Review and Herald, Vol. 33, No. 15. (4/6/1869)

Review and Herald

Apr 6, 1869

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 6, 1869

THE OPENING OF THE TEMPLE IN HEAVEN.

By John Nevins Andrews

BY ELD. J. N. ANDREWS.

TEXT.—" And the temple of God was opened in Heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament; and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail." Rev. xi, 19.

THIS text pertains to the closing events of the gospel dispensation. It is therefore particularly worthy of the study of all who desire an acquaintance with the Advent faith. It is specially interesting to those who desire to understand the grounds of difference between the Seventh-day and first-day Adventists, for it embraces the very facts which lie at the foundation of that difference.

The temple of God in Heaven is the grand central theme of discourse in the doctrines peculiar to the Seventh-day Adventists. It certainly does not thus engage the attention of other Adventists. In fact, its very existence seems to be virtually unknown, or even positively disbelieved by the most of them. There must be a serious error with one or the other of these two classes. Candid men are never willing to continue in error. The truth of God is always important—sometimes it is of vital consequence. Error is always injurious, and often it is fatal. Why should pride of opinion, or party spirit, or the study of our own convenience, or worldly advantage, be allowed to swerve our better judgment in sacred things?

The temple of God in Heaven is a theme of prophecy. Why should it not be worthy of our study? The opening of that temple is an event connected with the closing scenes of human probation. Ought not such an act to arrest the attention of the people called Adventists? It is evident that the prophecies relating to the end of this dispensation do not confine themselves to the things that exist upon our earth. Is there nothing worthy of our attention except the things which transpire among the nations of the earth?

We are interested in the heavenly temple because we have a great High Priest therein. We are interested in that High Priest because he alone can make atonement for our sins. We are interested in that atonement because we can in no otherwise approach the mercy-seat from which God dispenses forgiveness and pardon to sinful men. We are interested in thus coming to the mercy-seat because that beneath it in the ark lies God's perfect rule of right, which we have transgressed, and by which we are condemned.

The High Priest must have a space of time to close up his great work of 6000 years. Why should we not have interest to study the nature of that closing work? That the Judgment, so far as deciding the cases of the righteous and determining who shall have eternal life is concerned, must be past when Jesus descends to raise his saints, those who believe in two resurrections, as do all the Seventh-day Adventists, and as did all Adventists once, must of necessity admit. For the resurrection of the righteous while the wicked are left for 1000 years, shows that their cases have been decided. Again, as all Adventists hold that the righteous alone shall be raised to immortality, this very fact is sufficient to prove that the Judgment, in the decision of the cases of the righteous, is past before the Saviour descends, even if all mankind are raised at the same point of time. And that class who hold to the serious error that the wicked are never to be raised, must virtually hold that the cases of the righteous have been acted upon and decided before their resurrection. The resurrection of the saints is thus shown to be declarative of their righteousness and of the decision of the Judgment in their favor, even as the resurrection of Christ was declarative of the fact that he was innocent in the Father's sight, and accepted of him. Rom. i, 4; iv, 25. There are some Adventists, however, who are so unwilling to admit this investigative judgment before the advent, that they affirm that the righteous are raised with mortal bodies, and, after standing before God in judgment, and having their cases examined, they are changed to immortality! Yet the language of the Bible is as explicit as it can be that they are "raised in incorruption," "raised in glory," "raised in power," "raised with a spiritual body," "raised incorruptible." 1 Cor. xv, 42-52.

There must be, therefore, a space of time for this investigative judgment. Of this there can be no doubt. And so the concluding work of the High Priest, and the opening work of the Judgment, are of necessity blended together. Now we can see how pertinent to the circumstances of our case is the great Advent message, "Fear God, and give glory to him; FOR THE HOUR OF HIS JUDGMENT IS COME." Rev. xiv, 6, 7. If this message is expected, because of its reference to the Judgment, to introduce the advent of the Son of God, it must lead to severe disappointment. Other angels with other great truths follow before the Son of Man sits upon the white cloud. Yet to sustain such a declaration, definite time must be used to mark the hour of God's Judgment.

