, 11:41 "That's a nice theory; it's interesting. 11:44 How many people have you seen come to the Lord this year?" 11:47 And he blew up: "That's not the job of the church." 11:49 I said, "So now we have evidence that your head 11:52 "is in the wrong place, and so is your heart. 11:54 "If you really understand the gift of the cross, 11:57 you can't keep it to yourself; it's too good." 12:00 It's like--would you, if you came across a stash of food 12:04 in a starving village, hide it from everybody? Would you? 12:08 >>Eric: Yeah, it's a legitimate question to ask. 12:11 We're looking at the foundations of prophecy. 12:14 >>Shawn: Yeah. [laughs] >>Eric: We're working our way 12:16 through the week's lesson. We're not moving real far, day by day, 12:17 but we're getting there. >>Shawn: No, no, that's right. 12:21 >>Eric: If somebody wants to dig more deeply into this, 12:24 there's the companion book. Tell us about that. 12:26 >>Shawn: The companion book, yep. 12:27 I didn't even realize I was supposed to write one, 12:29 but they called me and said, "Would you like to write one?" 12:31 I said, "Man, that's a lot of work." 12:32 And they said, "Well, we could get a ghostwriter." 12:33 I said, "No, that feels dishonest." So I wrote one. 12:36 And in there, we put a lot of the supplemental material 12:38 that didn't have room in the quarterly. 12:40 They limit how much you can say. 12:42 Maybe some more food for thought and discussion 12:44 in your "Sabbath School" class. 12:46 I think you'll find it a blessing. 12:47 Not that I'm entirely clear all the time, 12:49 but you'll find something to debate, at the very least. 12:52 >>Eric: And for that reason, if no other, it's worth picking up. 12:55 If you would like to pick it up, you can find it 12:57 at itiswritten.shop. 12:59 Again, that is itiswritten.shop. 13:01 You'll find the companion book to this quarter's 13:03 "Sabbath School" lesson. 13:05 More incredible stories, 13:07 more insight from the mind of Shawn Boonstra, 13:10 if that is appealing to you, and it really should be. 13:13 There's a lot of great content in there and a lot of 13:15 great content in this quarter's "Sabbath School" lesson. 13:18 We're glad that you are joining us. 13:20 We still are going to continue our study 13:22 of the "Foundations of Prophecy" here in just a moment. 13:25 So don't go anywhere. We will be right back here 13:27 on "Sabbath School," brought to you by It Is Written. 13:30 ♪♪♪ 13:34 >>John Bradshaw: Five women who changed the world, 13:37 five women, heroes of faith, 13:39 five women, each of them from the margins. 13:42 Don't miss "Five Women Who Changed the World," 13:46 the story of five women remembered by history 13:49 in spite of the challenges they faced, 13:51 foreigners in some cases with colorful histories, 13:55 victims in other cases-- 13:57 victims of neglect, of crime, and of shameful behavior. 14:01 Yet in a remarkable demonstration 14:03 of the power of the gospel, 14:05 each woman stepped into the calling God placed on her life 14:09 and, as a result, is recognized by the ages. 14:13 Inspiring stories, stories of grace for women and men, 14:17 sinners who are honored of heaven. 14:19 You'll learn that what God has done for others, 14:21 God can do for you. 14:23 And if you've ever thought you're too bad for God, 14:25 you'll find out that can never be true. 14:27 "Five Women Who Changed the World," 14:29 brought to you by It Is Written TV. 14:35 ♪♪♪ 14:39 >>Eric: Welcome back to "Sabbath School," 14:40 brought to you by It Is Written. 14:42 We are taking a look now at the "Foundations of Prophecy." 14:46 Shawn, you drew something very interesting out 14:48 in Sunday's lesson about John the Baptist. 14:51 Talk with us about cherubim and seraphim 14:53 and what's going on here. 14:55 >>Shawn: Yeah, good luck to you all studying this. 14:57 I've been at this for decades, and I fully admit up front 15:01 there are some scholars that say, 15:02 "Nah, nah, there's nothing here." 15:04 I'm convinced there is something here. 15:05 In John 5, verse 35, John the Baptist 15:10 is called a "burning" one, a "shining" one. 15:12 It's literally the meaning of the word "seraph." 15:15 It's like, okay, we know he's the forerunner for Christ. 15:18 He's there to announce Christ. 15:20 And the language describing him in John 5:35 15:24 is actually the definition of the word "seraph," 15:27 or "seraphim" in the plural. 15:30 And what's--interestingly, you know, burning, shining one, 15:34 "Lucifer" is the Latin name we've given to Satan, right? 15:38 Lucifer does not actually appear as a word in the Old Testament. 