The Sanctuary Pt. 4
Our sanctuary study continues and picks up with us learning more and more about the symbolic meanings of the rituals performed in the sanctuary service.
We learned about the daily offering of incense morning and evening which is a call to morning and evening prayers.
Luke 1:10 And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense.
We all know how important prayer is. Prayer is something we're encouraged to do by Jesus himself. Jesus prayed. So being called to pray morning and evening is something that can only enhance a spiritual life.
Communicating with the Lord through prayer by the Holy Spirit. Communication with someone only brings you closer to them, only gives you more knowledge of them. Communication fosters a relationship. While some believe prayer to be one-sided talking, in truth God hears every word we speak in prayer and we are given His word, His guidance through the Holy Spirit. We acknowledge in prayer that God is the one and only true God, worthy of our worship and praise. We acknowledge the Creator as creatures of His. We acknowledge our Savior, our Redeemer, that we are in need of being saved from our sins.
Prayer is an amazing thing it really is.
More about the symbolic elements of the Sanctuary as we pick up the study--
1981 Jun -- XIV 6(81) -- LET'S TALK ABOUT THE ATONEMENT - II William Grotheer--
The Bible pictures not only Christ as the minister of the true tabernacle where in its first apartment He ministers as "a Lamb as it had been slain;" but also as the One who has obtained from the Father, the light of the seven golden candlesticks which is "sent forth into all the earth." (Rev. 5:6)
*{5:6} And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.*
It is through this Holy Spirit that where two or three are gathered together in His name partaking of the heavenly Shewbread - He is in the midst of them. This church on earth and the Church of the heavenly Jerusalem become one through the ministry of Jesus "the mediator of the new covenant" and "the blood of sprinkling." (Heb. 12:22-24)
*{12:22} But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, {12:23} To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, {12:24} And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than [that of] Abel.*
From an individual judicial atonement resulting from the acceptance of the Substitute sacrificed "in the court," and the mediation of that blood upon "Mt. Sion," we enter an individual-corporate atonement process in the first apartment ministry, a process which is to be completed in the Most Holy Place as a corporate atonement, or as prefigured in the type - a national atonement.
***
Individual judicial atonement from accepting the sacrifice made in the court.
Mediation of the blood on Mt. Sion.
We are in a process of individual-corporate atonement - in the first apartment.
The process which will be completed in the Most Holy Place symbolically as the Day of Atonement - a national atonement.
***
In the Most Holy Place -- It is of utmost importance to note that 0. R. L. Crosier in his study - "The Sanctuary" - first appearing in the Day Star, Extra, February 7, 1846, and reprinted again in the 1850 Advent Review, a 48-page pamphlet, notes the daily ministry in the earthly sanctuary which pertained to the sin offerings as "the individual atonement," and the once-a-year ministry in the Most Holy Place as "the National Atonement." To this concept, we have given little attention. In simple language, it means a corporate atonement.
Introducing this concept, Crosier used Hebrews 9:7 - "But into the second [apartment] went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people." He emphasized - "errors of the people," defining people as "nation" from the Greek word used - AaoV.
This was to emphasize the corporate idea involved rather than the result to a single individual.
This concept is emphasized in the Levitical detailing of the ritual to be performed on the Day of Atonement.
The two goats over which the lots were cast were to be taken from "the congregation of the children of Israel." (Lev. 16:5)
The one which became the Lord's goat is designated as "the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people." (verse. 15)
The atonement was made "because of the uncleaness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins." (ver. 16)
The ritual commanded was declared to be an "everlasting statute" by which "to make atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year." (ver. 34)
Further, this was noted by God as "the sin offering of atonements" (Ex. 30:10)
All previous offerings by which atonement was realized find their ultimate objective in this final atonement. It was national, collective, and corporative.
