Hebrews 8:1, commentary and pictures

The sum is that believers have a High Priest seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven. After offering His own life once for all, He entered by His own blood into the true tabernacle pitched by the Lord, not the earthly sanctuary built by human hands. There He ministers in the Father's presence as Priest, Advocate, Mediator and Intercessor, pleading His atoning sacrifice and blood which satisfies justice and vindicates God's law. In 1844 He moved from the Holy Place into the Most Holy Place to cleanse the heavenly sanctuary and finish the atonement, beginning the investigative judgment which is the antitypical Day of Atonement. God's people are therefore to keep attention fixed on Him there by faith, follow Him into the sanctuary, have the soul cleansed in harmony with His cleansing work, and receive pardon and power through His mediation, for His intercession is as essential to salvation as His death on the cross.

Heavenly Sanctuary Described

This is the sum: believers have a High Priest seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven. He is the High Priest of the new covenant, ministering in the true heavenly tabernacle pitched by the Lord and not built by human hands. That heavenly sanctuary stands in contrast to the earthly sanctuary of the first covenant, built by Moses, where human priests served.

A real sanctuary exists in heaven, and the earthly sanctuary was made as its pattern. Familiarity with that earthly pattern helps people understand the heavenly sanctuary, and prayer and study of Scripture keep its ministry firmly in mind. God's people are to keep the heavenly sanctuary and its ministry continually before them.

Christ ministers in the Father's presence at the throne, enthroned at the Father's right hand, carrying forward the work of atonement as Advocate, Mediator, and Intercessor for humanity. He stands right before the ark of God in heaven to mediate for man. After the prophetic periods ended in 1844 He moved from the first apartment into the second, where He stood before the ark and offered the prayers of the saints to the Father, with glory from the Father's throne coming to Jesus and shed upon those prayers like sweet incense. By faith believers enter within the veil where He has gone ahead, and through His mediation sincere requests from those who come in faith are presented to God. As the slain Lamb He pours out His blood on behalf of sinners, so when God's law reveals guilt the sinner is pointed to Christ who takes away sin and is taught repentance toward God and faith in Jesus. His intercession is as essential to salvation as His death on the cross, and His sacrifice meets the full demands of God's broken law.

The heavenly ark holds the original law exactly as Jehovah wrote it in the temple of heaven, even when its copy below is trampled by men. The mercy seat is on the cover of the ark right above that law, and there mercy and truth meet together, so pardon and God's holy law meet in His priestly work. The law in the earthly ark corresponds exactly to the law in the heavenly ark, and His ministry there confirms the continuing authority of God's law, including the Sabbath commandment. Those whose minds are directed to heaven therefore take their stand on the side of truth in obedience to the commandments, keeping them to live while seeking immortality, the crown of life, and heaven at last. No influence should be set against God's commandments.

The sanctuary to be cleansed at the end of the 2300 days is the temple of the New Jerusalem, where Jesus now ministers. He is now in the heavenly sanctuary in the New Jerusalem, not in old Jerusalem where He once was, and devotion belongs to Him there. There He is to be known by personal experience as Saviour, with the Holy Spirit as His representative wherever His people bow to worship, and divine light and precious life-giving fruit and leaves for the healing of the nations are gathered from His present ministry.

Jesus is the promised Messiah, the Saviour of the world, the Redeemer, and the true High Priest of the heavenly temple. His sacrifice of His own life made atonement for sin once for all, and His heavenly ministry is the reality foreshadowed by the Jewish priesthood, tabernacle rites, and sacrificial services. His coming, life, ministry, and death fulfilled Old Testament prophecies and Jewish expectation, though as a helpless infant in the temple He was unrecognized by the priest who could have known Him if he had obeyed God's word. The Israelite high priest was His visible representative. Like Aaron who symbolized Him, He bears His people's names upon His heart in the heavenly holy place, remembers His people and the words by which He encouraged them to trust, and remains mindful of His covenant.

Sacrifice, Mediation and Intercession

After offering the great sacrifice of His own life once for all, Christ entered the heavenly sanctuary by His own blood to make the benefits of His atonement available to His disciples. His heavenly ministry is the reality that the Jewish priesthood and its sacrificial services foreshadowed, and His coming, life, ministry and death fulfilled Old Testament prophecies and Jewish expectation. His death opened a new and living way to God for both Jews and Gentiles. Animal sacrifices for sin became valueless, and the blood of animal offerings no longer has value for sin, because the Lamb of God had died for the world.

The rending of the temple veil showed that earthly sacrifices and ordinances were no longer accepted. It marked the end of the earthly sanctuary's former role and its sacred mysteries, with God's presence no longer resting on its earthly mercy seat. The heavenly sanctuary had taken the place of the earthly one. Risen and ascended, Christ serves in heaven as Priest, Advocate, Mediator and Intercessor, carrying forward the work of atonement as humanity's sin-bearer and surety.

