THE SANCTUARY by Uriah Smith

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 24, 1876

THE SANCTUARY.

By Uriah Smith

Thirty-Fourth Paper—The Opening of the Temple.

“And the temple of God was opened in Heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament.” Rev. 11: 19.

We have seen that the temple in Heaven is the sanctuary, the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man. The opening of this temple brought to view in this passage, is that which reveals the ark of God. The ark had its position invariably in the second apartment. This, then, is the opening of the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary. And when does this take place? At the sounding of the seventh trumpet. Rev. 11: 15. The events mentioned to take place under this trumpet are, 1, the anger of the nations, verse 18, commencing especially when so many European thrones toppled to the dust in 1848, and continuing to the present time. 2. “And thy wrath is come,” referring to the seven last plagues in the near future. 3. The kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ. Verse 15. This will be fulfilled when Christ takes the throne of his kingdom. 4. “And the time of the dead that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.” Verse 18. This must reach over to the final destruction of the wicked at the end of the 1000 years. 5. “And the temple of God was opened in Heaven.” We know from the argument on the sanctuary and the 2300 days, that this took place in 1844. And, conversely, as it does not take place till the sounding of the seventh trumpet, the last of that series, we know it must take place somewhere near the end, and could not have taken place at the opening of this dispensation, as some vainly imagine. This, then, is the earliest event that takes place under the sounding of the seventh trumpet, and hence the inference is necessary that the seventh trumpet commenced to sound at that point. The 2300 days ended, the seventh trumpet began to sound, the temple of God was opened in Heaven, and the work of the cleansing of the sanctuary was entered upon.

And what results from the opening of this temple? “There was seen,” says John, “in his temple the ark of his testament.” He does not say simply, I saw it, but it “was seen.” John standing here as the representative of the church, clearly teaches that the church would then by faith behold the ark in the tabernacle above. The sight of the ark suggests one thing, and one only, and that is the law of God contained in the ark. The ark was called the ark of the testament because it contained the tables of the testimony which God gave to Moses, the ten commandments. It owed its name to the fact that the tables of the law were therein. Had it not contained the tables it never would have been called the ark of the testament; and whenever and wherever it is called the ark of the testament, it is proof that the law of God is there.

With these remarks we ask the reader to mark well the fact that the ark as seen in Heaven by John, down under the sounding of the seventh trumpet, is still called “the ark of his testament.” What does this prove? It proves that that ark in Heaven contains the law. What law? The same law that gave it that name in the days of Moses; namely, the tables of the testimony, the ten commandments. And how may we suppose that those commandments read in the ark in Heaven? Just the same, of course, as they read in the ark on earth. Of this there can be no question. This forever precludes the idea of any change in the law. Talk about changing or abolishing the law? Not until we can change or abolish those tables in Heaven. Oh! what a vain and futile work are they engaged in, who are laboring to show that the law of God, or even the fourth commandment, has been in the least respect altered, much less done away.

The conclusion is therefore not only plain and scriptural, but beautiful as well, that as the ark in Heaven is the great original, after which the ark on earth was formed, so the law in the ark above is the great original, of which the law given on earth was but a transcript or copy.

This great truth the poet, in the following language, has well expressed:—

“For God well knew perdition’s son Would ne’er his precepts love; He gave a duplicate alone, He kept his own above.”

Having now found a sanctuary, an ark, and a law in Heaven, where Christ is ministering, another thought is at once suggested, in relation to the object to which the earthly and Heavenly ministrations have reference. We have seen the relation which these two ministrations sustain to each other, namely, that of type and antitype. The first was a figure, the second the reality; the first a shadow, the second the substance. But everything pertaining to that dispensation was not a figure and a shadow. There was something there real; and that was sin. Men were actual transgressors. But sin, or transgression, is a violation of law. Hence there was a real law there which they were guilty of breaking; and that was the law contained in the ark, the ten commandments. All that was typical was the ministration connected with that law. There was real law, and actual sin; and the ministration, the service of the priesthood, was for the purpose of taking away that sin. But this could be done only in figure; for the blood of beasts, the only blood they had to offer, Paul says, could not in reality take away sin. But this typical ministration looked forward to one to come, to be performed by our Lord, which should in reality take away sin.

The offerings of that time were types of the offering of our Lord. Those offerings had reference to the law contained in the ark. The offering of our Lord must therefore have reference to the law contained in the ark; for what they were in figure, this must be in fact. The idea could not for a moment be conceived that those offerings should have reference to one law, and yet be types of an offering which would have reference to another or a different law. This could not be possible. In this case the one would not and could not be a type of the other. The established relation of type and antitype existing between these offerings shows that they must have reference to identically one and the same law. Therefore, the law in the ark in Heaven, before which Christ ministers, must be, word for word, letter for letter, jot for jot, tittle for tittle, the same as the law that was deposited in the typical ark here upon the earth.

Such is the bearing which the subject of the sanctuary has upon the law of ten commandments. It is an absolute demonstration of their perpetuity and entire immutability. And this is perhaps the reason why those who have set their hearts against the law shut their eyes to the plain light on the subject of the sanctuary. They cannot receive the one, without adopting the other.

The temple has been opened in Heaven, and John says there was seen there the ark of the testament, seen of course, through faith, by the church on earth. What further evidence can we show that this has been fulfilled? We answer, The great movement in behalf of the law now going forward in the land through the efforts of the S. D. Adventists. They have received the light on the subject of the sanctuary. They see the temple opened in Heaven. They behold there the ark, and our Lord making his last offering on the mercy seat, the cover of the ark, in the most holy of the sanctuary on high. They see that the requirements of the law in that ark are neither relaxed nor altered. And they are going forth to vindicate its claims, and lead men to the reform necessary in its observance. This movement has come up in the right time and manner to fulfill the prophecy and confirm the application we make of this important subject.

The temple is opened, and no man can shut it. The ark is seen, and no man can obscure it. The corresponding movement on the earth is in progress, and no man can stop it. Reader, fall into line, and go with us to the kingdom.

U. S.