“ ‘He Is Risen!’ ” The victory of Christ over Satan and his evil powers was secured on the cross and confirmed by the empty tomb. “When Jesus was laid in the grave, Satan triumphed. He dared to hope that the Saviour would not take up His life again. He claimed the Lord’s body, and set his guard about the tomb, seeking to hold Christ a prisoner. He was bitterly angry when his angels fled at the approach of the heavenly messenger. When he saw Christ come forth in triumph, he knew that his kingdom ...
Nov 07, 2022•10 min•Ep. 1562
A Sealed Tomb Christ’s mission seemed to have ended (and even failed) with His death on the cross. Satan succeeded in instigating Judas to betray the Savior (Luke 22:3, 4; John 13:26, 27) and the chief priests and elders to demand His death (Matt. 26:59, Matt. 27:20). After Jesus was arrested, “all the disciples forsook Him and fled” (Matt. 26:56, NKJV), and Peter denied Him three times (Matt. 26:69–75). Now Jesus was lying in a tomb hewed out of a rock, closed with a large and sealed stone, pro...
Nov 06, 2022•9 min•Ep. 1561
Read for This Week’s Study: Matt. 27:62–66; John 10:17, 18; Matt. 27:51–53; John 20:11–29; 1 Cor. 15:5–8. Memory Text: “When I saw him, I fell down at his feet like a dead man. He put his right hand on me and said, ‘Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the One who lives; I was dead, but look, I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys to death and to the place of the dead’ ” (Rev. 1:17, 18, NCV). Central to the Christian faith is the resurrection of Jesus. Paul made this poi...
Nov 05, 2022•5 min•Ep. 1560
Further Thought: Read Ellen G. White, “Gethsemane,” pp. 685– 697; “Calvary,” pp. 741–758, in The Desire of Ages; “Repentance,” p. 27, in Steps to Christ. “I saw that all heaven is interested in our salvation; and shall we be indifferent? Shall we be careless, as though it were a small matter whether we are saved or lost? Shall we slight the sacrifice that has been made for us? Some have done this. They have trifled with offered mercy, and the frown of God is upon them. God’s Spirit will not alwa...
Nov 04, 2022•9 min•Ep. 1559
The Meaning of the Cross Read 1 Corinthians 1:18–24. What is Paul saying about the Cross, and how does he contrast it with the “wisdom of the world”? Why, even today, when “materialism” (the idea that all reality is only material, which means there is no God or supernatural realm of existence) dominates “the wisdom of the world,” is the message of the Cross so important? The Cross of Christ is the very center of salvation history. “Eternity can never fathom the depth of love revealed in the cros...
Nov 03, 2022•9 min•Ep. 1558
He Died for Us Read John 3:14–18 and Romans 6:23. What do these verses teach that Christ’s death has accomplished for us? When Jesus arrived at the Jordan River to be baptized, John the Baptist exclaimed, “ ‘Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’ ” (John 1:29, NKJV). This statement acknowledged Christ as the antitypical Lamb of God to whom all true sacrifices of the Old Testament pointed. But animal sacrifices could not take away sins by themselves (Heb. 10:4). They provid...
Nov 02, 2022•13 min•Ep. 1557
“ ‘It Is Finished!’ ” Read John 19:1–30. What is the crucial message to us in Jesus’ state- ment, “ ‘It is finished’ ”? Finally, the crucial moments for Christ, for humankind, and for the whole universe had arrived. With deep agony, He struggled against the powers of darkness. Slowly He made His way through the Garden of Gethsemane, through His unfair trials, and up the mountain of Calvary. Evil angels were trying to overcome Him. While Jesus was hanging on the cross, the chief priests, the scri...
Nov 01, 2022•12 min•Ep. 1556
A Preface to the Cross What were the reactions of the disciples to Jesus’ predictions of His own sufferings and death, and what should their reactions teach us about the dangers of misunderstanding Scripture? Matt. 16:21–23 Matt. 17:22, 23; Mark 9:30–32; Luke 9:44, 45 Luke 18:31–34 Jesus was born to die, and He lived to die. Every step that He took brought Him closer to His great atoning sacrifice on the cross of Calvary. Fully conscious of His mission, He did not allow anyone or anything to dis...
Oct 31, 2022•12 min•Ep. 1555
“From the Foundation of the World” Read Revelation 13:8; Acts 2:23; and 1 Peter 1:19, 20. How could Christ be considered “slain from the foundation of the world” (NKJV)? “All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:8, NKJV). What’s crucial here for us is the idea of Christ’s being “slain from the foundation of the world.” Obviously, we must understand this in a symbolic sense (the ...
Oct 30, 2022•9 min•Ep. 1554
Read for This Week’s Study: Rev. 13:8; Matt. 17:22, 23; Mark 9:30–32; John 19:1–30; Rom. 6:23; 1 Cor. 1:18–24. Memory Text: “ ‘And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life’ ” (John 3:14, 15, NKJV). It has been said that we cannot avoid death and taxes. That’s not entirely true. People can avoid taxes—but not death. They might be able to put death off a few years, but sooner or ...
