Sabbath School Gems

2022Q2L01-The Creation from the Quarterly titled Genesis

· Genesis very important book containing key information about our origin, our destiny, God’s character and plan for His creation, the origin and problem with iniquity.

· There are two different words used for God throughout the Bible and we see them starting in Genesis:

- el (god), plural is elohim (gods)

- YHWH: translated as "LORD"

· Elohim is used starting in Genesis 1 and throughout the description of creation. Contrary to popular belief that this is the BIG POWERFUL MIGHT GOD term, it is actually more of a generic little “g” god term. You can find it used as such elsewhere in the Bible as a generic term for god or gods that are not the creator (e.g Gen 35:2,4, Exo 20:3, Exo 23:24, Deu 12:3, etc.).

· The term YHWH (Yaweh) is first introduced starting in Gen 2:4

· Here, and many other places, YHWH is used along with “elohim” to denote that this is a specific god, in this case The God who created.

· It also corresponds with the time we see God acting as manager of the earth and of creation and of and relating to mankind.

· YHWH is not only the God that created (Gen 2:4) He is the one that man starts to call out to (Gen 4:26); He is the one that orders the flood (Gen 6:7); scatters the people at Babel (Gen 11:6); calls Abraham out from his land (Gen 15:18); makes a covenant with Moses; leads the Children of Israel out of Egypt with a mighty hand; meets with Moses on Mt. Sinai and speaks directly to the people from that mountain.

· He is also the one who reveals His glory to Moses on the mountain (Exo 34:6), passing by him and proclaiming His own name: "The LORD (YHWH), the LORD (YHWH) God [El], merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth,(Exo 34:7)  ...

· MONDAY - It was good: God proclaims his work “good” and at the end of creation “good good” (or very good) indicating not only He is pleased with it, but that it ended up as He intended.

· TUESDAY - The Sabbath: The Sabbath caps off creation, ending the creation week on a very good note, on a time to enjoy the creation and relationships that were formed.

· WEDNESDAY - Creation of Humanity: We are physicially and spiritually made in the Image of God showing just how much God intended for us to be companions to Him, to be able to relate to Him and be close to Him

· THURSDAY - Duty of Humanity: All of the activities God created for Man (tending to the animals, tending the garden, joining in marriage, creating and raising children) are key to helping us understand our relationship with God, as our relationship with God seems to be the most important object that God had in mind for His creation.

· FRIDAY - Science and the Bible: The Bible withstands scientific scrutiny no matter how much knowledge man obtains. Who would know that the discovery of DNA and Chromosomes and DNA would support the fact that you can make a woman from a man, that the man has all the genetic information to do this, whereas you cannot go the other way  to make a man from a woman (even as that would be the obvious assumption based on the fact that woman give birth to male babies all the time.)

Group Discussion: Sabbath School Illuminations

Sabbath School Gems

Sabbath School Gems

Sabbath School Gems

Sabbath School Gems

“Why were sacrifices needed?”

MAIN CATEGORIES OF OFFERINGS:

1. BURNT: atonement; animal completely burned; fire burns all night; performed last after other offerings such as sin and trespass

2. GRAIN: sanctification of priests; sometimes substituting for other offerings for those too poor to bring animals; combined with other sacrificial offerings

3. PEACE/freewill/thank: tithing, gifts and thanksgiving to God; sustained the priests; also eaten by the people

4. SIN: for sins committed in ignorance; part of animal (fat) burned on altar; rest taken outside camp; blood sprinkled before the veil; part eaten by the priests to bear the sins; is followed by a burnt offering.

5. TRESPASS/guilt: inadvertent defilement such as contaminated by dead carcass, illness, breaking oaths, defilement of holy things: involved both a sin and a burnt offering

6. DAY OF ATONEMENT: somber offering to completely remove the sins from the tabernacle; performed only once at the end of the year by the High Priest; involves a unique two-goat offering in which one goat is a sin offering and the other bears the sins away.

· Jesus’ sacrifice is a ‘one and done’ offering like the Day of Atonement offering Heb 10:10-17

· Jesus’ role is as High Priest in the heavenly Sanctuary, the Highest of the High Priests. Heb 8:1, Heb 9:11, Heb. 6:20, Heb 7:7 to officiate in the sanctuary on the Day of Atonement Lev 16:2, Lev 16:17

· The Day of Atonement involved a special, unique dual-goat sacrifice…

· One goat is a sin offering “for the LORD” Lev 16:15-16

· The other goat is the scapegoat (azazel=goat (aze) that disappears): Lev 16:20-21

· The scapegoat should be better understood and not assumed to be Satan as it doesn’t seem to fit this description.

