THE SANCTUARY SERIES

DRESS REFORM AND THE SANCTUARYPART 2

By John ThielGod’s way in the sanctuary is the way of holiness.

Isaiah 35:8 And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called Theway of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it [shall be] for those:the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err [therein].

This way of holiness in the sanctuary is a highway of walking. In the Hebrewsanctuary who was responsible to show that way? The high priest.

Leviticus 10:9 Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee,when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: [it shall be] astatute for ever throughout your generations:10:10 And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and betweenunclean and clean;10:11 And that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which theLORD hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses.

What was the responsibility of the priesthood? To show the way of holiness. Tomake a difference between the way that is unholy and the way that is holy and toshow that to the people. The priests in their teaching and practise are to representJesus, Gods way. This is what we studied in part 1 about the dress of the priesthood.It was for beauty, glory and holiness. Leviticus 10:3 Then Moses said unto Aaron,This [is it] that the LORD spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh

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me, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace. They arethe ones who are going to sanctify me – God, the priesthood.

Psalm 89:7 God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to behad in reverence of all [them that are] about him.

The picture is clear in the sanctuary that the priests who are in the presence of Godare to glorify and sanctify him in all their practises. The sense of being in God’spresence is also in Hebrews;

Hebrews 12:28 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, letus have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence andgodly fear:12:29 For our God [is] a consuming fire.

If God is a consuming fire and if everything was not done exactly right whathappened to THE priests? God said in Leviticus you are not to drink strong drink.Why did he say that? What happened just before? Two priests Nadab and Abihuwere bringing strange fire in and as they were swinging the censure fire came outand consumed them. God is a consuming fire. The same God that was in thatsanctuary is the same God we worship. God is particular in reference to thepractises of Gods people.

Psalm 29:2 Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship theLORD in the beauty of holiness.

What was the attire or the robes of the priesthood to depict? The beauty of holinessfor glory and for beauty. We saw that nakedness is a shame that has to be coveredto be beautiful in Gods eyes. We saw it in the sanctuary in the high priests attire.When you look at the sanctuary and the attire of the priests, can you see the internalbeauty? No. The internal beauty was only for those set aside for that. Like in themarriage of husband and wife, they are the only ones where nakedness was not anabomination. If anything else was unveiled it was an abomination. This is another one of those terrible abominations in Ezekiel’s time. The terrible things they weredoing in the sanctuary.

Leviticus 18:6 None of you shall approach to any that is near of kin to him, touncover [their] nakedness: I [am] the LORD.18:7 The nakedness of thy father, or the nakedness of thy mother, shalt thounot uncover: she [is] thy mother; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.18:8 The nakedness of thy father's wife shalt thou not uncover: it [is] thyfather's nakedness.Leviticus 18:24 Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all thesethe nations are defiled which I cast out before you:18:25 And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it,and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants.

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18:26 Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall notcommit [any] of these abominations; [neither] any of your own nation, nor anystranger that sojourneth among you:18:27 (For all these abominations have the men of the land done, which [were]before you, and the land is defiled;)18:28 That the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued outthe nations that [were] before you.

The spewing out sounds familiar does it not? Laodicea? This is how God regardsnakedness. This is why Shem and Japheth went backwards to cover the nakednessof their father and why Ham was cursed. It is part of this principle. As you look at thepriest’s garment, everything you look at in detail shows there is nothing you can seeabout his body. There is no see through material. Linen was very dense and thebody was all covered thoroughly. There were breeches underneath so it was allcovered. Anything revealing of the body form and figure was not there. This was thecharacteristic of the Seventh Day Adventists in Sr Whites time as they were learningthis principle. Their dresses were never sleeveless, no low neck, no form fittingtransparent material. The length was discussed. Both men and women were to be sosuitability covered and clothed so that their form and features were thoroughlycloaked. It was similar to the sanctuary with its many coverings. God gave detail for clothing. We have already seen the principle of it and we can already draw our ownconclusions from the bible and the principle of the dress of the priesthood. However God has not left us without clear indications;The Reform Dress

We do not think it in accordance with our faith to dress in the Americancostume, to wear hoops, or to go to an extreme in wearing long dresses whichsweep the sidewalks and streets. If women would wear their dresses so as toclear the filth of the streets an inch or two, their dresses would be modest, andthey could be kept clean much more easily, and would wear longer. Such adress would be in accordance with our faith. {1T 424.1}

Dress would be in accordance with our faith. Where did that faith come from? Thesanctuary message. The women in those days wore very long dresses. To allthoughts of modesty, that was very good. It didn’t even show the feet but was itmodest? It made the dress dirty and wet and then it would strike the ankles of thewomen legs and they would get cold and frigid. Such a dress would not be inaccordance to our faith but a dress shorter by inches would be.

I have received several letters from sisters inquiring my opinion in regard towearing corded skirts. These questions were answered in a letter which I sentto a sister in Wisconsin. I will give the letter here for the benefit of others: {1T424.1}"We as a people do not believe it our duty to go out of the world to be out of the fashion. If we have a neat, plain, modest, and comfortable plan of dress,and worldlings choose to dress as we do, shall we change this mode of dressin order to be different from the world? No, we should not be odd or singular in

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