All Pointers Led to Him
Read John 1:29. What is the significance of John calling Jesus the "Lamb of God"?
The wilderness tabernacle stood at the center of Israelite worship for hundreds of years. And as long as Israel remained faithful to God, they looked upon this sacred edifice as the place of salvation, the place of atonement between God and His people. The supernatural manifestations that accompanied the dedication of the structure (see Exod. 40:34, 35) had riveted such impressions deep into the psyche of those who witnessed them.
The signal demonstration of God's attendance at the temple's dedication gave no hint, however, of the structure's turbulent future. Completely destroyed by the Babylonian army, it later was rebuilt, though not up to the standard of its previous splendor. This, however, was the temple Jesus knew, the one that felt His footsteps. And as Jesus died upon a cross outside Jerusalem one Friday afternoon two thousand years ago, it was in the inner sanctum of this very temple that the curtain mysteriously ripped in two, from top to bottom (Matt. 27:51).
"It was the hour of the evening sacrifice. The lamb representing Christ had been brought to be slain." But the earth shakes, and "with a rending noise the inner veil of the temple is torn from top to bottom by an unseen hand, throwing open to the gaze of the multitude a place once filled with the presence of God." In one fell swoop, this place where "the Shekinah had dwelt," and where "God had manifested His glory above the mercy seat," is now open to public view! "The most holy place of the earthly sanctuary is no longer sacred." Then in dramatic fashion, she brings the message home: "All is terror and confusion. The priest is about to slay the victim; but the knife drops from his nerveless hand, and the lamb escapes. Type has met antitype in the death of God's Son. The great sacrifice has been made. . . . It was as if a living voice had spoken to the worshipers: There is now an end to all sacrifices and offerings for sin. The Son of God is come according to His word"—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, pp. 756, 757..
Many Christians today are looking toward the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem as a sign of the end. Even if such a temple were rebuilt, and sacrifices were resumed, why would those sacrifices have no efficacy in dealing with the sin problem?
No comments:
Post a Comment