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Sanctuary
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again to the Scriptures, the students of prophecy learned that the
cleansing was not a removal of physical impurities, for it was to be
accomplished with blood, and therefore must be a cleansing from
sin. Thus says the apostle: “It was therefore necessary that the
patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these [the
blood of animals]; but the heavenly things themselves with better
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sacrifices than these [even the precious blood of Christ].”
Hebrews
9:23
.
To obtain a further knowledge of the cleansing to which the
prophecy points, it was necessary to understand the ministration of
the heavenly sanctuary. This could be learned only from the minis-
tration of the earthly sanctuary; for Paul declares that the priests who
officiated there served “unto the example and shadow of heavenly
things.”
Hebrews 8:5
.
The Cleansing of the Sanctuary
As the sins of the people were anciently transferred, in figure, to
the earthly sanctuary by the blood of the sin offering, so our sins are,
in fact, transferred to the heavenly sanctuary by the blood of Christ.
And as the typical cleansing of the earthly was accomplished by
the removal of the sins by which it had been polluted, so the actual
cleansing of the heavenly is to be accomplished by the removal, or
blotting out, of the sins which are there recorded. This necessitates
an examination of the books of record to determine who, through
repentance of sin and faith in Christ, are entitled to the benefits of
His atonement. The cleansing of the sanctuary therefore involves a
work of investigative judgment. This work must be performed prior
to the coming of Christ to redeem His people, for when He comes,
His reward is with Him to give to every man according to his works.
(
Revelation 22:12
.)
Thus those who followed in the advancing light of the prophetic
word saw that instead of coming to the earth at the termination of
the 2300 days in 1844, Christ then entered the most holy place of the
heavenly sanctuary, into the presence of God, to perform the closing
work of atonement, preparatory to His coming.
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