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2022-Q4-L8: The New Testament Hope

Read for This Week’s Study: 1 Cor. 15:12-19, John 14:1-3, John 6:26-51, 1 Thess. 4:13-18, 1 Cor. 15:51-55.

Memory Text: “And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:11, 12, NKJV).

Testimony (definition). The Greek for "testimony" is marturia [G3141]. We get the word "martyr" from this word. It is used 38 times in the New Testament and translated variously: witness (15 times); testimony (14 times); record (7 times); and report (2 times). Although used by other NT writers, the apostle John uses this word far more than any other writer (31 of the 38 times). It is John's use of the word that should have our attention.

  • 1 John 5:6-12 (ESV/REV combined): This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the spirit is what testifies (marturia) [Greek, which is testifying] to this, because the spirit is the truth. 7 For there are three that testify (marturia): 8 the spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree. 9 If we receive the testimony (marturia) of men, the testimony (marturia) of God is greater, for this is the testimony (marturia) of God that he has testified (martyreō) concerning his Son. 10 Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony (marturia) in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony (marturia) that God has testified (martyreō) concerning his Son. 11 And this is the testimony (marturia), that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
  • Revelation 12:11: And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony (marturia), for they loved not their lives even unto death.

Notes

  • W

SUNDAY. Hope Beyond This Life

1 Corinthians 15:12–19 (NKJV): 12 Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. 14 And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. 15 Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up—if in fact the dead do not rise. 16 For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. 17 And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! 18 Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.

Notes

  • Dual hope. A Christian thinks in terms of dual hope: (1) hope in this life, and (2) hope in the life after death. It is a blended hope, in that one flows into the other because Christ gives us both a hope in this life and a hope into eternity.
  • Philippians 3:7-12: However, I consider those things that were gain to me as a loss for Christ. 8 Yes most certainly, and I count all things to be a loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and count them nothing but refuse, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, that which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith, 10 that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed to his death, 11 if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. 12 Not that I have already obtained these things [i.e. to know him, etc.], or am already made perfect; but I press on, that I may take hold of that perfection for which Christ Jesus has taken hold of me.
  • What then is the hope in this life? Answer: It is to gain knowledge of Christ, be found in him, having his righteousness, experiencing everything that he experienced (i.e. resurrection, sufferings, death), and ultimately take hold of his perfection. In other words, it is a desire for holiness.

MONDAY. “I Will Come Again”. John 14:1-3.

From the lesson: Four times in the book of Revelation Jesus stated, “I am coming soon!” (Rev. 3:11; Rev. 22:7, 12, 20, NIV). The expectation of His soon coming drove the mission of the apostolic church and filled the lives of uncountable Christians throughout the centuries with hope. But generation after generation has died, and this promised event has not yet occurred. And thus, many are enquiring: How much longer will we have to preach that “Jesus is coming soon”? Have these words generated an unrealistic expectation? (See 2 Pet. 3:4.)

Notes

  • How to deal with long delays? Answer: Occupy until I come. There is both a work that is done on the inside and on the outside.

TUESDAY. “I Will Raise Him Up”. John 6:26-59. [I Am the Bread of Life]

Notes

  • John 6:29: Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”
  • John 6:33: For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
  • John 6:35-40: And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never athirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. 39 This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. 40 And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”
  • The will of the Father is to save everyone through the Son, not only in this life but for eternity.
  • Dual "baptism". Jesus then follows with the eating of his flesh and drinking his blood.
  • John 6:53-58: Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. 56 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. 58 This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.” 59 These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.
  • The "abides in My and I in him" is in the sense of habitation. Other words for "abide" are dwells, lives, remains, resides.
  • DA 389.3: To eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ is to receive Him as a personal Saviour, believing that He forgives our sins, and that we are complete in Him. It is by beholding His love, by dwelling upon it, by drinking it in, that we are to become partakers of His nature. What food is to the body, Christ must be to the soul. Food cannot benefit us unless we eat it, unless it becomes a part of our being. So Christ is of no value to us if we do not know Him as a personal Saviour. A theoretical knowledge will do us no good. We must feed upon Him, receive Him into the heart, so that His life becomes our life. His love, His grace, must be assimilated.
  • DA 389.4: But even these figures fail to present the privilege of the believer's relation to Christ. Jesus said, “As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me.” As the Son of God lived by faith in the Father, so are we to live by faith in Christ. So fully was Jesus surrendered to the will of God that the Father alone appeared in His life. Although tempted in all points like as we are, He stood before the world untainted by the evil that surrounded Him. Thus we also are to overcome as Christ overcame.
  • DA 389.5: Are you a follower of Christ? Then all that is written concerning the spiritual life is written for you, and may be attained through uniting yourself to Jesus. Is your zeal languishing? has your first love grown cold? Accept again of the proffered love of Christ. Eat of His flesh, drink of His blood, and you will become one with the Father and with the Son.

WEDNESDAY. At the Sound of the Trumpet.

1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 (NKJV): 13 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.
15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.

Notes

  • No secret. The "secret rapture" is no secret because it will be visible to all. "Every eye will see him."
  • In a moment. The change of our bodies will be instantaneous.

THURSDAY. The Everlasting Encounter

1 Corinthians 15:51–55 (NKJV): 51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” 55“O Death, where is your sting?
O Hades, where is your victory?”

FRIDAY. Further Thought: Read Ellen G. White, “The Thessalonian Letters,” pp. 255-268; “Called to Reach a Higher Standard,” pp. 319-321, in The Acts of the Apostles.