THE CLEANSING OF THE SANCTUARY.
By Editor
We are pleased to notice an article in the Advent Herald for April 3, headed, "The Atonement," written with evident reference to our views of the closing work in the heavenly Sanctuary. As we entertain no other feeling toward the conductors of the Advent Herald than that of respect, we are much gratified that they are now calling the attention of their readers to this subject. The article begins with a reference to a former argument in the Herald, (noticed in this number of the Review,) that the mountain on which Jerusalem is built, is the Sanctuary to be cleansed at the end of the days. It next refers to our view, that the heavenly Sanctuary is the one to be cleansed, in fulfillment of Dan. viii, 14. In contending against this view, it candidly admits that the ninth chapter of Hebrews teaches the purification or cleansing of the heavenly Sanctuary, but declares that this event was to be accomplished at the commencement of Christ's ministration, and not at its conclusion. In the language of the Herald, "When were those heavenly things purified by the blood of Christ? is the question at issue." The admission of this plain fact, that the heavenly Sanctuary, was, according to Paul, at a certain period, to be cleansed, we could have hardly expected. It seems to contrast somewhat singularly with the remark in the Herald for April 16, that "to talk about the cleansing of some heavenly Sanctuary which was never defiled," "is so absurd that the idea could only have originated in a device of Satan to confuse and mislead honest souls." As our brethren of the Herald have in two weeks so far advanced, that, from declaring the doctrine of the cleansing of the heavenly Sanctuary a "device of Satan," they now admit the fact in distinct terms, and only contend that that event is located by the Bible at the commencement of Christ's ministration and not at its close, we are interested to continue the investigation with them a little longer. Were it possible to show that the word Sanctuary applied to ten thousand different objects, there would, even then, be no chance for dispute relative to that object which God designates as his Sanctuary, and to which the prophecy of Daniel belongs. Paul has stated in explicit language what the Sanctuary of the first covenant was. Hence, we may obtain an exact idea of what was the Sanctuary, from the days of Moses to the first Advent. Does he state that it was mount Zion, the land of Canaan, the earth, or the church? Neither of these is named by Paul as the Sanctuary of that covenant; on the contrary all are omitted, and another definite object is presented, viz: the tabernacle which Moses erected as a pattern of the true in heaven. Read his statement in Heb. ix, 1-5. The Sanctuary of the new covenant is stated with equal distinctness, viz: the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man. Heb. viii, 1, 2. There are but "two covenants" and the Sanctuary connected with each is so plainly and distinctly named in the New Testament that no effort of criticism can substitute something else in their place. Daniel's vision of the 2300 days begins in the period of the first covenant and extends across a large part of the gospel dispensation, or period of the second covenant, to the immediate vicinity of the second Advent. As a matter of consequence the vision of Daniel covers about 490 prophetic days of the period of the typical Sanctuary, and the remainder belongs to the antitypical Sanctuary, which at the end of that period took the place of the type. The Herald freely admits the ministration of the Levitical priesthood in both the holy places of the earthly tabernacle, and, also, that the greater, and more perfect tabernacle in heaven has taken the place of that pattern. But it contends (if we do not mistake its meaning) that the holies of all is the only part of the earthly tabernacle that was a pattern of the true tabernacle in heaven; and that the ministration in that apartment was the only part of the ministration in the earthly tabernacle that prefigured the ministration of Christ in heaven; and that, unlike the earthly high priest, who cleansed the Sanctuary at the close of his ministration, because the sins of the people had been borne there, our High Priest cleanses the heavenly Sanctuary at the very commencement of his ministry, and preparatory to his act of making intercession for us. As the antitype commenced when the type ceased, so Christ must then have begun his ministration in the holies of all in heaven; the act with which he commences that ministration being the cleansing of the Sanctuary. Hence, "there has been no heavenly Sanctuary to purify" since our Lord's first act as High Priest. From these views of the Herald we dissent, for the following reasons: 1. Because the entire building, viz: the two holy places, (and not merely the holies of all,) is expressly stated to be the pattern of the true tabernacle. (1.) Moses, at the command of God, made a tabernacle consisting of two holy places, after the pattern showed to him in the Mount. Ex. xxv, 8, 9; xxvi, 33. (2.) David received the pattern of the temple "by the Spirit;" and Solomon erected the temple consisting of two holy places, after that pattern. 1 Chron. xxviii, 10-19; 2 Chron. iii. (3.) Paul testifies that these holy places were the figures [plural] of the true and patterns of things in the heavens. Heb. ix, 23, 24. (4.) The word rendered Sanctuary, [Heb. viii, 2.] and Holies of all, [Chap. ix, 8; x, 19.] is plural signifying holies, or holy places; thus furnishing incontrovertible testimony that the heavenly Sanctuary does not consist merely, or the holies of all. 2. We dissent from the position of the Herald that the ministration in the holies of all was the only part of the work of the earthly priests that typified the work of our Lord in the heavenly tabernacle. (1.) We know of no evidence to sustain such a view. (2.) It is expressly stated that the ministration of the priests under the typical dispensation was "the shadow of good things to come;" "the example and shadow of heavenly things;" and that Christ ministers in the greater and more perfect tabernacle, a High Priest of those good things to come. Heb. viii, 5; ix, 11; x, 1. (3.) The holies of all, containing the ark of God's testament is not opened until the sounding of the seventh angel. Rev. xi, 19. We think these facts do completely disprove the view that there is but one apartment to the tabernacle in heaven, and that our Lord is a minister simply of one holy place. If we are correct in believing that the ministration in the earthly tabernacle was "the example and shadow" of Christ's more excellent ministry, then it is a certainty that Christ does not exactly reverse the order of that ministration! In other words, as the work of the earthly high priest was concluded by the act of cleansing the Sanctuary, and placing the sins, thus removed from it, upon the head of the scape-goat, we may not expect our High Priest to begin his work in the heavenly tabernacle by that act. If so, the work in the earthly tabernacle, instead of being the example and shadow of Christ's work, is exactly the reverse of it. Nor is there the least intimation in Paul's commentary on the types, that the cleansing of the Sanctuary is to be before the Lord Jesus ministers to that building for our sins. On the contrary, Paul shows that the heavenly Tabernacle was to be cleansed for the same reason that the earthly Sanctuary had been, viz: because the sins of the people had been borne there. Heb. ix, 23, 24. This fact incontrovertibly proves that the cleansing of the heavenly Sanctuary, like that of the earthly, occurs at the conclusion of the ministration therein. The Herald quotes and comments on Heb. ix, 11, 12, 24, 28; x, 12-14; vii, 25, as proof that Christ commences his ministration in the true Tabernacle by purifying it with his own blood. We see no evidence whatever in these texts. It is true that Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and that by virtue of the blood which he then shed, he entered into the heavenly Tabernacle; but this does not furnish the first particle of testimony that he then cleansed the Sanctuary, or that indeed there could with any propriety be such an act. The treading under foot of the heavenly Sanctuary is no more difficult, than the treading under foot of its minister, our Lord Jesus Christ. Heb. viii, 2; x, 29. The concluding paragraph of the Herald confesses in distinct terms the fact of the cleansing of the heavenly Sanctuary, though it represents that event as transpiring at the commencement of Christ's ministration instead of its conclusion. It speaks as follows: "We feel that an apology is due for broaching the subject, for it seems almost incredible that any could be found who could assume a position as contrary to Paul, that the heavenly Sanctuary was not purified at the death of Christ. But we suppose that mental idiosyncrasies will never cease." John Nevins Andrews