Now Hear This

Memory Text:

“Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come” (1 Corinthians 10:11, NASB).

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Voltaire, a French activist, once said, “One hundred years from my day there will not be a Bible in the earth except one that is looked upon by an antiquarian curiosity seeker.”

That prediction failed spectacularly. The Bible is still the best-selling book of all time. Christianity? It is the world’s top religion. 

But Voltaire is just one of many people who tried to discredit and even destroy God’s message. In this lesson, we’ll see how people tried to silence God’s messengers and what happened when they rejected His message.

Read on for another fascinating study of God’s Word.

Back to Egypt?

Let’s start with the twelve spies. They came back from Canaan with fruit in their hands and a report on their lips. The land was good. The cities were fortified. And the people were strong (Numbers 13:26–29).

Caleb heard the same report. Look at what he said.

Numbers 13:30, KJV
Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.

Where did Caleb get that confidence? Read what he and Joshua told the people in Numbers 14:8–9. The Lord would bring them into the land. Caleb had seen the fortified cities, too. He remembered who had brought them out of Egypt.

And what did the people want to do? Choose another leader and go back to Egypt! They were ready to stone Joshua and Caleb (Numbers 14:4–10). Imagine going back to the very place you cried out to God to deliver you from.

When obeying God feels risky, what do we give more weight to? What we’re afraid might happen or what we already know about Him?

One Scroll, Two Kings

Jeremiah 36 opens with God asking Jeremiah to put His warnings in writing. Why? God wanted Judah to hear, turn from sin, and receive forgiveness (Jeremiah 36:1–3). Keep that in mind when we get to the fire.

Jeremiah dictated the message to Baruch. When the scroll was finally read to King Jehoiakim, the king took a knife and cut off the part that had just been read. Then he threw it into the fire. A few more columns. Another cut. Into the fire again. He kept going until the whole thing was gone (Jeremiah 36:20–26).

And what did God tell Jeremiah to do? Get another scroll! Baruch wrote down the words again, and more were added (Jeremiah 36:27–32). I find it striking that God went to the trouble of having it written twice. Think of the patience that went into that second scroll.

By the time Zedekiah came to the throne, Babylon was closing in. Zedekiah refused to humble himself before Jeremiah. And the people mocked God’s messengers until Jerusalem fell (2 Chronicles 36:11–20).

Why did God keep sending them? Read verse 15. He had compassion on His people. The warnings make a lot more sense when you see the heart of the One who sent them. He was giving Judah time to come home.

Would We Have Listened?

In Matthew 23:29–35, Jesus speaks to religious leaders who built tombs for the prophets. They were sure they would have acted differently if they had lived in their ancestors’ day. Yet Jesus tells them how they will treat the messengers He sends.

And then comes the part that gets me. Just a few verses later, Jesus says He longed to gather Jerusalem’s children like a hen gathers her chicks (Matthew 23:37). After all that rejection, He still wanted them close. Can you hear the ache in His voice?

Now go back to our memory text. In 1 Corinthians 10:6–12, Paul brings up Israel’s idolatry, immorality, and grumbling. He is writing to Christians! Even people who have seen God work can fall. So when I read these stories, I have to ask myself where I’m doing the same thing. What part of God’s Word do I hurry past because it gets a little too close?

Story Time

Let me tell you about a man who took twenty-eight years to open a letter.¹

His name was Stephen Smith. He received a letter from Ellen White and suspected it contained a rebuke. So he tucked it away in a trunk. Still sealed.

Years passed. His wife, Matilda, kept receiving the Review and Herald. One day Stephen picked up a copy and read an article by Ellen White. He kept reading. Eventually he attended meetings in Washington, New Hampshire, and publicly acknowledged that he had been wrong.

Then he remembered the letter.

He walked twelve miles home to get it. Twenty-eight years in a trunk, and now he could hardly wait to open it! When he finally read it, he recognized his own experience in the counsel he had put away. The next Sabbath, he told the church what had happened.

That story makes me think of something Ellen White wrote on a different occasion. She told the church that she longed for them to return to God in repentance and faith. Some had dismissed her warning as merely her opinion.² And yet when she spoke about people who had doubts about her gift, she urged believers to give them time and treat them with brotherly love.³ I appreciate that. It takes patience to give someone room to think, pray, and listen. Stephen certainly had time. And what a change when he finally listened!

Conclusion

Last week we saw how God worked through human beings to get His message to us. This week we’ve seen how far He goes to get through to us. He sent Caleb to people who were scared, gave Jeremiah another scroll, and kept pleading with Jerusalem.

The next time a Bible passage makes me uncomfortable, I want to stay with it long enough to pray, “Lord, what are You asking me to do?” Then, by His grace, I want to do it. Why leave it in the trunk for another week?

Discussion Questions

1. When has fear made it harder for you to trust what God has already said? What helped you take the next step?
2. What do the second scroll and Jesus’ words over Jerusalem tell you about how God responds when people resist Him?
3. Is there a passage you’ve been putting off acting on? What would it look like to respond to it this week?

Notes

1. Arthur L. White, Ellen G. White: The Early Years, vol. 1, pp. 490–492.
2. Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 64.
3. Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, p. 328.