Christ’s Ministry in the Heavenly Sanctuary by W. W. P.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Nov 25, 1909

Christ’s Ministry in the Heavenly Sanctuary

By W. W. P.

In the further study of such passages in the epistle to the Hebrews as have a bearing upon the place of Christ’s ministry in the heavenly sanctuary after his ascension, we will consider the following extract:—

“For Christ entered not into a holy place made with hands, like in pattern to the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear before the face of God for us: nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place year by year with blood not his own; else must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world; but now once at the end of the ages hath he been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.” Heb. 9: 24-26.

Whether we follow the reading of the Revised Version, “a holy place,” or that of the Authorized Version, “the holy places,” in verse 24, it is clear that it would do violence to the text to interpret this in either case as meaning the “most holy place.” According to the rendering of the Authorized Version, reference would be specifically made to both apartments, while the reading of the Revised Version would correspond exactly to the expression found in chapter 9: 12, where the same general thought, that of Christ’s entrance upon his priestly work in heaven, is under consideration. In both places the same Greek word is used, and in both places it evidently refers to the sanctuary as a whole, just as the same Greek word is used in chapter 8: 2, where it is translated “the sanctuary.”

It should be further noted that “a holy place made with hands” is here contrasted with “heaven itself,” and therefore, if “a holy place” is limited in its meaning to the second apartment of the sanctuary, it would seem that there was nothing in heaven which corresponded to the first apartment; but this would be absolutely contrary to the direct testimony of other scriptures, and such an interpretation is, therefore, entirely inadmissible. It follows, then, that the place into which Christ entered on his ascension, the true tabernacle, contained two apartments, the same as the earthly sanctuary.

In the twenty-fifth verse reference is clearly made to the continual sacrifices offered in the typical service, especially the continual burnt-offering which was offered morning and evening. Ex. 29: 38, 39. That this interpretation is correct is demonstrated by comparing the expression “year by year” with the same expression “year by year” in verse 1 of chapter 10. These sacrifices there mentioned, which the priests offered year by year continually, which could not “make perfect them that draw nigh,” are the same as those referred to in

the ninth verse of chapter 9; “both gifts and sacrifices that can not, as touching the conscience, make the worshiper perfect, being only (with meats and drinks and divers washings) carnal ordinances, imposed until a time of reformation.”

The plain meaning of verses 25 and 26 is that the sacrifice of Christ was made once for all, and that it fulfilled all that was foreshadowed by the repeated offerings of the typical service. This is also indicated by the further development of this same theme in verses 11 and 12 of chapter 10:—

“Every priest indeed standeth day by day ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, the which can never take away sins: but he, when he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God.”

Comparing these several passages again with verses 24, 25, and 26 of chapter 9, the conclusion seems to be fully warranted that when Christ entered “into heaven itself, now to appear before the face of God for us,” and thus became “a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man,” he entered upon that complete service which was foreshadowed in the service performed by the priests of the earthly sanctuary, of whom it was said that they “serve that which is a copy and shadow of the heavenly things.”

The lesson of the epistle to the Hebrews is a most practical one. We do not have in this epistle a merely theoretical interpretation of the typical services of the earthly sanctuary, but a practical application of the teaching to personal experience. This is clearly indicated in the following words:—

“Having, therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by the way which he dedicated for us, a new and living way, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; and having a great priest over the house of God; let us draw near with a true heart in fulness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience.” Heb. 10:19-22.

As the priest in the typical service entered into the sanctuary with confidence, although he appeared in behalf of the sinner, because he bore with him the blood of the slain victim, so it is declared that we have “boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus,” “who gave himself for our sins.” Here again we find the expression, “the holy place,” which is the rendering of the same Greek word found in chapter 8: 2, and chapter 9: 2, 8, 12, 24, and 25, and rendered in the first text “the sanctuary,” and in the other five (in the Revised Version) the “holy place.” This word is incorrectly rendered “the holiest” in chapter 10:19 in the Authorized Version, and no sound exposition of the passage can be based upon such a translation. Coming to this text as a kind of practical climax to the previous interpretation of the sanctuary and its services, the natural conclusion would be that it was setting forth the spiritual benefits accruing to the believer through his faith in Jesus as his high priest and representative before the Father in the heavenly sanctuary, during the whole period of Christ’s ministry both in the first and second apartments.

The exhortation is then equally applicable to those living at the time when it was written, who would enter into fellowship with their High Priest in his work in the first apartment, and to those in this generation who are prepared by the special light of the threefold message to enter with Jesus into the most holy place, and to co-operate with him in the special services of the day of atonement.

We have now called attention to these passages in the epistle to the Hebrews which have the most direct application to the question under consideration. In every case we have found that the natural interpretation of the language used would show that when Christ entered upon his ministry in the heavenly sanctuary, the typical services in the earthly sanctuary found their fulfilment, and that Christ in his own person was the antitype both of the earthly priests in their round of services and of all the offerings made in consequence of sin. It seems to demand an absolute wresting of the Scriptures to maintain, after reading this epistle as a whole, that the ministry of the earthly priests in the holy place of the typical temple had already found its counterpart in reality in the ministry of another priest, Melchizedek, in the heavenly sanctuary, and that Christ’s ministry answered only to the services on the day of atonement. The evidence found in this epistle alone is sufficient to show that any such teaching does not harmonize with the divine interpretation of the priesthood of Christ set forth in shadow and symbol in the earthly sanctuary and its services.

W. W. P.