What is the Sanctuary?
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pattern was the true sanctuary which is in Heaven. And John testifies
that he saw it in Heaven.
In the temple in Heaven, the dwelling-place of God, his throne is
established in righteousness and judgment. In the most holy place is
his law, the great rule of right by which all mankind are tested. The
ark that enshrines the tables of the law is covered with the mercy-seat,
before which Christ pleads his blood in the sinner’s behalf. Thus is
represented the union of justice and mercy in the plan of human re-
demption. This union infinite wisdom alone could devise, and infinite
power accomplish; it is a union that fills all Heaven with wonder and
adoration. The cherubim of the earthly sanctuary, looking reverently
down upon the mercy-seat, represent the interest with which the heav-
enly host contemplate the work of redemption. This is the mystery of
mercy into which angels desire to look,—that God can be just while
he justifies the repenting sinner, and renews his intercourse with the
fallen race; that Christ could stoop to raise unnumbered multitudes
from the abyss of ruin, and clothe them with the spotless garments of
his own righteousness, to unite with angels who have never fallen, and
to dwell forever in the presence of God.
The work of Christ as man’s intercessor is presented in that beau-
tiful prophecy of Zechariah concerning him “whose name is The
Branch.” Says the prophet: “He shall build the temple of the Lord; and
he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his [the Father’s]
throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne; and the counsel of
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peace shall be between them both.” [
Zechariah 6:13
.]
“He shall build the temple of the Lord.” By his sacrifice and media-
tion, Christ is both the foundation and the builder of the church of God.
The apostle Paul points to him as “the chief corner-stone; in whom all
the building fitly framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the
Lord; in whom ye also,” he says, “are builded together for a habitation
of God through the Spirit.” [
Ephesians 2:20-22
.]
“And he shall bear the glory.” To Christ belongs the glory of re-
demption for the fallen race. Through the eternal ages, the song of the
ransomed ones will be, “Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from
our sins in his own blood, ... to him be glory and dominion forever
and ever.” [
Revelation 1:5, 6
.]
He “shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon
his throne.” Not now “upon the throne of his glory;” the kingdom of