The sanctuary shows the way of eternity.

The sanctuary shows the way of eternity.

Psa 77:13  Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary: who is so great a God as our God? 

God's way is where?

In the sanctuary.

Is it any wonder then that the way of understanding the end of man is found in the sanctuary?

Psa 37:37  Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace. 

Psa 37:38  But the transgressors shall be destroyed together: the end of the wicked shall be cut off. 

This goes hand in hand with this verse-

Psa 73:17  Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end. 

The sanctuary - God's way.

The sanctuary - everything about the sanctuary reveals God desiring to protect man and give man an existence in eternity along with Him- completely unoppressed, completely loved and able to love. 

Right now we long for a life that we cannot possess fully. All of us live with longing. The longing is manifested in many ways but all of us hope, or hoped for it just in the fact we live our lives with many undertones of dissatisfaction. We recognize that no matter what - whether we possess millions of dollars or no money at all, we are never fully satisfied. Problems exist for the richest and the poorest people- different problems, but problems nonetheless. While the poor long for money to solve their problems, the rich long for their money to buy happiness which often falls far short of expectations, and there is no real satisfaction to be found. We want something we don't possess and Satan would have us believe it exists in the temporal world when in truth it only exists in the eternal with Christ Jesus, with God the Father, and with the Holy Spirit. Try as we might, this life, no matter how good a life it may be, is meaningless without eternal redemption.

We can find true happiness, contentment and peace now but only in the hope of the eternal world. 

The sanctuary shows the way of eternity.

To be continued by the grace of God. 

 

Your End.

 Do you want to understand your end? And by end I mean your ultimate existence or non-existence.  

There are things eternal and things temporal.

We live knowing others lived before us, and that others will live after us. We live knowing we only live a short span of time in a world that has existed for thousands of years. We live knowing our living as we are doing right now- as we read this - is only temporary. 

All around us we witness life and death. We are witness to the living things around us dying. From leaves on a tree, to insects, small animals, to fish, birds and so on, we grow up with life and death. We have the knowledge that those things which die do not return to life. We have a whole slew of dead relatives behind our existence. At 57 years old my parents are among the dead relatives. I only have three aunts and two uncles left, the rest have died. Living and dying, we know what it is to live our temporary life, but do we know what dying is in all reality, beyond our knowledge as the living knowing the physical facts of death? So many believe it is a complete mystery, but it isn't. Faith allows us answers.

To understand the end…

Psa 73:17  Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end. 

Here a person was lamenting the wicked who were prospering over the righteous. The lamenting led him to the realization that the end of the wicked is eternal non-existence. 

We need to go into the sanctuary to understand the end of the wicked and subsequently the end of the righteous. There are only two ends and everyone will meet one or the other. If you do not meet the end that the wicked are to meet, you will meet the end the righteous meet. 

The question is, do you want to understand your end?

To be continued.

Contingency

 The Sanctuary.

Why is the sanctuary STILL important? 

1st Heavenly Sanctuary

2nd Earthly Sanctuary

3rd Return to the Heavenly Sanctuary

The above is the progression of the Sanctuary's existence. We don’t know when the Heavenly Sanctuary came into being, however I'd like to propose a theory. 

1Co_2:7  But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory

2Ti_1:9  Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began

Tit_1:2  In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began

Before the world.

Before the world began.

A contingency plan was put into place before the creation of the world, and mankind. The world was created for mankind, and mankind created for the pleasure  of God.

Because our uniqueness as being created in the image of God, God was taking a unique chance with us… one we still can't fully comprehend. Our unique creation called for a plan to be put into place should we take our God given power of choice and abuse it. The only other course of action would have been instant extermination and God, being love, could not take that path. The plan of salvation called for the creation of the Sanctuary. The Sanctuary - a place where God dwells.  The sanctuary -a revelator of God.

When Moses was given the plan for a sanctuary clearly all things pointed towards the work of reconciliation of man with God. Man was given a visual, physical symbolic structure to interact with God. The structure symbolized the ultimate reconciliation pointing towards the promised Savior.

I propose that the sanctuary was created along with the contingency plan for mankind's existence- before the world began.

More tomorrow by the grace of God. 

Sin's Eradication.

