Light From the Sanctuary - 240208

SPEAKER A Hello. I'm Clive Nash. Welcome to let God speak. There was an earnest interest in the time prophecies of Daniel during the early 19th century, in particular, the prophecy of the cleansing of the sanctuary of the 2300 year prophecy ending in 1844, as touched on in the previous episode. To go. We're going to extend our study of this important topic. We'll explore the ministry of Jesus Christ in the heavenly sanctuary. Please stay with us. I'll be back in a moment to introduce our panel. Well, on our panel today we have Cassie Sollano and Blair Lemke. Good to have you with us. SPEAKER B Thanks. Good to be here. SPEAKER A Well, let's take time to pray before we begin our discussion. Our wonderful heavenly Father, we thank you that you are a God who wants to reveal himself to humanity, and you have not only revealed about your personality, but also about history in advance. And we pray that you will bless our study today. In Jesus name, amen. SPEAKER B Amen. SPEAKER A In the 19th century, there was a group in northern America called Millwrights, and they became interested in the time prophecy of Daniel 814. They believed that this end of the 2300 year prophecy had significance for our earth, and they thought that if this cleansing of the sanctuary that was mentioned there was about the cleansing of the earth, in other words, the second coming of Jesus. And when Jesus didn't come on October 22, 1844, there was great disappointment. Further study of the Bible showed that there was, in fact, not just an earthly sanctuary or an earthly application, but there was a heavenly sanctuary. And I'm going to read from Hebrews chapter eight and verses one and two as we get into this topic. Hebrews eight one two says, now, this is the main point of the things we are saying. We have such a high priest who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens, a minister of the sanctuary and of the true Tabernacle, which the Lord erected and not man. So, Blair, my first question is to you. Was there in fact an earthly sanctuary in 1844? SPEAKER B No. Well, of course there wasn't an earthly sanctuary. The Romans had destroyed the sanctuary in 70 AD, and it was never rebuilt. So there was no earthly sanctuary at this time. But if we compare the prophecies of Daniel seven and Daniel eight, we can get some insight into what was really happening in 1844. And, of course, that specific verse in Daniel eight, verse 14. Of course, the prophecies in Daniel seven goes through all of the kingdoms, Babylon, Medo, Persia, Greece, Rome. And then it transitions in Daniel seven to focus on the judgement. And I'll read here in Daniel chapter seven, verse 26 and 27, God's word says this, but the court shall be seated, and they will take away his dominion to consume and destroy it forever. Then the kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people, to the saints of the most high. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him. And so you see this pivot from the earthly kingdoms to the judgement scene in Daniel seven. And then of course, when we come to Daniel eight, it goes through the same sequence of kingdoms, Medo, Persia, Greece, Rome. And then in Daniel 814, we read, and he said to me, for 2300 days, then the sanctuary shall be cleansed. And so the pre advent judgement here is presented under the symbolism of this cleansing of the sanctuary that we've just read about. And of course was the focus of the Millerites study. And the ceremonies of the Old Testament sanctuary here are prefigures or symbols of real salvation, realities that were to come. SPEAKER A Okay, right. So the shadows before the real thing came. So let's think about this true tabernacle that's mentioned in Hebrews. So Jesus Christ is our high priest in the heavenly sanctuary. Cassie, where do we find the first hint in the Bible of a heavenly sanctuary? SPEAKER C We find it in Exodus 25 eight and nine, which says, and let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them according to all that I show you. That is the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings. Just so you shall make it. It's clear here that the earthly sanctuary was fashioned after a pattern. This is also evident in Hebrews eight one and two, which we just touched upon where it says, now this is the main point of the things we are saying. We have such a high priest who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens, a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the law directed are not man. That's a clear distinction, that there are two different sanctuaries, the one fashioned by God and the one erected by man. And notice what it says about the earthly priests in verse five. It's sort of what you were saying earlier, who served the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For he said, see that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain. It's sort of think of it as if a shadow comes over us of a person. We look around to find the real person. And that's exactly how the sanctuary was. When, you know, the reality is approaching you, it pointed forward from the shadow to the coming reality. SPEAKER A Okay, so, player, the sacrifices of, you know, like lambs or whatever, turtledoves in the Old Testament, they pointed forward to a coming reality. But what reality was that? SPEAKER B Yeah, well, of course, this is the focus of the gospel and the New Testament story. When you look in the book of John, the introduction that John gives to Jesus is quite amazing. And when you understand the sanctuary, it all makes sense. He sees Jesus and he says, behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. And so he points, John points to Jesus as that lamb that was figured by a lamb in the sanctuary system. But Jesus was that real reality that was to come. That was to bring salvation for all, for you, for me, for the whole world, for all that would accept that sacrifice on their behalf. And of course, in Hebrews chapter eight, we read in Hebrews