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Bible Reading on the Sanctuary

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 1, 1910

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 87, No. 48.

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Bible Reading on the Sanctuary

By Mrs. S. N. Haskell

MRS. S. N. HASKELL
1. Heb. 9:6, 7. “The priests [plural] went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God. But into the second went the high priest alone once every year.”
The term “priests” includes both the common and high priests; so that this text shows that the high priest officiated always in the first tabernacle as well as the common priests. But when the service passed into the second apartment of the sanctuary, the high priest alone officiated there. The common priests could not officiate in the second apartment; but the expression, “The priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God,” shows plainly that the high priest officiated in the first apartment.
2. Ex. 30:6, 7, 8. Aaron, the high priest, burned incense every morning and every evening on the golden altar in the first apartment; he also trimmed and lighted the lamps every morning and every evening. So that throughout the year the high priest performed at least two services every day in the first apartment.
The common priests served by course, and their service was a part of the time in the temple at Jerusalem, and a part of the time in the villages where they were scattered. But the high priest entered the first apartment of the sanctuary twice every day to perform a very important service, which was not entrusted to the common priests; namely, burning the incense and caring for the lamps, the incense representing the righteousness of Christ, and the lamps representing the Spirit of the Lord. This service, performed every day throughout the entire year in the first apartment of the sanctuary, was very important.
Since it is a law that one in a higher position can also fill the lower, there is no reason why the high priest could not have performed any service in the first apartment that was usually performed by the common priests. But Ex. 30:6-8 shows that there was a special service performed throughout the entire year in the first apartment, which could be performed by no one but the high priest.
3. Heb. 9:3. The veil separating the first and second apartments was called the second veil. There could be no second veil without a first veil; therefore, the door into the first apartment was the first veil.
4. Heb. 6:19. When Christ entered upon his service in the first apartment in the heavenly sanctuary, he entered within the veil. He passed the first veil to perform the work for humanity which was shadowed forth by the high priests’ service every day throughout the entire year in the first apartment of the earthly sanctuary.
5. Ex. 29:42-44. In the ancient sanctuary service, God met with his people at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation; or, in other words, at the door of the first apartment.
6. Ex. 40:34, 35. The visible presence of God in the first apartment was at times so manifest that no one could enter the first apartment. The whole tabernacle was filled with the glory of God.
7. Num. 17:4; Ex. 30:36. God promised to meet with his people in the first apartment of the sanctuary. The idea held by many, that God’s presence was never manifested in the first apartment, but that the only place he ever manifested his visible presence was between the cherubim in the most holy place, is not according to the Scriptures. For a careful study of the Scriptures will show that there are more texts speaking of God’s visible presence being manifested in the first apartment of the earthly sanctuary, than there are of its being manifested in the second apartment. This is quite natural, as the service of God continued much longer in the first apartment than in the second.
8. 1 Kings 8:10, 11; 2 Chron. 5:13, 14. These texts show that God’s visible presence was manifested in the first apartment of Solomon’s temple after it was built. These and other texts that might be given show that God often met his people in the first apartment. The promise was that God would meet his people there.
9. Lev. 4:5, 6, 16, 17. The blood of the sin-offering offered by the people, which typified the removing of sin from the sinner, was sprinkled in the first apartment of the earthly sanctuary.
10. Heb. 9:12. When Christ entered heaven with his own blood to present it as a sin-offering for the world, he must have presented the blood in the first apartment of the heavenly sanctuary; for Heb. 8:5 tells us that the earthly service was a shadow and example of heavenly things. And as the blood of all the sin-offerings throughout the entire year was sprinkled in the first apartment, the blood of the great antitypical sin-offering must have been presented before the Father in the first apartment when he ascended into heaven.
11. Heb. 12:2. When Jesus entered the heavenly sanctuary, he sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. If the ancient sanctuary services were a type of the heavenly, and it meant anything at all when God said again and again that he would meet his people in the first apartment, he met Christ in the first apartment of the heavenly sanctuary when he ascended to present his blood as a sin-offering for the world.
(To be concluded)
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