The Desire of Ages by Ellen G. White read by Donald Hines Part 1/4 | Full Audio Book

Lot Loses Everything Except His Life

Lot returned sorrowfully to his home and told the story of his failure. Then the angels bade him take his wife and two daughters who were yet in the house and leave. But Lot delayed. He had no true conception of the debasing iniquity practiced in that vile city. He did not realize the terrible necessity for God’s judgments to put a check on sin. Some of his children clung to Sodom, and the thought of leaving those whom he held dearest on earth seemed more than he could bear. It was hard to forsake his luxurious home and all the wealth of his whole life, to go forth a destitute wanderer. Stupefied with sorrow, he lingered. But for the angels, they would all have perished. The heavenly messengers took him and his wife and daughters by the hand and led them out of the city.

In all the cities of the plain, even ten righteous persons had not been found. But in answer to the patriarch’s prayer, the one man who feared God was snatched from destruction. The command was given with startling vehemence: “Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.” To cast one lingering look upon the city, to tarry for one moment from regret to leave so beautiful a home, would cost their life. The storm of divine judgment was only waiting that these poor fugitives might escape.

But Lot, confused and terrified, pleaded that he could not do as he was required. Living in that wicked city, his faith had grown dim. The Prince of heaven was by his side, yet he pleaded for his own life as though God, who had manifested such love for him, would not still preserve him. He should have trusted himself wholly to the divine Messenger. “Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live.” Zoar was but a few miles from Sodom, and, like it, was corrupt and doomed to destruction. But Lot asked that it might be spared, urging that this was but a small request. His desire was granted. The Lord assured him, “I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken.”

Again the command was given to hasten, for the fiery storm would be delayed but little longer. But one of the fugitives cast a look backward to the doomed city, and she became a monument of God’s judgment. If Lot himself had earnestly fled toward the mountains without one word of remonstrance, his wife also would have made her escape. His example would have saved her from the sin that sealed her doom. But his hesitancy caused her to lightly regard the divine warning. While her body was on the plain, her heart clung to Sodom, and she perished with it. She rebelled against God because His judgments involved her possessions and children in the ruin. She felt severely dealt with because the wealth that had taken years to accumulate must be left to destruction. Instead of thankfully accepting deliverance, she presumptuously looked back to desire the life of those who rejected the divine warning.

There are Christians who say, “I do not care to be saved unless my companion and children are saved.” They feel heaven would not be heaven without the presence of those who are so dear. But have those who cherish this feeling forgotten that they are bound by the strongest ties of love and loyalty to their Creator and Redeemer? Because our friends reject the Saviour’s love, shall we also turn away? Christ has paid an infinite price for our salvation, and no one who appreciates its value will despise God’s mercy because others choose to do so. The fact that others ignore His claims should arouse us to greater diligence, that we may honor God and lead all whom we can to accept His love.

From Eternity Past, pp.101-103.

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It is not enough...

It is not enough for us to believe that Jesus is not an impostor, and that the religion of the Bible is no cunningly devised fable. We may believe that the name of Jesus is the only name under heaven whereby man may be saved, and yet we may not through faith make Him our personal Saviour. It is not enough to believe the theory of truth. It is not enough to make a profession of faith in Christ and have our names registered on the church roll. “He that keepeth His commandments dwelleth in Him, and He in him. And hereby we know that He abideth in us, by the Spirit which He hath given us.” “Hereby we do know that we know Him if we keep His commandments.” 1 John 3:24; 1 John 2:3. This is the genuine evidence of conversion. Whatever our profession, it amounts to nothing unless Christ is revealed in works of righteousness.

Christ's Object Lessons, p. 312,313.

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Don’t Let the Warning Go Unheeded

When the Saviour saw in the Jewish people a nation divorced from God, He saw also a professed Christian Church united to the world and the papacy. And as He stood upon Olivet, weeping over Jerusalem till the sun sank behind the western hills, so He is weeping over and pleading with sinners in these last moments of time. Soon He will say to the angels who are holding the four winds, "Let the plagues loose; let darkness, destruction, and death come upon the transgressors of my law." Will He be obliged to say to those who have had great light and knowledge, as He said to the Jews, "If thou hadst known, even thou at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes"? (Review and Herald, October 8, 1901)
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Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error

1 John 4

1Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

2Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:

3And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

4Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

5They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.

