Sermon Tone Analysis

13)  Sanctuary "Cleansing" & Lesson 4, Sab.

School BSG \\        from Gerald M Reynolds \\ \\ Diving right into this beautiful topic, I like what it is AGM has done \\ in approaching this lesson.

First, he has several in the class read \\ various translations.

Some render Dan 8:14 as "...then shall the \\ sanctuary be cleansed..." (KJV) Other translations give us: "Then the \\ holy place will be repaired."

(New Century Version=NCV); "...then the \\ holy \\ place will be properly restored."

footnote says, 'literally, vindicated' \\ (New American Standard Bible Version=NASV); "...then the Temple \\ will be restored."

(New Living Translation=NLV); "...then the sanctuary \\ will be purified."

(New American Bible for Catholics=NABV).

Dr.

Maxwell \\ states a preference for wording like that in "...then shall the sanctuary \\ be restored to its rightful state."

(Revised Standard Version=RSV) or \\ words similar to "put right, set right." \\ \\ All of this denotes something which has happened to "unright" the \\ holy of holies in heaven itself.

For those of us who see this in the \\ horizon of the "larger view," it was simply what went wrong when Satan \\ became jealous of Christ and started his gossiping campaign.

Because \\ of the extensive use of symbols and mental pictures or images of pieces \\ of furniture and the many and different types of functions surrounding \\ the \\ whole, AGM states he would choose Jesus Christ to teach the lesson.

\\ And I heartily agree!

And he further states that he would ask Christ to \\ not \\ use dark speech, riddles and parables, but to speak plainly, hoping that \\ we might qualify as "friends" as was Abraham and Moses and the disciples \\ in the Upper Room when Christ spoke plainly to the disciples about the \\ Father.

\\ \\ With this I would like to refer to Elder Roy Adams noble effort to \\ penetrate with \\ objective scholarship certain aspects of this subject.

The first deals \\ with \\ Exodus 25:9 & 40, where God instructs Moses: "According to all that I \\ show \\ you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, \\ so you \\ shall make it."

At first it sounds very straightforward.

But the Hebrew \\ word for \\ "pattern" is, in English letters, "tabnith."

Adams cites a 1981 \\ dissertation by \\ Richard M. Davidson, in which Davidson tried to determine whether or not \\ the \\ original meaning of "tabnith" implies "a vertical correspondence," that \\ is to say \\ an "earth to heaven" correspondence.

Davidson found a wide range of \\ inter- \\ pretations which he categorized into six possibilities, five of which \\ Adams uses.

\\ \\ And that is where I stop for this time.

Best wishes to you all as you \\ study.

\\ Gerald

 

I thought the following texts helpful.

\\ B. \\ http:~/~/www.egwestate.andrews.edu~/

\\ The Power of the Will \\ {MH 176.1} & see {MH 175.1} \\ God has given us the power of choice \\ {MH 176.2}& see {MH 176.3} \\ Satan Takes Advantage of Inherited Weakness \\ DA 122, 123 (1898).

{1MCP 145.3} \\ Conversion Changes Inherited Tendencies \\ Lt 105, 1893.(6BC

1101.)

{1MCP 145.4} \\ Not to Be Enslaved by Inheritance \\ SpT Series A, No. 9, p 56, 1897.

(TM 421.)  {1MCP 146.1} \\ Angels Help Fight These Tendencies \\ RH, Apr 16, 1895.

(ML 03.)  {1MCP 146.2} \\ Faith Purifies Inherited Imperfections \\ 6T 238 (1900).

{1MCP 146.3}

I taught the Sabbath School Lesson in Ellsworth, Maine, this past Sabbath.

\\ I am very uncomfortable with much of the perspective being presented, ie., \\ God as judge, prosecutor, and investigator.

One authority quoted explained \\ that God serves as judge and prosecutor.

I believe there are two problems \\ here.

First, in our legal system the "prosecutor" is the one who does the \\ accusing in court.

If I am not mistaken, Satan is called "the accuser" in \\ Scripture.

To say that God accuses raises a MAJOR "red flag" for me.

