THE SANCTUARY. (CONTINUED.)
SYNOPSIS OF THE PRESENT TRUTH, No. 15.
THE SANCTUARY. (CONTINUED.)
We closed last week with the inquiry on our hands, What is the Sanctuary of the new covenant? When Paul speaks of a first covenant, [Heb. ix.] he necessarily implies a second; and when he connects with that first covenant a Sanctuary and ordinances of divine service, he as clearly implies that the second will have a Sanctuary with divine service also. But on this point we draw direct testimony from the prophecy of Daniel. There was a period of 2300 years revealed to him, at the end of which the Sanctuary should be cleansed; but only 490 of those years were allotted to the first covenant, to the worldly Sanctuary, and to the Jewish church. At the end of that period, the confirmation of "the covenant," (the new or second covenant) should, according to the prophecy, be finished. Then should the old covenant have passed away, and the new one have been introduced. Then should the services of the worldly Sanctuary have forever ceased. Then the Jewish church should no longer have pre-eminence as the children of God, above any other people. But 1810 years still remain before 2300 are completed, and yet at the end of that period, the Sanctuary is to be cleansed. Therefore the second covenant has a Sanctuary and ordinances of divine service also. As we pursue our inquiries to ascertain what constitutes this Sanctuary, the opinions that already exist upon the subject, demand attention; for we have no right to deviate from opinions already existing upon any question, provided they are sound and true; and we have no right to introduce any new views upon them till we have first shown the fallacy of the old. Entering the field to search for truth on this point, four prominent views rise up before us. It is claimed by some that the land of Canaan is now the Sanctuary. Others contend that it comprises the whole earth. Still others there are, who take the word in a more spiritual, but no less unauthenticated sense, and say that it means the Church. While the fourth view, which draws largest on our imagination and marvelousness, makes out this rolling earth to be only the first apartment of the new-covenant Sanctuary, and all heaven the second. If we would form correct views on this question, there is one thing which we must keep constantly before us, and that is, the relation which the Sanctuaries of the two covenants sustain to each other, namely, that of type and antitype. By keeping our eye steadfastly fixed upon this, it will be almost as hard to arrive at wrong conclusions, as it would be easy, were we to lose sight of it. To this end we call attention to the numerous instances in which the worldly Sanctuary is declared to be a pattern of the true. "Let them make me a Sanctuary," said the Lord to Moses, "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. xxv, 8, 9. "And look that thou make them after their pattern which was showed thee in the mount." Verse 40. "And thou shall rear up the tabernacle according to the fashion thereof which was showed thee in the mount." Chap. xxvi, 30. "As it was showed thee in the mount, so shall they make it." Chap. xxvii, 8. "Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as he had appointed, speaking unto Moses that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen." Acts vii, 44. "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," &c. Heb. ix, 8, 9. "For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true." Verse 24. From this testimony but one conclusion can be drawn; namely, that the true Sanctuary is the pattern from which the earthly tabernacle was erected, and that whatever object we may find of which this earthly sanctuary was a true type or figure, that object is the Sanctuary of the better covenant under which we now live, and the cleansing of which the unerring word of the Lord locates at the termination of the 2300 days. We are therefore prepared for the following questions: 1. IS THE EARTH THE SANCTUARY? To this question, we reply emphatically in the negative. It is not; and if we are requested to prove a negative, we offer in its support, the following reasons: 1st. The word Sanctuary occurs 146 times in the Bible and is not in a single instance applied to the earth. Now if it was really the intention of the Holy Ghost to teach us that the earth was the Sanctuary, it seems that it ought, at least once to have called it so. 2d. The definition of the term, sanctuary, according to Walker, Webster, Cruden and the Bible, is, A holy place, a sacred place, a dwelling place for the Most High; but every one knows that the earth is neither a dwelling place for God, nor yet a holy, or sacred place. This fact alone should forever exclude the idea of its being the Sanctuary. But 3d. Take into consideration the