Dec,13, 2025: Sabbath-School Review

By Derek West

Source material, Incense and the Ember, Series 12: 13, Audio Study, 13-Aug-2010

In the Atonement ceremony, the High Priest places live coals from the altar and in a vial, a sensor.  Those smoldering embers symbolize the rescue of Joshua who shall be the Lord’s eternal High Priest to come.  It shows that he has undergone affliction or a socially burning experience.  Yet, the symbolic function continues: As the priest proceeds towards the holy place, the incense in his hand is also put into the vial creating a chemical reaction: The burning coals united with the incense beaten small causing smoke to fill the holy place.  The incense represents the son of David; beaten small manifest his child-conversion experience defined by the Lord in Matt 18.  It shows his willingness to withstand all social pressure as his ministry seeks to uplift the Lord.   The smoke created by this ritual conceals the presence of the Lord Who is seated on the mercy seat. 

The quality that makes a child recommendable to the disciples ought not to be perceived to cover every aspect of childhood: instead, it expresses a willingness to learn and be taught.  Such is a dimension hard to find in adults. 

A point of key notation is Joshua’s legal escape from the clutches of hell: The Lord says that he has already been burned; he was comparable to the brand plucked from the fire.  This means that he endured the African-American-slave experience, but rather than destroying him because of his sins, the Lord redeems him from his torment and from under the logic that —unlike the devil and his angels— he had already been burned.  Thereby Satan loses his appeal for Joshua’s soul allowing Joshua’s garment to be changed which signifies a removal of sins by the Burnt Offering. This point is more comprehensively summarized by the Burnt Offering of the Atonement and Jerusalem’s baptism by fire. 

The disciples belong to another group, those who are on David’s team and who have endured the humiliation of rejection by church affiliation; in other words, they were beaten small, ergo the child conversion experience. 

The study gave a harmonious experience from the educational history of the mustard seed’s strident discipline that brings reward in time, though, when experiencing it, as with the case of educational matriculation, it seems harsh.  The same stern focus on advancement in truth makes that metaphor relative to our progress. 

All are welcome to join us in the next Sabbath School lesson now beginning at 12: 00 noon, EST.

Derek.