JOHn saw when the first apartment of the heavenly Sanctuary was opened. He "looked and behold a door was opened in heaven." That he was looking into the first apartment we understand from what he saw before the throne. Rev. iv, 1, 5. Again, he is carried down to the "days of the voice of the seventh angel," and sees the Most Holy Place opened. "And the temple of God was opened in heaven and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament." Rev. xi, 19. Before this ark containing God's holy law, the ten commandments, Christ, our great High Priest, has been ministering since the termination of the 2300 days. "He that hath the key of David, he that openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth," [Rev. iii, 7,] has opened the door between the Holy and the Most Holy Place, and is now performing his last ministration for a fallen world. To this open door all may come for pardon of their transgressions, for whom mercy yet lingers. Christ is pleading his blood before the mercy seat; and while people would come and avail themselves of his mediation, let them remember the law of God beneath that mercy seat, and see that they are living in obedience to all its85precepts. Men may affirm that the law of God is abolished; but we see how far from truth this is, when we learn that it occupies the choicest place in heaven. The tables of the covenant, which God gave to man, were only a duplicate: the great original still exists, beneath the guardian watchfulness of his eye, who "slumbers not nor sleeps."
The cleansing of the Sanctuary being finished, the only remaining event was for the priest to bear out the iniquities and transgressions of the children of Israel, and place them upon the head of the scape-goat, and send him away into a land not inhabited. Lev. xvi, 20-22. In the type they sent away a literal goat; but when Christ shall have finished his work of atonement, and bears away the sins of his people from the heavenly Sanctuary, upon whom will he lay them as the antitype of the scape-goat? The Hebrew word for scape-goat, as we learn from Lev. xvi, 8, margin, is Azazel. Azazel, according to the oldest opinions of the Hebrews and the Christians, is the name of the Devil. The Syriac, also, has Azazel the angel (strong one) who revolted. Hence the scape-goat is a type of Satan. As the goat bearing the iniquities of the people was sent away into a land not inhabited, so the antitype of that act will be most strikingly fulfilled when the events mentioned in Rev. xx, shall be accomplished; when the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan shall be bound a thousand years, and cast into the bottomless pit and shut up and sealed that he shall deceive the nations no more till the thousand years be fulfilled. Some men's sins, says Paul, are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after. 1 Tim. v, 24. The sins of all those who are pardoned through the blood of Christ will at the close of his ministry, be borne away from the Sanctuary, and thrown back upon the head of their author, the Devil; while the sins of all those who are not forgiven will rest upon themselves and sink them down into everlasting ruin.
We have endeavored thus far, though briefly, to present a plain and harmonious view of the Sanctuary, as clearly taught in the Word of God. The reader will bear in mind the evidence adduced in favor of the position we have taken, while we attempt to answer a few questions which may arise in the minds of some.
1. Why may not the Earth be the Sanctuary? The earth cannot be the Sanctuary, because, 1st, the definition of the word, itself, is enough to contradict such an idea. It is defined by Walker, "A holy place;" by Webster, "A sacred place;" by Cruden, "A holy or sanctified place, a dwelling-place of the Most High;" and we learn from Ex. xxv, 8, that it is a dwelling-place for God. Now any one knows better than to claim that this polluted earth is a holy place, or a sacred place, or a dwelling-place for God. This therefore, alone, should be sufficient to exclude forever the idea of its being the Sanctuary. 2d. Of all the times that the word, sanctuary, occurs in the Bible, it is never once applied to the earth. In nearly every instance in which it is used, it refers directly to another definite object, which God calls his sanctuary. Hence those who teach that the earth is the Sanctuary, are not only dependent for their authority on the word of man, but they must take it against the plain testimony of the Word of God an hundred times repeated. If any should think that the earth will be the Sanctuary, after it is purified by fire, [2 Pet. iii, 10,] we answer that even then God does not call it his Sanctuary, but merely the place of its location. Isa. lx, 13; Eze. xxxvii, 26-28; Rev. xxi, 1-3.
