New Covenant Sanctuary by Uriah Smith

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Dec 5, 1892

New Covenant Sanctuary

By Uriah Smith

MAN'S SIN AND SAVIOUR. NO. 5.

New Covenant Sanctuary.

THE language of Paul in Heb. 9:1 shows that the new covenant has its sanctuary as well as the old; for he speaks in the latter part of chapter eight of the new covenant, in comparison with the old, and then in chapter nine verse one says: "Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary." If the old had also a sanctuary, the new has preëminently a sanctuary and ordinances of divine service; for it must be on the strength of that fact that this statement is made.

Christ ascended from this earth a literal, visible, tangible being, retaining even the marks of his crucifixion. We cannot suppose that as soon as the cloud received him out of the sight of the disciples, he immediately vanished into an immaterial nonentity, which can have no place or location. No; Christ, as a literal, personal being, acting as mediator between God and man, must have some literal, tangible location, and the apostle tells us in Heb. 8:1, 2 where and what this is: "Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest [that is, a priest after the order of Melchizedek, not after the order of Aaron, see Hebrews 7], 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."

The great fact here stated is plain beyond criticism or cavil. Allusion is made to the tabernacle pitched by Moses. That was indeed pitched by man. But there is a sanctuary or tabernacle in heaven which the Lord himself has built; and in this sanctuary in heaven, Christ, as our high priest, offers his gifts, or, in other words, pleads his own sacrifice and offers his own blood in behalf of men. Verse 3.

The apostle proceeds to prove this by the fact that the tabernacle of Moses was made "after a pattern," and that the priests ministered after "the example and shadow of heavenly things." And this rests on the instruction God gave to Moses. "See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount." Verse 5. See on this point Ex. 25:40; 26:30; 27:8; Num. 8:4, and Acts 7:44. The more permanent structure of the temple, like the tabernacle of Moses, was also built after a pattern which the Lord gave to David. 1 Chron. 28:11, 12, 19.

These structures the apostle further calls a "figure for the time then present" (Heb. 9:9), "patterns of things in the heavens" (verse 23), and "figures of the true" (verse 24). And, speaking of the place where Christ now ministers for us, he calls it "a greater and more perfect tabernacle." Verse 11. These testimonies establish beyond dispute that there is a sanctuary in heaven which constitutes the great original, from which the earthly building, in both the tabernacle and temple form, was constructed.

It is now in place to inquire in what the likeness consisted; for the temple was quite unlike the tabernacle in its outward form. How, then, could both be fashioned after one pattern in heaven? The likeness certainly did not consist in the size nor the outward circumstances of material and appearance, for in these respects nothing on earth can compare

with heavenly things; but there was one idea common to all, and in this the likeness must have consisted, and that was a building containing two apartments, each designed for a special ministry of the priests connected therewith. In this respect the earthly sanctuary was a "figure" and "shadow" of the greater and more perfect sanctuary in heaven, a celestial structure, pitched by the Lord himself, and not by man, containing two apartments, a holy and a most holy place, in which Christ, as our antitypical high priest, performs his work of mediation for mankind.

Into this sanctuary in heaven, this divine pattern of what was built in type here on earth, John was permitted to look, whilst in the spirit, on the isle of Patmos. "I looked," he says, "and, behold, a door was opened in heaven." Rev. 4:1. He there beheld the throne, and God upon it, the four and twenty elders sitting around it, a sea of glass before it, and lightnings, thunderings, and voices proceeding from it, and he adds, "There were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God." Here we have the antitype of the golden candlestick in the first apartment of the sanctuary.

Again (chapter 8:3-5), he saw an angel ministering at the altar of incense with a golden censer. Here we find still more of the furniture of the heavenly sanctuary.

And finally, he saw the sanctuary itself, the temple of God, and looked into the second apartment, and there beheld the ark of God's testament. He says, "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 thus have before us every class of evidence that it is possible to present to show that there is a sanctuary pertaining to the new covenant, and that this sanctuary is in heaven, with Christ as its minister. First, Moses was shown a pattern, after which he was to make the sanctuary. What Moses erected would therefore be a representative, type, or figure of that which was shown him. This reveals the fact that the sanctuary built by Moses was not an independent, original building, but had reference to something else. Secondly, Paul, instructing the Hebrews in regard to the change of dispensations, and of the priesthood, plainly tells us what is the great original, or antitype, of that which Moses, through the pattern which was shown him, was instructed to build, and that this sanctuary is where "the throne of the Majesty in the heavens" is. He says there is a sanctuary which the Lord pitched, in contrast with that which was pitched by man here upon earth; that the one which Moses built was "a figure for the time then present;" that the holy places here were "patterns of things in the heavens," and "figures of the true." Heb. 8:12; 9:9, 23, 24. And, thirdly, John was given a view of things in heaven, and there saw the sanctuary of God, to which Moses referred as the pattern, and Paul had declared was in heaven; and, with reference thereto, he might exclaim, "Yes, it is so, that the true sanctuary is in heaven, for I saw it there; I saw the candlestick, and the altar of incense, and the censer; I saw the temple itself; and when the inner apartment of that temple was opened, there I saw the ark of God's testament." Rev. 4:5; 8:3; 11:19.

