Entitlement and ingratitude are elements of pride. In our contemporary culture, pride or being proud is encouraged and is commonly sought after, but is it all that it professes to be?

Welcome to our new series. In it, we will address an age-old concern that we all have: the concern for sin, evil, death and what happens after we die. Is there hope after death? When God created us humans, he intended for us to live forever in a loving relationship with him. But this relationship has been broken by sin.

Here, we address the origin of sin, and we look more closely at death and dying. But, instead of looking at death in a negative way, we look at it in the context of hope, the promised hope based on what Jesus did for us when he died and came back to life again.

From the Sabbath School Adult Bible Study Guide 2022 Quarter 4: Sabbath.School

See also Hope Sabbath School and 3ABN Sabbath School

Visit SabbathSchoolDaily.com for more videos like this one.

Inviting the Holy Spirit’s Presence

God Most High, give us a heart of humility. Help us esteem others higher than we esteem ourselves. In Jesus Name Amen.

Pride causes us to value ourselves and others in relations to what we have and what we have accomplished. As with Lucifer, it leaves out God and claims that any successes are the result of our own doings. Pride tends to cause us to esteem ourselves above others.

Maintaining the notation that life is better alone than with others who are believed to be beneath them, leads the prideful person to live in social isolation. They often feel that they do not need the help or interaction of others.

This issue of pride is not limited to individuals, it affects nations, kingdoms, organizations, cooperations, states, cities, and other entities.

The book of Revelation shows us a contrast between two very different cities. Babylon, Satan’s Kingdom, a city of pride and arrogance and Jerusalem, God’s Kingdom a city of humility and gentleness: (Split)

Babylon also known as Babel represents Satan’s counterfeit kingdom. Multiple times God has called His people out of pagan Babylon to serve Him in the land that he had promised to them.

We see this, for example, in Genesis 11:31-Genisis 12:9, when God called Abram, whose name is later changed to Abraham. There we will find that God called Abram to move from the land of Ur of the Chaldees to the land of Canaan the land he promised to Abram and his descendants.  Ur was a city in the land of Babylon in Abram’s day. Much later, after many years, the Jews eventually leave Babylon and return to Jerusalem their homeland, according to Ezra 2.

In the book of Revelation, Revelations 18:4, God calls His people out of end-time Babylon.

4 And I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. (Revelation 18:4).

This call is for them to join Him and the rest of His family. It is God’s desire for His people to eventually live with Him on Mount Zion and in His Heavenly Kingdom, the New Jerusalem as expressed in the following verses found in the Book of Revelation.

Revelation 14:1

1 Then I looked, and behold, a Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His Father’s name written on their foreheads. (Revelation 14:1)

Revelation 21:1-3

1 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.

2 Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. (Revelation 21:1-3)

Revelation 21:10

10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, (Revelation 21:10).

In our previous lesson we found that pride has some far-reaching consequences. This we saw in Isaiah 14:12–15 in the fall of Lucifer.

12 “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations!

13 For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north;

14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’

15 Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, To the lowest depths of the Pit. (Isaiah 14:12-15)

In the Bible, the city of Babylon is a symbol of a power in direct opposition to God and it fights against God and His kingdom.

The kingdom of Babylon with special reference to Nebuchadnezzar becomes a symbol of pride and arrogance. God told King

Nebuchadnezzar that Babylon only was the golden head on the statue that the king saw in a dream according to Daniel 2:37-38.

37 You, O king, are a king of kings. For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory;

38 and wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all—you are this head of gold. (Daniel 2:37-38)

The statue showed the different ruling powers on the earth that would follow the kingdom of Babylon.

But King Nebuchadnezzar challenging God’s revelation, did not pay attention to God. The king made a golden statue to show everyone that his kingdom would last forever.

King Nebuchadnezzar even went as for as commanding everyone in his kingdom to worship, bow down, to his golden statue. You can read about this event in Daniel 3.

Also, in the previous lesson we saw that the king of Tyre, the king of Babylon, described in Ezekiel 28:12–19, became a symbol of Lucifer.

And, according to Isaiah 14:3–11 the king of Babylon, who was arrogant and oppressive lost his kingdom because of his proud spirit.

He had the same spirit as Lucifer who had planned to elevate himself above the throne or power of God and the entire universe.

3 It shall come to pass in the day the Lord gives you rest from your sorrow, and from your fear and the hard bondage in which you were made to serve,

4 that you will take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say: “How the oppressor has ceased, The golden city ceased!

5 The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked, The scepter of the rulers;

6 He who struck the people in wrath with a continual stroke, He who ruled the nations in anger, Is persecuted and no one hinders.

7 The whole earth is at rest and quiet; They break forth into singing.

8 Indeed the cypress trees rejoice over you, And the cedars of Lebanon, Saying, ‘Since you were cut down, No woodsman has come up against us.’

9 “Hell from beneath is excited about you, To meet you at your coming; It stirs up the dead for you, All the chief ones of the earth; It has raised up from their thrones All the kings of the nations.

10 They all shall speak and say to you: ‘Have you also become as weak as we? Have you become like us?

11 Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, And the sound of your stringed instruments; The maggot is spread under you, And worms cover you.’ (Isaiah 14:3-11)

Then, Isaiah 14:12–15 let us know that pride

also caused Lucifer’s fall in heaven. We see that Lucifer planned to make himself king of all the angels. His plan was to make himself “like the Most High”

14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ (Isaiah 14:14).

Lucifer’s mutiny was the beginning of a new and hostile situation in which God’s selfless love and cooperation would be challenged by Lucifer’s selfish, proud, and competitive spirit.

He was not afraid of accusing God of what he himself was and of spreading his lies to the other angels. In his rebellion, we see the mysterious origins of evil in the universe.

Clearly, we can see that pride is a spirit of the Devil, the enemy of God.

This enemy of God told lies about Him to other angels. He asserted that God was the one who was evil. But really, in his heart, he was the evil one.

Being prideful, bragging, or boasting about ourselves and our accomplishments comes with ease. Most of us are guilty of it. Becoming proud and boastful of either our positions or achievements is tempting. How can we avoid the proudful spirit of Lucifer.

The best way is to purposely think about the cross, read about the sacrifice Jesus made and meditate on the price that He paid for you. When we compare ourselves to Jesus, and what He has done for us we have nothing to boast about except Jesus Christ and him crucified.  Thinking about what happen to Jesus on the cross helps us to empty our hearts of all pride. The song writer says it best. “I should have been crucified, And I should have suffered and died. I should have hung on the cross in disgrace. But Jesus, God’s Son, took my place”

The rebellion of Lucifer moved from heaven and is now being played out here on earth. What does that means for you and I. Find out in Day 6: The Spread of Unbelief