 Clearly, Christ as our high priest ministers in the heavenly sanctuary…  RIGHT NOW. Right this very moment our Savior ministers for us. He has ministered there since His return to heaven after His death and subsequent resurrection. The Heavenly Sanctuary exists, it existed first and will exist until our Savior's ministry there is over. Just as the high priest ministered in a specific way for specific purposes, Jesus Christ our High Priest has been and continues to minister in a specific manner. 

The earthly high priest worked year round and under him other priests. The high priest had a very important work to do - he was responsible for cleansing the sanctuary of all the sins placed there throughout the year- and he did this only once a year. 

When Christ as our High Priest cleanses the heavenly sanctuary it will be cleansed once and then never again.  The ultimate cleansing resulting in sin's complete eradication. Let that sink in. 

More on this tomorrow by the grace of God.

Jesus--High Priest

We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens

Jesus--Minister of the Sanctuary

A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man. 

Jesus--Mediator of a Better Covenant

Heb 8:6  But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises

Christ - High Priest

Heb 9:11  But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building

Jesus - by his own blood

Heb 9:12  Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for 

us.

 

Christ through the eternal Spirit -- Mediator 

Heb 9:14  How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 

Heb 9:15  And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. 

Christ -- in the presence of God for us

Heb 9:24  For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us 

Sanctuary

 Sanctuary…

The Heavenly Sanctuary existed before the earthly sanctuary. We know this because God's word tells us the earthly was patterned after the heavenly.

The sanctuary in the future we are told… is God and Jesus Christ. 

Rev 21:22  And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. 

So here we have a preexisting sanctuary in heaven, a sanctuary on earth modeled after the heavenly, and then ultimately the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb (Jesus Christ) are the temple. 

To comprehend the need of a heavenly sanctuary is to know it's existence had to come into being for a purpose. The purpose… mankind's salvation. 

The history of the sanctuary- 

Heavenly.

Earthly.

Christ.

God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son.

Let's look briefly at mention of the sanctuary after Christ.

Heb 8:1  Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; 

Heb 8:2  A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man. 

Heb 8:3  For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer. 

Heb 8:4  For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law: 

Heb 8:5  Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount. 

Heb 8:6  But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. 

Heb 8:7  For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. 

Heb 8:8  For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: 

Heb 8:9  Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. 

Heb 8:10  For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: 

Heb 8:11  And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. 

Heb 8:12  For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. 

Heb 8:13  In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away. 

Heb 9:1  Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary. 

Heb 9:2  For there was a tabernacle made; the first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the shewbread; which is called the sanctuary. 

Heb 9:3  And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all; 

Heb 9:4  Which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant; 

Heb 9:5  And over it the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercyseat; of which we cannot now speak particularly. 

Heb 9:6  Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God. 

Heb 9:7  But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people: 

Heb 9:8  The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing: 

Heb 9:9  Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience; 

Heb 9:10  Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation. 

Heb 9:11  But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; 

Heb 9:12  Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for 

us. 

Heb 9:13  For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: 

Heb 9:14  How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 

Heb 9:15  And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. 

Heb 9:16  For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. 

Heb 9:17  For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth. 

Heb 9:18  Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood. 

Heb 9:19  For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people, 

Heb 9:20  Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you. 

Heb 9:21  Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry. 

Heb 9:22  And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. 

Heb 9:23  It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 

Heb 9:24  For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: 

Heb 9:25  Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; 

Heb 9:26  For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 

Heb 9:27  And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: 

Heb 9:28  So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

More on this tomorrow by the grace of God. 

Until I Went Into the Sanctuary...

 

We often fall far short of having a clean heart. We ask God to create a clean heart in us because we know the dark, dirty depths we are living in, sinking in, struggling as if stuck in a mucky miry pit of the thickest quicksand. We beg God to keep our heads above the suffocating filth as only He can. In Psalms 73 we read that God is good to those who have clean hearts… then we read in the next moment of one struggling, of one whose feet are almost gone, whose steps slipped.  We can comprehend this all too well. We live in a world where evil reigns, that fact really isn't debatable.  Evil prospers. One who would walk with the Lord knows the rewards promised to them are eternal rewards, not temporal ones. As long as we live with our hearts outside of the sanctuary, we are can't fully comprehend our world, and our place in it.  When we go into the sanctuary we know the end of all evil is to come, the end of all temporal life will be over. To go into the sanctuary is to realize fully the difference between the temporal and the eternal. To go into the sanctuary is to draw as near to God as we can ever be. Ultimately we know this..