He pleads for humanity on the basis of His atoning sacrifice and the efficacy of His blood. That sacrifice satisfies justice, vindicates the honor of God's law, and meets the full demands of the broken law. Christ is the only hope of salvation. Through His merits believers receive pardon and peace. His death washes away sins, clothes them with His righteousness, and prepares and fits them to live in heaven.

He presents His people's prayers, repentance, faith, sacrifices and confessions before God, purified by His merits and spotless righteousness like sweet incense, making sincere requests acceptable to the Father. After rising and ascending He first ministered in the Holy Place on the basis of His sacrifice, then entered the Most Holy Place to atone for sin and cleanse the sanctuary, completing the plan of redemption through the final atonement. After the prophetic periods ended in 1844 He moved from the first apartment into the second, where He stood before the ark and offered the prayers of the saints, with glory from the Father's throne coming to Jesus and shed upon those prayers like sweet incense. The prayers of children dedicated to God are brought to Him, and He offers His merits on their behalf. There He accepts prayers, sacrifices and confessions and pardons sin.

The earthly priest offering incense before the unseen mercy seat represents God's people directing their prayers by faith to Christ before the heavenly mercy seat. Though they cannot see Him with natural eyes, they may trust that He is there and claim with assurance the benefits of His mediation. Tempted in all points as humans are, He is touched with the feeling of their infirmities. He loves His people, understands all their needs, and has wisdom and unfailing understanding. He intercedes for people suffering physically and spiritually, and though He was dead He is alive forevermore and invites them to come to Him who died and lives forever.

Believers can therefore firmly rely on His infinite strength, refer their requests to God through Him, and do His work in calm trust with rest and peace rather than anxiety, worry and overtaxing labor as if they had no risen Saviour. His priesthood shows God is mindful and loving and willing to give rest and peace, with obedience given while He takes care of His own cause rather than exhausting sacrifice. When Christians take up responsibility and feel their weakness, they can turn to Him for strength, grace and power, learning to depend on Him rather than on their ministers.

Two-Phase Ministry and Prophetic Timing

After rising from the dead and ascending, He first ministered in the Holy Place, presenting His people's prayers, repentance and faith before God on the basis of His own sacrifice, purified by His merits. He then entered the Most Holy Place to make atonement for sin and cleanse the sanctuary. This final atonement completes His work as High Priest and completes the plan of redemption, and the earthly sanctuary services become clear as types and symbols of that heavenly ministry.

After the prophetic periods ended in 1844 He moved from the first apartment into the second, where He stood before the ark and offered the prayers of the saints to the Father. Glory from the Father's throne came to Jesus and was shed upon those prayers like sweet incense. The sanctuary to be cleansed was in heaven, not the earth to be purified by fire before becoming the saints' home. That heavenly setting is the closing work of finishing the atonement and preparing the people to abide the day of His coming. This explains why the expected return did not occur when people thought it would.

In 1844 Christ entered the Most Holy Place of the heavenly sanctuary to cleanse it and to finish the atonement for human sin. The investigative judgment began with the dead. The disappointment came from expecting the wrong event, not from miscalculating the prophetic periods. The message that led to the disappointment was still from God and fulfilled its purpose. The delay gave the world more time to prepare, and let the warning of judgment reach more people and test them with greater light.

Those who continued to trust that God had led in the Advent movement followed Christ by faith as He began this new phase of ministration after 1844. By following Him they came to understand the closing work of the church and were prepared to proclaim the third angel's warning. His ongoing work is the antitypical Day of Atonement, the closing work of atonement and judgment and cleansing the sanctuary from the people's sins. As the typical Day of Atonement was a special season of humility and confession before God when the high priest entered the Most Holy Place, its antitype calls for the same spirit and for constant study. His work concerns every person, whose life is examined individually, and those who would have their names retained in the book of life must repent, sorrow for sin, and search their hearts during probation, reviewing life against righteousness, recognizing defects and need of the Holy Spirit, and working in harmony with Him to stand in the great day of God.

After completing His mediatorial work in the Most Holy Place He will return in kingly power and great glory. He will take to Himself those who have patiently waited for Him. He will then establish His kingdom on earth, which is the reality to which the tabernacle rites and earthly service pointed.

Covenant, Law and Sanctuary Truth

His heavenly ministry is the reality foreshadowed by the Jewish priesthood and its sacrificial services, the substance to which the tabernacle rites and earthly service pointed. His coming, life, ministry, and death fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies and the expectation of the Jews, and His sacrifice of His own life made atonement for sin once for all as the promised Messiah, the great High Priest ministering in the heavenly sanctuary. After completing that mediatorial work He will return in power and great glory and establish His kingdom on earth.

