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Royalty and Ruin
Through messages such as those that Malachi bore, as well as
through oppression from heathen foes, the Israelites finally learned
that true prosperity depends on obedience to the law of God. But
with many, obedience did not flow from faith. Their motives were
selfish. They gave outward service as a way to achieve national
greatness. The chosen people did not become the light of the world,
but shut themselves away from the world as a safeguard against idol
worship. They perverted the restrictions forbidding intermarriage
with the heathen and joining in the pagan practices of surrounding
nations so that they built up a wall of partition between themselves
and all other peoples. This shut from others the blessings God had
commissioned Israel to give to the world.
How the Sanctuary Services Were Perverted
At the same time, by their sins the Jews were separating from
God. They were unable to discern the spiritual meaning of their sym-
bolic services. In self-righteousness they trusted their own works—
the sacrifices themselves—instead of relying on the merits of Him
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to whom these things pointed. “Seeking to establish their own righ-
teousness” (
Romans 10:3
), they built up a self-sufficient system of
forms. Not content with the regulations God Himself had appointed,
they invented countless detailed rules of their own. The greater their
distance from God, the more rigorously they observed these forms.
With all these burdensome rules it was practically impossible
for the people to keep the law. The glorious truths shadowed in the
symbolic services were buried under a mountain of human tradi-
tion. Those who really wanted to serve God groaned under a heavy
burden.
Israel Rejects Her Messiah
The people of Israel had separated themselves so far from God
that they could have no true understanding of the promised Re-
deemer’s character or mission. Instead of wanting redemption from
sin, they set their hearts on regaining worldly power. They looked
for the Messiah to exalt Israel to rulership over all nations. In this
way Satan had prepared the people to reject the Savior when He