OUR FAITH AND HOPE; by James White

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 15, 1870

OUR FAITH AND HOPE;

By James White

Or, Reasons Why We Believe as We Do.

BY ELDER JAMES WHITE.

NUMBER SIXTEEN—THE HEAVENLY SANCTUARY.

At the close of the typical services, He of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, came and laid down his life for us. The death of the Lord Jesus is the dividing point between the two dispensations, as it put an end to the typical services, and was the great foundation of his work as a priest in the heavenly tabernacle. On Jesus was laid the iniquity of us all, and he bare our sins in his own body on the tree. Isa. 53: 6; 1 Pet. 2: 24; Heb. 9: 28. He was raised from the dead for our justification, and ascended into Heaven to become a great High Priest in the presence of God for us. Rom. 4: 25; Heb. 9: 11, 12, 24.

The ministration in the heavenly sanctuary is performed by the Melchisedec order of priesthood, in the person of our Lord. Ps. 110; Heb. 5-8. We have already proved that the temple of God in Heaven consists of two holy places, as did the earthly tabernacle; and that the ministration in the two holy places of the worldly sanctuary was the example and shadow of Christ's ministry in the true tabernacle. But it is contended by some that Christ ministers only in the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary. Let us examine this point:

1. The anointing of the most holy place at the commencement of his ministration, may be urged as proof that he ministers only in the second apartment of the heavenly sanctuary. Dan. 9: 24. But this objection vanishes at once, if we consider that before the Levitical priesthood began to minister in the earthly sanctuary, that entire building, the holiest as well as the holy place and all the sacred vessels, was anointed. Ex. 40: 9-11; 30: 23-29; Lev. 8: 10; Num. 7: 1. And when this anointing was accomplished, that ministration began in the first apartment. Lev. 8-10; Heb. 9: 6, 7. And this order, let it be remembered, was “the example and shadow of heavenly things.”

2. It has been urged by some that the text, “This Man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, forever sat down on the right hand of God,” Heb. 10: 12, forbids the idea of his ministering in the two holy places. But we answer, so far as the idea of sitting down is concerned, it would be equally proper to represent him as standing on the Father's right hand. Acts 7: 56. And if the Saviour is at “the right hand of the power of God” when descending from Heaven, as he testifies respecting himself, Matt. 26: 64; Mark 14: 62; Luke 22: 69, then he certainly can be at the Father's right hand in both the holy places. But we have direct testimony here. Paul says that Christ is a “minister of the sanctuary.” Heb. 8: 2. That the word, hagion, here rendered sanctuary, is plural, no one can deny. It is literally rendered by the Douay Bible, “the holies.” As translated by Macknight, Heb. 8: 1, 2, reads thus: “Now of the things spoken the chief is, we have such an High Priest as became us, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the Heavens, a minister of the holy places, namely, of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched and not man.” We draw two conclusions from the foregoing: (1) Our Lord can be a minister of the two holy places, and yet be at the Father's right hand. (2) He must minister in both the holy places, or Paul's language that he is a minister of the holies or holy places (plural), is not true. A high priest that should minister simply in the holiest of all, is not a minister of the holy places.

3. But another argument to prove that Christ ministers only in the most holy place, has been urged by some, from the following texts: “The Holy Ghost, this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing.” Heb. 9: 8. “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus.” Chap. 10: 19. But as has been before remarked, the word rendered “holiest of all,” is the same that is rendered “sanctuary” in chap. 8: 2, and is not hagia hagion, holy of holies, as in chap. 9: 3, but is simply hagion, holies, plural. The rendering of Macknight, which correctly translates the word in the plural, removes all difficulty. He translates these two texts, as follows: “The Holy Ghost signifying this, that the way of the holy places was not yet laid open, while the first tabernacle still standeth.” “Well then, brethren, having boldness in the entrance of the holy places, by the blood of Jesus.” These texts, therefore, do not favor the doctrine that Christ is a minister of only one of the holy places. With a literal rendering of the word, giving it in the plural in our language, just as it was written by Paul, the objection to Christ's ministration in the two holy places of the heavenly sanctuary is entirely removed. The way into the holy places of the heavenly sanctuary was not laid open, while the ministration in the earthly tabernacle continued; but when that ministration was abolished, the way of the heavenly holy places was laid open, and we have boldness to enter by faith, where our High Priest is ministering for us.