Now the Seventh-day Adventists believe that the great proclamation of 1843–4 was in fulfillment of this most solemn announcement, "The hour of his judgment is come." In their view the prophetic periods mark the work of Christ in the heavenly temple, and indicate by their termination the opening of this investigative judgment in the case of the righteous dead. They have, therefore, never engaged in the work of setting new times for the advent of Jesus. They have found better employment. They have turned their attention to the subject of the sanctuary to be cleansed at the end of 2300 days. They have found the Bible to be full of the sanctuary. They have found it to be the center of the typical system, and the center of the great work of salvation for lost man. They find the subject of atonement, and especially its concluding events, to be wonderfully illustrated by the Bible doctrine of the sanctuary. So also of the opening of the great judgment work.

Our first-day Advent brethren have never yet given this subject a candid hearing. They will not allow its discussion in their papers, nor will they listen to this in their congregations. There are, indeed, honorable exceptions; but this uncandid course is true of the greater part. If their papers would fairly state the views of the Seventh-day Adventists on the sanctuary subject, the case would be very different. As it is, they are passed over in silence, or distorted by misrepresentation. Certainly this is to be regretted. If the subject is not worth the attention of these papers, then much of the Bible is unworthy of their notice, for a very large portion of the Scriptures is filled with this theme.

They have, however, found what they consider more worthy of their study than the Bible sanctuary. The fixing of new times for the coming of Jesus has been with many of them almost a steady source of excitement, and it has largely furnished the staple of their preaching. No candid man can deny that this re-iterated time-setting has been exceedingly deleterious to the Advent doctrine before the public.

They are giving, as they claim, the first angel's message. With the fact before them that a second and a third proclamation follow the first, they profess to be looking daily for the advent of Jesus, and yet pass over these two proclamations with silent contempt, or with outspoken words of scorn and derision. Suppose that those who are now interested in the third angel's proclamation are entirely mistaken in their application of the prophecy. What of that? This message is in the Bible. If the proclamation relative to the hour of God's judgment is now receiving its fulfillment, it is entirely inconsistent to look for the advent of Jesus till the real third angel's message is heard by the world. Come, brethren, be candid. Do not forever be re-adjusting the prophetic periods, and calling all this jarring work the first angel's message. If it has not yet been rightly given, we pray you give us the right time for the opening of God's investigative judgment. Then when you have done this, let your work stand because it is wrought in God, and be pleased then to give us the true second and third proclamations. When will such kind of work as yours bring the coming of Jesus? If the first angel's message is to be fulfilled by this endless re-adjustment of prophetic times, how is there ever to be room for the third message, and who is ever to give it? Is it not time there was a change in this business? Has God given prophetic time? Indeed he has. Did he give it to be understood? Undoubtedly he did. And did he design that it should be preached? We cannot doubt this. In fact, the great proclamation, "The hour of his judgment is come," must be sustained by the use of the prophetic periods. And when that message is given in God's time and order, the prophetic periods will be given right. Then the men who stand in the counsel of God will not feel themselves called of God to undo their work and do it over again,

but they will follow on to know the Lord. And to the first message rightly given they will seek to add the light of the second and the third. Should the termination of the prophetic periods given in the preaching of the first message fail to bring them to the revelation of the Son of God, as it surely must in simply ushering in the investigative judgment, then as candid men, they will be constrained to examine the Bible upon the sanctuary and its cleansing, and to learn whether this does not shed the needed light upon the judgment work to which the first angel introduces us.

Why are our Advent brethren so utterly averse to the study of the heavenly sanctuary? It contains within its sacred enclosure our dear, divine Redeemer. Why should it not be a precious subject of meditation to them? Shall I name the real reason? Is it not because it contains the ark of God's testament? Yet the existence of that ark in the sanctuary is the very cause of Jesus' being there to plead for us. Why should you not even look to the ark of God with intense interest? Is not the top of that ark the mercy-seat? And whence is it that pardon comes to us but from the blood of sin-offering there sprinkled? Guilty man cannot consent to part with the mercy-seat. What then is the trouble with the ark of God? Is it not found in the fact that it contains the great original of God's law? The ark would be well enough if it were only empty. The mercy-seat would be entirely satisfactory were it not for the objectionable thing beneath that mercy-seat. And why should you object to the law of God? Is it not perfect, spiritual, holy, just, and good? In fact, if there were no law of God which condemns there would be no occasion for a mercy-seat whence pardon is obtained. If there were no law of God, there would be no atonement, no High Priest, no mercy-seat, no pardon, and, in short, no sanctuary. A priest implies a sin-offering; a sin-offering implies guilt; guilt implies law transgressed; the law is the rule of right that reveals sin, and makes the sanctuary, the priesthood, and the atonement, necessary. It is therefore the law of God existing before the first advent of Jesus Christ that demands the atonement, and the priesthood, and the sanctuary, that sinful man may be pardoned.

