A SABBATH LESSON FROM THE SANCTUARY
By Mrs. S. N. Haskell
MRS. S. N. HASKELL (Battle Creek, Mich.) When we speak of the Sabbath as connected with the sanctuary service, our minds naturally revert to the law of God; yet we do not have to go as far into the sanctuary as the ark, to find a most wonderful Sabbath lesson. The table of showbread was in the first apartment. The twelve loaves represented the twelve tribes, and were covered with frankincense, representing the righteousness of Christ covering His people. In “Patriarchs and Prophets,” page 354, it is called the “bread of the presence;” and in some translations the same thought is brought out. It was constantly before the Lord. There were many lessons connected with it. It taught the continual presence of Christ in the midst of Israel. It was bread, the staff of life, and represented the spiritual and temporal blessings that were received from the Lord. But something else of great importance was taught in this service. The study of a few texts will bring out the thought: “And other of their brethren, of the sons of the Kohathites, were over the showbread, to prepare it every Sabbath.”
“And thou shalt take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes thereof: two tenth deals shall be in one cake. And thou shalt set them in two rows, six on a row, upon the pure table before the Lord. And thou shalt put pure frankincense upon each row, that it may be on the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire unto the Lord. Every Sabbath he shall set it in order before the Lord continually, being taken from the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant. And it shall be Aaron’s and his sons’; and they shall eat it in the holy place: for it is most holy unto him of the offerings of the Lord made by fire by a perpetual statute.” 1 Chron. 9: 32; Lev. 24: 5-9. Notice that it was prepared and also set in order on the Sabbath. After it had been in the sanctuary a week, it was eaten by the priests. Aaron and his sons partook of it. It was brought in on the Sabbath, and left there during the following week, covered with frankincense; the next Sabbath it was taken and eaten. “So the priests gave him hallowed bread: for there was no bread there but the showbread, that was taken from before the Lord, to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away.” 1 Sam. 21: 6. If the bread was placed there hot, and they were commanded to prepare it on the Sabbath, it must have been baked on the Sabbath. The Israelites were instructed to bake bread for their own use on the six working days, and not on the Sabbath. Ex. 16: 23. But this bread was baked on the Sabbath, was placed upon the table on the Sabbath, and was taken from the table and eaten on the Sabbath. Every duty in any way connected with the showbread was Sabbath work. This work was a shadow of Christ’s work for us. Here was a work so important that one article of furniture in the sanctuary was devoted exclusively to it. There were only four large pieces of furniture in the tabernacle—the candlestick, representing the Spirit of the Lord; the altar of intercession; the table of showbread; and the ark. We are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, whose service centers in the holy place in the heavenly sanctuary. Then is there not some special connection between that showbread, which was prepared, set in order, removed, and partaken of on the Sabbath, and the Sabbath blessing given to us? Christ revealed in the Word is the bread of life to us. This bread in the type was the bread of His presence, and represented Christ in a special sense. Not only fresh bread was placed before the people on the Sabbath, but the old bread was eaten by the priests on the Sabbath. There is not only a lesson in the showbread for the rank and file of the laity, but a double lesson for those who stand before the people as teachers. If a minister or Bible worker goes out on the Sabbath to give a Bible reading, and simply presents old, stale truths, the same thoughts he has gone over and over again, not varying one iota from the set form, which he can go through with his eyes closed, what kind of bread is he setting before the people?—It certainly is stale bread. The Lord would have His workers give hot bread. When they go before the people, and officiate in the service of the Lord on the Sabbath, as they should, they have the privilege of placing hot bread before those whom they teach. Perhaps some may say, I am not one of the workers. Yet are we not all members of the royal priesthood? Fathers and mothers, what are you setting before your household? When Sabbath morning comes, do you lie in bed until you have barely time, by hurrying and bustling, to arise and get your children ready for Sabbath-school? How much better it would be to arise in season, and, as a priest of the household,—for the Lord holds you as such in His sight,—set before your family fresh, living bread from the Word of life! It makes no difference who we are; this duty comes home to each of us. Not so many children of Seventh-day Adventists would go to destruction if fathers and mothers each Sabbath morning would set out the bread of life, hot and fresh from the Scriptures, before their households. In the sanctuary service, when the priests set the bread warm upon the table, they partook of the old bread, which they removed. It was not stale bread, because unleavened bread does not become stale. They themselves partook of the bread which they placed upon the table, and as they ate it, it became a part of them. When parents partake of the same spiritual bread which they set out hot before their household, it becomes a part of their own lives, is woven into their own experience, and they are strengthened by it all the week, and the children see the results in the parents’ lives. While this truth comes home forcibly to the workers, yet it also applies to every child of God. When Sabbath morning worship comes, we4should not say: We will read a short Psalm this morning, as we have not time for more. We should never feel clear to say: Well, we will not have time to read at all this morning; we are somewhat late; we will just have a word of prayer before getting ready for Sabbath-school. We are prone at times to read in such a hurried manner that no one can understand; or perhaps we may go over some dry form, while the children are inattentive, allowing their minds to wander off somewhere else, because they are so familiar with the lesson that it is uninteresting—stale—to them. When the word of God is presented fresh and hot, those who partake of it will realize that it is fresh, and will receive a special blessing in the Sabbath study of the Scriptures. If we do not receive this Sabbath blessing, we fail of our privilege as worshipers in the sanctuary on high. It is not necessary to hunt up some new, wonderful, unheard-of thing, which we do not understand ourselves, in order to present fresh bread from the Scriptures. We need not say, I will turn over to Hosea, or Zephaniah, or some of those small books, and find some new truth with which I have not been familiar before. We must search the whole Bible, the old and familiar as well as the less familiar parts. Study and pray over some familiar verse, and the Lord will unfold its meaning. Any chapter in the Bible may be used. For illustration, John 14 could be read fifty-two Sabbaths in the year to your household, and there could be a blessing received from the study every time, and the truth could be set before them fresh and hot. You can get real blessing and spiritual strength in your soul if you study this chapter, and search it as for hidden treasures. Search diligently for the gems of truth. Some of the greatest spiritual blessings come to us when we discover a beautiful thought in a text committed to memory in childhood. There is just as much of a Sabbath blessing in studying and partaking of the spiritual bread of life in this time, as there was connected with the showbread of the sanctuary service. By preparing and placing this bread before our household or congregation, and by incorporating these lessons into our lives, we may lead others to Christ himself, the true, living Bread of Life, and be assured not only of a special Sabbath blessing, but also of the Saviour’s continued, daily presence with us.