Participants: Charles Byrd (Host), Andrea Endries, Levi Longoria, Stephen Fowler
Series Code: THL
Program Code: THL000019
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00:05 If you visit the old city of Jerusalem today,
00:07 the purchase of a kilo of rice, bananas or nuts, 00:10 don't be surprised if you find that they use an old fashioned 00:14 scale and weights to measure your order. 00:18 This scale and these weights are important 00:20 as they will be the judge, 00:22 the arbiter of whether or not you get your full kilo. 00:26 After all, if you're paying for a kilo, 00:30 you will be wanting what you paid for. 00:32 And speaking of scales, 00:34 the legal system in America is symbolized by a woman, 00:38 a Roman goddess actually named Themis. 00:41 With a scale in her hand she seeks to weigh the truth 00:44 and so dispense justice in a fair, 00:47 balanced, and impartial way. 00:49 But some 1300 years, 00:51 before the Roman bestirred themselves to become a nation, 00:54 God made it clear that judgment and justice 00:58 were very important qualities 01:00 in those He chose as his friends. 01:02 In fact, His whole kingdom, 01:04 the very foundation of His throne 01:06 is built upon judgment and justice. 01:10 Thus saith the Lord says the prophet Isaiah, 01:13 "Keep ye judgment, and do justice 01:18 for my salvation is near to come, 01:20 and my righteousness to be revealed." 01:23 So it should be no surprise that Emmanuel, 01:26 "God with us" made judgment 01:28 an important part of His doctrines and teachings. 01:32 His teachings fly in the face, 01:34 of the now almost universally reinvented Jesus, 01:38 the Jesus who has been emasculated, 01:41 the Jesus who accepts everyone, as part of His kingdom. 01:44 No matter their choices. 01:47 But the universalists message 01:49 that everyone will be saved in the end, 01:51 does not balance in the scale of truth 01:54 when compared to the teachings of Christ. 01:57 Some 2000 years ago, 01:59 the teachings of Jesus regarding the judgment 02:02 caused a great deal of thunder in the Holy Land. 02:05 And based on the current social pressure 02:08 to create and enact laws that silenced these teachings. 02:12 I would say they are still causing thunder today. 03:08 The question may be asked, why does God need a judgment? 03:11 Why can't He just let everyone alone? 03:14 After all, we're all basically good or are we? 03:20 Since 1922, the worldwide statistic 03:23 for abortions of convenience is nearly 2,300,000 per year. 03:29 Each year 15 million people starve worldwide 03:34 while there is enough grain to supply every person 03:37 on this planet with two loaves of bread per day. 03:41 In the US alone, we experience 03:43 1,300,000 reported violent crimes per year. 03:48 While at the same time 03:49 we open the door to the "entertainment" industry 03:52 inviting them to saturate our minds 03:54 and those of our children with acts of violence. 03:58 No, I don't think this basically good sentiment 04:01 would pass the judgment bar of God, 04:04 since He already has judged our hearts as desperately wicked. 04:09 In fact, Jesus' comment in Luke 11:13 could be understood 04:12 to be basically good means actually evil. 04:17 And all the while our sins are causing more pain, 04:20 sorrow, sadness, heartache, sickness, and death. 04:24 If we want all these bad things to go away, 04:27 then sin needs to go away. 04:31 And to help accomplish that goal, 04:33 God has convened a judgment. 04:37 in vision Jesus told John, his last living apostle 04:41 that there would come an hour that the judgment would begin. 04:45 With the encouragement of Jesus to study 04:47 and understand the Book of Daniel, 04:50 we learned in our previous program 04:52 that the judgment hour started in 1844 as the final event 04:57 of the longest time prophecy in the Bible. 05:00 Let's look at that verse once again. 05:04 Daniel 8:14, "And he said unto me, 05:07 Unto two thousand and three hundred days, 05:10 then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." 05:13 But what does it mean to cleanse the sanctuary 05:16 and why would it need cleansing? 05:19 If we want to really understand the judgment, 05:21 then we need to really understand the sanctuary. 