| Observation
The "Sanctuary
Message" Today
by David R. Larson
These paragraphs are
drawn from a sermon that was presented in September 2006, at the beginning
of the academic year, at Villa Aurora, a Seventh-day Adventist college and
seminary in Florence, Italy.
If the "sanctuary
message" is the answer, what is the question? For several weeks those
of us who are Seventh-day Adventists all around the world have been
studying this theme in our adult Sabbath School classes. What is the
point? Why are we spending so much time on this subject? If this teaching
is the solution, what is the problem?
Although there are many other good alternatives, my suggestion is that we
think of the "sanctuary message" as a response to the problem of
human loneliness. This loneliness is threefold: (1) circumstantial, (2)
cultural and (3) existential. The "sanctuary message" responds
to all three, but especially the third. It is the most profound and
pervasive of them all.
Circumstantial loneliness occurs when we find ourselves a long way from
the places and people we love the most. Perhaps we are away at school, or
our work has taken us afar, or we have been conscripted to serve our
nation in a distant land. Perhaps divorce, disease or death is the
culprit. The circumstances that cause such loneliness are innumerable;
however, the feelings they prompt are remarkably similar. We feel cut off,
sad, adrift, as if our daily activities possess little pertinence or
purpose. We can experience the same feelings when the distance between us
and those we love is more intellectual or emotional than geographical. We
often feel most lonely when we are "near" our friends and
relatives but not actually "with" them.
Cultural loneliness is especially common in Western societies. In many
other cultures today, the experiential differences between the individual
and the community are less pronounced than they are in ours. The same was
true in our own culture in the distant past. But beginning with people
like Socrates among the Greeks and Ezekiel among the Hebrews, we have
placed more and more emphasis upon the individual and his or her worth and
accomplishments. This trend intensified in the Renaissance, more so in the
Protestant Reformation and even more so in the Enlightenment. In each
case, we made innovation more important than tradition, the citizen more
significant than the ruler and the individual more responsible than the
group. In many ways this has been a positive development, as we can see if
we compare the strengths and weaknesses of our culture with those of other
societies. We have paid a heavy price for our increasing individualism,
however. As the natural bonds among us have decreased, the feelings
of loneliness within us have increased.
Existential loneliness, as the term suggests, pertains to human life as
such. We experience it even when we are both "near" and
"with" our friends and relatives. We feel it even when the
measures we take to overcome the individualism of our culture are
successful, at least in part. Existential loneliness is what we feel when
things are going well, not merely when we are beset by misfortunes. It is
the feeling that we human beings are all alone in an unimaginably vast and
indifferent universe and that our lives are stamped from beginning to end
with finitude, fallibility and just plain folly. This kind of loneliness
can prompt despair. It is deeper and wider than either discomfort or
discouragement. It is not the kind of loneliness that responds easily and
swiftly to various kinds of medicine and psychotherapy. It is the sense
that tomorrow the universe will be exactly as it would have been if we had
not lived yesterday and today. It is the feeling that our lives don't
matter.
My suggestion is that the "sanctuary truth" responds to
questions about these three kinds of loneliness with the
"Immanuel." This is the good news that "God is with
Us," all of us. This theme threads its way through all of
Scripture's numerous references to the sanctuary in both Testaments. On
this occasion we can highlight only three of these passages, mindful that
there are many more, especially in the Psalms, that convey the same
message.
In the first verses of the twenty-fifth chapter of Exodus, we read that
God instructed Moses to have the Israelites contribute "gold, silver,
and bronze, blue, purple and crimson yarns and fine linen, goats hair,
tanned rams skins, fine leather, acacia wood, oil for the lamps, spices
for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, onyx stones and gems
to be set in the ephod and for the breastpiece." Then come the
crucial words: "And have them make me a sanctuary, so that I may
dwell among them." Some back then may have thought that God would
literally live in that tabernacle. We see it as a tangible reminder, which
was pitched again and again in the middle of the camp wherever the
Israelites wandered, that the Creator of heaven and earth was always with
them as the supreme Provocative Presence. This symbol was central
and mvong. It was not on the edge of life and it was not stuck at
one place.