This atonement of atonements involved "the holy place within the vail", because "of the uncleanness of the children of Israel." (Lev. 16:2,16)
It involved "the tabernacle of the congregation" [the first apartment];
"the altar that is before the Lord" (ver. 18);
and the priests and "all the people of the congregation." (ver. 33)
Its purpose - that the people "be clean from all [their] sins before the Lord." (ver. 30)
In this study of the services of the Day of Atonement, it must be clearly understood that the people's involvement in the ritual of this day, whether considered collectively, or individually was absolutely nil.
It was the blood of the goat designated as "the Lord's goat" (See Lev. 16:8-9) which accomplished the atonement.
It was the High Priest arrayed in his holy garments who entered the Most Holy Place alone to minister the atonement of atonements.
This Day was to be to the people a holy convocation (Numbers 29:7)
As they assembled, and throughout the day, they were to "afflict their souls." (Lev. 23:27, 32)
In it they were to do no work - for if anyone did he would be destroyed from "among the people." (ver. 30)
This people as they assembled, assembled as "forgiven sinners" not as "cleansed saints."
That was to be the result of the atonement made on this Day.
Even though throughout the year, they had assembled morning and evening at the time of prayer; even though they had diligently sought to know and practice the precepts of the Lord, they still were unclean before the Lord.
And nothing which they could do on the Day of Atonement could gain them merit.
They were to do no work, and anyone who attempted to accomplish something by his works was to be destroyed from among the people.
The blood of the Lord's goat, and the ministry of the High Priest alone would attain the atonement of atonements. This was the type.
In the great antitypical Day of Atonement in the sanctuary which the Lord pitched and not man, our great High Priest, with His perfect holiness and by His own blood will accomplish the cleansing of not just one individual, but the cleansing of His people.
This cleansing will be of a people who know they have been forgiven, and that at the foot of the Cross - before the altar of the court - is the highest place they can attain; a people who are not seeking perfection by their own works, but who find in their communion with God and the guidance of the Holy Spirit that humility of soul, that distrustfulness of self which God delights to honor. "Blessed are they who know their spiritual poverty, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." (Matt. 5:3 RBV)
It must also be recalled from the type given that as God made a covenant with Moses as representative of the people - a covenant to which the people did not assent to as a nation, but which through the "daily" services of the sanctuary they individually acknowledged by the bringing of their sin offerings, so Christ has been accepted by the Father as the representative of the individuals who accept Him as their Substitute - their Sin-Offering.
For these people - collectively - He will make the atonement of atonements. They are His people. As a Representative of them, He has covenanted to "make a man more precious than gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir." (Isa. 13:12) This He will do; but it must be kept in mind that He and He alone will do it! He does it in and for those who recognize themselves as sinners, not perfected saints. It was this He made painfully clear to the "religious" during the days of His earthly ministry. He said "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." (Matt. 9:13)
As our High Priest, Christ will obtain from the Father all power necessary for the accomplishment of His part of the covenant so that the ultimate objective of the at-one-ment may be realized - "Father, I will that they also, whom thou has given me, be with me where I am." (John 17:24) For who is like unto our heavenly Father, who "pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He retaineth not His anger forever, because He delighteth in mercy. He will [respond], He will have compassion upon us; He will subdue our iniquities; [He] will cast all [our] sins into the depths of the sea." (Micah 7:18-19) And when this shall have been accomplished in the atonement of the atonements, then we shall see His face, and His name shall be in our foreheads. In that hour we shall experience the fullness of the atonement (Rev, 22:4)
Our Father, as He sees the host of the redeemed - His earth-born children come home - will rejoice over [them] with joy, He will rest in His love, He will joy over [them] with singing." (Zeph. 3:17)
Isaiah 13:12 is a very important text. The promise to make a man more precious than fine gold is placed in a time setting in context with "the day of the Lord." Following the fulfillment of the prophecy - "the sun shall be darkened in his going forth" (verse 10) - and before "the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the Lord of hosts, I and in the day of His fierce anger" - this promise is to be fulfilled. Thus between the Dark Day, May 19, 1780, and the close of human probation, Christ will make a man as precious as the golden wedge of Ophir. Thus the timing of this promise coincides with the antitypical Day of Atonement - the Day of the Atonement of the Atonements. (See Isa. 13:9-13; Dan. 8:14)
"Let no one take the limited, narrow position that any of the works of man can help in the least possible way to liquidate the debt of his transgression. This is a fatal deception. If you would understand it, you must cease haggling over your pet ideas, and with humble hearts survey the atonement. This matter is so dimly comprehended that thousands upon thousands claiming to be sons of God are children of the wicked one, because they will depend on their own works."
