A COMPREHENSIVE VIEW OF THE SANCTUARY.
By Editor
As advocates of consistency, we feel compelled to notice any theory which presents a wide departure from, and a false application of, the teachings of sacred Scripture on Scripture subjects. On the subject of the Sanctuary we find a short article in the Christian Reformer, of Jan. 10th, by O. D. Gibson, which we will briefly notice, as we wish to present our readers with the various phases of thought that may exist on this important portion of present truth. We do not like to see people make this question altogether of the earth, earthy, nor altogether spiritual, and foggy. The view under consideration is a strange mixture of both, and very "comprehensive" inasmuch as it takes in both earth and heaven! We will present its main features by extracts from the article. It reads:— "It seems from reading the 8th chap. of Daniel, that no one need mistake what is the Sanctuary, to which he is being instructed.
"This one was to be 'trodden' under foot by the wicked governments, symbolized in the vision. Hence the inquiry, How long the vision to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? The last horn power in the vision 'magnified himself even to the prince of the host,' and by him was the place of his sanctuary cast down, or trodden under foot. It is said of this same power, in the 7th chap., 'And shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.'
"Now how long shall this treading down last, or continue. The wicked kingdoms of earth have trodden under foot the host or people of God—saints of the Most High, each in their turn, and also the sanctuary, the place of worship, or offering, which is neither at Jerusalem or in the mountains of Samaria, but in any and every place under heaven where there is any one of the host to offer praise from a sincere heart. (Unto 2300 days, and then shall the Sanctuary be cleansed.) Of what shall it be cleansed? Of those wicked, cruel powers, or governments, which have oppressed and trodden it under foot, with its rightful heirs.
"The earth, God's sanctuary, Christ's kingdom, is now cleansed out, and no more trodden under foot. Christ is the officiating high priest, of this host that worship in this down-trodden sanctuary. There was once a typical priesthood in the order of Aaron with a typical sanctuary and typical laws, but types were not to last always. Paul says, For the priesthood being changed there is of necessity a change of the law. Christ is the anti-typical High Priest; the new covenant, or gospel, is the anti-typical law.
"Now what is the anti-typical Sanctuary? In order that some minds may grasp this truth let me explain the old tabernacle, or its main features.
"It was longer than wide, divided into two rooms and a curtain, called a veil, hung as the partition between. The first of those rooms was called the sanctuary; into this room went the high priest every day, offering sacrifices and ministrations. See Heb. ix. The second room, within, or beyond this veil, was called the holy of holies; into this room the high priest went only once a year and always alone, to carry the blood of the sacrifices and sprinkle before the mercy seat to make atonement for the sins of the people.
"Now if I can understand Paul, he makes the anti-typical tabernacle to be earth and heaven, with a veil between. Earth the first room or sanctuary. Heaven the second, or holy of holies. Christ, our high priest, has offered himself a sacrifice for sins once for all, and has gone into the holy of holies, or heaven itself, to carry and present his own blood before the mercy seat. Inasmuch as the high priest in the type offered his sacrifices in the sanctuary, and passed from thence through the veil into the holy place, so Christ offered himself in the first room of God's great tabernacle and has gone within the veil into the second room or heaven itself." It seems hardly necessary to reply to the ideas above set forth, and in doing so we are aware that we should only be using arguments that have been an hundred times repeated. A few words must therefore suffice. Much stress is laid upon the phrase "trodden under foot;" and the writer concludes therefore that the Sanctuary must be something that the literal feet of literal men, can literally tramp upon. Here he makes the first departure from just conclusions. We are not to determine what the Sanctuary is from the fact that it is to be trodden under foot; but first let the Bible tell us what the Sanctuary is, and then we will determine from its teaching what the treading under foot is. But let us look further at this point which is so much harped upon by our opponents. Suppose the earth or the land of Palestine is the Sanctuary, which the treading under foot is supposed to prove, and we inquire, Is the treading under foot, the literal treading upon it by men? No one will contend for a moment that it is, when brought right to the point at issue. What then is it? Why, the desolating and desecrating it. All then must admit that the treading under foot is a figure, and being a figure we can as well apply it to a Sanctuary in heaven as to one on earth. Thus we can take this objection out of the mouths of our opponents from their own confession. Jesus is the minister of the heavenly Sanctuary; and which is the most consistent, to speak of treading under foot the Sanctuary, or its minister? yet the Bible speaks of treading under foot the Son of God, the minister of the Sanctuary; [Heb. x, 27;] and we say therefore that to speak of treading under foot the heavenly Sanctuary, is in the same sense, both scriptural and reasonable. How Bro. G. gets such an "understanding" of Paul as to think that he makes the antitypical tabernacle to be earth and heaven, he does not tell us. Paul refers us to the true tabernacle in heaven, only, as the Sanctuary of the new covenant. Heb. viii, 1-5; ix, 23. He speaks of the first covenant, and tells us of its "worldly sanctuary," and from that he points to the true Sanctuary above which the Lord pitched and not man. It is admitted above that the first tabernacle was typical; but the writer does not tell us by what analogy that building erected by Moses, thirty cubits long and twelve wide, could be a type of both earth and heaven. That tabernacle, with all its instruments, was made according to the pattern shown Moses; [Ex. xxv, 9, 40; Heb. viii, 5.] but can we suppose that the earth was shown him as the pattern of the first apartment, and heaven as that of the second? and if this were so, of what would the golden candlestick, the table of shew bread, and the golden altar of incense be typical? There is no shadow of consistency in such a position, and we see not how any one can "grasp" it. It is said that the Sanctuary is to be cleansed "of those wicked, cruel powers, or governments which have oppressed and trodden it under foot with its rightful heirs;" but if those who entertain such a view would examine their subject they would learn that the cleansing of the Sanctuary is not of such a nature: it is cleansed by means of blood, and not by the destruction of the wicked; [Lev. xvi; Heb. ix, 22, 23:] it is cleansed of sin, and not of sinners. Sinners are never permitted to inhabit God's Sanctuary. The idea that the sanctuary is any and everywhere where there is an honest worshiper, is sufficiently disproved by the fact that although there were synagogues, places of worship, scattered throughout Judea, there was nevertheless the sanctuary at Jerusalem. So there is now, though the worshipers are scattered up and down the land, a true Sanctuary in heaven. O. D. Gibson says that Christ performed a part of his ministry on earth, the "first room" of the great tabernacle; but Paul says of Christ, "If he were on earth he would not be a priest." Heb. viii, 4. This is a fact that should be well borne in mind: Christ performs no part of his priesthood on the earth, which again is conclusive proof that the earth can have no claim of being the Sanctuary. We are glad to have him admit that the tabernacle or sanctuary of the first covenant, was a type of that of the second: so far he appears to be hovering around on the borders of truth; but we are surprised at his antitypes. On a subject of such moment as the Sanctuary, around which cluster our eternal interests, and with which is connected almost every branch of present truth, it is important that we have correct ideas. With these few thoughts we submit the subject to our readers to be carried out as much farther as they choose in their own minds.