What fault then can you find with the moral law beneath the mercy-seat? Is it not exactly this, that its fourth precept commands men to observe the Creator's rest-day? And so because of the Sabbath of the Lord, men reject the law of God; and because of the law of God, they take no delight in the ark of his testament; and because of the ark, they cannot endure the idea of the heavenly sanctuary.

Yet why should the Bible Sabbath be thus despised? Is it not the holy of the Lord, and HONORABLE? Isa. lviii, 13. Was it not made for man before he lost his innocency? Mark ii, 27; Gen. ii, 1–3; Ex. xx, 8–11. Did it not originate in Eden, and is it not to be observed by all flesh in Eden restored? Isa. lxvi, 22, 23. Does it not commemorate the creation of the heavens and the earth? And is it not a part of the moral law? Ex. xx.

The subject of the heavenly sanctuary leads inevitably to the observance of the fourth commandment. For this very reason, to many persons it is utterly distasteful. And may we not here have a view to the slight which is put upon the third angel's warning voice. He brings to view the commandments of God, as well as the faith of Jesus. And so the sanctuary is treated with neglect and scorn, because it contains God's law; and the third angel's proclamation is despised because it so solemnly enforces the commandments. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.

1. Is there a real temple of God in Heaven? The repeated testimonies of the Bible clearly establish the fact. "There came a great voice out of the temple of Heaven, from the throne." Rev. xvi, 17. We may as well deny the existence of the throne, as to deny the temple which contains it. Again we read: "The temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in Heaven was opened; and the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues. . . . And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled." Rev. xv, 5, 6, 8. The temple in Heaven is here called "the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony," the testimony within the ark giving name to the building, as it did to the earthly tabernacle. Compare Ex. xxv, 16, 21; xvi, 34; xxxi, 18; xl, 20; xxxiv, 29; xxxii, 15; xxxviii, 21; Num. i, 50, 58; ix, 15; x, 11; xvii, 4, 10. This is a very significant fact. It indicates that the law of God within the ark was the great fact which made an atonement, a priesthood, and a sanctuary, necessary for sinful men. The testimony of God, contained within the ark, made the existence of the sanctuary a necessity, and hence gives name even to the temple in Heaven.

The Bible contains many testimonies respecting the heavenly temple. "I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple." Isa. vi, 1. "But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him." Hab. ii, 20. "Be silent, O all flesh, before the Lord; for he is raised up out of his holy habitation." Zech. ii, 13. "The Lord is in his holy temple, the Lord's throne is in Heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try the children of men." Ps. xi, 4. "In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God; he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears. Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth." Ps. xviii, 6, 7. "Hear, all ye people; hearken, O Earth, and all that therein is; and let the Lord God be witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple. For, behold, the Lord cometh forth out of his place, and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth. And the mountains shall be molten under him, and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before the fire, and as the waters that are poured down a steep place." Micah i, 2–4. These testimonies are amply sufficient to establish the real existence of the heavenly temple. We shall, however, find much further evidence, as we examine other branches of this subject.

2. The temple in Heaven, with its sacred furniture, was the great original copied by Moses in the construction of the tabernacle and its contents.

(a.) Everything was to be made according to the pattern shown in the mount. Thus, when the tabernacle was commanded, God said: "According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it." Ex. xxv, 9. And after enjoining the construction of the ark, and mercy-seat with its cherub on either end, and the table of shew-bread, and the golden candlestick with seven branches, he charges Moses again: "And look that thou make them after their pattern which was showed thee in the mount." Verse 40. Those words are quoted and emphasized by Paul. Heb. viii, 5. The following texts, which state this same charge, or refer to the fact that the tabernacle and its furniture were made after the model given to Moses, are worthy of study by us. Ex. xxvi, 30; xxxix, 43; Num. viii, 4; Acts vii, 44. And the temple of Solomon, which contained the essential features of the tabernacle of Moses, was constructed according to the pattern which God gave David. 1 Chron. xxviii, 11–19.

