Friday: Further Thought ~ New Covenant Sanctuary
Further Thought:
“The highest angel in heaven had not the power to pay the ransom for one lost soul. Cherubim and seraphim have only the glory with which they are endowed by the Creator as His creatures, and the reconciliation of man to God could be accomplished only through a mediator who was equal with God, possessed of attributes that would dignify, and declare him worthy to treat with the infinite God in man’s behalf, and also represent God to a fallen world.
Image @ Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com
Man’s substitute and surety must have man’s nature, a connection with the human family whom he was to represent, and, as God’s ambassador, he must partake of the divine nature, have a connection with the Infinite, in order to manifest God to the world, and be a mediator between God and man.” — Ellen G. White, Selected Messages, book 1, p. 257.
“Jesus continues: As you confess Me before men, so I will confess you before God and the holy angels. You are to be My witnesses upon earth, channels through which My grace can flow for the healing of the world. So I will be your representative in heaven. The Father beholds not your faulty character, but He sees you as clothed in My perfection. I am the medium through which Heaven’s blessings shall come to you. And everyone who confesses Me by sharing My sacrifice for the lost shall be confessed as a sharer in the glory and joy of the redeemed.” — Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 357.
Discussion Questions:
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Summary:
The old covenant-sacrificial system was replaced by the new; instead of animals being sacrificed by sinful priests in an earthly sanctuary, we now have Jesus, our perfect Sacrifice. He represents us before the Father in the sanctuary in heaven, which forms the basis of the new covenant and its promises.
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Thank you to each person who has contributed to the dimensions of Covenant that have been explored and discussed this past week. I look forward to more in the weeks to come...
Drawing upon the sentiments expressed in the final question of today's lesson, what do the things that we have discussed mean to you on a daily, practical level?
For me, it is precisely the daily, practical level that drives my study, reflection, exploration and discussion. In addition to the needs of my own journeying through life on a daily basis, I am privileged to spend a lot of time with people who are struggling in life: Christian and non-Christian alike. I want to be able to be used of God to help bring hope to their walk.
Increasingly I am finding people becoming discouraged with the way things are heading - especially this past 18 months with no real prospect of a better future in sight. And within this discouragement, people are increasingly voicing the sentiment: "what's the point" of this daily struggling we call life - though more and more people are using the term existence of late.
I desire to be able to paint a picture for people that acknowledges the grim reality they are experiencing - and also helps them see that the bad things that are happening are not "acts of God", they are acts of an Adversary. I desire to help people come to see that while the Adversary (thief) - as the 'embodiment' of maleficence - exists "only/exclusively to steal, kill and destroy", God - as the 'embodiment' of beneficence - is not like that. Growing in my understanding of the realities behind terms like 'atonement', 'mediation', Christ's 'cleansing blood' etc helps me better paint that picture of an omni-beneficent God for each person I meet.
To be sure, this 'understanding', though it has a cognitive/intellectual component, is also paralleled by deeply experiential growing - just like David describes in Psalm 42:1,2.
How about you? What do this week's discussion points mean to you on a daily, practical level?
Phil – its good to read your comments! To answer your question – on a daily, practical level these lessons have helped me become aware how much my every, daily actions impact my fellow man.
The Word of God teaches me to love rightly, and I learn to apply it diligently as I now know how important it is to be loving and kind when I interact with others; always considering the seen and unseen impact my contact has on his/her life.
Everything about God’s Way of Life and Light relates to our practical life. I cannot become an effective student of His Word without applying its Truth diligently to every aspect of my living.
One of the most important insights I gained as I study is to be grateful; reflecting in all life's circumstances the love of God in my heart by extending it to my fellow man.
" What does that mean on a daily, practical level?"
If Jesus is in the most holy place in heaven, that means He is offering His own blood/life in place of mine, IF I have repented and accepted the life illustrated in the holy place rituals. It means my sins are gone, and power to live a holy life is mine to possess by faith in the "exceeding great and precious promises of God whereby" I may become "a partaker of the Divine nature". It means I have "peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" and a living hope.
I am away from home, and my library of books at the moment but I want to mention the idea that I learned from C S Lewis's Reflections on the Psalms. He devotes a chapter on the question of judgment. In it, he puts forward the idea that the Hebrew view of judgment is more like our civil courts than our criminal courts. The idea is that judgment was more about putting wrongs right, restoration, and reparation than condemnation. He does not dismiss the importance of the criminal court view, but suggests that the civil court view provides balance.
I like this idea and it is a useful foil to the belief that judgment is about condemnation and punishment. It makes sense in that the prophets criticized the Hebrews because they ignored social justice for those who were oppressed. It also ties in with the picture provided of the judgment in the parable of the sheep and the goats.
If we accept that the judgment is about restoration, what implications are there for the way a saved person lives now?
Maurice – yes, I agree that restoration is the Father's first and foremost goal for mankind. One by one, one individual living soul at a time, the Holy Spirit transforms the willing believer’s life into a life of humble and grateful service to his fellow man.
My humble opinion regarding the implications of restoration: - The saved person’s eye ‘sees’, the new ear ‘hears’, and the new heart desires to meet the needs of the fellow man. The heart and mind is restored/enabled to perceive life with God’s mind, living the righteous compassion the Father expresses for His children.
