Synopsis of the Present Truth

CHAPTER 5. The Sanctuary

The Prophecy of Daniel 8:14 simply declares that at the end of the 2300 days the sanctuary shall be cleansed. The subject of the sanctuary thus becomes the central and controlling question in this prophecy. If we regard it as something which is to be cleansed only at the coming of Christ, then the 2300 days must extend to Christ’s coming. Many hold it in this light, and hence their continual efforts to readjust the prophetic periods, and set new times for the Lord to come. SYNPT 27.1

The word sanctuary occurs in the Bible 144 times, and both the definition of the word and its use, show it to mean a holy or a sacred place, and a dwelling place for God. This fact should guard any one against applying it to any object which will not bear this definition, or to which it is not applied in the Scriptures. SYNPT 27.2

QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER FIVE.
1. What is stated in Daniel 8:14?
2. How does the subject of the sanctuary affect our views of the coming of Christ?
3. How many times does the word sanctuary occur in the Bible?
4. What is the definition of the word?
5. Why may not the earth be the sanctuary?
6. Why not the land of Canaan?

The earth is not the sanctuary; for it is not a holy or sacred place; and the Scriptures never call it the sanctuary. The land of Canaan is not the sanctuary, for the same reasons. Neither can the term be applied to any limited portion of the land, as to Jerusalem, or Mt. Zion; for though these were spoken of while the Hebrew people maintained the favor of God, as holy, and a place where God would dwell, it is evidently because his temple was there, which he had caused to be erected for his habitation. For this reason Moses once speaks of the mountain of inheritance as the sanctuary, Exodus 15:17, just as David calls Judah, in one instance the sanctuary, Psalm 114:2, and in another instance, Mt. Zion; Psalm 78:68; but the tribe was not the mountain, any more than the mountain was the sanctuary; but the tribe possessed the mountain, and upon the mountain was the sanctuary “built,” says David, “like high palaces.” Psalm 78:69. However, Paul settles the question so far as pertains to the whole Mosaic dispensation, covered by the first covenant, and tells us emphatically that another object was the sanctuary during that time. Hebrews 9:1, 2. SYNPT 27.3

QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER FIVE.
7. Can the term be applied to any limited portion of the land, as to Mt. Zion or Jerusalem, and why not?
8. What does David say of the tribe of Judah, and how is his language explained?
9. What does David say of the sanctuary in Psalm 78:69?
10. How does Psalm 78:54, 69, explain Exodus 15:17?
11. What bearing does Paul’s language in Hebrews 9:1, 2 have upon this part of the subject?
12. Is the church the sanctuary?
13. What can be said of Psalm 114:2?
14. If at any time the church was the sanctuary, could it be the sanctuary of Daniel 8:14, and why?

The church is not the sanctuary; for it is nowhere called such. One text, mentioned above Psalm 114:2, is sometimes quoted to prove the church the sanctuary; but that has been already explained; and even if it was to be taken in its most rigidly literal sense, it would only prove that a particular tribe, and not the whole church was the sanctuary. But the statement quoted from Paul, Hebrews 9:1, 2, applies to this very time when Judah constituted a portion of God’s people, and he tells us that something else was then the sanctuary. And further, if the church ever constituted the sanctuary, even then it could not be the sanctuary of Daniel 8:14; for there the church is brought to view by the term “host” as an object entirely distinct from the sanctuary. SYNPT 28.1

But to return to Paul’s statement in Hebrews 9:1, 2. What is that which he says was the sanctuary during the continuance of the first covenant? Answer, The tabernacle built by Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, which was afterward embodied in the temples of Solomon, Zerubbabel, and Herod. This is described in full in Exodus 25, and onward. This settles the subject of the sanctuary down to the time of Christ. The only question now to be decided is, Has there been a sanctuary since that time? and if so, what? SYNPT 29.1

QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER FIVE.
15. What does Paul say was the sanctuary of the first covenant? Reference.
16. Where is this described?
17. How much is settled by Paul’s language?
18. What question remains?
19. Has the new covenant a sanctuary?
20. When and by whom was the new covenant introduced and ratified?
21. Where does Christ perform his ministry?
22. While in Heaven of what is he a minister?

