SYNOPSIS OF THE PRESENT TRUTH.
By Uriah Smith
THE CLEANSING OF THE SANCTUARY, (CONCLUDED).
4. OUR fourth reason for this position is the very striking manner in which it harmonizes with the events to transpire in connection with the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary, as far as revealed to us in the Scriptures. We behold in the type, 1. The sin of the transgressor imparted to the victim. 2. We see that sin borne in by the priest in the blood of the offering into the sanctuary. 3. On the tenth day of the seventh month we see the priest with the blood of the sin-offering for the people, remove all these sins from the sanctuary, and lay them upon the head of the scape-goat. 4. The goat bears them away into a land not inhabited. Answering to these events in the type, we behold in the antitype, 1. The great offering for the world made on Calvary. 2. The sins of all those who avail themselves of the merits of Christ's shed blood, by faith in him, by his blood and ministration borne into the sanctuary. 3. After Christ, the minister of the true tabernacle (Heb. 8:2), has finished his ministration, he will remove the sins of his people from the sanctuary, and lay them upon the head of their author, the antitypical scape-goat, the devil. 4. The devil will be sent away with them into a land not inhabited. If we want a description of this event in plain terms we find it in Rev. 20:1-3: “And I saw an angel come down from Heaven having the key of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years should be fulfilled.” Now we would ask, What could be more fitting than that the author and instigator of all sin should receive the guilt of those transgressions which he has incited mortals to commit, but of which they have repented, back upon his own head? And what could be a more striking antitype of the ancient ceremony of sending away the scape-goat into the wilderness, than the act of the mighty angel in binding Satan and casting him into the bottomless pit at the commencement of the thousand years. This is a point of transcendent interest to every believer. Then the sins of God's people will be borne away to be remembered no more forever. Then he who instigated them, will have received them back again. Then the serpent's head will have been bruised by the seed of the woman. Then the “strong man armed,” (Satan,) will have been bound by a stronger than he, (Christ,) and the house of the strong man (the grave) spoiled of its goods, (the saints). Matt. 12:29; Heb. 2:14. Then will the work of the enemy, in sowing tares among the wheat (Matt. 13:24-43), be forever remedied; the tares will have been gathered into bundles to burn, and the wheat gathered into the garner. Then our great High Priest will have come forth from the sanctuary to pronounce the everlasting blessing upon his waiting people. Then shall we have come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels. Then will the redeemed, placing the foot of triumph upon the world, the flesh, and the devil, raise their glad voices in the song of Moses and320the Lamb. O glorious day! May the Lord hasten it in his good time. Who would not, in view of this, take up the petition of the beloved John, “Even so, come Lord Jesus!” These are scenes to which the children of hope in this lower world love to look forward. On these hang their brightest anticipations. These are the very portals to the glorious city, and to their eternal inheritance. We are aware that some will be ready to say that sins cannot be suffered for but once, and that it is absurd that Satan should suffer for those sins for which Christ has already suffered. But how long will such hold to this position? Let us see. For whom did Christ die? for a chosen few only, or for all? Evidently for all, otherwise all could not have an opportunity of repentance. “Well then,” says one who is wedded to the pleasures of sin, “if sin can be suffered for but once, and Christ has suffered for my sins, what have I to fear? There is no suffering for sin for me to endure. I will therefore cull all the enjoyment I can from the pleasures of this world, and on the threshold of eternity I will take my stand beside the holiest saint that ever lived, and claim an equal right with him to the glories of Heaven; for Christ suffered for me as well as for him; and therefore I am as free.” This is exactly the issue of the view taken; but the staunchest Universalist would require nothing better. Unless therefore we wish to yield the specific teachings of the Bible and become Universalists at once, we must abandon this theory. But its advocates may still contend that the wicked are exceptions, but that certainly sins that have been pardoned can never after be occasion of suffering to any being. But if when sins are pardoned that is the last of them, we would inquire how it happens that those very sins are transferred to the sanctuary, and impurity imputed to it on their account. That this is so is one of the plainest teachings of the Bible. It is also certain that these sins are to be removed from the sanctuary; and we would ask those who endorse the theory under consideration, what then is to be done with them, unless they are to be laid upon the head of their old author, the devil. From the fact that our sins when forgiven are only transferred through the blood of Christ to the sanctuary, we learn that the pardon of our sins is only removing from us their guilt, by imputing to us the righteousness of another. But we are not the originators of sin. Behind all our transgressions there stands a guilty instigator; and why should it be thought more incredible or unscriptural that the guilt of those sins of which we repent, should be imputed to him who prompted us to commit them, than that the righteousness of Christ, upon our repenting, should be imputed to us? Rom. 2:22; 2 Cor. 5:21. Why it was anciently that the sins of Israel were borne into the sanctuary and finally carried away on the head of the scape-goat into the wilderness, and why our sins are now transferred to the sanctuary through the blood of Christ, to be laid finally upon the head of the great antitypical scape-goat, the devil —why this arrangement was made instead of some other, is not for us to inquire into nor question. It is among the “mysteries of godliness;” [2 Tim. 3:16;] and, says the Prophet, [Deut. 29:26,] “The secret things belong unto the Lord our God; but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever.” U. S. HOME COURTESIES.—A retired governess says: “I am one of those whose lot in life has been to go out into an unfriendly world at an early age; and of nearly twenty families, in which I made my home in the course of about thirty years, there were only three that could be designated as happy families. The source of trouble was not so much the lack of love, as the lack of care to manifest it.” The closing words of this sentence gives us the fruitful source of family alienations, of heart aches innumerable, of sad faces, and gloomy home circles. “Not so much the lack of love, as the lack of love to manifest it.” What a world of misery is suggested by this brief remark! Not more than three happy families in twenty!—and the cause so manifest, and so easily remedied! Ah! in “the small, sweet courtesies of life,” what power resides! In a look, a word, a tone, how much of happiness or disquietude may be communicated! Think of it, readers, and take the lesson home with you.