Oct 30, 2022•6 min•Ep. 1553
Further Thought: Read Ellen G. White, “The Death of Moses,” pp. 469–480, in Patriarchs and Prophets; “The Voice of Stern Rebuke,” pp. 129–142; “A Prophet of Peace,” pp. 237–243, in Prophets and Kings; “The Centurion,” pp. 318, 319; “The Touch of Faith,” pp. 342, 343; “ ‘Lazarus, Come Forth,’ ” pp. 524–536, in The Desire of Ages. “In Christ is life, original, unborrowed, underived. ‘He that hath the Son hath life.’ 1 John 5:12. The divinity of Christ is the believer’s assurance of eternal life. ‘...
Oct 28, 2022•12 min•Ep. 1552
Lazarus Read John 11:1–44. In what sense was Jesus “glorified” by the sick- ness and death of Lazarus (John 11:4)? Here, too, Jesus uses the metaphor for sleep in talking about death. “ ‘Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up’ ” (John 11:11, NIV). When some thought He was talking about literal sleep (John 11:11–13), Jesus clearly stated what He meant: “ ‘Lazarus is dead’ ” (John 11:12–14, NIV). Actually, when Jesus arrived in Bethany, Lazarus had been dead four...
Oct 27, 2022•12 min•Ep. 1551
Jairus’s Daughter The resurrections prior to Jesus’ own death and resurrection were not limited to any specific ethnic group or social class. Moses was perhaps the greatest human leader of God’s people ever (Deut. 34:10– 12). By contrast, the poor Phoenician widow was not even an Israelite (1 Kings 17:9). The Shunammite woman was prominent in her com- munity (2 Kings 4:8). The widow of Nain had only one son, upon whom she was probably dependent (Luke 7:12). In contrast, Jairus was a ruler of the...
Oct 26, 2022•12 min•Ep. 1550
The Son of the Widow of Nain The Bible says that Jesus “ ‘went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him’ ” (Acts 10:38, NASB). Indeed, all the Gospels are full of accounts of Jesus ministering to many needy and hurting souls, which is why later many Jews came to believe that Jesus was the promised Messiah. “There were whole villages where there was not a moan of sickness in any house, for He had passed through them and healed all their sick. His work...
Oct 25, 2022•14 min•Ep. 1549
Two Old Testament Cases Read 1 Kings 17:8–24 and 2 Kings 4:18–37. What similarities and dif- ferences do you see in these two resurrections? In Hebrews 11, we read that by faith “women received back their dead by resurrection” (Heb. 11:35, NASB). This was the case in the two resurrections depicted in the texts for today. The first one (see 1 Kings 17:8–24) occurred during the great apos- tasy in Israel, which happened under the influence of King Ahab and his pagan wife Jezebel. As a severe droug...
Oct 24, 2022•12 min•Ep. 1548
The Resurrection of Moses Read Jude 9 and Luke 9:28–36. What evidences do you find in these texts for the bodily resurrection of Moses? Some Greek Church Fathers from Alexandria argued that, when Moses died, two Moseses were seen: one alive in the spirit, another dead in the body; one Moses ascending to heaven with angels, the other buried in the earth. (See Origen, Homilies on Joshua 2.1; Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 6.15.) This distinction between the assumption of the soul and the burial o...
Oct 23, 2022•15 min•Ep. 1547
Read for This Week’s Study: Jude 9, Luke 9:28–36, 1 Kings 17:8–24, Luke 7:11–17, Mark 5:35–43, John 11:1–44. Memory Text: “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die forever. Do you believe this?’ ” (John 11:25, 26, LEB). The Old Testament references to the resurrection that we have looked at so far were largely based on personal expectations (Job 19:25–27, Heb. 11:17–19,...
Oct 22, 2022•7 min•Ep. 1546
Further Thought: Read Ellen G. White, “Visions of Future Glory,” pp. 722–733, in Prophets and Kings. Modern science teaches that all matter is composed of atoms, them- selves made up of two smaller particles, quarks and leptons, which are believed to be the building blocks of all physical reality. If, then, at the core the physical world is quarks and leptons, couldn’t the God who not only created and sustains that world also just reconfigure the quarks and leptons when the time comes to resurre...
Oct 21, 2022•13 min•Ep. 1545
Those Who Sleep in the Dust As we will see, the New Testament talks a great deal about the resur- rection of the dead; and, as we have already seen, the idea of the resur- rection of the dead appears in the Old Testament, as well. These people, in Old Testament times, had the hope of the final resurrection that we do. Martha, living at the time of Jesus, already had this hope (John 11:24). No question, even then, the Jews had some knowledge of the resurrection in the last days, even if not all b...
Oct 20, 2022•10 min•Ep. 1544
“Your Dead Shall Live” Read Isaiah 26:14, 19. What is the contrast between those who will perish forever (Isa. 26:14; see also Mal. 4:1) and those who will receive eternal life (Isa. 26:19)? The book of Isaiah presents a major contrast between the majesty of God and our human fragility (see Isaiah 40). Though we are like the grass that withers and the flower that fades, the Word of God remains for- ever (Isa. 40:6–8). Despite our human sinfulness, however, God’s saving grace is available to all ...
