This is my adaptation of a sermon by Pastor Henry Wright
If you have your Bibles, turn with me please to Mark 5:25-34. In case you think I’m not preaching on the Sanctuary, I am. It’s all in Mark 5; you just missed it the last time you read it. Mark 5:25-34. “And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, and had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse, when she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes? And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing. But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth. And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.” I want to use for my subject, Heaven Came Down.
Opening prayer
There is this woman, and her story is told in these verses that we just read. She carries that title that is given to certain special characters in the Bible. Although I normally preach from the New American Standard Bible, I’m going to use the King James today because I like how this passage is worded in KJV. It calls her “a certain woman.” That’s all the Bible ever calls her. Sometimes it’s a certain man; other times it’s a certain lad. That’s all we know about these special people, the unnamed faith heroes of the Bible. We don’t know who they are, but we know what God did with them and through them. We don’t need their names; we just need their experience.
Verses 25 and 26 tell us everything we know about her life up until this point. It says, “And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, and had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse.” The first thing we know about her is that she had been bleeding continuously for 12 years; that she had been sick for 12 long years. Secondly, we know that she had gone to many different doctors during this 12-year period, and the doctors had done nothing at all to help her.
In researching this, I found something interesting in Adam Clarke’s commentary. You see, nobody should be surprised at the fact that the doctors couldn’t help her, when you consider the treatments of the Jewish physicians in reference to hemorrhages, especially of the kind with which this woman was afflicted. Today we would call them quacks. Clarke quotes a Jewish historian, Rabbi Jochanan, who says: "Take of gum Alexandria, of alum, and of crocus hortensis, the weight of a zuzee each; let them be bruised together, and given in wine to the woman that hath an issue of blood. But if this fail, take of Persian onions nine logs, boil them in wine, and give it to her to drink: and say, Arise from thy flux. But should this fail, set her in a place where two ways meet, and let her hold a cup of wine in her hand; and let somebody come behind and affright her, and say, Arise from thy flux. But should this do no good, take a handful of cumin and a handful of crocus, and a handful of fenugreek; let these be boiled, and given her to drink, and say, Arise from thy flux. But should this also fail, dig seven trenches, and burn in them some cuttings of vines not yet circumcised (vines not four years old;) and let her take in her hand a cup of wine, and let her be led from this trench and set down over that; and let her be removed from that, and set down over another: and in each removal say unto her, Arise from thy flux?”
So we see that this woman had been a victim of bad doctors, but thirdly we see that she had spent all the money she had on treatments from these bad doctors. Fourth, after spending all of her money for these useless treatments, we see that she kept getting worse. For all practical purposes, after all this woman had gone through, we could easily say that she had a hopeless case. I’m thankful to tell you today, however, that Jesus specializes in hopeless cases. You see, the Bible just calls her “a certain woman”, and I’m glad for that. In her society she was an outcast, a reject from society. But that just makes me rejoice today because it shows us that the nobodies of this world are focused on by heaven. I don’t have to be a doctor or president. I can just be plain, ordinary Ethan, and God watches over me like He watches the fall of a sparrow. Jesus watches over all of us with the most incredible love. Praise God!
The doctrine of the Sanctuary is one of the most important teachings in all the Bible. I say it is the most important because there is no other doctrine, with the exception of the cross, which is more Christ-centered than the doctrine of the Sanctuary. It saddens me that we don’t hear more sermons on it than we do.
There were 7 parts to the first Hebrew sanctuary that I want us to examine for a moment, and I want us to see how all of them reveal Christ to us in a unique way.
1. The entrance. Jesus said in John 10:9, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”
2. The altar of burnt offering. In John 1:29, Jesus is the Lamb of God.
3. The laver. Jesus gives the water of life. John 7:37,38; Rev. 22:17
4. The table of shewbread. In John 6:48, Jesus is the Bread of Life.
5. The seven golden candlesticks. In John 8:12, Jesus is the light of the world.
6. The altar of incense. This represents the prayer ministry of Jesus our intercessor. Hebrews 7:25
7. The ark of the covenant. In the judgment, Jesus is both judge and advocate. John 5:27; I John 2:1.
Turn with me now to Exodus 25:8. God says, “And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.” The sanctuary teaches us two basic concepts, and the first one is revealed in this verse. Concept # 1 is that God wants to be with His people. Let’s read on to verse 9. “According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it.” Concept # 2 is that everything in the sanctuary was designed to teach the people about God—who He is and what He’s like.
