""But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. "And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged." (John 16:7-11 NAS95S)
Observation: At the Rocky Mountain Conference Pastors meetings on August 3rd, 2008, Martin Weber shared a fascinating concept. He suggested that our greatest treasure as Seventh-day Adventist Christians was the message of the Heavenly Sanctuary. This is not a particularly new suggestion. However, the why of the sanctuary message that Martin gave was very fresh.
"How many of us would think of preaching forgiveness without the cross of Christ?" Martin asked. "Then, why do we preach the Holy Spirit without the resurrection and ascension and inauguration of Christ in the Heavenly Sanctuary?"
Wow... what a thought! I have always wondered about the practical implications of the sanctuary message. I think Martin is on to something. The sanctuary is significant because it is Christ's ministry in the Heavenly Places which makes it possible for us to be filled with His Spirit in our earthly realities. He ascended on high that His Spirit might come inside. He reigns above us and within us. Sister White supports this train of thought:
Christ's ascension to heaven was the signal that His followers were to receive the promised blessing. For this they were to wait before they entered upon their work. When Christ passed within the heavenly gates, He was enthroned amidst the adoration of the angels. As soon as this ceremony was completed, the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples in rich currents, and Christ was indeed glorified, even [BEGIN P.39] with the glory which He had with the Father from all eternity. The Pentecostal outpouring was Heaven's communication that the Redeemer's inauguration was accomplished. According to His promise He had sent the Holy Spirit from heaven to His followers as a token that He had, as priest and king, received all authority in heaven and on earth, and was the Anointed One over His people. {AA 38.3}
White, E. G. 1911;2002. The Acts of the Apostles in the Proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ;AA;Conflict of the Ages Series, Volume 4;Acts of the Apostles . Pacific Press Publishing Association;Pacific Press Publishing Association
Some scriptures that tie into this thought for me are found in the writings of Paul:
"Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" (1Corinthians 3:16 NAS95S)
Individually, when I accept Christ as my personal Savior and Lord, I become a dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. He intends my life to be a mini-sanctuary on earth; reflecting the glory of His grand sanctuary in heaven. And where is the Most Holy place of this mini-sanctuary called me. May I suggest it to be my heart:
"Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water." (Hebrews 10:19-22 NAS95S)
In the wilderness sanctuary it was the sprinkling of the mercy seat upon the Ark of the Covenant that began the process of making atonement and cleansing. In the same way, cleansing must begin in the heart of a man. As Jesus said:
"A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks." (Luke 6:45 NKJV)
Every good thing, yeah, every evil thing proceeds from the heart. It is not what goes into us that makes us unclean as much as what comes out of us. Our mouths reveal our motives. What we say and what we do shows what is hidden in the deep recesses of our heart.
Jeremiah wrote: ""Can the Ethiopian change his skin Or the leopard his spots? Then you also can do good Who are accustomed to doing evil." (Jeremiah 13:23 NAS95S)
Without a change of heart, there is no way we can do right. Which is why God offers us this new covenant promise:
""Behold, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them," declares the LORD. "But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares the LORD, "I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. "They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the LORD, "for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."" (Jeremiah 31:31-34 NAS95S)
Did you get that? God is going to write the law upon our hearts! In the Most Holy Place of our being, He is going to inscribe His Most Holy precepts. Just as the Ten Commandments were contained in the Ark of the Covenant, God is going to make us little sanctuaries, in which He places His Most Holy Precepts.
But how? How does the law get inscribed upon us... Well, Ezekiel gives us insight into this reality:
"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances." (Ezekiel 36:26-27 NAS95S)
Here is the link to the Sanctuary Message, the good news of the New Covenant, and our hope of holiness. He puts His Spirit within us. We become His sanctuary through the indwelling of His Spirit. Our lives were created to reflect the glory of His Heavenly Sanctuary. And we reflect that glory as His Spirit dwells in our hearts. All I can say is Wow.
But that's not all, not only do we reflect His glory individually as we allow His Spirit to dwell in our hearts, but more importantly, we reflect that glory corporately. Check out this word from Paul:
"So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit." (Ephesians 2:19-22 NAS95S)
Brothers and sisters, we are being fitted together, growing into a holy temple (sanctuary) in the Lord; a dwelling of God in the Spirit. This reminds me of something Christ said:
""But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers." (John 4:23 NAS95S)
Corporately the Most Holy Place of all worship... is not a building or an auditorium, but where believers are joined together through the power of the Holy Spirit and in the authority of His word of truth. In fact, all it takes for this Most Holy Communion is two:
""For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst."" (Matthew 18:20 NAS95S)
Where two are three are gathered in Christ's name, that is a sanctuary moment. In case you doubt that, allow me to share with you an interesting little anecdote I came across in the SDA Bible Commentary:
20. In My Name. According to the Mishnah (Aboth 3. 2, Soncino ed. of the Talmud, p. 27), "But [when] two sit together and there are words of Torah [spoken] between them, the Shechinah abides among them" (see on Gen. 3:24). (Nichol, F. D. 1978;2002. The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, Volume 5;SDABC5 . Review and Herald Publishing Association).
How amazing is that... In the Jewish Mishnah was this saying that where two or three sit together and words of Torah are spoken between them, the Shechinah abides among them. Oh Glory! The Shechinah is what would show up in the Most Holy Place of the sanctuary above the mercy seat. It represented the grand, glorious, and Holy Presence of God Almighty. And Jesus, is saying... Where two are three are gathered in my name, I am in their midst. In other words, when believers come together in the name of Jesus, then He dwells among us as the Shekinah glory of God. Here on earth, we unite through the power of His Spirit, to worship, to pray, and to seek His face... His glory shows up among us... and we become His sanctuary in the midst of a crooked a perverse generation. A light. A beacon. A community of hope amidst a world of despair.
I don't know how to find words for all this... All I can say is glory. Glory to God that we are His dwelling place, that I am His dwelling place. Glory to God that the sanctuary message is all about God dwelling with His people and in His people:
""Let them construct a sanctuary for Me, that I may dwell among them." (Exodus 25:8 NAS95S)
Hallelujah, we are His sanctuary and He is our God. The In-dweller. The Spirit inside us. Shaping, Making, Molding, and Using us for His glory.
