A close friend must spend several years in a distant land; so he asks you to look after his palatial estate in his absence, even supplying the necessary means. Doubtless you think it over quite seriously, because a large investment will be under your control. Your friend has shown great confidence in you, and you would hate to disappoint him.
Now suppose that after you have taken charge, you discover that the property is worth ten times more than you had originally thought. I’m sure not only your appreciation of the owner’s confidence would multiply but also your feeling of responsibility.
The King of the universe has asked you to look after a building of immense value to Him. “Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost” (1 Corinthians 6:19). e more you ponder what He paid for its redemption, the more you appreciate the high honor He has bestowed upon the caretakers of the temple. This concept lifts the study and practice of health habits to a holy level.
The temple in heaven and the temple of our bodies closely parallel each other.
1. Each temple has been formed by the Creator for a special purpose— to be His dwelling place. Chapter 8, verse 2, of Hebrews calls the heavenly sanctuary “the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.” Concerning the body temple, David says, “Thy hands have made me and fashioned me” (Psalm 119:73). “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well” (Psalm 139:14).
He who abides “in the high and holy place” (Isaiah 57:15) desires to live in us. “Ye are the temple of God, and...the Spirit of God dwelleth in you” (1 Corinthians 3:16).
2. Each temple enshrines a law written by God’s finger. “Within the holy of holies, in the sanctuary in heaven, the divine law is sacredly enshrined—the law that was spoken by God Himself amid the thunders of Sinai and written with His own finger on the tables of stone” (GC 434). “The laws of nature are the laws of God—as truly divine as are the precepts of the Decalogue. The laws that govern our physical organism, God has written upon every nerve, muscle, and member of the body” (Ed 196).
The mouth provides an example of the laws written in the body. What do you find in the teeth? The law of mastication. Every tooth testifies I am made to cut or chew food. The taste buds add their testimony, telling us that God desires us to enjoy eating. And the salivary glands with their digestive enzymes give additional evidence concerning the importance of the law of mastication.
The knowledge that God has written His laws “upon every nerve, muscle, and fibre of the body” should lead us to study each organ. As we discover the Creator’s laws, we should bring our lives into harmony with His wonderful plan. We are caretakers of the temple.
3. Both temples contain a record of sin. Speaking from the temple above, God says, “Behold, it is written before me...your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together” (Isaiah 65:6, 7). Angels record not only our good deeds, thoughts, and words but also every idle word, sinful act, unholy thought, and impure motive. So men are “judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works” (Revelation 20:12).
Here on earth the violation of physical law leaves its imprint on the body. The poisons of tobacco write their dark story in the lungs, and by and by cancer often develops. Alcohol can destroy thousands of brain cells, and brain cells cannot be replaced. Lack of exercise, overwork, overeating, lack of sleep, anxiety, and guilt—all leave their impressions like the picture on photographic film.
4. Both temples require cleansing. The Scriptures recount concerning the temple above, “Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed” (Daniel 8:14).
While Christ is cleansing the temple in heaven we are to work in harmony with Him in our body temples on earth. “Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Corinthians 7:1). He wants us to clean up inside and out. We need to search out every defiling habit and remove it from our lives during the hour of the cleansing of the sanctuary.
5. Only the blood of Jesus can truly cleanse both temples. Hebrews 9:22- 26 points out that although the earthly tabernacle was purified with the blood of animals, it is necessary that the heavenly things should be purified with better sacrifices—Jesus’ blood.
So it is in our minds and bodies. We all come face-to-face with habits the unaided human will cannot break. In addition, the effects of our past sins hinder us. What shall we do? We must come to Christ and ask Him to forgive our past sins and to write His law in our hearts so that in His power we can live as He would. “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). There is no other way.
6. In these great truths concerning the sanctuary we find the foundation of our faith. “Of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle” (Hebrews 8:1, 2).
“The correct understanding of the ministration in the heavenly sanctuary is the foundation of our faith” (Ev 221). Jesus told a story about the man who built his house without a foundation, only to have it swept away in the storm. He wants us to be like the wise man who “digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock” (Luke 6:48). The fierce winds of the coming crisis will not move those who understand and appreciate the work of Jesus in the heavenly sanctuary.
Is there something fundamental about understanding the body temple? Yes, indeed. “A knowledge of physiology and hygiene should be the basis of all educational effort” (Ed 195). Physiology tells us how the body works. Hygiene explains how to care for it. What does basis mean? The foundation. As the true understanding of the heavenly sanctuary constitutes the foundation of our faith doctrinally, so a knowledge of physiology and hygiene forms the foundation of our training as caretakers of the body temple.