05:24 So our reporters have teamed up in Timna, 05:27 deep in the south of Israel 05:29 at a replica of the ancient tabernacle. 05:32 Hi, guys. Hey. Hello. 05:35 Looks dry there? It is Charles, and hot. 05:39 Well, it's only supposed to get up to 112 today, 05:42 45 degrees Celsius. 05:45 Well, let's get moving before it gets too hot. 05:47 Too late, we've already passed that point. 05:49 I'll tell you one thing though. 05:51 Being here makes me a lot more sympathetic 05:53 towards the children of Israel 05:54 who wandered in the desert for 40 years. 05:56 Now the reason we're here is 05:58 because of two passages of scripture. 06:00 The first is the teachings of Jesus. 06:03 He said in John 5:39 "Search the scriptures, 06:06 for in them ye think ye have eternal life, 06:09 and they are they which testify of me." 06:13 It is the doctrine of Jesus that the Bible points to Him 06:15 as our Savior and Messiah. 06:17 Today, I believe you see that in a profound way. 06:21 The second verse is found in Psalm 77:13 06:25 "Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary, 06:28 and who is so great a God as our God?" 06:31 The tabernacle made by Moses and the children of Israel 06:34 during there desert wanderings explains the way of God. 06:38 If you want to know who He is and what He's doing? 06:42 Look to the sanctuary. 06:44 Some might say that for the New Testament believer 06:48 the Old Tabernacle is not important. 06:51 But if you read Paul's letter to the Hebrews, 06:53 you will find that he mentions the word 'tabernacle' nine times 06:57 and it's used 15 times in the New Testament. 06:59 Four times Paul uses the word 'sanctuary,' 07:03 another name for this ancient church. 07:06 So if we're going to learn about Jesus and the Day of Judgment, 07:10 this is the place to be. So let's go. 07:15 No theme in the Bible is greater 07:17 or more important than salvation. 07:20 This theme will be the study and science of the redeemed 07:23 throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity, 07:26 like a giant fractal. 07:28 The love of God will continue to expand, 07:32 leaving infinite room for exploration and contemplation. 07:36 So God created in this sandbox illustration, 07:40 a portal that would direct the minds of His people 07:44 to Himself, His love, 07:46 His plan for their redemption and the judgment. 07:50 Here you will see His plan and purpose 07:53 to finally rid our hearts of sin and its curse. 08:00 Okay, remember team it's all about Jesus, 08:03 so check it out and tell us what you find. 08:07 The first thing we see is the simple tent structure 08:10 surrounded by a courtyard. 08:12 It could be the home of anyone, but this was to be tent, 08:15 the dwelling place of Jehovah, the God of all creation. 08:20 God said, "Let them make me a sanctuary 08:24 that I may dwell among them." 08:27 So the primary purpose of this tent 08:30 was that man and God could be together, 08:33 interacting and having fellowship. 08:36 And that way that truly does testify of Jesus. 08:40 For Isaiah said, "The Lord himself shall give you a sign. 08:44 Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, 08:47 and shall call his name Immanuel." 08:50 Immanuel is the name that means "with us is God." 08:55 The tabernacle was placed in the center of the camp, 08:58 so that God could be with them. 09:02 And when Jesus came to earth it was for the same reason. 09:05 God wants to be with us, you and me. 09:09 I don't think where you can fully grasp 09:11 how intimate this illustration is. 09:14 But Paul writing to the folks in Corinth put it this way, 09:17 "You are the temple of the living God, 09:21 as God hath said, I will dwell in them, 09:25 and walk in them, and I will be their God, 09:30 and they shall be my people." 09:32 Much more than just living in a tabernacle amongst the people, 09:37 He wants us to be the sanctuary. 09:40 He wants to dwell in us. 09:47 As you enter the courtyard of the sanctuary, 09:49 the first thing you would see 09:51 is the 'Altar of Burnt Offerings' 09:53 where animals were sacrificed. 09:54 If anyone sinned, he or she would come to the tabernacle 09:58 and bring a spotless lamb with no defects. 