We find this theme in the Gospel of John. In words that are explicitly
reminiscent of the portable temple of the Exodus, we read that "the
Word became flesh and lived [Greek: 'sanctuaried' or 'tabernacled' ] among
us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full
of grace and truth." In her commentary on this passage, Ellen White
and her helpers conveyed its power and pertinence. Speaking of the ancient
Israelites, she wrote, "through all their weary wandering in the
desert, the symbol of His presence was with them. So Christ set up his
tabernacle in the midst of our human encampment. He pitched His tent by
the side of the tents of men, that He might dwell among us, and make us
familiar with His divine character and life." (The Desire of Ages,
p. 23) This is why we often call Jesus Christ Immanuel: "God is with
Us." This refers to all of us without regard to race, ethnicity,
nationality, gender, sexual orientation, political persuasion or religion.
God works for good in every moment of every life in the entire universe.
(Romans 8)
We find exactly the same theme in the last book of Scripture, this time
with an eye toward the future. In its twenty-first chapter we read of
"a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first
earth had passed away." We also read of "a loud voice from the
throne saying: "See, the home of God is Among mortals. He
will dwell with them. They will be his peoples. And God
himself will be with them."
This short verse of intense
hope refers expresses the "sanctuary message" twice. We see it
as a noun when we read that "the home [Greek: 'tabernacle' or
'sanctuary'] of God is among mortals." We detect it as a verb when we
read that God "will dwell [Greek: 'will tabernacle' or 'will
sanctuary' ] with them." Immanuel will then be complete: "God
himself will be with them."
The "sanctuary
message," that "God is With Us," with all of us, has
comforted and encouraged Christians and others for centuries. It was
especially meaningful to those who started our denomination, the
Seventh-day Adventist church. Many of them had mistakenly predicted the
triumphant return of Jesus Christ on October 22, 1844. When this did not
happen, when they experienced what we call "The Great
Disappointment," the vivid sense of the presence of God and
connection with each other that they had experienced while preparing
for that day vanished. Embarrassed, grief-stricken and bewildered, they
felt more alone in the universe than ever before.
In those dark hours the
"sanctuary message" soothed and strengthened them, so much so
that they went on from there to do great things for God and humanity. They
evangelized, or proclaimed the "good news." They also
established many primary and secondary schools, colleges and universities,
clinics and medical centers, book stores and publishing houses, public
health projects and development and relief agencies and many other
institutions that continue to serve all over the world.
Throughout all these
years the technical details of the "sanctuary message" have been
matters of much debate and these exchanges should continue. It is
important that we not forget its primary point, however. As Paul declared
to some philosophers in Athens, this is that God "is not far from
each one of us. For 'In him we live and move and have our being'; as even
some of your poets have said." (Acts 17). Or as he put it in his
letter to the first Christians in Rome, nothing "will be able to
separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans
8)
This is the "sanctuary
message" today. But is it true? This is a challenging question, one
that deserves much research and reflection; nevertheless, when all is said
and done, the test of experience is the most decisive of all. The best way
to discover whether this good news is valid is to live in its light. We
can conduct this experience not for a week or month, but for a year or
decade. During this trial, no matter how intense our loneliness may feel,
we can attempt to find comfort and courage in the thought that we are not
by ourselves, that "God is With Us," all of us. We can
also do our best to discern the points at which this Provocative Presence
may be nudging us toward greater health and wholeness. We can pray for
eyes that actually see, for ears that actually here. If we do this, the
"sanctuary message" will either confirm or disconfirm itself.
Nothing else will matter.
"When you're by
yourself, alone as one can be; Look Up! Look Down! Look All Around!
Immanuel you may see."
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