Lesson 13

Images of the End

Sabbath Afternoon, June 21

In both the school and the home much of the teaching was oral; but the youth also learned to
read the Hebrew writings, and the parchment rolls of the Old Testament Scriptures were open to
their study. The chief subjects of study in these schools were the law of God, with the instruction
given to Moses, sacred history, sacred music, and poetry. In the records of sacred history were traced
the footsteps of Jehovah. The great truths set forth by the types in the service of the sanctuary were
brought to view, and faith grasped the central object of all that system—the Lamb of God, that was
to take away the sin of the world. A spirit of devotion was cherished. Not only were the students
taught the duty of prayer, but they were taught how to pray, how to approach their Creator, how to
exercise faith in Him, and how to understand and obey the teachings of His Spirit. Sanctified intellect
brought forth from the treasure house of God things new and old, and the Spirit of God was
manifested in prophecy and sacred song. —Education, p. 47.

As a nation the children of Israel failed of receiving the benefits that God desired to give them.
They did not appreciate His purpose or co-operate in its execution. But though individuals and
peoples may thus separate themselves from Him, His purpose for those who trust Him is unchanged.
“Whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever.” Ecclesiastes 3:14.
While there are different degrees of development and different manifestations of His power to
meet the wants of men in the different ages, God’s work in all time is the same. The Teacher is the
same. God’s character and His plan are the same. With Him “is no variableness, neither shadow of
turning.” James 1:17.
The experiences of Israel were recorded for our instruction. “All these things happened unto them
for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.”
1 Corinthians 10:11. With us, as with Israel of old, success in education depends on fidelity in carrying
out the Creator’s plan. Adherence to the principles of God’s word will bring as great blessings to us
as it would have brought to the Hebrew people. —Education, p. 50.

The same mighty truths that were revealed through these men, God desires to reveal through the
youth and the children of today. The history of Joseph and Daniel is an illustration of what He will
do for those who yield themselves to Him and with the whole heart seek to accomplish His purpose.
The greatest want of the world is the want of men—men who will not be bought or sold, men
who in their inmost souls are true and honest, men who do not fear to call sin by its right name, men
whose conscience is as true to duty as the needle to the pole, men who will stand for the right
though the heavens fall.
But such a character is not the result of accident; it is not due to special favors or endowments of
Providence. A noble character is the result of self-discipline, of the subjection of the lower to the
higher nature—the surrender of self for the service of love to God and man. —Education, p. 57.
 Sunday, June 22

The Reluctant Prophet

The lesson is for God’s messengers today, when the cities of the nations are as verily in need of a
knowledge of the attributes and purposes of the true God as were the Ninevites of old. Christ’s
ambassadors are to point men to the nobler world, which has largely been lost sight of. According
to the teaching of the Holy Scriptures, the only city that will endure is the city whose builder and
maker is God. With the eye of faith man may behold the threshold of heaven, flushed with God’s
living glory. Through His ministering servants the Lord Jesus is calling upon men to strive with
sanctified ambition to secure the immortal inheritance. He urges them to lay up treasure beside the
throne of God. —Prophets and Kings, p. 274.

Jonah revealed that he valued the souls in that wretched city less than he valued his reputation.
He feared lest he should be regarded as a false prophet. The compassion shown by God toward the
repentant people “displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.” “Was not this my saying,”
he inquired of the Lord, “when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I
knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest
thee of the evil.”
When Jonah saw the Lord exercising his compassionate attributes in sparing the city that had
corrupted its ways before him, he should have co-operated with God in his merciful design. But he
lost sight of the interests of the people. Again he yielded to his feelings, and, as the result, he was
not grieved over the thought that so large a number must perish because they had not been taught
to do right. He felt as if he would rather die than live to see the city spared; and in his dissatisfaction
he exclaimed, “Now, O Lord, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than
to live.” —“Ninevah, That Great City,” Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, October 18, 1906, par. 8, 9.

