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Subject: An Ever-Present Saviour
Replies: 9 Views: 1086
den2nba 9.04.08 - 01:30pm
When a Scottish lad named Peter Marshall got lost in a moor near Bamburgh on an inky black night, God called him by name: Peter! When the heavenly voice called out again, Peter stopped in his tracks, looked down, and discovered he was a step away from plunging into an abandoned limestone quarry.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could each hear God calling us by name? Wouldn't it be great if He were that close a companion-if we could actually sit down in our living room and have a long chat about our struggles and dreams?
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den2nba 9.04.08 - 01:33pm
1. Unlimited Access To Jesus
Believe it or not, we can come nearer to Jesus now than we could if He actually lived here as a visible person. Having Christ in the flesh in our town would be wonderful of course, but think of the enormous crowds pressing for a closer look, think of the demands on His time. One individual would do well to get a few minutes of direct conversation in a lifetime. Christ, however, wishes to cultivate personal relationships with every one of us; that's one reason He left this earth for a special ministry in heaven.
Jesus was near to Peter Marshall on the edge of that stone quarry. He guided him to become pastor of a large church in downtown Washington, D.C. and chaplain of the United States Senate. And, because Jesus is not limited to one place like He was when here on earth, He is now near to guide the life of every willing person.
What encouraging promise did Jesus give His followers just before He ascended?
All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. . . . And surely I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS, to the very end of the age.-Matthew 28:18, 20.
What is Christ doing in heaven that makes it possible for Him to be with you always?
Therefore, since WE HAVE A GREAT HIGH PRIEST who has gone through the heavens, JESUS THE SON OF GOD, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are-yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.-Hebrews 4:14-16.
Note the assurances of having Jesus as our personal representative in heaven: Tempted in every way, just as we are. Sympathize with our weaknesses. Help us in our time of need. With Jesus as our High Priest we're no longer cut off from a distant heaven; Christ can usher us into the very presence of God. No wonder we're urged to approach the throne of grace with confidence.
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den2nba 9.04.08 - 01:34pm
What place does Jesus occupy in heaven?
But when this priest [Jesus] had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD.-Hebrews 10:12.
The living Christ-someone who understands-is our personal representative on the throne at the right hand of God.
How did the life of Jesus prepare Him to be our priest?
For this reason he had to be made like his BROTHERS in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, HE IS ABLE TO HELP those who are being tempted.-Hebrews 2:17, 18.
Our brother who shares our humanity and was tempted like we are, is now our High Priest at the Father's right hand. Made like us, He knows what we're going through. He's been hungry, thirsty, and exhausted. He's felt the need for sympathy and understanding. He's experienced the anguish of intense temptation. But above all, Jesus is qualified to be our priest because, as the Lamb of God, He died for our sins.
Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!-John 1:29.
As the sacrificial Lamb of God, Jesus experienced excruciating pain; He has plunged to the depths of physical and emotional suffering.
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den2nba 9.04.08 - 01:36pm
But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.-Isaiah 53:5.
Jesus assumed responsibility for our sins and died in our place. Each of us can accept by faith His payment of our debt of sin. This is the gospel, the good news for all human beings everywhere and for all time.
One of our Bible School pastors shared this personal experience with us: When our youngest daughter was three, she caught her finger in a folding chair, splintering the bone. As we rushed her to a doctor, her loud cries of pain really tore at our hearts. But they touched our five-year-old in a special way. I'll never forget her words after the doctor had cared for her sister's injury and put her to bed. She sobbed, Oh, Daddy, I wish it could have been my finger!
When all humanity were crushed by sin and condemned to die eternally, Jesus said, Oh, Father, I wish it could have been me. And the Father gave Jesus His wish at the cross. Our Saviour has experienced every agony and torment any of us have suffered-and more!
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den2nba 9.04.08 - 01:39pm
2. The Gospel In The Old Testament
When the people of Israel camped at the foot of Mount Sinai, God instructed Moses to build a portable tabernacle as a sanctuary of worship according to the pattern shown you on the mountain (Exodus 25:40). Nearly 500 years later, King Solomon's great stone temple replaced the portable one. But it was built on precisely the same plan as the portable sanctuary.
God gave detailed instructions on the earthly sanctuary's design and carefully explained how its services were to be carried out. Those Old Testament ceremonies taught the Hebrews through object lessons what the New Testament proclaims as realities through Christ's life and death and through Christ's ministry as our High Priest.
When God gave Moses the directions for building the sanctuary, what specific purpose did He have in mind?
Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I WILL DWELL AMONG THEM.-Exodus 25:8.
Sin caused a tragic separation between human beings and their Creator. The sanctuary was God's way of showing how He can again live among us. It illustrates His plan of salvation.
The sanctuary, and later the temple, became the center of religious life and worship in Old Testament times. Its ceremonies reveal how God communicates with us and how we can communicate with Him. Each morning and evening the people could gather around the sanctuary and establish contact with God in prayer (Luke 1:10), claiming the promise: I will meet with you (Exodus 30:6).
It may surprise you that the Old Testament teaches the same gospel of salvation as does the New Testament. The Old Testament symbolism of Israel's sanctuary actually depicts the activity of Jesus as Priest ministering on our behalf in the heavenly sanctuary. Rightly understood, the sanctuary and its services reveal what Jesus is doing now in the temple in heaven, and what He is doing now on earth to enrich and guide each of us in our daily lives.
