THE language of Paul in Heb. 9:1 shows that the new covenant has its sanctuary as well as the old; for he speaks in the latter part of chapter eight of the new covenant, in comparison with the old, and then in chapter nine verse one says: "Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary." If the old had also a sanctuary, the new has preëminently a sanctuary and ordinances of divine service; for it must be on the strength of that fact that this statement is made.
Christ ascended from this earth a literal, visible, tangible being, retaining even the marks of his crucifixion. We cannot suppose that as soon as the cloud received him out of the sight of the disciples, he immediately vanished into an immaterial nonentity, which can have no place or location. No; Christ, as a literal, personal being, acting as mediator between God and man, must have some literal, tangible location, and the apostle tells us in Heb. 8:1, 2 where and what this is: "Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest [that is, a priest after the order of Melchizedek, not after the order of Aaron, see Hebrews 7], who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man."
The great fact here stated is plain beyond criticism or cavil. Allusion is made to the tabernacle pitched by Moses. That was indeed pitched by man. But there is a sanctuary or tabernacle in heaven which the Lord himself has built; and in this sanctuary in heaven, Christ, as our high priest, offers his gifts, or, in other words, pleads his own sacrifice and offers his own blood in behalf of men. Verse 3.
The apostle proceeds to prove this by the fact that the tabernacle of Moses was made "after a pattern," and that the priests ministered after "the example and shadow of heavenly things." And this rests on the instruction God gave to Moses. "See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount." Verse 5. See on this point Ex. 25:40; 26:30; 27:8; Num. 8:4, and Acts 7:44. The more permanent structure of the temple, like the tabernacle of Moses, was also built after a pattern which the Lord gave to David. 1 Chron. 28:11, 12, 19.
These structures the apostle further calls a "figure for the time then present" (Heb. 9:9), "patterns of things in the heavens" (verse 23), and "figures of the true" (verse 24). And, speaking of the place where Christ now ministers for us, he calls it "a greater and more perfect tabernacle." Verse 11. These testimonies establish beyond dispute that there is a sanctuary in heaven which constitutes the great original, from which the earthly building, in both the tabernacle and temple form, was constructed.
It is now in place to inquire in what the likeness consisted; for the temple was quite unlike the tabernacle in its outward form. How, then, could both be fashioned after one pattern in heaven? The likeness certainly did not consist in the size nor the outward circumstances of material and appearance, for in these respects nothing on earth can compare69with heavenly things; but there was one idea common to all, and in this the likeness must have consisted, and that was a building containing two apartments, each designed for a special ministry of the priests connected therewith. In this respect the earthly sanctuary was a "figure" and "shadow" of the greater and more perfect sanctuary in heaven, a celestial structure, pitched by the Lord himself, and not by man, containing two apartments, a holy and a most holy place, in which Christ, as our antitypical high priest, performs his work of mediation for mankind.
Into this sanctuary in heaven, this divine pattern of what was built in type here on earth, John was permitted to look, whilst in the spirit, on the isle of Patmos. "I looked," he says, "and, behold, a door was opened in heaven." Rev. 4:1. He there beheld the throne, and God upon it, the four and twenty elders sitting around it, a sea of glass before it, and lightnings, thunderings, and voices proceeding from it, and he adds, "There were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God." Here we have the antitype of the golden candlestick in the first apartment of the sanctuary.
Again (chapter 8:3-5), he saw an angel ministering at the altar of incense with a golden censer. Here we find still more of the furniture of the heavenly sanctuary.
And finally, he saw the sanctuary itself, the temple of God, and looked into the second apartment, and there beheld the ark of God's testament. He says, "And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament." Rev. 11:19.
We thus have before us every class of evidence that it is possible to present to show that there is a sanctuary pertaining to the new covenant, and that this sanctuary is in heaven, with Christ as its minister. First, Moses was shown a pattern, after which he was to make the sanctuary. What Moses erected would therefore be a representative, type, or figure of that which was shown him. This reveals the fact that the sanctuary built by Moses was not an independent, original building, but had reference to something else. Secondly, Paul, instructing the Hebrews in regard to the change of dispensations, and of the priesthood, plainly tells us what is the great original, or antitype, of that which Moses, through the pattern which was shown him, was instructed to build, and that this sanctuary is where "the throne of the Majesty in the heavens" is. He says there is a sanctuary which the Lord pitched, in contrast with that which was pitched by man here upon earth; that the one which Moses built was "a figure for the time then present;" that the holy places here were "patterns of things in the heavens," and "figures of the true." Heb. 8:12; 9:9, 23, 24. And, thirdly, John was given a view of things in heaven, and there saw the sanctuary of God, to which Moses referred as the pattern, and Paul had declared was in heaven; and, with reference thereto, he might exclaim, "Yes, it is so, that the true sanctuary is in heaven, for I saw it there; I saw the candlestick, and the altar of incense, and the censer; I saw the temple itself; and when the inner apartment of that temple was opened, there I saw the ark of God's testament." Rev. 4:5; 8:3; 11:19.