To the prophet Jonah came the word of the Lord, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry
against it; for their wickedness is come up before Me.” The prophet was tempted to question the
wisdom of the call. It seemed as if nothing could be gained by proclaiming such a message in that
proud city. He forgot that God whom he served was all-wise and all-powerful. While he hesitated,
Satan overwhelmed him with discouragement, and he “rose up to flee unto Tarshish.” Finding a ship
ready to sail, “he paid the fare thereof and went down into it, to go with them.”
Jonah had been entrusted with a heavy responsibility. Had the prophet obeyed unquestioningly,
he would have been blessed abundantly. Yet in Jonah’s despair the Lord did not desert him. Through
trials and strange providences, the prophet’s confidence in God was to be revived. —From Splendor to
Shadow, p. 144.
 Monday, June 23

A Work of Repentance
The forbearance of God has been very great—so great that when we consider the continuous
insult to His holy commandments, we marvel. The Omnipotent One has been exerting a restraining
power over His own attributes. But He will certainly arise to punish the wicked, who so boldly defy
the just claims of the Decalogue.
God allows men a period of probation; but there is a point beyond which divine patience is
exhausted, and the judgments of God are sure to follow. The Lord bears long with men, and with
cities, mercifully giving warnings to save them from divine wrath; but a time will come when
pleadings for mercy will no longer be heard, and the rebellious element that continues to reject the
light of truth will be blotted out, in mercy to themselves and to those who would otherwise be
influenced by their example. —Prophets and Kings, p. 276.

God’s message for the inhabitants of earth today is, “Be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye
think not the Son of man cometh.” Matthew 24:44. The conditions prevailing in society, and
especially in the great cities of the nations, proclaim in thunder tones that the hour of God’s
judgment is come and that the end of all things earthly is at hand. We are standing on the threshold
of the crisis of the ages. In quick succession the judgments of God will follow one another—fire, and
flood, and earthquake, with war and bloodshed. We are not to be surprised at this time by events
both great and decisive; for the angel of mercy cannot remain much longer to shelter the impenitent.
“Behold, the Lord cometh out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity:
the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.” Isaiah 26:21. The storm of
God’s wrath is gathering; and those only will stand who respond to the invitations of mercy, as did
the inhabitants of Nineveh under the preaching of Jonah, and become sanctified through obedience
to the laws of the divine Ruler. The righteous alone shall be hid with Christ in God till the desolation
be overpast. —Prophets and Kings, p. 278.

Yet Nineveh was not wholly given over to evil. In that city many were reaching out after something
better, and, if granted opportunity to learn of the living God, they would put away their evil deeds.
And so God revealed Himself to them in an unmistakable manner to lead them to repentance. —
From Splendor to Shadow, p. 144.
 Tuesday, June 24

Belshazzar’s Feast
Through the folly and weakness of Belshazzar, the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, proud Babylon
was soon to fall. Admitted in his youth to a share in kingly authority, Belshazzar gloried in his power
and lifted up his heart against the God of heaven. Many had been his opportunities to know the
divine will and to understand his responsibility of rendering obedience thereto. He had known of his
grandfather’s banishment, by the decree of God, from the society of men; and he was familiar with
Nebuchadnezzar’s conversion and miraculous restoration. But Belshazzar allowed the love of
pleasure and self-glorification to efface the lessons that he should never have forgotten. He wasted
the opportunities graciously granted him, and neglected to use the means within his reach for
becoming more fully acquainted with truth. That which Nebuchadnezzar had finally gained at the
cost of untold suffering and humiliation, Belshazzar passed by with indifference. —Prophets and Kings,
p. 522.

Then the writing on the wall was read and interpreted. Belshazzar heard the irrevocable sentence:
“God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.” “Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found
wanting.” “Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.” Belshazzar was without
excuse, for abundant light had been given him to reform his life. He had had opportunity for knowing
the truth; but he lost all the benefits of the knowledge by his course of self-indulgence; he did not
meet the mind of God, as a man or a king, and because of this the kingdom had been taken from
him. He who has power to set up and to tear down, gave the kingdom to another.
In the history of Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar, God speaks to nations of today. We are to take
to heart the lessons he sought to teach these rebellious kings; for if Belshazzar had pursued a course
in harmony with the instruction given to his grandfather, he would have retained not only his
kingdom but his life. He disregarded the lessons, and went on in rebellion against God, committing
the very sins for which his grandfather had been reproved and punished. He, too, lifted himself up
in pride and exaltation, and the final judgment of God fell upon him and his house. His great sin was
that, notwithstanding God had given him light, he refused to walk in the paths of righteousness. —
“Results of Refusing to Walk in the Light,” Signs of the Times, July 20, 1891, par. 5, 6.

