Hebrews 9:24, commentary and pictures

Christ did not enter the man-made holy places that were only figures and copies of the true, but entered heaven itself, the true sanctuary pitched by the Lord, to appear in the presence of God for humanity. Having offered himself once by his own blood to put away sin and obtain eternal redemption, unlike earthly high priests who entered repeatedly with another's blood, he ended the typical sacrifices as a way of access while his atoning mediation remains essential. As great High Priest, Advocate, Mediator and Intercessor he lives to plead his blood and suffering before the Father, claim pardon for the repentant, and present his people's prayers and faith purified by his merits and mingled with his righteousness. His ministry has two divisions corresponding to the earthly service, ministering first in the holy place and then, at the end of the 2300 days in 1844 on the antitypical Day of Atonement, entering the most holy place to cleanse the sanctuary by his blood and begin the investigative judgment of the dead and the living. Because this closing work is solemn with eternal results, believers are to follow him there by faith, afflict their souls, confess and put away sin, and cooperate with his cleansing work until sins are blotted out and his intercession is finished.

True Sanctuary in Heaven

Christ did not enter holy places made with hands, which are only figures, copies, shadows and patterns of the true, but entered heaven itself, the true sanctuary pitched by the Lord and not by man, to appear in the presence of God for humanity. His entry after ascension began His heavenly high-priestly ministry, represented by the priests' daily year-round service in the first apartment of the earthly sanctuary. There He ministers as great High Priest at God's right hand, pleading His blood for sinners and presenting penitent believers' prayers to the Father with the fragrance of His own righteousness. Unlike earthly high priests who entered repeatedly with another's blood, He offered Himself once to put away sin, and His completed sacrifice and continuing work make Him the people's Advocate, Minister and Forerunner before God. These stages of ministry, unlike the yearly repeated services of the earthly sanctuary, are each accomplished once for all, and His entry into the most holy place on the day of cleansing did not mean He would then leave heaven to bless His waiting people.

The sanctuary of the first covenant on earth was built by Moses after the pattern shown in the mount, with earthly priests performing service in it as an example and shadow of heavenly things. Its holy places, tabernacle and services were patterns that taught truths about the heavenly sanctuary and Christ's work of redemption there, and after offering His life as a sacrifice He ministers there as great High Priest on behalf of sinners. The earthly sanctuary was a copy of the heavenly original established by the Lord, and its beauty faintly reflected the glory of God's heavenly dwelling where Christ appears before God on our behalf.

The heavenly temple has a Holy Place and a Most Holy Place, and in the Most Holy Place with the ark and mercy-seat Jesus stands beside the ark before God's law. The two earthly apartments represent these two apartments of the heavenly sanctuary, which is the original, not a human-made structure. At the close of the prophetic periods in 1844, ending His ministration in the holy place, He passed through the second veil from the Holy Place into the Most Holy Place of the heavenly sanctuary, clothed in priestly garments. There He presents the saints' prayers to the Father with incense and makes His final intercession, including for righteous living people and righteous dead people who sinned in ignorance because they had not received light about God's commandments. This opened heavenly ministry is the setting in which God's commandments, especially the holy Sabbath, shine out and test His people, and by faith the waiting believers saw the open door and Jesus before the ark in the most holy place.

The heavenly sanctuary of the new covenant is where Christ ministers as great High Priest at God's right hand, where God is present. The heavenly temple is the great original center of the work for humanity's redemption, and the sanctuary's visible glory — including the shekinah — reflects God's presence, of which the earthly was only a dim reflection. This work concerns every person and reveals the plan's course through the close of time and its triumphant outcome in the contest between righteousness and sin. The celestial temple and the heavenly choir around God's throne are realities that spiritual sight can discern through study of God's Word, meditation, and prayer, and their worship turns hearts toward thanksgiving to Christ, who takes away the sin of the world. He gave Himself for believers and now stands in the presence of God as their High Priest, their Head, and through Him and with Him believers as His beloved household may enter the true tabernacle not made with hands, this hallowed temple, truths to keep continually in mind and study.