These questions are definitely answered in the writings of Paul. He says that the second covenant has a sanctuary, the same as the first. The new covenant was introduced and ratified by Christ. He is its minister. His ministry is performed in Heaven. He is there a minister of the sanctuary, the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched and not man. Hebrews 8:1, 2. The sanctuary of this covenant is, therefore, where the minister is, in Heaven. The sanctuary of the first covenant was a type of the Heavenly sanctuary of the new. Moses, when he made the tabernacle, made it after a pattern. Exodus 25:9, 40; 26:30; Acts 7:44; Hebrews 8:5. That was made with hands (by men); Hebrews 9:24; the one in Heaven, not by men, but by the Lord, Hebrews 8:2; 9:11. The earthly sanctuary is twice called a figure, and once a pattern of the sanctuary in Heaven. Hebrews 9:9, 23, 24. The Heavenly sanctuary is called the greater and more perfect tabernacle, and the true, in comparison with the earthly. Hebrews 9:11, 24. SYNPT 29.2

QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER FIVE.
23. Where then is the new covenant sanctuary?
24. What relation did the sanctuary of the first covenant bear to that of the new?
25. What was Moses commanded when about to make the tabernacle? References.
26. How is the earthly sanctuary spoken of in Hebrews 9:9, 23, 24?
27. What is the Heavenly sanctuary called in comparison with the earthly?
28. What was shown to John in vision? References.
29. What is the Heavenly sanctuary called by David and Habakkuk? References.
30. What by Jeremiah and Zechariah? References.

But more than this, John in his vision of things in Heaven saw there the antitype of the golden candlestick, the altar of incense, the golden censer, and the ark of God’s testament, all instruments of the sanctuary, the presence of which unmistakably proves the existence of the sanctuary where they were seen. And John also had a view of the sanctuary itself, which he brings to view under the name of “the temple of God in Heaven.” Revelation 4:1, 5; 8:3; 11:19. Thus it is called also by David and Habakkuk. Psalm 11:4; Habakkuk 2:20. It is called God’s “holy habitation” by Jeremiah and Zechariah. Jeremiah 25:30; Zechariah 2:13. SYNPT 30.1

QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER FIVE.
31. What was connected with the sanctuary?
32. How many apartments had the sanctuary?
33. What was the first called?
34. The second?
35. What was in the first apartment?
36. What in the second?
37. How was the cover of the ark made, and what was it called?
38. Who ministered in this sanctuary?
39. Where is the ministry described?
40. What was done by a person who had sinned?
41. What was done with the blood on the victim?
42. What effect did this have on the person’s sin?
43. How long did services like this go on?
44. What was meanwhile accumulating in the sanctuary?
45. What was the service changed?
46. Where was this special service performed?

Having found the sanctuary, we now inquire, What is its cleansing? With the sanctuary there were connected instruments of service and a priesthood. The sanctuary contained two apartments, separated by a veil. The first was called the holy place, the second the most holy. In the holy place were the candlestick with seven branches, the table of show-bread, and the altar of incense. In the most holy was the ark, containing the tables of the ten commandments. The cover of the ark, beaten out of a solid piece of gold with the figure of a cherub on either end, was the mercy-seat. In this sanctuary the priests ministered. This ministry is described in Leviticus 1 and onward. When a person had sinned, he brought his offering to the door of the tabernacle to the priest, laid his hands upon the head of his offering, and confessed upon him his sin, took his life, and the blood was taken by the priest into the sanctuary and sprinkled before the veil. His sin was thus transferred to the sanctuary. This went on through the year continually, sin all the while accumulating in the sanctuary, till the tenth day of the seventh month, when the priest performed a special service in the most holy place, to close the yearly round of ministration, called the cleansing of the sanctuary. On this day two goats were brought and set apart by lot to the Lord and to Azazel. See Leviticus 16:8, margin. The blood of the goat for the Lord was taken and sprinkled by the priest upon the mercy-seat in the most holy place, to make atonement for the sanctuary and for the sins of the people. Coming out he confessed over the scape-goat all the sins of the people and thus placed them upon his head. Leviticus 16:21. This goat was then sent away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness. Thus the sanctuary was cleansed, and sin was put away from the people. SYNPT 31.1

QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER FIVE.
47. What was it called?
48. To perform this service what did the priest first take? Leviticus 16:5, 7.
49. How and to whom were these goats set apart?
50. What was done with the blood of the goat set apart for the Lord?
51. For what purpose was this blood sprinkled upon the mercy-seat?
52. On coming out from the sanctuary, what did the priest do?
53. Where did this place the sins of the people?
54. What was then done with this goat?
55. In what condition did this leave the sanctuary and the people?

