God’s salvation work, displayed before the universe, is centered in and proceeds from the sanctuary in Heaven.    Purchase the DVDs and study notes at www.SecretsUnsealed.org

God’s salvation work, displayed before the universe, is centered in and proceeds from the sanctuary in Heaven. Purchase the DVDs and study notes at www.SecretsUnsealed.org

Secrets Unsealed

His Way is in the Sanctuary

Stephen Bohr

1. His Way is in the Sanctuary

2. The Sanctuary’s Angels

3. Death and Life in the Sanctuary

4. The Incarnation’s Seven Secrets

5. The Lamb of God Slain

6. Reaping the Sanctuary’s Benefits

7. A People Close to His Heart

8. The Triangle of Sanctification

9. The Sanctuary’s Two Covenants

10. The Bible’s Foundational Prophecy

11. The Chronology of the Judgment

12. The Sanctuary Shall Be Cleansed (Part 1)

13. The Sanctuary Shall Be Cleansed (Part 2)

14. Three Stages of Israel’s History

15. The Prophecy of the 70 Weeks (Part 1)

16. The Prophecy of the 70 Weeks (Part 2)

17. Found! The Ark of the Covenant

18. The Manna Test

19. Disappointment in the Sanctuary

20. As a Thief in the Night

21. God On Trial

22. The Judgment’s Three Stages

23. The Scapegoat and Revelation’s Millennium

24. A Monumental Conversion Experience

25. In Antichrist’s Temple (Part 1)

26. In Antichrist’s Temple (Part 2)

27. The Sanctuary’s Financial Secrets

28. The Holy and the Profane

29. The Two Temples

30. The Sanctuary and the Prophetic Gift

31. Three Inseparable Doctrines

32. Home At Last

Our wonderful Heavenly Father, as we follow Jesus today into the holy place to discover how we can reflect His beautiful and glorious character.

We ask for the guidance of your Holy Spirit.

We ask Father that you will help us understand how to grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ as our wonderful Savior.

We know that you will be with us because you have promised that when we come before your throne in faith you will answer our prayer.

And so we come boldly to the throne in the name of Jesus asking for your presence, Amen.

Today we are going to talk about the triangle of sanctification, or in other words the 3 ways in which God develops in us a holy life.

Now we need to understand that Jesus at this moment is in the heavenly sanctuary in the holy place of the heavenly sanctuary, and he is pouring out the benefits of his atonement or of his work on earth.

You remember that Jesus first of all lived the life that we should live, and then Jesus died the death that we should all die.

And then at the laver Jesus resurrected from the dead, and then He entered into the holy place of the sanctuary to credit His life and His death to those individuals who come to Him having confessed their sins, and repented of sin, and trusted in the merits of Jesus Christ.

But this is just the beginning of the Christian life.

Repenting of sin, and confessing sin, and trusting in the merits of Jesus and being baptized are very important.

But these are things that take place at the beginning of our Christian life, but then after we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior and as our Lord, we need to grow into Jesus Christ, we need to come to reflect His holy character.

And this morning we're going to study the 3 ingredients of a holy walk with Jesus Christ, and those 3 ingredients are found in the holy place of the heavenly sanctuary.

Now you find an illustration here of the sanctuary in its proper order on the platform.

We don't have the camp, we didn't have enough panels to go there, but there should be 1 with a camp, and then of course there is the altar of sacrifice, then there is the laver, and then as you go into the holy place of the sanctuary you have 3 pieces of furniture.

Now the entrance to the sanctuary was on the east, which means that as you go through the door into the holy place you're moving from west to east, and as you look towards your left-hand side in the holy place of the sanctuary that would be south you see the seven-branched candlestick that you have here illustrated on the platform.

And then as you go in through the eastern door into the holy place, into the tent, on your right-hand side which would be north you see the table of the showbread, 12 loaves of bread in 2 stacks of 6 on a table overlaid with gold.

And then immediately in front of you which would be west, You see the altar of incense, the golden altar of incense, where incense was burned morning and evening, perpetually and continually in the sanctuary.

Now these 3 pieces of furniture actually illustrate the secret of a balanced sanctified and holy life, a life similar to the life of Jesus Christ.

We're going to find in our study this morning that the seven-branched candlestick represents witnessing to others under the power of the Holy Spirit, because the candlestick had oil and we're going to find that the oil represents the Holy Spirit and then the candlestick gives light.

So in other words the 7 branch candlesticks represents witnessing for Jesus Christ under the power of the Holy Spirit.

The table of the showbread represents assimilating the life of Jesus Christ through the study of His holy word, because bread represents the word of God.

In other words it means nourishing ourselves spiritually of Jesus Christ through a study of His holy word.

In other words the table of showbread represents the study of scripture and the assimilating of the life of Christ through a study of the Bible.

And then we're going to find that the altar of incense represents prayer, it represents coming to Jesus to offer Him our praise, offer Him our thanks, offer Him our requests, and also our penitence because of our sins.

So the altar of incense represents prayer.

So actually we have here a triangle, You see in Bible study God speaks to us, in prayer we speak to God, and in witnessing we speak to others about God.

And so these 3 purses of furniture show us how we speak with God, how God speaks with us, and the importance of speaking to other people about our experience with Jesus Christ.

Now first of all we want to study about the seven-branched candlestick that was found on the south side of the holy place of the sanctuary.

First of all I want to tell you a few things about the golden candlestick.

It had 7 branches, 7 representing totality or completeness.

It was made of solid gold and it weighed 1 talent which is equivalent to 120 pounds.

Now at a $1, 400 an ounce which is ballpark these days, that would be $2, 688, 000 just for the golden candlestick that was in the holy place of the sanctuary.

The Bible tells us that the wicks of these candlesticks were trimmed every day by the high priest, and the high priest always made sure that there was sufficient oil for these candlesticks to continue burning.

