THE CLEANSING OF THE SANCTUARY. (CONCLUDED.)
SYNOPSIS OF THE PRESENT TRUTH, No. 18.
THE CLEANSING OF THE SANCTUARY. (CONCLUDED.)
Of what infinite importance, must then the cleansing of the Sanctuary be! With this event the great plan and work of salvation closes up. This finished, the final decision will have passed upon all men; the fiat of the Almighty will have gone forth, "He that is filthy, let him be filthy still, and he that is holy let him be holy still." Rev. xxii, 11. Momentous period! May he whose mediation for a rebel world is about to close, deeply impress our hearts, with those emotions which this mighty truth is calculated to inspire. The ministry in the most holy being finished, it yet remained for the priest to bear out the sins from the Sanctuary, place them upon the head of the scape-goat and send him away by the hand of a fit man into a land not inhabited. Lev. xvi, 20-22. This ceremony as performed in the type we have already noticed. We now inquire, What service connected with the more perfect tabernacle, answers to this, and to what being shall we look, as the one shadowed forth anciently by the literal and typical goat, as, loaded with the sins of Israel, he went forth from the camp to be heard of no more forever? This point demands more particular notice, as here, again, we are led to differ very materially from the views which have generally obtained upon this subject. Because John says, [chap. i, 29.] "Behold the Lamb of God which taketh, [margin, beareth,] away the sin of the world," and because it is said of the scape-goat that he "shall bear upon him all their iniquities into a land not inhabited," [Lev. xvi, 22], it has been concluded, without further consideration, by some, that the latter is a type of the former; and Dr. Clarke, also, in his note on Lev. xvi, 10, makes this remark: "Did not all this signify that Christ has so carried and borne away our sins, that against them who receive him as the only true atoning sacrifice they should never more be brought to remembrance." From the view, however, that Christ is the antitype of the scape-goat, we are compelled to differ, for what we consider very plain reasons. 1. If Christ, in bearing the sin of the world, fulfilled the antitype of the scape-goat, he must have accomplished it at the crucifixion; for Peter says of him, "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree." 1 Pet. ii, 24. But in the type the goat was not sent away till after the cleansing of the Sanctuary; hence the antitype of this work cannot be performed till after the termination of the 2300 days; for it is not till after those days have ended that the Sanctuary is cleansed. Dan. viii, 14; Heb. ix, 25. It is therefore impossible to carry this work back to the crucifixion of Christ, which was even before he commenced his ministration in the Sanctuary above; and therefore he cannot be the antitype of the scape-goat. 2. Christ is our great High Priest, the minister of the Sanctuary; but the goat is something to be sent away by the priest: therefore he cannot be the priest himself: in other words, he cannot in this dispensation be Christ; but he must be a being whom Christ, after he has loaded him with the sins borne from the Sanctuary, can send away into a land not inhabited. 3. The goat was sent away from Israel into a land not inhabited, to be heard of no more forever. But Christ will dwell in the midst of his people, the true Israel of faith. 4. It is impossible that two goats, one of which was chosen by the Lord, and is called the Lord's, and was for a sin-offering, while the other is not so called, but was left to perform an entirely different office;—it is impossible that these both should typify the same person. From these considerations we think it must be evident to every one that Christ cannot be the antitype of the Levitical scape-goat. Who then can be? We answer, The Devil; and our reasons for this position are at hand: 1. We know of only two beings which any one has ever thought could possibly be typified by the scape-goat; and these are Christ and Satan. We have shown above that the goat cannot be a type of Christ; we must therefore look to the Devil for its fulfillment. 2. The Hebrew word for scape-goat, as given in the margin of Lev. xvi, 8, is Azazel. On this verse, Jenks in his Comprehensive Commentary remarks, "Scape-goat. See diff. opin. in Bochart. Spencer after the oldest opinion of the Hebrews and Christians thinks Azazel is the name of the Devil; and so Rosennire, whom see. The Syriac has, Azazel, the angel (strong one) who revolted." The Devil is here evidently pointed out. Thus we have the definition of the Scripture term in two ancient languages, with the oldest opinion of the Christians in favor of the view that the scape-goat is a type of Satan. 3. In the common acceptation of the word, the term, scape-goat, is applied to any miserable vagabond who has become obnoxious to the claims of justice; and while it is revolting to all our conceptions of the character and glory of Christ, to apply this term to him, it must strike every one as a very appropriate designation of the Devil, who is styled in Scripture, the accuser, adversary, angel of the bottomless pit, Beelzebub, Belial, dragon, enemy, evil spirit, father of lies, murderer, prince of devils, serpent, tempter, &c., &c. 4. Our fourth reason for this position is the very striking manner in which it harmonizes with the events to transpire in connection with the cleansing of the heavenly Sanctuary, as far as revealed to us in the Scriptures of truth. We behold in the type, 1. The sin of the transgressor imparted to the victim. 2. We see that sin borne in by the priest in the blood of the offering, into the Sanctuary. 3. On the tenth day of the seventh month we see the priest with the blood of the sin-offering for the people, remove all those sins from the Sanctuary, and lay them upon the head of the scape-goat. 4. The goat bears them away into a land not inhabited. Answering to these events in the type, we behold in the antitype, 1. The great offering for the world made on Calvary. 