INTERNATIONAL SERIES

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 3, 1901

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 27, No. 27.

INTERNATIONAL SERIES

THE SABBATH SCHOOL

LESSON 11.—JULY 13.—CLEANSING OF THE SANCTUARY.

Final Disposal of Sins.

[Note to the Student.—These lessons are not designed to be exhaustive, but suggestive. In references to the “Desire of Ages,” in the lessons, the subscription edition is referred to. Those who have only the trade edition will find the matter in chapters 1, 4, 11, 27, 77, 78; also read “Patriarchs and Prophets,” chapters 5 and 30. “Christ Our Advocate,” Bible Students’ Library No. 129 (price, 10 cents), and “Looking unto Jesus” (price, $1.00) will be found a great help. The SIGNS OF THE TIMES will have an article on the subject of each lesson this quarter by J. O. Corliss. Read these articles in connection with the study of the lesson. We have not space to print all the scriptures. Let the student study them carefully from the Bible. Those printed are from the Revised Version.]

Heb. 9:7, 23-26.

7 “But into the second the high priest alone, once in the year, not without blood, which he offereth for himself, and for the errors of the people.” 23 “It was necessary therefore that the copies of the things in the heavens should be cleansed with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 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; 25 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; 26 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. 7:23-26.

23 “And they indeed have been made priests many in number, because that by death they are hindered from continuing; but He, because He abideth forever, hath His priesthood unchangeable. Wherefore also He is able to save to the uttermost them that draw near unto God through Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them. For such a High Priest became us, holy, guileless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and made higher than the heavens.”

Lev. 16:5, 7-10.

5 “And he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel two goats for a sin-offering, and one ram for a burnt-offering.” 7 “And he shall take the two goats, and set them before the Lord at the door of the tent of meeting. And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the Lord, and 8 the other lot for Azazel. 9 And Aaron shall present the goat upon which the lot fell for the Lord, and offer him for a sin-offering; 10 but the goat, on which the lot fell for Azazel, shall be set alive before the Lord, to make atonement for him, to send him away for Azazel into the wilderness.”

Lev. 15:27, 30.

27 “And whosoever toucheth those things shall be unclean, and shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.” 30 “And the priest shall offer the one for a sin-offering, and the other for a burnt-offering; and the priest shall make atonement for her before the Lord for the issue of her uncleanness.”

Lev. 23:27-32.

27 “Howbeit on the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement; it shall be an holy convocation unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord. 28 And ye shall do no manner of work in that same day; for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement for you before the Lord your God. 29 For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from his people. 30 And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any manner of work in that same day, that soul will I destroy from among his people. 31 Ye shall do no manner of work; it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. 32 It shall be unto you a sabbath of solemn rest, and ye shall afflict your souls; in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye keep your Sabbath.”

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS.

1. How often did the high priest go into the most holy place? Heb. 9:7. (Ex. 30:10.)

2. How often does our High Priest go into the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary? Verses 25, 26, 12. Note 1.

3. What was the offering made for the people on that day? Lev. 16:5. (Num. 29:7-11.)

4. What was done with the two goats? How many were for the Lord? Then could both goats represent the Lord? Lev. 16:7, 8, margin. Note 2.

5. What was then done with the goat upon whom the Lord’s lot fell? Verse 9.

6. What was done with the blood of this sin-offering? Verse 15.

7. For how much of the sanctuary was atonement made? Verses 16-19.

8. What besides the sanctuary received the benefit of this atonement? Verse 17. (Lev. 16:6, 33, 34.)

9. What did this ceremony do for the sanctuary and the altar? Verses 18, 19. (Eze. 45:18-20.)

10. What did it do for the people? Verse 30.

11. What was done with their sins that the people, priests, and sanctuary might be free? Verses 20-27. (Rev. 20:2, 3.)

12. How was the day of atonement to be observed by the people? What would be the result if they did their own work or did not afflict their souls? Lev. 23:27-32. Note 3. As this was the day when every case was decided, what day must it represent?

13. For what purpose does Christ go into the most holy place in the heavenly sanctuary? When does He enter in? Heb. 9:23-26. Note 4.

14. Has the exact time “in the end of the world” been appointed for the cleansing of the sanctuary, that is to say, for the work of the judgment?

“Then I heard a holy one speaking; and another holy one said unto that certain one which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the continual burnt-offering, and the transgression that maketh desolate, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred evenings and mornings; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.” Dan. 8:13, 14.

“Inasmuch as He hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead.” Acts 17:31.

NOTES.

See article in this paper, “Blotting Out of Sin,” read “Great Controversy,” chapter 23; “Looking unto Jesus,” chapters 30, 31.

1. Each year’s service in the earthly sanctuary was a type of the whole work of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary.

2. The scapegoat could not typify Christ, because only one lot was for the Lord. The Hebrew word for “scapegoat,” as given in the margin, is “Azazel.” The Syriac has “Azazil,” “the angel (strong one) who revolted.”

3. This was to be a day of atonement, or “at-onement,” as representing the time when God’s people shall be fully made one with Him. “Now a mediator is not a mediator of one” (Gal. 3:20), so when God’s people have all been made one with Him, they will no longer need a mediator. Christ will have finished His work as priest. Atonement was to be made for all the sins of Israel. Lev. 16:34. No more sins will, therefore, be committed by any of them after the day represented by the day of atonement is over. “It shall be an holy convocation.” Then, in the antitypical day of atonement, they that feared the Lord spake often one to another. “Not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together; … but exhorting one another, and so much the more as ye see the day approaching.” “Ye shall afflict your souls.” So now we are exhorted to “repent, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out.” This day of atonement is the time of the blotting out of sins. Every sin, then, must be confessed. “And offer an offering made by fire.” This offering made by fire was the burnt-offering, which represented consecration. “Ye shall do no manner of work therein, for it is a day of atonement.” “It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest.” So in the antitype we must cease wholly from our own works of the flesh. “For he that is entered into His rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His.” Heb. 4:10. Our own works are works of sin. Gal. 5:19-21. The ceasing from physical labor on that day was an outward object-lesson of the ceasing from sin, which must be done fully before the day of atonement is over; then it will be indeed a Sabbath of rest to our souls.

4. We find from these verses that it is necessary that heavenly things should be purified; and that, as the high priest in the earthly sanctuary entered in every year with the blood of others to cleanse it, so our High Priest, with His own blood (verse 12), enters in once, “in the end of the world,” to put away sin, or cleanse the sanctuary, by the blood of the sacrifice which had already been made on the cross when He gave Himself for our sins.