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Open Mystery of the Sanctuary
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high priest, having taken an offering from the congregation, went
into the most holy place. He sprinkled the blood of this offering
upon the mercy seat, directly over the law, to make satisfaction for
its claims. Then, as mediator, he took the sins upon himself and
bore them from the sanctuary. Placing his hands upon the head of
the scapegoat, he in figure transferred all these sins from himself to
the goat. The goat then bore them away, and they were regarded as
forever separated from the people.
Heavenly Reality
What was done in type in the ministration of the earthly sanctu-
ary, is done in reality in the heavenly sanctuary. After His ascension
our Saviour began 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
.
The ministration of the priest in the first apartment, “within the
veil” which separated the holy place from the outer court, represents
the work on which Christ entered at His ascension. The priest in the
daily ministration presented before God the blood of the sin offering,
also the incense which ascended with the prayers of Israel. So did
Christ plead His blood before the Father in behalf of sinners and
present before Him, with the fragrance of His own righteousness,
the prayers of penitent believers. Such was the ministry in the first
apartment of the sanctuary in heaven.
Thither the faith of Christ’s disciples followed Him as He as-
cended. Here their hopes centered, “which hope we have as an
anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into
that within the veil; whither the forerunner is for us entered, even
Jesus, made an high priest for ever.” “By his own blood he entered
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in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for
us.”
Hebrews 6:19, 20
;
9:12
.
For eighteen centuries this work continued in the first apartment
of the sanctuary. The blood of Christ secured pardon and acceptance
with the Father in behalf of penitent believers, yet their sins still
remained upon the books of record. As in the typical service there
was a work of atonement at the close of the year, so before Christ’s