7. The light on these two temples came through the same channel. Moses beheld the heavenly sanctuary on Mount Sinai and was instructed to make the earthly tabernacle like the pattern shown him (see Exodus 25:40). On rocky Patmos John in vision repeatedly saw the temple of God (see Revelation 11:19; 14:15, 17; 15:5; 16:17).
When the temple of God was opened in heaven in 1844, how did men find out about it? By revelation. On the morning of October 23, 1844, at Port Gibson, New York, Hiram Edson stopped midway in a corn field, where a divine revelation impelled him to further Bible study which opened the great sanctuary truths to our pioneers. A few weeks later Ellen Harmon saw in vision Jesus rise from the holy place and go into the most holy where He began His closing work. Light concerning the heavenly sanctuary has come by revelation.
What about the light on the earthly temple, the human body? How did the knowledge of health reform come to this people? Ellen G. White writes, “It was at the house of Brother A. Hilliard, at Otsego, Michigan, June 6, 1863, that the great subject of health reform was opened before me in vision” (CD 481). Although a study of science will teach us about the body and how it works, we must never forget that we received the light on health reform through divine revelation.
8. Now what is the purpose of all this? Why has God given us the light on the sanctuary above? Why has He directed our attention to the care of the temple below? He wants to prepare us for His appearing.
God is developing a people who will triumphantly go through the great time of trouble. Not one will fail. “The subject of the sanctuary and the investigative judgment should be clearly understood by the people of God. All need a knowledge for themselves of the position and work of their great High Priest. Otherwise it will be impossible for them to exercise the faith which is essential at this time or to occupy the position which God designs them to” (GC 488). To go through the time of trouble ahead we need to understand Christ’s work in the most holy place.
Now another quotation with that word impossible: “To make plain natural law, and urge the obedience of it, is the work that accompanies the third angel’s message to prepare a people for the coming of the Lord...God...designs that the great subject of health reform shall be agitated and the public mind deeply stirred to investigate; for it is impossible for men and women, with all their sinful, health-destroying, brain-enervating habits, to discern sacred truth, through which they are to be sanctified, refined, elevated, and made fit for the society of heavenly angels in the kingdom of glory” (3T 161, 162).
Without a knowledge of our great High Priest’s work it would be impossible for us to exercise the faith we need at this time. So with the body temple—it is impossible for us to develop the character that God has called for in this closing hour if we continue to befog the mind and destroy the body. God wants to live with us and to prepare us to live with Him. R&R WDF
Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I AM the Door of the sheep. All that ever came before Me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. I AM the Door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I AM come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. John 10:7-10
There is another matter too often neglected by those who seek the Lord in prayer. Have you been honest with God? By the prophet Malachi the Lord declares, “Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from Mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto Me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return? Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed Me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed Thee? In tithes and offerings.” Malachi 3:7, 8
As the Giver of every blessing, God claims a certain portion of all we possess. This is His provision to sustain the preaching of the gospel. And by making this return to God, we are to show our appreciation of His gifts. But if we withhold from Him that which is His own, how can we claim His blessing? If we are unfaithful stewards of earthly things, how can we expect Him to entrust us with the things of heaven? It may be that here is the secret of unanswered prayer.
But the Lord in His great mercy is ready to forgive, and He says, “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house, and prove Me now herewith, ... if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field.... And all nations shall call you blessed; for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts.” Malachi 3:10-12 COL 144
Our Saviour exemplified truth.
He did not get involved in the politics of either the church or the world.
For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow His steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth: Who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not; but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously. 1 Peter 2:21-23
The apostle plainly outlined the attitude that believers should sustain toward the civil authorities…We have men placed over us for rulers, and laws to govern the people. Were it not for these laws, the condition of the world would be worse than it is now. Some of these laws are good, others are bad. The bad have been increasing, and we are yet to be brought into strait places. But God will sustain His people in being firm and living up to the principles of His Word.
I saw that it is our duty in every case to obey the laws of our land, unless they conflict with the higher law which God spoke with an audible voice from Sinai, and afterward engraved on stone with His own finger…He who has God's law written in the heart will obey God rather than men, and will sooner disobey all men than deviate in the least from the commandment of God. God's people, taught by the inspiration of truth, and led by a good conscience to live by every word of God, will take His law, written in their hearts, as the only authority which they can acknowledge or consent to obey. The wisdom and authority of the divine law are supreme.