typical and antitypical natures of the Sanctuary, and the absurdity of this view will appear in a still stronger light. The earthly Sanctuary was a type or figure of the true; but pray tell us in what respect it prefigured this rolling earth. Can it for a moment be supposed that Moses, when in the mount, was shown this earth, as the pattern from which he was to erect the Sanctuary, and that the nearest resemblance he could make of it, was an oblong building ten cubits in width and three times that number in length? And we might pursue this train of thought still further and inquire what on earth answers as antitype to the golden candlestick. Is it the leaning tower of Pisa, or the pyramids of Egypt? And what to the altar of incense? Is it mount Vesuvius, or Hecla? And what to the table of shewbread? The plateau of South America, or the Steppes of Russia? But we need not spend time longer to write, nor trouble the reader longer to read, concerning a view so manifestly absurd. 2. IS THE LAND OF CANAAN THE SANCTUARY? The arguments which show that the earth is not the Sanctuary of the new covenant, bear with equal force against that view which would claim that honor for the land of Canaan. But as there are, out of the 146 times of the occurrence of the word sanctuary in the Bible, some two or three texts which are urged in favor of this view, we will examine them and see if they will bear the meaning which they have been supposed to convey. The first is Exodus xv, 17, and reads as follows: "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." Before it is decided however that this text fixes the application of the Sanctuary to the land of Canaan, let the Psalmist's commentary on this very passage be taken into consideration. He says: "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 palaces, like the earth which he hath established forever." Ps. lxxviii, 53, 54, 69. On these passages we offer the following extract from "The Sanctuary," by J. N. A.: "The first of these texts, it will be noticed, is taken from the song of Moses, after the passage of the Red Sea. It is a prediction of what God would do for Israel. The second text was written about five hundred years after the song of Moses. What Moses utters as a prediction, the Psalmist records as a matter of history. Hence the Psalm is an inspired commentary on the song of Moses. If the first text be read without the other, the idea might be gathered that the mountain was the Sanctuary, though it does not directly state this. Even as one might get the idea that the tribe of Judah was Mount Zion, were they to read only the expression, 'but chose the tribe of Judah, the Mount Zion which he loved,' [Ps. lxxviii, 68,] and omit those texts which inform us that Mount Zion was the city of David, a part of Jerusalem, [2 Sam. v, 6, 7.] and was located in Judah, as one of its cities. Ezra, i, 3; Ps. lxxix, 35. But if the second text be read in connection with the first, it destroys the possibility of such an inference. The Psalmist states that the mountain of the inheritance was the border of the Sanctuary. And that God, after driving out the heathen before his people, proceeded to build his Sanctuary like high palaces. See 1 Chron. xxix, 1. 1. The land of Canaan was the mountain of the inheritance. Ex. xv, 17. 2. That mountain was the border of the Sanctuary. Ps. lxxviii, 54. 3. In that border God built his Sanctuary. Ps. lxxviii, 69. 4. In that Sanctuary God dwelt. Ps. lxxiv, 7; Ex. xxv, 8. 5. In that border the people dwelt. Ps. lxxviii, 54, 55. These facts demonstrate that the same Spirit moved both those 'holy men of old.'" Listen also to the distinction between the land of Canaan and the Sanctuary as pointed out by a king of Judah: "Art not thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend forever. And they dwelt therein and have built thee a Sanctuary therein for thy name, saying, If when evil comes upon us, as the sword, judgment or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house, and in thy presence (for thy name is in this house) and cry unto thee in our affliction, then thou wilt hear and help." 2 Chron. xx, 7-9. There is another text claimed by some as proof that Canaan is the Sanctuary: Isa. lxiii, 18. "The people of thy holiness have possessed it but a little while: our adversaries have trodden down thy Sanctuary." It is by no means certain that the land is here referred to, since anything else may be trodden down as well as the land. Nothing therefore but an inference can be drawn from it; and one plain fact is sufficient to demolish this to its lowest foundations: when God's people were driven out of the land of Canaan (as the prophet here predicts, using the past tense for the future) they were not only dispossessed of their inheritance, but the Sanctuary of God built in that