(b.) But we are expressly informed by the New Testament that the earthly sanctuary was made after the pattern of the heavenly. Thus, in quoting what God enjoined upon Moses relative to the construction of the tabernacle like that which he showed him, he uses it as proof that that building and its service were the example and shadow of heavenly things. Heb. viii, 5. But in chap. ix, 21–23, he declares that the tabernacle and the vessels of the ministry were "patterns of things in the Heavens." And, in verse 24, he testifies that "the holy places made with hands are the figures of the true;" or, as Macknight renders the sentence, "the holy places made with hands, THE IMAGES OF THE TRUE HOLY PLACES."

(c.) The testimony of the Apocrypha is certainly very explicit, and, as it exactly corroborates the words of Paul, it is worthy of our attention. Thus we read, Wisdom of Solomon, ix, 8: "Thou hast commanded me to build a temple upon thy holy mount, and an altar in the city wherein thou dwellest, a resemblance of the holy tabernacle which thou hast prepared from the beginning."

3. There is not only a real temple in Heaven, the model, or original, after which the earthly was constructed, but it has also the holy things which were copied in the earthly sanctuary.

(a.) The golden altar of incense stood in the first apartment of the earthly sanctuary. It was made like the one which God showed Moses. And thus we read of the altar in the heavenly temple: "And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it, with the prayers of all saints, upon THE GOLDEN ALTAR which was before the throne." Rev. viii, 4.

(b.) The golden candlestick with its seven lamps. This represented the "seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God." Rev. iv, 5. Such is their appearance in the heavenly sanctuary. And the seven lamps of fire represent them just as the two cherubim of gold on the mercy-seat represent the two living cherubim in the temple above.

(c.) The mercy-seat and cherubim. The mercy-seat had a cherub on either end, and the whole, like the candlestick with its seven lamps, was one solid piece of beaten gold. This was made according to the pattern showed to Moses. But in the heavenly temple the cherubim are real, living beings. Thus we read, Ps. xcix, 1: "The Lord reigneth; let the people tremble; he sitteth between the cherubim; let the earth be moved." And again, Ps. lxxx, 1: "Thou that dwellest between the cherubim, shine forth." From this position upon, or over, the mercy-seat, God shone forth in majesty in the earthly sanctuary; Ex. xxv, 22; 1 Sam. iv, 4; 2 Sam. vi, 2; and so, in the sanctuary above, from between the living cherubim.

(d.) The ark of God's testament. This was the central object of the earthly sanctuary. It contained the law of God. So the whole work of atonement by the high priest pertained to this ark, or rather to what it contained. And hence the one object of chief importance in the temple of Heaven is the ark of God. "The temple of God was opened in Heaven, and there was seen in the temple the ark of his testament." The ark in the temple is that before which our High Priest ministers. The law which condemns man, and makes an atonement necessary, must be found therein. And this law, being that which caused the Son of God to come down to die for man, is not a code enacted since his advent, but one which existed before that event. In a word, it is the moral law of God. And thus we have (a.) A real temple of God in Heaven, with real, sacred things, all like the earthly sanctuary, but infinitely more glorious and exalted. (b.) A real High Priest, whose service in the heavenly temple the earthly priests shadowed forth by their ministration. (c.) But the same moral law which was deposited in the earthly sanctuary. The earthly sanctuary, with sacrifices of lambs, could not make atonement before it; and hence the heavenly sanctuary, and the priesthood of the Son of God.

4. This temple of God in Heaven is the real sanctuary of the Bible.

The tabernacle erected by Moses, which afterward gave place to the temple of Solomon as being an enlargement of itself, and not a different thing in its essential character—this building, I say, is represented as the Lord's sanctuary about one hundred and twenty-five times. The texts are so numerous that I cannot attempt to quote them. Even Cruden, unabridged, does not give near all of them. In a few texts, heathen temples, as the rivals of God's temple, are spoken of as sanctuaries; and, in a very few texts, the word is used figuratively, with reference to something closely connected with this sacred structure. So the land of Canaan, being the place where the sanctuary was located, is called the BORDER of the sanctuary. Ps. lxxviii, 54, 69; 2 Chron. xx, 7, 8. But everything pertaining to the earthly sanctuary indicated that it was not the real temple of God. It did not exist for its own sake at all. It was the figure of the true temple of God. Its sacrifices and its priesthood all pointed to the sacrifice and the priesthood of Jesus Christ. It could not, therefore, be the real substance which is of

such priceless value to the people of God. So the Old Testament itself often cites us from the earthly tabernacle, or temple, to the temple of God in Heaven. The sanctuary of the Bible, however, like the priesthood of the Bible, or the atonement of the Bible, may be said to embrace two parts—the typical, and the real. We are interested in both, but chiefly in the real and the true, for this is the actual subject of promise and of prophecy.