Once-for-All Sacrifice Completed

Christ entered heaven itself, not an earthly sanctuary made with hands that merely pictured the true, to appear in God's presence on behalf of humanity. His entry followed His once-for-all offering of Himself by His own blood to put away sin and obtain eternal redemption, unlike earthly high priests who entered repeatedly with another's blood. Through His suffering and death He opened the way to God, and His completed sacrifice with His continuing work as High Priest makes Him the people's Advocate who lives to intercede for those who come to God through Him. He observed the law binding upon the Jews to the hour of His death on the cross, and then by giving His own life made the one great offering that all former offerings of the blood of beasts had foreshadowed. At His death type met antitype, so the sacrificial offerings of the Jewish law became valueless and their value was terminated, and the daily and yearly typical atonement and animal sacrifices ended as a way of access.

He entered the heavenly holy place at His ascension by His own blood to minister there for His people, and ministered there until 1844, when He entered the most holy place to make a special atonement and cleanse the heavenly sanctuary by virtue of His own blood. These stages of ministry, unlike the yearly repeated services of the earthly sanctuary, are each accomplished once for all. His entry into the most holy place on the day of cleansing did not mean that He would then leave heaven and bless His waiting people. Through the Holy Spirit at Pentecost the disciples understood that Jesus was in the heavenly sanctuary and received the benefits of His atonement, while those who rejected this truth remained dependent on earthly sacrifices and did not benefit from Christ's mediation in the heavenly Holy Place. Atoning mediation through Him remains essential because of constant sin.

Immediately after His resurrection Jesus ascended to heaven to appear before the throne of God for His people, bearing the marks of shame and cruelty upon His brow, His hands and feet. He went to know that His sacrifice had been accepted by the Father and to receive assurance from God Himself that His atonement for the sins of His people was full and ample, that through His blood they might gain eternal life. Until the Father signified that His offering was accepted He refused to receive homage and honor, refusing the homage of Mary and also refusing the coronet of glory, the royal robe, and the adoration of the angels.

In glorified humanity and priestly character He took the blood of His own atonement into the holiest of all, sprinkled it upon the mercy-seat and upon His own garments, and blessed the people. His humanity was hidden on earth as a man of sorrows under God's plan, but at His descent from heaven that same humanity appears robed in glory, triumphant and exalted. Having offered Himself as a sacrifice, He will appear the second time to declare that there is to be no more sacrifice for sin. Still possessing His human nature, He stands in God's presence as humanity's representative, substitute, surety, and living intercessor, with power on humanity's behalf to carry forward the work of redemption. His resurrection and ascension assure God's people of victory over death and the grave and pledge that heaven is open to those whose characters are cleansed by the Lamb's blood, whom God will bring to behold and share His glory as they reflect Christ's image.

Mediation Before God

Christ appears in heaven itself in God's presence for his people as great High Priest, Jesus the Son of God, Advocate in the courts of heaven, Mediator, Intercessor, Representative, Forerunner, Head, and Lamb slain in the act of pouring out blood, who entered once by virtue of his own blood after offering himself to put away sin and obtain eternal redemption, opened the way to God, and now lives to intercede for all who come to God through him and is absolutely for his people. In the judgment he acts as their advocate, pleading for those whose cases are examined, and through his continuing intercession he saves those who come to God through him. The earthly priest directing prayer toward the unseen mercy-seat represents God's people directing their prayers to Christ as Mediator before the mercy-seat in the heavenly sanctuary, whom they cannot see with natural sight but by faith see there and confidently claim the benefits of his mediation.