It may be proper to add, that the phrase rendered “into the holy place,” in Heb. 9: 12, 25, and “into the sanctuary,” in chap. 13: 11, is the same that in chap. 9: 24, is literally rendered in the plural, “into the holy places.” Macknight renders them all in the plural. Then the heavenly tabernacle, where our Lord Jesus Christ ministers, is composed of holy places, as really as was its pattern or image, the earthly tabernacle; and our great High Priest is a minister of these holy places while at the Father's right hand.

Let us now examine those scriptures which present our Lord's position and ministry in the tabernacle in Heaven. In vision at Patmos, the beloved disciple had a view of the temple of God, the heavenly sanctuary. A door was opened in Heaven. This must be the door of the heavenly tabernacle, for it disclosed to John's view the throne of God, which was in that temple. Rev. 4: 1, 2; 16: 17; Jer. 17: 12. It must be the door of the first apartment, for that of the second apartment (which discloses the ark containing the ten commandments) is not opened until the sounding of the seventh angel. Rev. 11: 19. And the view that John was looking into the first apartment of the heavenly sanctuary, when he saw the Lord Jesus take the book from the hand of Him that sat upon the throne, is strikingly confirmed by what he saw before the throne. He testifies “that there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God.” Rev. 4: 5; Zech. 4: 2. He also saw the golden altar of incense before the throne, and witnessed the ministration at that altar with the golden censer. Rev. 8: 3. In the earthly tabernacle, which was the pattern of things in the Heavens, the golden candlestick with its seven lamps, and the golden altar of incense, were both represented, and by God's express direction, placed in the first apartment. Num. 8: 2-4; Heb. 9: 2; Lev. 24: 2-4; Ex. 40: 24-27. The scene of this vision is the first apartment of the heavenly sanctuary. Here it was that John saw the Lord Jesus. Rev. 5: 6-8.

Let us read Isaiah's description of this place: “In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw, also, the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar.” Isa. 6: 1-6.

That this was a view of the heavenly tabernacle, and not of the temple at Jerusalem, may be proved by comparing John 12: 39-41, with Isa. 6: 8-10. Words written by Isaiah, while looking into the temple of God, are quoted by John, with the declaration that Isaiah spake them while beholding Christ's glory. That John and Isaiah both beheld the same place, is evident; both beheld the throne of God, and him that sits upon it; Isa. 6: 1; Rev. 4: 2; both beheld the living beings with six wings; Isa. 6: 2; Rev. 4: 6-8; each heard from these beings a like song; Isa. 6: 3; Rev. 4: 8; and both beheld the golden altar before the throne. Isa. 6: 6; Rev. 8: 3; 9: 13. That John and Isaiah both saw our Lord Jesus Christ, we have already proved. And the scene of their visions was in the first apartment of the heavenly sanctuary, the place of the golden candlestick with its seven lamps, and the golden altar of incense. And in this apartment our High Priest commenced his ministration, like the priests in the example and shadow of heavenly things. In the shadow, each part of the work was many times repeated; but in the substance, each part is fulfilled once for all. Once for all our sacrifice is slain; Rom.

6: 9, 10; Heb. 9: 25-28, and once for all our High Priest appears in each of the holy places. Heb. 9: 11, 12, 24, 25. Hence our Lord must continue his ministration in the first apartment until the period arrives for his ministration within the second vail, before the ark of God's testament.

The sins of the world were laid upon the Lord Jesus, and he died for those sins according to the Scriptures. The blood of the Lamb of God, which was shed for our transgressions of God's law, is that by which our High Priest enters the heavenly sanctuary, Heb. 9: 12, and which, as our advocate, he offers for us in that sanctuary. Heb. 12: 24; 1 Pet. 1: 2; 1 John 2: 1, 2. His great work, which began with the act of bearing the sins of the world at his death, he here carries forward by pleading the cause of penitent sinners, and presenting for them his blood which had been shed as the great sacrifice for the sins of the world. The work in the earthly sanctuary was essentially the same thing. The sins were there laid upon the victim, which was then slain. The blood of that sacrifice, bearing that guilt, was sprinkled in the sanctuary, to make reconciliation for the sinner. And thus in the shadow of heavenly things, we see the guilt of the people transferred to the sanctuary itself. This can be easily understood. And it is a plain fact that its great design was to give an example of heavenly things. As the sin of him who came to God through the offering of blood by the high priest, was, through that blood, transferred to the sanctuary itself, so it is in the substance. He who bore our sins at his death, offers for us his blood in the heavenly sanctuary. But when he comes again he is “without sin;” Heb. 9: 28; his great work for the removal of sin is fully completed before he comes again.