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God’s Law Stands for Ever, May 2
All his commandments are sure. They stand fast for ever and ever.
Psalm 111:7, 8
.
“The temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in His temple
the ark of his testament” (
Revelation 11:19
). The ark of God’s testament is in the
Holy of Holies, the second apartment of the sanctuary. In the ministration of the
earthly tabernacle, which served “unto the example and shadow of heavenly things,”
this apartment was opened only upon the great Day of Atonement for the cleansing
of the sanctuary. Therefore the announcement that the temple of God was opened
in heaven and the ark of His testament was seen points to the opening of the Most
Holy Place of the heavenly sanctuary in 1844 as Christ entered there to perform the
closing work of the atonement.
Those who by faith followed their great High Priest as He entered upon His
ministry in the Most Holy Place beheld the ark of His testament. As they had studied
the subject of the sanctuary they had come to understand the Saviour’s change
of ministration, and they saw that He was now officiating before the ark of God,
pleading His blood in behalf of sinners.
The ark in the tabernacle on earth contained the two tables of stone, upon which
were inscribed the precepts of the law of God. The ark was merely a receptacle
for the tables of the law, and the presence of these divine precepts gave to it its
value and sacredness. When the temple of God was opened in heaven, the ark of
His testament was seen. 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.
The law of God in the sanctuary in heaven is the great original, of which the
precepts inscribed upon the tables of stone and recorded by Moses in the Pentateuch
were an unerring transcript. Those who arrived at an understanding of this important
point were thus led to see the sacred, unchanging character of the divine law. They
saw, as never before, the force of the Saviour’s words: “Till heaven and earth pass,
one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law” (
Matthew 5:18
).
The law of God, being a revelation of His will, a transcript of His character,
must forever endure, “as a faithful witness in heaven.” Not one command has been
annulled; not a jot or tittle has been changed. Says the psalmist: “Forever, O Lord,
thy word is settled in heaven.” “All his commandments are sure. They stand fast for
ever and ever” (
Psalm 111:7, 8
) (
The Great Controversy, 433, 434
).
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