Man's Sin and Saviour by E. J. Hibbard

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Sep 20, 1910

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 37, No. 37.

Man's Sin and Saviour

By E. J. Hibbard

XI. The Sanctuary Cleansed

IN the plan of God, the Bible mentions two sanctuaries, one on earth and the other in heaven; and the former a type and shadow of the latter. Also the priesthood and service of the earthly sanctuary were all an example and shadow of heavenly things.

Giving directions to Moses concerning the first tabernacle mentioned in the Scriptures, after mentioning the materials commanded for building the same, God adds: "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: 8, 9, 40.

This is the briefest notice that can be given of the direction given Moses concerning the building of the earthly sanctuary. But Christ is "a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man. . . . For if He were on earth, He should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law: who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith He, that thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount." Heb. 8: 2, 4, 5.

In a former article we found that the service of the earthly sanctuary was completed each year on the Day of Atonement, that daily through the year, each morning and evening, a sacrifice was offered by the priests for the whole congregation, and the blood sprinkled as directed by the Lord. In this way a record of sin and its remedy was made in the sanctuary. Chapter 4 of the book of Leviticus we find to give specific directions in reference to the sin-offering itself; the sixteenth chapter giving minute details in reference to the cleansing of the sanctuary and of the people from sin on

The Day of Atonement

First, on this day a special offering was to be made for the priests themselves; and, contrary to the custom on any other day during the year, the high priest alone went into the most holy place of the tabernacle, making final atonement for themselves and their families there. Afterward, he came to the door of the tabernacle, where two goats had been brought, and cast lots upon them, one lot for the Lord, and the other for a scapegoat. The goat upon which the Lord's lot fell was slain, and his blood sprinkled in the most holy place of the sanctuary, upon the mercy-seat and before the mercy-seat, giving evidence of the satisfaction of justice demanded by the law concealed within the ark. The final work of cleansing was to sprinkle the blood of the goat, and of the bullock, which was slain for the priests, upon the horns of the altar of sacrifice outside the tabernacle. Thus we see the whole sanctuary was cleansed or hallowed from the uncleanness of the children of Israel.

Speaking of the heavenly sanctuary in contrast with the earthly, it is written that "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: nor yet that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; for then must He often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself." Heb. 9: 24-26. And again, it is true that Christ "needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people; for this He did once, when He offered up Himself."

The Importance of the Work

From these two quotations we gather the fact that the one sacrifice of Christ took the place of all the daily sacrifices of the earthly sanctuary; and that one cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary takes the place of the yearly cleansing of the earthly sanctuary. It will therefore be of interest to find from the Scriptures when the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary will occur, for on this event hangs the destiny of the world; because you will remember that in cleansing the earthly sanctuary on the Day of Atonement all Israel was commanded to afflict every man his soul and to confess his sins before the Lord. Any person refusing or neglecting to do this was forever cut off from among God's people. This we learn from Lev. 23: 27-30. It was therefore a work of judgment, for it fixed the destiny of every professed servant of God. Once a year every person in Israel had to settle in his own mind definitely and forever whether he would choose to make full surrender to God, confess and forsake all his sins, and begin the new year with a clean record, or whether he would forever separate from the service and recognition of the God of Abraham.

If therefore sometime, near the end of this world, the heavenly sanctuary is cleansed, then, if the type means anything, we must conclude that every professed servant of God will make a full surrender, confess and forsake every sin, accept all the provisions of the Gospel of salvation, and be wholly sanctified from sin, or else separate once and forever from Jesus Christ and His salvation.

The Time of the Cleansing

God chose the prophet Daniel as the channel through which He would reveal this latter truth. In chapter eight of Daniel's prophecy God revealed a ram, a goat, and some horns upon each. The angel Gabriel was sent to interpret the vision, and he stated that the ram which Daniel saw represented the kings of Media and Persia, and the rough goat the kingdom of Grecia; the first horn the first king, which we all know to have been Alexander; the four horns rising in its place represented the four divisions of his empire; and another little horn, which waxed exceeding great toward the south, and east, and toward the pleasant land, stood for "a king of fierce

countenance," and "understanding dark sentences," whose kingdom should continue to the end of this world, or till it is "broken without hands." This king of fierce countenance was to make war with God's people: he was to magnify himself against "the Prince of the host" of heaven, or the "Prince of Princes," as He is called in this chapter, and also tread both the host of heaven and its sanctuary under foot. "Then [said Daniel] I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake,

How Long Shall Be the Vision

concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." Dan. 8: 13, 14.

If there was any meaning to the question and the answer given, then when this sanctuary shall be cleansed, the host of heaven and the sanctuary which were trodden under foot by this power, shall be delivered.

It is an open secret that the government of Rome followed the divided state of the Grecian kingdom, and that ecclesiastical Rome perpetuates the name and genius of civil Rome to the end of the world. It is therefore not difficult to see that ecclesiastical Rome is the power which treads under foot the people and sanctuary of God and reigns against the Prince of Princes. This is the power which, through its priesthood, claims to have succeeded the Aaronic priesthood, and has put itself in the place of Christ in His heavenly priesthood and service. Through this power the heavenly sanctuary and its service were eclipsed for centuries; and not until the end of this long prophetic period above mentioned, did any one again reveal to mankind this hidden truth. But this truth was clearly revealed in the Scriptures, and proclaimed by Paul to the Hebrews, as we have just seen.