But all this was a figure. That sanctuary, those offerings, the work of the priests, all were figures. Paul says of the priests that they “served unto the example and shadow of heavenly things.” Hebrews 8:4, 5. All looked forward to the greater and more perfect priesthood after the order of Melchisedec, performed, Paul says by Christ in Heaven. Christ is at once the antitype of the offering and the priesthood. He first shed his blood and provided the offering. Then he entered upon his work as priest. What the earthly priests did in figure, he does in fact. They transferred the sins of the penitent to the earthly sanctuary in figure. He transfers them to the Heavenly sanctuary in fact. SYNPT 32.1

We come to Christ for pardon, and this is the way we receive it. To deny this is to deny all that Paul has taught us in the book of Hebrews respecting the relation of the work of those ancient priests to work of Christ as our High Priest in Heaven. SYNPT 33.1

QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER FIVE.
56. What was the nature of all this service?
57. Unto what did Paul say that these priests served?
58. To what did all their service look forward?
59. Of what is Christ the antitype?
60. What did he first provide?
61. Upon what work did he then enter?
62. What is the nature of his work compared with that of the earthly priests?
63. When we receive pardon from Christ, what disposition is made of our sins?
64. Must the Heavenly sanctuary be cleansed, and why?
65. Where is this stated?
66. From what is it to be cleansed?
67. When was it to be cleansed?
68. What proof that the Heavenly sanctuary must be the one referred to?
69. How is its cleansing to be performed?
70. How often is a round of service performed in the antitype?

The Heavenly sanctuary must be cleansed for the same reason that the earthly was cleansed. This Paul expressly states. Hebrews 9:22, 23. Any who object to things being cleansed in Heaven, must settle that with the apostle. The cleansing, however, was not from physical uncleanness, but from sin. When was this to be cleansed? At the end of the 2300 days in 1844. There was no other sanctuary then in existence but the Heavenly sanctuary of the new covenant; hence that is the one to which that prophecy applies. How is the cleansing in this case to be performed? Just as in the type, by a closing service in the most holy place. The high priest passes into the most holy which he enters only for this purpose, makes the atonement by the offering of blood upon the mercy-seat, and closes the round of sanctuary service. In the type this round was completed every year. In the antitype it is performed once for all. The type and the prophecy of the 2300 days hold us to the conclusion that in 1844 Christ entered upon his final work as priest in the second apartment of the sanctuary in Heaven. In the type one day of the year was set apart to this work, and a portion of the day was actually employed in the service. In the antitype the time is indefinite, but it must be comparatively brief. SYNPT 33.2

QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER FIVE.
71. What must we conclude, therefore, took place in 1844?
72. In the type how much time was employed in this service?
73. In the antitype, how much?
74. What ends with Christ’s work as priest?
75. What is this work of decision?
76. What part of the Judgment must it be?
77. What part of his work does Christ finish before his second advent?
78. What must therefore take place before Christ comes?
79. What scripture sustains this view?
80. How does it meet the necessities of the case?
81. What subject provides for this necessary preliminary work of Judgment?
82. What is the work of Christ during this time?

As this concludes Christ’s work as priest, with it probation ends, as there is no more mercy to be offered. And when that point is reached, all cases are decided for eternity. But this work of decision is a work of Judgment. It must be the first part of that three-fold work of Judgment solemnly declared in God’s word to await all mankind: first, to decide all cases; secondly, to determine the rewards or punishments; thirdly, to execute the sentence written. But Christ does not make his second advent till his work as priest is done. Therefore, before the coming of Christ a portion of the work of Judgment transpires and probation ends. This accords with Revelation 22:11, 12: “He that is unjust let him be unjust still, ... and he that is holy let him be holy still. And, behold, I come quickly.” It accords also with the necessities of the case; for when Christ appears there is no time allotted for a work of Judgment, yet all the righteous dead are then raised, leaving the wicked to sleep on for a thousand years, and all the righteous living are changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. This conclusively shows that decision must have been rendered in their cases before the coming of the Lord. SYNPT 34.1

In the cleansing of the sanctuary we have just the time and place for this preliminary or investigative work of Judgment. This is the very nature of the work of Christ at this time to put away sin and so decide who are righteous. This involves an examination of the books of record containing the deeds of every man’s life; for all Judgment is rendered according to every man’s work written in the books. Revelation 20:12. Hence in the account of the opening of this scene in the most holy of the Heavenly sanctuary, as given in Daniel 7:9, 10, we read that “the Judgment was set and the books were opened.” This is before the coming of Christ; for it is before the destruction of the papal beast on account of the great words of the little horn. Verse 11. Here is where the Son of man is brought to the Ancient of Days, and receives his kingdom, which kingdom he receives before his return to this earth. Daniel 7:13, 14; Luke 19:12. SYNPT 35.1

QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER FIVE.
83. What does this involve?
84. From what is all Judgment rendered? Reference.
85. What scene does Daniel 7:9, 10 describe?
86. What is said of the books at this time?
87. What shows that this is before the coming of Christ?
88. Where does the Son of man receive from the Ancient of Days his kingdom?
89. Does he receive his kingdom before his return to earth? Reference.
90. To what does Acts 3:19, 20 apply?

