Sabbath School 2nd Quarter 2025: Allusions, Images, Symbols: How to Study Bible Prophecy

Shawn Boonstra

Eric Flickinger

It Is Written

04 The Nations Part 1

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

Glad that you could join us again this week.

We're continuing a 13-week journey through some of the major prophecies of the Bible and learning how we can best study them and understand them.

This is actually part 1 of a two-part short series, mini series, that we're going to be doing looking at the relationship of the nations to Bible prophecy, delving ever so slightly into politics and some other fun things.

Father, thank you for being with us today.

Thank you for allowing us to be with you.

As we study your word, as we study the Bible, we gain a clearer picture of you and a better understanding of the world in which we live.

So we're anticipating that as we do that today, you will do as you have always done and given us some more hope and encouragement and perhaps even challenging us a little bit along the way.

We thank you for doing so In Jesus name, amen.

Well, we're happy to have back with us again, the author of this quarter's Sabbath school lesson, Pastor Shawn Boonstra.

Hey, I'm surprised you had me back, but here we go.

Well, so far, people seem to be enjoying it.

We'll see what week 5 looks like, whether you're back again.

But I've been thrown out by all kinds of people.

As I mentioned, we're looking a little bit into politics.

I think some of us are familiar with kind of where you came from into where you are today, but a little bit of history that gives us some background here.

Yeah, out of everything that appeared in this quarterly, this 1 probably was my favorite theme.

And I think it's a major, major theme in prophecy.

Before becoming a Christian, I was a political activist.

It doesn't matter what party I've left, but certain parties organization on our university campus.

I sat on an advisory board for the political party.

I still to this day once in a while get communications, hey you want to work on Senator so-and-so's campaign?

I've got first-hand experience with how the kingdoms of the world run.

And man, we could spend the entire time on what actually happens.

I'll just say this, I believe almost nothing I see on TV.

Almost nothing because I used to be a part of making that happen, the appearance that's on TV.

Now there were a lot of people that went into politics who went in for all the right reason, I will say this, they wanted to serve, they wanted to almost an evangelist heart but in a secular sense, They wanted to serve their fellow human beings.

They wanted to hold office to make a positive change.

The number of people however that stayed that way in that environment was really quite small.

We're all human beings, we're all fallen.

Eventually, your self-interest rises to the surface.

It occurs to you, I now sit in a seat of power and I can start appropriating resources around me.

And they'll say anything and do anything to retain that seat, make promises.

I mean, how many election cycles do you have to go through before you realize they're not keeping any of these promises?

There's very few that actually keep them.

And we've also seen this willingness to say or do anything to destroy your political opponent.

Sometimes everyone knows that what you're saying isn't even true, but it doesn't matter.

Just put it out there, make sure they lose.

I remember 1 time, and this is actually a part of why I became a Christian, I know that I'm taking a bit of time here, but this will give you a sense for why this theme is so important to me.

I was at a fundraising dinner for a political candidate.

I can't afford $1, 000 a plate, $50, 000 a plate dinner.

And at 1 point I had to go do what little boys have to do halfway through an evening, and I ran over to the men's room, and I opened the door, and on the floor, Eric was 1 of the most influential, powerful people I know of.

His face was common in the news, he was wealthy, he was powerful, who it is doesn't matter, I will always protect his identity.

But he was on the floor of the bathroom, sobbing, clearly drunk, and his face was stuck to the tiles.

You know, he'd been laying on the tiles, face on the tiles.

The alcohol probably got him down to that position and he's sobbing.

And he pulls himself up when he hears me come in and he looks at me.

A string of drool goes from his cheek to the floor and he looks at me and says, I'm worth nothing.

And I looked at him and I thought, you've got everything I'm trying to get.

You've got power, you've got money, you've got notoriety, you're on TV every single day, people chase you around, the world in your hand, and you're on the floor thinking you're worth nothing.

This is a dead end and I walked I'd love to say I quit that day I didn't but that started to bother me and I think the Lord let me see that so that I could walk away from that life into the 1 that I currently have.