The Old Testament contains so vast a number of testimonies relative to the sanctuary that it is not possible to quote them all. It is a relief, therefore, to find the whole subject presented in few words, plain, simple, and direct, by the apostle Paul. He tells us (a.) That there are two covenants. Gal. iv, 24. (b.) That the first covenant had a sanctuary, and then names that sanctuary in language that cannot be misunderstood: “Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle made; the first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the shew-bread; which is called the sanctuary. And after the second vail, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all; which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant; and over it the cherubim of glory shadowing the mercy-seat; of which we cannot now speak particularly.” Heb. ix, 1–5. There is no mistaking this language. This building, erected by Moses, was the sanctuary of the first covenant. So we know that nothing else, during that period, could bear the name, unless in some remote, or figurative, or secondary, sense. And the sanctuary of the covenant must be the sanctuary of prophecy for that period of time. During that period, the earth, the land of Canaan, the city of Jerusalem, and the church of God, are excluded, each and all, by this definite statement of what actually constituted the sanctuary of that time. But that sanctuary was only a representation of something greater and more perfect. Heb. ix, 9–11. The covenant to which it belonged has gone, and with it has gone the typical, or shadowy, sanctuary. Are we without a covenant and a sanctuary? By no means. The first covenant has given place to one established upon better promises. Now Paul tells us what the sanctuary of the new covenant is.

(c.) Thus he states the subject of the new covenant sanctuary: “Now of the things which we have spoken, this is the sum: We have such an High Priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the Heavens; a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man. For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices; wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer. For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law; who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount. But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.” Heb. viii, 1–6.

The sanctuary of the new covenant is here defined in very explicit language. It is the temple of God in Heaven. It is the building of which Moses erected a copy. It is the tabernacle which the Lord pitched, and not man. The sanctuary of the new covenant is not, therefore, to be found upon the face of our earth. But though our sanctuary is in Heaven, our High Priest is there also, and his blood, offered at the mercy-seat, is accepted in the sight of the great Lawgiver.

Even the Old Testament speaks in distinct terms of this heavenly sanctuary. Thus Jeremiah says: “A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary.” Jer. xvii, 12; Rev. xvi, 17. And the Psalmist says: “This shall be written for the generation to come; and the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord. For he hath looked down from the hight of his sanctuary; from Heaven did the Lord behold the earth.” Ps. cii, 18, 19.

We have therefore a clear understanding of the sanctuary of the old covenant, and the sanctuary of the new covenant. One was a pattern of the other. The sanctuary of the old covenant does not exist. It had answered its full purpose when the new covenant sanctuary was reached. It shall therefore never exist again. But the sanctuary of the new covenant does exist. This sanctuary is the one which concerns and interests the people of God. In that, God’s law is kept. Over it is our mercy-seat. Upon that mercy-seat is presented our sin-offering. And there stands our High Priest to plead our cause. If it could be shown that there were many things to which the term sanctuary could be applied—but it cannot—even then this must be the sanctuary of prophecy. The sanctuary of the new covenant must be the “something” to which the prophecies relating to the times of the new covenant apply. The new-covenant sanctuary is the real sanctuary of the Bible, as much as Christ is the real Priest of the Bible, or his atonement the great atonement of the whole Bible.

