LESSONS FOR BIBLE CLASSES by G. H. Bell

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Nov 28, 1878

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 52, No. 22.

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LESSONS FOR BIBLE CLASSES.

By G. H. Bell

LESSON XXIII.—MINISTRATION IN THE FIRST APARTMENT OF THE HEAVENLY SANCTUARY.

QUESTIONS.

Of what did the work in the first apartment of the earthly sanctuary chiefly consist?
What is offered in the first apartment of the heavenly sanctuary? Rev. 8:3, 4; Heb. 9:12; 1 Pet. 1:18, 19; Eph. 1:7.
Who presents these offerings?
What does the blood denote?
When the priest offered the blood of the victim, what did he typically present?
What corresponding work is really done by Christ?
What does Christ do when the penitent sinner seeks forgiveness?
How are the sins of penitent believers transferred to the heavenly sanctuary?
How were the sins of the people borne in the type?
How in the antitype? 1 Pet. 2:24.
How may we know that Christ enters upon the closing work of his ministration when he enters the second apartment of the heavenly sanctuary?
How often was the typical round of service repeated?
Will the round of service ever be repeated in the heavenly sanctuary?
What will end with the ministration in that sanctuary?
Why will probation close at that time?
What do we read in Dan. 8:14?
When did that prophetic period end?
Then when did the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary begin?
To what sanctuary must this cleansing refer?
How long, then, has our great High Priest been ministering in the most holy place?
How long will this work continue?
What reason have we for supposing that it will be brief, when compared with the ministration in the first apartment?
How long since the ministration commenced in the first apartment of the heavenly sanctuary?
How long since it commenced in the second apartment?

SYNOPSIS.

The work in the first apartment of the sanctuary on earth, consisted chiefly in the offering of incense, and the blood of sin-offerings. In the first apartment of the sanctuary in Heaven, our great High Priest offers the prayers of saints and his own blood. Rev. 8:3, 4; Heb. 9:12; 1 Peter 1:18, 19; Eph. 1:7.

The blood denotes the life, and when the priest offered the blood of the victim, he presented its life to meet the demands of the broken law; so Christ presents his own blood,—his life, in the sanctuary in Heaven.

When the penitent sinner seeks forgiveness, through the merits of a crucified Redeemer, Christ takes the guilt upon himself, presenting his own blood in behalf of the sinner, and in this way sins are transferred to the sanctuary in Heaven.

The innocent victims offered in the earthly ministration bore the sins of the people in a figure, but Christ has really borne them on the cross. 1 Peter 2:24. On the cross he shed his blood; there he gave up his life; and that sacrifice is accepted in behalf of guilty men.

Since the ministration in the second apartment was the closing work in the worldly sanctuary, so it must be in the heavenly. The typical round of service was repeated every year, but the round of service in the heavenly sanctuary will never be repeated. That sanctuary will be cleansed but once, and when that work of cleansing is completed, our probation will be over; for there will then be no more offering for sin.

In Dan. 8:14 we read these words: “Unto 2300 days, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.” We have seen that this prophetic period ended in 1844; so the cleansing of the sanctuary must have begun at that time. This cleansing must be that of the heavenly sanctuary, for no other sanctuary was in existence at that time. Since 1844, then, our great High Priest has been ministering in the most holy place.

How long this work will go on we cannot tell; but since the corresponding work in the earthly ministration occupied only one day in the entire yearly round of service, it seems probable that the closing work in the heavenly sanctuary will be comparatively brief. G. H. BELL.