[Belshazzar] was guilty because he had had the privilege of knowing and doing the right, and of
leading others in the way, and yet refused to heed the light that God had permitted to shine upon
his pathway. He had every opportunity of becoming acquainted with God and with his truth, but he
would not deny himself in order to know and do righteousness. Now in the midst of his most
pronounced idolatry and defiance of God, the bloodless hand writes his doom. —“Results of Refusing
to Walk in the Light,” Signs of the Times, July 20, 1891, par. 2.
 Wednesday, June 25

The Drying of the Euphrates

The history of nations speaks to us today. To every nation and to every individual God has
assigned a place in His great plan. Today men and nations are being tested by the plummet in the
hand of Him who makes no mistake. All are by their own choice deciding their destiny, and God is
overruling all for the accomplishment of His purposes.
The prophecies which the great I AM has given in His word, uniting link after link in the chain of
events, from eternity in the past to eternity in the future, tell us where we are today in the procession
of the ages and what may be expected in the time to come. All that prophecy has foretold as coming
to pass, until the present time, has been traced on the pages of history, and we may be assured that
all which is yet to come will be fulfilled in its order. —Prophets and Kings, p. 536.

The destruction of Babylon pictures to some degree the final destruction of the world, of which
the prophet writes, “Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to
lay the land desolate; and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.” Destruction came upon
Babylon while the king and his lords were engaged in feasting and revelry. Cyrus and his army
marched up the bed of the river Euphrates; for trenches had been dug, and the river turned from its
course, so that there was no obstruction to their entering the city, provided the gates were opened.
The guardsmen were indulging in merriment and revelry, and the city was left without defense.
Before the officers were aware, the enemy had entered the city, and escape was impossible. Those
in one part of the city were slain or captured before those in another part knew that the city was
invaded. No alarm was sounded, no cry could be raised to warn the people that the forces of Cyrus
were upon them. . . .
Babylon is a symbol of the world at large. When its doom was made certain, its kings and officers
seemed to be as men insane, and their own course hastened its destiny. When the doom of a nation
is fixed, it seems that all the energy, wisdom, and discretion of its former time of prosperity, deserts
its men of position, and they hasten the evil they would avert. Outside enemies are not the greatest
peril to an individual or a nation. The overthrow of a nation results, under the providence of God,
from some unwise or evil course of its own. But the people who fear God, who are loyal to his laws,
who carry out the principles of righteousness in their lives, have a sure defense; God will be the
refuge of those who trust in him. —“A Symbol of Final Destruction,” Signs of the Times, December 29, 1890,
par. 2.
 Thursday, June 26

Cyrus, the Anointed

The year that Cyrus succeeded Darius the Mede to the throne of Medo-Persia marked the
completion of seventy years since the first company of Hebrews had been carried captive to Babylon
by Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel, who was familiar with the prophecies of Jeremiah and Isaiah regarding
the duration of the captivity, and with the prophecies of Isaiah regarding the restoration by decree
of Cyrus, was still living, and was occupying a position of leading responsibility in the Medo-Persian
court. His faith in these prophecies led him to plead with God in behalf of his people. And now, when
the time came for the temple in Jerusalem to be rebuilt, God moved upon Cyrus as his agent to
discern the prophecies concerning himself, and to grant the Jewish people their liberty. And
furthermore, Cyrus furnished them the necessary facilities for rebuilding the temple of the Lord. . . .
There were faithful servants of the Most High who were prepared to respond to this decree. Over
threescore years before, the Lord had declared that “after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon
I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return. . . . Then shall ye
call upon me,” the Lord declared, “and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will harken unto you. And
ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. And I will be found of
you, saith the Lord: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and
from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the Lord; and I will bring you again into the place
whence I caused you to be carried away captive.” Those who were seeking the Lord were prepared
to take advantage of the wonderful opportunity afforded them by Cyrus to return to their homes
and to restore the temple of God. —“The Return of the Exiles—No. 2: The Decree of Cyrus,” Advent Review
and Sabbath Herald, March 28, 1907, par. 5, 11.

In the unexpected entry of the army of the Persian conqueror into the heart of the Babylonian
capital by way of the channel of the river whose waters had been turned aside, and through the
inner gates that in careless security had been left open and unprotected, the Jews had abundant
evidence of the literal fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy concerning the sudden overthrow of their
oppressors. And this should have been to them an unmistakable sign that God was shaping the
affairs of nations in their behalf; for inseparably linked with the prophecy outlining the manner of
Babylon’s capture and fall were the words:
“Cyrus, he is My shepherd, and shall perform all My pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt
be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.” “I have raised him up in righteousness, and
I will direct all his ways: he shall build My city, and he shall let go My captives, not for price nor
reward, saith the Lord of hosts.” Isaiah 44:28; 45:13. —Prophets and Kings, p. 552.
 Friday, June 27

For Further Reading

“Jonah’s Day, and Ours,” in From Splendor to Shadow, pp. 149, 150.
“A Symbol of the Final Destruction,” Signs of the Times, December 29, 1890, par. 1–6.