After his ascension he began his work as High Priest appearing before God on behalf of penitent believers, and his ministry has two divisions each associated with a distinct place and time, the first corresponding to the daily service in which as the earthly priest sprinkled the sacrifice's blood in the holy place for the sinner so Christ pleads his blood for believers. He pleads his blood, suffering and death before the Father, presenting his wounded hands and feet as evidence of the price paid to redeem them, and the memorial of his sufferings and death upon the cross as penalty due the transgressor is efficacious as perpetual propitiation in God's presence for all who believe. When the sinner condemned by the broken law grasps the sacrifice by repentant faith with humble heart, Christ presents the oblation for every offense and shortcoming to give pardon, claims pardon and all covenant graces as reward of his sacrifice, and his blood cleanses from all sin those who accept him as personal Saviour. For his sake the prayers of the penitent who come acknowledging him are accepted as yea and amen, their sins are blotted out and holy oil bestowed, and he saves to the uttermost all who come in faith while mercy and probation continue and while there is opportunity to change. His presence and continuing sympathy give disciples confidence about the future as they await his return with the holy angels, while God's messengers carry saving truth so people may receive the seal of the living God.

His heavenly ministry is the reality represented by the earthly sanctuary service begun at his ascension: he pleads his blood for sinners and presents penitent believers' prayers, repentance and faith to the Father purified by his merits and with the fragrance of his own righteousness and mingled with incense. In the Most Holy Place beside the ark he presents the saints' prayers with incense, accepts their repentance, answers their prayers, and directs prayer toward the unseen mercy-seat. Pardon is recorded, sins forgiven and blotted out, and at the end of the 2300 days light comes from the Father through the Son to the praying company. His high-priestly work then enters the Most Holy Place to make atonement for sins and cleanse the sanctuary, completing the plan of redemption through the final atonement.

His wounded hands recall his humiliation, suffering and anguish and plead for the pardon purchased by his blood, and those wounds secure his church the gifts and best gifts of God's power. Through that Saviour strength comes to meet increased need, to receive special grace to overcome peculiar faults and a hard heart, to steadfastly resist temptation and evil promptings, to honor the Redeemer instead of doing the works of Satan, to sacrifice every idol and put away every darling sin, and to have the heart of stone taken away and a heart of flesh given. His sympathy for suffering humanity is unchanged, his ministry gives confidence that he hears prayer, and he will return with the heavenly host to take obedient children to the home he prepares, which is cause for joyful expectation. When believers yield to temptation they are to confess humbly and trust that Christ presents his wounded hands before the Father and makes atonement for those who confess.

His death began the work for humanity and his heavenly intercession completes it, and this intercession is as essential to salvation as his death on the cross. By faith believers enter within the veil where he has gone before them, there the light of the cross reveals redemption and the mysteries of redemption more clearly, and through his mediation their sincere desires brought in faith may be presented to God at the Father's throne. His sacrifice meets the full demands of God's broken law and he has opened the way to the Father's throne.

Having completed the sacrificial offering of himself when he suffered without the gate and made perfect atonement, he entered heaven itself once for all to work as great High Priest, Advocate and Intercessor, and because he performs his work in the holy place by his own virtue as sole Sin-bearer and Sin-offering, no propitiatory sacrifices are to be offered without. Altars, masses for souls in purgatory, incense offered by men, traditions, inventions to earn salvation, human virtue, human intercession and intercession of saints are fallacies of no avail, Christ needs no man's virtue or intercession, and prayer and confession are to be offered only to him who ever lives to make intercession. The daily and yearly typical atonement is ended and the holy places made with hands which were only figures and typical shadows are now without virtue, but atoning mediation through him remains essential because of constant sin. His ministry exalts and honors God's law, so those who love God must not alter his commandments for convenience but obey them including keeping the Sabbath holy, while like Israelites in the outer court God's people stand with hearts bowed in contrition pleading pardon, waiting and looking for the blessed hope of the glorious appearing of Jesus.