What need we more? How abundant and explicit is the testimony to show what constitutes the sanctuary under both the old and the new covenant! That of Moses constituted the sanctuary of the old covenant; the tabernacle in heaven constitutes the sanctuary of the new covenant. And these two objects, with the exception of a few figurative expressions, constitute the only sanctuary brought to view in the Bible. In the face of this testimony, what folly to claim that the earth is the sanctuary, or that the land of Palestine, or Jerusalem, or the church, or "the heart of man" (as some contend), ever was, or ever can be, the sanctuary of the Scriptures, where a ministration is carried forward for the grand purpose of removing sin from those who seek for pardon!
The texts quoted show not only what the sanctuary is, and where it is, but that Christ is the minister of that sanctuary, and that he has entered therein with his own blood, which is the true sacrifice offered for the world. In the light of these facts it is not difficult to understand the manner in which Christ's work is carried forward. All the separate divisions and every distinctive feature of the sanctuary work in the old dispensation, must find its counterpart in the work of Christ in the sanctuary in heaven.
While the first tabernacle stood, or while the old dispensation lasted, the attention of the world was not called to the sanctuary in heaven, and its specific work had not commenced; for thus Paul testifies: "The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all [Greek, plural, "holy places," that is, the holy places of the heavenly sanctuary] was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing." Heb. 9:8. But when the veil of the temple was rent in twain on the day of the crucifixion of Christ, it signified that the services of the worldly sanctuary were forever ended. And when Christ ascended, the ministration in the heavenly sanctuary began; at what particular point of time is immaterial.
He commenced his ministry in the first apartment of the sanctuary on high; for, as we have seen, the heavenly temple must contain two holy places, or the earthly was not that correct shadow of it which Paul says it was. And if it has two apartments, they must both be for ministry, as it was in the type. And the apostle repeatedly testifies that when Christ ascended, it was to minister in the holy places, plural. Proof: The word "sanctuary" in Heb. 8:2, "holiest of all" in chapter nine verse eight, "the holy place" in verse twelve, "the true" (holy places understood) in verse twenty-four, and the "holiest" in chapter ten verse nineteen, are all in the plural, meaning holy places; and the testimony is explicit that Christ has entered into these places, that is, that he has a ministry to perform in both of them. He does not, of course, minister in both of them at once, for the priests in the earthly sanctuary did not so do; but he was to perform a service in the first apartment, and conclude his ministry in the second, according to the example and shadow which were set before us in the sanctuary here on earth.
At this point the ideas, even of religious teachers, begin to grow vague and confused. They think and speak of Christ as away in some undefined condition, or region, called "heaven," interposing in some way in our behalf, they know not how, and to continue his work, if it may be called a work, without variation or change, they know not to what end nor how long. Such views spring, in part, from the wrong translations noticed above, also from a misapprehension of some passages of Scripture, and especially from losing sight of the plain lesson taught us in the subject of the sanctuary.
Thus, they say Christ has gone into the most holy, for he has gone "within the veil" (Heb. 6:19, 20), and the veil was that which divided between the holy and most holy. We answer that the conclusion drawn from this expression does not necessarily follow, for, as we have seen, the door to the first apartment was composed of "a veil," as well as that to the second; and if the apostle had meant the second veil here, he would have said so, as he does in chapter nine verse three.
Again, it is said that Paul cannot mean that there is a literal sanctuary in heaven; for he says that Christ's flesh is the veil. Heb. 10:20. But Paul does not say this. Read the text carefully and it will be seen that Christ's flesh is not the veil, but the "new and living way" that has been consecrated for us. The sense of verses nineteen and twenty would, we think, be better brought out by a little transposition. Thus: "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter, through the veil, into the holiest [plural, holy places] by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us, that is to say, his flesh." This brings out the idea more plainly. It is by the sacrifice of Christ, here called "his flesh," who nevertheless still lives, that we now enter to him into the sanctuary above, whether he be in the holy or the most holy place.
