On 15 August 1944, Sun Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., Chester, Pa, laid the keel for a ship that was to become a hospital ship. She was named Sanctuary. She arrived at Pearl Harbor four days after the Japanese acceptance of surrender terms and, on 22 August, continued on to the Far East to assist in the repatriation of former POW's. On the afternoon of July 13th, she began taking on sick, injured, and ambulatory cases. By 0300 on the 14th, she had exceeded her rated bed capacity of 786. A call was put out to the fleet requesting cots. The request was answered; and, seven hours later, she sailed for Okinawa with 1,139 liberated POWs, primarily British, Australian, and Javanese, embarked for the first leg of their journey home. Despite a typhoon encountered en route, Sanctuary delivered her charges safely to Army personnel at Naha; and, by the 21st, was underway for Nagasaki. Arriving on the 22d, she embarked more ex-POWs; then loaded military personnel rotating back to the United States and steamed for Naha. On the 25th, she discharged her liberated prisoners; then shifted to Buckner Bay. A typhoon warning next sent her to sea; but she returned three days later; took on 439 civilian repatriates, including some 40 children under the age of ten, and military repatriates and passengers; and set a course for Guam. There, she exchanged passengers for patients; then continued on to San Francisco, arriving on 22 October. On 1 March 1966, Sanctury was towed to Louisiana, given a heliport, and given the equipment of a fully equipped hospital to carry medical facilities close to combat areas. May 10th, she arrived at Danang, South Vietnam; and that afternoon took on her first casualties - ten marines badly burned when their amphibious tank detonated a land mine, which, in turn, had exploded the gasoline tank. By midnight, 136 patients had been received. By the end of April, she had admitted 717 patients - 319 combat casualties, 72 non-combat injuries, 326 suffering from various diseases - and treated 682 outpatients. Only two of her patients died. By April 1968 she had admitted 5,354 patients and treated another 9,187 on an outpatient basis. Helicopters, bringing patients from the battlefield, transferring them from and to other medical facilities, or carrying passengers to and from the ship, had made more than 2,500 landings on her deck. Sanctuary was decommissioned on 15 December, 1971. In mid-September 1973, Sanctuary was activited again for a three-month goodwill cruise to South America assisting the peoples of Colombia and Haiti with medical aid, material aid, and civil engineering projects. Sanctuary earned eleven battle stars for service in the Vietnam War. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Sanctuary_(AH-17) I would like for you to imagine with me for a moment what an ex-POW must have felt like to be taken to that ship after being in a POW camp for as much as several years. What must it have felt like to expereince a little bit of home once again. The smells of aneseptics instead of sewer. A clean bed with a matress rather than boards with straw or nothing. The smells of familiar food rather than diluted rations of soup and moldy bread. A language that you were familiar with being spoken. People trying to help you rather than harm you. Can you imagine it? Our topic today is about sanctuary. And I hope to cover briefly two concepts. First sanctuary is a place. Second, sanctuary is in a Person. The first is meaningless without an understanding of the second. Perhaps definitions are in order. SANCTUARY (saynk' tew ehr ee) Place set aside as sacred and holy, especially a place of worship. On sites where the patriarchs had erected altars, the people of Israel later built shrines and temples to commemorate the encounters with God. Specifically, the tabernacle and the Temple in Jerusalem were revered as sanctuaries. In a less specific sense 1. A sacred or holy place: a. shrine b. sanctum 2. Something that physically protects, especially from danger: a. shelter b. protection c. cover d. harbor e. haven f. retreat g. refuge h. asylum i. covert 3. The state of being protected or safeguarded, as from danger or hardship: a. shelter b. refuge c. asylum When we as Adventists think of sanctuary, the first thing that comes to our minds is the Tabernacle in the wilderness. Now we think of a place of sanctuary as we have defined above as a place of protection from danger. Yet, to call the Tabernacle a sanctuary is interesting, for most human beings were specifically excluded from there. No one went into it for sanctuary. Same for the temple. Not until after the time of David do we find people other than the priesthood entering the sanctuary. So why is it called sanctuary? As I have pondered on this for a few weeks now, one text comes back to my mind over and over. Exodus 25:8 "And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them." For whom was the sanctuary created? God. Which brought a new thought to my mind. In this fallen world there had to be a Sanctuary for God. A place where He could live so to speak. A place from which He could show in story form how He planned to deal with the issues of sin, and finally eradicate it from the planet. From that standpoint, the sanctuary is nothing but good news. It is a place where we connect with God, and a place where God reaches out to protect us from evil. Psalm 20:2 May He send you help from the sanctuary, And strengthen you out of Zion; Psalm 63:1 O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land Where there is no water. 