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1844:
Simpler and So What?
On
the few occasions when Adventists still present
evidence leading to 1844 and its significance, we
tend to overwhelm our audiences with exhaustive
(and exhausting) expositions of Daniel 2, 7, 8,
and 9. This overkill tends to leave people with
vague notions of an SDA belief that is not really
relevant to their lives and the crystal clear certainty
that they can never share it with others. An approach
is proposed that places 1844 firmly within its salvation
context, rather than treating it as a self-standing
doctrine and that utilizes the minimum amount of
solid biblical data to arrive at this date.
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Altar
Call
Titles:
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Face
in the Dirt
The cross is Christ's altar, to which he calls
us. We come because the cross gives us hope
of rescue. Although Christ has ascended to heaven
and we are trying to survive in a hostile world,
we can get in touch with him where he is. According
to the books of Hebrews and Revelation, Christ
is in God's sanctuary, the control center of
the universe, where God is working to save us.
Although the human race has been separated from
God since the sin of Adam and Eve, God has reassured
us of his presence, especially through Christ
coming to earth as a human being. One of the
most striking ways in which God has demonstrated
his presence was his residence in the ancient
Israelite sanctuary.
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The
Model and the Messiah
The rituals of the Israelite sanctuary served
as a dynamic model, or "prototype"
of God's plan to save human beings. It is worthwhile
to study this earthly prototype for a number
of reasons, including the facts that it illustrates
spiritual and heavenly realities, demonstrates
the richness of Christ's sacrifice, shows how
parts of salvation history fit together, and
guides our understanding of salvation by grace
through faith. Christ connects the earthly and
heavenly sanctuaries in that features of the
Israelite sanctuary represented aspects of Christ's
ministry in the heavenly sanctuary. Although
the Israelite sanctuary was a teaching model,
it could not save anyone by itself and was limited
by the fact that its rituals were earthbound
activities officiated by faulty, human priests.
Deciphering God's plan of salvation as revealed
through rituals in the book of Leviticus is
challenging, but by understanding the nature
of the text and the rituals reflected there,
we can grasp their meaning. By means of ritual
activity systems, the Israelites could have
access to God and interact with him.
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The
Rich Splendor of Christ's Sacrifice
The different Israelite sacrifices revealed
the glory of Christ's sacrifice by emphasizing
various aspects of its meaning. Burnt offerings,
which were wholly consumed, pointed to the fact
that Christ's offering of himself completely
consumed him. Grain offerings were sacrifices
of basic food that acknowledged the benefit
of Christ's life-giving power for his people.
Well-being offerings foreshadowed the benefit
of Christ's life for those who accept it into
their own lives. Sin offerings elevated the
importance of blood, emphasizing that Christ's
blood ransoms our lives. Guilt offerings showed
that sin creates debt, which must be paid by
Christ's sacrifice even when we take care of
our responsibility to make wrongs right as best
we can.
- Divine
Obsession
The Old Testament ritual system demonstrated how
God saves people by grace through faith. God used
sacrifices for forgiveness in order to illustrate
how he bore the cost of forgiveness in the sacrifice
of Christ. The rituals through which the Israelites
received purification from ritual impurities,
which represented aspects of mortality, pointed
to the way in which we receive life through Christ
and his sacrifice. Israelite sacrifices showed
that atonement is a process that takes place in
stages. While Christ's death on the cross was
the one and only atoning sacrificial death and
all atonement flows from the cross, atonement
is relational and continues as long as we are
being reconciled to God. Just as there were degrees
of holiness in the sanctuary, defined in relation
to God's holy presence, we can grow in holiness
as we come closer to God's holy moral character
of love. We can have assurance of salvation as
long as we accept Christ, whose sacrifice is the
only thing that stands between us and eternal
death. Today we can interact with God through
prayer even though we do not have access to him
through the physical symbolism of sacrifices,
which were prayers made visible. Through the ritual
of communion (or "Lord's Supper"), Christians
can interact with God by symbolically expressing
acceptance of Christ.
