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THIEVES IN THE
SANCTUARY
“As the thief is ashamed when
he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed.” (Jer.
2:26a)
“As he that taketh away a garment in cold
weather.” (Prov. 25:20)
“Remove not the ancient
landmark, which thy fathers have set.” (Prov.
22:28)
Most people have had some encounter either
directly or indirectly with thieves during a normal
lifetime. Everyone is familiar with the daily
feature known as the weather forecast. Low
pressure systems may indicate a gathering storm, while a cold
front moving down from the Arctic could indicate killing frost
or blizzard conditions. Chilling winds sweeping
over some polar icecap might presage the coming of
winter. Sometimes huge mountains of ice, break
away and drift with the ocean currents into the shipping
lanes, where they endanger shipping. We are all
familiar with the mighty Titanic that struck an iceberg in
1912 and sank with tragic loss of life. A “gaping
hole” three hundred feet long…below the water line, resulted
when the Titanic, which scientists pronounced unsinkable,
struck the iceberg on her maiden voyage and in a little more
than two hours plunged to the bottom of the
Atlantic.
Everyone would be disturbed if there
was an organized attempt to destroy all the survey marks which
indicate property ownership. A wave of indignation
would be heard if there was any suggestion about doing away
with all navigation aids, all warning buoys and life
boats. Imagine the chaos there would be on our
highways if we were suddenly left without any regulation
governing traffic or warnings for railway
crossings. Would we permit anyone to tamper with
the labels in our medicine cabinet or pollute the drinking
water of the atmosphere? Not even godless Russia
will go so far as to ignore the pollution of atmospheric
contamination.
But in the spiritual realm, where
eternity bound souls are at stake, something more dire and
dreadful is taking place. Ever since Adam and Eve
sinned in the garden of Eden, there have been periodic “cold
waves” sweeping over the world from the “frigid ice fields” of
unbelief. The effect has numbed the conscience of
many in regard to evil and sin. Multitudes have
died without discovering the warmth of the love of
God. Many a mariner on the sea of life has made
shipwreck on the merciless icebergs of immorality, doubt, evil
habits and materialism. There are many unpunished
robbers that would take away a garment in the
cold. The drink traffic has done so---times
without number. Drink has taken the clothes from
the backs of infants and has taken the food from the mouths of
children. Drink has robbed many a man of his honor
and many a woman of her virtue. Drink is a thief
that has robbed people of their good judgment, while in charge
of a car and has precipitated uncounted tragic deaths with
horrible suffering. But we expect gambling, drugs
and liquor to rob people. It’s natural.
A still greater tragedy is: to discover thieves
operating within the sanctuary itself. Today a far
more subtle stealth is going on. Jeremiah says,
“As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of
Israel ashamed…But where are the gods that thou hast made
thee? Let them arise, if they can save thee in the
time of thy trouble…” Jer. 2:26a, 28a. A
bone chilling wave of unbelief is emanating from many of the
organized churches today and their members have been robbed of
their garments of salvation and exposed to the icy blasts of
unbelief. A new curriculum has been introduced
that attributes the creation story to a myth, the miracles of
the Bible to folklore and the Word of God to the level of
Shakespeare or Milton. Thieves are at work in the
sanctuary, pilfering the promises of God of their efficacy;
they are stealing the heirlooms of the Virgin Birth and the
Deity of Christ from their glorious sacred shrines in the
hearts and minds of believers; they are robbing the Bible of
its miraculous inspiration and Divine authority.
It’s time a host of Jeremiahs apprehended them and confronted
them with the challenge, “But where are thy gods that thou
hast made thee? Let them arise IF THEY CAN SAVE
THEE in the time of trouble…” Science is NOT A
SAVIOUR.
The spiritual world today is threatened
with another ice age of unbelief. Ice chilling
effect is seen in the words of Christ, “Because iniquity shall
abound the love of many shall wax cold.”
Consciences are numbed and coldness of heart has slowed down
the missionary zeal of the average church member.
Minds are not alert to the dangers of icebergs drifting into
the traffic lanes of the ocean of life. Historic
landmarks erected by our forefathers to warn us of pitfalls
have been obliterated and ignored. Labels on
fleshly actions once called sin have been changed.
The truth contained in the new approach to godliness is like
pouring a cup of boiling water into the Artic Ocean to warm
it. It’s ineffective, too little and too
late. Churches, having lost their convictions and
goals are merging to save themselves rather than to save the
world. The bleak barren tundras of the average
orthodox church, support little evidence of spiritual
life. They are taking our garments away in the
cold.
God’s plan of salvation offers a new
creation, not a new curriculum. He didn’t offer us
a “new patch” for our old garment, but a new robe composed of
righteousness. Nor did God suggest a new leaf for
a remedy, but instead He gives us new life.
We’re not saved by Science, but by the Saviour.
Calling a rattle snake a lizard doesn’t make its fangs less
deadly. Learning to drink wisely doesn’t insure us
of the WILL to drink wisely.
Normally, thieves
work by stealth under cover of darkness. They are
criminals who are sought and apprehended for the court to
determine the penalty they deserve. Thieves often
work in the sanctuary furtively and suavely, stealing the
precious jewels of God’s Word and often replacing them with
fake jewels that have no value. Men have profaned
God’s temple; they have polluted and defiled it.
Let’s drive the thieves out of the temple and make God’s house
the house of prayer it ought to be.
God is the
great provider. Adam and Eve improvised a covering
for their shame, but God provided a garment. Cain
improvised an offering to God, but Abel came with an
acceptable sacrifice. An argument followed in
which we can surmise Cain saying his offering was as good as
Abel’s sacrifice. His voice became louder
and more menacing as he became more aggressive and
threatening. Finally, rage dethroned his reason,
and in a fit of passion he dealt a mortal blow to his
unprotected brother. Conscience smitten, he sought
to flee, but God said, “the blood of Abel had found a voice
that cried to Him from the ground.” (Knox trans)
The world had plummeted from the sunshine of God’s love to the
long winter night of evil. The WAY of Cain became
the pattern for the way of the unbeliever and the shattered
derelicts of their shipwrecks are strewn across the sea of
Time. They are mute evidence of the futility of
trying to chart our own course to eternity amidst the rocks
and shoals of indifference, unbelief and
ignorance.
This world has never been hospitable
to the gospel of God’s grace. Jesus was born in a
manger and died outside the “holy” City. Paul
suffered the loss of all things for Christ’s sake.
Often the greatest persecution of the followers of Christ, has
come from the representative of orthodox religion.
Religious thieves today would rob us of our hope of
immortality and callously sanctify unbelief. But
what are these gods doing to save the world from hell, or
change the mounting strangle hold of evil. “Let
them arise, if they can save thee in the time of
trouble…” Where are the ancient landmarks, which
our father’s established? Where is the garment
that God provided to clothe His children and protect them from
spiritual death by exposure to the elements of this
world?
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