Thoughts on the Book of Daniel.
CHAPTER VIII. (VERSE 14, CONTINUED.)
Where then shall we look for the sanctuary of the new covenant? Paul by the use of the word, also, in verse 1 of Hebrews 9, intimates that he had before spoken of this sanctuary. We turn back to the beginning of the previous chapter and find him summing up his foregoing arguments as follows: “Now of the things which we have spoken, this is the sum: We have such an High Priest who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the Heavens, a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.” Can there be any doubt that we here have the sanctuary of the new covenant? There is here a plain allusion to the sanctuary of the first covenant. That was pitched by man, erected by Moses; this was pitched by the Lord, not by man. That was the place where the earthly priests performed their ministry; this is the place where Christ, the high priest of the new covenant, performs his ministry. That was on earth; this is in Heaven. That was very properly therefore called by Paul a worldly sanctuary; this is a heavenly. This view is further sustained by the fact that the sanctuary built by Moses, was not an original structure, but was built after a pattern. The great original existed somewhere else; what Moses constructed was but a type or model. Listen to the directions the Lord gave him on this point: “According to all that I show thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it.” Ex. 25: 9. “And look that thou make them after their pattern which was showed thee in the mount.” Verse 40. To the same end see Ex. 26: 30; 27: 8; Acts 7: 44. Now of what was the earthly sanctuary a type or figure? Answer. Of the sanctuary of the new covenant, the “true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man.” The relation which the first covenant sustains to the second throughout, is that of type to antitype. Its sacrifices were types of the greater sacrifice of this dispensation; its priests were types of our Lord, in his more perfect priesthood; their ministry was performed unto the shadow and example of the ministry of our High Priest above; and the sanctuary, where they ministered, was a type or figure of the true sanctuary in Heaven where our Lord performed his ministry. All these facts are plainly stated by Paul in a few verses to the Hebrews. Chapter 8: 4, 5: “For if he [Christ] were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law; who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle; for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount.” This testimony shows that the ministry of the earthly priests, was a shadow of Christ’s priesthood; and the evidence Paul brings forward to prove it, is the direction which God gave to Moses to make the tabernacle according to the pattern showed him in the mount. This clearly identifies the pattern showed to Moses in the mount, with the sanctuary or true tabernacle in Heaven, where our Lord ministers, mentioned three verses before. In chapter 9: 8, 9, Paul further says: The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all [Greek, holy places, plural] was not made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing; which was a figure for the time then present.” &c. While the first tabernacle stood, and the first covenant was in force, the ministration of the second tabernacle, and the work of the new covenant, was not of course carried forward. But when Christ came an high priest of good things to come, when the first tabernacle had served its purpose, and the first covenant had ceased, then Christ, raised to the throne of the majesty in the Heavens as a minister of the true sanctuary, entered by his own blood, says verse 12, “into the holy place [where also the Greek has the plural, the holy places] having obtained eternal redemption for us.” Of these heavenly holy places, therefore, the first tabernacle was a figure for the time then present. If any further testimony is needed, he speaks, in verse 22, of the earthly tabernacle, with its apartments and instruments, as patterns of things in the Heavens; and in verse 23 he calls the holy places made with hands, that is, the earthly tabernacle erected by Moses, figures of the true. This view is still further corroborated by the testimony of John. Among the things which he was permitted to behold in Heaven, he saw seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, Rev. 4: 5; he saw an altar of incense, and a golden censer, chapter 8: 3; he saw the ark of God’s testament, chapter 11: 19; and all this in connection with a temple in Heaven; chapter 11: 19; 15: 8. These objects every Bible reader must at once recognize as implements of the sanctuary. They owed their existence to the sanctuary, and were confined to it, to be employed in the ministration connected therewith. As without the sanctuary, they had not existed, so wherever we find these, we may know that there is the sanctuary; and hence the fact that John saw these things in Heaven in this dispensation, is proof that there is a sanctuary there, and that he was permitted to behold it. However reluctant a person may have been to acknowledge that there is a sanctuary in Heaven, the testimony that has been presented is certainly sufficient to prove this fact. Paul says that the tabernacle of Moses was the sanctuary of the first covenant. Moses says that God showed him in the mount a great pattern according to which he was to make this tabernacle. Paul testifies again that Moses did make it according to the pattern, and that the pattern was the true tabernacle in Heaven which the Lord pitched and not man; and that of this heavenly sanctuary, the tabernacle erected with hands was a true figure or representation. And finally John, to corroborate the statement of Paul that this sanctuary is in Heaven, bears testimony, as of an eyewitness, that he beheld it there. What further testimony could be required? Nay, more, what further is conceivable? So far as the question as to what constitutes the sanctuary, is concerned, we now have the subject before us in one harmonious whole. The sanctuary of the Bible—mark it all, dispute it who can,—consists, first, of the typical tabernacle established with the Hebrews at the exode from Egypt, which was the sanctuary of the first covenant; and, secondly, of the true tabernacle in Heaven of which the former was a type or figure, which is the sanctuary of the new covenant. These are inseparably connected together as type and antitype. From the antitype we go back to the type, and from the type we are carried forward naturally and inevitably into the antitype. We have said that Daniel would at once understand by the word sanctuary, the sanctuary of his people at Jerusalem; so would any one under that dispensation. But does the declaration of Daniel 8: 14, have reference to that sanctuary? That depends upon the time to which it applies. Whatever declarations respecting the sanctuary apply under the old dispensation, they have respect to the sanctuary of that time; and whatever declarations apply in this dispensation, they have reference to the sanctuary of this dispensation. If the 2300 days, at the termination of which the sanctuary is to be cleansed, ended in the former dispensation, the sanctuary to be cleansed was the sanctuary of that time. If they reach over into this dispensation, the sanctuary to which reference is made, is the sanctuary of this time. This is a point which can only be determined by a further argument on the 2300 days. What we have thus far said respecting the sanctuary has been only incidental to the main question in the prophecy. That question has respect to its cleansing. Unto 2300 days then shall the sanctuary be cleansed. But it was necessary first to determine what constituted the sanctuary before we could understandingly examine the question of its cleansing. For this we are now prepared.