2. Why may not the Land of Canaan be the Sanctuary? A few texts are sometimes urged in favor of this view, which we will here notice: 1st. "Thou shalt bring them in and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in, in the sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established." Ex. xv, 17. "And he led them on safely, so that they feared not: but the sea overwhelmed their enemies. And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, even to this mountain which his right hand had purchased." "And he built his sanctuary like high places, like the earth which he hath established forever." Ps. lxxviii, 53, 54, 69. The first of these texts, it will be seen, is a prediction of Moses, the second is a record of facts by the Psalmist. What Moses foretells concerning Israel, David relates as a matter of history. The two texts taken together render the subject perfectly plain. The land of Canaan was the mountain of the inheritance. Ex. xv, 17. That mountain was the border of the sanctuary. Ps. lxxviii, 54. In that border God built his sanctuary. Verse 69. In that sanctuary God dwelt; [Ps. lxxiv, 1;] and in that border the people dwelt. Ps. lxxviii, 55. Moses understood the matter when he said, [Ex. xv, 2,] "He is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation." The border of the sanctuary must not be confounded with the sanctuary itself. The lot on which a house is built is not the house.
Isa. lxiii, 18, is sometimes quoted to prove the land of Canaan the Sanctuary: "The people of thy holiness have possessed it but a little while: our adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary." It affords no evidence in favor of that view. The facts are simply these: when God's people were driven out from the land of Canaan, they were not only dispossessed of their inheritance, but the sanctuary, built in that land was laid in ruins, as is plainly recorded in 2 Chron. xxxvi, 17-20; which explains the whole matter.
Isa. lx, 13, may by some be urged as evidence that the land of Canaan is the Sanctuary: "The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir-tree, the pine-tree, and the box, together, to beautify the place of my Sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet glorious." Isaiah here refers to the glorified state, on the new earth; and we are ready to admit that that will be the place of the Sanctuary. If any still persist in calling the place of the sanctuary, the sanctuary itself, we would remind them that the same text calls the same place, the place of the Lord's feet; hence the same principle of application which would make the land of Canaan the Sanctuary, would make it the Lord's feet also.
The word, sanctuary, occurs in the Bible 145 times; yet the few texts above quoted are all that are ever urged in favor of the land of Canaan. But even if it was a sanctuary, it could not then be the Sanctuary of Dan. viii, 13, 14; for the Prophet had in view the habitation of God. Canaan is neither a holy place, nor a sacred place, nor yet a dwelling-place for God.
3. Why may not the Church be the Sanctuary? The church cannot be the Sanctuary for the following reasons: 1st. It is never called such in the Word of God. 2d. Another object is called the sanctuary, and the church is associated with it as the worshipers: the sanctuary being the place of that worship, or toward which their prayers were directed. 1 Kings viii, 22-54; 2 Chron. xx, 8, 9; Ps. xx, 2; lxxiii, 17. 3d. Because God has many times called the tabernacle or temple, which were patterns of the true, his sanctuary, and because the church is spiritually called the temple of God, [2 Cor. vi, 16,] some infer that the church is the Sanctuary. To how much weight such an inference is entitled in comparison with the plain testimony of the Scriptures on this subject, the reader may judge. 4th. Even if a single text could be found to prove that the church is ever called a sanctuary, it could not be the Sanctuary of Dan. viii, 13, 14; because the church is there represented by the word, host. "To give both the Sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot." That the word, host, here means the church, none will deny; the Sanctuary then is another object. The church is the host or worshipers: the Sanctuary is the place of that worship or toward which it is directed.
We find then that the idea that the earth, or the land of Canaan, or the church, is the Sanctuary, is without foundation in the Word of God; and these are the only objects which to our knowledge have ever been claimed as such by our opponents. And we find no dissenting text from the plain view already presented, that the Sanctuary embraced first the tabernacle erected by man, and now consists of the True Tabernacle in heaven which the Lord pitched and not man: that its cleansing is performed through the ministration of a great High Priest, and by means of blood; that the work accomplished is the bearing away from the Sanctuary the sins of God's people that they may be remembered no more against them forever; and not the burning of the earth by those final purifying fires which shall melt the elements with fervent heat.
