Episode Transcript
Hello, I'm Dr. Kylie Fisher. Welcome to Heavenly Harmonies.
Psalm 77, verse 13 says thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary. The sanctuary and its services, which form the centre of worship for God's ancient people, reveal to us the everlasting Gospel, God's plan to save us. This week, we begin to study this through the beautiful song, Break Thou the Bread of Life.
Stay with me to discover how its heavenly harmonies can keep you near to the heart of God. In our story thus far, we have been tracing the everlasting Gospel from its beginning in eternity past through dark centuries of persecution. And we have seen how during the Middle Ages, Satan worked through corrupt leaders to bring false teachings right into the middle of the Christian church.
And these teachings taught people to look away from God, who alone could save them, and to trust to their own works for salvation. But through the Reformation, the Bible was restored to the people and the deceptions of Satan that had led many to a hopeless grave began to be unmasked. And often the newly discovered truths were expressed through song.
And so last week we learned how Martin Luther was really the father of him singing in the modern church. And so songs were not only used in church, they were also used by the people around their homes to help them to learn the word of God. And they were also used to spread the gospel, even in places where the written word could not be taken.
So songs so, so important, and it's so central to our learning the Bible and the truths of the Bible. And so hopefully today we can lay another, you know, build further on this foundation. And so today we are going to be starting a new mini series within our broader topic of historical foundations of present truth.
And so we are going to be looking at the topic of the sanctuary and we're going to do this through song now. So then the question is, what is the sanctuary? And that is a very important question and I'm going to give some explanation of it today as background to our hymn now, the hymn that we're going to be doing, Break Thou the Bread Of Life. We have already had a programme on this and so maybe you're thinking, oh, I've already listened to that one.
Well, these hymns are just so deep. There's so much that we can explain in them, as I keep on saying. And so by listening to this programme, we will be covering different things to what we covered in the previous programme.
And our focus will be on what this means in context of the Reformation and what it means in context of the sanctuary. And so we will be looking at and exploring the topic of the sanctuary and particularly seeing we've already done this hymn, maybe you'd like to go back and revise what things we covered in that, because I will not have time to cover all of those things. And, yeah, so look, we're going to be building further on that to further enrich our knowledge of this wonderful hymn and looking at its significance in terms of the sanctuary and how that was understood by people in the early Reformation.
But the sanctuary is a very important topic for us today. Living at the time that we do, we cannot understand the three angels messages without understanding the sanctuary. So that's why we're doing this season on historical foundations of present truth, because it is giving us the foundation for where we will be going in future seasons.
Okay, so anyway, so what is the sanctuary? That was the question that was asked. And so I am going to give some explanation. But these programmes are only really, really short.
We do have other programmes that you can watch and listen to if you would like more. You know, if you would like to have more of our programmes on this. If you are not sure of where those programmes are, please write to us radioabnaustralia.org
au and we will be very happy to direct you to other programmes. But if you would like some actual books to look at, I have a couple of books here that I'm going to recommend. So a fantastic overview of the sanctuary is in my favourite book besides the Bible, the great controversy.
And so there is a chapter there called what Is the Sanctuary? And so that is a great overview of the sanctuary. Even if you have read it, I would encourage you to reread it because it's just fantastic. That will take you right through what's happening, what Jesus is doing for us right today in the sanctuary.
And so. But I also want to mention this book, the Cross and Its Shadow. So this is actually all about the sanctuary.
You know, a lot of the rituals that we carried out in the Old Testament sanctuary are recorded in the book of Leviticus. And now Leviticus is probably not the book that you would sort of like first turn to when you're first reading the Bible, because its teachings are contained really in symbols. It's a booklet that really contains a lot of symbols and it doesn't always explain those symbols right there.
You have to look in other places in the Bible to find out what those symbols mean. And so the book of Leviticus is, you know, like, when I was younger, I used to start reading through the Bible from Genesis and that was pretty easy. It sort of would be all stories and then I'd come to Exodus and the beginning of that stories and then it describes, you know, how the sanctuary was built and I'd sort of get pretty bogged down there.