2. The sins of all those who avail themselves of the merits of Christ's shed blood, by faith in him, in that blood are borne into the Sanctuary. 3. After Christ, the minister of the true tabernacle, [Heb. viii, 2.] has finished his ministration, he will remove the sins of his people from the Sanctuary, and lay them upon the head of their author, the antitypical scape-goat, the Devil. 4. The Devil will be sent away with them into a land not inhabited. If we want a description of this event in plain terms we find it in Rev. xx, 1-3: "And I saw an angel come down from heaven having the key of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years should be fulfilled." Now we would ask, What could be more fitting than that the author and instigator of all sin should receive the guilt of those transgressions which he has incited mortals to commit, but of which they have repented, back upon his own head? And what could be a more striking antitype of the ancient ceremony of sending away the scape-goat into the wilderness, than the act of the mighty angel in binding Satan and casting him into the bottomless pit at the commencement of the thousand years. This is a point of transcendent interest to every believer. Then the sins of God's people will be borne away to be remembered no more forever. Then he who instigated them, will have received them back again. Then the serpent's head will have been bruised by the seed of the woman. Then the "strong man armed," (Satan,) will have been bound by a stronger than he, (Christ,) and the house of the strong man (the grave) spoiled of its goods, the saints. Matt. xii, 29; Heb. ii, 14. Then will the work of the enemy, in sowing tares among the wheat, [Matt. xiii, 24-43.] be forever remedied: the tares will have been gathered into bundles to burn, and the wheat gathered into the garner. Then our great High Priest will have come forth from the Sanctuary to pronounce the everlasting blessing upon his waiting people. Then shall we have come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels. Then will the redeemed, placing the foot of triumph upon the world, the flesh and the Devil, raise their glad voices in the song of Moses and the Lamb. O glorious day! May the Lord hasten it in his good time. Who would not, in view of this, take up the petition of the beloved John, "Even so, come Lord Jesus!" These are scenes to which the children of hope in this lower world love to look forward. On these hang their brightest anticipations. These are the very portals to the glorious city, and to their eternal inheritance. We are aware that some will be ready to say that sins cannot be suffered for but once, and that it is absurd that Satan should suffer for those sins for which Christ has already suffered. But how long will such hold to this position? Let us see. For whom did Christ die? for a chosen few only, or for all? Evidently for all, otherwise all could not have an opportunity of repentance. "Well then," says one who is wedded to the pleasures of sin, "if sin can be suffered for but once, and Christ has suffered for my sins, what have I to fear? There is no suffering for sin for me to endure. I will therefore cull all the enjoyment I can from the pleasures of this world, and on the threshold of eternity I will take my stand beside the holiest saint that ever lived, and claim an equal right with him to the glories of heaven; for Christ suffered for me as well as for him; and therefore I am as free." This is exactly the issue of the view taken; but the staunchest Universalism would require nothing better. Unless therefore we wish to yield the specific teachings of the Bible and become Universalists at once, we must abandon this theory. But its advocates may still contend that the wicked are exceptions, but that certainly sins that have been pardoned can never after be occasion of suffering to any being. But if when sins are pardoned that is the last of them, we would inquire how it happens that those very sins are transferred to the Sanctuary, and impurity imputed to it on their account. That this is so is one of the plainest teachings of the Bible. It is also certain that these sins are to be removed from the Sanctuary; and we would ask those who endorse the theory under consideration, what then is to be done with them, unless they are to be laid upon the head of their old author, the Devil. From the fact that our sins when forgiven are only transferred through the blood of Christ to the Sanctuary, we learn that the pardon of our sins is only removing from us their guilt, by imputing to us the righteousness of another. But we are not the originators of sin. Behind all our transgressions there stands a guilty instigator; and why should it be thought more incredible or unscriptural that the guilt of those sins of which we repent, should be imputed to him who prompted us to commit them, than that the righteousness of Christ, upon our repenting, should be imputed to us? Rom. ii, 22; 2 Cor. v, 21. Why it was anciently that the sins of Israel were borne into the Sanctuary and finally carried away on the head of the scape-goat into the wilderness, and why our sins are now transferred to the Sanctuary through the blood of Christ, to be laid finally upon the head of the great antitypical scape-goat, the Devil—why this arrangement was made instead of some other, is not for us to inquire into nor question. It141them. But what if it should not bring them all to embrace the present truth? You will have done your duty, and scores of cases might be referred to where the REVIEW alone, or a tract, has brought candid men and women to the truth. Again we say, Circulate the REVIEW. The providence of God has prepared the way to publish the truth. Let the silent messengers go everywhere shedding light. Don't hide your light under a bushel. By circulating the REVIEW, you can do your duty, enlighten many, and help sustain the paper. Consecrate a portion of your substance to this good object, and send in a list of names. And may the Lord add his blessing. J. W.