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It Is Written

Sabbath School 2nd Quarter 2024: The Great Controversy

Mark Finley

Eric Flickinger

01 The War Behind All Wars

02 The Central Issue: Love or Selfishness?

03 Light Shines in the Darkness

04 Standing for the Truth

05 Faith Against All Odds

John Bradshaw

Money, Money, Money

06 The Two Witnesses

07 Motivated by Hope

08 Light from the Sanctuary

09 The Foundation of God’s Government

10 Spiritualism Exposed

11 The Impending Conflict

12 Earth’s Closing Events

13 The Triumph of God’s Love

Welcome to Sabbath School brought to you by It Is Written.

We're glad to have you with us again as we continue our journey through the great controversy.

Today is lesson number 12, Earth's Closing Events, a fascinating subject.

Father, we thank you for being with us on this journey and guiding us up to this point.

We ask now that you would bless us as we dive into today's subject, and may our study prepare us for the times ahead.

And we're grateful to have with us once again today, the author of this quarter's Sabbath School lesson, international author, speaker, evangelist, and friend of the It Is Written ministry, Pastor Mark Finley.

You know, this has been an exciting series.

I have been so blessed in sitting here with you and sharing these insights with our It Is Written audience.

And I know today's lesson will be another powerful opportunity to share the divine truths of God's Word in the light of the last days.

And we're getting into some real interesting territory here.

Earth's closing events, the opening illustration that you share with us for this week's lesson is a fascinating 1.

Well let's suppose that you have a teenage daughter 19 years old who's on her way home from college.

As she's on her way home for, let's say spring break, it's raining, the wind is blowing, trees are being toppled and coming across the road, bridges are out, and you keep contacting her on her cell phone, but then you sense by looking at her on your friend finder that she's going on a road that has been severely impacted by the storm.

You talk to a neighbor, the neighbor says, look, she can get around that if she goes a different way.

You hope that you can get in contact whether you call her, she picks up, you say, look, the next right, if you take it, you can get around this major devastation from the storm.

You wait half an hour, 45 minutes, an hour, and pretty soon you see those lights coming up the driveway.

Now your heart is beating not with fear, but with joy.

I think that's a good illustration, frankly, of how God feels.

God sends us messages in the Bible, in Daniel, Revelation, to get us home in the storm.

And when we get home, He comes, runs with arms wide open to welcome us home.

What we find in this lesson in Earth's Closing Events is a message from a loving God who wants us to get home safely and avoid the pitfalls along the road.

So this storm that you're sharing, this illustration, there is a storm, a different type of storm coming for the inhabitants of Earth, for us, all of us.

What are some of the central events in this storm, this earth's final conflict, that we're going to be going into here very shortly?

Let's look at some of the central issues.

If you're really trying to define what are the issues in this storm, we go into that in Sunday's lesson titled Loyalty to God in His Word.

If I had to summarize the lessons in this storm, the contrast, it's either Christ or Satan.

You know, the Bible says, he that is righteous, let him be righteous still.

He that is unrighteous, let him be unrighteous.

In other words, people are making eternal decisions, so it's Christ or Satan.

It's light or darkness, and it's truth or error.

And I think if I were summarizing the entire conflict between good and evil, I would say men and women either walk the way of lies of Satan in the way of error and falsehood, or they walk the way of truth in Jesus.

In fact, in Proverbs chapter 23 and verse 23, We have this instruction from the wise man, Solomon.

So why don't you take your Bible and Pastor Eric, would you be willing to read Proverbs 23, verse 23?

Also wisdom and instruction and understanding.

First, there is truth, there is wisdom, there's instruction, and there's understanding.

I think there are 2 ways we buy the truth.

First, by having an open heart to receive God's word.

Second, by spending the time in searching and diligently.

You know, Jesus said that the truth of God is like a hid treasure in a field.

Remember Jesus said through Jeremiah in chapter 29, you seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart.

Now the question is often asked in an age of relativism, in an age of when people say you have your truth, I have my truth, and you believe your truth, I believe my truth.

Well, here Jesus says in John 8, verse 32, you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.

So the truth can be known and it frees us from the errors and deceptions of Satan.

Jesus said in John 17, verse 17, sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth.

So the great controversy between truth and error has to do with Satan's lies and Jesus revealing his truth through His Word.

So that's 1 of the big issues in Earth's final conflict.

We know through studying Scripture, through studying prophecies, through the book of Revelation, Daniel, and a variety of others, that 1 of the big issues that's going to separate the world is the issue between the seal of God and the mark of the beast.

I don't get the impression that he's going to engrave something on their foreheads, but what does that seal look like?

When you look at this conflict between truth and error, it focuses in the last days on the question of worship.

In ancient times, seals were used to authenticate a document.

Seals were used to testify of the truthfulness of that document.

When you look at God's document, his 10 commandments written with his own finger on tables of stone, is there any commandment that has the ingredients of a seal?

Biblical seals, ancient seals, often would have the name of the sealer, the title of the sealer, and the territory of the sealer.

So you'd have to have the name, the title, the territory.

When you look at the fourth commandment, it says, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

6 days shalt thou labor into all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.

So notice, Remember the Sabbath, 6 days the Lord, that's his name.

He's the Lord, he's sovereign, made, he is the creator.

So the Sabbath commandment uniquely, uniquely has the ingredients of God's seal.

Now we are sealed as by God's grace we settle into God's truth and as the Holy Spirit places within us the resolve and the strength to be obedient to God.

The Sabbath is the external manifestation of God's seal, but the seal has to do with our loyalty and obedience to God through keeping his commandments.

When you look at the the issues of the seal of God and the mark of the beast, it says that the seal can be received in the forehead.

The mark of the beast can be received in the forehead or in the hand.

What's the significance of the forehead and the hand?

Again, I get the impression it's not a literal mark or stamp or engraving or something.

Series

Sabbath School 2nd Quarter 2024: The Great Controversy

12 Earth’s Closing Events

Transcript

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

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Norman McNulty: Prophecy Revival Series

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The Second Angel’s Message - The Fall of Babylon

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God is Love?

11-The Day the Devil Dies

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InVerse, 2nd Quarter 2023: Three Cosmic Messages

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Sound Doctrine