(Ms 50, 1900; 6BC: 1071)
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We're going to pause here.
So much to contemplate, so much truth.
Over and over we are reminded that our *good works*, anything we do as a result of our born again (In Christ) state, any outcome of our desire to walk with Christ will not save us, can't save us, we cannot save ourselves. We can only rely on the sacrifice of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
May we each realize our sinfulness and our need, it is only in realizing our need that we can truly seek the saving grace of Christ. People who say they have no need, are people deceived.
We know many are going to claim to know Christ and that Christ knows them, when in truth they are being deceived.
I pray that we aren't deceived that our knowledge of Christ, that our relationship permits Jesus to know us so we may be claimed by Him to be His now and forever.
By the grace of Christ, by His mercy and love I pray.
Amen.
12/17/09
Psa 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
A broken and contrite heart- Repentance?
What is repentance- the Greek definition is...
metanoeo
met-an-o-eh'-o
From G3326 and G3539; to think differently or afterwards, that is, reconsider (morally to feel compunction): - repent.
Which leads us to ask, what is compunction- (sure we might know but it bears getting an official answer right?)
compunction
compunction (kem-pùngk´shen) noun
1. A strong uneasiness caused by a sense of guilt.
2. A sting of conscience or a pang of doubt aroused by wrongdoing or the prospect of wrongdoing.
When David wrote 'The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.' he knew that ultimately God didn't desire burnt offerings and such as a sacrifice. The burnt offerings were symbolic and meant to get His people to realize that God is worthy and the only God to worship, as well as realizing without God we have no hope. God alone can forgive our sins, and it's to Him we must go. To go to God with a broken spirit and a contrite heart is to recognize that He alone reigns and we need to place ourselves completely in His hands. We need to realize that only IN Him do we truly live. We only flounder when we are not in God's hands. Does that mean we'll have no problems once we place ourselves in God's hands? NOoooooooooooo, those who believe that are setting themselves up to fall. It means we have a surety, a hope beyond our lives here and now. God is our Creator, and our Redeemer. The redemption will be fully experienced when Christ comes again and not before. It is the HOPE of life with Christ that we put before us, it is the prize at the end of the race we are running. We have to expect that the race will be a treacherous one filled with many, many obstacles. We also have to know that God wants true repentance. God wants us to realize our guilt and to turn from it. God wants us to repent and recognize our need.
Here's what Jesus had to say-
Mar 12:28 And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all?
Mar 12:29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
Mar 12:30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
Mar 12:31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
Mar 12:32 And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he:
Mar 12:33 And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
More than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifice God would have us love, know love, know Him, to understand our need of Him in all we do. To love God and to love others this is truly what God wills. Maybe people think it silly - the old 60's peace movement, the Beatles song - 'All You Need Is Love', but honestly there was a bit of truth buried beneath the free and easy sex and drugs. Peace and love, we are more used to arguing and proving ourselves right and someone else wrong, standing up for ourselves which we call number one and so on. True love, God's love, the love we are to have for God and others is what it's truly all about.
God is love.
1Jn 4:16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love.
With our broken and contrite spirits, realizing how far we are from being what God would have us to be, let us seek forgiveness and repent. Let us turn from our sins and turn to God, finding in Him all we need in life. May the love of God fill us and by the mercy and grace of our Lord and Savior may we love.
In Christ, now and forever.