6We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

7Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.

8He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

9In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.

10Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

11Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.

12No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

13Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.

14And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.

15Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.

16And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

17Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

18There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

19We love him, because he first loved us.

20If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?

21And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.


King James Version (KJV)

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Save us, O LORD our God, and gather us from among the heathen

Psalm 106

1Praise ye the LORD. O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.
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2Who can utter the mighty acts of the LORD? who can shew forth all his praise?

3Blessed are they that keep judgment, and he that doeth righteousness at all times.

4Remember me, O LORD, with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people: O visit me with thy salvation;

5That I may see the good of thy chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation, that I may glory with thine inheritance.

6We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly.

7Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt; they remembered not the multitude of thy mercies; but provoked him at the sea, even at the Red sea.

8Nevertheless he saved them for his name's sake, that he might make his mighty power to be known.

9He rebuked the Red sea also, and it was dried up: so he led them through the depths, as through the wilderness.

10And he saved them from the hand of him that hated them, and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.

11And the waters covered their enemies: there was not one of them left.

12Then believed they his words; they sang his praise.

13They soon forgat his works; they waited not for his counsel:

14But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert.

15And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul.

16They envied Moses also in the camp, and Aaron the saint of the LORD.

17The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan and covered the company of Abiram.

18And a fire was kindled in their company; the flame burned up the wicked.

19They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image.

20Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass.

21They forgat God their saviour, which had done great things in Egypt;

22Wondrous works in the land of Ham, and terrible things by the Red sea.

23Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy them.

24Yea, they despised the pleasant land, they believed not his word:

25But murmured in their tents, and hearkened not unto the voice of the LORD.

26Therefore he lifted up his hand against them, to overthrow them in the wilderness:

27To overthrow their seed also among the nations, and to scatter them in the lands.

28They joined themselves also unto Baalpeor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead.

29Thus they provoked him to anger with their inventions: and the plague brake in upon them.

30Then stood up Phinehas, and executed judgment: and so the plague was stayed.

31And that was counted unto him for righteousness unto all generations for evermore.

32They angered him also at the waters of strife, so that it went ill with Moses for their sakes:

33Because they provoked his spirit, so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips.

34They did not destroy the nations, concerning whom the LORD commanded them:

35But were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works.

36And they served their idols: which were a snare unto them.

37Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils,

38And shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan: and the land was polluted with blood.

39Thus were they defiled with their own works, and went a whoring with their own inventions.

40Therefore was the wrath of the LORD kindled against his people, insomuch that he abhorred his own inheritance.

41And he gave them into the hand of the heathen; and they that hated them ruled over them.

42Their enemies also oppressed them, and they were brought into subjection under their hand.

43Many times did he deliver them; but they provoked him with their counsel, and were brought low for their iniquity.

44Nevertheless he regarded their affliction, when he heard their cry:

45And he remembered for them his covenant, and repented according to the multitude of his mercies.

46He made them also to be pitied of all those that carried them captives.

47Save us, O LORD our God, and gather us from among the heathen, to give thanks unto thy holy name, and to triumph in thy praise.

48Blessed be the LORD God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting: and let all the people say, Amen. Praise ye the LORD.

King James Version (KJV)

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Our Redeemer - The Theme of Prophecy

Someone Cares Series
Information Brochure No. 17

Our Redeemer -
The Theme of Prophecy

Introduction

Multitudes today are losing faith in Jesus. How can we KNOW that He was the Saviour of the world? We can know because of the Old Testament prophecies.

1. What did Jesus show was the theme of the Old Testament prophecies?
"Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself" (Luke 24:25-27).

The great themes of the Old Testament were misapprehended and misinterpreted. Christ's work was to expound the truth which had not been understood by those to whom they had been given. The prophets had made the statements, but the spiritual import of what they had written was undiscovered by them. They did not see the meaning of the truth. Jesus reproved His disciples for their slowness of comprehension.

He maintained His disguise till He had interpreted the Scriptures and had led them to an intelligent faith in His life, His character, His mission to earth, and His death and resurrection. He wished the truth to take firm root in their minds, not because it was supported by His personal testimony, but because the typical law and the prophets of the Old Testament, agreeing with facts of His life and death, presented unquestionable evidence of that truth.

2. In what city did the Old Testament say Jesus was to be born?
"But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting" (Micah 5:2).

