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242
Early Writings
heavenly. The veil was lifted, and I looked into the holy of holies
and saw that the furniture was the same as in the most holy place of
the heavenly sanctuary. The priest ministered in both apartments of
the earthly. He went daily into the first apartment, but entered the
most holy only once a year, to cleanse it from the sins which had
been conveyed there. I saw that Jesus ministered in both apartments
of the heavenly sanctuary. The priests entered into the earthly with
the blood of an animal as an offering for sin. Christ entered into the
heavenly sanctuary by the offering of His own blood. The earthly
priests were removed by death; therefore they could not continue
long; but Jesus was a priest forever. Through the sacrifices and
offerings brought to the earthly sanctuary, the children of Israel were
to lay hold of the merits of a Saviour to come. And in the wisdom
of God the particulars of this work were given us that we might,
by looking to them, understand the work of Jesus in the heavenly
sanctuary.
As Jesus died on Calvary, He cried, “It is finished,” and the veil
of the temple was rent in twain, from the top to the bottom. This
was to show that the services of the earthly sanctuary were forever
finished, and that God would no more meet with the priests in their
earthly temple, to accept their sacrifices. The blood of Jesus was then
shed, which was to be offered by Himself in the heavenly sanctuary.
As the priest entered the most holy once a year to cleanse the earthly
sanctuary, so Jesus entered the most holy of the heavenly, at the end
of the 2300 days of
Daniel 8
, in 1844, to make a final atonement for
all who could be benefited by His mediation, and thus to cleanse the
sanctuary.
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