Amen
12/17/10
12/17/11
Jas 1:15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
Sin doesn't just happen to us. For the most part we are not victims of sin but perpetuators. I can introduce situations and circumstances that might cause another to sin, presenting temptation to them and for that I'd be guilty. I can also put myself into situations where I know temptation to sin will be present and then I can presumptuously assume that I'll be able to overcome temptation and remain free from committing sins the temptation is drawing me towards. We are not blameless when it comes to temptation, often inviting temptation and then turning around and lamenting our ability to overcome, to resist the very temptation we've placed in front of ourselves.
Satan wants to disguise temptations as being harmless, seemingly innocent so that we surround ourselves by them and in essence we are tempting God aren't we? Seriously, aren't we? It's a different situation when we come face to face with temptation unexpectedly, but altogether another story when we bring temptation to ourselves. In our society today there is so much corruption it would most likely take leaving the mainstream way of life and entering into the existence of the backwoods sorts to escape. One of the biggest tools of Satan is what we consider our entertainment pursuits. How quickly we become almost obsessed with not missing an episode of one show or another we are watching on televison. How crazily absorbed we are in gaming adventures. We've even let books- ebooks, books on our Nooks or Kindles, and even the old fashioned hand-held books have obsessive qualities to us. To suggest to most people that living with out television, games, books, computers would be cause for saying we are crazy, when in truth it's probably what would be best for us. A lot of us live for our entertainment merely enduring work and the time spent in between our necessities of sleeping, eating, and so on. It makes you wonder a doesn't it, the ol' pursuit of happiness we have a right to. Do you think our forefathers who wrote that 'right' into existence had today's way of life in mind? God, in His word to us told us plainly without mincing words that we are to set our TREASURES in heaven. This world was not sugar-coated by our Savior.
Joh 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
What are we going to have in the world? Tribulation.
Where do we find peace? In Jesus.
Peace, joy, happiness, contentment- these things are NOT to be found in our world, but in Jesus. This goes right back to finding joy in 'divers temptations'. We only find joy because we know that Jesus is working in us, we are being presented with an opportunity to witness to ourselves or publically of Jesus' peace, His love.
Going back to temptations and being tempted, we sabotage ourselves and then like to blame God for not giving us strength to overcome our temptations. The next time you are tempted that you notice- and believe me we don't always notice because these sorts of things have become our way of life- the next time you realize you are facing a temptation and haven't yet succumbed to indulging in that temptation ask yourself if you put yourself in temptation's way. Did you some how perpetuate the situation? Did you know you would face temptation and yet go ahead full steam just because, well, it's part of your life?
Another question we need to ask ourselves is… are we focusing on material temptations and ignoring our internal temptations? Do we sometimes instigate a situation that will have us succumbing to anger, jealousy, envy? There is a lot we need to think about, and to shove it all aside and not think about it does no good at all.
Regardless of how the temptations come about there is one thing we need to talk more about and that is resisting temptation. Seems almost silly to say you need to resist the very temptation you might have encouraged doesn't it, but we are far from free of Satan's influence. So many of us have grown up drenched in Satan's ways- and those ways were called perfectly normal, average, acceptable, expected. When we are called to follow our Savior with a heart that is truly His, we will suddenly begin to notice parts of our lives that aren't truly acceptable.
Temptations need to be resisted, yes?
Jas 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Temptations need to be resisted and we are given the key to that resistance and it isn't a magic pill or potion to swallow, it is active resistance, intellectual resistance. Jesus did not come face to face with Satan and his tempting and close his eyes hoping Satan would leave off, that he would go away. Jesus was prepared for that direct temptation from years and years of immersing Himself in His Father's word.
We ignore the word of God, we scarcely know a verse or two by heart and this is the very protection we are given against the temptations we will face.
