Tag: sanctuary

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:
September 13

THE SANCTUARY DOCTRINE EXPLAINS THE WAY OF SALVATION OF THE GOSPEL (Part 2)

The Sanctuary in Type and Antitype Based on “It is Written” and “Thus saith the Lord.” I urge all to prayerfully read the verses given from your own Bibles (preferably the KJV or NKJV) before reading selected quotes from the inspired pen in order to establish the Scriptural facts regarding the sanctuary and it’s services, thus fortifying your own minds with its character developing and testing truths, to wit:

The earthly or “worldly” (KJV) sanctuary: See Heb. 9:1. Note that It was also at Mt. Sinai where God wrote with His own finger, twice, the law of Ten Commandments and gave it to Moses on two separate table of stone, that God commanded Moses, “Let them make Me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them.” Exo. 25: 7.

God’s messenger says [all emphasis and words in brackets mine]:
Full and specific instructions were given for the construction of that first tabernacle, also called the “tent of the congregation. But “because of their apostasy [worshipping of the golden calf] the Israelites FORFEITED the blessing of the divine presence [that the sanctuary provided], and for a time rendered impossible the erection of a sanctuary for God among them. But after they were taken again into favor with Heaven, the great leader [Moses] proceeded to execute the divine command.

“Chosen men [Aholiab and Bezaleel] were especially endowed by God [through the Holy Spirit] with skill and wisdom for the construction of the SACRED BUILDING, God Himself gave the PLAN of that structure. . . . the holy places made with [human] hands were to be ‘FIGURES OF THE TRUE,’ ‘PATTERNS OF THE THINGS IN THE HEAVENS’ (Heb. 9: 24, 23).

A MINIATURE REPRESENTATION OF THE HEAVENLY TEMPLE where Christ, our great High Priest, after offering His life as a sacrifice [as the antitypical atoning sacrificial Lamb at Calvary, the antitypical altar of sacrifice located at the outer court of the earthly sanctuary] was to minister [as Advocate, Intercessor, and Mediator] in the [penitent] sinner’s behalf.

“God presented to Moses in the Mount [Sinai] a view of the HEAVENLY SANCTUARY, and commanded him to make all things according to the PATTERN shown him.. . . “For the building of the sanctuary, great and expensive PREPARATION was necessary. . . . Yet the Lord only accepted FREE-WILL OFFERINGS. [Exo. 25: 2 quoted].

DEVOTION TO GOD AND A SPIRIT OF SELF-SACRIFICE WAS THE FIRST REQUISITE IN PREPARING A DWELLING PLACE FOR THE MOST HIGH.” – E. G. White, Patriarchs & Prophets, p. 343.

Keep this mind and heart as we proceed studying this precious subject:
“The sanctuary in heaven is the VERY CENTER OF CHRIST’s WORK in behalf of men. It concerns the soul of every soul LIVING [not dead] upon the earth. IT OPENS TO VIEW THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION, bribing us down to the very CLOSE OF TIME, and revealing the TRIUMPHANT issue of the CONTEST between righteousness and sin. It is of the UTMOST IMPORTANCE that all should THOROUGHLY INVESTIGATE these subjects, and be ‘able to give an answer to everyone that asks them a reason if the hope that is in them ‘(1 Pet. 3: 15).” -Ibid, Great Controversy, 1911 ed., pp. 488-9.

(To be continued). Bless all, NMF.

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:
September 10

THE SANCTUARY DOCTRINE EXPLAINS THE WAY OF SALVATION OF THE GOSPEL (Part 1)

“Teach me Thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path because of mine enemies.” Ps. 27: 12. This “way” is identified in the following verses of the same chapter (emphasis mine): “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may DWELL IN THE HOUSE OF THE LORD all the days of my life, to behold the BEAUTY of the Lord, and to inquire in His TEMPLE. For in the time of trouble He shall hide me on His pavilion: in the secret of His TABERNACLE shall He hide me; He shall set me up upon a rock.” Verses 4, 5.

Where is/are God’s dwelling place/s? First, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are MY WAYS higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” Isa. 55: 8, 9.