In explaining this vision to Daniel, the angel had proceeded as far as the time phase when Daniel fainted and was sick certain days; but the angel returned a little later, as Daniel, by prayer and supplication, was pleading for light upon the sanctuary question. It was Gabriel who came each time to explain the vision. From Dan. 8: 16 we learn that God commanded him to make this man, Daniel, to understand the vision; and since he had not completed this command when Daniel fainted, it was necessary that he should return, which he did when Daniel was praying, as we have before stated.

That the sanctuary was uppermost in Daniel's mind during this prayer is seen from his closing words: "Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of Thy servant, and his supplications, and cause Thy face to shine upon Thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord's sake." Dan. 9: 17.

The Beginning of the 2300 Days

And Daniel continued: "Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation. And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. . . . Therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision." Dan. 9: 21-23.

Gabriel stated that seventy weeks of these twenty-three hundred days were determined, or cut off, upon Daniel's people, "to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins." Sixty-nine of these weeks were to extend from the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, which at that time lay desolate, to Messiah the Prince. The remaining week of the seventy was to be devoted to the confirmation of the covenant which God had made. But in the midst of the week the sacrifice and oblation should be caused to cease, or in other words, Messiah should be cut off.

There were three commands given to rebuild Jerusalem, one by Cyrus, one by Darius, and the third by Artaxerxes; but the last is the only one which contains the command to restore as well as to rebuild. In the seventh chapter of the book of Ezra is found this decree, and from verses twenty-one to twenty-eight we find expressly stated that the laws of God, which before had been the laws of Israel, were to be restored, and this we all know is the only way to restore a kingdom. Hence we are sure that the decree of Artaxerxes is the one referred to by the angel Gabriel in speaking to Daniel. It was about five hundred and thirty-eight years before Christ when Gabriel made this announcement; and in the midst of the year four hundred and fifty-seven B.C., or four hundred and fifty-six and one half full years, that the decree was carried into effect. Now sixty-nine weeks contained but four hundred and eighty-three DAYS, or less than a year and a half of time; and from the command of Artaxerxes to Messiah the Prince, being four hundred and fifty-six and one half years to His birth, and twenty-six and one half years to His baptism and the beginning of His public ministry, we have four hundred and eighty-three YEARS exactly. It is therefore clear that in this prophetic line a day stands for a year.

The Last Work for the Jews as a Nation

We have already seen that seventy weeks were cut off from twenty-three hundred days to determine whether the Jewish people would finish their transgression and make an end of sins. They refused, and in the midst of the last prophetic week, or at the expiration of three and one half years of public ministry, Messiah was crucified; and at His crucifixion the veil of the temple was rent in twain from top to bottom, which showed that that service had ended; that He who stood for temple and sacrifice, for priesthood and service, had been offered upon the cross, was about to ascend on high, and begin the service of the heavenly sanctuary.

Yet three and one half years more the disciples of Christ preached the Gospel to none save the Jews only. This brings us seven years this side of Christ's baptism, or thirty-seven years this side of His birth. This, according to Usher's Chronology, would make it A.D. 34, in the midst of the year. At this point Stephen was stoned. (See Acts 7 and 8.) The official body of the Jews, which had committed Christ to death, had now rejected the mercy offered them by a crucified and risen Saviour, and imbrued their hands in the blood of one of His faithful apostles. From this time a persecution arose which scattered the church every way, and from this scattering the Gentiles heard the Gospel, and the first Gentile church (at Antioch, Syria) was raised up. From this church the Holy Spirit sent Paul and Barnabas forth as the specific apostles to the Gentiles. And the nation of Israel had closed its probation, had ceased to be the representative of God on earth to sinful men. The seventy weeks were ended.

The Closing of the Time

Now seventy weeks contain four hundred and ninety days, and this cut off from twenty-three hundred leaves eighteen hundred and ten. Since, therefore, the four hundred and ninety reached to the year thirty-four, the twenty-three hundred would continue eighteen hundred and ten years beyond that date, which would bring us to 1844, at which time some sanctuary must be cleansed.

We have already stated that the significance of the earthly sanctuary ceased when Christ was crucified. We all know that the sanctuary itself was destroyed by the Roman armies in A.D. 70; and since that date there has been no earthly sanctuary divinely appointed. Therefore the only sanctuary which could be cleansed in 1844 must be the heavenly sanctuary. And since the cleansing of the earthly sanctuary demanded that all the servants of God should put away every sin and make final choice, and since all the services of this earthly sanctuary were typical of those in the heavenly, are we not warranted in the conclusion that the final work in the priesthood of Christ began in 1844, and that we are nearing the end of probationary time? Are we not warranted in pleading with all men to make their final peace with God, and be ready against the

times of trouble and perplexity which are now at hand? Are we not warranted in asking that all professing Christians lay hold upon that salvation which will make it possible for them to finish their transgressions and make an end of sins? We think we are.