Intermediate Bible Teacher September, October, November 2017 FALL QUARTER For Teachers of Teens Ages 12 Through 14
Vol. LXXXI No. 4 Intermediate Bible Teacher FALL QUARTER September, October, November 2017 Editorials... 2 Covenants with God UNIT I: Signs of God s Covenants Sept. 3 The Rainbow Gen. 8:20-22; 9:8-17... 5 Sept. 10 Circumcision Gen. 17:1-14... 10 Sept. 17 Sabbath Observance Exod. 31:12-18... 15 Sept. 24 A Spirit-Filled Heart Ezek. 36:22-32... 20 UNIT II: Called into Covenant with God Oct. 1 God s Covenant with Abram Gen. 15:1-6, 17-21... 25 Oct. 8 God s Covenant with Israel Exod. 19:16-25... 30 Oct. 15 Obeying God s Law Exod. 20:18-26... 35 Oct. 22 God s Covenant with David II Sam. 7:1-6, 8-10, 12-16... 40 Oct. 29 God s Covenant with the Returned Exiles Neh. 9:32-38; 10:28-29... 44 UNIT III: An Everlasting Covenant Nov. 5 Faithful God, Unfaithful People Num. 25:10-13; I Sam. 2:30-36... 48 Nov. 12 Promise of a New Covenant Jer. 31:27-34... 52 Nov. 19 Mediator of the New Covenant Heb. 12:14-15, 18-29... 56 Nov. 26 Remembering the Covenant I Cor. 11:23-34... 60 Daily Bible Readings... 64 Writer: Carter Corbrey Edited and published quarterly by THE INCORPORATED TRUSTEES OF THE GOSPEL WORKER SOCIETY UNION GOSPEL PRESS DIVISION Rev. W. B. Musselman, Founder Price: $2.05 per quarter* $8.20 per year* *shipping and handling extra ISBN 978-1-59843-522-1 Lessons based on International Sunday School Lessons; the International Bible Lessons for Christian Teaching, copyright 2014 by the Committee on the Uniform Series and used with permission. Edited and published quarterly by The Incorporated Trustees of the Gospel Worker Society, Union Gospel Press Division, 2000 Brookpark Road, Cleveland, Ohio 44109-5812. Mailing address: P.O. Box 6059, Cleveland, Ohio 44101-1059. www.uniongospelpress.com
WRITER S FORECAST As a central part of God s unfolding plans to redeem lost mankind and glorify Himself, He established several covenants. In this quarter, we will examine some of those covenants, as well as the different elements of them. In the first lesson, we will look at one of God s first covenants. He made it with Noah, but it has a direct impact on all mankind. God promised never again to destroy the earth with a flood. God placed a rainbow in the sky as a token of the covenant. In lesson 2, we will examine the role of circumcision as the sign of God s covenant with Abram and his descendants. All the nations of the earth would be blessed through this covenant in future generations. Lesson 3 looks at the importance of the Sabbath as a distinguishing characteristic of the nation of Israel. We will see how God used it to teach obedience and to set apart Israel as unique. In lesson 4, we will see God s promise to give His people a new heart. This promise looks ahead to a time when a new covenant would be established one in which the Holy Spirit would come to indwell individual believers. Lesson 5 looks at the establishment of God s covenant with Abram by means of a sacrifice, at which time the Lord reaffirmed His promises. When we come to lesson 6, we will experience the terrifying moments when God first appeared to Israel at Mount Sinai, after they had left Egypt. We will read how Moses went up to the top of the mountain to receive God s instructions. Lesson 7 revisits Mount Sinai as God instructed Israel in proper worship. Centuries later, David, the king of Israel, expressed his desire to build a temple for God. Lesson 8 examines how God promised instead to build a dynasty for him. In lesson 9, we move ahead several centuries to the time when the exiles of Judah had returned home. Having rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem, we find them experiencing a genuine revival. Lesson 10 presents us with a contrast between the actions of Phinehas, a faithful priest, and those of Eli and his sons, who failed to honor God. We will see how God made a covenant with Phinehas but excluded Eli because of sin. Lesson 11 explores the exciting new covenant God promised to make with Israel in the future. This covenant promises a restored and reunited Israel with a new heart and new spirit, which will guarantee a vital relationship with God. Lesson 12 teaches us about the Mediator of the new covenant, Jesus Himself. We will see why it is important to respond to Him by faith. Our final lesson looks at the Lord s Supper from the perspective of Paul s letter to the Corinthians. We will see how the Lord s Supper serves as a reminder and a proclamation of Jesus great sacrifice on our behalf. As we study the covenants of God this quarter, we will see how God has demonstrated throughout history His care for people through the establishment of those covenants. Our confidence will be strengthened by the fact that He keeps His covenant promises. 2 PLEASE NOTE: Fundamental, sound doctrine is the objective of the Incorporated Trustees of the Gospel Worker Society, Union Gospel Press Division. The writers are prayerfully selected for their Bible knowledge and yieldedness to the Spirit of Truth, each writing in his own style as enlightened by the Holy Spirit. At best we know in part only. They received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so (Acts 17:11).