The government under which Jesus lived was corrupt and oppressive; on every hand were crying abuses—extortion, intolerance, and grinding cruelty. Yet the Saviour attempted no civil reforms. He attacked no national abuses, nor condemned the national enemies. He did not interfere with the authority or administration of those in power. He who was our example kept aloof from earthly governments. Not because He was indifferent to the woes of men, but because the remedy did not lie in merely human and external measures. To be efficient, the cure must reach men individually, and must regenerate the heart.
Again and again Christ had been asked to decide legal and political questions. But He refused to interfere in temporal matters. Christ stood in our world as the Head of the great spiritual kingdom that He came to our world to establish—the kingdom of righteousness. His teaching made plain the ennobling, sanctifying principles that govern this kingdom. He showed that justice and mercy and love are the controlling powers in Jehovah's kingdom.
The spies came to Him, and with apparent sincerity, as though desiring to know their duty, said, “Master, we know that Thou sayest and teachest rightly, neither acceptest Thou the person of any, but teachest the way of God truly: is it lawful for us to give tribute unto Caesar, or no?”
Christ's reply was no evasion, but a candid answer to the question. Holding in His hand the Roman coin, upon which were stamped the name and image of Caesar, He declared that since they were living under the protection of the Roman power, they should render to that power the support it claimed, so long as this did not conflict with a higher duty.
When the Pharisees heard Christ's answer, “they marveled, and left Him, and went their way.” He had rebuked their hypocrisy and presumption, and in doing this He had stated a great principle, a principle that clearly defines the limits of man's duty to the civil government and his duty to God. CCh 314,315
We cannot with safety vote for political parties...We cannot with safety take part in any political scheme. GW 391
It is a mistake for you to link your interests with any political party, to cast your vote with them or for them. GW 393
We are not as a people to become mixed up with political questions. All would do well to take heed to the word of God, Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers in political strife, nor bind them in their attachments. 2SM 336
The people of God are not to vote to place men in office; for when they do this, they are partakers with them of the sins which they commit while in office…
What are we to do, then?—Let political questions alone. “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?” What can there be in common between these parties? There can be no fellowship, no communion. The word fellowship means participation, partnership. God employs the strongest figures to show that there should be no union between worldly parties and those who are seeking the righteousness of Christ. What communion can there be between light and darkness, truth and unrighteousness?—None whatever. Light represents righteousness; darkness, error, sin, unrighteousness. Christians have come out of darkness into the light. They have put on Christ, and they wear the badge of truth and obedience. They are governed by the elevated and holy principles which Christ expressed in His life. But the world is governed by principles of dishonesty and injustice. FE 475,476
Our “kingdom is not of this world”.
The “kingdom” is within us. It is always a heart issue, with Christ.
The belief of the Jews in regard to the relation of sin and suffering was held by Christ's disciples. While Jesus corrected their error, He did not explain the cause of the man's affliction, but told them what would be the result. Because of it the works of God would be made manifest. “As long as I am in the world,” He said, “I am the light of the world.” Then having anointed the eyes of the blind man, He sent him to wash in the pool of Siloam, and the man's sight was restored. Thus Jesus answered the question of the disciples in a practical way, as He usually answered questions put to Him from curiosity. The disciples were not called upon to discuss the question as to who had sinned or had not sinned, but to understand the power and mercy of God in giving sight to the blind. It was evident that there was no healing virtue in the clay, or in the pool wherein the blind man was sent to wash, but that the virtue was in Christ.
The Pharisees could not but be astonished at the cure. Yet they were more than ever filled with hatred; for the miracle had been performed on the Sabbath day.
The neighbors of the young man, and those who knew him before in his blindness, said, “Is not this he that sat and begged?” They looked upon him with doubt; for when his eyes were opened, his countenance was changed and brightened, and he appeared like another man. From one to another the question passed. Some said, “This is he;” others, “He is like him.” But he who had received the great blessing settled the question by saying, “I am he.” He then told them of Jesus, and by what means he had been healed, and they inquired, “Where is He? He said, I know not.”
Then they brought him before a council of the Pharisees. Again the man was asked how he had received his sight. “He said unto them, He put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed, and do see. Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because He keepeth not the Sabbath day.” The Pharisees hoped to make Jesus out to be a sinner, and therefore not the Messiah. They knew not that it was He who had made the Sabbath and knew all its obligation, who had healed the blind man. They appeared wonderfully zealous for the observance of the Sabbath, yet were planning murder on that very day. But many were greatly moved at hearing of this miracle, and were convicted that He who had opened the eyes of the blind was more than a common man. In answer to the charge that Jesus was a sinner because He kept not the Sabbath day, they said, “How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles?”
