“An Anchor…Sure”

A physician friend of mine shared the results of some interesting research. In the experiment they placed a lamb in an enclosure and supplied it with food, water, and straw. They arranged it so that they could give the lamb an electric shock when they wished. As the lamb was quietly feeding, the scientist gave it a shock. At once he ran all around the pen. Finally, he calmed down and started eating again, but they noticed he never went back to that spot where he had been shocked. Presently they shocked him the second time. Again he ran. Now he had two places to avoid. And they kept it up until finally the lamb had no place left to run. The lamb just huddled in fear. 
As I heard the story, the picture that Jesus paints of our time came vividly to mind: “Distress of nations, with perplexity...men’s hearts failing them for fear” (Luke 21:25, 26). 
But let me share with you the rest of the doctor’s story. In a similar arrangement they placed the twin brother of the lamb, but with him they put his mother. When he was shocked, he ran to his mother. I don’t know what she told him, but it must have been something nice. By and by as he was feeding he received another shock. Again he ran! Yes, to his mother. They kept it up until finally when the shock came, he would just twitch a little and go right on feeding. No nervous breakdown for him! He knew where to run. 
Thank God, we “have a strong consolation, who have ed for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever” (Hebrews 6:18-20). 
Yes, hope is an anchor to those who have fled for refuge. Ahead of us lies a terrible storm. Many a ship will crash upon the rocks. But “we have an anchor that keeps the soul, Steadfast and sure while the billows roll.”
 
There is one thing worse than not having any anchor, and that is having your anchor fixed in something unreliable. The world today largely consists of two classes—those who have no hope and those who have a false hope. But thank God, we don’t have to be in either class. Our anchor is fastened to the Rock which cannot move. It is “both sure and stedfast, and...entereth into that within the veil.” This is sanctuary language. Does it make any difference in our hope whether we know where Jesus is and what He is doing? As our great High Priest stands before the ark engaged in His closing mediatorial work, He has invited us to “send up our petitions in faith within the second veil” (EW 72). 
Something important happened October 22, 1844. Jesus not only opened the door of the second apartment of the heavenly temple, but He also shut the door of the first apartment. And things have never been the same since. In one of the earliest visions given to Ellen G. White, she saw the transfer of Christ’s ministry from the holy to the most holy place. She observed that those who followed the Saviour and sent up their prayers to Him in the holiest received the true Spirit of God, bringing love, joy, and peace. On the other hand, those who failed to follow Jesus seemingly received answers to their prayers from the enemy (see EW 54-56). 
Yes, Satan can bestow power that results in “many wonderful works” (Matthew 7:22). He “deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles” (Revelation 13:14). In the religious world today we witness a great interest in “the baptism of the Spirit.” Multitudes seek for an experience of miraculous power. Years ago Ellen G. White warned that just before the time for the latter rain and the loud cry, Satan would seek to introduce a counterfeit. “In those churches which he can bring under his deceptive power he will make it appear that God’s special blessing is poured out; there will be manifest what is thought to be great religious interest. Multitudes will exult that God is working marvellously for them, when the work is that of another spirit. Under a religious guise, Satan will seek to extend his influence over the Christian world” (GC 464). 
If it were possible, the very elect would be deceived, so subtle are the deceptions, so close the counterfeit. What preserves the true people of God? What keeps them from being caught in the snare that takes the whole world captive?
 