And then by the time I got to Leviticus, oh boy, it was hard going. And so. But now that I actually understand what those symbols mean, my husband and I were reading a book for worship.
We didn't read the whole of it, we read one chapter from it and I think the title of it was Christ is All or something like that. And it was all about the book of Leviticus and how the book of Leviticus reveals Christ. And.
Yeah, so once you actually understand what those sanctuary services mean, obviously we do not still do those sanctuary services. I'm probably not actually really answering this question. I'm going to be going back and answering my question.
I'm sort of giving the post bit before I've actually done the pre bit. But once you do understand those symbols, you'll understand they are all pointing to Christ. And one person has said that of all the books in the Old Testament, the book of Leviticus reveals Christ most fully.
So, and so this is a book. The Cross and His Shadow is a book that goes into a lot of detail, comparing the book of Leviticus with other books in the Bible and showing how those sacrifices that were carried out by the ancient Jewish people, by God's people, even, you know, people like Adam and Eve and Noah and Abraham, you know, they lived in the days before actually there was this structure that is called the sanctuary. But those sacrifices, they all pointed forward to Christ.
Okay, So I highly recommend reading those books if you want to understand these truths more deeply, which is the main object of this programme. And that's why we're talking about these beautiful hymns. So let's just.
I'm going to give a very brief overview of the sanctuary. Now, there are a number of different meanings for, for the word sanctuary in the Bible, but the one that we're concerned with is a specific structure with special services that are designed to symbolise the whole of the Gospel, which is of course, God's plan to save us. And it's the work that God has been carrying on ever since the entrance of sin to our planet 6,000 years ago.
And the services that were carried on in this structure symbolise all of God's work right from the, you know, moment that sin entered the world, right until sin will finally be completely eradicated from this earth and from the universe. So sanctuary is just amazing. And so there are two of these sanctuaries or structures that are referred to in the Bible.
There is the earthly one and there is the heavenly one. So you can read more about this in the Book of Hebrews. Look, there's a lot more Bible verses that are mentioned in, in these two books that I've referred you to.
But yeah, in Book of Hebrews, actually, William Tyndale said that Hebrews is the best book to understand what is the meaning of these sacrifices in the Old Testament. And the Book of Hebrews mentions that there's an earthly sanctuary and a heavenly sanctuary. Now, the earthly sanctuary was the centre of worship really until the death of Christ.
And so rites used in the sanctuary began with the entrance of sin. You know, God clothed Adam and Eve in garments of skin, showing that an animal was slain to represent how Christ would one day die for their sins. But the actual structure that's the sanctuary was not built until the time of Moses.
And so this first sanctuary, or tabernacle as it was also called, had an enclosed courtyard. And within this was a tent that had two rooms or apartments. And so the first of these rooms that you can see there, it was called the holy place.
The second one was called the most holy place. And it was God that gave Moses all the plans for the earthly sanctuary, which was a miniature representation of the massive, the absolutely huge sanctuary that is in heaven. And the plans for the sanctuary that were given to Moses were very detailed.
There were specific clothes for the priest to wear. There was specific furniture for each room and for the courtyard, and there were special services that were carried out. And every part of the sanctuary, down to the smallest bell and tassel, taught the Israelites something about the plan of salvation.
But as we've said, the truths taught by the sanctuary were not only for God's people anciently, they contain vital truths for us to understand today. You know, when Jesus came and died on the cross, he became the perfect sacrifice, and that his death had been represented or was represented by millions of animal sacrifices for sin that had been offered for centuries. Now, when he returned to heaven, Jesus began his work as our high priest in the true sanctuary in heaven.
So let's just have a quick Look. Hebrews, chapter 8, verse 1 and 2. Hebrews chapter 8, verse 1 and 2.