Our Covenant-Keeping God There was a time earlier in our nation s history when a person s word was solid and dependable. It was as good as gold, as they used to say. At least, that is what I have been told by people older than I am. Presently, I am almost sixty-five years old, and I remember that when I was younger, people did keep their promises much more than they do today. Over time I have watched things deteriorate. The divorce rate has increased beyond anything people could have imagined when I was a boy. Marriage contracts are broken, and oaths made between madly-in-love couples change into curses between couples whose love has turned to hate. Legal contracts come under fire and are broken. Many politicians no longer seem to care whether what they say in one location completely contradicts what they say later in the day in another location. This is not to say that they have not always done this, but now they do not seem to care if they get caught. The examples of how we have discarded honesty and honor could go on endlessly. In a way, however, that would be pointless, for since sin entered mankind s existence at the beginning, people have been lying and breaking their promises. What stands out in history is not the normal and expected pattern of broken human promises but that there is a God who never changes and who always honors and keeps His promises. We are able to trust and rely on one thing in life, if nothing else we serve a God who will never let us down and will never lie to us. Among the first recorded words God spoke to mankind was the warning He gave to Adam about the consequences of disobeying Him by eating from the tree of knowledge (Gen. 2:17). Adam disobeyed, and God s warning proved to be true. As God continued in His relationship with mankind, He progressively revealed His perfect plan to redeem mankind from the consequences of the sin that kept people bound and destined for judgment. His plan involved making covenants with selected people that unveiled His eternal plan, which centered around the incarnation of the Second Person of the Trinity, the One who would redeem mankind by His own sacrifice. The early covenants God made were totally dependent upon His keeping His promises. One of His first Intermediate Bible Teacher 3
covenants was with mankind after the Flood of Noah s day. The evidences of the worldwide Flood are universal, and the signs of the covenant are equally so. Continuing seasons, rainbows, and the absence of another worldwide flood prove that God keeps His promises. This covenant was not dependent on mankind s response. The day came when God called Abram, having chosen him as the man through whom He would begin to make further covenants as He carried out His plan of redemption. His covenant with Abram promised that he would be the father of a multitude of descendants, that his descendants would own a very specific piece of land, and that the world would be blessed through him. Abram s responsibility was simply to respond in faith. As a remembrance and sign of this covenant, circumcision became a physical procedure that identified the human participants in the covenant. Abram s name was changed to Abraham in view of God s promise. Time passed, and Abraham s descendants grew and developed their identity as Israel. God then made a covenant with the nation at Sinai that required Israel s obedience to His laws. God kept His promises, although Israel constantly failed in their responsibilities. Paul would later explain in the book of Galatians that this covenant of the law revealed how even Israel could not save itself from sin apart from God s grace. This covenant laid the groundwork for the sacrificial death of the Messiah who would come, as promised, through Israel. At times in Israel s history, the people learned from experience that disobedience to God s covenant at Sinai resulted in devastating consequences. They most clearly understood this when they turned to the books of 4 Moses and experienced genuine times of spiritual revival. These times of revival demonstrated the need of the people for changed hearts