At the time of Christ's first advent the priests and scribes of the Holy City, to whom were entrusted the oracles of God, might have discerned the signs of the times and proclaimed the coming of the Promised One. The prophecy of Micah designated His birthplace. Even the very place of His birth and the time of His appearance were minutely specified. The son of David must be born in David's city.

3. Was there also a specific time when Jesus was to appear?
"But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law," (Galatians 4:4).

Before the world was made it was arranged that the divinity of Christ should be enshrouded in humanity. "A body," said Christ, "Thou has prepared for me" (Hebrews 10:5). But He did not come in human form until the fullness of time had expired, until all the years of the prophecy had gone by.

4. When was that time to be?
"Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times" (Daniel 9:24, 25).

Through His chosen agencies God will graciously make known His purposes. Then the grand work of redemption will go forward. This is what Gabriel revealed to Daniel in answer to fervent prayer. He was to bring in everlasting deliverance to all who would walk after Him.

The time of the first advent and of some of the chief events clustering about the Saviour's lifework was made known by the angel Gabriel to Daniel.

5. Sixty-nine weeks is 483 days. In symbolic prophecy, what does a day represent?
"And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year" (Ezekiel 4:6).

A day in prophecy stands for a year. The seventy weeks, or four hundred and ninety days, represent four hundred and ninety years. A starting point for this period is given. "Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and three score and two weeks" (Daniel 9:25). that adds up to sixty-nine weeks, or four hundred and eighty three years. The commandment to restore and build Jerusalem, as completed by the decree of Artaxerxes Longimanus, went into effect in the autumn of 457 B.C. (Ezra 6:14; 7:1, 9) From this time, four hundred and eighty three years extend to the autumn of A.D. 27. According to this prophecy, this period was to reach to the Messiah, the Anointed One. 27 A.D. was the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar.

6. Thus the 69 weeks ended in Tiberius Caesar's 15th year. What happened that year?
"Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene, Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins; ... Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened, And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased" (Luke 3:1-3, 21, 22).

At His baptism in A.D. 27, Jesus received the anointing of the Holy Spirit and soon afterward began His ministry. Then the message was proclaimed, "The time is fulfilled," (Mark 1:15).

Tiberius Caesar began his reign in A.D. 12 and it was in the fifteenth year of his reign (A.D. 27) that Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist in the river Jordan.

7. The Hebrew word "Messiah" ("Christ" in Greek) means "anointed." If Jesus was the Messiah, (a) How was He anointed, thereby becoming the Messiah; and (b) When did that happen?
"That word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judaea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached; How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him" (Acts 10:37, 38).

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised," (Luke 4:18).

Christ came to preach the gospel to the poor. He reached the people where they were. He brought plain simple truth to their comprehension. How simple His language! Even the poorest, the most unlearned and ignorant could understand Him. Jesus at His baptism received the anointing (consecration) of the Holy Spirit, and soon afterwards began His ministry. The Old testament Scriptures stated plainly every detail of Christ's ministry.

8. Did Jesus recognize the fulfillment of this prophetic time?
"And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel" (Mark 1:15).

Christ Himself had sent the disciples forth with the message "The time is fulfilled" (completed). That message was based on the message of Daniel 9. The sixty nine weeks were declared by the angel to extend to "the Messiah the Prince." Christ had come at the exact time and in the manner foretold by prophecy. For seven years after the Saviour entered on His ministry the Gospel was to be preached especially to the Jews; for three and a half years by Christ Himself, and afterward by the apostles.9. Although the Jewish people wanted a conqueror, what would happen to the Messiah sometime after 27 A.D."And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself:" (Daniel 9:26a).

In A.D. 31, three and a half years after His baptism, our Lord was crucified. With the great sacrifice offered upon Calvary, ended that system of offerings which for four thousand years had pointed forward to the Lamb of God. Type had met antitype and all the sacrifices and oblations of the ceremonial system were there to cease.

10. Jesus' baptism marked the end of the 69 weeks and the beginning of the 70th week of probationary time allotted to the Jewish nation. What would happen in the middle of this prophetic week?
"And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease," (Daniel 9:27a).

Jesus, who made the covenant, would put an end to animal sacrifices by Himself being "cut off" and becoming our sacrifice on the cross.

