What is so distinctive about the sanctuary doctrine that makes Seventh-day Adventism unique in the theological world?[1]
Why is it said that giving up the sanctuary truth is virtually declaring oneself no longer to be a Seventh-day Adventist?
Let it be said simply and clearly: The Biblical doctrine of the sanctuary, as set forth by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, is the center of gravity for the plan of salvation, the hub of the theological wheel, which explains and connects all the Biblical truths that Christians hold dear, especially those truths that have been overlooked for centuries.
Ellen G. White, one of the long-time leaders of the Adventist Church, wrote that the sanctuary doctrine "opened to view a complete system of truth, connected and harmonious, showing that God's hand had directed the great advent movement and revealing present duty as it brought to light the position and work of His people. "--The Great Controversy, p. 423.
Many Adventist scholars have placed similar emphasis on the sanctuary doctrine. Stephen N. Haskell, author of The Cross and Its Shadow, noted that--we cannot overestimate the importance of the sanctuary question.... It is by this subject that we obtain a clear insight into the mysteries of redemption.... It is His work alone in heaven, made manifest in the lives of His people on earth, that connects any soul with God.... The sanctuary question was to reveal Christ, His work in the heavenly courts, and as it would be carried on in the hearts of His disciples. It is thus apparent that the work in the hearts of the people must correspond with that of Christ in heaven...."
All the work revealed by the typical temple shadowing the real work of Christ in heaven is for the purification of His Church on the earth, and consequently a neglect of a knowledge of these truths will leave men unprepared for the impending judgments of God, as really as the Jews were unprepared for the destruction that came upon them."--"The Sanctuary Question From the Standpoint of the Book of Hebrews," Review and Herald, Aug. 13, 1901.
The doctrine of the sanctuary, therefore, is not an elective subject, reserved for advanced Bible students, or for those who happen to be interested in the exotic and mysterious. It is for every believer. It is not a theme that can be understood completely or even properly understood in part, by intellectual research alone. To understand fully, one must also experience the truth the sanctuary doctrine is describing.[2]
W.W. Prescott, Adventist thought leader and editor of the church's world paper 70 years ago, wrote extensively on the relationship of the sanctuary doctrine and the distinctive mission of the Adventist Church. Ina sermon presented at the 1903 General Conference session he said, "There is something in these different steps in the development of God's purpose of salvation from sin as set forth in the sanctuary and its services that makes a difference to the people of God, that they ought to know. It is God's purpose that they should know this, and it is necessary for them to know it, in order to cooperate intelligently with the development of God's purpose of salvation as found in this question."--"The Gospel Message for Today," General Conference Bulletin, April 2, 1903, p. 52.
In a series of articles in the Review and Herald during the pantheism crisis, Prescott tried to sort out the differences between those who contended that all men were living temples of God's presence and those who believed that only the converted were God's temples. Understanding the differences depended upon the right understanding of the sanctuary doctrine and the subject of righteousness by faith.
He declared that "the heart of the sanctuary question is found in the great truth that it is God's purpose to dwell with flesh….
"It is plain enough that when Christ our righteousness dwells in the heart by faith, making the flesh his temple, we have the actual experience of righteousness by faith. It follows then that the central thought in the sanctuary question is righteousness by faith, or justification by faith."--"Studies in the Gospel Message," Review and Herald, July 15, 1902, p. 6.
The sanctuary doctrine is God's way of picturing the plan of salvation--both His part and ours. The sanctuary service, as unfolded to the Israelites in their wilderness experience and more fully explained in the New Testament, was not intended to obscure the plan of salvation, but to make it simple and appealing. It seems necessary to make this point because for so many the subject of the sanctuary has been strange and uninteresting.
When the sanctuary truth is properly understood it removes mysteries rather than creates them. When seen in its New Testament setting the sanctuary doctrine loses its shadows and clarifies the truth about the roles that both God and man play in the grand and glorious plan of salvation--even as the noonday sun brightens dark paths and highlights the colors of the geranium or rose.
