Sabbath-School Lesson Notes
By A. T. Robinson
Lesson X—A Great Threefold Message
In the beginning God made a revelation of his character in the things which he created. Had man never sinned, the great book of nature, spread out before him as a lesson-book, would have continued to unfold the character of the Creator, until it would have revealed fully the character of him whom to know aright is life eternal. But after the earth was marred and defiled by sin, it reflected but dimly the Creator. As sin and wickedness increased, the mind of man became so darkened thereby that he could read no traces of God in his created works. This world was then in need of another revelation, by which man might gain a knowledge of his Creator. The Lord did not leave the world to perish in this need. He gave to men his written Word. “Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” Thus the character and will of God were made known anew to men. But there came another time when even those who read and interpreted the written Word every Sabbath day, “knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets.” Those who were the teachers of the people knew so little of him whom the Scriptures revealed, that they fulfilled the very scripture they were reading in the synagogue every Sabbath day, “in condemning him.” This world was then once more in need of another revelation of God. The Lord did not leave the world to perish in its need. He “so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16. “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth.” John 1:14. Now, in these last days, with the great book of nature—science, falsely so-called—exalted above the knowledge of God; the Bible misinterpreted in thousands of pulpits; the character and work of Jesus Christ misrepresented by the great mass of his professed followers, this world can no longer read aright the character of a God of love and justice. Once more the world is in need of another revelation of his character. The Lord does not leave the world to perish in its need, but in the last great message of his everlasting gospel to a lost and perishing world, he makes the grandest and fullest revelation of himself, through the revelation of Jesus Christ in his remnant people. “For I think,” says the apostle, “that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a theater unto the world, and to angels, and to men.” 1 Cor. 4:9. “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” Before the church can shed this light upon a lost world, she must “have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.” 2 Cor. 4:6, 7. When “darkness covers the earth, and gross darkness the people,” the Lord sets his remnant church as a light amid the moral darkness, bidding her, “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. . . . And his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.” Isa. 60:1-3. Lesson XI—The Fall of Babylon
The closing part of the first angel’s message—“worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters”—is an appeal to the Christian world, and to the whole world, to come back and walk in the commandments of God and hallow his Sabbath. It was the rejection of this message, a refusal to walk in the commandments of God, that caused the fall of Babylon. Therefore the fall of Babylon must be a fall away from God’s commandments. God’s commandments are called a “way.” “Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord.” “They also do no iniquity: they walk in his ways.” “Make me to understand the way of thy precepts.” “I will run in the way of thy commandments.” “Teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes.” “Make me to go in the path of thy commandments.” Ps. 119:1, 3, 27, 32, 33, 35. The fall of Babylon therefore, being a fall away from the commandments of God, must be a departure from the Lord’s right way, into a wrong way of man’s choosing. “The priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: . . . but ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law. . . . Ye have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the law.” Mal. 2:7-9. “Her priests . . . have done violence to the law.” Zeph. 3:4. “And many among them [when the Lord’s coming is near] shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken. Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. And I will wait upon the Lord, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.” Isa. 8:15-17. “The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings; they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace.” Isa. 59:8. “As for such as turn aside unto their crooked ways, the Lord shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity: but peace shall be upon Israel.” Ps. 125:5. “Great peace have they which love thy law.” Ps. 119:165. “Because my people have forgotten me, . . . they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way not cast up.” Jer. 18:15. “Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation, saith the Lord.” Jer. 23:12. “Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the latter day: that this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord: which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits: get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.” Isa. 30:8-11. “Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.” Jer. 6:16. “And the dragon was wroth with the woman [the church], and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Rev. 12:17. “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Rev. 14:12. “They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble.” Jer. 31:9.