In the midst of the seventieth week, Messiah was to be cut off. Three and a half years after His baptism Christ was crucified, in the spring of A.D. 31. The seventy weeks, or 490 years, were to pertain especially to the Jews. At the expiration of this period the nation sealed its rejection of Christ by the persecution of His disciples, and the apostles turned to the Gentiles in A.D. 34.

11. Did Jesus understand the prophetic time period pointing forward to His being "cut off" and doing away with sacrifices?
"And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem," (Luke 9:51).

"Then Jesus said unto them, My time is not yet come: but your time is alway ready. The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil. Go ye up unto this feast: I go not up yet unto this feast: for my time is not yet full come" (John 7:6-8).

"And he said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Master saith, My time is at hand; I will keep the passover at thy house with my disciples" (Matthew 26:18).

As the close of His ministry drew near there was a change in Christ's manner of labor. Heretofore He had sought to shun excitement and publicity. He had refused the homage of the people and had passed quickly from place to place when the popular enthusiasm in His favor seemed kindling beyond control. Again and again He had commanded that none should declare Him to be the Christ. It was a false conception of the Messiah's work, and a lack of faith in the divine character of Jesus, that had led His brothers to urge Him to present Himself publicly to the people at the Feast of Tabernacles. Now, in a spirit akin to this, the disciples would have prevented Him from making the journey to Jerusalem. They remembered His words concerning what was to befall Him there, they knew the deadly hostility of the religious leaders, and they would fain have dissuaded their Master from going thither.

12. Since after Jesus' death there were still 3.5 years of the final (70th) week for special ministry to the Jewish people, where did Jesus tell His disciples to begin their witness?
"But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth" (Acts 1:8).

Christ's visible power was about to be withdrawn from the disciples, but a new endowment of power was to be theirs. The Holy Spirit was to be given them in its fullness, sealing them for their work. Christ told His disciples that they were to begin their work at Jerusalem. That city had been the scene of His amazing sacrifice for the human race. In Jerusalem were many who secretly believed Jesus of Nazareth to be the Messiah, and many who had been deceived by priests and rulers.

13. When did the gospel begin to go to the Gentiles?
"And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. ... And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles. ... Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word" (Acts 7:59; 8:1, 4).

In the stoning of Stephen the Jewish nation once more rejected the covenant of mercy. The one week—seven years—ended in A.D. 34. Then by the stoning of Stephen the Jews finally sealed their rejection of the gospel. The disciples who were scattered abroad by persecution "went everywhere preaching the Word" (Acts 8:4), and shortly after Saul the persecutor was converted and became Paul the apostle to the Gentiles. The time of Christ's coming, His anointing by the Holy Spirit, His death, and the giving of the Gospel to the Gentiles were definitely pointed out. It was the privilege of the Jewish people to understand these prophecies and to recognize their fulfillment in the mission of Jesus. Christ urged upon His disciples the importance of prophetic study.

14. Was the Jewish nation still God's chosen people after 34 A.D.?
"For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God" (Romans 2:28, 29).

"Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof" (Matthew 21:43).

"But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy" (1 Peter 2:9-10).

After A.D. 34 the Jewish nation were no longer God's people as they had rejected the Lord Jesus Christ. As a consequence the Lord rejected Israel as His nation.

God is a Spirit; and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. True circumcision is the worship of Christ in spirit and truth, not in forms and ceremonies with hypocritical pretense.

15. Under the New Covenant, who are the true Israel?
"For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise" (Galatians 3:26-29).

"By the hearing of faith" they received the Spirit of God and became "the children of God by faith in Christ." From every quarter were coming accounts of the spread of the new doctrine by which Jews were released from the observance of the rites of the ceremonial law and Gentiles were admitted to equal privileges with the Jews as children of Abraham.

Caste is hateful to God. In His sight the souls of all men are of equal value. Without distinction of age, or rank or nationality, or religious privilege, all are invited to come unto Him and live. All who through Christ should become the children of faith were to be counted as Abraham's seed; they were inheritors of the covenant promises; like Abraham, they were called to guard and to make known to the world the Law of God and the gospel of His Son.

COMMITMENT
Jesus alone fulfills the prophecies of the Messiah. Through Him we can each become a part of God's true people—spiritual Israel. Is it your desire to be a part of God's true Israel today?

Source: http://www.projectrestore.com/bible_guides/someonecares/sc17.htm

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