10:01 Then they would place their hands 10:03 upon the head of the lamb and confess their sins, 10:06 the lies, the adultery, the bitterness, 10:09 the pride, the envy, the theft everything, 10:13 anything that would stop one 10:15 from being intimately connected to God. 10:18 This is how we come to God, to His house, 10:22 just as we are, sin-stained and damaged. 10:26 But we don't come alone. 10:28 We come with a lamb that is going to take our sins, 10:31 with the lamb that would become our sin and die in our place. 10:36 It is our sin-stained hands that must take the knife 10:39 and slay the innocent 10:41 who is punished on behalf of the guilty. 10:44 Now I'm going to share with you something that is important. 10:47 This will become significant in the need for the sanctuary 10:50 to be cleansed and the judgment. 10:53 The sacrificial blood was then carried by the priests 10:57 into the sanctuary and sprinkled before the veil or the curtain 11:00 separating the Holy Place from the most Holy Place. 11:04 The priest would also put some of the blood 11:07 on the horns of the altar of incense. 11:10 Everything burned on this altar was a representation of sin. 11:14 Jesus was made to be sin for us 11:17 and was offered for all our sins. 11:20 This altar was for the express purpose 11:22 of connecting us to Jesus, 11:25 the Lamb of God, the ultimate sacrifice. 11:30 Paul tells us God is a consuming fire. 11:33 Like the Israelites of old, 11:35 we can come now confessing our sins 11:37 and accepting the merits of Christ in our behalf. 11:41 We can let His consuming presence cause us 11:44 to hate the sin that hurts and kills our precious Savior. 11:48 Burning up our desire to sin any longer 11:52 or we can hold on to those sins 11:54 and let that same fire consume them and us in the end. 12:00 The choice is ours. 12:04 The next item, God used to speak about His ways, 12:07 His plans was a brass laver with water in it. 12:10 You can well imagine that slaughtering an animal 12:13 and then burning it was not a clean process. 12:15 So after sacrificing the animals, 12:18 the priest would use this water to wash their hands and feet 12:20 before entering the sanctuary. 12:22 This was not simply an optional part of the service 12:25 because if the priest would have entere 12:26 into the presence of God without washing, he would die. 12:31 We can come to God as we are, 12:33 but we must not plan to stay that way. 12:35 We must be washed and cleaned. 12:38 This water represents baptism. 12:40 True baptism is a complete death to self. 12:43 You know, I've never met a dead person who has a drug problem. 12:46 Dead people don't smoke either. 12:48 I've never seen a dead lady cheat on her husband. 12:51 Baptism is literal when we die to self. 12:54 When choose a life of Christ and then live new life 12:57 different from the old, that's a miracle, 12:59 and that miracle is a gift from God. 13:02 But we still must cooperate with this miracle. 13:04 The priest had to cooperate by bringing 13:07 his hands and feet in contact with the water. 13:09 But it was the water that made him clean. 13:12 The same is true for us. 13:13 For this water is none other than Jesus 13:16 who works that miracle of grace 13:17 in those who humbly come and receive life from Him. 13:21 Now once the confessions were made, 13:24 once the sacrifice was offered, 13:26 once the washing was finished, 13:28 the priest continued the service, 13:30 inside the sanctuary. 13:32 Just inside the sanctuary and to the left in south 13:35 is the seven branched lampstand. 13:38 It was made from a whole talent of gold. 13:41 A talent of gold is approximately 75 pounds. 13:45 This lamp stand used the pressed oil of olives 13:47 and was kept burning night and day. 13:50 Moses recorded that the whole lampstand 13:52 "shall be one beaten work of pure gold." 13:56 And of course, this piece of sacred furniture 13:58 once again is a symbol of Jesus. 14:02 For He said, "I am the light of the world." 14:06 According to Paul, this light is an apt symbol 14:09 for the knowledge of God. 14:11 "For God, who commanded the light 14:14 to shine out of the darkness, hath shined in our hearts, 14:17 to give the light of the knowledge 14:19 of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." 