So the question remains: Why is the sanctuary service as a Christian doctrine such a mystery to many Seventh-day Adventists, to say nothing of those who have not had the Seventh-day Adventist experience? Why is it, for so many, a difficult, complex, and often uninteresting hurdle in the chain of Bible studies a non-Seventh-day Adventist takes before baptism, and rarely studies afterward?
Perhaps because the emphasis has often been on the shadows of the Old Testament picture rather than on the noonday sun of the New Testament explanation. Perhaps because the sanctuary doctrine has been considered more as a subject to be learned than a truth to be experienced. Perhaps because elementary details are repeated over and over again, leaving the impression that there is really nothing more to learn.
For instance, treating the sanctuary doctrine as would most Protestant or Catholic systematic theologians or expositors, gives the student nothing distinctive to captivate his thoughts. Merely to intone the words that Jesus is our high priest--that He intercedes day and night for His people, that His sacrifice on the cross "paid the price" of our redemption, that He provides pardon for the daily sins of His people--is not enough. These great truths are fundamental in understanding the Biblical truth regarding the heavenly sanctuary and the function of our Lord as High Priest. But such observations, glorious as they are, do not constitute the whole story. Thus they tend to mislead.
Liberal theologians tend to discard the supernatural and thus end their concern for our Lord's role in the plan of salvation on the cross. They see Him as a great teacher dying for His cause, a brilliant human display of divine attributes. But, for them, there is no high-priestly role, no heavenly sanctuary, no judgment to come, no Second Advent.
Conservative theologians, though affirming our Lord's supernatural pre-existence and His supernatural ascension and exaltation, also tend, for practical purposes, to focus almost exclusively on His death. Very little exists, in even extensive studies on the work of Jesus Christ, regarding the place, purpose, and function of His high-priestly role, except that He is in heaven, seated at the right hand of God, interceding through the prayers He offers for his people. To focus on our Lord's death while eclipsing His high-priestly role and its effect on His followers on earth is to misunderstand the plan of redemption.
Therefore, to study and restudy some of the truths without seeing the whole picture would be just what the evil one would order. In such circumstances, instead of gripping the whole person experientially, partial truths become only facts to be learned. When presented often, the eager hearer finds himself strangely bored as the speaker or writer belabors the obvious. Something sets in akin to the boredom and disinterest of the eager schoolboy who already knows his basic arithmetic but must endure the daily exercises of those who are still catching up. Nothing is more disenchanting than reviewing the obvious. It is worse yet, however, for the student to get the idea that knowing how to add and subtract is all there is to the world of mathematics, and that those who me these numbers in a language called algebra are indulging in purely personal speculation.
God never intended that the sanctuary doctrine should create boredom, indifference, or even mystery.[3] Not the God who impressed the psalmist to write, "Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary: who is so great a God as our God?" (Psalm 77:13, K.J.V.).
The Israelite in the wilderness could lift his eyes and see the smoke of the daily sacrifices rising toward heaven and the awesome light of God's presence gloriously bathing the Most Holy Place. For him the sanctuary was not a boring subject. It was the center of his life.
For the Christian, what the sanctuary doctrine teaches about Jesus must also be the center of his experience, the heart of his faith, the living, throbbing theological muscle that makes faith, hope, and love possible.
Whenever Christians, for whatever reason, become spiritually anemic, and life itself becomes dreary, laden with guilt and despair, and enshrouded in foggy meaninglessness, spiritual recovery will be hastened as they refresh themselves with the truths of the sanctuary doctrine. I assure you!
What are these truths wrapped up in the sanctuary that remove the weight of the past, give power to the present, and hope for the future?
Simply these, thank God! The sanctuary doctrine makes clear what God has done for no and what He wants to do in us. He not only made provision to forgive and cancel our sins; He himself paid the price of this reconciliation through the life and death of our Lord Jesus Christ. More than that, He extends to all who accept His provisions the grace and power that kept Jesus from sinning so that He will have a people who are truly cleansed, an etemal memorial to love and grace. These glorious truths we will explore in the following pages.
"For Christ has entered, not into a sanctuary made with hands, a copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf" (Hebrews 9:24).
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