Layout of the Tabernacle Seen from AboveBible World
9:3Hebrews 9:3
And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all;
After the second veil is the inner second apartment of the sanctuary, called the Holiest of all or Most Holy Place, distinct from the holy place before it. It was entered through a rich curtain inwrought with cherubim, and held the gold-covered ark with its solid-gold mercy seat, the cherubim above it, and the cloud of divine glory and revealed will between them. There is a real temple in heaven with the same division, where beyond the second veil stands the ark with its cherubim, golden censer, and exceeding bright glory where God dwells. At the close of His work in the outer apartment in 1844 Jesus passed within that heavenly second veil into the Most Holy Place to make the final atonement, cleanse the sanctuary, and blot out the sins of His people. There the ark holds beneath the mercy seat the Ten Commandments as the basis of God's covenant, whose light, especially the Sabbath command, now shines out to test God's people.
Earthly Tabernacle Described
The room beyond the second veil is the Holiest of all, the Most Holy Place, the Holy of Holies, the inner and second apartment of the sanctuary, distinct from the first apartment or holy place. The first covenant had ordinances of divine service and an earthly sanctuary made as a tabernacle, with a first apartment called the sanctuary and, after the second veil, another tabernacle called the holiest of all. The veil separated the inner room from the holy place, and the ark of the covenant stood inside with the Ten Commandments, beneath the cherubim and before the mercy seat where God's glory was revealed.
The sanctuary had two veils or doors, and the second veil marked the entrance to the Most Holy Place. That second veil was a richly made curtain inwrought with cherubim guarding the entrance to the earthly symbol of God's dwelling-place sacred to His presence. The two apartments were separated by that richly made curtain, the inner room containing the ark where God's presence was manifested in the cloud of glory between the cherubim.
The Most Holy Place contained the ark of the covenant of precious wood overlaid with gold, which held the stone tablets bearing the Ten Commandments, the basis of God's covenant. Its golden cover was the mercy seat of solid gold with a cherub at each end, whose posture represented heaven's reverence for God's law and interest in redemption. Above the mercy seat between the cherubim the divine presence appeared in a cloud of glory like a throne, and from between the cherubim God made His will known.
The holy place before that veil held the golden altar of incense directly before the veil where fragrance ascends daily with prayer, the candlestick with seven lamps on the south giving light day and night, and the table with the showbread on the north, whose glory is viewed first. The rich curtain before the ark did not reach the top, so God's glory above the mercy seat could be seen from both apartments, though less clearly from the first. The golden incense altar stood before the ark separated from it by the curtain, its fire came from the Lord, and its incense filled the sanctuary with fragrance.
The wilderness tabernacle was a portable earthly sanctuary with ordinances of divine service built during Israel's wilderness journey. After Israel settled in Canaan Solomon's temple replaced it while keeping the same proportions, arrangement and furnishings, and it continued in that form until destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 70. The inner room was God's own dwelling place in the Jerusalem temple, beautiful for situation and the joy of the whole earth, holding more than a thousand years of guardian care. In that temple prophets spoke solemn warnings, burning censers sent incense up mingled with the prayers of worshipers, the blood of beasts flowed as a type of the blood of Christ, Jehovah revealed His glory above the mercy seat, and priests ministered in flowing robes and jeweled breastplates with pomp of symbol and ceremony for ages. All of this must come to an end, with the temple in ruins and not one stone left upon another, because Jerusalem sealed her own doom by rejecting Christ.
Only one hand might lift the second veil, only the high priest, and only on the one day of the year appointed for ministry there, entering with trembling while clouds of incense veiled the glory from his sight. To intrude unbidden into its sacred mystery was death, for above the mercy seat and the bowed, worshiping angels dwelt the glory of the Holiest upon which no man might look and live. While he ministered throughout the courts of the temple every sound was hushed, no priests ministered at the altars, and the hosts of worshipers bowed in silent awe sending up petitions for God's mercy. At Christ's death that chamber beyond the second veil ceased to be sacred as the place where God's presence overshadowed the mercy seat, and God's acceptance or displeasure was no longer shown through the precious stones in the high priest's breastplate. The temple offerings no longer had value because Christ, the Lamb of God, had become the sacrifice for the sins of the world.
