To better understand the larger purpose of the Christian church in general, and the Seventh-day Adventist movement in particular, as well as the grand goal of the plan of salvation, we should reflect further upon why God gave the earthly sanctuary to the Israelites in Old Testament times.
The earthly sanctuary service symbolized, in almost sandbox, kindergarten clarity, how God planned to deal with the sin problem as it relates to individuals, the earth, Satan, and the whole universe. God's foremost concern is that His reasoning creation will one day be free from the chains and anxieties of sin, and purged from all doubt regarding His love and wisdom. But He knows that this will come about, not by decree, but by the free choice of those who are settled into the truth about Him and who act accordingly.
How could God get His solution to the sin problem across to rebel, earth-oriented men and women? Write it on the clouds? Thunder it daily across the Sinai wilderness at dawn? No. Knowing how we learn and retain knowledge most effectively, He did what was best, even though less spectacular and overwhelming than thunder or cloud-writing. He gave us a picture story wrapped up in human drama, an object lesson that could be seen, heard, experienced, and referred to over and over again, in case the memory was weak or the learning powers slow.
After revealing to Israel His program of life, liberty, and happiness in the Ten Commandments, backgrounded by the thunder and lightning of Sinai, He knew that the law would only overwhelm sinners. He knew that its expectations would only increase man's sense of helplessness and despair. So immediately He ordered the building of the earthly tabernacle to teach the twofold lesson that we have been discussing in this book--"the lesson of pardon of sin, and power through the Saviour for obedience unto life" (Education, p. 36). Pardon and power, the aspects of the twofold role of our all-powerful Mediator, were just what the Israelites needed--and what we need today!
In this awesome sanctuary service "God desired His people to read His purpose for the human soul. It was the same purpose long afterward set forth by the apostle Paul, speaking by the Holy Spirit: 'Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.' "--Ibid.
The Jerusalem Temple in Christ's day was intended to continue serving the same function as the earthly sanctuary: "That temple, erected for the abode of the divine Presence, was designed to be an object lesson for Israel and for the world. From eternal ages it was God's purpose that every created being, from the bright and holy seraph to man, should be a temple for the indwelling of the Creator. Became of sin, humanity ceased to be a temple for God…. But by the incarnation of the Son of God, the purpose of Heaven is fulfilled. God dwells in humanity, and through saving grace the heart of man becomes again His temple. God designed that the temple at Jerusalem should be a continual witness to the high destiny open to every soul…. In cleansing the temple from the world's buyers and sellers, Jesus announced His mission to cleanse the heart from the defilement of sin--from the earthly desires, the selfish lusts, the evil habits, that corrupt the soul.... No man can of himself cast out the evil throng that have taken possession of the heart. Only Christ can cleanse the soul temple. But He will not force an entrance. He comes not into the heart as to the temple of old; but He says, 'Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him.' Rev. 3:20."--The Desire of Ages, p. 161.
One of the purposes for our Lord's incarnation was to give us an additional object lesson, this time in flesh and blood: to demonstrate how God wanted to relate to men and women, and what God expected from men and women. In so doing, He fulfilled the purpose of which the tabernacle was a symbol (ibid.).[1]
What the sanctuary service taught in symbols, Jesus exemplified. What Jesus exemplified, His followers are to reflect.[2]
In every respect, by His life and death, Jesus met the demands of justice and made it possible for God to be--just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus" (Romans 3:26, N.A.S.B.)[3]. He exposed Satan's lies by demonstrating that God was not expecting the impossible when He asked for obedience from His creation; the life of Jesus proved that human beings can live an obedient, overcoming life.[4]
What Jesus has done for us in terms of His sacrificial life and death is revealed in the services of the wilderness tabernacle and the subsequent temples in Jerusalem. These lessons we can but contemplate with awe and receive with gratitude. What He has wanted to do in us awaits only our cooperation in permitting Him to accomplish His work in cleansing the soul temple.
These dual aspects of our Lord's role as Redeemer are even more clearly defined when we study how the earthly sanctuary service also symbolized the Christian church.
At the turn of the century Ellen White outlined an interesting connection between the earthly sanctuary service and the Christian church. In part she wrote: "The Jewish tabernacle was a type of the Christian church.... The church on earth, composed of those who are faithful and loyal to God, is the 'true tabernacle,' whereof the Redeemer is the minister. God, and not man, pitched this tabernacle on a high, elevated platform. This tabernacle is Christ's body, and from north, south, east, and west, He gathers those who shall help to compose it.
"Through Christ the true believers are represented as being built together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. Paul writes: [Eph. 2:4-22 is quoted]....
"Although the plan of salvation was carried forward according to the plan ordained from the foundation of the earth, yet men and women will not be saved unless they themselves exercise faith, and build on the true foundation, unless they allow God to re-create them by His Holy Spirit. God works in and through the human agent who co-operates with him by choosing to help to compose the Lord's building. A holy tabernacle is built up of those who receive Christ as their personal Saviour.... By receiving Christ and being conformed to His will, man goes on to perfection. This building up of individual characters, which are renewed, constitutes a structure more noble than any mortal workmanship. Thus the great work of God goes forward from point to point. Those who desire a place in His church show this by their willingness to be so conformed to His will that they can be trusted with grace to impart to others....
