We have seen that the sanctuary cannot close until the sins of God’s children are blotted out, and this cannot happen until we allow Him to write His law in our minds and hearts. If the law written in the mind suggests knowing God’s will, the law written in the heart may stand for the experience of loving His will. Then obedience becomes not a burden but a joy. The true Christian sings, “I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart” (Psalm 40:8).
Is there a law in the statehouse against murder? Yes. Is there a law in the heavenly sanctuary against murder? Yes. But where is the law written that protects the little child? In the mother’s heart.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all the commandments were written in your heart the same way? Can they be? If they can’t, the sanctuary will have to stay open. But when we allow God to write his law in our minds and hearts so that we not only know but love His will, Jesus can sprinkle the blood on the mercy seat and will close the sanctuary.
You see, if parents love their children, it isn’t hard to keep from killing them. When husbands love their wives, it isn’t hard to keep from committing adultery, either in outward act or inward thought. And children who love their parents don’t find it hard to obey them. The Scriptures tell us, “Love is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:10). How strange that anyone ever concluded that if he had enough love he didn’t need to obey the law! Jesus urges, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15, RSV ).
Why make it hard? Christ says, “My yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:30). Must a mother try hard to keep from killing her baby? No, indeed, love makes it easy. And love is all we need to do all that God has said in every one of His commandments. To know His will and to love His will result when God writes His law in our minds and hearts.
Unfortunately some people would like to find a Xerox machine through which they can run their minds and hearts and in five minutes have it all done, but Jesus offers no such program.
True, Jesus will forgive our sins as soon as we confess them, but “sanctification is not the work of a moment, an hour, a day, but of a lifetime” (AA 560). And this doesn’t mean that if you wait long enough, either death or translation will take care of everything. Mere passing of time will not sanctify. Mere passing of time will not write God’s law in the mind and heart. But if you and I will come to the sanctuary, Jesus not only will forgive our past sins but also will write His law in our very souls so that we will love righteousness and hate iniquity. If we believe He can do it, we will give Him time every day to accomplish this blessed work in our hearts.
And now we come to a very interesting and important point. To introduce it let me ask, “Did you ever know someone who at one time enjoyed eating pork but later on loathed even the smell of ham and bacon?” Perhaps this has been your own experience. “Why, then, did you quit eating pork when you enjoyed it so much?”
You answer, “I read in Leviticus 11:7 and 8 concerning the swine, ‘He is unclean to you. Of their flesh shall ye not eat.’ So I quit.”
“You mean you quit something you liked very much just because the Bible said not to eat it?”
“Yes, indeed!”
“Which came first, losing your taste for the pork or giving it up?”
“I gave it up because God said to. And gradually as time went on I found my taste changing, and what I once loved I can say truly I now hate.”
Here we come face-to-face with the important principle of cooperation. If we want God to write His law in our minds and hearts, we shall not wait to obey Him until we feel like it and it seems easy. As soon as we find out something in our lives that God wants changed, we shall give it up immediately.
Perhaps you are thinking, “Didn’t you say that Christ’s yoke is easy?” I did, but to change our hearts so that we enjoy only the good things and despise all wickedness is a gradual process. God can start the work in a moment, but its completion requires a lifetime.
Do you know what will hasten the process? “It is by beholding that we become changed” (GC 478). Looking into the perfect law, we discern what sin is. Looking at Calvary, we see what it has cost Jesus to redeem us. Looking to our great High Priest in the sanctuary, we shall more and more harmonise with His longing to perfect His people. R&R WDF
