Bible Study - Sabbath School Podcast

In  Revelation 14 , we find God’s people standing on Mount Zion. The original Mount Zion was located just west of the old city of Jerusalem today and was thought of as the seat of God’s throne, or presence, among His people. In time, the temple mount, located on Mount Moriah, came to be identified with Mount Zion, as well. In other words, this important depiction of God’s last-day remnant is prese...

When Moses oversaw the construction of the tabernacle, he was not permitted to use just any design he wished. God gave him a blueprint to follow. “ ‘See to it that you make them according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain’ ” ( Exod. 25:40, NKJV ). We discover in the book of Hebrews that the pattern used was that of a higher reality, the heavenly sanctuary. Read  Hebrews 9:11–15 ,...

Read for This Week’s Study Heb. 9:11–15, Psalm 122, Psalm 15, Psalm 24, Exod. 33:18–23, Psalm 5, Ps. 51:7–15 . Memory Text: As Seventh-day Adventists, we are used to searching for the symbols of Revelation in the stories of the Old Testament to help us understand those symbols. These narratives, though far from the only good source, are found all through the Old Testament. One particularly rich so...

Read Ellen G. White, “The Controversy Ended,” pp. 669–671, 676–678, in The Great Controversy. Satan, once a covering cherub, sought to destroy confidence in God’s throne. God has allowed fallen angels to continue in their rebellion to show the universe the depths of wickedness that come from self-exaltation—and while Satan managed to deceive the human race into joining his war against God, Christ...

It seems incomprehensible that Lucifer once held the position of covering cherub, occupying an exalted position next to the throne of God. Surely his existence would have helped reveal the glory of God to the universe. Instead, he began to consider his own glory, not the glory of his Creator; or, to be more precise, he started to imagine that he was not being given the deference due to him. Read ...

the tabernacle, and then the tribes would pitch their camps around it—three tribes on each side. The Presence of God would descend into the Most Holy Place and take up residence in the midst of His people. There was one dominant tribe on each of the four sides of the tabernacle. According to  Numbers 2 , who were these four dominant tribes? Num. 2:3  (East): Num. 2:10  (South): Num. 2:18  (West):...

Cherubim, either as living beings ( Ezek. 10:8 ) or the gold symbols of them ( Exod. 25:18 ), appear all through the Old Testament. They are often depicted as standing immediately next to God’s throne, radiating His glory to the universe. Cherubim also are embroidered into the curtain before the Holy of Holies ( Exod. 26:1 ). In the book of Psalms, God’s supreme power over creation is poetically p...

As soon as our first parents were expelled from the Garden, God offered the hope of Messiah ( Gen. 3:15 ). Then He established a powerful symbol at the gates of Eden: two cherubim with a brilliant flashing light between them. It should not be lost on us that this scene so closely resembles the ark of the covenant, a symbol of God’s throne ( Exod. 25:18 ). Read  Genesis 3:21–24 . What job were the...

Years ago, a church decided to renovate an outdated basement to create a new fellowship hall. One of the first things they did was to install new lights, believing that they would make the space seem more beautiful. Once they were installed, however, the space looked even worse, because bright lights have a way of revealing flaws. Isaiah’s stunning vision of God’s throne left him painfully aware o...

Read for This Week’s Study Isa. 6:6–8, Gen. 3:21–24, Ezek. 1:4–14, Rev. 4:1–11, Num. 2:3–25, Isa. 14:12–14 . Memory Text: God's right to rule the universe is founded upon His position as the Creator of all things ( Rev. 4:11 ) and also upon His character. It is in discovering God’s righteous character that we begin to understand how and why sinful human beings fall short of the glory of God (...

The Scriptures make it clear that Christ is the only One worthy to secure our salvation. His life was the only sinless human life, the only example of a life that rendered perfect satisfaction to the glory of the Father. He is the spotless Lamb of God, and now He stands at the head of the human race as our eternal security. At the same time, He took our guilt on Himself, satisfying the judgment th...

On a handful of occasions, prophets have been brought close enough to God in vision that they were permitted to see God’s throne. Ezekiel saw it above the firmament ( Ezek. 1:26 ); Isaiah visited the temple in heaven to see it ( Isa. 6:1 ); and in one of the most explicit descriptions provided to us, John was escorted there in vision in  Revelation 4 and 5 . The Old Testament types in the sanctuar...