Again the rabbis appealed to the blind man, “What sayest thou of Him, that He hath opened thine eyes? He said, He is a prophet.” The Pharisees then asserted that he had not been born blind and received his sight. They called for his parents, and asked them, saying, “Is this your son, who ye say was born blind?”…The parents feared to compromise themselves; for it had been declared that whoever should acknowledge Jesus as the Christ should be “put out of the synagogue;” that is, should be excluded from the synagogue for thirty days…The great work wrought for their son had brought conviction to the parents, yet they answered, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind: but by what means he now seeth, we know not; or who hath opened his eyes, we know not: he is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself.” Thus they shifted all responsibility from themselves to their son; for they dared not confess Christ…
The Pharisees saw that they were giving publicity to the work done by Jesus. They could not deny the miracle…they tried to silence him, saying, “Give God the praise: we know that this Man is a sinner.” That is, Do not say again that this Man gave you sight; it is God who has done this. The blind man answered, “Whether He be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.”
Then they questioned again, “What did He to thee? how opened He thine eyes?” With many words they tried to confuse him, so that he might think himself deluded. Satan and his evil angels were on the side of the Pharisees, and united their energies and subtlety with man's reasoning in order to counteract the influence of Christ. They blunted the convictions that were deepening in many minds. Angels of God were also on the ground to strengthen the man who had had his sight restored.
The Pharisees did not realize that they had to deal with any other than the uneducated man who had been born blind; they knew not Him with whom they were in controversy. Divine light shone into the chambers of the blind man's soul. As these hypocrites tried to make him disbelieve, God helped him to show, by the vigor and pointedness of his replies, that he was not to be ensnared. He answered, “I have told you already, and ye did not hear: wherefore would ye hear it again? will ye also be His disciples? Then they reviled him, and said, Thou art His disciple; but we are Moses’ disciples. We know that God spake unto Moses: as for this fellow, we know not from whence He is.”
The Lord Jesus knew the ordeal through which the man was passing, and He gave him grace and utterance, so that he became a witness for Christ. He answered the Pharisees in words that were a cutting rebuke to his questioners. They claimed to be the expositors of Scripture, the religious guides of the nation; and yet here was One performing miracles, and they were confessedly ignorant as to the source of His power, and as to His character and claims. “Why herein is a marvelous thing,” said the man, “that ye know not from whence He is, and yet He hath opened mine eyes. Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshiper of God, and doeth His will, him He heareth. Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind. If this Man were not of God, He could do nothing.”
The man had met his inquisitors on their own ground. His reasoning was unanswerable. The Pharisees were astonished, and they held their peace,—spellbound before his pointed, determined words. For a few moments there was silence. Then the frowning priests and rabbis gathered about them their robes, as though they feared contamination from contact with him; they shook off the dust from their feet, and hurled denunciations against him,—“Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us?” And they excommunicated him.
Jesus heard what had been done; and finding him soon after, He said, “Dost thou believe on the Son of God?” For the first time the blind man looked upon the face of his Restorer. Before the council he had seen his parents troubled and perplexed; he had looked upon the frowning faces of the rabbis; now his eyes rested upon the loving, peaceful countenance of Jesus. Already, at great cost to himself, he had acknowledged Him as a delegate of divine power; now a higher revelation was granted him.
To the Saviour's question, “Dost thou believe on the Son of God?” the blind man replied by asking, “Who is He, Lord, that I might believe on Him?” And Jesus said, “Thou hast both seen Him, and it is He that talketh with thee.” The man cast himself at the Saviour's feet in worship. Not only had his natural sight been restored, but the eyes of his understanding had been opened. Christ had been revealed to his soul, and he received Him as the Sent of God.
A group of Pharisees had gathered near, and the sight of them brought to the mind of Jesus the contrast ever manifest in the effect of His words and works. He said, “For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.” Christ had come to open the blind eyes, to give light to them that sit in darkness. He had declared Himself to be the light of the world, and the miracle just performed was in attestation of His mission. The people who beheld the Saviour at His advent were favored with a fuller manifestation of the divine presence than the world had ever enjoyed before. The knowledge of God was revealed more perfectly. But in this very revelation, judgment was passing upon men. Their character was tested, their destiny determined.
