The Sanctuary by Mrs. Dora Nester

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Apr 23, 1912

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 39, No. 17.

The Sanctuary

By Mrs. Dora Nester

God's Great Plan for Man's Redemption—The Gospel in Type and Antitype

"By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." Rom. 5: 12. But God in His wisdom and mercy had completed a plan whereby man might be brought again into right relationship and perfect obedience to Him, and righteousness by faith be imputed to man, instead of sin. Now "sin is the transgression of the law" (1 John 3: 4); also, "all unrighteousness is sin" (1 John 5: 17); and "sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." James 1: 15. So we read in Rom. 3: 20-31: "Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight [inasmuch as "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God"]: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time His righteousness: that He might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Is He the God of the Jews only? is He not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also: seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith. Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law."

None with a Sinless Life

We conclude, therefore, from the foregoing verses, that no one can stand before God justified because of a sinless past experience, having never transgressed the law; for all have at some time in life broken a part or all of its commands. The law simply stands to the sinner as an accuser, a "schoolmaster," to bring him to Christ (Gal. 3: 24), to teach him his guilt and his need of a personal Saviour, an adequate sacrifice and propitiation for his sins.

Therefore in God's great plan, foreseeing that man would transgress His holy law, a sacrifice was given, to die in man's stead. And only a sinless Being, one who had kept every requirement of God's law, would answer that purpose; for it was to be His perfect life that would be offered to God instead of man's unrighteousness, in order that man might stand before his Creator justified. And thus we read in Christ's own words in John 15: 10, "Even as I have kept My Father's commandments, and abide in His love." Again, in Matt. 5: 17, Christ says, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." And because Christ fulfilled in perfect obedience all His Father's commands, we may come before God's throne of grace and justice, bringing not our own imperfect past, but through faith in Christ, His own perfect life is substituted for ours, and His clean and holy record is laid before God as if it were our very own. That this great provision was made and the plan perfected from the very beginning of the world, even before man fell, we are assured in the following words found in Rev. 13: 8: "The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." Also in 1 Peter 1: 19, 20: "But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you."

The First Expression of That Faith

The first expression of that faith in the efficacy of the blood of the Lamb of God of which we have an account is recorded in Gen. 4: 4. Abel offered a lamb without blemish, a firstling of his flock, a fit type, or symbol, of that sinless One whose blood was shed for man on Calvary's cross. And all through the patriarchal age, we find God's chosen, faithful children building altars, and offering thereon the firstlings of their flocks and herds. Noah and Abraham and Isaac and Jacob all gave outward expression, in this way, to their never-failing faith in the Seed whom God would send to bruise the serpent's head, and by His death atone for their sins.

That they believed in and were saved by the Gospel of Christ, we find verified in the following words: "And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the Gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham." Gal. 3: 8, 9. The wonderful experiences of many of the illustrious characters of Old Testament history are found recorded in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, faithfully witnessing to the one great fact that to them salvation was obtained through faith.

When Abraham's seed had so multiplied in Egypt, the land of their bondage, as to constitute a nation, and the time had fully expired which God had foretold would end their servitude, even the selfsame day that the four hundred thirty years ended, He led them forth to establish them as an independent nation, free to worship Him, and to become an example to the heathen nations around them, to show forth the true God and His character. It is then that we find the whole sacrificial scheme elaborated, and every detail brought forth, in the temple service instituted in the wilderness. God revealed through His faithful servant Moses the plan of salvation, as typified by the earthly sanctuary they were instructed to build, and the ceremonial ordinances to be observed. All this was a perfect shadow, or type, of God's great plan of salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Rightly interpreted, that yearly round of temple service speaks to us of the Gospel of the Son of God.

Let Them Build Me a Sanctuary

To the children of Israel, so recently brought forth from galling servitude in Egypt, God sent the instruction and command found in Ex. 25: 8, 9: "And let them make Me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them. According to all that I show thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it." "And look that thou make them after their pattern, which was showed thee in the mount." Ex. 25: 40.

That this earthly tabernacle which the children of Israel were to build was to be an exact copy of God's tabernacle in heaven, we learn from these passages, and also by a consideration of the entire eighth and ninth chapters of Hebrews. A few of the verses found in these two chapters will confirm this point. "We have such an High Priest, 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." Speaking of the service of the priests in the earthly tabernacle: "For, See, saith He, that thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the

mount." Then in the ninth chapter we read that "verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle made." Then continues a description of the furniture contained therein,—the candlestick, the table of showbread, and the altar of incense; and after the second veil, in the holiest place of all, were found the ark of the covenant, containing God's law of Ten Commandments, and the mercy-seat. "But Christ being come an High Priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building." Heb. 9: 11. And verses 23 and 24 read as follows: "It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these [that is, the blood of bulls and of goats]; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these [even the blood of Christ]. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us." The whole book of Hebrews in the New Testament is a complete commentary on the book of Leviticus in the Old Testament, tracing the priesthood and remedial work of Christ, as typified in every detail in the Levitical priesthood, and the complete round of sacrificial service in the earthly tabernacle. Truly these were the patterns of heavenly things.