Now, of the things which we have spoken, this is the sum. We have such an high priest who is set on the right hand of the throne, of the majesty in the heavens, a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man's the true tabernacle that's represented in symbol, in type, in miniature by the earthly sanctuary is the sanctuary in heaven. So even though the services described in the Bible connected with the earthly sanctuary became obsolete with the death of Christ, by studying the sanctuary, its furniture and its services, we can find out what Christ is doing for us right now in heaven.
You know, when you're in a loving relationship with someone, you want to keep in touch with them during the day. I mean, how many of us love the convenience of mobile phones and enjoy sending text messages and getting text messages from loved ones during the day to find out what they're doing? Well, you know, if we love Christ, we should love to know what he's doing, especially since the work that he's now doing is for us. Jesus has not just gone back to heaven and just totally forgotten about us.
He's doing a vital work for us now in the sanctuary. Now, during the Middle Ages, the truth about Christ's high priestly ministry was largely lost sight of. And so we have looked at this before, but let's read these verses again.
So this is particularly brought to view in Daniel chapter 8. Daniel chapter 8 is all about the sanctuary. We don't have time to go into it today, but we will look at it more in future programmes by the grace of God.
And So Daniel chapter 8 talks about this horn power which it says is going to persecute God's people. And it says, Daniel chapter 8, verse 11. By him that is the horn, the daily sacrifice was taken away, or the daily actually, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down.
Verse 12 says, and host was given him against the daily by reason of transgression. And it cast down the truth to the ground and practised and prospered. The daily service was that were the services that were being carried out in the first apartment of the heavenly sanctuary.
So that was what we call the holy place. And we looked in a previous song, the church has one foundation. We saw that in that song, it said, foes would rend asunder the rock where she doth rest.
The rock, of course, being Christ. And so during the Middle Ages, many false teachings crept into the church and into instead of blessing one holy name, those in the church were taught to pray to a man as the head of the church rather than to Christ. And people were taught to pray to saints rather than to Christ.
People felt that prayer gained their merit with God. And so the food, yeah, because she partakes one holy food, it says in the church as one foundation, you know, the Lord's Supper was replaced with a ritual in which it was declared that the actual to be the actual body and blood of Christ, claiming the power to create the Creator and still more, the bread of life. The words of Christ, which is our focus for today as recorded in the Bible, were replaced with the traditions of men.
And there were many other things that were also cast down. But these truths began to be rediscovered during the Reformation, and many of the truths that were rediscovered were key truths that reflect the ministry or work of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary and in that first apartment. Now, not all of the Reformers understood all aspects of this.
So remember we said in a previous programme the Reformers were coming out of great darkness. They didn't all understand all of these truths, but many of the key beliefs that they shared embody the work of Christ in the sanctuary, even if they did not fully grasp the idea of the sanctuary or how their beliefs were connected with and so as we've said, our hemophysia day is break thou the bread of life. Now, we have already looked at this, but let's review through the words of this and if you haven't listened to or watched that previous programme, actually it was just done as a recording that was not really.
Well, we do have it up. There is a podcast, but there's no picture, so. But let's review the words of this hymn.
Break thou the bread of life, dear Lord, to me as thou didst break the loaves beside the sea beyond the sacred page I seek thee, Lord, My spirit pants for thee O living word Bless thou the truth, dear Lord, to me, to me as thou didst Bless the bread by Galilee Then shall all bondage cease, all fetters fall and I shall find my peace, my all in all. Thou art the bread of life, dear Lord, to me Thy holy word, the truth that saveth me Give me to eat and live with Thee above Teach me to love thy truth for thou art love, spirit and life. Are they words thou dost speak? I hasten to obey, but I am weak Thou art my only help Thou art my life.
Heeding Thy holy word, I win the strife. And it's just such powerful words. And as we have said before, this hymn is very much based on John chapter six, a very famous discourse of Jesus, in which he said, I am the bread of life.
He that cometh to me shall never hunger he that believeth on me shall never thirst. And not only did Jesus say, I am the bread of life, but he also said, verse 63, the words that I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life. And.
Yeah, so the Word of Christ. So it's not only Christ, but it is Christ, but it's the words of Christ in particular. It doesn't mean that we, like, actually, like, literally eat Christ.
