Redemption

Redemption

Sabbath Afternoon

Read for This Week's Study: Rev. 20:1-3, Jer. 4:23-26, 1 Cor. 4:5, Rev. 20:7-15, Phil. 2:9-11, 2 Pet. 3:10. 

Memory Text: "'And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away'"(Revelation 21:4, NKJV). 

People often ask why did evil arise in the first place? Central to the answer is freedom. True freedom, true moral freedom, involves risk, because if persons (or beings) are truly free, then they must have the option to do wrong.

Fair enough, but the next question arises: Why then didn't God just blot them out when they did wrong and spare the rest of us the horrible results of rebellion?

The answer gets to the heart of the great controversy. As we will see this week, the Lord runs a kind of "open" government, and though much about Him and His ways are mysterious, He will resolve the great controversy in a way that will forever end all questions about His self-denial, goodness, justice, love, and law.

Indeed, we will be given a thousand years to get answers, at least answers regarding the fate of the lost (we'll have an eternity for the rest). After the Second Coming, the redeemed will live and reign with Christ for a thousand years. And, even more incredible, they will have an active role in judgment. Let's look at the final steps in the long-playing drama of the great controversy.

Study this week's lesson to prepare for Sabbath, March 26.

Sunday 

Binding Satan

Read Revelation 20:1-3. What is being described here, and what hope does it offer us?

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Binding or being bound is used in a number of ways in the Bible. On the simplest level it applies to a prisoner. Jesus loosed many who had been bound by Satan. Furthermore, the act of binding is used to describe the power that God gives the church over evil, making it a symbol of judgment.

When a dangerous criminal is captured, it is necessary to bind him. However, many times in the Bible when people are bound, they are hardly criminals. John the Baptist was put in chains because he denounced the moral evils of the king (Matt. 14:3-4). Jesus was bound in the Garden (John 18:12), at His trial (John 18:24), and in death (John 19:40). Paul (Acts 21:33) and Peter (Acts 12:6) were both bound.

Jesus also spent a lot of face-to-face time with people whom Satan had bound. There was a demoniac bound with broken chains on his wrists and ankles (Mark 5:3-4). Before Jesus released him from demons, nobody could restrain the evil. He met a woman whose back had been bent over, and He released her (Luke 13:11-12, 16). He also released Lazarus from the tomb and from his grave clothes (John 11:43-44). Then there was Barabbas, who, although chained, was released so that Jesus, not him, would be crucified (Mark 15:7-15). In all of these instances, we see Satan either trying to keep people imprisoned with affliction or binding the innocent in order to allow evil to flourish. But we also see Jesus breaking the bonds of death in order to bring release and freedom to a world hopelessly imprisoned by Satan. In the end, Satan is bound and cast into outer darkness (Rev. 20:1-3).

Also, part of Jesus' mission to free those whom Satan bound was to empower His followers. He assured them that Satan ("the strong man") could be bound and his house plundered (Matt. 12:26-29, NKJV). In other words, Satan has no power against Christ and Christ's followers because Christ has released His people from the bonds of Satan.

As Paul observed, "the word of God is not chained" (2 Tim. 2:9, NKJV). It is the means whereby Jesus silenced Satan (Matt. 4:4, 7, 10), and we can use the same power to resist him, as well.

What promises can you claim that will free you from whatever chains the evil one seeks to bind you with?

March 20