The Sanctuary and the Twenty-three Hundred Days of Daniel 8:14
17 A SANCTUARY IN HEAVEN
As we have found that the earth is not the sanctuary, that the land of Canaan is not the sanctuary, and that the church is not the sanctuary, but little more remains upon this branch of the subject; for but one more object is left to be considered, and but one more class of texts to be examined. STTHD 189.1
This object is what is called the sanctuary, temple, or tabernacle in Heaven; and the texts that refer to it were spoken by David, Habakkuk, John, and Paul. STTHD 189.2
Paul uses language which cannot be misunderstood. Hear him: “Now of the things which we have spoken, this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the Heavens; a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.” Hebrews 8:1, 2. STTHD 189.3
In the seven preceding chapters of Hebrews, Paul has introduced the priesthood of Christ. He has compared it with that of Aaron in the light of prophecy. He shows the superiority of Christ’s priesthood over that of Aaron. Christ is a priest forever, after the order of Melchisedec. STTHD 189.4
After plainly showing that a priest was to be provided like Melchisedec, he sums up his argument in the 8th chapter, already quoted. We have such an high priest. Who is he? Christ. Where is he? In Heaven. In what place does he minister? In the true sanctuary, not in the figure or model which existed here upon the earth. Who pitched this true tabernacle, or erected this sanctuary? Not man, as Moses erected the earthly sanctuary, but the Lord. Where is this true sanctuary? In Heaven, of course, where the High Priest is. Could not Christ be a priest upon earth? No; for provision was made in the Aaronic priesthood for all the work of that kind which was to be performed upon the earth; and they served, says Paul, “unto the example and shadow of heavenly things.” Hebrews 8:4, 5. STTHD 190.1
We invite the reader to dwell a moment upon this picture. The two dispensations are here set in juxtaposition before us; the relation they sustain to each other is clearly shown, together with the work that pertains to each, the place where it is carried forward, and the agents by whom it is performed. In the following epitome, let No.1 represent the former dispensation, and No.2, the present. STTHD 190.2
No.1. Priesthood performed by Aaron and his sons. STTHD 191.1
No.2. Priesthood performed by Christ, a priest forever, after the order of Melchisedec. STTHD 191.2
No.1. Priesthood performed here upon the earth. No.2. Priesthood performed in Heaven. STTHD 191.3
No.1. Performed in an earthly sanctuary, pitched by man. STTHD 191.4
No.2. Performed in a heavenly sanctuary, which the Lord pitched, and not man. STTHD 191.5
No.1. The type. No.2. The antitype. STTHD 191.6
Where is now our Priest? In Heaven. Where is now our sanctuary? In Heaven. Is the sanctuary in Heaven a literal sanctuary? Just as literal as the Priest, our Lord Jesus Christ, who ministers therein. STTHD 191.7
We have now found the great original from which Moses copied when he made the sanctuary for his dispensation. The sanctuary of Moses was simply copied from the sanctuary of this dispensation. The priesthood of that dispensation was copied from the priesthood of this dispensation. That owed its existence entirely to this. It was given in reference to this. It was designed simply to introduce this. This is the all-important object in the whole arrangement. That in due time came to an end; and this took its place. The work on earth ceased; and the work in Heaven commenced. We have now neither priest nor sanctuary on the earth; but we have both a Priest and a sanctuary in Heaven. Thank God that so momentous a truth, freighted with consequences of such infinite interest to us all, is so clearly revealed. STTHD 191.8
All these particulars are clearly and explicitly stated by Paul, and no believer in his inspiration can for a moment question his testimony. This should be an end of all controversy on this point. STTHD 192.1
This sanctuary in Heaven is called by David, Habakkuk, and John, “the temple of God in Heaven;” Psalm 11:4; Habakkuk 2:20; Revelation 11:19; 16:17; by Zechariah and Jeremiah, God’s “holy habitation;” Zechariah 2:13; Jeremiah 25:30; by Paul, a “greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands,” Hebrews 9:11, “the true,” verse 24, “things in the Heavens,” verse 23, and the “holy places” (Greek), verses 8, 12, and chapter 10:19. STTHD 192.2