chapter eight, verse three, God's word says, for every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, therefore, it is necessary that this one also have something to offer. And so pointing forward to Jesus here, what Jesus offers in the heavenly sanctuary is the merits of his own blood on behalf of you and I. Yeah. SPEAKER A And we can be so thankful for that, can't we? SPEAKER B Absolutely. SPEAKER A Yeah. Unlike earthly priests who died, it's interesting, in the previous chapter, Hebrews chapter seven and verse 24, I read. But he, that's Jesus. Because he continues forever an unchangeable priesthood. So there's more good news here, isn't there, Cassie? SPEAKER C There is. We just read the next verse. It says, therefore, he is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. This means I don't need to worry about my burden of unforgiven sin because Jesus is actively doing this for his saints. The Endrew study Bible makes a very important point here. It says, often overlooked is the important biblical theme of what Jesus is doing for believers now interceding for them as high priest in the heavenly sanctuary. This is from the Andrew studdy Bible, page 120 516. Oh, eight, we are free from sin's penalty and sin's power. Praise the Lord. SPEAKER A Amen. But Blair. How can we be sure of that? SPEAKER B Well, there's a powerful promise in Romans chapter one, I should say. Romans, chapter eight, verses one through to four. It says, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death, for what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did. By sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh on account of sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit. And so we see this imagery here, this idea of flesh and spirit, which are used as symbols of life before conversion and after conversion. And when we accept Jesus Christ as our saviour, our wrongdoings are covered by Jesus and his sacrifice, and we are accounted as though we had never sinned. And because Jesus is worthy, we become worthy. And it says there that the righteousness of God becomes fulfilled in us. The penalty and the power of sin is broken in our lives. SPEAKER A Yeah, I accept the reality of this and the truthfulness of it, but it's a mysterious process to me. Cassie. How can Jesus, the sinless one, take my place as sinner? SPEAKER C It's actually not a complicated concept. Simply put, Jesus is our substitute. There's a song that says, jesus, God's son, took my place, and that is it. Put simply, and I'd like to read two corinthians 521, which says, for he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Note that it does not say that God made Jesus to be a sinner. He made him to be sin. In other words, Jesus accepted the sin of the entire world. Potentially, he could be the saviour of everyone if all would accept this salvation. Now we know the marvellous truth that we are considered to be righteous when we repent and believe. SPEAKER A Yeah, there's an interesting text, folks, in Jeremiah chapter 17, and, you know, talking about these types and ceremonies of the Old Testament sanctuary. And it's kind of hinted at in here where Jeremiah 17, one says, the sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron with the point of a diamond. It is engraved on the tablet of their heart. And here's the interesting part. And on the horns of your altar. So, bleah. Well, how is the earthly sanctuary cleansed of the accumulated sins that sort of transferred there during the year by confession of sin? SPEAKER B Yeah, well, of course, that's a very important question. If all of the sin just gets stored in the sanctuary, what happens to it? And of course, this process was dealt with through the yearly day of atonement, the ceremony that took place once a year, or otherwise known as the Yom Kippur. And we read about this in a couple of places in scripture. In Leviticus, chapter 16, verses seven through ten, God's word says this, he will take two goats and present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. Then Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for the scapegoat. And Aaron shall bring the goat on which the Lord's lot fell and offer it as a sin offering. But the goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement upon it and be let go as the scapegoat into the wilderness. And so there was these two goats. There was the Lord's goat and Azazel, or the scapegoat. And Azazel goat represented the devil, who was, of course, the originator of sin. And the live goat made atonement for the sins of the people. This scapegoat, in the sense that he carried away the sins of the people and ultimately perished in the wilderness. In prophetic terms, this day of atonement was the day of judgement. And when we read across, if we flick over a few more chapters across to Leviticus, chapter 23 and verses 26 to 32, we get another little insight to this day of atonement. It says, the Lord spoke to Moses saying, also, the 10th day of this 7th month shall be the day of atonement. It shall be a holy convocation for you. You shall afflict your souls and offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. And you shall do no work on that day. For it is the day of atonement to make atonement for you before the Lord your God. For any person who is not afflicted in Saul on that same day shall be cut off from among his people. And any person who does any work on that day, that person I'll destroy from among his people. You shall do no manner of works. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations, in all your dwellings. It shall be to you a sabbath of solemn rest. And you shall afflict your souls on the 9th day of the month, at evening, from evening to evening you shall celebrate your sabbath. And so this day of atonement was a day of getting yourself right before God. SPEAKER A Very solemn day. SPEAKER B Absolutely it was. And there's some very powerful implications for what that means as an antitype for us as well. SPEAKER A Yeah, so, Cassie, what happened to the Lord's goat on this day of attainment, or Yom Kippur? SPEAKER C Well, what happened was Aaron the high priest offered the blood of a bull as a sin offering for himself in his house. Then he took the blood of the Lord's goat and sprinkled the blood on the mercy seat. This is recorded. If we just turn back to Leviticus 16 in 1516, it says, then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering, which is for the people, bring its blood inside the veil, do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat, so he shall make atonement for the holy place because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel and because of their transgressions for all their sins. And so he shall do for the tabernacle of meeting, which remains among them in the midst of their uncleanness. SPEAKER A Yeah. And if we read on in verses 20 to 22, says, and when he has made an end of atoning for the holy place, the tabernacle of meeting and the altar, he shall bring the live goat. Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat. This is the scapegoat. Confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel and all their transgressions concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat. So this is like a symbolic action and shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man. The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land and he shall release the goat in the wilderness. Now, what some people say criticised an understanding of this is, well, you're making a saviour out of this live goat. But it's not. The saviour is sparing responsibility for the sins as the originator of sins. So, bleah. What final events does this scapegoat going into the wilderness prefigure? SPEAKER B Yeah. Well, the day of atonement was a day of judgement. The people were reviewing their lives and making sure they had no unconfessed sins. They afflicted their souls before God. And this. Since the end of the 2300 year prophecy in Daniel 814, Jesus has been acting as our mediator in that high priestly role as a righteous and merciful judge. So not only is he our mediator, he's also our judge. And I really like how Mark Finley has put this. He wrote it this way. He said, in the heavenly sanctuary, Christ ministers for us first in the holy place, and now in the most holy place since 1844, at the end of the 2300 days. SPEAKER A Thanks, sir. Blair. Let's look again at Daniel seven, and I want to read verses nine and ten here. I watched till thrones were put in place and the ancient of days was seated. His garment was white as snow. It was all very pictorial, isn't it? And the hair of his head was like pure wool. His throne was a fiery flame. Its wheels were burning fire, a fiery stream issued and came forth from before him. A thousand thousands ministered to him. 10,000 times 10,000 stood before him. And here's the important point. The court was seated and the books were opened. Or as the marginal reference says, the judgement was seated and the books were opened. So does the corresponding apocalyptic book of revelation in the New Testament sort of fill this picture out, Cassie? SPEAKER C Yes, it absolutely does, because Daniel and revelation are complimentary prophetic books. So it expands on this. I'd like to read revelation 14, six, seven, it says, then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth, to every nation, tribe, tongue and people saying with a loud voice, fear God and give glory to him, for the hour of his judgement has come and worship him who made heaven and earth the sea in springs of water. So we see the idea of judgement again after the rise of the sea beast and the land beast. In the previous chapter, these three angels appear with end time warning messages. To give a bit of context, this includes the gospel divine judgement and return to worship of the creator, which, interestingly, is very much reminiscent of the fourth commandment, the Sabbath command. SPEAKER A Yeah, this idea of judgement, Blair, you know, like, does the idea of being judged by someone who knows all about you, appeal to you? SPEAKER B Well, many people do view the judgement as a negative thing. They see it as scary or something that they're not looking forward to. And maybe that has something to do with the way that we have our earthly experiences of judgement when we get caught by cops or go before a judge or something like this. But rightly understood that judgement is good news, because this is where all things are set right. And whether or not it's good news is whether we are counted as if we haven't sinned before, whether we are covered by the blood of the lamb, Jesus. Of course, in ecclesiastes 1214, it says, God will bring every work into judgement, including every secret thing, whether good or evil. So this judge does know everything about us. But if we're a believer in Christ. The penalty of sin has been met by the death of Jesus Christ on Calvary. And we can praise the Lord for that and rest in assurance that we are counted righteous. SPEAKER A Yeah, and we have some wonderful promises, don't we? You know, like, I'll put your sins into the depths of the sea. You know, I'll remember them no more. That's good news, isn't it? So, Cassie, will there come a time when we won't have the opportunity of deciding for or against Christ? You know, when our destinies are fixed? SPEAKER C Yes. There will be a time when that happens. That's made clear in revelation. This is said in revelation 22 1012. And he said to me, do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand. He who is unjust, let him be unjust still. He who is filthy, let him be filthy still. He who is righteous, let him be righteous still. He who is holy, let him be holy still. And behold, I am coming quickly, and my reward is with me to give to everyone according to his work. Yes, it's clear judgement in the presence of the angels, which was mentioned in Daniel seven, decides every human case before the second coming of Jesus. That is when he will have his reward with him, as