Thus we see that we were not warranted by the declarations of the prophecy, to expect the Lord at the end of the days. If in the type the high priest after finishing his ministration in the first apartment, "had traveled off a thousand miles and cleared off the rubbish from some patch of land," we might have had some reason to expect that Christ, at the end of the days, would leave the Sanctuary and descend to cleanse this polluted earth; but by following out the type we may be saved from all such inconsistency.
The subject of the Sanctuary is a subject of vital importance to the people of God. An understanding of it is essential to a well-grounded position in the Advent faith. By this alone can the past be harmonized and the present established. By this alone can it be shown that the events of time and the words of the prophecy do perfectly agree. With an understanding on this point we have all the bright evidences of the past, and all the harmony of the Scriptures to sustain us; and with these and the mighty array of signs now fulfilling before us, no honest child of God can find room to doubt. A misunderstanding of this subject is the great cause of the ruinous work which has torn and scattered the flock since 1844.
INEXPLICABLE POSITIONS
Let us notice a few of the inconsistent positions to which people are driven by not taking a Bible view in regard to the Sanctuary. Assuming that the earth or the land of Palestine is the Sanctuary to be cleansed at the end of the 2300 days, to admit that they had ended would involve a positive failure of the word of God; for no portion of the earth has yet been cleansed. But to admit that God's Word has failed would not do: what was to be done? To extricate themselves from this dilemma has been the great object of all those who have found themselves thus situated; hence the incessant effort to prolong the days and place their termination yet future.
As one of the many results of this we may mention more especially the recent movement on time. This new-time theory assigns for the termination of the 2300 days the year 1854 Jewish time, and assumes as the date of their commencement, the grant to Nehemiah in the 20th of Artaxerxes. In the former part of this article we saw that there was nothing granted to Nehemiah which could be called a decree; and the only reasonable place from which to date was from the decree given to Ezra B. C. 457. Would they take a scriptural view of the Sanctuary, there would be no necessity of embracing such inconsistencies as we meet with in this theory. But aside from their chronological reckoning, there are other points which we call in question. Admitting, even, that the days do end as they declare, will the Lord then come? NO! there is no such promise. Then shall the SANCTUARY be cleansed! They assume that the Lord will then appear; but there is no scripture for such an expectation. There is no particle of evidence in the Word of God that the earth or the land of Palestine is the Sanctuary. Yet they assume these points also. Let them show their proof for such a position. We challenge them to do it.
The teachings of the Holy Scriptures on this subject are most unequivocal. On those we take our stand. This is the only consistent position. It precludes the necessity of wrestling the Word of God, removing the old land-marks, and giving the lie to the declarations of prophecy. Whenever a view is presented conflicting with these plain teachings, we demand, and justly too, the authority on which it rests. Will those therefore who teach that the earth or Palestine is the Sanctuary, and that the Lord is to come at the end of the 2300 days, show their authority for these views, or will they admit that they are based upon mere human assertions. If the foundation be false, however fair a structure may be reared thereon, 'tis doomed to fail.' The Bible view of the Sanctuary not only explains every objection which can arise from the apparent failure of 1844, but furnishes a safeguard against the present as well as against any attempt which may in future be made to prolong the days and create a false excitement on the preaching of time.
But there are others, and among these we may86mention the Advent Herald, who have found themselves driven into an extremely embarrassing position on this question. The Herald has from time to time, in years past, furnished unanswerable proof for the true dates of the prophetic periods, and also for the connection between the 70 weeks and the 2300 days. It has regarded it as the "position of our opponents" to deny this connection. It has claimed that "this involves one of the great questions which constitutes the main pillars of our system of interpretation, so far as prophetic times are concerned;" and it has admitted that "if this connection does not exist, the whole system is shaken to its foundation." But rejecting the scriptural exposition of the Sanctuary, the Herald has been unable to account for the passing of the time in 1844; and as a last resort to solve the mystery, it has taken the "position of our [their] opponents," and denied the connection between the 70 weeks and the 2300 days. The arguments produced in 1844 for their connection were unanswerable: they are unanswerable still: the Herald itself cannot disprove the testimony; yet it has denied the point, acknowledging that its only reason for so doing was the passing of the time. Whether that reason is sufficient to justify the course it has taken, or not, the reader can now readily decide.