land was laid in ruins. This fact is plainly stated in 2 Chron. xxxvi, 17-20, which divests the passage of all mystery. Only one text more remains to be urged in favor of the land of Canaan. As such we present it. "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." Isa. lx, 13. Had the distinction ever been kept in view, between the Sanctuary and the place of the Sanctuary, we should have had no occasion to notice this text. But if people persist in ignoring this distinction, we would remind them that the same text calls the place of the Sanctuary, the place of the Lord's feet also; and if by being the place of the Sanctuary it becomes the Sanctuary itself, by being the place of his feet, it becomes, by a parity of reasoning, his feet also. When any just grounds can be shown for avoiding this conclusion, it will be time to notice the passage further. We can only conclude then, not that the land of Canaan is the Sanctuary, but that it is simply the place where the typical Sanctuary was located. 3. There is a third class (if they are numerous enough to warrant the term) who contend that the first apartment of the Sanctuary embraces the whole earth, and that it takes all heaven to make the second. How it is that persons with common proportions of intellect and honesty, can adopt a view which draws so largely on our imagination and marvelousness, we are at a loss to understand. On this point the reader is referred to the remarks already made upon the earth. A part of its absurdity is there shown; the other part will be noticed when we come to treat upon the ministration and service with which the Sanctuary stands connected. 4. IS THE CHURCH THE SANCTUARY? We answer, It is not. Do you ask for our reasons? One fact alone is sufficient to annihilate the idea: It is never once in the word of God called the Sanctuary. Another definite object is invariably called the Sanctuary, and the church is uniformly connected with that object as the host or worshipers; the Sanctuary117itself being the place of that worship, or towards which their prayer was directed. There is one text that may be urged on this point and we therefore notice it: "When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language, Judah was his Sanctuary, and Israel his dominion." Ps. cxiv, 1. This would however only prove that one of the twelve tribes was the Sanctuary and that the whole church was not. But if the fact be remembered that God chose Jerusalem which was in Judah, as the place of his Sanctuary, we think the following from another psalm will fully explain the connection between Judah and the Sanctuary of God, and show that Judah was the tribe with which God designed to locate his habitation: "But chose the tribe of Judah the mount Zion which he loved. And he built his Sanctuary like high palaces (see 1 Chron. xxix, 1) like the earth which he hath established forever." Ps. lxxviii, 68, 69. But could a single text be produced in favor of the view that the church is the Sanctuary, it could not even then be the Sanctuary of Dan. viii, 13, 14; for the church is there represented by the word "host." This none will deny. "To give both the host and the Sanctuary to be trodden under foot." The church and the Sanctuary then, are two things. We have now seen that the earth is not the Sanctuary; that the land of Canaan is not the Sanctuary, but simply the place where the typical Sanctuary was located; and that the church is not the Sanctuary, but simply the worshippers connected with it. We now inquire, 5. WHAT IS THE SANCTUARY? Turn to the revelation of St. John, and while bearing continually in mind that he is looking not to any spot on earth, not to the church, but into heaven, mark some of the objects which he there beholds. First, he beholds a door opened in heaven. Chap. iv, 1. Mark, he does not say that he saw heaven opened, but he saw a door opened in heaven. He then sees seven lamps of fire burning before the throne. Verse 5. He sees again and beholds an angel with a golden censer offering incense upon the golden altar which was before the throne. Again, he sees the temple of God opened in heaven, (mark, he does not see heaven opened, but the temple of God opened in heaven) and there beholds the ark of his testament. But we know nothing of the golden candlestick, the golden censer, the altar of incense, and the ark of the testament, only as they are connected with the Sanctuary. We are therefore justified in the conclusion that these are the patterns from which the earthly vessels were formed; and, as they are inseparable from the Sanctuary, that there exists in heaven a literal Sanctuary also, the antitype of the earthly building. But we may as well come to direct testimony since we have it in the word of God abundantly furnished to our hand. We take it for granted that the