Oct 19, 2022•10 min•Ep. 1543
“From the Depths of the Earth” Read Psalm 71. What did David imply when he asked God to bring him up “again from the depths of the earth” (Ps. 71:20, NKJV)? In Psalm 49 we found a touching expression of hope in the resur- rection, in contrast to the false assurance of the fool who trusted in his wealth. In Psalm 71, David seeks security and hope from God, while surrounded by enemies and false accusers who say that God has for- saken him (Ps. 71:10, 11). Amid his trials, David finds comfort and a...
Oct 18, 2022•10 min•Ep. 1542
From the Power of the Grave Read Psalm 49. What led the psalmist to be so sure of his final resur- rection (Ps. 49:15) in contrast to those who perished without that assurance (Ps. 49:6–14)? Psalm 49 speaks about the false confidence of the foolish “who trust in their wealth and boast in the multitude of their riches” (Ps. 49:6, NKJV), who “call their lands after their own names” (Ps. 49:11, NKJV), and who live only to bless themselves (Ps. 49:18). They act as if their houses and their own glory...
Oct 17, 2022•10 min•Ep. 1541
I Shall See God Read Job 19:25–27 and compare it with John 1:18 and 1 Timothy 6:16. When and under what circumstances was Job expecting to “see God”? Life is not fair. We see this especially when we see the “good” suf- fering and the “unrighteous” prospering (see Ps. 73:12–17 and Mal. 3:14–18). For example, Job was “blameless and upright” and “feared God and shunned evil” (Job 1:1, NKJV). Even so, God allowed Satan to afflict him in several disastrous ways. Physically, his body was ravaged by pa...
Oct 16, 2022•11 min•Ep. 1540
Read for This Week’s Study: Job 19:25–27; 1 Tim. 6:16; Psalm 49; Psalm 71; Isa. 26:14, 19; Daniel 12. Memory Text: “By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac. He who had received the promises was ready to offer up his only son. . . . He considered the fact that God is able even to raise someone from the dead—and figuratively speaking, he did receive him back” (Hebrews 11:17, 19, NRSV). The Old Testament hope is grounded, not on Greek ideas about the natural immortality of the soul...
Oct 15, 2022•7 min•Ep. 1539
Further Thought: Read Ellen G. White, “The First Great Deception,” pp. 531–550, in The Great Controversy. If you have ever been in surgery and were put out with general anesthesia, you might have a faint idea of what it must be like for the dead. But even then, when under anesthesia, your brain still functions. Imagine what it would be like for the dead, when all brain function, everything, has totally stopped. Their experience in death, then, is to close their eyes and, as far as each dead pers...
Oct 14, 2022•8 min•Ep. 1538
Resting With the Forefathers Read Genesis 25:8, 2 Samuel 7:12, 1 Kings 2:10, and 1 Kings 22:40. What do these texts add to your understanding of death? The Old Testament expresses in different ways the ideas of death and burial. One way is the notion of being gathered to one’s own people. For example, about Abraham, we are told that he “breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people” (Gen. 25:8, NKJV). Aaron and Moses also were gathered...
Oct 13, 2022•8 min•Ep. 1537
“The Dead Know Nothing” Read Job 3:11–13; Psalm 115:17; Psalm 146:4; and Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10. What can we learn from these passages about the condition of human beings at death? Some Bible commentators argue that these passages (Job 3:11–13; Ps. 115:17; Ps. 146:4; Eccles. 9:5, 10), written in poetic language, cannot be used to define the condition of human beings at death. It is true that sometimes poetry can be ambiguous and easily misunderstood, but this is not the case with these verses. The...
Oct 12, 2022•10 min•Ep. 1536
The Spirit Returns to God Read Genesis 2:7 and Ecclesiastes 12:1–7. What contrast can you see between these two biblical passages? How can they help us to understand better the human condition in death? (See also Genesis 7:22.) As already seen, the Bible teaches that the human being is a soul (Gen. 2:7), and the soul ceases to exist when the body dies (Ezek. 18:4, 20). But what about the “spirit”? Does it not remain conscious even after the death of the body? Many Christians believe so, and they...
Oct 11, 2022•10 min•Ep. 1535
“ ‘The Soul Who Sins Shall Die’ ” Read Ezekiel 18:4, 20 and Matthew 10:28. How can these verses help us understand the nature of the human soul? Human life in this sinful world is fragile and transitory (Isa. 40:1–8). Nothing infected by sin can be eternal by nature. “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned” (Rom. 5:12, NKJV). Death is the natural consequence of sin, which affects all life here. On this...
Oct 10, 2022•10 min•Ep. 1534
“A Living Being” Read Genesis 1:24–27 and Genesis 2:7, 19. What similarities and differences can you see between the way God created the animals and the way He created humanity? What does Genesis 2:7 tell us about human nature? The Genesis account declares that on the sixth day of Creation week the Lord God brought to life land animals and the first human beings, a couple (Gen. 1:24–27). We are told that He “formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky” (Gen. 2:19, ...
Oct 09, 2022•9 min•Ep. 1533
