October 22-28, 2000
MEMORY VERSE: “I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.” John 10:9.
STUDY HELP: Patriarchs and Prophets, pages 430, 431.
INTRODUCTION: “Christ is the door to the fold of God. Through this door all His children, from the earliest times, have found entrance. In Jesus, as shown in types, as shadowed in symbols, as manifested in the revelation of the prophets, as unveiled in the lessons given to His disciples, and in the miracles wrought for the sons of men, they have beheld ‘the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world’ (John 1:29), and through Him they are brought within the fold of His grace.” Desire of Ages. 477.
“None Other Name”
1 How is the entrance to the sanctuary courtyard described? Exodus 27:16.
NOTE: See Patriarchs and Prophets, 347.
2 How many entrances were there to the courtyard? Exodus 38:9–18.
NOTE: See Desire of Ages, 477, 478.
3 How are the two veils described which provide entrance to the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place? Exodus 26:36, 31.
NOTE: These colors, the blue, the purple the scarlet, together with the white of the fine twined linen, were used repeatedly in the sanctuary and in the vestments for the high priest. See also Exodus 26:1, 28:6–15.
“The door to the outer court, the door to the Holy Place and the door to the Most Holy Place were all in the same colors: blue, scarlet and purple. Jesus was the Door to all three phases of the sanctuary services. Jesus was the Door that led into the courtyard where the sacrifices took place. Jesus was the Door that led into the intercessory chamber, and Jesus was the Door that led into the Most Holy Place, which was also the judgment room. Jesus is the only Door to salvation.” Robert Taylor, The Censer Still Burns, 27.
“A Ribband of Blue”
4 What significance was the color blue to have for God’s people and how were they constantly to be reminded of its meaning? Numbers 15:37–40.
NOTE: “Note that a blue border was to be worn on the garments of every person. It was around the sleeve. Each opening or edge had a fringe of blue. And the blue, according to Numbers 15:39, was to remind them of the eternal law of the great God of Israel. Thus as they walked and looked to where their feet were going, they were reminded, by the blue, to walk in the straight and narrow path. Whenever they stretched forth the hand, the blue hem was a reminder to only take or touch or handle what was in accordance with the law. The keeping of the law was a hedge to them that protected them from many evils and temptations. The blue border on their garment reminded them of their obligation to the law of God.” Robert Taylor, The Censer Still Burns, 21.
N.B. The blue border would also have been about their necks, reminding them that their lips, their eyes, their ears, their minds were also to remember the law of God.
5 What was God’s purpose in giving His people the law? Deuteronomy 5:29, 33; 6:24, 25.
NOTE: “Christ came to the world with the accumulated love of eternity. Sweeping away the exactions which had encumbered the law of God, He showed that the law is a law of love, an expression of the Divine Goodness. He showed that in obedience to its principles is involved the happiness of mankind, and with it the stability, the very foundation and framework, of human society. So far from making arbitrary requirements, God’s law is given to men as a hedge, a shield. Whoever accepts its principles is preserved from evil. Fidelity to God involves fidelity to man. Thus the law guards the rights, the individuality, of every human being. It restrains the superior from oppression, and the subordinate from disobedience. It ensures man’s well being, both for this world and for the world to come. To the obedient it is the pledge of eternal life, for it expresses the principles that endure forever.” Education, 76, 77.
“Though Your Sins be as Scarlet”
6 Of what does the color scarlet remind us? Isaiah 1:18.
NOTE: “When we see that there are defects in our characters, we must be zealous and repent and reform; for if we regard iniquity in our hearts, the Scripture declares that God will not hear us. Christ has given us an invitation full of mercy. He says, ‘Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.’ There is nothing worse than a scarlet sin except the sin that can have no forgiveness in this life or in the life to come.” Signs of the Times, March 10, 1890.
7 What other significance does the color red have for us? 1 John 1:7. (Compare 2 Corinthians 5:21.)
NOTE: “I am so grateful today that we have a living Saviour. There are many who go about as mournfully as though Christ were still in Joseph’s tomb with a great stone rolled before the door. Our hearts should be full of hope and joy, and we should be able to say with grateful tongues, ‘Christ is risen, and is at the right hand of God to make intercession for us. He has carried His blood into the sanctuary, and will cleanse us from every sin.’” Signs of the Times, August 29, 1892.
“And They Clothed Him with Purple”
8 What was the significance of the color purple? Mark 15:17-18. (Compare Judges 8:26; Esther 8:15; Luke 16:19.)
NOTE: “At the suggestion of Herod, a crown was now plaited from a vine bearing sharp thorns, and this was placed upon the sacred brow of Jesus; and an old tattered purple robe, once the garment of a king, was placed upon His noble form, while Herod and the Jewish priests encouraged the insults and cruelty of the mob. Jesus was then placed upon a large block, which was derisively called a throne, an old reed was placed in His hand as a scepter, and, amid satanic laughter, curses, and jeers, the rude throng bowed to Him mockingly as to a king. Occasionally some murderous hand snatched the reed that had been placed in His hand, and struck Him on the head with it, forcing the thorns into His temples, and causing the blood to flow down His face and beard.” Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 3, 138.
Purple is produced by combining red and blue. So Christ is fitted to be our King since He is not only the Law-giver but shed His precious blood that we might be reconciled to God.
9 When will Christ be given His kingdom and dominion? Daniel 7:13, 14.
NOTE: “The blue is the standard or the law of the great God of Israel. The red, or the scarlet, symbolizes the life and the death of Jesus in our behalf. Because Jesus upheld the law, because He lived and died in our behalf, the kingdom of the redeemed is given into His hands. He becomes our King throughout eternity. He wears purple.…The door represents Jesus and His standard. What a lesson, what a wonderful revelation it was when Jesus said, ‘I am the door.’ John 10:9.” Robert Taylor, The Censer Still Burns, 27.
“Fine Twined Linen”
10 Of what material were the high priest’s vestments made? Exodus 28:39–42.
NOTE: See Acts of the Apostles, page 33.
11 What is the symbolism of white linen? Revelation 19:7, 8. Compare Revelation 3:18.
NOTE: See Acts of the Apostles, 523, 524.
“Arrayed in Purple and Scarlet”
12 By contrast with the colors of sanctuary, what color is missing in the description of the Woman of Revelation 17? Revelation 17:4.
NOTE: See The Great Controversy, 51, 52, 65.
13 When men teach others to disregard the Law of God, what is it time for the Lord to do? Psalm 119:126. Compare Romans 3:31.
NOTE: “It is ever the purpose of Satan to make void the law of God and to pervert the true meaning of the plan of salvation. Therefore he has originated the falsehood that the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary’s cross was for the purpose of freeing men from the obligation of keeping the commandments of God. He has foisted upon the world the deception that God has abolished His constitution, thrown away His moral standard, and made void His holy and perfect law. Had He done this, at what terrible expense would it have been to Heaven! Instead of proclaiming the abolition of the law, Calvary’s cross proclaims in thunder tones its immutable and eternal character. Could the law have been abolished, and the government of heaven and earth and the unnumbered worlds of God maintained, Christ need not have died. The death of Christ was to forever settle the question of the validity of the law of Jehovah…. Christ came to magnify the law and to make it honorable.” Faith and Works, 118.