Thoughts in Worship

Message Magazine's Online Devotional for Sabbath, September 7, 2019

This is devotional thought number 3 in our devotional series, “Removing the Veil: Sanctuary Living in the 21st Century.” Our subject is: The Pattern We Must Follow

Here’s the question for consideration: What is the Sanctuary?

“And 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.” (Exodus 25:8–9).

Let me answer today’s question at the outset. The sanctuary, during the Old Testament era was a place especially designed according to the blueprint God gave, for the purpose of connecting God and humanity. It was the place upon which God descended to give special guidance to His people through signs, ceremonies, practices, and the priestly order. It was a place where God’s people could surrender their sins, in exchange for an agreement with God. It was where God’s people learned to fellowship with one another. The Scriptures say that the Old Testament sanctuary was a place of worship, which was a symbol or shadow of the true sanctuary in heaven. The sanctuary is all of this, and more.

I’m not sure if you know this or not, but the sanctuary, whether on earth in the Old Testament or in heaven today, though very real places, direct our attention to a higher principle. All things sanctuary represent Jesus Christ Himself, which is why it matters how we treat this subject. This is much larger than a structural blueprint. It’s much larger than even recognizing there is a sanctuary above (we’ll talk about that in the future). The sanctuary, in its essence, is God. “Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.” (Psalm 90:1–2). “Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: Thou hast given commandment to save me; For thou art my rock and my fortress. Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, Out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.” (Psalm 71:3–4). “Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God; Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come. Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.” (Ezekiel 11:16–17).

If you search the Scriptures from Genesis to revelation, you will find scores of verses that say clearly that our God is our refuge, fortress, and protection—a sanctuary. And as we said the other day, the sanctuary God introduced to the Old Testament peoples was a manifestation of the Emmanuel (i.e. God with us) Principle. Therefore, it makes sense why the same God who called himself a sanctuary to His people in Ezekiel 11, would manifest that reality. “Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body. When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.” (John 2:19–22). Thus, it also makes sense, then, why John said the following about Jesus Christ in the Revelation: “And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it. And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” (Revelation 21:22–27).

Now, we truly see through a glass darkly, but then, when God reveals all, in heaven and the new earth, we will see Him and the blessed mysteries face-to-face!—L. David Harris (http://bit.ly/BQuotable)

#messagedaily