<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">BY-NC-ND 2.0</a>, a.k.a. Music Sharing, license.</p>

Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Stephen Bohr: Ready for His Appearing

Stephen Bohr

Three Inseparable Doctrines

Hidden Sabbath Truths

Reflections on Daniel 11

The Holy and the Profane

I'd like to have a special word of prayer not only to ask for God's blessing in our study but also to end the Sabbath because the Sabbath looks like it ended a little while ago So let's bow our heads and we'll have a word of prayer.

Father in heaven, we thank you for the marvelous blessings which we have received this day.

We thank you for this beautiful, sunshiny day.

And Father, we thank you especially for your word.

What a terrible thing it would be to be in this world without any guidance, without any knowledge about what's happening and what's going to take place.

We thank you because you have given us the certainty that you will be with us even to the end.

Father, we ask that as we begin this new week, that you will help us to live for you, to reveal in our lives the character of Jesus Christ, to reveal in our lives your holiness.

We ask Lord that you will bless us and keep us in your care in this week as it begins and we thank you for hearing our prayer for we ask it in Jesus name, Amen.

Okay let's turn in our Bibles to Exodus chapter 28 and verse 36, Exodus 28 and verse 36.

This verse is speaking about the attire of the high priest of Israel And it specifically describes a crown that the high priest had on his head.

It says there in Exodus 28 and verse 36, you shall also make a plate of pure gold and plate of pure gold and engrave on it like the engraving of a signet, holiness to the Lord.

Interesting that God would have the high priest use this crown with this large letter inscription, holiness to the Lord.

By this way God was trying to show the importance of the holy in his mind.

Now not only did the high priest wear this crown which said holiness to the Lord, but actually all of the priests in Israel were to teach the people to respect the holy and to distinguish the holy from the common.

Notice what we find in Ezekiel 44 and verses 23 and 24.

Speaking about the priests in Israel, it says here, And they shall teach, thank you, thank you very much, and they shall teach my people the difference.

Were they the preachers of the Old Testament?

Were they the ministers of the Old Testament?

And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the unholy.

It simply means that which is not holy, the holy and the common.

And cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.

In other words, 1 of the roles of the priesthood was to teach the people the difference between the holy and the common, between the sacred and the secular, if you please, as we would refer to it today.

You see in Israel there was holy money and common money.

In Israel there was holy dress and common dress.

In Israel there were holy days and common days.

In Israel there were holy places and common places.

In Israel there was holy music and common music.

In Israel there were holy occasions and common occasions.

In Israel there were holy vocations and common vocations.

And so this made it necessary to distinguish clearly between the sacred and the secular, between the holy and the common.

And it was the role of the spiritual leaders, the priests, to teach the congregation, the people, to have the discernment to discriminate between the holy and the common.

Now turn with me in your Bibles to Leviticus chapter 9 and verses 23 and 24 and we're going to study about what happened when in Israel they failed to distinguish the holy from the common.

Leviticus 9 and verses 23 and 24, this is speaking about the inauguration of the tabernacle in the wilderness.

The sacrifices had been placed upon the altar.

Aaron and Moses prayed, and I want you to notice what happened as a result.

And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of meeting, and came out and blessed the people.

Then the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people, and fire came out from before the Lord.

From before the Lord, and consumed the burnt offering and the fat on the altar.

When all the people saw it they shouted and fell on their faces.

So God rained fire upon this altar to consume the sacrifices.

And by the way, this fire because it had rained from God was holy fire.

In fact God clearly told the priests, whenever you bring fire into the sanctuary You make sure that you take the holy fire from this altar.

Don't bring me common fire, bring me this holy fire because I rained it upon the altar.

Now let me ask you, if you looked at that holy fire and you'd seen the fire that people used to cook with, would both fires look somewhat alike?

If you stuck your finger in 1 and the other fire, would both fires burn your finger?

If you could examine and analyze the chemical properties of both fires, would the chemical properties be similar?

Yes, the fires looked alike, but God said even though the fires look alike, this fire is holy, that fire is common.

Whenever you come into the sanctuary you bring holy fire from this altar.

Now the priests of course would mix the fire with incense and then they would bring the fire and the incense into the sanctuary but the fire was to come from the altar.

Now let me ask you what does the fire represent?

By the way, there's some interesting symbolism here.

Do you know that the animals upon the altar represented the sacrifice of Jesus.

But the fire showed that God had accepted the sacrifice.

And so it was that Jesus died on the cross and the way in which God showed his people on earth that he had accepted the sacrifice was by raining fire down on the day of Pentecost.

That was the indication that what Jesus had done was accepted before the Father.

In other words The fire represents the Holy Spirit.

He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

Because the fire had to be mixed with the incense.

We need to understand that the fire represented something, the incense represented something.

Both of them together had a tremendous spiritual lesson.

Here the psalmist says, Let my prayer be set before you as incense.

The lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

Notice Revelation 8 and verse 3, also on the incense.

Revelation chapter 8 and verse 3, speaking about the altar where the incense was offered, it says, Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar, and he was given much incense, that he should offer it with what?

With the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.

Once again the incense is related to prayer.

Now a very interesting passage we find in Luke chapter 1 and verses 8 through 10 because here you have the symbol and what the symbol represented.

Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, was serving his turn in the temple.

It was the eighth course, the course of Abijah.

And I want you to notice the description that we find beginning at verse 8.

It says, So it was that while he was serving as priest before God in the order of his division, according to the custom of the priesthood, his lot failed to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord.

So he goes into the temple of the Lord to burn incense and now notice what the people are doing outside.

Verse 10, And the whole multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of incense.

You have the symbol and what the symbol represented.

In other words, as Zacharias was offering this incense in the sanctuary mixed with the fire, the people outside were praying.

And as the incense ascended, it represented the fact that their prayers were ascending to God.

Now let me ask you, who is it that takes our prayers to God?

Back to Menu

Series

Stephen Bohr: Ready for His Appearing

The Holy and the Profane

Transcript

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

Talking Points 2nd Quarter 2024: The Great Controversy

12 Earth’s Closing Events

28m

Let the Prophet Speak: God’s End-Time Messenger

40m

A Life-Changing Classroom

37m

Revival and Reformation

32m

Dumbing Down of God’s People

34m

1-Defending the Faith

Ellen White and Her End-Time Relevance

1h 11m

Enough Excuses

1h 5m

Rebellion-Lovers of Egypt

58m

You Know Enough!

37m

Morning Plenary

Bible Light about the Ten Commandments, Part 2

44m

The Healing Presence of Jesus

Dark, Dirty, Delivered

59m

Dave Fiedler Weekend 2004

The Mystery of Minneapolis, Part 2

1h 48m

Sound Doctrine