1. powerpoint presentation designed by claro ruiz vicente http://clarovicente.weebly.com Adult Bible Study Guide Jan Feb Mar 2012 Adult Bible Study Guide Jan Feb Mar 2012

2. Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide An Appeal Dear User…. This PowerPoint Show is freely shared to all who may find it beneficial. While intended primarily for personal use, some find it useful for teaching the lesson in church. There are those, however, who add illustrations, change background, adjust font size, etc. While their intention may be good, this is not right. Slide #1 says “designed by claro ruiz vicente.” For honest Christians, it is not necessary for another’s creation to be copyrighted in order to be respected. P LEASE U SE A S I S.

3. Contributor Jo Ann Davidson Principal Contributor

4. Glimpses of Our God Contents 1 The Triune God 2 In the Beginning 3 God as Redeemer 4 The God of Grace and Judgment 5 The Holiness of God 6 God the Lawgiver 7 Lord of the Sabbath 8 Creation Care 9 The Bible and History 10 The Promise of Prayer 11 God as Artist 12 Love Stories 13 The Promise of His Return

5. Glimpses of Our God Our Goal {5} How grateful we should be for every bit of light He casts our way. We’ll look at some of that light. How faithfully we walk in it, is up to each of us individually.

6. Glimpses of Our God Lesson 9, March 3 Glimpses of Our God Lesson 9, March 3 The Bible and History

7. Key Text Revelation 1:8 NKJV “ ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,’ says the Lord, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.’ ”

8. The Bible and History Initial Words {103} Bible writers in both testaments insist that God directs history and reveals Himself in it. Yet, not all history reveals God’s will: humans are free to make bad choices that influence history. Despite the machinations and evil of human beings, God is there, working out His ultimate will.

9. The Bible and History Quick Look 1. The Prophets and History (2 Peter 1:19-21) 2. The Great Controversy and History(Revelation 12:7-17) 3. The Cross in History (2 Corinthians 5:17-19)

10. The Bible and History 1. The Prophets and History 2 Peter 1:19-21 NKJV “We also have the prophetic word made sure, which you do well to heed…knowing first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”

11. 1. The Prophets and History Past and Future {104} Human history is not an unending series of repeated cycles. It had a definite beginning. It faces a glorious future; it has a point, a goal. How can we know the point? God has, through His prophets, revealed it to us. He has told us how it will turn out in the end, whatever choices we make.

12. 1. The Prophets and History Prophets as Historians {105} Human kings imagine that their governing decisions shape public life; that they, ultimately, are in control. Jeremiah, Isaiah, and Nahum asserted otherwise. Israel’s rulers discover that the historical process is leading the nation toward devastation and then exile.

13. 1. The Prophets and History Daniel 2 and God’s Providence {106} History unfolded exactly as God predicted. This prophecy should be more meaningful for us today than for those who lived millennia ago. We can see exactly how these empires came and went, just as predicted. Thus, the prophecy holds a power for us that those in the past couldn’t appreciate.

14. The Bible and History 2. The Great Controversy and History Revelation 12:7-17 NKJV “And war broke out in heaven: Michael…fought against the dragon…. So the great dragon…was cast to the earth…. And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring….”

15. 2. The Great Controversy and History Understanding History {107} No matter how apparently chaotic and out of control, human history is not unfolding in a vacuum. There’s a story behind it, a drama, a struggle between two radically different principles. We’re talking about the great controversy. Only with that background can we understand human history.

16. 2. The Great Controversy and History Understanding History {107} The great controversy between Christ and Satan forms the background motif for all that happens here, whether in our individual lives or in the larger course of human history. And after the Cross, Satan’s defeat was guaranteed, and this controversy will end, and with it all the uncertainty that fill human history.

17. The Bible and History 3. The Cross in History 2 Corinthians 5:17-19 NKJV “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation…. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ… that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself….”

18. 3. The Cross and History Christ, the Center {108} 1 B.C. A.D. 1 World history is divided by one event. That event was not the rise or fall of some major empire. Nor was it the discovery of a new continent. Instead, world history has been divided by the birth of a single itinerant rabbi living in a relatively obscure part of the vast Roman Empire. That birth is of Jesus.

19. 3. The Cross and History Christ, the Center {108} In the context of God and history, we can better appreciate the significance of salvation. For here, at the Cross is where the background and also the deepest meaning of world history unfold. The Cross tells us that, by forgiving us and making us His children, God has opened up a new future for us.

20. 3. The Cross and History Christ, the Center {108} The whole doctrine of salvation can be expressed in this one sentence: God cancels our hopelessly stranded history and in its place puts His history. Through Him, the history of slavery to sin is ended in our life. Through Him, the stains of the past should not rise up to accuse, torment, and mock us.

21. 3. The Cross and History Christ, the Center {108} Our personal history is replaced with Jesus’ perfect history. Thus, in Him we find not only liberation from our past but the promise of a wonderful future. At the Cross, the Lord guaranteed that, whatever our history or whatever happened in world history, a new and glorious future awaits us and the world.

22. The Bible and History Final Words {109} “In the word of God the curtain is drawn aside, and we behold, behind, above, and through all the play and counterplay of human interests and power and passions, the agencies of the all-merciful One, silently, patiently working out the counsels of His own will.”—Education 173