by Onovae Akpoesiri | Nov 21, 2021 | Sabbath School
4th Quarter: Present Truth in Deuteronomy.
Lesson 9: Turn Their Hearts
Sunday: Mi-Yitten
Text: [[Deu 5:29]] BSB
If only they had such a heart to fear Me and keep all My commandments always, so that it might be well with them and their children forever.
Message
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (Rom 3:23). If you had no knowledge of the Bible, and you saw this statement in the newspaper today, would you have believed it? Is it any news that humanity has fallen down the stair of evil and Wickedness? You can just look at the people around you! No! Look at yourself first. Consider closely the intents of your heart. Are you any better? If the standard is Christ’s righteousness not your friends’, do you measure up to it? The bad news is, we all “fall short”. The good news is that, when we accept our wretched condition and go to God, he forgives and imputes on us Christ’s righteousness.
This week, we’ll look at this very important aspect of our relationship with God – repentance, as revealed in the book of Deuteronomy. The old testament language (Hebrew) is rich in expressions that carry deep meaning. One of such is Mi-Yitten Mi is the question “who?” and yitten means “will give.” So, literally, Mi-yitten is “Who will give?” But when used in the OT writing, this phrase expresses the idea of a wish, of a desire, of someone wanting something badly. An instance is when Israel cried in the wilderness, and wished that they had died in Egypt (Ex 16:3). This is a strong verbal expression of the intent of the heart which sometimes can’t be achieved because of certain limitations.
It’s interesting (if not unfortunate) to note that God uses this same expression. The sovereign, omnipotent God, uses a language that implies weakness when speaking about what he wished Israel will do – that’s to have a heart that will fear him so that it’ll be well with them. But why does it appear that God is “struggling” at this point? It tells us the reality of our free will (choices). As hard as it might appear, we see that there are limits to what God can do in the midst of the great controversy. This use of mi yitten reveals that even God can’t trample on free will; for the moment He did, it would no longer be free. God can only work with and in us when we choose to allow him.
Reflection
“If God loves us all, why doesn’t He just save everyone?” How does today’s lesson help answer this question? What choices are you making today, and how will they permit or block God’s desire to work for you? How can you learn to make the right choices?
by Onovae Akpoesiri | Nov 18, 2021 | Sabbath School
4th Quarter: Present Truth in Deuteronomy.
Lesson 8: Choose Life
Thursday: A Question of Worship
Text: [[Deu 8:19]] BSB
If you ever forget the LORD your God and go after other gods to worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely perish.
Message
Some have described God as an autocratic leader who imposes rules and threatens his followers to bow to him. But this is far from the truth, considering how He dealt with the Israelites and how He deals with us today. Think about this, Israel had accepted God’s leading right from Egypt. At Sinai, they entered a covenant with him surrendering wholly to Him. At this point, they were entirely God’s. But even after that, God didn’t force them to do anything, He only gave them the path to take, and when Israel will go astray, He’ll graciously welcome them back and renew His covenant with them. As part of their covenant obligations was to worship Him.
One of the things that made them stand out as a nation was their worship of the true God, and this standard was never to be compromised. God over and over again warned the nation to be careful not to worship the idols of the other nations. He’s a jealous God and will not share his glory with anyone. It was either Israel choose to remain in the covenant with him and worship him, or they follow the other gods. Here again, There was no middle ground. Worshipping God (leading to life) or following other gods (leading to death).
God wasn’t threatening the nation, nor was he instilling fear in them. He only gave them the truth. There’s only one source of life, and if one doesn’t follow that path, then it’s destruction that awaits them. The new testament, particularly the book of revelation gives the same call – worship the creator and have eternal life (Rev 14:7), or worship the beast and his image and perish (vrs 10,11). At the end of the day, the choice is yours. It’s no more a nation, you have to make a personal choice between life and death, this time, presented as worshipping the true God or a counterfeit.
Reflection
How can we make sure that, even subtly, we are not slowly leaving our allegiance to Jesus for some other god?
by Onovae Akpoesiri | Nov 14, 2021 | Sabbath School
4th Quarter: Present Truth in Deuteronomy.
Lesson 8: Choose Life
Sunday: The Tree of Life
Text: [Gen 2:17] BSB
but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.”
Message
What is your greatest ambition in this life? What’s your fear? What’s your hope? If all that this life offered was to live and die, then what’s the big deal? As some say, let’s eat and drink for tomorrow we die. Even if this were to be the reality (which is not), how many are willing to die? Though we know we may die, many are investing so much into some things with the hope that their lives will be prolonged and possibly live forever. Some go for charms of protection, others rely on some fetish provisions, and some on modern medicine and technologies. Unfortunately, these things do not offer any better hope. This week, we’ll look at a better offer given by God in Deuteronomy – life and death, and the choice is entirely ours to make.
Like all other creations, we didn’t choose to be here. However, our advantage over all other creations is that we are free moral beings. In Eden, our first parents were given the option to choose eternal life or death. “In the midst of Eden grew the tree of life, whose fruit had the power of perpetuating life. Had Adam remained obedient to God, he would have continued to enjoy free access to this tree and would have lived forever. But when he sinned he was cut off from partaking of the tree of life, and he became subject to death. The divine sentence, ‘Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return,’ points to the utter extinction of life.” From the onset, God established 2 paths, one leading to life, the other, death.
Some people, for whatever reason, complain that it’s not fair for God to bring them to this earth without their consent. Well, fortunately, like Adam, we have the choice to make whether we want to live eternally (which is God’s original plan), or die eternally (which is like going back to nothingness – as though you never existed). God at the end time, when he has resolved the sin problem will offer the tree of Life back to those who chose life, and they’ll live forever. This is a serious matter, and we all must choose.