14:22 If you want to know the truth, 14:24 then you have to have the knowledge of God. 14:27 Jesus brought us all the truth we need about a loving Father 14:31 who longs to redeem us from sin and from death. 14:36 And before we move on, 14:38 let's look at one more prophesy concerning Christ. 14:41 Isaiah 53:5, "He was wounded for our transgressions, 14:46 he was bruised for our iniquities, 14:49 and the chastisement of our peace was upon him, 14:53 and with his stripes we are healed." 14:57 God foresaw that His own son 14:59 would also be beaten and so give us light. 15:05 It is as we see Him suffering for our sins 15:07 and for those of the entire world 15:09 that we can experience His great and wonderful love. 15:16 Directly across from the candlestick 15:17 and to the north is the table of showbread. 15:20 I like the way the Revised Standard Version 15:23 translates Exodus 25:30. 15:26 "And you shall set the bread of the Presence 15:28 on the table before me always." 15:31 Once again we see God wanting to be with us 15:34 to have His presence 15:36 always nourishing us and strengthening us. 15:39 And, yes, this also represents Christ. 15:42 "I am the living bread which came down from heaven." 15:46 Jesus said in John 6:51, "If any man eat of this bread, 15:51 he shall live for ever, 15:53 and the bread that I will give is my flesh, 15:57 which I will give for the life of the world." 16:00 Of course, He later explains that His flesh is in fact, 16:03 the living and powerful words of life. 16:07 All of His knowledge, His words, His testimonies 16:10 which are the Spirit of Prophecy will nourish us, 16:14 giving us life and strength to live for Him and with Him. 16:19 So many people have absorbed bad attitudes, 16:23 feelings and even habits 16:24 from their fathers and mothers, even while in utero. 16:28 But through the assimilation of this bread, this living word, 16:32 we can overcome every inherited and cultivated tendency to evil. 16:37 A great principal of life declares, 16:40 "By beholding we become changed." 16:43 By eating and digesting this bread daily, 16:47 often, we too become like Christ 16:51 experiencing His very presence, 16:54 peace, directions, purposes, and love. 17:00 The final article of furniture in this room, 17:01 the Holy Place is the Altar of Incense. 17:04 Each day the priest would come 17:06 and place incense upon the coals 17:08 causing a sweet fragrance to loft upward. 17:10 This incense gives us a picture of how God feels 17:13 about prayers of His people, 17:15 when they come to Him in daily humility 17:17 is outlined in these sanctuary services. 17:19 Our prayers are a sweet savor in His nostrils. 17:23 In the heavenly sanctuary of which, this is a type. 17:26 Incense is mixed with the prayers of God's people. 17:28 Revelation 8:3 let's us peek into 17:30 the very throne room of God. 17:32 "And another angel came and stood at the altar, 17:35 having a golden censer, 17:36 and there was given unto him much incense, 17:39 that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints 17:41 upon the golden altar which was before the throne." 17:46 Just a side point, it is this censer 17:48 filled with the intercessory prayers of His people 17:50 that starts the prayers in Revelation 8. 17:52 And I'm convinced that not until we commence to praying 17:55 for God's kingdom to come and His will to be done, 17:58 will He start the final and rapid end time movements 18:01 that will close the sin chapter of earth's history. 18:04 And, yes, once again this is a type of Christ 18:08 and His ministry on our behalf. 18:10 First, He is our priest 18:12 who is standing before the throne of God. 18:14 And why is He there? 18:16 He would stand before the throne offering His blood, 18:18 as the great sacrifice for all our sins. 18:21 And second, He is the incense Himself 18:24 mingling our small and impotent prayers 18:27 with His own omnipotent, powerful prayers 18:29 claiming gifts in our behalf. 18:32 "Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost 18:35 that come unto God by him, 18:38 seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them." 18:41 So you've now seen all three pieces 18:43 of furniture in the Holy Place. 