“For thus saith the high and holy One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I DWELL IN THE HIGH AND HOLY PLACE [and] with him also that is of a CONTRITE AND HUMBLE SPIRIT [attitude/deportment/character].” Isa. 57: 15. John in vision saw the “great white throne” in the most holy of the heavenly sanctuary on which He sat.” Rev. 20: 11.

How about here on fallen earth; where does He “dwell”? “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying. . . . Let them make Me a sanctuary; that I may DWELL among them. According to all that I show unto thee, AFTER THE PATTERN OF THE TABERNACLE, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it.” Exo. 25: 1, 8, 9.

Since “God” the Father is a Spirit” (not flesh and blood though He has a ‘form and likeness’] and His only-begotten Son Jesus Christ, in His incarnated human nature, our merciful High Priest, is currently still interceding, mediating, and advocating for His penitent people on earth, HOW and through WHOM do the Father and Son dwell in?

Paul answers: “Know ye not that ye are the TEMPLE OF GOD, and that the SPIRIT OF GOD [the Holy Spirit] DWELLETH in you? If any man DEFILE the temple of God, him shall God DESTROY; for the temple of God is HOLY, which temple YE are.” 1 Cor. 16, 17.

“What? Know ye not that YOUR BODY IS THE TEMPLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT which [Who] is IN you, which yo have of God, and YOU ARE NOT YOUR OWN? [Why?] “For ye are BOUGHT with a price: [the life and blood of Jesus!]: therefore, glorify God in your BODY and in your SPIRIT, which are God’s.” 1 Cor. 6: 19, 20.

(To be continued). Bless all, NMF

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

GOD DWELLS IN THE SANCTUARY, SO DOES HIS PEOPLE (Part 1)

“And God spoke unto Moses, saying….Let them make Me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them. According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it.” Exo. 25: 1, 8, 9, KJV.

The psalmist said: “Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary, who is so great a God as our God? Thou art the God that doeth wonders: Thou hast declared Thy strength among the people.” Ps. 77: 13, 14.

NOTE: If carefully read contextually and spiritually, God here clearly declares that “HIS STRENGTH” is in “HIS WAY,” and this way is “IN THE SANCTUARY.” Designed by the omnipotent Mind, this sanctuary is what God COMMANDED Moses, to command Israel, “LET them
make it according to the pattern shown to him at the mount,” that is, mount Sinai,
where Moses also received the Ten Commandments written by the Creator’s own finger.

In creating the world God’s FIAT declared “LET there be” and there the commanded thing instantly sprang into existence, without hesitation or protracted “evolutionary” process over eons of time.

Please keep this pivotal point in mind as we proceed on this precious and comprehensive subject of the SANCTUARY, so vital to the sinner’s eternal salvation! Why and How?

Herein God has chosen to reveal His grand plan as well as its minute details—as far as the human mind is capable of understanding— His planned “way of salvation,” cradled as it were in the matrix of the everlasting whole gospel that was “prepared before the foundations of the earth were laid,” the precious brainchild of the heavenly Council of the omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent three-Persons of the GODHEAD, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. (Any One without the Others is a an “other god,” verily Satan and his own “masterpiece” creation, the Antichrist/s, and all the heathen deities and gods who are fallen angels, evil spirits).

The Old and New Covenants and Sanctuaries in Type and Antitype ——-“The question, What is the sanctuary? is clearly answered in the Scriptures. The term ‘sanctuary,’ as used in the Bible, refers FIRST, to the ‘tabernacle’ by Moses, as a pattern of heavenly things; and SECONDLY, to the ‘true tabernacle’ in heaven, to which the earthly sanctuary pointed.”

Calvary is often called the “tipping point” of both the way of salvation of the whole gospel and eternity, among other indispensable truths, also because of the following:

“At the death of Christ the TYPICAL SERVICE [of the ceremonial law of the Old Testament, Mosaic period or dispensation] ENDED. The ‘true tabernacle’ in Heaven is THE SANCTUARY OF THE NEW COVENANT.” (E. G. White, Great Controversy, 1911, p. 417).

Clearly then, God’s end-time chosen people, antitypical Israel, spiritual Jews, are the “faithful few” Ten commandment, Sabbath-keeping” remnant church, distinctly and exclusively identified as a “people of PROPHECY and the SANCTUARY.” Are you intellectually and spiritually part of this specific chosen people?

(To be continued) Bless all, NMF