There is tension throughout the entire story of salvation. God wishes to restore the communion that we once enjoyed with Him and longs to draw close to us. But bringing sinners into His presence would destroy them. “For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness,” David writes, “nor shall evil dwell with You” ( Ps. 5:4, NKJV ). At the same time, David also writes, “But as for me, I will co...

The book of Revelation refers to Jesus as “the Lamb” nearly 30 times. From the earliest days in the plan of redemption, God’s people have used lambs as a symbol of the coming Messiah. Abel offered “the firstborn of his flock” ( Gen. 4:4, NKJV ), and before the Israelites departed Egypt for the land of promise, they were instructed to redeem every firstborn person or animal with a one-year-old lamb...

Some have criticized the entire concept of sacrifice, claiming that it is cruel, harsh, and, in a sense, unfair. Yet, that’s precisely the point. Christ’s death was cruel, harsh, and unfair—the innocent dying for the guilty. That’s what it took to solve the sin problem. And Christ's death was what all these harsh, cruel, and unfair sacrifices pointed to. Read  Hebrews 10:3–10 . What does this...

Sometimes contrasting two ideas can be very instructive. Much can be learned about the nature of sacrifice in the biblical perspective from when God actually  rejected  the sacrifices of His people. Compare  Isaiah 1:2–15  with  Isaiah 56:6, 7 and Psalm 51:17 . What important lessons about sacrifice are taught here? This tragic episode in Israel’s history was not the first time that God rejected a...

Read for This Week’s Study Isa. 1:2–15, Heb. 10:3–10, Exod. 12:1–11, 1 Cor. 5:7, Hag. 2:7–9, Isa. 6:1–5, Rev. 4:7–11 . Memory Text: “And they sang a new song, saying: ‘You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation’ ” ( ⁠Revelation 5:9, NKJV⁠ ). When Jesus came toward him, J...

Read Ellen G. White, “The Tower of Babel,” pp. 117–124, in Patriarchs and Prophets. “ ‘I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away.’  Revelation 21:1 . The fire that consumes the wicked purifies the earth. Every trace of the curse is swept away. No eternally burning hell will keep before the ransomed the fearful consequences of sin. “One reminder a...

The remnant church was born in the New World, precisely where those seeking religious liberty had fled during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Given the long-standing religious and political obstacles that existed elsewhere, it is doubtful that the launch of this movement would have been as swift or powerful in some other location as it was in the new land that became the United States. R...

The land and sea imagery in the Bible, especially for prophecy, can be very instructive. Consider the case of the symbols of  land  and  sea  in Bible prophecy, which are contrasted sharply. “Symbolically, when earth and sea are juxtaposed,  earth  often represents the ordered world, or even the land of Israel, while  sea  refers to the Gentile nations that menace it as the sea menaces the land.”—...

The dream of  Daniel 2  was first presented to a Babylonian king. The vision of  Daniel 7 , in contrast, was presented to a Hebrew prophet, a member of God’s covenant people. Daniel is shown the same subject as was Nebuchadnezzar but from a different perspective. Instead of a statue, he sees a series of nations rising up out of the sea, the result of wind churning up the water. These nations were...

It was during the Babylonian captivity, through the prophet Daniel, that God presented the most compelling descriptions we have of the relationship between His people and the kingdoms of this world. His people were no longer autonomous; they would now be reaping the consequences of their choices. (And, perhaps, learning from them?) Read  Daniel 2:31–35 , which gives a sweeping panoramic view of wo...

The Garden of Eden was a classroom for God’s first people, a place where their interaction with the creation would endlessly teach them and their offspring more about the Creator. “The holy pair were not only children under the fatherly care of God,” Ellen G. White pointed out, “but students receiving instruction from the all-wise Creator. . . . The mysteries of the visible universe—‘the wondrous...

Read for This Week’s Study Gen. 2:9–17; Dan. 2:31–35; Isa. 17:12, 13; Dan. 7:1–3; Rom. 3:10–19; Rev. 12:15, 16; Rev. 10:1–11 . Memory Text: Through the centuries, some people have argued that God wanted the Fall, that it was His intention for humans to descend into sin and death and thus lead Him—in the person of Jesus—to the cross. After all, how else could He have so powerfully and graphically d...

Read  Isaiah 44:24–45:13 . “Little by little, at first in stealth and silence, and then more openly as it increased in strength and gained control of the minds of men, ‘the mystery of iniquity’ carried forward its deceptive and blasphemous work. Almost imperceptibly the customs of heathenism found their way into the Christian church. The spirit of compromise and conformity was restrained for a tim...