Heavenly Temple Revealed
There is a real temple in heaven, in the Holy City, divided just as Hebrews 9:3 describes, with a holy place before a real second veil and, after the second veil, the Holy of Holies. The holy place before that veil holds the altar of incense, the candlestick with seven lamps, and the table with the shewbread or showbread, whose glory is seen first. Jesus himself raises the second veil to give entrance, and leads the believing witness within into the sacred inner room.
Beyond the heavenly second veil is the ark covered with purest gold, with a lovely cherub on each end with wings spread over it and faces turned toward each other looking downward, and a golden censer between the angels. Above the ark is an exceeding bright glory like a throne where God dwells, with Jesus standing by the ark. Inside the heavenly ark are the golden pot of manna, Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of stone folded together like a book, which Jesus opens to show the Ten Commandments written by the finger of God, four on one table and six on the other. Angels look toward the commandments and the golden pot of manna, whose keeping would have made Israel strong and kept Jerusalem standing.
At the end of the 2300 days the Father went within the veil into the Holy of Holies and sat there, and Jesus was borne in a cloudy chariot with wheels like flaming fire to the Holiest where the Father sat. There He stands before the Father as great High Priest, with a bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate upon the hem of His garment. Those who follow Him by faith send their prayers to Him in the Holiest, and He breathes upon them the Holy Spirit with light, power, love, joy and peace.
Christ's Final Atonement Ministry
The second veil marks the entrance where the antitypical Day of Atonement work is carried out, the center of the symbolic service of atonement and intercession belonging with the great day of atonement. At the time opened to faith one door was shut and the other was open, and the open door gave access by faith to the place where the great High Priest blots out the sins of His faithful people. After finishing His mediation in the outer apartment, at the seventh month in 1844 when the midnight cry was finished, Jesus passed within the second veil into the heavenly Most Holy Place clothed in priestly garments, shutting the door of the holy place and opening the door of the Most Holy Place. Within that second-veil tabernacle is the ark containing the two tables of stone on which the Ten Commandments are written, and it is there that the faith of Israel now reaches.
There He stands by the ark beneath the cherubim and before the mercy seat amid the divine glory to make a final atonement, cleanse the sanctuary, and blot out the sins of His faithful people. In the Holiest He receives the saints' prayers and offers them with the smoke of incense to the Father, and presents them before God amid the divine glory. There He accepts prayers, confessions and sacrifices, pardons transgressions, and breathes upon His followers the Holy Spirit with light, power, love, joy and peace. Those who follow Him by faith send their prayers to Him in the Holiest, where He stands before the Father as great High Priest with a bell and a pomegranate upon the hem of His garment.
By faith the disappointed believers enter there with Him and find Jesus, renewing their hope and joy, which explains their experience after 1844 as God's leading. His time in the Most Holy Place is nearly finished so the remaining time is brief. Before He leaves it the work of rescuing people and preparing them for the coming storm must be done, for when He leaves no Priest will present prayers or confessions, the righteous will remain righteous and the unjust unjust, and those whose sins are blotted out will be sealed with the seal of the living God.
His entering beyond the second veil marks His departure from the holy place; from then on the churches that reject the light are left like the Jews and fill with corruption and evil spirits. Their prayers and profession concealing selfishness, fraud, deceit and pride do not make them acceptable to God. Their sins bring impending judgment and the wrath threatened by the third angel.
Law and Sabbath Test
Beyond the second veil stands the tabernacle of the inner sanctuary, and within it rests the ark holding the law of God beneath the mercy seat. That ark contains the two tables of stone bearing the Ten Commandments written by the finger of God, which form the basis of His covenant, while the light of that law shines out upon the world. The golden cover of the ark is the mercy seat, with cherubim whose reverent posture shows heaven's regard for the law and interest in redemption, and from between the cherubim above the mercy seat the divine presence appears and makes the divine will known.