Another point is sometimes urged as evidence that when Christ ascended he must have entered at once into the most holy place; for he ascended to the right hand of his Father (Heb. 8:1), and the Father dwells between the cherubim (Ps. 80:1), and the cherubim were upon the mercy seat of the ark, which was always in the most holy place. The answer is, that the nearest representation that could be given to men of the throne of God here upon earth was the cherubim and the shekinah above it, in the most holy place of the sanctuary. And there it may be said that God, for the time being, dwelt. He said, "Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them." And it does not appear that David had reference to anything more than this temporary dwelling place of the Lord with his people in the sanctuary. But when we ascend to heaven we find that the throne of God is itself a living, moving throne of cherubim. Eze. 1:15-26; 10:16-22. And this throne, as these references show, being a living, moving throne, occupies different places at different times; and when John had his vision of heaven he saw this throne in the first apartment of the sanctuary, or holy place; for before the throne were seven lamps of fire, the antitype of the candlestick which was in the holy place. Rev. 4:2, 6. There the throne of God was when Christ ascended; and when the time comes for the ministration to be changed to the most holy, this living throne of cherubim can change its position also.
Let this point then be settled, that Christ, when he ascended, began his ministry in the first apartment of the sanctuary in heaven. But it could not continue there forever, for Christ's work as priest must sometime end, and before it closes he must perform a brief service in the most holy place, corresponding to the atonement in the type, on the last day of the sanctuary year.
FIFTEEN FACTS REGARDING THE SABBATH OF THE LORD.
By Francis McClellan Wilcox
BY ELDER F. M. WILCOX.
1. CHRIST is the active agent in the creation of all things (Col. 1:18; John 1:3; 1 Cor. 8:6); therefore Christ made the Sabbath.
2. Christ rested on the seventh day (Gen. 2:2), thus making it his Sabbath, or rest day.
3. The Sabbath was given to Adam, the father of the race, and was thus enjoined upon his descendants, the whole human family. Gen. 2:1-3; Mark 2:27.
4. The Sabbath was given to man in his innocence, and was therefore designed to meet the needs of a holy race.
5. In thus being given before sin entered the world, it therefore bore no relation to the types, ceremonies, or ritual connected with the remedial system of sacrificial offerings.
6. The Sabbath commandment is and was a part of God's law. As such it was observed by Abraham and all the holy patriarchs after sin entered, thus proving it to be suited to the needs of man in all conditions. Gen. 26:5.
7. The seventh day in particular is the specified holy day of the weekly cycle. This is emphasized by the fact that for forty years God rained manna from heaven, to supply the needs of his people for the first six days of the week, and withheld it every seventh day.
8. God is a moral Governor. He has given a law of moral principles for the guidance of man. All moral principles are eternal principles, reflections of the moral character of their divine Author. The Sabbath command was placed in the very bosom of that law of moral principles, thus proving it to be likewise moral in its nature, and as eternal and enduring as the other nine associated with it. Ex. 20:3-17; Neh. 9:13, 14.
9. When Christ, the Lord of the Sabbath, visited this earth, his bearing toward the day he had honored as his own was in keeping with its sacred character. He labored by precept and example to rid its observance of the burdensome traditions of the Jews, and bring it back to the place and use appointed it in the beginning,—a day of joy and delight. Matt. 5:17-19; 12:1-12.
10. It was customary for Christ to use at least a part of the seventh day for the purpose of public worship. Would we follow his example, we will do well to devote a part of it to the same object. Luke 4:16.
11. His most intimate disciples, those who performed for him the last sad rites of burial, understood nothing else from his example and teaching than that they should sacredly regard the day enjoined in the commandment. Luke 23:56.
12. These same disciples regarded the seventh day so holy that they would not perform upon it the work they did without scruple upon the first day of the week. Luke 23:56; 24:1.
13. The apostle Paul, following the example of Christ, by whom he had been instructed in many visions and revelations, used the seventh day of the week as a time for regular public worship. Acts 17:2; 18:4, 11.
14. This he did not alone while laboring for the Jews, but also when preaching to the Gentiles. Acts 13:14, 42, 44.
15. The Sabbath will be observed and regarded as a stated and set time for divine worship by the ransomed of the Lord in the70world to come. Isa. 66:22, 23. Thus does the Sabbath, like a mighty arch, span the gulf of sin, reaching from Eden, the garden of God, to Paradise restored. The design of God in its observance has been turned aside for a time, but not thwarted. In the eternal ages will the Sabbath institution, planted in beauty and holiness, be carried out according to the design of God—an eternal joy, blessing, and delight to the nations of men.