18:45 There is just one more item behind this curtain. 18:48 This is the Ark of the Covenant 18:51 and it stands in the most Holy Place 18:53 of the earthly tabernacle. 18:56 This is a representation of the very throne room of God. 19:00 The first thing, you notice are these two angels, 19:03 the covering cherubs who attend Him. 19:06 They are the highest angels of whom Gabriel is now one. 19:10 Lucifer used to have one of these physicians 19:13 before he coveted God's throne for himself 19:15 and rebelled against his creator. 19:18 Of course, if it was a real throne of an earthly king, 19:22 this would be an uncomfortable seat. 19:25 But God is a Spirit 19:27 and the presence of the Almighty 19:29 hovered over this throne with Shekinah glory. 19:32 Do you know what He calls this seat? 19:35 God calls His throne, "The Mercy Seat." 19:40 What a wonderful God? 19:42 And while He does have mercy, 19:44 His government's foundation is set upon immutable laws 19:49 based on the principle of love. 19:52 They are the Ten Commandments. 19:54 These unassailable principles were written in stone 19:58 with the finger of God 19:59 and are as unchangeable as the eternal God Himself. 20:04 If they could have been abrogated, 20:06 if they could have been eliminated, 20:09 then Jesus never would have had to go to the cross. 20:12 Jesus believed in this laws 20:15 stored here in the Ark of the Covenant. 20:17 He said, "He did not come to destroy it." 20:20 On the contrary, His chosen people had abused it. 20:24 Actually making an idol of it 20:26 and He had come to put it back in its right place. 20:30 Now once a year and only once a year 20:33 the high priest alone would enter this room 20:36 to perform a most solemn service. 20:39 It was called the "Day of Atonement." 20:41 And it was a type of the antitypical cleansing 20:44 of the heavenly sanctuary mentioned in Daniel 8:14. 20:49 "And he said unto me, 20:50 Unto two thousand and three hundred days, 20:53 then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." 20:56 So what was the Day of Atonement all about? 21:00 Well, day by day, all year long sacrifices had been made. 21:05 The priest over an over carried the blood 21:07 from the sacrifices into the Holy Place, 21:11 placing it upon the horns of the Altar of Incense 21:14 and sprinkling it before the veil. 21:17 This daily action carried the sins 21:19 from the people into the sanctuary. 21:22 And so, "An atonement for the Holy Place, 21:25 because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, 21:29 and because of their transgressions 21:30 in all their sins needed to be made." 21:34 So once a year, on the last day of the year, 21:37 atonement was made for the sanctuary and the people. 21:41 This day was set aside 21:42 for the people to afflict their soul. 21:45 It was a day of sincere introspection before God 21:48 with prayer, fasting, and deep searching of the heart. 21:52 They were to make sure that there were 21:54 no unconfessed sins in their life. 21:57 Everything was to be made right. 22:00 Then two goats were chosen by lot. 22:03 One was to be the Lord's goat representing Jesus, 22:06 the other, the scapegoat which represented Satan 22:09 the enemy of God and his followers. 22:12 The Lord's goat was killed 22:14 and its blood was taken into the sanctuary. 22:17 That blood was used to wash the sanctuary clean 22:21 of all the sins of the people 22:23 that had collected during the year. 22:25 Those sins were carried by the priest 22:28 back out of the sanctuary 22:30 and then the true guilt was placed symbolically 22:32 upon the symbol of the one truly responsible 22:35 for the sins of mankind, Satan himself. 22:41 Then this goat was led away by a fit man into the wilderness. 22:45 Now these were domesticated goats 22:47 and left alone in the wilderness, 22:49 they didn't stand a chance. 22:52 The wilderness contains 22:53 no feral herds of domesticated goats. 22:57 Now what does all this mean? 23:01 Well, one thing is for sure, 23:03 this whole sandbox illustration was only symbolic. 23:07 "For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats 23:10 should take away sins." Paul tells us in Hebrews 10:4. 