5. The sanctuary to be cleansed at the end of the 2300 days, must be the new covenant sanctuary.

Does any one inquire the grounds of this statement? If so, here is the answer: The 2300 days extend to the very concluding events of the gospel dispensation. They cover the period of the Persian, Grecian, and Roman, empires, almost entire. They end in the expiring events of the new-covenant dispensation. The prophecy relates to the sanctuary and the host. The host is unquestionably the true people of God. The sanctuary, therefore, to be cleansed, is the sanctuary of the church of Christ in the last days of this dispensation. Is old Jerusalem, or Palestine, or the earth, or even the tabernacle of Moses, our sanctuary? No, indeed. Our sanctuary is where our High Priest is. As the 2300 days embrace the gospel dispensation almost entire, the sanctuary to be cleansed at their end must of necessity relate to the real sanctuary, and in fact, the only sanctuary existing at that time. One sentence may express the whole truth: The sanctuary of the new covenant must be the sanctuary of those prophecies which relate to the people of God in new-covenant times.

6. The 2300 days do not all belong to the earthly sanctuary.

This declaration can be clearly proved. And if it be proved, it does of itself establish the last proposition. Undoubtedly many first-day Adventists would rise up against this statement that the earthly sanctuary is not the subject of prophecy during the entire 2300 days. But if they have not so far departed from the original Advent faith that they deny Dan. ix, 20–27, as being a key to the vision of the 2300 days and the sanctuary, it would not be difficult to convince them of its truth. The angel speaks of the city, Jerusalem, and of the sanctuary, the temple in old Jerusalem. He tells Daniel how much of the 2300 days belong to that place. He says, “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and thy holy city, to finish the transgression,” etc. Dan. ix, 24. The word rendered determined signifies literally, in Hebrew, “cut off.” So it is certain that the entire 2300 days do not belong to old Jerusalem and the Jews. Seventy weeks, i. e., 490 days, belong to them, and then, their measure of iniquity being full, they are cut off from being the people of God, and their city and sanctuary left to them desolate.

7. The anointing of the heavenly sanctuary is introduced among the closing events of the seventy weeks.

Sixty-nine of these weeks reach to the Messiah or anointed One. Verse 25. When Jesus at his baptism was anointed of the Holy Ghost he began very shortly thereafter to preach, saying, “The time is fulfilled.” Mark i, 9–15; Acts x, 37, 38. There remained one week which was especially appropriated to the people of Israel. In the midst of this seventieth week Christ was nailed to the tree. Dan. ix, 27; Col. ii, 14. Connected with their great sin-offering is named another thing, which, indeed, is closely united to it. The most holy is to be anointed. Now this is literally

the holy of holies. This cannot refer to Jesus for it is an unmistakable reference to the sanctuary. It cannot refer to the earthly sanctuary; for just before the time for this anointing Jesus told the Jews that their house, i. e., the temple was left to them desolate. Matt. xxiii, 38. The earthly sanctuary was no longer the sanctuary of the Lord.

But what does this anointing of the holy of holies signify? We have only to turn back to the dedication of the earthly sanctuary in order to clearly understand this thing. There we learn that before Aaron was inducted into the work of priesthood, the sanctuary itself had to be anointed. Moses having set up the sanctuary anointed the entire building, the holy place, and the holy of holies, and the holy vessels, with the holy anointing oil. And when he had also consecrated Aaron and his sons, then their priesthood began. See Lev. viii, 10, 11. There is then but one thing, to which the angel could refer, when he spoke of the anointing of the holy of holies. It was the heavenly sanctuary receiving its consecration preparatory to the priesthood of Christ therein. And thus at the very point where the earthly sanctuary ceases to be the subject of prophecy, the heavenly sanctuary is introduced, and with it the prophecy is filled out.

8. But how can the heavenly sanctuary be trodden under foot? Not literally indeed. Even the earthly sanctuary was not thus trodden down only on a very few occasions. And the host, i. e., the church or people of God, who are joined with the sanctuary in being trodden down, have not been literally trodden in the dust. But we do read concerning the minister of the heavenly sanctuary, that apostates do tread him under foot. See Heb. x, 29. In the same manner certainly can the sanctuary, of which he is a minister, be trodden under foot. The papal power blasphemes the name of God, and its tabernacle, and them that dwell in Heaven. Rev. xiii, 5, 6.

9. But the new-covenant sanctuary is to be cleansed. This to some persons is an astonishing statement. But it is a matter of direct revelation, and it is capable of being sustained by reason also. If it be still denied that the sanctuary to be cleansed in the end of the new-covenant dispensation, at the end of the 2300 days, is the new-covenant sanctuary, it nevertheless cannot be denied that the new covenant sanctuary is to be cleansed, and that too in close proximity to the end of the 2300 days. In that case there are two sanctuaries to be cleansed about this time. One, the heavenly sanctuary; the other, who can tell what? But the new-covenant sanctuary is the sanctuary of the host, and that is the sanctuary of Dan. viii, 13, 14.

