EVER since his fall man has had a connection with the Sanctuary. The very first victim that was offered after Paradise was closed upon our race, pointed to the great Sacrifice, which should be offered that he might recover from the fall. This was more fully developed in after years when God designed through a chosen people and by a system of types to instruct the world. We therefore behold among the camps of Israel the tabernacle of the congregation erected, and within that tabernacle, the vail dividing the holy from the most holy place; and within that vail, the ark of the testimony; and above that ark the Shekinah, the visible manifestation of the presence of God. Here was the heart and center of that typical system. Here the eyes of all were directed as to the place where were centered their highest interests. The present dispensation has no less a glorious center, around which cluster the eternal interests of man. It is the great substance of which the former was the shadow only. It is the true tabernacle above, with its holy places, its vessels of ministration, its ark, in which still exists the immutable law of God, its great and merciful priesthood, and its exceeding glory; and to this should all eyes now be directed; for with this Sanctuary and its service is connected our everlasting destiny; and the last act of its ministration is now being accomplished. This being the case, the importance of the subject is at once seen.
Of the literal existence of the Sanctuary in heaven we will not now stop to offer proof. We wish to inquire concerning its cleansing. When does that work commence? and what is the position of the true Israel during that time? We cannot with the natural eye look into heaven and behold what is passing, but we can look back to the shadow which these heavenly things have cast on earth, and from that by an eye of faith comprehend our present position. We have said that the only source from which to derive instruction on this subject was the typical ministration, and thought there was no danger of being misunderstood. We would not by this repudiate all that the Bible elsewhere says on this question. Paul in his epistle to the Hebrews gives us a divine commentary on the system of types, and their application to the present dispensation. Blot out the book of Hebrews, and we might learn what was once the sanctuary, and we might infer what it now is; since the former was made from a pattern, and we have intimation where that pattern is to be found; but that is all. On the other hand take away the earthly sanctuary and its typical ministration, and when Paul discourses to us of a Sanctuary and its priesthood in heaven, what should we understand by his language? Therefore it is emphatically true that that system of types is the root and source of all our instruction on this subject; but it is also true that to form a correct understanding of it at the present time, we must connect with it the teachings of Paul.
The epistle to the Hebrews will guard us against transferring the secondary ceremonies of the type to the fulfillment of the antitype. Let us consider it a moment. It was written to the Hebrews, those who from their earliest infancy had been connected with the service of the earthly sanctuary. Every ceremony, every minute act, had been repeatedly and thoroughly impressed upon their minds. The time had come for the dispensation to change, and the earthly sanctuary and its ministration to give place to the true. When therefore they should learn this fact, how natural would it be for them to connect with the new ministration, all the minutiae of the service to which they had been accustomed. We are thus particular on this point because some, at the present time, are disposed to do the same thing. Paul therefore guards them against this by explaining the difference that exists between the two, and the superiority of the priesthood of Christ over that of Aaron. We will notice this in some of its particulars.
1. Christ is a priest after the order of Melchisedec, and not after the order of Aaron. Heb. v, 6.
2. Perfection was not of the Levitical priesthood; for if it had been, says Paul, what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not after the order of Aaron. Chap. vii, 11.
3. Those priests were many; because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death; but this man because he continueth ever hath an unchangeable priesthood. Verses 23, 24. And from this Paul draws a most cheering conclusion in the next verse! Wherefore he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him: seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.
4. It was necessary for the priests of the house of Levi, to offer up sacrifices daily, for their own sins and those of the people. Verse 27. This embraces all the various offerings that were made by those who had transgressed. But all this Christ did by one act when he offered up himself. The same fact is also expressed in chap. ix, 25, 26, 28; x, 10, 12, 14. It is a fact which we wish particularly noticed, that all the sacrifices which were offered under the former dispensation, centered in, and met their antitype in the one great Sacrifice, that died on Calvary.
5. All the blood which was offered in the former dispensation, was offered for past transgression only, and made no provision for the future; while the merits of that blood which was shed on Calvary applied not to the past alone, but to the future also.
6. As the blood of Christ is the only blood ministered in connection with the heavenly Sanctuary, whether by actual presentation, or by virtue of its merits we need not inquire, the same blood must be ministered in both apartments.
