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SDA Sabbath School Lesson 13- 3rd Quarter 2025-The Tabernacle

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Richard Myers:
Thursday         September 25
Jesus Tabernacled With Humanity

Read John 1:14.

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. 

How is Christ’s incarnation compared to the tabernacle?

The life of Jesus is like the tabernacle and sanctuaries in that they all reveal the character of our God and the plan of Salvation.

The incarnation of Jesus is a mystery as well as an exclusive science that the redeemed will study throughout eternity. The apostle John states that Christ, by taking upon Himself our body, revealed that He dwells with us in a tangible way. Jesus here in the flesh resembles the God of the Old Testament, who dwelt with the Israelites in the tabernacle at Sinai and in the wilderness as they journeyed to the Promised Land.

He was the God of the Old Testament.

During His incarnation, Jesus tabernacled with humanity. What an unfathomable concession! The eternal God comes down to us, as one of us, in order to assure us that He truly is "Immanuel, God with us."

In Matthew 18:20, Jesus said that if two or three are gathered in His name, He will be there among them. Christ is with His people through the presence of the Holy Spirit. Christ invites His followers to be in close relationship with Him: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me" (Rev. 3:20, ESV).

If we take this in context it will lead many to understand they are not converted Christians. Jesus is pleading with all who profess to love God supremely to "repent."

 3:19   As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. 
 3:20   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. 
 3:21   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. 
 3:22   He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. 

Read Revelation 21:1-3. What is presented to us here?

The New Jerusalem will come down from heaven to the earth, and John declares: "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God" (Rev. 21:3, NKJV). There is no temple in the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:22) because the whole city is the temple, God’s sanctuary. The city’s length, breadth, and height are equal (Rev. 21:16) as it was with the Most Holy Place in the sanctuary, which was in the shape of a cube, with all sides equal. For eternity, in a world without sin, death, or suffering, we will dwell in the immediate presence of our God.

Looking at what we have been promised in Jesus, how can we learn to endure to the end?

The answer is always the same. We need to be fully surrendered to Jesus. Only those who trust God with all they have and all they are will enter into the gates of heaven. Sadly, we call the situation in the world, Babylon. And Jesus calls us Laodiceans. Who has the greater responsibility? Let the strong bear with the infirmities of the weak. There is a revival taking place in America. Amazing! What is our part in this?  First, we must be a reflection of our Savior before we can do any good thing. Let us remove the log from our own eye before we attempt to remove the splinter from our neighbor's eye.

Richard Myers:
Friday        September 26

Further Thought: Read Ellen G. White, "The Tabernacle and Its Services," pp. 353-358, in Patriarchs and Prophets.

As we complete this quarter's lessons, let us recognize we have great understanding of the Book of Exodus. The Bible and Patriarchs and Prophets reveal much in how Israel was to learn of God. Sadly, they failed and were cut off as His people. Israel is an ensample for those whom the end of the world is come.....that is us.

"The construction of the sanctuary was preceded by a divine act of redemption, namely, the deliverance of Israel from the enslaving power of Egypt. This, in turn, was followed by God’s willingness to enter into a permanent covenant relationship with His people. He would be their God, and they would become His people (Ex. 6:7). The way they would relate to Him and to each other was defined by the covenant law. The tabernacle was indeed a place of meeting, a place where God and humans came together. It was only after redemption and the establishment of permanent union with God through the covenant that the people had access to God in His dwelling place."—Andrews Bible Commentary: Old Testament, "Exodus" (Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University Press, 2020), p. 226.

Meanwhile, Ellen G. White describes the purpose of the sanctuary services: "Thus in the ministration of the tabernacle, and of the temple that afterward took its place, the people were taught each day the great truths relative to Christ’s death and ministration, and once each year their minds were carried forward to the closing events of the great controversy between Christ and Satan, the final purification of the universe from sin and sinners."—Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 358.

Amen!  To make it more plain as to how it pertained to Israel and to us in our day. The sanctuary revealed the plan of salvation. It all pointed to Jesus and the grace that transforms sinners into saints. Yes, it is nice to know that God has promised one day soon there will never be another sin! Amazing when all have free will. Our part is to rightly represent Jesus to a world soon to perish.  Do we understand God wants to remove our filthy garments today, not at the end of time?  Here is a most precious promise that we often do not hear: "Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I do not [this] for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name's sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went. And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, saith the Lord GOD, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes." Eze. 36:22,23.
Yes, it was a message to Israel of Old, but instead of receiving the promise, the nation murdered the Son of God. Now, it remains on the Book for the last church, the seventh church. More important than the conversion of one, God has promised to clean a filthy church. And, not only once, but twice in a row does He promise to wake up sleeping saints who are dead in trespasses and sins.

God was not speaking to just one, but to the whole church called  by Him. "For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you." Eze. 36:24,25. For all who are false teachers claiming His church has failed and will fail, let them repent if they can. How dare they teach that God has not power to purify His church. There will be a shaking out of all false teachers.