Thus the Herald has thrown away one of the main pillars of prophetic chronology: for of what use are the 2300 days viewed in this light? Just none at all; as no one can tell where they commence, or where they end; hence they become totally useless, a mere dead letter. So it seems Paul was a little too fast when he said, All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable! &c. We know of no way for the Herald to do but to wait till the Lord comes to find their termination and then reckon back 2300 years to find their commencement!!
Having thus yielded one of the strong points of the original Advent faith, the way is opened for another step in this work of apostasy. The special signs of the Advent in the sun, moon and stars are next called in question as being fulfillments of prophecy, or precursors of the great day of God. On what the Herald now bases its faith for the soon coming of the Lord, if indeed it has any such faith, we are unable to determine. It will not admit the premises of the new time. It presents unobjectionable vindications of the true date of the 70 weeks, but will not admit the termination of the 2300 days in the past, because the event which it expected, did not then transpire. It therefore rashly tears asunder the two periods, and so finds itself standing on nothing. It cannot now present its readers with a harmonious system of truth on this great question. It cannot furnish them with a well-grounded consistent position. We cannot therefore be so much surprised to see so many of its prominent men embracing the new-time teachings; for if the consistency of two such positions will admit of degrees of comparison, we must confess, we think the new time has the advantage.
But there is another class whose organ is the Advent Watchman, which has professedly no position. Suffice it to say, it has given up the past, rejects the light on the Sanctuary, and consequently cannot tell the inquiring traveler where he now stands.
Again, there is what professes to be the Advent Harbinger; but so far has it drawn back and apostatized, that it openly renounces all connection with the Advent faith. Point after point it has given up till the whole harmonious theory is finally rejected; and what has it taken in its stead. It has embraced
"A strange belief that leans its idiot back
On folly's topmost twig."
A belief in a future age and temporal reign of Christ on earth. A belief that the Lord will come, but in such a way that the man of sin shall not be consumed by the spirit of his mouth nor destroyed by the brightness of his coming. 2 Thess. ii, 8. It has embraced, in short, a slight modification of that siren doctrine of the Devil—the temporal millenium. It nevertheless styles itself the Advent Harbinger; but why should it profess to be what it so long since ceased to be both in theory and in practice.
Thus by taking a brief glance at the positions of professed Adventists, we are at once impressed with the importance of our subject. Why are they thus divided among themselves? Why are they thus driven to apostatize from the true faith, and renounce and trample upon those glorious doctrines which they once held as sacred truth? There is a cause for all this! They have rejected the true light on the Sanctuary! they have not followed down the track of prophecy as marked out in the Word of God! Truth is ever onward. It was its onward progress which in 1844 called out from the dormant church—great Babylon—a zealous band to herald the coming of the Lord. It is onward still: it did not stop with the first or second angel's work; for yet a third was to go forth with a final message of mercy to the world. Light on the Sanctuary of God in heaven, and light on the law of God, contained in the ark which is in that Sanctuary, was yet in store for God's true people. That light has now come. "The temple of God was opened in heaven and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament." "Here," says the third angel, "are they who keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." Light on these points, we say, has now come: happy are they who receive it, but fearful is the act of those who shut it out.
Great and momentous is that work which the world's High Priest is now consummating before the ark of God in heaven. Whether men know it or not they have an interest there. The last great act in the plan of salvation is being accomplished; and the last messenger announcing that mercy yet lingers, is fulfilling his mission. All that could be done for sinful, rebellious man, has been done. Life has been freely offered. The Son of God has died to make an atonement for their transgression. Yet a few more days will he plead his blood in the Sanctuary in their behalf, ere the work is forever finished. But there is soon to come "a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done." There is soon to go forth a decree, "He which is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still." Sin, which for nearly six thousand years has triumphed over a fallen world, shall be blotted out, together with its author, and the workers of iniquity. And when he who sitteth upon the throne, shall "make all things new;" when he shall make the earth restored, to blossom as the rose; then with "the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together, will he beautify the place of his Sanctuary;" then "the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads;" then will "the tabernacle of God be with men, and he will dwell with them:" his "Sanctuary will be in their midst forevermore."
Rochester, N. Y., March, 1854.