The Undercover Adventist

  The Seven Steps When we read the Bible, we sometimes think about how God communicated with the prophets and how His messages eventually became the Scriptures we have today. Did the prophets simply receive a vision and immediately write it down? Not necessarily. The process was often more involved, and it helps us better understand how God worked through human beings to preserve His Word for future generations. According to Old Testament scholar Daniel Block, the process of communicating God's message through the prophets involved seven distinct but interconnected phases. First, the prophet received a message from God. This revelation could come through a vision, a dream, an audible message, or another means God chose to use. The prophet was the recipient of a divine message, not simply someone sharing personal opinions or ideas. Second, the prophet delivered the message orally. Before many prophetic messages were written down, they were first spoken to the people. God intended Hi...

  Key Scripture: 2 Timothy 3:16 (NKJV) "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness." Have you ever heard someone say, "We cannot really trust the Bible because we don't have the original manuscripts that were written by the prophets and apostles"? At first, that might sound like a reasonable argument. After all, wouldn't it be wonderful to have the actual scrolls and letters written by the hands of Moses, David, Paul, and the other Bible writers? But is the absence of those original documents really a good reason to doubt God's Word? The answer is no. While we do not possess the original manuscripts, we have thousands of ancient biblical manuscripts and fragments that have been carefully preserved and compared over the centuries. These manuscripts come from different places and periods in history, allowing scholars to examine and identify differences in copyi...

  Sabbath School The Gift of Prophecy  The Prophetic Writings   Lesson 6 - Friday Further Thought  Divinely Called, Yet Human Ellen G. White’s experience had many similarities to the Bible writers we have studied. She believed God had given her a special calling to write the messages revealed to her. Even when poor health made writing difficult, she felt compelled to share what God had shown her. Like the biblical writers, Ellen White also used literary assistants. Her secretaries helped organize, edit, and clarify her writings so her thoughts could be expressed more clearly. They were not ghostwriters or coauthors; their work was based on material she had already written or spoken. She also quoted and adapted material from other authors when their words helped communicate the truths she wanted to share. Ellen White was also honest about her human limitations. She never claimed to be infallible, stating, “God alone is infallible.” She recognized that some statem...

  Sabbath School The Gift of Prophecy  The Prophetic Writings   Lesson 6 - Thursday God's Treasure in Earthen Vessels Scripture Reading: 2 Corinthians 4:7 Paul makes a fascinating observation in 2 Corinthians 4:7: "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us" (NKJV). What is this treasure Paul is talking about? In the surrounding verses, he is speaking about the light of the knowledge of God's glory revealed in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6). In other words, the wonderful message of salvation through Jesus is the treasure God has entrusted to human beings. But why would God choose ordinary, imperfect people to carry something so valuable? Why not use angels who have never sinned and cannot be affected by human weaknesses? Paul gives us an important reason: so that the greatness of the message and the power behind it would clearly belong to God rather than to the messenger. The biblical write...

  Sabbath School The Gift of Prophecy  The Prophetic Writings   Lesson 6 - Wednesday God Can Use More Than One Source Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 11:41; Luke 1:1–4; Jude 14–15 Have you ever considered that some of the writers of the Bible used information from sources outside of Scripture? This is an interesting aspect of how God communicated His message through human beings. We sometimes assume that everything recorded in the Bible came directly through a vision or an audible message from God. However, Scripture shows us that the process of inspiration could involve historical records, eyewitness accounts, and even writings that were not part of the Bible. Consider 1 Kings 11:41, which mentions the Book of the Acts of Solomon as a source containing additional information about Solomon's reign. The writer of Kings apparently knew of historical records that contained information beyond what was included in his account. Similarly, in Luke 1:1–4, Luke explains that many ...

  Sabbath School The Gift of Prophecy  The Prophetic Writings   Lesson 6 - Tuesday God’s Message Through Human Hands Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 36:17–18; Romans 16:22 One fascinating thing about the Bible is that God did not always have His prophets and apostles write everything themselves. Sometimes He used other people to help put His messages into written form. Jeremiah 36:17–18 gives us an example. Jeremiah received God's message, but his assistant, Baruch, actually wrote the words on a scroll as Jeremiah dictated them. In Romans 16:22, we find another interesting example. Paul tells us that Tertius, the man who actually wrote the letter to the Romans, sends his own greetings. In other words, Paul supplied the message, but Tertius served as his writing assistant. This reminds us that God has always been willing to work through ordinary human beings, each with different abilities and responsibilities. Some received visions, some preached, some remembered and reco...

  Sabbath School The Gift of Prophecy  The Prophetic Writings   Lesson 6 - Monday Understanding the Different Literary Styles of the Bible Key Scripture: Isaiah 13:1 (NKJV) “The burden against Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw.” God Speaks Through Many Forms of Writing When we read the Bible, we discover that God does not communicate in just one way. Some passages tell us what happened in history. Others contain songs of praise, personal letters, parables, prophetic visions, or warnings to God's people. Understanding these different forms of writing can help us appreciate Scripture more deeply and understand the messages God wants us to receive. Isaiah 13:1 introduces a message against Babylon by calling it a “burden.” Some Bible translations use the word oracle. This refers to a message or revelation given by God through His prophet. Although the message included a warning of judgment, it also revealed that God was aware of the actions of nations and that hum...