2 So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, To see Your power and Your glory. 3 Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, My lips shall praise You. 4 Thus I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name. Psalm 77:11 I will remember the works of the LORD; Surely I will remember Your wonders of old. 12 I will also meditate on all Your work, And talk of Your deeds. 13 Your way, O God, is in the sanctuary; Who is so great a God as our God? 14 You are the God who does wonders; You have declared Your strength among the peoples. 15 You have with Your arm redeemed Your people, The sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah The sanctuary is also about judgment. What is good news for the righteous is necessairily bad news for the rebellious. Psalm 73:1 Truly God is good to Israel, To such as are pure in heart. 2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled; My steps had nearly slipped. 3 For I was envious of the boastful, When I saw the prosperity of the wicked. 4 For there are no pangs in their death, But their strength is firm. 5 They are not in trouble as other men, Nor are they plagued like other men. 6 Therefore pride serves as their necklace; Violence covers them like a garment. 7 Their eyes bulge with abundance; They have more than heart could wish. 8 They scoff and speak wickedly concerning oppression; They speak loftily. 9 They set their mouth against the heavens, And their tongue walks through the earth. 10 Therefore his people return here, And waters of a full cup are drained by them. 11 And they say, "How does God know? And is there knowledge in the Most High?" 12 Behold, these are the ungodly, Who are always at ease; They increase in riches. 13 Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain, And washed my hands in innocence. 14 For all day long I have been plagued, And chastened every morning. 15 If I had said, "I will speak thus," Behold, I would have been untrue to the generation of Your children. 16 When I thought how to understand this, It was too painful for me; 17 Until I went into the sanctuary of God; Then I understood their end. The sanctuary brings sanity to an insane world. Understanding to a world of confusion. Judgment issues from the sanctuary. And judgment is a two way sword. Judgment cuts the bonds on the righteous, and frees them. Judgment also dooms the wicked and oppressors. We will deal more with judgment in another sermon. But our Sanctuary is only tied up in a building as that building is occupied by a person. It is imperative to know that Christ is our Sanctuary. We can get involved in buildings and rooms and furniture and services and forget that it all is about a person. This is not just a New Testament concept. Isaiah 8:13 The LORD of hosts, Him you shall hallow; Let Him be your fear, And let Him be your dread. 14 He will be as a sanctuary, But a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense To both the houses of Israel, As a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Ezekiel 11:16 "Therefore say, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "Although I have cast them far off among the Gentiles, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet I shall be a little sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone."' Hebrews 8:1 Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, 2 a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man. 3 For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore it is necessary that this One also have something to offer. 4 For if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law; 5 who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, "See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain." 6 But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises. Liviu Librescu was born in 1930 to a Jewish family in the city of Ploiesti, Romania. After Romania allied with Nazi Germany in World War II, his father, was deported to a labor camp, and later his family, along with thousands of other Jews, was deported to a ghetto in the Romanian city of Focsani. Liviu as a boy was interned in a labor camp. His wife Marlena, who is also a Holocaust survivor, said, "We were in Romania during the Second World War, and we were Jews there among the Germans, and among the anti-Semitic Romanians." He was described as being ".... an