Remember that when God gave the sanctuary to the Israelites, He was giving it to people who had just come out of 400 years of pagan influence. They had been surrounded by idolatry, and it had influenced their concept of God. They had been surrounded by odd gods—gods of wood, gods of stone, gods of metal, sun worship, cat worship. We have odd gods in our midst today. Odd gods with remote controls. Odd gods that we listen to in our car or home stereos. Odd gods we play on our computers. Odd gods that we read when we should be reading our Bibles. Odd gods that we gaze into for hours at a time to see how wonderful we look. Odd gods that we wear in our ears, on our fingers, around our necks, or on our bodies. Odd gods! And then the worst odd god is the one that has become the most popular religion in the Adventist church today—In My Opinion. People say, “I know what the Bible says, but I think…” Odd gods!
But God was not content to leave His people the way they were. He said, “I must go down and be with My people. I must show them who I am and what I’m like.” Folks, we must realize how much of a loving God He is. Think about it! Out of all the places to go in the universe, out of all the unfallen worlds with unfallen beings, he consciously chose to come here! That’s love! That’s grace! That’s the goodness of God! That is like a completely normal parent having mentally insane children, and then deciding to move into the insane asylum just to be near them. I use that analogy because sin is a form of insanity. He said, “Let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.”
In studying the sanctuary, you find that there are 3 different Hebrew words translated sanctuary in the Old Testament. They are:
1. Miqdash—Sacred Place
2. Qodesh—Something that is holy
3. Qadash—To set apart
Another name that was commonly used for the sanctuary was the tabernacle. There are 2 different Hebrew words translated tabernacle, and they are:
1. Ohel—Dwelling place
2. Mishkon—Dwelling place
And so the sanctuary was a sacred dwelling place that God had set apart so that He could live among His people. And I want to repeat what I said a moment ago. Out of all the places He could have gone, with all His sinless children all over the universe, He decided to move down and take up residence in the slums called Earth. Last year I met a family who was moving to Texas from California because they wanted to get away from the ghetto, but God chose to move to the ghetto by having His fallen, sinful children build Him a sanctuary. He did all of this because He wanted us to know who He is and what He’s like.
Turn with me to Exodus 33:18, and then we’ll go to Exodus 34:6,7. Moses is speaking to God here, “And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory.” Moses prayed for God to show him His glory, and God showed him what He was like—His character. “And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.”
What is God like? His character is mercy. His character is forgiveness. His character is patience. His character is love. But there’s also a flipside. His character is justice. His character is holiness. His character is righteousness. And folks, we must maintain a balanced picture of God at all costs, or we have created a false god in our own image. You see, a god that is all kindness and mercy but no justice is a weakling that doesn’t stand for anything and will allow anything and everything. And a god that is all justice and righteousness but no love and mercy is a monster, a traffic cop that is just waiting to punish us for every little mistake we make. It is unfortunate that too often, that tends to be the picture of God that we give to people, especially our young people, and I don’t blame them for rejecting it. Both concepts are false concepts of God that are totally inspired by the devil himself.
God’s two chief attributes, which can never be played against each other, are love and holiness. He is merciful because He is loving, yet He is just because He is holy. And remember, the text says that He will “by no means clear the guilty.” Guilty of what? In the context of the sanctuary, of God coming down to be with His people, He can by no means clear those who are guilty of not taking advantage of His nearness. He came all the way down from heaven to be with us, so the least we can do is to get down on our knees in reverent prayer to Him. He came to be with us, so the least we can do is to open our Bibles and let Him talk to us.
The sanctuary reveals 2 things. First, it reveals the awesome character of God. Second, it reveals the awfulness of sin. In reality, it reveals our sinfulness. A deep study of the sanctuary shows a contrast between the holy character of God and the sinful character of man.