THE LORD'S RIGHTEOUSNESS.
By I. E. Kimball
BY ELDER I. E. KIMBALL.
WE have seen that it is in the power of Satan to make wrong seem right to us, and the evil seem good. Thus he "deceived the whole world." But the gospel is to turn us "from the power of Satan unto God," and the gospel "is the power of God." Righteousness comes wholly through this power; hence those who receive "abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life" finally. Salvation is, therefore, by grace through faith, not by the works of the law, for the works of the law are the works of sin without help from God. Salvation and strength are gifts of God. The "washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost," is what Paul calls being "saved by grace." The grace of Christ freely provided a ransom for us in the death of Christ. With him we are freely given all things that pertain to life and godliness. The faith of Christ takes hold upon the power of the Spirit of God to save to the uttermost, to give us power over all the power of the enemy, over all impatience, all intemperance, all sour and crabbed feelings, over all high-mindedness, and pride, over sickness, yea, over death itself; for that grace was, and is now, as freely bestowed upon the body as upon the mind and heart. Therefore we are exhorted not to grieve the Spirit, but to follow the Spirit, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; to walk in the Spirit, to sow to the Spirit, to crucify the flesh through the Spirit, to have our minds renewed through the Spirit, "to abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost." Our conscience is to "bear us witness in the Holy Ghost." "Praying with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit," and abounding in faith, love, and joy through the Holy Ghost.
In following the eternal Spirit we not only accept the ransom which it brings to us, but we become crucified with Christ and dead forever more to self. Then in losing our life we find it unto life eternal; but henceforth we live, yet not we but Christ liveth in us. The Spirit reigns, willing and doing God's good pleasure. Therefore, as Christ said, "The Father which dwelleth in me he doeth the works." So we may say, and be assured that the righteousness which is of faith is just such righteousness as Christ had. It will lead us to bear the fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5: 22, 23); and to do the works that Christ did (John 14: 12). We shall say with Christ, "I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy law is within my heart." The least deviation from the word which we have hid in our hearts will pain our "well-instructed soul."
The Spirit is said to be life to us because it is righteousness to us. So in 2 Cor. 3 our ministration as gospel ministers is said to be to minister the Spirit; for the Spirit giveth life. This is the "ministration of righteousness," as opposed to the ministration of the letter, which is the "ministration of condemnation." Thus the Spirit is here shown to be justification, righteousness, and life to us. The reason why the ministration of the letter (as contrasted with the Spirit) is condemnation, is that the law of sin in our members will surely remain there and bring forth fruit unto death, until the law of the Spirit of life sets us free from the law. If, then, only the letter of the law be administered to us, and we know not the Spirit, we shall inevitably find that the passions of sin, which are by the law will strive within us. The fleshly lusts will never be fully crucified; hence the righteousness of the law will never be fully met in us.
On this point Paul speaks of the Jews following the law of righteousness, yet never attaining to the law of righteousness, forever remaining "ignorant of God's righteousness," not submitting themselves to the righteousness of God, "for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness." Rom. 9:31; 10:1-4. That is, Christ met the object of the law; Christ revealed such righteousness as the law called for. And why had not the Jews obtained it? —"Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law." Let all the friends of Christ remember this; and while the full righteousness of Christ must be seen in those who would be "without fault before the throne of God," let them seek it by the faith of Jesus. Thus, by keeping the faith of Jesus, they will be able to keep the commandments of God faultlessly.
THE CALL OF JOHN THE BAPTIST.
By Stephen Nelson Haskell
BY ELDER S. N. HASKELL.
THE scriptures concerning the birth of John the Baptist are very brief. Luke gives the fullest particulars. After the angel had appeared to Zacharias and told him that his prayer was heard, and that he should have a son, who should be great in the sight of the Lord, and should drink neither wine nor strong drink, he then makes the wonderful statement, "He shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb." He was a child of promise, called to a special work. But was God a respecter of persons in filling this child with the Holy Ghost even from his mother's womb, before he would know to choose the good and refuse the evil? Were all other children left without the influence of the Spirit of God at this early period simply because they were not specially called of God? And, if so, why were they not specially called?
In Jer. 1:4, 5 we have the following: "Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations." Isaiah thus speaks of an individual: "The Lord hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name." Isa. 49:1. See also Ps. 139:1-18. Has the Lord selected a few individuals from the human family and given them special privileges over the rest of the race? or are there principles underlying all this, why the Lord called these men before their birth to fill prominent positions in his work? A holy, just, and infinite God has no respect of persons. "But he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted of him." "For the Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek;71for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Rom. 10:11-13. That God calls all from their infancy is also distinctly stated in Isa. 46:3: "Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which are borne by me from the belly, which are carried from the womb." By Christ all have been redeemed (Eph. 1:7) for "he is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world" (1 John 2:2).
Why, then, should God make particular mention of certain individuals and call them for a special work, and not others. A key to this may be found in the thirteenth chapter of Judges. When the angel of the Lord appeared to Manoah's wife and made the promise that she should bear a son, to her the angel said, "Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing" (verse 4); and when the angel appeared to Manoah, and he inquired, "How shall we order the child, and how shall we do unto him?" the angel answered: "Of all that I said unto the woman let her beware. She may not eat of anything that cometh of the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing; all that I commanded her let her observe."
Here lies the secret of God's setting apart individuals from the womb to do a special work. He takes the children of such parents as will properly train the child. A great duty devolves upon the mother. The mould of character given to the child even before his birth has much to do in the formation of character. "Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?" said God. "For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him." Gen. 18:17, 19. The call of God is universal for all men to serve him. The prophet says, "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth" (Isa. 45:22); and David says, "All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord" (Ps. 22:27); and again, "The gifts and calling of God are without repentance." Rom. 11:29. But the mould of character given to a large proportion of the human family even before their birth, with their early training, is such as to wholly unfit them for positions of responsibility in God's plan of saving souls; for he can do but very little with them.
Of Zacharias and Elizabeth it was said before the birth of John, "They were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless." God could intrust to the care of such people a child to be fitted for a special work. They would appreciate the testimony of heaven in the instruction given them both before and after the birth of the child that would fit him for the work God had for him to do.
Of John we read, "And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his showing unto Israel." Luke 1:80. It would, therefore, appear that from the time the promise was made to Zacharias that they should have a son, they regarded the testimony from heaven, and lived in direct reference to the fulfillment of the promise; and John was shut away from the society of others, where his morals would not be tainted with evil, God being his instructor, until the time of his showing himself to Israel. The Lord, through his parents and his own experience, fitted him for the work he had called him to do.
"AND I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." What is that rock? The Catholics claim that it was Peter, and that their church is built upon him.
In verse 16 we read Peter's sublime response to the question which Jesus had put to the disciples, "Whom say ye that I am?" To this Peter replied, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus immediately pronounced a blessing upon him for his discreet answer, and assured him that it was God alone, his Heavenly Father, who had revealed it, that is, this great and sublime truth, unto him. Then Jesus further said, "And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter [Petros, which also means a stone, implying a detached, small, isolated stone], and upon this rock [not Petros, a small stone, but Petra, a massive solid ledge], I will build my church."
The subject under consideration was the great truth that Peter had uttered: "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." This had called down upon him the blessing. This had been called a direct revelation from God. Peter's name was Petros, a stone, but he had uttered a truth which was a great Petra, ledge or rock, and upon this Petra, said Christ, I will build my church. So the rock was not Peter, but the confession which Peter had made that Christ was the Son of the living God. The truth is the grand foundation of the church. That is the rock upon which it is built.
Then was given to him the keys of the kingdom of heaven, that is, a commission to open to the world the truths of the gospel, so guided in the work by the Holy Spirit that his decisions (the whole church being also included, as stated in other scriptures, see Matt. 18: 17, 18), should be in accordance with the will of heaven.—Bible Echo.
Miscellaneous.
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."—John 3:16.
SCATTER THE SUNSHINE.
By Mrs. L. D. Avery-Stuttle
BY MRS. L. D. AVERY-STUTTLE.
How little we know of the grief and pain
That hide in our brother's heart!
Oh, little we know of the clouds and rain,
Of the roaring winds and the raging main,
Of the fainting heart and the weary brain,
Of the pain, and the cruel smart!
Ah, how can we tell but the reason why
The poor feet stumble so
Is only because the tearful eye
Is blind to the light of the sunny sky,
And the devious path cannot descry,
Because of the tears that flow!
How little we know, though the face be fair
And the brow be cold and calm!
We see the smile that the features wear,
But see not the heart with its load of care,
Nor dream of the bitterness resting there,
Nor the need of a healing balm.
Then scatter the sunshine of love around;
For many a heart is sad
And bowed to the ground, with a grief profound.
Oh, haste, for the sorrows of earth abound;
Pour oil and wine in the festering wound,
Till the sorrowful heart is glad!