Studies in the Gospel Message
The subject of the Sabbath-school lesson for August 9 is The Glory Revealed in the Temple, and the portion of Scripture upon which it is based is Dan. 1: 17–21. Man was created to be a living temple in which the glory of God should be revealed. “I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.” “Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor.” The crown of glory which was bestowed upon man at his creation was not such as is worn by earthly kings to-day, a mere visible sign of kingly authority, but it was the gift of that royal character, that sharing in the character of the Ruler of the universe, which in itself constituted man the vicegerent of God upon earth. Man was a king by virtue of his intimate relationship with the “King of the ages.” The God of glory, that God with whom wisdom dwells, the God who is light, and in whom is no darkness at all, created man in his own image, after his likeness, a son of God in whom the glory and wisdom and light of the Father were revealed. Man’s safety, his very existence, depended upon the continuance of that intimate relationship with God in which he was created. God condescended to take man into partnership with himself in sharing his own character with him, and in so doing he made him joint ruler with himself, but he never abdicated in favor of man. Man was bound to the throne of God by the cords of everlasting love, which could be cast off only by his own refusal to be held by them. Through disobedience man closed the windows of the temple against the heavenly light and glory, and “darkened and defiled by evil, the heart of man no longer revealed the glory of the divine One.” “All have sinned, and come short of [lack] the glory of God.” The gospel is God’s provision for the restoration of his image in the soul of man, that humanity might again become the temple of God, that the glory of God might again be revealed in our flesh. This is “the gospel of the glory of the blessed God.” Its purpose is to restore in Christ the glory which was lost through separation from God. “If our gospel is veiled, it is veiled in them that are perishing: in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn upon them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. Seeing it is God, that said, Light shall shine out of darkness, who shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” That this glory might be restored to humanity, that the wisdom of the divine mind might again be manifested in the flesh, the Son of God, one with the Father, clothed his divinity with humanity, and himself became the head of a new humanity, the last Adam, in whom humanity could again become the temple of the living God. By this wonderful gift of himself to humanity in the person of his Son, the loving Father bridged the gulf of separation which sin had made between heaven and earth, provided for the forgiveness of the sin of rebellion against himself, and again placed upon the head of humanity the crown of glory and honor. The whole story of the original crown and its loss, and its restoration to humanity, is summed up in Heb. 2: 6–11: “But one hath somewhere testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? Or the son of man, that thou visitest him? Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honor, and didst set him over the works of thy hands: thou didst put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he subjected all things unto him, he left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we see not yet all things subjected to him. But we behold him who hath been made a little lower than the angels, even Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God he should taste death for every man. For it became him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren.” This same gospel of the incarnation of the Son of God in the fulfillment of the divine purpose to make humanity the temple of the living God was set forth in the tabernacle and the temple. When John the Baptist said to the assembled people, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world,” he was simply making a personal and definite application of the lesson of the tabernacle and the temple. When the tabernacle was erected, “the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.” When the earthly temple of the Son of God was prepared, “the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father), full of grace and truth.” Every believing Israelite, who looked steadfastly “to the end of that which6is abolished,” saw in the temple and its services a promise of “the one in whom all the Jewish economy and typical service was to find its fulfillment.” —When he came, “he stood forth in the place of the temple.” Thus an intelligent faith in the real truth of the temple and its services was faith in the essential truth of Christianity as distinguished from heathenism,—that through the gift of his Son to humanity God dwells with flesh. He who accepts this truth in any age must confess that in himself, that is, in his flesh of itself, there dwells no good thing, and that all good is of God. And this is justification by faith. “What is 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. When men see their own nothingness, they are prepared to be clothed with the righteousness of Christ.” Such was the experience of Daniel and his companions in Babylon. They were Israelites indeed. Their circumcision was “that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter.” They worshiped God in the Spirit, while they still enjoyed the blessings of the temple and its services in Jerusalem; and when they went down to Babylon, they still maintained their fellowship with God by walking in faithful obedience to the light which he had given them. They were of the number “who through faith . . . wrought righteousness,” and he who revealed himself to them and in them as their righteousness became their wisdom in the sight of the Babylonians. “As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom. . . . And in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm.” Thus the fact of righteousness by faith, and what can be revealed through the flesh when God is given his rightful place, were made known in the palace of the king of Babylon. Thus without the aid of the temple and its services the real meaning of the sanctuary and its service was taught through the experience of the indwelling presence of God in the temple of the body. And so to a people the glory of God, which had well-nigh departed from the temple at Jerusalem because of the transgression and unbelief of the people, was revealed in the excellent wisdom and knowledge of the men who still believed in the true God. And thus was the gospel of justification by faith preached in Babylon through the revelation of the glory of God in flesh. This is “the mystery of godliness,” the divinely ordained remedy for “the mystery of iniquity” in every age and among every people.