I have firsthand experience in how the nations work and we could spend the whole time on stories on how self-interest operates in that realm, but it is definitely, even those that start well, most of them end up, it's just a game of self-interest.

So as we look at this week's lesson and next week's lesson, it's apparent, it's clear that you're very passionate about this and there are elements in here that you've woven into it, like Genesis chapter 10.

Talk about Genesis chapter 10 and why this chapter is just holds so much fascination for you.

Yeah, I'm currently making a documentary series on Genesis chapter 10, tracking mythology through different cultures all over the planet and how they all seem to lead back to here.

When you get to Genesis 10 some scholars will call this the table of nations and this is foundational again for Bible prophecy.

Everything's in here you find the beginnings of Babel in here and if you're not familiar with the book of Revelation you know that 1 has a star on its door in that cast.

It's verse 10, the beginning of his kingdom was was Babel.

And if you look at this, this is a little bit different than mythology.

In verse 6, you've got Cush, it's Ethiopia.

I mean, the people on the map, there are cities named after them.

And Genesis chapter 10 is actually the story of real people.

Now, what's fascinating about this is that up until about the late 19th century we were tempted to believe that this is just more mythology this may as well just be Zeus and Saturn and...

There was a guy by the name of Hormuz Drassam and Hormuz Drassam is the first Assyrian born archaeologist.

He was working with a British guy who decided to go into politics.

He left and they were digging up the ruins of Nineveh.

In there, they found the library of Ashurbanipal.

AdAgrA Conference 2025: Growing Better

AdAgrA Kids

Franklin Cobos

AdAgrA: Adventist Agriculture Association

Fun Numbers for Families

Our seminar today is called Fun with Numbers.

Because I want to show you how you can just use your head.

I had suggested, I don't know if your parents told you, but in the class description, I suggested that as long as you could do a couple things, everything would be just fine today in the class.

As far as being able to do math without a calculator.

And to do math in parts of your life that hopefully you'll find interesting or useful in your garden or at your home or your homestead.

How many of you here can multiply the numbers 1 through 10?

Now there'll be a couple problems that we might use something like 12, 24, 8, 16.

Might even do some longer digits too, but a lot of those extra digits are gonna be zeros.

As long as you know your times tables, I think you'd be fine.

Everybody know how many seconds there are in a minute?

And how many minutes there are in an hour?

You can convert from minutes and seconds and things, right?

And you know what a dollar is, don't you?

That's important to know if you pay tithes.

So if you get a dollar, how much tithe do you pay?

You just change where the 0 is, or the decimal point.

You don't need a calculator for that, do you?

You know how many quarters in a dollar, right?

So, if none of those things confused you, nothing we talk about today should be out of your reach.

Like, phew, I was afraid I was going to get a bad grade today.

And I'll walk you through how you can handle numbers in your head.

So if you don't have a pencil or paper or pen or a teacher, it really won't matter.

Now the sheet we're going to start with, you have 1 sheet.

The side we're going to start on first is the 1 with the squares on it.

It says areas, squares, volumes, and time.

So if you move to the country, yes, a question.

I like your brother too, so I'm going to give people who came in late some handouts.

And raise your hand if you don't have 112345678.

And you're supposed to be able to duck time if you come to this class.

So 1 of the ideas we're gonna talk about today as we work with numbers is an idea that's referred to as estimation.

Might not be exactly but it's pretty close.

Some people use the phrase close enough for government work.

So calculators are great to get you exact answers if and when you need them.

But for much of your life, you're not going to need exact answers.

And for much of your life, you're going to be able to get exact answers without a calculator anyway.

So we're going to learn and give you a little bit of exercise to do that today.

Now when you move to the country, what are you usually buying?

You're going to move to the country and buy what?

These Things We Know

Chris Holland

Battle Creek Tabernacle SDA Church

These Things We Know: God is the Promise Keeper Part 1

Take my hand, precious Lord, lead me home.

We are living at a time in this earth's history where we need to take the hand of our precious Lord more than ever before and have Him lead us to our rightful home.