Twice not once did God promise there is going to revival and reformation in His Church. We go to the next chapter in Ezekiel:

 37:1   The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which [was] full of bones, 
 37:2   And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, [there were] very many in the open valley; and, lo, [they were] very dry. 
 37:3   And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest. 
 37:4   Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. 
 37:5   Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: 
 37:6   And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I [am] the LORD. 
 37:7   So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. 
 37:8   And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but [there was] no breath in them. 
 37:9   Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. 
 37:10   So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army. 


Discussion Questions:

    Central to the worship services in the sanctuary was the shedding of blood. All sorts of animals were sacrificed, and their blood was used in almost all of the temple rituals. What did the blood symbolize, and what did all these sacrifices ultimately point to?

They all pointed to the plan of salvation and the fulfillment of God's part in the promise made in Gen 3:15. In order for us to have the opportunity to be transformed, to hate Satan and sin, Jesus would have to suffer for the sins of the whole world. The blood represented the blood of Jesus shed for our salvation.

    However amazing it is that God, the Creator of the universe, would in the sanctuary dwell among His people, how much more astonishing is it that He would come to dwell among us as one of us, a human being. That itself would have been an amazing expression of love. But then to offer Himself as a sacrifice for sin—that is, to die in our behalf? What does this teach us about the character of God? Also, what does this teach us about how much God wants to see us saved into His eternal kingdom?

There is a most  beautiful presentation that answers that question.

The story of Bethlehem is an exhaustless theme. In it is hidden “the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God.” Romans 11:33. We marvel at the Saviour’s sacrifice in exchanging the throne of heaven for the manger, and the companionship of adoring angels for the beasts of the stall. Human pride and self-sufficiency stand rebuked in His presence. Yet this was but the beginning of His wonderful condescension. It would have been an almost infinite humiliation for the Son of God to take man’s nature, even when Adam stood in his innocence in Eden. But Jesus accepted humanity when the race had been weakened by four thousand years of sin. Like every child of Adam He accepted the results of the working of the great law of heredity. What these results were is shown in the history of His earthly ancestors. He came with such a heredity to share our sorrows and temptations, and to give us the example of a sinless life.
 
Satan in heaven had hated Christ for His position in the courts of God. He hated Him the more when he himself was dethroned. He hated Him who pledged Himself to redeem a race of sinners. Yet into the world where Satan claimed dominion God permitted His Son to come, a helpless babe, subject to the weakness of humanity. He permitted Him to meet life’s peril in common with every human soul, to fight the battle as every child of humanity must fight it, at the risk of failure and eternal loss.
 
The heart of the human father yearns over his son. He looks into the face of his little child, and trembles at the thought of life’s peril. He longs to shield his dear one from Satan’s power, to hold him back from temptation and conflict. To meet a bitterer conflict and a more fearful risk, God gave His only-begotten Son, that the path of life might be made sure for our little ones. “Herein is love.” Wonder, O heavens! and be astonished, O earth!  DA 49.    

Read Hebrews 8:1-6.

 8:1   Now of the things which we have spoken [this is] the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; 
 8:2   A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man. 
 8:3   For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore [it is] of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer. 
 8:4   For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law: 
 8:5   Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, [that] thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount. 
 8:6   But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. 

What does it tell us about how the earthly sanctuary reflected what Jesus is doing for us now in the heavenly sanctuary?

Let's understand verse 6 before we try to talk about what the New Covenant promises."he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises." What was the older covenant Paul was speaking of when he spoke of "a better covenant and "better promises?" We need to be faithful students, and not just accept what others have taught. Was the New Covenant related to the Old Covenant? Apparently a new covenant was needed. Now, many in the church teach that it was necessary because Israel broke the covenant, which they did. But, that does not address the better covenant with better promises. In an effort to protect the law of God, our friends fail to understand what the Old Covenant was. There were two parts to the covenant, but   basically God wanted to allow Israel to see they could not keep the covenant. The covenant was simply "obey and live." They promised they would not knowing anything about the plan of salvation and their inability to do any good thing.  There were two laws, actually three when we consider they were given civil law as well as moral and ceremonial. They must keep them all, for they were the Old Covenant. Obey and live.

After falling, they were then (some) ready to learn  about their Savior.  So it is today. Many are not ready or able to keep the law of God. We must first see our need of a Savior. The Apostle Paul recites to us in a very good presentation what it is like to be a sinner who knows he is guilty, but does not know what to do. He thought His Savior was a fake, thus with no Savior, he fell on his face and prayed "O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death." Rom. 7:24.

He discovered the truth when he was converted on the way to Damascus. We are not in the same situation as was Saul. We know who can save us.
But, like the Jews, Satan perverted the gospel message so that a great multitude believe they are saved when they are not. While we know Jesus is our Savior, how many understand that they must do in order to be a converted Christian. Jesus presents it many different ways, but I want to shara truth that one cannot reject without understanding they will not follow the truth that would save them. Again we look to  a truth Paul has written in 2 Corinthians, verse 3:18:  "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, [even] as by the Spirit of the Lord." 

It is both an intellectual and spiritual truth that by beholding we become changed. The mind gradually adapts itself to what it is accustomed to love and reverence. That is why Jesus said "You must drink blood and eat my flesh." It is by spending time with God we will learn of His great love. Then we will love Him supremely because we first saw great love for us.  God bless all who take time to be with Jesus! Have a blessed Sabbath!

 

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