23:14 This blood was in symbol of the cleansing agent 23:16 that washed the sinner clean 23:18 and also it was only 23:20 symbolically cleansing the sanctuary. 23:22 This is not to downplay or minimize its importance. 23:25 It has a very important role and that role was to point 23:28 the followers of God towards Jesus 23:30 and the day that Jesus, the true Lamb of God 23:32 would shed His blood in our behalf. 23:35 That's right, Stephen. 23:36 And this dramatic Day of Atonement 23:38 and the cleansing of the sanctuary 23:40 also point's us to Jesus. 23:43 Listen to what Jesus taught in His doctrines. 23:45 "The Father judges no man, 23:47 but has committed all judgment unto the Son. 23:50 And the Father has given Him 23:52 authority to execute judgment also, 23:54 because He is the Son of man." 23:57 You see the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary 24:00 of which the earthly was a type or shadow, 24:03 foreshadows the final judgment 24:05 when everyone's case will be decided by Jesus Himself. 24:10 And why is that important to me here and now? 24:13 Because as we learned in our last study, 24:16 this investigative judgment has already begun 24:19 when every case has been decided by Jesus 24:23 and the judgment, He will announce. 24:26 "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still, 24:29 and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still, 24:33 and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still, 24:37 and he that is holy, let him be holy still. 24:41 And, behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, 24:45 to give every man according as his work shall be." 24:49 There is no more time to play games with God. 24:51 We are moments away 24:53 from the Savior of the world returning. 24:56 All cases decided. 24:58 He already has His reward with Him. 25:00 No second chances. There's no appeals. 25:04 And that's an important call to each one of our hearts. 25:08 Listen to the teaching of Jesus from Matthew 5:48. 25:12 "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father 25:15 which is in heaven is perfect." 25:18 That seems like an impossibly tall order, 25:20 but the question that I have to ask myself 25:23 and perhaps you do too 25:25 is am I letting God not only call me righteous 25:28 through the justification of Christ, 25:30 but am I also letting Him make me righteous 25:33 through the sanctification of my heart? 25:35 Jesus loves us. 25:37 He doesn't want any of us to miss out on the new heaven 25:40 and the new earth that He's preparing for us. 25:42 We have to keep saying, yes, to Him 25:45 with all our known choices, if we would be saved. 25:48 When He calls you to obedience? Say, yes. 25:52 When He calls you to service? Say, yes. 25:55 The judgment is so permanent. 25:57 We will either end up like Sodom and Gomorrah 26:00 or we will end up with Jesus 26:01 and the angels, our heavenly Father 26:03 and those who we had loved on earth forever and ever. 26:08 The choice is yours. 26:12 The entire life and ministry of Jesus 26:15 was foreshadowed in the sanctuary service. 26:18 He is our sacrifice, our lamb. 26:22 He is our water of life, our living bread, our light 26:29 and He as our high priest 26:31 interceding for us in the judgment. 26:35 Jesus was clear that there will be a judgment 26:38 and the prophecy of Daniel 8 and 9 26:40 clearly sets the starting day 1844. 26:44 In 1844, the "Day of Atonement" 26:46 or "Yom Kippur" was on October 22. 26:50 It's going on right now. 26:54 I'm convinced that that judgment will soon be finished 26:58 and everyone will be either saved or lost for eternity. 27:03 So what about you, friend? 27:06 Will you like Christ be your minister 27:08 in the heavenly sanctuary just as He was on the cross? 27:11 Will you choose to allow His sacrifice 27:14 to win your heart making it obedient to His love? 28:04 Did you know "Thunder in the Holy Land" 28:06 is a fun to share, powerful one hour Bible study, 28:10 bought with the engaging 30 minute high def video, 28:12 in the prepared discussion, 28:14 questions that take to small group 28:16 straight to the heart of the matter? 28:18 Thunder is a delightful and rewarding way 28:21 to share the teachings of Jesus. 28:24 Check it out at QLP.tv. |
Revised 2014-12-17