In other words the seven-branched candlestick never burned out, it was continually perpetually giving its light, which by the way was the only source of light for the Hebrew sanctuary.

Now the oil of these lamps represents the Holy Spirit.

Let's turn in our Bibles to Zechariah chapter 4 and verse 6, Zechariah chapter 4 and verse 6.

This is the next to last book of the Old Testament.

It says here, after referring to the candlesticks in the previous verses, So he answered and said to me, This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts.

So we find the oil as a symbol of the Holy Spirit and of course the 7 branches represent that the Holy Spirit gives complete or total light.

Now what does this candlestick really represent?

We know the oil represents the Holy Spirit, but what does the candlestick itself represent?

In order to understand that we must go to the book of Revelation, So go with me to Revelation chapter 1, and I want you to notice that in Revelation 1 we have 7 churches that are mentioned, 7 churches of Asia Minor.

Revelation chapter 1 and verses 10 and 11, here it says, and John is speaking, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice as of a trumpet, saying, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last.

And what you see, write in a book and send it, now notice, send it to the 7 churches which are in Asia, to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.

Now I want you to notice that also in this vision that John receives in Revelation chapter 1 there are 7 candlesticks mentioned, 7 churches we've just read their names but there are also 7 candlesticks.

Notice Revelation chapter 1 and verse 12 it says, Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me, and having turned I saw 7 golden lampstands.

And so you have 7 churches mentioned by name and you have 7 golden lampstands.

Now the question is what do the 7 golden lampstands stand for?

We don't have to guess, because in Revelation chapter 1 and verse 20 we find an explanation of what is represented by the 7 candlesticks.

It says here in Revelation 1 and verse 20, The 7 stars are the angels of the 7 churches, and the 7 lampstands which you saw are the 7 churches.

They stand for the 7 churches, they are an illustration of the 7 churches.

So in other words the 7 lampstands represent God's church, these 7 churches in Asia Minor.

Now we come up with a very important question.

There were many other churches in Europe and in Asia Minor at this time.

John is writing around the year 95 AD this is long after Jesus resurrected and went to heaven.

For example just in Asia we have churches like Troas, Asos, Miletus, Colossae, Hierapolis, Magnesia, among others, and there were many churches also in Europe.

So why these specific 7 churches chosen in Asia Minor?

In 1 of the sheets that you received this morning you see the reason why.

If you take Patmos as the base of a candlestick you'll notice that the candlestick would project a shadow into Asia Minor having the churches in the exact order in which they appear in the book of Revelation.

In other words the 7 churches form a candelabrum, that's the reason why these 7 churches were chosen specifically because they formed a candelabrum, and of course the candelabrum represents the 7 churches.

Of course the question still remains why were these 7 chosen over and above the fact that you have a candelabrum formed by the location of the churches Why were 7 specifically chosen?

Well allow me to read you first of all a statement from the book Acts of the Apostles.

This is the book by Ellen White where she comments about the book the Bible book Acts of the Apostles.

Page 585 where she explains why 7 churches were chosen.

This is what she says, the names of the 7 churches are symbolic of the church in different periods of the Christian era.

Symbolic of different periods of the church of the Christian era.

She continues saying the number 7 indicates completeness, and is symbolic of the fact that the messages extend to the end of time, while the symbols used reveal the condition of the church at different periods in the history of the world.

So you notice that she says that the 7 churches represents 7 periods, 7 represents totality, in other words the 7 churches represent the totality of the history of the Christian church from apostolic times till the end of time.

Now I want to read you a statement, I normally wouldn't read a statement from this author but I will read this statement because he agrees with Ellen White.

Hal Lindsey, I disagree with almost everything else that he ever wrote but he's right on this point.

I wanted to read this because you might say well that's what Ellen White says.

Actually most conservative scholars believe that the 7 churches represent 7 periods of church history, not only Adventist but also non-Adventist.

Notice what he had to say, this is in his book Vanished into Thin Air page 276.

He says, I believe along with many scholars that these 7 letters were not only written to 7 literal churches with real problems, but also that they have a prophetic application to church history.

I believe that these 7 churches were selected and arranged by our omniscient Lord because they had problems and characteristics that would prophesy 7 stages of history through which the church universal would pass.

So very clearly 7 were chosen because it represents totality, these 7 churches represent the totality of the history of the Christian church, and the reason why you have these specific churches in Asia minor is because they form a candelabrum and the candelabrum represents the 7 churches.

Now let's put all of the symbols together, the candelabrum represents what?

The church all throughout the course of history.

Now what is needed in order for the candelabrum to give light?

You have to have oil in the candelabrum to give light.

Let me ask you what must the church need in all of the stages of its history in order to shed light?

It needs the presence of God's Holy Spirit in order to give light to the world in all stages of church history.

Now let's notice how the Bible portrays Jesus in this picture.

Go with me to Revelation chapter 1 and verse 13.

You see the oil is not in the lamps automatically, in other words just by some type of strange osmosis the oil is there, no.

The high priest had to be in the holy place and he had to be continually filling the lamps with oil.

Notice Revelation Chapter 1 and verse 13 it says, And in the midst of the 7 lampstands, and what do the 7 lampstands represent?

The 7 churches, and the 7 churches represent what?

All throughout the history of the church from apostolic times till the end of time, and in the midst of the 7 lampstands, 1 like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet, and girded about the chest with a golden band.

Now that's an interesting description, he has according to this a garment down to his feet, and he has also across his chest a golden band.

Now if you go back to Exodus 28 and verse 4, I'm not going to read that text but you might want to write it down, Exodus 28 and verse 4 tells us that these were the garments of the high priest.

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His Way is in the Sanctuary

8. The Triangle of Sanctification

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