BLOTTING OUT OF SIN

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 3, 1901

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 27, No. 27.

BLOTTING OUT OF SIN.

IN the Sabbath-school lesson, on page 14, will be found a study of the cleansing of the sanctuary, a part of the closing work of the priesthood of Christ for the sins of the world. That work is indeed solemnly important; but the most important phase of it is not the mere blotting out of the sins of God’s people on high. The most important part—the all-essential part to each soul—is the individual relation which you and I sustain to this work.

While there is a sanctuary on high in the presence of God, where our great High Priest ministers His own life for His children, there are two objects on earth known as His sanctuary in which we are interested.

One of these is His church, the aggregate of all His believing children. The apostle writes to the believers, “Ye [plural] are God’s husbandry, God’s building.” “Know ye not that ye are a temple [sanctuary, margin] of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” 1 Cor. 3:9, 16. “In whom [Christ] each several building [individual believer], fitly framed together, groweth into a holy temple [sanctuary, margin] in the Lord; in whom ye are also builded together for a habitation of God thru the Spirit.” Eph. 2:21, 22, R.V. “The blotting out of sins must take place in the church before their record is blotted out on high.

The individual believer is a temple or sanctuary of God. “Know ye not that your body is a temple [sanctuary, margin] of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have from God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.” 1 Cor. 6:19, 20. The one lesson which the sanctuary of old was designed to teach was that the Lord desired to dwell with His people by dwelling with each one of them. “Let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.” Ex. 25:8. “Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place [the sanctuary on high], with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” Isa. 57:15.

This is the lesson taught in the life of Jesus of Nazareth. “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt [tabernacled] among us.” John 1:14. Faith appropriates that life, and Christ dwells “in the heart by faith” (Eph. 3:17); “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Col. 1:27).

But in order that Christ may abide in us, He must have the privilege of cleansing us from sin. That is the important thing to each individual soul in this day of preparation for the Lord’s coming. Here is a scripture that will help us: “Repent ye therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that so there may come seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send the Christ who hath been appointed for you.” Acts 3:19, 20, R.V.

In our natural hearts, all thru the fibers of our flesh, sin has written its perverse and awful record of selfishness, rebellion, and death. This we have inherited to a greater or less extent. Every sinful act, every cherished sinful thought, every selfish habit, has but served to impress more indelibly if possible, and in darker hue, the sinful record. It has broadened its lines, it has deepened the dye. Where, above all where else, does the burdened, awakened soul want sin blotted out? Where, but in his own life, his own affections, his own heart? Where, above all where else, does the poor, thirsty soul long for refreshing?—where, but in the barren, parched, dry soil of his own unsatisfactory life? But the soul who will truly repent by giving up all his sin, who will yield to God every fiber of his being, will find the pardoning love of Jesus Christ. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9.

Then will He dwell with us and in us. His presence, His own endless life, flowing fresh from the great Fountain, will bring refreshing to the desert soul: “the parched land shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water.” The Morning Star will arise in the heart. Christ will be manifest to the world thru every member, and in greater glory thru the whole body; and then the glorious Head, our Lord, shall come, and Christ shall be complete.

This is the phase of this subject in which every soul has a vital, eternal interest. This putting away of sin in the individual heart precedes all other putting away. This blotting out of sins in the individual member precedes all other blotting out of sins. For we may know that when the unholy record is blotted out of our own lives, so quickly and effectually will the record on high be blotted out, and our names shall stand forever free in the temple of God—new names, truly, fully known only to our Lord and us, representing all of the sweetness and fruit of our companionship in earth’s pilgrimage.

This Jesus, the Cleanser of all sin, is, dear soul, whoever you are, “appointed for you.” Will you not let Him do His work?