Father in heaven, we have gathered here for the next few moments as we study your word.

We need to sense that you are taking us by the hand and through this message, leading us on the journey to home.

It is hard to believe, but 16 weeks ago, on July the 20th, 2024, I preached a sermon entitled A Nation divided.

You would remember that I preached that sermon in the aftermath of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, which took place on July the 13th.

I did not have plans for a sermon series on the book of Daniel, but God helped me to understand that I needed plans to have a sermon series on the book of Daniel.

Here we are, 15 sermons into this sermon series, And this last week, the nation spoke.

And it is quite evident that it is still a nation that is divided.

Certainly divided along the political landscape, but also divided and even maybe polarized in so many various areas of life.

But now, seemingly more than ever, many are left asking the question, what comes next?

There are some that are treating the results of this last Tuesday's election like that of the arrival of a Messiah-like figure, while there are others that are treating the results of this last Tuesday's election as 1 of the greatest tragedies of modern times.

What are we called to do as Seventh-day Adventist Christians in light of all that is going on?

I am drawn to last week's teaching from the book of Daniel.

Our trust does not lie in people, but it lies in God alone.

That ancient Psalm, Psalm 20, verse 7, says it well, and while we do not live in an age of chariots, understand the principle, some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God.

And the question that we are confronted with is, will we in all circumstances and in all ways, trust in the Lord who is the promise keeper?

If you have your Bibles with you, I'd invite you to open them to Daniel, the ninth chapter, Daniel chapter 9.

We will be studying from Daniel chapter 9 while referencing the book of Jeremiah.

Now as a point of reminder and reflecting some and recalling some of the teaching from last week, you'll remember that in Daniel 9, we find the prophet Daniel, having spent some 66 years in Babylon.

Undoubtedly, he was wondering about the promise of Jeremiah that God's people would be in exile in Babylon for 70 years.

Yet at the same time, Daniel was wondering about the vision that he did not understand from Daniel chapter 8 and we need to not underestimate the power of that wondering because we will see that God is the promise keeper and that he not only answers prayer, but he answers in ways that we cannot expect and he answers in ways that are above and beyond all that we could ask.

You'll remember, Daniel was the 1 when Nebuchadnezzar had a problem, he called upon Daniel because he knew that Daniel had understanding according that Daniel had understanding, according to the scripture in all visions.

Later in Daniel chapter 5, when Belshazzar, Nebuchadnezzar's grandson did not have understanding and a vision that he had seen was reminded by his mother, the daughter of Nebuchadnezzar, that there is this old man Daniel, he can help you.

And Daniel once again was called upon because he had understanding in all visions.

But in Daniel chapter 8, something new and very foreign to Daniel happened.

But Daniel chapter 8 ends with Daniel astonished because he does not understand.

How is it that this man who had understanding in all visions now does not have understanding?

Imagine in your mind being the prophet Daniel and how confusing this must have been to him.

How is it possible as the prophet that he did not have understanding?

And so here in Daniel 9, we are 10, possibly 13 years after that vision was given in which he did not have understanding.

I don't know about you, but it's easy to give up on prayer in maybe a few days or a few weeks.

Daniel waited some 10 to 13 years for an answer.

And in Daniel chapter 9 beginning in verse 1, the Bible records exactly what Daniel did.

In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus of the lineage of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans.

In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the Lord through the prophet Jeremiah, excuse me, through Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish 70 years in the desolations of Jerusalem.

Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications with fasting sackcloth and ashes.

Not only did Daniel pray, but Daniel returned back to the Word of God.

He went back to the Word of God so he might gain understanding.

He turned to the prophet Daniel and undoubtedly he studied Jeremiah 25 and Jeremiah 29.

And once again, this is a review of what I just talked about last week, and you can go to our web page or to our YouTube and there you can watch this sermon all over again.