“My dear Brethren and Sisters. This is a very important hour with us. Satan has come down with great power, and we must strive hard, and press our way to the kingdom. We have a mighty foe to contend with; but an Almighty Friend to protect and strengthen us in the conflict. If we are firmly fixed upon the present truth, and have our hope, like an anchor of the soul, cast within the second veil, the various winds of false doctrine and error cannot move us. The excitements and false reformations of this day do not move us, for we know that the Master of the house rose up in 1844, and shut the door of the first apartment of the heavenly tabernacle; and now we certainly expect that they will ‘go with their flocks,’ ‘to seek the Lord; but they shall not find him; he hath withdrawn himself (within the second vail) from them.’ The Lord has shown me that the power which is with them is a mere human influence, and not the power of God” (PT, March, 1850). If our anchor is “within the second veil,” we will not be deceived by false revivals and miracle-working movements. 
What is up there within the second veil? “ The temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament” (Revelation 11:19). We see the ark with the Ten Commandments, and that law is just what the wicked world with all its “religion” does not want. This is the setting for the proclamation of the Sabbath in the third angel’s message (GC 433-438). In this final judgment hour we must measure up to the divine standard. The third angel closes his message thus, “Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus” (Revelation 14:12). “As he repeated these words, He pointed to the heavenly sanctuary. The minds of all who embrace this message are directed to the most holy place, where Jesus stands before the ark, making His final intercession” (EW 254). 
The spotlight focuses on three great pillars: 
1. “The earthly sanctuary was a figure or pattern of the heavenly.” 
2. “The law deposited in the ark on earth was an exact transcript of the law in the ark in heaven.” 
3. And “an acceptance of the truth concerning the heavenly sanctuary” involves “an acknowledgement of the claims of God’s law and the obligation of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment” (GC 435). 
And here is “the secret of the bitter and determined opposition” to the message revealing “the ministration of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary” (Ibid.). Soon all of Earth’s inhabitants will be divided into two classes— those who are anchored within the second veil, beholding their great High Priest and clinging to His Sabbath, and those who follow the beast and his partners in their rebellion against God’s law and their persecution of His church. Will your anchor hold? Is it cast within the second veil? Satan’s masterpiece of deception is the great counterfeit system of the Papacy. If has a priesthood, but it is on the earth. It has a sanctuary, but it is on the earth. It offers forgiveness of sins, but through a human priesthood. And it has its law, but it is a substitute for God’s law in the ark in the temple in heaven. The Papacy “is prepared for two classes of mankind, embracing nearly the whole world—those who would be saved by their merits, and those who would be saved in their sins. Here is the secret of its power” (Ibid., p. 572). 
However, God’s message in the sanctuary protects against these two perversions. Consider this matter of “those who would be saved in their sins.” The sanctuary clearly shows that if a sinner desires salvation, he must repent, give up his transgressions, and put them on the lamb. Then on the Day of Atonement, he joins in heart-searching and affliction of soul while the high priest sprinkles the blood on the mercy seat. “For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the Lord” (Leviticus 16:30). Yes, the sanctuary shows that God intends to deliver His people from sin. e program that Rome offers—sinning and doing penance, sinning and doing penance—is not the gospel. Also we must beware of the idea which some Protestants hold—that all we must do is to keep our sins confessed. 
From the most holy place Christ has sent His angel to warn us: “No man can cover his soul with the garments of Christ’s righteousness while practicing known sins, or neglecting known duties. God requires the entire surrender of the heart, before justification can take place; and in order for man to retain justification, there must be continual obedience, through active, living faith that works by love and purifies the soul” (1SM 366).
 
“When it is in the heart to obey God, when efforts are put forth to this end, Jesus accepts this disposition and effort as man’s best service, and He makes up for the deficiency with His own divine merit. But He will not accept those who claim to have faith in Him, and yet are disloyal to His Father’s commandment. We hear a great deal about faith, but we need to hear a great deal more about works. Many are deceiving their own souls by living an easy-going, accommodating, crossless religion” (Ibid., 382).
 
God provides more than pardon. He offers us power. “The gospel...is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth” (Romans 1:16). But Babylon offers an easy religion. “Come to the altar, decide for Christ, claim that Jesus has accepted you, and go on your way. Don’t worry. Just have peace.” The sanctuary, however, contemplates our complete recovery from the power of sin. Our anchor reaches within the second veil. 
The Papacy appeals not only to “those who would be saved in their sins” but also to “those who would be saved by their merits.” Rome offers ceremony, penance, and ritual. And Protestantism has its counterpart. The enemy’s lie—the idea that something we have done or can do will save us—can even creep right into our midst, into our own hearts. Luther struggled long with that burden. Finally when the glorious light of justification by faith broke upon his soul, he experienced peace. John Wesley went through a struggle, too, and joy filled his heart when he cast his helpless soul upon Jesus as his only hope!
 
To us today the warning comes: “There are conscientious souls that trust partly to God, and partly to themselves. They do not look to God, to be kept by His power, but depend upon watchfulness against temptation, and the performance of certain duties for acceptance with Him” (Ibid., 353). Such individuals must have their prayers every day at a certain time and read a certain number of chapters in the Bible, or they have a guilt complex. “There are no victories in this kind of faith. Such persons toil to no purpose; their souls are in continual bondage, and they find no rest until their burdens are laid at the feet of Jesus” (Ibid.).
 
And how does the sanctuary free us from this bondage? Above the law we see the mercy seat. While we acknowledge the divine standard, we behold a great High Priest bearing our nature and the nature of the Deity, lifting His wounded hands and sprinkling His blood in our behalf. We know that our entrance is through His name. We do not scale down the standard to meet our poor attainments, but we trust in His all-sufficient merits, “being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in...[us]” will finish it (see Philippians 1:6, margin). False revival will not move us as long as we keep our anchor within the second veil. There the Forerunner has entered with the pledge that He will complete what He has started and present us “faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy” (Jude 24). R&R WDF