May God send you help from the sanctuary...Psalm 20:2Psalm 20 is a prayer for God to help someone else. The writer states many petitions for the hearer like: May God answer you in your trouble, May God protect you, May God remember all of your offerings, and here, may God help you from the sanctuary. As I think about this the startling conclusion comes that the sanctuary is not normally thought of much at all,and when it is through of, it is not seen in the context of Help coming from there.
Minutia diminishes the Big Picture
I know many members of the Second Advent Movement cringe when an Elder or minister gives a seminar on the Sanctuary. Sometimes it becomes a discussion of the color of the cloth that was used in the ancient service. Sometimes it becomes an intricate discussion of ancient religious choreography that outlines the priest's steps as he performed his duties. Most of us have heard presentations that were simply mathematical calculations that only sought to demonstrate that 1844 was the year on which the "cleansing" found in Daniel 8 began. And finally you may have heard of architectural descriptions of the celestial realities as someone delineates each piece of furniture and its connection to Jesus Christ. Each of these approaches can easily help us lose the forest while looking at trees.
What is the Sanctuary at Core?
While each of those other approaches have their place, we can never lose sight of the fact that deliverance comes from the Sanctuary. Our hope is in the Sanctuary. Salvation is in the Sanctuary. The conclusion of the Great Controversy is delineated in the Sanctuary. The Sanctuary is where God puts together God's plans to lead the earth to its conclusion. So, the next time someone speaks about the Sanctuary or the Sanctuary message, before you think about mathematical calculations, choreography, or architecture, just think about it being the place from which God sends help to God's people and try to understand it within that context. Perhaps then you will have a stronger understanding of the the architecture, choreography, and calculations.
Hello Sherman, I just got chance to look over your website. I will certainly add it to my favorites. This particular post about help from the sanctuary was very timely for me. Many thinking adventists are in trouble if they cannot determine the relevance of their unique beliefs. I think this post helps.
ReplyDeletePaul,
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I think your comment is perceptive in that you kind of get at the core of what I am attempting to do. In this post and in a few other posts I am not doing "apologetics" and defending the truth of Adventist claims or doctrines. There are a lot of resources out there to do that. In contrast to defense, I am just celebrating or attempting to show the relevance of the doctrine. I think Adventists spend a lot more time defending their doctrine than either discussing the relevance of it like I have attempted to do in my Sabbath posts or in demonstrating the practical application of it.
Sherman, I like that you call yourself a web minister. I had not encountered that term specifically spelled out before although I had considered the reality of such a ministry existing exclusively on the web.
ReplyDeleteI liked that you drew attention to another Psalm with a unique blessing to bestow on those who meditate on its passages.
I have had a difficult time regarding the modern value of ancient sanctuary motifs, esp. all the physical details and the excess of bleeding victims. I often try to envision my local church and its spiritual blessing whenever the many references are made to the Sanctuary in the bible so as to make the theme relevant to my life in the here and now.
I'll have to think more about your focus on the sanctuary and pray that God may reveal to me the beauty of the sanctuary mofif.
May God continue to bless you in your ministry.