Prepared by William Earnhardt, for Sabbath School Class, Sabbath October 29, 2022.

Main Theme: While Grace is found in the Old and New Testaments, the power of the the resurrection is found in both the Old and New Testaments.

Read in Class: Jude 9, and Like 9:28-36. Discuss the common thread of these passages.

Study: What evidences do you find in these texts for the bodily resurrection of Moses?

Apply: Moses was not allowed to enter the earthly Canaan (Deut. 34:1-4) but was taken into the heavenly Canaan. What does this teach about how God “is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us” (Eph. 3:20, NKJV)?

Share: Your friend asks how Moses got to go to heaven before Jesus even died for Him? What do you tell your friend? Hint: Revelation 13:8.

Read in Class: 1 Kings 17:8-24 and 2 Kings 4:18-37. Discuss the common thread of these passages.

Study: What similarities and differences do you see in these two resurrections?

Apply: These are great stories, but for each one of these two accounts, how many untold others didn’t have something so miraculous happen? What should this sad fact teach us about just how central to our faith is the promised resurrection at the end of time?

Share: Your friend asks why we don’t see modern day resurrections? (I have heard claims that they still happen today.) What do you tell your friend? Hint: See Can God Still Work Miracles Today.

Read in Class: Luke 7:11-7 and Mark 5:35-43. Discuss the common thread in these passages.

Study: What can we learn about death from Christ’s words, “The child is not dead, but sleeping”?

Apply: Jesus’ words, “Do not fear, only believe” (Mark 5:36, NRSV), are still meaningful for us today. How can we learn to do that, even amid fearful situations, which are the most important times to keep believing?

Share: Your friend asks, why you think Jesus chose to raise the widow’s son, and the young girl? What purpose might it have served other than just demonstrating the resurrection power? What do you tell your friend?

Read in Class: John 11:1-44. Discuss the main point of this passage.

Study:  In what sense was Jesus “glorified” by the sickness and death of Lazarus (John 11:4)?

Apply: Read John 11:25,-26. In one line Jesus talks about believers dying, and in the next He talks about believers never dying. What is Jesus teaching us here, and why is the understanding that death is an unconscious sleep so crucial in understanding Christ’s words? And why do His words offer us, as beings destined to the grave, so much hope?

Share: Your friend asks you why Jesus waited for Lazarus to be dead four days before raising him? What do you tell your friend, and how could this be related to Jesus telling the people earlier that the girls was just asleep?

Hint: “When Christ raised to life the daughter of Jairus, He had said, “The damsel is not dead, but sleepeth.” Mark 5:39. As she had been sick only  a short time, and was raised immediately after death, the Pharisees declared that the child had not been dead; that Christ Himself had said she was only asleep. They had tried to make it appear that Christ could not cure disease, that there was foul play about His miracles. But in this case, none could deny that Lazarus was dead.” –Desire of Ages, Pages 534-535.