· It is an unblemished goat. It had to be because it was selected randomly so it could have ended up as sin offering.

· It has the responsibility to carry the sins away, even as the priests and Christ himself bear the sins temporarily. Lev 16:22, Lev 10:17, Heb 9:28

· Even the man which leads it out, had to have special qualifications.

· Jesus doesn’t require a sin sacrifice (bull) to sanctify himself as the Levitical priests because his own body, pure and undefiled, is offered. Heb 7:26-18

· The daily offerings in the earthly sanctuary could not take away sins. Heb 10:11

· But Christ’s atonement offers perfect sanctification Heb 9:11-14

· They involve an ongoing process – change of our heart Heb 10:16

· And a final cleansing process- change of God’s heart to “remember our sins no more” Heb 10:17

· The process for us to grow. It involves chastening, a “writing” on our hearts, bringing us from ignorance to repentance to living by the Spirit

- cleanse our conscience from dead works Heb 9:14

-make us “perfect in regard to the conscience” Heb 9:9

-give us a “good conscience toward God” 1Pe 3:21-22

-to “bring us to God” and make us “alive by the Spirit” 1Pe 3:18

-to “perfect us forever” as a final act Heb 10:14

-us who are “being sanctified” as a process Heb 10:14

· The Lord loves whom He chastens heb 12:6, Heb 12:9-10

· Christ’s sacrifice is so we can live “for the will of God” and not spend our lifetime “doing the will of the Gentiles” (walking in the ways of the flesh) 1Pe 4:1-6

· The use of the word “perfect” in Hebrews always pertains to US or to the sanctification process FOR US.

· Jesus is not the “perfect sacrifice”, but the sacrifice which makes perfect.

· To retreat backwards is to crucify Him again Heb 6:4-6

Sacrifices and final Atonement are for us to live and grow closer to God right now, to prepare us for being that bride someday when we will come to Mount Zion, the city of the living God Heb 12:22-23

GEMS 2022Q1L08-Jesus, the Mediator of the New Covenant

In these last days: The message of Hebrews

Hebrews Chapter 8

Memory Verse: But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises. Heb. 8:6

SUNDAY: NEED FOR NEW COVENANT

•"Why was a New Covenant needed"? Because the first had fault (Heb 8:7)

•The fault was that the people broke it; they didn’t continue in it. Heb 8:8-9, Jer 31:32

•They never really wanted to enter into it (Exo 20:19-20)’

•Right away they had Aaron make them a golden calf

•Later their unfaithfulness was completed as they corrupted the sanctuary (Eze 44:7)

•The question should be: Why did they not continue in the covenant?

•It wasn’t because they couldn’t enter into it, that it wasimpossible or difficult.(Deu 30:11-19)

•It was a choice that has been made since thebeginning of time.(Gen. 4:6-7)

•”Turning away” is an effort we make. Deu 30:17

MONDAY: NEW AND RENEWED

•Covenant is not ‘new’, it is ‘renewed’.  The Hebrew word for “new” used in the Jeremiah text means “rebreathed”

•The two tablets of stone were broken and remade to be identical (Exo 34:1)

(1) That the covenant will be broken the first time

(2) That God will renew the covenant, and make the exact same over again. His covenant doesn’t change.

(3) there is more participation on our part the second time around, as Moses had to hew and haul the tablets himself the second time, and the later people will seek the LORD with “all their heart”

(4) that the second time the calling is to the individual and the stand is overt, as when Moses called the people “who were on the LORD’s side” to come to him

TUESDAY

•Jesus as “mediator” is a better guarantor of the New Covenant promises because He ministers in the heavenly sanctuary to offer sanctification that is real, complete and permanent

WEDNESDAY: THE NEW COVENANT HAS BETTER PROMISES

•Comparison can be made between the covenant language between what is our charge/responsibilityand the LORD’s promises

(1) First introduction of the covenant Exo 19:5-6 (charge: indeed obey my voice and keep covenant; Promise: special treasure, a kingdom of priest and a holy nation)