The sanctuary of the first covenant was cleansed every year; for one year made a complete round of service therein. When a victim was offered in sacrifice the sinner laid his hand upon its head to denote the transfer of the guilt from himself to the victim. Then that victim is slain because of that guilt, and its blood bearing that guilt is sprinkled upon the sanctuary or before it by the high priest. Lev. iv. So the guilt is removed from the sinner to the sanctuary, and thus the work went on through the year.

But on the tenth day of the seventh month there was a special work of atonement, where the sins were removed from the sanctuary, and the sanctuary being cleansed, the sins were placed upon the head of the scapegoat, to be borne into a land not inhabited. Lev. xvi. This completed the round of services in the example and shadow of heavenly things.

Now the apostle tells us that the heavenly sanctuary is to be cleansed for the very same reason that the earthly one was. Thus we read:

“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. ix, 23.

The earthly sanctuary with its two holy places, and its sacred vessels constitutes this pattern of things in the Heavens. It was cleansed yearly as described in Lev. xvi. The heavenly sanctuary is to be cleansed for the same reason, but with the blood of a better sacrifice, i. e., the blood of Christ. Now this cleansing process came every year at the conclusion of the complete round of service in the sanctuary. As this round was a shadow, it could be and was repeated year

after year. We have the antitype once for all. The cleansing must of necessity stand at the conclusion of our Lord's work in the heavenly temple. It is the great antitype of Lev. xvi. When its work is accomplished the antitypical scapegoat shall receive the sins of the righteous, and be cast into an uninhabited land, i. e., the desolated earth during the one thousand years. Rev. xx.

The Septuagint uses the very word in Dan. viii, 14, for the cleansing of the sanctuary that Paul uses in Heb. ix, 23, for the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary. It is therefore certain that the work in the one case is precisely identical with that in the other. It is evident that the two are accomplished at the same time. And may I not say that the sanctuary of Dan. viii, 14, is indisputably the sanctuary of the new covenant?

10. Finally the heavenly temple is made the subject of prophecy under circumstances of time, and place, and character, that indicate the actual performance of this very work. “The temple of God was opened in Heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament.” This is an event which transpires under the sounding of the seventh angel. Rev. xi, 15–19. It is therefore in the right time to correspond with the cleansing of the sanctuary at the end of the 2300 days. The most holy place of the heavenly temple is opened, which indeed is that very apartment where the principal work relative to cleansing the sanctuary was to be wrought. Lev. xvi. It is followed by the pouring out of the plagues. For Rev. xv, 5–8; xvi, 1–21, is really an expanded vision of what is stated in Rev. xi, 19. The temple in Heaven is opened in both cases, and while the one glances over everything from that opening of the temple till the seventh plague is poured out, the other tells us that after the temple was opened the seven angels come out, and pour out the plagues. But both conclude with the same events, the earthquake such as never was, and the great hail.

So it is certain that the opening of the heavenly temple is the precursor of the close of probation. It is the signal for the performance of our Lord's final work. When that is wrought then there is no longer an intercessor, and the wrath of God without one element of mercy desolates our guilty world. The third angel gives warning of the approach of these last plagues. Compare his words with Rev. xv; xvi. His message is given while the High Priest performs his last work of mercy for sinful men.

The heavenly sanctuary should not be despised by Adventists. Our attention is called to it by the explicit language of prophecy relating to the close of human probation. Moreover the light which shone upon them as they came up to their great disappointment in the seventh month 1844, clearly pointed to the heavenly sanctuary. They reasoned from the Levitical types that Jesus must come on the tenth day of the seventh month at the end of the 2300 days. The argument really proved that he could not thus come, because of this great antitypical work in the sanctuary of the new covenant. Would it not be well to candidly examine the sanctuary of the Bible? Is it not possible that the time in the first angel's message was right? May we not be even now in the hour of God's judgment? Is there no way of telling what is in the heavenly ark? Should it prove to be the law of God would you not think it very dangerous to disobey it?

Continue reading: THOUGHTS ON THE BOOK OF DANIEL