Being spiritually restored inspires us, re-creates the living soul to recognize and live the Word's practical life, the good works – ”For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained([prepared] that we should walk in them[live them].” - Eph.2:10KJV
Spiritual restoration can only be done in a believer’s heart which is willing to love God and his fellow man. If the believer does not love God or his fellow man, he/she needs to come before the Throne of Grace to humbly inquire about the reasons for its absence and how to restore it.
Brigette- in response to you. Many talk the talk, but do we walk the walk.
I have a devotional book entitled: "In Touch with God" written by Edward Heppenstall. June 11 reading says
HE PASSED BY ON THE OTHER SIDE-
And by chance there came down a certain priest that way; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Luke 10:31
'We cannot be Christians alone. None of us who profess to follow Christ can dodge the responsibility for the people who come our way. We are thousands of miles away from the people on Africa and India. But when men, women, and children starve to death, when children bone of American soldiers in Vietnam are dying because there is no one to care, that too is our business.'
My words- As individuals, as congregations, as an organization, what is our mission? Are we still and continue giving to the people who already have, or are we making the playing field level for all? Is our hearts outpouring to all who carries the name SDA but are less fortunate than us? Do some of us worship in
comfortable large edifices while some cant even find a tree to stand under with no form or broken facilities?
Here what he goes on to say-
Many who make no profession of being Christians live more compassionately than those who bear the name. No large talents are required. No great public assignments are necessary to challenge us; just compassion on the road of life. Under the transforming power of Christ's love, people come to believe that the Christian faith is genuine. These broken fragments of humanity become of great value. Are we investing our lives in needy people for Christ's sake?
Ok, WHICH judgment? Are there not two depicted in Scripture? One before Jesus' 2nd coming, and one during the 1000 years afterwards(Rev 22:12; 20:11-15).
The first, typified by the day of Atonement, determines who is saved/restored. The latter reveals the justice for the final eradication of sinners. Both are judged by the law of God(Eccl 12:13,14), which is both the standard of righteousness and the revealer of sin.
The One who says: Come ye blessed" also says: "Depart from Me".
Thank God for Jesus' final work at the Most Holy! This work must be done just before He can come back to restore His friends back to Himself! May this not take long! Because the planet is at delivery time, the pain is beating up stronger and stronger! Let us be HAPPY! Happy sabbath to all!
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Matt 5:16
Well, here we have very strong quotations for today to end the week which I like very much.
'As you confess Me before men, so I will confess you before God and the holy angels. You are to be My witnesses upon earth, channels through which My grace can flow for the healing of the world.'
Some words can be seen- 'confess before men on earth', 'confess before Father in heaven', witnesses on earth', 'grace flowing through us to heal the world'.
This world is a very sick, messed up, dying, hospice place we are living in presently. I can smell the stench it is giving off. It is ready to die. The Christians are the ones who were given the opportunities to reflect who our loving Father is to this dying world by our lives and by the way we interact with others. Are we the light bearers of the world or are our lights gone out like the 5 foolish virgins? Are we caught up in the very same things we are called to denounce?
But hope is still alive, we have someone, a Mediator who is pleading for us and is willing to change us to be like him. We can once again become the salt of the earth.
Yes, indeed – only one, the Son of God and of Man, Christ Jesus, the Lamb of God, has earned the privileged authority to be man's mediator in the heavenly Sanctuary, causing and leading man to be born-again and so reflect the Image of the Father.
Though His new authority goes beyond re-forming/saving the living souls; He is authorized and ..“He is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof” to change forever the world mankind lives in.
Rev.5:1-13KJV –
I take a practical view when considering the work of our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus. The Mission’s Goal of the Son of God and Man is to bring into this new world as many living souls as are able to hear the Word of God and are willing to follow it by faith.
2.Tim.2:15KJV - It is helpful to “…study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth”, but we need to be careful not to become the astute student of the Word of God who fails to love God and man.
1Cor.13:1-13KJV - We can know everything ABOUT the Truth though miss out on its blessings because we do not love God and our fellow man; without love, 'knowing all about Truth', we become like v.1 … sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal …. .
v.13KJV - ”And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity[love].”
Regarding the discussion questions:
1. These verses point out our need to exercise faith in the promises of God. “By grace through faith”. It is God's grace revealed in Him providing for us a propitiation and a mediator, with the purpose of cleansing and purifying "unto Himself a peculiar people zealous of good works"(Titus 2:14).
2. This heavenly Mediator only benefits those who “repent and believe”, and thus serve the Lord on earth as His witnesses among men.
3. If we truly believe in the Ministry of Christ as our faithful high priest in the heavenly sanctuary, careful study of the rituals of the earthly sanctuary and the work of its high priest teaches how we are to read the Word of God, through prayer, focusing on His “exceeding great and precious promises”, trusting in the righteousness of Christ being offered for us, and being filled by His Spirit, shining as lights in the world. This is the holy place experience of sanctification that must take place if we would be numbered with the remnant of God's people. As our high priest, Jesus is preparing a place for us by this process of cleansing us from all unrighteousness.
Why are miracles not being manifested in our time like in the time of Jesus and his disciples
I would ask, what sometimes prevented Jesus from doing miracles in His day? Some people simply didn't believe and He was unable to heal because of their unbelief.
Also, there are miracles today, but not as visible as described in the Bible all the times. Conversion is a miracle.