- Jesus
Isn't Finished with Me Yet
Following his death on the cross, Christ has continued
his work of saving us through reconciling us to
God. Not only did Christ become a human being
in order to sympathize with our weaknesses and
die for us; he has carried his sympathy and the
cross event with him into the heavenly sanctuary,
where he mediates for us so that our sins can
be forgiven. But atonement goes beyond forgiveness,
as shown by the Israelite sanctuary rituals. Atonement
for the Israelites had to be brought to completion
by the cleansing of the sanctuary on the Day of
Atonement. Through the cleansing of the sanctuary,
Israelites who had been forgiven and remained
loyal to God were also made "clean,"
that is, free from impediments to their relationship
with him. The special rituals of the Day of Atonement
coordinated to cleanse the sanctuary. Whereas
atonement during the year freed individuals from
sins and impurities by leaving them with God in
his sanctuary, the Day of Atonement reversed the
movement of sins and impurities into the sanctuary
by cleansing them out. Unlike movements of material
objects, movements of evils into and then out
of the sanctuary were not limited by constraints
operating in the material world. Just as a whole
unit of the sanctuary was impacted by defilement
or cleansing of part of it, the "part for
all" principle is found in various aspects
of salvation, including the way Christ's single
sacrifice provides redemption for all who accept
it.
- Relationships
at Stake
Underlying the rituals of the Israelite Day of
Atonement were dynamic kinds of relationships
between God and his people that still operate
today. Just as the Day of Atonement completed
the Israelites' unity with God and involved judgment
of their loyalty to him, so Christ's "wedding"
with his people involves judgment of their loyalty.
Because God's sanctuary in heaven represents his
reputation, as did his earthly headquarters, the
cleansing of his sanctuary involves the vindication
of his reputation through the judgment. The judgment
shows that in the process of extending mercy by
granting forgiveness, God has fully maintained
his justice along with his mercy. This understanding
of God's judgment is supported by Daniel 7 and
8, where an end-time judgment is the same event
as the cleansing of God's sanctuary. Like Leviticus,
Daniel indicates that for God's true people, the
purpose of the judgment is to reaffirm their forgiveness
and assurance. By judging works, God answers a
challenge to his justice put forth by Satan, his
enemy, who was represented by "Azazel"
in the ancient Day of Atonement service. As a
last argument in his strategy to counter God and
undermine his justice, Satan says that forgiven
people should not be saved because the works that
should provide evidence for their faith are faulty.
A crucial element of God's plan to wipe out sin
and save us at the same time, with our free choice
intact, is the process by which he patiently educates
the universe with regard to the nature and effects
of sin.
- Appointment
with God
Just as the Israelites had an appointment with
God on the Day of Atonement, he indicates to us
the timing of his end-time judgment so that we
can participate in this event. Surprisingly, time
prophecies in the book of Daniel indicate that
the date of the beginning of the judgment is already
in the past. The reliability of Daniel's prophecies
is confirmed by the way in which they have been
fulfilled in world history with remarkable accuracy.
- Altar
Call
Although the judgment began in the past, comparison
with the book of Revelation indicates that it
is still going on today and is moving toward a
climax in which the allegiance of God's people
to him will be tested as they face threats from
another power that claims their loyalty. During
the time of the judgment, we can participate with
Christ as he cleanses the sanctuary from our sins
by humbling ourselves, as did the Israelites on
the Day of Atonement and as Christ did on earth.
Through humility, we allow God to bring our lives
into harmony with his law, which is based on unselfish
love that expresses itself in service to others.
By the end of the judgment, people will have had
sufficient time to decide whether or not to accept
salvation, and those who are loyal to God will
be fully committed to him. While the judgment
and its consequences are awesome, we can have
confidence that answers our fears, including confidence
that God is fair, confidence of our access to
God, and confidence that we are in a covenant
relationship with God. In conclusion, what will
we do now that we have encountered the cross and
heard Christ's call to a new and better world?
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Biblical
Law and Its Modern-Day Application
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The
Sanctuary and Gospel Assurance
Evangelical
challenges to the SDA sanctuary doctrine (especially
the pre-Advent judgment aspect) have asserted that
this fundamental belief destroys spiritual life
by undermining the assurance that is provided by
the gospel of Jesus Christ. This topic show that
in fact the biblical sanctuary services show the
way to true gospel assurance by helping us to get
in touch with Jesus, by providing a balanced guide
to the process of righteousness by faith, and by
teaching us about the character of God.
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Speakers
Bureau
Andrews University
Berrien Springs MI 49104-1000
Telephone: 269-471-3315
Fax: 269-471-6650
E-mail: speakers@andrews.edu
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