|
||||||||||||||
 |
|
|
||||||||||||
Commentary on "Happy Are You, O Israel!"
Day 1: Sabbath, July 23, 2011 - Introduction
OVERVIEW
Today's lesson focuses on what authentic heartfelt worship should look like.
OBSERVATIONS
There's a subtle reference made to "the first angel's message" as being an essential part of what makes our worship authentic. However, there is no explanation of what that message is, nor any reference as to where that phrase originates.
According to SDA doctrine, "the first angel's message" is what identifies "true believers" from those who are part of Babylon, the lost. The identifying mark is whether or not one keeps the seventh-day sabbath. SDAs arrive at this conclusion because the "first angel's message" in Revelation 14:7 says we are to "Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.”
The SDA logic that results in that conclusion, flows like this:
- Revelation 14:7, "the first angel's message" identifies the creator God, as the only God we should worship.
- Since He declared the seventh-day holy after creation, it must be the only correct day to worship God on. SDAs also appeal to the old covenant fourth commandment as further proof, even though the old covenant is obsolete (see Jeremiah 33, Deuteronomy 5, Hebrews 8, Galatians 3-4, 2 Corinthians 3, Colossians 2:16-17).
- Because "the second angel's message" follows in Revelation 14:8, declaring, “Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great, which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries." it is also then concluded that Babylon must be everyone else, who worships on the wrong day, namely Sunday.
- Therefore those who worship on the seventh-day are "true believers" and those who worship God on Sunday, or who do not worship God at all, are who will receive the Mark of the Beast.
You can see why then according to Adventism seventh-day sabbath keeping becomes an integral piece of the equation in what authentic worship should look like.
Their conclusion totally misses the point of what Revelation 14 is teaching, which is that the identifying mark of true believers is about WHO we worship, rather than dictating WHEN to worship. As though there could ever be a wrong time to worship!!!
To turn this passage into a command about WHEN to worship, rather than about WHO to worship, is equivalent to worshipping the creation, instead of the Creator.
"They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creato—who is forever praised. Amen." Romans 1:25
When sabbath keeping ultimately defines whether or not you are a true believer, rather than Jesus Himself alone, then sabbath keeping becomes idolatry.
SUMMARY
- True worship is about WHO we worship, not WHEN we worship.
Copyright 2011 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised July 18, 2011. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Glendale, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.
The Sabbath School Bible Study Guide and the corresponding E.G. White Notes are published by Pacific Press Publishing Association, which is owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist church. The current quarter's editions are pictured above.
Official Adventist Resources
Standard Edition Study Guide Week 5
Teacher's Edition Study Guide Week 5
Easy Reading Edition Study Guide Wk 5
Search the Complete Published Ellen G. White Writings
Please Support This Project
