February 4: BRINGING SINS TO THEIR END

Your way, O God is in the sanctuary; Who is so great a God as our God? Psalm 77:13

Does God expect us to learn from the sanctuary? Indeed He does! Most of us are visual learners, and the way of salvation is beautifully illustrated through the elements of the sanctuary. This divine design represents salvation’s completeness: God’s work of destroying sin while saving sinners.

The word of God had been hidden from the masses during the Dark Ages, therefore the divine call of the Reformers was for a rediscovery of each precious truth in the way of God. We are still in rediscovery mode, but God’s plan to disentangle us from all sin will soon come to its end. We are each invited to be cleansed creatures in His cleansed creation.

Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” John 14:6

The total eradication of sin from the universe is the long-standing agenda of the Ancient of Days. The seed of sin is sown with a mere thought that pulls one’s mind away from righteous thinking. Then, when desire is conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. (James 1:15) Because of sin and its sticky residue, its full elimination is a process that the supremely powerful Redeemer undertook to dispatch before we were ever created. This plan allows us to come into total agreement with the King of the universe, as is fitting for loyal citizens of Heaven’s perfect kingdom.

This throws a great light as to the use of sanctuary language expressed in the book of Revelation (and the written word as a whole). Without it, we are fairly clueless regarding the Lord’s work to separate us from our sin. As Creator, Redeemer, and now Sanctifier and High Priest in the true tabernacle (Hebrews 8:2) of heaven, we come closer to genuine appreciation of His amazing love. Every “growth spurt” of love for Him also increases joy and motivation to hear better, understand better, and heed better what He is saying to each of us.

Every Reformer had a calling to fulfill. Their work ushered in much damage to Satan’s kingdom. Today, we are still being blessed by their faithfulness. But there is also a curse as the enemy steps in to do “damage control”: followers of the various Reformers placed on a pedestal—unwittingly idolized—the mere man from whom they had learned. There are now more than 33,000 Christian denominations, stemming from the age-old tendency to exalt the created above the Creator (see Romans 1:18-25), and is the cause of the fractured condition of Christendom today.

None of this is a surprise to God. Thank Him right now that He is able to see all that each of us can potentially become. For every soul who wholeheartedly seeks to follow the way, God’s vision will become the reality in the end. The blight of sin removed, its discord totally banished, the God of love will gaze upon the ransomed and see His own image.

When I thought how to understand this, it was too painful for me—until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I understood their end. Psalm 73:16-17