You see, back in the days of the first sanctuary, common people couldn’t enter the sanctuary. Only the priests were permitted to ever enter the sanctuary, and even then under the strictest of conditions. The high priest was the only one ever allowed to enter the most holy place, and even he was only allowed to go in once a year on the Day of Atonement. If the priest went into the most holy place with even one unconfessed sin, he was killed instantly. Have you considered the fact that it is a miracle today that we can go to church and live? To be able to walk into the church, into the presence of God, with sin in our lives is surely the mercy and grace of God.
I repeat what I said earlier. The sanctuary reveals the awesome character of God, and the awfulness of sin. What it really shows is the sinfulness of sin. It bothers me when I go to some churches now and talk to some Christians who are saying that some sins aren’t so bad. Yes, sin is bad, but there are degrees of sin. My sin is pretty bad, but at least its not as bad as your sin. I might be a gossip, but at least I’m not committing adultery like those folks over there. Folks, we need to come to the realization that all sin, no matter what kind, no matter how small, is an abomination in the sight of God.
I mentioned earlier that the most popular religious philosophy in our church is not Adventism, but the religion of “In my opinion.” That is the most dangerous thing there is, because people are using their opinions to redefine what is and isn’t sin. It’s not uncommon to go to church and hear that what’s wrong for you might be right for me, and vice-versa. And if you’re not careful, some slick-talking liar will come to town and say something like, “You know that commandment that says, ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery?’ Well, what it really means is, Thou shalt not commit adultery all the time.” And some poor gullible church member will agree and say, “You know, I thought that commandment was a little too restrictive.” Brothers and sisters, sin in EVERY form is unacceptable and offensive to God.
If sin was acceptable, Jesus would never have had to have died, and the sacrifices of animals would also have been unnecessary. Just imagine Joe the Jew going to take a lamb to be offered. All his neighbors are watching him, counting how many times he’s had to go back that same day and kill another lamb. You see, the emphasis was on blood, because the Bible says that without the shedding of blood, there is no remission for sin. The blood of lambs and goats and bulls couldn’t pay the price for sin, and so Christ had to come and shed His blood.
One Bible commentator makes the statement that Jesus Himself designed the sanctuary. That is powerful to me, because since the people couldn’t go in, the sanctuary itself was the most visible picture of Christ they had. When they were bringing their sacrifices to the sanctuary, they were in reality bringing their sacrifices to Jesus. That was the plan, but it wasn’t working. The sacrificial system wasn’t removing sin from the lives of the people, and the people were failing the plan. And so type meets antitype.
Let’s return to the woman with the issue of blood. In her day, some of the restrictions had been lifted. In her day, some people could enter the temple, but only certain people, and under very strict prohibitions. Nobody who had touched an unclean person could go in. Nobody who had touched a pig could go in. Nobody who had touched a dead animal could go in. Nobody with a blemish could go in. Lepers couldn’t go in. Nobody who was unclean could go in. With that foundation, turn with me to Leviticus 15:19,20,25. It says, “And if a woman have an issue, and her issue in her flesh be blood, she shall be put apart seven days: and whosoever toucheth her shall be unclean until the even. And every thing that she lieth upon in her separation shall be unclean: every thing also that she sitteth upon shall be unclean…And if a woman have an issue of her blood many days out of the time of her separation, or if it run beyond the time of her separation; all the days of the issue of her uncleanness shall be as the days of her separation: she shall be unclean.”
Imagine the life of this poor woman. Anything she touched was unclean. Anybody she came in contact with was unclean. She couldn’t go anywhere. She couldn’t do anything. If anybody sat in her chair, they were unclean until sundown. She had to have her own bed, her own table, her own dishes and utensils, her own house. 12 years, no church. 12 years, no Sabbath school. 12 years, no potlucks. 12 years, no concerts. 12 years, no campmeeting. 12 years, no outreach. 12 years, nothing at all but being stuck in her house with nothing to do and nobody to associate with.