Final Atonement Since 1844

Christ's heavenly ministry has two divisions of place and time answering to the earthly service, first in the holy place as in the daily service and then in the most holy place as on the Day of Atonement when work in the first ceased. For eighteen centuries He pleaded His blood in the first apartment, presenting prayers, repentance and faith purified by His merits, and then entered the Most Holy to make atonement and cleanse the sanctuary, completing redemption through the final atonement. The earthly types are made clear by this work, and unlike the yearly repeated earthly services each stage is accomplished once for all. His entrance into the holy of holies began the closing work, not the end of intercession.

At the close of the prophetic periods, at the end of the 2300 prophetic days or years in 1844 on the antitypical Day of Atonement, He in priestly garments passed through the second veil from the holy place into the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary to cleanse it by His own blood and make special and final atonement. There He began the investigative judgment which takes place before His return, first with the cases of the righteous dead passing in review before God and then with judgment to be pronounced upon the living. Each person has a case pending in the court of heaven and is individually to be judged according to deeds done in the body, with a final irrevocable decision upon every case. The cleansing of the sanctuary in Daniel 8:14 points to this closing work that finishes the atonement and prepares a people to abide the day of His coming, not to purification of the earth before it becomes the saints' home.

By His blood sins are recorded in the heavenly sanctuary, and its cleansing examines the records to determine who through repentance and faith receives the benefits of His atonement. His blood releases the repentant sinner from the law's condemnation and secures pardon and acceptance, but it does not immediately erase the record, which remains in the sanctuary until the final atonement. Just as the sin-offering blood in the earthly sanctuary removed sin from the penitent while the sin remained there until the Day of Atonement, so the record remains until then. In the final work the sins of the truly penitent are blotted from heaven's records and the sanctuary is cleansed from the record of sin.

This explains the 1844 disappointment, for the mistake was not in calculating the prophetic time but in misunderstanding what the sanctuary was and how it would be cleansed. The sanctuary to be cleansed was in heaven, not the earth to be purified by fire at His return to destroy the wicked, and God's promise had not failed. At that time He had closed the holy place of the heavenly sanctuary and entered the most holy place to cleanse it from the people's sins by virtue of His own blood on the antitypical Day of Atonement. Those who continued to trust that God had led them followed Him by faith to recognize the church's closing work and prepare to proclaim the third angel's warning.

In the most holy He makes atonement for His people and for Israel and receives the kingdom from His Father, afterward to return to earth and take His waiting people to live with Him forever. His entry there did not mean He would then leave heaven to bless them, nor was the expected event His coming to earth in 1844. As Bridegroom receiving the kingdom this event settles the shut-door message, and His mediatorial work will be completed when He comes again in kingly power and great glory to establish His kingdom on earth. Standing before the ark containing God's law He makes final intercession for righteous living people and righteous dead who sinned in ignorance without light about God's commandments.

This ministration belongs with heaven's last-day message given by the angels of Revelation 14, truth sought out point by point by prayerful study and testified to by miracle-working power. It is a way-mark that made God's commandment-keeping people what they are, a fundamental principle based on unquestionable authority to be preserved and held firmly with the grip of faith against every phase of heresy brought to becloud minds regarding the teaching of the Word. The first and second messages and the midnight cry prepare people to enter with Jesus by faith, and the third angel's message points to the most holy, shows the way there, anchors against Satan's delusions, and directs minds to the heavenly sanctuary. Those who reject these messages do not understand His ministry there and cannot benefit from His intercession, and prayers directed to the sanctuary apartment He has left are useless.

Call to Follow Faithfully

The present moment is the antitypical day of atonement, a solemn time with eternal results in which every person has a case pending in the court of heaven to be judged individually according to deeds done in the body. Since 1844 Christ has been in the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary carrying forward the investigative judgment, with the cases of the righteous dead passing in review before God and a final irrevocable decision to be pronounced upon the living when that work is completed. As in the type the people had to afflict their souls and confess sins that they might be atoned for and blotted out, so now sins must by confession and repentance go beforehand to judgment, with daily humbling before God, confession of individual sins, seeking of pardon for transgressions, deep heart-searching, and cooperation with Christ in preparing souls to reflect the divine image. That purification is in harmony with the cleansing of the sanctuary in heaven, for Christ and angels work in human hearts and the church in heaven is united with the church on earth in spiritual conflict, and by faith believers enter the sanctuary above in sympathy with that work. Their part is to cleanse the sanctuary of the soul by putting away everything offensive to God, including envy, jealousy, enmity, hatred and self-love, and loathing the sins that caused such suffering, or they will be weighed in the balances of the sanctuary and pronounced wanting.