What need we more? How abundant and explicit is the testimony to show what constitutes the sanctuary under both the old and the new covenant! That of Moses constituted the sanctuary of the old covenant; the tabernacle in heaven constitutes the sanctuary of the new covenant. And these two objects, with the exception of a few figurative expressions, constitute the only sanctuary brought to view in the Bible. In the face of this testimony, what folly to claim that the earth is the sanctuary, or that the land of Palestine, or Jerusalem, or the church, or "the heart of man" (as some contend), ever was, or ever can be, the sanctuary of the Scriptures, where a ministration is carried forward for the grand purpose of removing sin from those who seek for pardon!

The texts quoted show not only what the sanctuary is, and where it is, but that Christ is the minister of that sanctuary, and that he has entered therein with his own blood, which is the true sacrifice offered for the world. In the light of these facts it is not difficult to understand the manner in which Christ's work is carried forward. All the separate divisions and every distinctive feature of the sanctuary work in the old dispensation, must find its counterpart in the work of Christ in the sanctuary in heaven.

While the first tabernacle stood, or while the old dispensation lasted, the attention of the world was not called to the sanctuary in heaven, and its specific work had not commenced; for thus Paul testifies: "The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all [Greek, plural, "holy places," that is, the holy places of the heavenly sanctuary] was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing." Heb. 9:8. But when the veil of the temple was rent in twain on the day of the crucifixion of Christ, it signified that the services of the worldly sanctuary were forever ended. And when Christ ascended, the ministration in the heavenly sanctuary began; at what particular point of time is immaterial.

He commenced his ministry in the first apartment of the sanctuary on high; for, as we have seen, the heavenly temple must contain two holy places, or the earthly was not that correct shadow of it which Paul says it was. And if it has two apartments, they must both be for ministry, as it was in the type. And the apostle repeatedly testifies that when Christ ascended, it was to minister in the holy places, plural. Proof: The word "sanctuary" in Heb. 8:2, "holiest of all" in chapter nine verse eight, "the holy place" in verse twelve, "the true" (holy places understood) in verse twenty-four, and the "holiest" in chapter ten verse nineteen, are all in the plural, meaning holy places; and the testimony is explicit that Christ has entered into these places, that is, that he has a ministry to perform in both of them. He does not, of course, minister in both of them at once, for the priests in the earthly sanctuary did not so do; but he was to perform a service in the first apartment, and conclude his ministry in the second, according to the example and shadow which were set before us in the sanctuary here on earth.

At this point the ideas, even of religious teachers, begin to grow vague and confused. They think and speak of Christ as away in some undefined condition, or region, called "heaven," interposing in some way in our behalf, they know not how, and to continue his work, if it may be called a work, without variation or change, they know not to what end nor how long. Such views spring, in part, from the wrong translations noticed above, also from a misapprehension of some passages of Scripture, and especially from losing sight of the plain lesson taught us in the subject of the sanctuary.

Thus, they say Christ has gone into the most holy, for he has gone "within the veil" (Heb. 6:19, 20), and the veil was that which divided between the holy and most holy. We answer that the conclusion drawn from this expression does not necessarily follow, for, as we have seen, the door to the first apartment was composed of "a veil," as well as that to the second; and if the apostle had meant the second veil here, he would have said so, as he does in chapter nine verse three.

Again, it is said that Paul cannot mean that there is a literal sanctuary in heaven; for he says that Christ's flesh is the veil. Heb. 10:20. But Paul does not say this. Read the text carefully and it will be seen that Christ's flesh is not the veil, but the "new and living way" that has been consecrated for us. The sense of verses nineteen and twenty would, we think, be better brought out by a little transposition. Thus: "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter, through the veil, into the holiest [plural, holy places] by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us, that is to say, his flesh." This brings out the idea more plainly. It is by the sacrifice of Christ, here called "his flesh," who nevertheless still lives, that we now enter to him into the sanctuary above, whether he be in the holy or the most holy place.

Another point is sometimes urged as evidence that when Christ ascended he must have entered at once into the most holy place; for he ascended to the right hand of his Father (Heb. 8:1), and the Father dwells between the cherubim (Ps. 80:1), and the cherubim were upon the mercy seat of the ark, which was always in the most holy place. The answer is, that the nearest representation that could be given to men of the throne of God here upon earth was the cherubim and the shekinah above it, in the most holy place of the sanctuary. And there it may be said that God, for the time being, dwelt. He said, "Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them." And it does not appear that David had reference to anything more than this temporary dwelling place of the Lord with his people in the sanctuary. But when we ascend to heaven we find that the throne of God is itself a living, moving throne of cherubim. Eze. 1:15-26; 10:16-22. And this throne, as these references show, being a living, moving throne, occupies different places at different times; and when John had his vision of heaven he saw this throne in the first apartment of the sanctuary, or holy place; for before the throne were seven lamps of fire, the antitype of the candlestick which was in the holy place. Rev. 4:2, 6. There the throne of God was when Christ ascended; and when the time comes for the ministration to be changed to the most holy, this living throne of cherubim can change its position also.

Let this point then be settled, that Christ, when he ascended, began his ministry in the first apartment of the sanctuary in heaven. But it could not continue there forever, for Christ's work as priest must sometime end, and before it closes he must perform a brief service in the most holy place, corresponding to the atonement in the type, on the last day of the sanctuary year.