(2)Covenant Pronounced Exo 23:20-33: charge: Obey, don’t serve other Gods; Promise: cut off enemies, no barren,bread and water sure

(3)Covenant Renewed (after golden calf incident) Exo 34:10-28, Deu 30:15-16 - charge: worship no other, love the LORD, walk in His ways, keep His commandments, statutes, judgments; promises: live, multiple and blessings in the land

(4)New Covenant Jer 31 -  Charge: describes a people who labor, repent, turn back have God’s laws in their hearts; promises: healing, perfection, too numerous and beautiful, must read entire chapter

In These Last Days: The Book of Hebrews

VIDEO - The Mt Sinai Encounters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4_s1JKAuR8

Hebrews Chapter 6 - Alternate title: “The Peril of Not Progressing”

·Heb 5:11-6:3 move away from milk to solid food; with God’s strength move away from the elementary and on towards perfections

·God wants us to move from darkness into light (to dwell with Him permanently there) (Acts 26:17-18, Eph 5:11, 1Thes 5:4-5)

·The first thing God did was separate light from darkness, and called the light “good” (Gen 1:2-4)

·God doesn’t want us to be in ignorance, but He also knows that when we get knowledge we will have to chose and be held accountable for that choice.

·Adam and Eve sinned even though they had the most ignorance, not having seen or known death, not even knowing good from evil, and being told half/twisted truth by the serpent. (Gen 2:17, Gen 3:5)

·It is impossible to be renewed again, just as a seed is only given one chance to sprout and show the world what it is (Heb 6:4-8)

·Even Jesus offers a similar warning (John 12:45-47)

·Hebrews 12 speaks of God as a consuming fire (Heb 12:25-29)

How can there be no repentance if God is so merciful?

·All the offerings were for sins done in ignorance:

·Sin offering (Lev. 4:2) sin offering for priests (Lev 4:3) sin offering for the whole congregation (Lev 4:13), sin offering for a ruler (Lev. 4:22), sins for the common people (Lev 4:27)

·Even the trespass offering (which involved both a sin offering and burnt offering because it was a sin of defilement) was also for ignorance.

·For hearing of oaths and remaining silent or for breaking of oaths unknowingly (Lev 5:1)

·For touching unclean (Lev 5:3), for defiling the holy things – unknowingly (Lev 5:15)

There was no atonement for presumptuous sin (Num 15:30-31)

·Naidab and Abihu bore their sins: Aaron was too distraught to eat the sin offering

·The sin offerings were to be eaten by the offering priest to bear the sin (Lev 6:26, Lev. 9:22-24.)

·Moses pleaded for the people after the golden calf incident but not for those who did not chose for the Lord. They bore their own guilt.

·Christ’s atonement by Christ and the blessing in the promise of God is sufficient and final (Heb 10:1-14) so much so that it is called “immutable” (Heb 6:18) and the hope is referred to as an “anchor” “steadfast and sure” (Heb 6:19)

But God does not want us to remain in ignorance. He has offered atonement and glimpses of the promises ahead of time. And the Hope in His oath is steadfast and sure:

·Hebrews also contains encouragement that they can do it! That they can advance and not fall into sluggishness orimpatience, calling out to them their past progress and past labor for “His name” (Heb 6:9-12)

·Hebrews 10 keep in mind that the atonement is a sure thing. (Heb 10:19+)

·Hebrews 12 encourages them by contrasting Mt. Sinai with Mt. Zion (Heb 12: 18-24)

·Hebrews 11 offers them role models of patriarchs of faith

·Hebrews 13 leaves them with specific examples of what their conduct should look like when they are pursuing peace and holiness (Heb 12:12-17)

·Without the earthly temple, There is no place for the law: - (this will now be written on our hearts as per the New Covenant)

·The Holy Spirit will dwell within us!  (1 Cor 6:19, Act 1:5, Act 1:8)

SUNDAY: A priest on behalf of Human Beings (High Priest: Human)

VIDEO - The Mt Sinai Encounters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4_s1JKAuR8

*The High Priest was always taken FROM among men and appointed FOR men (Heb 5:1)

TUESDAY: An Effective Priest (High Priest: Above the Law)

WEDNESDAY: An Eternal Priest (High Priest: Mediator of the New Covenant)

THURSDAY: A Sinless Priest (High Priest Holy, Harmless and Undefiled) (Heb 7:26)