THE SANCTUARY | AdventAI

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · May 18, 1876

FromThe Review and Herald, Review and Herald, Vol. 47, No. 20.

THE SANCTUARY.

Twentieth Paper.—Destruction of the Temple.

With the dedication of Solomon’s temple the earthly sanctuary reached the summit of its glory. Its sacred vessels were perfect and complete. It contained the very ark which was made by Moses, under the express direction of Heaven; and that ark contained the very tables of stone, which had been written by Jehovah himself. The temple building was a structure of unsurpassed magnificence and glory, and there was nothing to hinder the Levitical worship from going forward in all its perfection.

It would be pleasant long to contemplate both the temple and the sanctuary in this prosperous condition; but the dark specter of sin with its inevitable train of judgments and calamities, soon appears upon the scene.

The temple was dedicated B. C. 1005. Thirty-four years after this, B. C. 971, Shishak, king of Egypt, having declared war with Rehoboam, took Jerusalem and carried away the treasures of the temple. 1 Kings 14:25, 26; 2 Chron. 12:9. But when the king humbled himself, thus turning from the sins which had brought down the judgments of God upon him, God turned from his wrath against him. Verse 12.

Jehoash commenced the work of repairs B. C. 856. 2 Kings 12:4, 5. Ahaz, king of Judah, becoming involved in war with the kings of Israel and Damascus, robbed the temple to pay Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, whom he had summoned to his aid; 2 Chron. 28:21, 22; B. C. 740. Hezekiah, his son, in a measure repaired this loss, but was himself finally compelled to take all the riches of the temple to purchase peace from Sennacherib who had come against him. 2 Kings 18:14–16.

Manasseh, son and successor of Hezekiah, profaned the temple of the Lord, by setting up altars to all the host of heaven, even in the courts of the Lord, 2 Kings 21:4–7, for which God delivered him into the hands of the king of Babylon. He was loaded with chains and carried beyond the Euphrates; 2 Chron. 33:11; B. C. 677. But humbling himself and repenting of his sins, he was sent back to his own dominions, and labored to repair the profanations he had committed upon the house of the Lord. Verses 14–16.

Josiah, king of Judah, labored zealously to repair the edifices of the temple. 2 Kings 22:4–6. He commanded the Levites to put the ark of the Lord, in the sanctuary, in its proper place, and that they should no more bear it about, as they probably had done, during the administrations of the wicked kings who had reigned before him. 2 Chron. 35:3.

But these were only slight profanations and calamities, compared with the storm of destruction, the projected shadow of which was now beginning to darken that devoted land. The nation had sunk to so low a depth of sin, that God could no longer dwell among them. Zephaniah complains that her prophets were light and treacherous persons, that her priests had polluted the sanctuary, and done violence to the law. Zeph. 3:4. By the prophet Ezekiel, 23:38, 39, the Lord lays the same things to their charge, and adds (24:21), Behold I will profane my sanctuary. Therefore

GOD AGAIN FORSAKES HIS SANCTUARY.

It is never without warning that God visits his people in judgment. The long record of his dealings with them presents no exception to this rule. In this case the warning had been given in these words:—

“But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel. And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the Lord, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called but ye answered not; therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by my name, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh. Jer. 7:12–14; 26:1–7.

What had God done to Shiloh? David answers: “When God heard this, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel, so that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he had placed among men, and delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy’s hand. Ps. 78:59–61. To do the same to the temple would be to forsake it, and give it into the hands of the enemy.

The manner in which the people received this warning, set the seal to God’s purpose in this respect. “They mocked the messengers of God and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord rose against his people till there was no remedy.” 2 Chron. 36:16.

Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon the first universal empire, the head of gold of the great symbolic image of Dan. 2, was the instrument God selected to carry out his purpose. In the year B. C. 606, Jerusalem was taken, the temple plundered, a part of the sacred vessels removed and placed in the temple of Belus in Babylon, multitudes of the people were transported into the land of their captors, the sons of the royal family, and the nobility of the nation were made eunuchs and slaves in the palace of the king of Babylon, the whole land was made tributary; the king, Jehoiakim, became a vassal to the king of Babylon: and the predicted seventy years’ captivity commenced. 2 Chron. 36:6, 7.

The evil behaviour of Jehoiachin, son of Jehoiakim, brought Nebuchadnezzar against Jerusalem the second time, B. C. 599, when he made still further ravages on the house of the Lord, and its sacred vessels. Verse 10.

And lastly the wicked course of Zedekiah, Jehoiachin’s successor on the throne of Judah, drew upon Jerusalem that terrible destruction, which for a while blotted it from the face of the earth. Zedekiah foolishly defied the power of the king who had already twice taken Jerusalem. Nebuchadnezzar was thus brought a third time against the doomed city, determined this time to quell forever its rebellious spirit. After a siege of about one year the city fell. All the vessels that could be found in the house of the Lord, were taken out, and all the riches were secured that could be found in every house in the city. The temple and the whole city were then set on fire. The walls, fortress and towers were overthrown, and every building in the city was leveled to the ground, till, excepting only the piles of unconsumable rubbish, the site of Jerusalem was as bare as if no human foot had ever trod thereon.

As God had done to the sanctuary at Shiloh, he had now done to the sanctuary at Jerusalem, but with tenfold heavier judgment. In the light of these facts the following references to the sanctuary are easily understood: Ps. 74:3, 7; 76:1; Isa. 63:18; 64:10, 11; Eze. 24:21; Jer. 51:51; Lam. 1:10; 2:7, 20; 4:1.

While Israel were thus dispersed among the nations, and their beautiful sanctuary at Jerusalem lay in ruins, God promised to be unto them as a little sanctuary, in the countries where they should come. Eze. 11:16. Toward the close of the seventy years’ captivity, Daniel prayed thus to God, “Cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary which is desolate.” Dan. 9:2, 17.