He entered His priestly office when the types and shadows of the sanctuary met their reality. Caiaphas held office at that turning point, and the actions of Caiaphas and others involved served God's purpose even when they did not understand it, while their choices remained their own and they stayed responsible for the characters and actions they had formed.

His ministry carried on in the sanctuary confirms the continuing authority of God's law, including the Sabbath commandment. The earthly sanctuary was a pattern of the heavenly one whose most holy place was opened to view, and the law placed in the earthly ark corresponds exactly to the law in the heavenly ark.

The sanctuary reveals the plan of redemption through the close of time and the final triumph of righteousness over sin, with Christ's work in the sanctuary central to His work for humanity. It shows the relation between Christ and the sanctuary truths, its meaning matters to every person, and it calls for careful study.

Teaching about Christ's heavenly ministry, seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, is a fundamental principle of faith to be held firmly and preserved against teachings that would replace it. It concerns His heavenly work as High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary, of which God's people have gained too little understanding.

Knowing His position and work as great High Priest and Mediator in the heavenly sanctuary is essential to exercising the faith needed at this time and to sharing in the benefits of His mediation. Understanding that position and work is necessary for taking the place God intends His people to fill, so the sanctuary and the investigative judgment require earnest study.

Following Christ by Faith

God's people are to keep attention fixed on the heavenly sanctuary where Christ is now completing His priestly ministry in the work of judgment and interceding for them. The sum is that believers have a High Priest seated at the right hand of God's throne in heaven, and that sanctuary and its ministry are to remain firmly in mind, with familiarity with the earthly pattern helping understanding of the heavenly reality. Though absent in person He remains with them through the Comforter, and they are to look by faith to His ministry and rejoice in the light of His presence.

By faith believers enter within the veil where Christ has gone ahead of them. True Christians by faith enter that sanctuary with Him, and though on earth their sympathies are in harmony with His heavenly work, engaging their thoughts and conversation. Faith looks beyond present burdens and cares to the future, trusting that what now perplexes will be made plain. It sees the heavenly home Christ prepares for those who love Him, the reward prepared for the overcomer, and the song of the redeemed.

While He ministers there faith in Jesus Christ and repentance of sins remain possible, with every provision made for every moral and spiritual necessity. An open door no man can shut stands open with glory shining in beams of merciful light and rich grace, and pardon is available now if diligently sought. While Jesus is in the sanctuary in heaven there is still time to see a past wrong course, confess it and be accepted, grow stronger and shut Satan out, and help others bound in Satan's snare to see their past course. His intercession there is as essential to salvation as His death on the cross, after which He ascended to complete His work in heaven. He saves everyone who comes to Him in faith and obeys His directions, and through His mediation sincere requests from those who come in faith are presented to God.

His ministry in the heavenly sanctuary in the Father's presence is for sinners and gives the practical meaning of the gospel. When God's law reveals sin and guilt, people are to be directed to Christ, the Lamb who takes away sin, and taught repentance toward God and faith in Jesus. As the slain Lamb He pours out His blood on behalf of sinners. His priestly work in the heavenly sanctuary is continuing now and is the antitypical Day of Atonement, a sacred work that should be studied constantly. As the typical Day of Atonement was a special season of humility and confession before God, its antitype calls for the same spirit.

A solemn work is being carried on there that concerns every person and calls for earnest preparation, awakening careful concern for souls and greater zeal in service. Believers are to study this work and let faith follow Christ into the sanctuary, and as they review lives against the standard of righteousness they recognize defects and need of the Holy Spirit. Understanding Christ's work prepares them to work in harmony with Him and to stand in the great day of God. As Israel humbled themselves before God when the high priest entered the most holy place, believers must understand their High Priest's work and the duties required to receive pardon.

Christ is now cleansing the heavenly sanctuary from the sins of the people, and those who labor together with God share in that work by cleansing the sanctuary of the soul from everything offensive to Him. Evil surmising, envy, jealousy, enmity, hatred, love of self and pride must be put away, because such things grieve the Holy Spirit and put Christ to open shame. Those joined to His ministry live in godliness, sobriety and consistency, reflecting the example and character of Christ with far-reaching influence as living epistles known and read of all men. People on earth must be purified in harmony with Christ's cleansing work in the heavenly sanctuary. His work there includes instruction, with Christ and angels working in human hearts, and the church on earth joining the church in heaven in spiritual warfare.

His priestly ministry in the Most Holy Place has an appointed completion. Before He leaves the most holy place sins must be blotted out and God's people sealed, while He still accepts prayers, sacrifices, confessions and pardons sin. When He leaves there will be no priest to present further prayers or confessions, and characters will remain as they are, the righteous remaining righteous and sealed while the unjust remain unjust. Those who persist in doubt and faultfinding will then be unprepared for the marriage supper of the Lamb, when He rises from mediatorial work and clothes Himself with garments of vengeance.