"Christ is the Minister of the true tabernacle, the High Priest of all who believe in Him as a personal Saviour; and His office no other can take. He is the High Priest of the church, and He has a work to do which no other can perform. By His grace He is able to keep every man from transgression. His ambassadors, those who receive Him, are born again, and are thus fitted to represent Him [Heb. 7:26-28]."--"God's Care for His Church." Signs of the Times, Feb. 14, 1900.
These words highlight some very important aspects of the plan of salvation, especially as seen through the symbolism of the sanctuary service. Without diminishing whatsoever the fact that Jesus is the minister of the " 'true tabernacle' in heaven, to which the earthly sanctuary pointed," or that "the 'true tabernacle' in heaven is the sanctuary of the new covenant" (The Great Controversy, p. 417), Ellen White here makes another application of His role as the minister of the true tabernacle. The "true tabernacle" in this application is the church on earth, composed of persons who are permitting His grace to keep them from transgression, truly born-again people who are thus fitted to represent Him.
From the inauguration of the wilderness tabernacle to the Jerusalem temples, God's followers knew that the plan of salvation symbolized in the sanctuary service concerned people, not animals, drapery, wood, or water. The literal aspects of the sanctuary doctrine taught very literal truths about how God deals with men and women. He doesn't clean and restore furniture, but people. The glorious truths symbolized in the earthly sanctuary refer to very literal acts, events, and relationships that exist between God and His people.[5]
While Jesus is in a very real place in heaven, performing very real functions in the outworking of the great controversy, one of His chief concerns relating to the climax of the great controversy is the building up of His church on earth. The earthly sanctuary was a shadow (Hebrews 8:5) of these great truths seen in the noonday sun of the New Testament and further clarified in the writings of Ellen White. To see these truths in their clearest light, we need not unduly dwell on the details of the earthly sanctuary; we should go to those later revelations that interpret and clarify the shadow.
Ellen White and others have pointed out that God is primarily concerned with people; that all His teaching devices represent both His part and man's role in the great controversy.[6] The object of salvation is to have a cleansed, redeemed people. The purpose of the sanctuary service and doctrine was to clarify this marvelous goal and to provide a clear explanation as to how sincere men and women could reach that goal.
God is concerned with the eradication of sin from the universe. The living proof that sin is unnecessary, that men and women can overcome all tendencies to sin, that God has been fair in expecting obedience as the test of faith, has been demonstrated in the life of Jesus. It will be doubly vouched for in the lives of His followers, especially during that generation that hears the pronouncement "he that is righteous, let him be righteous still" (Revelation 22:11, K.J.V.) just before the close of probation.
In the 1900 Signs article previously quoted, Ellen White merely re-emphasized a towering principle that she often expressed--that the Israelites (and Christians ever since) were to read God's "purpose for the human soul" in the building of the desert sanctuary or in an awesome Temple in Jerusalem (Education, p. 36). That same purpose, Mrs. White said, was set forth by Paul when he wrote, "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" (1 Corinthians 3:16, K.J.V.).
Just as God's people were to cooperate with Him and with one another in the building of the earthly sanctuaries, so they must cooperate with Him in the development of "God's temple in the soul" (ibid., p. 37). Just as God dwelt in the earthly sanctuaries, so He desires to make the human soul a fit place for the habitation of the Spirit of God.
This divine-human cooperation is the only way salvation first comes to men and women through justification and the only way it is maintained in sanctification. "God works in and through the human agent who cooperates with Him by choosing to help to compose the Lord's building. A holy tabernacle is built up of those who receive Christ as their personal Saviour."--Ellen G. White, in Signs of the Times, Feb. 14, 1900.
But is this building-up process an overweening concentration on the individual, a polishing of the piety of church members while multitudes die unwarned? Not so! Not for a moment! Those who are concerned about fulfilling God's purpose for them, concerned about how best to cooperate with God in re-creating their character after the Pattern, are the persons God can truly work in and through for the completion of the gospel commission. As Mrs. White wrote in her 1900 Signs article: "Those who desire a place in His church show this by their willingness to be so conformed to His will that they can be trusted with grace to impart to others."
God is in the process of preparing human instruments who want His character, as well as His power. When they have developed such characters He will be able to trust them as His exhibits of grace. For only then will His people reveal, undeniably and beyond question, the truth about what He can do for lost sinner.[7]
The successful completion of the gospel commission as promised in Matthew 24:14 largely depends on Christians with whom God will not be embarrassed to identify in the day of His power. Becoming men and women God can trust with His power not only will prepare them for fitness to live in His kingdom but also will set the stage for God to give Planet Earth its last warning message. Mature Christians are Christ-like. They are the overcomers who respond to the Laodicean message (Revelation 3:14-21)--the only ones on earth who are consistently moved, and spontaneously constrained, to proclaim the gospel in its fullness to their fellow men.
The urgency resting upon Adventists because of these troths will be discussed in the next chapter.
Notes: