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Sanctuary
175
from himself to the goat. The goat then bore them away, and they
were regarded as forever separated from the people.
Such was the service performed “unto the example and shadow
of heavenly things.” And what was done in type in the ministration
of the earthly, is done in reality in the ministration of the heavenly.
After his ascension, our Saviour began his work as our high priest.
Says Paul, “Christ is not entered into the holy places made with
hands, which are the figures of the true; but into Heaven itself, now
to appear in the presence of God for us.” [
Hebrews 9:24
.] In harmony
with the typical service, he began his ministration in the holy place,
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and at the termination of the prophetic days in 1844, as foretold
by Daniel the prophet, he entered the most holy to perform the last
division of his solemn work,—to cleanse the sanctuary.
As the sins of the people were anciently transferred, in figure, to
the earthly sanctuary by the blood of the sin-offering, so our sins are,
in fact, transferred to the heavenly sanctuary by the blood of Christ.
And as the typical cleansing of the earthly was accomplished by
the removal of the sins by which it had been polluted, so the actual
cleansing of the heavenly is to be accomplished by the removal, or
blotting out, of the sins which are there recorded. This necessitates
an examination of the books of record to determine who, through
repentance of sin and faith in Christ, are entitled to the benefits of
his atonement. The cleansing of the sanctuary therefore involves a
work of investigative Judgment. This work must be performed prior
to the coming of Christ to redeem his people; for when he comes,
his reward is with him to give to every man according to his works.
[
Revelation 22:12
.]
Thus those who followed in the advancing light of the prophetic
word saw that instead of coming to the earth at the termination of
the 2300 days in 1844, Christ then entered the most holy place of the
heavenly sanctuary, into the presence of God, to perform the closing
work of atonement, preparatory to his coming.
It was seen, also, that while the sin-offering pointed to Christ
as a sacrifice, and the high priest represented Christ as a mediator,
the scape-goat typified Satan, the author of sin, upon whom the sins
of the truly penitent will finally be placed. When the high priest,
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by virtue of the blood of the sin-offering, removed the sins from
the sanctuary, he placed them upon the scape-goat. When Christ,