A Study of the Sanctuary
By E. E. Andross
V. The Heavenly Sanctuary; Its Antitype of the Daily Service
After having proclaimed the ten holy precepts from Mount Sinai with a voice that shook the earth, “the Lord said unto Moses, Come up to Me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them.” Ex. 24:12. While in the mount with the Lord, Moses was permitted to behold the great original sanctuary of which the one reared by Moses was but a shadow, a figure, an emblem. After giving him certain instruction regarding the building of the sanctuary, the Lord straitly commanded him, saying, “And look that thou make them after their pattern, which was showed thee in the mount.” And again, “Thou shalt rear up the tabernacle according to the fashion thereof which was showed thee in the mount.” Ex. 25:40; 26:30. Paul declares, “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.” Heb. 8:5. It is evident, from the foregoing scriptures, that the Lord revealed to His servant a divine model which he was to follow in every particular in the construction of the earthly sanctuary. After giving to Moses in detail the plans for the construction of the tabernacle, the Lord “called by name Bezalel,” and “filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship;” “and in the hearts of all that are wise-hearted,” He said, “I have put wisdom, that they may make all that I have commanded thee.” Ex. 31:2, 3, 6. When the tabernacle was finished, “Moses did look upon all the work, and, behold, they had done it as the Lord had commanded, even so had they done it; and Moses blessed them.” After it had been solemnly set apart to the service of God by dedication, “a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.” Ex. 39:43; 40:34. It Was the Lord’s Dwelling-Place
This building was no ordinary structure. It was henceforth to be the Lord’s dwelling-place upon earth, the type of His dwelling-place in heaven. In the most holy apartment of the earthly sanctuary was placed the ark of the testament, with its mercy-seat, and two cherubim of glory overshadowing it, where, the Lord said, “I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy-seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony.” Ex. 25:22. To this building, and, later, to the temple built by Solomon, the eyes of all Israel were turned. While serving in captivity in a foreign land, Daniel, under pain of death, with his window open toward Jerusalem, prayed three times each day. The Shadow Gives Place to the Substance
The types and shadows of the patriarchal and the Jewish age have passed away. The earthly sanctuary, with its offerings, its priesthood, and its entire ritualistic service, has been superseded by “a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands,” by the “offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all,” and by the ministry of our Saviour, who is “an high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” After writing at some length upon the office and ministry of Jesus as prefigured in the Levitical priesthood, the apostle Paul sums up his 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.” Heb. 8:1, 2. And later in the same epistle he declares: “Christ is not entered into the holy places [“sanctuary,” Syriac] made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.” Heb. 9:24. There is therefore a sanctuary in heaven of which Jesus, as our great High Priest, is the minister. The ministry in the earthly sanctuary was typical, and pointed forward to “good things to come” when the ministry in the “greater and more perfect tabernacle” would begin. Christ could not begin His ministry in the heavenly sanctuary until after the one offering which alone could take away sin had been made on Calvary. “For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this Man have somewhat also to offer.” Heb. 8:3. When Jesus died on the cross, “the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom.” Matt. 27:51. Till then, no eye but that of the high priest was permitted to gaze upon the audience-chamber of the Most High; but now it lay open to every eye. The glory of the earthly temple had departed. Henceforth there would be no efficacy in its ritualistic service. The great sacrifice has been made. “The way into the holiest” is laid open. The Saviour of the world is now to begin His ministry in the heavenly temple. “By His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.” Heb. 9:12. Each yearly round of service in the earthly sanctuary was typical of the entire ministry of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary. The earthly ministry began each year in the first apartment, and closed with the service in the second apartment on the great day of atonement. The ministry in the heavenly sanctuary likewise began in the first apartment, or holy place, upon the Saviour’s ascension, and will end in the second apartment, or most holy place, on the antitypical day of atonement. John’s Vision of Christ in the Sanctuary
In the book of Revelation we are taken by the visions of John into the heavenly sanctuary, and there behold in the holy place the “seven lamps of fire burning before the throne,” the “golden altar,” the “censer,” the fire, and the “smoke of the incense” ascending before God. Rev. 4:5; 8:3-5. In the first chapter of this book, our great High Priest is seen “girt about the loins with a golden girdle.” Verse 13. The golden girdle was never worn by the high priest when he entered the most holy place, but only when he ministered in the holy. It is therefore clear that Jesus at His ascension began His ministry in the holy place of the heavenly sanctuary, and that He was there as “the Lamb that was slain” (Rev. 5:6, 12), also as “a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.” Heb. 2:17. Throughout the year, save on the great day of atonement, there was carried forward in the holy place a daily ministration which was a shadow of the ministry in the holy place of the heavenly temple. This daily service represented essential parts of the plan of salvation—God’s method of separating man from sin and disposing of it finally. The sacrifices of the temple were typical of Christ’s sacrifice; the priesthood was established to represent His mediatorial character and work. The entire plan of sacrificial worship was a foreshadowing of His death to redeem the world. In illustration of this thought, let us consider the offering of the penitent transgressor as he presents it before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. It must5be a kid of the goats or a lamb, if he be able to provide such. It must be without blemish, otherwise it is rejected. The sinner must then lay his hands upon the head of the innocent victim, and confess over it his sin. In the ceremony of putting his hands upon the head of the victim, the transgressor signified that he had need of sacrifice to atone for his sin, and that in figure he transferred his sin to the offering. Having transferred his sin to the victim, the sinner took its life, and the priest carried its blood into the holy place, where he sprinkled a portion of it before the veil. The rest of the blood he brought out and poured at the bottom of the altar. The fat was burned upon the brazen altar in the court, while the rest of the body was burned without the camp. How fittingly does this represent “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world”? John 1:29. The precious blood of Christ by which we are redeemed is said to be “as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” 1 Peter 1:19. Christ, the Sinless One, died in the place of the sinner, “the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.” 1 Peter 3:18. Tho He had “done nothing amiss” (Luke 23:41), tho He “did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth” (1 Peter 2:22), yet “He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin” (2 Cor. 5:21); for the “Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all,” “He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter” (Isa. 53:6, 7), “who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed” (1 Peter 2:24). That the sin-offerings prefigured Christ is plainly stated by the apostle: “For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp. Wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate.” Heb. 13:11, 12. That the paschal lamb prefigured Christ, is expressly declared by Paul in his first letter to the Corinthian church: “For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.” The offering of incense every morning and evening upon the golden altar within the holy place, represented the continual intercession of our great High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary. “This Man, because He continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.” Heb. 7:24, 25. How blessed to know to-day that the Lamb has been slain once for all; that the blood then shed, and which our great High Priest is now pleading for us before the throne in the heavenly sanctuary, is sufficient to cleanse the vilest sinner who, with contrition of heart, by faith places his hands upon the head of the slain Lamb and confesses over Him his sins. “There is a fountain filled with blood,
Drawn from Immanuel’s veins;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains.
Thou dying Lamb! Thy precious blood
Shall never lose its power,
Till all the ransomed church of God
Are saved to sin no more.”