p. 556 | THOUGHTS ON DANIEL by Uriah Smith

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Dec 15, 1881

THOUGHTS ON DANIEL.

By Uriah Smith

CHAPTER VIII.—THE SANCTUARY.

HOWEVER reluctant a person may have been to acknowledge that there is a sanctuary in Heaven, the testimony that has been presented is certainly sufficient to prove this fact. Paul says that the tabernacle of Moses was the sanctuary of the first covenant. Moses says that God showed him in the mount a pattern, according to which he was to make this tabernacle. Paul testifies again that Moses did make it according to the pattern, and that the pattern was the true tabernacle in Heaven which the Lord pitched, and not man; and that of this heavenly sanctuary, the tabernacle erected with hands was a true figure or representation. And finally John, to corroborate the statement of Paul that this sanctuary is in Heaven, bears testimony, as an eye-witness, that he beheld it there. What further testimony could be required? Nay, more, what further is conceivable?

So far as the question as to what constitutes the sanctuary, is concerned, we now have the subject before us in one harmonious whole. The sanctuary of the Bible—mark it all, dispute it who can—consists, first of the typical tabernacle established with the Hebrews at the exode from Egypt, which was the sanctuary of the first covenant; and secondly of the true tabernacle in Heaven, of which the former was a type or figure, which is the sanctuary of the new covenant. These are inseparably connected together as type and antitype. From the antitype we go back to the type, and from the type we are carried forward naturally and inevitably to the antitype.

We have said that Daniel would at once understand by the word sanctuary, the sanctuary of his people at Jerusalem; so would any one under that dispensation. But does the declaration of Daniel 8:14 have reference to that sanctuary? That depends upon the time to which it applies. Whatever declarations respecting the sanctuary apply under the old dispensation, they have respect to the sanctuary of that time; and whatever declarations apply in this dispensation, they have reference to the sanctuary of this dispensation. If the 2300 days, at the termination of which the sanctuary is to be cleansed, ended in the former dispensation, the sanctuary to be cleansed was the sanctuary of that time. If they reach over into this dispensation, the sanctuary to which reference is made, is the sanctuary of this time. This is a point which can only be determined by a further argument on the 2300 days. What we have thus far said respecting the sanctuary has been only incidental to the main question in the prophecy. That question has respect to its cleansing. Unto 2300 days, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed. But it was necessary first to determine what constituted the sanctuary, before we could understandingly examine the question of its cleansing. For this we are now prepared.

Having learned what constitutes the sanctuary, the question of its cleansing and how it is accomplished, is soon decided. It has been noticed that whatever constitutes the sanctuary of the Bible, must have some service connected with it which is called its cleansing. There is no account in the Bible of any such work as pertaining to this earth, the land of Caanan, or the church; which is good evidence that none of these objects constitutes the sanctuary; there is such a service connected with the object which we have shown to be the sanctuary, and which in reference to both the earthly building, and the heavenly temple, is called its cleansing.

Does the reader object to the idea of there being anything in Heaven which is to be cleansed? Is this a barrier in the way of his receiving the view here presented? Then his controversy is with Paul, who positively affirms this fact. But before he decides against the apostle, we ask the objector to examine carefully in reference to the nature of this cleansing, as he is here undoubtedly laboring under an utter misapprehension. The following are the plain terms in which Paul affirms the cleansing of both the earthly and the heavenly sanctuary: "And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the Heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these." Heb. 9:22, 23. In the light of foregoing arguments, this may be paraphrased thus: "It was therefore necessary that the tabernacle, erected by Moses, with its sacred vessels, which were patterns of the true sanctuary in Heaven, should be purified, or cleansed with the blood of calves and goats; but the heavenly things themselves, the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched, and not man, must be cleansed with better sacrifices, even with the blood of Christ."

We now inquire, What is the nature of this cleansing, and how is it to be accomplished? According to the language of Paul, just quoted, it is performed by means of blood. The cleansing is not, therefore, a cleansing from physical uncleanness or impurity, for blood is not the agent used in such a work. And this consideration should satisfy the objector's mind in regard to the cleansing of the heavenly things. The fact that Paul speaks of heavenly things to be cleansed, does not prove that there is any physical impurity in Heaven; for that is not the kind of cleansing of which he speaks. The reason Paul assigns why this cleansing is performed with blood, is because without the shedding of blood there is no remission. Remission, then, that is, the putting away of sin, is the work to be done. The cleansing, therefore, is not physical cleansing, but a cleansing from sin. But how came sin attached to the sanctuary, either the earthly or the heavenly? This can be ascertained from the ministration connected with the type, to which we now turn.