I believe it’s no accident that her disease had plagued her for 12 years. Bible scholars see 12 as the kingdom number, representing completeness. Think of all the 12’s in the Bible—12 disciples, apostles, tribes, spies, gates, foundations, stars. And she had been sick for 12 years. That tells me that all of us are sick, all of us are diseased, all of us are sick with sin and needing the healing power and grace of Jesus in our lives. That’s why the Bible says in Isaiah 53:6, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
I don’t know about today, but in the old days, when someone got sick with something like smallpox, they were put under quarantine. They couldn’t leave their house, and nobody could enter or leave under any circumstance until they were well. Folks, this world is under quarantine. It’s the only world that is diseased with sin, and because God is keeping such a close guard on us, only the Holy Spirit and our guardian angels can come here. In my preacher’s imagination, I see the sinless beings from all the unfallen worlds traveling from one world to another, yet they have to detour around our galaxy because they don’t want to get to close to the infection. That’s why Jesus told Mary, “Don’t touch Me, for I’ve not yet ascended to My Father.”
And so this woman had a problem, and she didn’t know what to do. She had been burdened for years, afflicted for years, praying for years, and her life seemed hopeless. But God had a plan.
I remind you that earlier I said that in the Old Testament, since the people couldn’t go into the sanctuary, the sanctuary tent itself was the most visible representation of Christ that they had. If you were to take John 1 and apply it to back then, you could say that “The Word became tent and dwelt among us.” That was the plan, but the people failed the plan. That’s why Rev. 13:8 calls Jesus the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”
And so Jesus comes and introduces phase 2 of the plan. In the Old Testament, the tent was working satisfactorily, but He said that a tent would no longer do. John 1:14 says that “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” The Shekinah Glory that inhabited the Most Holy Place took on flesh. You could even use John 1:14 and translate it as the Word built a fleshy tent and tabernacled among us.
It was different now. In the Old Testament, whenever someone came in contact with the Shekinah Glory of God, they were destroyed. They couldn’t stand in the presence. But when Jesus came, when the Shekinah Glory wrapped itself up in flesh, the reaction was different. People who came in contact with Jesus were healed. People who came in contact with Jesus were delivered. People who came in contact with Jesus were set free. People who came in contact with Jesus were saved.
And so I can imagine this woman hearing about Jesus. She heard about all His miracles that He’d done, and she said to herself, “I’m going to church today.” Someone might have told her that she wasn’t supposed to go, that she couldn’t go in, but she said, “That’s okay, the church is on the move! The sanctuary is coming here! I’m going to church today!” They might have reminded her that the priest couldn’t see her or help her. “That’s okay, the High Priest will take care of me today!”
And so she came to where Jesus was. He had had a busy day that day. In fact, there are 2 other stories in Mark 5. We don’t know how long she waited. She had probably sat there listening to Him teach all day. Maybe she had seen Him heal somebody else. We know that she had to go through the crowd to get to Him. Listen to this beautiful passage from the book Ministry of Healing, pages 59-60. “They advanced but slowly; for the crowd pressed Christ on every side. In making His way through the multitude, the Saviour came near to where the afflicted woman was standing. Again and again she had tried in vain to get near Him. Now her opportunity had come. She could see no way of speaking to Him. She would not seek to hinder His slow advance. But she had heard that healing came from a touch of His garments; and, fearful of losing her one chance for relief, she pressed forward, saying to herself, "If I may but touch His garment, I shall be whole. Christ knew every thought of her mind, and He was making His way to where she stood. He realized her great need, and He was helping her to exercise faith.”
The sanctuary was made accessible to her. She reached out in faith and touched the hem of His garment, and she felt a surge of electricity flow through her body. The bleeding stopped, and she was totally healed and cleansed of her affliction. We know that Jesus spoke to her, but I can imagine the aftermath. Before, she had been like a leper, an outcast. Wherever she went, she had to cry out “Unclean! Unclean!” I can hear her now crying out even louder, “Clean! Clean! Clean! Cleaned up! Straightened out! Set right! Picked up! Washed in the blood of the Lamb!”
How many of you today want to reach out and touch Jesus?
Appeal song