Among those commandments the fourth shines above all the others, marked by a halo of glory. It shines with that distinction because it alone identifies the living God as the Maker of heaven and earth. Since the door into the Most Holy Place was opened in 1844, when mediation in the holy place was finished and entrance was made within the second veil to stand by the ark, the commandments shine out with all their importance and God's people are tested on the Sabbath truth.
The Sabbath writing kept in the heavenly Most Holy Place still reads as it was given to Moses at Sinai, that the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord. That unaltered writing proves that God never changes, that He has not changed the Sabbath to the first day, that the Sabbath was not nailed to the cross, and that the change to the first day was made by the Pope. The holy Sabbath is and will be the separating wall between the true Israel of God and unbelievers.
Keeping the true Sabbath could become a test only since that door was opened, and it could not come until ministry in the holy place was finished and passage was made within the second veil at the seventh month in 1844 when the midnight cry was finished. Christians who fell asleep before that time without keeping the true Sabbath had not received its light and had not faced that test, and therefore now rest in hope without condemnation. To doubt the present Sabbath test because many good Christians died in triumphs of faith without keeping it is a temptation of Satan.
Angels look toward the commandments and toward the golden pot of manna kept with them. Israel would have been strong and Jerusalem would have remained if the people had kept those commandments, and the redeemed keep the seventh-day Sabbath holy. Because time in the Most Holy Place is nearly finished and the remaining time is brief, and because the Bible will judge people in the last day, God's commandments and the testimony of Jesus should occupy the mind in preparation for the sealing time.
Faith Prayer and Reverence
The ark of the testimony stood beyond the second veil with a curtain before it, and the glory of God above the mercy seat could be seen from both apartments of the sanctuary, though less clearly from the first. The golden altar of incense stood before the ark, separated from it by the curtain, its fire kindled from the Lord and its fragrant smoke filling the sanctuary, and the glory descended upon the mercy seat. As the priest offered incense he faced the hidden mercy seat and directed his prayer toward it in faith though he could not see it, knowing it was there. This represents God's people directing their prayers to Christ, their unseen Mediator before the mercy seat in the heavenly sanctuary, whom they cannot see with natural eyes, and claiming the benefits of His mediation with confidence.
The second veil pictures the barrier that living faith must press through, for living faith presses through every obstacle and reaches into God's presence to grasp the promised blessing. True faith sends prayer within the second veil and lays hold of the promised blessing and claims it as its own before it is realized and felt, believing it received because the Word promises it. The sanctuary language of the Holiest of all also pictures earnest, united prayer ascending into God's presence, as when prayer for the children was followed by their beginning to pray, showing God at work for them.
The second veil was inwrought with cherubim guarding the entrance to the most holy place, the earthly symbol of God's dwelling sacred to His presence. No hand save one might lift it, and to intrude unbidden into its sacred mystery was death, for above the mercy seat and the bowed, worshiping angels dwelt the glory of the Holiest upon which no man might look and live. On the one day of the year appointed for ministry there the high priest entered with trembling while clouds of incense veiled the glory from his sight. Throughout the courts every sound was hushed, no priests ministered at the altars, and the hosts of worshipers bowed in silent awe sending up petitions for God's mercy. These things happened by way of example and were written for admonition upon those upon whom the ends of the ages are come, requiring reverent silence before God in His holy presence.
The verse belongs to the present truth on the sanctuary question and the ministration in the heavenly sanctuary, one of the great pillars of faith. Its true understanding means much and came as light when earnestly sought from the Lord, with the Holy Spirit in a marked manner endorsing the preaching of this doctrine and revealing the error of new theories that questioned and opposed it for more than half a century. Any teaching that leads away from that light on the ministration in the heavenly sanctuary, including the ministration connected with the holy place seen in vision of the heavenly sanctuary, is to be rejected and its teacher not accepted. The Holiest of all after the second veil, containing the ark holding the law of God with the mercy seat as its cover and the angels at either end, belongs with the great day of atonement and with the mysteries of heaven that are to be left closed and undescribed.