During the time of trouble those who are to live in God's sight without a High Priest must already reflect Jesus' image fully, and those sealed by God are protected through that time. He remains there during the short period before the seven last plagues, while the work of salvation is closing and the third angel's message is proclaimed. In that scene Jesus leaves the throne and enters the holiest where the Father sits, to receive the kingdom and minister for those who keep faith fixed on Him. He gives them the Holy Spirit, bringing light, power, love, joy, and peace.

His work there is taking place now, and the church must be awake to it rather than wait for a compelling power to stir or rouse it. God's people must be awake to that work and converted to God in light of it, arousing to earnest prevailing prayer and revival of true godliness instead of hoping to see the whole church revived. The heavenly sanctuary is the source of bright beams of light for God's people as they pray and support the work of His ministers. Because He bought them with His blood they are not their own, and their time, talents, and energies belong to Christ. The church becomes weak for want of consecrated members who live this truth.

As heavenly Minister He understands all needs with wisdom and unfailing understanding. When Christians take up responsibility and feel weakness they can turn to Him for strength, grace, and power, learning to depend on Him rather than on ministers. Prayers of faith are brought to Him, and through His ministry believers receive blessing and strength to resist temptation. Believers can firmly rely on His infinite strength, refer requests to God through Him, and do His work in calm trust with rest and peace rather than anxiety, worry, and overtaxing labor as if they had no risen Saviour. He loves His people and is touched with the feeling of their infirmities because He was tempted in all points as they are, showing God mindful and loving and willing to give rest and peace while He takes care of His own cause as they give obedience.

God's ministers look by faith to this work and, seeing Christ's perfection, recognize unworthiness and need for God's help. Christ is to be received by faith as personal Saviour, taken into the very life, made the Pattern, learned of, believed in, and exalted, with powers of every gospel minister employed to educate believing churches to do this. Drawing this living water from the fountain never diminishes the supply, and ministers who do this become powerful, with no apostasies, no separation, and none disgracing God's cause by licentious practices and putting Jesus to open shame. His ministry above continues alongside His work on earth through delegates, speaking and working through chosen and authorized people as He did visibly during earthly life. Ministers serve as His representatives, and through them Christ calls people to be reconciled to God.

From there He works on earth by His Holy Spirit through human messengers, empowering living preachers with Spirit and presence so that spoken word arouses and wins souls to Christ. Through the Holy Spirit He works through earthly messengers, filling chosen ministers with His Spirit as they preach and giving divine power for preaching. Since ascension ordained ministers have received authority from Him and bear His message to the world as undershepherds who must rely on Christ the chief Shepherd. Those who preach should speak as Christ's ambassadors, using the commission and wisdom He gives to call sinners to reconciliation with God.

As minister of the true heavenly tabernacle and head of His church on earth He ministers holy things in the sanctuary the Lord established and continually sends messages to His people. His true laborers receive sound doctrine from Him, and faithful ambassadors are taught by God as they preach truth to the heart. Truth preached is to be received as God's message, looking beyond the human speaker to Christ's work there. The speaker is only entrusted with a special message from God, and hearers must look past the man to Christ in heaven and receive the word as God's personal voice and bring truth into life. When this is not done truth remains powerless, leaving souls unnourished and empty, with only passing feeling, excitement and head knowledge that fades like morning dew.

He is the tabernacle of witness for heavenly things and the greatest Medical Missionary, from whom to learn daily. The third angel's message points believers to the Most Holy Place, while those who understood the earlier messages guide others to the heavenly sanctuary. Following Jesus there by faith and receiving the messages in their order forms an anchor that shields from Satan's delusions. While He intercedes the Holy Spirit restrains evil and influences rulers and people, limiting how far unjust laws and opposition can impede God's work. This restraint allows the third angel's message to go forward, and when the loud cry is given some leading men now influenced will accept it and stand with God's people through the time of trouble.

While He is there God's restraining Spirit is felt by rulers and people. After offering the great Sacrifice He entered the heavenly sanctuary by His own blood and ministers there, making benefits of atonement available to disciples, with the torn temple veil showing earthly sacrifices and ordinances no longer accepted and the heavenly sanctuary taking the place of the earthly. At Pentecost the Holy Spirit directed disciples' minds to this change and to Jesus' ministry in heaven, turning attention from the earthly sanctuary to Jesus' ministry where He presented benefits of atonement. Those who rejected John's message and the evidence given at Pentecost remained ignorant of Christ's mediation and could not receive its benefits, continuing to rely on sacrifices that could no longer benefit them. Careless or willing ignorance of this ministry leaves professed Christians in the condition of unbelieving Jews.

Divine light attends the precious truths sent forth from heaven, refreshing and strengthening readers and convicting opposers. Prayers of children dedicated to God are brought to Him, and He offers His merits on their behalf.