15:41 It wasn't until we got the Vulgate 15:43 that it was translated that one. 15:45 But "Lucifer" means "the light-bearer." 15:48 Oh my goodness, we could study that for a long time. 15:51 But Lucifer was a covering cherub. 15:56 We know that from Ezekiel 28. 15:57 We've looked at that in another lesson. 15:59 What does the covering cherub do? 16:01 Stands right next to the throne of God. 16:04 They convey a sense of God's glory. 16:06 It's like they are a messenger to the outside world. 16:09 They reflect God's glory. God dwells between the cherubim. 16:14 And here's what's interesting. 16:16 This is from "The Great Controversy," page 669. 16:19 And this is fascinating. 16:21 It's one of my favorite books on Scripture. 16:24 "Satan seems paralyzed as he beholds the glory 16:27 "and majesty of Christ. 16:29 "He who was once a covering cherub 16:32 remembers whence he has fallen"--Ezekiel 28. 16:36 "A shining seraph," it continues, 16:38 "'son of the morning'; how changed, how degraded!" 16:41 Here's the interesting thing. 16:44 I kind of grew up--okay, we've got species of angels, 16:47 kind of like we have species of dogs and species-- 16:50 we got this kind of dog-- 16:51 a German shepherd is not a labradoodle, 16:53 and a labradoodle is not a German shepherd. 16:55 They're both dogs. And in my thinking, 16:57 okay, we've got cherubim and seraphim, both are angels, 16:59 but cherubim aren't seraphim, and seraphim aren't-- 17:01 it doesn't work that way in the Bible. 17:03 It appears that they aren't species of angels. 17:05 So the question occurred to me-- 17:07 and this is the focus of the study: 17:11 Are cherubim and seraphim job descriptions 17:14 instead of genus and species? 17:17 And I think there's evidence for this. There really is. 17:21 Let's have a little bit of a Bible study. 17:23 I mean, that's why we're here anyway, right? 17:25 Genesis 3 we've looked at before. 17:27 At the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the garden, 17:31 God holds out hope: "I'm going to keep 17:32 the way to the tree of life." Not destroy it, not remove it, 17:34 but keep it, guard it. 17:36 You can't have it yet because sinners, 17:38 if they eat from the tree, will suffer forever. 17:41 We've touched on that. 17:42 We've looked at the fact that God places cherubim 17:45 at the gates of Eden with a shining presence, 17:48 a brilliant sword in between them. 17:50 The picture--and we looked at this previously-- 17:53 the picture is that of the sanctuary. 17:55 It's like a prototype of the sanctuary service 17:59 because we've got a brilliant presence 18:00 and two cherubim, and the cherubim 18:02 only ever appear in association with God's throne. 18:05 I believe it's six times-- through the Psalms 18:07 and elsewhere-- "God is He who dwells 18:09 between the cherubim," right? 18:11 God says to Moses, "I will communicate with you 18:13 from between the cherubim," in Exodus 25. 18:16 Cherubim, He tabernacled them there. 18:18 We've made reference to this previous. 18:20 Hugh Martin, Calvinist, 1866, says, 18:24 "In the first days of the family of our race, 18:26 "the gate of the garden of Eden, 18:27 "where God placed the cherubims and the flaming sword, 18:29 "constituted the seat of...worship; 18:30 "occupying the place... served by the tabernacle 18:33 in the wilderness." 18:34 So I used to think only Adventists 18:35 have seen the sanctuary stuff. Not even close. 18:38 They "guard the way to the tree of life." 18:42 Now, here's where it gets interesting, 18:43 and here's where you might want to get pen and paper 18:45 and spend a few hours in your Bible 18:47 because all we'll ever do here is get you started. 18:50 The cherubim show up in Revelation 4 and 5, 18:53 that passage that we looked at, at the beginning. 18:57 And how do I know they're cherubim? 18:58 The word "cherubim" isn't there. 19:00 Well, the same creatures with the four faces-- 19:03 the lion, the ox, the man, and the eagle-- 19:06 they appear in Ezekiel, chapter 1. 19:08 The wheel within the wheel and the living creatures 19:10 have these same four faces. 19:11 Ezekiel 1 does not tell you they are cherubim. 19:15 You have to read the whole book, which is the biggest key 19:18 to studying prophecy. Read the whole book. 19:20 Get to Ezekiel 10, and suddenly Ezekiel 10 says, 19:23 oh yeah, the living creatures, those are cherubim. 19:26 Okay, take it all together. 19:27 That means we have cherubim in heaven. 19:32 It also says they have six wings. 19:36 And in Isaiah, chapter 6, in the throne room of God, 19:38 it's the seraphim who have the six wings. 19:42 It all starts to make a big muddle 19:45 until you really spend a few hours thinking about this. 19:49 These creatures, these cherubim with the four faces, 19:53 they sing God's praises. 