p. 11 | God's Kingdom in the Heart by C. M. S.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 24, 1913

God's Kingdom in the Heart

By C. M. S.

It is more than a coincidence that in the services carried on in the sanctuary of old the sinner and the law he had trampled upon should come face to face.

That sacred structure was built under the eye of God. He furnished the plans and the specifications; and he laid upon his chief human agent this solemn charge: “And see that thou make them after their pattern, which hath been showed thee in the mount.” Ex. 25:40.

God designed that the services carried on in the sanctuary should work out a certain object. It was therefore necessary that the pattern God gave to Moses should be followed with exactness; otherwise the sanctuary and its appurtenances would not lend themselves to the accomplishment of that object.

Toward that structure the spiritual thoughts of Israel constantly turned. Within that enclosure were slain the creatures whose shed blood typified the blood that was to flow on Calvary for the remission of the sins of the world. In the inner apartment of that structure was a representation of the throne of God, and in the foundation of that throne—the ark of the covenant—reposed the law of God. Over that law lay the covering, the mercy-seat, with an angel standing upon either end of it as guardians of the throne of God, and between them the bright shining Shekinah, representing the presence of the Almighty.

In that emblematic arrangement God is teaching us that in breaking the law of God, men do despite to the very throne of God, of which that law is a part; and that, in so doing, they must deal with him who sits upon that throne. But in the covering of that ark we see the type of him who is the hope of the world. That covering God named the mercy-seat. It stands between the sinner and the broken law, and thus is a type of Christ, who paid on Calvary the penalty of man's transgression of the law of God. It teaches also that mercy and justice mingle in the throne of God; that while he is the lawgiver and the ruler of the universe, he is still our Father, the God of love.

Where God dwells there is his throne. “Let them make me a sanctuary,” said he, “that I may dwell among them.” They built the sanctuary, and the glowing Shekinah, the symbol of his presence, took up its station above the mercy-seat, upon the ark, over the law, in the most holy place. That place became the “holy of holies,” made so by the fact that it was the throne-room of God himself.

In that sacred place, that throne-room of the Almighty, and inside that very throne itself, God had caused to be placed the tables of his law, that code by whose principles the universe is governed. That law there deposited was written upon the tables of stone, and all the services of that sanctuary circled around and had their occasion in that law and man's attitude toward it. If man had never sinned, there would never have been a sanctuary in this world. Sin, the transgression of the law of God, made necessary the sacrifice of the One whose blood alone could save the race from extinction; and the services of that sanctuary in the wilderness and of the temple which followed it were designed to keep ever before the mind of mankind the reason for the fall and the way to life through the promised Redeemer.

Now when that promised Redeemer was come, there came also in its fulness and its actuality that “better covenant” “enacted upon better promises.” The sacrifice toward which all other sacrifices had pointed from that of Abel down had been made. The types and shadows had vanished in the substance itself. What was that better covenant? Was it an arrangement by which the law was abolished and something else was put in its place? Was it an arrangement by which mankind can claim holiness while trampling upon the only true test of holiness—the law of God?—No. “This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and on their heart also will I write them: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.” Heb. 8:10.

The new covenant, then, does not abolish the law, but puts it in the mind and writes it in the heart of the individual, and of every individual who is a child of God indeed. The literal sanctuary of type and symbol has ceased to be. The “ark of the covenant” is no longer to be seen, and the tables of stone with the law engraved upon them have now no visible existence. But that law is still in force, is still a written law, written upon the hearts of the loyal followers of Christ, and, wherever so written, is doing its office work of bringing the lives and characters of individuals more nearly into harmony with the will and purpose of God than could otherwise be the case. It makes known the standard of God's will; and the power and grace of Christ, freely bestowed upon submissive and obedient souls, helps them to “walk even as he walked.” Upon such souls will be bestowed that righteousness of Christ which robes them for the marriage supper of the Lamb. Without that robe of righteousness none will witness that event; and that robe can not be bestowed upon those who maintain a spirit of enmity toward the law of God or are hostile toward any of its requirements. The translated ones must have the spirit of Christ, who declared: “I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy law is within my heart.”

Where the law of God is, there the throne of God is, and there God is. Said Jesus: “If a man love me, he will keep my word: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” John 14:23. His earnest desire for his followers was this: “I in them, and thou in me, that they may be perfected into one.” John 17:23. “We are a temple of the living God; even as God said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them.” 2 Cor. 6:16.

The child of God has the law of God written in his heart, and the Son of God and God himself make their abode with him. In that spiritual sense he is a temple of God, his heart an “ark of the covenant” with the law of God written upon its fleshly tables. Then in the heart of such an individual the throne of God is set up, God is the only recognized ruler there, and that much of this world is won back to the sovereignty of heaven again. In view of these considerations, how important that we maintain a right attitude toward the law of God! C. M. S.