Sanctuary: God’s Dwelling Place in Israel
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The apostle John was granted a view of the temple of God in
heaven. He beheld there “seven lamps of fire burning before the
throne.” He saw an angel “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.”
Revelation
4:5
;
8:3
. Here the prophet was permitted to behold the first apartment
of the sanctuary in heaven. Again, “the temple of God was opened,”
and he looked within the inner veil upon the holy of holies. Here he
beheld “the ark of his testament” (
Revelation 11:19
), represented by
the sacred chest constructed by Moses to contain the law of God.
Paul declares that “the tabernacle and all the vessels of the min-
istry,” when completed, were “the patterns of things in the heavens.”
Hebrews 9:21, 23
. And John says that he saw the sanctuary in heaven.
That sanctuary, in which Jesus ministers in our behalf, is the great
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original. The sanctuary built by Moses was a copy.
Important truths concerning the heavenly sanctuary and the work
there carried forward for man’s redemption were to be taught by the
earthly sanctuary and its services.
After His ascension, our Saviour was to begin His work as our
High Priest. “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
. Christ’s
ministration was to consist of two great divisions, each occupying a
period of time and having a distinctive place in the heavenly sanctuary.
So the typical ministration consisted of two divisions, the daily and the
yearly service, and to each a department of the tabernacle was devoted.
Christ at His ascension appeared in the presence of God to plead
His blood in behalf of penitent believers. So the priest in the daily
ministration sprinkled the blood of the sacrifice in the holy place in
the sinner’s behalf.
The blood of Christ, while it was to release the repentant sinner
from the condemnation of the law, was not to conceal the sin; it would
stand on record in the sanctuary until the final atonement. So in the
type the blood of the sin offering removed the sin from the penitent,
but it rested in the sanctuary until the Day of Atonement.
In the great day of final award, the dead are to be “judged out
of those things which were written in the books, according to their
works.”
Revelation 20:12
. Then the sins of all the truly penitent will be