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den2nba 9.04.08 - 01:41pm
3. Jesus' Ministry For Us Revealed In The Sanctuary
Since the earthly sanctuary was patterned after the temple in heaven, it reflects the heavenly sanctuary where Christ now ministers. Exodus 25-40 describes the services and ceremonies of the wilderness sanctuary in great detail. A brief summary of the sanctuary furnishings appears in the New Testament:
Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary. A tabernacle was set up. In its first room were the lampstand, the table and the consecrated bread; this was called the Holy Place. Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place, which had the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. This ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron's staff that had budded, and the stone tables of the covenant [the Ten Commandments]. Above the ark were the cherubim of the Glory, overshadowing the atonement cover [margin: the mercy seat].-Hebrews 9:1-5.
The sanctuary had two rooms, the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. A courtyard was laid out in front of the sanctuary. In the court stood the brass altar on which the priests offered sacrifices, and the laver in which they washed.
The sacrifices offered on the brass altar symbolized Jesus, who through His death on the cross became the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29). When the repentant sinner came to the altar with his sacrifice and confessed his sins, he received cleansing. In the same way, the sinner today obtains cleansing through the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God.
In the first room, or Holy Place, the seven-branched lampstand burned continually, representing Jesus as the never-failing light of the world (John 8:12). The table of consecrated bread, the bread of God's presence, symbolized His satisfying our physical and spiritual hunger as the bread of life (John 6:35). The golden altar of incense represented Jesus' prayer ministry for us in the very presence of God (Revelation 8:3, 4).
The second room, or Most Holy Place, contained the gold-covered ark of the covenant. It symbolized the throne of God; its atonement cover, or mercy seat, represented the intercession of Christ on behalf of sinful human beings who have broken God's moral law. The two tablets of stone on which God gave the Ten Commandments were kept below the mercy seat. Golden cherubim of glory hovered over the mercy seat on each end of the ark. A glorious light shone between these two cherubim, a symbol of the presence of God Himself.
A curtain hid the Holy Place from the view of the people as the priests ministered to them in the courtyard. A second curtain stood in front of the Most Holy Place, blocking this inner room from the priests who entered the first room of the sanctuary.
When Jesus died on the cross, what happened to the curtain?
At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.-Matthew 27:51.
The Most Holy Place, which once contained the ark of the covenant, the symbol of God's throne, was exposed when Jesus died. After the death of Jesus no curtain can come between a holy God and a sincere believer; Jesus, our High Priest, ushers us into the very presence of God.
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den2nba 9.04.08 - 01:41pm
3. Jesus' Ministry For Us Revealed In The Sanctuary
Since the earthly sanctuary was patterned after the temple in heaven, it reflects the heavenly sanctuary where Christ now ministers. Exodus 25-40 describes the services and ceremonies of the wilderness sanctuary in great detail. A brief summary of the sanctuary furnishings appears in the New Testament:
Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary. A tabernacle was set up. In its first room were the lampstand, the table and the consecrated bread; this was called the Holy Place. Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place, which had the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. This ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron's staff that had budded, and the stone tables of the covenant [the Ten Commandments]. Above the ark were the cherubim of the Glory, overshadowing the atonement cover [margin: the mercy seat].-Hebrews 9:1-5.
The sanctuary had two rooms, the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. A courtyard was laid out in front of the sanctuary. In the court stood the brass altar on which the priests offered sacrifices, and the laver in which they washed.
The sacrifices offered on the brass altar symbolized Jesus, who through His death on the cross became the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29). When the repentant sinner came to the altar with his sacrifice and confessed his sins, he received cleansing. In the same way, the sinner today obtains cleansing through the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God.
In the first room, or Holy Place, the seven-branched lampstand burned continually, representing Jesus as the never-failing light of the world (John 8:12). The table of consecrated bread, the bread of God's presence, symbolized His satisfying our physical and spiritual hunger as the bread of life (John 6:35). The golden altar of incense represented Jesus' prayer ministry for us in the very presence of God (Revelation 8:3, 4).
The second room, or Most Holy Place, contained the gold-covered ark of the covenant. It symbolized the throne of God; its atonement cover, or mercy seat, represented the intercession of Christ on behalf of sinful human beings who have broken God's moral law. The two tablets of stone on which God gave the Ten Commandments were kept below the mercy seat. Golden cherubim of glory hovered over the mercy seat on each end of the ark. A glorious light shone between these two cherubim, a symbol of the presence of God Himself.
A curtain hid the Holy Place from the view of the people as the priests ministered to them in the courtyard. A second curtain stood in front of the Most Holy Place, blocking this inner room from the priests who entered the first room of the sanctuary.
When Jesus died on the cross, what happened to the curtain?
At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.-Matthew 27:51.
The Most Holy Place, which once contained the ark of the covenant, the symbol of God's throne, was exposed when Jesus died. After the death of Jesus no curtain can come between a holy God and a sincere believer; Jesus, our High Priest, ushers us into the very presence of God.
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place [Greek: the holy places] by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith.-Hebrews 10:19-22.
We have access to the throne room of heaven because Jesus is our High Priest at God's right hand. He is not present there to shield us from the Father, but to enable us to come into God's presence-into the Father's heart of love. So let us draw near. Why? Because God welcomes us. As Jesus said, I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. No, the Father himself loves you (John 16:26, 27).
After our Saviour returned to heaven from His ministry on earth, the apostle John saw a vision of the temple in heaven (Revelation 14:17; 15:5; 16:17), the original heavenly sanctuary of which Moses' tent was only a copy. In the Most Holy Place John noticed the ark of his covenant that contains the eternal, moral law of God in Ten Commandments (Revelation 11:19; Hebrews 9:4). He also observed in heaven . . . before the throne, seven lamps were blazing (Revelation 4:1, 5) and the golden altar of incense (Revelation 8:3). And most important, He saw Jesus walking among the seven candlesticks (Revelation 1:12, 13).
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TheTRUTH (8)
