God’s dealings with Israel provide rich insights into His dealings with the New Testament church. In fact, in many ways, the nation of Israel served to foreshadow the errors of the church. Far from being able to claim any kind of superiority to ancient Israel, Christians have been, and still are, very much susceptible to the same temptations.
Read Matthew 20:25–28. What error did Jesus warn His disciples to avoid in establishing the work of the Christian church?
Israel asked for a human king, a request that led to the moral downfall of the nation. The kings became progressively more wicked until God allowed the Babylonians to take His people captive as a matter of course correction.
Something similar happened in the history of the Christian church. Even though they were not to structure themselves like a Gentile nation, when Constantine came to power and professed to be a Christian, believers were relieved—persecution was now ended! That in itself was a blessing, but then it occurred to the church that they might be able to leverage the power of the emperor to their own advantage.
Several major disputes broke out among Christians in the fourth century, and when the church found itself incapable of resolving them, it allowed the emperor to intervene. Gradually the bishop of Rome rose in prominence, where he had once been one senior bishop among equals. The church allowed the state to intervene in the religious matters, and once the state had a foot in the door, things went from bad to worse.
Like Israel of old, many of the darkest chapters in Christian history are the direct result of the church compromising with the world. Where Israel turned to idol worship and her kings were corrupted by their appetite for power—to the point of offering children to idols—the church gradually adopted many of the means and methods of a pagan empire to the point that many faithful believers were martyred because they were perceived as threats to the church-state institution.
In your own culture, your own society, what are the ways in which these same temptations can jeopardize the integrity of our faith?
Supplemental EGW Notes
Again the strife as to which should be greatest seemed about to be renewed, when Jesus, calling them to Him, said to the indignant disciples, “Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them. But so shall it not be among you.” . . .
Christ was establishing a kingdom on different principles. He called men, not to authority, but to service, the strong to bear the infirmities of the weak. Power, position, talent, education, placed their possessor under the greater obligation to serve his fellows. To even the lowliest of Christ’s disciples it is said, “All things are for your sakes.” 2 Corinthians 4:15.—The Desire of Ages, p. 550.
The accession of the Roman Church to power marked the beginning of the Dark Ages. As her power increased, the darkness deepened. Faith was transferred from Christ, the true foundation, to the pope of Rome. Instead of trusting in the Son of God for forgiveness of sins and for eternal salvation, the people looked to the pope, and to the priests and prelates to whom he delegated authority. They were taught that the pope was their earthly mediator and that none could approach God except through him; and, further, that he stood in the place of God to them and was therefore to be implicitly obeyed. . . . Sin was disguised in a garb of sanctity. When the Scriptures are suppressed, and man comes to regard himself as supreme, we need look only for fraud, deception, and debasing iniquity. With the elevation of human laws and traditions was manifest the corruption that ever results from setting aside the law of God.—The Great Controversy, p. 55.
The lessons given to the disciples of Christ, are full of significance, and present most profitable instruction for us who believe. We are not to act after the manner, precept, or example of men who are in authority in earthly positions, but to minister to others, to be servants to all, “even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” The kingdom of God is established on different principles than are the kingdoms of this world. There is to be no rank among the servants of Christ. . . . The rich, the poor, the learned, the unlearned, the bond, and the free are equally God’s heritage, and he who is most exalted in the sight of God is he who has most genuine humility, the deepest sense of his unworthiness, the greatest realization of his dependence upon God. Those who truly love God, truly love their fellow-men. They constantly seek to do good to all those who are connected with them. They are laborers together with God.—“Before Honor Is Humility,” Signs of the Times, July 16, 1896, par. 6, 7.
The above quotations are taken from Ellen G. White Notes for the Sabbath School Lessons, published by Pacific Press Publishing Association. Used by permission.