But some one may say, This sounds very well as an argument, yet there may possibly be some error in the premises or conclusions. But if any one had only been to Heaven and seen this sanctuary there, we could then believe. Will you take the testimony of such a one? You shall have it. John was taken to Heaven in vision, and shown things therein; and he has plainly told us of some of the things which he there saw. Revelation 4:5: “Seven lamps of fire burning before the throne,” antitype of the golden candlestick of the earthly sanctuary with its seven branches. Revelation 8:3: Altar of incense, golden censer, and “much incense,” all of which pertained exclusively to the sanctuary. Revelation 11:19: “And the temple of God was opened in Heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament.” What was the ark? An instrument of the sanctuary, and nothing else; to be seen in the most holy place, and nowhere else. Thus John beheld the sanctuary in Heaven, and has given us a description of its furniture. And what more need we? Moses says he made the sanctuary after a pattern which was shown to him; Paul says plainly that that pattern was the true sanctuary, and that it is now in Heaven; and John completes the evidence by saying that he saw it there. How could testimony be more comprehensive or complete? Reader, do you believe these things? If you believe God’s word, you do! STTHD 192.3
But there is one consideration which in some minds weighs as an objection to the view here presented. It is said that if there is a sanctuary in Heaven, it cannot be the sanctuary of Daniel 8:14; for that is a sanctuary which is trodden under foot; but a sanctuary in Heaven cannot be trodden under foot. STTHD 194.1
This objection is surely uttered without thought. Where is Christ? In Heaven. Can he, while there, be trodden under foot? If so, the sanctuary where he ministers can also be trodden under foot. And Paul says emphatically that Christ is trodden under foot by a certain class of sinners, crucified afresh, and put to an open shame. Hebrews 10:29: “Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God?” How do they do this? Simply by becoming apostate and counting his blood an unholy thing, and doing despite to the Spirit of grace. And how do they tread under foot the sanctuary? By erecting rival sanctuaries, and turning mankind away from the true. While the sanctuary was upon earth, this sometimes involved the literal destruction of the tabernacle; but this was only a subsidiary feature, not the main circumstance in this work. STTHD 194.2
The two powers which were to tread down the host and sanctuary were paganism and the papacy. How have they done it? In the days of the Judges and of Samuel, Satan’s rival sanctuary was the temple of Dagon, where the Philistines worshiped. Judges 16:23, 24. After Solomon had erected a glorious sanctuary upon Mount Moriah, Jeroboam, who made Israel to sin, erected a rival sanctuary at Bethel, and thus drew away ten of the twelve tribes from the worship of the living God to that of the golden calves. 1 Kings 12:26-33; Amos 7:13, margin. In the days of Nebuchadnezzar, the rival of the sanctuary of God was the temple of old Belus in Babylon. At a later period, there was the Pantheon, or temple of “all the gods,” at Rome, which, after the typical sanctuary had given place to the true, was baptized, and called Christian. Thenceforward Satan had at Rome a “temple of God,” in which was a being “exalted above all that is called God, or that is worshiped,” the man of sin, the son of perdition. And of this papal abomination it was expressly predicted that it should make war upon the saints, or tread under foot “the host,” and make war upon the tabernacle of God in Heaven, or tread under foot the sanctuary above. Revelation 13:6. And it has done this by turning away the worship of them that dwell on the earth from the temple of God in Heaven to its own sanctuary at Rome. It has trodden under foot the Son of God, the minister of the heavenly sanctuary, by making the pope the vicegerent of the Son of God, and the head of the church instead of Christ, and by leading men to worship this son of perdition as one not only able like God to forgive past sins, but to go beyond what God ever proposed, in forgiving them before their commission. Surely there is propriety in speaking of this work as treading under foot the host and the sanctuary, or “blaspheming God’s tabernacle and them that dwell in Heaven.” And thus the only seeming objection that can be urged to the position here taken is removed out of the way. STTHD 195.1