it says in verse twelve, which is brilliant. To think about the story that Jesus told about the five wise virgins and the five foolish virgins reminds us that this time, which is mentioned in this passage, will come and the door will be shut. SPEAKER A Some be inside, some be outside. SPEAKER C Yes, yes. And this time probation will close. The wise will go into the marriage feast and the foolish will be shut out. Notice this quote. When the work of investigation shall be ended, when the cases of those who in all ages have professed to be followers of Christ have been examined and decided then, and not till then, probation will close and the door of mercy will shut. It says, eg white's the great controversy, page 428. Now is the time for us to choose the righteousness and forgiveness of our saviour. Then we shall have nothing to fear with Jesus on our side as advocate and judge. SPEAKER B Amen. SPEAKER A Yeah, that's very encouraging. And another thing, Blair, that I think is encouraging is to know that we have a high priest who is on our side, isn't it? SPEAKER B Absolutely. Absolutely. I think of that promise in Hebrews, chapter four, verses 14 through to 16, God's word says, seeing then that we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the son of God, let us hold fast our confession for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathise with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. I find this promise so comforting because in it we see that Jesus took on humanity. We read that text in Romans eight before, where it said Jesus took sinful flesh. He took our human flesh and he conquered sin in it. And as a result, he stands as our example that we can look to our saviour and our example. And he ministers as our high priest on behalf of you and I so that we can access his strength and he can live his righteousness through us. SPEAKER A Yeah, I like this idea of, you know, here's someone who is mightier than we are, someone who's a rescuer. And I can't help but think about when I was a child, I was drowning in a stream. And my father, who was mightier than I was, he dived in and rescued me from drowning. And that's the kind of high priest that we have, is Jesus Christ. And we can be so thankful, can't we? SPEAKER B Absolutely. SPEAKER A That we have that kind of high priest. Let's have a look at Hebrews chapter ten and verses 19 to 23. There's some more good news here. Hebrews, chapter ten, beginning in verse 19. Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way, which he consecrated for us through the veil. And he's talking symbolically here, the veil that is his flesh. And having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. And then in verse 23, he says, let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. So, Cassie, what courage or encouragement do you gain from these promises here? SPEAKER C I think there's great courage to be found. We think back to the sanctuary again because the word sprinkled is a reference to the sanctuary service of sacrifices for sin. Blood of the sin offering was sprinkled on the horns of the brass altar in the courtyard, on the horns of the altar of incense in the holy place, and on the curtain before the most holy place, where the mercy seat was located as well. John saw this in revelation 1119, where he saw the heavenly sanctuary with the ark of his covenant law was there, but mercy was there too. Thus we can, in the words of Hebrews we've read, come boldly, in full assurance and hold fast to our hope. SPEAKER A Yeah. In chapter ten of Hebrews, verses twelve to 14, I read this. But this man and capital m here. So he's talking about Jesus. But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till his enemies are made his footstool. For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. This is a superior kind of ministry, isn't it, Blair? SPEAKER B Absolutely. This is a once only sacrifice, whereas the earthly system, it was a daily and a yearly cycle. Right. But here we see Jesus sacrifices once only in Hebrews, chapter nine, verse 24, we read, for Christ has not entered the holy places, made by hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God for us, and in verse 28 for Christ. So Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly await for him, he will appear a second time apart from sin for salvation. And so we see here a beautiful promise. There's actually two appearances of Jesus here. The first is that Jesus appears in the heavenly sanctuary to put away sin. And then that second appearance is found when he appears at his second coming for ultimate salvation. And that's the glorious day that we look forward to in our near future. SPEAKER A Yeah. There's so many lessons that we can learn from the Old Testament sanctuary services and as they pointed forward to future realities. And, you know, it's good to look into these things and be assured that we do have a wonderful saviour in Jesus Christ. SPEAKER B Absolutely. SPEAKER A You know, we often think that Jesus paid it all when he died for the sins of the world, and that's true. But he also had more to do for our salvation, to be our intercessor in the heavenly sanctuary, our mediator. We are now living in the great day of atonement. Soon Jesus will lay aside his priestly robes and come as our king of kings. Today is the time to cease to sin. But as John wrote, if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. Well, we're glad you joined us today on let God speak. If you were blessed by this programme, why not tell your friends? Remember, all past programmes plus teacher's notes are available on our website 3abnaustralia.org.au. Email us if you wish on [email protected]. We hope you'll join us again next time. And until then, may God richly bless you. SPEAKER B You have been listening to let God speak, a production of 3ABN Australia television. To catch up on past programmes, please visit 3abnaustralia.org.au. Call us in Australia on 02 4973 3456. Or email [email protected]. we'd love to hear from you.