GOD’S VIEW OF THE RICH AND POWERFUL

Jesus stated that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Does this mean that God has no regard for the rich and powerful?

We are continuing our look at God’s love for us and his plan (his mission) to bridge the gap between us and him. His mission is to bring us back into a loving relationship with him. He wants us to become His disciples and members of his family.

Thus, He calls for us to respond to His love. But our relationship with Him does not end with His call, for a call without action from the one being called has no value. Does this call include the rich and powerful?

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Sabbath School Daily by Dr. Brenda Ware Davis

Let Us Inviting God’s Presence:

You are God Almighty; although things may seem impossible to us, nothing is impossible for you. Do what is impossible for us, In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

God’s Mission, My Mission

(Lesson 9)

Mission to the Powerful

Part 1

“For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).

Most would agree that the Bible is the Word of God. It shows us God’s plan for our lives. An important truth in the Bible is the teaching that all people, regardless of their station in life, are sinners in need of God’s love and mercy. This group includes the rich and the powerful.

Rich and powerful people in Bible times weren’t much different from the rich and powerful people today.

Both pursued fame, fortune, power, and control, often at the expense of hurting the vulnerable to get there.

Yet, God loves the rich and powerful just as much as He loves the poor and vulnerable. God loves us all!

Moreover, the Bible provides examples of men and women who were powerful or rich, or both, whom God used to be a blessing to other nations. They include such individuals as Job, Abraham, Isaac, Joseph, Deborah, Abigail, Solomon, and Esther, just to name a few.

So, in this series, we take an unusual approach: we will look at God’s work among the rich and powerful. We examine how God touched the life of King Nebuchadnezzar, Naaman, Nicodemus, and Zacchaeus to save them. God also wants us to share the Good News about Jesus with the rich and powerful. But they seem so unreachable; how can we reach the rich and powerful?

Find out how a young  Hebrew boy influences a powerful and rich King to acknowledge God. Read Daniel 4. Then continue to the next segment of this video, Part 2: Nebuchadnezzar

God’s Mission, My Mission

(Lesson 9)

Mission to the Powerful

Part 2: Nebuchadnezzar

Some Christians believe that Jesus died for a special group of people. They believe that only this group will be saved. But Jesus died for all people. 

This is exactly the point that 1 Timothy 2:4 makes: God

4 who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2:4, NIV).

Acknowledging the same, I John 2:2 says,

2 And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.  (1 John 2:2)

That’s why, according to Ephesians 1:4, God

“chose us in Him (Jesus) before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, (Ephesians 1:4).

It says in the Book Our High Calling:

God wills that all men should be saved; for ample provision has been made, in giving His only begotten Son to pay man’s ransom. Those who perish will perish because they refuse to be adopted as children of God through Christ Jesus. The pride of man hinders him from accepting the provisions of salvation. But human merit will not admit a soul into the presence of God. That which will make a man acceptable to God is the imparted grace of Christ through faith in His name. No dependence can be placed in works or in happy flights of feelings as evidence that men are chosen of God; for the elect are chosen through Christ. (Our High Calling, p. 78.)

God made this provision, knowing that not everyone would choose to accept His offering for our sins. But some have and will accept his offering, and some of them are rich and powerful.

A striking example in the Bible of how God reaches powerful unbelievers is the story of King Nebuchadnezzar, found in Daniel 4.  

At first, King Nebuchadnezzar didn’t believe in God. The Bible shows us how God judged King Nebuchadnezzar in much the same way that He judged and punished some Israelite kings. Read more about these kings in 2 Chronicles 32:25, 26; 1 Kings 14:21–31, and 1 Samuel 28).

After God judged Nebuchadnezzar, the king behaved the same as an animal. His fingernails, hair, and beard grew long. He ate grass the same as a cow. After seven years, God healed Nebuchadnezzar’s mind. He came to his senses and acknowledged the Creator God. In other words, He worshiped God as the One who made everything. Nebuchadnezzar’s amazing story shows us that God cares and wants to save all people, including those who are rich and powerful.

 At the time, King Nebuchadnezzar was the most powerful man on the earth. This rich and powerful king in Daniel 4:37 declares:

37 Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all of whose works are truth, and His ways justice. And those who walk in pride He is able to put down. (Daniel 4:37).

What would the world be like if all the powerful and rich people on this earth understood this Bible truth?

What can we learn from this story of King Nebuchadnezzar?

• God uses the committed Daniel to touch the king’s heart. He used Daniel as a bridge to reach a powerful, unbelieving king. Nebuchadnezzar, once proud and arrogant after his experience with God, with the help of Daniel, became humble. God will work with us to touch people’s lives, even the rich and powerful.
• God can directly intervene to do what we cannot do. In fact, God can work a miracle to save people.

Though we might not be rich or powerful, we must be mindful of the dangers of pride and arrogance. Notice what had to happen to King Nebuchadnezzar to bring him to his senses. 

As with King Nebuchadnezzar, God has ways to empty a heart that is full of pride.

Naaman was another powerful person in the Bible who had an encounter with God. Who was Naaman, and how did God bridge the gap between Him and Naaman? Read 2 Kings 5:1-19, then Watch my next video, part 3, Naaman.

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