19:54 They're doing the job of the cherubim, 19:56 projecting God's glory. 19:57 That's Revelation 4, verse 8. 19:59 They underline in Revelation 4, verse 11, 20:01 that God is the Creator: 20:03 "Worthy are You,... for You created all things." 20:06 So they sing the song of God's glory; 20:09 they underline that you should worship Him 20:10 because He's the Creator; they tell the story of salvation; 20:14 they declare that the Lamb is worthy to save them. 20:18 I'm sorry, save...them? 20:22 "Worthy are You to take the"-- "You were slain, by Your blood 20:24 "You ransomed people to God from every tribe, 20:26 nation You have made." 20:28 They're singing the song of salvation. 20:30 They're worshiping God. Where else do we have 20:32 a group of people that go out and say, 20:34 "Worship Him who made"? 20:36 It's Revelation, chapter 14. 20:39 So, take all that information. 20:42 Seraph, cherubim, it seems that some can be both. 20:46 Six wings, the four faces, 20:48 and then the lesson takes you to Numbers, chapter 2. 20:51 Now, this, this is where I know some modern scholars are saying, 20:55 "Nah, nah, too far." But many people know Keil and Delitzsch. 20:58 They put out a really famous commentary years ago. 21:02 And when they get to Numbers, chapter 2, it's interesting. 21:04 This describes the camp of Israel. 21:05 You have the sanctuary in the middle. 21:07 This is the presence of God. You have the Levites next. 21:10 Then you have three tribes on each side of the thing, 21:13 and there's a dominant tribe on each side. 21:16 So, Numbers 2, verse 3, to the east you've got Judah. 21:21 Numbers 2, verse 10, to the south is Reuben. 21:23 Numbers 2:18, to the west is Ephraim. 21:27 And then to the north, Numbers 2:25, is Dan. 21:31 And if you read the passage, it says 21:32 they all flew their own standard. 21:35 They all flew flags, but one dominant tribe on each side. 21:40 What was on the standards, those flags, 21:43 of those four dominant tribes? 21:45 Here's Keil and Delitzsch. 21:47 I think this is in your quarterly. 21:49 If not, this is the reason you tuned in today. 21:52 "According to rabbinical tradition, 21:54 the standard of Judah bore the figure of a lion." 21:56 So this is what the rabbis have taught for centuries. 21:59 "Reuben [was] the likeness of a man, 22:01 "Ephraim the figure of an ox,... 22:03 "Dan the figure of an eagle; 22:05 "so that the four living creatures 22:06 "united in cherubic forms described by Ezekiel 22:08 were represented on these four standards." 22:11 Wait a minute, these are sinners gathered around, 22:14 and God marks them 22:15 like they're the four faces of the cherubim. 22:20 If cherub is a job description and not a species of angel, 22:23 what job did Israel have in this world? 22:26 Why did God set up the sanctuary system? 22:28 Why did He place them at the crossroads of the world? 22:31 They were to herald God's glory, His name, His character 22:34 and announce the coming Messiah. 22:36 We were functioning as cherubim. 22:40 It's a job--if you think of it as a job description. 22:42 John the Baptist heralding the Coming of Christ: 22:44 "Repent, the time is at hand." 22:46 He's a burning and shining one. 22:49 He's a seraph. 22:52 Then it gets even more fascinating. 22:53 And I'm probably running ahead of you a little bit, 22:56 but there's the possibility-- 23:00 Lucifer is no longer a covering cherub. He was once. 23:03 So you can lose the position. 23:04 See, it's not a species. It's a job title. 23:07 He loses it. 23:08 And then I put a comment in Thursday's lesson 23:14 that suggests that maybe we get Lucifer's place. 23:16 Now, I want to be really careful with this because, 23:19 as with all human logic, 23:20 you can go way off in the wrong direction here. 23:23 But there's a passage in "Prophets and Kings" 23:26 in the description that Ellen White gives 23:28 of Zechariah 3 where Satan complains 23:32 as he's looking at sinful human beings being forgiven. 23:34 "Cover him with a righteous robe," 23:37 Satan complains, is the quote, 23:40 "Are these...the people who are to take my place in heaven?" 23:44 Fascinating. 23:45 Could just be the new population to replace the old. 23:49 Here's what I find fascinating. 23:51 The Christian church for centuries has understood 23:53 what I'm describing right now, and it's only in the last 23:55 few hundred years that we abandon it. 23:57 We abandoned a lot since the 19th century. 23:59 Irenaeus, the church father, said, 24:01 look, of course there are four Gospels. 