Overview
This week’s Sabbath School lesson draws from Joshua 5–8 and other texts, showing how Israel paused to renew covenant worship even in enemy territory. Joshua led the people to circumcise themselves, celebrate the Passover, build an altar, and set up the tabernacle, all acts of worship done amid war. The lesson ties these acts to the memory text, Matthew 6:33:
“Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
The SDA Quarterly emphasizes “rituals of covenant renewal” as essential moments of spiritual loyalty. It teaches that worship must precede warfare, that victory depends on faithfulness, and that loyalty to God’s law undergirds true success. However, beneath the devotionals and rituals, Adventism subtly recasts these Old Covenant acts as templates for its modern identity rooted in law-centered worship, sanctuary typology, and Sabbath observance. It’s here that a Former Adventist response is crucial.
FAP Response
As Former Adventists, we affirm that worship indeed involves “ultimate loyalty,” but the loyalty is not to law, ritual, or religious system. It is to Christ Himself, the true Joshua (Yeshua), who conquered sin and brought His people into rest (Heb. 4:8–10). The lesson’s focus on “worship in a war zone” is partly right; we are in a spiritual war (Eph. 6:12). But where the SDA Quarterly goes astray is in anchoring worship to Old Covenant ceremonies (circumcision, altars, tabernacle) as moral or theological patterns for believers today. This leans toward covenantal confusion, mixing shadows with substance. Adventism uses these stories to reinforce its “antitypical Day of Atonement” teaching, claiming we’re now living in a heavenly judgment phase where Christ’s people must renew covenant loyalty to pass divine scrutiny. But Scripture declares something radically better:
“We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Heb. 10:10).
“He entered once for all into the holy places... having obtained eternal redemption” (Heb. 9:12).
There is no ongoing “war zone” in heaven’s sanctuary. Christ is not still cleansing sins; He already did. The veil is torn, and our worship is no longer about ceremonies or rededications; it’s about resting in His finished work. The lesson’s repeated calls to “renew the covenant” echo Adventism’s obsession with law-keeping and ritual identity (like Sabbath, tithing, or the “remnant” mission). Yet Jesus instituted only two ordinances, baptism and the Lord’s Supper, as memorials of His death and resurrection, not as reenactments of Old Covenant worship in a “heavenly temple.”
FAP Theological Conclusion
In Joshua’s story, God’s people paused to worship before conquering Canaan. In Christ, the pattern is fulfilled: the battle is already won, and worship flows from victory, not toward it. The SDA lesson’s framework reflects a theology of unfinished atonement, teaching believers to maintain loyalty through continual covenant rituals. But the New Covenant message is the opposite:
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The covenant is not renewed; it is fulfilled.Jesus didn’t repair Sinai; He replaced it with a better covenant (Heb. 8:6–13).
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Worship is not ritual; it’s a relationship.We no longer build altars or look toward temples. We are the temple (1 Cor. 3:16).
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Loyalty is not law-keeping, it’s faith working through love (Gal. 5:6).Seeking God’s kingdom means pursuing His righteousness, Christ’s righteousness, imputed and transformative.
So when the lesson exhorts readers to “seek first the kingdom,” it shouldn’t lead to renewed legalism or fear of divine evaluation. Instead, it calls us to center our hearts fully on the King who reigns by grace, not ritual.
Reflection for Former Adventists
Many of us once “worshiped in a war zone” not against flesh and blood, but against guilt, perfectionism, and fear of not being “sealed.” We fought to prove loyalty through Sabbath-keeping and doctrinal fidelity, thinking victory depended on our vigilance. But in Christ, the war for righteousness is over. He is our covenant, our altar, our temple, our rest.
Former Adventists can read this lesson and rejoice that:
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The circumcision of the heart (Rom. 2:29) replaces physical and ceremonial loyalty.
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The true Passover Lamb (1 Cor. 5:7) has ended all types and shadows.
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The altar of Calvary has silenced all others.
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The tabernacle is now within us, not in heaven waiting to be “cleansed.”
Ultimate loyalty is not worship in a war zone; it is worship in peace, flowing from reconciliation accomplished at the cross.
Former Adventists Philippines
“Freed by the Gospel. Firm in the Word.”
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