Sabbath School Summary

By Elder Dr Masimba Mavaza

Images of the End

Lesson 13

Memory Text: “So he said to them, ‘I am a Hebrew; and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land’ ” (Jonah 1:9, NKJV).

Introduction

This week will be our final look at accounts that help elucidate our understanding of last-day events. This time we will look at the mission of Jonah to Nineveh; the fall of Babylon; and the rise of Cyrus, the Persian king who liberated God’s people and enabled them to return to the Promised Land.

As with the other stories we’ve examined, these historical accounts have held profound meaning for every generation. But they also have special relevance to the final generations living before Christ returns. That is, we can mine from these historical accounts various elements that can help us better understand what we call “present truth.

At the same time, we must remember one thing concerning all these stories that appear to foreshadow last-day events: we must be careful to look at broad themes and allusions and not try to parse every detail to the point of creating prophetic absurdities. As in the parables of Jesus, we should look for the major points and principles. We should not milk every detail in hopes of finding some hidden truth. Instead, we should look for the outlines, the principles; and from these we can discover elements relevant for the last days.

SABBATH:

The events of the last days are well documented in the Bible. The mission of Jonah to Nineveh; the fall of Babylon; & the rise of Cyrus, the Persian king who freed God’s people to enter Canaan are accounts that we’ll study. We must be careful not to misinterpret prophecy. One must not overstrain the meaning of biblical texts in an effort to stumble on a new truth or bring out a fancy idea. But a look at major principles will help us know the “present truth”.

The Reluctant Prophet

SUNDAY:

Jonah didn’t want to go to Nineveh to preach because of the cruel Assyrians & spent 3 days in the belly of a great fish due to his sins (Jonah 1-4). Jesus is better (Matt. 12:38-42). He knew about the Cross but still chose to come (Luke 19:10). He spent 3 days in the tomb for our sins. Jonah’s response reveals God as the Creator who merits our worship (Jonah 1:9; Rev. 14:7). Our duty as God’s remnant church is to call people out of spiritual Babylon (Rev. 18:4). We must also expect hostility.

A Work of Repentance

MONDAY:

As Jonah entered Nineveh, his message was clear & simple: Forty more days & the city shall be destroyed. The whole city repented & God spared the people. Jonah’s prophecy was not fulfilled then (Jonah 3:5-10). But many years later, the people forgot God & the city fell as a prey to neighbor nations. Some prophecies are conditional while others are not (PK, p. 271, Rev. 18:4, 14:12, Jer. 18:7-10). Some include the second advent, last-day persecution, the latter rain, & the mark of the beast.

Belshazzar’s Feast

TUESDAY:

Nineveh fell at the hands of armies of Medes & Babylon led by the father of Nebuchadnezzar (in 612 B.C). Free from the threat of the Assyrians, Babylon grew economically more than during the reign of Hammurabi, their great lawgiver. Many nations wished to be like Babylon & be loyal to her. But the Bible tells us that king Nebuchadnezzar declared God as the rightful ruler before he died (Dan. 4:34-37). Belshazzar took over, got the truth but still sinned (Dan. 5:1-31). It’ll occur again in the last days.

The Drying of the Euphrates

WEDNESDAY:

Babylon had great walls with the Euphrates River flowing below it with an abundant water supply. Queen Nitocris diverted the river into a swamp for her crews to make earthen works. This was a tactic Cyrus exploited to march his troops under the unguarded walls. Cyrus captured the city during a festival when the people were unaware of the danger (by Herodotus; see Dan. 5). How can we also discern the times? (Dan. 5:18-31, Rev. 16:12-19, Matt. 24:42, 43). We must watch & be alert!

Cyrus, the Anointed

THURSDAY:

The overthrow of Babylon led to the freedom of God’s people. The Persians allowed the Jews to return to the Promised Land & rebuild the temple. The Persian Empire became the largest in history under Cyrus (by Tom Holland). Per custom, the Persians labeled Cyrus as “the Great King” or “King of kings”. Cyrus foreshadows what’ll happen at Christ’s return. He’s the King who’ll liberate His people from Babylon (Matt. 24:27, Rev. 19:11-16, Isa. 45:1, 2 Chron. 36:22, 23).

Further Thought

FRIDAY:

Every nation has been allowed to exist to determine whether it would fulfill the divine purposes of God. As history shows with the rise and fall of empires like Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome, each nation faced a period of testing, ultimately failing due to the rejection of God. In Jeremiah 18, God uses the imagery of a potter shaping clay to illustrate the conditional nature of prophecy, stating that if a nation turns from its evil, He will relent from disaster, but if it does evil, He will withdraw the good He intended.

—Ellen G. White, “The Unseen Watcher,” pp. 535–538, in Prophets and Kings & Jeremiah 18:7–10.

Keywords

Nebuchadnezzar’s father- Nabopolassar.

Herodotus- The ancient Greek historian Herodotus tells us that “those who lived in the centre of Babylon had no idea that the suburbs had fallen, for it was a time of festival, and all were dancing, and indulging themselves in pleasures. See The Histories, trans. Tom Holland (New York: Penguin, 2015), p. 94

Tom Holland- A historian who wrote about the conquest of Cyrus in Dominion (New York: Basic Books, 2019), p. 25.

King Cyrus and his deliverance- The original order of Old Testament books has been changed in our day to end with Malachi, but originally, this is where the Old Testament ended—with this declaration from Cyrus. The next episode in the canon of Scripture would be Matthew, which begins with the birth of Christ, the antitypical Cyrus. Cyrus would orchestrate the rebuilding of the earthly temple; Jesus would inaugurate His ministry in the heavenly sanctuary, leading up to His return and our liberation. Cyrus, of course, was not a perfect representation of Christ; no type lines up perfectly with antitype, and we must be careful not to read too much into every tiny detail. Nevertheless, he broadly functions as a type of “Savior.”

Discussion Questions

📌 Think about Jesus’ statement that the judgment will be easier for Nineveh than for the people of God who had strayed from the truth. (See Matt. 12:39–42.) What lesson can God’s church derive from this warning?

📌 Notice Ellen G. White’s statement that with each succeeding empire, “history has repeated itself.”—Ellen G. White, Prophets and Kings, p. 535. What do you see as common threads among all the empires listed in prophecy? In what ways did they follow the same prophetic path? How is our current world following them, as well?

📌 Think through the idea that it’s not often the mind, the intellect, that keeps people from faith, but the heart. How might this knowledge impact how you witness to others?

For June 21–27, 2025. Happy Sabbath! Thanks for being a part of the Bible study. The next lesson is captioned “Exodus”.