7. The work of cleansing the earthly sanctuary was a work of judgment. The high priest went into the most holy place, bearing the breast-plate of judgment, and on that breast-plate the names of the twelve children of Israel, to make an atonement for the holy sanctuary, and for all the people of the congregation. Lev. xvi, 33. This prefigured a solemn fact; namely, that in the great plan of salvation, a time of decision was coming for the human race; a work of atonement, which being accomplished, God's people, the true Israel, should stand acquitted, and cleansed from all sin. But who shall limit the work of the perfect system with which we now stand directly connected, to all the lesser details and conditions of that typical system, of which Paul says there was no perfection? In the type a complete round of the service of the sanctuary, was performed every year; but the ministration of the heavenly Sanctuary, is performed once for all. When the last act, that of its cleansing, is accomplished, the plan of salvation is ended—the result is told! From that decision there is no appeal; for there is thenceforth no more offering for sin. Heb. x, 18. There must therefore be a definiteness in this work, unknown to the type. Atonement was there made for the people of Israel as a body: here the work has to do with individuals; for as individuals we must stand condemned or acquitted at the judgment seat of Christ. We read in Dan. vii, 10, that the judgment was set, and the books were opened. Again in Rev. xx, 12, the books were opened, and the dead were judged out of those things written in the books, according to their works. From this we learn that a record is53kept of the acts of all men; and from that record, their reward is given them according to their deserts. There is no judgment in this sense of the term, independent of these books of record; but we read that there is a time when judgment must begin at the house of God; when some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and if, says Peter, it first begin at us what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God. This must be a judgment of the same nature and can refer to no other work than the closing up of the ministration of the heavenly Sanctuary, hence that work must embrace the examination of individual character; and we conclude that the lives of the children of God, not only those who are living, but all who have ever lived, whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life, will during this time pass in final review before that great tribunal. We see, therefore, how in this respect, the work of the type, is infinitely surpassed by that of the antitype.
8. As long as Christ fills the office of priest, so long he is a mediator between God and man.
Owing to a misconception of some of these points the idea is being entertained by some,
1. That, as under the type, no offering could be presented while the high priest was in the most holy place; so when our great High Priest enters upon that work, probation closes, the cases of all are decided, no confessions can be made and accepted, and no sins forgiven.
2. That as probation still continues, and the 2300 days, at the end of which the Sanctuary was to be cleansed, have ended, it could not mean that they were to mark the commencement of the particular work called the cleansing of the Sanctuary, but they mark "the commencement of the antitypical day of atonement;" hence that Christ has not yet entered the Most Holy place, and the Sanctuary is not yet being cleansed.
3. That the sins of Israel are blotted out, not singly, but all at once; that every thing is ready before the High Priest enters the Holiest, and then by one instantaneous act, the whole is accomplished.
These views we also notice, set forth in print, in an article entitled, "The day of Atonement and cleansing of the Sanctuary;" which article, R. Hicks, writing to this Office, in his zeal to express its merits, calls "one of the hailstones spoken of by Ezekiel;" forgetting, I suppose, that he thereby makes it one of the plagues! But let us subject this "hailstone" a moment to the torch of truth and see if it won't melt.
Much testimony is adduced to show that those who brought their offerings under the former dispensation, must bring them to the door of the tabernacle, unto the priest. They then say that our prayers and confessions of sins are our offerings and sacrifices; that consequently we can present them nowhere else than at the door of the tabernacle; that we can do this only while our High Priest ministers in the first apartment; and that after his position is changed to the second apartment, he will not accept them.
Now all who hold such a view as this, most certainly make our prayers and confessions, the antitype of those ancient offerings; and in doing this they betray an enormous misapprehension of the whole subject. We have shown from the testimony of Paul that Christ was the great antitype in which these all centered; and who will for a moment suppose that when a person offered up his victim at the earthly tabernacle, it signified that people under the gospel dispensation would pray and confess their sins! But it may be asked, Have we then no sacrifices to make? We have,-in the sense in which this term is applied to the duties of a Christian. We will present a few examples: Ps. cxvi, 17. "I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord." Ps. cvii, 22. "And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing." Ps. li, 17. "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise." Paul says in Heb. xiii, 15. "By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name;" and he adds in the next verse, "But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased." He tells us again in Rom. xii, 1, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Here are brought to view the sacrifices we are to make; but to suppose that these constitute the antitype of those typical sacrifices, is a most manifest absurdity. If, because the offering was brought to the door of the tabernacle, the antitype to which that pointed must be brought there also, it has nothing to do with our prayers and confessions; for that antitype was Christ. But there were prayers and confessions made, under the typical system, independent of the offerings, and we are curious to know what they then signified, since they have now become the antitype of those offerings! It is on this wrong premise that the whole article, above referred to, is based; and we might content ourselves with having shown the falsity of this, but there are some other points we wish to notice.