Just because we do not have Satan personally presenting himself to us and tempting us does not mean that evil being isn't present in every temptation we face. He's there even if we cannot hear his voice, even if we cannot see his face, even if we cannot reach out and touch him. This spiritual adversary is there and present with all his evil cunning. So when we are tempted we are being tempted by the same evil entity that tempted our Savior in the wilderness. We need to use the same weapon our Savior used against Him- the WORD of GOD.
'It is written…'
We've been told.
God has said.
God's word reads.
God says.
This is the truth of the matter.
This isn't God's way.
God has revealed.
That is wrong because God told us this is right.
We can't fight temptation by saying we don't want whatever we are being tempted with. We do want it that's what makes it a temptation. If we didn't want what we were being tempted with then it'd be easy to simply ignore the temptation- in fact it wouldn't truly be a temptation at all. So trying to tell ourselves we don't want something we clearly do want is fighting temptation with the wrong weapon. Jesus didn't say he didn't want the stones changed into bread, he stated a fact. He stated WHY it would be WRONG for Him to indulge in the temptation to change those stones into bread.
Mat 4:3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
Mat 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
He was hungry. He wanted to eat, to relieve that hunger.
Mat 4:2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred
Hungry. Very hungry. Desiring food. Famished. Jesus wanted to eat something yet he wasn't given anything to eat, he wasn't near any food, he was in the desert with rocks and sand, not bread and fruit. There was no food, if there had been food then he most likely would have eaten the food. Satan didn't come bearing a platter of meat and cheese with a jug of wine on the side waving it in front of a very hungry Jesus. The outcome would have been the same, because Jesus would not have done anything the Father didn't direct Him to do. He would have refused the food and drink. Some might think that would have been a greater temptation, to have the food right there in front of Him. Yet Satan wasn't really tempting Jesus to simply eat. He was tempting Jesus to DISOBEY God because in disobeying God is where we sin. Satan was tempting Jesus to break the laws of God that were given to human beings. How? By tempting Jesus to set aside the very humanity He'd taken on and reveal His spiritual power selfishly. Satan was trying to get Jesus to shrug off the pains of humanity and use His divinity. Jesus knew that if He used His divinity that He would be admitting that it was impossible for Him to adhere to His humanity and impossible to save those who had been corrupted by Satan.
Mankind was NOT to live for eating and drinking, eating and drinking was not true life. Keeping the body alive means nothing at all without God. There is no point at all in living without God. Obviously mankind does a great job living without God and surviving on food alone, right? Yet the living they are doing is a temporary existence that will perish in the long run. Any scientist will tell you that a man doesn't have to believe in God or His word and he will still live perfectly fine eating. In fact there have been many, many people who have lived their entire lives without God and had seemingly no issues with staying alive. What Jesus is telling us is that life without God is truly a death sentence. At the end of their earthly existence- because there is NOT a single person alive today that was alive 150 years ago and less. We have a life span and when that life span is over there is no living and eating, no keeping alive. The man who has lived out that life span without God will not have eternal life in God, yet the man who has listened and lived by the word of God as well as their food will have life eternal when the Savior comes and raises them from their graves.
Jesus faced Satan and told him - It is written- God has said- that man is not to live only by eating but by God's every word. Living by God's word, following God's word brings life because love is found in God's words, not in food. It's more important to live for God than for self.
It is written.
When you are tempted can you say - It is written?
Maybe we ought to try - It is written, yes?
Jesus used- It is written and He is our example.
1Pe 2:21 For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps.
Christ suffered, we will suffer and Christ was our example and we need to follow our example in all things.
Christ faced temptation unlike any we will ever truly face, and when He faced temptation He turned to God's word. We have to use God's word. God's word is our sword-
Eph 6:17 '...and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God'
If we do not arm ourselves with the only weapon available to us how can we ever hope to face the wiles of the Devil and survive?
Seriously? How? We are told to take the whole armor of God- is it just to play dress up? I don't think so. We are to don our spiritual armor to fight this very real spiritual battle. The weapon of choice is the word of God and we desperately need to know the word of God all through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, the living Word of God.
In His love, always!
Amen.