But here Daniel was 66 years in Babylon and now turn in your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 29, 66 years in Babylon, 10 years without an answer to the prayer of the understanding of the vision of the 2300 days and then in Jeremiah chapter 29, I imagine in my mind that as Daniel the prophet read Jeremiah 29 and he read verses 10 to 14 He saw this promise and this promise gave him great comfort which is to help us not underestimate the power of the promises of God.

There in Jeremiah 10 29, excuse me, Jeremiah 29 verses 10 to 14, this is what the Bible says, For thus says the Lord, after 70 years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform my good word toward you and cause you to return to this place.

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Then, you will call upon me and go and pray to me, and I will listen to you.

And you will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart.

I will be found by you says the Lord and I will bring you back from your captivity.

I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you says the Lord and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive.

Daniel read, Daniel studied, and Daniel saw.

He saw that they were living at this time, this time of the momentous fulfillment of the return to Jerusalem.

Did he simply say, well, I mean, this is what God promised.

I, you know, I don't need to do anything.

In the midst of the fulfillment of this prophecy, he prayed.

He understood the serious nature of the situation.

He understood that some Bible prophecies are conditional and he prayed and he prayed that these things would come to pass and that the 70 years would be fulfilled.

He prayed that God would lead them out of Babylon.

And we need to be, we need to remind ourselves that prayer is a posture of humility.

We are living in an age where many Bible preachers and Bible teachers teach that prayer is a posture of calling God to accountability, whereas if we can command God what to do.

No, prayer is a posture of humility, and the Bible says that Daniel was there in prayer and supplication, supplication being distinctly different.

This is seeking God's mercy and seeking His sympathy and compassion to plead with Him.

Whenever we come to God in prayer, We come in humility.

We come seeking His sympathy and His compassion.

We plead for His mercy because God, God doesn't owe us anything.

Turning back to Daniel chapter 9, keep your thumb in Jeremiah 29, we'll be coming back and forth.

You'll remember that Daniel prayed in Daniel chapter 9 verses 6 and 7 Daniel prayed saying neither have we heeded your servants the prophets who spoke in your name to our kings and our princes, to our fathers and all the people of the land.

Oh Lord, righteousness belongs to you, but to us, shame a face as it is this day to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and all Israel, those near and those far off, and all the countries to which you have driven them because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against you.

Shame and embarrassment over sin because they did not listen.

But take note that even in the midst of that, even in the midst of Daniel praying this prayer, what does he say about God?

What is righteousness in its most simplistic definition?

God did right by sending them into exile.

Turning back to Jeremiah 29, I told you we'd be back and forth, so keep your thumb in Jeremiah 29 and Daniel chapter 9.

Now These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the remainder of the elders who were carried away captive to the priests, the prophets, and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon.

Jeremiah sent a letter and Daniel would have received this letter.

The Great Controversy

Adam Ramdin

Lineage Journey

42 The Controversy Ended

The Wicked Are Raised Back to Life At the end of the 1, 000 years, The Wicked Are Raised Back to Life At the end of the 1, 000 years, the wicked are raised back to life, and the new Jerusalem city descends from heaven down to earth and rests where the Mountain of Olives stood, and Satan prepares himself for 1 last struggle.

Seeing the countless millions of wicked people stand before him and having had no 1 to deceive for the last 1, 000 years, he now embarks on 1 final deception.

He convinces them that they can take the city and that their rightful place is in the city.

🎵 With the help of his angels and great men of war, kings, generals, and military leaders, some who have never lost a battle.

They organize the people into ranks and they march on the city.

Back to Menu

All Teachings

04 The Nations Part 1

28m

Fun Numbers for Families

54m

These Things We Know: God is the Promise Keeper Part 1

58m

42 The Controversy Ended

6m

Simple Herbal Remedies

35m

Complex PTSD Part 1

43m

These Things We Know: God is the Finisher

49m

Feathered Friends Fun

31m

These Things We Know: God is the Author

59m

God’s Big Surprise

1h 3m

Nailing Down Costs: How to Budget for Your Project

1h 9m

These Things We Know: God Knows the End From the Beginning

1h

Sound Doctrine