THE WORLDLY SANCTUARY by Elder M. H. Brown

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Dec 3, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 56.

THE WORLDLY SANCTUARY.

By Elder M. H. Brown

Its History.

THE worldly sanctuary was built by Moses B.C. 1490. The work of building occupied a period of six months, and it was set up on the first day of the first month of the next year after the exodus. When the sanctuary was ready as a dwelling place of the Lord, "a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle." Ex. 40: 34.

During the wanderings of the children of Israel in the wilderness the sanctuary was carried from place to place by the Levites who were chosen to do the Lord's work. Being a movable structure it was taken down whenever they went onward in their journey, and it was set up when they camped. The Lord's presence and leadership were manifested by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, abiding over the tabernacle. When the Lord wished them to journey, the cloud rose up from the tabernacle and led them in the direction which the Lord wished them to go. When he wished them to camp, the cloud rested down over the tabernacle. Ex. 40: 36-38.

After the entrance of the children of Israel into the land of promise, B.C. 1451, the sanctuary was more permanently located. It was first pitched in Gilgal, where the Israelites first camped after crossing the Jordan. It was next removed to Shiloh, where it was located until the time of Eli and Samuel the prophet, when, because of Israel's apostasy and the wickedness of Eli's sons, Israel was defeated by the Philistines and the ark of God was taken. Shiloh was about fifteen miles north of Jerusalem. Just how long the tabernacle remained at Shiloh after the ark was captured by the Philistines is not known. There is no evidence that the ark was ever placed in the tabernacle after that, or that God's presence was ever visibly manifested in it again.

The next mention of the tabernacle in the sacred record is found in the days of Saul. It was then located at Nob, a place about twelve miles north west of Jerusalem. Twenty years later, in the time of David, we find it at Gibeon. 1 Chron. 16: 39; 2 Chron. 1: 3. It remained at Gibeon until the building of the temple by Solomon, and then both the ark and tabernacle were placed in it. See 1 Kings 8, and 2 Chronicles 5.

The Temple of Solomon.

After the kingdom was well established in the time of David, he desired to erect a permanent and magnificent structure which would be more fitting as the dwelling place of God than the temporary structure, which had become old and worn, having been made several hundred years before.

The Lord committed this great work to Solomon, who completed the temple in seven years and a half. We find a description of this grand and beautiful structure in 1 Kings 6, and 2 Chronicles 2, 3, and 4. It was built according to a pattern, as was the tabernacle erected by Moses (1 Chron. 28: 10-19), and on the same general plan. It was composed of two apartments, the holy place and the most holy, but these apartments were twice as long and wide and three times as high as those apartments in the tabernacle, and everything was on a larger and grander scale.

In addition to the holy and most holy places there was a porch of ten cubits wide and twenty cubits long at the entrance, chambers for the priests, and "various courts and covered porches surrounding the whole. Altogether it covered a large area and presented an imposing and magnificent appearance. Rising from its commanding height like a mountain of marble and gold, it stood before the world a monument of splendor more gorgeous and wonderful than men had ever looked upon before. The carving of the walls of the house with figures of cherubim, the overlaying of it with pure gold within and without, the doors of olive trees adorned with carved work and overlaid with gold fitted to the carvings, with other innumerable costly ornaments and embellishments, were accomplished at an expense, says Dr. Clarke, which it is impossible to estimate.

"Two gigantic cherubim of olive wood overlaid with gold, each ten cubits high, were prepared for the most holy place, and put in position on either side of the spot upon which the ark was to rest. . . . Ten golden candlesticks shed their light in the holy place, and ten tables held the consecrated bread which was placed each Sabbath before the Lord. 2 Chron. 4: 7, 8."—Sanctuary and Its Cleansing.