After the second veil is the inner second apartment of the sanctuary, called the Holiest of all or Most Holy Place, distinct from the holy place before it. It was entered through a rich curtain inwrought with cherubim, and held the gold-covered ark with its solid-gold mercy seat, the cherubim above it, and the cloud of divine glory and revealed will between them. There is a real temple in heaven with the same division, where beyond the second veil stands the ark with its cherubim, golden censer, and exceeding bright glory where God dwells. At the close of His work in the outer apartment in 1844 Jesus passed within that heavenly second veil into the Most Holy Place to make the final atonement, cleanse the sanctuary, and blot out the sins of His people. There the ark holds beneath the mercy seat the Ten Commandments as the basis of God's covenant, whose light, especially the Sabbath command, now shines out to test God's people.
Earthly Tabernacle Described
The room beyond the second veil is the Holiest of all, the Most Holy Place, the Holy of Holies, the inner and second apartment of the sanctuary, distinct from the first apartment or holy place. The first covenant had ordinances of divine service and an earthly sanctuary made as a tabernacle, with a first apartment called the sanctuary and, after the second veil, another tabernacle called the holiest of all. The veil separated the inner room from the holy place, and the ark of the covenant stood inside with the Ten Commandments, beneath the cherubim and before the mercy seat where God's glory was revealed.
The sanctuary had two veils or doors, and the second veil marked the entrance to the Most Holy Place. That second veil was a richly made curtain inwrought with cherubim guarding the entrance to the earthly symbol of God's dwelling-place sacred to His presence. The two apartments were separated by that richly made curtain, the inner room containing the ark where God's presence was manifested in the cloud of glory between the cherubim.
The Most Holy Place contained the ark of the covenant of precious wood overlaid with gold, which held the stone tablets bearing the Ten Commandments, the basis of God's covenant. Its golden cover was the mercy seat of solid gold with a cherub at each end, whose posture represented heaven's reverence for God's law and interest in redemption. Above the mercy seat between the cherubim the divine presence appeared in a cloud of glory like a throne, and from between the cherubim God made His will known.
The holy place before that veil held the golden altar of incense directly before the veil where fragrance ascends daily with prayer, the candlestick with seven lamps on the south giving light day and night, and the table with the showbread on the north, whose glory is viewed first. The rich curtain before the ark did not reach the top, so God's glory above the mercy seat could be seen from both apartments, though less clearly from the first. The golden incense altar stood before the ark separated from it by the curtain, its fire came from the Lord, and its incense filled the sanctuary with fragrance.
The wilderness tabernacle was a portable earthly sanctuary with ordinances of divine service built during Israel's wilderness journey. After Israel settled in Canaan Solomon's temple replaced it while keeping the same proportions, arrangement and furnishings, and it continued in that form until destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 70. The inner room was God's own dwelling place in the Jerusalem temple, beautiful for situation and the joy of the whole earth, holding more than a thousand years of guardian care. In that temple prophets spoke solemn warnings, burning censers sent incense up mingled with the prayers of worshipers, the blood of beasts flowed as a type of the blood of Christ, Jehovah revealed His glory above the mercy seat, and priests ministered in flowing robes and jeweled breastplates with pomp of symbol and ceremony for ages. All of this must come to an end, with the temple in ruins and not one stone left upon another, because Jerusalem sealed her own doom by rejecting Christ.
Only one hand might lift the second veil, only the high priest, and only on the one day of the year appointed for ministry there, entering with trembling while clouds of incense veiled the glory from his sight. To intrude unbidden into its sacred mystery was death, for above the mercy seat and the bowed, worshiping angels dwelt the glory of the Holiest upon which no man might look and live. While he ministered throughout the courts of the temple every sound was hushed, no priests ministered at the altars, and the hosts of worshipers bowed in silent awe sending up petitions for God's mercy. At Christ's death that chamber beyond the second veil ceased to be sacred as the place where God's presence overshadowed the mercy seat, and God's acceptance or displeasure was no longer shown through the precious stones in the high priest's breastplate. The temple offerings no longer had value because Christ, the Lamb of God, had become the sacrifice for the sins of the world.