Reflection
Think about it: By our daily choices, how are we opting either for life or for death?
by Onovae Akpoesiri | Nov 10, 2021 | Sabbath School
4th Quarter: Present Truth in Deuteronomy.
Lesson 7: Law and Grace
Wednesday: A Slave in Egypt
Text: [[Deu 5:15]] BSB
Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and outstretched arm. That is why the LORD your God has commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.
Message
Think about this for a moment… How do you think it felt obeying and following God as an Israelites, especially during their wilderness experience? From a distance, it may appear that it was a scary experience and frustrating experience. Viewing from a 21st-century Christian point, it’ll look more like, “ahh! We’ve no option now and we just have to follow a bunch of unnecessary instructions lest He kills us”. But is that really how the Israelites saw it? Did God just throw laws at them without giving them enough reasons to trust and love him? If the Israelites disobeyed, it wasn’t because they had no reason to obey, because God gave them enough reasons.
Look through the book of Deuteronomy, and you’ll realize that over and over again God states clearly what He has done for the nation for which he now demanded obedience in return as part of their covenant obligations. “So the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm, with great terror and with signs and wonders” (Deut 26:8) Now think about what it meant to a slave in Egypt. Your whole destiny was in the hand of a man who could wake up one day and say kill everyone, irrespective of what good thing you did the day before. Now God freed them to give them a rich and fertile land which they neither built nor sustained. What greater Grace, what reason or motivation more did they need to obey?
If you still can’t get the depth of this work, hear it now… Their freedom from the Egyptian slavery was a type of salvation, a redemptive work to which Israel did nothing to merit or contribute. They only had to accept. It’s therefore not surprising that Moses, in expounding on the 10 commandments used their redemption as a reason to keep the Sabbath Holy. In other words, the Sabbath was to be a sign of God’s redemptive and salvific work not just for Israel, but for humanity. When you think about your redemption, then Remember to honour me by keeping my Sabbath.
Reflection
God never leaves us to obey blindly. Even faith is not blind. Like Israel, God always gives us reasons to obey him. What reason do you have which is enough to cause you to freely and wholeheartedly serve God?
by Onovae Akpoesiri | Nov 10, 2021 | Sabbath School
4th Quarter: Present Truth in Deuteronomy.
Lesson 7: Law and Grace
Tuesday: Letov Lak
Text: [[Deu 10:12]] BSB
“And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God by walking in all His ways, to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,
Message
Earlier this week, we mentioned in this study that many Christians see the God of the old testament as exacting, inconsiderate, and sometimes wicked. Unfortunately, many skeptics and unbelievers share the same view and this moves them to reject the whole idea of an existing and sovereign God. But why is this so? They feed on images of God’s judgments, warnings, and punishments. But this is not a fair representation of God’s character. Especially within the book of Deuteronomy, we find ample evidence of God’s loving care, grace, and persistent attempts to provide the best for His people. The overall picture of God, even in the OT, is a God of Love.
The story of Israel at Sinai could be used as a case study. Let’s face it. If God was wicked and really wanted to destroy his own people, would this not the greatest opportunity? Everyone knew and admitted that they’ve messed up by making and worshiping another god right in the process of committing to the covenant. God would’ve been justified. But what? God chose to begin the whole process again in renewing His covenant with them. God was willing to do everything possible for Israel to fulfill her purpose.
The command to obey Him was only for their own safety. The law was to serve as a hedge of protection, not a rod of punishment for Israel. So long as Israel upheld the law, they were safe, and if they deviated, God through diverse ways will show them grace and bring them back. Like ancient Israel, God is commanding his people today to obey because it is in our best interest to do so. God made us, God sustains us, God knows what is best for us, and He wants what’s best for us. Obedience to His law, to His Ten Commandments, can work only to our benefit. Let no one deceive you! Everything God does in our lives is for our own good, though we may not understand sometimes
Reflection
What are ways in which we can see for ourselves how obedience to God’s law has, indeed, been for “our own good”? Think about times where you escaped certain dangers because the law was your guide.
by Onovae Akpoesiri | Oct 19, 2021 | Bible Study, Sabbath School
4th Quarter: Present Truth in Deuteronomy.
Lesson 4: To Love the Lord Your God
Tuesday: He First Loved Us
Text: [Deu 4:37] BSB
Because He loved your fathers, He chose their descendants after them and brought you out of Egypt by His presence and great power,
Message
But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Rom 5:8) Though there were several laws given to Israel, one that superseded, and motivated all the other laws was the command to Love God. God wanted his chosen people to love him, but He didn’t do this forcefully. He gave them a reason why they should love him – because he first loved them. How did he show this love to the Israelites? Through his mighty acts. Despite their shortcomings, God always acted in their favour throughout their generations.
These mighty acts of God were important because as fallen beings, we need reasons to love. This is true in all social relationships and so God dealt with them in a language they well understood. ⁷The LORD did not set His affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than the other peoples,… ⁸But because the LORD loved you and kept the oath He swore to your fathers, He brought you out with a mighty hand… (Deu 7:7,8). If there was any reason for Israel to love God, it was because He first loved them.
How about us today? Do we need a reason to love God? Fortunately, we already have enough reasons. The good news is that we don’t need to wait for what God will do for us before we love him, looking at what He has already done is enough. In other words, should God decide not to do anything good again in your life, you still have enough reasons to love Him. The cross is more than enough to express God’s love. The problem is, very few really understand what the cross means. God is Love, and we must love!
Reflection
Instead of being love, what if God were hate or if God were indifferent? What kind of world would this be? Why is the revelation of God’s love for us something that we, indeed, should rejoice about?
