The Sanctuary and the 2,300 Days

THE earthly sanctuary was only made as the pattern of the sanctuary in heaven. Heb. 8 and 9. Itself and its services pertained only to the first covenant. Heb. 9:1. With the introduction of the new covenant came the real sanctuary of God, the tabernacle which the Lord pitched, and not man. Heb. 8:1, 2. While the first tabernacle stood, it signified that the way into the holy places of the heavenly temple was not opened. Heb. 9:8. But when our Lord ascended on high, he became a great High Priest, and by his own blood he entered the temple of God. Verses 11, 12. The order of his ministration is clearly indicated by the service in the two apartments of the earthly sanctuary. Heb. 8:5; 9:8-12; 10:1. And we are able to trace the ministration of Christ in these two apartments of the temple above in the New Testament.

Thus, when John looked into the temple of God in heaven, he saw the Father sitting upon the throne, and before the throne were seven lamps burning. Rev. 4. In this place also he saw the Son of God. Rev. 5. Before the throne also stood the golden altar of incense. Rev. 8:3. These things do clearly mark the first apartment of the heavenly sanctuary, and show that this was the place where our Lord began his ministration as our High Priest.

But there is a time when his ministration is to be within the second apartment. This is marked in John's statement of the events under the seventh trumpet: "And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament. Rev. 11:19. The ark marks the second apartment as the seven lamps and the golden altar of incense mark the first. The second apartment is therefore opened under the seventh angel, and the days (or years) at the beginning of his voice constitute the period in which the mystery of God, or work of the gospel for fallen man is finished. Rev. 10:7; Eph. 3: 4-6. It is certain therefore, that as there was a time each year devoted to the finishing up of the round of service in "the example and shadow of heavenly things," so is there such a period in the conclusion of Christ's ministration, when once for all our High Priest finishes his work of priesthood; and as this work in the former dispensation took place in the second apartment, so also under the new covenant does this work find its accomplishment within the second vail by the ark of the ten commandments. The work in the second apartment of the earthly sanctuary does not therefore represent the work of the whole gospel dispensation, but only of that part of it devoted to the finishing of the mystery of God.

The work within the second apartment was for the cleansing of the sanctuary, and this was performed by the high priest with blood, and when it was accomplished the sins of the people were blotted out. It was, therefore, an event of the greatest importance to the people of God. The heavenly sanctuary is to be cleansed, and for the same reason that the earthly sanctuary was cleansed. So Paul testifies in Heb. 9:23. The same word which Paul uses to express the purification in this text is used in the Septuagint version of Dan. 8:14, for cleansing. The prophecy of Daniel shows us that the sanctuary of God is cleansed in the last days of the new covenant dispensation. The sanctuary of the new covenant is in heaven. Heb. 8:1, 2. This heavenly sanctuary is to be cleansed; for Paul affirms it. Heb. 9:23. The time marked for its cleansing is that fixed by John for the finishing of the mystery of God. Rev. 11:19; 10:7. The cleansing of the sanctuary is the removal from it of the sins of the people of God that had been borne into it by the High Priest, and their blotting out from the record that stands against the saints, preparatory to their being placed upon the head of the scape-goat, or Azazel.

Now, this Azazel, as the word is in the original, or scape-goat, as some translations render it, can be no other than Satan. For the being that receives the sins of the righteous after the High Priest has finished his work in the sanctuary, can be no other than Satan, the author of sin. The word Azazel was understood by the ancient people of God to mean Satan. When, therefore, the goat was sent into a land not inhabited, it represents the fact that Satan at the conclusion of Christ's work as priest shall be cast into the bottomless pit. Rev. 20.

The treading under foot of the sanctuary is not performed by literally trampling it in the dust. It is trodden under foot in the same manner that men are represented as treading under foot the Son of God who ministers in that sanctuary. Heb. 10:29.

But does Daniel's vision really take in the heavenly sanctuary? We know that the earthly sanctuary as understood by him was the temple of God. Dan. 9:17, 26. His view was in exact harmony with that of Paul in Heb. 9:1-5. And ought we not to understand that the entire 2,300 days belong to the temple in old Jerusalem? Such is the view taken by some, and yet it is not at all in harmony with the statement of Gabriel. The entire period of 2,300 days does not belong to old Jerusalem; for Gabriel said, "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city." The words literally translated from the Hebrew are, "Seventy weeks are CUT OFF upon thy people, and upon thy holy city." Dan. 9:24. So we have the highest authority for saying that only 490 of the 2,300 days pertain to the earthly sanctuary. And it is worthy of notice that the actual transition from the earthly sanctuary to that of the new covenant, which is the heavenly, is in close proximity to the end of the 490 days.

And this is not all. Gabriel introduces the heavenly sanctuary itself; for the last event mentioned under the seventy weeks is the anointing of the most holy. In the Hebrew, this is the anointing of the holy of holies. This cannot mean Christ, but must mean the sanctuary of God. It cannot mean the earthly sanctuary; for that was left of God at, this very time ( Matt. 23:38 ), and was, with all the typical system, here set aside. The anointing of the sanctuary was that which prepared the way for the ministration therein. Lev. 8:10. The ministration in the earthly sanctuary was now finished, and that in the heavenly was about to commence. The sanctuary, therefore, which at this time was anointed, was that which at this very point took the place of the earthly sanctuary. It was the temple of God in heaven which Gabriel thus brings to Daniel's view. The 2,300 days do, therefore, embrace the closing period of the earthly sanctuary and the entire history of the ministration in the sanctuary of the new covenant. They end in the last days of the new covenant dispensation, and the cleansing of the sanctuary is the consummation of the work of our great High Priest therein. (Concluded next month.)