Heavenly Temple Revealed
There is a real temple in heaven, in the Holy City, divided just as Hebrews 9:3 describes, with a holy place before a real second veil and, after the second veil, the Holy of Holies. The holy place before that veil holds the altar of incense, the candlestick with seven lamps, and the table with the shewbread or showbread, whose glory is seen first. Jesus himself raises the second veil to give entrance, and leads the believing witness within into the sacred inner room.
Beyond the heavenly second veil is the ark covered with purest gold, with a lovely cherub on each end with wings spread over it and faces turned toward each other looking downward, and a golden censer between the angels. Above the ark is an exceeding bright glory like a throne where God dwells, with Jesus standing by the ark. Inside the heavenly ark are the golden pot of manna, Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of stone folded together like a book, which Jesus opens to show the Ten Commandments written by the finger of God, four on one table and six on the other. Angels look toward the commandments and the golden pot of manna, whose keeping would have made Israel strong and kept Jerusalem standing.
At the end of the 2300 days the Father went within the veil into the Holy of Holies and sat there, and Jesus was borne in a cloudy chariot with wheels like flaming fire to the Holiest where the Father sat. There He stands before the Father as great High Priest, with a bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate upon the hem of His garment. Those who follow Him by faith send their prayers to Him in the Holiest, and He breathes upon them the Holy Spirit with light, power, love, joy and peace.
Christ's Final Atonement Ministry
The second veil marks the entrance where the antitypical Day of Atonement work is carried out, the center of the symbolic service of atonement and intercession belonging with the great day of atonement. At the time opened to faith one door was shut and the other was open, and the open door gave access by faith to the place where the great High Priest blots out the sins of His faithful people. After finishing His mediation in the outer apartment, at the seventh month in 1844 when the midnight cry was finished, Jesus passed within the second veil into the heavenly Most Holy Place clothed in priestly garments, shutting the door of the holy place and opening the door of the Most Holy Place. Within that second-veil tabernacle is the ark containing the two tables of stone on which the Ten Commandments are written, and it is there that the faith of Israel now reaches.
There He stands by the ark beneath the cherubim and before the mercy seat amid the divine glory to make a final atonement, cleanse the sanctuary, and blot out the sins of His faithful people. In the Holiest He receives the saints' prayers and offers them with the smoke of incense to the Father, and presents them before God amid the divine glory. There He accepts prayers, confessions and sacrifices, pardons transgressions, and breathes upon His followers the Holy Spirit with light, power, love, joy and peace. Those who follow Him by faith send their prayers to Him in the Holiest, where He stands before the Father as great High Priest with a bell and a pomegranate upon the hem of His garment.
By faith the disappointed believers enter there with Him and find Jesus, renewing their hope and joy, which explains their experience after 1844 as God's leading. His time in the Most Holy Place is nearly finished so the remaining time is brief. Before He leaves it the work of rescuing people and preparing them for the coming storm must be done, for when He leaves no Priest will present prayers or confessions, the righteous will remain righteous and the unjust unjust, and those whose sins are blotted out will be sealed with the seal of the living God.
His entering beyond the second veil marks His departure from the holy place; from then on the churches that reject the light are left like the Jews and fill with corruption and evil spirits. Their prayers and profession concealing selfishness, fraud, deceit and pride do not make them acceptable to God. Their sins bring impending judgment and the wrath threatened by the third angel.
Law and Sabbath Test
Beyond the second veil stands the tabernacle of the inner sanctuary, and within it rests the ark holding the law of God beneath the mercy seat. That ark contains the two tables of stone bearing the Ten Commandments written by the finger of God, which form the basis of His covenant, while the light of that law shines out upon the world. The golden cover of the ark is the mercy seat, with cherubim whose reverent posture shows heaven's regard for the law and interest in redemption, and from between the cherubim above the mercy seat the divine presence appears and makes the divine will known.