It is said that "in order for the children of Israel to hear the sound of the high priest's bells when he goes into the most holy, they must not be sounding trumpets, and calling upon their fellows to come up and offer their offerings, (at a time when there is to be no man in the tabernacle of the congregation, and they are forbidden to offer anywhere else,) but they must of necessity be silent listeners;" from which they would reason, that when our High Priest enters the Most Holy we must not be presenting our offerings (?) but must be waiting in silence. This, they say is "in keeping with Luke i, 9, 10, 21, where the multitude were waiting and praying without, while Zacharias went into the temple to burn incense." But we learn by reading the passage that Zacharias was not a high priest, but performed the priest's office in the order of his course, [verse 8.] and his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple, [verse 9.] and there appeared unto him the angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. Verse 11. The altar of incense was in the first apartment and not in the second; therefore it is not the time of the cleansing of the sanctuary that is here brought to view; and his act of burning incense on that altar, in the first apartment, is by no means the same as that of a high priest going into the most holy with a burning censer. So they have here taken the wrong man, the wrong time, and the wrong event to illustrate their position.
It is further said that this is in keeping "with Rev. viii, 1, 3, 4, where there was silence in heaven during the time the incense was offered with the prayers of all saints;" by which we are of course to understand that the silence mentioned in Rev. viii, 1, is what, according to the theory of these persons, will exist during the cleansing of the heavenly Sanctuary. Let us look at this. We read, "And when he had opened the seventh seal there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour." We are aware that events are not brought to view in their chronological order in the book of Revelation; but any such chain of events as the seven seals, the seven trumpets, &c., cannot of course, be disarranged. We cannot place the fourth seal before the third, nor the fifth before the fourth, nor the seventh before the sixth. But what takes place under the sixth? We learn from Rev. vi, 12-17, that under the sixth seal, the heavens depart as a scroll, the kings of the earth and the great men hide themselves in the dens and rocks of the mountains, and cry unto them, Fall on us and hide us from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand. In other words, the sixth seal, beholds the coming of Christ and the end of the world; and it is'n't until the seventh is opened that there is silence in heaven for the space of half an hour; and yet they apply that silence to the cleansing of the sanctuary, before Christ leaves it: an event which must take place under the sixth seal! The whole of the seventh seal is applied to one of the many events which transpire under the sixth seal! I can hardly conceive how it would be possible to make a more palpable misapplication of sacred scripture!
As regards the offering of incense mentioned in verses 3-5, it can have no connection with verse 1, from the fact that verse 2 introduces another chain of events; namely, the seven trumpets, which, according to universal acknowledgment, began to be fulfilled far in the past.
We are now prepared for the inquiry, Has the cleansing of the Sanctuary commenced? It was told Daniel, "Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the Sanctuary be cleansed." Clearly enough those days are in the past. Unless, therefore, the words of the angel have failed, a work has commenced called the cleansing of the Sanctuary; but there is no work either in the type or out of the type, to which this expression ever has been, or ever can be, applied, except to the entrance of the high priest into the Most Holy place, and his ministration while there. Whenever the expression is used, thus is the work which is brought to view, and this only.
I know of no period of time which is designated and set apart, in the Scriptures, as an "antitypical day of atonement" in which the Sanctuary shall be cleansed, more than that in which this work is performed. We consider this idea as springing from an undue regard to the formulas of the type, in reference to which we have already spoken. And the matter is carried still further, when it is urged, because the first part of the day of atonement was the night season, and there were also several offerings to be made, before the cleansing of the Sanctuary could commence, that therefore the greater part of this "antitypical day of atonement" must pass, before the cleansing of the true Sanctuary shall take place.
Dan. viii, 14, does not read that, unto 2300 days, then shall the antitypical day of atonement commence, and somewhere in the latter part of that day, the length of which nobody knows, the Sanctuary shall be cleansed! All that gave the day of atonement in the type its distinction and importance, was the fact that on that day the great work of cleansing the sanctuary was performed. In the antitype this great event only is brought to view, and the definite period of its commencement is marked out. Here is a point that no sophistry can evade. If the 2300 days have ended, the cleansing of the Sanctuary is going on. Doubtless they would deny that the days have ended were it not that that point is settled by a "demonstration" in which they have implicit faith.
Num. xxix, 7-11, where an account is given of the offerings of the day of atonement, is quoted to show that we have now an opportunity of offering our sacrifices, that is, our prayers and confessions; also that we must come to the door of the tabernacle, the first apartment; and also that the cleansing of the Sanctuary must be for a time deferred. Now all who regard the matter in this light, since they profess such adherence to the type, and since they make our confessions the antitype of those offerings, are bound by consistency to show how many and what kind of confessions answer to "one young bullock! one ram! and seven lambs of the first year!" &c. The idea might be followed out till it would become ridiculous in the extreme.
