All things point to Jesus.

I was traveling back to Chicago, when I saw a sign that said, “Chicago 300 miles.” This sign said to me that Chicago was 300 miles away, and that I was going in the right direction. As I got closer to Chicago I saw more signs, with less distance. The signs told me I was closer to Chicago and am going in the right direction. None of the signs said, “I was in Chicago, yet.” All the signs did was point me to Chicago. Of course, when you arrived to Chicago you no longer need signs to point you there.

The earthly sanctuary is similar. As all things inside were symbols representing Jesus, they were mere signs, pointing to Jesus. When Jesus came to earth, type met antitype. The real thing had arrived. No longer do we need symbols pointing us to Him. As the quarterly says, “Jesus and His ministry in the heavenly sanctuary replaced the earthly
tabernacle, the earthly priesthood, the animal sacrifices, and the daily and yearly ceremonies.”

It all pointed to Jesus. For example, it points to his earthly ministry: His birth, life, death and resurrection. God offered His Son as a lamb that takes away the Sin of the World, as the Israelites offered a lamb as a sacrifice for the forgiveness of their Sins. Every utensil in the building represented something about Jesus. With the candles, it pointed to Jesus as Light of the world (John 8:12). With the shewbread, it shows Jesus as the bread of life (John 6:35).

Not only the sanctuary itself pointed to Jesus, but the ministration of the priests, was to "serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things." Hebrews 8:5. Thus it was of great importance; and the Lord, through Moses, gave the most definite and explicit instruction concerning every point of this typical service. The ministration of the sanctuary consisted of two divisions, a daily and a yearly service. The daily service was performed at the altar of burnt offering in the court of the tabernacle and in the holy place; while the yearly service was in the most holy. Every morning and evening a lamb of a year old was burned upon the altar, with its appropriate meat offering, thus symbolizing the daily consecration of the nation to Jehovah, and their constant dependence upon the atoning blood of Christ. God expressly directed that every offering presented for the service of the sanctuary should be "without blemish." Exodus 12:5. The Passover sacrifice pointed to Jesus on the cross.

The Priest clothes had a specific meaning. Over the ephod was the breastplate, the most sacred of the priestly vestments. This was of the same material as the ephod. It was in the form of a square, measuring a span, and was suspended from the shoulders by a cord of blue from golden rings. The border was formed of a variety of precious stones, the same that form the twelve foundations of the City of God. Within the border were twelve stones set in gold, arranged in rows of four, and, like those in the shoulder pieces, engraved with the names of the tribes. The Lord's direction was, "Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon his heart, when he goeth in unto the holy place, for a memorial before the Lord continually." Exodus 28:29. So Christ, the great High Priest, pleading His blood before the Father in the sinner's behalf, bears upon His heart the name of every repentant, believing soul. Says the psalmist, "I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me." Psalm 40:17.

At the right and left of the breastplate were two large stones of great brilliancy. These were known as the Urim and Thummim. By them the will of God was made known through the high priest. When questions were brought for decision before the Lord, a halo of light encircling the precious stone at the right was a token of the divine consent or approval, while a cloud shadowing the stone at the left was an evidence of denial or disapprobation. The miter of the high priest consisted of the white linen turban, having attached to it by a lace of blue, a gold plate bearing the inscription, "Holiness to Jehovah." Everything connected with the apparel and deportment of the priests was to be such as to impress the beholder with a sense of the holiness of God, the sacredness of His worship, and the purity required of those who came into His presence.

The Priests represented Christ as intercessor. The Day of Atonement pointed to Jesus heavenly ministry in the holiest of Holies chamber of the sanctuary on Heaven. The High Priest not only interceding for people, but as the sanctuary was cleansed from the yearly Sins of the people. This cleansing takes even more significance when Jesus passes from the Holy Place to the Holiest of Holies. Christ cleanses His sanctuary from Sin. However, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;” 1 Corinthians 6:19. . As He cleanses the heavenly Sanctuary from Sin, so are our hearts are cleansed from Sin, if we let Him abide in us.

Barriers

The teachers comments of this week’s lesson asks this question, “What barriers do we raise to our own insight into God’s truth, and that of those with whom we should be sharing the gospel because of our own misconception of God’s plans? What would it take for us to be more open to the truth?” We could reword this question as “what objection or excuses do we have in rejecting or avoid making a choice for the truth? The Bible has several examples of people giving excuses. In the Parable of soils is cares of the world, tribulation and persecution, or lack of understanding (Matthew 13). Those who refuse to go to the wedding banquet: Marriage, land, and other. The man that gets kicked out refuses to wear the apparel provided by the King (Matthew 22: 1-14).

This reminds me of the message to the Laodicean Church. Let us read in Revelation 3: 14, where John writes,

Revelation 3: 14 22

Rev3:14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;

Rev3:15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.

Rev3:16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

Rev3:17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:

Rev3:18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

Rev3:19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

Rev3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

Rev3:21 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.

