Bible Study - Sabbath School Podcast

Apostles and Prophets The New Testament mentions the work of prophets and apostles. The apostles were "messengers," or "ones sent forth" from God, as defined by the Greek word apostolos. Throughout the Gospels, the word "apostle" refers to the 12 disciples. The rest of the New Testament supports this idea and includes other individuals who were not among Christ's...

Jesus as Prophet Moses predicted that " 'the Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear' " (Deut. 18:15, NKJV) . Who was the prophet? Scripture itself makes it clear: it was pointing to Jesus Himself. " 'For Moses truly said to the fathers, "The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me f...

Sabbath Afternoon Read for This Week’s Study: Matt. 16:13-16, Eph. 2:20, Rev. 22:6, Luke 2:36-38, Acts 21:9, Eph. 6:10-18 Memory Text: "There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all " (1 Corinthians 12:4-6, NKJV) . As a father was driving, his son scan...

Not Perfect but Willing As we have seen, the lives of Old Testament prophets make clear that it has never been easy to be God's messenger. Ellen G. White experienced the same anxieties that biblical prophets felt. As we learned last Friday, she was young, shy, and in poor health when she received God's call. While a second vision confirmed her call, Ellen Harmon (White) remained apprehensi...

False Prophets No matter what God does, Satan has his counterfeits. It's the same with prophets. Israel faced true and false prophets. The key was to know the difference. Read Jeremiah 14:1-15 . What was happening here, and how did the Lord regard those who spoke falsely as "prophets" in His name? ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________...

Women Prophets Read Exodus 15:20 , Judges 4:4 , 2 Kings 22:14 , and Nehemiah 6:14 . What do these texts also teach about the prophetic role? ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ There is abundant evidence in Scripture that God called women to be prophets. (See the use of the Hebrew word nevi'ah [ Exod. 15:20 ] a...

Functions of Prophets Read 1 Samuel 8:4-22 and Leviticus 8:10-13 . How did prophets function in relation to kings and priests? ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ Prophets interacted with kings in both pleasant and unpleasant situations. When Israel demanded a king ( 1 Sam. 8:4-22 ) , they said we want "a king...

Identifying True Prophets In the early history of Israel there is evidence of false prophets ( Deut. 18:20 ) . God, therefore, did not leave His people without guidance on who His true prophets were. As recipients of God's revelation and inspiration, true prophets faithfully, accurately, and honestly transmitted God's messages, even if, at times, this made them unpopular with the people in...

The Humanity of Prophets As we saw last week, the Lord used Elijah the prophet to do a tremendous work in Israel, despite fervent opposition. What the Lord had accomplished through him was incredible. And yet . . . what? Reflect on how James presents Elijah the prophet, in James 5:17-18 . What might he mean by saying that Elijah had "a nature like ours" (NKJV) ? _________________________...

Sabbath Afternoon Read for This Week’s Study: James 5:17-18; 1 Kings 19:1-16; 1 Kings 22:1-14; Exod. 15:20; 2 Kings 22:11-14; Jer. 14:1-15 Memory Text: "Jehoshaphat stood and said, 'Hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem: Believe in the Lord your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper'" (2 Chronicles 20:20, NKJV) . The Global Pos...

Called to Prophetic Ministry God calls prophets at specific times for special purposes. They were there with the messages needed for that time. In this context, Seventh-day Adventists believe that Ellen G. White was one such person who demonstrated a modern manifestation of the prophetic gift, functioning much like a non-canonical prophet (more on this in the lessons to come ). Ellen Harmon (White...

John the Baptist, Preparing a People Read Mark 1:2-5 . What was the purpose of John the Baptist's ministry? The Gospel of Mark informs us that the arrival of John the Baptist was the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy ( Isa. 40:3 ) . John's development from childhood to manhood was marked by faithfulness to God. Satan feared losing his dominion over humanity after hearing John's voic...

Daniel, the Faithful Seer Most Christians know the story of Daniel 1 , in which he stood for the health principles that he had learned as a child. Daniel was a model of faithfulness ( Dan. 1:8 ) . When presented with royal delicacies, he insisted on eating a plant-based diet and drinking only water instead of partaking of the diet offered him from the king's table ( Dan. 1:12-16 ) . This was a...