Believers are to enter the sanctuary above with Him by faith and follow Him there, setting thoughts and sympathies in harmony with His work of making atonement and cleansing the sanctuary from their sins. His work in heaven sends light from the cross and the heavenly sanctuary that makes the plan of redemption clearer and reveals the significance of the ceremonial law and its types pointing to the coming Saviour. When the law shows the sinner the depth of sin he must be pointed to the sacrifice as a Lamb slain in the very act of pouring out blood in his behalf, and be taught repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. So the minister's work on earth must be in harmony with Christ's work in heaven for us, and in the great day of atonement Christ works through His ministers to arouse intense interest in present truth. When believers yield to temptation they are to confess humbly and trust that Christ presents His wounded hands before the Father and makes atonement for those who confess, cleansing their lives from defilement.

Because Christ is absolutely and completely for His people before God, those who profess truth are called to be absolutely and completely for Him in this world. They are to rise up in His spirit and mind, separate with firm purpose of heart from all worldly influences, break every worldly link, lay aside every weight, wear the armor of righteousness, work together with Jesus Christ, and make the kingdom of heaven and the glory of God their best and whole interest so the work will go forward. While He presents His atoning sacrifice in their behalf before God they must not be idle but must work in His vineyard with earnest personal faith, earnest work, and faithful use of every God-given ability. That working includes keeping the commandments as Old and New Testaments require of all who would enter into life, since idleness and disobedience are sin and none of His promises reward disobedience. They are bound together in God in Christian brotherhood, loving one another as He loved them, showing compassion, pouring out the soul in repentance and contrition, offering self as a free acceptable sacrifice, confessing rather than covering sins to find mercy and grace to help in every time of need, and receiving a new heart with transgressions removed as far as east is from west.

His triumph opened heaven to humanity and revealed God's presence to human sight, so that fallen people can be restored to connection with God through faith in the Redeemer, tested and clothed in Christ's righteousness and exalted to His throne. His divine power becomes the heritage of every believer and makes salvation effective for the human race, for His intercession with His own blood as Intercessor and Advocate avails before God's throne. The memorial of His sufferings and death upon the cross as penalty due the transgressor is a perpetual efficacious propitiation in the presence of God for all who believe, cleansing from all sin those who accept Him as personal Saviour. For His sake the prayers of the penitent who come acknowledging Him as Saviour are accepted as yea and amen, their sins are blotted out, and the holy oil is bestowed upon them. Through Him and with Him believers may enter the true tabernacle not made with hands as His beloved household with Him as Head, and spiritual sight through study of the Word, meditation and prayer discerns the realities of the celestial temple and heavenly choir around the throne, turning hearts toward thanksgiving to Him who takes away sin.

As Priest He pleads His blood, suffering and death before the Father for the remnant who are not yet sealed, and that appeal holds back the release of the four winds until God's servants receive the seal of the living God in their foreheads. God's messengers at the same time carry the saving truth so people may receive that seal. His work in the sanctuary will be finished, with sins to be confessed over the scapegoat and borne away. Then through the time of trouble people must live in the sight of the Lord without a High Priest, so those who would be protected must now receive the seal and reflect the image of Jesus fully. They are to wait with joyful expectation for Him who prepares homes and will come again with power and great glory in the clouds with angels to receive the obedient and loyal to Himself, while the gospel to be preached joins together Christ in human form as man of sorrows, Christ in humiliation crucified, Christ resurrected, Christ as Advocate in heaven, and Christ to come again.