Here sins, repented of and pardoned, are blotted out; Acts 3:19, 20; which work being ended, Christ is sent the second time to this earth. But if at this time a person’s sins are not in a condition to be blotted out, his name is blotted out of the book of life. Revelation 3:5. Here Christ confesses the names of his people before his Father, receiving of the Father acceptance of them through him. SYNPT 35.2

This is the finishing of the mystery of God, brought to view in Revelation 10:7. The mystery of God is the gospel to all nations. Ephesians 3:3 compared with Galatians 1:12; Ephesians 1:9; 3:9; Romans 16:25, 26; Colossians 1:25, 27. The finishing of this mystery, must be the close of the gospel work which will cease when Christ’s work as priest is done. Therefore the cleansing of the sanctuary, the investigative Judgment, and the finishing of the mystery of God, are all one and the same work. SYNPT 36.1

QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER FIVE.
91. When will Revelation 3:5 be fulfilled?
92. What is the mystery of God? References.
93. What is the finishing of this mystery?
94. To what does Revelation 10:7 apply?
95. How is it shown that Revelation 10:6 applies to prophetic time?
96. With what does prophetic time end?
97. To what point does Revelation 10:6 bring us?
98. What did the angel say to Daniel and John would then take place?
99. Are these the same?
100. What trumpet marked the commencement of this work?
101. What event is given in Revelation 11:19 to mark the sounding of the 7th angel?
102. To what work does this introduce us?

The commencement of this work is marked by the end of the great period of 2300 days, and the commencement of the sounding of the 7th angel, the last of the series of the 7 trumpets. The angel of Revelation 10 announces the close of prophetic time. Verse 6. This must be prophetic time; for literal time, duration, continues in the days of the 7th angel subsequently mentioned; and the probationary time continues in the announcement of another message of mercy. Verse 11. Prophetic time ends with the 2300 days, which is the longest prophetic period and reaches down to the latest point. Hence, Revelation 10:6 brings us to the conclusion of the 2300 days. Then, said the angel to Daniel, shall the sanctuary be cleansed. Then, said the angel to John, shall the mystery of God be finished; which is the same thing. This he said would be in the days when the 7th angel should begin to sound; that it would occupy the first years of his sounding. And again John says, when the 7th angel began to sound, the temple of God was opened in Heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament. Revelation 11:19. This introduces us into the second apartment of the Heavenly sanctuary; but the work in that apartment is the cleansing of the sanctuary, the investigative Judgment, the finishing of the mystery of God, which consequently commenced when the 7th angel began to sound. SYNPT 36.2

QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER FIVE.
103. What was done with sins borne from the sanctuary?
104. Who is the antitype scape-goat?
105. What does the word Azazel mean?
106. When did Christ bear our sins, and in what sense?
107. When does the scape-goat, or Satan, bear them?

The sins being borne from the sanctuary in the type, were laid upon the head of the scape-goat, which was then sent away to perish. This was the shadow of some service in connection with the Heavenly sanctuary by which our sins are to be put away in fact forever. Upon whom could they more appropriately fall at last than upon the devil, the author and instigator of sin? Satan is the antitypical scape-goat. Azazel, Leviticus 16:8, margin, is held on good authority to mean the devil. True, Christ is said to have borne our sins, but that was upon the cross before he commenced his priestly work. He never after bears them except as priest; and the last he does with them is to lay them upon the head of their author, the devil, who is sent away with them to a land not inhabited. The account of this binding of Satan is found in Revelation 20:1-3. At the end of the thousand years, being loosed out of his prison by the resurrection of the wicked, whom he then again has power to deceive, even to bring them up against the camp of the saints, Revelation 20:8, 9, he is, with them, forever destroyed by fire from God out of Heaven. Then comes the day of the execution of the Judgment, and perdition of ungodly men. 2 Peter 3:7. Sins are then put away forever. Evil is destroyed root and branch. A new heavens and earth succeed the old. Verse 13. The saints enter upon their everlasting inheritance, and the universal song of jubilee goes up from a holy and happy universe to God and the Lamb. Revelation 5:13. SYNPT 37.1

QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER FIVE.
108. Where is the account of the binding of Satan found?
109. What takes place at the end of the thousand years?
110. What day is this? Reference.
111. What follows?