Isaiah, the Gospel Prophet Isaiah, a major prophet of the Old Testament, received His call to prophetic ministry directly from God (see Isa. 6:1-8 ) . Overwhelmed by God's holiness and majesty, Isaiah realized his unworthiness. In that moment, a seraph flew to Isaiah with a live coal from the heavenly altar and "purged" his sins. God then asked, "Whom shall I send, and who will...

The Elijah Message Read 1 Kings 18:19-39 . What can we see from this story about how the prophetic office can work? Elijah's calling and manner of speech reflected his role as God's messenger. To stop Israel's apostasy, God sent Elijah to King Ahab in order to announce a multiyear drought. God used this affliction to turn His people away from idolatry and back to obedience. King and co...

Abraham, Defender of the Covenant From Genesis to Revelation, God has had a faithful remnant who have accepted the call to obedience in response to His grace (see Jer. 31:7, 31-34 ) . For example, years after the dispersion from Babel, God chose Abram (later Abraham) to be an example of covenant faith, not just to his family but for all future generations. Surrounded by apostasy and moral ambivale...

Sabbath Afternoon Read for This Week’s Study: Gen. 15:6, Gal. 3:6-9, 1 Kings 18:19-39, Isaiah 53, Dan. 2:46-48, Mark 1:2-5, Matt. 11:1-6 Memory Text: "Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: 'Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?' Then I said, 'Here am I! Send me'" (Isaiah 6:8, NKJV) . In biblical times, prophets often played key roles in the history of God's...

Ellen G. White God's communication is not limited to biblical times. As we will see in coming weeks, God speaks to human beings in perpetuity, and His words will be manifested in modern ways until Christ returns. Ellen Gould Harmon White and her twin sister Elizabeth were born on November 26, 1827, in Gorham, Maine. They were the youngest of eight children born to Robert and Eunice Harmon. In...

God's Spokespeople🗣️🗣️ What do the following texts reveal about how God has spoken to humanity after the entrance of sin? (Read Heb. 1:1-2 ; Rom. 1:19-20 ; Num. 12:6 ; 2 Tim. 3:16-17 ; John 14:7-9 ; John 10:27-30 .) In spite of sin, God found many ways to communicate with fallen human beings. One way God reveals Himself to us is through creation. Nature is a powerful revelation of His wonderfu...

Expelled From the Garden 🚫 One of the most devastating consequences of Adam's and Eve's sin was separation from God. They were expelled from the Garden and could no longer speak with God face-to-face. The prophet Isaiah memorably wrote about this challenging human condition: "Your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you" (Isa. 59:...

God Seeks Humanity🔎 We can see from Genesis 3:9-10 that God took the initiative to seek His fallen children. The question "Where are you?" was rhetorical, because God knew what Adam and Eve had done and where they were. Sin, nevertheless, cut off the usual communication that existed between Him and the first human couple. God's immediate concern was to restore communication with His...

Hiding From God Because God is love (1 John 4:8), He would not create human "robots." Love embraces choice. To be able to love, Adam and Eve had to be created with free will; otherwise, love, true love, would be impossible for them to give. Thus, Adam and Eve had the freedom to obey or disobey their Creator. The reality of this free choice was depicted in the command not to eat from the...

Communication in Eden Genesis 1 and 2 tell the Creation story. God created a beautiful world, and in it He put Adam and Eve, the crowning act of creation. Humans differed from every other creature on earth because they were made "in the image of God" (Gen. 1:27, NKJV) , something said only about them and not, for example, about the birds or about other animals. As such, they were to live wholistic...

Sabbath Afternoon Read for This Week’s Study: Gen. 1:27-28; Gen. 3:1-8; Luke 15:11-32; Gen. 3:14-24; Exod. 19:16-22; John 10:27-30 Memory Text: "God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds" ( Hebrews 1:1-2 , NK...

The Gift of Prophecy Neuroscientists have begun to understand the marvelous facility of human infants for language acquisition. At 6 months, a baby can understand the sounds that comprise English words, or words from any of the other 7,000-plus spoken languages. If exposed to a second language, they can acquire that language, as well. During this period a mysterious mental door opens, allowing inf...