Beginning of the End

The True Heavenly Sanctuary

The earthly sanctuary was “symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered”; its two holy places were “copies of the things in the heavens.” Christ, our great High Priest, is “a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man” (Hebrews 9:9, 23; 8:2). BOE 173.2

The apostle John was given a view of the temple of God in heaven. He saw there “seven lamps of fire” that “were burning before the throne.” He saw an angel “having a golden censer ... . He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne” (Revelation 4:5; 8:3). Here the prophet was permitted to look into the first apartment of the sanctuary in heaven. Again, “the temple of God was opened in heaven,” and within the inner veil he looked on the holy of holies. Here he saw “the ark of His covenant” (Revelation 11:19), represented by the sacred chest that Moses constructed to contain the law of God. BOE 173.3

Paul declares that “the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry,” when completed, were “the copies of things in the heavens” (Hebrews 9:21, 23). And John says that he saw the sanctuary in heaven. That sanctuary, in which Jesus ministers in our behalf, is the great original. The sanctuary Moses built was a copy. BOE 173.4

The earthly sanctuary and its services were to teach important lessons concerning the heavenly sanctuary and the work done there for saving human beings. BOE 173.5

After His ascension, our Savior was to begin His work as our High Priest. “Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us” (Hebrews 9:24). Christ’s priestly ministry was to consist of two great divisions, each occupying a period of time and having a distinctive place in the heavenly sanctuary. So the symbolic, earthly ministry consisted of two divisions—the daily and the yearly service—and an apartment of the tabernacle was devoted to each. BOE 173.6

At His ascension, Christ appeared in the presence of God to plead His blood for repentant believers. To symbolize this, the priest in the daily ministration sprinkled the blood of the sacrifice in the holy place on the sinner’s behalf. BOE 174.1

Though the blood of Christ was to release the repentant sinner from the condemnation of the law, it was not to conceal the sin, which would stand on record in the sanctuary until the final atonement. So in the symbolic services of the sanctuary, the blood of the sin offering removed the sin from the repenting person, but it stayed in the sanctuary until the Day of Atonement. BOE 174.2

In the great day of final award, the dead will be “judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books” (Revelation 20:12). Then the sins of all the truly repentant ones will be blotted from the books of heaven. Thus the sanctuary will be freed, or cleansed, from the record of sin. In the symbolic service this great work of blotting out of sins was represented by the services of the Day of Atonement, the cleansing of the earthly sanctuary by removing the sins that had polluted it. BOE 174.3

In the final atonement the sins of the truly penitent are to be blotted from the records of heaven, no more to be remembered or come into mind. So in the symbolic service they were carried away into the wilderness, separated from the congregation forever. BOE 174.4

Since Satan is the one responsible for all the sins that caused the death of the Son of God, justice demands that Satan suffer the final punishment. Christ’s work to redeem men and women and to purify the universe from sin will be closed by placing these sins on Satan, who will bear the final penalty. So in the earthly service, the yearly cycle of services was closed by purifying the sanctuary and confessing the sins on the head of the scapegoat. BOE 174.5

So in the services of the tabernacle, each day the people were taught the great truths of Christ’s death and ministry, and once each year, their thoughts were carried into the future, to the closing events of the great controversy between Christ and Satan, and the final purifying of the universe from sin and sinners. BOE 174.6