24:04 Let me see, it's "Against Heresies: Book III." 24:07 "David said, when entreating His manifestation, 24:08 "'[You] that [sit] between the cherubim, shine forth.' 24:11 "...The cherubim, too, were four-faced, and their faces 24:13 were images of the dispensation of the Son of God." 24:16 And Irenaeus goes on to say, 24:17 well, of course there's four Gospels. 24:20 They tell the story of Jesus, 24:21 and there are four faces to the cherubim. It only makes sense. 24:23 It's not three, it's not five. 24:25 And historically, if you go look at Christian ruins 24:27 all over Western Europe, 24:28 you will find that they assign each of the Gospels 24:32 one of the faces of the cherubim. 24:34 So you've got Matthew, and Leslie Hardinge--rest in peace, 24:38 we'll see him again in the resurrection-- 24:40 he lined it up this way. I've seen alternates, 24:42 especially on some Irish ruins in the middle of nowhere. 24:45 But Matthew, the lion of the tribe of Judah, 24:47 this is the king of Judah, this is the son of David. 24:51 Mark, Jesus, toiling patiently, he's the ox. 24:54 Luke, this is the Son of Man, that's the emphasis in there. 24:58 And what is John? It takes off right at the beginning, 25:01 soars high; here is the Creator, the "logos" of the universe. 25:04 We have traditionally, over the years, said the four Gospels 25:07 correspond to the four faces of the cherubim. 25:12 Okay, this is suddenly very sobering. 25:16 If God already thinks of us as having that same job 25:20 as the cherub, 25:21 what responsibility does that place on God's church? 25:24 There is only one way to live as a Christian, 25:28 and that's to share what we have. 25:30 We stand next to the throne of God. 25:32 We've been invited to go boldly through the blood of Christ, 25:34 through the veil, go directly to the throne of God. 25:37 But God sends us back out with the same job the cherubim had. 25:41 You know, it's not a coincidence that they show up again. 25:44 One of the biggest principles in studying prophecy: 25:46 Where have I heard this before? Go find it everywhere. 25:49 And the picture that starts to emerge is... 25:52 well, that's breathtaking. 25:53 To think that God thinks of us in that capacity... 25:59 >>Eric: We have the opportunity, the job description, 26:03 if we can call it such, to share Christ with others. 26:07 What would you tell someone who says, 26:09 "I want to share my faith with others, 26:11 "but I don't know where to begin; I don't know the answer 26:14 "to every Bible question, I'm scared that somebody 26:16 will ask me something"-- what would you tell that person? 26:20 >>Shawn: Welcome to the club. 26:22 People assume because, yeah, I've been at this 32 years, 26:25 public evangelist, I know just about everything. I don't. 26:29 The number of times that I have had to-- 26:31 look, before we went live to air, 26:32 I couldn't find the verse that called John the Baptist 26:35 a burning and shining one, and Eric had to help me 26:37 find it back in John, chapter 5. I don't know that by memory. 26:41 If you think you have the mind of God inside of you, 26:43 you're off on the wrong foot already. 26:46 All God asks of you is to share what you know of God. 26:51 Tell them you've been redeemed. 26:53 "I once was lost, and now I'm found." 26:55 That's the essence of your testimony. 26:58 What people need is not a know-it-all. 27:00 They're sick of those. 27:01 Religious know-it-alls, they need to go away. 27:03 That is not the job of the Christian or the pastor. 27:06 It's like, "Let me show you Somebody who helped me. 27:08 "Maybe He'll help you, too. 27:10 I think you'll find some hope here." 27:12 It's "I once was lost, but now I'm found, 27:14 was blind, but now I see." 27:16 That's all they need from you. That's all they need from you. 27:19 You don't have to know it all. 27:20 As a matter of fact, nobody trusts the know-it-all. 27:22 I've got stories. Nobody trusts a know-it-all anyway. 27:25 >>Eric: Beautiful testimony: "Here's what my life was like 27:27 "before Christ. Here's how I found Him. 27:30 Here's what my life is like after Christ." 27:32 That's a story that every Christian can tell. 27:35 You don't have to know everything. 27:36 All you have to do is know Jesus. 27:39 We're taking a look at Bible prophecy 27:40 and how it can be a blessing to not just you 27:43 but to many, many others as we go through 27:46 this quarter's "Sabbath School" lesson. 27:47 We're glad that you are on the journey with us, 27:49 and we look forward to seeing you back again 27:51 next week here on "Sabbath School," 27:53 brought to you by It Is Written. 27:55 ♪♪♪ 28:23 ♪♪♪ 28:26 [Captions provided by Aberdeen Captioning www.abercap.com] |
Revised 2025-05-07