extraordinarily gifted person and very altruistic. When he was little, he was very curious and knew everything, so that I thought he would become very conceited, but it did not happen so; he was of a rare modesty." Liviu Librescu survived the Holocaust, and was repatriated to Communist Romania and became an accomplished scientist. He studied aerospace engineering at the Polytechnic University of Bucharest, graduating in 1952 and continuing with a master degree at the same university. He was awarded a Ph.D. in fluid mechanics in 1969. ... From 1953 to 1975, he worked as a researcher at the Bucharest Institute of Applied Mechanics, and later at the Institute of Fluid Mechanics and the Institute of Fluid Mechanics and Aerospace Constructions of the Academy of Science of Romania. His career stalled in the 1970s because he refused to swear allegiance to the Communist Party of Romania and was forced out of academia there for his sympathies towards Israel. When Librescu requested permission to emigrate to Israel, he was fired from his job. In 1976, a smuggled research manuscript that he had published in the Netherlands drew him international attention in the growing field of material dynamics. After years of government refusal, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin personally intervened to get the Librescu family an emigration permit by directly asking Romanian President Nicolae Ceausecu to let them go. They moved to Israel in 1978. From 1979 to 1986, Librescu was Professor of Aeronautical and Mechanical Engineering at Tel-Aviv University and taught at the Technion in Haifa. In 1985, he left on sabbatical for the United States, where he served as Professor at Virginia Tech from September 1, 1985 until his death. He served as a member on the editorial board of seven scientific journals and was invited as a guest editor of special issues of five other journals. According to his wife, no other Virginia Tech professor has ever published more articles than Librescu. At age 76, Librescu was among the thirty-two people who were murdered in the Virginia Tech massacre. On April 16, 2007, Seung-Hui Cho entered Norris Hall Engineering Building and opened fire on classrooms. Librescu, who taught a solid mechanics class in Room 204 in the Norris Hall during April 2007, held the door of his classroom shut while Cho was attempting to enter it. Although he was shot through the door, Librescu was able to prevent the gunman from entering the classroom until most of his students had escaped through the windows. He was struck by five bullets, with a shot to the head ending his life. Of the 23 registered students, only one, Minal Panchal, died. A number of Librescu's students have called him a hero because of his actions. One student, Asael Arad, said that all the professor's students "lived because of him." Caroline Merrey, a senior, said she and about 20 other students scrambled through the windows as Librescu shouted for them to hurry. Merrey, previously seated in the rear of the room while next to the windows, stated that she was the third student to leave Norris 204. Merrey said that "I don't think I would be here if it wasn't for [Librescu]." Librescu's son, Joe, said he had received e-mails from several students who said he had saved their lives and regarded him as a hero while many newspapers also reported him as the hero of the massacre. Marlena Librescu stated that her husband's favorite Jewish commandment was that Jews should light Shabbat candles On Friday eve April 20, 2007, the Chabad movement spearheaded a campaign to light Shabbat candles. Following the funeral, the Chabad on Campus Foundation announced their intention to establish a chapter in Librescu's name at Virginia Tech. The murder took place on the day of Israel's commemoration of Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day). On April 18, 2007 U.S. President George Bush honored Librescu at a memorial service held at the US Holocaust Museum to a crowd that included many Holocaust survivors: "That day we saw horror, but we also saw quiet acts of courage. We saw this courage in a teacher named Liviu Librescu. With the gunman set to enter his class, this brave professor blocked the door with his body while his students fled to safety. On the Day of Remembrance, this Holocaust survivor gave his own life so that others may live. And this morning we honor his memory and we take strength from his example. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liviu_Librescu Ultimately, Salvation is because of a person. Christ took the bullets for us, so to speak, that we might escape the destruction of the enemy. The same door that he held strongly against the enemy, He invites us to enter. Come unto me He says. Let me be your judge and I will save you, because I have paid the price already. If you would like to respond to that, I invite you just to stand where you are at this moment, placing your selves in His care. You can do no better.