Among those commandments the fourth shines above all the others, marked by a halo of glory. It shines with that distinction because it alone identifies the living God as the Maker of heaven and earth. Since the door into the Most Holy Place was opened in 1844, when mediation in the holy place was finished and entrance was made within the second veil to stand by the ark, the commandments shine out with all their importance and God's people are tested on the Sabbath truth.
The Sabbath writing kept in the heavenly Most Holy Place still reads as it was given to Moses at Sinai, that the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord. That unaltered writing proves that God never changes, that He has not changed the Sabbath to the first day, that the Sabbath was not nailed to the cross, and that the change to the first day was made by the Pope. The holy Sabbath is and will be the separating wall between the true Israel of God and unbelievers.
Keeping the true Sabbath could become a test only since that door was opened, and it could not come until ministry in the holy place was finished and passage was made within the second veil at the seventh month in 1844 when the midnight cry was finished. Christians who fell asleep before that time without keeping the true Sabbath had not received its light and had not faced that test, and therefore now rest in hope without condemnation. To doubt the present Sabbath test because many good Christians died in triumphs of faith without keeping it is a temptation of Satan.
Angels look toward the commandments and toward the golden pot of manna kept with them. Israel would have been strong and Jerusalem would have remained if the people had kept those commandments, and the redeemed keep the seventh-day Sabbath holy. Because time in the Most Holy Place is nearly finished and the remaining time is brief, and because the Bible will judge people in the last day, God's commandments and the testimony of Jesus should occupy the mind in preparation for the sealing time.
Faith Prayer and Reverence
The ark of the testimony stood beyond the second veil with a curtain before it, and the glory of God above the mercy seat could be seen from both apartments of the sanctuary, though less clearly from the first. The golden altar of incense stood before the ark, separated from it by the curtain, its fire kindled from the Lord and its fragrant smoke filling the sanctuary, and the glory descended upon the mercy seat. As the priest offered incense he faced the hidden mercy seat and directed his prayer toward it in faith though he could not see it, knowing it was there. This represents God's people directing their prayers to Christ, their unseen Mediator before the mercy seat in the heavenly sanctuary, whom they cannot see with natural eyes, and claiming the benefits of His mediation with confidence.
The second veil pictures the barrier that living faith must press through, for living faith presses through every obstacle and reaches into God's presence to grasp the promised blessing. True faith sends prayer within the second veil and lays hold of the promised blessing and claims it as its own before it is realized and felt, believing it received because the Word promises it. The sanctuary language of the Holiest of all also pictures earnest, united prayer ascending into God's presence, as when prayer for the children was followed by their beginning to pray, showing God at work for them.
The second veil was inwrought with cherubim guarding the entrance to the most holy place, the earthly symbol of God's dwelling sacred to His presence. No hand save one might lift it, and to intrude unbidden into its sacred mystery was death, for above the mercy seat and the bowed, worshiping angels dwelt the glory of the Holiest upon which no man might look and live. On the one day of the year appointed for ministry there the high priest entered with trembling while clouds of incense veiled the glory from his sight. Throughout the courts every sound was hushed, no priests ministered at the altars, and the hosts of worshipers bowed in silent awe sending up petitions for God's mercy. These things happened by way of example and were written for admonition upon those upon whom the ends of the ages are come, requiring reverent silence before God in His holy presence.
The verse belongs to the present truth on the sanctuary question and the ministration in the heavenly sanctuary, one of the great pillars of faith. Its true understanding means much and came as light when earnestly sought from the Lord, with the Holy Spirit in a marked manner endorsing the preaching of this doctrine and revealing the error of new theories that questioned and opposed it for more than half a century. Any teaching that leads away from that light on the ministration in the heavenly sanctuary, including the ministration connected with the holy place seen in vision of the heavenly sanctuary, is to be rejected and its teacher not accepted. The Holiest of all after the second veil, containing the ark holding the law of God with the mercy seat as its cover and the angels at either end, belongs with the great day of atonement and with the mysteries of heaven that are to be left closed and undescribed.