Read for This Week’s Study
Exod. 35:1–36:7, Gen. 1:1, Exod. 36:8–39:31, Heb. 7:25, Exod. 40:1–38, John 1:14.
Memory Text:
“Then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. . . . For the cloud of the Lord was above the tabernacle by day, and fire was over it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys” (Exod. 40:34, 38, NKJV).
The principal task of God’s people in the Old Testament (as well as for us today) was to live in close relationship with the Lord; to worship and serve Him; and, also, to present the right picture of God to others (Deut. 4:5–8).
In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve hid from God because their sin made them afraid of Him. Sinfulness makes humans naturally afraid of God, and this fear twists our view of His character. The good news is that God takes the first step to span this rift and, on His initiative, He repairs the gap and the broken relationship. He calls the sinner back to Himself: “ ‘Where are you?’ ” (Gen. 3:9, NKJV).
Thus, our primary mission is to present the correct character of God and His loving and righteous acts to those around us. When people are attracted to God and are convinced of His unselfish love toward them, they will give their lives to Him and obey what He tells them to do, knowing that it is for their own good.
The sanctuary demonstrated God’s closeness to humanity and revealed the greatest truths to them, which is how He saves those who come to Him in faith.
*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, September 27.
Supplemental EGW Notes
Satan has misrepresented the character of God. He has clothed him with his own attributes. He has represented him as a being of inflexible sternness. He had shut the world away from beholding the true character of God, by casting his shadow between men and the divine One. Christ came to our world to remove that shadow. He came to represent the Father. He said, “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.” He prayed that his disciples might be one with him, even as he was one with the Father. Men have declared that this oneness with Christ is an impossibility, but Christ has made it possible by bringing us into harmony with himself, through the merits of his life and sacrifice. Why should we doubt the love and power of God? Why should we not place ourselves on the faith side of the question? Do you behold the charms and attractions of Jesus? Then seek to follow in his footsteps. He came to reveal the Father to the world, and he has committed to us the work of representing his love, purity, goodness, and tender sympathy, to the children of men.—“The Love of God,” Signs of the Times, April 15, 1889, par. 6.
The husbandman chooses a piece of land from the wilderness; he fences, clears, and tills it, and plants it with choice vines, expecting a rich harvest. This plot of ground, in its superiority to the uncultivated waste, he expects to do him honor by showing the results of his care and toil in its cultivation. So God had chosen a people from the world to be trained and educated by Christ. The prophet says, “The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah His pleasant plant.” Isaiah 5:7. Upon this people God had bestowed great privileges, blessing them richly from His abundant goodness. He looked for them to honor Him by yielding fruit. They were to reveal the principles of His kingdom. In the midst of a fallen, wicked world they were to represent the character of God.
As the Lord’s vineyard they were to produce fruit altogether different from that of the heathen nations. These idolatrous peoples had given themselves up to work wickedness. Violence and crime, greed, oppression, and the most corrupt practices, were indulged without restraint. Iniquity, degradation, and misery were the fruits of the corrupt tree. In marked contrast was to be the fruit borne on the vine of God’s planting.
It was the privilege of the Jewish nation to represent the character of God as it had been revealed to Moses. In answer to the prayer of Moses, “Show me Thy glory,” the Lord promised, “I will make all My goodness pass before thee.” Exodus 33:18, 19. “And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.” Exodus 34:6, 7. This was the fruit that God desired from His people. In the purity of their characters, in the holiness of their lives, in their mercy and loving-kindness and compassion, they were to show that “the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.” Psalm 19:7.—Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 285.
The above quotations are taken from Ellen G. White Notes for the Sabbath School Lessons, published by Pacific Press Publishing Association. Used by permission.