Rev3:22 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

Since we love the stupor and comfort of our spiritual lukewarmness, we resist and reject anything that will take us away from it. We raise barriers that will prevent us from both leaving our spiritual lukewarmness and anything external from removing us. In other words we find ways to deceive ourselves about our true condition. As Nebuchadnezzer we praise ourselves for our accomplishments. “Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing.” Or as Adam and Eve we find reasons to blame others.

God tells us the real problem and offers a solution. Buy – acquire - from Him eye salve that we may see things as He sees them. We are sinners – and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked - in need of redemption. Christ is our Redeemer. His life , death and resurrection accomplishes our salvation from the punishment and penalty of Sin, from the power of Sin and finally from the presence of Sin. Our righteousness’ is as filthy rags. But, Christ offers us His righteousness - “white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear.” He also offers us “Gold tried in the fire,” a faith that is unmovable no matter what trials beset us. In other words, we can have His Faith (Galatians 2:16; Hebrews 2:12; Revelation 14:12). We therefore have no excuse. Everything has been provided. We just have to accept it, take it and keep it. What keeps us from doing this? It is our love for our self-righteousness. Jesus’ invitation is that we should let go of ours and take His.

About agape

Just a few thought on Agape this week. Some one said that "... the beauty of agape is that it takes something that ordinarily would be worth nothing and makes it priceless. It creates value in the object of its affection and attention."

I thought this was a deep statement. Why? because, it explains why God is capable of loving us. For you see it says in Romans 5:6-10:
Verse 6 says, “When we were still without strength ... Christ died for the ungodly.”
Verse 8 says, “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us,” and finally,
verse 10 says, “For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son ...”

God can do this because, "Agape is selfless, self-emptying, self-sacrificing, self-renouncing, a love that 'seeks not her own' " (1 Corinthians 13). Besides, God is agape.

“went about doing good” including the ultimate good, which was His death on the cross for all mankind. As He hung on the cross His heart toward His enemies cried out, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do.”BUt, here is the challenge, Christ said that we should agape our enemies. Matthew 5:44. 45 says, “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be the sons of your Father in heaven ...” This is what He did, even when we was spitefully persecuted He So He asks us to do the same. This means that we should, love those who hate you or can care the less about you. It means that even of when they are against you, you are not against them. It means you have their best interest in mind, even when they do not have your best interest in mind, and even if it means harm toward you (Including death). How are we suppose to do this? By letting the Holy Spirit dwell in us by faith, and let Him do His will in us. This is the only method that works.

He did His Father’s will

Here in the United States of America we are in the midst of the campaign season for the presidential election. Regretfully, as most campaign runs, they are very negative. The opponent finds negative things from the past to smear the reputation of the other one. Such was the recent case of one such presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama. His former pastor in Chicago was caught on video saying things that were negative about the USA. Most people have gone back and forth about whether Reverend Wright is patriotic or not. And, how does it implicate Senator Obama, since he was a member of that Church? Does he agree with the views expressed by Reverend Wright? Can we elect a president that thinks that way?

However, I have not heard anyone asking perhaps the most important question. Was Reverend Wright in his right to express views that are perhaps personal and not necessarily the views of God? As a pastor he, and all pastors, represents God. Thus, pastors, and all preachers for that matter, must restrain themselves to speak the Word of God, only. Reverend Wright may have said the truth, but unless it was from God, he, as Christ’s minister, was wrong in saying what he said. If it was God’s will, then it would have behooved Reverend Wright to say it. If it was God’s will – which I am not saying it was – the reverend was following example of Jesus. You see, Jesus did as the Father told Him to do. As He said on a couple of occasions,

John 5:30 I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.
John 6:38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.

He listened to His Father and acted on every Word the Father said to Him. This means that when Jesus sent the demons to the swine, He was doing His Father’s will (Matthew 8: 31, 32). This was no whim or last minute resort decision. The Father had a purpose in letting Jesus do this. Ellen G. White says that "it was in mercy to the owners of the swine that this loss had been permitted to come upon them. They were absorbed in earthly things, and cared not for the great interests of spiritual life. Jesus desired to break the spell of selfish indifference, that they might accept His grace." (The Desire of Ages, p. 338).

When Christ cursed the fig tree, he was doing the Father’s will (Matthew 21:18-19). Again there was a purpose behind this. There was a lesson to be taught. Nothing was done trivially or capriciously. God does not work that way. This event was a living parable. Jesus showed the disciples the danger of professing to believe and not having the fruits of your profession.

You may not be a preacher, teacher, etc. You may ask yourselves, does this apply to me? Is Christ our example? Are we not His followers? We’ve established that He did only as the Father willed for Him. This should be true for us also. Id we are to walk as He walked, and be perfect as He was, then we are to yield our own prerogative, to the Holy Spirit. We are to let Him take over our minds, as He did the mind of Christ. Only then will we do as Jesus did. Only then we will do our Heavenly Father’s will.