reader is well acquainted with at least the first seven chapters of the book of Hebrews. Paul there discourses upon the new covenant and the superiority of Christ's priesthood over that of Aaron's. He then opens in the eighth chapter as follows: "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." He declares plainly in chapter ix, 23, 24, that the holy places made with hands were "figures of the true," and that the earthly tabernacle and its sacred vessels, were "patterns of things in the heavens." Here is positive testimony that there is a tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man, and that this tabernacle is in the heavens, (the heaven itself,) of which Christ is the minister. What! perhaps some are ready to exclaim, Do you believe that there are literal things in heaven, that there is a real Sanctuary there? Just as much as we believe that a real one ever existed on this earth. Just as literal and real as we believe the antitype of the offerings connected with the Sanctuary to be, namely Jesus, who offered himself the great sacrifice for the world on Calvary,— so literal and real do we believe the antitype of the Sanctuary itself, to be. We know that the fumes of the wine of the fornication of the mother of harlots, with which the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk, [Rev. xvii, 2.] have so beclouded their spiritual intellects, and so long clothed heaven and heavenly things in fog and vapor, that many are ready to start at the idea; but we choose rather to take the word of God, unstrained through the "coal-sack" of the fathers, or the traditions of the church. With a few Scripture testimonies concerning the existence of this temple in heaven, and a few of the declarations that it is the great original of which the earthly was but a type, figure or pattern, we close this part of the subject. Rev. xi, 19. "And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament." Rev. xiv, 17. "And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven." Rev. xv, 5. "And after that I looked and behold the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened." Rev. xvi, 17. "And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven from the throne, saying, It is done." Ps. xi, 4. "The Lord is in his holy temple: the Lord's throne is in heaven." Heb. ix, 11, 12. "But Christ being come as 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." Heb. viii, 1, 2, has already been quoted. This heavenly Sanctuary is called by Jesus "my Father's house;" [John xiv, 2.] by David, Habakkuk and John, "the temple of God in heaven; [Ps. xi, 4; Hab. ii, 20; Rev. xi, 19.] God's "holy habitation." Zech. ii, 13; Jer. xxv, 30; Rev. xvi, 17. See also Ps. cii, 19; Jer. xvii, 12; 2 Sam. xxii, 7; Ps. xviii, 6; Isa. vi, 1-6; Rev. vii, 15; xiii, 6; xiv, 15, 17; xvi, 1, 7. If after this testimony any yet doubt respecting the existence of this building in heaven, we know not what more we can say to them. If these texts can be set aside, any number of similar ones might be. But if the word of the Lord has any authority in settling such questions, this question is settled. This "more perfect tabernacle," this "true Sanctuary" which the Lord pitched and not man, is the great antitype of the earthly building. The word of God declares it; and we therefore believe it. There is one declaration of Paul's to which we would call particular attention. Speaking of the priests that ministered in the earthly tabernacle he says: "Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, AS Moses was admonished of God, when he was about to make the tabernacle; for see, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount." Heb. viii, 5. Paul here declares that the priests served unto the example and shadow of heavenly things; and how does he prove it? By a reference to the building and the command that Moses had to make it according to the pattern. His argument is this: The priests served unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, just as the tabernacle, built according to the pattern shown to Moses, was a shadow and example of heavenly things; and just as this tabernacle was a shadow of the heavenly building, just as the priests served unto the example of heavenly things. Here, then, Paul calls the tabernacle erected by Moses, a shadow of heavenly things. One distinguishing feature of this tabernacle was that it had two apartments, a holy and a most holy place. The heavenly Sanctuary therefore has the same; for a Sanctuary in heaven with only one apartment would not cast a shadow upon earth with two. And if the pattern had but one holy place, and Moses erected a building with two, he did not follow the pattern; for there would then have been a great dissimilarity. But Moses did build it according to the pattern. Accordingly we hear Paul speaking