Studies in the Gospel Message
The subject of the Sabbath-school lesson for December 27 is, The Real Presence Restored. The essential fact of Christianity is that “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” In him, Son of God and Son of man, who clothed his divinity with humanity, the divine presence was restored to humanity, and every member of the human family could share in the full benefit of this provision by the exercise of that faith which receives Christ to dwell in the heart. “He came unto his own, and they that were his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he the right to become children of God, even to them that believe on his name.” The presence of God in Christ with the believer is the experience of Christianity. This is the gospel which was taught in the sanctuary and its services. The sanctuary itself was prepared in order that God might dwell among his people. His command was, “Let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.” This was called “the tent of meeting,” and there the glory of his presence was revealed to human eyes. “There will I meet with the children of Israel; and the tent shall be sanctified by my glory. . . . And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God.” This object lesson was a distinct prophecy of God manifest in the flesh. The same was true of the temple, the successor of the tabernacle. “That temple, erected for the abode of the divine presence, was designed to be an object lesson for Israel and for the world. From eternal ages it was God’s purpose that every created being, from the bright and holy seraph to man, should be a temple for the indwelling of the Creator. Because of sin humanity ceased to be a temple for God. Darkened and defiled by evil, the heart of man no longer revealed the glory of the divine One. But by the incarnation of the Son of God, the purpose of heaven is fulfilled. God dwells in humanity, and through saving grace the heart of man becomes again his temple.” “The Word became flesh, and tabernacled among us (and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father), full of grace and truth.” It was but natural that every effort of Satan should be directed toward hiding this revelation of God’s purpose from the minds of men, and toward preventing it from being realized in their experience. Out of this effort grew all the forms of heathenism, through which the real presence of God was shut away from men, and a false conception of God was put in its place. Through the people which he chose for himself God purposed to reveal the light and the truth to the nations of the earth, and to restore to them his own presence; but the unbelief of his people interfered with the full accomplishment of his purpose. The principle of heathenism was substituted for the true principle of Christianity among the people of God. “Through heathenism, Satan had for ages turned men away from God; but he won his great triumph in perverting the faith of Israel. By contemplating and worshiping their own conceptions, the heathen had lost a knowledge of God, and had become more and more corrupt. So it was with Israel. The principle that man can save himself by his own works, lay at the foundation of every heathen religion; it had now become the principle of the Jewish religion. Satan had implanted this principle.” Thus the Jewish people lost their opportunity of re- vealing the real presence to the nations of the earth, and their house was left unto them desolate. Then the whole typical system was swept away; and “the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.” “He was the one in whom all the Jewish ceremony and typical service was to find its fulfillment. He stood forth in the place of the temple; all the offices of the church centered in himself alone.” And in him “the mystery which hath been kept in silence through times eternal” was fully revealed. “Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.” The real presence of God was revealed in humanity, and the way was prepared for the revelation of this presence among the nations of the earth. Before his ascension the risen Lord instructed his disciples that after the coming of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the representative of himself in the church, they were to be his witnesses “both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” Through the ministry of the great High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary, the temple of God in heaven, the real presence was manifested in the church, the body of Christ, the temple of God on earth. Thus was the scripture fulfilled, “Ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them.” But all this was soon perverted. Even in his day the apostle Paul said, “The mystery of iniquity doth already work.” And through this incarnation of the spirit and mind of Satan, “the man of sin” soon usurped the place which belonged to the divine Son of God, our High Priest, and so took his seat in the temple of God, “setting himself forth as God.” Thus the real presence was again shut away from the church, and consequently from the world, to whom it was to be revealed through the church. This was accomplished by introducing into the Christian church the same principle which was introduced into the Jewish religion,—that principle which lies at the foundation of every heathen religion,—that man can save himself by his own works. This is changing the law of faith into the law of works. The system or organization through which this perversion of the gospel was brought about is the papacy, and this particular phase of its work was thus prophesied of through the prophet Daniel: “Yea, it magnified itself, even to the Prince of the host; and it took away from him the continual burnt offering [service], and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. And the host was given over to it together with the continual5burnt offering [service] through transgression; and it cast down truth to the ground, and it did its pleasure and prospered.” Dan. 8: 11, 12, R. V. The Reformation of the sixteenth century was an effort to restore to the church that which had been taken away. It presented the foundation truth of the gospel, the principle of justification by faith, in the place of the foundation principle of heathenism, the principle of justification by works. It gave to Jesus Christ his place as the only Head of the church, and the one only Mediator between God and sinful man. It wrested from a corrupt priesthood the control of the saving grace and pardoning mercy of God, and restored to the repentant sinner the privilege of coming boldly to a throne of grace, and of obtaining mercy and grace for himself through the merits and ministry of the one High Priest. It was a great reform, a bright light shining upon the true way of salvation. But this movement did not result in the complete deliverance of the church from the teachings and the rule of modern Babylon. A compromise was made with error, and as a consequence we now have an apostate Protestantism, an image of the papacy in which the principles of the papacy again have the control. Thus was checked a movement which, if it had been given free opportunity, would have restored to the church the real presence in fullness and power. In this generation a people has been called out to give the message of Rev. 14: 6–12. This movement will bring to a successful issue the work which was attempted in the Reformation of the sixteenth century. It will restore the worship and service of the true God in the place of the worship of the beast and his image, the false worship of the papacy and apostate Protestantism, which is in reality the worship of the dragon, “that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan.” It will restore to the church the real presence, and thus prepare the church to be Christ’s witness “to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.” This is accomplished by bringing back to the church the knowledge of the ministry of Christ, our High Priest, in the sanctuary above, the temple of God in heaven, and the enjoyment of the fruit of that ministry in the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the continued presence of Christ in his church, his body, the temple of God on earth. This message takes up and brings to a glorious conclusion the work of John the Baptist in making ready a people prepared for the Lord. It repeats the cry, “All flesh is grass, . . . surely the people is grass. . . . But the word of our God shall stand forever. . . . Behold, your God! Behold, the Lord God will come.” This is the foundation principle of justification by faith? — It is the work of God in laying the glory of man in the dust, and doing for man that which it is not in his power to do for himself.” This is the message which is to lighten the earth with its glory, and to bring to the church complete deliverance from Babylon. And this is the only message which will do this work. The people who are used as the human instrumentalities through which this reform work is accomplished must understand the prophecies of Daniel in order to have a clear view of the perversion of the gospel which has been brought in by the papacy, and they must understand the prophecies of Revelation both as the supplement of the prophecies of Daniel and as furnishing the setting for the message which will restore to the church that which has been taken away by the papacy. Now is the time for this whole people to rise up and give the threefold message of Rev. 14: 6–12. This is their heaven-appointed work.