Like, for instance, in the communion service, like what we mentioned before, you know, that that's a symbol to show us that we actually live by Christ and we live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. You know, it says in Acts that in him we live and move and have our being. So it's only through the power and the grace of God that any of us are able to live.
And it's because of the death of Christ on the cross, because he gave his body and his blood for us that one time on the cross, that we have life and we have particularly the promise of eternal life now. So, but let's have a look. How does this relate to the time of the Reformation and the sanctuary service in particular? Well, there was bread in the sanctuary service.
And so in the first apartment of the sanctuary on the north was a golden table, and this was called the table of showbread. And 12 loaves of unleavened bread were placed on this table and they were baked and changed every seventh day of the week, that was every Sabbath. This was holy bread.
And so there was also a pot of manna in the most holy place, which reminded the Israelites of how God had miraculously fed them in the wilderness for 40 years. Now, this particularly significant in the time of persecution, the time of the Reformation, because In Revelation chapter 2 and verse 17, Jesus said that to him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna. And so that represented the Word of God.
And so the Reformers, they came to see that the Word of God, or in other words, the Bible, you know, because all of the Bible testifies of Christ, it was all inspired by Christ and given to us through the Holy Spirit. The Reformers came to realise that the Scripture, the Word of Christ, in that was to be found their salvation. And so I'm going to read you some quotes from some of the Reformers about what they believed about the Bible.
And so, of course, John Wycliffe, he was the first to determine that the Scriptures should be translated into English. So he saw the importance of people having the Word of God, having a faith that was based on the Word of God. And now Luther, he preached from the Word of God and he was horrified by teachings that went against the Word of God.
And that was the reason for his posting his 95 theses on the door of the castle church of Wittenberg on October or 4, the Festival of All Saints, which is held on October 31, although from sources that I've read, I think he actually posted them the day before, which would have been October 30, 1517. So that's considered the official start of the Reformation. And when called to trial and asked whether he would retract his beliefs, Luther made this very famous statement, and you can read more about this in the great controversy as well, he said, I cannot submit my faith either to the Pope or to the councils, because it is clear as the day they have frequently erred and contradicted each other.
Unless, therefore I am convinced by the testimony of Scripture or by the clearest reasoning, unless I am persuaded by means of the passages I have quoted, and unless they thus render my conscience bound by the word of God, I cannot and I will not retract. For it is unsafe for a Christian to speak against his conscience. Here I stand.
I can do no other. May God help me. Amen.
And so Luther stood on the word of God, others as well. In France there was Lefebvre. He had been an adorer of the saints and he'd started preparing a history of the saints and martyrs when he turned to the Bible, hoping to find more information.
But what he found there so astonished him, he turned in disgust from his self appointed task. And he devoted himself from that time on to the word of God. And there were others as well.
But friend, we've run out of time. So we are going to listen to Fountain View sing this song and I encourage you as we listen to this, think of the high priestly ministry of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary. Think of the reformers as they discovered the truths of God's word that brought them true nourishment for the soul.
Break thou the bread of life, dear Lord, to me as thou didst break the bows beside the sea Be on the sacred pages I see the Lord, my spirit pants for thee. O living word, bless thou the truth. Dear Lord, to me, to me as Thou didst Bless the bread by galley.
Then shall all bondage cease, all fetters fall and I shall find my peace. My holy Thou art the bread of life, O Lord, to me th holy word, the truth that saves Give me to eat and live with the above teach me to love thy truth for thou art love, spirit and life for thee Words thou dost speak, I hasten to obey, but I am weak. Thou art my only help Thou art my life eating thy holy words, I win the stride.
Dear Lord, we're so grateful for your wonderful word. Please help us, dear Lord, to understand your word and to live by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. I pray in Jesus name.
Amen. So thank you so much for joining me today. I do hope that you are able to join me again next time when we continue our saga.
Historical foundations of present truth. But until then, may you stay near to the heart of God through song.
