The Earthly and Heavenly Sanctuaries
By O. E. Jones
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. Ex. 25: 8, 9. PROBABLY no other subject in all the Bible so beautifully sets forth the plan of salvation as that of the sanctuary. Moses was instructed to build a sanctuary after the pattern shown him in the mount. It was composed of two apartments, called holy and most holy, separated by a veil, or curtain. The furnishings were also to be made after the pattern shown him. In the first apartment were the table of showbread, the candlestick with seven lamps, and the altar of incense. In the second apartment was placed the ark of His testament. The lid of the ark was called the mercy-seat; and on either end of the mercy-seat were cherubim made of beaten gold covering the mercy-seat with their wings. In the ark were kept the two tables of stone, upon which were the Ten Commandments written with the finger of God. Daily administration by the priests in behalf of repentant sinners was performed in the first apartment. The offender, burdened with his guilt, would bring an offering, usually a lamb or goat without blemish, and placing his hands upon the offering, confessed his sin. The offering was then slain, the blood taken by a priest, some of it sprinkled upon the altar, and what remained was poured out upon the ground just before the veil which separated between the holy and the most holy place. Thus in figure the sin was transferred from the offender first to the offering, and then through the blood of the offering taken into the sanctuary. Thus faith was shown in God's promise of a Saviour, one who would die in the sinner's stead — "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." The daily service was closed up once a year with a special service in the most holy place upon the tenth day of the seventh month. This service was performed by the high priest only. Of this service we read in Leviticus, the sixteenth chapter: And he [the high priest] shall take the two goats, and present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the Lord, and the other lot for the scapegoat. [Notice the marginal reading for "scapegoat" is "Azazel," a name applied to Satan.] And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the Lord's lot fell, and offer him for a sin-offering. But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness. Verses 7-10. Then shall he kill the goat of the sin-offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the veil, . . . and sprinkle it upon the mercy-seat, and before the mercy-seat: and he shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins: and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation, that remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness. . . . And when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat: and Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: and the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness. Verses 15, 16, 20-22. And this shall be a statute forever unto you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourneth among you: for on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the Lord. Verses 29, 30. And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a Day of Atonement, to make an atonement for you before the Lord your God. For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people. And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people. Lev. 23: 28-30. This was a day of judgment to Israel. Each individual case must be tried, the life must compare perfectly with the law in the ark. Every wrong must be made right, every sin put away; and any who failed to do this before the close of this day's service, were cut off, destroyed from among God's people. The earthly sanctuary was built after the9pattern of the heavenly. The revelator in vision saw the heavenly sanctuary with its seven lamps of fire, altar of incense, and ark of His testament. After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven. . . . And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne. Rev. 4: 1, 5. And when He had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven. . . . And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. Rev. 8: 1, 3. And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in His temple the ark of His testament. Rev. 11: 19. The apostle Paul has much to say concerning the services in the heavenly sanctuary. In Hebrews we read: Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: 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. Heb. 8: 1, 2. The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing: which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience. . . . 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; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? Heb. 9: 8, 9, 11-14. In Christ we find a remedy for sin, an offering without blemish — one who died in our stead, “the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.” Through the blood sins confessed are conveyed to the sanctuary above. In 1 Tim. 5: 24 we read: Some men’s sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after. Every sin must be sent beforehand to judgment. The life must be in perfect harmony with the law in the sanctuary above, which admits of no sin, as it is written: Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image. . . .
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. . . .
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work: . . . for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Honor thy father and thy mother. . . .
Thou shalt not kill.
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Thou shalt not steal.
Thou shalt not bear false witness. . . .
Thou shalt not covet. Ex. 20: 3-17. O, that men and women would consider what is the result of transgressing God’s law under any and every circumstance! Transgression is a dishonor to God and a curse to man. The heavenly sanctuary, too, is cleansed. Sins confessed are disposed of not once every year, but once in the end of the world — once for all time; not by the blood of animals, but by the blood of the Son of God. We again read: It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 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: 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. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation. Heb. 9: 23-28. In the typical service the high priest, in removing the sins from the sanctuary, confessed them upon the head of the scapegoat. So Christ will place all confessed sins upon Satan, the originator and instigator of sin. The scapegoat, bearing the sins of Israel, was sent away into a land not inhabited. So Satan, bearing the guilt of all the sins which he has caused God’s people to commit, will be for a thousand years confined to the earth, which will then be desolate, without inhabitant; and he will at last suffer the full penalty of sin in the fires that shall destroy all the wicked. Thus the great plan of redemption will reach its accomplishment in the final eradication of sin, and the deliverance of all who have been willing to renounce evil.