and spirits. Yet this too was all part of God s plan from the beginning. At the time when the northern kingdom of Israel had already been judged and dispersed and the southern kingdom was experiencing the same fate, God spoke through Ezekiel and Jeremiah, promising a new heart and a new spirit. Through Jeremiah, God promised a new covenant in which He would give His people a new heart and place His Spirit within them. We can look back over history and see how God has faithfully kept His promises to this day. Abraham has been the father of multitudes of descendants. Israel still exists today. Jesus, David s descendant and God s Son, has come to the earth and fulfilled the prophecies of the Messiah s death, resurrection, and ascension. While the church was not specifically prophesied in the Old Testament, we fully share in and enjoy the blessings of Abraham and his seed. In Christ we have been grafted into the blessings of the new covenant. As we stand on the threshold of the second coming of Christ, we confidently look to the coming millennial kingdom when God s covenants with Israel will be completed, fully and literally. God is trustworthy. We can believe every word He has said, we can fully believe and trust His written Word, the Bible, and we can observe that He honors every covenant He has made. In a world that cannot keep its lies straight, cannot discern between truth and fiction, and has lost its sense of direction, we can say, Come, Lord Jesus, knowing that He will return.
LESSON 1 SEPTEMBER 3, 2017 Scripture Lesson Text GEN. 8:20 And No ah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man s sake; for the imagination of man s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. 22 While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease. 9:8 And God spake unto No ah, and to his sons with him, saying, 9 And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; 10 And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth. 11 And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. 12 And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: 13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. 14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: 15 And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. 17 And God said unto No ah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth. NOTES Intermediate Bible Teacher 5
The Rainbow Lesson: Genesis 8:20-22; 9:8-17 Read: Genesis 8:20 9:17 TIME: unknown PLACE: mountains of Ararat GOLDEN TEXT I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth (Genesis 9:11). Lesson and Its Truth GOD S DECISION Gen. 8:20-22 Slightly more than a year after Noah and his family had entered the ark, they departed from it and walked again on dry land (cf. Gen. 7:11; 8:13-14). The first action Noah took after releasing the animals from the ark was to build an altar and offer God a sacrifice from both the clean animals and the clean birds (8:20). God had instructed Noah to take two each of every unclean animal onto the ark, but He had instructed him to take seven pairs of the clean animals for this very purpose. This allowed for the continuation of the species and the offering of acceptable sacrifices (cf. Gen. 7:2-3). The Lord smelled the aroma of the sacrifice and was pleased with it. The language describes God s pleasure with both the sacrifice and the worshipper. The sacrifice was an act of both obedience to God and worshipful gratitude on the part of Noah and his family. Sacrifices were offered of the best of what already belonged to God. The ancient Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh contains a story of the flood 6 that is a crude and distorted version of what we find in Genesis. The Gilgamesh Epic is clearly inferior and from a pagan perspective. In that version, when the survivor of the flood offers a sacrifice, the gods gather like flies over the ascending smoke of the sacrifice because they are starving for the aroma, having been deprived of it during the flood. In contrast, the God of Genesis is clearly the true God of the universe who is pleased when His people obey and worship Him. He is not dependent on the sacrifices of His people for survival. God promised in His heart that He would never again curse the ground because of man. This is later revealed in the context to mean that He will never again destroy the earth by a flood. While the judgment of the Flood was necessary because mankind had become thoroughly and hopelessly corrupted by evil (cf. Gen. 6:5), it is also true that every person has inherited a depraved nature that inclines him or her toward sin and disobedience (cf. Jer. 17:9; Rom. 3:10-18, 23). The