FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:
October 25
THE SANCTUARY DOCTRINE EXPLAINS THE WAY OF SALVATION OF THE GOSPEL (Part 31)
In the Type the blood of the sacrificial animal was presented to the Lord. Lev. 4: 5, 6. When the blood was not taken into the Sanctuary it’s flesh was eaten by the priest before the Lord. Either flesh or blood of the sin-offering was taken into the sanctuary—a type of the actual work of Christ, Himself both the antitypical Lamb at Calvary, and after His ascension, our High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary . Lev. 10: 16-18; 6: 30.
Moreover, by this we also understand what Jesus—Himself the “Word who was in the beginning with God, and was God,” then in the incarnation “was made FLESH and dwelt among us”(John 1:1-3, 14)—meant when He said to the unbelieving Pharisees, “I am the heavenly Manna come down from God.” “Unless you eat My flesh and drink My blood, you have no part with Me.”
To eat His flesh spiritually, is to study the Bible, the Holy Scriptures, the written Word. To drink His blood, spiritually, is to live His life of self-denial and self-sacrifice which He demonstrated by example during His thirty-three and a half years from the manger in Bethlehem to the cross of Calvary. Indeed, “life is in the blood.”
“‘Without the shedding of blood,’ says the apostle, ‘there can be no remission of sin.’
‘The LIFE of the flesh is in the BLOOD.’ Lev. 17:11. The broken LAW of God demanded the LIFE of the transgressor. The blood, REPRESENTING the FORFEITED LIFE of the sinner whose GUILT the victim bore, was carried [transferred] by the priest into the holy place and sprinkled before the [second] veil, behind which was the ark [of the covenant or testimony] which contained the law that the sinner had transgressed.
“By this ceremony [of the ceremonial law] the SIN was, through the BLOOD [of the sacrificed lamb]TRANSFERRED IN FIGURE, to the sanctuary.
“In some cases the blood was not taken into the holy place: but the FLESH was then to be eaten by the priest, as Moses directed the SONS OF AARON, saying, ‘God hath given it to you to BEAR THE INIQUITY OF THE CONGREGATION.’ Lev. 10:17. Both ceremonies alike symbolized the TRANSFER of the SIN of the PENITENT [truly repentant] sinner to the sanctuary.” – E. G. White, Great Controversy, 1911 ed., p. 418.
There are extremely important truths in the plan of redemption connected with the “handling” and “disposal” of confessed sins and its corresponding guilt, both individual and corporate (congregation of faithful believers), taught in this part of the sacred ceremony and service of the type. Think of the words and processes of “transferring,” and “blotting out of sins” and “cleansing of the sanctuary,” all part of Christ’s last work for His faithful followers on earth before He returns.
(To be continued). Bless all, NMF.