In olden days God opened a way of communion with man by establishing the sanctuary service, with all its typical lessons and parables. In that inspired record there is no respect of persons. God's marvelous doings were indited in enduring history, indited by His Holy Spirit, and preserved to us in the Bible, that we might profit by them. 1 Cor. 10:11.
One of the most interesting lessons of that service was connected with the personal work of the high priest (the type of Christ), in which the tender love of God the Father is most touchingly revealed.
When our heavenly Father was about to establish the service of the sanctuary, for the better training of those ransomed Hebrew captives, He found that its very foundation—His law—had so far been obliterated from their minds by long association with the heathen customs of the sun-worshipping Egyptians that it would have to be proclaimed to them in such a manner that it would convey to their darkened minds a becoming sense of its sacredness and its lasting claim upon them.
God did not proclaim that law alone, but associated with Himself the Mediator, who gave His life to redeem man from the curse of the broken law, and the ministry of His holy angels. The inspired record says: “What then is the law? It was added because of transgression till the Seed should come to whom the promise hath been made; and it was ordained through angels by the hand of a Mediator.” Gal. 3:19.
After the law had thus been proclaimed by the voice of the promised Saviour, it was inscribed in stone and placed in the ark of the covenant standing in the most holy place of the sanctuary. Just above the receptacle containing the tables of the law was the mercy-seat overshadowed by the cherubim. It was from this sacred place that the shekinah of God's presence shone forth in answer to the earnest plea of the high priest that God would cleanse the sanctuary from all the sins of Israel—confessed and placed before the veil in the blood of sacrifice during the year ending with this ceremony. The glory of God would shine upon the face of the high priest and gladness would fill his heart. And this glory would in part be reflected to the people as he appeared before them with the gracious tidings that all was forgiven.9
Now, concerning that Mediator whom God appointed to declare His law, the Scripture speaks on this wise: “The Lord swear and will not repent, Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek; by so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament. . . . Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.” “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.” “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.” Heb. 7:21-25; 8:1, 2; 9:24. “For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the MAN Christ Jesus; who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.” 1 Tim. 2:5, 6.
As He ministers in the most holy place of the tabernacle in heaven, and as our advocate presents our plea for pardon before His Father, the bright radiance from that presence encircles Him. O, that we might behold His joy as He receives the word of pardon: “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, TO GIVE THE LIGHT OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE GLORY OF GOD IN THE FACE OF JESUS CHRIST” for “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself.” 2 Cor. 4:6; 5:19. And the knowledge of this glory should, and will, cause the faces of the forgiven ones to shine with the love of God thus shed abroad in their hearts, and the world will know that Jesus is the Sent of God, and that God loves these humble, believing ones even as He does His own Son.
Reader, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.” 1 Cor. 2:9. And when we take time to consider these deep things of the Spirit, the heart thrills with the possibilities that open before the souls who “press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Phil. 3:14.