There are other considerations which to my mind are proof on this point; and I make no one responsible for the positions taken. If the Sanctuary is not yet being cleansed, it involves all three of the angels of Rev. xiv, in a future.
The first angel proclaimed, Fear God and give the54glory to him; for the hour of his Judgment is come. At the end of the 2300 days, when that message closed, had that time come? If the judgment scene which takes place in the second apartment of the Sanctuary, to which this proclamation doubtless refers, did not then commence, it had not come; and the first angel with his message, was too fast. But we believe that work did there commence; that there was the time when judgment began at the house of God, and the time came when Daniel, and all the righteous in the person of their Advocate should stand in their lot.
The second angel proclaims that Babylon is fallen. Why is Babylon fallen? Because she rejected special truth. A time was coming, in fulfillment of the designs of Heaven when a change should take place in the position of our great High Priest, and, consequently, a change in his relation to the world. A truth was given which would prepare people for that change. This truth she scornfully rejected. Could God continue his Spirit and blessing to her in such a course? No. Could he withhold the accomplishment of his plans? No. The second angel uttered his warning; and all who then felt the force of that truth left her communion. The work moved on: our great High Priest withdrew himself to his closing ministration in the second apartment of the holy Sanctuary; and great Babylon was left in her barren pomp, destitute of the spirit and power of vital godliness. She is now becoming a hold of every foul spirit; and when this has progressed far enough to be apparent to every honest mind, we believe they will heed the voice of Rev. xviii, 4; and that, consequently, another thinning of her ranks yet awaits her.
Our High Priest has entered the second apartment, and the way is prepared for the third angel. One portion of his message is, "Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." This is based on the fact that "the temple of God was opened in heaven, (when Christ changed his position,) and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament." God's people are permitted to look by an eye of faith, into the inner apartment of the true Tabernacle: they there behold the ark of God, and their attention is called at once to the law contained within it; and the fact that there is now a special movement taking place in regard to that violated law, is proof that the second apartment of the Sanctuary has been opened, and the ark of the testament is seen. No person can receive the true light on the Sanctuary, and the present position and work of our great Mediator, without having his attention especially directed to the ten commandments. There is a beautiful harmony in all this, just such as we would expect to find in the plan and work of God.
Since, then, the closing work of the Sanctuary is being performed, it may be asked, What is the position of God's people and of the world, during this time; and how are we now to obtain forgiveness of sin?
It is a prerogative of this dispensation over the former, that the blood of Christ does cleanse us from, or take away, our sins. Ever since he commenced his work for mankind as Priest in the holy Sanctuary, it has been their privilege to avail themselves of the merits of his blood by faith in him. As long as that blood is ministered they can do this; and we have noticed that it is ministered in both apartments of the Sanctuary, the second as well as the first. But a consistent faith in Christ, involves the necessity of an understanding of his position and of his work; here therefore a restriction must be made. Light enough has been given us in the Word to trace our Saviour through all his characters as Prophet, Priest, and King, and we must keep our eye fixed upon him. He says, "I am the way, the truth and the life;" and unless we heed the light which reveals to us his position and work, he witnesses against us when he says, "Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life." To come to him therefore at the present time, and to exercise an effective faith in him, we must have an understanding of his present position. We come to him therefore as our great High Priest, performing his last and special work, pleading his blood before the mercy-seat, beneath which reposes God's righteous law, a violation of which has made his sacrifice and mediation necessary; and as the scene is thus presented before us, we see the necessity of keeping that law in all its requirements. Those who therefore, with the present light on this subject, shall attempt to find in Christ a Saviour, while living in violation of that holy law, or shall seek him as minister in the first apartment of the Sanctuary, will find that he has withdrawn himself from them, and knows them not.
Again, while Christ exercises the office of Priest—he is a mediator between God and man, and those who will come unto him may avail themselves of his mediation. He is Priest in the second apartment as well as the first. If we confess our sins, he is yet "faithful and just to forgive us our sins." But as surely as Babylon is fallen, and evil men and seducers are waxing worse and worse, and all are being drawn into the absorbing whirlpool of spiritualism, so surely his Spirit and sympathy is withdrawn from them as a body. Some may here call us bigoted and exclusive; but they may as well say the same of the whole plan of salvation, because it contains prescribed conditions with which men must comply, or they can never be saved.
We see then that to those who are honest enough to seek salvation according to the light of revealed truth, there is yet left a brief hour of probation, while the work of the Sanctuary is closing, and the last message of mercy is going forth. In view of these things how solemn is our position! How should we let our light shine! What manner of persons ought we to be! What manner of lives ought we to live! With what zeal should we engage in the service of God, that we may find at last to our eternal joy, our sins forgiven, and our names retained in the Lamb's book of life.