of the holy places (plural) of the heavenly Sanctuary. See Heb. ix, 8, 12; x, 19. The word rendered, holiest, or holy place, in each of these texts is in the original in the plural, and is so rendered in many translations; (holy places.) But Paul makes use of expressions still stronger on this point. Speaking of the earthly tabernacle and its instruments of service, he says: [Heb. ix, 23.] It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; that is with the blood of calves and goats. What was cleansed by these? The two departments of the earthly Sanctuary, and the altar. See Lev. xvi. And Paul explicitly tells us that these were patterns of things in the heavens. But there is a still stronger expression which yet remains to be noticed. "For Christ," says Paul, "is not entered into the holy places made with hands [the earthly Sanctuary] which are figures of the true." It is in view of such plain testimony as this that we reject those fantastical notions which would make all heaven but the second apartment of the Sanctuary, and all earth the first, or which would make the two apartments of the earthly building typify the two dispensations, Jewish and Christian. The Bible teaches us, if language is capable of doing it, that there is in heaven a greater and more perfect tabernacle, a true Sanctuary which the Lord pitched and not man, of which the earthly was a correct and true shadow, type or figure. When the old covenant gave place to the new, then the typical Sanctuary was succeeded by the true. The type cannot reach beyond its antitype; the shadow ceases when the substance comes. The offering of goats and calves was no longer serviceable when the great offering for the world had died on Calvary. Christ declared to the Jews as he departed from the temple, "Behold your house is left unto you desolate." Mark xxiii, 37, 38. And when amid the terrific scenes of the crucifixion day, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from top to bottom, it was a solemn demonstration that its services were forever finished. That blood was then shed that was to be ministered for us in the heavenly Sanctuary, and there, from henceforth, the world was to look for salvation and pardon. The way into the heavenly holy places, says Paul, "was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing." Heb. ix, 8. That is, God did not during the typical dispensation, lay open the true tabernacle, but gave to the people a figure or pattern of it. But when the time came that the services of the worldly Sanctuary ended, when the dying Saviour cried with a loud voice, It is finished; and darkness overspread all the land, and the earth quaked, and the rocks burst, then the way of the temple of God in heaven was laid open. The true church has had since that time neither Sanctuary nor priesthood in old Jerusalem, but it has had both in heaven. We have before shown that only 490 years of the 2300 belonged to the Jews and the earthly Sanctuary. Gabriel, in his instructions to Daniel concerning the events to transpire at that time, shows him, first, that the earthly Sanctuary should be destroyed shortly after their rejection of the Messiah, and never be built, but be desolate till the consummation. Dan. ix, 26, 27. Second, he brings to view the new covenant: "He (the Messiah) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week. Verse 27. Third, he brings to view the new covenant church, or host, namely, the "many" with whom the covenant is confirmed. Fourth, he brings to view the new covenant sacrifice, namely, the cutting off of the Messiah, but not for himself. He brings to view also the Mediator of the new covenant. Verse 25; chap. xi, 22; Heb. xii, 24. And, fifth, he brings to view, lastly, the new covenant Sanctuary; viz., "to anoint the Most Holy." Verse 24. This has reference, doubtless, to an act preparatory to the commencement of the ministration of the Sanctuary, which was, to anoint both the holy places and all the sacred vessels. Ex. xl, 9-11. On this point we quote the following from the Advent Shield, No. 1, p. 75: "And the last event of the 70 weeks, as enumerated in verse 24, was the anointing of the 'Most holy,' or the 'Holy of holies,' or the 'Sanctum sanctorum.' Not that which was on earth, made with hands, but the true tabernacle, into which Christ, our High Priest, is for us entered. Christ was to do in the true tabernacle in heaven, what Moses and Aaron did in his pattern. See Heb. vi; vii; viii; ix; Ex. xxx, 22-30; Lev. viii, 10-15." So far, we trust, the subject is clear to all minds. There can be no doubt concerning the object which the angel had in view when he said, "Unto 2300 days, then shall the Sanctuary be cleansed." What this cleansing is, and how it is to be accomplished, be assured the Bible will not withhold from the honest inquirer.