The manifestation of divine power that had given to the blind man both natural and spiritual sight had left the Pharisees in yet deeper darkness. Some of His hearers, feeling that Christ's words applied to them, inquired, “Are we blind also?” Jesus answered, “If ye were blind, ye should have no sin.” If God had made it impossible for you to see the truth, your ignorance would involve no guilt. “But now ye say, We see.” You believe yourselves able to see, and reject the means through which alone you could receive sight. To all who realized their need, Christ came with infinite help. But the Pharisees would confess no need; they refused to come to Christ, and hence they were left in blindness,—a blindness for which they were themselves guilty. Jesus said, “Your sin remaineth.” DA 471-475
We cannot have a weak faith now; we cannot be safe in a listless, indolent, slothful attitude. Every jot of ability is to be used, and sharp, calm, deep thinking is to be done. The wisdom of any human agent is not sufficient for the planning and devising in this time. Spread every plan before God with fasting, [and] with the humbling of the soul before the Lord Jesus, and commit thy ways unto the Lord. The sure promise is, He will direct thy paths. He is infinite in resources. The Holy One of Israel, who calls the host of heaven by name, and holds the stars of heaven in position, has you individually in His keeping.
I would that all could realize what possibilities and probabilities there are for all who make Christ their sufficiency and their trust. The life hid with Christ in God ever has a refuge; he can say, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”
I leave this matter with you; for I have been worried and troubled in regard to the dangers that assail all in Battle Creek, lest they shall move indiscreetly and give the enemy advantage. This need not be, for if we walk humbly with God, we shall walk safely.
God means that we shall not locate in the cities; for there are very stormy times before us. CL 29
“Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife?”—Matthew 19:3.
Among the Jews a man was permitted to put away his wife for the most trivial offenses, and the woman was then at liberty to marry again. This practice led to great wretchedness and sin. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus declared plainly that there could be no dissolution of the marriage tie, except for unfaithfulness to the marriage vow. “Everyone,” He said, “that putteth away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, maketh her an adulteress: and whosoever shall marry her when she is put away committeth adultery.”
When the Pharisees afterward questioned Him concerning the lawfulness of divorce, Jesus pointed His hearers back to the marriage institution as ordained at creation. “Because of the hardness of your hearts,” He said, Moses “suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.” Matthew 19:8. He referred them to the blessed days of Eden, when God pronounced all things “very good.” Then marriage and the Sabbath had their origin, twin institutions for the glory of God in the benefit of humanity. Then, as the Creator joined the hands of the holy pair in wedlock, saying, A man shall “leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one” (Genesis 2:24), He enunciated the law of marriage for all the children of Adam to the close of time. That which the Eternal Father Himself had pronounced good was the law of highest blessing and development for man.
Like every other one of God's good gifts entrusted to the keeping of humanity, marriage has been perverted by sin; but it is the purpose of the gospel to restore its purity and beauty. In both the Old and the New Testament the marriage relation is employed to represent the tender and sacred union that exists between Christ and His people, the redeemed ones whom He has purchased at the cost of Calvary. “Fear not,” He says; “thy Maker is thine husband; the Lord of hosts is His name; and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.” “Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am married unto you.” Isaiah 54:4, 5; Jeremiah 3:14. In the “Song of Songs” we hear the bride's voice saying, “My Beloved is mine, and I am His.” And He who is to her “the chiefest among ten thousand,” speaks to His chosen one, “Thou art all fair, My love; there is no spot in thee.” Song of Solomon 2:16; 5:10; 4:7.
In later times Paul the apostle, writing to the Ephesian Christians, declares that the Lord has constituted the husband the head of the wife, to be her protector, the house-band, binding the members of the family together, even as Christ is the head of the church and the Saviour of the mystical body. Therefore he says, “As the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it; that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives.” Ephesians 5:24-28.
The grace of Christ, and this alone, can make this institution what God designed it should be—an agent for the blessing and uplifting of humanity. And thus the families of earth, in their unity and peace and love, may represent the family of heaven.
Now, as in Christ's day, the condition of society presents a sad comment upon heaven's ideal of this sacred relation. Yet even for those who have found bitterness and disappointment where they had hoped for companionship and joy, the gospel of Christ offers a solace. The patience and gentleness which His Spirit can impart will sweeten the bitter lot. The heart in which Christ dwells will be so filled, so satisfied, with His love that it will not be consumed with longing to attract sympathy and attention to itself. And through the surrender of the soul to God, His wisdom can accomplish what human wisdom fails to do. Through the revelation of His grace, hearts that were once indifferent or estranged may be united in bonds that are firmer and more enduring than those of earth—the golden bonds of a love that will bear the test of trial. MB 63-65