Rev 21:22  And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it

Truth.  The sanctuary exists at all to reunite man and God. It is only in comprehending that we unite with God, with Christ, in the sanctuary that we comprehend that all without the sanctuary do not. 

By the grace of God may we go into the sanctuary and find comprehension all through the Holy Spirit.

Psa 73:1  A Psalm of Asaph. Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart. 

Psa 73:2  But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped. 

Psa 73:3  For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. 

Psa 73:4  For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm. 

Psa 73:5  They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men. 

Psa 73:6  Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment. 

Psa 73:7  Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish. 

Psa 73:8  They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily. 

Psa 73:9  They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth. 

Psa 73:10  Therefore his people return hither: and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them. 

Psa 73:11  And they say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the most High? 

Psa 73:12  Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches. 

Psa 73:13  Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency. 

Psa 73:14  For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning. 

Psa 73:15  If I say, I will speak thus; behold, I should offend against the generation of thy children. 

Psa 73:16  When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me; 

Psa 73:17  Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end. 

Psa 73:18  Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction. 

Psa 73:19  How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors. 

Psa 73:20  As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image. 

Psa 73:21  Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins. 

Psa 73:22  So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee. 

Psa 73:23  Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand. 

Psa 73:24  Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. 

Psa 73:25  Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. 

Psa 73:26  My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. 

Psa 73:27  For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee. 

Psa 73:28  But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all thy works.

The Gift of Life

 Blessed. 

(Excerpt continued)

Romans 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. 10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

"Reconciled by His Death." 

God is not our enemy, but we are or have been enemies to him. Therefore he does not need to be reconciled to us, but we need reconciliation to him. And he himself, in the kindness of his heart,  makes the reconciliation. We "are made nigh by the blood of Christ." Eph. 2:13. 

How so? Because it was sin that separated us from him, and made us enemies; and "the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." 1 John 1:7. Being cleansed from sin, we must necessarily be reconciled to God.

The Gift of Life.

 "The life of the flesh is in the blood." "For it is the life of all flesh." Lev. 17:11, 14. In that Christ shed his blood for us, he gave his life for us. But inasmuch as the blood is applied to us, to cleanse us from all sin, he gives his life to us. In the death of Christ therefore, if we are crucified with him, we receive his life as a substitute for our sinful life, which he takes upon himself. Our sins are remitted through faith in his blood, not as an arbitrary act, but because by faith we exchange lives with him, and the life which we get in exchange has no sin. Our sinful life is swallowed up in his boundless life, because he has life so abundantly that he can die because of our transgressions, and still live again to give life to us.

"Saved by His Life." Christ did not go through the pangs of death for nothing, nor did he give his life to us for the purpose of taking it away again. When he gives us his life, he designs that we shall keep it forever. How do we get it? By faith. How do we keep it? By the same faith. "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord,  so walk ye in him." Col. 2:6. His life can never end, but we may lose it by unbelief.

Let it be remembered that we have not this life in ourselves, but "this life is in his Son." "He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." 1 John 5:11, 12. We keep the everlasting life by keeping Christ. Now it is a very simple proposition that if we have been reconciled to God by the death of Christ,  if his life has been given to us for the remission of our sins, then we shall much more be saved by that life since he has risen from the dead.

People sometimes say that they can believe that God forgives their sins, but they find it difficult to believe that he can keep them from sin. Well, if there is any difference, the latter is the easier of the two; for the forgiveness of sins requires the death of Christ, while the saving from sins requires only his continued life.

By What Life Are We Saved? By the life of Christ, and he has but one. He is "the same yesterday, and to-day,  and forever." Heb. 13:8. It is by his present life that we are saved, that is, by his life in us from day to day. But the life which he now lives is the very same life that he lived in Judea eighteen hundred years ago. He took again the same life that he laid down. Think what was in the life of Christ, as we have the record in the New Testament, and we shall know what ought to be in our lives now. If we allow him to dwell in us, he will live just as he did then. If there is something in our lives that was not then in his, we may be sure that he is not living it in us now.