The \\ second issue, though perhaps primary issue, is that modern systems are \\ patterned more after the Roman legal system than the Hebrew system which is \\ the system the Bible pictures of Judgment and the Sancturary are based on.

\\ I'm afraid I may very quickly find myself in quicksand if I try to apply \\ modern legal principles (or even Roman principles) to the Bible teachings.

\\ \\ Let me share how we approached things this past Sabbath in Ellsworth.

\\ First, we defined judgment and looked at several types of judment in our \\ system-- I judge myself when I commit a crime, the police judge me when they \\ investigate, the prosecuting attorney judges when he decides he has a case \\ against me, the judge judges when he hears my case, if a jury is involved \\ they must judge, the verdict is a judgment, and when I am sentenced, I am \\ judged.

There may well be many more.

We also looked at "who pays the wage" \\ in Romans, but I am overshooting my space... \\ \\ Next, we compared, as best we could with our limited legal knowledge, our \\ legal system to the Hebrew system.

We compared our judge, unbiased as he is \\ supposed to be, with the Hebrew judge who is "on the defendant's side" in \\ court.

We also looked at who presses charges and who defends in each \\ system.

In doing this we arrived at a very different picture of judgment \\ and God from the one "pushed" by the quarterly.

While we have only 30 \\ minutes, I'm the pastor : -) so we took an hour.

(No, I didn't shorten the \\ sermon!

-)

 

 

 

       from Joyce Griffith \\ \\ The short answer I get whenever I dare to suggest that our \\ understanding of the investigative judgment may be awry is \\ a thundering  response that "Ellen White said..."

More than \\ one person has gone so far as to say that if we question the \\ validity of our traditional SDA view of the investigative judgment, \\ we are denying Mrs. White's prophetic role.

If she was able to \\ make a mistake even after having visions from God, this line \\ of reasoning goes, everything she wrote is vulnerable, and our \\ doctrines risk irreversible erosion.

\\ \\ And it's certainly true that it was the shift from predicting the \\ second Advent in 1844 to explaining that it was the beginning of the \\ investigative judgment that salvaged our church from the junk heap.

\\ \\ On the other hand...If we do not give Ellen White the capability of \\ making a mistake, even a doctrinal one, we have elevated her writings \\ to a position of infallibility, on a higher level even than Scripture.

I \\ think \\ that is a real and present danger in our church, which it leads \\ inevitably \\ to two extreme positions: "Throw E.G.W. out.

She's a fraud," and \\ "Believe \\ every word E.G.W. ever wrote no matter what."

The middle ground between \\ those two extremes has another set of perils in determining who decides, \\ how, and with what impact.

\\ \\ I am in fear and trembling on this issue because I can see serious \\ problems \\ either way the top spins, but our formal church structure does not seem \\ to be capable of reasonable, open discussion on the issue.

(Imagine \\ asking your \\ local pastor a question about the investigative judgment...) God help us \\ all.

We \\ need wisdom from above.

\\ With this I would like to refer to Elder Roy Adams noble effort to \\ penetrate with \\ objective scholarship certain aspects of this subject.

The first deals \\ with \\ Exodus 25:9 & 40, where God instructs Moses: "According to all that I \\ show \\ you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, \\ so you \\ shall make it."

At first it sounds very straightforward.

But the Hebrew \\ word for \\ "pattern" is, in English letters, "tabnith."

Adams cites a 1981 \\ dissertation by \\ Richard M. Davidson, in which Davidson tried to determine whether or not \\ the \\ original meaning of "tabnith" implies "a vertical correspondence," that \\ is to say \\ an "earth to heaven" correspondence.

Davidson found a wide range of \\ inter- \\ pretations which he categorized into six possibilities, five of which \\ Adams uses.

\\ \\ And that is where I stop for this time.

Best wishes to you all as you \\ study.

\\ Gerald

 

     from David Borecky \\ \\ To CorrineVanderwerff: \\ \\ The article "The Sanctuary Doctrine -- Asset or Liability?"  was a 49 \\ page xerox copied booklet that was handed out during a presentation of \\ the San Diego Adventist Forum meeting on 2~/9~/02.

