Thoughts in Worship

Message Magazine's Online Devotional for Friday, September 6, 2019

This is devotional thought number 2 in our devotional series, “Removing the Veil: Sanctuary Living in the 21st Century.” Our subject is: Moving Back in With God

Here’s the question for consideration: What is the real purpose of the sanctuary?

“And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” (Revelation 21:3–4).

What a day of rejoicing that will be! When we all see Jesus, see our heavenly Father, and experience the blessed Holy Spirit, it will be a day of rejoicing. When we see those angels who excel in strength, and kept their charge to protect us from evil forces, it will be a day of rejoicing. When we have finished our work during the thousand years we live in heaven and are blessed to take an elevator ride down to the earth inside the New Jerusalem, it will be a day of rejoicing. When God finally destroys every root and branch of sin, it will be a day of rejoicing! When the New Jerusalem rests upon the New Earth and the tabernacle of God is with humanity, it will be a day of rejoicing. Look forward to that day. Prepare for that day. Sing wondrous songs leading up to that day. It won’t be long now, but first we all need to move back in with God.

A dramatic indication of broken relationship is when a beleaguered spouse takes his or her things and leaves the marital home. There may have been abuse, adultery, knock down drag out arguments, insults, rage, etc., that eventually led to storming out the door without looking back. That’s sort of how we are in our relationship with God, at times. When we are deceived into thinking we cannot live another day with Him and we choose darling sins instead remaining in the spiritual house with Him, we storm out the door. The problem is, there’s a big bad world out there that will buffet and destroy us if we do not get to safety; and fast! As always, God made the first move to facilitate the process.

We learned yesterday that God removed the frilly little fig leaves of human devising, from Adam and Eve, and covered them fully with the symbol of Jesus Christ’s righteousness, coats of skins. We did not talk about the verses that followed that exchange. The Bible says, “And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.” (Genesis 3:22–24). God had to evict Adam and Eve so they would not perpetuate their sinfulness by eating from the Tree of Life while in that state. The man and woman for whom the garden was created, had to go; but they did not go without God enacting His plan to move them back in, in due time. What a day of rejoicing that will be!

Fast forward many years to a time when Adam and Eve’s offspring were enslaved in Egypt because the Pharaoh feared the blessings God gave His people under the leadership of Joseph, now deceased. To make a long story short, God enacted a plan to obliterate their slavemaster, release them from bondage, and move them into a land He promised to their ancestor, Abraham. But, as you might imagine, as with every slavemaster in history, Pharaoh, stripped his slaves of their God! God needed to continue their path of freedom, by elevating Himself while diminishing their love for sin, and releasing their minds from bondage too. Part of the way forward was the following: He told Moses, to “... let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.” (Exodus 25:8). This was, what I call, the “Emmanuel Principle.” God decided that in order for us to enjoy eternity with Him, He would have to dwell with us first. He was steadily reversing what necessarily happened in Eden when He barred access to the Tree of Life.

What is the real purpose of the sanctuary? God shared the sanctuary blessing so He could come close to us and bring us back into full communion with Him. It’s real purpose was to facilitate eternal life, communion with God, and immortality.—L. David Harris (http://bit.ly/BQuotable)

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