THAT WHICH POINTS OUT SIN.
Another point in this prophecy seems worthy of notice before dismissing the subject: John very significantly declares there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament. The ark was called the ark of the testament, because it contained the tables of the ten commandments, and the fact that it is still called the ark of the testament as seen in heaven, down under the sounding of the seventh trumpet, shows that it contains the same law that was placed in the ark in the4typical sanctuary here on the earth. Hence it follows that God gave a duplicate, only, for the earthly sanctuary, and keeps the great original in the temple above. Another thought will show that the law in heaven must be identically the same as it existed on the tables of stone. It was with reference to that law written on the tables of stone, and spoken by God himself from Mount Sinai, that the priests in the typical services performed all their ministry. Back there the law was real and sin was real, but the services and ceremonies by which sin was taken away were typical and shadowy. But those priests ministered unto the example and shadow of heavenly things. Heb. 8:3-5. And the apostle elsewhere tells us that "the body" of all those shadows is of Christ. Col. 2:14-17. Their work was a shadow of Christ's work, their ministry a figure of his. They took away sin in figure to show that Christ was to take away sin in fact. Now it will be seen that Christ must minister with reference to the very same law which was the object of their ministry; for if he did not, then their work was not an example and shadow, or type, of his, and the relation of the two dispensations as type and antitype is destroyed. The law, then, which is binding in this dispensation, that law the transgression of which is still sin, as stated by the apostle (1 John 3:4), still reads exactly as it did on the tables of stone; and the fourth commandment of that law still enjoins the original seventh day as the Sabbath. Thus, in contemplating man's sin and Saviour, we see where we are in the great process of putting away sin. Our Lord is accomplishing his last work as Mediator for mankind. There before the ark in the heavenly temple, beneath the cover of which—the mercy seat—lies God's immutable law, our Mediator stands to receive from his children their supplications for pardon and mercy. Only over that broken law can we now approach him. And dare anyone do so while living in known violation of any of its sacred precepts? And soon the work will be finished. We go forward a little into the future and behold the sins of all the righteous loaded upon the head of the antitypical scapegoat, to be put away forever. This is a point of transcendent interest to the people of God; for then we take our first draught from the cup of immortality. Another scene of thrilling moment still remains, and that is the kindling of those final fires at the end of the thousand years, prepared for the devil and his angels. Matt. 25:41. Here is the perdition of ungodly men (2 Peter 3:7), and here all the agents of evil, root and branch, Satan and all his hosts, are destroyed from the universe of God (Mal. 4:1). The deepest taint of the curse is then burned out of the earth, the last vestige of disgrace is removed, and from the ashes of the old earth there will spring, by a new act of God's creative power, a new heavens and a new earth, in more than Eden glory, in which the righteous shall forever dwell. 2 Peter 3:13. "Behold," exclaims He who sits upon the throne, "I make all things new." Rev. 21:5. Then shall come the glorious time described by John, when every creature which is in heaven and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, will be heard saying, "Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever." Rev. 5:13. Then may it be said, not only of man's sin, but of all sin, that it has been most fittingly banished, yea, eternally banished, from all God's wide domain, while before his people Christ will stand forth, not only as their Creator, but as their Saviour and Redeemer, God blessed forever. Rom. 9:5.