The temple was dedicated the next year after its completion, and the Lord accepted it as his dwelling place, for we read that the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord. 1 Kings 8: 1-11; 2 Chron. 7: 1-3. The temple of Solomon then took the place of the tabernacle as the sanctuary or dwelling place of God, for Solomon was chosen to build an house for the sanctuary. 1 Chron. 28: 10. Over 150,000 men furnished by Hiram, king of Tyre, and 30,000 Jews were employed in gathering and preparing the material for, and in building, this wonderful structure. 1 Kings 5.

The Bible Dictionary of the American Tract Society says that the value of the gold and silver furnished by David for the building of the temple was more than $2,000,000,000.

The Temple Destroyed.

The apostasy of Israel and the profanation of the Sabbath brought God's judgments upon that people, and the holy city and the beautiful temple shared in the calamities that fell upon them. God had promised that if his people would be faithful to him and observe his holy Sabbath, Jerusalem would stand forever, but if they would not hearken unto him, their city would be destroyed. Jer. 17: 19-27. This warning was given them about 600 B.C. They had already suffered chastisement from the Lord several times because of disobedience. Jerusalem had been pillaged, and at that very time Daniel and his fellows were captives in Babylon. Daniel 1. In B.C. 588, only about two years afterward, Jerusalem and the temple were totally destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, and they were not rebuilt until after Babylon was overthrown by Medo-Persia.

The Temple Rebuilt.

Cyrus gave permission to the Jews to rebuild the temple B.C. 536. They began work under the direction of Zerubbabel and Joshua, but were hindered by their enemies, and the work ceased, until Darius issued a decree, B.C. 519, reaffirming and enlarging the decree of Cyrus, and under its sanction the temple was finished and dedicated about B.C. 515.

The restoration of the Jewish people to all their rights and privileges, and the rebuilding of Jerusalem, were not fully accomplished, however, until B.C. 408, in the time of Darius Nothus. This work was carried forward by Ezra under a decree or commandment issued by Artaxerxes Longimanus B.C. 457, in the seventh year of his reign. Ezra 7: 11-28.

The temple was pillaged and otherwise desecrated at different times, and especially by Antiochus Epiphanes, B.C. 168. It was repaired and purified about three years after by Judas Maccabeus, who restored the worship and dedicated the temple anew.

Rebuilt by Herod The Great.

Herod, after tearing down the temple to its foundations, began the work of rebuilding it B.C. 19, and it was finished A.D. 28, forty-six years afterward. John 2: 20. To this temple, as was prophesied by Haggai, Christ, the desire of all nations, came. Hag. 2: 7-9. Its glory was greater than the temple of Solomon, although the sacred ark, the Urim and Thummim, the holy fire upon the altar, and the glorious shekinah were not there. Their absence from the temple was more than made up by the personal presence and teaching of the Lord of Glory himself. The building erected by Herod was also larger and more magnificent than the one it displaced.

"Its appearance," says Josephus, "had everything that could strike the mind and astonish the sight; for it was on every side covered with solid plates of gold, so that when the sun rose upon it, it reflected such a dazzling refulgence that the eye of the beholder was obliged to turn away from it, being no more able to sustain its radiance than the splendor of the sun. It appeared at a distance like a huge mountain covered with snow; for where it was not decorated with plates of gold, it was extremely white and glistening."

Its Final Destruction.

The utter destruction of Jerusalem

and the temple or sanctuary is foretold in Dan. 9: 26, and by the Saviour in Matt. 24: 1, 2, and Luke 19: 41-44. These prophecies were fulfilled to the letter A.D. 70, when the Romans under Titus captured and destroyed both the city and the sanctuary. Efforts were made to rebuild the temple, especially by Julian, the Roman emperor, A.D. 363, but they were unsuccessful. It was said that terrific explosions and outbursts of flames stopped the work. The Moslem Mosque of Omar, built in A.D. 635, is supposed to stand on the very site once occupied by the holy temple. The temple had served the purpose for which God designed it, and we now study the tabernacle and its priestly service to learn concerning the true tabernacle in heaven, and the service of our great High Priest, who is a "minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man." Heb. 8: 1, 2.