Raymond Cottrell was \\ there but has had some health problems so someone read excerpts from his \\ article, then there followed a question and answer period.

(Which I had \\ to miss, unfortunately.)

If anyone would like a copy of the tape of the \\ meeting or the article, contact: \\ \\ San Diego Adventist Forum \\ P.O.

Box 3148 \\ La Mesa, CA    91944-3148 \\ phone:  (619) 561-2360 \\ \\ Or you can E-mail Jim Kaatz at      ak-jk@cox.net

\\ for more info.

There will probably be a charge for the tape or booklet \\ or both.

\\ \\ Dr. Cottrell even gave his E-mail address of       r.rc@gte.net

\\ \\ Thank you to those who have responded so far on this issue.

I think \\ incorporating our understanding of the Larger View into our \\ understanding of the Sanctuary Doctrine is very helpful and helps it to \\ make more sense in my mind.

Unless, of course, the entire Sanctuary \\ Doctrine should be thrown out as non-biblical.

But even then, the \\ Larger View stands as a big help in understanding salvation, judgement, \\ atonement, etc. \\ \\ David

 

"1844 Made Simple," Clifford Goldstein

 

Continuing from where I left off last night, 1. did Moses see "a \\ miniature model of the earthly sanctuary either in the form of \\ a scale representation or in the form of an architect's plan"?; \\ 2. did Moses see "a miniature model of the heavenly sanctuary" \\ In both cases of 1 & 2, they both imply that "he would not necessarily \\ have seen the heavenly sanctuary as it really exists."

Nos.

3 & 4 \\ both involve Moses having been "shown the heavenly sanctuary \\ itself" and provided with "a miniature model of it (scale represent- \\ ation of it or architect's plans) for constructing the earthly" or \\ "without \\ benefit of a miniature model of any kind, simply told to pattern the \\ earthly sanctuary directly after it;" and in 5. "Moses was not shown \\ either the heavenly sanctuary or any representation of it, rather, \\ he was given a subjective vision or a burst of inspiration, the \\ recollection of which he was to use in building the earthly sanctuary."

\\ (Note that all quotation marks enclose statements made by Adams \\ from Davidson's thesis, as seen on pages 44 and 45 of Adam's \\ book, referenced earlier.)

\\ \\ I thought of another choice, that being that the pattern Moses saw \\ was an analogous pattern for purposes of a teaching device.

And \\ I would underline those two key words, "teaching device."

Jesus in \\ His pre-incarnate divinity is presenting in dark speech, parable, and \\ riddle, a lesson plan designed not alone for the Israelites or for us \\ 3,000 years later, but a lesson plan designed also to teach the \\ creatures of the unfallen universe the rudiments of how He proposed \\ to effect the reconciliation of His fallen earth creation.

I submit for \\ your careful analysis that this purpose behind the Sanctuary is most \\ critical for our understanding as well as for the Universe at large.

\\ \\ I would further submit that the unfallen angels and the intelligences of \\ the rest of the universe have a very serious investment of their own \\ future \\ in the outcome of this challenge to God's character and government.

\\ Their own security is at serious risk if God does not show up as genuine!

\\ We can take that for granted if we choose, but one-third of the angels \\ certainly didn't and made the wrong choice.

Think of what these many \\ thousands of broken relationships meant to the angels who remained \\ loyal to God when their earlier and previous companions chose to go \\ with Satan.

They were seriously hurt and the void created by that loss \\ was most keenly felt by everyone of them.

\\ \\ Tomorrow I would try to conceptualize the heavenly sanctuary so that by \\ Thursday night I can tie together some thoughts that stagger my mind in \\ gratitude for what God has done in giving us this tangible object lesson.

\\ God bless you each and all.

Gerald

 

 

 

The sacrificial system of which the sanctuary and day of atonement \\ (investigative judgement) are a part was given by God to His people for a \\ reason-  possibly because the meaning of words change sometimes over the \\ centuries, God saw fit to convey a message in a concrete way.