THIRD QUARTER 2024
SABBATH SCHOOL INSIGHT #9
AUGUST 31, 2024
"JERUSALEM CONTROVERSIES."

 

Among the many important topics that our lesson addresses this week, we will take time to look briefly at three of them – the cleansing of the sanctuary, forgiveness, and the greatest commandment.

The importance of the cleansing of the sanctuary to Jesus can be seen by the fact that He both opened (John 2) and closed (Mark 11) his earthly ministry with a sanctuary cleansing. Although we commonly say that Jesus opened His earthly ministry with the turning of the water to juice at the wedding of Cana (John 2), in that instance, Jesus told His mother that His time was not yet. So it seems that He wanted to begin His public ministry by cleansing the temple at Passover – just as He did near the close of His earthly ministry.

Ellen White reminds us how vital the truth of the cleansing of the sanctuary is in this incredible, and rarely appreciated statement: “The intercession of Christ in man’s behalf in the sanctuary above is as essential to the plan of salvation as was His death upon the cross.” — The Great Controversy, p. 489. The cross is vitally important. At the cross we see most clearly the love of God for fallen man, the animus of Satan and humanity towards God, and the consequences that sin has on the human soul. 

But all of these monumental truths that we are to discern at Calvary ultimately are meant to lead us to an experience of cleansing, of freedom, from the power of sin in our lives. The Lamb of God (Calvary) does take away the sin of the world – and this is accomplished as Jesus dispenses these Calvary truths to us through the Holy Spirit. 

A.T. Jones articulated this truth of the cleansing of the sanctuary in beautiful words: “If the Lord has brought up sins to us that we never thought of before, that only shows that He is going down to the depths and He will reach the bottom at last and when He finds the last thing that is unclean or impure and that is out of harmony with His will and brings that up and shows that to us and we say, ‘I would rather have the Lord than that,’ then the work is complete and the seal of the living God can be fixed upon that character. . . He will cleanse the heart, and bring up the last vestige of wickedness. Let Him go on, brethren; let Him keep on His searching work. and when He does bring our sins before us, let the heart say, ‘Lord, thou gavest thyself for my sins. Oh, I take thee instead of them.’ They are gone, and I rejoice in the Lord. . .” — General Conference Daily Bulletin, February 26, 1893, p. 404.

This lesson also calls our attention to forgiveness in the memory text. In Mark 11:25 Jesus makes the following statement about forgiveness, “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven will also forgive you your wrongdoing” (CSB here and onward).

Notice, Jesus does not say to go ask the other person if they want to be forgiven. Nor does He say to determine if they deserve to be forgiven. Jesus says, merely, “forgive them.” In this we are modeling God’s forgiveness of us as manifested in Christ. “And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ” (Ephesians 4:32). Again, God in Christ forgave us, and thus we ought to forgive others.

This is of benefit to us in that as one has said, paraphrasing, “if you don’t forgive someone else, then it is like you drinking poison and hoping the other person will die.” The unforgiving spirit damages us as much as others. So forgiveness is for our benefit as well as, hopefully, the one forgiven, if our forgiveness can lead them to repentance.

Remember, just because we forgive someone, doesn’t mean that we trust them. And it doesn't mean that they don’t need to experience the consequences of their actions. It only means that we do not hold animosity or hostility in our hearts toward them – just as God doesn’t hold animosity or hostility on His heart toward us.

Hopefully, just as God desires that His forgiveness of us will lead us to repentance, we intend that our forgiveness of others will lead them to repentance. But the experience of forgiveness for the offender is reliant on their acceptance of God’s, or our, forgiveness.

So how conditional is God’s forgiveness? Mark 11:25 states that God forgiving us is related to our forgiving of others. One of two possibilities is expressed here. Either God is unwilling to forgive those who are unforgiving of others (i.e., He stands towards them in hostility and animosity) or we are unable to see and appreciate and experience God’s forgiveness of us when we are unforgiving towards others. I believe the latter is the true reality.

When Jesus forgave those crucifying Him on the cross, they certainly weren’t forgiving towards others. And yet Jesus forgave them anyway. However, in their blindness and lack of forgiveness towards others – Jesus being a prime example from their perspective – they were unable to appreciate and experience the forgiveness Jesus had towards them.

Ellen White comments on this verse with this understanding: “Nothing can justify an unforgiving spirit. He who is unmerciful toward others shows that he himself is not a partaker of God’s pardoning grace. In God’s forgiveness the heart of the erring one is drawn close to the great heart of Infinite Love. The tide of divine compassion flows into the sinner’s soul, and from him to the souls of others. The tenderness and mercy that Christ has revealed in His own precious life will be seen in those who become sharers of His grace. . . We are not forgiven because we forgive, but as we forgive. The ground of all forgiveness is found in the unmerited love of God, but by our attitude toward others we show whether we have made that love our own.” — Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 251.

As another has said – paraphrasing – “when we refuse to forgive others, we burn the bridge over we ourselves must pass to experience the forgiveness of God.” There is no lack of forgiveness on God’s part, only a lack of an ability to appreciate that forgiveness on our part when our hearts are hardened towards others.

Finally, let us look briefly at the “greatest commandment.” Jesus said the most important commandment is, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is, Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other command greater than these” (Mark 12:30-31).

May we never forget this truth! Yes, health reform is vital. Yes, how we dress, and how we spend our free time are important. Yes, doctrinal truth is vitally important. And we could go on. But all of these – and so much more – will fall in to place if we place God as first in our heart, soul, mind, and strength – if we actually LOVE HIM!! And then, in love for Him, love for others will also fall naturally in to place.

Our lesson finishes with a most important question regarding this “greatest commandment.” It asks, “How do we learn to love God and to love our neighbors as ourselves? Why is the Cross the key in following these commands?”

The lesson has given us a gigantic hint. As we perceive the love of God manifested in Jesus, throughout His life and particularly at His death, we are empowered to respond to God and others with that same kind of love. As we’ve said many times in these Sabbath School Insights – by beholding we become changed. By beholding God’s love, we are enabled to love. And love not with a weak, vacillating sentimentalism, but with a love that speaks truth, a love that empowers to free from sin, a love that holds ourselves accountable. That is love as a principle, and not love as a mere emotion.

This love results in a cleansed sanctuary in heaven, and a cleansed sanctuary in our hearts. It creates the capacity to forgive others as God in Christ has forgiven us.

 

 ~ Robert Hunsaker