The Service Of The Sanctuary

by John McCormick, Barrow-in-Furness | Category: General | Nov 1968

When Jacob said after his God-given dream, "This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven" (Genesis 28.17), he expressed truth which is important for us. He did not mean, of course, that only those in the house of God will get to heaven. In the sovereignty of God the work of Christ at Golgotha saves people of every land who receive the Saviour, and these will know the blessing of being in heaven. They may not have come to the knowledge of the truth of the house of God, but that does not affect their eternal security in the slightest degree. It may be that the reader assumes that all believers from the house of God. That this is not so is clearly taught in the Scriptures. The church of God in Jerusalem was c6mposed of persons who had received the word (this brought life), and were then baptized and added (Acts 2.41); it follows, therefore, that baptized believers only formed that church. Later other churches were planted and these together formed the house of God. The church of God in Corinth was "God's building" (1 Corinthians 3.9), and Ephesians 2.21 states, "each several building, fitly framed together, groweth into a holy temple in the Lord". Those to whom Peter wrote are said to be "built up a spiritual house" (1 Peter 2.5). This building up is the same as the adding of Acts 2.41. We conclude then, that believers who have not been added are not built into the house of God.

Among the responsibilities of those in the house of God is that of preaching the gospel to the unsaved. There is also the showing forth, by practice and precept, the excellencies of Christ. These responsibilities are great, but they are precious. In God's house a service is also to be rendered to God which takes man to the highest plane of spiritual experience. We refer to that holy, yet blessed experience of service in the sanctuary. It is to this, we suggest, that Jacob's words point.

It pleased God in His wisdom to cause a Tabernacle to be erected in the wilderness. This was the centre of divine service and worship. Associated with it was the priesthood, the offering of sacrifices, and the service of the Holies. This was the pattern of God's service among His people of the past dispensation, in the Tabernacle, in the Temple which Solomon built, and in the Temple of the Remnant. It ended when the Lord Jesus said "Behold, your house is left unto you desolate" (Matthew 23.38), and He went out of the Temple. In confirmation of His words the veil of the Temple was rent when the Lord was crucified (Matthew 27.51). A new era was about to commence. The material house was to give place to a spiritual one.

In the matter of divine service in the Holies, the people of God should be constantly exercised. In the past there were those who, despite the failure of their fellows who neglected their responsibilities toward God, were deeply exercised, and their thoughts have been preserved for us in the Scriptures. Psalms 84, 42, and 43 reveal a longing in the hearts of the writers which could only be fulfilled as they came up to Zion. In Psalm 84 the psalmist speaks of his longing, his fainting for the courts of Jehovah. His words, "Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house: they will be still praising Thee", have found an echo in many hearts, for it is from the house of God that true praise can ascend to the Majesty on high. Then he says, "Blessed is the man ... in whose heart are the highways to Zion". This is where his heart was. He longed to appear before God in Zion, to offer to Him the thanksgiving due to His Name.

Psalms 42 and 43 do not seem to emphasize as much the place, though this is involved, but rather the Person associated with the place. "My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God; when shall I come and appear before God?" The psalmist remembers past experiences, recalling a multitude keeping holyday, the joy and the praise. He longs for such experiences again-He knew he could not have them outside Zion's gates, hence the longing and beseeching of Psalm 43.3,4:

"0 send out Thy light and Thy truth; let them lead me:

Let them bring me unto Thy holy hill, And to Thy tabernacles.

Then will I go unto the altar of God, Unto God my exceeding joy."

The sons of Korah had a deep appreciation of the God of the house of God. They knew His word had called them to come out from all else and be separate (see Deuteronomy 12). They also knew that the only place from which acceptable service could be rendered to God was His house. Hence their longing for God and for His house.

There are many today who know Christ as Saviour and rejoice in Him as such; but spiritual experience should not end there. It would have been a poor experience for Israel if, after being delivered from Egypt's bondage, they had remained on the far side of the Red Sea, in an enemy's land. When they sang their song of deliverance, they spoke of God's purposes in them:

"Thou in Thy mercy hast led the people which Thou hast redeemed: Thou hast guided them in Thy strength to Thy holy habitation" (Exodus 15.13).

This is the purpose of God for His blood-bought children today. He seeks a worshipping people to worship Him "in spirit and truth" (John 4.23,24), "a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 2.5). This being so, the thought of appearing before God should be very real to His people. There should be a thirsting, a longing after Him. Men of the past with far less light desired Him. They knew something of the unspotted holiness of His Person (Psalm 99.2,3; Exodus 15.11). The place of His dwelling must be holy. In Hebrews 9.24 we read "For Christ entered not into a holy place made with hands, like in pattern to the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear before the face of God for us". He is "a Minister of the sanctuary" (Hebrews 8.2). Into that same holy place the holy priesthood enters in spirit to worship by the Spirit of God.

In the past godly men were not only interested in the thought of appearing before God, but also in their condition of heart when they so appeared. This is an important matter in connexion with the service of God in the Holies. Hebrews 10 teaches us that we have been cleansed completely. Were this not so we could never enter into the presence of God to worship. Not only so, but the blood of Jesus gives us boldness to enter the Holies by the way which He dedicated for us. There is, however, the thought of personal cleansing. This is dealt with in 1 Corinthians 11. The Remembrance is associated with the service of the Holies, and instructions are given as to the condition of those partaking, "Let a man prove himself" (1 Corinthians 11.28). Although Aaron and his sons were washed completely at their consecration, they must also wash their hands and feet at the laver before entering upon the service of God "that they die not" (Exodus 30.17-21).

We suggest a consideration of Psalm 26.2 with "Be ye clean, ye that bear the vessels of the LORD" (Isaiah 52.11); also 2 Corinthians 7.1. We should live day by day in view of our appearing before God, in the sanctuary. As we "keep festival" (1 Corinthians 5.8 R.V.M.) let us put away all leaven (sin) from our lives.

John McCormick, Barrow-in-Furness | Nov 1968
General