The closing chapters of Exodus give us an account of the construction of the earthly sanctuary, and the arrangement of the service connected therewith. Leviticus opens with an account of the ministration which was there to be performed. All that is to our purpose to notice here, is one particular branch of the service, which was performed as follows: The person who had committed sin, brought his victim to the door of the tabernacle. Upon the head of his victim, for a moment, he placed his hand, and as we may reasonably infer, confessed over him his sin. By this expressive act, he signified that he had sinned and was worthy of death, but that in his stead he consecrated his victim, and transferred his guilt to it. With his own hand (and what must have been his emotions?) he then took the life of his victim, on account of that guilt. The law demanded the life of the transgressor for his obedience; the life is in the blood; Lev. 17:11, 14; hence, without the shedding of blood there is no remission; with the shedding of blood remission is possible; for the law demanded life, and its demand is satisfied. The blood of the victim, representative of a forfeited life, and the vehicle of its guilt, was then taken by the priest, and ministered before the Lord.

The sin of the individual was thus, by his confession, by the slaying of the victim, and the ministration of the priest, transferred from himself to the sanctuary. Victim after victim was thus offered by the people; day by day the work went forward, and thus the sanctuary continually became the receptacle of the sins of the congregation. But this was not the final disposition of these sins. This accumulation of guilt was removed by a special service which was called the cleansing of the sanctuary. This service in the type occupied one day in the year; and the tenth day of the seventh month on which it was performed, was called the day of atonement. On this day, while all Israel refrained from work, and afflicted their souls, the priest brought two goats and presented them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. On these goats he cast lots; one lot for the Lord, and the other lot for the scape-goat. The one upon which the Lord's lot fell, was then slain, and its blood was carried by the priest into the most holy place of the sanctuary, and sprinkled upon the mercy-seat. And this was the only day on which he was permitted to enter into that apartment. Coming forth, he was then to lay both his hands upon the head of the scape-goat, confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, and, thus putting them upon his head, Lev. 16:21, he was to send him away by the hand of a fit man into a land not inhabited, a land of separation or forgetfulness, the goat never again to appear in the camp of Israel, and the sins of the people to be remembered against them no more. This service was for the purpose of cleansing the people from their sins, and cleansing the sanctuary and its sacred vessels. Lev. 16:30, 33. By this process, sin was removed, but only in figure; for that all was typical.

The reader to whom these views are new will be ready here to inquire, perhaps with some astonishment, what this strange work could possibly be designed to typify; what there is in this dispensation, which it was designed to prefigure. We answer, A work in the ministration of Christ, as Paul clearly teaches. After stating in Hebrews 8, that Christ is the minister of the true tabernacle, the sanctuary in Heaven, he states that the priests on earth served unto the example and shadow of heavenly things. In other words, the work of the earthly priests was a shadow, an example, a correct representation, so far as it could be carried out by mortals, of the ministration of Christ above. These priests ministered in both apartments of the earthly tabernacle; Christ therefore ministers in both apartments of the heavenly temple; for that temple has two apartments, or it was not correctly represented by the earthly, and our Lord officiates in both, or the service of the priest on earth was not a correct shadow of his work. But Paul directly states that he ministers in both apartments; for he says that he has entered into the holy place (Greek, plural, holy places) by his own blood. Heb. 9:12. There is, therefore, a work performed by Christ in his ministry in the heavenly temple, corresponding to that performed by the priests in both apartments of the earthly building. But the work in the second apartment, or most holy place, was a special work, to close the yearly round of service, and cleanse the sanctuary. Therefore Christ's ministration in the second apartment of the heavenly sanctuary must be a work of like nature, and constitute the cleansing of that sanctuary.

As through the sacrifices of the former dispensation, the sins of the people were transferred in figure by the priests to the earthly sanctuary, where those priests ministered; so, ever since Christ ascended to be our intercessor in the presence of his Father, the sins of all those who legitimately seek pardon through him, are transferred, in fact, to the heavenly sanctuary where he ministers. Whether Christ ministers for us in the heavenly holy places with his own blood literally, or only by virtue of its merits, we need not stop to inquire. Suffice it to say, that his blood has been shed, and through that blood we have remission of sins in fact, which was obtained only in figure through the blood of calves and goats. But those sacrifices had real virtue in this respect; they signified faith in a real sacrifice to come; and thus those who employed them have an equal interest in the work of Christ with those who come to him by faith, in this dispensation.

This continual transfer of sins to the heavenly sanctuary (and if they are not thus transferred, will any one in the light of the types, and in view of the language of Paul, explain the nature of the work of Christ in our behalf?)—this continual transfer, we say, of sins to the heavenly sanctuary, makes its cleansing necessary on the same ground that a like work was required in the earthly sanctuary.