In the sanctuary service, God met His people were they were. In a world hopelessly marred by sin and after spending over 400 years in physical slavery to Egypt, the Lord redeemed His people and in the sanctuary service He enlarged their understanding of salvation. Fully a third of Exodus is devoted to the organization and construction of the Israelite sanctuary. But the national religion is not to be regarded as an entirely new and different system. It was an elaboration of the ancient religion of the patriarchs.
Israel’s worship had deep roots in the patriarchal age and was a natural outgrowth (by divine direction) of the patriarchal sacrificial system. We will attempt to view the Israelite cultus (a system or variety of religious worship) as a spiritually perceptive Israelite might have regarded it. Our attention will be focused on some of the concepts that must have confronted the Hebrew worshiper. We’ll take a look at the elements that were already familiar to Israel’s ancestors and some that were new in the sanctuary service.
Scripture: Gen. 3:23-24; 8:20; 17:7a Exodus 3:5;19:3-6; 25:8; 28:1-43; 29:43; 30:26-28; 30:17-20; 33:7; 39:30; 40:34, 38; Lev. 10:17; Num. 18:1; Deut. 8:3; 12:27; 1 Kings 6:12-13; 8:30; 1 Chron. 16:39-40; Isa. 6:5, 7; Amos 3:3
“The Sanctuary – Part 1” preached by Elder Steve Ebsen on January 2nd, 2021 at the Mount Vernon Seventh-day Adventist Church in Mount Vernon, Washington