Sanctuary: God’s Dwelling Place in Israel
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said, “I am the living Bread which came down from heaven.”
John
6:48-51
. The bread was removed every Sabbath, to be replaced by
fresh loaves.
The most important part of the daily ministration was the service in
behalf of individuals. The repentant sinner brought his offering to the
door of the tabernacle, and, placing his hand upon the victim’s head,
confessed his sins, thus in figure transferring them from himself to the
innocent sacrifice. By his own hand the animal was then slain, and
the blood was carried by the priest into the holy place and sprinkled
before the veil, behind which was the ark containing the law that the
sinner had transgressed. By this ceremony the sin was, through the
blood, transferred in figure to the sanctuary. In some cases the blood
was not taken into the holy place.
But the
flesh was eaten by the priest, as Moses directed, saying, “God hath
given it you to bear the iniquity of the congregation.”
Leviticus 10:17
.
Both ceremonies symbolized the transfer of sin from the penitent to
the sanctuary.
Such was the work that went on day by day throughout the year.
The sins of Israel being thus transferred to the sanctuary, the holy
places were defiled, and a special work became necessary for the
removal of the sins. God commanded that an atonement be made for
each of the sacred apartments, as for the altar, to “cleanse it, and hallow
it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel.”
Leviticus 16:19
.
Once a year, on the great Day of Atonement, the high priest entered
the most holy place for the cleansing of the sanctuary. Two kids of
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the goats were brought to the door of the tabernacle and lots were cast
upon them, “one lot for the Lord, and the other lot for the scapegoat.”
The goat upon which the first lot fell was slain as a sin offering for the
people. The priest was to bring his blood within the veil and sprinkle
it upon the mercy seat. “And he shall make an atonement for the
holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and
because of their transgressions in all their sins: and so shall he do for
the tabernacle of the congregation.”
“And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat,
and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and
all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of
the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the
wilderness: and the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a