The Plan of the Tabernacle

Now let us note the plan of the tabernacle as constructed first by the children of Israel in the wilderness, and later crystallized into more permanent and magnificent form by King Solomon in that glorious temple at Jerusalem. The form of the tabernacle proper was a rectangle, perfect in proportion, the width equaling the height. It was divided into two compartments, the first being called the holy place, while the second compartment, which was separated from the first by a veil or curtain, was called the holy of holies, or most holy place. The furniture of the holy place consisted of the following: the golden candlestick with seven lamps, the table of showbread, and golden altar of incense. In the holy of holies, the one article of furniture was the ark of the testament, built of acacia wood and overlaid with pure gold. Within the ark were the tables of stone containing the Ten Commandments written by the finger of God. Above the ark was the mercy-seat of pure gold, typical of God's grace and mercy to the repentant sinner who stood condemned before His holy, eternal law. Overshadowing the ark and the mercy-seat, two cherubim stood facing each other, one on each side of the ark, in an attitude of holy awe and reverence, representing the spirit in which all the angelic host of heaven regard God's law and government, and His attributes of love and mercy, as manifested in the gift of His Son and the plan of salvation. Later were placed in the ark Aaron's rod that budded, and so forever confirmed his divine appointment as high priest in the earthly sanctuary, and the priesthood of the tribe of Levi, as a type of Christ's priesthood forever, after the order of Melchizedek. Also the pot of manna was placed in the ark, to be a reminder of God's provision in time of need, and the threefold miracle performed weekly for forty years, teaching the children of Israel the sanctity of God's Sabbath, the sign of His creative and redemptive power. Read Ex. 20: 8-11; Jer. 10: 10-12; Isa. 40: 25, 26; 37: 16-20; Rom. 1: 16; 1 Peter 1: 23; Eph. 2: 10; 4: 24; 2 Cor. 5: 17; Ps. 51: 10.

Furniture of the Tabernacle in Heaven

The furniture of the tabernacle in heaven is the same as that which was contained in the earthly tabernacle; for we read in Rev. 4: 5 of the seven lamps, and in Rev. 8: 3 of the golden altar of incense; while the ark containing God's holy law of Ten Commandments is also there, for we read in Rev. 11: 19, "And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in His temple the ark of His testament." Here, then, in God's temple in heaven, in the holy of holies, is the seat of government of the whole universe; for God's law is there, the expression of His character, the perfect standard of righteousness, the whole duty of all His creatures. See Rev. 15: 5.

To review briefly the sacrificial service and ceremonial laws: Three times each year were all the males in Israel commanded to appear before the Lord at His sanctuary (Ex. 23: 14, 17; 34: 23; Deut. 16: 16; Leviticus 23; 2 Chron. 8: 13); each of these three festivals being fully met in the antitypical priestly service of Christ.

Type and Antitype in Christ

The first feast of the year was the Passover, celebrated in the fifteenth day of the first month (corresponding to the latter half of March and the first half of April of our time). In the evening of the fourteenth day, the paschal lamb was slain. So Christ, the Lamb of God, our paschal Lamb, was slain on the fifteenth day of the first month, Abib, at the feast of the Passover in Jerusalem, in the year A.D. 31. No bones of the Passover lamb were to be broken. Ex. 12: 46; Num. 9: 12. So of Christ no bones were broken. John 19: 32-36. We read further concerning the manner of making the sacrifice and atonement for sin in the Mosaic rites, in Num. 19: 2-6; Lev. 16: 27; and 4: 12, 21. The heifer without blemish or spot, whose ashes were to be used for purification for sin, was to be slain and burned outside the camp; and the bullock or goat for a sin-offering should be carried forth without the camp, and burned. And even this specification in the typical service was met in antitype; for we read in Heb. 13: 11, 12: "For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp. Wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate." He was slain outside the sanctuary in heaven, as well as outside the gates of Jerusalem.

For further evidence that Christ is our Passover Lamb, and that this first feast of the year typified His sacrifice for us, we quote the following passages: 1 Cor. 5: 7: "Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us." "But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." 1 Peter 1: 19.