The Difference It Makes: Part 2
The knowledge and acceptance of Jesus as our high priest should make us kind and generous and patient, the same traits He has manifested toward us. It should make us merciful and gracious, in the same way He has shown mercy and grace toward us. And it should make us morally upright and everlastingly grateful for the profound sacrifice made on our behalf. But any Adventist who has interacted with Christians of other persuasions would readily admit that they have found them equally gracious and merciful and patient and generous and kind and morally upright. So, then, what real difference does "our message of the sanctuary" make?
It probably has something to do with loyalty and faithfulness. When the author of Hebrews wanted to reestablish the recipients of his book in the faith, he turned to the sanctuary theme.
Read Hebrews 10:19-25. What is the practical message given to us here, a message that should influence how we live our lives and how we relate to others?
The book of Hebrews invites us to approach "the throne of grace" (Heb. 4:16). The implications here are multifaceted, but one of them gets to the question before us just now. The way has been made for us, through Jesus, to approach God in the heavenly sanctuary. And to follow Jesus by faith into the sanctuary is not only to have one's soul cleansed by His marvelous grace, but also to experience a new appreciation for His immutable law (see Heb. 8:10). This transaction, utterly significant in the context of what Adventists call "the great controversy between good and evil," defines the difference the sanctuary teaching makes for us. By faith we enter with full assurance into that sacred place where Jesus ministers. And there, against all possible odds, we cling to the One whose indelible promise is symbolized by the ark of the covenant, the throne of the living God Himself, founded on justice and mercy. Thus anchored, we do not drift—not into a view of the law that leads to the abandonment of God's holy Sabbath, and not into evolutionary conceptions of origins that seek to dethrone the living God from His own universe. The doctrine of the sanctuary thus becomes a protection for us against rebellion, and secures for God a faithful remnant in a revolted world.
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